We should be ashamed, not celebrating.

By now we all know that Pakistan’s Malala Yousafzai and India’s Kailash Satyarthi have jointly won the most prestigious award – The Nobel Peace Prize.

The media went into a frenzy and people across both the countries celebrated this proud moment. But is this really a moment of pride for us?

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No, I’m not trying to demean their accomplishments. It takes immense courage and confidence to escape death and yet stand for your ideas and beliefs (Malala); while it takes highest amount of determination, selflessness and passion to devote your whole life to eliminate child labour.(Satyarthi). However, getting recognised for their efforts is their individual achievement. But as a nation we must hang our heads in shame.

The very fact that a person has to be awarded for showing courage to stand against the exploitation of children shows the despicable situation of our country and the state of apathy we live in. If we, as a nation, are unable to provide basic amenities & fulfill primary needs of our children and prevent their exploitation then what right do we have to celebrate? We have failed our kids.

Since decades both nations have spent Billions in fortifying their borders & fighting mindless wars with each other. Had we spent an equivalent amount on education and eradication of poverty, there wouldn't have been need for any man or woman to dedicate their life for these causes.

Satyarthi has freed over 80,000 children from various types of servitude and exploitation. The worrying fact is that this is just a fraction of the actual number of kids suffering across the country. Today, the condition of many of our country’s children has degraded to such an extent that they are being made to work as bonded labourers for meager or no wages, their limbs are amputated and are made to beg on streets, they are pushed into slavery & flesh trade, and even killed if they are no longer deemed useful. Most of these kids are orphans, abandoned, kidnapped or even sold by their parents owing to extreme poverty. On paper there are various schemes, policies and laws to prevent child-exploitation, but those are hollow without the will to implement it.

Over 325,000 children went missing in India since 2011. Around 45% of missing children are never found. And yet today we are celebrating & feeling proud of getting global recognition. Like always, there are debates and discussions about the deplorable condition of country’s children on news channels, in papers, at offices & homes.

But tomorrow, once again we shall silently ignore the kids sitting on roadside and begging for a coin,

We would ignore those little legs risking their lives by running in-between heavy traffic to sell balloons,

We will silently drink teas served by bruised little hands,

We would silently pass by the shops where we know kids are being made to work in inhumane conditions. We will hear their cries, yet keep walking as if we didn't hear a thing,

We will look away when we see kids in garbage bins searching for bottles and plastic,

We will turn a blind eye towards tiny fragile bodies that perform dangerous stunts in street circuses or whip themselves to earn a living.

And yet we are rejoicing that our countryman has won a Nobel. Apart from few such selfless social workers, there are rarely few who are contributing towards creating a society where henceforth there won’t be a need for a Satyarthi to devote his whole life trying to save children or a Malala to preach importance of education and knowledge.

Let’s ask ourselves, what we would do if these were our kids? The issue is that we don’t consider kids other than ours as even human beings, and hence this indifferent attitude. It’s time we do some serious introspection.

This article is written by Raju Verghese. Follow him on Facebook here.

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Shoot them all. We do not want another Veerappan

20 red sanders smugglers have been shot dead. Jobless politicians have something to cheer for the next few days. They would be interviewed, they would join discussions on television channels answering when the nation demands. Compensation of INR 3 lakhs announced for the victims and the blame-game has started already. Police allege that they shot in self-defense. Looking at the pictures, the victims were wearing jeans and I am not sure how many tribal men wear jeans. We do not know what exactly happened and whether these tribal men worked for a bigger gang. Ignorance is not an escape route for anyone under the law of the land. Just because they could be woodcutters doesn't mean that they can indulge in anything illegal.

In the year 1997, in my village which borders the Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve, a Mahindra van belonging to the forest official was blocked and the gang released an accused and damaged the van and thrashed the forest officials. This is how things were in those times. Fast forward a decade, no one visits the forest and people whose lives were dependent on cutting trees were no longer the same. They indulge in some other business and I have heard that the forest cover had gone up in the locality. The reason? Almost everyone who was involved in damaging the van had to go through tough times in Jail and that translates to loss of income for most of them as they were daily laborers. But even today, most of them would argue that the forest officials should not have arrested that person who is innocent but no one dares to ask what this innocent man was doing inside the reserve forest. Even in our own farm in our village, before cutting any tree we have to take permission. You might ask why but that is how the system works. The tree belongs to us, the farm is ours but we need to take permission. We had a Sandalwood tree in our farm and it was cut by poachers a decade ago. 

