Corruption in govt organisation is at its peak level

We can say that we can stop corruption by educating people to stop paying the money to corrupt people,but here i want to bring a big fact in light to the people of india that now a days a trend has been made in all deptt. of govt in india in all states . the employ of every organisation deployed at particular station for duty should be changed to another station after completing his tenure e.g 2- 3 year but the case is different in the country , now a days transfer of the govt employ has become big bussiness for the upper class officers and beurocrates ,and if we consider it seriously then just do one thing ,count the employ in our country and multiply it with 20000 ,here we can get a idea .this is just an ruff idea, condition is more worse then it look like.now here a question arise why employ pay them , all are well educated but matter of fact is that no 1 people who pay deliberately they r the one who want to stay at a particular position because they them self earn lot of money there .and they form a chain of corruption from lower to higher authority

no2 people pay because they r forced to pay money other wise they will be posted to remote and farr flung areas of states ,so they dont have another choice because of there family problems and old ages .

no3 employ r those who r voluntier and has been posted to backward and far away areas of states and no doubt they are performing there duties well and happily but then even after some of them are overstayed of double the time of there normal tenure but still there is no hope for them to be posted to another places or home districts ,un till and unless they approch to there higher officer with some good amount ,and these officer take this money and distribute it in to the channel which start from block level officer/director of deptts to state minister /secretary of state.

SO NOW A DAYS TO WHOM U WILL COMPLAINT FOR THESE THING, ALL SYSTEM FAVOUR THEM AND IN THERE HANDS AND ACTION WILL BE AGAINST YOU, NOT AGAINST CRIMINAL .WE ALL NEED TO THINK ABOUT THIS PROBLEM

Political Ideologies and Administration in India

“Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.” – John F Kennedy

Going by the above statement by JFK, I would like to make a few observations in the Indian context. Our political parties should frame ad hoc policies not based on their past, but, on the basis of the situation. We have once seen P V Narasimha Rao keeping the traditional Congress socialist ideas aside and paving way for a globalized economy. Having said that, the present day Indian politicians too should start looking at the present and future rather than the past.

India, being one of the youngest and the largest democracies in the world has the distinction of providing security to all its’ citizens irrespective of their faith. That is what we term as secularism. Here also comes an aberration worth being pointed out. The two major political forces in India, namely the Congress and BJP are at contention most of the time with regard to the interpretation of secularism. Both have their own definitions of secular principles. While the Congress claims to have championed the cause of secularism by relentlessly speaking of minorities welfare, BJP, on the other hand took the side of the majority Hindus in the country. Thereby, both the major political parties in India have involuntary subscribed to the protection of interests of a particular section of the society. With the Congress using the provision of affirmative action in their attempt to cash the votes of the minority and backward sections, BJP has mostly struck to the idea of upholding the historic Hindu domination in the country.

It is good to have the rights of all the faiths upheld equally as that forms the very foundation for harmony in the society. While affirmative action is welcome to the extent of bringing up the downtrodden classes, that does not necessarily mean that the interests of the majority section are compromised as that very idea shackles the foundations of our secularist ideas. In my view, a government that completely ignores the faith of its’ citizens can be said to be secular. That means, religion becomes only a matter of personal choice and will not be a part of the political administration in the country. The caste based census, in a way, goes against the ideas of secularism as the government seems to be more interested in the faith/caste of its’ citizens. Rather than striving for bringing out policies that reach to the grass-roots of the population, the government is more bothered about identifying a set of people for framing its’ policies. I, therefore, advocate for a constitution that has no definition for faith/religion, caste, and race. That forms a true secular state.

A lot of people are wary of the very word ‘fascist’ and mostly associate that term to something that’s evil or cruel. For a country like India, keeping the foreign relations with neighbors in mind, it is very essential to be obsessed with the ideas of nationalism and national security. We can’t ignore these ideas just because they form the foundation for a fascist state. We need to be nationalistic in our approach and have complete control over our security. However, that may not happen as long as we don’t have a completely autonomous army. Our constitution should make provision in such a way that army need not be answerable to anyone for its’ actions against other countries. That means, it should be the army which should decide whether it should wage a war with another country or not. While, this provision may be branded as ‘fascist’, but, still, holds good the interests of our country.

