Hunger and Malnutrition : Challenge 2020

Note : The article deals with the issue of under-nutrition and not over-nutrition which is also classified as malnutrition. But, the issue is mentioned once in a comparative analysis.

In the year 2000, the UN agreed to set up eight socio-economic development targets in the form of Millennium Development Goals (MDG) which were to be achieved by 2015. Member nations formed their development policies keeping in mind these objectives. One of the eight goals aimed at halving the number of undernourished people.

The year is 2014 and the UNDP online portal reads a countdown of 1.29 years to the MDG deadline.  Having had a good surge in economic growth points, India’s report card on the MDG, specifically the one I mentioned above is poor. As of the 2014 UNMDG report, one-third of the poorest in the world, live in India. Poverty in itself happens to be a big issue, rather the largest one, which we shall assess separately. Poverty is the precursor or rather the cause to malnutrition. It increases the vulnerability of marginalised groups due to limited or no income bases. An official publication ‘Towards Achieving MDGs – India 2013’ puts the proportion of underweight children at 40% in 2005-06 down from 43% in 1998-99. While this development may be classified as positive, it is extremely slow. The UNDP portal classifies this progress as off-track. The Global Hunger Index ranks India 16 among 56 countries that have a serious hunger situation with India classified in the alarming category. This trend puts a big question on the ability of the state to achieve the set target of 26% by 2015, which by rational thought can be determined as impossible in the current scenario.  

Looking for reasons

The nation that emerged from partition 67 years back was one that had been economically ruined by its rulers. This disadvantage was carried on by the infantile government of the independent state. New development policies were plagued again by the huge population base, inherent implementation lockouts, lack of financial sources, the bureaucracy etc. A tremendous growth in population stifled the reduction in poverty and malnourishment numbers. Now, high rates of poverty have existed in India along with high growth rates since the beginning of the new millennium. This is reflected in the fact that Indian society has now grown more economically polarised – the rich have grown richer while the poor still live on the fringes. Due to this factor, malnutrition exists not only among the poor but among the wealthy urban populace too in the form of over-nutrition and obesity. Hence, present-day India is a state with high numbers of under-nourished citizens existing alongside a rapidly growing obese population. While poverty forms the cynosure of discussion, there is a peculiar trend that needs to be brought to light- while India was able to reduce its poverty targets (living on less than $1 a day) to 23.9% by 2013 from estimated 35% in the late 1990s and is expected to meet the target of 20.74% by 2015, the same is not the case with malnutrition and hence the issue needs to be looked at in a more detailed manner.

Another cause is poor healthcare; the low number of skilled personnel available in neonatal units has not only lead to high Infant Mortality Ratio but to the dubious distinction of India holding almost half of the underweight children under 3 in the world. Moreover, healthcare reforms are slow and their execution near to none. Now, remember that around 60% of the population in the country still resides in rural areas which are deficient in the basic services even today.  So any health programs, while carefully acted upon in urban zones, cannot be mirrored in the villages. Not only lack of health facilities at birth, but poor sanitation during growth has led to increasing stunted growth among the vulnerable children. Open air defecation, lack of potable water leads to the body prioritizing infection-fighting to brain development and growth.

Religious and cultural beliefs are addendums that magnify the effects of poverty on malnutrition. In India, several people do not consume animal meat and/or dairy products based on their religious beliefs. This tends to deny them animal protein which cannot be supplemented and substituted for by a cereal diet which forms the staple in rural India. This puts such low-income and absolute-poverty groups at extreme risks.

While religion contributes as a big factor, gender bias flares its ugly head in this situation too. It has been found that families normally tend to favour the male child in terms of access to nutrition and healthy food. This stems from the fact that India has been a patriarchal society historically. So, while women have suffered economically and socially, they are even discriminated against in the basic requirements for a healthy life.

Note: Shamefully, India is a country where female foeticide and infanticide is still practised not only among the poor but in rich and educated families too.

Fighting hunger

The task of cutting down such numbers and eradicating under-nourishment in a country with a massive population of over 1.2 billion is too daunting a task. But, the government of the nation has taken up the challenge with increasing expenditure on welfare programs in health, nutrition and sanitation and several missions.

