Stay Strong , Stay Inspired !

An Article by Chetan Bhagat - Must Read for 'Youth for Equality'

A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article against reservations and sent it to a trusted journalist friend (TJF). The article was in the form of an open letter to the prime minister. TJF replied that even though the article sounded heartfelt and the arguments were valid, she could not use it. The reason, she said, was simple. She told me a lot of what I was saying had already been said. The case for merit, equality, Indian competitiveness was already out in the open. Her newspaper would not repeat the same argument again.

'What more do the upper castes want?'

I took her point and withdrew the article. However, it struck me that in many situations, the media will not cover something relevant just because well, it is not entertaining enough.

I had a call with another senior journalist friend (yes, I have journalists as friends -- I have no life, I know). We discussed the reservation issue -- on how it was practically more relevant to middle class Indians than any other issue. While the issue does get coverage, it has not ignited minds and galvanised the middle class. Somehow the issue is not getting as forceful a treatment. Fanaa's ban in Gujarat attracted far more media space for instance.

"The reason quite simply is the lack of a dramatic event. Ten years back, kids were burning themselves. Nothing of that sort is happening now. And the media is so immune now, to get them interested young people need to do more", was what she told me.

I am not here to do moral posturing. And I do respect her opinion. So I will not go into the "Media these days" rant. I will only take some lessons from a senior person in the media and try to give some tips to the activists to make sure their protests are more effective. After all, the point of making a noise is to be heard. And to be heard, one doesn't have to burn himself -- that is foolish and a one-time flash in the pan. If you want to do an effective protest, learn from the past masters -- and who better than Mahatma Gandhi.

In photographs, Mahatma Gandhi is a frail, saintly figure. However, what is often ignored is his magical ability to make a point and attract attention. He had no advertising budgets or PR managers. There were very few media outlets then. And he had only one, constant -- freedom. Yet, he dominated media space for decades and ultimately won. There is no reason why we cannot learn a few tips from him, some of which I list below. And you can get these checked by any media professional; they would tend to agree that this is a way to get yourself heard.

1. Keep a visual -- This is vital in today's multimedia world. Newspapers need to be colourful to compete with television, and a television is not a television without a visual. Gandhi kept a visual -- salt march (everyone remembers the scooping of salt), burning British made clothes, operating the charkha and more. Placards are boring. Do something else -- a huge bonfire, human chains -- be creative, make it easier for NDTV. They will come, I promise.

2. Emotions more than Reason -- Whenever activists talk to the media, always keep emotions in the forefront. Brooding anger, tears, banging fists is far more interesting than statistics on caste based demographics. Tell people what you think about the issue -- you are on the editorial page. Tell people what you feel about the issue -- you are on the front page.

3. Intentions more than Action -- This is a trick most used by our politicians even today. In reality, actions alone matter. However, our politicians keep saying 'our intention is to lift the backward castes', and they almost sound reasonable. Of course, the actions only divide the country and kill merit -- but they hide in the garb of purported good intentions. Protestors can do the same. They may be blocking traffic -- but harp on the intentions: 'But this is for Saraswati mata -- knowledge should decide'. (Think about it -- the politicians will be scared to take on Saraswati mata or if you mix any religious sentiment in your favour). Alongside, attack the other party's intentions -- 'they are only doing reservations for selfish political gain' (which is probably true).

4. Don't hurt yourself -- Burning yourself or even hunger strikes are very dangerous tools. There is no guarantee they will be effective. If they don't work, you will be seen as weak. Gandhi used a hunger strike rarely, and only after he had decades of experience.

5. Find a simple, interesting slogan -- Gandhi always had a simple slogan. It gives two benefits -- one it makes it easier to pass through word of mouth with minimal distortion. Secondly, it fits into the limited headline space in newspapers. In media terms, this is called 'the hook'. The reservation movement has no slogan yet. Find one. My suggestions: "No suck-up politics" OR "India on Merit only"

The above points are important to make your cause heard. Ignore them and the world will ignore you. Play them right and the media is on your side. Trust me; the reservation issue has bothered a lot of people in the media too.

I personally feel very strongly against reservations, and I wish the agitators all the best. I give the above tips as my small contribution towards tackling this monumental issue that will take effort from all of us. I am writing this article for an online site so that you can forward it to all friends who feel the same about reservations.

You are standing up for fairness, God will be with you. Stay strong, stay inspired.

Chetan Bhagat is the author of the bestselling 'One Night@the Call Center' and 'Five Point Someone'

06-06-06 - Here Cometh the Devil !

What does 6th June 2006 mean to you ?...Well for me it is more than coincidence that Director John Moore chose the Number of the Devil 6-6-6 as the release date for his remake of the 'The Omen'.Expect it to be as good as the original one if not better !!

Based Upon: A remake of 1976's The Omen, directed by Richard Donner and written by David Seltzer. It was followed by three sequels: Damien: The Omen II, The Final Conflict: Omen III and Omen IV: The Awakening.

Robert Thorn is a senior American diplomat whose wife, Katherine, endures a difficult delivery where their newborn child has died. Thorn knows the news will devastate Katherine, who had suffered two previous miscarriages. The hospital priest presents Thorn with another child born that night, whose mother died in childbirth. The priest compels Thorn to take the infant boy as his own; Katherine will never know the truth, and their son, which they name Damien, will be raised as their flesh and blood. As the child turns five, unsettling events begin to occur: Damien's nanny hangs herself at the youngster's birthday party; a strange priest brings dire warnings to Thorn; a children's trip to the zoo results in a panicked frenzy; Damien becomes hysterical during a drive to church; and blurred movements in a series of photographs portend shocking deaths. Enter Mrs. Baylock, Damien's new nanny, who seems to have a preordained devotion to the child. Then tragedy strikes closer to home. But only later does Thorn comprehend the truth: Damien is no ordinary child; he is the long-prophesized Anti-Christ. Now, Thorn must make the ultimate sacrifice to prevent the unspeakable terror that awaits the world.

Are We Sure This is The India We Want ?

