Kunti Devi - Victim of Dowry System

Tale of the Miserables

Indeed Victor Hugo’s masterpiece ‘The Miserables’ tells a story of "a saint, a man, a woman, and a child,". The story covers a large portion of Revolutionary French history. The battle of Waterloo, the revolving door of governments, and the numerous street barricade rebellions of the city of Paris during the 1830s all serve as a background for the story. The French word "miserables" means both poor wretches and scoundrels or villains.

The novel offers a huge cast that includes both kinds of "miserables." LES MISERABLES is a powerful social document. The story is set between 1815 and 1832, the years of Hugo's youth. The story of how the convict Jean Valjean struggled to escape his past and reaffirm his humanity, in a world brutalized by poverty and ignorance, became the gospel of the poor and the oppressed. The novel is the parallel story of the recovery of Jean Valjean and France—and to a larger extent, the story of humanity's political and social progress.

Valjean represents the inherent good in every person, while Javert (the policeman) symbolizes the opposite, indeed two sides of the same coin. A single act of mercy shown by Bishop caused Valjean to drastically alter his ways. The depressing deaths of Fantine, Eponine, and the students are among the most emotional moments in the story, without which Valjean's noble death at the end of the story would not have its dramatic impact.

Hugo uses his novel to condemn the unfair class-based structure of nineteenth-century France. He shows time and again that the society turns good, innocent people into beggars and criminals. Hugo focuses on three areas that particularly need reform: education, criminal justice, and the treatment of women. He conveys much of his message through the character of Fantine. Fantine demonstrate the life of the single workingwoman. He shows how people take advantage of her and how she is thrown deeper and deeper into poverty and fear by her circumstances, as she was not educated. Even though she is able to secure a job as a factory worker and finds a home for her illegitimate daughter. The society forced her for prostitution in order to meet Thenardiers demand. This defines the treatment of women in 19th century. Hugo’s lead character, Van Valjean, reveals how the French criminal-justice system transforms a simple bread thief into a criminal.

Hugo used symbols to represent abstract ideas or concept. At the beginning of the novel, Hugo uses the contrast between light and darkness to highlight the differences between Bishop, an honourable citizen, and Valjean, a dark, a convict, incapable of love. When Bishop gives Valjean his silver candlesticks, Bishop is literally passing on this light as he tells Valjean he must promise to become an honest man. Later, the candlesticks reappear frequently to remind Valjean of his duty. Taken as a whole, Les Miserables or ‘the unfortunates’ demonstrates the best and worst of humanity. In addition to the general theme of redemption, the story is filled with various ups and downs of life, each of which offers a moral lesson to the readers.

Hugo made a name for himself as a novelist, a poet and a playwright; by the time he reached his thirties. Among his many works in French, Hugo is best know for his novels The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831) and Les Miserable (1862), which were translated in many languages. He died in 1885, at the age of 83.

Barbarism at its peak

On 24th of November this year, when many people would perhaps enjoying India and Pakistan test cricket match, women were strip and beaten to death on the streets of Guwahati. This is certainly most ugly and vicious act that we have seen in history.

A shower of protest was heard on the streets of Guwahati on Saturday morning. Where more than 200 students of Akhil Bharti Chatrasangh were brutaly thrashed by the localites. Around 20 people died and 200 were injured.

I was astonished to know that none of the mainstream papers except Dainik Jagaran have highlighted this issue. They have focused on other news that took place at the same time when these innocent women were abused by the local peoples. But nobody heared the cries of these helpless women.

We are singing songs of nationalism and playing triumph on the victory of India in 20 20 worldcup. But we dont feel sad or cry when we see such barbarous act happening around us. This indeed reflects the content of our character.

The Most Beautiful is My lord!!!

Beautiful nature, beautiful chord,
But the most beautiful is my Lord.
He presented me two eyes,
To view the beauty of skies
And gave me sense to feel it all
The cool breeze and water fall,
How He has created tree
It serves the world and lives free,
He has taught us through nature
And bestowed us from His treasure,
Lovely flowers with fragrant faces
Teach us live in lovely braces,
Chirping birds and sunshine
Tell us “praise Devine”
The dusk, the noon and the night
Show that nature has its flight,
The autumn leaves and winter rain
Teach that ‘life has loss and gain’
My lovely Lord is every where
To help His men and to care,
Let’s search the way, He asks
Let’s set such virtuous tasks
Of spreading smiles and planting trees
And see that nature has mysteries,
From the nature we should learn
And love and care it in return,
Let’s please our Mighty Lord,
By caring nature and its chord.

I am Poor

You can kill me because I am poor
You can rule me because I am poor
You can abuse me because I am poor
You have licence to exploit me because I am poor
You can snatch my food because I am poor
You can defeat me because I am poor
You can threaten me because I am poor
You can rape me because I am poor
You can drain me in flood water because I am poor
You can hate me because I am poor
You can shoot me in Nandigram because I am poor
You can defame me as thieves and kill me in Vaishali because I am poor
You can undo my clothes because I am poor
And you can make me sit on a hot cookware because I am poor
You can spit at me because I am poor
You can erase me because I am poor
Yes Yes Yes you are powerful because I am poor
and you are rich because I am poor

बूढी कान्जो !

सोखे पत्ते और टूटी डाल, देखो ज़रा इन मुरझाये फूलों को
वो खाली बोत्त्ले और टूटे काच, ज़रा देखो इन रूखे फर्श को
वो महकती होई मैली चादर, ज़रा देखो सख्त बिस्तर को
वो अँधेरी रात और सन्नाटि राहें, ज़रा देखो खामोश दुनिया को
वो दर्द वो चेहरे पे शिकन और कापते हुए हाथों में कलम
ज़रा देखो मेरी थकी होई बूढी कान्जो को

की इस दोर में जिस तरह कीचड़ में खिलते कमल खुश हैं
की जिस तरह मुरझाये फूलों में नाचते भवरे खुश हैं
की जिस तरह फर्श पे रेंगते छोटे छोटे बच्चे खुश हैं
की जिस तरह रात की अँधेरी नगरी में चमकते जुगनू खुश हैं
उसी तरह वो थखी होई मेरी बूढी कान्जो अपनी ग़ुर्बत में खुश है

Youth in the Spider Web of Cigarettes

If you are looking for a common solution about how to carry cool attitude, how to build mature look, how to gain attention in the crowd and how to release out your tensions? Then you don’t need to worry about it and scratch your head because the councillor who will guide you to solve such problems is available everywhere. She is a slim lady often wrapped in fur coat, she will provide you the comfort that you expect from her but in return she may charge your life. Yes! I am talking about cigarette who is a councillor for some people, a stress buster, a loyal friend and weakness for many. This is a small piece on cigarette and its addiction and its love for younger generations as well.

