Article:Empowering Women Rebuilding the Society

Empowering Women Rebuilding the Society

“To awaken the people, it is the women who must be awakened. Once she is on the move, the family moves, the village moves, the nation moves”.-Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.

In India, today, women appear to rule the roost. India as a nation is revered in a feminine form i.e. ‘the Bharat Mata’, the first citizen of our country presently is a woman, many important government posts are occupied by women and educated women are pouring into the professional workforce with profound implications for national and multinational corporations. However, ironically, these are accompanied by news about dowry killings, female infanticide, domestic violence against women, sexual harassment, rape, illegal trafficking and prostitution and myriad others of the same ilk. Gender discrimination prevails in almost all areas, be it social, cultural, economic or educational. An effective remedy for these evils needs to be sought in order to ensure the Right to Equality guaranteed by the Constitution of India, to the fairer sex. Gender equality facilitates the empowerment of women. Since education begins at home, the upliftment of women would be accompanied by the development of the family, the society and in turn, would lead towards a holistic development of the nation.

Among these problems the foremost that needs to be addressed is the atrocity committed against females at birth and during childhood. Female infanticide i.e. killing of the female child is still a common practice in many of the rural areas. Further female foeticide is common in some parts of India, despite the passage of ‘Prenatal Diagnostic techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act in 1994. In case they survive, they are subjected to discrimination throughout their lives. Traditionally, since sons are thought to take care of their parents during old age and daughters are considered a burden because of dowry and other expenses that have to be incurred during their marriage, female children are neglected in the matters of nutrition, education and other important aspects of well-being. The Sex ratio in our country is abysmally low. It was only 933 females per 1000 males according to the 2001 census. The Sex ratio is an important indicator of development. Developed countries usually have Sex ratios above 1000. For instance, the USA has a Sex ratio of 1029, Japan 1041 and Russia 1140. In India, Kerala is the state with the highest Sex ratio of 1058 and Haryana is one with the lowest value of 861.

During their youth, females face the problem of early marriage and childbirth. They are not cared for properly during pregnancy leading to many cases of maternal mortality. The MMR (Maternal Mortality Rate) i.e. the number of females dying during delivery per one lakh persons, in India is 437(as in 1995). In addition, they are subjected to harassment for dowry and other forms of domestic violence. Further, at the work place, public places and elsewhere, acts of violence, exploitation and discrimination are rampant.

Various steps have been taken by the government to prevent such abuses and to empower women. Criminal laws against sati, dowry, female infanticide and foeticide, ‘eve teasing’, rape, immoral trafficking and other offences relating to women have been enacted in addition to civil laws like the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act 1939, the Hindu Marriage Act 1955 and other Matrimonial enactments. The Prevention of Domestic Violence Act has been passed in 2005. A National Commission for Women (NCW) has been set up. Other measures by the government include provision of reservation in representation and education, allocation for the welfare of women in the five year plans, provision of subsidized loan facilities and so on. The year 2001 has been declared as the ‘women empowerment year’ by the Government of India and 24^th January as the National Girl Child Day.

The 108^th Constitutional Amendment Bill, popularly known as the Women’s Reservation Bill which seeks to reserve one-third of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and the State Legislative Assemblies has been a highlight in the recent times. It was ‘passed’ in the Rajya Sabha on March 9^th 2010. Though well intended, it can have little, if any, tangible consequences for the real empowerment of women since it does not touch upon the core issues which plague them. The solution must envisage a two-pronged attack, on the one hand, on tradition which is responsible for assigning a low status for women in the society and on the other hand, the outrages perpetrated against them. The proposed ‘Prevention of Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace’ Bill, 2010 is a good move in that direction. Mass campaigns need to be organized especially in the villages in favour of survival of the female child and provision of human rights for her, including education and health. It is essential to dispel the ghosts of the past and place women on an equal footing with men in order to pave the way for their empowerment, social, economic and educational. Empowering women and thus rebuilding the society would take the nation on a path of greater development, as Swami Vivekananda says, “Countries and Nations which do not respect women have never become great nor will ever be in future”.