The romance of rebellion can blur ideology. I was 18 when I marched down the streets of Delhi against Mandal; wide-eyed at the war cries of young men who were all IAS aspirants, but seemed at the time to be icons of radicalism.
So, every morning, we would huddle together in the protective shelter of an ageing tree at St. Stephen’s College, listen to long and fiery speeches on the murder of merit, and then, armed with the ammunition of youth, take to the roads.
A few years later when real life brought me face to face with the complexity of caste, I was embarrassed that the milestone from those years would read 'anti-Mandalite'. Perhaps, I wondered, we had just been a bunch of kids desperate to have something to get angry about; a generation in search of a cause.
Either way, looking back, it all felt hopelessly elitist and naïve. Not anymore. Life has turned full circle, and I’m finally stepping out from the shadow of political correctness, to think, maybe we weren't so wrong back then; our reasons may have been uninformed and uneducated, our motives questionable, but we had batted on the right side, even if by accident.
Reservations have become a joke. We all know the statistics. More than 80 per cent of Dalit students never make it past Class X; more than 80 per cent of the reserved seats in vocational institutes remain unused; and in engineering colleges it's even worse — more than 90 per cent of seats in the reserved category just lie empty.
What does this say? Two things. First, what's the point of all these reservations if there aren't enough qualified people to make use of them?
But second, and more importantly, who should take responsibility for this gap between promise and possibility? Surely, this is the failure of governance, the failure of the State? This is my objection to the reservation policy as it has come to be. It has become an excuse for the inaction of our political establishment; a cloak for its failure to deliver development or create equity; the refuge of the lazy.
No wonder then that there is complete agreement among political parties across the spectrum over the ever-expanding reservation pool; just competitive one-upmanship over who should get to swim in it. Every couple of years a new quota is created; a new group granted admission to the reserved category; but there are always others pushing the door down for entry.
The more the quota regime multiplies, the more it is beginning to look like a hundred-headed hydra. The problem is those who oppose the quotas are often pretty monstrous themselves. Usually urban, often rich, always upper-caste, their pedigree only seems to worsen their prejudice.
Some of the comments I have heard in our television studios make me want to throw up. A professional socialite declared that it was best her kids studied outside India because the 'social environment' in educational institutes here would decline now that quotas had opened the gates for 'all kinds'.
Another pointed me to a stunningly beautiful and articulate young woman in the studio audience and whispered "she doesn’t look like an OBC". It’s never said out aloud, or in so many words, but all the remarks suggest only thing: for India's elite, the 'backwards' are imagined as dark, ugly, dirty — a stain on their perfectly starched canvas.
There's also the innate dishonesty in their arguments. If we debate reservations in the private sector, they will say if you must block off seats, do it in schools and colleges, so you can create qualified people who can compete for jobs. If you talk about quotas in education, they will be just as indignant about the 'decline of quality'.
They will declare that cash is more of a barrier than caste, but try suggesting quotas for poor students in public schools, and watch them run. But their prejudice can't be the reason for a reservation policy that is increasingly unsustainable and directionless. It's a tough nut to crack but my own view is that quotas would probably be most effective at the school level, but here too there should be an economic benchmark.
Lalu Prasad Yadav and Meira Kumar's kids, for example, should be able to compete like everybody else. In the end, I still think it all boils down to an apathetic, under-performing State. If we had created an efficient and equal government school model, like the neighbourhood schools in the West, this entire debate may well have been irrelevant.
Sure, the super-rich kids would have still gone to snotty private schools, but at least everyone else would have studied with some sense of parity and quality. Right now more than 60 students compete for a single IIT seat. Isn't it our right to demand more premier engineering institutes rather than this mad scramble for a handful of seats, made yet more acrimonious by the politics of reservation?
Maybe you agree, maybe you don’t; no one in India ever has the same view on reservations. Perhaps that's the point. I got an ominous glimpse of what may lie ahead on We the People this Sunday while debating the new quotas for the IIMs and IITs.
The battle-lines were drawn not just between the two obvious camps, but also between the Dalits and the OBCs in the audience. Outraged by Dalit writer Chandra Bhan Prasad's declaration that "Mandal had killed the spirit of reservation", a group of 15 young OBC students sprang to their feet, close to violence and stormed off the set.
Left behind in the audience were mostly those who had opposed the quotas to begin with. It seemed to me that those who had walked out had displayed a siege mentality, a heightened sense of victimhood and bias, a feeling of not being heard even when everyone was listening to them on a readymade platform.
But to listen to those who had stayed back was as terrifying. There was a gloating, we-told-you-so atmosphere in the studio; mostly everyone said the same thing; the boys who had walked out hadn't deserved to be part of the programme, and were apparently proof of why "such people" should be best kept at a distance.
It was, I thought, an index of how deeply this issue has come to divide us as a people, in ways that are ugly, primal and unresolved. It was a scary preview of a fractious future.

Are we sure this is the India we want?

- Barkha Dutt (Managing Editor, NDTV 24x7)

What Is Reality ?

What is reality all about?

Is it about what we can see and feel?
Can we discount the fact that we are just a part of this universe? Just a small insignificant part? And like all other such parts are oblivious to many things? Things which might as well be controlling the way we think,behave and act?

I have often wondered what if all of this is fixed? You know "fixed"? What if we all are being controlled by some-one else? I am not saying God. Haven't seen him yet.

And this is basically the reason why I barged into this pefectly perfect blog. To tell people what I wonder about and see if I hear an echo.

'Citizen Khan' Takes a Stand !

For those of you who missed the exclusive interview of Aamir Khan with Rajdeep Sardesai on CNN-IBN at 21:30 hrs on 26th May.Here goes the discussion...

His film Rang De Basanti made waves and received rave reviews. But now, the actor – considered Bollywood's method actor - has come under sharp criticism for taking his reel-life character too seriously. His involvement and comments on the Sardar Sarovar Dam issue invited the wrath of Gujarat's polity and his latest film Fanaa has been blacked-out in the state. In a candid interview with CNN-IBN Editor-in-Chief Rajdeep Sardesai, Aamir 'Citizen' Khan clarifies his stand.

