Lines- religion, region or laws!

Dangerous topic to touch, but one of my favourites to talk on and spend nights having conversations around. But having said that, considering I am only 30,  I have delayed the research on hows, whys and whens of religion for when I am 40+ and made enough money to be a philanthropist. So whatever I write is the hypothesis and just random observation of people around and how they behave under the effect of certain external stimuli. I am really not aware whether my hypothesis is proven scientific fact or is it under research of some XYZ professor in some fancy university of the USA. The thoughts mentioned below are just mine. This is really a vast topic to  write about and research upon and I as of now do not possess that much liberty and time.

Humans seem moral only in social settings. Looking at countries like Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, etc. men by nature seem to be  selfish, brute and nasty.   They only curb this natural instinct when applied a strong resistive force in terms of law, religion or government (Newton's Law of inertia). This is very true in our daily lives as well- how many times we see ourselves looking around before they are about to do something wrong or just a flash of thought in our minds how will my friends perceive us if we go ahead with a certain act or our acts will bring shame to our families. In the absence of such fears in the minds of humans, there will be utter chaos. People will be killing their neighbours for food and land, there will be no industries, no development and no efforts to move ahead because the outcome is uncertain, not known. This uncertainty in outcome brings sense of insecurity and fueling further chaos in the system and resulting in a state of pandemonium. People are insecure about their lives, their loved ones, there professions, etc. Thus, an external force in terms of religion/government/laws/rules is applied changes the current state into the desired state and a certain outcome.

Within the confined boundaries of land, religion, law people find fraternity, like minded thought process which breaks the uncertainty in their lives and provides them a sense of security. How much we say we are different at a micro level, but at macroscopic level group of people belonging to a certain fraternity are expected to behave in a certain manner- a group of Americans will be clearly distinguishable from a group of French; however they might be certain differentiating characteristics amongst Americans and French themselves at an individual level but at a macroscopic level Americans will be clearly differentiated from the French. It is this sense of security of being part of fraternity that upholds the adage "unity in diversity." We all like to be alike and in the safe haven of the company of individuals who are like us but it is clearly these defined rules and regulations, may be of the religion or of the land, that isolates us from one group to the another.

If we delve deeper into the history we will realise we needed ancient scriptures like Vedas, Ramayana, Gita, Bible, Quran, etc just as an enforcer, an external force to guide people as to how to live their lives peacefully without uncertainty and commotion.These religions/boundaries/scriptures never speak of fundamentalism nor do they tell that particular fraternity is better than the others because at microscopic level we all are alike; it is at the macroscopic level we tend to behave in a certain manner because of external forces which have evolved over time under the influence of ulterior motives of certain strong minded individuals. As a matter of fact, sometimes I wonder is God also an external force just to ensure equilibrium in the universe?

Fundamentalism or terrorism in the name of religion or region is not the outcome of outsmarting other fraternities. It is driven by the theory that we humans, though live in a large groups and like to be independent, need a dominant leader. A majority of this fundamentalism/terrorism can be attributed to the submission to the ulterior motive of the most dominant leader of the group (may be intellectually/ physical strength/ devising external stimuli or laws for the group).


Humans are selfish by nature. They will only think about themselves unless we have external stimuli to change this thinking. Universe can't handle 10 billion+ of different people having 10billion+ ideologies and only thinking about themselves. It will be total chaos, a state of pandemonium; hence we needed to classify these individuals in a groups- region/religion/law.  Thus, we have different types of rules and regulations imposed, some of the land some of the culture and some of the religion. And each group wants to outsmart the other group and hence eventually fuelling growth in social circle. Just as in business, competition is necessary  to grow; it is extremely important in social realms also.  All religions preach the same thing with a little tweaking; all rules of the land state the similar constitution; but this overall group rivalry provides the ultimate aim/goal to our lives which channels our energy in the right direction and thus avoiding us from the state of commotion.It is this competition that makes us "self sufficient" as a fraternity. It is this idea of being self-dependent and responsible for taking care of ourselves, drives the evolution of society and one fraternity being developed and other being underdeveloped.


Rules, religions, laws, boundaries are just there to give us humans a sense of security of being in safe haven and they are just "anxiety reliving mechanism." It is this fear induced in the minds of us humans because of these lines, which propel us evolve over time, which makes us do the undoable. When Robert Frost says, "Good fences make good neighbours" he was actually right!

Charles Darwn vs Luck...who is victorius?

Moving towards the corn cob cart saw a family of labourer already at the cart choosing a corn cob for their 3 children. I felt a stare of a little boy while i was choosing two corns for myself. He started pulling his father's shirt indicating that he wants one too. And I wondered why he needs to share a small corn cob amongst his siblings? Why can't his parents just "not" use the word "amongst" or "between"?

