Identity, Ideology & Conflict :- Bullah ki Jaana main Kon....

I have been thinking over this topic for past 2-3 months, when I was suffering from Jaundice. And found this very contemporary. The topic which I have chosen for this blog is bit bold. So, I apologize in advance if it hurts anyone's sentiments or feelings.

There are many ideologies & identities followed by people. Identity is very important, and is a reason behind most of the conflicts.There are many advantages and positive aspects also of identity. But in this blog I will focus more on the problems created by identity. If we focus on some of the major conflicts and wars in the history of the world, they all happened because of Identity or ideology. What is identity? the simplest definition of identity is the answer of Who am I? 

Who am I? Answer is the reason of most of the conflicts, world wars, battles, riots, Holocaust. 

  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIcREY9Qc6k

People associate themselves with various Identities and one association is always dominant. Let's take an example: Suppose I ask someone that who he/she is? Then he/she has many answers to this question. Like, he/she may say that he/she is a Hindu, Muslim, Communist, Capitalist, Indian, Pakistani, Chinese, US citizen, Russian, Global Citizen.
Let's take my example: I am a global citizen, Indian, Hindu, Jat, Rajasthani, man, black, white, rich, poor. a student of some educational institute, may be a lover(unfortunately not). So, I have many identities and the association with one of these identities is always dominant. Suppose that my association with my identity of being a Hindu is dominant. Then I will do what is good for Hindus. And when two identities of mine will contradict, I will do what is good for my dominant identity. i.e. if I were to do something which is good for Hindus but not for India. I will do what is good for Hindus because my association with the identity of being a Hindu is stronger than that of an Indian.


Shahrukh  khan in one of his videos (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJs71WNcjoo) said that these things are not exclusive i.e. one can be proud of belonging to a religion, also at the same time one can be proud of being an Indian.
But this is a normal situation, I am talking about extreme situations when one has to choose between his/her religion or nation. It's like asking someone Whom do you like more, your father or mother? Though nobody wants to be asked this question. But in extreme situations when one has to make a choice, one will surely not want to loose both. So, the priority has to be set. Setting priority means what should be the dominant identity?
 

Now, let's categorize different types of identities.And let's see how Identity is the reason behind almost all the conflicts.

 1. Religious Identities:

Hitler killed almost 6 million Jews. And the reason was Identity. Hitler identified himself as a Christian and killed Jews, because they had a different religious identity.
If Hitler had forgotten who he was & who Jews were, he would not have killed so many of them. Just think that if Hitler had had a short term, rather a permanent memory loss, he would not have killed 6 million Jews.
For a three letter word(Jew), he killed 6 million human beings.
Also in Gujrat riots many innocents were killed, most of them were killed not because of their deeds but only because of these two words Hindu & Muslim. Now, many of you may say that Hindu and Muslim are not just two words.Yes, these are not just words. These are identities. And a reason of killing people, a reason of conflict.
But, then the problem is that these are not only two words: Hindu, Muslim. What if, we enter one more i.e. Indian. So, why do we need the word India? We need this word so that people identify themselves as Indians. And their association with the word Indian become stronger than that of with Hindu or Muslim.
So, that the dominant identity becomes Indian not a Hindu or a Muslim. And when the Identity of being a Hindu/Muslim contradicts with the Identity of being an Indian. The dominant identity should be the identity of an Indian.
A religious extremist becomes a terrorist when he/she chooses his religion over his nation. When he/she feels more passionate about his/her religion than his/her nation. Kabir's these lines are very suitable here

                    "Maala Pherat Jug Bhaya, Mita Na Man Ka Pher
                      Kar Ka Manka Chhor De, Man Ka Manka Pher



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bOe9RBHROI

2. Economical Identity:  
There are three major economical identities people want to be identified with. Like Capitalism, Socialism and Communism. Again economical identities also had been the reason of conflicts. The popular cold-war was a war of ideologies(socialism v/s capitalism). Now, it has become communism v/s capitalism. At micro level it's a conflict between the rich and the poor. Naxalism is a good example of a conflict because of economic disparity.

