Essay: New Cults and Godmen,Threat to Traditional Religion

Essay: Do social movements strengthen democracy or weaken it?

Essay: Environmental Problems and Sustainable Development

Essay: Corruption In Public Life

I wrote this essay last year as a part of my preparation. I have written this essay with minimum of information and a fair amount of analysis.

Corruption is the buzz word today. Right from the local government to national government to international practices corruption is rampant in public life. The recent economic crisis is a good example of the corrupt practices and their impact on international arena.

In India, the corruption is there in bureaucracy, political parties, media and even NGOs. Although, it’s not a new phenomenon but its character has changed. Before liberalization it was retail in nature but now it has increased in both spread and amount. Earlier it was confined to lower bureaucracy but now it has reached to the level of ministers.

Corruption is no longer practiced quietly. It is directly impacting the policy making. For example – In 2G case, the licenses were not auctioned but given at throwaway prices and the difference was pocketed by a few politicians. It has become the part of our system. People are accepting it as a routine affair.

Some economists see corruption as “Speed Money” i.e. price needed to be paid for faster and efficient work. But, this is a faulty way to look at the corruption. It accentuates the inequity present in the system. Those who are rich can buy the services of public officials and poor can’t. Therefore, for corrupt officials money becomes more important than their duty.   

But, then maintenance and breeding of corruption is not easy. For this, the officials have to become inefficient in a sustainable manner. Once they become inefficient they are paid to become efficient. More the efficiency greater will be the earning. Hence, all the energy is wasted in devising innovative ways to become inefficient. The duties attached with the post become secondary. This also gives rise to the culture of middlemen who work as shield for officials and, thus, adds to the cost.

Corruption is a very simple way to curb competition. To illustrate, those who bribe more will get government contracts easily than others. Corruption makes the mockery of merit and brings in inefficient players. Recently concluded CWG games validates this assertion where the contracts were given to the ineligible companies in lieu of petty individual gains.

It seems that national interests are no match to individual interests. Greed is given more prominent place than ethics. The democratic ideals are absent from societal values. There exists no place for an honest person to perform his duties. For example- In the election process the expenses are so high that an honest and poor candidate can’t afford to contest elections. The election commission requires all candidates to file their assets but nobody asks them how their assets got doubled between two elections. Tax authorities and ED work only when government asks them. Clearly the transparency and accountability is missing from public sphere.

Media, which acts as a medium of communication between politicians and public, is also tainted with corruption. The role of media is to educate people on various political issues and to expose the corruption taking place in society. But, the practice of paid news is becoming a normal phenomenon today. Many new agencies earn their profits from politicians.

Clearly, there is no political will to put an end to corruption. It is mainly because the government thrives on corruption. Be it the BJP or the Congress or any other political party all are accused of some sort of corruption scandal. The fact that Lokpal bill is pending from the last 30 years and now also is taken up by the civil society supports this assertion. Then the next question that arises is “Where the corrupt money goes?”

It gets accumulated as black money. It gets deposited in tax haven countries such as Switzerland. This black money then generates employment in Switzerland and helps in improving its economy. Here, in India, we face price rise, unemployment and many other social problems such as Naxalism. The rising inflation, which even RBI is unable to handle, is the direct consequence of black money. Few studies have shown the amount of black money as comparable to India’s GDP. If it continues it may take centuries for India to become a developed country.  

There is an urgent need to understand the seriousness of situation. It is true that corruption can’t be tackled overnight. Long term measures with full dedication needs to be taken by all stakeholders to tackle corruption. One of the reasons of corruption is scarcity of resources in the light of growing population. Therefore, it is important that proper population control measures should be undertaken by both the civil society and government.

Red-Tapism should be taken care of immediately. The ‘ease of doing business index’developed by the World Bank places India at 134^th position out of 183 countries. The bureaucratic procedures are so length and time consuming that companies think twice before investing in India. This is the era of globalization and we should project ourselves as more friendly in terms of foreign investment. If not our growth is bound to suffer.

There is also a need to strengthen various vigilance agencies. CVC, CAG, CBI and ED are either ineffective to control corruption or depend upon the government. There is a need to make them independent of political interference. Today, Supreme Court is burdened with extra work and is supervising various investigations.

Above all, there is a need for more public awareness. The public acceptance of corruption must go down. If there is nobody to offer bribe then automatically it will go down. People should make full use of democracy to check corruption. Democracy demand accountability, transparency and gives voice to all sections of society. Therefore, faster we understand and use democracy better it will be for the society.     

Essay: Science and Technology

This year an essay came on the topic "Science and Technology is the panacea for the growth and security of the nation". I am writing down my framework here for the essay.

First note down the important aspects from the topic.

1. Focus on the word panacea.

• Is it panacea? NO. 
• How can it be a solution to all problems when it creates problems itself?
• So, write it in the beginning itself so that examiner understands what you want to say.

2. Find out the parameters of growth?

• High GDP.
• More average income, employment, poverty
• Equitable distribution or relative deprivation.
• Environmental aspects.
• Sustainable use of resources.
• Presence of structural inequalities.
• Agriculture (Bio technology), industries (Food processing) and service sector.
• Informal sector, Child labor, tribal welfare.
• Presence of conflict at large scale. (Naxalism)
• Less importance to religion.
• More freedom to people to do whatever they want.

