Vipanchi

"Gandhi was a tough man. He would let every thought flow through him but never let them wreck his own convictions" I grew up learning Mahatma Gandhi as 'The Father of The Nation'. I remember giving alms to old people and kids dressed up in the dhoti with a glaring silver paint on them almost looking like the ubiquitous statues of Gandhi in India. Yeah, I have seen him on currency notes and heard at least a road named after him in many towns. As I explored a bit deeper, I was awestruck by the stature of Mahatma world over. The British who must be his prime contenders have constructed his statue in the parliament square. They see him as the symbol of peace and non-violence. Then I asked myself,   How much do I know about Mahatma? Is he relevant to modern India? Modern India can be comprehended into an English speaking , Market-driven, society laying fast track trains, living in bustling cities sending humans to the outer space on one side,...

Every morning as I open the newspaper there is at least an article on a girl, molested in one or the other part of India. sometimes in a city, some other in a village. Sometimes an infant, sometimes a septuagenarian. No state is an exception, some states lead anyway. Temples and schools, houses and workplaces all are same for the 2nd gender! This is a very pathetic state for us as a society. Agreement of this is unequivocal. Then, why are we as a society unable to solve the problem? This is the question I try to answer here. I will address this by dissecting the issue, part by part. Stringent punishment - a deterrent: Many people have this view,  " punish the rapist cruelly so that boys will fear to rape a girl".   Most of them rally on the streets to get this done. They are those who really empathize with the victim. But as research shows, punishment is not a deterrent to crime. However, the lack of punishment is more adverse. So the criminal justice sy...

India is the world's largest democracy. We are among those few newly independent nations where democracy survived all odds. People cherish this. But there are people who say, democracy is leading us to nowhere. So, what are the reasons for this? Lets see, why democracy failed India. Immature electorate: People are poor and illiterate. They vote for leaders who give them money, liquor, and in some cases TV sets! So there is a fundamental flaw in electing the leader itself. We can't expect such leaders to be genuinely concerned about the well being of people. Corrupted politicians:  Most of the politicians have a powerful background. They use wealth and muzzle power to come to power. Further, promote their interest by holding power. Common man is helpless in this situation. Then democracy is nothing better than an oligarchy/dictatorship. Poor state of development: India is a poor state in many aspects. Poverty: India's poverty rate is 21.9% according to 2011 census....

Indian independence movement is one of the earliest peaceful movements against the British rule. It opened doors for Non-violent protests against oppressors across the world. Gandhiji is credited for this idea. Indian freedom struggle is mainly classified into three phases: Moderate phase - prayer, petition, protest. Extremist phase - violent revolt. Gandhian phase - Peaceful non-co-operation. What made Gandhian phase unique? The moderate leaders of freedom struggle, though mostly viewed as unsuccessful, were responsible for forming the counter arguments to " white man's burden" theory  of  the British. They prepared ground, propounded theories for intellectual understanding of the British exploitation of India. The extremists, mostly young leaders, believed in complete freedom, resorted to violent means to overthrow the British . However, there was no significant harm done to the British. It is at this juncture that Gandhian philosophy came handy.  Ga...

According to the provisional data provided by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 11,370  farmers committed suicide in 2016 . At least one farmer commits suicide every  hour in India. So let me breakdown the reasons that drive farmers to commit suicides. Why people commit suicide? According to mental health daily, people commit suicide when they view  their current situation as being completely hopeless and feel as if they have no way to change things for the better . Common causes of suicide include : Depression Drug abuse Financial problems Relationship issues In the case of Indian farmers, depression, due to financial problems is the telling cause. Why Indian farmers are depressed? 50-60% of population depend on agriculture as a means of livelihood. Most of them are small and marginal farmers, meaning, they hold a meager 1-2 hectares of land. Almost entire agriculture on India is rain fed. However, monsoons are not consistent.Climate chang...

We(common people) to be alive, have to think, to think, we need ideas, for ideas we need conversations, for conversations we need people with ideas!!! Sometimes I get no idea to think or write on. Then some people come as a blessing, they leave an idea in their conversation and that triggers my brain to think, analyze and conclude on that idea. This time it is, a boy's career is more important than a girl's career because girls anyway can get married and they have no social obligation to work. A boy's life itself becomes tough without a proper job. He can't get married or he will not have any social respect. So, boy's career is a question of survival. Analysis: The question of survival: Yes, in Indian society a boy without a reasonable job is compared to nothing.  His prospects of getting a bride are almost null. Societal respect will be a far cry. Life will be miserable for a guy without a proper job-in fact well paid or well-respected job. However, an ance...

Education and its importance is something that doesn't need any explanation. However, it is something that is deliberately ignored in our country, by our people. And another problem is the present trend in most of the middle classes- an excessive focus on their child's education which often ends up in a disaster. So in this post, I want to dwell on these chronic issues. Education system defines a society and thus a nation.The morals that people uphold, patriotism, scientific bent of people, the amount of workforce that will be available to a nation, the amount of wealth that a country holds ........education has a direct bearing on all these things. The growth of an individual and his outlook on life, for a majority of people, is defined by their school days. The exceptional performance of one either good or bad, if we track down for clues, we can find them in one's school days. So what is the importance that we must attach to something that will have a direct bearing on...

Hellow all, today there is something different from what I write generally. It is nationalism. Yesterday when I was watching the 'madras cafe' movie, these thoughts which were silently roaming in my mind started jumping out. They posed a question to me -"is the nation for its people or people for its nation?" These series of thoughts just broke all my conviction on patriotism, which was groomed carefully from my childhood.  PEOPLE, FOR THE NATION: To answer the question that puzzled me is not so simple. It requires a contextual understanding of the topic of nationalism. Nation-a utopian concept, though, holds a high place in the hearts and minds of people. There are people like the army men whose patriotism is undoubted. However, this concept of nationalism when interpreted in a wrong way lead to the severest of human crisis-world wars. It was ultranationalism that engulfed the humanity of Europe especially the Italians and Germans. It is that concept of nationa...