Human Moral linked to Kaliyuga?? Do you believe in it??

Hello my friends... I am really happy to meet you all once again through my blog.

Let me first warn my friends about something... This blog does not contain anything explicit in terms of language or any graphics or some 'gory' details.  But some of my friends may find the details listed in the links I have provided to be offensive or disturbed with the details provided in those articles.  I will keep this article as clean as possible without any explicit content or words...  But, use your discretion when you read those articles (for any of you who have drinking habit, a peg or two will calm you down 😆).

As usual, many of you might have raised your eyebrows looking at the blog topic... I've been reading the current trend on Twitter #metoo... This hashtag story was started by women from various profession who have been victim of sexual abuse.  As you read those posts in Twitter it was really shocking to see people who have been involved in sexually abusing women as an excuse to progress their careers... That's totally a different topic and pages and pages can be written.

As many of you may know, I am a big believer in Religion and God.  I do not differentiate between any religions but have great faith in Hinduism and try to understand the religion and it's scriptures as better as I could (limited only to my capacity to understand that ocean).

As I was reading about the #metoo stories and few other pieces of articles and news (which we will discuss later in this blog), the first thought came to my mind regarding how low and moral-less a human being can become referred my mind back to the word "Kali Yuga".

Just for everyone's better understanding, As per ancient Hindu scriptures, Universe is divided into four yugas (or ages).  These yugas are known as Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga and Kali Yuga.  As many of us may misunderstand, Kali Yuga is not based on the name of Goddess Kali but named after the demon Kali.  For detailed information about this you can visit the web site: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kali_Yuga.

For those of you who didn't know about the various yugas, I have given below the details:

• Satya Yuga lasted 1,728,000 years with average human life span of 100,000 years
• Treta Yuga lasted 1,296,000 years with average human life span of 10,000 years
• Dvapara Yuga lasted 864,000 years with average human life span of 1,000 years
• Kali Yuga will last for 432,000 years with average human life span is 100 years (it is believed that towards the end of Kali Yuga average human life span will be 20 years or less).

From above, you can see that that scriptures say a yuga lasts longer and average life span of human beings is longer as we believe in Satya, Dharma and God... As our faith in Satya, Dharma and God reduces, the span of the yuga also reduces along with human life span...  God will take the avatar (reincarnation) of Kalki (like Lord Krishna to end Dvapara Yuga) to end Kali Yuga.

As many believe, the world or the universe will not be destroyed at the end of Kali Yuga.  Srimad Bhagavatham (Srimad Bhagavatham is believed to be written 3,000 years before Christ, roughly when Dvapara Yuga ended and Kali Yuga began.  Krishna Avatar marked the end of Dvapara Yuga and the beginning of Kali Yuga) describes the end of Kali Yuga in following way:

Lord Kalki will appear in the home of the most eminent brāhmaṇa of Śambhala village, the great soul Viṣṇuyaśā. Lord Kalki, the Lord of the universe, will mount His swift horse Devadatta and, sword in hand, travel over the earth exhibiting His eight mystic opulence and eight special qualities of Godhead. Displaying His unequaled effulgence and riding with great speed, He will kill by the millions those thieves who have dared dress as kings.
After all the impostor kings have been killed, the residents of the cities and towns will feel the breezes carrying the most sacred fragrance of the sandalwood paste and other decorations of Lord Vāsudeva, and their minds will thereby become transcendentally pure. When Lord Vāsudeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, appears in their hearts in His transcendental form of goodness, the remaining citizens will abundantly repopulate the earth.

When the Supreme Lord has appeared on earth as Kalki, the maintainer of religion, Satya-yuga will begin, and human society will bring forth progeny in the mode of goodness. When the moon, the sun and Bṛhaspatī are together in the constellation Karkaṭa, and all three enter simultaneously into the lunar mansion Puṣyā — at that exact moment the age of Satya, or Kṛta, will begin.

For those of you who are interested in knowing about Sambhala Village, which is where God is believed to reincarnate as Kalki to end Kali Yuga, please refer to this site: https://detechter.com/shambhala-the-mystery-of-the-place-of-peace/.   You can find some interesting information regarding how various religions believe that the new golden age (Satya Yuga) will start from this place called Sambhala.

Now, if we have to believe in the scriptures, which I believe very much in, (just not because of the religion I belong to but also there have been many proofs to make us understand that these scriptures were indeed true and have far too many references made in these scriptures have been scientifically proven) we have to believe that the Kali Yuga will end the way it was described in these scriptures.

Kali Yuga is supposed to last 432,000 years and currently we have completed only about 5,000 years of Kali Yuga.  If moral, faith, truth, dharma, etc. have gone so low in 5,000 years, can you imagine how we can survive the balance 427,000 years??  It's said that after the end of Kali Yuga (Kalki avatar as described in the dasavatharam), the universe will start again from Satya Yuga and the new life cycle of human beings and other creatures begin.

Srimad Bhagavatham, Chapter 12, Part 2 lists 10 symptoms of Kali Yuga... Read these patiently and we can co-relate these symptoms to what's happening around us in the world (refer this site for this info and some more about yugas: https://www.speakingtree.in/allslides/ten-symptoms-of-kali-yuga/151718).

1. Bad Habits Replace Good - The most obvious one is the manifestation of their bad qualities (anger, unkindness, selfishness, cruelty) by humans instead of their good qualities (patience, kindness, selflessness and compassion). Mutual dealings between human beings is marked by hypocrisy. 
2. Atheism scores over religion - Atheists may not approve, but choosing atheism or being a non-believer of God will become a much preferred choice as opposed to complete and unwavering faith in God as the Force behind all Creation (a foregone conclusion in Satya Yuga). It goes without saying that fewer people read or believe in the holy scriptures. Religion's mere use is for the sake of reputation. 
3. Spiritual Leaders become rich - For those who are still on a spiritual quest, there's even more confusion. The spiritual leaders they are keen to follow, live in materialistic mansions rather than serve the needy, and don't have all the answers. Yes, pseudo-gurus are a growing tribe. And a man can claim to be a brahman or priest merely by wearing a sacred thread or religious robes. 
4. Material things cease to satisfy - Despite the mad rush for material things, as the age of Kali Yuga progresses, the material possessions one accumulates, cease to satisfy less and less. What's even worse: they also come at the cost of spiritual virtues. 
5. Humans lose their energy - In this age, not only is the average age of the human life much reduced, so is the memory and intelligence, besides the energy to achieve the same. People will be at the mercy of harsh weather - cold, wind, heat, rain and snow. They will be further tormented by hunger, thirst, disease and severe anxiety. 
6. Less greener pastures - The reason for this is that even the bare necessities of life are hard to come by. The land no longer produces as many or as good-quality food grains. The trees grow shorter, and cows do not give as much milk as they used to and droughts and famines are frequent. The proverb "stay hungry, stay foolish" holds. 
7. Princes and Paupers - Kings and people in power are no longer a class apart, with them behaving far below their dignity and choosing low occupations like stealing, lying and violence to stay rich. 
8. Family ties gets chillier - Family ties, once close and caring, deteriorate fast, and soon, extend no further than one's mate, if at all even that survives the test of time. Men and women will live together merely because of superficial attraction, and womanliness and manliness will be judged according to one’s expertise in sex, and sex alone. 
9. Wealth will determine power - Wealth alone will be the determining factor of what makes an ideal birth, behavior and qualities worth possessing. Law and justice too will be decided on the basis of one’s power. 
10. Glib talk, The sign of education - Juggling words are enough to make one appear as a scholar. There is no need for real education as the hallmark of knowledge. The audacious will be considered as truthful.

Now, let's just think about those 10 symptoms... Even today (only 5,000 years into Kali Yuga), can't we feel that almost all of the above symptoms already exists??? How scary is that?  It is said that towards the end of Kali Yuga average human lifespan will be only 20 years (and some believe it will be only about 12 years of life span)!!!

Remember, Srimad Bhagavatham does not talk about any one country or continent.  Also, it does not talk about destruction of the world... It says that due to evil thoughts and actions overpowering the good, Lord will reincarnate as Lord Kalki and destroy the evil and new yuga will start.  Not just Hinduism, every religion (Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, etc.) talks about end of the world but does not have as specific details as explained in Srimad Bhagavatham.  So all above symptoms and end of Kali Yuga is common for entire planet irrespective of religion.

The first incident I read can be found in this link: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/noida/parents-tortured-and-sold-10-yr-old-many-raped-her/articleshow/63388738.cms.  In this blog, I don't even want to describe the inhuman treatment the girl received, as I feel even writing about it is doing injustice to that poor girl.  Have a strong heart to read that story.

The second incident I read about is in this link: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/madurai/tortured-child-recovering-parents-still-on-run/articleshow/65171079.cms.  A 4 year old was found with burn injuries and the 'parents' were absconding... I am ashamed to say that this incident was reported in Madurai, my birth town.  "Parents"???  Really???

Another piece of horrible news which I read could be found at: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/ambala-father-in-law-rapes-woman-as-elder-daughter-in-law-makes-video/articleshow/65823236.cms. Before clicking on the link, if you read the website detail in full, that itself says about the case.  Forget about religion, belief, caste and all other BS... Is this even human?