The Mid-day Meal scheme is a program by the Govt. of India to provide adequate nutritious food to school going students around the nation by giving free lunch in schools fully or partially funded/aided by the state. This scheme, though the largest of its kind has been plagued with corruption and inefficiency of implementation. In a majority of occasions, the food is found to be at a sub-par nutritional value. Giving power to local bodies hasn’t helped due to several glitches in execution. The PDS, or Public Distribution System in India provides for highly subsidised grains to low income and poor families from government run shops. In recent times, several ration shop owners have been caught diverting grain to private shops to earn profits. Moreover, the government keeps a large buffer stock, a significant part of which is wasted due to improper storage conditions. This program too has suffered due to reasons similar to the ones faced by the Mid-day meal scheme. In 1975, a program called the Integrated Child Development Services was launched to target the health and nutrition of women and children under the age of six. It has a wide reach covering almost 34 million children as of now. Other significant steps include – National Rural Health Mission (2005-2012), National Plan of Action for Children and efforts by the UNICEF and UNDP. Several NGOs have been forerunners in bringing the schemes to the people, especially the Mid-day meal scheme.

Taking the Fight Forward

India is a welfare state. The problem here isn’t a lack of state machinery, but its inefficiency, narrow target area and crippling. The government has allocated Rs. 132,150,000,000 for the Mid-day meal scheme alone for the fiscal year 2013-14. This staggering amount, if spent in a targeted and effective way could be beneficial in reducing under-nourishment at a landslide rate. While India has a decentralized model in place for implementation of such schemes, the executive has rendered even this model ineffective. Some practical methods need to be evolved to bring the scheme on the right track. Dry food can be used in mid-day meal schemes for it is easy to make, store and preserve for longer periods without compromising on the nutritional values. Local procurement of grains and cooking by local self-help women groups can be a good measure. These SHGs can include women from the oppressed classes too. Since several cases of caste discrimination have been reported in the Mid-day meal scheme, an inclusive program will help tide over such caste-centric feeling. Regular training programs for teachers who act as local monitors for the scheme can be implemented by the state education authorities. The onus of implementation lies on the monitoring committees and the executing groups. A several tiered system though in place has failed to keep a check on the faults often sweeping inconsistencies under the carpet. Independent monitors can be appointed from time to time to verify and audit claims of the state appointed committees.

Developments in the public distribution system have been more promising, with the government having agreed to increase the compensation to ration shop owners, more shops being opened in far off places and storage shelters being improved. Such a massive scheme requires a huge budget and upgrade of the entire infrastructure for which the government has earmarked a considerable sum. Widespread targeting will require more resource mobilization by the government in the coming years, but at the steady pace that we are currently going it seems achievable.

Another cause of worry is poor sanitation. India has the largest population of openly defecating citizens in the world. This shameful distinction is one that the PM has recently mentioned in his speeches. The first task is to provide for clean toilets and water in the schools across the country. A small initiative after installing the infrastructure would be to carry out awareness drives and workshops to train children and teachers to mutually share the responsibility to keep them clean. Make active participation of student-teacher bodies in maintaining cleanliness in schools an integral activity of the curriculum – for what is this but a lesson on your own responsibility as an individual to the society. This civic responsibility awareness drive will go a long way in not only creating clean schools but a cleaner India. Several states have already announced massive execution schemes to come up with toilets in schools and economically weaker sections of villages and cities. It is now to see how competently such schemes are enforced.

Culturally and socially, the society needs to be the active torch-bearer of reforms for gender and caste equality. Local communities, RWAs, NGOs must advise and conduct door-to-door sensitization programs to reduce bias especially against the girl child. We are still clinging to social norms that are millennia old. The public needs to realize that society too must move forward as time progresses or it will only harm itself and in doing so destroy its weakest. Constitutional and statutory safeguards will only deter people but not change their mind-set.  Hence, it is the elders and the educated that must show the way.

At the end of next year, India will face its final UNMDG attainment analysis. If steps aren’t taken immediately we will have failed on this count, not to mention the other seven. India is a populous nation and is poised to overtake China within the century. Several cynics argue that this is a hindrance to our development. I disagree. Today India has 65% of its population under the age of 35 which is a huge advantage to its developing economy. But, the harsh reality shows that a major chunk of this population, especially in the under 18 group, faces under-nourishment. While poverty continues to be a plague, the state and society can together provide a mechanism in which even the poorest gets two square meals a day. It is a dream that was envisaged by our founding fathers and is yet to be realized. It is a motive that drives the multi-billion welfare schemes and, it should be the aim for us, the citizens and the government to realize this dream by 2020.

