"Quota" Unquota

Come election and every political party promise reservations and quotas for some class of citizens or the other. This is more to get the support to form government and less to do with the upliftment of the backward classes. This policy of reservation is nothing new. It was present when Britishers were ruling India. Indian society has a tradition of caste system because of which some section of the society was oppressed for thousands of years. Suddenly the policy makers of India decided that to uplift the backward class people. The people who were not given equal chance should now be given justice. Hence the system of reservation in every field was born. But reservation by no means is the solution. First of all, a question to the political party who want reservation; Will you drink water from the same well as the backward caste people? Will you give away your daughter to a man of backward class even though as a person he is best for your daughter? If the answer is no, then you should better not utter the 'R' word. If the answer is yes, which is highly appreciated, then there are better ways for the betterment of the lower caste people. Giving away Quotas and reservations is like giving fish to a hungry person, he/she will survive for one day. Why don't we teach the person fishing.

The root cause of the backwardness of certain section of people in Indian society is caste-ism and  economic disparity. Solving these two will make the so called backward people come forward.

Why reservation / quota system in present form is flawed?
1. Bad for national integrity: Quota system further creates tension, friction and disunity between people. In all Govt. institution there are predominantly two classes of people, namely, general category and reserved category(SC/ST/OBC). These two class of people don't mix together. They have to work together but there is a lack unity in the emotional level. This is one the reason why private sectors companies are against reservation. These companies have to work with foreign clients and a sense of teamwork and unity is very critical.  Already the employees particularly software company's comes from varying background, on top that division of employees into general and reserved category is worst thing that can happen.

2. Inferiority complex: This is particularly relevant for education sector. Students who get admitted to govt. colleges through reservation have a sense of inferiority complex. They feel handicapped. To achieve success the first thing is self confidence and self respect. By getting admitted through quota system this confidence is shattered. The student now bank on the govt jobs which has reservation for them. The next generation of that student will depend on reservation system from primary education to retirement. There are 'backward class' people who can produce documents certifying them backward and eligible for a seat but they rather not choose to compete with the general category. Also there are 'forward class' people who would not hesitate to forge a certificate and avail the reserve seat.

3. Degradation of quality: When less meritorious candidate is admitted in place of a more meritorious, one the quality is bound to degrade. Certain kind of jobs like surgery, medicine, education etc requires high degree of skill. Reservations should not be present in any form in those sectors.

Reservation in some cases are indeed required. Here I would rather use the term 'preferential allotment'. Victims of natural disaster and accidents,economically backward, farmers whose land has been taken for industry should definitely given employment benefits.

If not reservation as a mean to make the backward class people come forward then what? The answer is complete removal of caste system and free education. Though many Indians are of rationale and liberal thoughts, there are people in India who would kill their children for breaking traditions followed by their caste. Caste system can be eradicated by introducing technology and machines for low end jobs and by educating. The technology innovators of today are more concerned for the rich class of people. They make car which goes 0 to 100 Kmph in 6 seconds, they make the fastest and slimmest laptops, they make the most fancy watch. All these products are sufficient but not necessary. Nobody makes a machine/robot which cleans all the public toilets, no machine to automatically clean the sewer and drainage system, no machine to repair a torn shoe. There are numerous other fields where innovation is required to automate low end job. The untouchable caste people are those who used to do these low end jobs. Thats how caste system originated ,by the work a person does. If there are no work which when somebody does, doesn't  require him/her to stay outside the village limits, then there would be no caste system. Personally there is no work which is less important than other until and unless that work is beneficial for the society at large.    
     
Make primary and secondary education compulsory and free for all. And by education I mean good quality education. Politics and Education should not mix, but most it is mixed in almost all Govt. colleges. The reason why all coaching classes are flourishing are poor education infrastructure in schools. These coaching classes charge hefty money and low income family cannot afford them. And it has become a unwritten rule now that unless a aspirant takes these coaching, getting into good colleges are remote. 

The political parties which advocate for reservations are the same which are allowing foreign private companies in India in sectors where it is not required. Reservation and betterment of less fortunate people are last thing these companies have in their mind. Last but not the least, corrupt dealings even if how small it is, done by a billion plus people is much more than few persons doing the biggest scams.

