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11 January 2016

My Understanding of Indo-Pak Relations and Views over the Pathankot Attacks

Pakistan is a failed state.

In any democratic country, all foreign policy decisions (diplomatic and covert) are taken by the government of the day. However, Pakistan’s Foreign Policy with respect to two countries, i.e. India and Afghanistan, is handled by Pakistan Army and ISI. The main reason is to maintain its hegemony over Narcotic Drugs and illegal Arms trade. The Fundamental Forces in Pakistan and Afghanistan, which thrive on terrorism-related funding, in addition to sentiments, add complexity to the situation. They are power centers on their own. Many of them work with and many against the Pak Army in this trade. The democratic government has no control, whatsoever in this sphere. So Pakistan has different power centers which often fight with each other.

The Peshawar attack on Army school, which killed over 150 children and received sympathies from world over, was infact retribution by the anti-Army fundamental forces for much larger atrocities committed by the Pak Army and ISI. Civilian Government and Army have a simple relation. Until the government keeps to itself and does not interfere in the Army’s sphere, there is no tension. Whenever the government encroaches, the Army shows its might, in which it is assisted by friendly fundamental forces. A military coup is the last resort. Kargil war, Mumbai attack and recent Pathankot attack are Pak Army’s response to its civilian government whenever it tries to encroach upon its sphere of foreign policy. During Army rule, however, Pakistan behaves in a coherent manner, other than the fundamental forces. Economic growth of Pakistan suffers but there is clarity in foreign relations, which are generally hostile and no efforts are made by either side for better relations. Civilian Governments in Pakistan face domestic and international pressure to keep peaceful relations with India, but are aware of their limitations. If they cross their limit, they are gone.

Indian Diplomacy.

Unlike Pakistan, India has always had a single power centre. It is my personal view that other than Nehru, no Indian government has ever faltered in diplomatic relations with Pakistan. This includes Indira, Rajiv, Vajpayee and Manmohan governments. Even Nehru had good intentions and worked in national interest, but was not aware how rotten the Pakistani system itself is. Future governments did the best they could in national interest. We have different goals. As i said earlier, Pakistan is a failed state, but we do have a future. Our chosen diplomatic strategy has been of defensive, which is well-thought. Pakistan is always ready for war. It is well funded by China and US. And it has no love for its own welfare. We, on the other hand, do not want India to become a strategic playground for the world forces like Afghanistan and Middle East.

US, China, all want us to fail. For us, our massive poverty is the main concern. We have deliberately chosen to ignore insults many a times in the past. This naturally does not go down well with the common Indian. But we have a nasty neighbor, which has a policy vacuum, has nothing to lose and we cannot go to war, each time it entices us. We do the best we can to safeguard us. Imagine a common family man, living in a nasty neighborhood. He swallows some insults, because his focus is on a better future of his children. If he goes on answering to each provocation he would be ruined. India cannot change its neighbors. We have seen ups and downs, we have been backstabbed, we have faced wars, we are a victim of Pak-sponsored terrorism, but I believe that is more to do with Pakistan, than our response to contain it.

Modi Administration.

The current Modi administration is fully aware of the above situation and knows its limitations well. The focus is on rapid economic development. However, the rhetoric of national security is always a favorite of media as they get overwhelming support from the common people, who generally have major trust deficit with it. Pathankot attack is being seen by media as a golden opportunity to settle scores with the PM. Anger over attacks is obvious nationalistic reaction, but a section is not able to contain its happiness. For them joy over Modi’s debacle is greater than any anger over Pakistan. All sorts of memes and cartoons are being shared. This had been done in the past with Manmohan Singh too. For me, it was wrong then and it is wrong now also.

The current regime has made some noteworthy changes to its approach over Pakistan. India’s involvement in Baluchistan and POK could always be felt, but it made headlines regularly during last one year and for the first time international focus shifted from J&K to POK. Drug and illegal arms trade which was in part facilitated by rogue elements in India’s own BSF is severely restricted. As for ceasefire violations, earlier Army and BSF used to seek permission from centre over response. Now, clear cut instructions are given to border posts to crush any such attempts with a heavy hand and report later. This has brought a deafening silence across the border for last 100 days, appreciated by defense experts but completely ignored by media hence unacknowledged by common man.

The funding channels of Pak army are severely strained due to better international relations, especially with US, China and Arab countries, which have always funded Pakistan’s military and continue to do so. The intelligence agencies are doing an excellent job. They have always done so, now they have improved under the current National Security Advisor. Most of the terrorist attacks do not take place because of eternal vigilance of our intelligence agencies. Failed attempts never make it to the headlines and are generally ignored by public and media, which is a good thing as even failed attempts do cause terror and need to be downplayed. Diplomatically, Modi knows that there is absolutely no use of talks with civilian government and we cannot talk directly with the Pak Army-ISI duo whose vested interests are being harmed by us on daily basis. Yet he engages with Nawaz Sharief, who is helpless and a nobody, as far as Indo-Pak relations are concerned, just to showcase to the world that India wants peace. Modi balances this delicately. He invites Nawaz to swearing-in ceremony, makes sudden stopover to his family function in Lahore.

As common Indians, our egos are deeply hurt with Pakistan, we wish to remain dominant and we see Nawaz Sharif as a whole and sole representative of Pakistan. But infact, there are more than one Pakistans. Nawaz knows his limitations, and in international forums, where he is nothing more than a decorative piece, as far as India is concerned, he faces the dilemma whether to toe the line as dictated by the Army or remain neutral. If he remains neutral due to a personal camaraderie with our PM, it is a minor diplomatic victory of sorts for us. If we engage him more forcefully like the Lahore Bus diplomacy, then Army would inevitably take him down, which is not in better interests for us.

Pathankot Attack. Where we faltered?

This attack is a desperate attempt by the Pak Army-ISI to nullify the feel good atmosphere created by recent Modi visit to Lahore and maintain its foothold over Indo-Pak relations from the Pakistan side. This time, Pak Army is assisted by a friendly fundamental force in Pakistan, with links in Indian Kashmir. An attack over civilian area needs lot of planning and local support, as target is to maximize causalities. Such all attempts have been rendered unsuccessful till now by Indian intelligence agencies under leadership of NSA. Pakistan army wanted to send a message, more to Pakistan Government and its funding partners, than to India, that it is very much within its capacity to create disturbance in India.

