My Take on Article(Below in Italics) in Hindu , 24th Apr 2011 :
One of the most stupid articles read for long now. How can the reporter ask How can you do this or that when couple of, dozen of or even hundreds of whosoever are committing suicide or whatsoever?
Its an independent country and right from Media to Every individual is entitled to do whatever they feel like doing, OR whatever they get pleasure or profit in. If the take is on basic humanity then its a altogether different story. Humanity could not be forced upon anyone and neither a person not showering his Humanity can be asked questions for that. We and I and you are as entitled as the reporter who is questioning our activities irrespective of our choices in this democratic country.
The flavor of the article is not on the corrective means which should be taken up or acquired in near future by the govt. to reach out for masses even below the poverty lines, but it invariantly glorifies the fact that how can individuals in our country can do whatever they find happiness in. And all this media bashing is unjustified too, as it is a profit driven market rather than a morally correct market out there. No business thrives on moral values and ethical respects in todays world. Even the farmers who have been the basic tone of the article would easily resort to agricultural techniques which will give them larger output rather than cocentrating on lower output but with higher vitamin/protein ratio in crops produced.
End of it we are a part of free society and deserve every bit of the right given to us constitutionally to indulge, enjoy and watch what interests us. Morality or humanity is a self realisation and self decision, rather than a forced conclusion like in Communist culture.
Please don't take away the free bird in us. And as John F Kennedy said "The best road to progress is freedom's road."
P.S. This is entirely my personal opinion, and don't ask me how can I write or think in this way when someone else right now in our country may be hanging himself and his family.
THE HINDU 24th April Sunday – Open-Page Article
Yes, you read it right; to hell with the World Cup; to hell with the celebrations; to hell with all the free land and money being showered by different governmentson the players. How can I jump, scream, have gallons of beer and cheer for thenation when a few kilometres away the farmers and feeders of my country aretaking their own lives in hordes?
Do you know that, on average, 47 farmers have been committing suicide every single dayin the past 16 years in our shining India — the next economic power,progressive with nine per cent growth?
Last month, on March 5, Friday evening, when Bangalore's watering holes were gettingfilled up, when all the DJs were blaring out deafening music, when we were busy discussing India's chances at the World Cup, sitting in CCDs and Baristas —just 100 km away from Bangalore, Swamy Gowda and Vasanthamma, a young farmercouple, hanged themselves, leaving their three very young children to fend forthemselves or, most likely, die of malnutrition.
Why did they do it? Were they fighting? No. Were they drunkards? No. Did they have incurable diseases? No! Then WHY? Because they were unable to repay a loan ofRs 80,000 (a working IT couple's one month salary? 2-3 months EMI?) for years,which had gradually increased to Rs. 1.2 lakh. Because they knew that now they would never be able to pay it back. Because they were hurt. Hurt by our government which announced a huge reduction in import duty for silk in thisyear's budget (from 30 per cent to 5 per cent).They were struggling silkfarmers and instead of help from the government, they get this! Decrease in import duty means the markets will now be flooded with cheap Chinese silk (aseverything else!) and our own farmers will be left in the lurch.
On average, 17,000 farmers have been committing suicide every year, for the past 15 years on the trot. Can you believe it? Most of us wouldn't know this fact.Why? Because, our great Indian media, the world's biggest media, are not interested in reporting this! Why? Because they are more interested in covering fashion week extravaganzas. They are more interested in ‘why team India was not practising when Pakistanis were sweating it out in stadium on the eve of the match?' They are more interested in Poonam Pandey.
The media are supposed to be the third eye of democracy and also called the fourth estate, but now they have become real estate. Pure business.
So anyattention from the media is out of the question. Who is left then? The government? But we all know how it works. The other day, I was passing by Vidhan Soudha in Bangalore and happened to read the slogan written at the entrance, “Government work is god's work”. Now I know why our government has left all its work to god!
Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa announced plots for all the players. But land?In Bangalore? You must be kidding, Mr. C.M.. So he retracts and now wants togive money. But where will it come from? Taxes, yours and mine. Don't the poor farmers need the land or money more than those players who are already earning in crores?
A government-owned bank will give you loan at six per cent interest rate if you are buying a Mercedes but if a poor farmer wants to buy a tractor, do you know how much it is charging him? Fifteen per cent! Look at the depths of inequality. Water is Rs. 15 a litre and a SIM card is for free! For how long can we bite the hand that is feeding us? The recent onion price fiasco was just a trailer. Picture abhi baaki hai doston!
In 2008,Lakme India fashion show venue was in a Mumbai five-star hotel and was coveredby 500 journalists and the theme was ‘Cotton'. A few hours drive from there,cotton farmers were committing suicide, 4 or 5, everyday! How many TV journalists covered this? Zero!
Sixty-seventyper cent of India's population is living on less than Rs. 20 a day. A bottle ofDiet coke for us? The electricity used in a day-night match could help a farmerirrigate his fields for more than a few weeks! Do you know that load shedding is also class dependent? Two hours in metros, 4 in towns and 8 in villages. Now,who needs electricity more? A farmer to look after his crop day and night,irrigate, pump water and use machines or a few bored, young professionals with disposable incomes, to log on to Facebook and watch IPL?
How can we splurge thousands on our birthday parties and zoom past in our AC vehiclesand sit in cushy chairs in our AC offices and plan a weekend trip to Coorg whenon the way, in those small villages, just a few minutes' walk from the roads,someone might be consuming pesticide or hanging himself from a tree for justRs.10, 000? How can we?
There was much panic when there was swine flu. Every single death in the country was reported second by second, minute by minute. Why? Because it directly affected our salaried, ambitious, tech-savvy, middle-class. So there were masks, special relief centres, enquiry centres set up by government to please this section. Onthe other hand, 47 people are dying, every single day for the past 15 years. Anybody cared to do anything?
It hasbeen observed that within months of a farmer taking his life, his wife follows,either by poisoning the kids first or leaving them on their own. In Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh, a distressed woman farmer went to the government seed shop,bought a bottle of pesticide, on credit, went home and drank it. She was underdebt for most of her life and now — even her death was on credit!
Centuries ago, there was a Roman emperor, called Nero. He was a strong ruler and alsovery fond of parties, art, poetry, drinking and a life full of pleasures. Once he decided to organise a grand party and invited all poets, writers, dancers,painters, artists, intellectuals and thinkers of society. Everybody was having a great time eating, drinking, laughing, and socialising. The party was at itspeak when it started getting dark. Nero wanted the party to go on. So he ordered and got all the arrested criminals, who were in his jails, around the garden and put them on fire! Burnt them alive, so that there was enough light for the guests to keep on enjoying! The guests had a gala time though they knewthe cost of their enjoyment. Now, what kind of conscience those guests had?
Nero's guests
What is happening in our country is not different from Nero's party. We, the middle-class-young-well-earning-mall-hopping-IPL-watchingand celebrating-junta are Nero's guests enjoying at the cost of our farmers. Every budget favours the already rich. More exemptions are being given to themat the cost of grabbing the land of our farmers in the name of SEZs, decrease in import duties in the name of neo-liberal policies, increase in the loaninterest rates if the product is not worth lakhs and crores. Yes, that's whatwe are, Nero's guests!
I'm not against celebrations. I'm not against cricket. I'm not against World Cup. I would be the first person to scream, celebrate and feel proud of any of India'sachievements but, only if all fellow countrymen, farmers, villagers also standwith me and cheer; only if they do not take their own lives ruthlessly, only ifthere is no difference between interest rates for a Mercedes and a tractor.That would be the day I also zoom past on a bike, post-Indian win, with anIndian Flag in hand and screaming Bharat Mata Ki Jai. But no, not today.Not at the cost of my feeders. Until then, this is what I say. To hell withyour malls. To hell with your IPL. To hell with your World Cup. And to hellwith your celebrations.
