[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by faustus77

major crimes like rape and murder tapered off.
If the criminals had been apprehended when they robbed a citizen an hour earlier the rape might have been averted.If the auto rickshaw had not refused the fare(they are not supposed to) the outcome would have been different.
Here is an article from Times of India(6/1/2013) titled"How does one shame the shameless in India".

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Defau...&ViewMode=HTML

I read this article of Shobha De's. It is very pertinent indeed as a social commentary.
However, I submit that while we have a lot of theorists, including you and me, we have too few practitioners.
Too many chiefs and too few Indians, springs to mind.

I think the rot is now too deep and positively gangrenous. We require an Indian Spring and a massive revolution in which the entire political class, dynastic inheritors etc are excised from the public body along with all these quasi/ pseudo British Raj era authority figures. Remove and ban all political parties except the people party. Remove idiot institutions like the President of India and State Governors.
Remove all regional parties and regional politics.
Go back to 4 Or even 6 administrative regions with fully empowered police and army. Bring back the old Madas, Bombay and other Presidencies, instead of encouraging stupid parochial sate led politics.
We need a flat organization which cares about common people. Of the people, for the people and by the people. Another French Revolution will not come amiss in todays India.

[sa_kiran]

As per a report in yesterday's Indian Express, the juvenile rapist's mother says that the rapist left the village 11 years ago. This means that he left the village as a 6 year old and survived in a big city like Delhi!

[Naturalist]

The Hindu newspaper has a note to the readers regarding the naming of the rape victim.
Note to readers

As some of you may know, a foreign newspaper has published the name of the 23-year-old rape victim, apparently with the approval of her father. Section 228A of the Indian Penal Code, which prohibits publication of the name of a deceased rape victim without the permission of her next of kin, lays down a specific procedure by which this permission is to be accorded: it must be given in writing to a welfare organisation or institution recognised by the Central or State governments. To the best of my knowledge, this procedure, which was introduced into law as an added layer of protection for the victim and her family, has not yet been followed. We respect the father's wish to go public, if that is indeed what he wants, but unless he states the same in writing in the manner prescribed by statute, The Hindu will continue witholding the name of the victim.

Note from Support:
Thanks for the article explaining why naming the victim is prohibited.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Remove and ban all political parties except the people party.

How do you prevent the existing politicians and future politicians built in a similar mode from joining the people party?

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Remove idiot institutions like the President of India and State Governors.
Remove all regional parties and regional politics.

How are regional parties worse than national parties?

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Go back to 4 Or even 6 administrative regions with fully empowered police and army.

What exactly is a 'fully empowered police and army'? Can you elaborate?

[sa_kiran]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Remove and ban all political parties except the people party. Remove idiot institutions like the President of India and State Governors.
Remove all regional parties and regional politics.
Go back to 4 Or even 6 administrative regions with fully empowered police and army. Bring back the old Madas, Bombay and other Presidencies, instead of encouraging stupid parochial sate led politics.
We need a flat organization which cares about common people. Of the people, for the people and by the people. Another French Revolution will not come amiss in todays India.

What is People Party?
Have you realized the value addition and credibility that the post of President received when APJ Abdul Kalam was the president?
The biggest national party is the most communal and castiest. So, no purpose will be solved by banishing regional ones.
4-6 administrative regions - an utopian idea! If you understand the current politics, a lot of current problems are result of the British undermining kingdoms to keep their presidencies happy. The future is federalism, with a controlling center, where states prosper through development, not through populism, look at the example of Gujarat or Maharashtra till a few years ago.
It is very easy to talk of revolution, because none of us have ever faced it. We have absolutely no idea what revolution can bring, it may even lead to a worse situation. EVOLUTION IS WHAT IS BENEFICIAL TO HUMANS, REVOLUTIONS ARE RARELY BENEFICIAL, PARTICULARLY IN POLITICAL SPACE. Look at the middle east, most of the countries that had so-called revolutions are worse off than earlier.

[supremeBaleno]

While we would like to think of only the bureaucrats / politicians / contractors etc as corrupt, the reality is that all of us are corrupt. What differs is only the extent of corruption. When was the last time we bought a property and registered it for the value we paid for it ? So, no spring or waterfall is going to save us or the country, unless all of us change. The Mahatma's line "Be the change you want to see" comes to mind.

And while I do respect our Armed Forces, some recent incidents don't exactly show them in a good light. So, I would be wary of a military regime - nothing good has come out of a similar succession of regimes in our neighboring country.

Also anything that proposes a sole entity / authority is a recipe for problems - single party politics included. It is not without reason that monopolies are not encouraged in business.

Even if you take all the current politicians/govt employees out of the system, what is the guarantee that we will get a clean system when the replacements are going to come from among us ?

