Where is Amitab heading to ?

Where is Amitab heading to?

Amitab Bachan’s recent visit to Gujrat and praising the state CM is both surprising and dismaying, especially, for the clan of people to which he hails from. One can understand his interest in doing such act, since his movie ‘Pa’ is still on the board and he is putting his best to make it alive and fresh at the box office. And, in order to do this, he has to go to such an extent, this sounds really disturbing for his huge fan that moons over him the world over. Perhaps, this could be a start of a real bad end for a man of his stature, who had ruled the film industry since couple of decades and still admired for his exemplary performances in countless of movies. Or may be, he is a perplexed person at the moment, especially to the fact that his ‘Bade Bhaiyya’ (Amar Singh) sounds lingering nowhere in the political domain. After the breakup of the SP and Congress, the Samajwadi Party seemed to be cosying up to the BJP. Jaya Bachchan is also an MP from the SP. Does the Big B's new found friendship with Modi mean that a political realignment is in the offing or does it mean that the Bachchans too may be moving away from the SP just as Amar Singh did on Wednesday.

So is it a confused move of his of applauding a person like Modi, or is it a kind of ‘tasting the water’ theory, which he has adopted in order to see the mood of his fans and followers, or which road to eventually opt for is undecided. Probably, his mood at the moment sounds, trying to tread paths contrary to his conventional nature and zest for which he is known for. The ways or methods, which were never seen when he became the part of the movies like Khakhi or Dev, wherein the character he played showcased a man who stood for justice and peace, regardless to the kind of threat lurking in his life. The movies which mirrored incidences occurred at that time, he had played the character of a spokesperson of marginalized people denied the justice and dignity. Now when we see him becoming an brand ambassador of Gujrat & a marketing man for it’s tourist places also shaking hands and sharing dinner with people like Modi (who is virtually a farce creator with a hoax called vibrant Gujrat), is nothing but a road towards disaster. “What happened sir ?, why this sudden change, or is it mere an effort to make more money from your movie Pa ? and that too from a place which is a dry zone for Aamir Khan, since his 3 idiots has got the unprecedented response. But hang on! his movie is doing good there too. Moreover, movies like ‘Paa’ is nothing but a good effort to unveil certain rarest of rare disease which do exits in our society, just like how we find salt in any dish, so I presume, rather going for U/A grade, it must have a different class, wherein people with background like Medicine and psychology should go and watch and understand this unique disease and its implications in the society. I am still a worried man, since, I see him denying the Honorary Doctorate awarded by the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia, as Indian were attacked there in Australia, but the same Amitab Bachan, goes all the way to Gujrat, meet and appreciates people like Modi, who hands are still dip in blood of more than 2000 Muslims killed in Gujrat Genocide, who’s scares on millions of people still remain deep. I mean, what’s happening, I really fail to understand this dual nature of this person.

The 3 idiots- lessons learnt

The movie 3 idiots have created furore in the box office, breaking all the records which previously other movies had made. The rating and reviews in various News papers and website also suggests the same story. Apart from the business it has made, the most interesting question the movie raised is worth noting. The question mark posed on our educational system, the traditional approach in selection of any career, and the unbearable pressure laid down to any student both from both the educational campuses and our parents puts on our young generation and so on and so forth. The whole movie has something or the other to teach, how the menace of ragging wrecks havoc in colleges, the unending pressure leading a student to commit suicide failing to meet the deadlines and the mismatch of one’s zest and career chosen.
The whole script of the movie kept revolving around the character of Rancho played by Aamir Khan, wherein he kept trying to make people understand that, the real education is not gaining marks to pass for a job, but trying and getting the required skills which the course is suppose to develop in you, rather being a Rattu Tota (one who mere memorizes everything and anything like a parrot) of the course syllabus, we have to understand the dynamics of things covered in the course. The right tempo and aptitude should be developed while undergoing through the course opted and the most important point is avoiding the common trend of the mismatch of the course opted and the nature and zest of the person. So let’s try and look into these questions raised by the movie one by one.


Education today – pressure factory

Ironically, most of the colleges here do not serve the purpose of the education for obvious reasons. Education unlike other domains has emerged to be an industry in our society, off late countless educational institutes have mushroomed in the country; however their purpose has been nothing but making good and easy money. Undoubtedly, the growth of education in India can be ascertained from the fact that starting with only 263,000 students in all disciplines in 750 colleges affiliated to 30 universities in 1950, the numbers have grown to 11 million students in 17,000 Degree colleges affiliated to 230 universities and non-affiliated university-level institutions in 2005. According to NASSCOM, India had a total of 650,000 IT professionals in 2002 and by February 2005, they rose to 813,500. According to Brainbench Inc., India ranked behind the US in the number of certified software professionals with 145,517 against 194,211. India produces 400,000 engineers a year compared to 60,000 by US.

