An Open Letter to Madam CM, West Bengal

Respected Madam,


This letter is with regards to one of your latest schemes-compensation to rape victims in Bengal. It's really grateful of you to accept rape as a crime and that it can happen in Bengal too (for as much as i have read about the numerous rape cases in the last one year, most of them were written off by you and your party members as false cases until activists and public created a ruckus.) This is basically what we all expected from a lady CM a year ago when we voted you to power.

Anyways, other than cheers, there's some shock and fear that does affect me and my female friends. Let me talk about them precisely.

1. Compensation package for rape: Are you trying to promote rape incidents in your state considering the fact that as of now none of the victims in the last one year have been able to prove their cases as your government has written them off as attempts to sabotage?
2. Conditions applied to the package: Prove that you are really raped and then take away the compensation and dance in glory oops sorry.
3. Rate card: Can we have the details of how you and your team came upto the figures reported in media? initial analysis signals as if the team has worked too hard with the sex workers oops sorry the rape victims from the cpi(m) era to come up with the figures.
As per the government decision, in case of loss of life, the nearest kin of the woman victim would get Rs 2 lakh. An amount of Rs 50,000 would be given for loss of limb or part of body leading to a handicap of 80 per cent or more.
In case the victim loses limb or part of a body resulting in a handicap between 40 per cent to 80 per cent, the compensation amount would also be Rs 50,000.
Rs 10,000 would be given for loss of limb or body part resulting in a handicap below 40 per cent, while minor rape victims would get compensation of Rs 30,000 and adults Rs 20,000. Women and minor victims of trafficking would be given Rs10,000. (Source: http://ibnlive.in.com/news/mamatas-rape-compensation-plan-strange-congress/290277-37-64.html)
4. Missing angles: i think you have missed out on the number of men serviced, oops sorry again, who rape a woman. Why not devise one for that too so that the already remote controlled police force does not have to disturb u.
You have also missed out on compensating the inner wounds and injuries to our self-esteem and self-respect, the damages a girl's family has to go through, psychiatrist fees to get through the trauma. why not compensate all of them?
5. Rate card: Your compensation package sounds more of like rate charts for sex workers. Not sure if you consider all the women in Bengal as public property available to be raped, i simply condemn your whole idea. What message do you leave to the people of the state - rape anyone, the government is there to take up responsibility and compensation? how many of the rapists have been sentenced in the last one year? Few days ago, you termed a lady wrong when she was raped while traveling back home after admitting her husband in hospital. Where was she wrong when your government has not decided to take care of basic infrastructure a metro city like Kolkata requires. Why do i have to face molestation every time i travel in a local bus or shuttle cabs in my city? what have you done to maintain these law and order in our city?

Madam CM,

Now lets come to the main point. Instead of spending so much in the name of compensation, which you would not actually be spending coz rapes dont happen in Bengal and how many women will actually go to a clinic to get her body parts tested right after she has been brutally raped by a man. So is this a way to save money to turn the city blue instead of empowering the women of your state with security and self-confidence. Plus i am not sure if the number of rapes will go down or not, but i am this much sure that increase in number of false cases will be very high. and have you imagined the poor who dont have jobs, they will now try and get themselves raped and then killed to get this compensation package. Mam, my simple suggestion and request to you is instead of talking this senseless stuff and making mock of all women in our state, better work on the security measures as that's what you are responsible for. create a law that creates fear amongst the wrong-doers and not the victims.

Hope you look into this request and concern of all the women in Bengal.

Yours sincerely,
A woman from Bengal



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Free the Child Labour

Thanks to the radio, today i became part of a very good cause. Yes, next time if I even walk across a shop selling leather items, i would simply walk up to the owner and ask "Are your products free of child labour?"

Our nation is a made up of more than 100 billion people out of which many live below poverty lines.......in this millenium of abbreiation and connotations for all, these are known as BPLs. Please do not mistake it for one of the very big brands of the 90's.

I had just mailed across to my group and this blog is about that. it includes no soultion from me but a friend took great pain to come up with the following:

Shampu's Idea:
1. Provide stipend to every child that goes to school (from below


poverty line families)



By the way, this is practised in Saudi Arabia, where ppl have enough

money and can have a good life with/without education. When the kids

graduate to high school, they get more money :D And (u can't believe

this,) if a boy marries while still studying, his stipend gets

doubled!!! This is hugely successful. Ppl zabardasti send their kids to

school!



2. Invest in govt funded schools to become day-boarding. This will

ensure that kids study and also get extra help if required.



