Polite Indian

The Supreme court has stayed the implementation of the OBC reservation in its current form.

The Court ruled that the 1931 census could not be a determinative factor for identifying the OBCs for the purpose of providing reservation.

I personally see this as being a good thing in the light of the recent developments. This means that govt will have to first do a study to identify the OBCs and then come up with a proposal. Such a thing is absolutely necessary for a program of this magnitude. As in the past the legislature could have legislated against such a decision and put it in the ninth schedule. But the supreme court recently ruled that anything placed in the ninth schedule is also subject to review.

Difference between reservations for SC/ST and OBCs.

This verdict does not mean that reservations of any kind should be stopped. However there is a huge difference between the reservations for SC/ST and the OBCs. The SC/STs are provided reservation because they have suffered for being SC/ST. Hence they are provided reservations based on the single criteria that they are SC/ST. No other criteria is needed because that one criteria is sufficient. Having said that I believe that even that program can be improved. This program, for all its shortcomings, has worked for SC/STs. It has had its success.

For the OBCs, the reservations are based on the fact that they are socially and educationally backward. If someone needs to get benefited by this program, he needs to be identified and proven that he is backward. For that one needs to collect data. As realitycheck has always pointed out that one needs to identify the beneficiaries in order for a program of this scale to succeed. The Supreme court has basically said the same thing about the data that was collected in 1931. The supreme court has not said NO to reservations. It has asked the govt to prove that the people who will benefit from this are really OBCs. Once the govt. gets into the exercise of identifying the OBCs there will be lot of political repercussions to these. That should be interesting to watch in the coming days.

Verdict like these and proper dealing of the issue of creamy layer would go a long way to ensure that the beneficiaries of this program are the ones that really need it.

cross posted at the Great Indian Mutiny

When Manmohan singh equated untouchability to apartheid, I felt good that someone at the top is finally calling a spade a spade. I felt that international pressure be put on India to take some concrete steps to improve the conditions of Dalits. As Nitin pointed out in the comments section that sanctions against India might not be the right thing for it, I wonder what else can be done. For years, Dalit activists have tried to equate the plight of dalits to that of racism and the Indian delegates have always defended arguing caste is not same as race.

Now when CERD slams Indian on dalit violence, I take it as a good sign.

A UN committee has equated violence against Dalits in India with racial discrimination and questioned the country’s record on treatment of the socially marginalised.

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) has called upon the Indian government to ensure an immediate end to the violence on Dalits

The report further confirms that systematic segregations of Dalits very much exists. This is nothing new to us but when a UN body accepts it, it is a big achievement for the activists.

The report also mentioned “the Indian delegation’s arrogant rejection of well-documented abuses against Dalits before UN experts in Geneva” and added that it “mirrors India’s systematic denial of Dalit rights at home”,

What was the Indian delegation trying to say by rejecting the abuse cases? Prove that Dalit attrocities don’t happen? Even in the light of events like Khairllanji, these guys have the audacity to refute it? Not only that, as usual they tried to deflect things by getting into a semantic debate between race and caste.

The report said the Indian delegation resorted to a semantic debate on the difference between caste and race.

I understand that untouchability is not an official state policy, but I hold the state equally responsible because it is an unofficial state policy and that is even worse. The police doesn’t file complaints, the media doesn’t give them proper attention, the politician just consider them as vote banks, the NGOs can do only so much and the elite doesn’t understand what social justice is all about.

I still think that International pressure when put on India, only then will the state really act. Till then it is difficult to wake this giant from slumber.

I have always wondered why is it necessary to award corporal punishment to school kids? So far I haven’t found an answer. This particular incident once again got me thinking.

Ujjwala Andrews, a teacher in city’s Vinay High School, will serve one year of simple imprisonment for causing the grievous injury to Munir Patel 11 years ago.

Patel’s fault was that he was “troubling his teachers”.

After being hit on head with a wooden scale, the boy began to get seizures and was hospitalised for serious head injury.

This has taken 11 years out of Munir’s life and he had to drop out from school.

Patel, now 27, dropped out of school after the incident and works in a shop now.

He said Andrews deserved “stringent punishment”. “The beating I received at her hands has changed the course of my life. She has got away with a lighter sentence. You tell me how would you have felt if this happened with you?” he was quoted as saying by PTI.

Can you imagine someone’s life being changed in such a way? Munir’s example is one such case but there are so many cases where kids get affected in many different ways after receiving corporal punishments. Some have long lasting psychological impacts. Some just lose interest and some just drop out. Worst, some even commit suicide.

In India and many countries it is Okay to hit a school kids in order to discipline them. I think this needs to change. Corporal punishment should be banned in schools. There is really no need for it. It is heartening to see that some states have banned it. Delhi, Goa and TamilNadu are such states. Other states should follow suit. The teachers who lack the ability to teach, in my view, use such tactics to “discipline” children.