- Anurag Arya

Kinesis (Part - I)

Epilogue

The loud and continuous ring from the bedside alarm disturbed his sleep. Sitting up, he looked around the small room that was hidden in the shroud of shadows and darkness. He groggily stood up from the bed and made his way to the bathroom. A tired face stared back at him as he looked in the small mirror on the wall. His body was aching as if he had just undergone strenuous exercise.

Suddenly his phone rang. He walked slowly towards the phone kept near his bed while muttering to himself.

He picked up the phone and growled ”hello?”.

Sweat started appearing on his forehead and his feet began to tremble as he listened to the person on the other side. He continued to hold the phone to his ears even as the line went dead as though expecting somebody to say that this was a joke. But when no one replied his feet gave way and he slumped to the ground.

Then he started crying.

Chapter 1

I started walking towards my car as the sunlight slowly crept up my lawn. I took my car out of the garage and eased into the traffic on the main road. The morning rush greeted me with its surly candor and as if by pre-defined custom, soon everyone slowed to a crawl and finally to a standstill. I waited as the traffic signals and the people stuck in the jam followed their routine and as usual entered my office late.

“The boss wants to see you.” the security guard said to me as I showed him my ID card and pressed my right index finger on to the bio-metric device.

“Okay.” I nodded.

I walked past the huge glass doors in the direction of the lift. My phone rang the instant I had pressed the button for the top floor.

“Hello?”

“Hey, its me, Jennie.”

“Hi, what is up?”

“Just called to tell you that the boss was looking for you”

“Yeah, I Know”

“Well you should also know that he was not in a good mood”

“Thanks a lot for the heads up”

I had just finished talking, when the lift doors opened. I walked up to the boss’s secretary and she waved me in. I knocked twice before entering.

“Come in. Take a seat” My boss said as he turned around.

“Thank you sir. I heard you wanted to meet me. Was it something urgent?”

“There has been a breach in Sector-31”

“But there is a breach in most of the sectors every day. We will find the culprit and deport him back, sir.”

“The culprit has been here for the past 5 days”

“What? How could we have missed that?”

“That is why it is urgent. And there is another thing; he has committed a murder too.”

“This is serious. I will put a team on it right now.” I replied, the tone deceiving my calm exterior.

“Make sure that this information doesn’t leak out. Limit your team to a minimum”

“Okay, sir”

“That will be all.”

I quickly got to my office and started the computer. As i sifted through the company roster two names popped up. I called up Jennie and asked her to call them immediately.

It had been 5 years since I started working for this place. Everything was top secret.  Even the name of the organization was not disclosed to the employees. This all started when the governments of the world found out that we were not alone in the universe. And the most shocking part was when we found that the “aliens” were more similar to us than we had expected. Not just similar, exactly the same. The parallel universe theory was real. There were millions of other human beings living on millions of other Earths with every major and minor possibility in action. There was a huge influx of people traveling between these worlds to see how their other “self” was doing. For some time such activities went unnoticed as minor excursions. But then something happened which sent shock-waves through every one of these worlds. Identities became blurred and a spate of crimes began to occur which led to growing chaos. Alarmed at such incidents, governments across the entire void decided to create a first and final line of defense in the form of this organization which would track the influx of people so that any such eventualities would never be realized. As a part of this organization I was involved in round the clock surveillance and prevention of any breach.

Now, someone had once more broken the rules. This time it was our Earth.

I finished my report and mailed it to the boss. Soon the intercom was ringing. I picked it up slowly.

“I have read through your report. Are you sure that you want these two people on the project?”

“Yes, sir I am very sure.”

Soon two people walked into my office.

“Take a seat.” I said

“No thanks” the taller of the two said while the shorter one sat into the seat in front of me.

“Jeannie must have updated you on the scenario.”

Both of them nodded their head.

“Raghav, I want you to go to the site of crime and look around. I want the report on the crime scene by tomorrow. You will get the preliminary report from my secretary. ” I said to the tall, blue-eyed guy.

“Fine.” He replied as he walked out of the room.

“Asif, I want the entire details of the portal that was breached, the time and stage of development of the said portal.”

“Why do you need the stage of development?” the short bearded guy asked.

“To see what we are dealing with. You do know that  there are different possibilities in all these worlds, right?”

“Yes.”

“So there might be some planets which are still in the prehistoric times and some which have advanced so much that time machines have been made and banned. Hence I need to know the ability and knowledge of the culprit.”

