RAILWAY ACCIDENTS

A single train accident near Bharuch in Gujratr had moved Lal Bahadur Shastri to the extent that he instantly resigned. Value system has changed and resignation of present day railway minister, one would say, may not be a solution of Kalka Express or a remedial measure for the future accidents. But what is the solution?

Railways have been and continue to be the means of travel for those who are constrained to care for money. Lalu Yadav as Railway Minister introdued the concept of profit through gimmicks. Modernization of railways and training to railway personnel occupied back benches. As a result, these days most accidents are either due to so called human errors or due to failure of tracks and trains. The accident during Shastri Ji's time was due to stubborn attitude of passengers.

Much later when Babu Jagjivan Ram became Railway Minister, there were a few accidents and Atal Ji in his style had said a passenger while boarding the train says good bye to 'Jag' after he is in the coach becomes concerned about 'Jivan' and thereafter he says 'Ram' ie when accident takes place. Believe me, the accidents were neither as frequent nor as severe. Present day minister and government is insensitive to human life and they think 5 Lakh is good enough to compensate a human life.What a shame !!

NAXALITES ARE NOT BORN

I am too old to seek justice through direct action but I do get agitated when I see injustice and anarchy all around. The other day dozens of Dalits of my millage Kunaura were helplessly watching when the land they were tilling for decades was ploughed by powerful moneyed man using four tractors.Police was there but not to protect the Dalits but to support the cause of moneyed man. The only fault of the fathers and forefathers of poor Dalits is that they could not get the land transferred to their names from the erstwhile zamidar and the present day wealthy people have claimed the land for themselves. Should the land not have been automatically transferred by government machinery to Dalits' names if they had been occupying and cultivating it for decades? In another case the land of a Dalit was sold somehow to a Savarn who managed to get the title transferred to his name. The Dalit it is said has run gone away to Bihar. The purchaser has now sold the land to another non-Dalit with huge profit. All this could not be possible without connaivance of revenue officers and personnel. Similarly dozens of poor OBC's and Savarn have been tilling the zamidar's land for decades but the government machinery retained zamidars' names in all these cases and some day some muscle man pretinding to be a zamidar would sell the land and poor tillers would have no choice but to cry and sit back.In this age of Dalit loving governments it is possible to oust Dalits and poor non-Dalits may be from their houses and fields. In such circumstances, is there a way to get justice except to join Naxalites and seek justice through direct action? There are other instances but who cares.

RAMDEV AGAIN

Baba Ramdev is heading towards Delhi today, this time to see his injured disciple Rajbala who is recuberating in the G.B.Pant Hospital. He will be wise not to adopt provocative posture at this moment. In the press conference he may explain the circumstances under which his followers were forced to leave in the midnight and he was deported out of Delhi. But, the incident is under the scanner of the Honourable Supreme Court and All should wait for the verdict.

Baba had gained huge popularity for application of yoga in the eradication of physical ailments, a tangible and demonstrable goal, before the incident of June, 4, 2011. His concern for eradication of National ailment of corruption is loudable but as Anna Hazare has aptly described, Baba does not have skill and expertise to handle Satyagrah. Let Anna Hazare handle the Satyagrah and Baba confine himself to yoga, his domain of expertise. RSS, BJP and all the rest can give a helping hand to Anna Hazare as they did to Jai Prakash Narain in Seventies and to V.P.Singh in Eightees of the last Century. Let the Lok Pal as a government agency find out the list of those having black money in the foreign banks and publish the list on the internet. Lok Pal can do no more in the international matters. Nation is watching what comes out of the agitations called Satyagrah. They should not go waste.

SHADOW OF WATER CRISIS LOOMS LARGE

Depleting groundwater and dry ponds in the country side indicate horrifying prospect. Yet, the politicians have no time to think of the thirsty poor. In my village and surrounding areas until a few decades ago, the surface water was effectively used for irrigation, fisheries and cattle use and underground water for drinking purposes. Now the entire pressure of water consumption is shifted to underground water. As a result there is alarming drop in the level of groundwater year after year. Some people believe that the third World War will be for water.

To understand the management of water, we need to have some idea of 'Water Cycle'. The sea water that evaporates to form clouds is condensed as rainwater that falls on the surface of earth. A small part of the rainwater goes under ground to form groundwater and is stored there for future need. The ground water is filtered through permeable rocks and is clean enough for human consumption. The other part of rainwater is stored as surface water in the ponds, lakes and reservoirs. The surface water is suitable for use in irrigation, horticulture, fisheries, industries and cattle consumption.

Recently I visited many villages in the districts of Lucknow, Barabanki and Sitapur and found that the village ponds are filled with wild grasses, hyacinth (jalkumbhi), humus and mud. Several of the old ponds are converted even to residential areas. Millions of rupees spent through NAREGA and MANREGA, have not increased water storage capacity of village ponds. Needless to say, the harvesting of rainwater in these ponds, not the drops of water from roof tops would solve our problem of water scarcity.

