Why Land?

Land is resource in economic terms and a prominent part in definition of sovereignty. As nature of land remains unchanged, it is our perception of land which is changing over the years.

Why one should occupy the land of others?

1. More land means, more productivity or real estate and more profits

2. More land means, more powerful the occupier seems to be

In the age industrialisation, one need not have more land, to have more profit. Profits are linked to the industrialisation, Human resource management and others in the modern world. 

Coming to point two, which is applicable to feudal lords and countries, it is always under debate over the nexus of land area and influence of the country. Brazil and India have more land than Japan, UK and Germany, but still their influence limited in Geopolitics.

In the last two weeks, the Geopolitics to the North of India are rapidly changing. While Chinese Army killed Indian Soldiers, to claim the territory, Nepal Parliament passed resolution claiming part of India.

Expanding territory is feudal and archaic thinking of expanding influence. Sending armies to expand territory is worse than Imperialism.  As it is devastating for the oppressed country, in modern times, it is pain in the neck for oppressor too. After mediaeval ages, countries chose colonisation than territory occupation. In colonisation, the culture of the land is largely untouched. Locals will be employed for oppression, leading to creating of different class and making few casts powerful. But territory expansion will use force on culture too.

In the age soft power, SEZ, Bilateral Treaties, territory expansion for economic benefits is as medieval as guillotine.As the rape is not about sex but power, forceful territory expansion should be seen in the same view.

Why we need to oppose it, because it questions our sovereignty.

ప్రజల మనిషి - తెలంగాణ మొదటి నవల

  వట్టికోట ఆళ్వారు స్వామి రచన. నైజాం రాజ్యం చివరి రోజులు చేరుకుంటున్నపుడు, గాంధీ మీద అందరికి నమ్మకం వస్తున్న సమయం, ఆర్యసామాజం స్థాపించిన కాలం, ప్రజాస్వామిక ఆలోచనలు పరిచయం అవుతున్న కాలం లో, నిజామాబాద్, కామారెడ్డి ప్రాంతాలలో రాయబడిన తెలంగాణా మొదటి నవల. 

సాంప్రదాయాలను ప్రశ్నించే ఒక బ్రాహ్మణ యువకుడు, సంక్షేమ పథకాల ఆశ చూపి జరుగుతున్న ఇస్లాం మత మర్పిడులని ప్రశ్నించి, రాజ్య ద్రోహం కేసు మీద జైలు కి వెళ్తాడు. తను దున్నుతున్న పొలం కాపాడటంలో ఒక కాపు కుర్రాడు, మతమర్పిడులకి వ్యతిరేకంగా పని చేసే ఆర్యసామాజం కుర్రాడు,  కుల అహంకారాన్ని, భూస్వామి తత్వాన్ని ప్రశ్నించడం మొదలు పెడతాడు. వ్యక్తిగతంగా ఎదురయిన సంఘటనలు, మనిషి ఆలోచన విధానంలో, స్వభావం లో తీసుకొచ్చే మార్పులు, తద్వారా వారే న్యాయం కోసం పోరాటం చేయడం ఇలా సాగే కథ. 

Tobacco and pictorial warning

 

All the major tobacco companies in India are going on for strike against the Govt policy of 85% pictorial warning on Cigarette packets.
It's time to review the Govt policy regarding Tobacco products.

Govt policy to discourage citizens from smoking is multifold
Pictorial warnings on the cigarette packs
Visual ads in TV and Cinema Theaters
Ban on advertisements on Tobacco products

The COPTA act which is enacted in 2003, bans the advertisement on any form of media for tobacco products and mandates a pictorial warning on the packages. And this is the act which banned public smoking . However, the ban is only limited to posters pasted on the walls.

In UPA Govt there is much objection on the smoking to the point of banning the usage of Cigarettes on silver screen. It's been repealed and got settled down to present day warning we see on the silver screen when the actor or actress smokes.

Since the NDA Govt came into power,  it's policy seems to levy more tax on the tobacco products on each budget.

COPTA act not implemented in many aspects. The act mandates the tobacco manufacturing companies to print nicotine and Tar levels on the each product. RTI reply to the question why it's not being implemented , is that the Government didn't have laboratory facilities to check if the manufacturers are printing the correct numbers or not.
The ban on advertisement of tobacco products had its impact on market in favor of old players. ITC, which maintains monopoly in the market , because of its distribution network , consumer base rules the market in urban areas. VFT, which sells low quality products which are cheaper than ITC products has its presence in sburban and rural areas.
The ban on advertisements resulted in near impossible situation for new players, leading to cartel formation by old players , which is never a favorable condition for the consumer in the liberal economy.