3. Impose education cess on a national level. I think it was imposed

once... but dnt know if it still exists.



4. Implement some kind of exemption for corporations and media companies

that work for mass education. This mite work as tax exemption or export

duty exemption....



5. Implement the Right to Education bill honestly - force private

schools to reserve seats for BPL kids who r good students.



6. Make "each one teach one" a year-long project for students of class

10 or 12. This would be far, far better that the STUPID supw work we

delegate to our local tailors :-X



7. Invest in e-tutorials!!! Or radio/TV tutorials like the one Tata sky

offers. Although Tata sky is expensive by rural standards, CDs and flash

files implemented village-wise would be far more cheap and effective.

This task may be delegated to students/NGOs.



8. Delegate work to NGOs. Form a national-level committee to oversee the

NGO's performance. I would suggest that these NGOs should be kept free

of local bodies' interference so that at the grassroot level, there is a

free market in the education sector that would make the schools

competitive. By this I mean people will have 4 basic choices:

a. PRIVATE SCHOOLS - Independently funded

b. STATE-GOVT FUNDED SCHOOLS - State funded

c. NGO/CENTRALLY CONTROLLED EDU CENTRES - Central govt funded

d. KENDRIYA VIDYALAYA (where available) - Central govt funded



9. Set up an independent body to hold college entry examinations in the

line of the American SAT so that kids who pass out of 12 don't fall into

the nexus of money-laundering instis for education.



10. Publicise all govt expenditure and returns on edu every year. This

should not be subject to someone filing an RTI request. It should work

independently as part of the govt's process to mobilise mass education.



11. Marketing Marketing Marketing!!! People love emotion and glitz. If

the govt wants participation they must make their plan saleable. So I'd

suggest that the govt gets hold of some of these goddam IIM passouts

(who fatten their vilayati bosses' pockets) and get some work done by

them!!! I'm sure they'll come up with better stuff than this.
 
 
Juicey's Idea:
It might sound funny, but i agree with her as well..
Laddoo we are also childrens? Aren't we? So y r they exploiting us?


Y is there no org supporting our cause??



Anyways I would suggest to increase the number and quality of schools and teachers, and remove examinations so that children go there on their own free will.



As of child labour, well the mother goes into labour to get the child then y should the child labour?

The mother should take care, rite? Anyways Indians make very bad parents..so I suggest the govt. should take immediate steps to stop women labour first, then child labour will stop automatically.



Moreover, some children are nasty brats, if you give them proper food, house, and clothes still they would prefer to move out of their own will (this I am speaking out of my experience with working with station urchins) they do not stay in one place but slip to different stations seeking adventure.



However, having said all this I still do not support child labour (though I am confused wht u mean by this).

It should be completely banned in India given that we are a nation of over a billion population (where 70% are adults and can work)

Moreover, I think in every constituency the MLA or MP must run his own orphanage (because most of these orphans are theirs)





I hate child labour it saddens me to see them running in the streets selling mundane items risking their lives, they have no food, shelter or future.



We should possibly donate clothes or items which we discard to NGOs who can help them.

And if any of u wish to support this cause, please visit http://www.childlabourfree.in/.

The Great Indian Political Drama Unfolds Again…………..

The war between the terrorists and the armed forces are over. But its time for Indians to get themselves prepared for the age-old political battle that occurs every time the terror strikes this country.

Instead of taking accountability and actually sighing for the loss, the political teams are gearing themselves for the blame game. The blame game has already started with each of them pointing a finger on the other whereas they don’t understand that it’s a mistake on part of all-be it the governing authorities or the ones who call themselves their competition.

It's pity to see that the Indians are together except the Indian politicians!!!

Mumbai rocks again with terror………

This one is from my diary..........i wrote it long time back but could not post it......

I had just gone online when the ibn chat alert popped up on screen flashing the message “Gangwar opens up on Mumbai streets”. I informed a colleague of mine. Then I again continued with my work without even understanding the complexity of the situation. I had not switched over to the TV till then.

Around 10.30 pm, my parents told me it’s a terror attack. And the first thing that came out of my mouth was “Not Again”. I closed my PC and sat infront of the TV set to catch up the latest news. They said terrorists have entered TAJ and I was shocked. How can they enter TAJ? Where’s the security and the police force?

And the rest we all saw over our TV sets. I doubt how many Indian citizens could have been able to get away from their TV sets? I was glued to the TV till 1 am; I could not actually sleep even after that. At 3 am, I woke up again and was watching TV till 4.30 am.