   

Supporter's dilema

    The ladies have their daily doses of Saas-Bahu serials to watch. Come IPL season the men also have their  version of daily soap to watch. But unlike in the saas-bahu serials where the audience know which character to support (the character who sheds more tears gets more supporters, also the background music helps the audience to choose a character to support), in IPL it is very difficult for a thinking male audience to choose which team to cheer. For example think of a person staying in Lonavla (it is a hill station in between Mumbai and Pune), when a match between Mumbai Indians and Pune Warriors happen whom does he/she support? The problem is further compounded in case of MI and PWI because they have smartly put the word Indians in the team name, so that they can cater both regional and national sentiments. On the other end think of a person in states like Madhya Pradesh which does not have an IPL franchise representing them, which team they cheer for? Now some people cheer for their favourite player. They dont care which team he is playing. Many KKR loyals have changed their loyalties from KKR to PWI after Sourav was rejected by KKR and accepted by PWI. So in both the perspective, teams have fickle minded supporters. There is a third perspective as well,namely, the fan following or investors of the owner of the team. Probably they are the consistent supporters.

    Comming to a specific case of the above dilema, is the match between KKR and PWI on 5th May 2012. For those who support KKR just because it has the name Kolkata think for a moment. Why cannot we support PWI? Apart from Sourav it has Ashok Dinda, Anustup Majumdar, Deep Dasgupta(operations, PWI) and Subroto Roy(owner). All of them very much represent Bengal and have Bengali roots, though it is based in Pune. On the other hand KKR have limited members with whom people of Kolkata connect. In fact I would have included Steve Waugh(he is a patron of Udayan) if he was in PWI despite of his Australian nationality. No comments for those who support KKR because of SRK(probably they can goto multiplex instead of eden gardens). KKR have members who represent Bengal/East zone in domestic cricket, but almost nobody follows domestic cricket and thus the audience lack associativity with them.

    Most people know the teams and players are playing for money and not because that cricketer is representing his region. Despite all these still people watch and take interest in IPL. Just like the ladies who know how unworthy the saas-bahu serials are but still watch them.

    Having said all these, IPL has the potential to be a platform where youths from far away corner of India can connect with the Indian mainland, very much like reality shows like 'Indian Idol' and 'India got talents' have done by expanding their area of operations and encouraging youth from militants infested area not to pick up guns but join mainstream society through arts and music. I am eager to see a team from Guwahati, Srinagar and Chattisgarh. Private companies while investing in them should not expect profit in first few year though.

Seven Billion plus

We are 7 billion plus (as on Nov 2011) and counting i,e roughly 47 people per square kilometre of earth surface. No doubt it is way too much. But let us give some thoughts on the possible positive side of large population.

1. Innovation
Human mind is an amazing thing. No two of which is same. This quality of uniqueness has contributed immensely in advancement of science, technology and medicine. Increase in population has created new demands and to fulfill these technology has to be updated. 20th century has seen numerous inventions, that was also the time when population accelerated rapidly. The most important invention due to large numbers is computer and allied science. Many unsolved questions particularly in the field of medicine are solved now because previoulsy if one brain was thinking for the solution now ten brains are thinking to solve it.

2. Competition
Something extra, some extra quality is needed to reach few seconds before others in race. Competition is a great motivator. It makes human push the limit a bit further. Competition also removes monopoly and exploitation. Earlier consumers had little choice. They had to be satisfied with what one company sells. Now consumers have choice. The company is owned by the consumers now.

Thse two were the main advantage, other advantages can be derived from these two. True potential of large population can only be realised if freedom is excercised lawfully ,good education and  ample resources are available. The last point is important ,namely, resources. Too large population with very less natural resource is like building a computer with very high speed but very less memory. Before concluding the possible advantages of large population  lets have a look at India. It is the second most populous country in world (within few years it will be THE MOST populous country). India also happens to be a country with very high population density. But india's medal tally in Olympics (India hardly manages 2 or 3 medals per olympic games) or any event in international level shows that high population neither result in fruitful competition nor in innovation. European countries and Australia though having less population performs much much better in international sports and they also have many Nobel laureates from their country.

Though current generation's living condition has improved compared with their ancestors, there are still many many people on earth whose living conditions are inhuman. The correct way to say is that the gap between the standard of living of rich and poor has increased and it was increasing in the past also. One person's comfort should not be gained from another person's pain. Despite many technological and scientific breakthrough the well being of humans have not reached the level that should be reached. The reason is steep rise of population. Old problems are solved and new problems are created. Its high time countries realize that population growth should be regulated. Unless a person has good food and shelter, he/she would not be able to innovate and/or compete. Seven billion is enough of us. Lets try to stabilize it here itself. There are millions whose lives has to be improved. The well being of the well off also depend on the conditions of others else looting, rioting and civil unrest will result. First of all we must ensure dignified jobs for each and every person on earth so that basic amenities namely food, health benefits, accommodation and education are fulfilled. After that we can go for "Diamond Encrusted Blue-tooth Headset" .

