Green Diwali, Eco Diwali

Green Diwali ,Green  Holi , Eco Ganapathy .. Green Festivals.. :

Saw a big board of Green Diwali Celebration at the Pandol entrance.. Upon the entrance huge crowd.. and then ..Wow what a lovely Rangoli.. I went closer and it looked like it was not made out of usual rangoli powder, but out of something that was granular . Further observation and comments from people around revealed that it was made out of colored rice grains.

Just out side the pandols there were urchins .. tugging at your expensive dupattas and kurtas.. begging for food, money..malnutritioned extended arms and deep matte finish eyes..

Does it make sense..

Ganapti made from peanuts and dry fruits..

Rangoli made from pulses..

Ganapati made from colored sabudanas..

Garlands made from sugar candies(Battase)

Ganapti made from til laddoos

List of endless..

What happens to those colored grains? Always we find vegetables decorated on the top of ice slabs ,at salad counters at expensive buffets , as decoration.. What happens to those?

Worst of all.. Tomato festival..that boasts about thousands of tons of tomatoes thrown in across the streets ..

Should we be wasting food items at all..

Is it possible to quantify world wide wastage of foods due to so called rituals..

India will be on forefront with so much ghee and milk being emptied on the top of idols being worshiped ,and also edible ghee and oil being burnt in lamps..

LOOKING FOR A SCAPEGOAT

I blame Mr. Chetan Bhagat for spoiling my day not just the day but weekend. His article 'Looking for scapegot'  on page 18(printed TOI Mumbai version) made me start my weekend on a very serious note. When I was actually looking for amusement (As the author is well known for) The synopsis of the article in bold says 'We Indians are not known for logic. Be it our movies or political pitches - emotions matter more than reason., or even truth'. Let me assure Mr Bhagat, that this is a very true statement. Hence it applies to Marathis as well as he himself. Based on this statement we can safely conclude that Marathis are to be blamed jointly or in addituion to  other Indian for any issue which is local(Indian).The issues articulated in the article,  are local , but, marathis,non marathis , both are involved ,. Hence Marathis as well as Non Marathis are responsible, both being equally  illogical and emotional.

 He states later that 'Marathis are as entitled to go to any other state for jobs, join colleges IITs etc.'. Let me inform Mr Chetan Bhagat that Lau Prasad, then Railway Minister did not advertise Railway jobs in citites and towns in Maharshtra thus depriving them of the opportunities in other states.  So as he states in his article let me inform him that Marathis are not entitled for the jobs in other states the way people from other states are entitled for jobs in Maharsahtra.

Why is it that Water bodies in Mumbai and other towns in Maharashtra  only are dirtied during a festival celebrated by north Indians  but not in some other state like Tamilnadu or Karnataka? Is it because Marathis are tolerant and readily compromise on their own freedom and resources which are becoming scarce?

There are  few marathis who got to IITs in Chennai, Kanpur Kharagpur etc. There are some Marathis who get transferred as part of Govt jobs and  do migrate and settle in other states. What is important is that so far I have not heard from any party in other state, migrant Marathis  hogging down the infrastructure up to the level of choking up the systems. Never any other State has complained about Marathis forming the major portion of the criminal records in that state. Also not dirtying the area around the water bodies , during Ganesha festival up to the extent that it starts affecting ecological balance of the surrounding. The answer is straight forward. The numbers are too low to have any noticeable  impact. Why will a Marathi leave Maharashtra (Which is offering opportunities to Indians from all the states and people from all those state are coming to Mumbai and Maharashtra- Does not make sense for the locals  to leave state of opportunistic where you are borne to go to the state that is being deserted by their own people-due to lack of opportunities) and go to some other state? If they go , they go due to job opportunity and not to settle under the bridges, on the foot path etc. They go there to live in their proper habitat, legally rented or given by the companies and start contributing to the state from the day one, paying local taxes too. The numbers are of minuscule percentages anyway and does not create vote banks in these states to finally get appeased by local parties , giving them opportunities to use regional issues or swinging the  polls for the benefits during elections at all levels.

