“Unique Identification Number – Aadhar” – An attempt to make Aadhar a real Aadhar for Digital India (Fisrt in the series of developing India)

“Unique Identification Number – Aadhar” – An attempt to make Aadhar a real Aadhar for Digital India              

(Fisrt in the series of developing India)

After much hyped ambitious project Aadhar of UPA, GOI, as per recent news is planning to issue national identity card to citizens of India on the basis of Natioanl population Register (NPR).

We already have so many cards like PAN card, DL, Voter Id card, Ration Card etc. and it’s an observed fact that none of them guarantee an evident information of the person to whom it has been issued. The only reason being that all of these ID or Address proofs forms basis to one another without any actual independent verification. People make ration cards and address it contains doesn’t even exist. People can have any address of their choice written on Driving license at number of places with the help of Agents. Voter Card carries a different story altogether where spelling mistake in name is a routine affair and surname and father’s name of someone else being printed is no big deal. PAN card carries name with different spelling and different date of birth. No doubt in such instances we have cases where murderers come outside on parole, go absconding, take admission in a college, get selected for a Govt job  and start working as well. People have different documents under their names for tax evasion. We have ended up with so many Valid address and Identity documents where we have Different names, Different Father’s name, Different Date of birth and Different Address. And all these documents are valid documents for Identity and address.

Now with the entry of Aadhar card and the way it has been made, we have Name, DOB, Address of our choice on the basis of documents cited above. Aadhar card goes a further ahead and add Iris and finger prints of the person making it impossible to claim someone else but does that stop an illegal person staying in India to get an Aadhar card? Of-course with retina scan and finger prints we can’t claim to be someone else but does that solve our purpose of spending so much money on that farce? In short, we have an Finger prints and Iris scan of a person but we don’t know if the name and address of the person is real.

Going a lot further with addition of demographic details and already completed house listing in census 2011, GOI is aiming to issue National Identity Card. National Identy Card will use data of NPR (which in further will depend upon Census2011 and other projects initiated under NPR) and UIN (Which takes data from so many unverified documents). When there are cases of FIR’s resgistered by EC for making Voter card on the basis of Aadhar card issued to illegal migrants, tackling illegal migrants on such unverified data and a verified house listing seems a far fetched dream.

Even if we succeed in making a National Identity Card verified with all information it contains,  is that all what we think a use of an identity card??

It’s not what these Cards bring in, it’s about what it doesn’t. What opportunity cost we bear. What could have been done and what we have ended up with. In absence of real time data of anything related to a common citizen of the country how can we expect to frame policies to be efficient effective and responsive. We don’t know people who don’t pay taxes. We don’t know total household incomes. We don’t know who actually fall under BPL, BPL card being issued on political motives. We don’t know who has become a part of creamy layer. We don’t know who is deprived of basic daily meal, health facility and education. We don’t know about senior citizens who don’t have any income and has been abandoned by their children. All the information we seek we accept upon declarations by people or an attestation from a local body at max. Even NPR depends upon declarations too.

Thus it becomes most necessary to make it an actual Validated Document issued to every citizen of the country.

Few deep thoughts to find answers and we can easily get a layout across our mind which I have tried to lay down here in three segments.

• What an AADHAR/National Identity Card should be?
• How useful it will be?
• What takes to make Aadhar a real AADHAR?

An Ideal AADHAR/National Identity Card

This section primarily deals with what information should aadhar card or UIN be able to provide to the user (which is obviously an Authority here i.e. Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India), how different set of information can be clubbed at User interface and how respective set of databases can be integrated at backend to allow a single window updation as per requirement.

Once AADHAR/UIN/National Identity Card is available with full potential, it must produce atleast below set of information of a person on entering that Unique number in the system.

Name…………………Gender….............DOB…………Religion…………Caste……………                                     Marital Status………..Permanent Address…………..Communication Address……………

PAN No…………DL No. ……………….VOTER ID No…………, Passport No. ……………

BloodGroup………….,Education…………Occupation………….,Annual Income…………..

SpouseUIN…………….….Child1 UIN……………..……………Child2 UIN…………………

Father UIN………….Mother UIN…………..,Sibling 1 UIN………...Sibling 2 UIN…………

Iris Scan…………Finger Prints…………Criminal Records………….BankA/c No…………

At user interface, user will have information as above with blue colored hyperlinks for more specific information. Hyperlinks in the system will take user directly to database of that particular department handling those information and records. Access to that database can be set as per requirement. For example:

PAN No HyperLink – Takes directly to data base pertaining to and maintained by Income tax department and provide ITR and other TAX details under this UIN. Amount of information accessed by PAN card hyperlink from UIN system, can be set as per requirement.

DL No HyperLink –Takes directly to database pertaining to and maintained by Transport office and provides its challan history as well as all vehicles registered under this UIN and DL.

Voter Id No HyperLink – Takes directly to database pertaining to and maintained by Election Commission and provides constituencies and voting history of this UIN.

Passport No Hyperlink – Takes directly to database pertaining to and maintained by passport office and provides all details about travel history of this UIN.

Family members UIN HyperLink – Takes directly to that members’ UIN home page and provide his/her details.

Criminal Records Yes/No Hyperlink – Take directly to database  pertaining to and maintained by police & Judiciary and provides criminal records/FIR’s and proceedings going on under this UIN.

All departments like Transport, passport, Income Tax, Election Commission, Police and states will have their databases linked with National Database. Deptt and states will have capacities to access/maintain and update their respective data and any change will reflect in central database.

Anyone buying a new home, new car, birth, marriage, death, ITR or anything , will have to provide his UIN no. One can easily download the required form, fill it, put a thumb impression and send it to respective department, where they can get thumb impression checked and update the required database which will in turn update National database.

Once above information is in place, so many policies can be easily made and implemented. We just need to imagine what we can do if that set of information of every citizen is available in national database.