Yet another piece of news, which made me think about all this and write this blog can be found at this link, which was published in September 2018: https://www.indiatoday.in/mail-today/story/delhi-woman-tortured-brother-for-2-years-1343284-2018-09-19. When you read it, for all of us who have heart, will have tears in our eyes.  A 50 year old woman was starved (almost) to death by her own brother.  He and his wife made her live in open terrace in the apartment and have served her only a slice of bread every 4 days!!!  Apparently, the neighbors were aware of this but never bothered about complaining to the police... This incident happened in Delhi, the nation's capital.  Since when did we become so cruel and heartless?

Now, after reading these heart-wrenching stories, many of you may think it's all isolated cases and very few individuals who have no heart or kindness would have done it.  I would sincerely pray for that to be true as every society will have some animals among normal human beings.  But do we want to blindly think that the above examples (not even 1% of actual abuse some poor souls go through is reported to the authority and made known to the general public) are just isolated and exceptions to the norm?  I will leave that decision to you all as you go on and finish reading this blog.

As I was reading on such topic for sometime to understand the downfall of human moral and basically human beings becoming so cruel and heartless, I found some very disturbing piece of information which was titled "Child Sex Tourism".... Startled by the title, I ended up doing my piece of research to understand this better.

A 748 page long study titled 'Trafficking of Women and Children in India' (sponsored by the National Human Rights Commission) has highlighted the following terrifying facts:

• The study, which was researched by the New Delhi based Institute of Social Sciences, calls for greater international battle against child sex tourism.
• The study states that "In India, the abuse of both male and female children by tourists has acquired serious dimensions".
• Unlike what happens in Sri Lanka and Thailand, the problem has not been seriously tackled or discussed openly in India and has remained more or less shrouded in secrecy, making the likelihood of child abusers being caught and punished very low.
• The silence of the community and it's unwillingness to speak out and openly discuss the issue has further compounded the problem.
• According to the study, Goa and Kerala were the places often visited by tourists in search of child sex and beach boys, shack owners and former victims of pedophiles were facilitating the procurement of boys and girls for sex.
• The study looked at human trafficking, sex tourism and ways of cracking down on sexual exploitation.  It says that women are sourced from within India, Nepal and Bangladesh and that even minor girls are being trafficked to places as far as the Middle East and the Philippines for prostitution as well as pornography, with the Indian law enforcing agencies looking the other way (remember a study sponsored by National Human Rights Commission, a government body, openly accused law enforcement agencies).
• It is hard to measure the incidence of child sex tourism as it is difficult to conduct quantitative research on such a clandestine and illegal industry.  Qualitative research and anecdotal evidence suggests that child sex tourism is growing and spreading into different regions of the world.
• There are fewer laws against child abuse in India and the beaches of Goa and Kovalam in Kerala are increasingly becoming the main destinations for those seeking children for pleasure.
• There is a need for global co-operation to fight the menace of child sex tourism.  This is an internationally organized crime and a global perspective and coordinated plan of action are necessary to deal with it.

The above study was published in 2006 and the Government of Kerala and Goa vehemently denied the report saying it's inconclusive and biased... But the Governments didn't prove that child sex tourism did not exist in the country and didn't even bother to investigate this study further to ensure child sex tourism is indeed not practiced in Goa, Kerala or other parts of the country.

The Government of Kerala dismissed the study stating "Kerala has high degree of moral policing and hence child sex tourism is non-existent in Kerala".  But read this story in Hindustan Times dated 22nd January 2006 at the link: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india/india-haven-for-child-sex-tourism/story-lGjq5jChAd6ytrEufSz7sI.html which says a different story than what the Government is telling us.  

Have a strong heart and read the above article... You will understand that Child Sex Tourism has been in practice in India for quite some time now... Not just Goa and Kerala but it seems this is being in practice in many parts of the country and it's scary.  On an average about 70,000 minors are abused annually in Mumbai alone.  Why India, suddenly? it is said that the earlier hot spots were Bali and Bangkok — crackdowns in both places have seen a shift in the trade to India.  In addition, Indian hotels and tourism are coming up to international standards. Also, India’s law enforcement is either ignorant, lax or corrupt (or all three).

I could find articles as far back as year 2000 identifying and warning the authorities about increasing Child Sex Tourism in India.  What did the local governments and national government do about this?  Probably very close to nothing.  Only Goa government has passed some laws against child sex (I'm not sure if those laws are being rigidly enforced) but many governments have ignored this and many states, which are identified in such studies, have dismissed the studies instead of investigating the possibility of child abuse and Child Sex Tourism.

A study says that Child Sex Tourism in India involves millions of dollars a year... This means, just for money, the goons, authorities and even the government has no interest in investigating this and curbing this serious issue as they all benefit in one way or other.  I believe the government and, in some cases, the public have Ostrich Syndrome when we talk about this and want to believe that this does not happen in our country.  This attitude will only allow this industry to further flourish and destroy the future generation of this country.

How can common public be responsible for this?  Very simple, we find any suspicious activity in our neighborhood, we can complain to police or child help line.  In the case of old lady being tortured by her own brother cited above, the neighbors were aware of this.  They could have called and complained to police or elders help line.  Why didn't they do it?  In this case, it's not mafia it's just an individual and his wife.  Why were they so afraid to complain?  Is it because "I don't care" attitude or should we blame it on Kali Yuga and console ourselves that this is what will happen in Kali Yuga?

If we are so afraid even to raise our voice against an individual to save a poor old lady, how are we, the public, going to fight a mafia involved in child abuse for their own perverted pleasures and money?  Remember, in this case, it's not just mafia but also authorities and people with lot of money power, muscle power and political power are involved.  Isn't it our duty to fight it or should we just ignore it and say "these things will happen in Kali Yuga"??

The first time I came across the term "Medical Tourism", I was amused and confused.  India has made considerable advancement in the medical field and many people from Africa, Middle East and other parts of the world come to India for critical treatments (another reason they prefer India is that comparatively it's cheaper in India than USA or Europe).  This is in their hope that Indian medical services can save their lives and lives of their loved ones.  Why should this be called as Medical Tourism, which the government boasts very proud of?  We can be proud that our medical science and technology has improved to world standards but we should also have sympathy towards people who come here from other countries for treatment and they should not be looked at as an opportunity to earn money for Indian medical industry and to the Government (in the tourism industry).  Why and when did we stoop so low?  Why we see somebody's ailment as an opportunity to make money (that happens with every hospital in the country even for our own citizens)?

Coming to the recent hashtag revolution in Twitter (#metoo), isn't it disgusting to know that many big names in the fields of Journalism, Cinema and Politics were involved abusing women against their will?  If the so called big shots behave in such a way, what do we expect from uneducated goons?

I have different view on this #metoo stories though.  I by no way support women being abused for any reason.  But read those stories by some popular women... Many of them say that it happened to them 5, 10, 15 years ago.  I agree that when the incident happens, the first reaction of the woman will be shock and speechlessness.  But, why didn't those women had guts to make it public the same day or next day?  Why didn't they expose those big names at that stage itself so that other women could have been saved from these guys?  (people have named Bishop Franco - this whole #metoo probably started after an allegation was made against him, M.J. Akbar, Poet Vairamuthu , Alok Nath and others) Was it the fear factor because of their social status?  In most cases, Yes!!  But, if we allow somebody to misuse their social status and keep abusing women, isn't it actually encouraging them? 

All above incidents are about being abused, exploited, etc. which shows degradation of human values towards culture, tradition and respect for law and co-living human beings.  There's another major part of such incidents, which is everyday affair in this country.

I am talking about the consensual sex...  Section 497 is recently modified to make consensual sex with other person is not a crime (remember in this country not even 5% of adultery cases reach the court so don't know how much this law was effective even it was considered crime as per the law).  Also, currently in this society pre-marital sex and extra-marital affairs have become acceptable, unfortunately.

Read this article https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/bangalore-times/Love-in-the-time-of-call-centres/articleshow/786465.cms.  This article was written in the year 2004 and the call center's drainage was clogged due to flushing down of used condoms and also aluminum foils (used to inhale brown sugar).  When inquired about this, one of the employees in that Tech Park stated "Many of my colleagues are in romantic relationship at work. It may not always be serious, but I guess it's natural because we spend long hours together at work during day and night".  How did this youngster get an idea that if you spend long hours together, you can have physical relationship and that's alright?  Is that an acceptable reason?

Read this article https://www.reuters.com/article/us-life-india-callcentres/sex-life-of-call-center-workers-fascinates-india-idUSSP3729320061113.  It describes why this habit is spreading.  Many youngsters from rural areas come to cities to work in call centers for a salary of Rs.20,000 or so per month and it's a huge salary compared to what they may earn in their small town or village.  This phenomenon of developing Call Centers and other BPO's have definitely played a big role in destroying the culture of this country and have corrupted the youngsters apart from other issues like urbanization and all.

Read this article published in "The Register" out of UK https://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/06/29/call_centre_shocker/.  The total tone of this article is to mock the Indians and their relationship in BPO's.  We can't blame them to be racist or anything as they have quoted the information found in the article published by The India Times.  What a shameful way to depict what's happening to the younger generation of this country.

Read this article by The Telegraph https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/more-sex-please-we-are-bpo-it-s-common-to-find-couples-cuddling-in-the-cafeteria/cid/1025123.  This phenomenon of having "casual relationship" has really gone deep and wide.  I can probably give 100's of article references to show how bad the situation is but I think I've already given enough evidence to convince ourselves that this is a serious problem which needs to be addressed.