“OK, I will do whatever I can.” He replied and started making his way towards the door.

“Make sure that you don’t speak about this to anyone” I instructed curtly.

“Whatever you say, Boss” he replied with a smile and then was out of my office.

I sat down in my chair and looked out of the window. It was going to be a long day.

to be continued ...

-Sidharth Sunish

SOLVING THE ENERGY EQUATION: Challenge 2020

With the burgeoning growth in this technological epoch, another right has been added to the growing list of the rights of men (And women) and that is the right to have electricity. Some may argue that this is baseless and that electricity is still a privilege – a comfort and not a right. I may stand corrected, but, the ubiquitous electric energy run devices tell a different tale. From the farms to the industry, from the small transistor in a hut to the home theatres of multi million rupee homes, all devices today run on electricity. Hence, while the right to education and security against food shortages and hunger are issues at the cynosure of the government’s attention, the increasing usage of electric energy is another major concern that has stayed in the offing for long.

India stands pretty tall in the generation of electricity, coming in third in the list of highest electricity producing nations. With a share of 4.8% of the global electricity generation, India has an installed capacity of 249.5 GW. A sizeable share is the installed renewable energy capacity. However, if you review the world population statistics, India accounts for 17.5% of the global populace.  This is where the energy inequality is laid bare. While the average European boasts a per capita consumption of 6200kWh, the figures in India are dismal, barely reaching 288kWh in urban centres and 96kWh in rural areas (Per capita consumption of electricity is often taken as an indicator of development in the world today.). Roughly, 75.3% of the population has access to electricity which means 300 million citizens in the country have no access to frequent electricity (estimates from 2011) and promptly stay in the dark. Another shocking estimate figures that about one-third of the country’s rural population has no electricity. This brings to mind the news from June 2014 in Haryana, where a village was only able to secure an electric supply 67 years after Independence - a state that prides itself on its industrial growth and development. The situation in other parts of the nation is even worse. Where electricity is provided, connections are unreliable and outages are common throughout the country. More often than not, the capital region experiences shortages of power especially during the summer months.

So, in light of the current situation, why isn’t the government spending heavily on capacity addition? Produce more, to feed most – wasn’t that the ideology behind the Green revolution so that food shortages would become a thing of the past? In theory, if 900 million people are being fed from the 250 GW installed, then add another 85-90 GW and the problem is solved, isn’t it? We might even end up with a surplus! But, calculations in the power sector aren’t as straightforward (one must consider the constraints) and it will be incorrect to say that capacity addition isn’t a priority. In fact, it is – the 12^th Five Year Plan sets a target of 88,500 MW (this information has been procured from CEA reports) to be added by 2017 (38 % of which has been achieved) and the total target including renewables is 1,18,000 MW. So, capacity addition isn’t much of a problem. Capacity addition during the 11^th five year plan was 260% of the capacity addition during the 10^th five year plan. These figures look promising. As electrical engineering undergraduates, there is a common rule of thumb that we are taught – 1MW of capacity addition roughly costs 6 crore INR (need to recheck for inflation). In light of this figure, one can’t blame the government for under-spending in power infrastructure addition. It is safe to say that infrastructure exists, or is being added at a good rate (barring some problems) on the generation side.

Following the generating units, we have the transmission and distribution networks – the lifelines of the country. The T&D network in India is notorious for heavy losses standing at 23.65% in 2011-12.  To put these figures in perspective, 20% of 250GW is 50 GW! i.e. If net power being generated is 250 GW (which isn’t the case) , 50 GW will be lost in transmission and distribution lines. These are termed as technical losses. However, technical losses are not the only ones that result in reduction of power supplied, low metering efficiency, theft & pilferages account for a huge chunk of the power as well. Together, the total of these losses is defined as AT & C – Aggregate Technical and Commercial Loss which was 27% for 2011-12, higher than the previous year’s value. In absolute figures 27% of 250 GW is 67.5 GW! Here, we have identified a major issue in the power sector. This has been recognized by the government institutions and the authority plans to reduce T&D losses to 17% by 2017.  Theft of power as mentioned above is a big problem. Tampering with electricity meters or bypassing them altogether is common in various communities. In recent times, reports from villages in the capital show that officials from distribution companies have been beaten when they have approached such wrongdoers. A Bloomberg report calculates financial losses amounting to $17 Billion in the annual electricity revenue. Stealing power has become easier in the absence of a police team to go on the rounds with the officials to check for faulty meters and connections. While increasing energy costs and poor security measures are prompting more and more people to thieve in the urban areas, it is a rampant practice in rural India where the checks are virtually non-existent. On the technical issue, old networks and a huge distribution system are to blame, adding levels of losses with each bifurcation. Addition of renewable energy sources is an additional problem and they are better suited to supply locally. This is one national issue which requires a huge upheaval and restructuring of infrastructure.

