Social Media.... Should we ban this for good????

First off, it’s been a long time since I wrote a blog (little more than 5 years as my last blog was published on 11^th February 2013)…. Finally I decided to break my silence and write this blog as I was getting frustrated with all the (mis)information which seems to have taken every common man’s life by a storm through social media.

Thanks to the mass social media, now every Tom Dick and Harry knows about every subject on the earth, heaven and beyond and has their own opinion on all these subjects… Of course, you should have got the same forwards so the arguments won’t be longer.  If you have received different version of forward, then probably you both will end up fighting over which of the (mis)information is correct and probably you both will never see each other eye-to-eye.

Many of you may remember the viral video/photo/post about rubber rice being sold in the market.  This mass spreading of rumor happened probably about two years back… What happened to that?  Did the manufacturers of rubber rice stopped manufacturing such stuff after all these viral spreading of social media message and people becoming aware of the rubber rice?

The most recent viral spreading of (mis)information is the problems due to usage of refined oil… The cooking oil companies have started spending crores of rupees to advertise that refining process of oil is indeed very good and being followed in 100+ countries… Suddenly, people thought refined cooking oil is causing cancer, heart attack and what not and now the onus is on these manufacturers to prove them wrong and, as usual, like fools, we are going to end up paying more price for oil which will include these advertising costs.

Another recent information being shared in social media is about the price of LPG cylinder in India.  Every common man is crying that the price of LPG cylinder has gone up to about Rs. 850+ from being around Rs.400+… What they all conveniently forget is that they get back a subsidy of about Rs.350+ in their bank account within seven days after paying the full price of Rs.850+… So, the price difference is normal considering the inflation. 

Why the common man who is spreading these messages in social media is forgetting that he has got the subsidy already in his bank account and that he has not paid Rs.850+ for the cylinder? 

For those section of people who are always against the ruling political party, the most recent trend to blame the Government is the conversion rate of Indian Rupee against dollar (and all other foreign currency for that matter). 

Anybody who knows a bit about economics and foreign trade and such will understand there are far too many parameters which decides the strength of a country’s currency against international currencies and in particular against USD as USD has become universal currency for all foreign trade.

If INR’s exchange rate against USD is a failure of the Prime Minister, then I would like for us to look at below data:

Average exchange rate in 1967 - 1US$ = INR 7.50

Average exchange rate in 1989 - 1US$ = INR 16.23

In the 22 year period as above, only for about three years, Mr. Desai was PM of India.  Otherwise, it was Mrs. Gandhi and later Mr. Rajiv Gandhi were the PM and Congress party was in power.  Can we say the reason for such a huge difference in the exchange rate is due to the failure of that political party?  If we say yes, then we also belong to that group of people who believe in the rumors spread in social media.  

By now many of you may be thinking the increase in exchange rate is not huge over a 22 year period.  But before you condemn me or start cursing me, please reserve your thoughts till you read this blog entirely.

Does anybody have any clue why INR is on such big free-fall of historic propotions?  Today (first week of September), 1US$ = almost INR 72…

One of the major reasons for such a huge decline in INR’s value is due to the fact that between 2009 and 2014, India continued to import oil from Iran.  International community has imposed sanctions against Iran and no country was allowed to make payments to Iran.  India and Iran signed an agreement to the effect that Iran will continue to sell oil to India and we can pay them after international sanctions have been lifted (this agreement was signed when Congress party was in power and Mr. Manmohan Singh was the PM). 

After 2014 when the sanctions were lifted, we started paying Iran for oil we imported since 2009.  This is one of the major reason INR went on a downfall against USD since 2015 and this trend still continues.  Why Congress leaders who are blaming BJP for this are silent about this fact? 

This link will give you better understanding of what happened after the sanctions were lifted against Iran and how India decided to pay out and also how we paid during the sanction.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/India-ready-to-clear-6-5-billion-of-Irans-oil-dues-seeks-clarity-on-payment-channel/articleshow/52063669.cms

Another blame game happening against the Prime Minister and Central Government is the so called 'uncontrolled' fuel prices in India.  Can the PM alone be blamed for increase in fuel prices?

On 20^th June 2005, price of Diesel was Rs.31.51 per liter in Chennai. On 23^rd May 2013, price of Diesel was Rs. 52.92 per liter in Chennai.  During this period Mr. M.M. Singh (Congress) was the Prime Minister.  The % of price increase is about 68%.  Can we just blame Congress and Mr.Singh for not controlling this?

Read my paragraph about paying in USD to Iran for fuel bought from Iran since 2009.  Our requirement for USD increase and INR got weaker.  With that weakened rate we are buying oil currently and obviously the price is going up on a daily basis.