Rajdeep: Hello and welcome to a very special programme with a very special guest. He is the man in the news, a celebrated actor, a producer and also importantly a citizen of India. Tonight, we bring you 'Citizen Khan' - the one and only Aamir Khan. Thank you very much for joining us. Is that a fair thing to say that you are a citizen first and then an actor?
Aamir: Yes, I think that is very fair. I'd like to look upon myself as a citizen first-of the country and of the society.
Rajdeep: And does that drive everything that you do, both off-screen and on-screen? Is there a passion for being involved in life, in civil society, in public life?
Aamir: I would like to be.
Rajdeep: You would like to be involved in public life?
Aamir: Well, in society definitely.
Rajdeep: And reflect that even perhaps through your cinema...
Aamir: I am sure that it is something that happens automatically. It is something that gets into my subconscious. Whatever happens around us in the society affects us and then it comes out in the way we live, the way we behave and in the work that we do.
Rajdeep: Let's then go straight to the big thing that you are doing at the moment. You are the man in the controversy. I want to start this programme by playing what exactly you said on the Narmada issue, which has lead to your film Fanaa being banned in Gujarat, which has made you a target or a 'hate figure' for some. Let's just hear what you said originally on the Narmada issue. You took up the Narmada issue or atleast you identified yourself with the Narmada Bachao Andolan. Was that a spontaneous, on the spur decision or did you think it over through?
Aamir: It was a very spontaneous decision actually. I was in Delhi a week before I gave this interview for the release of a book. When I was going to the venue of the release, I saw these protests happening on the road. There were two protests happening - one was for the Narmada Bachao Andolan and on the other side of the road were the Bhopal Gas victims. I enquired about both these protests to find out what is happening. They had been in the news for some time, but since I saw it first hand, I thought I should learn more about it and understand more about it.
Having got a fair idea about what the two were trying to say, I thought that I should lend my support and join them, meet them.
Rajdeep: Was it ideological? Did you feel ideologically inclined to those groups, did you feel a strong sense of being connected?
Aamir: I am not connected to either of the groups. But my common sense told me that the people who have been affected by the gas tragedy should be properly compensated. And the people who are affected because of the dam should be rehabilitated. My common sense told me that.
Rajdeep: Your common sense may have told you that. But was it a little naive? Because the moment you associate yourself with any group like the Narmada Bachao Andolan, which is a complicated issue, is deeply emotional and emotive in Gujarat in particular and is a political issue, you are open to being targeted. Were you ready for that?
Aamir: Maybe I was naive. But given a second chance, I would do the same thing again. I do not think things through. In fact, I had thought that the political parties would come out and say, ‘Yes, Aamir is right, we should rehabilitate the people who are losing their land because that is why we are here for, that is why we have been elected’. That is what my common sense told me.
Rajdeep: You know how politics plays out. Surely Aamir Khan is not completely divorced from the way politics plays out. In a state like Gujarat, whether it is BJP or Congress, everyone speaks in one voice on the Narmada issue-everyone speaks 'for' the dam.
Aamir: I am not speaking against the dam in any case. For the past one month I have not been speaking against the dam. I have very clearly said that I am speaking only for the rehabilitation of the people who are affected by the dam.
Rajdeep: Critics say that Aamir was not just naive, but got a little carried away. It was the Rang de Basanti effect. You were an anti-establishment hero in Rang de Basanti. You were again playing that role, though this time 'off-screen'. In a sense you were translating what you did in Rang de Basanti. In fact, you came to the protest with Atul Kulkarni and others. It almost became cinema in real life.
Aamir: Perhaps. Rakeysh Mehra, Atul or Kunal are all friends of mine and when they heard that I was going there, they wanted to come along to support me.
Rajdeep: A bit of the anti-establishment hero?
Aamir: Well, may be. But I don't think that it is relevant. I think that we are going away from the point. The point is that people who have lost their villages, houses and lands have not been properly rehabilitated and still that process is not complete. There is a report that has come out which The Hindu published. It said that a lot of the rehabilitation work is still to be completed.
Rajdeep: There are two sides to this issue. Did you try and read up and then decide that this is what I wanted to say.
Aamir: Yes, I did actually. I have read as much material as I could find on the net regarding this issue. In the report, which the Committee did that went for investigation to find out whether the rehabilitation work is going to happen or not or to what extent is it happening present.
Rajdeep: You have made your point. Now let’s just hear what the BJP had to say, particularly in Gujarat, since that is the place where the target has taken place. Let’s hear what the BJP Yuva Morcha leader, Amish Thakkar had to say about Aamir’s involvement on Namarda:
Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra sab logo ko isse faida honewla hai. Sab isthapith ka kaam hone wala hai. Aamir Khan ki salaah ki aur Aamir Khan ki madat ki Gujarat ko zarurat nahih hai.(The people of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra are going to be benefited by it. There are going to be works of establishments. Gujarat doesn’t need Aamir Khan’s help or advice.)
Rajdeep: When you hear those angry voices out in the streets, they were burning effigies of Aamir Khan in Gujarat. Did you feel targeted or isolated?
Aamir: Yes. I certainly felt targeted but I did not feel isolated because a lot of people came in support of me. I got innumerable text messages wherever I went, in the public, on the road, in the flights that I took, everyone kept saying that we completely support what you are saying. So I did not feel isolated but I felt targeted. And what I want to say in response to this clip is that certainly a political party or a group can disagree with me. If I say that people who have lost their land should be rehabilitated and suppose somebody disagrees with me, they should voice their opinions and say what they feel. I don’t think there is a need to target me because this is a democracy after all and every person has a right to say what he feels. Secondly I don’t think there is any thing wrong in the first place. BJP has been trying to say that I am against the dam when I am not against the dam. I hear in the TV that BJP is trying to say that I am against the dam and I do not want the people of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh to get water. I live in Maharashtra and I want everyone to have water. I have nothing against the dam. All I am saying is that the people who are affected by the dam should be rehabilitated; they cannot be left to die. They are poor farmers because of whom we eat our food, we cannot leave them to die. Are we so insensitive?
Rajdeep: But the moment you do that, you are taking a political position You are saying that you are taking a social position but only a week or two after that there were riots in Vadodara and again you made a statement. You were quoted as saying that you were upset with the fact the government had not done enough to protect the life of innocent citizens.
Aamir:No, I did not make any statement.
Rajdeep: You made no statements on Vadodara but it was there in the papers.
Aamir: I did not make any statement.
Rajdeep: So the only statement which you are saying that you have made politically is on the Narmada issue.
Aamir: Yes.
Rajdeep: When the Vadodara statement at least reflected in the papers and coming on the back of Narmada, there was a feeling that it was Aamir Khan versus the State of Gujarat. And some even said Aamir Khan versus Narendra Modi.
Aamir: I have nothing against the state of Gujarat. I have only love and respect in my heart for the people of Gujarat and that apart I would like to tell them and ask them what is it that I am saying is wrong. When I speak in favour of people in Gujarat who are affected that what I am saying is wrong. When the Supreme Court has even said the same thing that the people affected by the dam must be rehabilitated, what is it that I am saying is wrong?
Rajdeep: What is it that Aamir Khan is saying is wrong? We have a couple of Gujaratis who may want to ask a question.
Audience Question: I completely agree with Aamir regarding what he say about the rehabilitation of the people. So I think that the BJP has misunderstood him and politically he has been made a target.
Rajdeep to Audience member: So as a Gujarati do you have no problem?
Audience: The one thing I want to say about the Vadodara riots is that Aamir is saying something, which is against the Gujarati Government or Narandra Modi may not be true.
Aamir: Actually I did not give any comments in the Vadodara issue, I did not make any comments at all. And I will make it right now, I just want to clarify that till now I have not made any statement. However, the statement that I do want to make is that in the name of religion innocent people die and I am against any group, whether it is a Hindu group, an Islamic group, any terrorist group, any organisation or a political party also, which in the name of religion kills and attacks innocents. Innocents lives are lost of any religion of India are lost and I am against that happening in Kashmir, Gujarat, Mumbai, Chennai or any part of the country.
Rajdeep: Is this Aamir citizen talking or the actor talking?
Aamir: I am saying this as a citizen and I want to know what is wrong in my saying this. Does the public (audience) agree with me here?
Rajdeep: Do you agree with what Aamir says?
The audience agrees.
Rajdeep: Well you have the support of the people of India but what about the film industry? Here is a film Fanaa, which is stopped in Gujarat. Why doesn’t the film industry come as one and say that no we won’t allow the Gujarat Government to dictate terms. In that sense aren’t you feeling isolated?
Aamir: I think that the film industry should do that. I personally feel that the film industry should be united on the stand. I have received a lot of support from the film industry. However, no official step has been taken.
Rajdeep: That is the problem, the people in the film industry do not want to come out and take on a Government or take on a strong position.
Aamir: I am a member of the actors’ association and I think that the association should take a look at this matter and I am sure that they are aware of what is happening. I would like to write to then and in the coming days see what action they will take.
Rajdeep: You are someone whose evolution started in Bollywood many years from the film Yaado Ki Baarat as a child actor ago and you have today reached a stage where you are influencing the minds of several people. Let me just refresh about what you said that when the BJP said that you must apologise for your stand on Narmada on the context of the Fanaa controversy. Let us hear it:
In loge ke ghar jal rahi hai, kheti badi jal rahi hai, inke school ja rahi hai, mandir masjid ja rahi hai. Ab aap inko ek dafa phir rehabilitate karea, yehi main ne kaha hai. Is ke liye main mafi mangu, sawal hi nahi uttha.