On to the consumers – with increasing costs and high income inequality purchasing electricity takes a big slice out of the monthly budget of the consumers. In the end, suffering and woes of the consumer are foremost and these are issues that must be addressed. Reliability of power is a major issue. Long power cuts due to load shedding and unscheduled interruptions are common even in the wealthiest societies. Due to this, budgets rise as the consumer has to resort to inverters and diesel generators. While inverters add pressure on the grid itself, diesel generators are a concern as they increase the environmental woes. With a significant population in the lower income section, illegal tapping has become a norm. Subsidies and several sensitisation campaigns too, have failed to prompt the consumer to mend his/her ways. Poor reliability has become such a major issue that talk of power quality has all but been suspended in certain areas and remains a mere speculation in the reality of the grid condition.

While such big problems persist, various hurdles are also faced intermittently by the energy sector. Availability of coal for thermal power plants has been a big headache and the government has had to step in repeatedly to solve issues of coal shortage. Various subsidies on import of coal are also provided. Several hydropower projects face the wrath of the public for submerging large areas and uprooting communities from their homes and as such have prolonged delays in construction and commissioning. Following the big black out in 2012, though several measures have been taken to render the national grid more reliable, a lot of work is still pending to this effect. From the environmental point of view too, the situation is not promising. About 800 million consumers continue using traditional biomass energy sources like fuel wood, agricultural waste and livestock dung for cooking and other domestic purposes. This leads to indoor air pollution and is a significant cause of deaths in the country. The oil, natural gas and coal fired plants are inefficient and produce up to 120% more CO2 per kWH compared to their EU contemporaries. Ecological destruction is the biggest by-product of construction of big dams and power plants. Political and social debates have stifled the growth of nuclear power in India.

With an entire pandora’s box to contain, the situation in this sector though discouraging shows some spurts of progress. Introduction of renewable energy was the biggest step taken by the country in this respect. Rural areas present ideal locations for solar plant setups. A village in Bihar, Dharnai, recently went all –solar for its electricity needs. Though initial investments are high, communities can reap the benefits of solar installation upwards of 25 years. This trend has led to several solar powered plants all over the country promoting the idea of a distributed grid. With traditional methods stating a centralized grid to provide power through long transmission lines to all nooks and crannies of the nation, the development of the renewables energy sector has led to discussions and debates on the distributed grid. Wind farms and PV based farms are a good source of energy locally, no heavy losses have to be faced for long transmission and the smaller micro grid is highly reliable. Thus the huge interconnection and network of T&D gives way to smaller self-sustained networks that may/may not exchange energy with the national grid according to their needs. This method is highly popular among social organizations working in rural areas and the MNRE itself. Blackouts like the one in 2012 can be compensated for by local communities on their own. While availability of energy for PV due to rainy and cloudy days and Wind farms, due to lack of wind is a constant source of criticism, such micro-grids have been successful in general. There are several alternatives to coal and other non-renewable energy sources such as tidal, ocean thermal etc. Tidal energy is being experimented with currently as India is blessed with a vast coastline; future projects are viable in this field. On the consumers end, subsidies are present for installation of PV and solar thermal solutions at private homes. Smart meters are now being deployed for reliable metering and billing. Though dynamic pricing is still far, this can be considered in the future to advocate judicious use of electricity in urban centres. A lot of distribution companies have been working to change old and unreliable network equipment with the latest ones. Conscientious work on both the public and the institutional side is required here. Many rural areas though still devoid of electricity are seeing benefits under the National Rural Electrification Scheme (the name is actually in Hindi) to electrify and provide subsidised power to over one lakh un-electrified villages.