Also, many brilliant people who create these memes about fuel prices and share them in social media say that Crude Oil is only around US$ 60 per barrel and so why should Diesel or Petrol cost so much in India…  I think these people believe that we buy crude oil and transport it free to India and supply directly to petrol bunks and we fill our vehicles with crude oil.

Why are we forgetting the other elements involved in arriving at the fuel price?  To the best of my knowledge below is the processes involved before we get the final product (Petrol, Diesel, LPG, etc.) for our use domestically:

• Purchase of Crude oil by paying in USD
• Transportation of crude oil to refineries by paying in USD (India does not have enough refineries to support our entire requirement)
•  Pay all charges to refineries in USD
• Transport finished product to India by paying in USD
• Cost of transportation locally from various ports in India to final destination

In above, you will understand that as our currency gets weaker and weaker, we keep paying all of the above charges in USD and those prices are calculated based on the exchange rate when we receive the finished product in India.

If any of us have paid attention, we would understand that the price of fuel costs is different in different cities even within the state.  This is due to the additional transportation costs involved in transporting the fuel to those cities.  Chennai will be cheaper compared to other interior cities in Tamil Nadu as Chennai port receives the finished product.  But to other cities within the state, they add the additional transportation cost from Chennai to that particular city.

Also, as we grow faster and urbanize ourselves much faster, our need for fuel has increased drastically.  This increased requirement for fuel has resulted in increased buying with foreign currency, of course.  This is a vicious cycle, where when our demand goes up and we need more foreign currency, INR gets weaker.

Below is the statistics of India's crude oil requirement:

1980 - 643,000 barrels per day

1990 - 1,168,000 barrels per day

2000 - 2,147,000 barrels per day

2010 - 3,305,000 barrels per day

2013 - 3,660,000 barrels per day

Look at the staggering increase in demand for crude oil in India.  Also, remember that the above numbers are the requirement per day!!!

Source for above data is: 

https://www.indexmundi.com/energy/?country=in&graph=consumption&product=oil

For anybody who's interested, below is how a barrel of crude oil is converted:

Every 159 liters barrel of Crude oil produces the following: 

• 73 liters Petrol
• 36 liters Diesel
• 20 liters Jet fuel & heavy fuel oil
• 6 liters Propene
• 34 liters of other products (Butane, Asphalt & Sulphur) 

India is the third largest buyer of Crude Oil in the world.  Just to give you an understanding of how much of fossil fuel we consume, please see the data below:

Total number of vehicles registered in India as of 31-March-2016:

• Two Wheelers    - 16.90 Crores
• Cars                    -  2.56 Crores
• Jeeps & Taxis     -  0.46 Crores
• Buses                  -  0.18 Crores
• Goods Vehicles   -  1.05 Crores
• Misc.                   -  1.85 Crores (tractors, three wheelers, etc.)

Let us assume average two wheeler consumes 1 liter of fuel per day, car/jeep/taxi 10 liters per day,  Buses 75 liters per day, goods vehicles 100 liters per day and Misc. consumes 10 liters a day.  This makes average daily requirement for fuel at a staggering 184.10 Crores liters of fuel per day.  If we take an average fuel price as Rs. 75 per liter (cost of diesel), daily sales of fuel in India is just in excess of Rs. 13,800 Crores per day.

The number of vehicles listed above is based on March 2016 and definitely there's an increase in the number vehicles in last two years.  Again, remember in above calculation we have not considered the requirement of fuel for generators and other industrial usage. This is an alarming rate of depleting fossil fuel.  The world is depleting fossil fuel so rapidly I am not sure where will be the future generations find fuel.

If we keep urbanizing ourselves at this rate, I won’t be surprised if 1US$ becomes about INR 150 very soon.  The reason I say this is a recent study in India says that only 22% of India’s rural income is from agriculture sector.  Once upon a time, this country’s back bone was agriculture and at least 60% (if not more) of rural income came from that sector.  Thanks to urbanization, our agricultural resources are depleting at an alarming rate.

With the rate at which population is growing and agricultural sector is shrinking, the days when we will be forced to import even our basic staple food items is not too far.  This will put a lot of strain on Indian currency and our requirement for USD will be much higher.  When this happens, all imported goods and services including fuel will be at least 75% expensive then it is today.

We forgot our grass roots and started ignoring and wiping out agricultural lands to build IT centers.  Can we eat Java script for breakfast and raw EDI data with flowcharts for lunch?

When population was less and India was almost self-sufficient in agricultural sector, the exchange rate was low and imported goods and services were cheaper (including fuel).  As the population grew, our requirement for imported goods and services started increasing rapidly and we are now seriously facing the outcome.  If we do not go back to basics and start to develop our agricultural sector, unfortunately, the future looks very bleak and scary.