3. Governance Identity: There are various forms of governance. Democracy, Dictatorship, Autocracy, Arsitocracy.These forms of governance are also the reason of conflict among various nations like: The US, China, Libiya, Iraq, Iran, North Korea and South Korea. The western countries follow an ideology of democracy so they ousted a dictator like Saddam Hussen and oppose rulers like Kim Jong Il. Recently NATO attacked Libya to oust the dictator. These all conflicts happened because of identity or ideological differences.

 4. Nationalistic identity: It is not only the religion people always fight for. By the time when the feeling of nationalism becomes stronger among people than the feeling of religion. People start fighting for their nations. Like Korean countries,  India -Pakistan, US-China, India-China

5. Identity of Colour:  There had been conflicts amongst Blacks and white. In the US and in South Africa by Britishers. Who are you? what is your identity? I am Black/white. So, I should fight the white/black. That's how again identity becomes the reason of conflict.

6. Identity of Gender: Who are you, man-woman/boy-girl? Such identities based on gender also lead to various conflicts like gender discrimination, gendercide, distorted sex ration and other social problems, social crimes, social disorders.

7. Identity of cast: Who am I? Whether Jat, Rajput, Gujjar, Meena, Brahamin? And we find a reason to fight for. And hence we find a reason of conflict. Now, let's take some recent examples of the protests by Jats, Rajputs and Gujjars for reservation. These people stopped the trains, blocked National Highways so that their casts can take the benefits of reservation. These people do so much for their casts. But Anna Hazare will be on indefinite fast from 5th of April. And let's see how many of these(Jats, Rajputs and Gujjars Support him). You also know, how many of these will support him. And this simply reflects that these all associate themselves more strongly with their casts than with their nation. 
If these all casts and their leaders unite and support Anna Hazare to make the GOI enact the Jan Lokpal. I don't think that the bill will not be enacted.

So, the essence of this blog is that we should set a priority of how should we identify ourselves. We all should identify ourselves as Global Citizens, as human beings. The ideology of "Vasudev-Kutumbkum" should prevail over all other identities.

Believe you me, it's just a matter of thinking. People kill each other because of their religion, casts, nations and even because of their colour.
Tomorrow people can kill each other because the colour of their dresses, even because of the kinds of their dresses: Taliban is an example. People can kill each other because of the kind of music they listen. Again Taliban is an example.
So, logically the reason lies in mind. Just a matter of thinking. As somebody said "meri aankh me hain jo ye aansu, jo samajho to moti, jo samjho to paani."

 Don't miss the song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPd_0HcR064&feature=related

I welcome your constructive criticisms. I know this was a bit controversial kind of blog, though I didn't intend it. But the topic was such. I wanted to add a lot in this blog, but then thought let's complete it today. I apologize if I have hurt anyone's feelings.

2006: Perhaps the best year for Bollywood & its viewers in the last 4 years.

First of all, I would like to thank Respected Sonal Ma'am, since a discussion with her in the class inspired me to write this blog. My purpose of writing this blog is not to discuss the learnings from the movies of 2006, but just to inform you about the movies released in the year 2006. And I am sure you will feel happy, may be surprised or will find it very interesting to know the kinds of good & successful(from the entertainment as well as commercial perspective) movies released in the year 2006. Also you will find it interesting or may be surprised to know the NUMBER of such movies released in this year as compared to last 4 years.

I have categorized the movies in six different categories like love story & action etc. Enjoy the analysis below.

1.Love stories:
Fanaa: Very good love story, also a very big success commercially, entertaining, very good music "Chand Sifarish jo...." how can I forget such a nice song. Though was bit slow in second half but no doubt a Super-hit movie. Hope you also liked. I watched it in famous Raj-mandir theater in Jaipur.