Also the issues faced by Mumbai differ by 180 degrees by issues faced by other cities. Issues faced by Maharashtra due to local politicians are universal for India. Are Marathis responsible for woes on Tamilnadu? Or local political parties led by Tamilians?Patnaiks are very much local to Odisha.  Does Buddhababa and /Or Mamata have their roots in some other non bengali state in India? Tell me which state is not corrupt today?

Marathis were never so industrious and capable of having long terms visions of settlements. and visions of corruption and power (of the handfuls of those controlling politics in the state) are also restricted to exploiting their own state .

Poor Marathi farmer resorted to suicide instead of migrating into UP or Bihar which is full of abundant natural resources and extremely conducive for farming. Poor Marathi farmer was not even able to foresee that prices of that pulses, Dals are rising for last 15 years , and it may be lucrative to move to some other crop instead of cotton . Which many Andradite and Karnataka farmers did over last 10-15 years. Stupid emotional attachment to the type of crop and land. Also not being able to even migrate to Mumbai to drive a taxi. Which UP ite and Bihari farmers have been doing. While enjoying the benefits of fertile lands there , enjoying the fruits of those, and earning in this city to send money back. (Spent in the other state to help  economies elsewhere). I truly appreciate the spirit. Also those who come here and become fruit ,vegetable and fish vendors etc. While no one is stopping Marathi farmer to move to other state or start driving taxi in Mumbai or become price competitive vendor in Mumbai , the fact is that they are not doing it. And and are suffering.

If  Lalu had advertised Railway jobs in local newspapers in Maharashtra, Maharshtrians would have probably migrated to other states for railway govt jobs. And over all number of Marathi Manus migrating would have been slightly higher.  Currently Marathis are mostly migrating to other states for jobs in private companies, MNCs and higher govt. jobs(through UPS exams etc. ). Maharastrians are being deprived of the equal right for applying to Class 3 Class 4 level central govt. jobs . Marathi politicians in central ministry are not playing the similar illegal  tricks to promote Indian wide jobs for Marathi population.

As far as effects of the irrigation scams are concerned I agree that migrants too have to stand in the queue for the bucket of water in Mumbai as long as local Marathi manus is standing in the same queue along with. But migrant has an option of going back to his own home town and not standing the queue for water. He as an option of demanding jobs from local govt which he/she and his/her folks have been selecting in the home state? He can chose to become local fish.fruit.vegetable vendor or taxi driver in his/her own state . He/she is not exercising that right but making local Marathi Manus stand in the queue longer alongside. (which he.she may not have to if migrant population vacates the queues.). In case migrant population feels that they are suffering due to their living conditions in Mumbai I will urge them to leave immediately to and for better conditions in their home states. Chetan Bhagat at the same time appreciates Marathis as hard working. Else they will demand separate reserved queues soon. As far as scams in Maharshtra are concerned I have a feeling that UP and Bihari politicians are looking for Maharshtra as another grazing ground for scams as they have exploited many opportunities already in their own states(up to the level of dried grass)

Any state will appreciate migrants who are  not impacting local ecosystems adversely . And will not even voice anything against them.

The discussion about ministers resigning and rest too threatening of the resignation, is party politics. Similar things, totally politically motivated, to settle power equations happen in all states. And most of the times it involves ministers who are locally borne/bred , belonging to local majority community . Their actions usually lead to sufferings of locals belonging to same community.  This is an India wide phenomena . In other states too masses are not able to do anything about it. And have become silent sufferers in most of the cases. There are local efforts in spurts which too is prevalent in Maharashtra.This state is no different in that sense. Why blame Marathi masses for the same. This is typical Indian nature . demonstrated also by the immigrants who leave their oen states instead of fighting local exploiting govt. and politicians to the grazing grounds of Mumbai and Maharashtra. Off course they find that grazing is not easy and as difficult for them as local Marathis.And then this hue and cry.

