What is the measure to know that you have spent your day in best possible way?
• It’s not working hard throughout the day! • It’s not living your day in planned way! • It’s not when you overcame all hurdles and succeeded!
Then what it is?
You have made your day when –
• You have not caused worry to anyone you have interacted in the day, by your deeds or words. • You have made most of the people happy. • You have helped people in some way. • You have made people less worried.
Then you will have and should have a peaceful sleep
......"Samaaj" ke liye yeh murder zaroori tha.......
are the words of uncle of Shubha who was shot in her head by her brother for eloping with her boyfriend. Not only her uncle but the the entire khap in Wazirpur(A village 1 km from the upmarket Ashok Vihar within Delhi) feels that their tradition , honour and caste has to prevail over anything else. They can do anything to keep their caste pride intact, even killing thier own sons , daughters, brothers and sisters.
These murders(the so called honour killings) are indicating towards a very serious trend. These khaps want to save their culture from the intrusion of outer world at any cost. An altogether different society and culture is existing (and growing?) in today's India just like the 'primitive societies' in andaman and Jharkhand..the difference is that this tribe (khaps) wear cloths and speak our own language unlike tribes in Jharkhand and Andaman
US can’t root out the menace of terrorism. Nor does it want so. The so called war against terrorism which has been waged by the US in the aftermath of 11th Sept 2001 is only the act of punishing the culprits of US. It has one and the only motive of safeguarding the interests of the US. Apart from this terrorism is far bigger a problem that can be handled by a single nation.
The manifestation of the extreme form of terrorism which we have seen of 11/9 2001 was the result of long term foreign policies of various nations which harbored terrorism (covertly). It’s an irony that the seeds of ‘Taliban cancer’ were sown by the very US during its attempts of establishing political and military hegemony over South Asia. After the cold war US has been pursuing its policy of imperialism and has been using nations as a ‘banana peel’ – using them and throwing them when they serve its purpose e.g. US sought to establish its political and military hegemony in gulf war to procure cheap oil and has been using Israel to control the West Asia . It is for the similar reasons it has played the recent ‘Pakistan card’ and is not supporting openly India against Pakistan. Now in the guise of eliminating terrorism the US is continuing its imperialist designs in a covert way.
Even today when terrorism has shown its might to the world (especially to US), there is still no consensus on the definition of terrorism. The very individuals are seen terrorists in one nation and ‘freedom fighters’ in the other. The reason is the ‘self interest’ of various nations. United States is no exception.
Terrorism is a global phenomenon which transcends national borders. Just targeting few militant outfits and killing clerics and figure heads can’t root out this menace. Tactics of suppression can eliminate an Osama bin laden and a Taliban militia only to produce more Osamas and Talibans in future. Terrorism is the result of interaction between various psychological, religious, political and economic factors. The efforts should be carried out to find answers to certain questions like
• What is the terrorist ideology and how can it be changed? • What are the basic motives of terrorists? • What factors turn a person into a terrorist? • What makes them so highly motivated that they put their lives for such heinous acts?
The religious ideologies that condone violence must be challenged and the nations harboring terrorists should be dealt firmly and should be isolated by international community. Its time a global convention has been brought against terrorism and in support of democracy.
Terrorism is an evil of the new world order which has been created by various nations themselves in pursuits of their ‘self-interest’ (knowingly or unknowingly). US policy of imperialism has also been instrumental in aggravating this problem. Now this evil has grown powerful enough to challenge those nations themselves. It can’t be eliminated unless all nations identify it as a global problem, accept a single definition of terrorism and join hands together to stamp this out bypassing their ‘self interest’.
(This is ‘Ardi Rizal’, a 2 year old Indonesian boy, who smokes 40 cigarettes a day. He became addict when his father gave him his first cigarette when he was just 18 months old!)
May 31st was “celebrated” as World No Tobacco Day. It is meant to encourage abstinence from all forms of tobacco consumption across the globe for 24 hours. News papers, news channels published no tobacco ads. Organizations too “celebrated” the day with slogans and posters. Supreme Court of India had imposed a countrywide ban on smoking in pubic places and public transport from 2nd October 2008.Prior to that Delhi government too had taken a step to curb smoking by imposing a the ban on children below 18 years of age from buying tobacco products and stopping the shops from selling cigarette and other tobacco products in the vicinity of educational institutions.
The irony is that all these actions have not been able to curb the menace of tobacco in India. Instead of getting eliminated this reptile is getting bigger and bigger from every passing year. It is taking a toll of almost 2200 lives every day in India. More alarming is the fact that people who die come from almost all strata. It is true that “tobacco” is akin to epidemic today which has engulfed our whole society.
Though exemplary, these steps might prove ineffective unless they are included in a broader strategy, on the part of the government to inform and educate people about this spreading hazard. But, to make any thought-out plans, we must probe deeper into the cause of this threat .
I have tried to give some insights in this connection -
A “web” has been created by “tobacco producing companies”, especially by those which manufacture cigarettes, to catch more and more people in their net. Through their ads on the media and strong distribution channel, they have made tobacco products (cigarette specially) omnipresent. They sponsor all big events and hire celebrities from sports, films etc. to endorse their products. It short, they have tacitly made tobacco products in general and cigarette in particular a “status symbol”. Tobacco and cigarette today have become not only socially acceptable but desirable. They have successfully created a false perception among people that all successful people smoke and it adds to the personality. This “attack on the unconscious” of the people has made any person today prone to smoke or consume tobacco products. Obviously the young and adolescents are most vulnerable. Because of the addictive power of these products, a person once introduced to them, slowly attaches it to all his/her life events and life style and ends up by becoming its slave.
But the real threat is to the young generation. Apart from above specified reasons, they are lured to this seduction due to some different reasons. Modeling or Imitation is a major way through which a child acquires any behavior. When the adolescent sees so many persons around him, right from elders to peers, smoking or consuming tobacco products, he tries to imitate. The atmosphere of today’s “modern educational institutions” adds ‘fuel to the fire’. Every adolescent wants to be socially accepted by his/her peer group. Many times it happens that he is forced (psychologically) to smoke to remain in the group. He does it for a perceived reward and attaches it with his personality and self concept. The cigarette become a ‘uniting link’ between the group
I disagree with the opinion that enacting laws to restrict the influence of tobacco is a “feckless endeavor” and “an old-fashioned idea”. I don’t think this would be a “good idea” that on the one hand we make people aware and educate them about the dangers of tobacco and on the other make tobacco available to every nook and corner and leave it on people to make an “Intelligent Choice”! India is a country with socialistic ideals. Any act that is beneficial for the society at large must be welcome. Since it is difficult for the government to ban tobacco products totally or make the tobacco cultivation illegal due to various “constraints and obligations”. With the fact that it contributes to 10% of total revenue in the form of excise, it can certainly take some indirect steps to contain this hazard.
All steps taken by government can become effective only when they are supported by the public awareness programs that stimulate all sections of society to take active part in this endeavor. A Strong public opinion should be made for ‘saying no to tobacco’. The media must also take the initiative. It can air programs on hazards of smocking. Educational institutional have more serious role to play in this direction as the seeds of “Smoking Behavior” are sown in college and school only. Only a collective effort can defy such a powerful enemy. It’s high time we have taken a determined effort to get rid of this evil
It’s true to let someone know about your feelings You’ve to say something,. But some feelings are tacit. they are unexpressed & untold, Vibrations from the heart are needed to get them unfold.
(i wrote this during my MBA days for a friend of mine)
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