I remember the day when few friends of my batch organised a discussion in my college. That day we had a discussion on the same topic as this article has. That was the first attempt to motivate me and my few friends to quit smoking. My friends, who were non-smokers suggested me to quit smoking cigarettes and warned me of dangerous diseases that i already knew. There attempt went all in vain. I was a chain smoker and was smoking from last 6 years. My friends used to call me brand ambassador of 'Club Smokerz', the club which was made on many social networking websites. I used be in air and like to throw attitudes by smoking cigarettes.

Like many smokers even I started smoking in my juvenile period. By the time I reached my adulthood I got addicted. I tried to quit but have returned to cigarettes because smoking is such a strong addiction. But when I calculated roughly the amount of money that I had spend on cigarettes, I found that if I would have saved that much money then i could have bought something that would worth more than a lakh. After that abrupt calculation, it was all important for me to leave such habits and then I started learning more about the side effects of cigarettes on myself and on other people as well.

It took months to convince myself about the fallouts and good part of the story is that after numbers of attempts, I left it. It all happened after I started thinking more logically and scientifically about the harms caused by the cigarettes and the amount spend on the cigarettes.
This essay carries some basic elements that may help one to ponder over such issues more logically and scientifically.

Reasons behind smoking

Smokers usually start smoking in their adolescent phase. The main reason behind it is that adolescents want to look mature. When they smoke they feel like gentlemen. Teens see their guardians, parents and other older people smoking in the vicinity and therefore, they smoke to look older. It is also seen that adolescents accept smoking cigarettes very easily if their peer groups smokes. Usually parents do not allow their kids to smoke. This results in increase in affinity towards cigarettes.

Young smokers often copy their favourite celebrities if he or she smokes on screen. Hollywood and Bollywood movies have shown this number of times. Youths like to carry attitude as their favourite stars do.

When adolescents turn adult then they find out the reasons behind smoking cigarettes. Some people release out their stress by smoking and some concentrate well when they smoke. Different people have different reasons. However, we may say that many people feel pressured and fail to deal with their personal, economic, social or mental problems. Therefore, they fag to feel relaxed in their hard times. People also try different addictions during their hard times like drugs, alcohol and so on but cigarettes lead them all.

Smoking reduces a person’s appetite. Usually when smokers quite smoking they put on some pounds. Some people smoke to control their weight. Female smokers are more likely to give such reasons. However, according to the specialists smoking damages ones taste and smell cells. This reduces their appetite and they loose some weight.

Nicotine – the real devil inside

Nicotine is an alkaloid poison that occurs in tobacco; Cigarettes contain nicotine that is a highly addictive drug. It is nicotine that helps smokers to continue smoking cigarettes. Nicotine is a stimulant drug that increases your heart rate and affects many different parts of your brain and body.

Cigarettes are intentionally designed to give you a fast nicotine hit. It takes just 10 seconds for the drug to reach your brain from inhaled cigarette smoke.

According to a study on nicotine exposure on the animals it is clear that the greater the dose of nicotine, the greater the biological effects upon the offspring. The study was conducted by Dr. T. S. Roy, Department of Anatomy, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India. He is the first to investigate actual physiological changes of the cerebral cortex of rats after prenatal nicotine exposure. This research provides an excellent biological model to support the many other studies linking increased hyperactivity, attention deficits, lower IQ, and learning disabilities in children with parents who smoked during pregnancy.

The Tar and nicotine levels are marked by "regular", "mild" and "lights". Philip Morris, the world's largest cigarette company that makes Marlboro and other brands warns the smokers by classifying cigarettes according to tar and nicotine level.

India is second largest tobacco producers after China. Still, the per capita smoking in India is the lowest at 119 cigarettes, against 1,790 in China and 2,193 in the US. However, in Indian Sub continent tobacco is also widely used in "bidis" and for chewing.

Women in the race

Smoking is one of the unique habits that a mankind had adopted. In the early days people used to smoke for religious and ritual purposes. For instance, in Hinduism the followers of Lord Shiva smoke marijuana as to please their god because Lord Shiva used to smoke too. But in the present decades people smoke for pleasure.

Like other aspects of life women are competing men in smoking as well. Smoking was earlier adopted by men; they used to smoke for the pleasure and for other personal reasons. However, the contemporary graphs show that the numbers of female smokers are increasing each day. Tobacco consumption was considered improper for women and children. In the early decades of the twentieth century, cigarette smoking had a clear male identity and very few women smoked cigarettes.

Now the question pops up "what made women smoke?" Different people come up with different reasons. Some says that like men even women wants to carry cool attitude and they don’t care of what society thinks of them. Another opinion says that the promotion of tobacco companies gives wrong pictures of fitness, stress buster, slim body and so on which attracts the female consumers of tobacco.

"If boys can smoke then why can’t us" says a student of a renowned university of India. Cigarette smoking is the latest trends of feminism in major institutes. This may be an outcome of rebellious attitude of feminisms against male chauvinism.
In the last few decades it is seen that female celebrities like Drew Barrymore, Julia Roberts and so on have encouraged young girls to accept such habits at ease. This may be another reason of smoking of rising in numbers of female smokers.

However, cigarette is more hazardous to women than men because when pregnant women smoke it harms them and their baby as well. Although cigarette smoke contains many highly poisonous compounds, the researchers hypothesise that the accumulation of carbon monoxide in the foetal blood stream could lead to serious reductions in oxygen to the developing infant. Therefore, haemoglobin that is suppose to be a carrier of oxygen carries carbon monoxide and forms carboxyhaemoglobin because carbon monoxide has strong affinity towards haemoglobin than oxygen. According to the researchers if a baby is born from a mother’s womb that is addicted to smoking during pregnancy is likely to be hyperactive.