KANK: The other love story I am discussing is KANK, though it would be not appropriate to classify it as a love story. It is more about post marital affairs. I did't want to increase the number of categories so included it among love stories.
It was not a big success in India but earned good money overseas. I didn't like it much. In my opinion music was good but very similar to Kal ho Na ho(music).

AHISTA AHISTA: I didn't watch it, but read that it was a hit and music was superb.

GANGSTER: It was also a musical hit. I didn't watch but guess that it was a love story.




2.COMEDY: Many very good comedy movies were released in 2006. The list is

1. Other comedy movies were , Golmaal,Malamaal Weekly,Chup Chup ke, Bhagam Bhag and Apna Sapna money money.

I don't think I need to tell you about Lage raho munna bhai and phir hera pheri. I believe their names are enough to make you laugh.






3.ACTION: In this category there are three very successful movies, all three were very entertaining and full of action and super hit. These are
































4. FAMILY DRAMA: I think rather than classifying these movie as family drama I should classify them as a very good family movies. Vivah was also one of the super hits of 2006. Other is Babul, though not as successful as Vivah but had a good starcast
I watched Vivah, liked it very much but didn't watch Babul. Music of Vivah was superb!!!



5. PATRIOTIC: I believe no one can forget Rang de basanti, though Lage raho ......can also be classified as patriotic. But I found Lage raho .....more a comedy movie. Rang de basanti was super hit and was liked throughout the country.







6.DRAMA: There were few movies, released in 2006, which I would classify as a drama. These were Omkara, Taxi number 9 2 11 and Corporate(a business drama actually). All the three movies were not a big hit financially, but all were nice movies. Especially Omakara & Taxi no 9 2 11. Hat's off to Vishal Bhardwaj.

I tried my level best to keep the text maximum and pictures more so that you don't find this informative blog boring. I hope you will find it interesting when you will know the number of good movies released in the year 2006.

Also all these movies are worth watching, do watch then whenever you have time. Thanks for reading the blog. I welcome your constructive criticisms.

A letter from a boy to all the politicians

Respected Politicians,
Before I start to write anything, I want to make it clear that I have no bias to any political party or politician. By this letter, which will hardly reach any politician, I want to ask or raise a question that how correct it is to name public projects & public property after politicians or their relatives?

I appreciate it if public property is named after someone like respected Mahatma Gandhi and some other freedom fighters, scientists, sports persons etc.
But don't you think that naming one public project after an individual is enough or you think that more than one projects should be named after an individual. Also I at an individual level have no problem if things are named after people like Gandhiji, Nehruji, Subash Chandra Bose, Bhagat Singh & other freedom fighters.

Now, don't you think that there should be a limit to the number of public projects, named after an Individual? Or there should be voting by SMS's for naming public projects.

Now, my question is that is it correct to name most of the new public projects after the relatives of the politicians or politicians themselves? Don't you think that it is a sign of imperialism or aristocracy? Isn't it wrong in a democracy? Doesn't it remind you of the era when we were ruled by kings or queens; to me it does.

In a democracy, where people pay taxes, where projects are made from the taxes paid by people and then unfortunately named after few individuals belonging to a party in power. Isn't it correct to name these projects for the people or after the places where people live? Like IIM-Ahamdabad or the Medical college for the people of India etc.

What do I think when I come across any public property, which is named after any politician or his/her relatives?

I think that these politicians want to show me that their relatives(after whom the projects are named) were somebody like superhuman beings, they were somebody like god(whose temples we have) with super natural powers.

I do accept that there was a time when people of my father and grandfather's generation used to think that those relatives of the politicians were really something special. I accept that people of my father's generation might have treated those relatives of yours like superhuman beings or might have treated them like god.

It might have happened that the people of my father's and grandfather's generation were not educated or even literate or they might be not connected to the world, as we are.