 

An optimal use of AADHAR/National Identity Card

•  Biggest obstacle in achieving complete Financial inclusion is KYC of the people. Even RBI has relaxed it a lot for the financial inclusion but then it becomes a headache for the banks to implement it in this way. Once everyone will have UIN, there won’t be any need for any other documentation and Financial Inclusion will be just a step ahead. Even Banks are facing big trouble in delivering ATM cards and Pins to PMJDY accounts due to half cooked addresses.
• When it will be mandatory to quote UIN in all bank A/c, ITR, VAT/Sales Tax/Forex/Trade transactions, PAN card and PAN linked with UIN will help knowing exact tax implications of a person for the transaction through banking channel. With electricity and Internet infrastructure in place and further reduction of cash transaction with more usage of Cards, it will help in reducing black money in the system.
• With the help of Income link and Annual family income, it would be easier for Govt to frame policies in a better way.
• Ration Cards with family details and their respective UIN will be printed automatically.
• Voter Card will be automatically issued for a person attaining adulthood and will automatically be discarded on receiving death information which will trigger the same in other databases viz. Voter card, DL, passport etc.
• Same name, address, DOB will be there on all the documents pertaining to a person.
• When one will register for marriage, two UIN will be entered and automatically data of female will be added to new family. Her new address will be updated and a prompt message will be sent to her for her Voter card updation requirement. On taking a print-out of online form, putting a thumb impression and sending it to EC will do update her records in Voter details as well.
• Similarly a birth registration will need UIN of both the parents and will allot a new UIN for new born child.
• There will be national DL not state ones. A DL punched by traffic police for challan will be recorded in central database.
• Registration of cases/FIR’s etc will have UIN along with names and same will be updated in central database. Every UIN will have a verified address. From fingerprints, every individual could be traced. Character certificates or police verification certificate could be issued easily in case of national criminal database based upon UIN.
• Blood group details can help in aligning our Blood banks as per need. We will know how many  people of different blood groups are there in India which can further be motivated for the cause.
• With education details in place, a national education database of citizens will be there. That Education level database can be used in numerous ways. National, State, District, Village level e-employment exchanges could be setup. Educational qualification details will help allocating jobs, skills as per requirement and will help in great extant in dealing with Unemployment. Data on the basis of education and employment would be available on real time basis and future policies could be made on that basis. Once employment exchanges will be made available with full potential, education qualification details will help even proper filling up of jobs under MNREGA. It will be easier to take further decision on reservation policies.
• Every new construction would need to be registered under Municpal Corporation records under UIN. Every new Construction on empty land while getting approval will have to be entered along with UIN of that person. New address allotted will reflect as secondary residential property and address of that UIN holding person. Similarly with commercial construction, similar details need to be entered.  Once established like above, Census will become a checking mechanism instead of recording mechanism.
• Every person having an address will have a UIN and those who are homeless and living in slums, around railway stations and other abandoned places around cities, may be provided basic one room shelters to be built under Govt schemes on those abandoned places. UIN could be issued to them after that further jobs could be created for them to get them into higher strata of social life.
• No illegal stay would be possible and no forged documents would be possible to made.
• Based upon the data collected in UIN, free primary/secondary/vocational/skill education can be provided to needy and free health/travel facilities/pension can be provided to senior citizens who don’t have anyone to depend upon and no income.
• Individual can easily download form from respective department websites to update any data regarding Education, occupation or anything, put a thumb impression on the form and send to respective department where same would be updated on successful verification of thumb impression.

      AADHAR – A real Aadhar

On the basis of house listing as per NPR and believing that it has covered all the houses in India, first of all allot a standard house address to every house. This is most important to have a verified address and address of every household. Standardization of house addresses is the need of the hour too as in villages, towns and small cities, still house numbers have not been allotted, ward numbers keep on changing and so on to make it more tougher to track.

Once we know places to live, we will mark people living there. In second step, people of a particular area will be informed for their day of verification and officer will visit each address and will take all family details correctly for the family residing on that particular address. Address will be recorded as verified and other details like Name, DOB etc of all members of the family will be recorded as per original documents shown for those details. Details of all family members will be recorded correctly and with care as this will be the final details being updated in UIN and will be used to update other records viz. PAN, DL, Voter cards with same details. This way every citizen will be recorded in UIN with his correct residence/permanent address. Anyone residing somewhere other than his permanent address need to get his communication address recorded which will be further checked at the end with whom UIN it has been registered. Another most important thing to be taken care of is, data collection and address verification need to be done by professionals not like any tom dick and harry like in the case of Aadhar. NPR is working on similar lines but still lack a proper layout and process of data collection is same by inviting tenders and allocating it to some agency like it had been done in case of Aadhar.

Since every detail has been taken care of while writing that layout, it still may not be inclusive. More thoughts put behind on the similar lines and a will for the same will ensure the basic step towards Digital India.

 

SimplyArsh  

An Open Letter to Sh. Arvind Kejriwal

Dear Sir

It has been a total 360 degree turn till now since you were sworn in as Delhi CM approximately five and half months ago and I would like to start with one thing you had said on your swearing in ceremony speech at Ram Leela maidan which I doubt you or any of your followers remember now. You had said,” It’s our prime responsibility to take care that no other party needs to be formed because of us” It was a deep understanding of what you and Aam Aadmi Party had stood for. There was another hidden pessimist fact there that if you would fail, it will take more than the time it had taken since rise of Janta party in 1977 to get that faith and hope restored in minds of ‘AAM AADMI’ of India.

Arrogant misuse of power against peaceful protests had lead to birth of your party where you symbolized the uncommon traits of Honesty, Integrity and principals. Brilliant use of strategy and creativity with the help of thousands of youth looking for a change had come together under your leadership and you succeeded to build that credibility and faith in the minds and hearts of AAM AADMI of India. And outcome was a grand historic success in Delhi assembly elections.

But here things started turning 180 degree right from the very next day of the ceremony and completed half swing right before grand failure in Loksabaha Elections. With each and every passing day, with each and every move played, you and your party evolved gradually yourselves in a political party. Yes, you kept moving away from those traits of honesty, integrity and principals and aligned yourself with all those which are better known as POLITICS. ('आम आदमी पार्टी' से छोटा होता 'आम आदमी' और बड़ी होती 'पार्टी' ). You went so ahead that you didn’t even hesitate to ask for a fractured mandate from people by trying to create a fear of monopolistic government in their minds when everyone knows that on the grounds of same fractured mandate you had resigned from the CM chair. Questions you once asked on behalf of AAM AADMI, took a back seat and politics of always being in news drove your policy ahead. Such was the change that your call of ‘Janta wants to know’ started raising a question in the minds of same Janta that which Janta you were referring for. National ambitions for AAM AADMI was never out of context but that AAM AADMI you ONCE REPRESENTED never wanted you to leave Delhi hanging in air and start aiming for PM chair. And if you weren’t aiming for PM chair, it meant by claiming that all your efforts are to stop Sh.Modi and Sh. Rahul Gandhi, you were all set to leave India’s fate on the mercy of Sh. Mulayam Singh Yadav, Smt Mayawati, Smt Mamta Banerjee etc. Such were the eyes filled with political ambitions that you didn’t even ask AAM AADMI before quitting whose opinion you had seek before forming the government. You could have easily started working in Delhi patiently and one by one contested every state in assembly elections in next five years and I am sure you would have successfully filled that vacuum in states due to which you have won your only seats in Lok Sabha elections.