Tobacco is used in various forms. In urban areas women take cigarettes while in rural areas women chew tobacco or smoke bidi.

Do you want to quit smoking?

Dr. Jonathan Foulds, senior lecturer in Clinical Psychology, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK Summary, in his essay "Why it is difficult to stop smoking " states that there are two main factors which determines whether or not a smoker will stop smoking are: motivation to quit and level of addiction to tobacco.

He further writes that motivation is necessary to atleast make an attempt to quit smoking but due to strong addiction people find it difficult to quit. One of the main problems for those trying to quit is the nicotine withdrawal syndrome such as:

• distressed or depressed mood
• insomnia
• irritability, frustration or anger
• anxiety
• difficulty concentrating
• restlessness
• decreased heart rate
• increased appetite or weight gain

The majority of people who try to quit smoking restart smoking cigarettes in the first few days, weeks or months. They find difficulties in quitting such habits because they experience tobacco withdrawal symptoms.

A smoker can be motivated by various ways. However, it is not likely to succeed always but it does in many cases. Smokers can be discouraged by motivation and can be influential if the ways include:

• awareness of smoking related health risks to the self and others
• the financial cost of tobacco and
• other social pressures to stop (e.g. public place smoking bans) or to continue smoking (e.g. advertising).

The nicotine addiction has spread widely and it is very difficult to have a control over it. However, selling cigarettes to minor is ban in many countries but there is no hard law to check it. Consumption of tobacco is more in developed countries than in developing nations.

Still hoping against hope I appeal to the smokers to ponder over this serious issue or atleast make an effort to quit. Atleast for this I can say 'nothing is impossible' that a regular smoker would not appreciate it.

I am a Patna based writer and an ex-smoker.

कहाँ हैं

ये कैसी है आंधी ये कैसा है मौसम, मेरे हाथों में है बस ज़र्रों सा दामन..
बचा लो कोई कहीं मैं गीर  न जाऊं थामलो मुझे कहीं बह न जाऊं

कहाँ हैं वो मुफ्ती कहाँ हैं वो पंडित
कहाँ हैं वो बेचैन राहें कहाँ हैं वो सूखी आन्हें
कहाँ हैं वो दर्याका पानी कहाँ हैं वो धुप सुहानी
कहाँ हैं वो प्यारा सा दामन कहाँ हैं वो ममता कि मूरत
कहाँ हैं वो मोहाब्बत नज़ाकत कहाँ हैं वो उल्फत और रौनक
कहाँ है वो मेरी हस्ती कहाँ है वो मेरी बस्ती
कहाँ हैं वो हुआ कि बेटी कहाँ हैं वो पैघम्बर की उम्मत
कहाँ हैं वो खुशीयान का आँगन कहाँ हैं वो सुरों का संगम
कहाँ हैं वो धीमी सी दस्तक कहाँ हैं वो आवाज़ सुरीली
कहाँ हैं वो सारे जो थे अपने कहाँ हैं वो सारे टूटे सपने
कहाँ हैं वो पर्दा कहाँ हैं वो खुदा के सामने सजदा
कहाँ हैं वो बच्चों की कील्कारीयाअँ कहाँ हैं वो ईद मीलान की सेवैन्याँ
कहाँ हैं वो धानी चूडियाँ कहाँ हैं वो बहनों की गुडीयाँ
कहाँ हीं वो तड़पते भूखे कहाँ हैं वो होठ सूखे
कहाँ हैं वो प्यार के नाघ्में कहाँ हैं वो खूबसूरत लम्हें
कहाँ हैं वो फूलों पे भवरे कहाँ हैं वो समुन्दर की  लहरें
कहाँ हैं वो बारिश कि बूँदें कहाँ हैं वो जो इन सब को ढूंढें
खो गए हैं ये सब कहीं इस भीड़ में इस बाज़ार में

जहाँ हैं सीर्फ़ दलील झूठी जहाँ हैं सीर्फ इमान खोटी
जहाँ हैं सीर्फ लूटेरों का बसेरा जहाँ हैं सीर्फ उन्हीं का सवेरा
जहाँ हैं सीर्फ इंसानों में बेईमानी जहाँ हैं सीर्फ हरकत शैतानी
जहाँ हैं सीर्फ माकारी के पुतले जहाँ हैं सीर्फ अय्यारी के पुतले
जहाँ हैं सीर्फ पैसों कि बोली कहाँ हैं सीर्फ ग़रीबों कि गार्डन पे डोरी
जहाँ हैं सीर्फ बहकती निगाहें जहाँ हैं सीर्फ मिलती है तानें
जहाँ हैं सीर्फ खून के चीते जहाँ हैं सीर्फ लोग मे को ही पीते
जहाँ हैं सीर्फ मस्जिदों में बेनमाजी जहाँ हैं सीर्फ मंदिरों में शराबी

बचा लो बचा लो बचा लो उन्हें
पुकारो पुकारो पुकारो उन्हें
संभालो संभालो संभालो उन्हें

ये कैसी है आंधी ये कैसा है मौसम, मेरे हाथों में है बस ज़र्रों सा दमन..
बचा लो कोई कहीं मैं गीर न जाऊं संभालो मुझे कहीं बह न जाऊँ

अज़मी

Technology fails to provide information under RTI in Bihar

Bihar is one of the first states to accept right to information applications on phone. The objective was to ensure transparency and to expand its reach to villages, where the literacy rate is low. But the real picture is different

BIHAR GOVERNMENT established the ’Jankari’ call centre on 29 January 2007 under the guidance of Ramon Magsaysay Award winning social activist, Arvind Kejriwal. Though it was not working in all the districts, but it was working well in the state capital. Vibhav of Parivartan, a social organisation, was monitoring the functioning of the call centre.