3. Note down the aspects of security.

• Defence - Air, water and land
• Cyber security
• Money laundering
• Nuclear technology and weapons.
• Privacy of citizens.
• Disasters.
• Terrorism.
• Many more you can think

4. Now think to what extent science and technology will be able to achieve this.

• Enter these aspects and find out what science can do and what can not.

Framework

1.  What is science and what is technology?
2.  Why they are important? Features.
3.  Why are we saying that science can lead to growth. So, what makes it different from when we didn't have scientific inventions? (Efficiency)
4.  What kind of growth can it have?
5.  Will poor people, villages or poor nations get benefited?
6.  In what way the technology can be made cheaper and accessible to all?
7.  Are sufficient fund being allocated for this by the government? If not, what can private sector do?
8.  How it can lead to inclusive growth and good governance (Aadhar).
9.  What about the aspects of environment? GHGs, Carbon emissions, CFCs.
10. If it leads to benefit of human beings at the cost of environment will it be fruitful growth. (Uttarakhand)
11. Is it leading to structured inequalities or removing them. (Women Empowerment and caste system)
12. Rationality of science vs Religion. Is religion impediment to growth? Is science changing religion?
13. Technology changes the culture. That culture demands new institutions and new ideals arise in society which leads to further growth. (Metro changed the way railway stations look)
14. This change of culture generates conflict. Is technology able to manage this conflict which it has only created? Conflict between old and new values.
15. Nuclear energy: Controlled vs Uncontrolled reaction.
16. Terrorists using technology for destroying humanity? Use modern gadgets but traditional mindset.
17. Biotechnology can affect the environment and create problems?
18. So, bigger question is: " Overall science creates problem or solves them?"
19. If it creates problem then should we stop using it at all or we stop using it beyond a point?
20 Have we become dependent on science so that any roll back is not possible?
21. Is there any flaw in our development model?
22. What about Gandhian model of development? Village self sufficiency. Greed vs Need. Consumerism?
23. What is the way forward and conclude the essay.
 

Civil Services Exam Cleared: Rank 383

I thank all the followers of my blog for critically replying to my blog. I started writing this blog to develop it as a hobby as mentioned in UPSC form. In the process, I developed better writing skills and improved upon my thoughts.
This blog helped me a lot in my interview and a substantial portion of it was from my blog. I will keep on writing as and when time permits.
Here is my mark sheet for civils exam.

SUBJECTS	MARKS
ESSAY (PAPER-I)	130
GENRAL STUDIES -I (PAPER-II)	069
GENRAL STUDIES -II (PAPER-III)	064
GENRAL STUDIES -III (PAPER-IV)	101
GENRAL STUDIES -IV (PAPER-V)	082
OPTIONAL-I (SOCIOLOGY) (PAPER-VI)	103
OPTIONAL-II (SOCIOLOGY) (PAPER-VII)	091
WRITTEN TOTAL	640
PERSONALITY TEST	157
FINAL TOTAL	797

NAXALISM: ILLEGITIMATE MEANS FOR THE LEGITIMATE ENDS

1. What is the history behind this Naxalite movement?

• In 1964, there occurred split in CPI leading to CPI and CPI(M). M stands for Marxists.
• This split happened as a section of people associated with CPI wanted to work with government rather than to involve in people's mobilization. Another section wanted to adopt revolutionary tactics and took an anti-government stand, this section was called as CPI(M).
• CPI(M) mobilized peasants between 1964-67 and helped them during famine, rain failure and inflation.
• In 1967, CPI(M) decided to fight elections. Though they didn't have much expectations but they won and form a government in West Bengal.
• Now, CPI(M) was in dilemma. On the one hand they cadres were trained to oppose government and on the other they themselves were government now.
• Young cadres of CPI(M) rejected the stand of their party of entering electoral politics to bring change and formed a new party CPI(ML) i.e. Marxist Leninist. 
• Due to the improper implementation of land reforms in Naxalbari and surrounding areas at that time the CPI(ML) acdres led to an armed uprising which has now 
• Finally, CPI(ML) merged with MCC to form CPI(Maoists) which is spearheading Naxalism in India today.

2. How this Naxalism is related to the failure of land reforms?

• CPI(ML) got the boost only when the government was not implementing the policy of land reforms in right manner. The upper castes colluded with the government officials and provided obstacle to land reforms.
• Also, the lack of implementation of 5th schedule by the respective state governments led to the alienation of tribal people from the government. 
• This led to the uprising by the CPI(ML) cadres and they advocated armed revolution to obtain their rights.
• Today, they want to overthrow the Indian state to realize their own vision of development.

3. Who supports Naxalites?

• It is the deprived and exploited sections of society, mainly tribals, whose basic needs such as food and water have not been fulfilled by the government.

4. What are the various causes of Naxalism?

• Land related issues: Evasion of land ceiling laws, lack of titles to landless people and transfer of land to no-tribals in the schedule 5 areas.
• Displacement related issues: Eviction of tribals from their traditional land for irrigation, mining and other projects. Failure to give proper compensation & lack of rehabilitation exacerbated the problem.
• Livelihood related issues: Lack of alternate work opportunities as these people don't have skills to work in modern occupations. Not given minimum wage for their hard work (Naxalites give them work with minimum wages). Lack of food security with non-functional PDS.
• Social Exclusion: Humiliation from upper castes in the form of forced labor, sexual exploitation of women leading to denial of respect and dignity.
• Governance related issues: Poor provisions of essential public services such as health, roads and other infrastructure. Lack of motivated personnel leads to corruption and exploitation of tribals. Failure of implementation of PESA by the state governments.