Well, what you had lost was set to be lost in this transformation from AAM AADMI PARTY to another POLITICAL PARTY. Question was now what ahead? First, now you can’t claim to fight on same traits of Honesty, Integrity and Principals as we have all seen them broken one by one, bit by bit. Now you can’t claim to voice the same Janta ki awaaz you once had represented. But of course you can start afresh in Delhi again. For that first you have to accept your mistakes of dong what you had done as well as ignoring thousands of those who tried to advise you and ended up abused and trolled by your and AAP followers. But that acceptance must come from heart after introspection and realizing that the change you had brought in your party from AAM AADMI PARTY to another POLITICAL PARTY can’t be reversed. Yes, you have to and you should start as a political party now. First step for this would be to talk to congress again and see if government could be formed again as still assembly has not been dissolved yet. I know you will get a lot of criticism from BJP, from BJP followers and from public but you should give it an honest try and once the government is formed, you work and work and work to prove the critics wrong. That’s the only way to get that pride and confidence of people back. And if congress says a straight no then go in the elections with a brave heart as a politician, the art you have perfectly learnt till now.

Wait………………………………………………

I was about to end that letter and came to know that you had already took those steps of contacting congress and LGuv. But the way was the same. Fooling people? You and your party said it was just a meeting with LGuv and you chose to hide the fact that you have asked him to give you time to form the government. Why did you hide it? Why couldn’t you accept your mistake honorably without any theatrics and tried that transparently? And then came your Jail dramatics and other big guns of your party were ever ready to incite in peoples mind that your people are victims of the system. It was sad and disheartening to see instead of a deep introspection and thinking about those who were founding members of your party and had left you, you chose to think about those who brought you at that end and followed same path to get that media attention and ripples in the smooth air.

P.S. Sir, you are requested to go through the first half of my letter above once again and think to do it that way and get rid of the path which have got hold of you. Else I am sorry to say as an AAM AADMI, hope of having a third genuine viable option after BJP and Congress are bleak very bleak.

From

Simply Arsh

For Strenth of Democracy.

Verdict – 2014, History for one and An eye opener to introspect for others

Verdict – 2014, History for one and An eye opener to introspect for others

There is Exuberance all over. Tears of joy, high spirits, enthusiasm, cheer on the faces and a billion hopes of fulfillment of hopes are being seen around as a new sun in the Indian democracy comes up on the horizon. From school going kids to roadside hawkers all are happy and hope that ‘Achhey din aane wale hain’. People of India had risen above politics of Caste, Creed and Community and voted for Good Governance and Development. Before moving ahead I would like to mention few things which have made this election win for BJP a historic one.

A clear majority verdict in favor of one single party other than Congress first time in the history of Independent India, Loss of big names like Sachin pilot, Susheel Kumar Shinde (Home minister), Kapil Sibbal (Law minister), Salman Khurshid (Foreign Minister) lost deposit, Ghulam Nabi Azzad(Central Minister), Shree prakash Jaiswal (Coal Minister), Pawan Bansal (Ex-Railway minister), Farooq Abdulla (Central Minister), Ajit Singh (Aviation Minister), Priya Dutt, Rabri Devi, Navin Jindal, Nandan Nilekani to name a few, Clean sweep in Rajasthan Gujarat, HP and Uttarakhand and huge miraculous victory in UP with 71 out of 80 seats is to name a few, Aam aadmi party losing deposit money on 421 seats out of 443 they were fighting on, Congress falling below 50 and not been able to present a leader of opposition on their own, First largest party getting more than six times seats than second largest party, State level parties succumbing barring a few, Congress reducing to zero in most number of states. First time India has got a PM with 12 years executive experience.

All I can say is its not only a historic win for BJP but a historic fall for all other parties except TMC, AIADMK and BJD succeeding in holding their heads high in this wave of TsuNamo.

Not comparing the political contexts and gravity of situations I call this victory even bigger than post emergency victory of Janta Party on a fair contest term. Post 1977 it was Congress Vs All Others + Media and Congress got 189 seats. In election 2014 it was All Others + Congress +Media Vs BJP and Congress got 44. Believe it or not, like it or not but this has actually happened. BJP has got majority and Sh. Narendra Modi is going to be our new Prime Minister despite every other rival lobbying around one single man and using every trick in their armor.

After that historic win Narendra Modi ji held two rallies one in Vadodara and second one in Ahmedabad and one address at Varanasi and in his three public addresses in two day perhaps he had spoken more than our previous prime minister had spoken in his entire reign of ten years. In his two speeches he conveyed his thanks to everyone, bid a kind of farewell full of grace and gratitude to people of Gujarat and asked their permission to play a bigger role for nation, Like a statesman humbly asked every rival to come along and work together for a common goal of nation-building, and very beautifully linked movement for independence with a need to create a movement for development and how every single person can feel proud of being a soldier of this movement for development. Further to already started work, in his address at Varanasi he initiated a mission for Clean India to be completed by 150^th birth anniversary of Father of Nation Mahatma Gandhi in 2019 and again beautifully linked it with Gandhi’s vision of cleanliness.  

By invoking social responsibility and a feel of playing a role and being a part in the process of development, among the people, he perfectly started laying down fundamental conditions required for engineering a drive for change in social development.

There are no usual meetings, chaos to name cabinet, ministers running here and there after winning and announcing so many things as it used to be the political scene till now. It is looking like a mature, sincere and a team of leaders with grace, about to take charge of PMO.