I compared there childhood to mine and wondered if I was them and my parents were in that condition would i be standing here spending Rs. 20 for 2 corns? I started to anticipate what future beholds for these small kids- 2 brother and a sister. Will the adage "survival of the fittest" hold true in their case too? But then hold on! I was way ahead of these children in the race when I was there age. I was going to school. I was having milk, fruits, company of children to play and grow and education which taught me Charles Darwin and Einstein. I was already fitter because of me born into a decent middle class family- so my upbringing and hence my future depended primarily onto the kind of parents I have and the family's economic conditions.

A recent UNESCO 11th Education For All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report (GMR) shared some alarming numbers at the state of education in the country which is looking to become economic superpower but still is compared with the ranks of sub-Sharan African nations and Pakistan when it comes to quality of education in this country. The report goes on to observe even after completing four years of school, 90% of children from poorer households remain illiterate. And this also holds true for around 30% of kids from poorer homes despite five to six years of schooling. Besides, only 44% of rural students in the Std V age group in Maharashtra and 53% in Tamil Nadu could perform two-digit subtraction. And it will take another 66 years for poor young women of the country to achieve universal literacy. 66 years? Ache din abhi bahut door hai!

Although India has made a faster progress in reducing the number of children out of schools, but the advancement is slow. Besides, in UP, only 70% of poor kids make it to Std V, while almost all from rich households are able to do so. In MP, 85% of poor pupils enter Std V, compared to 96% of rich children.

The country's primary education seems to be marred by quality and accessibility of the education. With government aiming to spend INR 83,771 crores on education sector, with sarva siksha abhiyan taking approx 30% of these spends, its more about execution and reaching the underprivileged families.

Report cites "teacher absenteeism" as one of the reasons for the learning crisis in the country with absenteeism varying from "15% in Maharashtra and 17% in Gujarat — two richer states — to 38% in Bihar and 42% in Jharkhand, two of the poorest states." Government needs to spend on the teachers training program. The best teachers need to be assigned to the toughest region with right amount of incentives so that these teachers are lured into the profession by choice and not because of economic pressure.

Some component of the learning crisis can also be attributed to "ambitious" curriculum drawn for the children in India. In Vietnam the curriculum focuses on foundation skill set and is closely mapped with what children "can" learn- especially the disadvantaged one; quite contrary to India where curriculum "outpaces what students can realistically learn and achieve in given time- especially the underprivileged lot."

The policy makers need to re-look at the problems confronted by underprivileged class of students and their families because more than education, they are more concerned about food and shelter. It is poverty and family sizes which is causing dropouts from schools and students being forced for child labour to support their families. This seems like a vicious circle as education and skill sets are need of the hour to overcome economic constraints but at the same time families need money for "quality" education. Though, the government is spending money on this sector, the results need to come at a faster pace and can not be left to be run at their own sweet time.It is high time that India seeks in technology in this segment of the society as well- virtual classrooms leading the pack in providing requisite "quality education".

All these new IITs, IIMs, NITs, AIIMS, makes sense only if the "survival of the fittest"adage holds true. Otherwise we are just letting the future of the children of underprivileged being decided from the day they are born without even letting Darwin come into the picture.


References- UNSECO- 11th Education for all

Is ISRO's Mangalyaan, a misplaced priority!!!

When ISRO's PSLV C-25 rocket lifted the Mars Orbiter Spacecraft, Mangalyan from Sriharikota this week, it sparked a debate about its relevance and about timing of the launch. Media, particularly electronic media  jumped into this discussion and major arguments were about misplaced priorities in a poverty stricken country.  When India instituted Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) more than three decades back, probably situation was worse in terms of hunger and poverty than is now. INCOSPAR was set up under the visionary leadership of Dr. Vikram Sarabhai to develop India's Space Programmes in 1962 and this culminated in establishment of ISRO on the independence day in 1969. Space technologies are dual-use technologies as they are also used for development of Missiles and other modern equipment of warfare. Precisely due to this reason international cooperation and collaboration in terms of technology transfer is hard to come by. There are international treaties such as MTCR (Missile Technology Control Regime), which prohibit participants to collaborate in dual use technologies. Russian cooperation was limited to launch of satellites and sometimes training of individuals. Further three decades after establishment are a story of triumph of human spirit in the face of insurmountable challenges. Scientists and technicians of ISRO toiled and Dr. Kalam's memoir "Wings of Fire" is a nice reminder of what it takes to move ahead in an era of scepticism and cynicism. Where ISRO is today, is a result of millions of man hours and vision and commitment of people like Dr. Sarabhai, Satish Dhawan, Dr. Kalam and several others.