We, being a very young democracy, have not learnt much yet practically about the hassles in administration. Our law and constitution are not the tried and tested ones yet. The very fact that we’re still debating the concept of the “Basic structure of constitution” shows that. Still, we are in the stage of learning, as a democracy. Having said that, we have seen numerous instances of misuse of power and authority by the legislature. The declaration of emergency by Indira Gandhi, and the abuse of Article 356 on various instances in the course of political vendetta go on to show that the legislature and executive can’t be trusted blindly although they represent the voice of the people. We therefore, even by being a democracy, can afford to have the judiciary as a completely autonomous and supreme body in the country.

The famous judgment in Kesavananda Bharati v State of Kerala has triggered a conflict among the legislature and the judiciary on the row of having the ultimate say. However, we have instances where judiciary did give in to the power of the legislature and remained silent even though the government was making a mockery of justice and human rights. One can easily make out that from the statement read out by the only dissenting judge Justice J S Khanna in the case of ADM Jabalpur v Shivshankar Shukla. Justice Khanna described it as the “darkest hour” in the history of Indian democracy when a petition of Habeas Corpus was struck down by a Supreme Court bench comprising four other judges Justice A N Ray, Justice Y V Chandrachud, Justice M H Beg, and Justice P N Bhagwati.

Thereafter, the cold war didn’t end between the legislature and the judiciary. The controversy in the appointment of Supreme Court Chief Justice A N Ray superceeding 3 senior judges resulted in the resignation of 3 judges. This is rather an unfortunate event and went on to prove that the judiciary lacked the power to protect the interests of people if the government is unfair. Therefore, we need a stronger judiciary to uphold the confidence in our democracy.

Coming to foreign policy, Nehru’s non-aligned doctrine may have been appropriate in the immediate post-WW II situation to avoid polarization and safegaurd our relations with the US and USSR at the same time. However, our current policy makers should bear the fact in mind that we cannot all the time remain indifferent (Read non-aligned) to injustices in the world and may have to take a stand. During the 1962 war with China, it was not the NAM countries who met at Colombo who extended their support to India’s fair side, but, the non-NAM US’s Kennedy administration which termed the situation as a “blatant Chinese communist aggression against India” and reached out to us with their Air Force support before a ceasefire has been declared by China. President Kennedy, in his historical statement, said, “We should defend India, and therefore, we WILL defend India”.

Taking the above example as a lesson, it is important that we time and again take a firm stand on various international political issues and demonstrate our global influence. Again, going by what John F Kennedy rightly said, “It is an unfortunate fact that we can secure peace only by preparing for a war”, we need to exert our aggression in dealing extremism in Kashmir and in dealing with Pakistan. Pakistan has time and again demonstrated its’ reluctance in heeding to India’s fair claims and it’s certain we can never solve the problem with bilateral talks. Considering the fact that we’re a much stronger army than Pakistan, we can always take advantage of that and show our dominance in the Kashmir region. As Theodore Roosevelt puts it, “Walk softly, talk softly, but carry a big stick in your hand”, we should always pose a threat to Pakistan through our military aggression.

Now, let me conclude by summarizing what I’ve stated till now. We need to consider our past only to the extent of learning lessons and progress with an eye on the present and focus on the future. We cannot confine ourselves by our self-inflicted wounds in the form of flaws in the constitutional framework. Also, our political parties should think a step forward rather than blindly glorifying their past leaders and their policies.

The Curious Case of LAVASA

We won’t talk about how bad the rich are and how tolerant the poor have become. Unlike a Bollywood script, we excuse ourselves from the class stereotypes and emotional brouhaha so that some tangible change can be worked towards without wasting any more time. Our cinematic classifications are so deeply rooted in our collective memory that we can no longer recall the origin of most of our biases. Case in point - the broken Indian village. Who first introduced a village with innumerable poor farmers under the evil domination of an opportunistic money lender? Of course, the money lender, bad guy as usual, would lend the money, get dodgy documents signed or imprinted with the poor farmer’s thumb and then he would force himself upon the unwary farmer’s widow or hapless daughter. As time proceeded, the setting changed locations but without changing mentalities. The village was replaced by a city where the rich became posh and the poor remained squalid.  This disproportionate change in social strata comes into the picture as soon as a ‘city’ comes into the picture. There’s something about the idea of a ‘city’, I think, that speeds things up – both the rise and the descent. 