Soon after he left, the call centre adopted a laidback attitude. It is a user friendly ICT (Information and Communications Technology) based facilitation centre to help citizens of Bihar in getting governance related information from public information officers (PIOs) under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI) within stipulated time frame. But people are facing hurdles in framing applications with this service.

Activists complain that the phone lines are often jammed, giving mental tension to the caller. According to some activists, the person framing the questions of the applicant is himself not much aware about the RTI Act. Therefore, the applications are often weak and thereby fail to trap the corrupt bureaucrats. It is also seen in some cases that the questions are not framed according to the desire of the applicant. This results in wrong interpretation of the information furnished by the applicant.

Use of ICT tools have been widely appreciated by the media and the people because of its user friendly format. It would be very useful for the rural people, who can get information without having to visit the office. But people are not able to use this facility, as it is not working in the villages as well as in the cities.

The sources say that Bihar has received nearly 1,700 telephonic applications on its number 155311 from the time it was established. Each call costs Rs 10 as fee and a copy of the application is sent to the applicant through courier.

"Nobody is picking up the phone, I wonder if the call centre still exists," says Sarfaraz, a Patna based social activist working on RTI. He further added that he tried to contact the call centre a number of times in the first week of October, but nobody picked up the phone even once.
Recently, activists of different districts tried the number of the call centre, but the call was dropped each time. This shows technical errors, which are yet to be fixed.

However, any organisation can replicate the project of ‘Jankari’. Any private group can adopt this concept and it does not require any intervening government department. But the private organisation will have to enter into an agreement with the Government so that the necessary fees for filing of application under RTI Act could be deposited with the government treasury.

merinews.com

I Can

In the midst of the night
Sitting at the edge of a train bogie
I realised, believe me I realised
That I can build a house on the
mountain roof
I can reap from an unfertile land
I can swim against the forceful ocean
current
And I can run like the wind blows
Believe me I can

In the midst of the night
While listening to the train whistle
I realised , believe me I realised
I can freeze the burning sun
I can walk round the whole globe
I can speak the truth louder than
the train whistles
And I can make things possible
what you believe is impossible
Believe me I can

Bashi: Devastated by flood, ignored by administration

Bashi: Thirty kilometres north east of the district headquarters of Begusarai the small village, Bashi,witnessed a catastrophic change in its fortune in the wee hours of August 2. The swollen Budhi Gandak river breached the embankment and in no time wreaked havoc not only in that village but in the entire district.

The swirling waters swept away a large number of human beings, cattle as well as many houses. Besides 600 houses of Bashi Panchayat were badly affected by the flood. In all 128 houses in ward number five of the village were completely washed away by the flood.Though the flood claimed 23 lives 17 people are still missing. Around 8,000 acres of land lost its fertility due to accumulation of sand. Even a month later water refuses to drain out from the farmland.

It is not yet clear as to how the embankment was breached. However, it is said that the administration and nature, perhaps collaborated to cause this disaster. Local people complain that in the last ten years nothing had been done by the administration to strengthen the embankment. It is believed that Sahis(Indian Porcupine), a fossorial animal, furrowed the wall of embankment. The local villagers noticed the presence and activities of Sahis and complained to the administration but their plea fell on the deafears. No effort was made to plug the holes. This may be one of the reasons for the collapse of the embankment.

However, the officials are of the view that it was virtually impossible to hold back the fury of river, which changed its course, and thus the embankment was bound to give in. Bashi needs food and other relief materials, but it is still being ignored.

It is very unfortunate for the people of Bashi and more for those hailing from the economically and socially backward classes. A month after the calamity,relief is still to reach the real needy. Flood victims are finding it extremely difficult to restart their life. They say that the government has only distributed 50 kilograms of wheat and Rs 200 per head.“With water all around what will we do with wheat,”one of them asked with anger writ large on the face.They also complained that most of the relief materials were corned by the people belonging to a particular caste. They said that Pasis, Mallahs, Manjhi and Ansaris are yet to receive relief.

A young woman asked as to how could they restart their life and built their houses with the meagre amount of Rs 200. Instead of the government it is some non-government organizations which appeared more sensitive to the plight of the victims. They distributed relief packets of instant use such as candles, match boxes, biscuits, and sattu.

As in many other flood-hit villages people in Bashi have made relief camps of their own on the embankment of the river. The government has not made a single relief camp for them. Very few hand pumps in the vicinity are working. Life has come to a standstill in the village. There is no agriculture or business activities. Yet people of Bashi are still hoping against hope of the government help.

Mediapersons attacked by Mega Mart employees, Police

Patna: It was an unpleasant sort of Vishwakarma gift for the mediapersons of Bihar on Monday. They were caught on the wrong side of the stick of the employees of the Vishal Mega Mart as well as the police.

It all started this afternoon when the news spread that a fire had broken out due to short circuit in the double-storied Vishal Mega Mart, a cynosure for many in the state capital. When some newsmen and camerapersons reached the spot to inquire about the incident they were taken by a complete surprise.

The manager of the Mart, Manish Kumar, according to the mediapersons, ordered his employees to push them out of the commercial complex. After a brief melee, some of the employees came out, armed with hockey sticks and canes, and started assaulting the mediapersons, who were initially few in number.

The mediapersons were chased till the S P Verma road roundabout. However, an ETV reporter, Neel Kamal, who in fact was not among those who went to Mega Mart to cover the story, but was witnessing the incident from about 100 metres away, was caught by the employees-turn-hooligans of the Mart. He was dragged all the way and brought before the Mega Mart building and subsequently thrashed.

It remains a mystery as to how there were so many hockey sticks and lathis inside the Mega Mart. What is strange is that some employees were seen throwing stones from the roof of the Mega Mart. The police party which arrived at the spot after a few minutes initially remained mute spectators. The news of the attack on the journalists spread like a wild fire and some more mediapersons reached the spot. Along with some sympathizsers they sat on a dharna in front of the Mart, which was closed after the incident. The situation once again turned ugly when the agitating people started raising slogans against the chief minister, Nitish Kumar, and the police administration.

This time it was the police’s turn to swing into action. There was a stampede like scene all around the heart of the state capital. Many people got hurt in the police lathicharge.