Political Treasury

So now, we all know where all the money is in the recession hit times. When each Indian is breathing high for job security and saving his or her hard-earned money, we now know where our money is going and whose pockets are getting richer.

Well coming to the main subject. We all know how polling booths are captured using muscle power. So obviously, the netas need to buy oil to varnish the muscles! Also in our poverty-rich nation, with poor souls all around, who remain empty stomach for 5-years, wait for the LS elections to feed themselves. After all the bargain is not cheap! In return of voting anyone if I get a month's food or even a day's food, what's wrong with it? After all whoever comes on seat will act the same. When we say we can make the change with voting the right person, who is right or white-collared?

The soldiers are struggling their life with useless bullet proofs and old ammunitions, but are expected to show their love for nationalism when the country is in trouble thanks to the inefficient government machinery. If the political parties are so rich, why dont they come out and donate their assets for the welfare and security of their loved nation and lovely citizens?

JAI HO!

In reply to: http://ibnlive.in.com/news/money-power-of-political-parties-worries-ec/84329-3.html

Tribute to 26/11 terror strikes by Amit Trivedi

Ye rashke jeena hamara hai

kya kehna kitna pyaara hai

Dekho jo pyaar bhari nazaar se

Kya mera kya tumhara hai

Yun toh dehshat ke teeron se Dono ka chalni seena hai

Jung tumhara chehra hai, mera chahre aaina hai.

Nasoor banke lahoo na yun baha tu, khuda ke bande khuda ko na bhula toh

Khuda ko na bhula toh

Nasooor banke........nasoor banke....... khuda ke bande.....khuda ke bande eeeeee....

Ho... na jalte hue nazaron se, na girti deewaron se

Hum na darenge in dard bhari, cheekh pukaron se

Yun toh dehshat ke teeron se Hum sab ka chalni seena hai

Ho jung kisi ka bhi chehra, mera chehra aaine hai

Nasoor banke lahoo na yun baha tu, khuda ke bande khuda ko na bhula toh

Khuda ko na bhulaaaaaaaaaa tu........

Source: http://ibnlive.in.com/videos/81371/in-tune-tribute-to-mumbaikars-amit-trivedis-lahoo.html

Moral Policing or Polishing

" If you are true Mumbaikar, learn Marathi and live life of a Marathi manoos. "

Checklist to measure the level of decency:

• You drink milk.
• You wear Khadi or dresses manufatcured in India.
• You dont party with the other sex.
• You dont dance on loud music.
• You wear dresses with high necklines and the ones that cover you from head to toe (best one Burqa).
• You dont go out with people of opposite sex.

So if you follow this, you are decent. If not, dont worry!
The latesht moral police or polish is available in market. And they are available in different brands: "Ram Sena, Shiv Sena, and so on." [As a Hindu, i can object as to who gave them the right to use the names of Hindu mythological characters for their polish brands.]
My first reaction to the Managlaore incident (newspapers claimed it was a physical assault on girls while i think they should be charged for molestation as their clothes were ripped) was who gave them to right to run this moral brigade? One of the representatives who was later confronted by an eletronic media said that he does not feel sorry for what he and his co-workers did. I felt offended and was cursing them. If dancing inside a walled room is indecent, then what about raping a women, making a women march naked, and peeing on the road in open air?
Till i discussed this with Shampu. She enlightened me with the root cause beneath this incidence. Actually the people who beat up were just workers. The unemployment hysteria in this nation has gone up so much that people (just to make up an earning of 50 bugs) can join dirty organisations who claim themselves to fame by stating that they are involved with dirt removal. The big parties sponsor them to fulfill their own means. Its all the same concept of Branding. A small organisation shot to fame by doing something exclusive and exciting.
Sometimes looking at the current situation where the young blood has been soaked into drugs and alochol, i do appreciate organisations such as Ram sena only if they use their concepts in the correct path. But this is not correct: Abusing youngsters who have been handed money they cant handle and so poor of them to expect that parents can help their childrens to come out of this. How is it possible? The parents in their life have never seen this much of money. They themselves dont know how to control the flow of money and that's when the children go out of hand.
Ram Sena had a good idea in mind but they went wrong with their approach to deal with the crisis. You cannot end the so-called indecent environment just by thrashing or molesting people. Really wanted to help them, then teach them. Could have counselled or explained things in other ways rather than using power.
Can just hope that in the coming days, this new brand of moral polishing ends very soon.