Article:Honor killing in India

Honor killing in India

Recently, there has been a spate of honor killings in the country and this has led the government to decide what laws should be put in place to stop this heinous crime. More than 1,000 young people in India have been done to death every year owing to 'Honor Killings' linked to forced marriages and the country needs to introduce stringent legislation to deal firmly with these heinous crimes. Supreme Court has said the government must explain what it is doing to prevent "honor killings". Taking note of the rise in "honor crimes", the Supreme Court demanded responses from the federal government and state governments of Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Honor killing is the murder of any family member or social group member by other people due to the belief of perpetrators who feel that the murdered persons actions have brought dishonor upon the family or group. The loose term "honor killing" applies to killing of both males and females in cultures that practice it. Human Right’s definition for Honor Killing is:

Honor crimes are acts of violence, usually murder, committed by male family members against female family members, who are held to have brought dishonor upon the family. A woman can be targeted by (individuals within) her family for a variety of reasons, including: refusing to enter into an arranged marriage, being the victim of a sexual assault, seeking a divorce—even from an abusive husband—or (allegedly) committing adultery. The mere perception that a woman has behaved in a way that "dishonors" her family is sufficient to trigger an attack on her life

The most watched scenes of honor killing in our country are reflecting that this is a death that is awarded to a man or woman of the family for marrying against the parent’s wishes, having extramarital and premarital relationships, marrying within the same gotra (Brahmins use gotra for deciding marriages) or outside one’s caste or marrying a cousin from a different caste. In fact we have had a tradition of honor killing. This tradition was first viewed in its most horrible form during the Partition of the country in between the years 1947 and 1950 when many women were forcefully killed so that family honor could be preserved. During the Partition, there were a lot of forced marriages which were causing women from India to marry men from Pakistan and vice-versa. And then there was a search to hunt down these women who were forced to marry a person from another country and another religion and when they returned ‘home’ they were killed so that the family honor could be preserved and they were not declared social outcastes from their region. At that time, the influence of religion and social control was much greater and hence there were at least a couple of honor killings a day, if not more. The partition years can be seen to be the beginning of the tradition of honor killing on a large scale. It’s worth mentioning here that Honor Killing is not specifically related to India only. This is a practice that continues to be prevailing in North and South America, Africa, Turkey and many other countries. But the thing that has to be kept in mind is that the number of incidents relating to this crime is very low and there is a very strict punishment for committing this crime in other countries. The misconception about honor killing is that this is a practice that is limited to the rural areas. The truth is that it is spread over such a large geographical area that we cannot isolate honor killings to rural areas only, though one has to admit that majority of the killings take place in the rural areas.

But it has also been seen recently that even the metropolitan cities like Delhi and Tamil Nadu are not safe from this crime because 5 honor killings were reported from Delhi and in Tamil Nadu; a daughter and son in law were killed due to marriage into the same gotra. Sociologists believe that the reason why honor killings continue to take place is because of the continued rigidity of the caste system. Hence the fear of losing their caste status through which they gain many benefits makes them commit this heinous crime. The other reason why honor killings are taking place is because the mentality of people has not changed and they just cannot accept that marriages can take place in the same gotra or outside one’s caste. The root of the cause for the increase in the number of honor killings is because the formal governance has not been able to reach the rural areas and as a result. Thus, this practice continues though it should have been removed by now.

We need to do something to prevent such a thing from happening. Firstly, the mentality of the people has to change. And when we say that the mentality has to change, we mean to say that parents should accept their children’s wishes regarding marriage as it is they who have to lead a life with their life partners and if they are not satisfied with their life partner then they will lead a horrible married life which might even end in suicide. Secondly, we need to have stricter laws to tackle these kinds of killings as this is a crime which cannot be pardoned because. Humans do not have the right to write down death sentences of innocent fellow humans.

Article:Sexual Exploitation Against Women

Sexual Exploitation Against Women

NEED FOR DEFINITE LAWS AGAINST SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF WOMEN

The number of rapes reported in the last month is seriously alarming and brings about the question of how safe are women in our societies today. From Kerala to Kashmir and from the west to east India, the rising number of rape and assault cases on women cast doubts on the status and security of the ‘empowered, new generation’ woman of India. And the sad fact is that most of the perpetrators of this heinous and cruel crime go unpunished and enjoy their respective lives, leaving the victim to suffer in ignominy.