This correspondent, who witnessed this incident, was surprised by the ferocity of anger against the mediapersons, both by the employees of the Mega Mart and the police. About half a dozen journalists were rushed to the Patna Medical College Hospital for treatment. One of them, Niranjan of Hindi daily Aaj, had his gold chain snatched by the employees of the Mega Mart.

Though nobody was prepared to defend the action of police and Mega Mart employees some independent observers felt that the over-enthusiasm shown by the mediapeople to cover the incident of fire was also responsible for this barbaric act. Incidentally local editions of some premier newspapers had their offices closed due to Vishwakarma Puja today.

Dowry System – Long Way to Go

6 A.M in the morning, during the summer season in the year 1993, a boy came running and told Kunti that Nijala (her elder daughter) was found dead. She rushed to the spot with the villagers only to meet the blood laden corpse of her dear daughter and that too close to a machine at her daughter’s in laws house. Her head was banged by a huge wheel that was connected with a belt. This might be an accident but it is certainly not, what the villagers believe. She was brutally murdered by her in laws for the dowry.

Same sorrowful morning visited Kunti once again in 2004 summers when Kunti’s youngest daughter, Pinky, who was just 14 years old, was brutally rapped by Nijala’s brother in law. Kunti was not ready to keep mum this time. She wanted justice by punishing the criminal. She lodged a complaint against him. For this courage she paid a price and on 23rd July 2005, she was viciously flailed by the criminal and some local bullies. She was bashed up thrice by them.

The legal trial started in the early month of the year 2006 and after 24 dates court called victim to testify, this shows laid-back attitude of the Judiciary.

Like Kunti many other women faced domestic violence after their marriage. An Advocate of High Court Shruti said that according to the survey of Government of India the percentage of domestic violence is 62.4% but she believes the actual percentage is around 80%.

On the occasion of Rakhshabandhan, Mahila Jagriti Kendra (MJK) organised a program in which every individual tied rakhi to everyone just to show that every individual of the society or every soul of the nature needs security. On the particular day many victims of dowry system participated.

Unfortunately Kunti is not alone in the crowd. Rubi Devi’s in laws demanded for a bike just before the last rites of the marriage that was not fulfilled at the same time. Her in laws demanded for one and a half lakh rupees and asked Rubi to ask their parents to replace a gold chain of 10 grams from 30 grams. On one occasion she was asked to cook food and her in laws leaked the gas cylinder before hand. The smell of methane saved her when she refused to cook food. She was brutally thrashed up by her mother in law and sister in law.

According to Pramila Kumari, who is Helpline project manager in Patna, they receive 40 to 50 calls per day related to domestic violence, rape, sexual harassment, and dowry. She further said that they receive an average of 28 registered cases out of which 20 cases are related to dowry.
Pramila with some social activists is working against domestic violence also councils the in laws of the victim. If they find no way out to compromise they legally try to separate the bride and the groom.

Rita Kumari, after three years of her marriage, divorced her husband on 24th April, 2007. Her parents paid 75000 rupees in the name of tilak and gifted complete furniture and jewelleries of gold. Still her in laws demanded for more one lakh rupees that was not possible to fulfil by the grooms father. She was bashed up by her brother in laws and mother in laws.

It is seen that in the Hindi speaking states particularly Bihar and UP Dowry system is practised in a larger scale. The amount of money varies from few thousands to some millions. It varies on the basis of Caste and designation or profession of the groom. Upper caste demands for higher dowry than the lower caste.

While interviewing the victims, Advocate Shruti mentioned about Protection of Women From Domestic Violence Act 2005 under which women is given certain rights like right to residence, right to accommodation and maintenance, right to the services and assistance of the Protection Officer and Service Providers. She also has the right to simultaneously file her own complaint under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code. If a husband violates any of the above rights of the aggrieved woman, it will be deemed a punishable offence. Charges under Section 498A can be framed by the magistrate, in addition to the charges under this Act. Further the offences are cognisable and non-bailable. Punishment for violation of the rights mentioned above could extend to one year's imprisonment and/or a maximum fine of Rs 20,000.

Shobha Prasad was a wife of a lecturer in a renowned college of Patna, whose monthly income is 30,000 rupees. He got married to his student and had already got one daughter who is pursuing MSc in Science College. She is fighting for her rights that come under Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005.

Shruti further said that very few of the police department knows about this Act and sometimes harass the victim by asking odd questions.

According to many social activists and intellectuals dowry system can be scaled down by educating the fairer sex. However, this opinion do not fits with the situation. Rubi is tortured mostly by her youngest sister in law who is pursuing MSc at B.N.College in Patna.

According to Neelu, a social activist, education can lower down the rate of dowry system but very negligible. She further said Dowry System cannot be eliminated at once and therefore it is important to change the mindset of the people. It can be stopped if groom refuses to take dowry or bride refuses to marry if her in laws demands for dowry.

The amount also varies with the education an IITian or IAS officer gets 30 lacks rupees, MBBS gets 15 lack rupees, Defence/Army/Navy gets around 5 lack rupees.

According to an article published on 11 December 2005 in Times of India (Hyderabad), rate of dowry goes to Rs 3 crore for a Software professional whose annual salary is $100,000 and settled in USA. It further states “As expected, it's the propertied classes — Kammas, Reddys, Kapus — that are blazing the dowry trail. A Kamma 'boy', well-settled in the US, is available for not a lakh less than Rs 50 lakh, with some of them going for up to Rs 20 crore.”

The above article clearly shows that groom and bride are highly educated still they take or give dowry. However, rich people don’t face much problem in paying the amount to the groom’s family. Only lower middle class and lower class finds it difficult to manage a big amount to marry their daughters. And these people are 70% of the population of India.

In few decades it can be seen that bride’s parent have to give dowry inorder to maintain their dignity in the society. Society measures the quality of the Son in law’s family by the amount of dowry paid by the bride’s father.

With time it is seen Dowry System is modernised. The structure and nature of Dowry has established a strong spider web from which it will take long time for the society to come out. Dowry is one of the modes for the groom to become rich in very short span of time.