On the same lines I also think there is no need to hit a kid at home in order to discipline him.

update: Another teacher gets sentenced. This one paraded the kid naked for taking a dip in the school tank. I hope more parents and kids file complaints against such teachers. The only sad thing is that such cases are taking 10 years to adjucate. Why?

This has to be one of the most eventful weekend. It started with the snow and wintry mix weather on Friday and I decided to drive from New Jersey to Virginia. It was a brave (and stupid) effort to drive in that weather. Driving at 30 miles an hour it took me around 7 hours for a journey that I would usually complete in a little over 3 hours. Not only that I almost had two accidents on the way and say atleast 40 disable vehicles on the 200+ miles that I drove.

Saturday morning was ruined in the first few overs that India played. I should have stopped following the match but what can I say…Hope got the better of me and forced me to continue reading ball by ball commentary. But of no use. The inevitable happened. India Lost to Bangladesh. The entire saturday was ruined. The only good news was about Pakistan losing to Ireland and getting knocked off the world cup. The winhas given Bangladesh to mock at India. No matter what they think but India didn’t lose because Bangladesh played better but because India played a lousy game.

Sunday Morning was spent discussing different topics with my friend and when we were done he turned on the TV just to find out that Bob Woolmer was dead. This was indeed shocking. As if this was not enough Inzy decided to hang his boots for the one day matches.

I am going to bed now and hope that when I wake up it would be the start of a better week.

The recent events in Nandigram makes me hang my head in shame. I had seen scenes like this only in the freedom struggle movies but what I saw on TV was shocking to say the least. There was an open war between the farmers at Nandigram and the police. The police and the farmers were pelting stones at each other and when two women came to carry the dead body of a farmer, they were brutally assaulted and they couldn’t carry the dead body.

This comes closely on the heels of the Singur controversy.

What is going on in Bengal? The govt. that harps on being the govt for the poor is hell bent upon destroying those very poor farmers.

The decision to setup a SEZ in Nandigram became a thorny issue for the govt when the farmers refused to give their lands away. The govt then send 3000 troops to “restore the rule of law in Nandipur”

West Bengal DGP A B Vohra said they were told to ‘‘restore the rule of law’’ in Nandigram and had mobilised as many 3,000 policemen early this morning. But the policemen, he said, faced stiff resistance from a 5,000-strong mob — members of the Save Land Committee who were armed with guns, bombs and other weapons.

Vohra said six bodies had been recovered and the death toll could rise as reports were awaited from other areas. A late night PTI report put the toll at 11 killed while partners of the ruling Left Front said it could be between 10 and 13 while the Opposition Trinamool claimed 20 people had been killed.

Are we living in a free country? Is this what happens in a free country? The govt can decide to take anybody’s land and then of course as usual fail to pay the proper compensation. When the land owner’s protest then bring in 3000 troops to control them and to remind them of the rule of law.

Sounds like a plot from the pre-independence era. Shameful!!!

The Government Of India has a history of paying inadequate compensations to the residents if the land is to be acquired for development purposes. I wonder why? Is it because the govt doesn’t value people’s property? Or it because it doesn’t value people at all? In every case there is a lot involved and in some cases it is difficult to judge who is right or wrong but can you think of someone being paid a price as low as Rs 24 per sq. yard for a piece of land close to Delhi? The land that should be sold for 4-5 lacks per sq yard is being bought for Rs 24 per sq yard? Yes, the govt is paying the Nangal Dewat villagers that kind of money for the proposed airport.

At current market rates, the price of his land would be about Rs 4-5 lakh per square yard but the Government is offering him Rs 24 per square yard. It’s the price that was fixed in 1972, when the land was first acquired.

In 1972 the govt had agreed to buy the land from the villagers at Nanagal Dewat at Rs 24 per sq. yard. At that time that might have been a fair compensation but after 30 years now it seems inadequate. And the govt. wants to go ahead with the original plan. I think the compensation should be re-evaluated now and should be made at fair market price. The DDA in its zeal to seal the deal before the commonwealth games is not paying any attention to the courts order as well.

The villagers of Nangal Dewat even went to the High Court seeking proper rehabilitation and compensation. The court then issued a stay order but the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) took no note of the order.

DDA instead told the villagers to vacate the village in 24 hours or else they would lose whatever little compensation they were entitled to.

While I think it is OK for the govt. to acquire property in the name of development, It is imperative of the govt to pay adequate compensation and relocation for the affected. The general observation is that govt. has failed to do so. I wonder why?

I am sure there is more to it than meets the eye. Maybe the govt. has its own reasons to do such a seemingly unfair deal. Can someone point out the arguments for the govt? Can some one make a case that the govt is doing the right thing? I would be more than glad to learn the other side of the story to get the complete picture.

Till then I wonder why?