The recent news of a girl in Kerala pushed out of the train and the unconscious girl raped and killed shows how even in a state that boasts of 100% literacy and high respect for women, such barbaric acts take place. The involvement of politicians in rape cases in states like UP and Maharashtra show that there is little the poor victim can do against such influential and powerful persons. Most of the victims therefore do not report cases of assault due to fear of humiliation and retaliation (by the perpetrator especially if he is influential). Our system of tackling this crime is also inefficient. Instead of encouraging the victim to register the complaint, she or her family members are threatened and dissuaded by the authorities against registering complaints. The delay in getting justice and the further inspection, examination and questions in police-stations and courts makes the victim feel humiliated and this experience is as bad as going through the trauma once again.

Our society is also not open and still regards women who are exploited, for no fault of theirs, with contempt. Society looks at a sexually abused woman in a totally different light than before she had been put through the torture. She becomes an object of gossip and talk. And above all this our patriarchal and conservative society blames it all on the woman or girl.

The present civil and penal laws in India also don’t adequately provide for protection of women from sexual harassment. There is no definite punishment for the harasser. Even in workplaces, we see a lot of women being harassed and not treated equally or with dignity. The existing guidelines under law are not sufficient to ensure the protection of women nor is it enough to get justice to an exploited victim. There are many instances when the courts have let the accused walk-free citing lack of evidence of injury marks or accusing the victim of lying and consenting to sexual acts. Such heartless verdicts that do not take all the factor into consideration often deter other victims too from lodging their complaints, at the same time giving a ‘go-ahead, green signal’ to men to fulfill their lust.

There is a need to have a specific law in place against sexual harassment, especially in the case of exploitation of girl child. There is also a need to ensure that there are complaint cells in work places to cater to the needs of women against harassment in workplaces. We boast about women empowerment and 50% reservation for women in institutes, but what is the point of all these if she is still to be considered as an object to fulfill one’s needs and then to be discarded. The Indian Government needs to look urgently into this matter as the number of cases of brutal rape and assaults are increasing and the victims are not delivered due justice in time.

Rape is a crime that merits punishment more stringent and harsher than murder, loot or arson because unlike in other crimes where the victim is dead and gone or has a chance to regain what is lost in the form of money or wealth, for a sexually assaulted woman, she is forced to live with her modesty outraged and dignity destroyed; virtues that can never be restored. This makes rape the most heinous of all crimes. The victim is forced to live throughout her life with the memory of the inhuman act and to bear the lewd and heartless remarks passed about her by the biased and conservative Indian society.

Laws and legislations may not be enough to restore what was lost but it will bring consolation to the victim that the accused doesn’t go scot-free but will have to face its consequences. And this may even help to deter others from repeating this crime and hence help in reducing the number of cases of sexual exploitation of women in the country.

Article:Is the media of today upholding good journalistic standards?

Is the media of today upholding good journalistic standards?

It is said that media is the fourth pillar of the democracy, because it keeps the people aware about the political turmoil on one hand, and it pressurize the political leaders to show accountability to the people on the other. Today, in India the face of media has changed a lot and in-fact many times it has proved its efficiency. The media is actively involved in the national level affairs relating to the social justice, law and order, constitution and many other things.

Many times the media has played an extremely positive role by creating a public opinion towards a thing. Recently in the campaign of social activist Anna Hazaray, media played a big part in making the campaign a success. There are many other examples when the media played a great role in providing justice to the people as like in the case of Jessica Lal murder, if the media had not given the case so much of hype there were hardly any chances that the culprits would have got the sentence of life. Moreover many times certain scams were uncovered by medic through sting channel operations, although the legality of these operations might be altogether different debate but still they did some social good by it.

But only on these facts we can’t conclude that the media of our nation has touched the height of high journalism. Media of nation can only be said to be of high standard when it is aware of its societal responsibilities and it is actively involved in it. But in this regard I would rather say with great sorrow that media of our nation has failed in its duty towards the country. It is correct that the media has been successful in giving itself a professional touch according to the changing conditions of globalization, but on the other hands it could not maintain a fair functioning of its duties towards nation at large.