Quest for a watch

"This is the watch I found for you " said my friend while giving a long dark blue colored box to me. For a second I hoped that my quest for watch is over. When I opened the box , my hopes shattered.

All I want is a ... Ok, I better describe the watch I don't want. I don't want a chronograph , no gold color , no small dial , I don't need date , I don't need tachymeter , no stop watch , no timer , no week number,  no moonphase , no steel belt , no design on the face , no miniature explosives like in a bond movie  and of course not too expensive.

Apparently , the minimalistic watch with non metallic belt is hard to find. I been searching for that kind of watch for years now. Meanwhile ISRO sent a satellite to Mars , Bahubali movie released , Kasab was hanged , Telangana state born , Modi become prime minister and been roaming the world , but I could not find the wrist watch I want.

Does more features means " paisa vasool " ? Even though those features are useless ?  Why would somebody in 21st century , in the age of digital speedometer want to check the speed using tachometer on wrist watch? Who needs date function which needed to be corrected every month? And stop watch ?

The problem with chronographs is , one can't find out time in a glance. One have to stare at it.  I want a big dial watch , with hands and face in contrast colors. I am fed up with metallic straps , and I dont like gold color. The only preference is , round shape and black color. However, such a minimalistic watch is hard to manufacture. Some made it , but made them expensive.

Years ago, a guy told me that , life is simple and we make it complicated. He is right , we can not handle simplicity . Probably that's why its regarded as virtue than a normal trait. Minimalism ; is hard to get and accepted.

I dint mean to object the technological advancement, or having a device for each individual purpose.  New technology must be welcomed , even before Google Maps become global, cell phones got equipped with GPS chip.  A small FM chip in cell phones rebooted the FM radio industry. But, those features dont hinder your phone basic purpose like making and receiving call, however all those chronographs are beating the purpose of wrist watch, I.e show time.

On my quest I learned a good deal about watches. There are people in the world who are passionate about them. They all come together and discuss at www.watchyouseek.com .

Apart from these highly priced minimalistic watches , I could not understand few more things regarding watches. Whats with the obsession with the gold color and why ladies watches have such small dials?

My question is why simple designs are highly priced ? I will search for the watch I want in my budget  for one more year , if I could not find it,  I will  buy a watch get it customised. Silly people, silly world.

If you guys come across a minimalistic black analog watch with leather band with waterproof  in Rs 3k range  , do tell.

Curious case of GHMC

Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation started doing things which are beyond its scope and function. In a positive way though.

We expect nothing from a Municipal Corporation beyond good roads , working street lights and municipal water on time. GHMC doing more than that.

Last year GHMC started providing lunch for Rs 5 at Nampally Sarai. I  thought its nothing but an election campaign. Then came the Microsoft app " Citizen Next" which makes it easy to lodge complaint to GHMC. I have to tell you, i made few complaints to GHMC in the last couple of years, and they responded.  First the engineer would call to know the exact location of the issue, then after some time the issue will be solved or satisfactory explanation is offered. I did not expect that they would call me, but they did.
 
1. I complained on street dog issue, within a week , a guy called me at 8 AM , asked me to come to the location. The Dog van is already there, they caught dogs, asked me to sign on a paper , they left.

2. Had drive in dark from Putlibowli to Chadarghat. I complained. After two days a guy called me and explained that the street lights on the road are working fine, probably, its because of power cut i had to come in the dark. I checked it in a week time and the lights are working.

3. I made a complaint on pothole at Uppal road. An engineer called me to inform that Inner ring road does not come under the juridiction of GHMC , so can do nothing.

In all these cases, i did not even expect call for a complaint i made online. Of course, there were some structural faults which haunts the system. In the first case, the dog squad told me, they would sterilize dogs and release them on the street, and they will not catch a sterilized dogs again. He skipped the question on how they will identify which dogs were operated and which are not. In the second case, GHMC has no idea when the power cut will be, so there is no team work between power department and GHMC.

Despite them, they are actively working. At the least, trying.

Recently they have launched own-a-cab scheme, where GHMC gets the 85% of the loan for to get a taxi to the beneficiaries. Why would GHMC wants to provide employment? Providing loans is not its function nor providing food economically. A Govt body stepping out of its realm is a good thing? Or as the function of Govt is for the beneficiary of citizens , its doing the right thing? The function of hands to hold tools and work, not walking, but what if when legs stop moving?