Recently an Avatar of Vishnu appeared in court and asked to be declared as god. But the courts turned him away.

“I am the supreme lord and the god of all religions. I am Jesus Christ, Lord Ram, Lord Krishna and even Gautam Buddha. Earlier, I was born as Alexander the great,” Dharmendra Mishra told the court.

Not only him but his entire family is divine he claims

“My wife Sarita is the reincarnation of Goddess Lakshmi and my son is Rajiv Gandhi reborn,” he said. He added that his father, a retired employee of Fiat, is the god of gods Lord Shiva. “My father has also been born on this earth as the Mughal emperor and as President of America Truman who had bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” he said.

The court turned him away claiming it was out of their jurisdiction to rule on this

What can I say? I am speechless Even God bows before the Court!!!

Maybe working at a call center gave him that idea. Hey he is solving people’s problem anyway then why not declare himself god!

I saw this here Pegasus asked to find the fault with the picture. I have tried to modify it in paint to show what it should have been.

BTW guys try to find the fault in this picture.

Since I didn’t know how to submit the image in the comment I am posting it here.

The image should have looked like this

Anyway, The first image is a good Photoshop work

A store that sells husbands has just opened in New York City, where a woman may go to choose a husband. Among the instructions at the entrance is a description of how the store operates. You may visit the store ONLY ONCE! There are six floors and the attributes of the men increase as the shopper ascends the flights. There is, however, a catch. … You may choose any man from a particular floor, or you may choose to go up a floor, but you cannot go back down except to exit the building! So, a woman goes to the Husband Store to find a husband. . On the first floor the sign on the door reads:

Floor 1 - These men have jobs and love the Lord. The second floor sign reads:

Floor 2 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, and love kids. The third floor sign reads:

Floor 3 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, love kids, and are extremely good looking. “Wow,” she thinks, but feels compelled to keep going. She goes to the fourth floor and sign reads:

Floor 4 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, love kids, are drop- dead good looking and help with the housework. “Oh, mercy me!” she exclaims, “I can hardly stand it!” Still, she goes to the fifth floor and sign reads:

Floor 5 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, love kids, are drop- dead gorgeous, help with the housework, and have a strong romantic streak. She is so tempted to stay, but she goes to the sixth floor and the sign reads:

Floor 6 - You are visitor 4,363,012 to this floor. There are no men on this floor. This floor exists solely as proof that women are impossible to please.

Thank you for shopping at the Husband Store. Watch your step as you exit the building, and have a nice day!

Times have changed and will continue to do so. Jobs have changed and so have empolyers. Recruiting strategies have changed and so have employers, so why not the way you write your CV? Why just write, why not say it all in person? Bingo!!!In comes the Video CV!!! Yes that’s right Video resume is the new thing in hiring. Thousands of job applicants are uploading their video resumes for the prospective employers to take a first hand look at them in person and evaluate them.

Time has an interesting article It’s a wrap, You are hired.It all started with the Yale student Aleksey Vayner who submitted his you tube resume to UBS bank.

Enter Aleksey Vayner. The Yale student submitted his video résumé, titled Impossible Is Nothing, to investment bank UBS last fall. It became a YouTube classic, while its karate-chopping, tennis-acing, deep-thought-having star became the joke of Wall Street. But another funny thing happened: Vayner’s vanity creation awakened recruiters and job seekers to the possibilities of marrying the video CV to the Internet–and that may just revolutionize the job-search process as we know it.

The candidates are now uploading video resumes on YouTube. A lot of websites are coming up with Video resume capabilities. There is Jobster, vault.com, 62ndview, Hirevue, resumevideo to name a few.

Recently I have been doing a lot of hiring for companies and I can clearly see that video resume can benefit employers. A three minute video can clearly say a few things about the person’s communication skills, presentation skills etc and would save time on the first round of interviews. But like everything this also could have problems. As the article furthe points out there could be legal issues with video cv.

The paper résumé is egalitarian, more or less, and that’s why human-resources people are wringing their collective hands over visually enhanced job applications. Many recruiters won’t even accept CVs with photos attached for fear of lawsuits. Some companies even block out the candidate’s name, citing studies that showed bias toward the white-sounding ones. They’re worried that video résumés will invite lawsuits by candidates who could claim bias based on race, gender or age–indiscernible on paper but not on video.

But the co-president of vault.com is confident

Once the rest of the YouTube generation enters the workplace, “video résumés are going to be as ubiquitous as PDAs or iPods,” says Mark Oldman, a co-president of Vault.com

It all seems very geeky and interesting and we just have to see how far this thing goes but imagine if this thing picks up and you happen to be looking for a receptionist, suddenly the interview process becomes a lot more interesting. Doesn’t it? All right no need to let your imaginations go wild
But if you think you have it in you to say it all on video then post it on vault.com to enter the March’s big break challenge. If you can do it then that’s it, It’s a wrap, You are hired