5. How these Naxalites generate support for themselves?

• They create conditions for the non-functioning of the government and seeks to disrupt the developmental activities of the government.
• Then they do some development work and create fear in the mind of people to control them.

6. What is the role of different agencies to solve this problem?

• Security Forces: Form trained special task forces on the pattern of grey hounds as done in A.P. Sensitize and re-train them to the root causes of the problem. Draw police force from local youth so that the locals will get employment and the police will get the local intelligence.
• Administrative Institutions: Effectively implement the laws and improve the service delivery mechanism. Implement FRA effectively. There is an urgent need to implement NREGS in letter ans spirit to solve the issues of depressed wages. Give more flexibility in the implementation of centrally sponsored scheme by decentralization.Timely and effective implementation of dispute settlement is necessary.
• Government Personnel: Identify the officers who have empathy and sensitivity towards the problem and the people. Recognize their service, reward them and finally involve them in policy making. Remove the dominance of non-tribals from the civil services in that area.
• Local bodies: Strengthen the local bodies to solve the local problems. Properly implement PESA. Cooperative sector should be developed to check corruption and inefficiency.
• Civil Society: It can check the abuse by the police. Educate the people about the futility of violence. Prevent the aggravation of situation by ventilating public grievances within the legal democratic framework.

7. What is Integrated Action Plan?

• Look at this link for complete information. http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=79472

MY UPSC INTERVIEW

Board: P.Kilemsungla
Hobby: Writing Blog
State: Rajasthan
B.Tech in Engineering Physics

Chairman
1.Tell me the cultural problems of Rajasthan.
2.What are the positive cultural aspects which must be promoted?
3.Tell me about the Maharani college in Jaipur. How many girls study there? What role does it have in women empowerment?
4.What is the impact of Ukraine issue on India?
5.What are the qualities of a civil servant?
6. Tell me one civil servant which inspires you?

Member: 1 
1. What is this engineering physics? Is it engineering or physics?
2. What issues you write in your blog?
3. How social media impacts people?
4. What is its impact on young people?
5. What are the causes of communalism?
6. What are the self help groups? What impact does they have?

Member: 2
1. Today, young children don't listen to their parents. What should be done so that children listen to parents?
2. What are the sources of energy which we should invest into?
3. What are the problems associated with nuclear energy?
4. Which countries in the World use nuclear energy on large scale?
5. What are the political issues related to the nuclear energy in India?

Member: 3
1. Why the Bishnoi community is famous for?
2. Tell me the one biggest problem of India?

There was no member 4. His chair was empty. 

THIRD GENDER:

1. How many genders we have in India?

• Always we had more than two genders but now the third gender is recognized.
• Remember that LGBT people are in minority 

LAND REFORMS: Failed Promise or Social Justice

LAND IS THE KEY TO FIGHT POVERTY. HOW CAN WE FIGHT POVERTY WHILE OUR LAND IS NOT SECURED

1. Why is the meaning of land reforms?

• Reform means improving something by correcting the faults.
• Land reforms mean that there were some systemic and institutional problems in the ownership pattern of land which was to be corrected.
• Broadly, it signifies the redistribution of land ownership from the Zamindars to the landless labourers owing to certain conditions. 

2. What was the pattern of land ownership before land reforms?

• In the areas of Permanent settlement, the Zamindars were made the owners of the land permanently. Earlier the peasant itself was the owner and the Zamindars were the official who would collect the revenue on behalf of the state. But, why British made them the owner?
• It is because in the case of rain failure leading to crop failure the British were not getting revenues. This hurt their aim of ruthless exploitation of Indian to finance their trade elsewhere. So, they wanted fixed revenue which should come to them even in the case of rain failure. Thus, they settled the issue by fixing the revenue permanently with the Zamindar.
• They also assumed that by being the owner of land the Zamindar will invest into the land to increase its productivity. As he have to give a predetermined fix amount to the British he can keep the extra revenue earned from the increased productivity.
• But, Indians think differently than the British. Rather than increasing the productivity they brought forest land under agriculture. They resorted to rack-renting i.e. extracting too much rent from the peasant. It led to the progressive under-development of Indian agriculture. The peasant (who is a tenant on his own land) had no incentive to work efficiently. 
• Moreover, the Zamindar settled in cities leaving the responsibility of tax collection to some other intermediary. This further led to increase in burden on the peasant. Sometimes, 95% of the produce was taken away as the rent. If he is unable to pay the rent then he will be evicted of his tenancy and other hard working tenant will be hired by the Zamindar. Thus, the tenancy was also not protected. 
• In Mahalwari and Ryotwari areas also the land alienation was common. As the revenue payment was high, the peasant will go to moneylender who will keep land as a mortgage and finally take it in the case of non-payment in time.

3. What were the effects of this pattern of ownership of land?

• Indebtedness
• Land Alienation
• Absentee Landlord-ism
• Famines and mass deaths
• Decreasing productivity

4. How Indian government planned to tackle these issues?

• Not difficult to guess, by the various agendas which were collectively called as land reforms
• Abolition of Intermediaries.
• Tenancy reforms involving rent regulation.
• Land ceiling and the redistribution of surplus land.
• Consolidation of land holdings.