The truth is that even when the hype of media results in positive yields, those incidents are not a product of the consciousness of media for the society at large but instead a part of their strategy to create reputation and money. As like the case of the death of Jessica Lal was given so much hype by the government, but in rural areas everyday thousands of people are killed , many types entire families are killed but our media hardly take those incidents with that seriousness with which it takes the case of Jessica and alike. In several states many people are dying because of hunger and malnutrition, but such things never get enough attention from the fourth pillar of our democracy. One the one hand at regional level many agitations are taking place, which are even continued from years but they got never justice from the side of media as like Sharmila is agitating from years to improve the plight of the people of North-East, but the media never give it enough attention.

Although in today’s time media needs to be professional, because fund raising is very necessary for it to function properly but with the professional touch it has to focus on social issues even if they are not so profitable. In rural India many NGOs are working for the welfare for poor, removal of literacy and many other social causes, and if they would be help through media in their campaign then it can bring drastic change in the plight of the people. When the big projects are created and people are replaced without adequate compensation, media should be actively involved in showing the plight of those people to the public, but it hardly happens. Because ultimately the true goal of the journalism to make good to people, and media should always keep this point in mind.

In this regard there is also a responsibility on the government that it should not unnecessarily interfere in the working of the media. The independence of media is a very necessary aspect of its fair functioning, and moreover it is guaranteed under ar. 19 of the Constitution of India, which ensures freedom to speech and expression. In the past many time the political leader had pressurized the media to achieve their own political ends, and hindered the emergence of high level journalism. Political leader are required to understand the importance of reporting by media, and they must give the journalists and editors sufficient safeguards against the criminal and unsocial elements.

In conclusion I would rather say that to achieve the high level of journalism the media is required to be oriented towards the problems of the people. It is required to impartial and independent in the reporting of political incidents. It is required to be more concentrated on social issues as like suicide by farmers, rural development, social movement, displacement, land acquisition etc. After shameful incidents of bribing in Parliament people are losing faith in the democratic structure of nation, and media can play a great role in bringing back this trust.

Article:Population Explosion - How can we tackle this problem?

Population Explosion - How can we tackle this problem?

It is rightly said ‘The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function’. For countries like Spain, Canada and Italy, where the population is decreasing, population explosion might be considered as a boon. But for developing country like India, population explosion is nothing but a curse which is damaging the development of the country and its society. With 16% of world’s population, India is the second most populated country in the world. A developing country already faces a lack in their resources and needs. And with the rapidly escalating population, the resources available per person are further plummeting, leading to increased poverty, malnutrition and other large population related problems. Therefore, predicament is much more severe here in India because of the escalating pressure on the limited resources of the country.

The rapid growth of the world's population over the past one hundred years results from a difference between the rate of birth and the rate of death. It took the entire history of humankind for the population to reach 1 billion around 1810. Today the world has a population of 6 billion and the population of India stands at about 1 billion. This only means that more people are now being added each day than at any other time in human history which poses as a major problem.

As far as India is concerned, according to statistics, as of March 2011, the total population of India was a little over 1 billion - 1,210,193,422 to be exact. The population clock in the Union Health Ministry in New Delhi now ticks at the rate of 31 persons per minute! The clock shows that about 44,640 babies are born in India every day. This gigantic growth rate is due to the industrial and technical revolutions that has taken place. The new technologies available have brought down the death rate because of the vastly improved Medicare resulting in increased life expectancies. Various cultures and norms, migration all have contributed in this regard. India is projected to overtake China as the world's most populous nation by 2030.

This increase or overpopulation now has given rise to various problems like illiteracy, unemployment, pollution and poverty. We have created an interrelated web of global environmental problems. We are destroying our natural resources and biological diversities. India is facing an intense crisis of resources. There is fierce competition for the nation's limited natural resources leading to quarrels between states, between communities and even families. The fast rate of growth of population has affected the quality of life of the people.

To check ill-effects of population growth on the socio-economic front, the Indian Government had launched the Family Planning Programme in 1951. This was later rechristened as the Family Welfare Programme. This programme promotes on a voluntary basis, responsible Planned Parenthood, through independent choice of family planning methods best suited to the people. This if properly implemented by making them rightly follow the slogan ‘one couple, two children’ could do wonders. But, at the same time a proper family planning would only work if women, especially in the rural ideas could be made to come out of the false notion that having many children is a boon. And for this, the requirement is to improve the literacy rate, female education and the socio-economic status of the families as population growth is directly allied to these factors. Special benefits and provisions need to be highlighted and be provided to the

people who have one child and maintain a small family. Benefits like free education, better facilities and financial support should be put forward so as to encourage nuclear families.