BUTWHATS THE SOLUTION!!!
One of the most stupid articles read for long now. How can the reporter ask How can you do this or that when couple of, dozen of or even hundreds of whosoever are committing suicide or whatsoever?
Its an independent country and right from Media to Every individual is entitled to do whatever they feel like doing, OR whatever they get pleasure or profit in. If the take is on basic humanity then its a altogether different story. Humanity could not be forced upon anyone and neither a person not showering his Humanity can be asked questions for that. We and I and you are as entitled as the reporter who is questioning our activities irrespective of our choices in this democratic country.
The flavor of the article is not on the corrective means which should be taken up or acquired in near future by the govt. to reach out for masses even below the poverty lines, but it invariantly glorifies the fact that how can individuals in our country can do whatever they find happiness in. And all this media bashing is unjustified too, as it is a profit driven market rather than a morally correct market out there. No business thrives on moral values and ethical respects in todays world. Even the farmers who have been the basic tone of the article would easily resort to agricultural techniques which will give them larger output rather than cocentrating on lower output but with higher vitamin/protein ratio in crops produced.
End of it we are a part of free society and deserve every bit of the right given to us constitutionally to indulge, enjoy and watch what interests us. Morality or humanity is a self realisation and self decision, rather than a forced conclusion like in Communist culture.
Please don't take away the free bird in us. And as John F Kennedy said "The best road to progress is freedom's road."
P.S. This is entirely my personal opinion, and don't ask me how can I write or think in this way when someone else right now in our country may be hanging himself and his family.
THE HINDU 24th April Sunday – Open-Page Article
Yes, you read it right; to hell with the World Cup; to hell with the celebrations; to hell with all the free land and money being showered by different governmentson the players. How can I jump, scream, have gallons of beer and cheer for thenation when a few kilometres away the farmers and feeders of my country aretaking their own lives in hordes?
Do you know that, on average, 47 farmers have been committing suicide every single dayin the past 16 years in our shining India — the next economic power,progressive with nine per cent growth?
Last month, on March 5, Friday evening, when Bangalore's watering holes were gettingfilled up, when all the DJs were blaring out deafening music, when we were busy discussing India's chances at the World Cup, sitting in CCDs and Baristas —just 100 km away from Bangalore, Swamy Gowda and Vasanthamma, a young farmercouple, hanged themselves, leaving their three very young children to fend forthemselves or, most likely, die of malnutrition.
Why did they do it? Were they fighting? No. Were they drunkards? No. Did they have incurable diseases? No! Then WHY? Because they were unable to repay a loan ofRs 80,000 (a working IT couple's one month salary? 2-3 months EMI?) for years,which had gradually increased to Rs. 1.2 lakh. Because they knew that now they would never be able to pay it back. Because they were hurt. Hurt by our government which announced a huge reduction in import duty for silk in thisyear's budget (from 30 per cent to 5 per cent).They were struggling silkfarmers and instead of help from the government, they get this! Decrease in import duty means the markets will now be flooded with cheap Chinese silk (aseverything else!) and our own farmers will be left in the lurch.
On average, 17,000 farmers have been committing suicide every year, for the past 15 years on the trot. Can you believe it? Most of us wouldn't know this fact.Why? Because, our great Indian media, the world's biggest media, are not interested in reporting this! Why? Because they are more interested in covering fashion week extravaganzas. They are more interested in ‘why team India was not practising when Pakistanis were sweating it out in stadium on the eve of the match?' They are more interested in Poonam Pandey.
The media are supposed to be the third eye of democracy and also called the fourth estate, but now they have become real estate. Pure business.
So anyattention from the media is out of the question. Who is left then? The government? But we all know how it works. The other day, I was passing by Vidhan Soudha in Bangalore and happened to read the slogan written at the entrance, “Government work is god's work”. Now I know why our government has left all its work to god!
Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa announced plots for all the players. But land?In Bangalore? You must be kidding, Mr. C.M.. So he retracts and now wants togive money. But where will it come from? Taxes, yours and mine. Don't the poor farmers need the land or money more than those players who are already earning in crores?