India is a country which was proud to be a country based on religion, scriptures, culture and rich tradition.  Can the same be said with pride now?  I doubt so.  I am a steadfast patriot and will not belittle or disrespect India in any way.  But the truth is bitter and we have to agree.

Now, it's not going to be 'scary story' all the way through Kali Yuga... Many of you might have heard about the term "Sanatana Dharma", it means Eternal Duty or Duty of God. This Duty of God is shared, not just by Hindus, but by all beings in creation, including gods and the rest of the humanity. Dharma is also used in reference to any set of moral and religious laws and principles that govern religious duty and human conduct upon earth. Hence, in popular usage dharma is often interpreted as morality or religion rather than duty. The essential purpose of dharma is to protect the order and regularity of the world through specific obligatory duties (or actions) in which morality and religion are the means or the guiding factors.  As you can clearly see it does not pertain just to Hindu religion.  Each religion has defined this with different name but the foundation is the same.

Even in Kali Yuga, there will be gurus who will be guiding the public in order to follow the Sanatana Dharma as when and when the moral and dharma levels hit low.  The recent such knowledge we have of Guru is Adi Sankaracharya Bhagavadpadha...  As per the scriptures available, he is believed to be the reincarnation of Lord Shiva in order to revive the Sanatana Dharma in this planet.  Sri Sankara consolidated the doctrine of Advaita Vedanta and have also established Mutts across India to spread Sanatana Dharma.

Such Gurus are the interim remedy provided to face the challenges of Kali Yuga and also to guide people who do not engage in any sinful activity or who wants to follow dharma (be it in any religion).  Such souls have to be preserved and hence these Gurus will guide the mankind through it.

I believe that all religions had such gurus (reborn to enforce dharmas and guide the mankind in right direction) and many religions were founded by such gurus... Jesus Christ, Prophet Mohammed (PBUH), Gowthama Buddha, Mahavir Jain are all some examples of such avatars who wanted to guide the mankind in the right direction in their own faith and belief.  I am sure in the remaining 427,000 years of Kali Yuga, there will be much more such Gurus and prophets to guide the good souls through and brace them to live through the difficult periods of Kali Yuga.

Yes, this blog has combined social evils with religious scriptures.  But what's the solution to fight these social evils?  This will definitely be an uphill task as it has to be an unified force to fight this monster.  Majority of people are becoming more materialistic and are willing to do anything for money.  Changing this attitude of people (who are large in numbers now) is definitely a big challenge and we all wish that somehow the cruelty towards younger generation is curbed.  Let us hope that the system changes and curbs the evil, that's the only possible human solution without totally depending on Religion and/or God.

Not just the above social evils, we now don't even have fear of God... I am currently reading a lot about the idol thefts from temples in India and particularly in Tamil Nadu (soon you can expect a blog from me on this)... The details of such idol thefts make me believe that we just don't respect fellow human being, but have also lost faith and fear of God...

For my friends who may not believe in God or religion, I would love to state a short story (can't be called as a joke) I have read a long back but etched in my mind for the deep impactful meaning it had.  Read on:

Three friends (one is a world-renowned doctor, second is a noble prize winning scientist and third is the best engineer this mankind has seen) sitting together and talking about the achievements they have done in their respective fields and boasting about their own inventions.  Suddenly, all three realized that they can do anything possible in the world and decided that this planet doesn't need God anymore.  Once they all agreed on this, they decided to meet God and tell him to take rest as humans have mastered everything and so they went to meet God and the following conversation happened:

God:  Welcome to you all and I am glad to meet you.  Why did you all want to meet me?

Doctor:  God, you know I am the best doctor to have ever born and probably nobody else will ever have the knowledge and skills I have.  I have mastered every surgery possible, every treatment possible and have also mastered the art of cloning.  I don't think medical profession needs God as we can take care of ourselves now.

God:  That's very nice to hear that humans have advanced so much in their knowledge.  Let me hear what the scientist has to say.

Scientist:  God, we have mastered everything that once was a mystery.  We have understood and even measured the Galaxy, the planets within this galaxy, we have sent satellites to every planet within this solar system and have also understood and know about the galaxies which exist beyond this galaxy (Milky Way).

God:  I am so very happy to hear that the science have discovered so much which was once thought to be only the knowledge I have.   Let me now hear the achievements from the Engineer.

Engineer:  God, we have absolutely understood everything ever created in the earth...  We can build bridges across continents and have mastered the art of building in the oceans and have scaled the mighty mountains and peaks to build architectural wonders.  We can recreate anything... So, we all believe that we do not need you anymore and you should go and take rest.

God: I am really relieved to know that you all can manage this planet and do not require me anymore.  But just for my own reconfirmation, can you please recreate this earth which I created from a ball of clay?  So that I can be sure you can protect it and manage it.

Engineer:  That's very simple and I will do it... {He bent down and took a handful of clay...}

God:  Put that clay down....  Make your own clay... That's how you should create as I did.

Moral of the story is, the modern science does not believe in God and Religion but cannot explain many things happening in the planet with a concrete evidence.  The reason?  We, the human race, have lived in this planet for a very short time compared to the time this universe has been in existence and we, human race and the planet doesn't even compare to a tiny spec compared to the vastness of this universe.  Some may call that supreme force as God, some may call it Nature or with any other name...   The Science has named the ultra-high-energy-cosmic ray as "God Particle" (didn't science find better name?).  This ray is supposed to be the key as to how the universe was born... For any of you interested to know more about God Particle, you can search the Net...

I am quite sure the blog has been long but unfortunately, we cannot pin point a solution to this crisis of decreasing moral values, tradition and exploitation of the weak and needy as our powers are very limited compared to those who are involved in this... Only time has to prove that our generations will be safer and will have peaceful life without living among monsters and fearing the man-made monsters and constantly living in fear.

HE KNOWS PEACE, WHO HAS FORGOTTEN DESIRE - This is a saying in Bhagavad Gita.  I believe many religions preach us to give up unwanted desires, as desire is the root cause for all the sufferings and sinful activities....

Would love to hear comments / criticism / feedback from my friends...

Peace to all.... 💖

CHANGE - Why are we so afraid of it???

Hello friends.... Glad to be back with you all through this blog...

Before we start off with the blog topic, I am thankful to the followers of my blog who keep sending me their feedback and comments on the blog and topics I choose to write.  Some friends have even suggested that with my style of writing, I should even consider becoming an author (thank God, as of now I haven't decided to become one and the literature world is saved,  at least for now!!!)... 

Now, this topic is about my own views and ideas of how to bring in change to the society, about which all of us have some problem or other and want a change in the society.  For those who think that my ideas are far-fetched and a dream, which cannot be practically implemented, please do treat this as my first work of fiction and read on!!!!! 😀

Definition of "change" is the act, process or result of making difference...  

Definition of "society" is a body of individuals living as members of a community...

In this case, I am calling our country as a society and we all being part of that society.  We all are frustrated with lot of things in the society and keep grumbling about a drastic change required in this society in order for India to become less corrupt, more effective and in general how a democratic country should be...

Now, the big question is who has to bring this change in the society??? When somebody raises this question, we all look confused and always think the Government should start implementing (or in general we want someone to start the change)... Is that the right answer?  The biggest problem we all agree is that the political parties are corrupt and work in their own interest and not in the interest of the nation.  If that's the case, how can we expect the Government to bring in changes to rectify the problems of this society?

In my previous blogs, I have suggested few corrective measures to eradicate black money and to change the caste-based reservation system and all.  In some of the cases, the decision to change has to come from the Government as we need law to implement those changes.  But in some cases, if we, the general public, change our approach to many of the issues we see in our everyday life, the changes we all are longing for can happen.

I am a big believer in the power of people.  India is the world's largest democracy... So, where should the change start?  From us, the common public, thus forcing the Government, judiciary and other branches of the administration to adhere to the change and implement those changes.  Remember, the common public elected the first parliament of this country after Independence.  The real power of people was never proven after that as the politicians conveniently changed everything in their favor.  Politicians effectively worked together to 'change' the system so that they can benefit.  If they can stand united for their own interest, why can't the general public do the same in order to bring change to the society?  If anybody thinks it's impossible, I humbly request you all to go back to history and read about great revolutions in the world which has changed the political map of the world.... 

Let us see some of the major revolutions happened around the world to understand how a common man or a group of men can effectively change the country's future:

1. Indian Independence movement spanned over a period of 90 years from 1857 until August of 1947.  The first spark for this great united effort of this country started in 1857, which was called as Indian Mutiny or Sepoy Mutiny.  A revolt by group of soldiers later turned into one of the biggest independence movement known.  If those soldiers were hesitant to start the mutiny, the Indian Independence movement would have had a very different outlook than what we know of it today. To know more about Sepoy Mutiny, its consequences and further how it turned into independence movement,  you can visit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Rebellion_of_1857
2.  The Russian revolution spanned a shorter period of time between 1905 to 1917.  A group of unarmed protestors went to the winter palace in St. Petersburg and were fired upon by the Imperial Guard... This was on 22nd January 1905, which was called as "Bloody Sunday" and laid the foundation stone for the Russian Revolution in 1917...  To know more about Bloody Sunday, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Sunday_(1905) and to know more about Russian Revolution see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Revolution.
3. World War I - Started on 28th July 1914 and ended on 11th November 1918.  The reason for the start of the war???  Quite simple... The simplest answer is that the immediate cause was the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, the archduke of Austria-Hungary. His death at the hands of Gavrilo Princip – a Serbian nationalist with ties to the secretive military group known as the Black Hand – propelled the major European military powers towards war.
4. World War II - Started on 1st September 1939 and ended on 2nd September 1945... Even though many historians believe the main cause for the second World War was the Treaty of  Versailles, signed after the first world war, the main reason for World War II was one man - Adolf Hitler.