I myself worked for some time in the state of Jharkhand. Not even once I came across any group Marathi activity that was spoiling local cultural, environmental or political ecosystem. In fact everyone around me looked at Marathis as very talented people. Cricket, Singing , disciplined , hardworking etc. Why?  In fact they  fully accepted that  Will they have same opinion if Marathis start  spoiling the area around their plush green water bodies for Ganapati immersion? Will they have same opinion if Marathis start committing unspeakable crimes exploiting local population?  Even today there is mass Marathi population in Gujarath and and MP. Mainly Baroda, Gwalior, Indore etc. What is the impression? Are they contributing to the local crimes? Are they creating imbalance in local various ecosystems. Are they threatening to conduct local rallies to enter into politics to form local government.(BTW..I wish they had guts to do this  ..)

Chetan also adds that Marathis are very hardworking etc. and need better leaders. Who or which state does not need better leaders today?(Probably with the exception of Gujarat). Each state today in India is need of better leader. UP /Bihar too require better leaders so that their population does not have to migrate to other state. UPites and Biharis (at least those who migrate) as per my knowledge are very hard working. I too feel sorry for them as they are forced to leave their own state due to bad leadership and resort to expanding slums of Mumbai. (thus helping them expand at faster rate-adding to the woes of local Marathis from all pockets-slums and non slums).(I accept that there have been indications of improvements in Bihar and Nitish Kumar has been appreciated a a lot. However the effects of those have  still to be seen in Mumbai. When there is mass exodus of migrant returnees or local Marathis exodus to Bihar happens we will know the effectiveness).

I also request Chetan Bhagat to look at the crime statistics of Mumbai. And the percentage of non Marathi suspects and convicts. I still remember the early morning of 15^th Aug(of 2005 or 2004). While we watched the marches and speeches of Lal Killah, and Raj Bhavan, The News paper cover story flashed a news item of mentally challenged 14 year old local girl raped in the train by Bihari who had migrated just 15 days before. What a way to start independent day celebration. We have a right to be emotional. But we have still not turned into criminals.

I can very well see where Mr Bhagat is coming from. He, himself being an Indian obviously ‘not known for Logic and Emotions Matter More than results’.

At the same time I want to iterate that Chetan Bhagat is one of my most appreciated Author. I specially liked his book ‘One Night at Call Canter’. It really brought out the sufferings of those belonging to that industry in a very positive manner, leading to hope. As against there were movies like ‘Life an Metro’ etc, which were trying tarnish the image of their community by painting them as those of lose characters. Two states is out of the world. As I could get almost 100% confirmations for most of the behavioral traits of North Indians and Tamilians as I got chance to work in both these states from time to time.

