Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
Right to be fearless..
Ankit Nagori
The constitution of India entitles us to six fundamental rights..
Right to equality
Right to freedom
Right against exploitation
Right to freedom of religion
Cultural and educational rights
Right to constitutional remedies
On paper, these rights protect us from any sort of exploitation, any sort of oppression and it gives us a freedom in our actions. But one thing which has been missing in our country for a long time is the freedom to be fearless..There is no clause under constitution which guards us against fear. This is because, one cannot define fear. Fear is such an abstract word which holds different meanings under different situations..
In recent past, each and every human being is under some constant fear. Whether it is the fear of getting hit in a terrorist attack, or the fear of being beaten up by MNS in Mahrashtra or by Shri Ram Sene in Karnataka.
I have written earlier about the growing intolerance in India and how its resulting in human rage. This is an unhealthy sign for our great nation and under no circumstances should a human be scared of other human beings. Fear of a natural calamity or a catastrophe is one thing, but being scared of human actions is not something which one would want to deal with.
One way to deal with such situations is to have a powerful government at the center and in the states. The appeasement policies of the governments should end. This will happen when the governments dont have to rely upon their regional allies to stay in power. This coming elections, we should all resolve to use our power of vote to install a powerful government at the center. This will certainly help us overcome the FEAR.
Jai Hind!
The constitution of India entitles us to six fundamental rights..
Right to equality
Right to freedom
Right against exploitation
Right to freedom of religion
Cultural and educational rights
Right to constitutional remedies
On paper, these rights protect us from any sort of exploitation, any sort of oppression and it gives us a freedom in our actions. But one thing which has been missing in our country for a long time is the freedom to be fearless..There is no clause under constitution which guards us against fear. This is because, one cannot define fear. Fear is such an abstract word which holds different meanings under different situations..
In recent past, each and every human being is under some constant fear. Whether it is the fear of getting hit in a terrorist attack, or the fear of being beaten up by MNS in Mahrashtra or by Shri Ram Sene in Karnataka.
I have written earlier about the growing intolerance in India and how its resulting in human rage. This is an unhealthy sign for our great nation and under no circumstances should a human be scared of other human beings. Fear of a natural calamity or a catastrophe is one thing, but being scared of human actions is not something which one would want to deal with.
One way to deal with such situations is to have a powerful government at the center and in the states. The appeasement policies of the governments should end. This will happen when the governments dont have to rely upon their regional allies to stay in power. This coming elections, we should all resolve to use our power of vote to install a powerful government at the center. This will certainly help us overcome the FEAR.
Jai Hind!
Think Differently and Act Positively
Ankit Nagori
India is on a verge of a change. At least we hope that the there is some. I am not talking just about the elections. Its just a small part of the bigger scheme of things. If we look back at last 3-4 years, India surely has made some steady progress in various fields. But as we progress, we have to gear up for newer and bigger challenges.
Economic downturn, Terrorism and Global Warming etc are some problems which all countries in the world are facing and being an active member in the international fraternity, India has to contribute in its own way to deal with all these problems.Definitely internal issues, like poverty, illiteracy and discrimination are also very serious and all governments, state and central, are trying their bit to counter these. Surely, a lot more needs to be done and all our political leaders, young or old, regional and national have these issues right on the top of the list.The challenges which I am talking about are a little abstract and there might not be any concrete solutions to them.
A few years back, India was tagged a third world country. Our people never dreamt of competing with the USA's and the UK's of the world. Slowly things changed, more and more Indians started getting recognised on global platforms. India was identified as the IT destination of the world. India did better in all fields. And suddenly now we are in a state where we have started comparing ourselves to the USA or to China for that matter.This is a situation which can actually lead a lot of complexity. Not on political terms but in the minds of the youth of the country. We all want to be the best in the world. We want to beat USA in the GDP count and China in the terms of being the leading international destination of the world.Even as we have achieved a lot in last few years, we have to realise our limitations. Practically we may not be able to overtake USA economy in 100 years to come. We may never be able to beat China in the prices. And this is where we need a reality check.