For crirtics I may sound like a Modi Bhakt but the truth is Bhakts (Blind Followers) will always be followers and Critics will always criticize selectively. Like right after Mr. Modi’s interview, few so called Senior Political analysts were complaining why there is no haphazardness of forming cabinet, why in his first speech Mr. Modi has not named his ministers of cabinet, why Mr. Modi has suggested that it will take around 10 years to make this 21^st century a century of India if he had asked for 60 months to show what work he can do. Few journalists with pseudo mindset had raised questions of Mr. Modi’s visit to Vishwanath Temple and performing Aarti and termed it Hindu appeasement. Some went further ahead to ask him to pay a visit to a masjid also if he is secular. No doubt they can fall to new illogical dumb lows every other day. Critics are critics and they will keep criticizing Mr. Modi for every other thing like our generous media has kept doing it through the mouths of so called Sr. Analysts, Sr. Journalists filled with pseudo mindsets who seems to have lost their neutral eye a long back. And followers will keep defending every blunder as oppositions agenda like Congress followers are doing from years now and may be BJP or Modi follower will do it too in case if he fails (I Hope he doesn’t as it will fail mine as well as millions’ only hope as of now).

Our task as thinkers is to evolve ourselves to glance the present and focus ahead on more important things now. I would discuss road for BJP, Congress, AAP and Regional parties one by one.

First time BJP has received votes from even Rural, Tribal, Dalits, Backward as well as Muslims that they have won approximately 75% seats in Muslim majority areas and all 13 seats reserved for Backward and Dalits in UP. First time since its inception, BJP has got a presence in almost all states. Everyone they have fielded succeeded in winning. Such was the wave of Mr. Modi that even Poonam Mahajan has defeated Priya Dutt by a big margin. Here BJP need to do an introspection that people have voted for Mr. Modi. People have voted on the name of Mr. Modi. Had it been someone other than Mr. Modi, BJP could have ended up around 150. No doubt there is no other leader in contemporary Indian politics who comes even 50 % at par with vision he has. His one single speech at SRCC is enough to proof his credentials as visionary. We who use internet and have access to better facilities could analyze our choice basis these things. But it was a great job done by BJP workers and selfless RSS workers working in tribals and rural India who took Mr. Modi’s message in those dark and internal parts of India where people have been deliberately kept poor and illiterate for vote bank. A best leader at the top and best workers at ground level made this impossible a possible reality. But there is a gap, a big gap in between. State level strength and good leaders at state and corporation level is a big gap BJP must realize about. With triumph in national elections they have a much greater responsibility to fulfill aspirations of those who have voted for them as well as who haven’t. On the same hand they need to equally strengthen their organization in states. Barring a couple of states there aren’t good leaders properly placed at states that people could see with a faith, trust and credibility. Good governance and development agenda has to be taken down the line to corporations as well. Hard work and enthusiasm must be carried forward to overhaul state machinery for next five years in every assembly elections. This energy should be continued to carry in upcoming Maharashtra, Delhi and Haryana assembly elections. UP and Bihar must be taken care the most and BJP under good leadership in these two states is utmost necessary to carry on development in these two least developed states. Another mission must be for North-East India and we wish a name like Dr. Swamy or a big leader to be given that responsibility to revive North East India. Someone with big credentials needs to be given a task to take care of J&K and revive Kashmir and Laddakh. And along with ground level workers, social media intellects who have successfully defeated sick pseudo secular agendas still need to keep working their selfless work to keep those anti social elements at bay.

After getting such a worst defeat that even opposition needs to be a coalition, Congress need to introspect and bring a total change in their way of working. Till now they have never looked beyond a clan for occupying top position and in one way or another that top clan has controlled every policy and thought process. They have never come out of using secularism rant, freebies and subsidies for sure short vote bank. In last five years there leadership has drastically failed to stand up against odds of policy failures, scams, security of people but still instead of accepting that with humility they shamelessly kept asking votes on the promises of removing poverty the way they had ben doing since last 30 years from the time of Smt Indira Gandhi. Their two virtual leaders or power centre, Mother –Son duo never came forward and gave an explanation to numerous scams. It took 7 long days for PMO to give a one line statement on an Incidence of rape which shook moral grounds of whole nation. How can they expect people of India to believe that they are serious about woman empowerment in such conditions? A leader show his character by what he stands for and leadership under which congress is working has never shown any strength of character. Only one attribute congress followers give to Mr Rahul Gandhi is how he took a bold stand against Ordinance for tainted ministers but the reality is that was not a pro stand he had taken. He only replied honestly in the flow when a journalist asked about it and then party had to keep his words. In a true democracy ruling party and opposition both must be strong enough to represent its people. Congress, with its age old ideology and western centric way of running the country under flag of one family need to be reduced to ashes. Where every big leader of BJP could be seen saying he is just a karykarta (worker) of party and whatever role party decide for them they accept it with honor and exemplifies humbleness even after a great win, congress leaders could be seen full of arrogance defending their failure in their second regime and even after humiliating defeat that arrogance is intact.  I just wish honest congress leader to rise above Gandhi clan and revive the party with a deep introspection.

After a miraculous win at assembly elections in Delhi, their every action kept taking them away from what they stood for. Corruption took a back seat and every campaign converged to stop bandwagon of Mr. Modi. A party associating everything they do with the name of Aam Aadmi wasn’t campaigning against ruling party which was responsible for sufferings of Aam Aadmi and instead tried their level best to stop the opposition best positioned to displace that ill rule full of corruption. Ultimately national ambitions of Aam aadmi party get halted due to hate propaganda they were spreading against India’s most loved leader. They kept on saying they will stop Modi and Rahul by any mean but never held a base to the question who will we end up having as PM Mulayam singh Yadav or Mayawati in that case. In the process they fell from a party with aam aadmi aspirations and hopes to just another party with high political ambitions. Such was drastic performance of this change that 421 out of 443 fielded candidates lost their deposits. Only 4 seats they managed to win was in the Malwa region of Punjab which was a strong hold of Shiromini Akali Dal and a high level of incumbency went against them as well as four candidates had a rich past and credible history. ). I hope AAP do well in state elections in Punjab as well and that should have been the way to move ahead providing a viable alternative with properly searched and acceptable candidate in most of the states where congress, BJP or regional parties have failed to work for aam aadmi. I wish they realize they didn’t lose due to lack of experience in politics and won due to non compromised honesty as Mr. Yogendra yadav has stated today, they lost due to politics they played and honesty they compromised (Not to mention AAP leader was the only one caught distributing money in VaranasiAAP need to introspect and oh dear Mr. Kejriwal it is going to be very tough to become a party for aam aadmi again.