Natural storage of rainwater, among other things, has pre-requisite of optimum forest cover and thick vegetation If the ground is covered with thick vegetation, forests and soil cover, the flow of rain water will be slow and time allowed for down percolation of water will be more. Large quantities of water will be stored on the surface as well as under ground. However, if the ground is bald and barren, the run off will be fast leaving little time for rain water to go under ground or to be soaked in the soil.

We need to have 'Water Use Policy ' based on sustainable water supply. We used to have one or more ponds in every village with controlling bodies for management of surface water, something like ‘Pani Panchayats’ Successive Governments of Independent India have overlooked the traditional wisdom of our country.

. Greedy vote catchers provide subsidised and even free electricity to farmers to drive them towards tube wells for irrigation and fisheries. The ground water is pumped out to fill the ponds made by digging agricultural lands.. The Governments encourage such ventures of fisheries by providing financial assistance and grants to influential people.

Economy in consumption of water is an integral part of water management. Indeed, the proper management of surface water is key to the solutions of future challenges of depleting water resource.

FORGET THE MODI OF 2002

Those who have visited Gujrat recently would agree that the province has made tremendous progress in one decade in spite of natural calamities. I am no body to condone the administrative lapses of 2002 but to accuse Anna Hazare if he praises Modi and Nitish in the context of development is beyond comprehension. When the issues are development and governace, some people are not ready to give even a left handed applause to Modi.We must not forget that Gujrat of Modi, in the matter of development, has the certificate of Rajive Gandhi Foundation.

There are innumerable cases in history when errant people made valuable contribution to society and the Nation at large. We have read that Valmiki who was a dacoit for most of his life, gave shelter to Sita, groomed her two sons and gave the epic 'Ramayana' to the mankind. Would you go on harping on the past of Valmiki?

Objective assessment demands that a man be evaluated in the light of his lapses as well as good deeds. Nehru happened to be the Prime Minister when the worst masacre in the history of India took place in 1947 as a consequence of his partitioning the country and Rajive Gandhi witnessed the shaking of earth with the fall of a banyan tree --the masacre of the Sikh community after assassination of Indira Ji in 1984. It can be argued that the loss of life in 1947 could be minimized if the advise of Mahatma Gandhi against partition was accepted and massacre of the Sikh community could be reduced if the advise of the then president of India Gyani Zail Singh was saught. Be as it may, the performences of Nehru Ji and Rajive Gandhi are evaluated in totality.Why be selective in case of Narendra Modi?

GANDHI, JP AND HAZARE

In the recent past we have witnessed three movements of all India nature. The first and the foremost was the freedom movement of Mahatma Gandhi that culminated in the independence of our country on Friday, August 15, 1947. The movement was negative one to throw out the British rule from India. Frankly speaking, the alternative model was neither ready nor it would have been acceptable to all the elements. Gandhi Ji knew that he was heading desperate elements that will not remain together for long time. He wisely suggested to disband the Congress Party after achieving the goal of independence. No one in the party listened to him. What happened thereafter is history. A.B.Vajpayee had aptly described once that the Congress Party had died with the death of Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru Ji carried its corpse for decades, even that has vanished now'. Then came the movement of Jai Prakash Narain against the rule of Indira Gandhi.

Jai Prakash Narain termed his movement "Total Revolution" and this again was negative in approach to overthrow the Indira Gandhi's regime. The movement had huge success but Jai Praksh Ji was not a visionary like Mahatma Gandhi . Contrary to Mahatma Gandhi, JP insisted on the conglomeration of his movement to form a political party the Janta Party. The party no doubt had huge success to the extent that the Congress Party was thrown out of power. In due course of time, the desperate elements of JP movement withered away and the movement turned out to be an exercise in futility.

The newest one by Anna Hazare is not a negative movement to throw out a government. It is for creation of clean society and he insists on the instrument of change--the Jan Lokpal Bill. But, Anna has neither the organizational skills of Gandhi ji nor the political experience of JP. His movement like the other two comprises desperate elements and contradictions have started to surface. We wish hem well.

To my mind, what is needed is a movement like that of Chanakya . But where is Chandragupta?

WHO DERAILS OUR PRIMARY EDUCATION

Students are not to be failed in schools is understandable but they will be awarded certificates without making up for the deficiency is beyond comprehension. If they have to attend schools only to get certificates, why would they have respect for books, teachers and school campuses. The makers of Education Policy seem to be unaware that certificates without knowledge are mo more than pieces of paper.If knowledge is not the goal, there is no justification of reprimanding, scolding or punishing the errant pupils. Press and TV highlight {out of proportion } any instances of punishment in schools to the extent that guardians get upset and go even to the courts of law. Principals and teachers are scared even of scolding students.Governments provide buildings, uniform, food, books and scholarships but teaching positions remain vacant. Many schools are single teacher schools and some do not have even that. Kabir Das had aptly stated 'bina guru gyan mile kaho kaise' {how to gain knowledge without teacher}. But knowledge does not appear to be the aim of education these days. Teachers of rural schools belong to far of cities and seldom attend the schools that too for a short duration. The so called 'Shiksha Mitras' are there not because of their knowledge and aptitude but simply because they happened to be the relatives of the then village pradhans. It was a back door entry that is being regularized particularly in Uttar Pradesh. It is not difficult to see, who derail our primary education .