5. How far the land reforms became successful in India?

• Largely they were unsuccessful, except West Bengal. Left government ruled there for 34 years because of that one single achievement. Narendra Modi should learn something and start reversing his policies of forceful land acquisition. 
• Regarding abolition of intermediaries it was a great success.
• But, tenancy reforms and regulations failed. The strict tenancy laws led to the forceful eviction of tenants by the landlords. In many places the tenancy became informal and oral.
• Even the objective of redistribution was badly affected. Landlords declared their son as different families to get more land. Even if they had extra land they gave it to their servants and relatives on paper but in practice it belonged to the landlord (Benami Holdings). Government officials also helped these powerful people to make the holdings benami.
• In consolidation, the powerful land owners got the fertile land and the poor got the infertile land. 
• On an average, 1.1% of the land was declared as surplus which was available for redistribution. West Bengal declared 10% land as surplus. 
• Now, after liberalization and globalization it is not possible to go for further land reforms. If any state government talks about it now then the private investment will go away. So, Modi will never talk about it. It means he will lose Gujarat soon. 

DISABILITY: Being Different or Disadvantaged

1. Who are the disabled people?

• Disabled people are those who have various impairments
• These impairments can be physical, mental, intellectual and sensory.
• They hinder the effective participation of the disabled person (in society) on an equal basis with others.

2. In what way does disability leads to dis-empowerment?

• Any kind of physical disability is a biological deficiency.
• This deficiency leads to social discrimination and exclusion.
• Because of this hostility from society, the environment is also not favorable to them.
• This mismanagement of environment increases the problems of the disabled.
• Gradually, there develops prejudice and it results in inferiority complex among the disabled which impairs their growth. 
• Due to stigma and prejudice the disabled people don't get jobs leading to poverty and deprivation.
• Children and women are more at risk of violence, injury or abuse.

3. What is the magnitude and extent of disability in India?

• There are two major sources of statistics related to disability in India, they are NSSO survey and Census of India
• In 2011, 2.21% of the total population is disabled.
•  Disabled males are more in number than females.
• It is more in rural areas than urban areas.
• Scheduled Classes have highest number of disabled people among all the castes. 
• Various types of disabilities in decreasing order are in movement, hearing and seeing.
• Various disabilities increases with age group (you know why) but the mental retardation is maximum in the age group of 10-19. (Think Why)

4. What are the various laws and government schemes related to disabled people?

• We have moved from a welfare oriented approach to rights based approach towards the disabled people. Thus, we have enacted various acts and policies in that regard. 
• Rehabilitation Council of India Act, 1992 which deals with the development of manpower for providing rehabilitation services.
• Equal Opportunities Act, 1995 which provides for education, employment, creation of a barrier free environment and social security
• Mental Disabilities Act, 1999 which has provisions for legal guardianship of the four categories and creation of an enabling environment for their independent living.
• Mental Health Act, 1997. This is dealt by the ministry of family and health welfare and the previous three by the ministry of social justice.
• There is a department of disability affairs under the ministry of social justice.
• National policy for persons with disabilities 2006 recognizes that the people with disability are a valuable human resource and seeks to create an environment that provides them equal opportunities, protection of their rights and full participation in the society.
• Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation scheme provides financial assistance to NGOs for providing education, vocational training and rehabilitation of the disabled people.
• National scholarship schemes for students with disabilities under national fund as well as trust fund which provides financial assistance to pursue post matriculation, professional and technical courses
• Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship scheme to enable students with disabilities to pursue M.Phil and Ph.D courses. 
• 3% of vacancies in case of direct recruitment are reserved for persons with disabilities. Out of which 1% each shall be reserved for blindness, hearing impairment and locomotor disability.

 5. Even after having so many forward looking policies and laws the conditions of disabled people are low. Why?

• The same old story of poor implementation by the authorities and the lack of awareness among the people. 
• Lack of funds, loopholes in the system of selection and identification and services confined to only urban areas are the other limitations. 
• Only 2/29 states have draft disability policies.
• Only 30% of the disabled people are employed. In spite of reservations the share of disabled people in employment is 0.5%. Majority of the disabled people are either self employed or casual workers.

  

SELF HELP GROUPS: Collective Orientation or Financial Inclusion

1. What is a Self Help Group?

• It is a small democratically formed group of not more than 20 people who come together voluntarily to attain certain collective and social goals.
• Its purpose is to build the functional capacity of the poor and the marginalized which help them to get rid of common problems such as unemployment, illiteracy, etc
• Savings is the main pillar of the SHG.
• It demands discipline and responsibility on the part of each member of society for its successful functioning.

2. When did this SHG movement started in India?

• It was started as a pilot project in 1986-87 by NABARD.
• Formal SHG-Bank linkage started in 1992 in Karnataka. 
• Today, around 60 lakh SHGs with 10 crore people and Rs 6500 crores of bank balance are linked with banks.
• Around 44% of these SHGs are in south India and only 20% in central and north east India.
• 90% of SHGs consists exclusively of women.

