India is witnessing one of the most talked about, discussed and debated elections in it's history. The involvement of people in this election was unprecedented. The pre-election process made several households, common men and women get involved in otherwise "we don't care" attitude in politics of the Country.

Now when several rounds of elections are over and only three phases remaining for this democratic festival to end, the new era will begin. It is very likely that the Government in centre will change and will change for good, it is time to ponder what are the priorities of Nation. Which are the burning issues which need the highest attention and efforts of new Government. The important tasks may  be set as below:

1. Law and Order
Law and order is not limited to controlling crimes like murders, burglary etc. but in general ensuring the people if not respect, fear the law of the land. As Indians we witness lawlessness on daily basis. For instance, people do not respect red lights on streets, many vehicles are drive on wrong sides, not only two wheelers but trucks and trailers, especially on highways on the outskirts of cities, vehicles do not have proper lights, especially tail lamps, number plates are absent, decorates or mutilated to an extent where reading number is impossible, wrong parking etc. Bringing about these discipline in traffic will not only help making roads safer but also inculcate much needed respect and fear for law in the Country. Making this implement in while of Country is real challenge, but then we have been promised of new Bharat.

2. Reforming railway reservation system
Each one of us has witnessed how www.irctc.co.in works. Each one of knows the reason behind the site not working from 10:00 am to 10:30 am in peak season. We all are enough Internet literate to understand that sites like yahoo, google, rediff, hotmail handles millions time more traffic and data on net than the reservation portal of Indian railways. There are no attachments but simple data file of few kb transaction in the process of finding berth availability and booking. We all know how agents works and this is precisely answer why the present Government never wanted to solve this problem. The new Government should and i am sure its only matter of will and not resources.

3. Transforming railways stations and coaches
The railway stations are in mess. Anyone who has been to Hazrat Nizammuding or New Delhi station will agree how pathetic, dirty and unsafe our railway platforms are. We deserve much better facility. The stations need to be clean, littering needs to be taken seriously, toilets needs to be much cleaner, sitting arrangement needs improvement, waiting room are in shambles. Railway can increase fare of tatkal but only after eliminating the agent culture. Surely we can pay half of what we pay to agents to Railways directly.

4. Eliminating corruption from daily life
Bribes to traffic police, in Municipal Corporations, public hospitals, public schools, office of registrars, income tax and service tax departments should be  brought to zero. Government needs to announce zero tolerance to such public harassment. Once done, automatically pubic voice will rise and the crucial check in the system will be functional. Today, every Indian knows he has no options.

5. Zero tolerance for infiltrations
Government should announce zero tolerance to border infiltrations by Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Chinese. This should be allowed at no cost and without exception. We Indians have very low spirit. As this is being written, yesterday, we lost two precious lives including one of Major Mukund Varadrajan in Shopian encounter in Jammu and Kashmir. Government needs to tackle this with iron hand. Afterall it represents 1.25 billion people.

6. Bringing all the defaulters to books
We have heard and read a lot about the corruption in 15th loksabha. Series of scams, 2G, 3G, Coalgate, Commonwealth Games scam, Robert Vadra, illegal Indian money in foreign banks etc. Now is the time to act. Set lessons that no one in 100 years will again dare to play with the Country. Strip these people off their ill gotten wealth and ensure they do not use this to further weaken the Country. "No Mercy" policy is what people needs.

Hope the new Government will prove to be honest, objective, nationalist which will rise the dwindling spirits of 120 billion Indians. Hope the country will again rise, shine and regain the position it deserves. Hope people of India again feel proud of being Indians.

Crony Capitalism

A very interesting and thought provoking interview of Dr. Ravindra Batra, an acclaimed economist:

http://www.usagold.com/taylorbatracrash.html

Pursuit of Liberty

What is liberation? Is it a mental and psychological state where one has no greed, no desire for material things, no desire for name and fame, is aloof from emotional bonds, has no attachments whatsoever? It will then mean one has no feelings, no pain, no sorrows and no longing. If so then what would one be like? I think in such state a person will have no motivation to get up in morning, no inclination to go to work, no need to talk to anyone, no desires, no desires means no goals, no goals means no action. There will not be a need to even pursue happiness. With such meaning of liberation one will have nothing in common with rest of the world, no connection, no dealings beyond satisfying the need for survival, may be that too will no longer remain. Will such person then be considered as a liberated? If the answer is yes then liberation will be synonymous to DEATH. And a person will be reduced to living corpse.

Or else. Liberation means something else. Does it mean a state of mind where one has capacity to see through any element (animate or inanimate) unto its core and to see his self with the same eye and to trace the common source of origin, singularity of consciousness, unity of purpose? It will enable him to see at the things, people, relations at a different altitude where he related to each of these. Then there will be boundless love with no reservations, no riders attached, no conditions. All the man made mental boundaries will dissolve like a piece of ice exposed to summer sun. There will be no religion, no nationality, no countries, no language barriers, no cast and no creed. There will be no reason to fight as there will be no need to possess or envy the possessor. All our social problems like communal disharmony, castisam, discrimination between girl child and boy child, intimidating women, economic inequality, even environmental issues will not exist. If liberation means this then it will mean that a person is related to everything and everyone around still there will be no attachment as one knows everything has one source of origin and one final destination. What changes is the form in relation to time and space, which again looked at a broader perspective, is constant. Now the question is, Is this only a theoretical, hypothetical condition for an individual and the society as a whole or its practically achievable? For individual I suppose yes but for collectively as a society, I don't know. Even there was a person to disharmonize Ramrajya by questioning Sita’s character.