In addition to this there are about 10 million students in over 6500 in vocational institutions. The enrollment is growing at the rate of 5.1 % per year. But beneath these figures, we have a darker side as well, In order to place their kids the parents are entangling themselves into a lethal cobwebs of loans, we may take note of the fact that very few people are aware of what the “Report to the People” of the UPA government for the year 2004 – 2007 states according to it, the outstanding loans disbursed by public sector banks have been increased from 4,550 crore in 2003-04 to 10,005 crore in 2005-06, hence, greater chances of getting a loan for higher education. Pained by a number of suicide cases among the students, the Madras High Court has recently suggested a permanent mechanism to offer counseling in educational institutions. Emphasizing on a more friendly and relaxed environment at home, the report says that until and unless the parent-children relationship changes, the goal is a far cry. According to the National Bureau of Crime Records, the total number of suicides in 2005 was 113,914 as compared to 108,506 in 2001. In this suicide epidemic, which is afflicting the nation, Maharashtra's share was 12.7 per cent. The Bureau also noted that suicide deaths in Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh have consistently risen in the past few years.

The Mismatch saga

When we look around in our society, we see countless souls, wandering with a career which doesn’t suit them, or people with different background end up doing all together a different task. In my circle only I find numerous cases, wherein a person is of a Chemistry background tried and tested his life and time in Hardware and Networking and doing wonders with the MNC’s, a person with a Mechanical Engg background landing up into Media and writing career, a person with an finance background who has an ample experience of working in this domain end up founding a school and running the show since it was his dream from his childhood. So we have number of such cases, wherein we under some peer pressure do opt without even judging ourselves wrong thus putting us into a different world which is certainly not our cup of tea. Even our parents and guardians needs to understand this basic thing that they cannot ask their children to carry forward their so called legacy which they have kept doing in the past. They need to know with all due respect, that their children’s career cannot be worked out as per their whims and fancies; they being the parents should have the best understating of their children’s nature, aptitude, zest, flair etc. Hence the onus falls on them at the end of the day, if the child is unable to do the things which they plan and think. So it would be more appropriate to encourage their children to opt for courses which the children find themselves comfortable with.

The road ahead

Despite all odds, education is still a mandatory for our children; however, certain reforms in the educational system could be instrumental in bringing up students with correct and comprehensive approach in life. The following things could be done so as to achieve the desired result.

1. In the first phase, Government should concentrate from Kinder Garden to the 10th Class for the next 20 to 25 years, or till literacy levels of above 98% have been achieved, whichever is sooner
2. Enterprise Skills and Education or ESD needs to be started from Class 1st to Class 10th. This will impart to the youth a view of how the real world works and help them to choose the profession of their choice and aptitude, by the time they are 14 to 16 years of age.
3. Pre-vocational courses should be started from Class 7th to 10th.
4. Councilors and student advisors need to be available to all students in the secondary schools. This network needs urgent implementation.
5. All funding for higher and Technical Education should be diverted towards Primary and Secondary education.
6. License Raj in Higher & Technical Education, including Vocational Education & Training should go. Reservation for up to 25% of seats for merit and merit-cum-poverty to be reserved in such institutions at very nominal fees of say 25% of normal fees
7. Private capital from Citizens and NRI’s should be encouraged to set up world class facilities for all forms of educational institutions, to make India an International Hub for education. World wide education is 500% bigger than I.T. and software.
8. Like in private tuition and in the education of I.T. and software there should be no interference from the government, for private institutions of Higher Education, eg…
• Selection of Syllabus
• Salary levels of teachers
• Appointment of the head of the Institution
• Appointment of staff and teachers
• Fee structure of different courses
• Introduction of new courses and scrapping of old courses
9. IIT’s and IIM’s should be allowed to start multiple campuses any where in India with or without private partners who bring in finance and other expertise
10. Indian Universities and colleges should be allowed to upgrade their infrastructure by bringing in Indian or other partners, provided that they always have full management control of their institutions
11. A dynamic relationship between Teaching-Research-Industry-Enterprise-Government, is required
12. Education & Training worldwide, as an Enterprise, is 500% the size of I. T. and software. The MHRD should do whatever is necessary to promote India as an International Hub in education & training. This alone can propel India to become a ‘World Power’. This alone can remove and reduce the menace of Capitation Fees!