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When you start finding reasons for why these people have become poachers, you'll find a handful. Let us not get into that. If they started attacking the police officers and forest officials, this is bound to happen. Remember, these forest officials have a family and a school going son or daughter. No one bats an eyelid when a police official dies in an encounter. I had a friend in Engineering whose dad was with BSF. He always used to tell me, "I will make my dad resign once I get a job." Think about it. The poachers, smugglers work for a biggie whose name would never come out in public. But no one forced these poachers to take this as a profession. They chose this profession. 

But whether killing them is necessary? Well, it depends. If you're being attacked and if you were in the forest official's place, I am sure you'd not mind killing those bastards. But if you were in the forest official's place and had you been asked to kill for political vendetta, or to settle scores, I am sure you would have offered your resignation. In a Kamal Hassan movie the villain would say to Kamal, "You cannot kill me, if you do, your middle-class conscience would kill you every day throughout your life." This is one thing many take for granted. But should we politicize and sensationalize every issue? I am not sure. This is not a small incident to ignore. But can we shoot a rich guy at the airport who smuggles gold in to our country? Can we shoot the scamsters? Can we shoot people who evade taxes?

Yes, if they try to kill a Government official. We do not want another Veerappan. Please do not support any politician or a media house that is trying to sensationalize this issue. Let us wait for the truth to emerge. Till then, remember this, "Ignorance of the law is not an escape route."

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Another Flipkart Exclusive - Lenovo A 7000

Lenovo has launched its budget smartphone Lenovo A7000 in India. This phone was earlier unveiled at the Mobile World Congress, Barcelona. It is priced at INR 8999 and would be exclusively available  on Flipkart. It is the first smart phone with Dolby Atmos sound technology. The phone is powered by a 64 bit 1.5 GHz octa core processor, 2GB DDR3 RAM, 8 GB of internal storage that can be expanded up to 32GB. It would run the latest Android 5.0 Lollipop operating system.

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It is a dual SIM (micro SIM) smart phone that weighs 140 gms and has a 5.5 inch screen. The phone measures 152.6x76.2x7.99mm The resolution of the phone is 720*1280 pixels. The battery capacity is 2900mAh. The phone has an 8MP auto-focus rear camera with with a Sony IMX219 Sensor and 5MP fixed focus front camera. The phone is 7.9 mm thin. This phone supports USB-OTG. The touchscreen is capacitive and the battery is removable. The phone will be available in two colors Onyx Black and Pearl White.

“At Lenovo we are committed to providing cutting edge technology to our consumers. The A7000 brings in flagship worthy features and performance at an incredible price making it a perfect choice for consumers looking for a trendy and powerful phone loaded with future-proof features,” said Sudhin Mathur, Director- Smartphones, Lenovo India.

 This phone will be exclusively available on  Flipkart via flash sales. The flash sale is scheduled for April 15th and the registrations for the same has started already.

“The Lenovo A series has been very well received by our customers since its launch in January this year. We are happy to partner with Lenovo again to launch Lenovo A7000. The latest addition to this series. Dedicated towards providing world class products at great value to our consumers, we are positive that this new-age smartphone will cater to every customer requirement.” Said Amitesh Jha, Vice President, Retail, Flipkart

This phone is expected to give tough competition to Redmi Note. For registrations visit this link.

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Times Now should stop sensitizing news for TRPs

Few days back when India lost to Australia in the World Cup semi-finals, Times Now, started tweeting the hashtag, #ShamedinSydney. Cricket fans did not take that lightly and they started trending the hashtag, #ShameOnTimesNow worldwide. It seems that the channel did not learn the lesson. Today it started trending the hashtag, #VKDisaster. Refer to the following tweets of Times Now.