A government-owned bank will give you loan at six per cent interest rate if you are buying a Mercedes but if a poor farmer wants to buy a tractor, do you know how much it is charging him? Fifteen per cent! Look at the depths of inequality. Water is Rs. 15 a litre and a SIM card is for free! For how long can we bite the hand that is feeding us? The recent onion price fiasco was just a trailer. Picture abhi baaki hai doston!
In 2008,Lakme India fashion show venue was in a Mumbai five-star hotel and was coveredby 500 journalists and the theme was ‘Cotton'. A few hours drive from there,cotton farmers were committing suicide, 4 or 5, everyday! How many TV journalists covered this? Zero!
Sixty-seventyper cent of India's population is living on less than Rs. 20 a day. A bottle ofDiet coke for us? The electricity used in a day-night match could help a farmerirrigate his fields for more than a few weeks! Do you know that load shedding is also class dependent? Two hours in metros, 4 in towns and 8 in villages. Now,who needs electricity more? A farmer to look after his crop day and night,irrigate, pump water and use machines or a few bored, young professionals with disposable incomes, to log on to Facebook and watch IPL?
How can we splurge thousands on our birthday parties and zoom past in our AC vehiclesand sit in cushy chairs in our AC offices and plan a weekend trip to Coorg whenon the way, in those small villages, just a few minutes' walk from the roads,someone might be consuming pesticide or hanging himself from a tree for justRs.10, 000? How can we?
There was much panic when there was swine flu. Every single death in the country was reported second by second, minute by minute. Why? Because it directly affected our salaried, ambitious, tech-savvy, middle-class. So there were masks, special relief centres, enquiry centres set up by government to please this section. Onthe other hand, 47 people are dying, every single day for the past 15 years. Anybody cared to do anything?
It hasbeen observed that within months of a farmer taking his life, his wife follows,either by poisoning the kids first or leaving them on their own. In Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh, a distressed woman farmer went to the government seed shop,bought a bottle of pesticide, on credit, went home and drank it. She was underdebt for most of her life and now — even her death was on credit!
Centuries ago, there was a Roman emperor, called Nero. He was a strong ruler and alsovery fond of parties, art, poetry, drinking and a life full of pleasures. Once he decided to organise a grand party and invited all poets, writers, dancers,painters, artists, intellectuals and thinkers of society. Everybody was having a great time eating, drinking, laughing, and socialising. The party was at itspeak when it started getting dark. Nero wanted the party to go on. So he ordered and got all the arrested criminals, who were in his jails, around the garden and put them on fire! Burnt them alive, so that there was enough light for the guests to keep on enjoying! The guests had a gala time though they knewthe cost of their enjoyment. Now, what kind of conscience those guests had?
Nero's guests
What is happening in our country is not different from Nero's party. We, the middle-class-young-well-earning-mall-hopping-IPL-watchingand celebrating-junta are Nero's guests enjoying at the cost of our farmers. Every budget favours the already rich. More exemptions are being given to themat the cost of grabbing the land of our farmers in the name of SEZs, decrease in import duties in the name of neo-liberal policies, increase in the loaninterest rates if the product is not worth lakhs and crores. Yes, that's whatwe are, Nero's guests!
I'm not against celebrations. I'm not against cricket. I'm not against World Cup. I would be the first person to scream, celebrate and feel proud of any of India'sachievements but, only if all fellow countrymen, farmers, villagers also standwith me and cheer; only if they do not take their own lives ruthlessly, only ifthere is no difference between interest rates for a Mercedes and a tractor.That would be the day I also zoom past on a bike, post-Indian win, with anIndian Flag in hand and screaming Bharat Mata Ki Jai. But no, not today.Not at the cost of my feeders. Until then, this is what I say. To hell withyour malls. To hell with your IPL. To hell with your World Cup. And to hellwith your celebrations.
BUTWHATS THE SOLUTION!!!
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