When we were growing up during the 90’s, they used to feed us with the stories of  Mowgli, Mahabharata and Ramayana. We were told the stories of Mahatma Gandhi, Azad and Bhagat Singh to build our characters. At that time I used to think why all the great persons were born in an era past gone by?

For almost 23 years of my life I was sure that we may not get to see another Mahapurusha on the lines of Gandhi and Lord Rama. Perhaps it was the destiny or material times in which we live that they did not make these men anymore.

But came circa 2011 and my theory was put to rest. We saw the advent of Anna Hazare and his team in the national consciousness. Whether they are successful or not time will tell but they have given us a new prospectiveEarlier Government used to present bills in the parliament and pass them without any debate in the public domain. For the first time we saw a great debate on a bill-the Janlokpal bill. Earlier we as a general public were unperturbed by the nuances of bills. This is highly surprising considering that these laws affect us greatly. Almost everyone including yours truly is guilty of doing that.

So Anna Hazare and his team knowingly or unknowingly brought this fact to our consciousness. I believe that being a citizen especially the educated ones to understand at least the gist of a bill. It will do us no harm and will help us to understand how it can come to our aid and benefit. We can comprehend the merits and demerits of the law so that we can question our representatives in the parliament.

The govt. of India also should take this example as a template for future. They should bring every draft to the public domain and the elected representatives should come forward to explain their thoughts on it. They can at least upload it on websites so that people can access the draft. In this regard, I like the way “ India against corruption “ group worked. They uploaded all the versions on the internet for general public and helped in understanding the draft. Media can also play an important role as demonstrated during the past month.

However as a citizen it’s also our duty to participate fully in the democracy in some way or another. I salute the way people like Sh. Arvind Kezrival rose from the ranks and demonstrated the great spirit.

What do you think can be done to make this process better and more transparent. Feel free to comment as all the views are important.

His observation went like this:-

“Although mobile phone usage in India is pretty impressive but the number of broadband users in India is still very low.  Every four  man,woman or child of India has access to mobile phones while only 7% of 1.8 billion strong population has access to broadband internet.”

No doubt Mr. Pankaj Kedia was disappointed by this statistic.

You must be wondering what is the point of  these statistic. Well these statistic may seem to be  a mere figure to you but they contain the key to India’s future success.

Now you must be thinking how fast speed Internet and mobile phone can contribute to India’s economy. For that let me make you understand by an example.

In Bangladesh, Muhammad Yunus had his idea of providing villages with mobile phone connectivity. He formed a Grameen Bank which later formed an alliance with Telenor to provide GSM mobile facility in Bangladesh. They also  provided loans to poor villagers to purchase smart phone and taught them how to use it and earn by turning them into payphone.This way a large rural population was connected.

Also along with connectivity rural population was able to access Internet as they had smartphones at their disposal. So they were enabled to access information about new scientific methods of farming  and other information like latest crop  pattern etc. This way farmers were able to increase their agricultural yield and were connected to te markets in cities and town by their mobile phones.

During this phase,Bangladesh witnessed a huge leap in their Gross domestic product. That too without any industrial development and infrastructure development.

Such is the power of Internet which according to me the greatest invention of last century. It is a vast repository of knowledge. Just think when  Internet can contribute so much to the growth of Bangladesh,what will it do to the 1.18 billion strong Indian population?

No doubt we can use Internet as a tool for the development of India but the big Question is how to spread Internet in such a vast and poor country like India. Laptops and P.C. are not affordable for everyone specially when 20% of population is still below poverty line.

The answer to this problem lies in Mobile phone. We can implement the Grameen Phone system in INDIA to equip our rural population with Smartphone to provide high speed connectivity. Soon 3G services will be launched in India, so we have the infrastructure in our country. With knowledge at their disposal,rural people will be able to understand market better and will be able to increase their agricultural throughput.

But here too there is an issue. Most of the content on I nternet is in English in which our rural population is not very comfortable. So we need to create good content in local language on Internet so that more people can understand it and benefit.