With all this rumors and misinformation being spread in the social media, some very important news/information is not reaching the general public.  Couple of days back I’ve read an article about a study conducted by IIT Bombay.  The study conducted by them has found that lot of micro-plastic particles and plastic fibers were found in many popular brand salt sold in India. 

Here’s the link to that news: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/sea-water-microplastic-in-popular-salt-brands-reveals-iit-b-study/story-n7EWL1QZA7lNFBCiJmdd7L.html

The result says that this is due to the pollution of the sea and has nothing to do with quality of the manufacturing process by these brands.  How many of us have read this?  What a serious pollution issue this is!!!  We continue to pollute the world and we are leaving behind a very bad legacy for the generations to come.

One fine day someone will find a bigger plastic particle in salt and will start spreading rumor that table salt is made with plastic in India (like the rubber rice).  Then, every common public will have a lot of opinion about how to manufacture quality salt.

Why are people being so blind-sided and are not even willing to think before they share / spread such messages?  The way the things are going makes me wonder if we are producing human beings without brain and the basic skill of analyzing the information before coming to conclusion and spreading them… By God, I hope I’m wrong.

While talking about these social media forward messages and other rumors being spread, a friend of mine told me “With social media and our current education system, I think we have created more educated idiots”.  I think he was spot on in his assessment.

I hope that all those who forward messages in social media, will also forward this blog of mine to reach a mass audience and make this blog go viral… 😀

Time to break the silence????!!!

Hello to everyone...

I guess it's been almost 5 years since I have written a blog and have now decided that I should write...

Already started on a topic and have few topics in my mind... Just wanted to share (warn) this information with everybody...

Soon, you can see a blog from me ... Another reason for this short post (warning) is to see how many of my friends are still interested in reading my blog...

Love to all

SK

Women issues.... What is it actually??

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I am forced to break my long silence in my blog now… Been feeling like a pressure cooker after hearing too many criticisms and objections for a status update I did in my Facebook.

Finally, I thought I cannot live with this “pressure cooker” like thoughts inside me and the result is you are unfortunate enough to read this blog :)

Below is what I posted in FB:

I got the petition to sign seeking speedy punishment for the rapists in Damini case.... I do understand the sympathy and condemn this wild act by few animals who are in our society.

But, how does signing an internet petition, changing profile picture to black dot, etc. help? Are we satisfied that we 'protested' sitting in the comfort of our house/office? Everything else will be alright?

Once again, I think I have to blame the media... Only about 4 days back a 42 year old woman was raped by a person known to her and couple of others in same Delhi and was thrown on the road side.... Why no 'black dot' or internet petition signing campaign for that??? Because she is 42 year old?

Our people need to understand how to fight.... When the elections approach the public happily accepts all 'gifts' and freebies from the Government and bring the Government to power.... Why can't the public exercise their right properly first???

In no way I am supporting any of the criminal activities going on but these fights of signing petition and black dot profile pictures will help you as much as a paper boat will help you to overcome Tsunami waves...

 

After I posted above status, I got a lot of mails, FB chats, etc. condemning my status update and that I am not contributing anything towards a solution but only find faults in people’s unity in fighting a crime…  Some good souls also told me that I’m probably a MCP…

Now, here’s my viewpoint.   I am still of the belief that these internet petitions, changing of profile pictures, etc. does not help the society in any way.  These are just a publicity stunts and business tactics used by the media and general public are falling prey for it.

If we are really to fight and protest against women being abused and been seen only a sex objects, there are quite a few other areas which we need to look at before we go behind the rapists and other sexual assault culprits.

One of the major requests/demand by women who were on the street and internet protesting this was that ‘do not look at how we dress… bring up your son not to be a rapist’…

Wholeheartedly I agree with these women… Irrespective of how a woman dresses (again this is debatable and I will try to address this also at later part of this blog), we should respect women, first of all, as a fellow human being and we should not treat women as a sex object.

Now, my problem (I know I have too many problems) is why these women and women activist groups protest only against the rapist and leaving everybody else who portray women as sex object?

Who is the biggest culprit in portraying women only as a sex object?  Below are my views:

1.       The first place in this should go to the movie industry.  In majority of the movies (I’m talking about Tamil movies here), the only goal of the hero is to attract the heroine and get married to her… The way the screenplay is written in the movies for hero to achieve this should be awarded #1 spot for women abuse (many movies have references to women as “sema kattai”, “party”, “dhool figure”, etc.).