Chandamama Website

Happened to bump into a website having all the issues of Chandamama uploaded since fifties. Ooof , And brought back the memories of the days which were devoid of mobiles, TV, (Not even Door Darshan). So lot of play out side. And lot of reading during the afternoons on weekends and during vacations. I still remembers the mornings when me and my brother (5 years older) , me around 7-8 yrs and he around 13 or so. getting up early (for a change), waiting egerly for most imprtant person in our lives.. Paperwala, from 1st of the month till we got the precious issue of 'Chandoba' and 'Vetaal'(from Indrajaal Comics).I was more interested in Vetaal initially as it being a comic and me being younger.. also reading speed was little lesser and found bigger fonts easier.. Also Vetaal was pure entertainment and not much of preaching.. When became little older enjoyed Chandoba too as much as Vetaal.My borther Sunil being older many times used to play games to grab the issue from me.. Used to tell me that some one is below the building.. Or Mom is calling you so that if I leave the issue and go for a while he will grab it and go somewhere like terrace etc. in hiding and read peacefully..Post that read, re-read all through the month till we get next issues. Vetaal was set in mostly exotic Jungle backdrop . Where wild animals were tames by him and obeyed him He has a wolf with him going around as a pet etc.. It also had tribals who were pygmies (short) and their chief was extremely clever and knew the jungle inside out and helped Vetaal from time to time. The best was Vetal's hide out.. A cave behind water fall.. where he just disappeared from enemies and they ere left guessing whether Vetaal was human being or walking talking Ghost that can be at 10 places at a time. Occasionally it had Mandrake,Lothar stories which were full of miracles and magic and hypnosis. I still remember the story where villain makes the life of a singer miserable by creating electromagnetic waves which led to singer having toothache during shows.Mandrake discovers and get him punished. Can't miss the element of the science here as the explanation was that metal inside the silver filled teeth reacted and led to sever pain. Where as Chandoba stories mostly rated with either 1. Farmer who was poor,hardworking was earning just enough for teh family to have good meals and sleep well etc. Had to borrow money or sell cow or goat due to some situation like illness,drought etc. 2. Money lender (sahukar) who was exploiting everyone and was very rich but was un happy and could not sleep well either due to illness ,or beinng childless(niputrik) or not having son etc. 3. King and queen whoere unhappy as did not have heir for their kingdom . Chandoba always had a story of Vikram, and Vetaal. (I was happy that my son -next gen- enjoyed the shows on TV started by echoes -VIKARAM VIKRAM VIKRAM VIKRAM, VETAAL< VETAAL<VETAAL VETAAL. ).Now to think of it I feel the pictures of women  in the old issues always had big eyes and resembled south indian women. Guys reselbled north Indians . Everyone was good looking . Over all both the peridicals were big sucees I feel mainly because it contained the Rasas which are enjoyed by children and early teenagers like 'Adbhut','Veer','Bhaya','Krodha','Lobha','Moha','Matsara'. It rarely had any comedy ('Vinoda') or ' Kaam'. I remember my brother was so fascinated and wanted to preserve the old  issues that he got them hard bound and some of them he himself hard bound at home.Next Gen some how did not enjoy Chandoba much mu was more into comics like Tinkle etc..Which had a lot of comedy angle. 

Can't help reliving the joyous moments of world cup 2011 last Mar.
- Super Shot Cheer :   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtUmeHnsrI0
- Procession : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVgPBhwf5lo
- Last Shot http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlBN01wWsjA

BBC News - The 87-year-old doctor still charging patients $5 a visit

Wondering whether Insurance companies will gang up against such doctors. This will definitely reduce the average transaction value and in general transaction volume too.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19289230

Implementation of IT in Education Segment

IT for Implementation of  Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

1. OVERVIEW: SARVA SHIKSHA ABHIYAN  

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is centralized focused step taken by Central Government to universalize education in general by community-ownership of the school system. It is a response to the global demand for superior quality of human resource, services and other products as basic deliverable that India can offer meaningfully while being able to face international competition. The SSA program is also an attempt to provide an opportunity for improving human capabilities to all children, through provision of community-owned quality education in a mission mode.

1.1  WHAT IS SARVA SHIKSHA ABHIYAN

• A program with a clear time frame for universal elementary education.
• Ability to measure the quality and success of the education being imparted  
• An opportunity for promoting Government’s social obligation to population deserving basic human justice in addition to basic education.
• An effort at effectively involving the Panchayati Raj Institutions, School Management Committees, Village and Urban Slum level Education Committees, Parents' Teachers' Associations, Mother Teacher Associations, Tribal Autonomous Councils and other grass root level structures in the management of elementary schools.
• A partnership between the Central, State and the local government.
• An opportunity for States to develop their own vision of elementary education

1.2 OBJECTIVES OF SARVA SHIKSHA ABHIYAN

The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is to provide useful and relevant elementary education for all children in the 6 to 14 age group by 2010. It is also to Improve and -reduce the gaps within education system existing due to social, regional and gender divides.

§  Gathering the relevant data and analyzing the same, taking corrective measures to improve All children in school, Education Guarantee Centre, Alternate School, ' Back-to-School' camp by 2003; (Was planned)

§  All children complete five years of primary schooling by 2007 (Partially achieved by some of the States)

§  All children complete eight years of elementary schooling by 2010  

§  Focus on elementary education of satisfactory quality with emphasis on education for life

§  Bridge all gender and social category gaps at primary stage by 2007 and at elementary education level by 2010 .(Statistics showing improvement)

§  Universal retention by 2010  

- Ensure Enrollment of 1. SC/ST possible student population 2. Female possible student Population 3. Female Adult illiterate possible Population 4. Rest of the possible student population 5. Also provide Attention to special children and their needs and 6. Reduce Drop out rate.