As soon as a place decides on becoming a city, it seems as if unfairness and disproportion are automatically associated with it. What are we talking about? LAVASA. Located near Pune, Lavasa has been granted an enviable portion of electricity in the face of 6 other villages [Dasve-Ramnagar, Bhoini, Mugaon, Koloshi, Gadle, Dhamanhol and Sakri, situated barely 60 km away from Pune city] who still run their daily business with the help of Kerosene lanterns. With the rising prices of essential fuels, we highly doubt the longevity of this arrangement. The geographical viability of Lavasa and SEZ status granted could have something (or everything) to do with it. The villagers have lobbied for the Right to Electricity (surprisingly, not a fundamental right) with the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) since 1995 however; the officials are yet to take concrete action in this regard.   

Inactivity on the part of officials and the exploitation of innocuous villagers propelled Mahesh Kamath to stand up and do something substantial to avert further agony. ‘Solar lanterns’ is the answer. As an alternate solution to the power deficiency solar lanterns are an ingenious solution. As you might know, irrespective of which resource our villages are deficient in, sunlight is always abundant. The solar lanterns Mahesh Kamath plans on introducing stay lit for 4-5 hours with a single recharge and have an average life of 15 years with a negligible amount of maintenance. You are needed here. The first target is providing lamps to 50. It can’t be difficult for an entire country. 

The JaagoRe event page http://www.jaagore.com/event/taking-stand-improving-living-conditions 

Provide your support in any manner possible. The event is on till December this year. The target is not huge. We can make it before time and move onto bigger goals. If the government doesn’t stop unfair treatment we can certainly go out of way to help those who are in need. This is your chance to light up lives and show the corporate interests that big money isn’t always needed to make big change. 

About the Indian Passion for Corruption

Once there was a milkman who delivered milk to a busy middle class society of Mumbai. As part of his daily ritual, he milked his cows early morning, collected the milk in a utensil, measured the day's produce and then, as his unspoken responsibility as the ideal milkman, added water to increase the quantity. Of course, aunties complained and growled about how milk was bland and wouldn’t produce decent yoghurt. They bickered together under the banyan tree and even gave an earful to their disinterested husbands. On his part, the milkman never once failed to defend the milk and its purity or himself and his honesty. He fought the noisiest women, convinced the suggestible and reasoned with the most logical. By the end, he was accepted as ‘the milkman’ for ‘this society’ and they all got used to watery milk and unsettled curd.

The shameless open secret of adding water to milk now serves as a constant fodder for jokes and wisecracks and is thus accepted as well. What would a society be without its jokes? It has become part of the society’s culture and they cannot think of living a life with no water in their milk anymore. Everybody happy.

This story of resentment, anger, expression and then acceptance sounds reminiscent of our struggle with corruption. As an independent free country, we embraced socialism and inducted every inch of it in our fractured democratic system. Socialism did not pave way for the liberation of 'Aam Aadmi', instead unleashed a big monster of bureaucracy and red tape-ism. The task of clogging every functional artery with the bile of corruption was undertaken with such  brute force that we were left no choice but to learn a life with clogged veins pumping evil. We withered, lost economic independence and surrendered our collective progress-economic and psychological, to  corruption. Getting any work done without a decent amount of donation started sounding like a fable - Possible in our imaginations, yet so unreal.

We, on our part, like women in the household society, bickered and tried to rebel initially but, eventually embraced the system with its many follies. (Few exceptions, like that of Janta Party's movement in 1977, led by Jayprakash Narayan, which brought down Indira Gandhi's Governments)

Over the period of time, our undue tolerance towards this sweet habit of corruption has made Switzerland synonymous with bank accounts with over US $1456 Billion of black money, apart from snow-clad mountains and pink sarees. Hefty scams spanning everything from food, railways, clothes, oil, aviation, sports, international sporting events and 2G spectrum have made an Indian contribution to Swiss accounts. If Transparency International ranks us one of the most corrupt governments in the world, we are not surprised. Frankly, nothing bothers any one anymore. It's all a given to Indians. It’s accepted; and expected.