But we the people of India, specially my generation thinks that we are not less than your children(who might have read in foreign universities, may be little better than us in speaking English) in any respect. We are very confident and have a very high self esteem and we believe that we are equally good or can do things equally good or even better than your children(who might be educated in foreign universities).

And we do believe & feel proud in saying that our parents and grand parents are/were also not less than your relatives in any respect. I respect all your relatives and I expect the same from you.

Now, when both my grand parents/parents were/are equally important for this nation as those of yours, why don't you name any public project after my grandparents/parents. Let me tell you the names
My Grandfather's name:- Late Shri Sukh-devaram Choudhary
My Grandmother's name:- Smt Shanti
My Father's name:- Mr. Mahendra singh
My Mother's name:- Mrs. Suwapati Choudhary
And I am Avinash Choudhary. Please remember the names, whenever you decide to name the next public project.

Like me, there are 1.2 billion Indians and I guess they may think the same way(by same I mean that they also think that all projects should be named after them/their relative) or they may think another way, also they may think opposite. I welcome all thoughts and I respect all thoughts.

In my opinion the best way to name public projects is to name them like Medical College for the people of India or All India Medical College or IIM-Ahandabad etc you can also name them after the name of our states and cities.

Please forgive me if I have hurt anyone's sentiments, unknowingly.

Regards,
Avinash Choudhary

Rich-Poor gap and Education system

We often hear that our govt. policies are such that the rich is becoming richer and the poor, poorer. To me above seems to be a general concept and very similar to the survival of fittest. Howsoever general above is, but it is not good for human society. And for the very reason we have systems, processes and regulations so that the benefits of resources reach to the unprivileged and the poor.
And in all the systems where the benefits don't reach to the poor, there lies a big ? on the system and it creates many problems. Naxalism, as some people say, is one of them.


If we remember our school days I believe most of us would agree that the students who were good, were given more opportunities to develop their skills. And those who were not good in studies and some other activities, were left.
Whenever teachers were asked to bring some students for inspection and were asked to represent institute they always used to nominate only the skilled ones. I know it because I used be to one of the good students.
Now when I realize it today I feel that the teachers used to do it to save their faces. Since improving the skills of those less-students required efforts from the side of the teachers while those who used to be the skilled-students were the favorite of teachers for two reasons
1. Since they were good performers
2. They troubled teachers less since they were already skilled and were quick learners(may be because of previous school and family background)
So, this gap of skills keeps on increasing because of such outdated education system. So, by the time a student passes out of a school there is a huge gap between the skills of a student who was given more opportunities and the one who was not given much opportunities. Then there comes college life and the college all the students get admission in, also depends on their skills. And those who are more skilled get admission in a good college while those who are less-skilled get admission in a college which is not so good. And the thing responsible, for some students not getting admission in a good college, is again this outdated education system which doesn't allow some students to develop skills even if they are willing. And it is not only the teachers who are responsible for this but the entire education system and the design of curriculum.
Now this gap of skills among the students increases further since some are studying in good college while others are not.
And when it comes the time of getting employed it is but natural that only the skilled ones get employed. Again those who get employed become rich while who don't get employed remain poor. And mostly it happens that the students whose parents were reach only they become skilled, employed and hence rich. And those whose parents were not rich don't become skilled, employed and hence become poor.
So, ultimately the rich becomes richer and the poor, poorer.


So, an important conclusion which can be derived from above discussion is that the outdated-education-system is the reason behind many or almost every problem in our country. And it is also a reason behind the problems like Naxalism(which is a result of this rich-poor gap).
So, we saw how education and Naxalism are connected. What a good connection of dots!!!!!!!!
Now, when I've already connected dots and raised a problem I should also suggest some solutions on how to design a curriculum for an education institute.
These days when extra curricular activities are given more importance than the curricular activities, it becomes necessary to redefine the curricular activities.
Though I don't have experience of teaching and academics but the experience of being a student has helped me a lot in understanding the education system.


