Reflections

Clean India : Swachhtaa Abhiyaan; at long last, we have a Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, a leader, interested in setting an example, becoming an exemplar to the people by focusing on all the right values : cleanliness, closeness to our culture {Yoga as an example}; he has faults – but let us praise where praise is manifestly due in all fairness. But, that does not mean that this attitude, while setting an exemplar, an example before us, will automatically solve our cleanliness issues, even without the systemic flaws I pointed out in my previous article on this issue: Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Or Clean India - Does It Meet The Problem? As I wrote earler, do you really require the Prime Minister of your country to tell you keep your nation clean? Do you really require to be told to throw things in dustbins? Do you really require to be told to keep your city clean, not throw waste outside your home? Do you really need to be told to throw the waste inside the dustbin, not in i...

The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, just launched by our Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi is the in thing nowadays; everyone - well, almost - is interested and full of praise for this effort, which is beyond even a shade of doubt a very praiseworthy initiative as  such. People are, for the first time,  talking about cleanliness, about dustbins, about Civic Sense & about presenting a clean India.  Our PM makes no bones about this - it is a long term initiative, and will require consistent effort and follow-ups for it to be successful.  He is the second celebrity personality to endorse a clean India campaign, and the first person from the echelons of power. The first was, of course, Aamir Khan with his incredible India campaign of a few years ago. Viewed as a standalone effort, this current campaign is most welcome, and highly praiseworthy. We are indeed lucky to have someone at the level of the PM drive this. He has got the attention of the nation; everyone in the m...

It is with a considerable degree of surprise that I have been reading some articles criticizing the iconic show Satyamev Jayate and Aamir Khan, which are frankly way beyond my comprehension. There are views being expressed that the show is pure showmanship, commercialisation of problems, will Aamir return to these problems once show is over, the show is just Aamir, Aamir and Aamir... do they (the critics) do justice by their comments? Let us examine it in 2 parts: Aamir Khan, and Social Change Aamir Khan No television show has created as much of a buzz as Satyamev Jayate, the iconic show anchored by Aamir Khan. To a nation used to a diet of game shows, movies, soap operas, reality shows it was unthinkable that a television show based on something as serious as Satyamev Jayate could be a resounding success - but that is precisely what has happened. It is far beyond both my knowledge as well as the scope of my blog to analyse the precise reasons for its stupendous success, ...

Civic Responsibilities... why are we Indians - I include Myself in this - so casual towards this? Why are we so careless towards the basic behaviour that defines a normal functional society? On any given day, we can see innumerable examples of Indians putting their country to shame - spitting on the road, breaking red light, parking in no parking zone, not helping people in need in accidents, peeing in public, ignoring corruption incidents, ignoring broken public water taps since "it is not my problem", throwing their trash on the road, dirtying parks, giving bribes... I could go on and on. I cannot even say the people are the same everywhere - I have been abroad, and have seen the people there. What hurts is that the same Indians behave in a completely different fashion outside India! Why this casual attitude? It is a matter of national shame if we are having to see an Aamir Khan advertise "Incredible India" and "Atithi Devo Bhava" to remind us of t...