A suicide squad, which was not using any mobile communication, was sent to accomplish the attack. Here also, all credit to intelligence agencies for very exact information about the attack. NSG was dispatched well in advance and we were alert before the attack. I think we faltered after that. We failed in the micro management. When we had such excellent intel, our armed forces and Punjab police should have crushed the militants without any casualties from our side. I know it is blasphemous to criticize armed forces in India, but in this case their inefficiency made a mockery out of the whole operation. Government will never accept such a thing to keep the morale of the armed forces high and nobody will say such a politically incorrect thing on TV when the whole country is worshipping the martyrs.

Let me clarify, I have the highest regard for all the Indian soldiers who laid down their lives. They finally saved Nation’s honor and pride. But, their lives could have been saved. Responsibility should be fixed on the officers-in-charge of the operation. Who gave the faulty report, on the basis of which the Home Minister declared the operation over and firing started all over again, making a joke of the whole nation? Maybe responsibility shall be fixed finally over the dogs, who did not sniffed out the campus properly. What tempted Lt. Col. Niranjan to search the collected dead bodies of the militants without following proper procedure and lose his life out of sheer carelessness? ( he lost his life when he was checking dead body of a militant brought after the operation was way over, without any protective bomb-disposal gear and a lose pin of a hand grenade hidden inside the deadbody went off killing him and injuring several others).

Responsibilities should be fixed and lessons need to be learnt in micro-management. Other than that, the planners of the attack need to be identified and sent to hell. But, I am sure Nawaz Sharief is unaware of this. Poor chap is helpless and clueless. For the first time ever, China has condemned the attack, which did not even condemn the Kargil war. Diplomatic channels are working fine. Intelligence agencies are working well. But should we attack Pakistan and rage a war over our failed micro-management? I would say No.

Net neutrality and innovation

Opinions

Shreyas Bharadwaj

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8 January 2016

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One of the many things in the public discourse over Net Neutrality that has puzzled me is the use of the word- Innovation. A motley group of start-up founders will come to a TV show and say free-basics and network management will harm innovation. Some give bytes to news websites saying – ‘An end to net neutrality will reduce the innovations and increase the barrier to entry for young innovative startups to do new things’ and ‘A compromise in that principle would spell the end of innovation from young people operating independently from their college hostel rooms and addas.’^[1]. A few things amused me too -A man I respect very highly tweeted – ‘Oh my fellow Indians, either choose this & do a jihad for independent Internet later or pick #NetNeutrality today.’ ; a few others spoke as if the skies would fall if the Net Neutrality regulation is not brought in by the TRAI(Telecom Regulatory Authority of India).

The reason I was puzzled by the use of words like innovation by these Internet revolutionaries is that I understood the concept of innovation quite differently. To me, innovation is not only about a bunch of young people starting up with a cool new internet based product but also about process innovation by established companies. It was also about product innovation by established companies either to cater to an already present consumer need or to create such a need within the consumer. To verify, I checked with OED^{^[2]} for a better definition – the introduction of new things, ideas or ways of doing something or a new idea, way of doing something, etc. that has been introduced or discovered. What turned out wasn’t wrong.Yay!

Uber is an innovative form of internet enabled transport, Paytm is an innovative way to make internet-based payments, Jio Chat (Reliance Jio’s skype like app) if zero-rated by Reliance Jio would be an innovative way to video-conference, Facebook’s Free Basics (is)was an innovative and legitimate way to attract the next 100 million users to facebook and so on. One needs to face up to the fact that all of these players are acting in their legitimate self-interest and any attempt to paint content providers like Paytm, Snapdeal or even Foodpanda and the head revolutionary – Medianama as David fighting the Goliath of big telecom is quite disingenuous.

These startups led by Internet Revolutionaries while positioning themselves as Davids are demanding as Ravi puts it^{^[3]} the ‘gigantic rock called Government to crush goliath.

The revolutionaries regularly bring up the phrase ‘Permission-less Innovation’ and say that without Net Neutrality regulation being enforced, content providers will have to take the permission of telecom/internet service providers (TSPs/ISPs) to innovate. I concede that this is a valid concern. What the don’t tell you is that TSPs and ISPs would now need the permission of the regulators to innovate. In effect, the content providers are demanding the government to force ISPs and TSPs to either stop all forms of innovation and become dumb networks or innovate only with the government’s permission (Yay! for permissionless innovation) so that they can maintain a cozy status quo. In their shameless use of public respect for self-interest, they seem to have forgotten about the most important part of the market- the user.

Another important point our dear revolutionary friends forget to mention is that whatever they propose is ex-ante regulation(regulation based on forecasted harm) and intrusive regulation at that. They don’t mention that in highly competitive two-sided markets (Markets wherein there two or more groups of consumers are brought together by an intermediary ), this kind of ex-ante intrusive regulation is risky.It may benefit a few content-providers who hog large amounts of bandwidth but may harm the rest. One thing is for sure though, such regulation ends up subsidizing the Content Provider part of the data supply chain at the cost of the consumers and the TSPs/ISPs .

Sustainable and innovative two-sided markets are not as complex as they are made out to be. It has certain basic qualities- 2 or more distinct groups of consumers, a platform which interconnects them, externalities created through increased participation of the 2+ groups(mostly positive) and most important of all- non neutrality wherein an asymmetry between the two or more sides due to which the platform can capture value^{^[4]}. The ‘non-neutrality part is extremely important as the value captured due to this helps the platform invest in upgrading the quality of the market, the size of the market and smoothness of operation. Translation- If you force platforms(TSPs/ISPs) to be neutral, their incentive to invest for up gradation reduces.

On June 12, 2015 the FCC i.e.The Federal Communications Commission‘s rules on Net Neutrality took effect. The Indian revolutionaries rejoiced saying that the USA is leading the way in ensuring the maintenance of an ‘open internet’. Memes were churned out by their comrades in Mumbai, sarcastic tweets tweeted & retweeted at superfast speeds but did they tell you what happened next. For the first time since the post-recession fall in capex and the third time in internet history, there was a fall in capex of ISPs. By how much?- the net decrease in the first half of 2015 came to a grand total of USD 3.3 Billion with the average decline in wireline ISPs being 12% and wireless ISPs at 8%. The damocles sword hanging over the heads of US Telecom was enough to cause such record-beating falls in capital expenditure. (I’m eagerly waiting for the entire year’s data to be released).^{^[5]}

I expect the rebuttal of the point above in lines similar to these- ‘It is a one time fall, too early to comment conclusively, the context isn’t completely apparent, it would be moronic to extrapolate the above data to say Net Neutrality Regulation would reduce incentive for investment, etc’. Here is my response in advance – When you have been using research using forecasts of game theory models to demand ex- ante regulations, why is it a worry if I use actual data (not forecasts) to point out the harm caused by such regulation elsewhere. I have more evidence (not forecasts) to back me up on this – Increased access regulation in Europe (20 nations over 1997-2006) resulted in a loss of 16.4 Billion Euros in investment^[6]. What your revolutionary campaign is asking for is regulation many times more stringent than access regulation.