3. What is the structure and functioning of a SHG?

• It is a group having between 10 to 20 members.
• A member is selected as animator (2 years) and two as representatives.
• They also elect a management committee of five members.
• The group meets every week primarily to collect savings and give out loans.
• The rules and rates of interest are decided by the members itself. 
• Profit is distributes annually at the end of each year.

4.  What are the benefits of SHGs?

• Increase in assets of the members. Now they can afford to have TV, refrigerator, washing machine, etc.
• Development of savings habit among the people
• Shift from consumption loan to income generation loan.
• Employment rate increased leading to more income generation and removal of poverty.
• Increase in women's assertiveness leading to gender equality.
• Social integration among the people as they interact and understand each other's problems.
• Reduced dependency on money lenders and enhanced self esteem and self confidence.
• Increased financial inclusion has led to better nutrition levels and checked IMR, MMR, etc.
• Family spending on educating the children has increased.
• It led to socio-economic empowerment of the people from lowest strata leading to social justice.

5. What are the issues related to their proper functioning?

• To maintain their participative character: Because of the patronage and subsidies provided by the government and panchayats there occurs politicization of SHGs which hurts the basic spirit of SHGs.
• To expand the SHG movement to credit deficit areas of the country: In those areas where there is lack of financial infrastructure there is need for cooperative action and social mobilization of people into SHGs.
• Extension of SHGs to the urban areas: Most of the urban poor are migrants from the rural areas and don't have documentary evidence to benefit from financial services. So, there is need for SHGs among the rural poor.
• Issues of quality: The quality of their products doesn't match to that of corporates. Also, they lack skills, scale of operations and efficiency as compared to the corporates.
• Issues of sustainability: They are heavily dependent upon their promoters such as NGOs or government. Training must be given to them in terms of book keeping and financial management.
• Dominance of patriarchal mentality creates obstacles for the participation of women.
• Incidences of misappropriation of funds maligns the spirit and ideology of the movement. 
• They don't go for cost benefit analysis before making investment.

 6. Why there is need for Corporate-SHG linkage for rural markets?

• SHGs can act as marketing channel for the corporates as the rural areas form a big untapped market for the corporate goods.
• Other benefits are availability of raw materials in rural areas, brand awareness can be increased and business expansion.
• Benefits for SHGs are secured business and revenue, scale of production can be achieved, capital, skills and technology benefits can be achieved and social status can be improved.

SOCIAL MEDIA: Useful or Useless

1. What is social media?

• It is a term used for a group of internet based applications that allow the creation and exchange of user generated content.
• It provides an excellent platform to discuss issues. share and even create information.
• This information can be in the form of text, image, audio and video.
• Various websites used for this purpose are Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, MySpace, etc. (Look at the picture above)

2. How has this social media impacted the lives of people?

• It has affected the lives of youngsters more than anyone else.
• Today, youngsters are leading two lives. One real and the other virtual.
• Unable to make a proper balance between the two, youngsters are alienating the people surrounding them in real life.
• They are affected by the negative feelings of envy and jealousy by comparing themselves with their friends who upload their pictures of party and enjoyment. For e.g. my previous flatmate who was preparing for civil services used to frequently lose his motivation by looking at the pictures of his college mates partying in USA.
• It also creates disturbance for them in studies due to lack of concentration.
• Various health issues such as lethargy, sleep deprivation and strain on eyes are common these days. Many students can be found online at 1 a.m.in the night when they have board exam in the morning tomorrow.
• Also, the language skills of youngster are going down . 
• Other negative impacts of social media are: MMS, videos and pictures can be misused, cyber bullying leading to suicides, anonymity leading to criminal tendencies, no privacy of data, cyber attacks and malwares are on rise. 

3. What is its larger impact on democracy and politics?

• As anybody and everybody can create information, it has led to democratization of information and has preserved the ideal of free speech.
• In this way it provides voice to the voiceless or the powerless people. 
• It provides new ways of channelizing public opinion and encouraging participation in political and civic activities. Various examples are Arab spring, Anna Hazare movement, Delhi gang rape case and online petitions.  
• People can critically monitor the actions of government and demand accountability from the bureaucrats.
• Today, many political parties maintain an updated website and political leaders are active on social media. Thus, it is being used as an effective tool for political communication. 
• By making voting online will lead to increase in political participation of these netizens.
• Tolerance for cultural diversity is growing. Various identities such as tribals, regional and national are existing alongside. Thus, there is development of  horizontal ties among people rather than vertical and hierarchical ties.
• Businesses are reaching directly to the people. Two way communication between the customers and  the businessmen is possible leading to feedback and improvement in service delivery.
• In education, various online open course are widening the horizons of learning. The learning experiences have widened by using animation, interactive story and cartoons.

4. How has this social media impacted the functioning of mainstream media?

• It has challenged the monopoly of newspapers and TV channels in providing news to the people.
• It has challenged the credibility of mainstream media.Now, the mainstream media can't hide news otherwise social media will report it. For e.g. Mainstream media didn't report much on Assam riots but social media did report.
• Today, newspapers and channels have their special reporters who monitor Facebook and twitter for the breaking news.  
• Actually both of these are complementary. For transnational coverage of domestic affairs we need social media and for nationwide coverage of any event on social media we need mainstream media.

5. What are the limitations of social media?

• There is a large digital divide i.e. only 15% of people have internet connection. 
• Also there is rural urban divide among the people.
• It is restricted to only English speaking classes and it may hinder the growth of social media in future.