This is what the cynic in us would have us believe. Because he would choose to ignore the calls made by Anna Hazare for the draft committee of Janlokpal Bill, his hunger strike to table the crucial legislation When Anna Hazare declared a fast unto death, social media and national news was abuzz with activity. People poured all out for the support and common call for justice. They seem tired of Government's reluctance to work efficiently and give them their due. They were tired of terrorist attacks, housing society scams, Common Wealth shame and 2G spectrum fiasco. Tired.

And if you are tired of your stifled capacity to do anything for the country, if you are genuinely looking for potential solutions to the Indian condition, there’s somewhere you would certainly want to be – The Freedom From Corruption meet, April 27th-28^th, India Habitat Centre, Delhi.

Beyond Boundaries, for Age Care

Delegation from ‘Vietnam National Commission on Ageing’ consisting of members from government & NGO working with Elderly under leadership of Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan , Head of Office, Vietnam National Commission on Ageing recently visited India on Study Tour on Invitation of Sailesh Mishra, Founder President of Silver Inning Foundation – a not for profit organization dedicated for the cause of Senior Citizens.

This visit facilitated meeting & exchange of knowledge between various NGO’s/Organisation working with Elderly in both countries, which shares historic relationship. This networking meeting will help people from both the countries to understand issues and needs of the Elderly and work out solutions as required by country specific.
The diversity of culture and tradition in South East Asia has its own dynamics in care for elderly. There is a world out there that lends to us different cultures, different lifestyles, and educational, social, religious and political views.
We get entangled in our everyday lives and take most things for granted. It is important to enrich our lives with experiences from other countries for a lot of reasons; the social aspect, seeing how other people lives so that we can respect and appreciate the life that we lead.

The consequences of demographic change in Asia, with the continuously growing Elder population is a huge challenge.Asian countries need to increase knowledge about how to promote good social, healthy life among Elders with preserving our culture & tradition in changing globalization so as to promote health and quality in later life stages.

Policy-makers need good outlines to make decisions, based on research and good practice. This in turn requires that the “bridge” between research and public policy is open and constructive. NGO’s and Senior Citizens play major role in helping the policy makers making an elder friendly policy.

According to the 2009 estimate in Vietnam 9% of population of the country is of Elders 60+ , about 7.5 million. According to the forecast of the UN Population Program due to a decrease in the birth rate & an increase in life-span , by 2025 the Elder population in Vietnam will be about 17% of the total population & 25% by 2050.
In Vietnam traditionally, the elderly are respected in the family and are recognized to have contributed to the cause of constructing and defending the nation and have a lot of life experience. The elderly play significant role in maintaining the traditional value of the family, in educating the children and in different social activities of the community.

Elders in Vietnam actively participate into the family life and social life. In the family, the voices of older persons are important to their children. They contribute to both spiritual and material life of the family, in many cases helping to ensure the sustainability and happiness of the family. For the community, older persons participate in economic activities and continue contributing to producing material properties. Older persons play the key role in social activities, developing “cultural family”, “cultural residential area”, “learning society”, preventing social vices such as drug addiction, prostitution in the residential area. The elderly also have active contribution to the development of policies of the authority.

Vietnam has a saying “the Young rely on their father, the elderly rely on their children”, which means when you grow old, the elderly have to rely on the care of their children. Most of the elderly in Vietnam earn their income by doing farming, and do not have pensions so they need their offspring to take care of and meet their needs when they are too old. These days, in the context of the market economy, there is some change in the value; some of the elderly have prepared for their old age, but the majority still needs the caring from the children, especially those without any savings. The successful people with wealthy life still secure the needs of their old parents and can take care of older people when needed.

In current scenario there is a trend of increasing nuclear family and decreasing extended families. In the market economy, the young generation concentrates on making money for their living and have to migrate to urban area. There are some young people without incomes or employment, and those addicted to drugs, violating the law, etc. they pose difficulties for ensuring older peopled to be taken care of and in many cases bring about burden for the elderly.