Another important point that has been ignored in this debate is that the part of the proposed Net Neutrality regulation which would prevent Zero-Rating and Special Packs (WhatsApp packs etc) would amount to trust-busting vertical agreements.It is interesting to note that economic literature is divided on this issue. The One monopoly rent hypothesis would mean that vertical anti-trust action isn’t of any use in increasing consumer welfare. Game theoretic models may churn out analysis that it does harm consumer welfare. Empirical evidence for harm to consumer welfare caused by vertical agreements is minimal. One has to wonder what is the pressing need for such ex-ante regulation which if implemented amounts to vertical antitrust action when there is a much more prudent option- WAIT !

Another silly argument put forward by our revolutionary friends is – Tim Berners Lee (They then stress that he is one of the founding fathers of the internet) says that the absence of Net Neutrality regulation will ‘threaten innovation’. Dave Farber- a person often called the grandfather of the internet has said that the Net Neutrality regulation would be more harmful than any ‘fragmentation’ of the internet. He has also called ‘Net Neutrality’ a slogan and stressed that such regulation will ensure that almost nothing interesting will happen in the internet.^{^[7]} If that was the reason you supported the Net Neutrality regulation, I sincerely hope you have found reason enough to stop supporting it.

Can a developing country like India afford to make such mistakes due to a bunch of activists in search of the un holy grail of neutrality in a 2 sided market? Can our unconnected be ignored due to a bunch of activists acting like trade unionists? After my initial angry blog on this issue^{^[8]}, I tried to be more respectful in my conversations with these revolutionaries – even after being called a moron shilling for facebook and big telecom, but the increasing shamelessness of this campaign for Net Neutrality made me realize that they were nothing more than a bunch of Trade Unionists in the garb of activists who have no use for reason and evidence while they make their arguments. On this issue, they share their views with original trade unionists – CPIM .

Why the Net Neutrality activists are nothing but scaremongers

Opinions

aveek

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5 January 2016

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For the last few days, we have a gang of net neutrality “activists” who have suddenly activated their sleeper cells again after April 2015. They are backed by a second tier of mercenary influencers- stand-up comics etc. who don’t even know what net neutrality is, leave alone reading the 2 TRAI consultation papers.

All their arguments center not around facts but on a propaganda that if so & so is implemented then “some demons will roam free” and at times internet would become very expensive (they fell into their own trap when free internet restricted to few sites was released.)

I’ll take down all their arguments one by one here. But what I find most amusing is that these net neutrality “experts” mostly don’t have a technical background & the rest are from such nondescript engineering colleges that I expect nothing better of them anyway.

For those interested in reading the 2 consultation papers, here is the link-

The first is a bit lengthy at 150 pages but the second is just 11 pages. I found both the papers quite balanced, suggesting views from across the spectrum and inviting comments. When the first was released these experts, chiefly among them Nikhil Pawhwa of Medianama, started scaremongering without even reading the paper. That is obvious as the paper even had the views he advocated & that it was a consultation paper and didn’t impose anything.

If you don’t have the time to read it like most or find it filled with too much of technical jargon, don’t worry I’ll put it across in layman’s terms now. 3 terms are being used often in this discussion-

Net Neutrality
Zero Rating – all content be treated the same
Free Basics – certain free content to be given by FB’s Internet.org platform

All three are pretty simple terms that are obfuscated (made obscure) purposefully by these people. Comparatively the TRAI consultation papers put forward the points in very simple language. First of all net neutrality has no fixed water-tight definition & has been used in a varied form in different countries.

Broadly it is treating all data packets the same. I personally find it a very stupid idea. I’ll elaborate why here- suppose you’re watching a live cricket match online & access your mail on your tab you don’t want the telecast to drop. You would be okay with your mail loading a bit slowly.

Second aspect that isn’t yet thought of in India as we are yet to see adoption of IoT (internet of things). In it, for example, you have 2 cars communicating their positions so that they don’t collide. That data has to be dealt with on a priority basis. Again, youtube uses CDN including caching servers that make the videos load faster for each user. This would also violate net neutrality & if competitors like dailymotion file complaints it will only stop innovation. How is it the fault of youtube if dailymotion doesn’t innovate or invest in CDNs ? Also the only loser here will be the consumers.

It is like the pre-liberalisation markets of India when you had the option of buying only a substandard Fiat Padmini & not an imported car that’s better at the same price. Same for FMCG. The problem now is that everyone who’s speaking against net neutrality is perceived to be totally pro-Facebook’s free basics.

I don’t like their weak PR campaign calling it “philanthropy”. Instead they should have just said its our business expansion model & if you have have an issue as a competitor, you are free to come up with your own similar or dissimilar business models. When e-commerce sites gave huge discounts backed by VC capital no hullabaloo was created. Here too a major concern that any new app won’t be able to compete in there’s a restricted Internet.org as competitive apps would be free but theirs won’t. The basic fallacy here can be seen in 2 points-

The newer users wouldn’t be too experimentative with their app usage anyway. They would have used popular apps even if they started using internet fresh on their own
Any good apps will be overtime backed by VCs who would ensure it comes up bundled free on Internet.org or its competitor say Airtel Zero or any other platform

Even today why do we use facebook or whatsapp or other social networking apps/sites? Its because our friends use them. I wouldn’t use orkut if it was offered free & it would be similar for most people as after using FB I liked the interface and now my friends are also using it, which was not the case when I initially joined FB in 2009. Similarly any new app that becomes popular among users of unrestricted internet would over time be popular among those using the free subsidized internet.

Another concern because of the constant scaremongering by these people is that the prices of internet access or packs will shoot up drastically. But this is another lie being peddled. Right now we hardly have any websites or apps in regional languages & this is also a reason for low internet penetration in rural areas in addition to low internet infrastructure. These are two concerns that need to be addressed together as they are related. I’ll digress from the topic at hand and come to it.

This free internet model is basically similar to free first rides on Uber/Ola etc., on it you can browse facebook but not view media/pics for free. Basically all the business are trying to introduce you the wonderful world of the internet or in other words make you an addict. Pick whatever you choose; its the same thing.

Facebook & other players who would benefit from the rural users would thus share the cost burden with the telecom companies & ISPs to develop the internet infrastructure there. This will spur a demand for regional language websites & apps. Not just that it will also spur Indic computing & localisation. Again the same free internet platform can be used by the government to ensure e-governance reaches all. This would make the government initiatives & services within the reach of a smartphone for the rural population in their local language.