The reason I gave some of the above examples are to remind us that many of the great revolutions and wars this world has seen was because of a very simple (or thought to be) incident or because of small group of people.  So no incident or no single man or group of men is too small to start a big revolution or war.  That's the power of people, which I truly believe in.

If some of you think 'it was all in those days... people's mindset was different', let me remind you about the Jallikattu protest in Tamil Nadu and particularly in Marina Beach, Chennai in January 2017.  Originally, a group of about 10 people staged a protest in Marina Beach in December 2016 requesting to lift the ban on Jallikattu... Later, this became a huge protest in Tamil Nadu and the Government had no choice but to pass an ordinance lifting the ban on Jallikattu... For almost 15 days Chennai came to a standstill and many students boycotted colleges (even the colleges didn't mind that and professors too joined the protest).  Isn't that proof enough that if public stand united, we can bring in the changes we want?  The result of Jallikattu protest was so terrifying for the Government that no public meeting or mass gathering is allowed anymore in Marina Beach!!!

Enough of detour from the blog topic (thank God!!) and let us see what I believe as measures we need to take that will force the change we all want in this society...

Social Responsibility - Every individual of the society should take responsibility for all the wrong things happening.  None of this would have happened or continue to happen if we, the common man, stood against it the first time.  It's always better to nip the problem in the bud rather than letting it grow into a monster and we are forced to be the slave of the monster.  This goes for a lot of things including:

• We follow the laws of the land (whether we agree with it or not) and refuse to pay bribe to correct or hide our mistakes.  This starts from violating traffic laws and paying off the police, building our house against the corporation norms and later bribing the officers, unofficially having multiple electricity connections (by paying bribe) so that our bill is less due to the higher rate for high usage slab and so on...  The authority can force us to pay bribe only when we have done something wrong.
• I walk through my neighborhood every morning as part of my walking routine. The recent problem in Chennai is the receding ground water levels and most of the bore well have run out of water.  In one particular area (Mullai Nagar in Anna Nagar area - just in case if you want to go there personally and check) I have seen that many houses have installed a new bore well in the area which is supposed to be the pavement.  Who authorized us to use Government land, meant for public usage to dig our bore well?  When the corporation comes for inspection, those landlords have no other choice but to pay bribe.  Is this encroachment of public land is right??  If we don't correct our small mistakes, how can we expect a change in the society? 
• In every traffic signal junction, you can see at least a dozen people violating the traffic law by jumping the red signal.  What's such a hurry which creates hazardous situation for the traffic following the green light in the opposite direction?  In most cases, you stop the person and ask him/her, the standard reply will be "I am in a hurry".... So you, an individual, is in a hurry and will put other people's life in jeopardy?  Why not start little early and drive following the traffic rules and road discipline?
• In general to follow discipline and live by it... Once we have discipline and instill that in ourselves and our children, we can change a lot of things happening around us.

Now comes my "dreamy" vision to change the system in India for good.... Below is what I feel as a start to bring in the change many of us feel as required in order for this country to progress and for people to have a better standard of living as a harmonious democratic country.

• Education up to higher secondary (12th standard in current system) should be mandatory and free for all.  Education is a service and Government or private bodies cannot think of this as business.  This is an investment in future and the Government should take full responsibility for this as this will prove to be the best investment for the future of the country. 
• Abolish all caste-based reservation and other benefits based on caste.  Once we implement mandatory and free education, automatically we do not need a reservation based on caste.  Only thing which enables the student to be eligible to get admission in college is the marks they score in school.  No exceptions should be allowed in this.
• The education system (the syllabus) needs a major revamp.  Once the student finishes elementary education (6th standard), based on the performance of the student and their interest in subjects (Mathematics, Economics, Science, etc.), the secondary education should divert them into that division of schooling concentrating on their interest.  There's no point in everyone learning everything about mathematical formulas and science formulas and so on when he/she is not keen on pursuing it.  This system will ensure that the students get appropriate and focused training/education in the field of their interest.  Not every student is going to be academically excellent (I will definitely fall into that category).  For such students, hands-on training for various professions (like current ITI courses) should begin after elementary education.  There's no point in torturing a child who is academically weak through entire 14 years of schooling (this is one of the biggest reasons of school drop outs even before completing 10th standard).  Rather, sharpen their skills for them to excel in their line of interest.
• Education system should also focus on teaching the students the rich culture and heritage of our country as I sincerely believe that we should not forget our roots and our rich heritage and culture.  How many of us agree that our history is perfect as it's written today?  We need to change this and ensure every student understands the real history and heritage of this nation.  Also, in order to cultivate the religious tradition of this country, every student should have a mandatory religious class pertaining to their religion. 
• Make military service mandatory once the person completes his/her education.  Many countries in the world follows this and there's nothing wrong in serving the country's armed forces.  Exemptions can be given to people who are physically incompetent.  Under that exemption, they have to do some sort of social activity to cover that military service. Even a two year mandatory service should be sufficient.  This will inculcate the sense of responsibility, discipline and patriotism in that person.  Upon completion of the mandatory period of service, it is up to the individual whether to continue in military or to pursue his own choice of profession.
• Judiciary system of this country needs a big overhaul.  If India's judiciary system has a motto of "Justice delayed is justice denied", can we honestly say that's what is being followed in our judiciary system?  Even a straight forward criminal case takes a minimum of 10 years.  Is this the way to serve justice?  Even the CJI and Bar Council of India agrees that there's lack of knowledgeable judges to speed-up the process of clearing the pending cases.  Is this what we wanted to achieve in 70 years of independence?  Along with revamping the judiciary system, the Constitution and the Law has to be changed to be in line with the changing times.  There's no point in clinging to old laws which are impractical to implement or enforce.  As per Chief Justice of India (now retired) Dipak Mishra, Supreme Court has 57,987 pending cases, high courts have 43,00,000 cases and other courts have about 2.80 crore pending cases.  As of June 2018, total pending cases in Indian courts have crossed 3.30 crores!!!!!
• Medical services - This was originally and it was for sometime, a service... But today, it has become a multi-million dollar business.... This has to change and Government should interfere and regulate this.  Any student completing their medical degree (MBBS), should be serving in a Government Hospital for two years before they decide to take their own path of profession.  Also, Government should implement strict regulation on private hospitals in terms of the fee charged and also the qualifications of the doctors and support staff employed.  Right now, many big name hospitals have "packages" for various treatments... Is this hospital or some resort?  All major surgical procedures should have a ceiling of what a private hospital can charge and medicines should be made available at an affordable price.  Government hospitals should be supported with up-to-date technology and facilities as majority of the population depend on Government hospitals as they cannot afford private hospital treatment.
• Media (visual, print and all other modes)... Like education, media was also supposed to be service industry and not a business.  Many tycoons have lost their fortune running media houses in the past.  Media's role was to reach the information and news to the public and to stand-up to the Government when they did something against the common interest of the public.  Can we say that's what today's media is doing?  So, in order to bring back sanity to the media industry sort of censor system have to be implemented so that the media does not spread rumors and create panic among public or support a political party of their choice and blindly oppose everything the elected government does.

The above are some of the basic changes we need to begin in order to set a lot of things straight.  Lo and behold, my dream of changes is not complete yet.

We all agree that the politicians and the political system in this country is corrupt and that's one of the reason progressive changes have taken the back burner.  In order to ensure the political system changes, the following are the steps we can take to ensure the system becomes more transparent and every citizen of the country participates in the electoral process.