6. Should social media be regulated?

• In social media there is unchecked sharing of information. There is no authenticity of information and the information can harm or hurt any group or person. For e.g. North east people fled to Assam when a rumor was spread on social media that Muslim fundamentalists can retaliate after Assam riots.
• As the potential to harm is much more than expected , we need some form of regulation. 
• Government must build its capacity to block the potential websites and webpages which can create disturbances.
• Government must use social media itself to give more information to counter the misinformation.

7. Do you think section 66(A) of IT Act has been unfair towards freedom of expression through social media?

• This act says that any person who send by computer any information that is grossly offensive or have menacing character will be punished. For e.g. circulating the objectionable pics without permission can come under this provision.
• If the person knows that the information is false and is spread for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience, injury, hatred, ill will or insult will also come under this act. For e.g. spreading of video during Muzaffarnagar riots can come under this provision.
• Also, if an e-mail is send for causing inconvenience, annoyance, deceive or misled will be covered under this section. Therefore, if you get the e-mails saying that you have won 1 crore as a lucky draw or King of Samoa is keeping his money in your custody then these can be booked under this section.
• Various unreasonable applications of this act which were in news are: Jadavpur university professor was booked for a political cartoon about Didi, a businessman made a defamatory tweet against the son of Chidambaram, Aseem Trivedi for drawing cartoons of parliament to depict its ineffectiveness. Two girls were booked for questioning the shutdown of Mumbai on the demise of Bal Thackrey. 
• One common thing in all these cases is that the affected party was having a lot of influence in politics. Power was applied while slapping the charges and not mind. India is a diverse society where people can have different and conflicting views. To scare everybody by the unreasonable application of law defeats the purpose of law itself. It also undermines the democracy. Before applying the charges, the police must look into the intentions of the person. Also, they must look into the larger impacts of their act on free speech, critical thinking among the masses and the sensitivity of the people. How can they punish a cartoon which makes a point against the current state of affairs. Without critical thinking democracy won't survive. If these people have guts then reply in the same peaceful way. If Trivedi made some cartoon of parliament then it is the politicians who are responsible for this. they must go and run the parliament first.  
• After many debates and discussion this section of the act has been amended and before applying the charges under this act, permission needs to be taken from an officer not below the rank of DCP level in rural and urban areas and IGP in metros. I hope the misuse of act wil be reduced now.

TRIBALS: Assimilation or Integration

1. Who are tribals? How they are different from others?

Tribals are the indigenous people who lived in inaccessible forest areas for many years. As they were isolated, they developed distinct characteristics from the mainstream culture. These characteristics are

• Distinct language, dialects, culture, customs and traditions.
• They are more egalitarian people, not as shrewd as Delhi people
• They have better gender equality than our societies and hence better sex ratio.
• They protect and conserve forests as they depend on them. Not like us, who just want to cut forests.
• They have a system of youth dormitories where a couple can live together before marriage. In that sense they are forward looking as in our culture live-in is still not permitted.
• There is no formal system of schooling. Skills are transferred from father to son.

2. They have a different system than ours, so let them practice that why we are creating troubles for them?

• It is good to be different. In fact, in today's World people like to be different so as to gain attention.
• Even, tribals lived peacefully in forests and nobody bothered them.
• Now, when the population is rising fast, resource constraints is there so we are moving towards forests and cutting them for our benefits.
• In this process, tribals are getting pushed deep into forests and getting cornered from all sides.
• So, it is a case of domination of a powerless culture by a powerful Indian culture.  

3. In what ways we are dominating them? 

• We are buying their lands for very cheap prices.Land alienation is happening at a faster rate.
• Non-tribals are dominating in their areas.
• Even they can't make liquor which is their tradition and have to buy it from market at high prices.
• In court cases, they don't understnd language and are cheated by the non tribals.
• Many foreign companies are doing illegal mining there and affecting their source of drinking water and environment badly.

4. What are the steps taken by government to protect them?

• Government prepared a list of scheduled tribes and provided protective discrimination. But, only urban educated tribals are getting benefited from this policy.
• Prezident and Governor have powers to declare some areas as scheduled areas.
• Special development programmes were started in tribal blocks. But, this helped rich and non-tribals more than the poor and tribals.
• Tribal sub-plan was created to benefit tribals and not the non-tribals.
• Greater political autonomy was given to them in the form of Jharkhand and Chattisgarh. But, Jharkhand is a great failure.

5. So, it is natural that diffusion of culture will happen. Non tribals will go into tribal areas. So, what is the solution? 

• Yes, thats true that mixing of culture will happen and we can't keep the tribals totally isolated.
• But, what we are doing now is assimilation of their culture in our culture.
• We should not destroy their culture by saying that our culture is superior. It is not about being superior but about being different.
• Rather we must integrate them. It means we must let them develop themselves according to their own wish and intelligence. We must help them maintain key components of their culture and if they want they can adopt some of ours. Nothing should be forced.

6. Do you think integration is possible?

• Frankly speaking, NO
• We cultured people are so adamant and proud of our culture that we won't let them practice their culture. 
• Also, we are less tolerant and more greedy. We want to take easy path of just exploiting the tribals and not helping them.
• Laws are good and they have good intentions but the implementation will be done by the dominant people. So, a loss for tribals.