The new iron man – S M Mushrif – author of Who Killed Karkare

To tell a truth in front of a tyrant ruler is the biggest crusade in the sight of Lord. And perhaps, this saying sounds so true to Mr. S M Mushrif (retired IAS officer – former IGP Maharashtra) when he wrote his book, ‘Who killed Karkare ?’ published a couple of months back. Ironically, despite all the truth he has managed to jot down in his daring work, he couldn’t get the kind of coverage or response in the Media. The sort of debate or discussion it should spark off in the market sounds missing though, the reasons are obvious, which he himself disclosed in his recent visit to Nagpur on 2nd and 3rd January 2010 in conference organised by Bahujan Sangarsh Samiti Nagpur Chapter. He said that, despite the 20-25 different journalists from the various big and small Media houses both the print and electronic, which interviewed him on 28th October 2009 at his Pune based residence; nothing really appeared the following day, except in small time Newspapers of the city. His work was totally brought below the carpet; nobody really cared to debate or discusses it in public domain, thanks to the kind of pressure the Saffron brigade has created on the Media industry. So one can imagine the fear in which they dwell these days, to this point Mushrif added a humor saying, “the saffron elements happens to be the real terrorist, but with my book they seems to be terrorized, so in this way I now call myself a more bigger terrorist than them”. The most interesting speech in the two day program of Bahujan Sangarsh Samiti, was in the symposium on, ‘Hindu Nation and Bahujan society’ (Bahujan Society is the non Brahmin communities, including, Muslims, Christians, Sikh, Dalits, OBC’s etc). Wherein he said that, the real trouble before the anti National elements (saffron groups) were the true Nationalist people like, Karkare, Salaskar, Kamte etc, who managed to find the real culprit behind the series of bomb blasts done in various places including, Malegaon, Nanded and Parbhani, etc. The 2 Laptops recovered by Karkare after Sadhvi Pragya’s arrest disclosed, how the Hindu Terror Network was responsible for the series of bomb blasts carried out and making Muslim innocent youths responsible for the same. The Laptop recovered, had ample of information, about how the Hindu terror group materialized this anti national activities using people and groups of different expertise and resource. These groups of men included some high profile industrialists, politicians, Media professionals, Historians, Academicians and so on. This new nexus coming into light was well exposed by our real hero, the ATS Chief, Hemant Karkare. This man made a promise to himself that he will leave no stone unturned to let the world know the truth. However, before he could do this, he was knocked out of this mortal world in a very mysterious fashion during the 26/11 Mumbai attack. According to Mushrif, the elimination of Karkare was nothing but an innovative way of getting rid of a person who was likely to expose the anti national elements which is nothing but the saffron brigade. This innovative way is - certainly killing people like Karkare under the shadow of some operation like of 26/11, so it was a good team work between the so called Lashkar men and the saffron elements. According to Mushrif, the IB was well informed about the Let men hatching a plan to attack the Taj, they had been knowing this fact since 18th November 2008, but unfortunately, they never passed on this information to the Navy or to the Mumbai police, rather they preferred to give it to the coast guard which has nothing to do with the internal security. So it was nothing but efforts done too little too late, failing thus to avert this attack, the IB despite being informed about the movement of the boat carrying the men with lethal weapons remained tongue tied. Earlier the IB was provided with 35 different suspicious cell no’s by the RAW, the same numbers used during those 72 hours of terror in Mumbai, including many ISD calls and only one call made in Mumbai, just before the death of Karkare. In this way Hemant Karkare was killed by the men as per the directions of the saffron elements, while the message went to the masses was, ‘Let men killed him’. According to Mushrif, he had found 11 stark contrasting elements in two operations. The Taj-Oberoy-Trident was completely different from the one at Cama and Rangbhavan lanes. How can same people be at two different places at the same time? Also, he came across so many loopholes, in the 26/11 investigation. Sr. IAS officer Rangari told Times of India, Mumbai edition that during the attack at CST, out of 35 CCTV cameras, 16 were shut down at that particular day for no valid reason. The SIM recovered at CST station of the terrorist belonged to a person based at Satara (a city in Maharashtra), the police investigation was intervened in the midst of the due process, and this owner of the SIM was never brought to books. The lady beside the coastal area identified these men who came from boat, and was the eye witness to massacre perpetrated at Taj in the broad day light, but was soon forced to leave for US. The interesting remark made by Mr. Mushrif at the end of his speech was, that the IB in India is worst than any RSS Shakha, and that if these men who happens to be our custodians of our security and who remain hand in glove with the enemies of our society, then its time to stand up for a new revolution.

Few words as we begin....

Dear friends

Media which happens to be our fourth pillar of democracy, has somehow, superseded the other three pillars. Off late, we could discover whole lot of Media houses have mushroomed in the business of News. Earlier, journalism was more of missionary work, and it had played its role in mobilizing the masses, as we can find its conduct during our freedom struggle in the late 1030’s & 40’s. However, over these decades, the media industry has taken a paradigm shift, there’s nothing called mission of vision, its purely commerce and the interest of the capitalists and their associates.
As we enter into our second decade, we could see media being exploited for tarnishing and vilifying the images of the down trodden and the marginalized communities, both in India and overseas. We could see things happening to foster certain racist elements, who are nothing but to secure power for their own interest and Media unfortunately, has become the part of this phenomenon.
So this blog, http://www.betweendelines.blogspot.com/, is an endeavor to unveil and uncover such trends in the society and let people know that issues, events, incidences which keep occurring in our society does not comply to the face of it, but are happening as per the whims and fancies of the so called gods of today – the Racists or fascist – the capitalists elements, who are somehow hatching conspiracies for their own benefit. Thus, we need to have the media awareness to see the News beyond and beneath, and understand the rot mindsets of the people sitting in the Media domain.
Kindly feel free to air your views and feedback for our development.

Thanking you