It was a sarcastic comment from the MoS (External Affairs) V.K.Singh. When the whole world is in awe of India's efforts in evacuating its citizens from the war torn Yemen, Times Now to increase its TRP has started trending this hashtag and eventually shows its sleazy nature to think only of making money. Check out the trending topics in the following image.

When nations like US, France and Germany sought India's assistance to evacuate their citizens from Yemen, instead of crediting the MEA (Ministry of External Affairs) and V.K.Singh, Times Now shouldn't have thrown mud at V.K.Singh. Let us hope they learn this time from their mistakes and stop sensitizing news for TRPs.

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My take on Deepika’s “My choice”

Since long we have been talking about women equality, empowerment, Nirbhaya and a lot of organizations have been creeping up only for the same. But have we done something which can actually make each and every woman feel secure of doing whatever she wants to do? We still have parents who tell their daughters not to pursue a career in fashion designing, acting, mechanical engineering etc. There are husbands who prevent their wives from having a career. The hooligans in the streets have made it the most unsafe place for a woman. The society still blames the woman for being there. 

More than half of Indians came together to protest against the rapists in the Nirbhaya case but has there been any effect? Have we been able to prevent rapes or at least have we been able to bring the government to take adequate steps to prevent such crimes? We all know the truth. The culprits of Nirbhaya rape case are still languishing in jail giving interviews to news channels at the cost of the Indian tax payer. When the Potus Mr.Obama visited India, the police installed 15000 CCTV cameras in Delhi. They didn’t have an answer when the Delhi high court questioned them why the same was not done for the safety of women in Delhi.

Deepika Padukone’s video on women empowerment, not sure if it was a marketing tactic for her next  movie Piku, but a  video that has notched 73.18 lakh views and is still trending. “My choice” to do whatever I like is the message conveyed. There are a lot of issues where a woman needs freedom to say it was “My Choice” in her life. But Deepika was more focused on having more sex. Is it the sole issue for women empowerment? In a county which is competing for the top spot with the largest number of people with HIV, is this truly women empowerment? Is the right to education or right to safety any less important than having more sex? But then Deepika’s intention was not actually women empowerment, was it? Guess it was rather to storm up a controversy for the free publicity it would create for her movie. The same is with most of our celebrities and various organizations. True women empowerment is the heart of the Indian society. If we don’t address this issue in its true sense, the very founding pillars of the Indian society would fall.

As women we need to understand what is best for us. We are not to be swayed by such videos which are not the true reflection of women empowerment. Let us fight for the right to education for women, right to safety, right to free speech, right to live and right to excel. We have to make ourselves confident enough to take decision for ourselves – a decision that leads us for "complete physical, mental and social well-being”.

This article is written by Sandhya Ravi Bhat. Follow her on Facebook here.

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How a girl saved a kitten that got almost killed by a cruel guy

It was yesterday evening and I was leaving my flat to grab something for dinner and I saw an orange kitten around my door. It was very friendly and gave me a kitty hug by rubbing its body and face against my legs. It was purring and I have never seen a kitten so friendly. And I am sure you would have seen various cat videos and stories about how friendly or unfriendly the cats are. So before you guys pounce upon me for writing that the cat is friendly, let me tell you something that researchers claim. A cat is actually declaring you are its property by rubbing its body against you. So a kitten has adopted me. Now it would bring me whatever it hunts so that I can treasure it.

We have cats at our home in our hometown and I am used to cats since I was a kid. But I have never seen a kitten becoming friendly with a stranger. I stay with my cousin brother and I was not sure whether to keep this kitten as a pet. So I held the kitten by its scruff and went to the flat next floor where a couple of friends stay. They told me that just then the kitten had surveyed their flat and peed in their hall and asked me to take it downstairs immediately.

So I took it down and left it near my door to go buy some milk for it. Meanwhile it started running in the parking area and tried to get out of our apartment complex through the gap in the gate. It got stuck and so I pulled it back and held it by the scruff. That is when I saw this girl on the street who said something to me. I looked in to her to hear again what she said. She was like, "Don't be cruel to the kitten". Cruel? Oh. Alright! She, just like many others expressed her fake love for this abandoned kitten and acted smart by passing her comments and went on minding her own business. So much for an animal lover.