In order to assist families in caring for the elderly, the Vietnam government has implemented different policies. The role of social organizations, NGOs and private organizations are strongly promoted thanks to the policy of broadening the participation of the society in caring for the elderly. The social organizations like Women’s Union, Vietnam Red Cross and international NGOs, as well as donors, etc. have made significant contribution to developing caring services for the elderly, which is still in shortage in Vietnam. The government is formulating new policy and programme for elderly. The Vietnam delegation visited capital city of New Delhi, commercial capital Mumbai and retirement paradise city Pune.

The first meeting was held at Helpage India HO at New Delhi with Mr.Mathew Cherian, CEO & his Team of Directors. Sailesh Mishra of Silver Inning Foundation was also present with the delegation. Helpage India shared information about their activities and their new vision for Age Care. It was an interactive information sharing meeting. Both the countries felt that there has been increase of neglect and abuse cases. Helpage India also assured of help to the delegation with regards to capacity building. The delegation was given CD’s of documentary of various activities and on issues of elderly.

In Mumbai the delegation visited Geriatric Psychiatry dept of The BYL Nair Charitable Municipal Hospital. Dr.R.V.Rananavare - The Dean, Dr. Charles Pinto - Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, Dr. Alka Subramanian, Dr.Vinod Gangooli from The BYL Nair Charitable Municipal Hospital and Sailesh Mishra of Silver Inning Foundation were present. The delegation was impressed with the care and services offered to underprivileged by the public hospital. It also got the information of Geriatric Psychiatry clinic run by the hospital. Nair Hospital is a Tertiary care hospital one of the four big public hospitals attached to medical College in Mumbai city. The delegation was informed about growing incidence of mental illness in elderly including Dementia/Alzheimer’s’. Dr.Alka informed the delegation about high number of Diabetic, High Blood Pressure, Depression, Cardiac and Infectious realted illness in elder population. Dr.Charles Pinto explained the working of the Geriatric Psychiatry dept and the hospital. Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan wished if Vietnam could have such medical facility in each district.

The delegation also participated in Networking meeting of NGO’s & Organization’s working with Senior Citizens in India at Center for Life Long Learning, Tata Institute of Social Science, (TISS) Mumbai. Prof. Nasreen Rustomfram - Chairperson, Centre for Lifelong Learning ,Prof. Siva Raju – Demographer & Social Gerontologist , Mr. Sandip & Mr. Darpan Ved from TISS ;Dr.Kinjawadekar & Mr.Chapke from AISCCON ; Mr.Vijay Aundhe from FESCOM ; Mr.S.Mahapatra from GIC Pensioners Association ; Mr.R.S.Desai from All India Bank Retirees Federation ; Ms.Shobha Philips & Ms. Regina from YWCA Asha Kiran; Prakash Borgaonkar & Vallerian Pias from HelpAge India ; Ms.Mona , Sailesh Mishra from Silver Inning Foundation & Ms.Laxmi Rao Project Coordinator from 1298 Senior Citizens Helpline were present for the meet. Prof.Parsuram Director of TISS chaired the meet but had to leave early for an urgent meet. Sailesh Mishra gave an overview of Indian Ageing and NGO’s working in India. Prof. Siva Raju shared Situation Analysis of Indian Ageing and Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan gave presentation on Country report of Vietnam Ageing scenario. It was followed by Q & A session and we all got to know more about respective country ageing issues. The Indians were impressed by the work done by Vietnam government, NGO’s and Community for their Aged. The Health Insurance and Community care of Vietnam elderly was appreciated. Representative from Vietnam delegation wanted to know if there can be support from prestigious institute like TISS on this Prof. Nasreen assured of the support and also informed a Tailor made programme/course can be made available. She also expressed her desire on behalf of TISS to strength the social science particularly in developing countries. Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan invited a delegation from India to visit Vietnam. We all expressed our desire for exchange of resource/people among developing countries and developed nations vice versa for creating better social infrastructure for Age Care. Sailesh Mishra hoped if UN agency or International Community could come forward and encourage such networking among transnational organisation, expert and Senior Citizens.

To get the first hand experience with elder care facility delegation visited Harmony Day Care Center at Harmony Interactive Centre managed by Harmony for Silvers Foundation in central Mumbai. It was amazing to see the interaction among Senior Citizens and the Delegation. Hiren Mehta, Vitista Dhar and Amrita from Harmony and Sailesh Mishra from Silver Inning Foundation were present. ‘Harmony Celebrate Age’ and Harmony memento was presented to the delegates.