While I felt anger/shock at the Delhi rape incident, I am not sure death penalty will help address the issue. Even after that incidents, I have read about so many other rapes/murders in the country. It is only that this one got all the attention - there are others in India and Bharat who suffer/die without getting front-page attention.

[Arch-Angel]

A harsh punishment in public will serve as a deterrent. I guess these criminals have a feeling that a rape will land them in jail and then, they can scot free after doing a small-time prison sentence. Women don't deserve this.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

And while I do respect our Armed Forces, some recent incidents don't exactly show them in a good light.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiati...fles-jawan-ara

Power corrupts. And absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

While I felt anger/shock at the Delhi rape incident, I am not sure death penalty will help address the issue.

Most of the time, it's counterproductive to change laws based on one particular incident and that too in the heat of the moment.

Originally Posted by sa_kiran

Have you realized the value addition and credibility that the post of President received when APJ Abdul Kalam was the president?

I didn't understand the value addition and credibility that the post of President received when APJ Abdul Kalam was the president. What exactly was it?

[sa_kiran]

Originally Posted by carboy

[url]I didn't understand the value addition and credibility that the post of President received when APJ Abdul Kalam was the president. What exactly was it?

One of the tangible value additions was the idea of scheme called, PURA - providing urban amenities in rural areas. Our cities are bursting with population, unable to provide any sensible facilities to people. Addition of migrants, mainly from rural areas adds to the problems. Some states, implemented this scheme, provided amenities and jobs to rural people, to make them stay back in villages and earn. This was long before the fraud called NREGA was conceptualized. Among the non-tangible value additions; the great feel-good factor that he generated (and continues to do) for the country abroad. Just look how enthusiastically students approach him in any function.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by sa_kiran

One of the tangible value additions was the idea of scheme called, PURA - providing urban amenities in rural areas. Our cities are bursting with population, unable to provide any sensible facilities to people. Addition of migrants, mainly from rural areas adds to the problems. Some states, implemented this scheme, provided amenities and jobs to rural people, to make them stay back in villages and earn.

So why did PURA fail? Why was it relaunched with many changes in 2012 by Jairam Ramesh?
Or if you feel it hasn't failed, what tangible improvement has it brought as compared to 100s of rural developement schemes launched since India's independence?

Originally Posted by sa_kiran

Among the non-tangible value additions; the great feel-good factor that he generated (and continues to do) for the country abroad. Just look how enthusiastically students approach him in any function.

I didn't disagree with the non-tangible benefits. But I cannot see even a single tangible way in which Kalam was better than many other presidents before him or after him.

[mayankk]

I for one, sitting on my couch, knew that APJ was the most visible president I have ever seen.

[ramzsys]

Originally Posted by carboy

So why did PURA fail?



I didn't disagree with the non-tangible benefits. But I cannot see even a single tangible way in which Kalam was better than many other presidents before him or after him.

PURA did not fail. It was only a concept that did not see the whole-hearted support from the policy implementation side. For example, there is no tangible rural infrastructure buildup from the NREGS program.

Also, the current government head's economic policy is to remove workforce from labour, and this is not happening by making alternative avenues accessible, but by the push factor from the agricultural side.

And regarding Kalam, our constitution mandates a rubber stamp president, and an active president is undesirable, except in certain emergency situations.

Through various direct interactions with the student community, he instilled inspiration and motivated a lot of young students.

He was known for his simplicity, especially when his expenditure details can be compared directly with his successor, who was in the news for all the wrong reasons.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by ramzsys

PURA did not fail. It was only a concept that did not see the whole-hearted support from the policy implementation side.

So back to the original question - what was the tangible advantage of Kalam as compared to other presidents?

Originally Posted by ramzsys

Through various direct interactions with the student community, he instilled inspiration and motivated a lot of young students.

How many is "a lot"? Is there any hard data about how much inspiration and motivation he provided and what was the net result of this motivation and inspiration?

Originally Posted by mayankk

I for one, sitting on my couch, knew that APJ was the most visible president I have ever seen.

And what was the tangible benefit to the country arising out of you sitting on your couch and knowing that APJ was the most visible president you have ever seen?

[Scarlet_Rider]

Felt really sick when I picked up today's Times of India, Hyderabad Edition to see the below front page headline. It's going to take a huge effort to change the mindset of people.

Source: Times of India, Hyderabad Edition dated 7th January 2013.




Looking at the other side of things, I came across this amazing video on YouTube titled Sand Art by Hari Krishna on the Delhi Rape case. Hari Krishna is from Hyderabad and was a student at JNTU.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ-S-9eHrSQ

[joe1980]

Just came across this news article.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/nationa...?homepage=true

This is what happens if justice is delayed. The accused now are looking for ways to defend themselves. They became greedy to live. Seems like they do not want any physical harm to them. Then *** did they do that to another human being? Seriously letting them loose without any capital punishment is a big threat to the neighborhood. Please punish all 6 of them!