Nation Again…st Corruption

Corruption has become synonymous with the Indian economy in recent times. It is thus, not surprising, that the people have had enough. Corruption is one of the biggest hurdles in India's growth. Corruption hinders growth through its adverse effects on investment in physical capital, human capital, and political instability. In fact, a recent survey suggested that high levels of corruption in Asia could derail the Asian growth story. 

The Jan Lokpal Bill, which is supported by Mr. Anna Hazare is a much needed step towards a corruption free India. There are a few things that I really like about Mr. Hazare's version of the bill -an independent, single body capable of conducting end-to-end investigations; This stand when coupled with a speedy trial is one of the best defenses against corruption.

A strong Lokpal bill ensures that even when there is an opportunity and pressure to commit fraud. A rationalization will be difficult for a potential fraudster because of a speedy trial and a strict punishment. The government, as expected, opposes a strong Lokpal bill. Many people claim that government has taken such a stand to safe guard its own interests. Regardless of what the truth may be, I believe that we - the people of India -have shown to the government the true power that a democracy possesses - The right to fight for what we think is right. No doubt there will be trails in the next few days and month. But i believe that the movement has too much momentum now to stop and a strong Lokpal bill definitely see the light of day. 

If we were to suppose that government with its supreme power a strong opponent. It will be appropriate to assume that Anna Hazare led movement against corruption with unwinding nation-wide support is an equally strong contender. If you have stayed in Delhi for as long as most of us here in Delhi have, you will be surprised. Streets are full of people, with a candle in their hand and a hope in their heart. Hopes for a corruption free India.


I am all in support for a corruption free India and in awe of the great man, who has sacrificed so much to support a great cause - Mr. Anna Hazare.

Silly Thing called Luck..!

Show me a person who avoids hard work, and I’ll show you someone who hasn’t found their purpose yet.

Glad that I am back to scribble down after a long time, I was desperate to explore and talk about luck, is it just a self fulfilling prophecy or truly an essence to success.

There is an urge in all of us to insist that others are more fortunate than we are. When we face “bad times,” we often comfort ourselves with the idea that we are special in our level of misfortune. To rely on our understanding of luck – to believe that life is a kind of lottery – is just an attempt to escape reality. I believe it’s not a question of luck when we talk of success and failure, in fact when I think of icons like Sachin Tendulkar and Oprah Winfrey it’s their hard work and attitude which reflects on their success and not that silly word.

When you live life for a strong purpose, then hard work isn’t an option it’s a necessity. If your life has no real purpose, then you can avoid working hard and it won’t matter because you’ve decided that your life itself doesn’t matter in anyways so who cares if you work hard or take the easy road? But if you’ve chosen a significant and worthy purpose for your life, it would require hard work to get there. If you avoid working hard, you simply avoid doing what it takes to success and believe me your desire to work and rise in life would melt all the adversities. The choice in life is always yours, whether you want to go with the flow of life and circumstances, act passively, let things happen to you and end up in a pretty screwed up situation, so start accepting and liking where the flow takes you. You would truly be an unlucky guy with mediocre results followed by a great deal of time and efforts spent on giving excuses and justifying results.

I would also say…Yes you are unlucky because you missed the opportunity, as you were too busy in looking for something else.

Yes you are unlucky because you see the rational side of any situation.

Yes you are unlucky because you can not take risks, love the routines and just want to be in the comfortable zone.

Step up and start driving your life, learn to associate the pleasure of success and tremendous growth you would gain with the discomforts you experience, it would become a lot easier for you to endure hardship required. You are the only one to use your abilities, it’s an awesome responsibility. J

I Dare - Kiran Bedi..!

For me a new phase of life has begun! One of perpetual gratitude and sharing of joy...!

Background:-

• Born in a simple joint family of Amritsar.

• Second of three sisters.

Achievements:-

• Masters in Political Science (Topper).

• Won the National and Asian title in Tennis.

• Joined Indian Police Service in 1972 (First woman in India to do so).

• Police Gallantry Award from the President of India.

• Ramon Magsaysay award for government service. (First time it was given to a police officer in Asia).