2.          The second place should also go to visual media… Here the winner is the advertising industry.  There only goal is to market the product they are representing.  They don’t care how they portray women or any other person in the advertisement.  Recent example being one of the condom advt. and also an advt. of Axe deo spray.  Does any women think it is a respectable portray of a woman who is shown as tearing the clothes of an elderly gentleman?

3.          Print media… They are always there in everything… Most of the magazines need a good looking, ‘less dressed’ actress or other photo in their cover so that the magazine can gain popularity.

4.          Cheer Leaders in IPL matches.  Are they portrayed as Ambassadors of world peace?  No, just ‘eye candy’.  When did Indian cricket fan say that he won’t come to the stadium if cheer leaders are not there?

5.          Other sorts of media – Why do you need what they call “race queens” in car races and motorcycle races?  Are the spectators coming there to see the race or to see the women?  This trend of using women as race queens is becoming popular in India also.

Why women and women activists do not protests against above people and demand them from stop using women as sex objects?  Is it because these are powerful people in big industry?  Or women forgot that these are also form of women abuse or women are portrayed badly?

One advertisement campaign I’ve been seeing in the last couple of days is what actually forced me into this blog… Advt. released by Gillette calling for soldiers to respect women… This is the height of ‘double act’.  Every Gillette advt. when they come out with new razors portrays that women will feel the man’s cheek and kiss if he has shaved using Gillette razor.  So, the company indirectly promoting their product saying if you want a kiss from a girl use my product.  What Gillette thought?  Women will kiss anybody who shaves with Gillette razor?  Is this a way to respect women?  And now they are releasing “public interest” advt. stating respect women…. Beautiful !!!

Now about the way some women dress.  How can people say “don’t worry about how I have dressed… Still respect me as a woman”?

Provocative dressing by both gender should be restricted.  India has not fully got used to the so-called western culture.   If a group of men come out and say we plan to wear only underwear… Do not worry about how we dress, just respect us as men… Will women accept this? Or is it really good for the society?

There should be a line drawn as to what is respective clothing in public.

A pub in one of malls in Gurgaon was closed.  Mall management justified the closure stating the pub is ‘raunchy’ to be operating in a mall.  What did some of the regular women customers of this pub do?  They removed their tops and were only in under garments protesting against closure of the bar.  The CCTV footage of this was spreading like viral in internet for a while (web link: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/gurgaon-sahara-mall-eunuchs-stripping-cctv-footage-raunchy-pubs/1/241072.html).

So, these women who protested for their pub’s closure deserve respect when they start stripping in a mall?  Again, this is a minority group of women and I understand that.  Similarly, both the genders have their own faults and plus points.

I don’t know if I feel better after writing this blog.  But as many of you know I always wanted to convey my opinion rather than keeping it to myself.  We cannot be partial in our protests.  Anybody and everybody who is involved should be straightened. 

As many of you know, so far I have restrained myself from writing anything political in my blogs… Whoever follows Indian political scene, please read about the new emergency law passed by the Indian Government to by-pass few recommendations made by Varma commission.  Why no protests from public for this??

Misguiding Media ???

Media (here I’m talking about newspaper, magazines, etc.) was once considered as pulse of the people.  But can we say the same about media now?

Now, people react to what’s being broadcast by the media.  If the media stops broadcasting the issue, people tend to forget it.  So, media is playing the public, which is convenient for them to increase their sales and also to help the political parties they are affiliated to.  Like any other industry, media has also now become a business.  Media does not work anymore in the interest of public.  The social responsibility of media is long dead.

Recent examples of mass public reaction to the issues, which were hot in the media:

(1)  Koodankulam Nuclear power project – I do not see any FB, Twitter or other social media frenzy by public on this.  Is this because the media has blacked-out this issue recently.  How much of reaction from public just sometime ago on this when media was flashing this news as if this project was some national disaster.

(2)  Mullai Periyar dam issue – Every printed and visual media was carrying this as their cover story for quite some time.  All Keralites in social media network were almost anti-Tamilians.  There was a huge outcry to save Kerala and the dam.  Now, I do not see any such outcry or coverage on media.  If the dam has already been fixed, I am the one to be blamed to be out of date in such a serious issue.

(3)  Anna Hazare and Lokpal Bill – This issue seems to be seasonal for media.  When they do not have any other hot topic, Anna Hazare and Lokpal finds the headlines and people start to protest against the Government (in social networks and other forms) and Anna Hazare is made to be believed like God and savior of the country.  When media gets some other hot topic, Anna Hazare and Lokpal bill is forgotten by them and duly by public also.

(4)  2G Scam – Another seasonal product for both media and public.  When some news is published in media on this, the public starts to react.  News changes and so does public.

The list will go on.  Media is playing the public and I do not have any doubt in my mind about that.