Therefore, I believe the need of the hour to tackle this problem of overpopulation lies in education. This can be done if one person takes into their stride of educating the other. ‘Each one, teach one’ should be followed and advocated. Persuasive measures need to be taken. We have seen in the past that there have been coercive measures attempted in India. In 1975- 77, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi created sterilization camps and forced vasectomies causing population-control policies to be met with strong resistance and fear, which stagnating progress significantly. More recently, the government has considered using injection birth- control methods, which have been alleged to have significant negative side effects and recall the coercive measures of the 70s.

What thus needs to ensue is support-financial and political, that must be given to promote, encourage and facilitate birth control and methods which involve people as an agent of change rather than being a source of dilemma. Around 30 million Indians want to use contraceptives, but do not have access to them; money ought to be given to provide it. Others are unaware and unwilling to discuss birth control methods, efforts must be made to promote discussion and spread knowledge of it to those who are receptive. Also, campaigns currently expound on the good of the country. Instead, media should emphasize that a small family is beneficial to an individual's own well-being rather than focusing on population control for the national good. These types of measures have been enacted in some states including Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, and they have since been country’s growth stability leaders. They now show high literacy rates and thus a well planned society. This has to be cultured all over India. The philosophy must be to have the people be an active participant in the country’s problem. If the people understand that and want to help, then the problem disappears because there is no one left to cause it.

Gandhi advocated that it is easier to practice self control than control by contraceptives. Multiplicity of wants would multiply problems in multiple folds. Thus, to tackle the problem, rather than following stringent rules and regulations, a change of mindset would help more through the involvement of education, advertisement and campaigns ensuring for a developed and a healthy India. Therefore, all we need is to shift the mindsets from “Population Control” to “Population Development”. Development of people through right education and healthcare can solve much issues-even population, assuming it is a problem!

Lastly, it can be concluded by saying that with so many of us on a very small planet, and with the addition of so many more every week, we can no longer persist to relate to each other, or our environment, ecological systems and biosphere like we have, as we will succumb to the effects of human overpopulation. Mother Nature, which could not care less, will eliminate us. We humans must grow up and learn to walk, hand in hand with each other and with our natural world. There is no alternative if we yearn to sustain humanity and advance our civilization.

Article:Why India is the next global leader?

Why India is the next global leader?

In the 20th century entire world considered USA, Russia, Japan and some of the European countries As the global leaders. But in the 21st century two more countries from Asia emerged as the global leader that is India and China. Now the question is who is a global leader? Though there is no clear cut definition, a global leader is one who can a play major role in world affairs, work for maintaining peace and tranquillity and can extend all type of help in preventing global crisis such as climate change, food insecurity, hunger, poverty etc.

As mentioned above India emerged as a global leader in the 21th century due to it’s all round development. She got freedom from British government in 1947.From there on she never looked back and made rapid progress in the growth trajectory. First of all entire credit goes to her founding fathers and constitution writers. They did not left any loophole in the constitution .They established a responsible legislative body to make law and new policy, an executive body to execute various policy enacted by legislation and an independent judiciary to safe guard the constitution and the fundamental rights of each citizens. No individual or politician in India can take the power and law into his own hand at will, like what is happening in African countries, even in Pakistan .Pakistan is a country got freedom with India but the military power there has the power to topple the civilian government creating instability. But this is not the case with India, her founding father made a system by amalgamating the best features of other democratic countries. That is why India is known as one of the stable country of the world.

Since independence India became part of all important international organisations and plays a significant rule in creation of non-aligned movement during the Russian USA cold war period. Now India is member of major international organisation such as UNO, WORLD BANK, IMF, UNESCO, UNICEF, ILO, WTO, FATF etc. Currently India is a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for two years for which the election was held this year. In that election she got a record 189 votes, only four countries voted against its membership. This shows her popularity throughout the world.