Should we be really competing against nations. We might not be. But in case some of us are, then we should be ready to take the failures in our stride positively. Sometimes over estimating our potential leads to cases where people are not able to take failures positively and this only leads to a situation where we start fearing competition and start feeling that we are up against invincible. This is one challenge that our nation faces. We don't want our youth to start believing that we cannot overtake USA or China.America and China are both very different from us. These countries ride high on innovation. Innovation is the key to all successes. And this should also be the mantra of the lives of our youth as well. If we have to move ahead, we ought to have out of the box thinking. We should start thinking differently and in this process start acting positively. We will face failures, but that should not deter us from our path. Success only comes from a positive frame of mind, out of the box thinking and persistence.
And if we try to tackle the problems of our nation through this mindset, we may actually succeed in eradicating poverty, illiteracy and terrorism quicker than most of the countries. And then no one would stop us from being the best in the world!
Jai Hind!
India is on a verge of a change. At least we hope that the there is some. I am not talking just about the elections. Its just a small part of the bigger scheme of things. If we look back at last 3-4 years, India surely has made some steady progress in various fields. But as we progress, we have to gear up for newer and bigger challenges.
Economic downturn, Terrorism and Global Warming etc are some problems which all countries in the world are facing and being an active member in the international fraternity, India has to contribute in its own way to deal with all these problems.Definitely internal issues, like poverty, illiteracy and discrimination are also very serious and all governments, state and central, are trying their bit to counter these. Surely, a lot more needs to be done and all our political leaders, young or old, regional and national have these issues right on the top of the list.The challenges which I am talking about are a little abstract and there might not be any concrete solutions to them.
A few years back, India was tagged a third world country. Our people never dreamt of competing with the USA's and the UK's of the world. Slowly things changed, more and more Indians started getting recognised on global platforms. India was identified as the IT destination of the world. India did better in all fields. And suddenly now we are in a state where we have started comparing ourselves to the USA or to China for that matter.This is a situation which can actually lead a lot of complexity. Not on political terms but in the minds of the youth of the country. We all want to be the best in the world. We want to beat USA in the GDP count and China in the terms of being the leading international destination of the world.Even as we have achieved a lot in last few years, we have to realise our limitations. Practically we may not be able to overtake USA economy in 100 years to come. We may never be able to beat China in the prices. And this is where we need a reality check.
Should we be really competing against nations. We might not be. But in case some of us are, then we should be ready to take the failures in our stride positively. Sometimes over estimating our potential leads to cases where people are not able to take failures positively and this only leads to a situation where we start fearing competition and start feeling that we are up against invincible. This is one challenge that our nation faces. We don't want our youth to start believing that we cannot overtake USA or China.America and China are both very different from us. These countries ride high on innovation. Innovation is the key to all successes. And this should also be the mantra of the lives of our youth as well. If we have to move ahead, we ought to have out of the box thinking. We should start thinking differently and in this process start acting positively. We will face failures, but that should not deter us from our path. Success only comes from a positive frame of mind, out of the box thinking and persistence.
And if we try to tackle the problems of our nation through this mindset, we may actually succeed in eradicating poverty, illiteracy and terrorism quicker than most of the countries. And then no one would stop us from being the best in the world!
Jai Hind!
Where is the Unbiased Media??
- Ankit Nagori
A couple of days back, I was watching an election TV debate on a prominent English news channel. There were representatives from all major political parties, and besides them, there were a couple of political experts and of course the anchor from the news channel. I generally enjoy such discussions because, they are pointed discussions and they bring out the best side of all the politicians involved. But that day, I didn't enjoy the debate. I was annoyed to watch it. For once, my belief on the phrase 'Unbiased Media' was shaken. There were many reasons to it. Lets look at them one by one:
1. There were 6-7 people participating in the debate. Out of which only one politician belonged to a separate school of thought. Rest six belonged to a 'secular' mindset. Why is it that no other politician from a similar school of thought was invited for the debate. It has become a trend to pit one politician from the so called "non secular" party against a combined force of 6-7 secular politicians. It hardly was a balanced debate. And the leader rightly lost his cool over this issue.