Again I find the logic used that facebook would earn a lot from this initiative but is doing nothing in return. First, even Google is rolling free internet by building the internet infrastructure at railway stations and through project loon. Google & facebook are using buoys & drones to distribute internet in farflung areas globally through such platforms. Also none of these “experts” talked about the point in the TRAI paper where the government had a proposal to tax the OTT services like facebook or whatsapp depending on its traffic (hence ad revenue).

The misreporting my a media that hardly has anyone who understands tech has totally confused most people.

I am not sure if you would interested in stats, if you are read the TRAI paper-

http://www.trai.gov.in/WriteReaddata/ConsultationPaper/Document/OTT-CP-27032015.pdf

Recommended if you are interested. Its in layman’s terms.

When will the odd-even rule be really “successful”?

Opinions

Sjd45

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4 January 2016

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My post is based on this tweet by Ramesh Srivats. Isn’t it odd that a rule, which is enforced by law, followed by people is considered a success. Let me clarify here that I am not against the odd-even rule but I am against the wrong use of the word success. The real “success” of the rule won’t be when people follow it but when it caters to its purpose i.e. reducing pollution.

Now some “journalists” are sharing some figures (something which they don’t do usually) which compare the PM 2.5 levels in the afternoon to that in the morning and saying that pollution levels have dropped ‘drastically’. First of all I want tell them please do a basic search on how pollution varies throughout the day. Levels are always higher in the morning than at noon so comparing them proves nothing.

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As far as traffic is concerned it is bound to reduce there is no miracle in it. As far as success is concerned we should wait for an actual working day and see wether pollution levels are actually reducing or no and not see wether people are following it or not.

Let us consider an hypothetical situation of some state A. The CM of that state feels that liquor is the major reason for crimes in the state so he bans it. A strict ban is enforced. A person found with alcohol will have to pay a hefty fine. Now it is obvious that liquor consumption in that state will go down. But this will have no benefit till it is proved that there has been a reduction in crime levels in the state after the liquor ban.

The ban in liquor may reduce crime levels in the state but it is not the only solution. Similarly the odd-even rule alone won’t solve the pollution problems of the state. It is just one step maybe in the right direction but a lot more needs to be done. We will have to wait for a few days more to see wether the odd-even scheme is really a ‘success’.

The ubiquitous internet trolls

Opinions

Venkat Parthasarathy

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1 January 2016

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The evolution of the internet trolls began long before the advent of the social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. .

Much before the Youtube revolution and in the early days of internet, the Yahoo chatrooms gave a platform for anonymity that broke the inhibitions of strangers to discuss, disseminate and solicit sex online. The virtual world created newer opportunities of expression for the low-on-confidence introverts. Soon there was a definitive churn and the internet chatroom abuses did not remain confined to private rooms but got a larger public audience.

The birth of online news portals and the opening up of the comments section was the early indication of online trolling taking roots. Internet policing, politely referred to as moderation by admin moderators, had just started taking steps to control abusive language through blockade/removal of a set of abusive words and phrases. Only to be pushed back through usage of words, phrases and expletives in Hindi and native Indian languages. The new age internet mobs on news portal comments section came back with newer ways to beat the moderators.

Patriotism and public display of patriotic fervour found a new place on internet and the online comments became a ready to use platform to air views on pro-India and anti-Pakistan barbs, the latter is strangely still perceived as the surest way of patriotic display in this jingoistic country.

It wasn’t long before every article, every discussion or an analytical piece – on politics, sports, movies, entertainment, health or environment – got battered with comments that were less patriotic and more Paki bashing. There is quite a marked take-off from the news portal comments that we see today in the pattern of abusers, trolls on social media. They all have one unique similarity – they just vent their spleen on strangers, celebrities – who they have never met, successful artists, sportspersons and above all the insensitive-to-insult politicians.

While an innocuous article on a south Indian movie online would seem no way of attracting Paki bashing – you would be surprised to see comments that first start with a north vs south Indian divide and some racist remarks on the colour of skin and soon turning into the inevitable Paki reference and invariably unite the commentators with fancy names like Akhand Indian, Proud Himalayan, Filthy desi etc fighting out a non-existent neighbour with the choicest of expletives. Cut to the present day Twitter trolls – you would have a long forgotten Bollywood character actor making snide remark on the Government on a civic issue inviting hordes of followers of the party in power jumping over the other in throwing expletives at the now victimized soul. Then there are sympathizers of the new age self-proclaimed crusader’s political party who don’t want to be left behind in the war of words and take sides and exchange the now infamous pleasantries.

Joining the bandwagon of the trolls and giving them credence are the I-know-all-on-any-subject celebrity journalists who are only too happy getting all the attention through the public bashing of the netizens, they invite them with open arms through their skewed commentary, prejudiced tweets and comments, before crying victim.

So how does this malady end… or will it really end? The answer is a firm NO!

The growth and spread of internet is expected to bring in newer and hitherto unheard of young users to taste the freedom of unsubdued expression and studies on the psychology of the internet trolls reveal that “people who are physically distanced from each other are less likely to play nice”

A recent article in Health.com says – Cyberbullying is all too common in chat rooms, message boards, Facebook, and the Twitter-sphere, says Alan Manevitz, M.D., a clinical psychiatrist with Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. “There’s a freedom of speech without a fear of consequences,” he says. “There’s no inhibition. It’s like being drunk.”

While there are laws to curb abusive and harmful content online, the size and magnitude of the crime, if I may call that so, makes it herculean to curb, leave alone end.

The trolls have long arrived and are here to stay!

~ Venkat Parthasarathy

[email protected] / Twitter.com/venkrek

Modi visit to Pakistan is All about Barkha’s Book

Opinions

Ankesh Kumar

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31 December 2015

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This years Christmas was quite just like any another Christmas when I woke up by stretching my sleeping time by an hour and switching on the TV while sipping tea and what I see it’s Modi all over the main stream media. For a second I thought What this guy has done now as BJP was in news recently for all the wrong reasons and then I got pleasantly surprised by the casual gesture of our Prime Minister to accept an invitation of visiting Nawaz Sharif to wish him birthday just over a phone call.

Knowing how our media goes gaga and have intellectual thoughts on NDA’s attitude towards Pakistan I was smiling and curious to know what and how media will take this, so I started browsing through news channels. From browsing through various Hindi Channels where they were projecting this visit with drama to the extent one of news channel in fact put Modi & Nawaz as Jai & Veeru in Sholay motorcycle riding poster with caption saying- Yeh, Dosti Hum Nahin Chhodenge to shocked English media with great list of political analysts. Then I came across NDTV where Barkha’s Christmas plan was spoiled by our PM sudden decision and she was analysing the entire situation with her elite set of panelists. It was interesting where she keeps on repeating “Media had no clue of this meeting, but still this would have been planned well in advance and it’s overall strategy” and then comes her googly where may be one of her junior colleague got hold of Twitter post of Sajjan Jindal’s smiling selfie with his wife saying – He is in Lahore for Sharif’s birthday as well as his grand daughter’s wedding.