By the year 2020, a large part of the infrastructure will come to depend on electric energy – both industry and consumer. India’s power consumption will be double of what it was in 2009 and the peak power deficit will depend on the policies and plans that need restructuring. The Indian railway which is already a major consumer is still adding to the electrified tracks and will present a huge load for the sector. With several smart cities planned, as stated in the present budget, the demand of power is likely to shoot in the next six years. Though, projections have been considered in the capacity addition planning, efficient and dynamic usage is what is required. Losses need to be curbed to a bare minimum. If AT&C losses were to remain as high, India will still be losing a lot of energy and in this sense wasting natural resources. Addition of electric vehicles is still a minor concern in India as the market for such is very small. Focus should be on empowering the rural regions with reliable electricity. It is a shame to see kerosene lamp lit houses after 67 years of Independence. Energy disparities need to be reduced. The society has come to depend on electricity to be as essential as other basic needs and that is why the government needs to work to guarantee this right. As data from the 2011 census shows that nearly 70% of the people still live in rural areas, do not forget who the ‘true aam aadmi’ is. While special laws are in place for theft of electricity, actions are the need of the hour to bring the consumer to toe the regulations. A new government has taken the seat at the centre. Changes are taking place, but at what pace, is yet to be seen.

The Indian economy surges ahead hand in hand with growth in the energy sector, but to be able to sustain an economy that is forecasted to grow to a mammoth $5 trillion in 2020 is a huge challenge. In this growth, as an engineer, one only hopes that whatever the situation is in six years, the right to reliable electricity is availed for by all the citizens by then!

-Anurag Arya

Rise and Fall of AAP

December 2013, a completely new party with radical and coherent thoughts defining novel ambitions announced its arrival in the political boulevard with an unexpected and historic show in the Delhi assembly elections. The Aam Aadmi Party which seemed relatively more piquant than the other parties managed to bag 28 assembly seats in its debut assembly elections. The AAP fledgling took its flight, inadvertently, with the help of it’s newly found wings burdened by hopes and expectations of many a lakhs. The main aim was to curb the corruption at the root level. The thing that made AAP stand out from other political parties was that they represented common man’s anger and frustration against the sorry state of present governance and their political stint didn’t intend to garnish monetary and materialistic rewards. The reverence that the Delhiites showed for Arvind Kejriwal was not out of fear or bought using money but it was due to the ideology of AAP being in resonance with the masses. Going out to the masses, understanding their problems, being open and transparent about every single step, all of it seemed to have struck the right chord for AAP. Apart from all this AAP had the audacity to come out with jaw dropping revelations about some political bigwigs and business honchos being involved in illicit deals which only redounded the credibility and authenticity of AAP. People felt themselves connected to a party after a long time. 
With the advent of AAP, there came a change, a change of people’s perspectives, a change in public’s attitude, a change which vouched for clean governance. And this change was for good. Somehow the inspiration from AAP turned into reality for those 49 days. Bribery, crime, forgery, it all started fading away. It was hard to believe yet satisfying seeing a single someone transforming people’s attitude and a party transforming its ideology into reality. AAP did not believe in disparaging other parties and getting involved in pompous politics, or so it seemed at first. Rather it believed in working for the cause from the grass-root level. As the name suggests, AAM AADMI PARTY (Common man’s party), it carefully took strides making sure that the whole public was beside it, including them in the decision making process. It was the common man’s direct involvement; it was the clarity and transparency in decision making that made AAP different. For AAP, it was never about craving for power and being greedy, it was about hearing the atrocities a common man  faced in his/her life and giving these irregularities a voice. All these things ingrained among the masses a sort of connection with the party, it embedded a common man with a will to hope, and it boosted a common man’s morale, his confidence to think about his and his country's betterment.