Bihar State Information Commission: One year after

Patna, (BiharTimes): Perhaps the citizens of Bihar are, in some respect, more aware about Right To Information (RTI) Act than the Public Information Officers (PIOs) and the State Information Commissioners. Sounds astonishing nevertheless seems to be true, at least in the case of Bihar.

Dr Prabhakar Sinha, a professor in B R A Bihar University, Muzaffarpur asked for information that was 20 years old. Upon this one of the commissioners expressed his helplessness. However, the Act does not mention that the RTI cannot provide 20 years old information.

Bihar State Information Commission completed its one year on August 25, 2007. It was formed as an independent organ. However, the experiences of the applicants say something else. Experts complain that not a single act of the Commission shows that it is unprejudiced. From the very formation of the Commission to the hearing of the cases it often took stand in the favour of the government officials than the applicants.

Article 15 (5) states that the State Information Commissioner shall be persons of eminence in public life with wide knowledge and experience in law, science and technology, social service, management, journalism, mass media or administration and governance. However, Bihar Information Commission has three members, one Patna high court judge as chief Information Commissioner and the other two are IAS officers. It is said that the commissioners having administrative background often defend PIOs and do not impose penalty as punishment on them.

According to the official site of Bihar State Information Commission, the Commission has received 1600 cases till August 20, 2007 out of which 315 cases are yet to be disposed of. The first appeal was made on November 26, 2006 that is exactly three months and one day after the formation of the Commission.

In the press conference called up by RTI Campaign Bihar Gorelal Manishi, RTI activist, said that functioning of the Commission was not up to the expectation of people. He further said that one of the commissioners had yelled at him once. According to him Commission is not public friendly. Activist like Sarfaraz often assist people in the Commission's court. He noticed that commissioners with administrative background are rude to common people.

According to the RTI Act Information Commissions alone have the power to recommend disciplinary action and impose monetary penalties of Rs 250 per day and the total amount shall not exceed Rs 25,000 if officials are found to provide incorrect, incomplete or misleading or distorted information which was subject of the request or if they obstructed in any manner in furnishing the information.

However, in one year the number of those fined is almost negligible. In one of the cases the Commission directed a BPL applicant to pay a sum of Rs 45,000 for the information that he asked for. This notwithstanding, Article 7(5) which clearly states that applicants who are below the poverty line do not have to pay any fee under RTI Act. This shows lack of awareness about the Act in the Commission, the activists say.

The Commission has overlooked these cases and are often accused of adopting a laid-back approach. They have imposed fine on PIOs but not more than Rs 2,000 and Rs 5,000.

When the case gets prolonged poor people have to undergo a lot of physical and mental harassment and financial crunch as well. The activists felt that Commission must order the guilty PIOs of related department to pay them compensation about which there is mention in the Act. Not a single such example can be cited in this regard in the last one year.
Thus the record of one year suggests that the Commission has a long way to go.

http://www.bihartimes.com/news07/Aug/2689.html

Another effort in leveling the fairer sex

18th August Patna: One day seminar held at IIBM premises here in the city on Technical and Vocational Education for Women Empowerment. Students of IIBM, more specifically girls, were informed about the applications of technical and vocational courses.

On the visit of Alka Lamba, vice chairperson of NIPCID (National Institute of Public and Child Development), in Bihar, Dr Zakir Hussain Institute took privilege to invite her in the seminar as a chief speaker. She is also former President of Delhi University and National President of youth Congress (NSUI).

Old Boys association and girl students of IIBM welcomed Alka Lamba by giving her statue of Gol Ghar. “To empower women, education is very essential. Therefore, it is required to develop the technical and vocational courses to empower women” said U.K. Singh, founder and director of Zakir Hussain Institute.

In Bihar, First full time diploma program for computer science and its application exclusively for women were started at Zakir Husssain Institute. “Zakir Hussain Institute has played vital role in educating women of Bihar, thereby we are looking forward to expand its reach to the rural areas as well” said Dr C.V. Nayak.

Alka Lamba started her speech by giving tribute to Dashrat Manjhi who died of cancer on Friday evening. Further on she said “Literacy rate of women in Bihar is pathetic so it is our responsibility to educate rural women of Bihar”. She encouraged students to make a vision like Rajiv Gandhi and Dr. Abul Kalam. While recalling her days of student’s politics she said “When I was elected as President of DU, Bihari students gave me excellent support and therefore I am highly obliged to Biharis and so it is my time to return their favour by giving my service in Bihar”

Lamba founded somewhat contradictory. While she was praising the achievements of Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams, yet at the same time she urged students to stay back in India and to contribute to the development of the country.

Prof Trivedi ended the seminar by saying “Hopefully in the coming 5 years the students of Zakir Hussain will expand the reach of technical and vocational education in rural areas”.

Flag-hoisting ceremony held in Patna

Patna, Aug 15: Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar, unrolled the Tricolour Flag at the heart of Gandhi Maidan on the Independence Day celebration. CM hoisted the flag at 9 am followed by a parade of the administration on the Parade Ground.

However, the ceremony was welcomed by the drizzling and soon after the hoisting ceremony it rained heavily. The Audience was prepared and used their umbrella to save themselves from the rain. Those who have nothing over their head didn’t mind the rain and enjoyed the ceremony.

The CM’s speech received a huge applause though the voice was not clear at the Public Gallery. After the speech the floats ceremony started.

The first float revived the scenario of 1857, which have Kunwar Singh’s statue along with characters like Mangal Pandey, Britishers and other revolutionaries. Another float of Information and communication department showed Pir Ali’s Huge Painting and his binding shop.

Two floats had huge picture of Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams respectively but the irony of the picture is that both the pictures had American flag in their background. Some floats narrate the advantages of industrialization such as machine to make leaf plates. Social Welfare department made a float which had educated handicapped children on the float. One of the floats had dummy of Sudha products that was a mere advertisement.

Other floats showed Pollution control machines, BIADA, advantages of mother’s milk, public literacy campaign, complete purification campaign, BREDA, National health rural mission, State aids control, Bihar shiksha pariojana parishand, and vaccination of domestic animals.