• Voting should be made mandatory.  It is the basic duty of every citizen to participate in the election process.  In order to facilitate every citizen to participate, we can implement a system of voting through mobile app, internet and so on.  In today's technology, you need not go to the voting booth to participate.  Make all options available and make voting mandatory.  Grace period of about one week should be given for people who are attending family functions or family emergencies and counting of the votes shall begin after the expiration of grace period.  People exempted from voting should be either critically ill and in hospital undergoing life saving treatment and such.  Anybody and everybody else should have to vote as the technology allows you to do it from anywhere you are.  I am not going to go into technicalities of how this can be done as most of you are aware, with today's technology this is possible.
• For any individual who does not participate in the voting process and couldn't give a valid explanation to support it, should be penalized.  Penalties could be in the form of cancellation of subsidies he receives (for LPG cylinder and such), increase the income tax payable by him by additional 1% or so, increase the cost of insurance premium for all his insurance policies, reduce interest on his deposits with banks by 1% and so on (all these penalties should be applicable till next election when he/she casts his/her vote).  This will force every individual to exercise their right.  If we are lazy to exercise our basic right as citizen, how can we blame the society and the elected government?  The Tamil saying தண்டைகள் கடுமை ஆனால் தான் குற்றங்கள் குறையும் has a meaning, isn't it? Charity begins at home, right?
• Now, lets come to the role of politicians... No individual can contest the election if he/she has not completed her mandatory education as described above and have served in the armed forces.  Just academic qualification alone doesn't make a person intelligent and I totally agree with that...  So, to contest for a MLA post, one should have served at least 3 years as local Ward Councillor or equivalent.  To contest for a MP post, one should have served at least one term as MLA. To become a minister, one should have served as MLA for at least two terms and a Chief Minister should have served as a minister at least three terms and so on.  Does anybody think this is impossible to implement?
• Now, my major recommendation/suggestion (within all these major actions) is that the election commission should make the democratic election process a truly democratic one.  If a candidate does not get 51% or more of the votes within the constituency (simple majority as described in any democratic system), he cannot be a winner.  If no candidates gets 51% or more votes, automatically the election is null and void and without wasting further public money in re-election, the district collector of the constituency gets the post of MLA or MP.  District Collector is an administrative person with required qualification and to eradicate any corruption at his level, such DC's should be transferred every year and the next DC taking charge will represent the constituency as MLA or MP.
• Apart from getting 51% of the vote from the constituency, if NOTA gets more than 10% of votes in that constituency, the election becomes null and void as 10% of the public believes that none of the candidate is good enough to be elected and the DC becomes the MLA or MP.  The reason I am stating this is that only in recent years the option of NOTA was introduced.  NOTA is getting a sizable portion of vote in India and what difference does it make now?  Nothing... because it has just become a formality for people who do not believe in any candidate to press that button and no party takes that percentage of vote seriously.  With refined electoral process, politicians should be more worried about the qualification of their candidates since even if 10% of people in the constituency thinks they are all unfit, no politician is going to win that constituency.  Or otherwise, we can get rid of NOTA option itself and set 51% of vote to be winning margin.
• Any political party who does not get at least 10% of vote within the state (for regional parties) or nation-wide (for national parties) should be debarred by the election commission and their recognition as political party should be withdrawn.  The leader of such political party cannot start another party for 10 years and cannot contest the next election as the public have lost their faith in that party.
• On an average India is spending about Rs. 4,000 crores to conduct a public election (Parliamentary election).  It's a huge sum of public money spent.  In order to avoid repetition of election for state and center, an election should cover the State Legislative Assembly and the Parliament.  Every voter has to cast 4 votes (one for local MLA, one for MP, one for his choice of Vice President and one for his choice of President).  This combined election can save a lot of public money.
• Any party winning election after implementation of all the above conditions, should also adhere to certain policies regarding appointment of ministers.  A guy who has not completed graduation cannot become education minister and such.  If the winning party does not have a candidate with adequate qualification to become education minister, the state secretary of education department will take over the job of Education Minister even though he has not contested the election.  He has become the secretary of Education department based on his qualification and that's sufficient enough.  This should be applicable for all other portfolios of the cabinet.  In all reality, in current system, the ministers are just representatives and the administers does the job... With this system, we are giving him/her the post as well, that's all.
• Many senior posts in the country (Governors, Chief Justice of India, Vice President, President and the like) are considered as final post before retirement.  This should definitely change.  A senior post with lot of authorities conferred by the Constitution cannot be a final post before retirement and act as a rubber stamp of the ruling party.  With revised and revamped electoral process, along with MP candidates, the Vice President and President should also openly contest and the public should vote.  Any candidate who gets 51% or more votes should be the VP and the President and failing which, the election commission in consultation with CJI conducts polling among the MP's to choose the VP and President who have already contested publicly (only the top two candidates from each category) in the election.

I sincerely believe these changes are not impossible and purely a work of fiction by me... This sounds highly impossible because the current politicians have corrupted the system so badly that we believe such changes are impossible.

The reason I want to make voting mandatory for the public is that the highest polling record was during the last Lok Sabha election in 2014.  Total voter turnout was 66.40% (previous election was 64%).  This is nation-wide average even though some states and UT's have recorded voting percentage as high as 87%.  How come about 34% of common public is so lazy that he/she doesn't want to perform their basic duty as citizen?

BJP, the party in power now, got absolute majority on their own in terms of number of MP's required.  But BJP got only 31% of the votes... How come 31% has become majority??  If we have recorded 100% voting, by implementing above measures, the result could have been totally different or we will have the confidence that the elected Government had absolute majority even in terms of voters choice.  Combined percentage of vote between BJP and Congress (during 2014 election), was only 50%.    So between the two largest national parties they have secured only 50% of the votes!!! 

By implementing the above measures to the electoral process, I sincerely believe a lot of common man with the idea and vision of serving the society will start to participate in the elections as candidates.  Lot of younger generation with social cause and sense of social responsibility will enter the scene and it will be a big welcoming measure for the democracy.

The "money for vote" has become a common phenomenon in India now.  The general public are grumbling that politicians are corrupt.  General public who accept money for vote, obviously takes money from all the parties and finally vote for their choice of candidate.  In this case, isn't the common public more corrupt than the politicians?   If we implement that a winning candidate should get 51% or more vote, many candidates (under the current political system) will not even contest the election as they know it's impossible for them to get 51% votes.  Many political parties in India will cease to exist as many of them do not get 10% or more of the vote share...  This is the best and sure-shot way of cleaning the system.... We want true politicians who are popular among the public and who will definitely have the public support.  If none of them get the approval of citizens, the government will still be formed with the administrators who have worked hard in their life to complete the Civil Services exams and have become IAS, IPS, IFS and so on.

As stated earlier in one my blogs, if a common man with little knowledge can think of so many ideas, do we think the administrators doesn't know about all these measures?  They do know but the problem is that the political system has become so corrupt, they all stand united in order to avoid bringing the changes which will be in the greater cause of the nation and its citizens.

I am sincerely hoping that many of you have come this far to read this paragraph and I am really happy about those brave souls.... 😀

By now, many of you would have had a thought of branding me as lunatic (and I won't be completely surprised or shocked if you have thought so).  But radical changes need radical ideas.  No idea is too small.  When Thomas Alva Edison failed 100 times before inventing the light bulb and was inquired about it he said "I didn't fail 100 times... But, I have found 100 ways how we cannot invent a light bulb"....  Many new ideas and systems will have it's own flaws when we implement, we have to make changes as we come across such hurdles and it's a dynamic process.

On 28th August 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. started his speech with "I have a dream" and it resulted in end of racism and creating equal rights for Afro-Americans in the USA.  No dream is too small.

Around 350 BC when Aristotle said that Earth was a sphere (and Pythagoras said Earth is round in shape in 500 BC), the world branded them as idiots.  I am, by no stretch of imagination, comparing myself to Aristotle or Pythagoras or Martin Luther King Jr., but we didn't believe those brilliant minds to accept a change.  Today, we are sending satellites to Mars and thinking/researching to send satellite to Sun....

No dream is too small and no ambition is too big to achieve.  Let us aim for the stars and probably we will reach the sky...

Remember, every great revolution and every major change in the history of this world was born from a small idea... We, the common public, are the force which can initiate the change!!!

Caste based Reservation - Why are we still clinging to it?

Hello friends.... Good to see you all once again through my blog.

In my earlier blog regarding education system, we did briefly discuss that the eligibility requirements for admission into colleges / universities varies based on the caste to which the student belongs.

Reservation system is not new in India, these reservation concepts are ancient, we can read about this in ancient books like Manusmriti and other Hindu literature, which classified the society, in principle, into four Varnas:

• Brahmins - priests, scholars and teachers
• Kshatriyas - rulers, warriors and administrators
• Vaishyas - merchants
• Shudras - laborers and service providers

This classification was also a kind of reservation, and this lead to CAST-ISM, which is now deep in our roots. People were not ready to compromise on anything related to caste. They were not even sitting together. Therefore some sections of society degraded to lowest living standards while some sections became very prosperous. As the time changed the form of reservation has only changed. As India gained freedom, few policies were made for the uplifting of backward class people. These policies due to CAST-ISM became politically controversial topics and never left our system because we are still stuck to CASTE.

We have to remember that in ancient times, the population was less, opportunities limited and hence the job/profession were limited based on the caste and over a period of time, this has become a reservation system.  In current situation, where everybody gets opportunity for higher studies, work and such, why do we need a reservation system based on caste?

Why do we have a caste based reservation system when our Constitution states that India is a secular society (all are equal)?  When and what's the reasoning behind creating a caste based reservation system? 

Upon Independence of the country from British,  Gandhi felt that reservation system is mandatory in order to bring equality to all people and the people from suppressed society will get an opportunity for education and job. Dr. Ambedkar's opinion was "Legislation doesn’t change people. I don’t believe that reservation of constituencies or jobs for Dalits would change the way Indian society looked at its lower castes".  But due to the pressure from Gandhi and Nehru, he reluctantly agreed to reservation in the belief that it would be discontinued in 10 years after adoption of the Constitution. But after 70 years later, reservation remains an issue in India.  Originally, the reservation was supposed to be in place for 10 years and after that to be abolished in the belief that the oppressed community would have, by then, got equal opportunity to uplift their social status.

But what happened in reality?  Even after 70 years, we still have reservation system and we have added much more categories into the SC/ST/OBC category.  Why?  This is purely political and all the politicians wanted to keep or increase their vote bank with the so called backward caste people.  Did this help our country in any way?  I definitely believe that it has not.   Every year we can see news that some of the reserved quota of seats going unfilled in colleges and universities as there were not enough candidates from those backward community to apply.  Added to that, people keep protesting to add their caste into the backward community so that they can get the benefits of the reservation system (recent protest by Patel community in Gujarat, earlier protest by Jat community in Haryana, etc.).  During these protests, valuable human lives were lost...  Is this what we wanted to achieve with this caste based reservation system?  If the reservation system has not worked for 70 years, we can clearly understand that the system has failed... What's the point in continuing with a system which is not working?