Recent frenzy on all social media sites were about Sachin Tendulkar rejecting the offer to have the Government house in New Delhi under his MP quota.  Good gesture from Sachin, no doubt (I only hope he doesn’t claim reimbursement from Government for his hotel bills!)…

But the same Sachin, declared that he is AN ACTOR AND NOT SPORTSPERSON in front of Income Tax tribunal just to avoid paying some extra tax… Why this didn’t make it to headlines and create frenzy.  Income Tax department accepted his argument and IT waiver was granted.  Sachin’s MP post is due to his contribution to the game of cricket.  The guy himself declared that he’s an actor who plays cricket as ‘part time’ (he himself stated he is “non-professional” cricketer) gets MP post and we all are very proud of it.

News on Sachin’s statement of IT Tribunal can be found in below web site:

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/actor-sachin-tendulkar-gets-tax-break/1/139537.html

Indian public and media did not bother to protest against Sachin for this… Why? Is it because he is a celebrity? Is it because media is too afraid to publish anything which will tarnish the image of Sachin, which will result in protest against media by Sachin Fan(atic)s!!!

Also, I cannot believe majority of Indian public are so ignorant.  The recent frenzy in social network from public is to make Dr. Kalam as the president of India is a great example.

Where does these people get the idea that by ‘sharing’ and ‘liking’ a photo of Dr. Kalam will make him eligible to become a Presidential candidate?  The post of Indian President has mostly been a ‘rubber stamp’ post and decided by the ruling and opposition parties of the parliament.

I have great respect for Dr. Kalam as an individual and scientist.  I do agree he’s a very simple and great man.  But, my question is what changes or achievements has he done in Indian political scene when he was a president?  He was very simple, did not waste government money, etc.  but does that alone qualify him to become a president again?  There are many people in this society who are humble, honest and straightforward.   These qualities alone cannot be a criteria for somebody to become a president.

While writing this blog about media, a thought came to my mind and wanted to check the ownership of some of the popular medias in India.  This is what I found in below website:

http://pseudosecularism.blogspot.com/2009/04/indian-media-ownership-facts.html

I do not claim any authenticity for accuracy of information below.  This is what the above website says in terms of ownership of Indian media:

Who owns the media in India?

There are several major publishing groups in India, the most prominent among them being the Times of India Group, the Indian Express Group, the Hindustan Times Group, The Hindu group, the Anandabazar Patrika Group, the Eenadu Group, the Malayala Manorama Group, the Mathrubhumi group, the Sahara group, the Bhaskar group, and the Dainik Jagran group. Let us see the ownership of these media agencies.

NDTV: A very popular TV news media is funded by the Gospels of Charity in Spain, which supports Communism. Recently it has developed a soft corner towards Pakistan because the Ex-President Musharraf had allowed only this channel to be aired in Pakistan. Indian Division CEO Prannoy Roy is the co-brother of Prakash Karat, General Secretary of Communist Party of India. His wife and Brinda Karat are sisters.

India Today which used to be the only national weekly who supported BJP is now bought by NDTV and since then the tone has changed drastically and turned into Hindu bashing. No prizes for guessing why.

CNN-IBN: This is 100 percent funded by Southern Baptist Church with its branches all over the world with HQ in US. The Church annually allocates $800 million for promotion of its channel. Its Indian heads are Rajdeep Sardesai and his wife Sagarika Ghosh.

Times group list: Times Of India, Mid-Day, Nav-Bharth Times, Stardust, Femina, Vijaya Times, Vijaya Karnataka, Times now (24- hour news channel) and many more. Times Group is owned by Bennet & Coleman. ‘World Christian Council‘ does 80 percent of the Funding, and an Englishman and an Italian equally share balance 20 percent. The Italian Robertio Mindo is a close relative of Sonia Gandhi.

Star TV: It is run by an Australian, who is supported by St. Peters Pontificial Church, Melbourne.

Hindustan Times: Owned by Birla Group, but hands have changed since Shobana Bhartiya took over. Presently it is working in Collaboration with Times Group (refer above).

The Hindu: English daily, started over 125 years has been recently taken over by Joshua Society, Berne, Switzerland. N. Ram’s wife is a Swiss national.

Indian Express: Divided into two groups: The Indian Express and The New Indian Express (southern edition): ACTS Christian Ministries have major stake in the Indian Express and later is still with the Indian counterpart.

Andhra Jyothi: The Muslim Party of Hyderabad known as MIM along with a Congress Minister has purchased this Telugu daily very recently.

The Statesman: It is controlled by the Communist Party of India.

Kairali TV: It is controlled by the Communist Party of India (Marxist)

Mathrubhoomi: Leaders of Muslim League and Communist Leaders have major investment.