However, the Independence Day was virtually washed off in other parts of the city due to heavy rainfall and water logging. In the present day this is the major problem that the state is facing. Many schools and institutions cancelled the flag hoisting program. As compared to the last year very few people played patriotic songs in every area.

Spider Web

“Your neighbour is a bullshit and you wanna kill him? You wanna be rich? You need power? You wanna be loved? Sex or BDSM, pin-up ******? Destroy all your ****** enemies? One of seven capital sins? Nobody on Orkut is your friend? Tell me what you want and sign for your soul. I am your best friend...Your wish: ...Your name: ... [Inferno Customer Relationship Management] Our jingle is "Ready to serve our customers!" ” says a community named ‘Ask the Devil’ owned by Daniele Medri on Orkut. Search ‘Happy slapping’ on YouTube and you can find numbers of videos that encourage violence and bullying amongst teenagers, who were filming fights on their mobile phones. These two are just a few of the instances that openly accost and encourage violence on social networking sites. This is a simple observation of the exhausting social and human values wherein a public platform is being misused to serve vested interests by a particular section of the society operating numbers of communities and videos related to hatred, sex, devil and so on.

The concept of social networking websites emerged in 1995. The first social networking website was Classmates.com. Other sites followed, including Freindster, MySpace, Facebook, Orkut, Hi5, and so on. Gradually the social networking sites became very popular among teens. The concept of online social networking came forth by west, emerged in USA and outspread the whole world. As per the demographic data available on net portal, USA has the largest number of users of such websites. However the users in India have increased massively. Orkut was born in 2004 and was introduced in India in February 2006. India is the third largest user of Orkut preceded by Brazil and USA at the second spot. The massive numbers of children as its user, it is a tough job for their guardian to prevent their children from using such sites. “I was shifted to India just because I was addicted to Hi5 and my daddy does not want me to use that site” says a young school girl who was earlier studying in UAE and now studying in India. That girl was hooked on Hi5, an online social networking site, and used to flirt with the guys on Hi5.

A community named ‘Hatred’ owned by Sameer Khan says “Hate me, your hatred feeds me. Cause, hatred is what I live for and death is what wish for! CLan Members !!.hatred. GaRRy. (leader) .hatred. Jhonny (Capt.) .hatred. Traitor .hatred. Dark .hatred. Ba-sain a.K.a Lft. KyLe .hatred. Dead a.K.a WoLf .” It has 85 members and the members of this community like to be despised. Another community named ‘ We hate pakistan’ owned by Dhruv Gupta says “ALL D PATRIOTIC INDIANS R MOST WELCOME SHOW UR ANGER N RAGE AGAINST WAT HAS BEEN DONE BY THEM TO OUR COUNTRY. KYUNKI BAAP, BAAP HI REHTA HAI NOTE: its not about hating pakistani people & their country...its about hating all those elements & ppl which are against India... JAI HIND”. This community has 1,418 members and the thread of this community encourage anti Pakistan feelings. These are mere two examples of hatred on Orkut. Due to easy accessibility and various hate groups Orkut is facing controversies. Several hate communities focused on racism, Nazism, and white supremacy has been deleted due to guideline violation. However the number of these communities and profiles has not stopped growing because they can be very easily created and it is hard for Orkut to check them. Anti-religion, anti-national, and anti-ethnic hate groups have also been spotted.

According to Wikipedia Encyclopedia “In 2005, various cases of racism were denounced to police and reported in the Brazilian media. In 2006, a judicial measure was opened by the Brazil federal justice denouncing a 20-year-old student accused of racism against Black people and spreading defamatory content on Orkut. Brazilian Federal Justice subpoenaed Google on March 2006 to explain the crimes that had occurred in Orkut.”

Same message is passed by an online video sharing site named youtube.com. Violent videos are frequently uploaded by the users like happy slapping, fighting girls and so on. Most of the videos are captured by the mobile camera. However some users use flash and assemble the photos to upload it. Both you tube and Orkut is owned by Google and recently Orkut is renovated on its 3rd Birthday. Now user can share videos on Orkut too.

“hey this is hot Indian….single and ready to mingle…the real sex guru and know the real definition fun...i am open for phone sex…so girls don’t think too much jus message me to get my personal no.” says the profile of hunk4u on Hi5. “I m d 1 u were looking for. Ready to do anything if u make me feel like a ****!!! I like it hot n wild n I love to be abused. I love to do all kinky things...n I love to be touched in public. So wat r u waiting for???? Come n get me. I m all urs” reads the profile of a user, Anamika Shinde on Orkut. The social networking websites are often misused by the users. As the number of online networking users increased, there was a rise in the number of fake and clone profiles. Several users want to satisfy their unfulfilled wants through net. There are more than 1000 communities related to sex. Presently these social networking sites have open online sexual transactions which have diverse effect on the psyche of the vulnerable lot.

Several users are advertising them through the gay, lesbian and bisexual communities. They offer services for sexual pleasure at amounts ranging from 2 to 5,000. What they need is contact number; they exchange numbers through private messages. Besides bare images and uncouth language the evil has clutched communities of schools in trying to lure young students into its trap. “I was shocked to know that somebody has created a fake profile of mine that has bare picture, my real contact number and my real address. I don’t use that number anymore” says a young student of Notre Dame Academy in Patna.
The fever of social networking is spreading like an epidemic disease. The child can be infected anytime anywhere where net is available. Nevertheless these social networking sites are blocked in many Islamic countries. As they say, this is due to national security issues, as users have the ability to spread wrong messages rapidly, but the government says ethical laws of Islam do not allow any person to date and match making. However, in UAE this block was later removed in October 2006. Thailand and Brazil are another two countries to block these sites. Brazil blocked only YouTube. The issue raised in Brazil when a Brazilian model and MTV VJ Daniela Cicarelli was captured by a freelance photographer while making love with her boyfriend and later the video was uploaded on YouTube. She sued YouTube and the court gave judgment in her favour and ordered YouTube to be blocked in Brazil until all copies of the video are removed.