2. The political experts who were present there were extremely cynical in their views. But that too against a particular alliance. Its very difficult for a political analyst to have an unbiased opinion, but then why not invite 2-3 experts who represent diverse school of thoughts.
3. The role of the anchor is to moderate the discussion and bring order to the debate. Here, the anchor was playing his own part to sideline the leader who was already against 7-8 people alone. The anchor was clearly not being unbiased in his comments and closing statements.
These few points made me analyse the media space in the last few days. The Varun Gandhi issue has been grabbing so much media space. Why? Even if he is wrong, let it be. Let the law take its own course. Why is the incident being blown out of proportion. These thoughts made me more cynical towards my analysis and I realised that during last elections, news channel would go to villages, show a malnutrition child and ask us if this is 'India Shining'. I am sure the situation in those villages is still the same. But this time they are not going there and asking if this is "Bharat Nirmaan". News channels, especially the English Media is playing a very unhealthy role in these elections and its outlook is extremely biased against a particular alliance. This is a sad thing for a country which soon will be polling to choose their next Prime Minister. People should at least have access to unbiased and true reports and information so that they can take best possible decisions.
We all have a bias towards a particular party, but we media persons, cannot reflect our biased views in our reports. This is why, the need of a citizen journalism model is more than ever. In this article, I am not trying to take any sides, but I am just trying to express my disappointment at the irresponsibility which English News channels are showing.
Jai Hind!
A couple of days back, I was watching an election TV debate on a prominent English news channel. There were representatives from all major political parties, and besides them, there were a couple of political experts and of course the anchor from the news channel. I generally enjoy such discussions because, they are pointed discussions and they bring out the best side of all the politicians involved. But that day, I didn't enjoy the debate. I was annoyed to watch it. For once, my belief on the phrase 'Unbiased Media' was shaken. There were many reasons to it. Lets look at them one by one:
1. There were 6-7 people participating in the debate. Out of which only one politician belonged to a separate school of thought. Rest six belonged to a 'secular' mindset. Why is it that no other politician from a similar school of thought was invited for the debate. It has become a trend to pit one politician from the so called "non secular" party against a combined force of 6-7 secular politicians. It hardly was a balanced debate. And the leader rightly lost his cool over this issue.
2. The political experts who were present there were extremely cynical in their views. But that too against a particular alliance. Its very difficult for a political analyst to have an unbiased opinion, but then why not invite 2-3 experts who represent diverse school of thoughts.
3. The role of the anchor is to moderate the discussion and bring order to the debate. Here, the anchor was playing his own part to sideline the leader who was already against 7-8 people alone. The anchor was clearly not being unbiased in his comments and closing statements.
These few points made me analyse the media space in the last few days. The Varun Gandhi issue has been grabbing so much media space. Why? Even if he is wrong, let it be. Let the law take its own course. Why is the incident being blown out of proportion. These thoughts made me more cynical towards my analysis and I realised that during last elections, news channel would go to villages, show a malnutrition child and ask us if this is 'India Shining'. I am sure the situation in those villages is still the same. But this time they are not going there and asking if this is "Bharat Nirmaan". News channels, especially the English Media is playing a very unhealthy role in these elections and its outlook is extremely biased against a particular alliance. This is a sad thing for a country which soon will be polling to choose their next Prime Minister. People should at least have access to unbiased and true reports and information so that they can take best possible decisions.
We all have a bias towards a particular party, but we media persons, cannot reflect our biased views in our reports. This is why, the need of a citizen journalism model is more than ever. In this article, I am not trying to take any sides, but I am just trying to express my disappointment at the irresponsibility which English News channels are showing.
Jai Hind!
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