(Their houses are burning, their fields are burning, their schools are burning and their mandirs and masjids are burning. Now if I say that you rehabilitate them once more. There is no question of me apologising.)
Rajdeep: You like playing tough ‘guys’ right?
Aamir: No, I don’t think I like playing anything.
Rajdeep: You were the chocolate box hero. You started off as a chocolate box hero and are increasingly becoming an anti-establishment even in films. Even in Lagaan andRang De Basanti.
Aamir: Well I am just saying that I am a plain speaking person. I speak from my heart and I am honest in being what I feel and I am saying what I feel.
Rajdeep: But the world outside is much tougher.
Aamir: I am sure that the world is very tough. For example, the BJP is very upset with me at this point of time. BJP is a national political party, an extremely powerful entity and I am completely aware of that. However, I am the kind of person who would like to do what one believes in. In the process if I get harmed in any way, so be it. I cannot change what I feel, I cannot change they way I am.
Rajdeep: You are an interesting person because you are very different in a sense from the average Bollywood stars. You want to do one film a year, you do not attend film awards and you are a strange kind of person. You pay your taxes, which doesn’t happen too often in Bollywood. Is that a conscious decision that Aamir Khan is part of Bollywood and yet not part of it?
Aamir: I just want to clarify one thing over here. You have said that I am very different from other people in Bollywood, as if Bollywood is some strange group of people who have come from Jupiter and Mars. I want to clarify that the people in this Indian film industry belong to the very society that you and I belong to. We are the same human beings, a part of us become film people and a part of us go into other fields but we are the very same people. So what I am trying to say here is that in society as a whole, I think we need more people to take a stance, not only in the film industry but people from in every walk of life and every part of society should be more responsible.
Rajdeep: But yet you are different from most film stars. Most of then do their films, go home and will only talk their film roles. You want to talk about other issues as well. Only the other day for example, you spoke about the media. You are extremely critical of the media and you felt it was becoming sensationalist. You seem to be a man of opinions as you have lot of opinions.
Aamir: I have to say that I am reacting. I am not somebody who likes to go out and say things. I would like to react and say what I feel and say what I feel when something happens.
Rajdeep: Why do you take up the issue for example, on the media? You had said that the media had become a sensationalist. Was that because of the manner it covered your wedding that took place recently? You felt it was the violation of the right to privacy.
Aamir: It was a mixture of a lot a lot of things and a lot of those issues did not have anything to do with me. The way that the national news is being reported today is shocking for me. Personal lives of film stars become headline news. The role of the media is to be a watchdog. The media is to be watchdog on national issues like, where the money of the country is being spent? What are the various schemes that the Government is coming up with? Where is the money we are paying as tax going or where is it being used? Some Karisma Kapoor’s wedding is in a problem and the media shows it national news. Some IPS person wants to become Radha and the media thinks that is news. What is this?
Rajdeep: As a media person, what if I say Aamir Khan the industry is being hypocritical. You use the media when a big film is there, you call the them in the place and use the media. And now you are telling that you are sensationalist. Is that fair?
Aamir: I think that you are evading the issue. Right now I think we should discuss one thing, is the media what is national news or not, otherwise don’t call yourself a news channel but call yourself an entertainment channel instead.
Rajdeep: You are saying that there is a crisis of content. To an extent you have a point but you also accept that the media has exploited u ruthlessly by the profession, which you belong.
Aamir: I think that the media is used by each and every individual who feels that he can gain from the media, it could be a film person, it could be a politician and it could be a businessman. All of these people in these various news channels that you have on business etc. The newspapers have come out with news of shares and all that. When they have to gain something from the media or from the people, they like to use the media at the end.
Rajdeep: I want to raise a contagious issue, Aamir Khan as an Indian-Muslim. Do you sense your identity as an Indian-Muslim? I am asking this particularly in reference to Gujarat since that is the issue you have chosen, in a sense that people have chosen to link back. I have often wondered and I only think about it sometime is that had you been perhaps, not a Muslim. Would the reaction in Gujarat be in the manner it was and are you conscious of that?
Aamir: I would like to say that whether I was a Hindu or a Muslim, a Christian or a Sikh, I would have behaved in exactly the same way and no other way.
Rajdeep: Do you see yourself as purely as an Indian citizen?
Aamir: I see myself purely as an Indian citizen. I am reacting as an Indian citizen. My heart goes out to those people, who lose a member of their family because of some religious person who is trying to be an extremist blows up a bomb somewhere or something like that, or some innocent person dying in a riot. My heart goes out to the family members of the person. It is very sad and it should not happen. I strongly condemn it.
Rajdeep: You don’t want to take on Narendra Modi right? What do you think of Narendra Modi?
Aamir: I really feel that there is no need of me to comment on Mr Modi.
Rajdeep: Are you a political person to an extent?
Aamir: No I am not a political person. I feel that each person should do what his karma is.
I am a strong believer of that because we are not in control of what happens but we are in control of what we do. I feel that if I should do what is my karma, what I believe I should honestly be doing, I would want to do that. And other people, whether it is a politician or any other individual in the country should do what he feels, is his karma.
Rajdeep: If I were to talk to you five years from now, would it be as citizen Khan or neta Khan that I would be talking to?
Aamir: I have absolutely no interest in politics and as I am understanding, it is an arena which I would keep away from. I would prefer to be a citizen who can comment on how the country is being run.
Rajdeep: But when you are an observer, why not go beyond being an observer to actually be in politics? It happens in the West. You have the Arnold Schwarzeneggers, you have had the Ronald Regans. It has happened in this country in the South particularly, the MGRs, the Jayalalithaas and the NTRs.
Aamir: I am a creative person basically and I want to make films, I want to entertain people. I enjoy and I like doing that and that is what I know how to do. And in my own way, if I can make films and create awareness in people, actually that is what I would like to do.
Rajdeep: So you are more of a social activist in that sense. Do you see yourself in that role?
Aamir: I don’t even know that I could call myself as an activist. I am a creative person and when I do feel strongly about something, I would as a common citizen of the country voice my opinion.
Rajdeep: Will Aamir Khan will never join a political party. Will Aamir Khan never contest an election or never start a political party.
Aamir: No.
Rajdeep: You have become a larger than life figure. As you were coming to the studio, some of the girls said "So cute!" but the others were looking at you with awe. A larger than life figure who has an opinion could be used by people for various social reasons or may be for joining politics.
Aamir: No, I am not really not interested in politics because I feel that I am a creative person and that is what I want to do.
Rajdeep: What about an ambassador for social causes?
Aamir: I would certainly like to be an ambassador for social cause. I think that if there is any way that I can help society or any way I can help for causes, then I would love to do that.
Rajdeep: Do you not see yourself imprisoned by any ideology? It could be Narmada today, it could be Vadodara second or it could be another issue third.
Aamir: Any thing that affects people’s life at the moment and I feel have something that I have to contribute or say, I will like to speak on it.
Rajdeep: Let’s get a girl in the audience to ask a question.
Audience Question: You say that you wouldn’t like to get in politics but isn’t that the problem now. Every one just wants to comment or even help basically you said but no one wants to get down and clean the so-called gutter as we call it. You know you have got corruption and you have got red-tapism but no one takes initiative.
Rajdeep: But do you want Aamir Khan to get into politics?
Audience to Rajdeep: Yes, if you are headstrong on certain issues and if you have the masses with you why not? You are an amazing actor but probably you will do a much better job as a politician, don’t you think so?
Rajdeep: It is not so easy, I haven’t seen several middle class heroes, who become anti-establishment. We have seen it with T N Seshan. When they get into politics for example, Seshan lost his deposit. I sometimes wonder whether you are safer at the moment being an anti-establishment hero without joining politics.
Aamir: Let me answer the girl in the audience. What I would like to say is that I appreciate what you are saying but I don’t think that it is something that I would like to do. That is not something that comes from my heart. I think that to be a statesman a politician and an administrator you need be a different kind of person with a different kind of training, I don’t think that I have had that kind of training, so I can comment on social issues like everyone else can. In your life in any case, you can do what your heart tells you and only then you can do it well.
Rajdeep: Aamir Khan is a man driven by his heart. So let me ask someone in the audience to ask a question.
Audience Question: There was a dialogue in your film Rang De Basanti "If you want to be in the system you have to be in the system."
Aamir: I am being part of the system by coming out and commenting and that is what the film is also saying. We should not keep quiet, as the people have a lot of power. Whenever we elect a political party, we vote for the party because they are our representatives and they are supposed to look after the society for us. So when they are doing something wrong, it is our duty to tell them that they are doing something wrong. It is our duty to convey to them through our next election, our vote that you are doing something wrong and I do not agree with you, that is our social duty to do, half of us don’t go to vote but it is a must that everyone should vote for what we believe in. We should be involved in out social lives.
Rajdeep: That’s why we have called this programme Citizen Khan and we have seen the evolution of the man to a Bollywood star to some would say conscience keeper, others would say anti-establishment hero. Whatever you are Aamir Khan, you are a very special person. Thank you very much for joining us.
Aamir: Thank you very much.