So, followings are the suggestions as per best of my knowledge
1. First of all education institutes should have an assessment test of all its students. Based on the assessment test all the students should be categorized in different grades.
2. Now, just after getting admission in an institute the student should be made aware of his score in the assessment test. Student should be made aware of where does he stands now. This practice must be followed in almost all higher education institutes.
3. The score of assessment test should reflect the student's employability(specially in a B-School).
4.Then there must be skill enhancement programs for the students which should help in improving a student's assessment-test scores and hence employability.
5. keeping in mind the assessment scores of the students the institutes should design a system which can raise students assessment-test scores to a certain level. And should improve students' employability skills to a certain level.
6. Keeping in mind the assessment-scores, the system should be designed in a way so that the number of training hours for every student should be fixed.
7. After the first assessment test there should be more such tests at least twice a trimester.
8. Before every trimester each student should be given a target to increase his/her assessment-test score to a certain level. And twice in a month or on weekly basis every students and his/her parents must be told of his/her rate of progress that whether he/she is improving with the right speed or not
9. Education services must be customized. And the curriculum should be such that the grade-sheet directly reflect the employability of students nothing else.
10. If a student is not successful even after scoring good grades then there is surely a problem with the system and not the student.
Implementing above things is not easy because in India there is not enough quantity of teachers, leave alone quality. We also need a very good student-teachers ratio probably 20-30:1.

Analysis of Right to Education

I decided to write this blog on the various aspects of Right to education. What are the important points of RTE? How will it effect the economy? and what are the challenges in implementing it? Will it really benefit the people for whom it is brought into action or it will just create a perception of good governance or a welfare state or it is just a political agenda. I will discuss all the points in this blog using my limited knowledge.



First I will list the main features of RTE:
1. Free and compulsory education to all children of India in the 6 to 14 years age group
2. No child should be held back, expelled, or required to pass a board examination until completion of elementary education
3. No child shall be denied admission in a school for lack of age proof
4. Provides for 25 percent reservation for economically disadvantaged students in
admission to Class One in all private schools
5. As per the new law the schools need to have certain minimum facilities like adequate teachers(fixed student- teacher ratio), play ground, toilets etc

I liked the 5th point most wherein it stated that there must be play ground in a school. Because I used to play Volley-ball till 10th class then I took admission in a school which did not have a playground and only I know how did I spend those two years?

My mother is a sports teacher in a govt girls' senior secondary school and there is no playground in her school. For the preparation of games she takes the student in other school. I do not how would govt ensure playground in her school because there is no space for it.

How RTE will effect the economy:
As it has been given that RTE will ensure adequate number of teachers(fix student- teachers) ratio that is 30 : 1. Which will require 5 lac new teachers and it create 5 lac new job opportunities.
Also RTE will ensure certain minimum level of infrastructure in all the schools like adequate
number of rooms and toilets. Improving infrastructure will also create jobs for many.
Hence RTE will also boost economy and will create many job opportunities.

Challenges in Implementing RTE:
There are various problems in implementing RTE
1. Different states have different minimum age of enrolling in school. In some it is less than 6. So first all the states need to change the minimum age of enrolling in school according to RTE.
2. How would government make sure that the student studying in private schools under 25% reservation belong to economically disadvantaged category.
3. It would be very challenging for the government to make sure that no discrimination takes place with students studying under 25% reservation category.
4. For me it is hard to believe that govt can ensure the same treatment with these(25%) students by the teachers and more importantly by the rest 75% students.
I strongly believe that in all the private schools two types of groups will be formed among the reserved (25%) and not reserved(75%). Which will create lot of tension for the school management(which is already in tension because of this 25% reservation for economically disadvantaged students).
5. Imposing 25% reservation in the private schools will create frustration among the management of private schools . Some have already appealed in supreme court. When govt schools are providing free education what is the need to reserve 25% seats. All the economically disadvantaged students can read in govt schools or does it indicate that govt does not believe in its own organizations?