What is surprising is that our constitution clearly is a reservation-friendly constitution but nowhere in the constitution is the term ‘backward classes' defined. What actually constitutes a backward class? What are the determinants of a backward class? These questions remain unanswered and it is only with the help of judicial pronouncements that they have been given some meaning (again everything is left to interpretation of the judges, as nothing concrete is defined). Question arises how can reservations be made for something that has not been defined?

Today when a student applies for an admission in any university, the admission forms are filled with questions like ‘Are you SC/ST or OBC or General Category?’ How does it matter which category does he/she belong to, what matters is his/her merit. A caste cannot decide whether they are eligible for admission or not. There are many economically worse off children belonging to the forward classes but they cannot get the fruits of their hard work by virtue of belonging to the ‘general’ category. Sometimes these children who belong to the backward classes do not even deserve and still possess the necessary merit as against a child who studied very hard for years to get a seat, thereby snatching away that seat just because they come from a particular caste, for which our government provides reservation.

When the then HRD minister Mr. Arjun Singh introduced 27.5% reservation for OBC in centrally funded educational institutes including IIMs and IITs a petition was moved to the President and the Prime Minister stating that such a reservation will take India back from where she is today. Further “everyone understands the need for all sections of the Indian Society to get an opportunity to be a part of this economy but reservation based on caste is not an answer to this. These policies have been in India since the last 50 years and they have failed to meet their objectives. The government should go into the reasons of the failure. Many students don’t make it to the institutes because of the economic reasons and those who do not fall in the reservation criteria do not get a fair opportunity too”.

Far too many lapses in our law is also adding to the confusion.  As per our law, you can convert to another religion from your religion by birth.  But you cannot change your caste.  For example, by birth I'm a Brahmin and let us assume I'm converting myself to some other religion.  I can then say I belong to that particular religion, but my caste will remain as Brahmin forever... Do you think this makes any sense???  The same applies to my children as well as by birth they will be Brahmin (because of my caste)...

Now, recent Supreme Court judgement regarding women entering Sabarimala temple was based on the interpretation of "discrimination" to women (as per the law and the Constitution) and thus the judgement was passed.  If our law says that the children will take after the religion and caste of the father and not mother (in case of inter-caste/inter-religion marriage), isn't that a discrimination to women?  Law is totally confusing in this scenario... In January 2012, Supreme Court dismissed the decision of Gujarat High Court and Scrutiny Committee (Civil Appeal No.654 - Rameshbhai Dabhai Naika vs State of Gujarat & others) but didn't pass a clear cut verdict.  Rather directed the Scrutiny Committee to further examine the documentary evidence carefully and pass a new judgement.  Why such a disparity in interpretation of the law between HC and SC?  Isn't it because the law itself is vague in its definition?

We have written the laws and Constitution right after Independence but never bothered to revisit and change it based on the needs and changes of the society (but remember Indian Constitution has 123 amendment bills and 101 amendment acts as of date but the politicians did not bother to visit the reservation clause purely because of the vote bank).

For example, below is the cut-off mark required by IIT-JEE for the year 2017 to get admission into their courses:

• SC - 32%
• ST - 27%
• OBC - 49%
• Others - 81%

Do you really think it's fair that people who do not fall under the 'reservation system' should score 81% in order to get admission whereas a candidate belonging to ST community needs to score only 27%??? With this sort of system based on reservation, what's the incentive for students from SC/ST community to study hard and score more when they know they can get bare minimum marks and even get a job in the Government as they have reservation in jobs too....

What will be the quality of that individual when he graduates from IIT?  Now you know why the quality of our engineers and other graduates are well below par compared to world standards.  It's not surprising that once world famous IIT, Bombay doesn't even feature in top 500 education institutions in the world.

In my opinion, the best way (if at all you want) of reservation should be based on the economic status of the person and not based on the religion, caste or creed.  If, as a country, we provide free education to children till about high school, we don't even need reservation based on economic status as the Government can direct all colleges/universities to simply follow the merit based admission system.  By doing this, we can truly become a secular state without any reservation.

Most countries in the world does not have reservation system based on the caste.  Very few developing countries follow the reservation system based on caste.  Just as information and to understand this topic better, I have given reservation system from some of our neighboring countries below:

NEPAL:

55% - General category
45% - Reserved category
          Further divided as sub Quotas (under the reserved category)
          33% - Women
          27% - Tribals
          22% - Madhesi
            9% - Dalits
            5% - Handicapped
            4% - Rural/Backward places. 

PAKISTAN:

Pakistan has quota for ethnicity/tribal areas (indirectly) and gender (10% horizontal for women) in Pakistan Civil Services.

• 7.5% - General Category
• 50% - Punjab
• 19% - Sindh (40% - Urban & 60% - Rural)
• 11.5% - Khyber Pakhtunhwa
• 6% - Balochistan
• 4% - Gilgit-Balistan-Tribal Areas
• 2% - Kashmiri 

BANGLADESH:

Bangladesh has 5% reserved quota for tribal's and 10% reserved quota for physically and mentally challenged.

Even in the countries who are economically poor than India, there's no reservation for admission into colleges / universities but only in Civil Services (Government jobs).  

To remove this evil of reservation system in India, it is suggested the following:

1. Make education mandatory and free for all till high school
2. Propose reservation based on economic status (if at all required)
3. Provide opportunity to students to earn while they study, as many families live below poverty line and many doesn't send children to school as they cannot afford education and need an earning member in the family.

Instead of introducing reservations for these defined backward classes what is required is to bring about revolutionary changes in our education system at the grass-root level. When proper education is not provided to children belonging to such categories during the primary stage itself then on what basis are the reservations provided will help at a later stage? In order to implement above, schools/ colleges/universities should be owned by the Government or funded and controlled by the Government.  Education is a service to society and cannot be treated as a business.

Currently, reservations are nothing but means to prosper the vote banks. They are hindering the country’s growth, development and competency in all aspects. On one hand the preamble of our constitution states that we are a free, democratic and sovereign nation and on the other hand reservation system is chaining all these aspects into its clutches. It is creating disparity and differences amongst people. The constitution lays down that every child has a right to education and nowhere expresses that any child belonging to a backward class has a little more of this right than the general category. By reserving one category against another creates a feeling of division which is now resulting in a chaos with every small section of the society asking for it.

Thus reservations are anti-thesis of development and equality. We don’t need reservations based on castes or religion but only to actually provide aid to those who have minimal resources; and merit should be given equal and due importance in admission procedures as well employment opportunities. This way we would be successful in removing caste discrimination and unite the economically rich together in helping the economically poor, irrespective of their castes.

Dr. Ambedkar, who wrote the Indian Constitution with the help of the Constitution Committee, and who also wrote the caste based reservation system, converted himself from being Hindu to Buddhism.  How many of us knew about it?  What does politicians today do?  Use Ambedkar's name and photo to gain votes from the SC/ST and other backward community in the country.

Reservations on the basis of caste is not fair and unacceptable.  In my opinion, in a country with such a long tradition and culture, make education mandatory and free till high school (our Government can very well afford that just by introducing some small measures to control unwanted expenses) and then Government owned/funded colleges/universities should give admission only based on the merit of marks scored by the students and not in any other way.  Once people get educated, they will understand and make their own decision about their future and will go on with their ambition without any reservation.

As per the census conducted in 2011, Scheduled Castes (SC) were only 16.60% of the population and Scheduled Tribes (ST) were only 8.60% of the population.  So, we have created a reservation system for only about 25% of the population, which is unjust.

In 70 years of independence, if the Government thinks that they couldn't uplift the social and economical condition of the 'backward community', isn't it proof enough that the reservation system is not working and we don't need it anymore?

If you want to know the total number of SC/ST category in every state of India, visit this page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Scheduled_Tribes_in_India.  It is amazing to see a country whose constitution is based on 'secularism' has so many divisions

General public will not protest against this reservation system as majority of the public fall under the category of 'backward community' and it is benefiting them whether it's right or not (a study says only about 30% of Indians fall under the 'open category' and does not get any benefit out of reservation system).  Our Government can definitely do the above changes but we all know the real reason why they are so "reserved" in doing so...

Black Money - Who's responsible to avoid this

Hello friends.... Happy to be back with yet another blog.  Time permitting and my mind working as well as it should,  decided to bombard you all with a new blog every week.😃

We all understand and agree that Black Money is one of the biggest problem in this country and we all scream that the Government should do something to eradicate black money.

This blog can be considered as a sequel for my previous blog on Demonetization, which can be found at: https://eskay-blogs.blogspot.com/2018/09/demonetization-was-it-right-thing-to-do.html

The common misconception among general public is that black money is mainly being hoarded by politicians, cine actors and such.  Aren't there common man, with whom we interact on a daily basis, who's earning in black and do not disclose the actual income to the Government?

Let us see some of the statistics about Income Tax before we get into the specifics of how common public also involved in the generation of black money.

As per the Chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), for the FY2017, total number of Income Tax assesses in India was around 6.26 crores.  Earlier year (FY 2016) it was only around 4 crore.  So, for FY 2017 there has been almost 50% jump in the number of assesses (source: https://www.deccanchronicle.com/business/economy/250717/number-of-taxpayers-in-india-goes-up-from-4-crore-to-626-crore-in-fy17.html).   