Source : CNN-IBN

Software Professionals Aren't Everything in This World !

Got it as a forward...Read on to find out why it is such a touching story !

Vivek Pradhan wasn't a happy man. Even the plush comfort of the First Class air-conditioned compartment of the Shatabdi express couldn't cool his frayed nerves. He was the Project Manager and still not entitled to air travel. It was not the prestige he sought, he had tried to reason with the admin guy, it was the savings in time. A PM had so many things to do!

He opened his case and took out the laptop, determined to put the time to some good use.
"Are you from the software industry sir," the man beside him was staring appreciatively at the laptop. Vivek glanced briefly and mumbled in affirmation, handling the laptop now with exaggerated care and importance as if it were an expensive car. "You people have brought so much advancement to the country sir. Today everything is getting computerized." "Thanks," smiled Vivek, turning around to give the man a look. He always found it difficult to resist appreciation.

The man was young and stocky like a sportsman. He looked simple and Strangely out of place in that little lap of luxury like a small town boy in a prep school. He probably was a Railway sportsman making the most of his free traveling pass. "You people always amaze me," the man continued, "You sit in an office and write something on a computer and it does so many big things outside." Vivek smiled deprecatingly. Naivety demanded reasoning Not anger. "It is not as simple as that my friend. It is not just A question of writing a few lines. There is a lot of process that Goes behind it." For a moment he was tempted to explain the entire Software Development Lifecycle but restrained himself to a Single statement. "It is complex, very complex." "It has to be. No wonder you people are so highly paid," came the reply.

This was not turning out as Vivek had thought. A hint of belligerence came into his so far affable, persuasive tone. "Everyone just sees the money. No one sees the amount of hard work we have to put in." "Hard work!" "Indians have such a narrow concept of hard work. Just because we sit in an air-conditioned office doesn't mean our brows don't sweat. You exercise the muscle; we exercise the mind and believe me that is no less taxing." He had the man where he wanted him and it was time to drive home the point. "Let me give you an example. Take this train. The entire railway reservation system is computerized. You can book a train ticket between any two stations from any of the hundreds of computerized booking centers across the country. Thousands of transactions accessing a single database at a given time; concurrency, data integrity, locking, data security. Do you understand the complexity in designing and coding such a system?"

The man was stuck with amazement, like a child at a planetarium. This was something big and beyond his imagination. "You design and code such things." "I used to," Vivek paused for effect, "But now I am the Project manager," "Oh!" sighed the man, as if the storm had passed over, "so your life is easy now." It was like being told the fire was better than the frying pan. The man had to be given a feel of the heat. "Oh come on, does life ever get easy as you go up the ladder.

Responsibility only brings more work. Design and coding! That is the easier part. Now I don't do it, but I am responsible for it and believe me, that is far more stressful. My job is to get the work done in time and with the highest quality. And to tell you about the pressures! There is the customer at one end always changing his requirements, the user wanting something else and your boss always expecting you to have finished it yesterday." Vivek paused in his diatribe, his belligerence fading With self-realisation. What he had said was not merely the Outburst of a wronged man, it was the truth. And one need not get Angry while defending the truth. "My friend," he concluded triumphantly, "you don't know what it is to be in the line of fire."

The man sat back in his chair, his eyes closed as if in realization.When he spoke after sometime, it was with a calm certainty that surprised Vivek. "I know sir, I know what it is to be in the line of fire," He was staring blankly as if no passenger, no train existed, just a vast expanse of time. "There were 30 of us when we were ordered to capture Point 4875 in the cover of the night. The enemy was firing from the top. There was no knowing where the next bullet was going to come from and for whom. In the morning when we finally hoisted the tricolor at the top only 4 of us were alive." "You are a..." "I am Subedar Sushant from the 13 J&K Rifles on duty at Peak 4875 in Kargil. They tell me I have completed my term and can opt for a land assignment. But tell me sir, can one give up duty just because it makes life easier. On the dawn of that capture one of my colleagues lay injured in the snow, open to enemy fire while we were hiding behind a bunker. It was my job to go and fetch that soldier to safety. But my captain refused me permission and went ahead himself. He said that the first pledge he had taken as a Gentleman Cadet was to put the safety and welfare of the nation foremost followed by the safety and welfare of the men he commanded. His own personal safety came last, always and every time. He was killed as he shielded that soldier into the bunker.

Every morning now as I stand guard I can see him taking all those bullets, which were actually meant for me. I know sir, I know what it is to be in the line of fire." Vivek looked at him in disbelief not sure of his reply. Abruptly he switched off the laptop. It seemed trivial, even insulting to edit a word document in the presence of a man for whom valor and duty was a daily part of life; a valor and sense of duty which he had so far attributed only to epical heroes. The train slowed down as it pulled into the station and Subedar Sushant picked up his bags to alight. "It was nice meeting you sir." Vivek fumbled with the handshake.

This was the hand that had climbed mountains, pressed the trigger and hoisted the tricolor. Suddenly as if by impulse he stood at attention, and his right hand went up in an impromptu
salute.It was the least he felt he could do for the country.

The incident he narrates during the capture of Peak 4875 is a true life incident during the Kargil war. Major Batra Sacrificed his life while trying to save one of the men he commanded, as victory was within sight. For this and his various other acts of bravery he was awarded the Param Vir Chakra - the nation's highest military award.

Facts that Will Make Every Indian Proud !

Q. Who is the GM of Hewlett Packard (hp) ?
A. Rajiv Gupta

Q. Who is the creator of Pentium chip (needs no introduction as 90% of the today's computers run on it)?
A. Vinod Dahm

Q. Who is the third richest man on the world?
A. According to the latest report on Fortune Magazine, it is Azim Premji, who is the CEO of Wipro Industries. The Sultan of Brunei is at 6 th position now.

Q. Who is the founder and creator of Hotmail (Hotmail is world's No.1 web based email program)?
A. Sabeer Bhatia

Q. Who is the president of AT & T-Bell Labs (AT & T-Bell Labs is the creator of program languages such as C, C++, Unix to name a few)?
A. Arun Netravalli

Q. Who is the new MTD (Microsoft Testing Director) of Windows 2000, responsible to iron out all initial problems?
A. Sanjay Tejwrika

Q. Who are the Chief Executives of CitiBank, Mckensey & Stanchart?
A. Victor Menezes, Rajat Gupta, and Rana Talwar.

We Indians are the wealthiest among all ethnic groups in America, even faring better than the whites and the natives.
There are 3.22 millions of Indians in USA (15% of population). YET,
38% of doctors in USA are Indians.
12% scientists in USA are Indians.
36% of NASA scientists are Indians.
34% of Microsoft employees are Indians.
28% of IBM employees are Indians.
17% of INTEL scientists are Indians.
13% of XEROX employees are! Indians.