• Phd – IIT, Delhi – Drug Abuse and domestic violence.

• Two Honory Doctrates – India and New York.

• Un Medal in 2004.

• Mother Teresa Award for social justice 2005.

• FICCI Award 2005.

• One of the 1000 women worldwide nominee’s for Nobel Peace Prize.

Career:-

• Delhi Traffic Police, Ninth Asian Games.

• Special Traffic Police, Commonwealth Heads of Government meet.

• Narcotics control bureau.

• DIG, Mizoram.

• Inspector General Of Prisons, Tihar Jail.

• Special secretary to the Lt. governor of Delhi.

• Joint commissioner of Police (Training), Delhi.

• Civilian police adviser to the Secretary General, UN in the department of peace keeping operations.


Actions:-

Look for a good boss, who provides you empowerment so that you can grow.

Look for a supporting husband.

Do not let fear overtake you.

Do not get disillusioned and accept defeat:-

• Ministers kept on changing statements

• Being given hard postings

• No response from the ministry on next posting

• Misinterpretation of facts by media when bringing reforms at Tihar.

• Not being sent for foreign meetings and seminars.

• Not asked to participate in sports events after marriage, continued to play tennis even after joining the service.

Do not be afraid to take the first step:-

• Nav jyoti (Drug rehabilitation clinics)

• Funding for policing initiatives, Beat Box.

• Suggested the coordination and interaction of the police, judiciary and the prison to bring out transformation.

Keep focused on goal and do not get led by society and peer pressure.

Be willing to sacrifice present comfort (relaxation) for medium to long term gains:-

• Practice effective Time Management

• Tennis practice.

• Read! Read! Read!

• Document and file important correspondence.

Be willing to step out of the comfort zone.

Seek the best education possible:-

• Phd from IIT, Delhi.

Put in so much hard work and dedication to turn a dead end to a glorious opportunity to shine:-

• Posting at Tihar Jail.

Do not get emotional and remain task focused:-

• Get back with a vengeance- Tennis match

• Get own house straight before commenting on outside machinery (Chandigarh posting as head)

Once decided, be prepared to face the consequences:-

• Frequent postings.

• Being side lined.

Think out of the box:-

• Raksha bandhan celebrations at Tihar Jail to bring in reformation in the prisoners.

• Goa children waiving and managing the distance for the visiting dignitaries.

Fight the root cause:-

• Drug rehabilitation clinics

• Use of meditation (vipassana technique) as a tool to improve people condition and orientation to life (Ten days silence).

Display confidence at all points of time.

Understand people psychology:-

• Tihar reforms

• Shared lunches to send the message

Have a role model:-

• Sardar Patel (Architect of civil services).

Importance of leadership, to change even the worst of situations.

Courage to take tricky issues head on:-

• Suspension of staff.

• Promotion of staff (Driver).

• Corruption in tihar.

• Sacking of police officers.

• Mobile petition box.

• Isolating of hardened prisoners.

• Smoking ban.

Parents need to help children experience success (even small) from the very beginning.

Seek opportunities to get noticed and capitalize on it:-

• Indira Gandhi called Kiran for Morning breakfast after she saw her carrying the sword during the republic day celebrations in 1973 (First woman to do so)

• Gave Traffic instructions on TV in early years, without a single miss

• Thanked parents, superiors and counted her contributions to the UN and the challenges which it needs to address

Take utmost care of the image you project.

Have utmost care and concern for both parents, in laws, children and sisters. (Reciprocation Effect)

Achieve excellence by choosing a job where your passion lies.

Do not let people put you off course from your passion:-

• The selection committee advised her to choose another field as IPS was clearly a man’s domain.

Build trust and credibility by backing your team members to the hilt:-

• Towing of Indira Gandhi Car from Connaught place.

• Backing up the police officer who transported a lawyer.

Talk well about your family in public.

Make full use of resources available at your disposal:-

• School days.

• Look at innovative ways to save money for parents.