Cause of population explosion (solution lies in the causes) :-

1. Agriculture
Before the advent of modern farm machines, agriculture was done manually. It was a labour intensive job. So a big family was good for the harvest. Now since machineries are available, requirement of people are less. But here also a balance has to be made. Machines need maintenance and consumes resource, so do humans. The choice has to be made as which one is less costly (not monetarily but environmentally).

2. Wild animals
Wild animals were more in numbers and powerfull than humans. So for hunting for food and self defence quite a handful of men were required.
Most of those wild animals are endengered now though. 

3. Religion
Most preacher of religion does not encourage birth control. Two possible reasons, a) Aborting a life is like murdering and 2)If a follower of a particular religion does not follow birth control practices and on the contrary produces many off-springs then it is actually good for the preacher as he would have many followers. Abortion though is highly condemnable unless some unavoidable circumstances demands the same. There were indeed birth control methods in ancient times. People seek the help of religion to make their life better, increasing only numbers does not make one religion better than others.

4. Democracy
Population was always increasing but in last 100 years it steeply increased. This was also the time when many nations abandoned authoritarian rule and accepted democratic government. Now democracy is all about numbers. A particular community would never want their numbers to be low compared to other. This race to gain majority is also responsible why governments turn a blind eye towards population control. A sensible person will never give his/her vote based on caste, creed, colour or sex.

5. Old age
Who will take care of us when we grow old? Our children perhaps. What if my only child does not take care of me? Why not have 2 or better three children. Atleast of them will definitely take care of us? It is a moral responsibility for the children to take care of their elderly parents. Government sponsored old age home is a possible solution. The old age home either can run on tax money of the current working population or on the pension money of the retired person.

6. War
20th century saw two world wars among many other wars. War also like democracy is about numbers. Though strategy and weapon types play a significant role is deciding a winner in a battle, a country with large number of soldiers (even with poor planning and weapons) has high psychological  boost.

7. The girl child
Many societies due to skewed social norms think a girl to be a burden just because historically woman take care of the house and does not earn. In India there is a tradition of dowry in may society in which the girl's father has to give wealth to the bridegroom's family. These has encouraged parents to conceive for 2nd or 3rd time unless a boy is born. These has also encouraged parents to go for female infanticide. Equality of men and women in all respects will solve this issue.

8. Industry
Almost all banking, finance and insurance companies' business model is solely based on the fact that population is ever increasing. In fact all corporation works on the underlying principle that that population is increasing. The more in increases the better the profit margin. More humans means cost of labour is less.

Further population is simply unsustainable. We have to mine moon or some other planets for resources. If life is possible then definitely people are going to live there also. Until that happen let us have small family.  

Gold + Credit Card = $

 Credit cards have both pros and cons which can be easily known by a simple search in the internet. For instance a credit card holder buys an 'item' or service worth $200 on 1st jan by swiping the card. The holder is not actually paying the money on 1st jan, he/she will pay the money later depending on the billing cycle and credit period of the credit card company. Usually the credit card company gives interest free credit to their customer for specific duration of time. If the card holder does not pay the amount within a stipulated period of time to the credit card(CC) company, the CC company charges a fixed percentage of the defaulted money on top of the defaulted money. This is how a CC company earns money apart from other sources of revenue. Lets assume that the time to actually pay for the good/service is 31st jan i.e one month duration.

  Keeping the above details in mind we focus on the 'item' which is bought. As already guessed the one item whose value is increasing irrespective of whether it was bought 1yr back or 100yr back, irrespective of whether it was used by 1 person or 100 person is GOLD. So using a credit card buy gold worth $200 on 1st jan, equivalent to 5gm of gold. After 30 days the price of gold increases and 5gm gold on 31st jan costs $210. 31st jan also happens to be the day when the card holder has to pay $200 for the purchase on 1st jan. So on 31st Jan that person sells the 5gm gold at $210. With this $210 the card holder uses $200 to pay the CC company and $10 is the profit the card holder makes. This method is effective even if the card holder has $0 in bank account.

  This was the basic idea. Keep in mind credit card policy varies, so read the policy rules thoroughly. Also before buying, the selling procedure has to be perfected. Not many shops buy back gold from customers. Before buying make sure you can sell it as well at a later date. The whole idea is based on monotonical increase of gold price. Its the faith of the people in gold which is driving the price up (just like the faith on currency notes). Its a bubble in the making. Price of gold may fall. Till then this idea works fine. If more and more people trust in Gold more than their country's currency then we will return to historic barter system. Personally, Gold or credit does not excite me.