Some of the following facts may be known to you. These facts were recently published in a German magazine, which deals with WORLD HISTORY FACTS ABOUT INDIA.
1. India never invaded any country in her last 1000 years of history.
2. India invented the Number system. Zero was invented by Aryabhatta.
3. The world's first University was established in Takshila in 700BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4 th century BC was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.
4. According to the Forbes magazine, Sanskrit is the most suitable language for computer software.
5. Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans.
6. Although western media portray modern images of India as poverty striken and underdeveloped through political corruption, India was once the richest empire on earth.
7. The art of navigation was born in the river Sindh 5000 years ago. The very word "Navigation" is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH.
8. The value of pi was first calculated by Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is now known as the Pythagorean Theorem. British scholars have last year (1999) officially published that Budhayan's works dates to the 6 th Century which is long before the European mathematicians.
9. Algebra, trigonometry and calculus came from India . Quadratic equations were by Sridharacharya in the 11 th Century; the largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Indians used numbers as big as 10 53
10. According to the Gemmological Institute of America, up until 1896, India was the only source of diamonds to the world.
11. USA based IEEE has proved what has been a century-old suspicion amongst academics that the pioneer of wireless communication was Professor Jagdeesh Bose and not Marconi.
12. The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in Saurashtra.
13. Chess was invented in India
14. Sushruta is the father of surgery. 2600 years ago he and health scientists of his time conducted surgeries like cesareans, cataract, fractures and urinary stones. Usage of anaesthesia was well known in ancient India .
15. When many cultures in the world were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley ( Indus ValleyIndia in 100 BC.
Quotes about India
We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.
-Albert Einstein.
India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend and the great grand mother of tradition.
-Mark Twain.
If there is one place on the face of earth where all dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is India
-French scholar Romain Rolland.
India conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border.
-Hu Shih (former Chinese ambassador to USA )

Positive Thinking !

Finding positives out of every negative - which we don't always manage to do !!

I'm Thankful...

1. For the husband who snores all night, because he is at home asleep with me and not with someone else.

2. For my teenage daughter who is complaining about doing dishes, because that means she is at home & not on the Streets.

3. For the taxes that I pay because it means that I am employed.

4. For the mess to clean after a party because it means that I have been surrounded by friends.

5. For the clothes that fit a little too snug because it means I have enough to eat.

6. For my shadow that watches me work because it means I am out in the sunshine.

7. For a floor that needs mopping, and windows that need cleaning because it means I have a home.

8. For all the complaining I hear about the government because it means that we have freedom of speech.

9. For the parking spot I find at the far end of the parking lot because it means I am capable of walking and that I have been blessed with transportation.

10. For the noise I have to bear from my neighbours because it means that I can hear.

11. For the pile of laundry and ironing because it means I have clothes to wear.

12. For weariness and aching muscles at the end of the day because it means I have been capable of working hard.

13. For the alarm that goes off in the early morning hours because it means that I am still alive.

14. And Finally, for receiving e-mails because it means I have friends who are thinking of me, at least.

Karan Thapar Puts the Final Nail in the Coffin !

For those of you who missed the Interview of HRD Minister Arjun Singh with Karan Thapar on The Devil's Advocate at 20:30 hrs (CNN-IBN) on Sunday.

Even I missed it. This is how Karan Thapar nailed him with his statistics and data...

The defeaning silence of Arjun Singh spoke volumes about the political gimmick being played in our country.Pretty disgusting to know that our country is in the hands of such politicians.... Read on, u will feel the same...

Decision on quota is final: Arjun

CNN-IBN

QUOTA UNCOATED: Arjun Singh says the decision on the quota issue is made by Parliament.

Karan Thapar: Hello and welcome to the Devil's Advocate. As the debate over the reservations for the OBCs divides the country, we ask - What are the government's real intentions? That is the critical questions that I shall put today in an exclusive interview to the Minister for Human Resource Development Arjun Singh.

Most of the people would accept that steps are necessary to help the OBCs gain greater access to higher education. The real question is - Why do you believe that reservations is the best way of doing this?
Arjun Singh: I wouldn't like to say much more on this because these are decisions that are taken not by individuals alone. And in this case, the entire Parliament of this country - almost with rare anonymity - has decided to take this decision.

Karan Thapar: Except that Parliament is not infallible. In the Emergency, when it amended the Constitution, it was clearly wrong, it had to reverse its own amendments. So, the question arises - Why does Parliament believe that the reservation is the right way of helping the OBCs?
Arjun Singh: Nobody is infallible. But Parliament is Supreme and atleast I, as a Member of Parliament, cannot but accept the supremacy of Parliament.

Karan Thapar: No doubt Parliament is supreme, but the constitutional amendment that gives you your authorities actually unenabling amendment, it is not a compulsory requirement. Secondly, the language of the amendment does not talk about reservations, the language talks about any provision by law for advancement of socially and educationally backward classes. So, you could have chosen anything other than reservations, why reservations?
Arjun Singh: Because as I said, that was the 'will and desire of the Parliament'.

Karan Thapar: Do you personally also, as Minister of Human Resource Development , believe that reservations is the right and proper way to help the OBCs?
Arjun Singh: Certainly, that is one of the most important ways to do it.

Karan Thapar: The right way?
Arjun Singh: Also the right way.

Karan Thapar: In which case, lets ask a few basic questions; we are talking about the reservations for the OBCs in particular. Do you know what percentage of the Indian population is OBC? Mandal puts it at 52 per cent, the National Sample Survey Organisation at 32 per cent, the National Family and Health Survey at 29.8 per cent, which is the correct figure?
Arjun Singh: I think that should be decided by people who are more knowledgeable. But the point is that the OBCs form a fairly sizeable percentage of our population.

Karan Thapar: No doubt, but the reason why it is important to know 'what percentage' they form is that if you are going to have reservations for them, then you must know what percentage of the population they are, otherwise you don't know whether they are already adequately catered in higher educational institutions or not.
Arjun Singh: That is obvious - they are not.

Karan Thapar: Why is it obvious?
Arjun Singh: Obvious because it is something which we all see.

Karan Thapar: Except for the fact that the NSSO, which is a government appointed body, has actually in its research in 1999 - which is the most latest research shown - that 23.5 per cent of all university seats are already with the OBCs. And that is just 8.5 per cent less than what the NSSO believes is the OBC share of the population. So, for a difference of 8 per cent, would reservations be the right way of making up the difference?
Arjun Singh: I wouldn't like to go behind all this because, as I said, Parliament has taken a view and it has taken a decision, I am a servant of Parliament and I will only implement.

Karan Thapar: Absolutely, Parliament has taken a view, I grant it. But what people question is the simple fact - Is there a need for reservations? If you don't know what percentage of the country is OBC, and if furthermore, the NSSO is correct in pointing out that already 23.5 per cent of the college seats are with the OBC, then you don't have a case in terms of need.
Arjun Singh: College seats, I don't know.

Karan Thapar: According to the NSSO - which is a government appointed body - 23.5 per cent of the college seats are already with the OBCs.
Arjun Singh: What do you mean by college seats?

Karan Thapar: University seats, seats of higher education.
Arjun Singh: Well, I don't know I have not come across that far.

Karan Thapar: So, when critics say to you that you don't have a case for reservation in terms of need, what do you say to them?
Arjun Singh: I have said what I had to say and the point is that that is not an issue for us to now debate.

Karan Thapar: You mean the chapter is now closed?
Arjun Singh: The decision has been taken.

Karan Thapar: Regardless of whether there is a need or not, the decision is taken and it is a closed chapter.
Arjun Singh: So far as I can see, it is a closed chapter and that is why I have to implement what all Parliament has said.

