Rohit Sharma

At the end of my day shift of sleep, when I woke up in the evening, it was dark in the room and a group of kids who were generally playing in the streets, but shouting a slogan "gali gali mein shor hai, paki**an chor hai". I may be sharing similar feelings with them but then I wondered what not led them to hail India and instead condemn the other country? I mean, what led them to chose hatred over love? I mean, what led them to empty their gut sloganeering enmity rather than praising our own country? Is it that showing enmity to a hostile country is equivalent to showing affection towards our own country? I could not sleep more because of the itching fact that I never heard something like Bharat Zindabad in the street. This may be because of the media that they got influenced, but is it the right learning for them? Enmity? Chor? Should children, who are the symbol of love and affection be seen quoting hatred and not love? How okay is it? Let's say if they happen to get ...

It has become important for me not to run more from myself. This will only widen the gap and will take much to come back, not to say, with added regrets and the time. I have to accept my vulnerabilities, my flaws. I must let go of my insecurities, I must accept myself as I am. I must uphold myself. I must show confidence in myself. I must fight with my negative thoughts which is hollowing me out. I have to be happy. I have to be enjoyable. I should feel happy. I must smile wide. I have to find reason and ground in this fast-changing life. Yes, I think too much, I feel insecure, I doubt my own actions and continuously ponder on them. I often think I am left out. I think I have lost the last train. I think that I have no purpose, nothing to accomplish in life, that somewhere, sometime, someday, I committed heinous mistakes and I am just paying off. I often end up finding solidarity in music. It is one of the things in the universe that does not discriminate with me and befriends me the...

Passing through the locality square or some other public places we must have encountered a CCTV camera which is a third eye of the state put up at the place to monitor any wrongdoings. These cameras are proven worthy to identify a criminal once the wrong is done. There is increased dependence on these cameras and similar measures like loosen norms on peeking by the state surveillance agencies into the personal computers and phones of the citizen. Even the phone can be tapped. Developed countries are the fore-runners. What is right or wrong is based on the idea of the state perspective. Whatever they legitimize, will be true and vice-versa. In the name of national security, the laws can be invoked to curb the personal freedom of speech, expression, movement, and assembly. It is much different than the primitive, ancient & the medieval ages where political boundaries were still open for migration. People could move to other places, boundaries were flexible and this allowed the ene...

Media, especially the growing digital platforms are playing extraordinary roles in constructing the thought of the masses. Mass, in turn, is crucial for pressurizing the government of the time to take action. Today when there are high emotions within the country, the situation is rather sensitive. People are reactive to small acts and could commit to extremes. There is a thin line between right and wrong. It is the intellectual power of the whole country and the administrative control of the state which will re-establish the peace. The state must not take time to respond and the experts should extrapolate the situation to bring the necessary short term changes, even if it leads to calling a National Emergency, or banning internet or a particular platform in the public interest. It is to be seen that the mass does not go with the stereotypes. India has seen such acts in the past during the time of Anti-Sikh movements in 1984, 2002 Godhra riots etc. This also exposes the sham role...

It is disturbing how things are turning up after the Pulwama attack. At one point before the attack the whole of India was silent about the Kashmir issue, but then suddenly everyone is talking about it. Now even people from over the world are talking about it. Reading the comments we get to know that all are having their own versions. The most worrying fact is that we are getting news of Kashmiris getting intimidated in other parts of India. How are they responsible for this attack? They are probably the one who migrated from their region to their current place in search of a better life. I don’t think they are among the rich section either. In 2018 alone more than 500 unnatural deaths took place, among them were the civilians, militants & the army persons themselves. Youth is regularly engaged in stone pelting and other attacks. What so happened that they are this alienated? Money cannot be the only reason. Either they are radicalized by some external agencies or somethi...

All societies seem to possess some differences based on long-term prejudices & stereotypes. These deepen with time if proactively corrective actions are not taken. These are flexible and keep on changing like the shape of sand when squeezed in hand. Does it mean that inequality & discrimination is the dark side of society? If at some point a group that is cut out & then left to rot, isn’t it the responsibility of the society to understand the larger goals and bring out reforms as quickly as possible? Reforms are the mild versions of the revolution. It often takes a revolution to reach to the reforms. It’s like trekking a mountain to reach to the peak but a forward society is identified in how it shortens that path, how will it is in accepting the equality, how tolerant it is in accepting the change, in losing the status quo for the larger benefit of humanity. We know that in most countries the bottom 20 percent of the population hold less than 5% of the national res...