Asian Age and Deccan Chronicle: Is owned by a Saudi Arabian Company with its chief Editor M.J. Akbar.

I only hope media goes back to it’s golden age of being “people’s voice” to really reflect the society’s problem and mistakes made by the Government.

It’s a wish…. I only hope this wish is granted!

FDI – What is it actually??

The recent hot topic in media and as usual, heavily debated by general public in social network medias is about Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).  Everybody has got an opinion on FDI and wants the Indian Government to ban FDI in retail sector.  So, I thought let me also write my opinion about FDI.  Now, whoever is reading this blog has no choice but to read my opinion!!!!

What’s wrong in allowing FDI in retail sector?  Isn’t competition good for business and also for end user?  I have seen few people saying the local traditional “nadar shops” and “chettiar shops” have to close down if Government allows FDI in retail sector.

What are these people trying to tell me? That nadar shops and chettiar shops are more expensive than Wal-Mart, Carrefour, etc.?  If yes, then I think it is only fair to bring these international giants in order for the nadar shops and chettiar shops to be in competitive range.

As an end-user consumer, where will we buy the product (assuming we are comparing apple to an apple)?  We will buy from the cheapest shop.  If this is the case, how can Wal-Mart and Carrefour be a threat or competition to local retail vendors?  How can a multi-national company, considering all the huge investments and expenses, be competitive than a local vendor?

In my opinion, the public is opposing FDI just because the media and some politicians are saying it is wrong.  Haven’t we, India as a country, allowed foreign companies in other sectors?  Where were all these individuals opposing FDI were at that time?

The day we decide to buy a car, we compare Toyota, Honda, Hyundai and Ford for price and fuel efficiency comparison.  We sometimes even forget that Maruti and Tata do make cars, which are Indian companies.

We want to celebrate a birthday party or get together at Pizza Hut, Dominoes Pizza, Mary Brown, KFC, etc.  At that time in our short list for venue, the Muniyandi Vilas, Thalapakattu Briyani and other local vendors name won’t feature.

Ask the current generation kids what soft drink they like.  Mostly, the answer will be Pepsi or Coca Cola.  They might have even forgotten that there was a local company producing Thumbs Up (now they may remember due to fantastic advertisement campaign with Akshay Kumar).  We want to drink Coke and Pepsi but don’t want foreign companies entering into retail business.

How many individuals own BPL TV or other Indian made televisions?  Most of us have Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, etc… Why don’t we stop buying foreign televisions?

I am not even sure if any Indian company makes cell phones in India.  The biggest market shareholder for cell phones are Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Blackberry, Apple, etc.  Why do we buy foreign brands if we are protesting against FDI?

So, we want to enjoy the fruits of all international comforts and cuisine.  When Government opens one more sector for foreign investment, we start the protest and say the Government is trying to kill retail vendors in the country.

Look at the other side also.  We proudly say Mr. Vijay Mallya has bought White & Mackay Distillery and he is now the world’s third largest distillery owner.  An Indian buying foreign companies and investing in foreign countries is national pride.

Tata Motors went ahead and bought Jaguar and Land Rover companies in a single deal.  We were very proud to say that now Jaguar and Land Rover are party Indian made cars (due to the ownership).

We want our Indian investors and businesses to invest/buy foreign businesses but we do not want foreign investments to enter into India.  Is this reasonable or being patriotic?  I think this is being greedy.  We want to take over the entire world with our money power but don’t want foreign companies making entry into India.

For some reason, Indian currency became weaker against dollar and many other foreign currencies.  What did happen?  There’s an article, which claims more than $700 million worth of foreign currency came into India during this period.  These are money transferred by NRI’s living outside India.  There was also an article, which stated that Saudi Arabia thought of banning money transfer into India for a while due to the amount of money going out of Saudi Arabia.

What does above indicate?  We have so many Indians working abroad (that includes me too!), who earn money living in a foreign country.  If we are all so patriotic that we do not want foreign countries to invest in India, why do we come abroad in search of a job?  By doing that, aren’t we taking away employment opportunity from local nationals, wherever we go to work?  In what way this is right if a foreign company investing in India is wrong?

I don’t want to deviate from the topic of this blog and I am going to write my next blog about the public mentality and media’s role in diverting issues.  Many of us blindly believe what media says is 100% truth. 

So, as I drive my Nissan SUV in UAE roads and spending Dirhams as I watch the Indian currency exchange rate keenly, I also protest FDI being allowed in India…. JAI HIND !!!

I HAVE A NECK SPRAIN… THIS IS BECAUSE OF THIS NEW GOVERNMENT!!!!