But, then as it says transformation is a process and as life happens there are ups and downs and one has no control over the intangible yet inexorable time. It can be good and the very next moment it can shatter you to pieces and this came to bite AAP too. Immaturity in politics, novice politically incorrect decisions, swaying away from their basic ideology of representing the masses and myriad number of dharnas, internal party conflict, all these factors led to AAP losing its sheen. Although AK, stepping down from the CM’s post, showed that he and his party believed in politics of honor and ethics and he wasn't power hungry but the people perceived that he was shirking his responsibilities and felt cheated. His ballsy and a bit ambitious decision to contest in the LS election after his resignation as Delhi’s CM demonstrated the lack of political acumen and eventually resulted in a dismal show managing only 4 out of 462 seats AAP contested for. The rhetoric and a cogent orator in Narendra Modi, who was touted to give a strong and undiplomatic government in the centre, proved to be too hot to handle for Kejriwal and gave him a touché moment. The LS snubbing only led to more people and its own party members drifting away from AAP. Amidst the arrows of blasphemy coming from every direction AAP’s member tried boggling away but the obsolete and hackneyed idea of going on irrelevant dharnas, political immaturity, lack of inter party coordination cost them dearly as they fell easy prey to the blustering verbal attacks from  rival political parties. The spell conjured by AAP’s wand which made people revere it seems to be fading away into nothingness. The fresh news of inter-party conflicts only redound the credits of BJP for the assembly elections. Do the people now feel that AAP has turned kaput? Is the LS result a way of showing people’s disdain for AAP now? Are AAP’s agendas now perceived as mere idiosyncrasies by the masses? Uncertain of the party future, Arvind kejriwal is trying his best to regain the confidence of masses as he mooted for a bottom-up overhaul and burnishing of the party. But will the Delhiites condone AAP’s novice and incorrect actions and give them another chance for their redemption and salvation? Are they ready to show the same reverence and faith in a man who failed them once? It will be interesting to see whether AK will be able to pull out his party out of quagmire and fight the stalwart Indian demagogues or the fledgling won’t be able to make it to the sky and protect itself from the eerie predators of this notorious political jungle.

-Sagar Dang (Guest)

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Note : The views expressed here are not meant to hurt the sentiments of any community, group, faction or political party. If they do, please refrain from commenting obscenities below. Thank You! 

TO BE CONTINUED...

CHAPTER I

9:00 P.M. You arrive at the scene of crime. You alight from your car, greeted by the salutes of your subordinates. It is a cold-blooded murder, they say. You make your way up a flight of stairs and find the body lying on the floor, covered in a pool of blood. The clamour of the gathered crowd irritates you. You tell them to shut the f**k up.

9:10 P.M. You start looking around for a clue and accidentally stumble upon a....... The back of your head is suddenly attacked by the atrocity of a rooster crowing.

8:00 A.M. You find yourself scrambling for the snooze button. You shut your eyes desperately trying to get back to the scene. Alas! Your mind comes face to face with a black, blank and seemingly endless wall. Wonder what could have happened next?

CHAPTER II

You go to a friend's place. He says, “Have I told you of the time when I was about to get kidnapped?”

“No.” (surprised)

“Okay, then let me tell you.”

Naturally, you agree. He begins. Your mind gets whipped up into a frenzy. He starts narrating.

“There was this guy sitting beside me in the bus. He was smoking a beedi.”

It had begun pretty much the way you had expected. A shady character in an equally shady setting. By now, your curiosity has reached its crescendo.

“He started talking to people seated right in front of us. It seemed like they were his friends. They didn't look nice people.” (takes a pause)

The plot thickens. You inadvertently adjust your posture expecting a long story.

“They were speaking in a strange language. That guy then looked at me in a rather strange manner.”

“Then??”

“Then…… (unbelievably long pause)………I'll tell you tomorrow.” (straight face)

“Are you f***ing kidding me!”

“No. I will tell you tomorrow. Kyun? Dikkat kya hai (Why? What is the problem)??” (a straight face encore)

You cannot believe what just happened. That was ridiculous. You start cursing him. Still, he does not give in to your repeated requests. Alas! There is not much more you can do now.

CHAPTER III

Everyone says it is a great movie. You decide to find out for yourself. You invite your friends too. The ticket seller charges you 120 bucks per ticket. That is fair enough. After all it's a multiplex. It has been quite a long time since you watched a love story. But this one had incredible performances (supposedly) from the cast, won awards, was critically acclaimed and screened in various film festivals (whose names you cannot recall).

The film begins. The actor plays a widower, Mr. M. The actress plays a housewife, Mrs. W, whose married life is anything but happy. She has a school-going daughter too. Your appreciation for the movie grows with each frame. The film gradually builds up to its climax. M parts ways with W. Up until now, you love the movie. But it has not reached its end. A few hundred frames later M realises something is amiss, and decides to persuade W to be a part of his life. But Mrs. W contemplates committing suicide. That’s pretty understandable. M boards a local train, with dreams of his new life drenched in the music of the dabbawaalas. W, meanwhile, packs her bags and leaves home with her daughter.

And out of nowhere, the credits start rolling.

THE END.