In the first three to four decade after independence India could not play any major role in international affairs due to her fragile economic condition and involvement in three major wars, two with Pakistan and one with China, she was mostly dependent on foreign aid for it’s socio economic and infrastructure development, but after 1991 economic liberalisation she has become a major contributor of aid to the third world countries. In 2008 India achieved a remarkable feat by becoming a trillion dollar economy. Currently India is at the cynosure of the world leader for it’s contribution to each and every continent of the globe.

Currently India is engaged with various countries for their infrastructure development, capacity building, and socio economic development. Being a part of south Asia India always take the leading role in promoting peace, financial stability, and facilitating free trade among the south Asian countries under the SAARC umbrella. She is helping Srilanka by providing financial and technical assistance in the construction of railway line, road, housing for displaced Tamils during LTTE war, renovating a Kankasanthurai harbour. She has provided $1 billion grant in aid to Bangladesh for their infrastructure development at the interest rate of .75%. India has allowed Bhutan and Nepal to use it’s land to do trade with Bangladesh and to import or export goods using Bangladesh port. Due to India’s sincere effort the relation with Pakistan is also improving.

India formed south south co-operation with Brazil and South Africa to provide financial help to the least developed countries which were earlier dependent only on the north for aid. India started an India Africa e-network project to connect all the 53 countries of Africa through fibre optic connection. This network will also be connected with some of the reputed technical institutions and famous medical colleges to provide e-education and telemedicine services to African people. Apart from this some of the other Indian project in Africa got international acclamation like construction of railway line linking Ethiopia and Djibouti, setting up of 80 institutions for capacity building in various sectors such as food processing, agriculture, textile, weather forecasting and rural development.

India has the observer status of SCO and also planning to join CSTO. She is working closely with the SCO member countries in maintaining peace and stability and preventing terrorism, drug trafficking from central and south Asia. She is also planning to extend help in construction of nuclear reactors for some of the central Asia countries like Kazakistan.She is the world’s 6th largest contributor to the Afghanistan infrastructure project and also providing training to Afghanistan security forces so that they can protect their country after Americas pull out from 2014.Along with this India has taken the responsibility of giving training to Afghan Gov. employees through VV Giri National labour institute , constructing road from delaram to Zarang and building power plants to meet its energy need.

With the grouping like BIMSTEC, Mekong Ganga co-operation, India ASEAN summit, East Asia summit India is maintaining cordial relations with all the south east asean countries. India has promised to promote culture by protecting all important historic monuments through ASI of India. She has proposed to build a highway which will connect Myanmar, Thailand , Laos ,Vietnam and Cambodia to facilitate free movement of goods and spur economic development in that region. India also establishing training institutions to provide vocational training to the students as a part of Indian ITEC (Indian technical and economic co-operation) program. She is also providing grant in aid to these countries. Recently Indian P.M Dr Manmohan Singh offered 500 million grant in aid to Myanmar. As a peace loving nation India wants peace to prevail in the west Asia and North Africa. She wants an amicable resolution of outstanding issues between Israel and Palestine and India is one among the few countries who recognised Palestine as an independent state. As a larger democracy of the world she promotes democratic government instead of autocratic Government throughout world.

Above all India has developed strong institutional capabilities that will benefit the world community. Indian election commission providing all necessary assistance to the countries which want a strong impartial election process in their system. Recently Indian election commission extend help to Egypt for their election reform. India also providing it’s wonder machine EVC(electronic voting machine) to Nepal, Mexico, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Afghanistan etc. for conduction of their election. Indian CAG (Controller and auditor general) which is another example of a unique institution in the field of audit appointed as the external auditor of two major UN organisations: IAEA and world intellectual property right.

India has one of the largest and advanced security forces in the world. She has a strong navy, army and air force which is not only protecting our countries but also engaged in UN’s peace keeping process weather it is in Srilanka, Somalia , Afghanistan or any other countries. She has also engaged in the Indian Ocean’s international transit corridor to protect the merchant vessel from the Somalia pirates which has become a sanctuary for them. Till now India escorted more the 1000 vessels including some Indian vessels. India has a well develop space research centres (ISRO) which is regularly launching satellites for itself and for other countries. The types of satellites include communication satellite, weather forecasting, remote sensing etc. Recently ISRO launched a satellite called meghatropics with collaboration with France which will benefit all tropical countries. This will provide real time data regarding rainfall pattern in tropical region thereby helping farmers in agriculture and ensure food security. India is World’s first country to identify presence of water on Moon surface through her Chandrayan-I mission and planning for Chandrayan-II mission to send humans on to the moon surface.