Before these fake people show their fake love to other animals, why not know the facts? I was holding the kitten by its scruff. And she thought that must be painful for the kitten. May be most of the people think that way. The best way to carry a cat or a kitten is to hold by its scruff. Haven't you seen how the mother cat (Be it a Lion or Tiger or a domestic cat) carries its younger ones? When you do this way, the kitten or the cat becomes still and would not be aggressive. May be you guys should check out this article.

In another related incident, I trampled down a centipede with my shoes few days back that was exiting our classroom and I heard my classmates screaming at me not to kill that. I am not sure how these people would have reacted if it was found inside their bag or if it was found near their bed or what would they do if they had a toddler at home. Most of the folks who screamed consume meat and they tried teaching me a lesson on loving centipedes. Either I am a hypocrite who is a vegetarian but do not mind killing something thinking that might harm us or they are hypocrites who eat flesh but do not mind teaching me about loving centipedes. 

PS - I did not kill a centipede on a trekking expedition. I killed one that came out of the classroom. And here I was trying to save that kitten and help it find a new home. And for those wondering what happened to that kitten, when I came back with a packet of milk, the kitten wasn't there.

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Why innovation should compliment “Make in India” program?

Recently, when I was flying to the US for a job assignment, I walked down the memory lane and was thinking about the path I had chosen and what could have happened had I chosen a different path. I am happy with my present job, and the path I have chosen is similar to most of the guys from a social background like mine - finished engineering, then an MBA, joined an MNC and life is sailing smooth. I am sure, had I chosen a different path, life would not have been as smooth as the present one. It would have been a roller coaster ride. I am not sure, how my parents would have taken that. This would be the thought everyone at my age would have had.

These days I am seeing lot of youngsters rejecting the plush offers from corporate entities to pursue their dreams. They were definitely not running behind money unlike most of us. A recent article I read mentions that there are many successful people who have changed their field of work not once or twice but around 12 times to do what mattered the most for them. The only thing common among these people is they did not do different things, they innovated ways to do things differently and they shook the entire market by delivering more value to the consumers.

Time is ripe now for people who were waiting at the sidelines to plunge into business. The Government of India is setting up a start-up fund to the tune of 10,000 crores to promote a better start-up ecosystem in India. One thing that we should focus on is innovation. Entrepreneurs should focus on disruptive innovation like what Steve Jobs did to the music player. Music players were always there but iPod changed the way we listen to music. Though India is not known for innovating new products, Indians are known for the so called ‘Jugaad’ innovations where one somehow manages to create stuff with very little resources but the creation turns out to be a very efficient one. We cannot call our Mars Mission as Jugaad innovation, but we did it at the fraction of the cost that had put other space powers to shame. Almost every engineering college hostel would have seen hundreds of Jugaad innovations. From making an omelet using iron box to boiling milk to wearing helmet while chopping onions, we have seen it all.

But these folks once they get placed in an MNC just become one among the herd and all the innovative ideas end up in the cubicle. No one thinks out of the cubicle. A friend of mine once told me that when he approached his boss with an innovative idea, his boss said, “I am the boss here and do what I say.” Now that friend is his own boss. We need such bosses and such guys to take our nation forward. I am very confident that, a nation with 1.2 billion people can generate millions of ideas and those ideas need to be put to use to create innovations. Such ideas not only propel a country’s economy but will be the core driving force for humanity to prosper in future.

 The flagship “Make in India” program of the Prime Minister is aimed at generating new jobs and increasing the GDP growth and I am sure it would attract investments into India in the form of technology and money. But it would make our nation a contract manufacturing hub. We had an edge few years back when BPOs were the sunrise sector in India as majority of the population can converse in English and the outsourcing companies had a cost advantage. But today, countries like Vietnam, Philippines attract such projects and they are cost-effective compared to India. In the future, Make in India might also become less viable for countries that manufacture in India because of the currency appreciation when the economy takes the upward trajectory. It is not only better but a necessity to encourage enterprises and start-ups to innovate and it is the responsibility of the government and the people to create an ecosystem where innovative people thrive and innovations disrupt innovations.

This article is written by Kshitiz Harsh. Follow him on Facebook here.

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