The Pune tour included visit to ATHASHRI Retirement Township for Independent Living. The staff of the township gave a tradition Indian Welcome to the entire Delegation member with a huge beautiful Garland. Dr.Vijay Rhayakar - Resident Manager , Ms.Neela Deshpande - Administrative Officer from Athashri and Sailesh Mishra & Laxmi Rao from Silver Inning Foundation were present. The delegation was shown the different facilities including Kitchen, Dining, Club House, Library, Temple, Sample Flat, Gym etc . They were also taken to ‘Continuing Care Center’ for assisted living. We all were amazed by Elder Friendly Design and Infrastructure & by generous and committed staff. The delegation also enjoyed a ride on Electric open car.
The Pune & India tour reached its climax with the Meeting with International Longevity Center – India (ILC –I) and representatives of SCOs, Govt. officials. Dr.S.D.Gokhale ,Mr.Jayant Umranikar, Mr.Prakash Ahirekar and Ms.Anjali Raje from ILC –I ,Dr. Gururaj Mutalik former WHO Director & Mr.Prakash Jawdekar, Wing.Commnd. Marathe, Mr.Avinash , Colonel Athawale and representative from FESCOM & Association of Senior Citizen's Organisation of Pune (ASCOP) were present . Ms. Lan gave info about Ageing in Vietnam. She stressed the need of Shelter for Aged and hope if we could help them. She also bought to the notice importance of Transport facility for Elderly and how difficult it is for them to avail this facility. Ms.Lan also informed that the Vietnam Govt. is drafting a new policy /Programme for Elderly. Dr.S.D.Gokhale informed about Review of NPOP (National Policy of Older Person) and assured help for framing a policy for Elderly in Vietnam. Dr.S.D.Gokhale also shared information on ILC- I ‘Leadership Exchange Programme’ between different countries. Dr.Mutalik talked about establishing ILC-I ‘Information Exchange Center for Ageing’ which could help to share and explore recourses for aging.
In the end Dr.Kinjwadekar of AISCCON & on behalf of all the organisation working with/for Senior Citizens in India gave ‘Silver Inning Foundation Memento’ to each member of the delegation. Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan gave Memento to Helpage India , The BYL Nair Charitable Municipal Hospital, ATHASHRI , TISS and Harmony for Silvers Foundation.

Sailesh Mishra of Silver Inning Foundation , the host and facilitator thanked the Vietnam National Commission on Ageing, Helpage India , The BYL Nair Charitable Municipal Hospital, ATHASHRI , ILC-I , TISS, Harmony for Silvers Foundation , AISCCON, FESCOM, ASCOP, YWCA, GIC Pensioners Association , All India Bank Retirees Federation , 1298 Senior Citizens Helpline , Center for Lifelong Learning- TISS & other organizations working with Senior Citizens for their unconditional support for this Transnational Networking ‘Beyond Boundaries, for Age Care’. He also hopes to facilitate more such visits and sought invitation for Indian delegation visit abroad. Organization and Country interested to Network for the welfare of our Elder can contact Silver inning Foundation. This interaction and networking was also possible due to mentorship of Prof.Joseph Troisi and INIA, Malta.

Year 2011, Planet Earth, Time is Now. Switch Of

It’s no secret that humans are the dominant race on earth. A small education will tell you that hasn’t always been the case. In all our pride and vainglory we tend to forget that we are just one of the many species on the planet. We didn’t make a decision to let earth house us; we were put here, rather appeared by chance and as luck would have it we also happen to be the custodians of all this wonder and marvel that we don’t own and have done nothing to make possible. We rule. Don’t we?

Every activity that defines human habitation has done only harm to the planet. Every attempt to tame nature for our bloating needs has added something to the natural mix that doesn’t fare well with the all-important environment – that too, just to make sure we get cool air indoors or a shorter time travelling to the movies maybe. Earth has millions of species. We have just one earth. From the point of view of someone in need we are clearly not being very careful.