21st century belongs to the country leading in food production and having large work force and India has both the above factor. India’s food production is increasing year by year to feed the world And she has one of the largest work forces of the world which is a boon for her. The contribution India will make to the global society is prefigured by the upsurge in the national mood which is marked by ambition, optimism and the spirit to accept the challenge of innovation and accomplishment. There is no doubt that India is a present leader. The world leaders should acknowledge it by providing unequivocal support for its quest as a permanent member in UN’s reformed Security Council. Then only her efforts and contribution towards the world will be rewarded.

Article:Has corruption haunted india’s growth ?

Has corruption haunted india’s growth ?

What is corruption? This question has become more important in the wake of Anna’s cry for Jan Lokpal to curb corruption. Can corruption be defined? Corruption has different connotations for different people. However, in general terms it is stated as an act of bribing someone to gain some benefits which may be lawful or unlawful. As a popular saying goes that before you have to pay bribe to get wrong thing done but today you have to pay for getting right things done at the right time. Corruption has become so pervasive that some people take it as an accepted way of life. The prevention of corruption act1988 defines corruption on taking gratification other than the legal remuneration in respect of an official act. Corruption can be defined as misuse of public funds for private.. Corruption may be attributed to plethora of reasons like acts of commission and omission or delay, exercise or discretion as violation of rules.

Though India has been hailed as a rising economic power in recent times, attracting FDIs (Foreign Direct Investments) from all over the world, the picture is not very rosy. The rampant corruption prevailing in the country in all the spheres is posing a threat to India’s growth story. As corruption is directly linked to the economy, it can have disastrous effect on India’s economy. Slower growth means the fight against poverty will slow as number of jobs will be reduced. According to a report India tops the list of black money in the entire world with almost US$$1456 billion in Swiss bank. However 80%of Indians earns less than Rs 5 per day. Alleged tax evader Hasan Ali Khan (supposedly an associate of gangster Dawood Ibrahim) allegedly illicitly placed US$8 billion in UBS AB Zurich bank. In his short tenure, Madhu Koda, the then chief minister of Jharkhand allegedly siphoned off about US$1 billion. In 2011, India ranked 95th of of183 countries in transparency international corruption perception index. The major reason behind India’s low scoring is big corruption scandals, like the Commonwealth Games and the 2G telecom scam.

Corruption has destabilized India’s growth and will continue to do so unless some strict action is taken. Private investments in India are slowing down due to corruption prevalent in the country. Some of the foreign companies as well as India have shifted their bases outside India or are planning to go out. Inflation has also become a major problem even after RBI has raised interest several times to curb it. In the recent 2G telecom scam, India’s loss is estimated to be approximately US$39 billion. Unless the markets get the required assurance that allocation of funds will be swift, efficient and fair, the process of investment will be slow. Politicians should also take responsibility in checking corruption in order to avoid debacle like Enron the power sector in Maharashtra. The project which was not deemed economic viable by the World Bank which denied financial help to it was granted permission by India ignoring the protests against unpopular power project. Even the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act scheme (MGNREGA) is not free of corruption as some audit reports that in some states only a small percentage of allocated funds reach to the original workers. Corruption does not only affect the parties involved in the scandal but also public at large. A corrupt official will result in delay of schemes intended for the benefits of general public in pressure of a company or any other person who are seeking to get private benefit from the projects. This will result in vicious circle of poverty as the poor are most affected by corruption.

If India has to fight poverty and achieve a sustainable growth rate, it should take proper anti corruption measures and enforce them strictly. Though corruption cannot be eradicated permanently, proper checks and balances will ensure India’s rise as economic powerhouse and future development.

IAS MAINS EXAM 2010 ENGLISH PAPER

http://www.upsc.gov.in/questionpaper/2010/CSMAINS10/ENGLISH_COMPULSORY.pdf