That’s it, now Barkha got all the ammunition to mention her books time and again. Since then all her sentences and points was taking panelists to excerpts from her recent book “This Unquiet Land” where she mentioned secret meeting between Modi & Sharif during SAARC summit in Kahthmandu with the help of Sajjan Jindal and she starts connecting dots which was not even on the same surface. She made several attempts to emphasise on common points of Sajjan Jindal, how he was in Kathmandu then and now in Lahore. Her repetitive attempts had no takers except confused Congress who based on her hunch made statement that Modi was in Pakistan for Jindal’s business interest. She didn’t stop there and went on tweeting the same mentioning MEA coz they denied such scoop as she imagined. And at every occasion she was referring this incident towards her books as much as it looked like Modi visitng Lahore is Barkha’s book promotion event.

In fact after sometime I also started thinking it could be true until Pakistan’s spokesperson in his press brief explained how impromptu this visit was planned because of many from Islamabad could not make it to Lahore to meet Modi. This makes the case clear that Sajjan was in his personal capacity not as secret meeting arranger otherwise why will he flaunt his selfie on twitter?

But our leading lady doesn’t stop here, next day it was mentioned in all NDTV debate on this issue and one article on main page of NDTV.com with coverpage of her book on how she was the one who knew about it.

This is I believe over attempt to sell her books which got negative reviews by users in Amazon. Let’s see how much such attempts we will see in future.

Fallacies Of Sanatan Dharmis

Opinions

luffy22

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31 December 2015

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The idea that Indian Culture is old and majestic is well perceived by Hindus. That they belong to great lineage of Rishis and Maharishis who were scientifically advanced and morally superior is well argued and to a point credible based on historical, architectural and scientific evidence. This article is not really meant to counter the claims of a great Vedic Civilization. It is to counter those who chest beat about their forefathers greatness in present day scenario.

Today Hindus are mostly divided into two parts:

Those who are apathetic meaning they have no interest in past, present or future of the culture where they were born. They are more interested in being in the good books of others and swimming with the current. They form a majority and they would go with the current in-thing.
But there are other type of Hindus who know about their culture and traditions. These so-called Sanatanis rave and rant about the glories of Ancient India as if there is no end to it.

This is the most fundamental error that they engage in. They think talking about Past Glories matter in Present Day scenarios. Also they refuse to acknowledge a lot of current day evils in Hindu Society are embedded in the culture that they rave and rant about. For example Sanatan Dharmi’s get red with anger when evil of Caste System is mentioned. They keep arguing that nothing of that sort is present in Vedas or Old Vedic Texts. Problem is they haven’t really seen where to look. Try Gita Chapter 11 Shloka 27. There Arjuna mentions Karna as “Sut Putra” and not Radhe or Angraj which are epithets associated with Karna. Similarly Bhima insulted Karna saying “Sut are Kaput” meaning Charioters Son are not Worthy. Laxmana in Ramayana was seething with anger when the Navik(Sailor) said he and Rama belonged to the same caste. Sanatanis can either keep arguing how it is taken out of context or agree that the problem of Caste System is quite deep and embedded in the chapters of their glorious past. Instead of arguing it would serve better purpose if they try some innovate ideas to eradicate the caste system problem like Mr. Modi is trying

Nepotism is another evil that is associated with Indian Culture. Nepotism is present in foreign countries as well but in India it is carried out like a religious practice. Pritvhvi Raj Kapoor to Raj Kapoor to Rishi Kapoor to Ranbir Kapoor the nepotism lineage has not disappeared. Muslims are not far behind with Tariq Khan launching Aamir Khan and Aamir Khan launching Imran Khan. It is not limited to films as parents keep urging their children to settle in their well established business be it as an Engineer, Doctor, Architect or Politics. Apparently Bhagwad Gita is now a holy book rather then a practical guidance manual otherwise Chapter 3 Shloka 35 as well as Chapter 18 Shloka 47 would allow Hindus to cast out the evils of Nepotism prevalent in the society. Trouble is Sanatan Dharmis are more interested in defending Gita and Hinduism rather then practical application of the wonderful teachings by Shree Krishna.

A year ago I had objected to a tweet by a devout RSS guy who wanted an article on Sex Education to be taken off from a Standard 8 Textbook. I looked at the text and could not find anything wrong in it. It was a well written and scientifically accurate text on male and female anatomy. Considering children are 13-14 by that time it should be the right time for them to learn such important issues related to body anatomy. He argued that it was ruining Culture Of India. I just stated if Kama Sutra was unable to ruin Indian Culture how could a scientifically accurate text with no vulgarity ruin it? All he could do was the known concept of Taqiyya with a Hindu Flavor of how our ancestors were great and how knowledge of Arya Bhatta and deeds of Shivaji were necessary to be propagated to future generations. Once again I stated that if Arya Bhatta kept uttering “Ram, Ram” instead of making advancement in Mathematics we would not have gotten so far in Maths. Thankfully he listened but other Sanatanis are not so polite or humble. They keep bickering and ranting and can’t stop raving about the great Indian Culture.

Sanatan Dharmis, HDL’s, VHS and other devout Hindus need to learn that your past doesn’t matter anymore. It is the Present and your plans for the Future which would sow the seed for a better India. Hindus were defeated by Islam and then by Christianity and made subservient to them. Now the Socialist and Leftist Liberals are ruling and controlling much of India’s thought pattern. Unless Hindus take stock and start responding to challenges they would be a lost cause. It is better to learn from Jews and the State Of Israel. The Jews successfully took stock after Holocaust and World War 2 and today they control most of the major Corporations, Media Companies and Pharmaceuticals. One can either rubbish it and start the idiotic Conspiracy Theories about Zionism or one can acknowledge their Hard Work(Karma) to get to the place where they are today. Today the small state of Israel is successfully defending against Enemies from all Sides and International Pressure while still growing and thriving.