7. What are the issues related to displacement induced by development? 

• For many development projects such as dams, roads, bridges and mining we need to cut forests
• The tribals living in those areas are then dispossessed of their natural setting. Suddenly their culture loses the meaning. They lose their way of life such as living with rivers, animals and trees.
• They are forced to enter into mainstream economy. As they don't have enough skills to participate in the economy, they end up being rickshaw pullers, Women end up becoming prostitutes and children end up in child labor.
• Thus, it is not at all inclusive or intelligent way of going about development. Developing others at the cost of tribals is leading to conflict and tension. NAXALISM is the live example.

CASTE SYSTEM: Continuity or Change

The above given statement is a very strong statement. It is not only against caste system but also against Hindu religion. But, why Ambedkar was against Hindu religion. It is because the Hindu religion provides the legitimacy to the caste system. A myth in Hindu religion says that Brahmins came from the mouth of BRAHMAJI, Khastriyas from arms, Vaishyas from the stomach and shudras from the feet. The Hindu religion also specifies the kind of work these castes are supposed to do. Thus, Ambedkar thought that only by attacking the Hindu religion he can attack the caste system. Therefore, he adopted Buddhism as everybody is equal in the Buddhist tradition. Now, let us study caste system in detail.

1. What are the features of traditional caste system?

• It is attached to you by birth and you can't change it. 
• It divides the society into different castes which are arranged in a hierarchy. Thus, it provides for inequality at birth. 
• It is hereditary in nature. It means that the son inherits his caste  from his father. 
• Every caste had a particular occupation associated with it. Nobody was allowed to change his caste based occupation.
• Marriages were to take place in one's own caste.
• There is concept of purity and pollution. It means that the upper castes wouldn't accept kaccha food from lower caste. Also, there were certain religious disabilities on the lower castes including the untouchability. .

2. What changes had happened in the caste system today?

• There is no provision of changing your caste so it is still attached to you by birth.
• The hierarchy of castes is broadly same. But, the inequalities associated with birth has been tackled to some extent by the policy of protective discrimination.
• It is still hereditary.
• Occupations associated with castes have changed. Today, with industrialization and modernization there are ample opportunities with the lower castes to come out of their age old degrading ocupation.
• It is also changing but the change is very very slow. Those who marry outside their castes are looked down upon and even killed by their parents in some areas dominated by KHAP Panchayats. Mostly, the urban educated people are marrying outside their caste.
• With people eating in restaurants, traveling in buses and intermixing of people these disabilities are going down.Constitution has played an important role in tackling untouchability.

3. Today, most of the people project caste system in bad light. Is it really bad or are there some positives associated with it?

• Its goodness or badness depends on the values through which people judge it. If we see from traditional values it was positive but if we look it from the modern values of equality, liberty and freedom then it is bad.
• Also, the caste system provided the solidarity among the people of their caste. Secular interests of the members of one caste are seen to be common. It provides an identity to the people which helps them to deal with others. Thus, it is an arrangement which provides solidarity and unity among its members.
• From the value system present today it is bad as it gives undue advantage to some at the cost of others. We need equality at birth though people can become unequal later according to their talents.

4. Indian constitution out rightly rejects discrimination based on caste. But, still castes play an important role in people's lives.Has constitution failed to ingrain the modern values in the lives of people?

• Our constitution is very ambitious and forward looking document. Through constitution we thought to bring change in the Indian society. Constituion is just 60 years old but the caste system is present from ages. So, it is too early to say that constitution has failed.
• It is commendable that through constituion we have tackled the negative aspects such as untouchability and other disabilities.
• Caste is only present in informal terms such as job recommendations in private sector, marriages, etc. which are not harmful as such.

5. What has been the role of politics in reviving caste system?

• It is sad that politicians still resort to caste for their votes. Some see it as natural because castes are ready-made groupings available to politicians which they can influence upon. As a caste group has some common interests the politicians cater to those interests to get votes.
• Dalit movements, farmer's movement and various other movements have revived the caste feelings in the people.
• We can say that caste system has declined but the caste feelings are still there which we call as "casteism".

GLOBALIZATION: Good or Bad

1. What do you understand by Globalization?

• It is the process of interaction and integration of domestic economies with the international economy. 
• It happens through movement of people, technology, capital, trade, investment and services.
• Apart from material things, even values are transferred. For e.g. Sunny Leone !!!!.

2. What facilitates globalization?

• Government policies. Basically the degree of openness of the economy.
• Information Technology and telecommunications infrastructure.
• Electronic economy i.e. transfer of money at click of a mouse.
• Transnational Corporations as they produce and sell goods in different countries.
• International Organizations such as WTO, UN, etc.