GDP is Gross Domestic Product and it measures the net value of goods & services produced within the boundary of a nation-state. It means if the ‘value’ of the produced goods, i.e. manufactured product or the ‘services’ imparted will increase the net GDP. It is thus non-isolated with inflation. Inflation is basically the increase rate of the goods & services compared to any base year selected by the government for the measurement of it. If the rate of inflation is high, the final value of the goods & services will increase, it will be more expensive to be availed by the masses, by the consumers. GDP will thus tick a higher number. If the productivity or the efficiency of the processes is increased, then there will be lesser input cost which is required to create the Goods & services in the economy. This is going to raise the profit for the vendor because for the commodity sold at the same price, he had to pay lesser input for himself, he could have raised his margin. T...

The social stratification in India is complex in nature. There are different groups who perceive & self-proclaim themselves at different levels of social status based on their caste, work, wealth, their past, color, region, religion & race. We are a union of states. Before the Independence, it was all fragmented regions. Later on, the integration took place and more than 550 independent regions were brought under the constitution with the efforts of political leaders. Many quoted that with so much cultural diversity, India would not live up for long. Our constitution indeed fructified and was able to hold everyone together. It could not have been possible with the provisions of Fundamental Rights offered to the dwellers. We proclaimed socialist, democratic, Republic from the beginning. It was designed to try to bring everyone at one par. Contrary to countries like France, we were more dealing with caste than class in society. There were people who for centuries are looked dow...

Mahavira said, “All beings, long to live. To all things, life is dear”. This one line has fallen upon me while I was going through a textbook. It sensitized me for the feelings of the other beings, not only human but other animal beings. To all things, life is dear & it is the source of motivation for how they act based on their physiology and mental capacity couples with the external environment. They all long to live. My belief in being a vegetarian strengthened. If I care for my own life, my pain, my hunger, my feelings, the same would be done by the other beings. Why don’t they? It is a strong case against human’s action of deforestation. After all, it is not the competition but mutual co-existence. We are interdependent. There is a fine balance established within the ecosystem. To tinker the balance is to tinker with our own lives. Then we are bound by deformities. We know that only for 1% of the earth’s green-blue life did humans existed – 99% of the time we were not here. ...

थोड़ी देर के लिए हमें अपने ध्यान को हमारे उजड़ते जंगलों की ओर ले जाना उपयुक्त होगा जहा हजारों की तादाद में हाथी और अन्य जीव मारे जा रहे है. जी हां, पिछले चार वर्षो में सत्रह सौ (1715) से भी अधिक हाथी आकस्मिक परलोक सिधार गए. ये संख्या इनकी सात प्रतिशत आबादी के बराबर है जो हमने सिर्फ चार साल में खो दि. इसका कारण ये है की हम तेजी से जंगलों को काट रहे है, जो कभी हाथीयों के मुफ्त भोजन और शैर की जगह होती थी. ऐसे में जब वे हमारे खेतोँ में घुस आते है और हमारी फसलों पे कबड्डी खेलते है, हम वहा बिजली की तारों का प्रयोग करके उनके जीवन पर प्रश्न चिन्ह लगा रहे है. हमारे बड़े प्रोजेक्ट्स जैसे की बुलेट ट्रेन आदि प्रकृति संरक्षण को लेकर गुमसुम वीरान है. ये ज़्यादती है और धार्मिक शब्दों में फुसफुसाए तो अधर्मी और पाखंडपन है और गहरे तरीके से देखे तो गणपति जी खतरे में है. हां वही जिनका त्यौहार हम हर्षोल्लास से मनाते है, नाचते गाते है, डीजे बजाते है - गणपति बाप्पा मोरया. कृपया करके अपना ध्यान इनकी ओर भी दें अथवा ये त्योहारों को मानाने का ढोंग बंद करें. जब प्रकृति ही नही रही तो त्यौहार कैसा? हम सभी जानते ह...