If Jews can do it then so can Hindus. But for that to happen all the Sanatan Dharmis need to leave the fallacies associated with ancient and glorious Bharat on one-side and start working for a Better and Hopeful India for the future generations to come. Acknowledge the evils in Hinduism and try to change them rather then play the blame game. Sanatanis also have the important role of making Ancient Knowledge relevant to modern times. For example if you keep harping about benefits of Surya Namaskar then no one would listen cause that is Pagan Worship Tradition for others. But if you endorse it as a 12 Steps Total Workout Program which rejuvenates the mind and body then a lot of them would listen. Get Shilpa Shetty or Bipasha Basu in gym clothes to endorse it. Trust me it would sell like Hot Chocolate Fudge Cake.

No one outside of India is interested in our glorious and wonderful culture. Even majority in India are not interested. They are only interested in results and staying relevant in the society. Ancient Knowledge of India however great it was has no meaning in present day as it is out of date with the modern times. It is up to the Sanatanis, VHS and HDL’s to make it relevant to modern times. There are two benefits from it:

They keep alive the knowledge of their great ancestors.
They earn Profits from selling that knowledge. After all everyone is in the business of making money.

Why we must welcome more Oxford Union type interviews

Opinions

sanjay kapur

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30 December 2015

0

So often do we see on TV news channels that public figures – politicians mainly – utter things that everybody knows is a falsehood, much to the embarrassment of those who are expected to consume these diatribes as the ‘truth’. The said politician then goes on, either denying a very obvious fact, or emphasizing an untruth, resting assured on the knowledge that the listeners cannot or dare not challenge him.

Some time back a press conference was held on service tax where P.Chidambaram was answering journalists’ questions. When asked why lawyers had not been included in the service tax ambit, Chidambaram bluntly retorted, “Who says lawyers provide a service?” This was met with an embarrassed hush from the audience every one of whom must probably have thought, ‘Then what is it that the lawyers do?’ As all know, both P.Chidambaram and his wife are accomplished lawyers.

There was certainly a time when due to lack of exposure of their antics politicians were mostly able to get away with whatever they said or did by simply ignoring the few who questioned, or denying it, or claiming to have been misquoted. But today, when media scrutiny is so pervasive, and politicians and events so minutely covered, even then politicians fall back on their old habit of ‘ignore-deny-claim misquote’. The common citizen is left fuming at the sheer temerity with which they fool the people at large. Most people today are much better informed on political matters because of the same pervasive media. But apart from the few occasions when the odd bold journalist tears apart and exposes the foolish presentations of such naïve politicians, there is little succor for the helpless common man. Compounding this is the period of security that politicians enjoy between elections, when the more brazen among them tend to cross all limits of probity.

So, does the common man – the voter, the public, the ‘ruled’ – have nothing to fall back on for relief from the wily games our ‘rulers’ play? The wiles that play out in the form of absolutely ridiculous utterances that are dished out in spite of everyone knowing the reality?

Yes, there is. And that is to show such people the mirror. So that they may see the sorry picture they cut with their ridiculously brazen statements. The more brazen among them – and they have indeed reached that plane too – will not care if the ‘locals’, the ‘natives’, have caught on to their game of uttering untruths or dishing out ridiculous statements left, right and center.

For such people, the new trend that we should welcome is the interview or debate – at the international level. One where the interviewer is not a ‘local’ or a ‘native’, but a journalist of international standing and one who prepares himself impeccably for the one-on-one. And also where in addition to the viewing audience worldwide, even the audience present at the venue of the interview comprises of well selected and extremely well informed and discerning people. Their spontaneous reactions to the interview as it goes along is a genuine representation of – the truth.

It is in this context that the recent interview of BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav with the Al Jazeera anchor Mehdi Hasan is relevant.

Compare two situations. One, where you may have just any typical present day politician replying to the questions (that were put up by Mehdi Hasan) in India and by a run of the mill TV reporter. Imagine what the answers would have been – the flat denials, the dodging of questions, the refusal to answer some questions – which will be aired as-is-where-is, and the ‘native’ audience will be expected to lap it all up faithfully (“what else can they do?”).

In the next situation you have an international journalist Mehdi Hasan doing a well-publicized interview with a senior politician Ram Madhav on foreign soil, at a reputed venue and with a very discerning audience as well as international viewership. Now the interviewer has done his homework thoroughly and knows that Madhav is an eloquent speaker and has an RSS background. The interviewer is also well aware of the current ground situation in India. So he’s prepared his questions accordingly which are searing, penetrative, and truth-extracting, and won’t allow any dodging of his questions. In fact, wherever dodging is attempted he points it out promptly. Where the answers are wrong he points them out too, and where Madhav makes a mistake, he pounces on such moments further winning the audience’s appreciation.

Beginning to get flustered, Madhav makes some more errors like saying “Your ISIS”, and unacceptable denials like “there’s no intolerance in India”, and face-saving refusals-to-answer like “we have taken steps but I won’t tell you about them now”. And to this last one Mehdi Hasan taunts, “Oh, you don’t want to say what steps you’ve taken; they’re secret!” And then Hasan scores another huge one by making an embarrassing reference to the theory of ‘Akhand Bharat’ which Madhav defends sheepishly.

Interspersed in all of this – for about 47 minutes – there are sniggers and titters, and a few more incisive observations in the form of audience questions, as well as several observations from the expert panel.

And at the end of all this, even though Mehdi Hasan compliments Madhav on being a “strong interviewee”, you can see the expression of relief on Madhav’s face. The interview and its outcome become a raging hit on social media, the BJP is forced to distance itself from Madhav’s observations on ‘Akhand Bharat’, and the interview is a hot talking point even today.

So much for this interview. It is only a reference point. The true gist is that this is the kind of mirror that needs to be shown to our politicians for a reality check. The more frequent, the better. The international stage is where they cannot get away with the lackadaisical statements and theories that they are used to dishing out to ‘the natives’ back home. This is where each word they speak will be measured for its true meaning and worth, and they’ll be pulled down to earth whenever they try to be too clever by half.

So for the sake of keeping our ‘rulers’ grounded to reality and to instil the fear of pretense and falsity, such interviews at the international level are really welcome. Maybe, for the sheer truth value of such discourses, the politicians might be compelled to accept that TV scrutiny even back home is actually as penetrating as these international interviews, and thus their conduct and speech on home media also needs to be within acceptable parameters.

For starters, what could be better for the hapless common man?

No Odd/Even But 7 Realistic Ways To Reduce Vehicular Pollution from Metros !

Ankesh Kumar

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29 December 2015

0

Enough of several debates that we keep hearing about AAP’s new odd/even rule to control the pollution due to vehicles in Delhi. I am having an engineering background and with basic knowledge of science & technology, I don’t think that this odd/even will yield in improvement on air quality but grabbing headlines on media and funny whatsApp jokes to laugh about. So, here are my suggestion which I think can make a great effect in reducing Delhi’s emission or our any Metro’s pollution woes through vehicle, however someone needs guts to implement it as this kind of tough measures may affects vote banks and not to forget also may attract protests in the name of democracy.