Coming to the relevance of "Mangalyan" when NASA has clearly denied presence of any methane in the atmosphere of Mars, what purpose it would serve? PSLV is ISRO's workhorse and there have been several successful launches in the past but this is first inter-planetary mission which requires more sophistication in terms of technology, self-sufficiency of the launch-vehicle and other parameters. Presently International Space industry is worth more than USD 100 billions, though the percentage of satellite launches is relatively small but with a great potential to grow. Today, the leading countries in this arena are those who have invested heavily in the past in Space technologies and have developed substantial capabilities and credentials. India has moved ahead in this industry and the commercial arm of ISRO, Antrix is bringing business for ISRO for technology consultancy, launching satellites etc. ISRO has launched more than two dozen foreign satellites in the past and project like Mangalyan, help increase the credibility.

As to the question of dichotomy between Poverty alleviation and spending in advanced technologies, it isn't a question of either-or. We are faring badly in terms of HDI and other human development parameters though we are having a huge outlay in annual budget exercise for removing these disabilities. For example 33000 crores have been allocated for MNREGA alone in this year's budget and last year allocation was around 40,000 crores. Its a known fact that large chunk of fund remain unutilized and corruption is eating the roots of the nation. Social commentators and journalists have questioned the large amount of tax rebates given annually to the companies. A better tax-administration, curtailing the money laundering and generating resources in long-term by spending in education, healthcare and skill-development of millions can be a probable answer to our developmental challenges. Magnitude spent on R&D is significantly less when compared to tax-rebates or expenditure on social-sector schemes. On the contrary, we are slipping backwards in terms of R&D expenditure. We need to spend more to increase our capabilities.

So, Either spend on social sector or on space mission is not a right question. Rather what has been highlighted by former ISRO chief, G. Madhavan Nair that the mission fails to satisfy our ambitions in terms of technological progress. Space exploration in times of global economic uncertainties has brought nations closer towards cooperation that's why arch rival Russia and USA are helping each other in the development of International Space Station (ISS). But, rapid surge of China in the recent past is the other side of this space race. We were on equal footing or probably ahead 6-7 years back but as Nair says due to lack of vision from our side and a rapid progress from theirs has put us

                                                                      Photo credit: AP
on the back foot. We are still dependent on others to launch our heavier satellites (more than 2000 kg ), we have failed to develop GSLV, our manned space mission is nowhere in sight. If ISRO's mission is an attempt to cover these failures then spending 450-500 crores is absolutely unjustifiable. But, this seems less likely as testing of GSLV is in the pipeline for the year end. As far as comparison with China is concerned, we face a Catch-22 situation. Can we pump the money as freely and as effortlessly as China can, probably not. Because, again its not a either-or situation. We have to balance our social goals and scientific ambitions. But, the prime-time debate in the media  is oblivious to these issues, they are happy in discussing rather superficial aspects. One question i would also like to pose, why so much noise now? The mission was announced several years back, if they were really concerned about our country's perilous situation and our spending priorities, why don't question them when there is time to save. This postmortem activity makes me wonder whether its only another TRP gaining exercise by corporate owned media houses!!

News channels: desperate journalism, a malady!

From the genesis till this very instant, this form of media has always been clamant. Not for they are the fastest or they divulge nothing but the obvious; but because they titillate the sensory faculty. True journalism has almost lost its identification. It's all about boosting your TRP's and making monetary gains out of them. "John ki jaaneman", "Mahi re", “India ki Sharmnak har”, "Ranbir ki khushi ka raaz", etc are some of the most sought after headlines that these channels are using to make money by victimizing the obsession of common masses to know about these cynosures. When Amitabh Bachan got well after his illness, it was reported as his "re-birth" communicating it like second Easter after Jesus's.

It seems these channels are going through excruciation of news shortage. Ethical journalism has succumbed to Yellow Journalism. Paparazzi has suddenly become so important that they are even deciding the life and death of people, enacting "godlike"- Lady Diana rocketed her sedan just to avoid these so called "journalists" peeping into the glasses of her car and eventually met her fate. Another example of how yellow journalism affects the fate of a person is Arushi’s murder case where her father was wrongly accused by the media which ruined his professional career. There are several other cases which media blows up just for the sake of earning moolah.

I understand the need of sensationalizing the news from business perspective, as it attracts more eyeballs, but at the same time anti-social elements, too, can be beneficiary for the activities of these channels. The channels conflagrate the sentiments of people by broadcasting every trivial altercation innumerable times. Even a brawl of two kids from two different establishments will be broadcasted until unless that wrangling decimate the accord and resurface itself in the form of communal riots; journalism at its best.  

With full credit to some of the ethical journalists, the entire community acknowledges mind-boggling coverage of Middle-east crisis, Iraq war, Afghanistan, Kargil, etc. During natural calamities these channels have always put in a commendable effort. Even in current situation in Uttarakhand, journalists have done exceedingly well in propagating the extent of calamity. But such a journalism is limited to few journalists and they can merely be counted on our finger tips.

Journalism is regarded as one of the pillars of democracy. Both media and the audience have a joint responsibility of keeping journalism up to the mark. I 'm not belittling the achievements of these news channels but I am just trying to give them the word of caution and making them realize their responsibility towards society and human existence on the whole.