The movie has finished. It seems someone has ripped apart a portion of the final reel. Did M reach in time? Alas! Nobody can say for sure. Your disappointment at the lack of closure leaves you in a fit of rage, effectively clouding your appreciation of what has to be said was, in hindsight, great art.

CHAPTER IV

If you have reached thus far, I believe you must have related to at least one of the chapters. Now you think there must be something I, the author, intend to convey. I most certainly do.

But let us keep that for another fine day. Somewhere in the not too distant future.

-Ayush Poddar

Love and Romance : The Wounded Soldier Speaks

A few days back, I came across an article in the newspaper which talked about a new, yet paradoxically named concept: ‘LAT-Living apart together’, yet another new age phenomenon which has stemmed from the notions of a so-called ‘developing’ society. Allow me to elaborate a bit on the concept of LAT. Those who want to marry but are not willing to compromise on their privacy and freedom form the greater portion of those who subscribe to this ideology. The article was quite clearly mechanical in stating the pros and cons of this concept, as if explaining the side effects of the latest pill to hit the market. I was astonished to find marriage or love being discussed along such technical lines. I am of the belief that love and care are rare examples of things which are not bound by hefty scientific, empirical and statistical relations, but are amongst the purest and simplest things conceivable to man.

The four letter word LOVE has undergone drastic changes from its simple form in the olden times to the highly complicated stages of relationships as defined nowadays by the Facebook generation namely, ‘Open Relationship’, ‘Complicated Relationship’ and ‘In a Relationship’ and so on.

I want to ask all of you a simple question: Does love need so many definitions?

Let us recall the olden days: Couples voiced their emotions on paper, brimming with the colors of love and warmth of care, treading together on a thread to each other’s souls. Even the hours spent waiting each other’s calls at the only telephone booth in the locality were moments to be cherished. Distances, in the era of letters and postcards, didn’t have the strength to deter love but then, now we are ‘developed’. Today, we have not just phones, but smartphones, online video calls, etc. which have supposedly shortened distances, but we still can’t bridge long distance relationships. No need to look elsewhere, I personally have a friend who separated with his better (in this case clearly) half, just because of a small matter of 900 miles. If you are going to ask him WHY, then even he does not have much of an answer.

Why is it so that a single letter every fortnight was enough to forge the bonds between those souls but these days, hours of phone calls, chatting over WhatsApp and not to forget Skype are not able to achieve the same? One possible answer is that we have ‘developed’. We want everything to be according to our own terms. We don’t want to compromise on our space for anyone else. The other explanation could be that we are so engrossed in the process of minting money that we are not even able to find time to look at the invaluable beauty of life. We don’t have enough time to spend with our wife or girlfriend. Also, not to forget the highly decorated general, Gen. Globalisation, who has made us, his army, dance to his tunes. We have opened our doors to the world but in due course, have ended up closing the doors to our dear ones. We are very firmly in the driver’s seat, but love and romance have taken the back seat.

Is it that we have forgotten how to love or is it that our approach to life is more technical?

Those who view life in technical terms, I want to remind them that the Heart is not just a blood pumping machine. It is much more than that.  And for those of you who have forgotten how to love, I would request them to consider Romance. Romance is the essence of love. It neither requires you to be a scholar of literature nor does it require you to invoke Newton’s laws of motion or Faraday’s laws of electrochemistry. Little surprises, witty one-liners and playful teasing is Romance. Of course, it needs time. So those who want to mint money, and store that heap of paper in their bank accounts, Romance is not for you because you don’t have the time for these apparently illogical but lovely things. But kindly let me remind you that there is no happiness in having a lonely dinner in a corner of a five-star restaurant. There is no happiness in coming home with a trophy in hand but not having anyone to share that success with.

We have plenty of time for going out on a dinner in some lavish hotel whose walls are decorated with masterpieces of art and craft, but we can’t spare the time for cooking together. It is possible that such food is found lacking in taste but it would have the taste of love in it. To sit with each other, savoring that creation of yours is Romance. To be the reason behind the smile on the face of your lover, that is Romance. There might be a lot of ways for the same. You may probably find a million books bearing titles like ‘100 ways for making your lover happy’ in the market but no need to go for that, believe me it is much simpler.

In the race for bettering our lifestyle, many of us have ended up forgetting how to live. For those of you who took a break from ‘making love’ to your girlfriend on Facebook to read this article, I urge you to spare some more time to find happiness in your life because those are the moments that make life memorable. 

-Prashant Kumar Singh