I know the title of this blog would have made few to raise their eyebrows.  I won’t say the few who read my blogs would have been ‘shocked’ with this title…

We blame the Government for everything.  This is the latest trend.  This can be seen in the newspapers, TV channels, Facebook, Twitter, etc…etc…  Yes, government is responsible for everything.  We, as common public, are not responsible.  Our only responsibility is to blame the government.

Severe power cut in Tamil Nadu – It’s all because of this new Government led by AIADMK.  Wow, how short people’s memory is!!!!  Before the elections, the general consensus among people, media and critics are that DMK may lose the elections mainly because of the power cut issue right through the state.  Now, when we have electricity shortage and face power cut, we blame it on the new Government.

What would have the old Government done if there’s power shortage?  How would have they solved this problem?  As general public, I don’t care… I have already blamed the current government for this problem.  My social responsibility as a citizen is over!!!  Worst case, if this power cut problem continues, we will start a demonstration, fasting and other acts of protest against the Government till the power cut problem is solved.

Ok, Government is trying their best to avoid this power cut problem.  What’s the best solution?  Alternate sources of energy.  Government has spent crores of rupees in Koodangulam Nuclear Power project.  What we did as general citizen of this country?  We staged demonstrations, fasting and protests against the Government stating the nuclear power plant should not be started.

On one hand we oppose the government for power shortage and on the other, we also oppose the government when they try to start new power plant projects.  So, what should the Government do?  As a common citizen, here’s my answer: “I don’t care…. They should not start nuclear power plant to overcome power shortage.  At the same time, there should not be any power shortage in the country/state”.

What’s the rule as per TNEB for new power connection?  Only one connection (meter) per kitchen.  This means, if a building has two houses, you can have only 2 connections and then one connection for common utilities (viz., motor, general lights, etc.).  But what do we do?  We pay ‘something’ under the table and split our electricity connection into multiple connections so that we will not pay high tariff due to high consumption slab.  With all this, obviously TNEB will make losses.  They raise their tariff in order to cover all actual expenses, what do we do?  Stage protests, demonstrate, fasting, etc.

Whenever the new Government takes over, people tend to agitate against each and every single decision about the government.   What this beautiful media and general public forget (conveniently) is that this new government is there in power because majority of the general public voted for that party!!!!

So, we select a government – this is disputable statement – majority of us are very busy to go even for voting.  Technically, we have always had minority government.  The maximum state-wide polling is about 60% only.  So, 40% of our learned public are too lazy or too busy to participate in electoral process.

But when the government is formed, we are ready 100% to find all loopholes in the decisions taken by the government and protest against it.  This is the true “PUBLIC DEMOCRACY” !!!!

Are the politicians only the corrupt people in this society?  This is a huge topic on which I have already written a blog and in general ‘majority’ of the readers disagreed with me!

What does general public do?  Mostly (out of the 60% who takes the pain to go the polling booth to cast their votes), they vote for the party offering better ‘terms’ for the vote.  If a party is giving free laptop, free grinder, free mixer, then we will vote for them.  So, we - the general public, have started selling our votes, which is our basic democratic right.  If we vote only to the party offering us more benefits, then this is business.  The political parties who offer such things have to make more money so that they can offer better terms for the next election.  So, why blame them for being corrupt?

Due to recent heavy rains in Chennai, there was havoc in the city.  Particularly the low-lying areas were flooded completely with water.  I was watching Sun News with my early morning cup of tea.  They were showing footage from one of the areas where the local residents were complaining about lack of facilities and were stating, “Government is not doing anything”.  Whoever was lucky enough to see that footage could have seen that the road was very narrow.  There was a small sitting area (thinnai) in almost every house.  Where is this built?  On the road, outside the proper land area owned by the resident.

Earlier, the Government has brought in a rule that every house should have rainwater-harvesting facility.  What did we as common public do?  We buy 800 sq. ft. of land and build a house edge-to-edge (half the balcony will be in the adjacent property-overhanging).  We make the entire plot total concrete.  What happens where there’s heavy rain? The rainwater goes into the sewage system, which is not built to take that much load.  We do not have any soil in our plot, which can absorb the water.  Who do we blame?  The Government… Because it is their problem that the water is not cleared from the roads and our own plots as soon the rain has stopped…

Why are we not contributing something to the society and then force the Government to continue it?  Why do we need everything to be done by the Government?  We want to by-pass the system in order to pay lesser utility bill, we will vote for the party, which offers more freebies, but when it comes to Government, they have to PLEASE ALL OF US… We don’t care how they can do it and the Government also cannot expect anything from us but we need it all.

Now, after writing this blog, still my neck is not alright. I think the Government has to do something about this!

Child Labor... What is it actually???