As per the recent ASER report which conducts surveys annually, it painted a sad face of education in India. The data is retelling how the students in higher classes are unable to grasp the material from the classes below it, both comprehensive and analytical. Rote learning has been destroying the lives of children without actually imparting them the basic skills required for conducting themselves in the future. There is a lot of confusion with respect to which languages should be promoted in the schools? Should it be the native local language? Should it be Hindi or English? If it is Hindi, then it will hamper the local native languages, but then why is Hindi the official language of India? We know that only 40 percent of the people actually understand Hindi, less so English which is about 5-10 percent. There are 22 scheduled languages, the meaning of which is that they are scheduled in the constitution of India based on the quantum of people using it. Researchers say that educa...

What will be the difference if there are no political parties and candidates are free to run for election independently? At present, there are certain roadblocks in the way to democracy. It has not reached its maturity and is experimenting on various terms. This plays a role in the degree of chaos within the party and the country as well. When the people will not be in sync with the popular party in power, there will be dissent and the laws and leadership will always be surrounded by criticism and thus instability. There is an increased influence of money and muscle power within the party itself. Those with more money, even without significant experience and people’s support get the top position or ticket in comparison to a more deserving candidate. Our constitution offers for everyone after a certain age to stand for election, independently or with an existing party tag. At the current set up, it won’t be a level playing field for the independent candidate and the one from the pol...

Is it time for India to undertake big projects like the Statue of Unity, Bullet Train which cost thousands of crore to the Indian exchequer? The currently sanctioned statue of Lord Ram in Uttar Pradesh will bereave the newly built predecessor to the status of the world's tallest. This is also a bent in the country's secularity status. Majority of the indirect and directs taxpayers belong to the lower economic section of the society. The bullet train project linking Mumbai-Ahmedabad which currently flagged off has environmental impacts and clearance is already given for land acquisition in sensitive ecologically important areas. It also has an economic impact. The project is sanctioned by Japan although at a meager interest rate but the burden will definitely fall at India. It is comprehensive that the project will bring new job opportunities, quality technology and boost the economic activity in the two states in long run. It is envisaged as one of the ambitious projects of ...

Nonavailability of livelihood means and increasing distress at the rural areas have mandated interstate and intrastate migrations in India. Cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad etc. are some of the most populated cities in the world. The rate of migration is also high with many aspirated youths trying to settle in the big cities. This has flooded the unprepared city and many pollution-related issues are coming up. There is a short term shortage of resources as well because the integration of the region could not cope up with the migration rates.  In many parts, the local population sees these new neighbors a threat to their socio-linguistic balance, a threat to their culture. There are certain incidents which simply become the stereotypes and exist for long. They are often discriminated. Majority of the migrants are from the economically poorer to the poorer regions. Lack of basic amenities of sanitation, education facilities...

Agricultural is a major sector in which nearly half of Indians are engaged and contributing to the tune of 17-20 percent to the GDP. A large number of population and small GDP share made it unsustainable for the farmers and the landless laborers to access a good quality of life since there is a continuous inflationary situation in the economy and also the landholdings by the marginal and small landowners are continuously decreasing due to rising population. Many are thus under-employed. Almost 86% of farmers have less than 2 hectares of land holdings while only half of it cultivable. This is one big reason that they are not able to properly inculcate the benefit of technology; cost is unmanageable to buy machines in the fields. Climate change is another source of distress for India. Due to the increased heat wave in summers, many laborers do not want to burn in the fields. There is increasing desertification of lands which currently stand at 30% of the total cover of India. However, ...

Indians are fond of watching Television. This is one large source of entertainment after the daily toiling hardship of life. It is important to note that per capita income of the country satisfies the category of lower middle class. There is a sharp contrast in the top 10 percent and the bottom 30 percent of the population in terms of lifestyle, resource availability & quality services. There are many industrialists who own property outside the country and their families are based aboard, on the other hand, there are lakhs of homeless Indians who die of cold in winter, or are at the hands of the heat wave. Media condition the minds of the audience who at times act discretion less and these add similar thoughts in their minds. It is said that how we acted is actually what we thought, what is deeply ingrained in our mind. Definitely, there is freedom of the media in our country, but the restraint that it offers should at least be researched sociologically. Many popular movies show ...