Karan Thapar: Minister, it is not just in terms of 'need' that your critics question the decision to have reservation for OBCs in higher education. More importantly, they question whether reservations themselves are efficacious and can work.

For example, a study done by the IITs themselves shows that 50 per cent of the IIT seats for the SCs and STs remain vacant and for the remaining 50 per cent, 25 per cent are the candidates, who even after six years fail to get their degrees. So, clearly, in their case, reservations are not working.
Arjun Singh: I would only say that on this issue, it would not be correct to go by all these figures that have been paraded.

Karan Thapar: You mean the IIT figures themselves could be dubious?
Arjun Singh: Not dubious, but I think that is not the last word.

Karan Thapar: All right, maybe the IIT may not be the last word, let me then quote to you the report of the Parliamentary Committee on the welfare for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes - that is a Parliamentary body.

It says that looking at the Delhi University, between 1995 and 2000, just half the seats for under-graduates at the Scheduled Castes level and just one-third of the seats for under-graduates at the Scheduled Tribes level were filled. All the others went empty, unfilled. So, again, even in Delhi University, reservations are not working.
Arjun Singh: If they are not working, it does not mean that for that reason we don't need them. There must be some other reason why they are not working and that can be certainly probed and examined. But to say that for this reason, 'no reservations need to be done' is not correct.

Karan Thapar: Fifty years after the reservations were made, statistics show, according to The Hindustan Times, that overall in India, only 16 per cent of the places in higher education are occupied by SCs and STs. The quota is 22.5 per cent, which means that only two-thirds of the quota is occupied. One third is going waste, it is being denied to other people.
Arjun Singh: As I said, the kind of figures that have been brought out, in my perception, do not reflect the realities. Realities are something much more and of course, there is an element of prejudice also.

Karan Thapar: But these are figures that come from a Parliamentary Committee. It can't be prejudiced; they are your own colleagues.
Arjun Singh: Parliamentary Committee has given the figures, but as to why this has not happened, that is a different matter.

Karan Thapar: I put it to you that you don't have a case for reservations in terms of need, you don't have a case for reservations in terms of their efficacy, why then, are you insisting on extending them to the OBCs?
Arjun Singh: I don't want to use that word, but I think that your argument is basically fallicious.

Karan Thapar: But it is based on all the facts available in the public domain.
Arjun Singh: Those are facts that need to be gone into with more care. What lies behind those facts, why this has not happened, that is also a fact.

Karan Thapar: Let's approach the issue of reservations differently in that case. Reservations mean that a lesser-qualified candidate gets preference over a more qualified candidate, solely because in this case, he or she happens to be an OBC. In other words, the upper castes are being penalised for being upper caste.
Arjun Singh: Nobody is being penalised and that is a factor that we are trying to address. I think that the prime Minister will be talking to all the political parties and will be putting forward a formula, which will see that nobody is being penalised.

Karan Thapar: I want very much to talk about that formula, but before we come to talk about how you are going to address concerns, let me point one other corollary - Reservations also gives preference and favour to caste over merit. Is that acceptable in a modern society?
Arjun Singh: I don't think the perceptions of modern society fit India entirely.

Karan Thapar: You mean India is not a modern society and therefore can't claim to be treated as one?
Arjun Singh: It is emerging as a modern society, but the parameters of a modern society do not apply to large sections of the people in this country.

Karan Thapar: Let me quote to you Jawaharlal Nehru, a man whom you personally admire enormously. On the 27th of June 1961 wrote to the Chief Ministers of the day as follows: I dislike any kind of reservations. If we go in for any kind of reservations on communal and caste basis, we will swamp the bright and able people and remain second rate or third rate. The moment we encourage the second rate, we are lost. And then he adds pointedly: This way lies not only folly, but also disaster. What do you say to Jawaharlal Nehru today?
Arjun Singh: Jawaharlal Nehru was a great man in his own right and not only me, but everyone in India accept his view.

Karan Thapar: But you are just about to ignore his advice.
Arjun Singh: No. Are you aware that it was Jawaharlal Nehru who introduced the first ammendment regarding OBCs?

Karan Thapar: Yes, and I am talking about Jawaharlal Nehru in 1961, when clearly he had changed his position, he said - I dislike any kind of reservations.
Arjun Singh: I don't think one could take Panditji's position at any point of time and then overlook what he had himself initiated.

Karan Thapar: Am I then to understand that regardless of the case that is made against reservations in terms of need, regardless of the case that has been made against reservations in terms of efficacy, regardless of the case that has been made against reservations in terms of Jawaharlal Nehru, you remain committed to extending reservations to the OBCs.
Arjun Singh: I said because that is the will of Parliament. And I think that common decisions that are taken by Parliament have to be honoured.

Karan Thapar: Let me ask you a few basic questions - If reservations are going to happen for the OBCs in higher education, what percentage of reservations are we talking about?
Arjun Singh: No, that I can't say because that has yet to be decided.

Karan Thapar: Could it be less than 27 per cent?
Arjun Singh: I can't say anything on that, I have told you in the very beginning that at this point of time it is not possible for me to.

Karan Thapar: Quite right. If you can't say, then that also means that the figure has not been decided.
Arjun Singh: The figure will be decided, it has not been decided yet.

Karan Thapar: The figure has not been decided. So, therefore the figure could be 27, but it could be less than 27 too?
Arjun Singh: I don't want to speculate on that because as I said, that is decision, which will be taken by Parliament.

Karan Thapar: Whatever the figure, one thing is certain that when the reservations for OBCs happen, the total quantum of reservations will go up in percentage terms. Will you compensate by increasing the total number of seats in colleges, universities, IITs and IIMs, so that the other students don't feel deprived.
Arjun Singh: That is one of the suggestions that has been made and is being seriously considered.

Karan Thapar: Does it find favour with you as a Minister for Human Resource Development?
Arjun Singh: Whatever suggestion comes, we are committed to examine it.

Karan Thapar: You may be committed to examine it, but do you as minister believe that that is the right way forward?
Arjun Singh: That could be one of the ways, but not the only way.

Karan Thapar: What are the other ways?
Arjun Singh: I don't know. That is for the Prime Minister and the other ministers to decide.

Karan Thapar: One way forward would be to increase the total number of seats.
Arjun Singh: Yes, definitely.

Karan Thapar: But the problem is that as the Times of India points out, we are talking of an increase of perhaps as much as 53 per cent. Given the constraints you have in terms of faculty and infrastructure, won't that order of increase dilute the quality of education?
Arjun Singh: I would only make one humble request, don't go by The Times of India and The Hindustan Times about faculty and infrastructure, because they are trying to focus on an argument which they have made.

Karan Thapar: All right, I will not go by The Times of India, let me instead go by Sukhdev Thorat, the Chairman of the UGC. He points out that today, at higher education levels - that is all universities, IITs and IIMs - there is already a 1.2 lakh vacancy number. 40 per cent of these are in teaching staff, which the IIT faculty themselves point out that they have shortages of up to 30 per cent. Given those two constraint, can you increase the number of seats?
Arjun Singh: That can be addressed and that shortage can be taken care of.

Karan Thapar: But it can't be taken care of in one swoop, it will take several years to do it.
Arjun Singh: I don't know whether it can be taken care of straightway or in stages, that is a subject to be decided.

Karan Thapar: Let me ask you bluntly, if you were to agree to compensate for reservations for OBCs by increasing the number of seats, would that increase happen at one go, or would it be staggered over a period of two-three or four year old process.
Arjun Singh: As I told you, it is an issue that I cannot comment upon at this moment because that is under examination.

Karan Thapar: So, it may happen in one go and it may happen in a series of several years.