Parents need to make sure that girls get the message that being girls does not limit their prospects in any way. (From early childhood):-

• Parents stretched to provide the best education and sports opportunities to their daughters

• Parents provided there children with all the opportunity, which they could not get. (Sports and education)

• Parents need to encourage competitive sports, as this will in learning and coping with difficult situations. e.g. Tennis

• Sent children by train for interstate matches in those days

• Sharing of role models like Jawaharlal Nehru to Children at an early age.

Let children get exposed to the realities of the world:-

• Give freedom to children to take there own decisions (Starting early on in life)

• Change of school.


Do not be rigid at all times. You need to spend a few minutes, look at the macro picture and be diplomatic at times.

Single minded dedication to excel.

Be like a postage stamp stick to one thing until you get there.

Join competitive sports or get your children to join and learn from it:-

• The Importance of being mentally and physically strong.

• Importance of hard work and perseverance.

• How to use auto suggestion (think only of victory).

• How to divide time between work and play.

• Being able to exercise Self discipline.

• Fair play, team work, concentration, indefatigability, endurance, tenacity and most of all the ability to stretch out the extra bit under conditions of stress and exhaustion.

Parents need to play a major role in inculcating the right values in the children especially during the formative years.

Parents should make the best use of reading, education and sports to help children imbibe these values.

The focus of each individual should be on leaving a legacy.

Individuals should use meditation and internal audit to ensure that they do not stray from the moral code of conduct.

Give and share generously in order to make life more enjoyable.

Teach your children early on the importance of time management and how to do so.

Take full control of your time, else time will lathi charge on you.

Women:-

Women need to take the giving position instead of the receiving position, in order to fight injustice.

When making tough personal decisions as women, you need to view them as choices and not sacrifices.

If you do not make decisions, you become a part of the problem.

Leader needs to be tough enough to do things himself and also get things done.

That’s truly beyond greatness..! J

BPO’s: Crucifying Lifestyle, Discipline & Talents..!

They certainly came up with huge employment opportunities in India, India’s International market good-will raised just like the prices of shares at the time of Harshad Mehta’s scam, reduced gender disparity and above all, they have brought solid financial aid to our economy.

BPO’s are sprung all across the country and have brought various businesses to India. BPO Industry has certainly created a vital place for itself in the mainstream business dealings. The advent of BPO’s in Asian countries especially in India can be marked because of the easy pocket human resource which certainly brings in huge profit margins and the availability of the market.


But I think we have failed to understand the menace which has also increased to a great extent, whole lot of points strike when it comes to the pitfalls of the BPO Industry.

It is very upsetting for us that today’s youth unofficially in the age group of 18-26 are hired by the BPO’s, this is the age group, which is the backbone of any country, getting engaged in BPO’s who only value the communication skills (they are not bothered whether you are just a 10+2 pass out or some Postgraduate) and not the talent.  I think the problem is not only with the nature of the job but with the youth also, they have restricted themselves to the leisure of pick and drop facility, 24 by 7 lively environment, great incentives, exotic food courts and a couple of other options to nibble upon. I do not understand of what they produce, nothing….actually.  They just help a stupid foreigner who doesn’t even know what a Window is, what is an Icon and why did they shop a product; and simply waste their most valuable time over the phone, dealing with rude and rich guys.

I remember one such episode when one of my acquaintances was sharing how he got into the habit of smoking and I was quite astonished by the fact that, he started it when he was working with a leading BPO some time back and started feeling complex and wanted to match the standards of his colleagues who use to smoke and show off that he was not of their standards (that was probably a facade created by them).

It’s ruining them...making them unsocial, unimaginative and unconscious.

I truly believe that the country's prosperity can not be regulated while keeping all the threats like health hazards, IT crimes, accidents, undisciplined lifestyle of youth leading to mental and physical exhaustion, high risk behaviour of employees for money and many other social issues associated with BPO’s at bay.

I accept the fact that the role of BPO industry in India’s economic growth has been fantastic especially during the last few years but we also can not ignore and run away from the fact that we are actually down sizing the talent-pipeline of the country. The question remains pertinent not only for the policy makers and high authority intellectuals but also for the society.