Most of the regional parties were came into existence due to specific needs unattended of a particular set of people and that lead to birth of caste and religion based politics. For almost 25 years it has been a hen laying golden eggs for opportunists but their time seems to come to an end and they need to redevelop themselves. TMC, AIADMK and BJD has been successful examples of performance. No other factor other than performance could have saved regional players and these three have managed to sweep their respective states. Mayawati (BSP), Nitish Kumar (JDU), Mulayam Singh Yadav(SP) and Badals (SAD) will have to look their counterparts Jayalalitha, Mamta Banerjee and Naveen Patnayak if they think they will play a role in changing India and a changing world.

SimplyArsh

We - Victims of Self Proclaimed Ignorance

Just a few days from now and the great Indian election summers will reveal our new Prime Minister. Only time will tell us if he will be BJP’s PM Nominee, Sh. Narender Modi, UPA’s Rahul Gandhi or UPA backed up Third front leader Sh Mulayam Singh Yadav, Sh Nitish Kumar, Smt Mayawati, Smt Jayalalitha, Smt Mamta Banerjee or Sh. Naveen Patnayak. A hope for better future will run through our mind for few days. If they will be succeeded in matching our aspirations, we will take it as granted and if they won’t, we will shed out our frustration by criticizing the system and terming everyone the same. And it has been the way from last couple of decades with the emergence of smart technology that had changed our lifestyle upside down.

We, the common people of india are often left as victims of corruption, system, inflation and so many things. There is a no point of debate that our system comprising Politicians-Beaureaucrat-Corporate-Police as chief power centers has often failed us, deceived us and used us. It is another practical truth that not everyone amongst us can stand and fight alone against what we feel is wrong leaving winning a mirage.

But is that all which keep us in a state of victimhood? Is that all which comprise the convicts? Are we all ourselves so pure and perfect? Let’s pose some questions to ourselves to know us too.

How many of us actually go out and vote? How many of us actually apply for a leave to go to our hometown and vote as a large number of us are either studying or working other than our hometown? How many of us actually try to know our candidates before voting for them or against them? How many of us involve ourselves in seeing what government is doing and how their policies framed in their last tenure are affecting us or have affected us? How many of us even in current elections have chosen not to stretch ourselves a little bit and vote? How many of us actually have cared to give a thought to their answers to the problem poised to us? How many of us can claim that they have chosen the person basis a careful monitoring of events, past experience, track record, vision, solutions proposed by them instead of voting on the basis of biased, false and fabricated views carefully marketed to implant in our minds and becoming the victims of our own ignorance? How many of us have voted rising above orthodox fallacy fed to our mind and chose to use our own wisdom on the basis of proper and careful research? How many of us has fallen a prey into hands of ignorance by turning our mind away thinking all are same and nothing can change our misery or what a difference one vote can make? How many of us who always get time to discuss Virat’s century or a girl next door but hardly get time to discuss the candidates in our constituency or ignore it terming it cheap discussion and become a prey ourselves in the hands of ignorance? How many of us actually sit and analyze the candidates once like we do analyze fashion, clothes, accessories, jewellery, food joints or the way Sehwag got out again? We often keep ourselves away from political discussions citing bad nature of it but can we actually deny that politics doesn’t affect us? How can we ignore to discuss what affect us most? And ironically that’s politics which indirectly affects every part of our life. These were the questions of one context I wanted us to introspect with especially when most of us claim to be social intellects and EDUCATED. After seeing comparatively higher voter turn outs in rural, riot hits, terror hit areas and aged, handicapped, illiterate queuing outside polling booths and social media intellects busy on their smart phones sitting in AC rooms, I can say just one thing we middle class comprises those who know their right but don’t know their duties and those who know their duties but don’t know their rights.

In second set of questions let’s do another round of introspection and try to answer a few question which God’s presence inside me keep haunting me with. All of us must have seen a shopkeeper shouting on the kid working in his shop just after he had finished his morning prayers or a woman shouting on her maid for feeding her child while working just after feeding her own, or someone yelling on his peon. We crib about our bosses behaving with us as second rate citizens but don’t we ignore above cases happening in our own home, shops and offices when we ourselves do the same? All of us must have argued on MRP of the product to someone selling a water bottle or a magazine on a red light in 45 degree temperature but have happily paid three times the price on a burger or a cold drink in a multiplex. Haven’t we taken away the fruit of hard work from one deserving because we could and haven’t even thought of it where we couldn’t? Why we crib then when someone else uses his powers to deny us what we deserve? We all form that society where every one of us uses his powers to abuse someone and deny what he deserve. We are victims of our own ignorance to give others what they deserve. Sometimes we play as victims and sometimes as culprits.

Now let’s come to another set of questions on something which we think is the root cause of every problem we face in our daily lives, corruption. Here I will talk about corruption which is on smaller scale but in uncountable numbers and which affects us directly and up to large extent.  Not the one which is on large scale but lesser in numbers and which affects us indirectly and on comparatively lesser extent. I am talking about our routine life affairs right from an electricity connection to a license to run our business. We all have witnessed a corruption of one type and another everywhere. Sometimes it involves money and sometimes carelessness, irresponsibility or no accountability. An officer in bank not responding to my queries, being directed at counter to counter in an corporation office, nobody ready to tell the status of my form or file, a police officer not ready to register my FIR or keeping a blind eye on a girl being harassed on roadside, a PA not letting me in without a reference, a file not being signed without passing few currency bills.  Aren’t we ourselves are working in those offices? Aren’t we working in police department or Municipal Corporation? Who are the people whose lackluster approach or lust for money affects our routine life? Aren’t they common people like us? Isn’t my father, mother, brother or a friend working amongst them? Corruption which affects us most is there in the society by us only. Can we give an affirmative answer to ourselves that we do our work with hundred percent honesty and commitment? Can we deny the fact that we grab every single opportunity to get rid of the work in the office? Have we ever thought that the way we try to keep our comfort and benefit in the mind while working is the same way all other officers in the every other office work and it seems a corruption of one kind or another to us. Do we really want to change those settings while cribbing for corruption around and blaming it for our misery? For immediate benefits one of us is making a weak road, bridge or building and risking lives of many. One of us is worried for our private practice on the cost of duties assigned leaving many at their fate.  One of us is not letting a PF fie processed jeopardizing his only child’s marriage arrangements. We society of corrupts blames corruption for the conditions surrounding us.