1.3  SARVA SHIKSHA ABHIYAN AS A FRAMEWORK AND AS A PROGRAMME

As a part of this drive Government has allocated certain budget for all the states and Central Territories. The budgets depend upon the various parameters linked with necessity and requirements of each State.  State is supposed to allocate 30% and Central is supposed to allocate 70%.

In addition various other educational programs which have been functional in recent past are too targeting the sometimes same sometimes exclusive population. For eg.

• Mahila Samakhya : Education ,literacy program meant for adult women
• Kasturba Gandhi Bal Vikas : Education program targeted towards female population
• Special program targeted towards SC/ST population of the state
• National Program for Education for Girls (Special focus on Elementary Level)

1.4 IMPLEMENTATION CHALLENGES

The funding pattern becomes more complex as multiple programs target population partially covered by other programs and partially exclusive. Also funding organizations differ from program to program.Funding Organization can be mainly Central Govt, State Govt , UN Funded schemes/programs, NGOs. Each of the funding organization too has its own objectives and key result areas. While overall aim is same, their objective and key result areas may not exactly match with those of SSA.At the same time implementation bodies can be Panchayati Raj Institutions, School Management Committees, Village and Urban Slum level Education Committees, Parents' Teachers' Associations, Mother Teacher Associations, Tribal Autonomous Councils and other grass root level structures in the management of elementary schools. Keeping this in mind, for the success of SSA and individual programs under SSA umbrella, the Apex monitoring body at State level needs to track closely all the Key result areas and key performance indicators, to be able to review and revise the implementation plan continuously, while ensuring the optimal funds distribution. This is possible only with the help of Excellent, well tested, well proven IT Backbone and infrastructure.

1.5  IT BACKBONE

Hence SSA framework demands an excellent IT infrastructure to be in place to ensure. Funds are used optimally to cover entire Deserving population and each deserving individual is addressed and covered by appropriate program, funding body and implementation body.

Some of the key features of the IT solution being implemented are as follows

-       Trends in drop out pattern, category of female student and tracking  the reasons for the same

-       Patterns in SC/ST student population

-       Ability to detect never enrolled population ,to track reasons of dropping out,  re-enrollments

-       Co-relating parameters to detect patterns (eg. Funds allocated v/s drop outs, Funds spent v/s status of the project.)

-       Capability of providing snap shot of student registration at any point in time at various levels

(eg. Village, Panchayat, Block etc…)

-       Maintaining 7 level hierarchy through out the system.(eg. School, Village, Panchayat, Cluster, Block, District, State)

-       Funds usage, management per project in addition to project status tracking

-       Prevent intentional or unintentional misuse of funds.

 The same data and application can be used for tracking(As a part of second phase of automation). 1.Health of the students  2. Immunization records 3. Mid Day meal schemes

The objective of SSA is to track student population within the age group of 6 to 14, the system has been extended to account children enrolled in Balwatikas at the age of 3 . Also the students/children (Once registered in the system) will be tracked till the age of 18 years.

As one can see this is probably the first effort of creating comprehensive digitized data for the children population. This data can be repurposed for any other function in future.

The same data can be used very effectively by HRD and Welfare ministry to analyze and make the decisions regarding future schemes and programs and their Funds Allocation.

Once the data is stabilized over the first year of implementation Business Intelligence tools can drill down the data further to provide effective reporting that can help top government officials for speedy, effective and accurate decision making.

Refer to the diagram below, that represents the data maintenance and retrieval at various levels.

As one can see the data can be used fruitfully by many other government Departments for various purposes. The data can be repurposed and reformatted very effectively to get international grants in the areas which we have not been targeting so far.