Out of this 6.26 crore assesses, only about 24.40 lakh individuals/entities have declared their income to be in excess of Rs.10 Lakh a year (that's only 3.90% of the assesses earn more than Rs.10 lakh a year).  The other factor to wonder is total number of cars bought by Indians in 2016 (since we are considering the IT returns for FY 2017, I am taking the figures for 2016) was 36.69 lakhs.  Out of this at least about 40,000 cars are high-end luxury cars.  Don't we think there's a disparity here between what assesses declare as income compared to what they spend?

Now, the concept of Black Money and the huge sums held in black money are unfortunately not new to India.  Below is the statistics of black money estimated in India:

• FY 1975-76   -  Rs. 11,870 Crores (about 18% of India's GDP)
• FY 1980-81   -  Rs. 23,678 Crores (about 20% of India's GDP)
• FY 1983-84   -  Rs. 36,784 Crores (about 21% of India's GDP)

The above figures are from the White Paper prepared by the then Finance Minister Mr. Pranab Mukherjee in May 2012 in a 108 page document and submitted in the Indian Parliament based on RBI's white paper submitted to Finance Ministry. (source: http://www.prsindia.org/uploads/media/White%20Paper%20Black%20Money/WhitePaper_BackMoney2012.pdf).  The best part is after submitting this report in May 2012, Mr. Mukherjee was removed from FM post in June 2012.  I think it should be a coincidence!!!

RBI's white paper submitted to Finance Ministry and Indian Parliament regarding Black Money, ways to curb black money and other details can be found at: https://www.incometaxindia.gov.in/Communications/Circular/910110000000000365.htm.  This study is almost in line with the above referred White Paper submitted by Finance Ministry.  This white paper by RBI is almost about 50 pages long.

For the FY 1994-95, India's black money was estimated at Rs.1,10,000 Crores (by Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance).  Prof. Madhu Dandavate (then Dy. Chairman of Planning Commission) estimated this figure to be Rs.80,000 Crores.

Dr. Poonam Gupta and Sanjeev Gupta conducted a study and concluded that NIPFP (National Institute of Public Finance and Policy) has underestimated the circulation of black money and have stated the following to be the 'best estimate' of black money in India (source: http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/india-2/black-money/parallel-economy-and-estimates-of-black-income-in-india/63014/):

• FY 1980-81  - Rs.    50,977 Crores (41.70% of GNP)
• FY 1983-84  - Rs.    85,208 Crores (45.80% of GNP)
• FY 1987-88  - Rs. 1,47,297 Crores (51.70% of GNP)

You can search the Internet and see which party was in power and who was the Finance Minister during these periods.

If we have to blame a particular political party for black money in the country, during the above periods the country was ruled by Congress.  As you can see from the data, Black Money in India grew exponentially during the Congress Government.  Black Money monster was created and later no government were able to beat the monster.  I leave this at this as I don't want to get more political.

Currently, India's black money is estimated at Rs. 37,94,530 Crores, which is about 25% of the country's GDP.  As India's economy was growing, black money also grew.  The only comforting data in this is black money was 21% of GDP in 1983-84 but only 25% in 2015-16 even though the volume of money is quite huge (as the economy grew).

We can categorize the black money in two parts for better understanding.  To do this, let us consider black money in following two categories:

1. Large lump-sum money taken by politicians and others as kickback for various things.  This type of money mostly never enters the black economy.  Normally these are big sums (like 500 crores, 1,000 crores, etc.).  This money is deposited or invested in foreign countries, which are tax havens and do not ask any question about the source or origin of fund.  These kickbacks are common Indian public's money and could have very well been spent for India's development.  The only advantage (the better of these two evils) is that, this money is not in black economy and does not multiply within the Indian economy.
2. The second part is the black money held by individuals, companies, corporations, etc.  This type of black money is used in everyday business transactions.  As people/companies/traders do business with this black money, it earns them profit and such profits (again profits are also black money as nothing is recorded in book and are cash dealings only) are again reinvested in business thus the black market economy keeps growing and competes with the country's GDP.

To understand the quantum of black money stashed abroad (as described in point # 1 above), see below:

An estimate by Washington-based research and advocacy group Global Financial Integrity in its report "Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries: 2003-2012", suggests that around US$ 439.60 billion of black money left Indian shores, between 2003 and 2012.  US$ 439.60 billion is equivalent to Rs. 26,38,000 CRORES.  This is during a nine year period between 2003 and 2012.

Out of this Rs.26,38,000 Crores at least 95% of it would be the money sent abroad by politicians and their families.  The balance 5% could be from big corporations and business houses.  If this much volume of money was sent in nine years, what would be the total quantum of black money stashed abroad since Independence???  (source: http://indpaedia.com/ind/index.php/Black_money:_India).

Now, for the black money in circulation within India (parallel economy), let us consider the following:

Total earning population in India (employed and self-employed put together) is around 67.72 crore out of this about 16.42 crore is engaged in Agricultural sector and hence we will leave them from taxable income group.  That leaves us with about 51.30 crore earning individuals in this country.  If we have only 6.26 crore assesses, that's only 12.20% of the earning individuals in this country.  Are we saying 87.80% of earning individuals earn less than Rs.2,50,000 a year (if you earn Rs.2.50 lakh or less per year, you need not pay tax)?  I don't think this is true.

Now, coming to our blog topic, how all black money is generated and in what sectors.  Let us ponder the below:

1. Real Estate / Construction: The first and foremost sector were lot of cash deal happens is real estate.  To a greater extent we have to blame the Government also for this as the property value is grossly undermined as per government records.  The properties do have "Guideline value" and "market value".  Guideline value is the value for the property in that particular locality fixed by the Government.  In most cases, guideline value is about 50% to 70% lower than the market value.  As buyer, you cannot register the property for actual value as it will be far higher than the guideline value.  So even an honest person is forced to deal in black money.  This is the reason real estate market took a big hit after demonetization.  For calculation purposes, let us conservatively assume only Rs.10,00,000 Crores of black money is involved in this industry.
2. Private Loan sharks: A lot of small businesses/individuals and others borrow money from local loan sharks.  The interest rates charged by these lenders varies from about 3% per month to about 8% per month.  Let us assume an individual loan shark has Rs.5,00,000 to lend and he lends this money at 5% interest per month.  In a year his Rs.5 Lakhs black money would have earned him Rs. 3 Lakhs in interest.  So by end of the first year, he has Rs.8 Lakhs black money.  If he keeps lending money (including the interest earned), within 3 years, his initial black money of Rs. 5 Lakhs would become at least around Rs. 15 lakhs or more.  Let us assume in entire India we have only about 1,00,000 such private loan sharks and assume they each have only about Rs.15 Lakhs, that's about Rs. 15,00,000 Crores of black money (again this is a very conservative estimate).
3. Professional fees in cash:  The biggest section of professionals who prefer the fee to be paid in cash are advocates.  As per Bar Council of India (BCI), it is estimated that India has about 15,00,000 lawyers.  On an average, let us assume even 50% of them take Rs.500 (bare minimum) per day in cash as their fee and only 100 days a year this happens (very very conservative estimate).  This will work out to Rs. 3,750 Crores per year.  Do you think this much amount received in cash is declared by these lawyers as their income and proper tax is paid?  Another scary data is that, as per BCI, at least 20% of the lawyers practicing in India are fake and do not have proper degree (or completed it).  This was informed to Chief Justice of India by BCI.   You can now guess the amount of black money only this section of the society is creating every year.
4. Other consultants / professionals: In a big country like India, there are many number of professional consultants viz., Sales Tax Consultant, IT Consultant, Chartered Accountants, agents for customs and the like.  Let us assume India has about 3,00,000 such consultants (CA's alone are 1,25,000 who are in full-time practice) who provide various service to the business community and individuals.   Let us assume these professionals/consultants, on an average, take Rs. 250 a day and work only for about 200 days in a year.  That's about Rs.750 Crores a year by these professionals.  This is a bare minimum and very optimistic estimate.
5. Restaurants / Dhabas and other eateries: As of 2010, it was said that the reported turnover of restaurants and hotels in India was Rs. 43,000 Crores with a growth rate of 15-20% every year.  Of course, this does not include the roadside eateries / Dhabas and other small outlets.  Let us assume that India's current spending in restaurants and other eateries are around Rs.50,000 Crores (as reported to authorities) and I would strongly believe that there will be at least 15% of this as unreported sales.  That's about Rs. 7,500 Crores a year as undisclosed sales (in cash).  Many small roadside eateries and fast food joints do good business and for our estimation let us consider it is only around 50,000 such eateries in the country and each one of them make about Rs.500 a day in profit (cash sales).  That's about Rs. 912 Crores a year in black money.
6. Cinema Industry:  This is another giant of an industry revolving in handling a lot of black money.  Not just the highly paid actors but also the producers and others.  There are private loan sharks who offer finance to the film industry at an exorbitantly high interest rates, as high as 15-20% interest a month.  As of 2017, Indian Film Industry was valued at a Rs. 19,200 Crores.  This is only the official estimate and does not take into consideration the amounts paid and received in black.  It would be very safe to assume that this industry (to the actors, loan sharks, etc.) at least contributes Rs.3,000 to Rs.4,000 Crores a year in black (about 20% of the value of the cinema industry, which is a conservative estimate).
7. Logistics Industry:  In this category, let us forget about all other components of the logistics and concentrate only on the transportation part.  As of 2013, India's road transport network contributed about 4.90% of the country's GDP.  Remember, India's worst growth of GDP was for the FY 2012-13.  If Road Transport industry (mainly private owned as Government owned Road Transport network is very minimal) contributed 4.90% of GDP in FY2012-13, it should be around Rs. 7,43,727 Crores a year.  Let us assume these transport companies have hidden only about 5% of their turnover from the authorities (got paid in cash and didn't declare in the IT returns), it will be around Rs. 37,186 Crores a year.  Again, this is a conservative estimate as number of transportation companies operating in India are quite high.  Refer https://web.iima.ac.in/assets/snippets/workingpaperpdf/12319057932015-12-02.pdf for some good "bedtime reading" prepared by IIM, Ahmedabad to understand the Indian Logistics industry better.
8. Small Businesses: This category is probably the huge in terms of number as I want to cover the corner provision store, tea shop, supermarket, private transportation business (non-goods carrier) and the like.  Let us assume there are only about 1,00,000 such entities in India, who's daily profit is in the range of Rs.500 and do not disclose their actual turnover/profit to the Government.  This alone makes it about Rs. 1,825 Crores a year in black money.