Introspection in three different contexts I have cited above and an honest try to ask ourselves the same questions can put us on a position to choose the surroundings we wish to live in. I can’t change whole society but I have chosen to make the difference which a lot others haven’t yet.

SimplyArsh

'आम आदमी पार्टी' से छोटा होता 'आम आदमी' और बड़ी होती 'पार्टी'

'आम आदमी पार्टी' से छोटा होता 'आम आदमी' और बड़ी होती 'पार्टी'

 

इमरजेंसी के लगभग ३५ वर्षों बाद देश में भ्रष्टाचार के खिलाफ एक ऐसी मुहिम शुरू हुई जिसे सत्तानशीनों के अहंकार और ताक़त के नाजायज़ इस्तेमाल और आम आदमी की गुस्से में बदलती हुई बेबसी ने धीरे धीरे एक जन आंदोलन का रूप दे  दिया. एक ऐसा जनआंदोलन जिसकी ताक़त के छाँव तले उदय हुआ एक नए राजनीतिक दल का. एक ऐसा राजनीतिक दल जिसने राजनीती के तमाम विश्लेषको को सकते में ला दिया. एक ऐसा राजनीतिक दल जिसकी नींव, औचित्य, और ताक़त सब कुछ आम आदमी था.वो आम आदमी जो त्रस्त था  राजनीतिक राजाओं से जो चुनाव दर चुनाव हक़ समझते आये थे  उस पर हुक़ूमत करने का. वो आम आदमी जो देश और अपने बच्चों के भविष्य के लिए चिंतित था . वो आम आदमी जो एक अर्से से बदलाव कि उम्मीद में बैठा था  परन्तु जिसे कभी कोई विकल्प ना तो दिया गया न ही उसके लिए किसी विकल्प को खड़ा होने दिया गया.  एक ऐसा राजनीतिक दल जिसने अपाहिज हो चुके आम आदमी और लोकतंत्र को दुरुस्त करने के लिए एक नयी तरह की राजनीति की परिभाषा गढ़ी. एक ऐसी राजनीति, जिसने आम आदमी को एक उम्मीद दी. एक ऐसा राजनीतिक दल जो एक विकल्प के रूप में आम आदमी के सामने खड़ा हुआ. एक ऐसा राजनीतिक दल जो भ्रष्टाचार के खिलाफ आम आदमी के आक्रोश, कुछ चिर परिचित समाज सेवको के आंदोलन और सत्तानशीं राजनीतिक दल के अहंकार से पैदा हुआ. इस दल  ने खुद को आम आदमी का, आम आदमी के द्वारा और आम आदमी के लिए बताते हुए अपना नाम 'आम आदमी पार्टी '  रखा और बहुत ही काबिलेतारीफ रचनात्मक, सुनियोजित और संगठित तरीके से प्रचार करते हुए आम लोगों के बीच अपना विश्वास पैदा किया और २०१३ के दिल्ली विधानसभा चुनाव में ऐतिहासिक विजय हासिल की.

आम आदमी पार्टी नाम के इस राजनीतिक दल ने बहुत ही अलग तरह की राजनीति करने की जो बात कही वो उन्होंने शून्य से शुरुआत करते हुए अपने आप को एक पूर्ण विकल्प के रूप में स्थापित करते हुए चरित्रार्थ भी की. उनके इस दावे ने कि राजनीति में अगर नीयत साफ़ हो तो ईमानदारी से भी राजनीति की जा सकती है, उनको सबसे बड़ा राजनीतिक दल न होने के बावजूद भारत की राजधानी जहाँ से पूरे देश की राजनीति निर्धारित होती है, वहाँ सरकार बनाने का मौका दे दिया.

बहुत तेज़ी से बदलते इन ऐतिहासिक घटनाक्रमों में वो दिन भी आ गया जब आम आदमी पार्टी के सृजनकर्ता श्री अरविन्द केजरीवाल ने राम लीला मैदान से मुख्यमंत्री पद की शपथ ली. शपथ लेने के बाद उनका पहला भाषण बहुत ही सराहनीय था परन्तु एक जो सबसे महत्वपूर्ण बात उन्होंने कही वो यह थी कि यह सुनिश्चित करना होगा की जिस वजह से आम आदमी पार्टी का जन्म हुआ है, उसी वजह से उनके खिलाफ भी किसी पार्टी को जन्म न लेना पड़े.

यह वो वक़्त था जब आम आदमी पार्टी की लोकप्रियता अपनी चरम सीमा पर थी और पार्टी के अठाईस विधायक उतने ही जोश और साहस से तैयार थे आम आदमी के मन में जगायी हुई उम्मीद को पूरा करने के लिए.

पर जितनी तेज़ी से घटनाक्रम उन्हें शीर्ष पर लेकर आये थे उतनी ही तेज़ी से उनके शीर्ष पर पहुँचने के बाद घटनाक्रम बदलते हुए नज़र आ रहे हैं. 

उस वक़्त से लेकर अभी तक लगभग तीन महीनों में बहुत कुछ ऐसा हुआ है जिससे यह लगने लगा है कि आम आदमी पार्टी में भी वही राजनीति हावी होती जा रही है जिसके खिलाफ खड़े होकर वो सत्ता में आये थे.हो सकता है कि उन सब चीज़ो का परिमाण आम आदमी पार्टी में दूसरे राजनीतिक दलों से कम हो याँ उनमें साफ़ नीयत वाले लोगों की संख्या दूसरे दलों से ज़यादा हो, परन्तु अगर तरीका भी वैसा होने लगा हो जैसा दूसरे राजनीतिक दलों का है तो जिस सिद्धांत ने आम आदमी पार्टी की नींव रखी थी वो सिद्धांत ही कांपता हुआ दिखाई देता है.