It’s as if humans, as a collective, have subconsciously accepted that we aren’t welcomed everywhere. Why would we be? Chance, evolution, biology, Gaia (if you believe in it) has been careful enough to populate itself with a variety of flora and fauna; much more complex and beautiful. There’s proof everywhere that earth wasn’t designed with humans in mind. What do we do on realizing that? We take it in our stride and barge into the next available piece of land, or atmospheric layer, to leave our mark on. If I were earth, I’d find humans very annoying.
Our entire presence has been expended in trying to master nature and all that it stands for. True, our knowledge has grown but so has our need to acquire more just for the sake of growth. Human history has many examples to show what happens when action loses reason. The most violent chapters in history are testaments to deeds accomplished with reason suspended. We seem headed to be reduced to just a violent chapter in the history of earth; one that no one will be around to read.

There have been many calls for action in the past. How you responded then and how much of a loss was your unavailability is not to be delved on now. You have your chance to respond positively to a new call. March 26, 2011, 8:30 pm Earth Hour.

All we need is for you to switch off all your lights for an hour. This is the smallest step you can take to show that you are willing to make a change to your way of living in favour of the planet.
It wouldn’t be unreasonable if you ask what Earth Hour actually stands for. We’ve put together a small quiz for you to better understand the symbol of a lightless hour and also realize where you stand in relation to the need for change.

Take a Pledge to Save the Children

We all are made to believe that good times are here. That India is the next big thing to watch out for one the world map. Statistics are speaking aloud that Indian economy is flourishing and everybody, right from the top economists to the top astrologers have proclaimed that India is set to become a superpower in the coming decades.

Even the world has turned its eyes towards India. The land of magicians and snake-charmers has now topped the list of outsourcing options to the multinationals. Hollywood seems to have newly found interest in dance and music of Indian cinema. 

Today, as we find ourselves basking in the international spotlight, there is also a dark shadow that exists behind all this glitter. As we are on our ascent to prosperity, the rate of child mortality in India continues to be high. Out of the 26 million children born in India every year, nearly 1.83 million still die before their fifth birthday and half of them within a month of being born. Most of them, due to easily preventable diseases like Pneumonia, Diarrhea and Malaria. In spite of being a significant force in the global economy, these levels of child deaths remain to be the same. 

When we take a closer look at this fact, we realise that there are a few conditions that account for more than 90 per cent of these deaths. These are pneumonia, measles, diarrhoea, malaria and neo-natal conditions that occur during pregnancy and during or immediately after birth. In most cases, the conditions that are the direct cause of childhood deaths are preventable and treatable. However, the basic healthcare services that can protect children from these diseases remain inaccessible to many of India’s poorest children. 

Some Indian children are more prone to these medical diseases, cutting down their chances of survival due to factors like the lack of essential healthcare, high levels of maternal and child malnutrition, unavailability of clean drinking water, safe sanitation and poor hygiene. In many Indian states, the level of child mortality is high because the allocated resources for the cause aren't spent on it at all. They get stuck in the filters of bureaucracy and logistics. 

Indian government needs to take drastic measures to curb this high rate of infant mortality, as most of the authority rests in their hand. Child survival has to be looked at as a key metric by which India

should judge its success in development. Existing government schemes regarding child and maternal health need to be integrated with the development policies and be likewise implemented. Along with this government also needs to focus on the health issues of newborns and infants. At every governmental level, India’s political leaders need to create an impacting action plan with regards to

tackling malnutrition amongst children in poverty stricken areas. 

Improved child and maternal health and nutrition is closely correlated with successful economic development. We do not need a major technological breakthrough to achieve this. All we need is a requisite political will and the right policies, with which we can bring about a drastic cut in child mortality rates.  

The United Nations Millennium Development Goal Review Summit is the right moment for India’s political leaders to decide that it is high time to take the right steps, with high level of commitment and urgency. 

We at Save the Children have recently launched our new drive EVERY ONE, which aims at making a big positive change with regards to child mortality. 

On September 22nd, our Government will attend the UN Summit in New York to look at progress on tackling child mortality - for children to have the health care and nutrition they need to live and grow up strong. Through this campaign we call for the government to deliver better health care for mothers, newborns and children. It urges government to fulfill its own promise to increase spending on health care to 3% of GDP by 2012, train and deploy more health workers and tackle malnutrition especially in the poorest and most marginalised communities across India 

Jaago Re! Be a part of this movement. Take a pledge for change!