After reading this far, you all would agree that the above are all quite a conservative estimate.  We have not included few other categories of professionals, like doctors, in our calculation above. Without going into any further division of businesses dealing in black money, let us consolidate the above sections of the society and see how much black money is being generated a year.

From above, it is evident that about Rs.25,48,423 Crores of black money is generated and in circulation in a year by the industry.  Looking at the statistics I have provided in my earlier blogs (average black economy in India is estimated at Rs.37,94,530 crores), I now confidently believe that this figure is conservative and I won't be surprised if black money generated in these sectors are much more than what I have estimated here.  As every figures has the keyword "estimated".

Now, as you can evidently see apart from politicians, there are lot of common public involved in creating this black money and we can't keep blaming the Government for everything if we, common public, are involved in creating/helping to create black money.  We, common public, have to understand that black money has very big negative impact on the country's economy and we look up at the Government for everything.  If we need the Government to provide a-z of our needs, then it's our duty to ensure we declare our actual income and pay the government the statutory dues as it generates more revenue.

As a friend of mine said, there's no point in talking about the problems and giving facts and figures to substantiate the problem.  Rather, we need solutions so that black economy has been considerably reduced quickly, which can help the nation in a big way.  Below are the measures I feel the Government and common public can adopt in order to curb this monster which is threatening our country.

• Real Estate - Government should come up with policy of removing the guideline value, market value and such.  If I own a property and I want to sell it for Rs. 2 crores and buyer is willing to pay me that price (even though guideline value is only about Rs.1 crore or so), I should be able to sell it for Rs. 2 crores and register the sale for full amount.  In order to implement this, Government should also reduce the stamp duty for registration of property sale.  Instead of current 7%+1% (in Tamil Nadu), let the Government say the buyer has to pay about 2% of the value of the property.  This will definitely help the common man a lot.  An average person who wants to apply for a loan and buy property (they are the majority in this country) will benefit a lot as banks will give only about 80% of the registered value of the property.  I believe there are quite a few individuals who will agree and will happily do this if implemented by Government.
• Income Tax - The current slab of no tax for income of Rs.2,50,000 or less a year should be raised.  We all know a family of three (husband, wife and a child) cannot live comfortably with an income of about Rs. 21,000 a month, particularly in urban areas.  For example, in Chennai city a decent house will cost you about Rs.8,000 - Rs.10,000 a month in rent.  If you have to pay 50% of your salary/earning a month towards rent, what will be left to run the family?  The system of Income Tax should get a complete overhaul as there are far too many parameters involved.  Let us assume, that I earn about Rs. 25,000 a month and have four dependents and my neighbor earns the same but have only one dependent, is it fair for us both to pay same tax?  I will have to borrow money to pay tax (same applies between same income individuals living in urban and rural area).  So, to be fair on the common public and to generate more revenue to the Government, the system of taxation have to be completely overhauled (many Western countries do follow taxation based on your marital status, dependents, etc.).  This will need a lot of time and energy, even by the Government, but I believe if done, will benefit the Government and common public in the long run and far too many people who evade tax today (because they can't afford it), will happily declare the income and pay. 
• Digital Transactions - Common public should try and use digital payments as much as possible (credit/debit card, online payments, payment gateways like PayTm, Airtel Money, etc.).  If we start this practice with many small outlets like restaurants, supermarkets, etc. we can reduce number of undisclosed transactions by them.  When they collect cash and do not disclose it, they just don't pocket the money we paid for goods but also the taxes they collected with it, so it's double dipping by these establishments.  It's very common that many people have debit/credit cards.  As of January 2018, Indians were having 3.62 crore credit cards and about 84.67 crore debit cards.  In order for public to use Debit/Credit cards more, Government should consider reducing bank charges for usage of debit cards and also lower the minimum balance requirements, even make the SB accounts as zero balance accounts.  Electronic payment options and payment through debit/credit card have increased significantly post demonetization of Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 notes (source: http://www.mbauniverse.com/group-discussion/topic/business-economy/demonetisation).  If we start using electronic payment options more and more, instead of cash, it will reduce black money generation quite considerably.
• No more high denomination currency notes - This may sound ridiculous but actually it will be very useful to do away with Rs.500 and Rs. 2,000 notes.  Rs. 200 note should be the high denomination note of Indian currency.  If we have high denomination note like Rs.2,000 it is very easy to carry Rs.4,00,000 (for example) as you can put 1 bundle of Rs.2,000 note in each pocket of your trousers.  Similarly, in a person's wallet it's very easy to carry around Rs.20K to Rs.50K with high denomination notes.  However, if Rs.200 is the high denomination note, imagine loan sharks roaming around with suitcases to carry Rs. 5 Lakh or so which they want to lend at high interest rates.  Doing this will also reduce the exposure due to fake notes.  If 100 fake notes of Rs.2000 notes enter Indian market, that Rs. 2 Lakhs, whereas this is not possible when high denomination note is only Rs.200.  Also, number of fake currency note printers will reduce as producing lower denomination note to match original quality will be expensive.  USA does not have dollar bill beyond $100.  Euro has only 200Euro note as highest denomination (they are withdrawing 500 Euro bill in circulation this year).
• Regulation on cash withdrawal/deposits in bank account - Government should impose restriction for cash transaction in bank accounts based on the minimum balance maintained by the account holder.  For example, if the average monthly balance in my business account was Rs.1 Lakh, I should not be allowed to withdraw or deposit more than Rs.50K in cash (50% of the minimum balance).  Again, this has to be dynamic depending on the size of the business unit and balance they hold in their account. This way, it can ensure suddenly I do not deposit a large sum of money claiming to be business earning or able to withdraw a huge sum to pay off some 'under the table' transaction.
• Establishing more banking facility - Much more banking channels should be open and accessible to the general public, particularly in rural areas and huge markets in India to make them deposit all cash sales money in their account before leaving the market.  The reason I am suggesting this is, on an average Koyambedu Wholesale market in Chennai (fruits, vegetables, flowers and provision) has a turnover of around Rs. 3 to 4 crores per day.  I would assume at least 90% of this (if not more) is cash sales.  Which means, the traders from this market walk away everyday with about Rs. 2 to Rs. 3 crore in cash!!!! Instead, Government should ask the vendors to deposit the cash daily in their account, which is linked to their PAN and AADHAR.  If one market in the country has cash sales of about Rs. 3 crores a day, imagine what will be amount when we consider overall India.  So, make things easy for vendors to deposit cash and probably even offer some incentive (like subsidy we get for paying fuel bill with debit/credit cards).
• Link all ID's into one - Since AADHAR card has been introduced and have become mandatory for many things, all Government related ID's such as PAN card, Driving License, Voter ID, Debit card and such should be linked to AADHAR.  So, for any transaction all you need is your AADHAR card.  With the current technology, it is not impossible to implement.  If you have multiple bank accounts, you should be given choice at the ATM to choose the account from which you want to withdraw or deposit.  This can also avoid people getting multiple credit cards using various means of address proofs and later not paying the dues to the bank issuing the credit card.

These are just a few major steps we need to take in order to put a clamp on the black money.  It's a huge monster in India and the fight against black money is not going to be an easy one.  If we control the amount of money in circulation in cash, automatically many other things will fall in place as people do not want to hoard huge amount of black money in Rs.100 and Rs.200 denominations.

Now, as I stated earlier, a common man with not much of experience/qualification in economy can suggest some ideas here, doesn't the brilliant minds of economists and financial experts in the Government doesn't know the measures to effectively control the black money?  I believe they do and I think nobody in the political system wants to start this as they are afraid of losing the vote bank as black money hoarders and people circumventing the system to evade taxes are becoming a majority.  So, as I always believe, this revolution against black money should also start from public to force the Government to implement measures to curb black money.

As I mentioned earlier, any economic decision in a vast country like India is not going to happen overnight and we may not see positive results for about two years.  However, given the seriousness of black money in India, it's high time we take these steps to initially control and gradually to eradicate black money.

Black Money in India has gone much deeper into the system.  Efforts to control and remove black money, which has so deeply engrossed in the economy is going to be a very painful process but this painful surgery is much needed to save the patient (Indian economy).