Image Source: Google Image Search

So, to curb pollution and take extra ordinary measures in today’s exta ordinary circumstances, these are seven such suggestions:

Blanket Ban on any vehicle of any type which is more than 10 years old:

The maximum emission comes from older vehicle which usually more prone to pollution beyond 10 years of it’s life. This must include two wheeler as well. This may not be liked by many voters but this is the need of an hour as logically it won’t be possible to prove how one is maintaining more than 10 years of vehicle within permissible limit of emission of all forms. The government must also put ban on all 2-stroke engines which cause severe damage to air quality.

Restrict two cars for each household:

This is very common problem in any major metro city especially in Delhi where there are many households who has more than two cars per person not even family. So the government must impose strict rule, for households who already purchased more than 2 cars by levying heavy surcharges on extra cars and for the future do not allow more than two cars to be registered in same address. If any family feels for any reason they need to own more than two cars then they should buy permit which should start from min. Rs. 5 lacs to own a 3rd car and higher for 4th car. Singapore has rule of Certificate Of Ownership which is 2-3 times than cost of cars, this has reduced car buying drastically there.

Increase Parking Charges Multi Fold:

Parking Charges of Rs. 10/50 or even Rs. 500 is nothing for people who owns cars in metro and no more deterrent for them not to take car along wherever they go. Government must make parking charges in tune of Rs. 3,000 – Rs. 5,000 in congested area and Rs. 2,000 in other public areas to think twice before taking cars. We have offices & house measured as per per sq. ft. based on respective locations however parking space for temporary usage has been priced very low. Many major cities like New York, London, Singapore, Hong Kong put hefty parking charges which sometimes even costlier than owning a car.

Hefty fine on illegal parking:

Our most of main roads are occupied by illegal parking especially with trucks/tempos/Shop Owners vehicles which congest the roads which in term increases traffic menace and hence extra emission as cars mostly comply on 1st & 2nd gear in such jammed roads. In fact in Mumbai the stretch of LBS Road, SV Road, Saki Vihar Road and many more road’s one lane are occupied 24×7 by illegal parking which defy the purpose of widening of roads. Any illegal parking vehicle must be towed away for minimum 7 days with Rs. 10,000 fine.

Double the Buses/Cabs/Autos and Promote Public Transport:.

Ultimately this has to be improved to cater all sort of audiences to motivate them to use safe and clean public transport. Our country has pathetic quality of cabs even compared to less developed nations. We must promote App based cabs services such as Uber & Ola and must have public transport which caters to all section of society.

The government must also impose criminal offense on refusal of Auto Ricksaw & Cabs. It should implement SMS or App based complaints on refusal and online suspension of license with SMS alert to cab/auto driver to enforce this rule. Any repeat offender with more than 2 times of refusal must be punished by suspending his/her license for a year. Government must also fund the installation of GPS trackers in Auto/Taxi to improve security. The best way to implement is to make it as mandatory required specification pre-installed at cab/auto manufacturer itself.

Digitize the RTO and integrate with all the Vehicle:

A lot of country has moved to digitization of vehicles integrated with RTO via RFID sensors to curb traffic offenses & impose real time penalty without human interventions to curb corruptions. We must make use of technology to make all fines & punishment in real time based on these monitoring traffic offense via sensors. Like many countries make registrations subject to annual renewal by having kiosk at multiple place to have transparency on fine collected & zero leakage. Any vehicle without registration renewal must sends alert to RTO to take action in real time.

Exclusive Freight Corridor to avoid heavy vehicle mixing with Inner Roads:

All major cities must have separate transport corridor which helps exclusively to carry on cities supplies and it must not overlap with public traffic. The corridor also must carry equipment to check on emission, allowed carrying weights from all vehicle in real time and freed from multiple check post to avoid long jams.

These are the steps which can be taken immediately and can be implementable within 6-9 months of time. There are other macro level steps required such as moving to Euro 6 fuel, Making entire country vehicles in single database etc.

If we are serious about pollution these are the steps which must need to be implemented strictly as well as holistically for cleaner tomorrow otherwise we will again land up in never ending debates on who is doing what and whom to blame to grab headlines with zero effect on ground.

Dear Mr Modi, can we have Special Agricultural Zones for our farmers?

Opinions

leemon

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29 December 2015

0

Agriculture is the back bone of India, since it constitutes a major contribution towards GDP. As Gandhi said “The soul of India is in the villages”, we can say that “The soul of agriculture is in our fertile lands”. Its good to hear about advanced agricultural techniques, awareness programmes, subsidized loans for farmers etc. This segment is still in doldrums even though we have an experienced manpower ,diversified topography, huge land mass and sops from government. We have witnessed many incidents on farmer suicides and climatic catastrophes. Nowadays political parties are using these issues as a ladder for their electoral benefits and political benefits.We have umpteen committees, advisory boards, NGO, banks to nullify the core agricultural issues, but all in vain, because of no intent towards the same from various outfits. Lets not politicize the issue or act like a catalyst to flame up the core issue in this forum. We should find out a permanent solution for the same and execute plans effectively, without which our food deficit and infertile land masses can pose serious threats in the near future.

SPECIAL AGRICULTURAL ZONES (SAZ)

I am not the first person to raise the need of SAZ. Many eminent personalities including M.S Swaminathan (Agricultural scientist) have already demanded for SAZ from the government through different sources and the effort is going on from 2006 onwards. There are no developments or initiatives from the government for implementation of SAZ till now. SAZ is a zone,which is marked only for agricultural purpose like Special Economic Zone(SEZ) for industrial units.

IMPORTANCE OF SAZ

Preservation of agricultural land

As I told you earlier “The soul of agriculture is in our fertile lands”, fertile land is the gift of nature which never can be reproduced. Urbanization may be a stepping stone towards development, but not at the cost of our invaluable agricultural land. Fertile land is not mandatory for creating Hi tech cities and residential townships. The development of a rural area to an urban outfit is executed by the administration based on many parameters, but Fertile land is not the part of any of these parameters for unknown reasons. Fertile land is decided by the contents in the soil and there will be a difference in the composition based on the topography. Nobody can create an infertile soil equal to natural best, but can reproduce some features by the excessive use of artificial techniques which can harm the person consuming the produce. So many people succeeded in replicating the agricultural yield in terrace gardens and kitchen gardens. These arrangements cannot replace agricultural lands, but only a mere arrangement which can’t fulfill the need of an entire country in the coming future. Preservation of agricultural land can act as a catalyst to support a perfect natural balance and think about a nation which can boast of vast agricultural land masses, which in turn can even think of catering the rest of the world also,along with our GDP and citizens.