Though there are lot of challenges in the implementation of RTE and to some it will be only a perception of good governance. It will be hardly a political agenda because the poor in India are more concerned about the food prices than educating their children. But India is a big country and there are many children who do not have access to elementary education. Hopefully they will be benefited by RTE.

I regret sometimes and think that I should have studied in an English medium school. But there were no English medium schools in my area at that time. Access to education is really important but the even more important thing is access to quality education. Now when somebody asks me whether he/she should teach his/her child in an English medium school or a Hindi medium school. I say there is no point in teaching in a Hindi medium school(I may be exaggerating). When we need English medium schools all over the India(in my opinion) govt is still struggling with elementary education. We as a nation are not keeping pace with the changing scenario.

I will edit this blog once I go to my village and get some pictures showing the infrastructure of schools.

Gendercide

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I decided to write this blog after reading an article in The Economist. Gendercide word is taken from a book by Mary Anne Warren which means murder of baby girls(or abortion) at a large extent. This article is based on the increasing boys' to girls' ratio or the distorted sex ratio. I would refer some ideas from the article and present my inputs on these.

There are three main reasons for the existence of this problem.


1. The requirement of hard physical labor especially in developing countries

2. Parents think that their daughter will leave them after her marriage and then, when they are aged, they need someone to take care of them

3. Traditional thinking that they(parents) should have a son as an heir to their and socio-economic reasons

There may be few other reasons for that but I found above reasons to be more relevant and important. Now, let's see how this problem of gendercide can be solved. Following are some ways to control the problem

1. Rise in the Service Sector Jobs:
Since service sector is one of the major reasons behind the economic empowerment of women in the developed countries. While in developing nations there is a need of hard physical labor so parents prefer boys to girls as they(boys) are fit for this requirement of hard physical labor. Now, if there will be more jobs in the service sector parents will start accepting girls though it would not be easy but I am confident that a rise in the number of jobs in the service sector will change parents pro-boys-mindset to some extent.


2. Strong Social Security System :
Now, since parents believe that their daughter will leave them after her marriage so they need someone who can take care of them when they are aged so they prefer boys. But I think if enough social security is provided to the senior citizens by govt. there will surely be a change in the mindset of the people and they will start accepting girls. Because then they wouldn't be dependent on any one hence they wouldn't bother whether a girl or a boy is born. The above mentioned cartoon exactly represents that where in the parents are dependent on their children regarding their social security. In the US where parents mortgage their homes and get an agreed amount payment from the bank till they live. Such options, if provided by the government in other countries, can really help in solving this problem called gendercide.

Then since there are also some socio-economic reasons for the existence of gendercide like in India dowry. Such social problems should also be eliminated from the society. There is need of television campaigns, strict gender discrimination laws, allocation of incentives on the birth of girl child and many such schemes.


Then there is a thought which says that wealth and development(like Hariyana, Punjab and Gujrat) is not a solution to the problem of distorted sex ratio and this problem is also there in some parts(Asian Americans) of the US. Here we need to understand one thing that economical and technological changes happen at a faster rate but the society and the traditions or the mindset change at a slower rate. Also in most of the cases social changes(mindset and traditions) are a byproduct of the economical and technological changes.

Now the same thing applies to the Asian Americans. Since Asia is a traditional continent so when Asians go to America they(Asians) may not have the same mindset as that of the Americans that is, they(Asians) may still prefer boys to girls. And there is nothing surprising in this because Asian-Americans haven't spent as much time in the US as the actual(native) Americans have. Asian-Americans may also have the same mindset as that of the native Americans but for that we should give them as much time as the native Americans have spent there in the US and we should wait for their(Asian- Americans) 2 or 3 generations because traditions and the mindset do not change over night. It may be that we cannot afford this slow speed but things take their own time.