Hello Friends,

It's been a while since I met you all here in my blog.  Finally, found some time to check a draft blog from past and decided to post it here for my friends to read, comment and criticize... :)

In the recent past, I've heard far too many people crying out loud against "Child Labor"....  They all convey their views, criticisms, opinions and demand everyone to avoid child labor.  Great thought... Will genuinely appreciate anybody who takes a step to get children into school and to educate them and better their lifestyle and future.  But will definitely not appreciate just propaganda against child labor without any action...

What's the point in protesting against a problem without solution?  There's a saying that more than 95% of people know the problem and can talk about it... But only 5% can offer a solution for the problem rather than talking about the problem itself...

Personally, I've never given much thought about child labor and have never been encouraging or discouraging it.  I realize there are child labor in this society just because of the living conditions and other social reasons. 

If we want to abolish child labor, what's that family going to do for that extra income?  How are they going to feed themselves?  Are we intending to abolish child labor and put a entire family out of streets hungry?  I don't think that's the right path or decision.

Also, increasingly I see anti-child labor slogans against the fireworks industry.  Even my nephew told me couple of years back that he will not buy crackers for Diwali anymore since there are child labor in that industry.... Good job... Good decision.

Now, let us assume we all stand united and boycott buying fireworks for Diwali and other occasions.  What will all the employees employed by these fireworks industry do for their living?  Beg on the streets?  By doing such abolition, we are not eradicating a problem called child labor... But, we are creating far more new problems like unemployment, economic slowdown (as this industry brings considerable % of foreign currency and revenue in other forms), loss of money to government through central excise and taxes, which will increase the other tax % in future, which is going to increase the burden on everybody else!!!!

Also, I do not understand targeting one specific industry like fireworks or match industry.  Many people who are against child labor in fireworks and match industry, completely forget other industries / business which employ child labor.  Some examples I could think of are below:

(A) Our friend, who boycotted buying match box and fireworks, goes to a tea shop and says "Thambi... strong-a oru tea kuduppa" to a 10 year old boy working there... Why not boycott drinking tea than ordering your tea through a child?

(B) We go to a shopping mall (or a shop) and we cannot carry our own shopping bags (this can be seen widely in big textile stores).  So, our 'thambi' working there, who could be only 12 or 14 year old will carry our bags to our car and we will generously tip him for helping us.  Why do we buy things which we cannot carry?  Why not we shout against child labor there and stop buying clothes from such shops?

(C) We ride our motorcycle and unfortunately end-up with a flat tyre... We struggle to push the two wheeler to the nearest shop.  There's a 10 year old sitting their managing the business.  We tell him "Thambi... Urgent-a puncture seri pannuppa... I have important work"... We don't mind child labor there... Why not abandon our vehicle there and go find a shop which does not employ a child?

(D) We have seen many of our friends and neighbors employing small girl or a boy as their house maid.  How many of us have protested against it?  How is that right when employing child labor by fireworks/match industry is wrong?  Why not we boycott such friends and neighbors?

Is our concern when we protest against fireworks industry and matches industry really about child labor or is it because of increasing prices of fireworks and reduced dependency on match boxes?  I honestly feel we target these industries because many of us are hurt with increasing prices every year for fireworks.  Also, I don't think many houses use match boxes anymore.  Most of the smokers use lighters and match boxes are used at home only in pooja room!!! 

In my humble opinion, above is the fact.  But honestly, I've never fought against child labor.  Because it is not the fault of the businessmen to employ young children.  It is the need the family has to run their livelihood that they send their children to work.  I believe, if we completely abolish child labor, we will end-up with far more social problems than a simple child labor problem.

As stated earlier, I don't want to be in the 95% mass of talking only about problems... I would love to be in the 5% (or at least try to work towards reaching into that 5%).  I think below are the basic steps that needs to be taken in order to avoid child labor.

- Any family sending their children to work, should be compensated by the Government for children's education and better employment opportunity (to compensate the earning of the child) to the family so that they can earn their livelihood.

- Increased access to education and other facilities right throughout the country and increased awareness and assurance to the parents that they will have access to their necessities when they send their children to school.

Above are the couple of thoughts / ideas which immediately came to my mind... These are not entirely possible by individuals and social working groups.  This needs a much better and bigger set-up like the governments themselves working towards this and funding this.

Also, this may result in little more of tax from us so that government can achieve these objectives. 

How many of us are willing to bear extra expense/tax in order to achieve this?  We all should... and then we can talk about abolishing child labor.

When Indian Government came-up with Education Cess, how many of us happily paid it?  We don't even question the government on how they are spending millions of rupees collected... Shouldn't we all start from there?

As always, I look forward to comments and criticisms from my friends.... :)