We are slowly and gradually losing the entrepreneurial spirit and this is the right time to drive it again…! :) 

It’s just the end of a big name….Not Terrorism!

In an address to the nation, President Obama made it public that Osama Bin Laden has been killed in a "targeted operation" Nearly 10 years after the traumatic 9/11 attacks the world's most sought after terrorist leader Laden has been killed in Pakistan, but all this has led to a serious question on the intelligence of government and Pakistan’s army, are they protecting terrorists like Laden. This news has certainly opened the door for peace and harmony all across the world where corruption, fanaticism, brutality has done so much of harm. I truly believe that there is nothing to celebrate because it’s just the end of a big name in terrorism and not the terrorism. How does terrorism come into existence? Who are the actual terrorists? How to eradicate terrorism? Perhaps it is the perfect time that we find answers to these questions. Therefore, it is the responsibility of all of us to sincerely ensconce combine efforts to eradicate terrorism from the world.

The world has been facing the problem of terrorism since ages.

The number of terrorist incidents occurred due to religious terrorism are quite high while the intensity of the violence caused by terrorism of non-religious nature like poverty, ignorance, homelessness and political impotence can be given similar rating. It's very difficult to imagine a single method that could solve all these problems as each one has a unique origin.

If I talk about India then it is a bit unfortunate for us because we have been facing bad blood from our neighbor countries.  Pakistan since its creation has always harboured terrorist elements against us with an intention to destabilize our country; we face threats from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka in the South, we face trouble on the North -East side with China claiming Arunachal Pradesh, these countries have established their bases in our country from where they can carry out their obscene acts, but not everything can be done from these foreign bases  so they take advantage of the unemployed youth and others who fall easy prey to their indoctrination and create local groups. They take help from some political class and the corrupt officials who provide them fodder for their entry and exit. Whether it is the Bombay bomb blasts of 1992 or the Gujarat riots in 2002, justice takes many years to deliver. The corruption in the police forces must be minimized, there are a number of pending criminal cases against many politicians and officers; they cast their vote on important National issues which is quite alarming!  Terrorism prospers and thrives in such conditions. In a way, poverty is an incubator of terrorism and a root cause of corruption; it's not a question of who provoke but who get provoked. The poor and deprived are the targets for the rich and powerful. As long as a section of the population remains poor they can be brainwashed and made to work for a few pennies, the government needs to be tough in implementing reforms to maintain rapid economic growth and uplift the status of its downtrodden people.

It is the justice, equality, forgiveness, compassion, love and affection across races and geographical boundaries that will eradicate terrorism, by respecting each other's nation, religion and sentiments we can win over hearts of each other and can establish a society where happiness predominates agony. In order to cultivate a civilized society where freedom, peace and harmony prevail, it is imperative that justice prevails in society. Like darkness and light, hope and despair, injustice and peace are mutually exclusive and can never stand side by side, by tussles; nations can be conquered but not peace, terrorists could be killed but not terrorism.
Stop Participating & Being a Part of Terrorism..! J

Swim out of Negativity..!

Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll you will start having positive results.    – Willi Nelson

You just have to pickup a newspaper to realize that the world is in atrocious state. It is easy to become negative. If I want to become negative I can find out thousands of reasons to be so and if I allow all these factors to influence me, then yes, I feel extremely negative, but do you know that the problem is not actually the world outside or the people you are with. The heaviness of the world has come about because of the accumulation of all our negative thoughts and actions and the only way we can transform and replace it is through the power of positivity.

 How can I cope with it….?

If we spend a few moments in honest reflection, we would realize that whatever is going inside us is the root of negativity.

First of all, we must try to understand the root because then only we can go a long way to make it correct. We have to be aware of all our thoughts, we must possess the power to filter and step aside all the negative thoughts, this will bring faith and confidence by the fact that we would be aware about ourselves.