 

Clarifying Human Rights

Did you see any old movies, where a mighty king can throw people behind bars and having killed at whim? That part is no fiction.  Those were medieval ages where life is not a right but mercy of the government.

Later that practice is abolished due to political movements and called it Right to Life. It means my life is mine, though Govt is superior , it cannot take my life from me except following the process of law.

We, Indians have “right to life " as a fundamental right. It means, Govt cannot put me behind bars without reason, or hang me without proving my guilt in the court of law. (That’s the theory).

In the recent encounters at Telangana and Andhra Pradesh , Netizens gave their support to police , presuming it as revenge ( Tollywood is famous for Revenge stories next to love stories . )  They questioned the Human Rights activists, why don’t they ask terrorist groups and criminals to stop doing crime, and if police were not humans and what about rights of their lives ?

Let's say, like in the movies of 70s and 80s, police came to your home and took you to police station, or shot you dead. Do you think it wont happen? Do you think all police personal are saints, and their hearts burn with guilty when they have use force?

As I tried to explain earlier, Human rights are to prohibit govt from killing the citizens. You know, you can make a complaint to Human Rights commission, if family of martyred police didn’t get the ex-gratia or promised job to the family member on humanitarian grounds.  Human rights commission is another weapon for a citizen along with courts, to ward of Govt if it encroaches into the personal space.

If you believe Good people and Bad people are two different people, then, please close this window and continue playing candy crush saga.

If power does not corrupt, then we don't have to come a long way from Monarchy to Democracy.  Somehow power, brings out the true nature of humans. To check that, we been using accountability. If police is not accountable for the bullets they use, the situation will be too dark.

Yesterday I went to “Encountering accountability”, a discussion pertaining to recent Encounters that happened in Telugu land.

The second speaker, a lady, forgot her name, is quite imaginative, and a conspiracy theorist. In the encounter that  happened in Telangana, three police were shot dead and wife of one of them is a pregnant. And her imagination is the encounter is a set up (assumption required to be a human rights activist) and Govt handpicked the officer whose wife is a pregnant, so that people will justify the killing of others. That’s where I stood up and walked out.

The first speaker, Jeevan Kumar is lot sensible than her. Unlike her, he talked on data collected.  One intriguing point he raised is about the word Encounter itself.  The usual story is that police with arms, with no intention of using them, were going to somewhere, then they were attacked by criminals (including Naxalites) , in order to save their own lives, they have opened fire, and criminals got killed.

1.      If the usual story is true, then in many cases, death of police should occur, which is very rare.

2.      Coming to the specific incident which happened in seshachalam forest. Criminals were in hundreds, they attacked police by throwing stones and axes, and police opened fire. 20 criminals died. None were injured, none were arrested. Now that i am writing, the incident reminded me the climax of “ The Great escape”. 

A common Netizen justification is that, few police got beaten up in the past by the same gang, regarding Seshachalam incident. So it’s a revenge story, super hit. 

 Dont get confused that justice and revenge are same. Punishment through the process of law, is not just to placate the victims family, but its remind others that, there is powerful force above attacker and victim, and breaking the law will not be tolerated.  

I support Human rights , up to the point of controlling the Govt to take lives of citizens. I am not that Human Rights activist who believe death penalty should be abolished, i support it. In fact, i always wonder why they don’t hang people in public which will install fear better than reading the news about it. 

Continents move faster than our courts.  Should we go for “ Instant justice”  then? That’s a good idea, provided that only wise have the power to use weapons.  We cant trust all police, and i will not trust the police who took the sparking plug of my friends bike to get money. If he is given a gun and no accountability on how he used it, there the only difference between him and a gangster would be just uniform. 

We might romanticize the police encounters for “Instant justice” like the movie Bharateeyudu. But what if the old man starts using his martial arts skill for his own purpose not for the society ?

The Greens !

The Green Brothers, publish vlogs (Video log) on Youtube. They have countless number of videos but, the channel "Crashcourse" intrigued me. This youtube channel is maintained by PBS.

The idea is to make school lessons interesting with graphics, fun facts, trivia  and how it affects reality. John Green, takes care of social studies and his brother Hank handles Science. John jumps a lot and Hank shake a lot. Seems, its the universal body language of vloggers.

I have finished, watching chemistry and biology playlists and half way through History of the world videos.

Nobody can master a subject A to Z. Even the guys doing Ph.d selects a topic and specializes in it, but what about guys who rolling stones like me. We dont want to get struck with one subject for the entire life. All we try to learn is how little we know.

This is the link to Crashcourse https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX6b17PVsYBQ0ip5gyeme-Q