  

Coefficient of vegetarianism

    The food products we see in super markets contains label for vegetarian content(green color) and non-veg content(deep brown color). But foods cannot be classified into only two categories. In fact it is not feasible to classify into any finite number of categories. Labeling should not be a discrete quantity wrt veg/non-veg but should be an analogous quantity.
    The reason are as follows. There are different types of vegetarian. There are still inconclusive debate regarding egg and milk product's classification. Some foods derived from plants e.g roots and vegetables which makes our body heated are considered non-veg. There is nothing called 'pure vegetarian'. A vegan may eat so called 'pure vegetarian' diet, but wears a leather shoe, belt or bag is not a vegan at all. A food product labelled as veg may be produced in a way where some animal is killed or exploited. The food may not be contaminated with animal product but the process of producing that food may affect animals in a negative way. When humans build farms(or settlements for living) by clearing forests we are depriving many animals their food and home.
    Having said these by no way it is encouraged that we start eating animals since it is practically impossible to lead life as a vegan. Here the concept of 'coefficient of vegetarianism' is useful. This coefficient will have a value say from 0 to 5. Zero for pure veg and five for absolute meat. The coefficient value cannot be strictly 0 or 5. Any value between 0 and 5 but not 0 or 5. A very complex mathematical and statistical model endorsed by a recognized organisation has to be developed to arrive at the value of the coefficient. We no longer have food-chain or food-cycle but food-web.
    Typically in a veg vs non-veg debate the non-vegan argue that since plants have life they too sense pain when cut, one should make no distinction between animals and plant. Probably that non-vegan will later argue we should eat humans as well. Here comes 'coefficient of vegetarianism' to rescue. Non-vegan's coefficient value will be near 4 and the vegans score would be around 1. Raising an animal requires fodder. So when an animal is killed we are killing the plants from which the fodder has come as well as the animal. Moreover animals are more close to humans in terms of biological and physical anatomy. Cutting a branch of a tree will not kill the tree altogether nor will it hamper its day to day functioning(the branch can regrow), but cutting a limb of an animal is as good as killing it. In fact trimming a tree's branches is advisable for better growth. Give a child a chicken and apple. The child will play with the chicken and eat the apple. If a stray animal comes on our way suddenly while driving  we try to save the animal even at the cost of our life. This shows humans in nature are very compassionate. Just because meat is coming to our dinner table wrapped in a glossy packet we are not realizing the bigger picture. There are other environmental and health issues which arises because of non-veg diet. Lastly, color of blood is same for animals and humans.   
    So given an alternative one should try to keep the coefficient value as low as possible. A person living in polar, desert or coastal region might not have plant based food. In their case eating meat is understandable.
    What is the future? How do we meet our ever increasing food demand? We can try to embed chlorophyll into our body. So by drinking mineral water and moderate sun's ray we can produce our own food to some extent. Use animal's service for example a snake's poison as medicine, a horse as a means of transport. No exploitation or killing.
    Kindly  google search for 'veg vs non-veg'. There are many more reasons in favour of veg diet.
    Lets maintain nature's balance. Going meatless(as much as possible) does not make oneself weak.

Democracy, Hinduism and Linux

  According to dictionary 'democracy' means a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state. It means freedom and equality. Freedom to choose one's way of life irrespective of religion, sex, caste or colour. The subjects choose what protocol to be followed. There is no 'one' ruler. Everybody have their say in the governance.

  Similarly,  Hinduism is a way of life which is influenced by all its subjects. That is the reason there are so many gods (there is no 'one' ruler). To qualify as God there is no restriction. Almost anybody or anything can be God. Colour, sex, living or non-living, animal or human nothing matters to qualify as god. it need not exist in any form even. It is a belief, an idea, which comes in 'form' as Avatar. Subjects has to feel it.

  Here by subjects it means everything in the universe.Not just humans. Why should we keep democracy limited to men and women? Why not we extend it to all other living beings? Some people laugh at followers of Hinduism because they pray a tree, they pray a monkey. What actually means is , everything in universe has their part to play and they should have their rights as well. Just because one is powerful does not mean  it can kill or exploit the not so powerful (eg killing of animals for food, exploitation of natural resources). Residence of god can be anything if not everything.

  Now people who are a bit computer savvy can understand what linux has got to do here. Linux is an operating system which no 'one' person or company owns. Its the users who owns it. Anybody can come and build his/her own linux distribution. The number of different types of linux distribution is uncountable. There are people who like an authoritarian rule. But  authoritarian rule is a great gamble. It can be either very good or very bad. Freedom is very limited. What is said for linux can be said for any open source software, Linux being the most popular one.