3. How has globalization impacted various sector of our Country?

• Employment: In-formalization of economy is happening. MNC's are outsourcing the work to informal sector. Closure of sick and loss making enterprises along with downsizing has resulted in unemployment. As competition is tough, companies are hiring more on contract basis to avoid giving benefits to the employees.
•  Trade Unions: They are voluntarily suspending their trade union rights for a specific period. Thy are accepting cut in wages and salaries. Thus, their bargaining power has decreased.
• Agriculture: Input cost is increasing as HYVs, fertilizers and other inputs are controlled by profit seeking MNCs.GM crops will further affect them as they will have to buy new seeds every time. Even government can't subsidize them beyond 10% as mandated under WTO rules.
• Women: Feminization of agriculture as men migrate to other areas for jobs. Women are more involved in home based work which is low paying and unskilled work.
• Environment: Global warming as countries are all connected. MNCs are taking benefits of lax environment rules of developing countries. Kyoto protocol is also helping the process.
• Trade and Investment: FDIs and FIIs are coming to developing countries leading to more jobs. But, the share of LDCs is much less than the developed countries. Economies are connected leading to the spread of recession to other countries. Exports and imports are affecting the value of currency.
• Inequality: Rich is becoming more rich and poor more poorer. Those who have skills, assets and capital are benefited at the cost of others. Those absolute poverty has gone down but the relative poverty is increasing. Regional inequality is also growing as MNCs are investing in those states who have better infrastructure.
• Family: From joint to nuclear family.
• Education: E-universities. foreign universities setting their campuses in India.
• Democracy: Spread of democratic ideals. For e.g. Arab Spring
• Crime: Organized and cross border crime has increased. Terrorism and cyber crime are new challenges to internal security.
• Technology: More transfer of technology is taking place both for war and peace.
• Consumerism: Consumerism is growing. Demand for fast food and consumer durables have increased.
• Migration: Illegal migration of people and animals is happening.
• Human Rights: Awareness about these have increased. Awareness about disability has increased.

4. Is globalization bad in itself or is there any problem in its management?

• Globalization is not new but is happening from ages. 
• Globalization as such is neutral. Problem is not the globalization but about managing it properly.
• Economy is becoming increasingly global but the social and political institutions are still local in character. For e.g. use of caste in politics and Khap panchayats.
• Power has shifted from local authorities to unaccountable MNCs.

5. How to mitigate the negative impacts of globalization?

• Invest in agriculture through ago-processing industries. Go for cooperative farming and incentivize MSME's more.
• Promote those sectors and technologies which are labor intensive as India is a labor surplus country.
• Hugely invest in backward areas through building infrastructure, developing irrigation and watershed management in central India.
• Increase spending in social sector. Don't privatize the facilities which are basic rights of people such as water.
• Make NREGA universal (urban + rural) and also for the skilled people.
• Raise the productivity of informal sector by investing in appropriate technology.
• Skills development of new people and re-skilling of old so that they can get jobs in MNCs.

DECLINING CHILD SEX RATIO: Development or Disempowerment

1. What is the present sex ratio in India?
   

YEAR	TOTAL SEX RATIO	CHILD SEX RATIO (0-6YEARS)
1991	927	945
2001	933	927
2011	940	919

• The observations are very strange. Overall sex ratio is increasing but the Child sex ratio is continously decreasing.
• It shows that younger generation is more active in sex-selective abortions than their parents. It is very sad that educated young people are doing so. SHAME ON US!!!!

2. Why younger generation is resorting more to sex selective abortions?

• The reasons are more economic than social and religious.
• Younger generation is going for a small family. As they plant to have 1-2 children their obvious choice is a boy because boy will be of great help in old age. Also, mother earns respect if a male child is born. Some stupid function is also organized if a male child is born but not when females are born.
• Internalized patriarchy is also a reason for this. Even educated people are victim of this internalized patriarchy. What kind of education are we giving to the younger generation. Rather than critically looking at the traditions, education is perpetuating those traditions.
• High economic development is facilitating this as the technology for sex selective abortion is accesible and affordable. Therefore, sex ratio is worst in developed states of north India.

3. What does the low sex ratio conveys about the development of the society?

• Sex ratio is the index of the status of women in the society and in my view the position of women determines the real development of society rather than GDP.
• Low sex ratio also shows the dependence of woman and her inability to take independent decisions. It is the male member which does the family planning and women just follow him.

4. Why the status of women is low in Indian society?

•  In our society woman represents the honor of family. Therefore, in upper castes and classes they face restrictions in their interactions with outside world. They don't earn and are a burden on the family. As they are a burden they are given less importance and hence their status is low.
• Situation is better in low castes and classes as women go outside the home and earns money to support the family. Thus, her earning capacity leads to higher status in the family.
• Because of this low status she has to compromise more than their male counterparts leading to frustration and fatalistic attitude which led to internalization of patriarchy in them. Then they perpetuate the patriarchy to the next generation.
• This economic dependence on men is also the reason for exorbitant dowry demands and atrocities on women. Stupid people don't attach any monetary value to the household work the woman is doing. 
• Lat but not the least they are more involved in child rearing and bearing which makes them dependent on men.

 5. In which areas the sex ratio is adverse?

• In the northern and western part of India it is bad than the eastern and southern parts of the region.
• It is more in villages than in cities.
• It is more among lower castes and poor than upper castes and rich.

6. How to tackle the issue of low sex ratio?

• Make the women independent. Provide them more employment and utilitarian education. 
• Minimize the violence against women. Please don't commit rapes. Don't harass them on workplace. Let them work and enjoy the life peacefully. If you find the girls attractive just look at her and appreciate her beauty. Don't try to acquire her forcefully. She is not an object but a human being with feelings.
• Punish the doctors who do sex selective abortions. Use technology to detect the culprits such as fix a detector in sonography machines and account for each diagnosis.