चाहे अपने ऊपर हुए स्टिंग ऑपरेशन को सिरे से नकार देना जसमें साफ़ साफ़ पार्टी के किसी कद्दावर नेता द्वारा बिना काग़ज़ों में दिखाए, पैसों के लेन देन के तरीके बताये गए हों याँ अपने कानून मंत्री को हर बात के लिए सही ठहराने की कि गयी कोशिश. चाहे चिल्ला चिल्ला के दूसरे दलों को गलत और खुद को सबसे ईमानदार  बताना हो या हर बात में दुसरे दलों को भ्रष्ट और बेईमान कहना हो. चाहे खुद पर उठते सवालो को दूसरे दलों की साजिश बताना हो या अपने खिलाफ दिखाई जाने वाली हर खबर को बिकाऊ मीडिया का षड़यंत्र बता के ख़ारिज करना हो. सत्ता सँभालते ही जिस प्रकार से जल्दबाज़ी में कुछ लोक लुभावन घोषणाएं की गयी और जिस प्रकार से उसका प्रचार किया गया उस पर सवाल उठना तो लाज़िमी हैं. ज़मीनी तौर पर जिस ढांचे को खराब कह कर सत्ता के दरवाज़ो को दस्तक दी थी, उसके लिए कोई ठोस कदम न उठाया जाना और शीघ्रतिशीघ्र लोकलुभावन घोषणाएं करना कई सवालों को जन्म देता है. लोकसभा चुनाव लड़ने की घोषणा और बार बार लोकसभा के प्रतियाशियों की सुचि घोषित करने की तारिख देना और हर बार उसी दिन श्री अरविन्द केजरीवाल का भ्रष्टाचारियो की सुचि या गैस के दामो को लेकर प्रेस कांफ्रेंस कर देना सुनियोजित घटनाक्रम भी ज़रूर लगते हैं. लोकपाल बिल का नाम लेकर मुख्मंत्री पद से इस्तीफ़ा देना जो पहले से ही कुछ कुछ सुनियोजित कदम लग रहा था उसे पार्टी के अपने ही एक संस्थापक सदस्य द्वारा लिखित और सुनियोजित कहना आम आदमी पार्टी को फिर से कटघरे में खड़ा कर देता है. विधायक बिन्नी से लेकर सविता भट्टी तक पार्टी से किनारा करने वाले हो या पार्टी से जुड़ने वाले साफ़ छवि वाले चेहरों के साथ साथ धुंधली और ख़राब छवि वाले लोग हो, वैसी ही राजनीति दिखाता है जैसी हमेशा से हम देखते आये हैं. चाहे टिकट बटवारे को लेकर अपनों का रूठना हो या उम्मीदवारों की चयन प्रक्रिया पर उठते सवाल, आम आदमी पार्टी को दूसरे दलों से कहीं भी अलग नहीं करते. मुख्यमंत्री पद से इस्तीफ़ा देने के बाद श्री योगेन्द्र यादव और श्री अरविन्द केजरीवाल ने जिस तरह से सिर्फ श्री नरेंद्र मोदी और भारतीय जनता पार्टी के खिलाफ मोर्चा खोला उसे ऐसा लगने लगा है जैसे जो लड़ाई एक साफ़ सोच से एक खराब सोच के खिलाफ शुरू हुई थी वो एक ही व्यक्ति और दल को सत्ता में आने से रोकने भर पर ही केंद्रित होकर रह गयी है. गुजरात दौरे के दौरान गिरफ्तारी की खबर हो याँ दिल्ली में सुनियोजित तरीके से एकत्रित होकर पत्थरबाजी के घटनाक्रम का हिस्सा बनना हो जिसे चुनाव आयोग ने भी आचार संहिता का उल्लंघन माना हो तो सवाल उठना भी स्वाभाविक है. जिस प्रकार से हर सवाल को सिरे से नकार कर खुद को पीड़ित बना के प्रचार किया उसे आम आदमी पार्टी और दूसरे किसी दल में कोई ख़ास फर्क नज़र नहीं आता. श्री योगेन्द्र यादव का गुडगाँव की एक रैली में यह कहना कि श्री नरेंद्र मोदी के प्रधानमंत्री बन्ने से देश का विभाजन होगा और मुसलमानो को अलग देश मांगना पड़ेगा, वैसी ही ओछी राजनीति का परिचय देता है जिसके विरुद्ध आम आदमी पार्टी का उदय हुआ था. अमेठी में डॉ. कुमार विश्वास एक अलग लड़ाई लड़ते हुए प्रतीत होते हैं और आम आदमी पार्टी किसी और ही दिशा में प्रयास करती नज़र आती है. कैमरा पर श्री अरविन्द केजरीवाल का अपनी ही इंटरव्यू का सम्पादन करवाते हुए दिखना हो या उसी मीडिया को बार बार बिकाऊ कहना कहीं न कहीं सुर्खियो में बने रहने का तरीका सा नज़र आने लगा है.

दिल्ली में सत्ता में आने के बाद से लेकर अब तक आम आदमी पार्टी को जिस तरह से आम आदमी राजनीति करते हुए देखता है, उनका लगभग हर कदम उन्हें दूसरे राजनीतिक दलों के समकक्ष लाकर खड़ा कर देता है. उनका हर कदम वैसी ही राजनीति करते हुए दिखाता है जैसी दूसरे राजनीतिक दल करते हैं. जो एक अलग सी साफ़ सी ईमानदारी की राजनीति का एहसास हुआ था, वो एहसास कहीं खोता सा जा रहा है. ऐसा लगता है जैसे आम आदमी पार्टी से पार्टी का उदय हो रहा है जिसमें आम आदमी पीछे और पीछे छूटता जा रहा है. ऐसा लगता है की आम आदमी पार्टी में पार्टी बहुत बड़ी हो गयी है और आम आदमी का कद एक बार फिर से छोटा रह गया है.

अगर मेरे कहे हुए व्यक्तव्यों को आम आदमी पार्टी सिरे से नकारना चाहे और उन्हें लगे कि आम आदमी उनकी पार्टी में एक नाम भर नहीं है और वो आज भी उसी सचाई, ईमानदारी और निष्ठां से व्यवस्था परिवर्तन के लिए प्रतिबद्ध हैं, तो उन्हें कम से कम एक बार अपने अंदर झाँक कर आत्मावलोकन करने की आवश्यकता ज़रूर है क्यूंकि सवाल हर आम आदमी के मन में उठ रहे हैं जिनके जवाब आम आदमी जानना चाहता है क्यूंकि यह जो पार्टी आम आदमी के नाम से बनी है उससे आम आदमी की एक उम्मीद जुडी हुई है जो शायद बड़ी मुश्किल से जागी है.