The database can be extended in future to track the population beyond 18^th years to analyze their earning and employment patterns to plan their careers effectively. The data can help employment exchanges and in general many employment guarantee schemes which can be targeted much better. Also the data related to segment/sector/skills wise manpower availability can be used further to mobilize the human resource effectively for higher GDP/GNP growth.

Unleash the Unexplored and Sky is the limit

‘Madam Will you please write an article for us?’… two lovely young ladies requesting me on bright sunny morning, difficult to  refuse…Now Now Now,… while I say that am I being gender biased.. Would I have ever said two lovely gents(If two gents were asking me), ..Can one refuse any request made by ladies against a request made by gents?  ladies can be lovely but not gents… they can be handsome but  ladies can’t be …, And why are these ladies requesting me ? Because it is  women’s day? … Will anyone be requesting me for an article on Men’s Day? … Is there such a  day at all? Why not..(However lately we hear many men jokingly asking for such a day.. indirectly pointing fingers at  ladies..)

This incident really started a thought process in mind… So far I had been avoiding such discussions and not really paying so much attention…I always thought that thinking too much in this direction is trying to unnecessary open up Pandora’s box. As long as it is closed the wishful thinking is that it affects you the least..

At the same time diverting same energy towards achieving results and objectives is more fruitful.

Many times I have felt in the past that organizing  the debates and discussions is really a trap. Do women who are in L&T Infotech need crutches of policies such as  ‘assistance ‘ special concessions’ etc…

In case some of the women are taking advantage of such concessions, is it really affecting their output, Contribution Value Addition?  What is the general perception? Is general perception based on certain assumptions?

I think at L&T Infotech we are well past all these stages. I see so many ladies around me having good balance in life, professionally above average performance and at the same time happiness radiating around them.

I think most of them have found a key to success by striking a work life balance and management too recognizing the same by empowering them.

The traditional models of fulfillment based upon the sacrifice etc (Specially expected from women) being bragged about through the ages have definitely fallen apart. Women are becoming aware that sacrifice may not necessarily mean happiness for anyone and one should do it only if one wants to do it and if it is going to bring feeling of happiness.

Women have realized and are slowly realizing that sky is the limit and no one can stop them if they are convinced internally then  they can do anything. In fact it is essential for a woman to forget that she is a woman (in traditional sense) while making decisions. As in current professional, personal and social life scenarios  there are hardly any areas  or there are hardly any activities which any woman will not be able to do because she is a woman.

Today you name it and woman has already done it.

Right from going on NASA expeditions, Sitting in the board rooms, Washing cars in the darkness of early morning in the urban and rural streets, driving autos,  teaching children  in Anganwadis in tribal areas- That too successfully.

Having woman president, and woman continuously mentoring PM,  India is in the forefront when it comes to women politics at higher echelons.

Life is a journey and opportunities are passing by for women too. Time is limited .One needs to grab the opportunity on immediate basis and start reorienting. On this background,  It becomes necessary especially for women to continuously focus on aspects (In each slice of the life as personal, Professional, social and family )  which will Increase their empowerment and  the sphere of influence. One needs to decide benchmarks, freeze the milestones and derive plan to achieve those in each slice of the life.

It is very very necessary to develop a personal hobby and also few stress buster activities(to preserve one’s mental and physical fitness all through).At the same time  it may be worthwhile to look back and check whether anything needs to be discarded (Which was probably taken up due to misunderstanding-should be immediately corrected) as a matter of consolidation.

Medical journals keep discussing that women have tremendous sustenance power and excellent ability of multitasking etc. However we should decide when and how we should multitask and when we should stretch ourselves. We must not fall prey to usual tactics where certain qualities are glorified only to take advantage and exploit further.

Having the options, creating as many as possible, choosing and exercising them at right point in time should provide maximum sense of achievement and fulfillment.

 At the same time one must accept that a lot still needs to be achieved mainly in terms of exploring undetected women potential.

Unleash the Unexplored and Sky is the limit. The days are not far when Men’s day will  be a reality.