Well this requires a lot of labour and Youngsters need to come forward to develop good quality local content on internet such as a networking site for farmers in Hindi on lines of facebook and Orkut where they can share their knowledge on a common plateform. This should not be a problem as we have a huge I.T. infrastructure, we have benefit of that.

The challenge to provide high quality content in local language on Internet via mobile phones to rural and small town population is not easy but then it is not impossible too. What we need is a contribution from our youth and some grit and determination so that India does not lag behind.

“This is the best time for progress and we need not only to walk on path of development but run fast and for running fast we need a vehicle which is Smartphone running on the fuel of Internet.”

Nothing unusual given the past histrionics of the Shivsena. But this very protest style often puts a big question mark over one’s fundamental rights for e.g. right to freedom of speech. They also protest actively against North Indian immigrants working in Mumbai. Again they are violating here right of freedom to work anywhere in the country with dignity. They say that the jobs in Mumbai are meant for Marathis only as companies are in Mumbai.

Well my point is that most of these industries are run and owned by Non-Marathis like Mr Mukesh Ambani and several others. And also the market that they cater to is not restricted to Maharashtra only. So the Marathis cannot claim them as their sole proprietary.

Secondly there are many Marathis working and studying in various other cities like Delhi & N.C.R.  So in accordance to Shivsena policy  they must be thrown out from these cities too because they were not born there.

Mr Bal Thackray and his family members need to ponder over these points as the same treatment can be slashed out on Marathis too elsewhere. Obviously it will not be good to our national integration. All states are dependent on each other for their various needs and mutual development.

However one more angle to this whole scenario is there to be understood. Mumbai is facing severe crisis in providing civil amenities to ever growing population. We need to help states like Bihar and U.P. to develop to such an extent so that their natives need not to go out for jobs. Central govt. need to play an important role here as regional development imbalances are prime roots of these ugly scenes we are witnessing in Mumbai and elsewhere.

There is a very good article written by Chetan Bhagat over this issue which gives a good insight and is thought provoking. Here is the link:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/edit-page/To-Maharashtra-With-Love/articleshow/5252093.cms

Looking forward to your comments Netizens.

1. NATIONAL EMBLEM

How many of you know about the only working class allowed to carry national emblem on their dress? Do you know from where our national emblem has  been taken?

2. NATIONAL LANGUAGE

Yes I certainly know Hindi is not exactly a national language but state language but still have we given it the status it deserves. Many of you know and read about Chetan Bhagat’s novels but how many of you read Hindi novels. Will you dare to read a Premchand in a café instead of Dan Brown and Chetan Bhagat?

3. NATIONAL ANIMAL

You must have seen the ad promos of AIRCEL featuring “PROJECT TIGER”. Do I need to say more?

4. NATIONAL SPORT

Well a well known motorcycle company is appealing all Indians to give their hearts again to the Hockey. Do you know that the Hockey World Cup is undergoing nowadays in India. Our other National sport Kabaddi is also in dire state. We all watch IPL but have you bothered to watch and cheer your national sports .

5. NATIONAL ANTHEM AND NATIONAL SONG

How many of us know which one is ur national song and which one is our national anthem and who wrote them? Can you sing it all by yourself. Do you bother to stand erect when they are played?

6. NATIONAL BIRD

Have you seen Peacock in your locality recently.If you have then you are really lucky, as many have been killed as some morons relish its meat and are rarely seen now.

Folks please brood our these questions and ask yourself . We are proud of our Nation,are not we? Then why we neglect our national symbols.Please introspect and think.  Can we really claim to love India when we have no care for our National symbols. well I think we cannot. This is food for the thought.

Don’t get me wrong here. I am not like any other “modern” teenager protesting the rituals but in fact I am a firm believer in them myself. But what intrigues me is that why use amplifiers and speakers while appeasing MATA and other Gods. They are certainly not deaf. They are almighty. They can hear our innermost prayers originating in heart. Can’t we simply respect privacy of others keep the volume low so that Jagratas instead of becoming noise become joyful singing the praises of the God. This way we can practice our religion and also be thoughtful towards rightful privacy and peace of others. This is the food for  thought.