Universal basic income is something that advocates a minimum income or free wage that can be given universally, or some equal amount of money that can be distributed to some particular targeted section of the state or to everyone including children, men, women, old age people who are working or unemployed, retired or engaged in studies. It can be given to take care of the basic daily needs of the masses so that they can have a minimum standard of living such as food intake, afford a place to live, medicines etc. Governments across the world have thought about it. In India, in 8 selected villages of Madhya Pradesh, a pilot project was also conducted for some years to find out the socio-economic responses. Results are good and it showed that the number of people invested in white goods like Refrigerator, there was less deviation of funds to buy alcohol, engage in gambling etc. Government of India is already supporting the low income groups through various schemes of direct benefit tran...

We are at the cross juncture of a time when things may disrupt and can go out of hands. Since post-industrial time consumerism had taken a new shape which gradually ballooned and took giant shape in the lives of all of us. Today every one of us possesses different kinds of gadgets and electronics, furniture, accessories in our offices and home. There is a new world out there. Humans have shaped their own world with the help of their intelligence, earth resources, and interactions. These changes have brought new dimensions in human lives and improved several existing ones. Structure of society has changed. New boundaries have formed, newer kind of geopolitics have evolved, old cultures died and new ones are formed. Basically, we moved from a primitive to a largely modern society. Some of the game changers are the various industries & telecommunication’s exponential growth in recent times. Supposedly we are entering into a 4 th industrial revolution which would see the advent of a...

Karl Marx quoted, ‘Religion is the opium of the masses’. We all know and are accompanied by one or more form of religions. India being a pluralist society comprising of Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Jain, Buddhist, Sikh and even few Jews etc. which give us an opportunity to live in a more diverse environment, observe more cultures and festivals and enjoy a colorful life. But is it happening? Are we really able to enjoy the differences instead of creating tensions? Answer can be No, Yes, maybe, not sure depending on our perspectives, our own environments where we live and are brought up, our conditioning from family, from schools, from the friend circle, from the media we follow, movie we watch, songs we listen, newspaper we read and so on. Religion is different to someone belonging to an upper class than to a middle class and then to a poor class. An upper-class person may enjoy wonderful perspectives and opinions on religion from a book, can actually live a religious life, conduct himse...

How do you feel when you do your work? Yes commuting to the office in the morning and coming often late in the evening. Even if you are coming early back your home, is it that you are bothered about the work or that your phone is ringing and then one irritatingly argue that with the salary I am getting these phone calls are not paid for. Now that I am not generalizing it that almost all of us are in a similar situation but some of us must be. On one hand, there are personalities like MK Gandhi, Einstein, and Marx who worked tirelessly and generated something for the society; on the other side here we are doing something we don’t want to do. Even the less known workers like artisans who painted & built architectural monuments or are activists who worked day and night without feeling any regret as if they are wasting their time as if they belong to some other place as if they don’t fit here and are better off. What is all wrong with us and our well-paid job? These are hard question...

Last night when he went out for dinner with few bucks putting in his pocket, It was a rescue walk. Yes. At times when it sounds bulge and lay heavy on his mind, you know, all the talks and laughs, tears and cries, then some self-made thoughts because he occasionally let wander in old lanes and old houses, even the remembrance of some silent atmospheres and quiet starings and the early mornings, all these fill up to his eyes and before he crashes, he takes a small walk. So much benevolence in a walk, like a small quintessential pilgrimage. A small walk is fruitful as it refills him with fresh scenes in the crowded cheeky city. He breaths in solidarity as he sees people with several lines on the forehead, some absence minded talks. At times he arbitrarily wonders who all live in these tiny apartments? What do they eat? How do they live? What do they think? Says to himself, these must not be fictitious characters, how strange it is that we cannot peek into other person's head. S...

Interim Budget has been presented before the Loksabha. Amid beginning-to-end bench thumping, chest widening & self-praising with the usage of superlative adjectives like most, greatest, largest, biggest, highest; facts concealing and misrepresentation which is not uncommon as every government does that one need to listen between the lines and that’s what we do and pick the thing useful for us.  One of it is there will not be any tax for income up to 5 lakh plus 1.5 lakh of investments. This has covered a large section of middle-class hardworking employees in the organized sector and will bring some relief to their actual salary received in hand. Spending and savings both will take a turn with that and hence growth opportunities is foreseeable. There is something for the unorganized sector comprising of 42 crore people who can go for the newly launched pension scheme (Pradhan Mantri Shram yogi Mandhan) where they have to contribute a meager Rs.50 per month from age 18 ...