Oh Nirbhaya..We haven't moved a bit.

There are still stories around, candle marches, twitter salutes, facebook sharings, TV debates, and headlines like always, raising a voice for the pain a rape victim go through. One year has been passed since a crime of such heinous nature was committed with such brutality that it dragged out every one’s heart. One year has been passed today and we are still spreading the news of agony and trauma rape victims had always went through and still going through. One year has been passed and we are still crying for police reforms, new laws or judicial reforms. One year has been passed and we are still haphazardly hearing announcements such as Nirbhaya fund, women bank, workplace safety, night shift safety and broadening the definition of rape. One year has been passed and we are still talking about women safety hypothetically.

All can feel that a part of their being human is brutally murdered whenever a rape happens in the society. All have their eyes moist when they read about another daughter, sister, friend or mother being raped somewhere. But we are yet to witness intelligent minds going beyond the routine outcry of safety for women and advocating for a holistic approach to deal with this tragedy of modern day’s humanity.

First we need to actually realize that how grave this pest had gone down the veins of our society framework. A stat shows that around 240 rapes reported in Mumbai alone in first eight months of this year taking the average of one rape a day and that too the reported one. 3-5 rape news can be easily read about in every regional newspaper every day. As per data around 24000 cases were reported last year that comes to 65 rape cases a day and one rape every 22 minutes. And please keep in mind that these are only reported number where a news had been succeeded to come out or an FIR had been registered. As per another stats more that 50 % of total rapes happens at home by a closed relative and that too leaving aside assaults and rapes girls face while growing up in the locality. If one will ask a girl about being assaulted in childhood from known one, we will come to know the horrible face of our own self.

If something has gone that wrong, we can’t escape our responsibility of being culprits too being part of that society. If we are unaware of what our loved ones could have gone through as well is just like keeping our eyes closed to a grave tragedy.

What are we fighting for to deal with it? Safety? Is it possible to provide security to all females in the country of such large population? If they aren’t safe even at homes, will we keep a security personnel in every home? Security could be provided up to certain extant and that should be provided at any cost without any delay. More PCR vans and more policemen doing honest duties in night (obviously need to be motivated to do so as well) is surely a necessity of the time. But that too is an immediate action among many that must be taken to eradicate the disease from roots. We can also keep following the thought of Male mentality only the root-cause and let that disease harm mankind or understand that there are equal males if not more than females fighting that evil and they too share a same distress. We need to rise above typical mindset of male vs female and pinpointing the lifestyle or mentality of one and dig deep into different directions and possible ways where we can start the cure.

We need to deeply analyze psycho-socio-behavioral aspects of those who have been found guilty in the crime.  We also need to analyze vulnerability of victims in those cases. We need to see what had made those culprits go beyond their conscience to commit such crime. We have to see if the victim was a planned target or a vulnerable random prey. We need to see if that sexual desire to be satisfied was momentarily or a longer state of mind. We need to see what had lead to that uncontrollable urge or what other factors society, education, upbringing, behavioral, occupational par se had contributed in it. A detailed study of biological male behavior to environment around is too need to be conducted. As per research sexual arousal in the males is far more than being in females and they can get aroused even with a sensuous talk or sight of a female. On one side we need to look for the factors inner or outer which had made their arousal beyond the level of conscience and made them commit that crime. And on the other we also need to see what factors contribute in high conscience, will power and wisdom that control our actions to go beyond what harm the society as whole. Ironically, it is evident that sources which make us stronger in our will and conviction, which make our character stronger, which had held our conscience level high are slowly depleting from our society. And sources otherway around are ever increasing.

In extreme words, if walking naked on the road doesn’t give anyone a right to assault, feeling most comfortable without clothes doesn’t mean getting a right to walk naked on the roads. We have to raise our bar of thought process and look for positive and negatives within a larger range. We have to strike the odd from both ends. We can not escape from the reality by mere asking for security for females and terming the culprits insane for their crime. Whenever there is a dead end, we should start from basics.

We first need to protect our future youngsters. Things taught at childhood stays longer in mind. Children all across the sects need to be protected and developed with moral principles. Roots of our morality and principles need to be inculcated with the help of cultural, religious and traditional values. Cultural organizations, religious organizations, non-profit organizations and all the societies playing their part in social causes must come forward to inculcate these values in males since childhood. Books such as Panchtantra, of teachers and disciples, bedtime stories has been replaced by TV & internet where there is no watchdog. Role of parents to teach their sons how to respect woman as well as keeping an eye about what their child is learning has become extreme important. School level education which plays a far greater role in character building must be designed to develop them the way we wish to see our future and right to education must be implemented in such a way that no child in India could escape from schooling. Once character building is done at tender age an environment has to be created to further keep them busy in society with the help of employment opportunities and talent recognition while they grow into youngsters and then a man. This way only we could build a nation of real men. Only this could lead to growth story of our nation as well.

Talking about other end from where we need to strike, we first need to stop linking everything with a dent on our freedom or modernity and raise our bar of thoughts for the greater good of society. When a college or university issues a dress code for girls we start questioning without even knowing what kind of dress code has been ordered. Whether it deals with revealing clothes or advocate for descent clothes as like in majority of cases. Whereas, we never utter a word for the dress code of skirts in our schools which can easily be substituted with suits or trousers for the girls as per their comfort. Discomfort, embarrassment or shiver in the winters of north india, a lot of girls may have felt in skirts but it never become an issue because binocular in front of our eyes sees only in one direction. Where girls should always be careful while going somewhere alone with someone or in an isolated place or travelling in night that they are not exposing themselves to any kind of risk and they are never far from a phone call to a help, they should also be careful that in any way they are not indulging in something which may act as an arousal for a weak conscience person and some other weaker vulnerable girl fell to be a prey.

With two such forces in play, we need to create a fear of getting caught and executed too. And for that, filing of report must be easiest, investigation of genuineness of the report must be stronger and deeper and conviction and execution of the punishment must be within three months.

Discussion could be a lot more, but it must lead to ways to eradicate such a blot on mankind rather than just fulfilling a responsibility by keep telling the stories of horror. By thinking more and trying to analyze the root cause I have played my part. I may be wrong in a thing or two but at least it will lead to further thinking by more brains which in turn could lead to a complete eradication of Rapes from our society. I hope for that day to come soon.