Employment and empowerment of farmer community

India is blessed with a larger agricultural work force which is experienced and has evolved over the years. They are equipped with an abundant knowledge transferred from ancient times, in traditional farming techniques in all type of topographic areas. But they are being forced to sell their land to land grabbers, so that they can give a normal life to their family. Farmers are slowly alienated and government aids garner zero benefits in the absence of a proper system. Genetic experiments and renowned agricultural methods are not required to increase the yield, but precious agricultural knowledge of our traditional farmers clubbed with their will can create wonders. Establishment of a proper system in this segment is the need of the hour than advancement.Government can create employment to our traditional farmers by way of SAZ, thereby empowering farmer community. SAZ will instill confidence on traditional farming techniques at a low cost. Government bodies can work more closer with farmers and understand their problems. The benefits of SAZ is more rewarding than creating software platforms for agricultural awareness of a farmer,who is already struggling to make one toilet in his house because of financial crisis. SAZ will create self sustainable farmer communities across the countries with lakhs of employment opportunities created.

Diversification of Agricultural process

Agriculture is not a simple process as many say. There are so many processes and brainstorming along with experience is required to get an yield.Once the yield produced the same has to go through logistics and ware housing before reaching the end users. Diversification of the agriculture process can be executed effectively, if all the process happen in the same place. SAZ will facilitate the execution of these diversified processes in a systematic way at a lower cost. Preparation of the soil,sowing seeds,harvesting,logistics,warehousing and packaging can be done in a shorter span of time compared to the existing obsolete and time-consuming processes. Many of the foreign investors and technologies can be attracted in an easier way by showcasing SAZ. Moreover the diversification increases the revenue and profit of farmers and country than increasing the burden.

Ground water level,flora and fauna

Ground water level is an important aspect of an ecology. Ground water forms after centuries of natural process and it add-on to 20% of world’s fresh water supply. This has to be preserved and rejuvenated from depletion. Depleted ground water regions will become deserts and the soil will become infertile. Ground water preservation methods like effective canal systems and rain water harvesting systems allow us to protect this source for the consumption of people. Even if the government has made Rain water harvesting mandatory in cities, developers are less equipped and least known about the advanced rain water harvesting methods. The regulations and mandates can be changed with the help of bureaucrats and politicians as per the comfort of a developer, which will deter the real purpose. We are going through an era, where there is a scarcity of rain and constant climatic changes.Destruction of river beds are also a major concern. Government has created Development authorities for lakes but the office bearers are busy developing their personal properties. SAZ can end this by driving out cities from fertile zones to infertile zones.

Flora and fauna are very essential for ecological balance. God has created human beings as a part in an ecosystem,and not as a controller. If we are not living as a part of the nature,in coming future the nature will wipe out this race from earth. We have seen deforestation in the name of agriculture. We should know that ,we can plant crops which will grow along with the forest without destroying the same. SAZ can effectively implement agriculture suited to forest areas without destroying the Flora and fauna. Tribal community in that particular area can be used to develop effective farming techniques suitable for forest lands.

Effective warehousing and logistics

Agricultural products are perishable goods. Our country is facing serious warehousing issues with lakhs of tonnes of food products rotten to drain.We should think that our country has a major number of BPL families. Death by starvation are on a very higher side.An effective ware housing will address the issue. Logistics has always been a problem for agricultural products. Absence of better preservation techniques of food products during logistics and warehousing is a big concern to government agencies. There are private organisations who have implemented better preservation techniques like cut vegetable preservation,food grains preservation along with better packaging to end users. SAZ will open up a way to pull in these private players because of the measure of yield, which will improve the efficiency of our existing logistics and warehousing methods. This will help government to think beyond ration shop systems to reach the BPL families with quality food products. The role of middlemen can be eliminated completely.

Elimination of land grabbing

Real estate land grabbing is a nemesis nowadays. The land grabbers or their associates never think about the loss of fertile land or ecological problems ,since they are concentrated towards money making. The flaws in our existing land rules and complications in judicial systems add-on to the miseries. I have seen many articles about the need of a powerful law for stopping this crime. But the delay in drafting, fight between the political outfits and constitutional logger heads failed to decelerate land grabbing activities. I am not saying that SAZ will cut this crime, but at least this will stop the poaching of fertile land. Constitution and our lawmakers has to have the real guts to clean this mess.

R&D

Acquisition of fertile land for R&D has always costed the farmer. Indian R&D techniques will open up an array of opportunities,once the scientists and the experiments are exposed to a huge agricultural land mass. SAZ will enable the right application of lab techniques and a higher sample size compared to the present scenario. Scientists are constantly under pressure to develop agricultural technologies which will produce largest yield on a minimal land mass. These type of methods will lead to heavy use of chemical pesticides,food products with less carbohydrate and protein content and lesser life of a fertile land. SAZ will encourage experiments which will improve the traditional methods.Government will be in a place to produce nutritional food products with the help of organic manure.Chemical companies will be forced to concentrate on producing organic pesticides. Our scientists can develop advanced agricultural methods in India itself,instead of visiting European countries. Our country is blessed with scientists of high intellectual acumen, capable of creating agricultural heavens at a very small cost.Government can create a perfect environment and platform for our brilliant scientists through SAZ.

Implementation of Schemes and benefits

Government is declaring many schemes and benefits for the farmers every year.But none of these reach the farmers because of corrupt officials and ministers. If the Schemes and benefits has to reach a farmer,it should be direct,but the same is not happening because of the complex segmentation of our bureaucratic system. The Schemes prepared by our administration and decision makers are undoubtedly flawless, but the system of fund flow is like a leaking funnel.The system uses different leaking funnels in different levels of fund flow.The end use will only get an inadequate amount which will reach him after so many delays and processes.A benefit becomes a curse.if it wont be given on the right time. SAZ allows Government to channel the benefits in a simpler way to the needy on time. Families with traditional farming back grounds can be used for SAZ by allotting land to them inside SAZ. This will create more revenue to the farmers and encourages their coming generations to take up agriculture as a profession. SAZ can undoubtedly increase the labor force in agricultural segment and can act as a catalyst in reducing our food deficit.

There are many other advantages of SAZ.We need action from Government to carry out SAZ in a transparent and simple way. It shouldn’t go to drain like many other ambitious projects started earlier. This is all about existence of human race and eradication of death by starvation.Human race can’t sustain with out food. Lets start living along with nature, not by controlling nature.

Understanding Indo-Pak Relations in context of the Pathankot Attacks