Many a times the negativity of people surrounding us affects us a lot and force us to think and even react in the same direction, so we must listen to them as an individual and understand their point of view. If we can make sure that we remain our own master, their negativity will flow over and above us and would not influence us. Think of a Lotus, it is found in dirty stagnant water but it has a waxy substance on its petals which does not allow anything to touch it’s surface; the dirt just rolls off, similarly we can create that layer of protection, so that our inner stability and positivity remains unaffected by outside influences and we can avoid becoming the puppet of circumstances that others have created. We also create negativity around us when we constantly criticize others because we think whatever we are doing, understanding and thinking is all correct and the other person is wrong, one must avoid this state of ego and should learn humility and respect, recognize the value of the individual and acknowledge the goodness in them, we have to understand that they just do things in a different way because they have different taste and preferences, we cannot change them or control them; what we can do is change our attitude and responses. If we react against them, we will not be able to influence them in future because our reactions will set a barrier between us. But we must not allow the negativity to destroy our communication; If I change my attitude in a genuine way - not from diplomacy or artificial courtesy; a good level of communication will arise, and perhaps, at the right time, we can talk about things and a change can take place..

Another aspect of negativity is what one feels about him. I see my weaknesses; I see the difficulties I have; I see the debts I have accumulated and I wonder how I would get out of them. If I lose hope, things will become difficult. Coming into the awareness of this experience one must spend a few moments of introspection in silence each day, detaching ourselves from all the other things so that we can understand and value ourselves. Only in the state where I am generating my own self respect within, I can earn respect from others. This is the way I can change my own negative image about myself.

When we learn to remove negativity, we will be drawn by the beauty that positivity can bring and as slowly and gradually we develop a liking for positivity, we therefore create a greater impact on the atmosphere around us and the people we are with.

Every individual who comes into this awareness of making things positive, of learning to deal with things in a positive way, makes a great difference.

Carry the charisma of positivity with yourself..! J

World Champions..

I never even dreamt of writing so much about cricket but this is what I would call, Magic. Yes, the magic of cricket, the magic of MSD’s army. The last couple of days made me realize, what is it about cricket that it’s like a religion in our country and people are damn crazy about it.

So many things in my mind but truly, do not know what to scribble down and where to start from, I am probably in ecstasy but I feel proud to say that I do belong to the land of World Champions..

Saturday night brought so many moments to cherish, for every Indian and especially for those who were not even borned to witness the historic moment of 1983, it was only cricket and celebration here, in fact I have never witnessed this kind of euphoria in the last 15-16 years in Delhi followed by any of the Indian victories. It was not only the story of Delhi but the streets of almost every city came alive when all squares and roads were brimming with the cheering of ecstatic cricket fans waiving Indian tricolors, bursting fire crackers, blowing whistles, screaming and dancing. The glorious moment of the marvelous feat has brought an unseasonal Diwali in the country.

Live from the Wankhede stadium of Mumbai, Indian bowlers bowled quite disciplined overs besides the last five, they almost lost their plot in that spell of the batting power play well complimented by the fielders not allowing the Sri Lankan batsmen to take easy runs and boundaries. I must compliment the splendid innings of Mahela Jayawardhene which brought Sri Lankans to challenge India with a good score of 275. In response to that India loosed their couple of big wickets quite early, that was a big blow for all of us but Gambhir & Virat batted exceedingly well and soaked in all the pressure at the right time, after the dismissal of Virat, Dhoni played a much needed captain’s innings and gave the winning score a final touch by hitting a huge six, he was emotionally confused after that I guess.

What happened after that made the aura quite scenic all the players hugged each other and this was for the first time I witnessed Men in Blue were not able to hold on their emotions, emotions ran high and they broke into tears.  The youngsters of the team carried aloft on their shoulders Sachin Tendulkar and the coach Garry Kirsten during their victory lap after the triumph, it was an acknowledgement of their role towards cricket and the big dream of winning the cup. This spectacular triumph was dedicated to Sachin by everybody else in the team.

I have a strong believe that this team of MSD is a great combination of experienced players and young blood with loads of fire and enthusiasm, another thing that I liked most about this team is that they have great respect for each other, they appreciate each other’s contribution and have a great understanding among themselves.

Celebration has just started and it will go on and on...

I wish them good luck for their future endeavors.. J