Arjun Singh: I can't speculate on that because that is not something on which I am free to speak on today.

Karan Thapar: Will the reservation for OBCs, whatever figure your Committee decides on, will it happen in one go, or will it slowly be introduced in stages?
Arjun Singh: That also I cannot say because as I told you, all these issues are under consideration.

Karan Thapar: Which means that everything that is of germane interest to the people concerned is at the moment 'under consideration' and the government is not able to give any satisfaction to the students who are deeply concerned.
Arjun Singh: That is not the point. The government knows what to do and it will do what is needed.

Karan Thapar: But if the government knows what to do, why won't you tell me what the government wants to do?
Arjun Singh: Because unless the decision is taken, I cannot tell you.

Karan Thapar: But you can share with me as the Minister what you are thinking.
Arjun Singh: No.

Karan Thapar: So, in other words, we are manitaining a veil of secrecy and the very people who are concerned...
Arjun Singh: I am not maintaining a veil of secrecy. I am only telling you what propriety allows me to tell you.

Karan Thapar: Propriety does not allow you to share with the people who are protesting on the streets what you are thinking?
Arjun Singh: I don't think that that can happen all the time.

Karan Thapar: But there are people who feel that their lives and their futures are at stake and they are undertaking fasts until death.
Arjun Singh: It is being hyped up, I don't want to go into that.

Karan Thapar: Do you have no sympathy for them?
Arjun Singh: I have every sympathy.

Karan Thapar: But you say it is being hyped up.
Arjun Singh: Yes, it is hyped up.

Karan Thapar: So, then, what sympathy are you showing?
Arjun Singh: I am showing sympathy to them and not to those who are hyping it up.

Karan Thapar: The CPM says that if the reservations for the OBCs are to happen, then what is called the creamy layer should be excluded. How do you react to that?
Arjun Singh: The creamy layer issue has already been taken care of by the Supreme Court.

Karan Thapar: That was vis -a-vis jobs in employment, what about at the university level, should they be excluded there as well because you are suggesting that the answer is yes?
Arjun Singh: That could be possible.

Karan Thapar: It could be possible that the creamy layer is excluded from reservations for OBCs in higher education?
Arjun Singh: It could be, but I don't know whether it would happen actually.

Karan Thapar: Many people say that if reservations for OBCs in higher education happen, then the children of beneficiaries should not be entitled to claim the same benefit.
Arjun Singh: Why?

Karan Thapar: So that there is always a shrinking base and the rate doesn't proliferate.
Arjun Singh: I don't think that that is a very logical way of looking at it.

Karan Thapar: Is that not acceptable to you?
Arjun Singh: No, it is not the logical way of looking at it.

Karan Thapar: So, with the possible exception of the creamy layer exclusion, reservation for OBCs in higher education will be almost identical to the existing reservations for SC/STs?
Arjun Singh: Except for the percentage.

Karan Thapar: Except for the percentage.
Arjun Singh: Yes.

Karan Thapar: So, in every other way, they will be identical.
Arjun Singh: Yes, in every other way.

Karan Thapar: Mr Arjun Singh, on the 5th of April when you first indicated that the Government was considering reservation for OBCs in higher education, was the Prime Minister in agreement that this was the right thing to do?
Arjun Singh: I think, there is a very motivated propaganda is on this issue. Providing reservation to OBCs was in the public domain right from December 2005, when Parliament passed the enabling resolution.

Karan Thapar: Quite true. But had the Prime Minister specifically agreed on or before 5th of April to the idea?
Arjun Singh: Well, I am telling you it was already there. A whole Act was made, the Constitution was amended and the Prime Minister was fully aware of what this is going to mean. Actually, he had a meeting in which OBC leaders were called to convince them that this would give them the desired advantage. And they should, therefore, support this resolution. And at that meeting, he himself talked to them. Now, how do you say that he was unaware?

Karan Thapar: But were you at all aware that the Prime Minister might be in agreement with what was about to happen but might not wish it disclosed publicly at that point of time? Were you aware of that?
Arjun Singh: It was already there in public domain, that's what I am trying to tell you.

Karan Thapar: Then answer this to me. Why are members of the PMO telling journalists that Prime Minister was not consulted and that you jumped the gun?
Arjun Singh: Well, I don't know which member of the PMO you are talking about unless you name him.

Karan Thapar: Is there a conspiracy to make you the fall guy?
Arjun Singh: Well, I don't know whether there is one or there is not. But fall guys are not made in this way. And I am only doing what was manifestly clear to every one, was cleared by the party and the Prime Minister. There is no question of any personal agenda.

Karan Thapar: They say that, in fact, you brought up this issue to embarrass the Prime Minister.
Arjun Singh: Why should I embarrass the Prime Minister? I am with him. I am part of his team.

Karan Thapar: They say that you have a lingering, forgive the word, jealousy because Sonia Gandhi chose Manmohan Singh and not you as Prime Minister.
Arjun Singh: Well, that is canard which is below contempt. Only that person can say this who doesn't know what kind of respect and regard I hold for Sonia Gandhi. She is the leader. Whatever she decides is acceptable to me.

Karan Thapar: They also say that you brought this issue up because you felt that the Prime Minister had been eating into your portfolio. Part of it had gone to Renuka Chaudhury and, in fact, your new deputy minister Purandar Sridevi had taken over certain parts. This was your way of getting back.
Arjun Singh: No one was taking over any part. This is a decision which the Prime Minister makes as to who has to have what portfolio. And he asked Mrs Renuka Devi to take it and he cleared it with me first.

Karan Thapar: So there is no animus on your part?
Arjun Singh: Absolutely not.

Karan Thapar: They say that you did this because you resented the Prime Minister's popular image in the country, that this was your way of embroiling him in a dispute that will make him look not like a modern reformer but like an old-fashioned, family-hold politician instead.
Arjun Singh: Well, the Tammany Hall political stage is over> He is our Prime Minister and every decision he has taken is in the full consent with his Cabinet and I don't think there can be any blame on him.

Karan Thapar: One, then, last quick question. Do you think this is an issue, which is a sensitive issue, where everyone knew there would have been passions and emotions that would have aroused has been handled as effectively as it should have been?
Arjun Singh: Well, I have not done anything on it. I have not sort of what you call jumped the gun. If this is an issue, which is sensitive, everyone has to treat it that way.

Karan Thapar: But your conscience as HRD Minister is clear?
Arjun Singh: Absolutely clear.

Karan Thapar: There is nothing that you could have done to make it easier for the young students?
Arjun Singh: Well, I am prepared to do anything that can be done. And it is being attempted.

Karan Thapar: For seven weeks, they have been protesting in the hot sun. No minister has gone there to appease them, to alley their concerns, to express sympathy for them. Have politicians let the young people of India down?
Arjun Singh: Well, I myself called them. They all came in this very room.

Karan Thapar: But you are the only one.
Arjun Singh: You are accusing me only. No one else is being accused.

Karan Thapar: What about the Government of India? Has the Government of India failed to respond adequately?
Arjun Singh: From the Government of India also, the Defence Minister met them.

Karan Thapar: Only recently.
Arjun Singh: That is something because everyone was busy with the elections.

Karan Thapar: For seven weeks no one met them.
Arjun Singh: No, but we are very concerned. Certainly, all of us resent the kind of force that was used. I condemned it the very first day it happened.

Karan Thapar: All right, Mr Arjun Singh. We have reached the end of this interview. Thank you very much for speaking on the subject.

Lets for once stand against this and in our own ways support the youth fighting for
the justice of the forthcoming generations.

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