Many schools, institutions, offices and public libraries in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia have restricted access to these sites because it has become such a haven for student vicious gossip and malicious comments. This step was subsequently followed by the institutions in India, Pakistan, Turkey and many more. I asked a student of Engineering about from where he accesses these sites very often, he replied in a felicitous manner “I don’t need to go cafe to access Orkut, and I pay 65,000 every year to the institute, so I use the system of my institute”. However, the sites like Orkut are banned in that institution but students some how manage to unblock the sites.

“Though, these sites are meant to stay in touch through messages, scraps, and shouts as mailing have become boring and long. But it is very unfortunate and despicable to see that people use it for pervert purposes. At the initial stage you get enthusiastic but after certain time you start ignoring your friends. I was seriously addicted to Orkut, I left it because of over communication” says a student of Western International university, Rasshad Khan. This is one case and very few people like Rasshad has an ability of self-realization.

“i wanna die ... please help me!!!! hello evry1.... i want 2 commit suicide... please giv me the most difficult way to commit a suicide... i wnt matter if it is difficult.. coz i want to die...” says a user with a profile name waiting for life. “The most difficult way to commit suicide is 'to live a long life'... Go for it... At last, you will die by old age...” replies Amrit in the same thread in the community called Suicide, which has 274 members owned by Luckyless. There are several other communities related to suicide. These communities encourage people to commit suicide and the members discuss about the alternative methods of committing suicide.

The popularity of such sites is increasing very rapidly. According to the Connector Website Model New Implications for Social Change, by Paul DiPerna Brookings Talk August 3, 2006, Facebook (1,250%) and MySpace (350%) tipped, Friendster, Orkut, Tribe.net, and Craigslist may have been on verge of tipping (≥ 200%) and other connectors’ stats may be affected by: relative age or cyclical nature of community.

Table – 1: Pioneering Connector Websites (q2) By Alexa Traffic Rank (November 2005)

Table – 2: User Growth on Connector Websites by Percent Change in Alexa Reach Score Estimates*

* Alexa’s online traffic trend graphs provide data estimates for time period end points.

Evidence of Tipping Points?

From the above two tables it is very clear that the popularity of such sites are increasing day by day. Facebook and MySpace are more popular in west. The growth rate of Facebook is highest and MySpace is at second place. The graphs shown above clearly depict the massive addition of users. In just one year the number of users has increased worldwide. This is just a start and expected to increase more. Banning such sites by the government will serve no real purpose as it is the human tendency to explore ways. It is impossible for the sites owner to keep an eagle watch on such sites. Such sites are very easily accessible. This may emerge as a serious challenge for the government, guardians, and institutions to prevent individuals, children and students from accessing or misusing such sites.

Where is humanity disappearing?

Humanity has seen different social system and managed to survive. With time politics got intermingled with religion. And following the rule of ‘Divide and rule Policy’, recent times witnessed religious conflicts posing a serious threat to humanity.



Poets or composers to create patriotic feelings among the citizens have written national anthems. However, the sentiments of national anthem vary, from prayers for the monarch to references to nationally important battles or revolts (“The Star-Spangled Banner,” United States; “La Marseillaise,” France) to expressions of patriotic feeling (“O Canada”).

The national anthem of England “God Save the Queen” or “Jana Gana Mana” of India, none talks about humanism. From feudalism to socialism from capitalism to communism none of the economy system has succeed in maintaining peace.

Humanity has seen different social systems and has somehow managed to survive. This world has seen a number of wars and oceans tasted blood. Enemy is categorised on various grounds like religion, origin, colour, caste, and creed. But one thing is common in all and that is the human being. Every nation is worried about their identity and the identity of the human loosing its existence.

Secularism replaced religious authorities in many countries and with time major interest of the age has shifted from religion to politics. In present days politics got intermingled with religion.

While turning the pages of history we see the massacre of Jews, communists, socialists and even artists, philosophers and professors by the German Nazi. We witness such incidents even today, In recent times, Muslims in Gujarat were murdered women brutally raped and children killed children on the basis of religion.
However, the history of music shows a contrasting picture. We see that a Hindu singer taking inspiration from a Muslim singer. The famous singer of Indore Sri Gurukulatasvya Maharajji used to practice in front of the statue of a Muslim singer, Ustad Amir Khan. Maharajji was a Brahmin and a priest of a temple. Here religion does not matter.

In India people who play politics on the basis of religion has no interest with the religion. They have their own hidden political motives. They hijack religion and twist and turn the basics of religion to increase the vote bank.

Recently rightist party raised a slogan that those who do not utter “Vande Mataram” are not Indians. Vande Mataram means ‘motherland is above all’ but for Muslims religion comes first and at the same time, Islam says that one who does not respect his motherland is not a perfect Muslim. Then why do some people want to prove themselves Indian by saying Vande Mataram only?

In every age, we see conflicts among people. In the medieval age, many Muslim rulers have destroyed mosques and many Hindus destroyed temples. Ghaznavi once asked approval of Sultan to cross Multan for entering India and the Sultan rejected the approval. Ghaznavi got angry and attacked Multan and in the battle, Ghaznavi collapsed Jama masjid (Mosque) of Multan. Likewise, Maratha Sena attacked Tipu Sultan in Mysore, the war ended with no result and frustrated Marathas collapsed a Hindu temple to make Tipu Sultan aware.

Before independence, Muslims and Hindus together fought against the British. But immediately after the independence there was a conflict between the Hindus and the Muslims. So we can conclude that the very basics of politics are religion.

Social system of today is under deplorable condition. Humanity is again under attack. A system of hatred has been established in the society. A Hindu hates a Muslim because he is not a Hindu and a Muslim does the same.

But, what is wrong, religion or the people? No! People are not wrong neither the religion. What is wrong is the system, a system where feelings of terror, hatred and insecurity have developed among the people.

Now the question that arises is, do we want a better society? When something happens to someone else we do not care, but when it happens to us we blame the system and the government. But the people create the system. So directly or indirectly, we the people are at fault.

Humanity is targeted every time due to lack of concern or awareness. We know how many fundamental rights are bestowed upon us but we do not know anything about fundamental duties. This again proves lack of responsibility of the people.

With time, people are becoming more insensitive. This is a threat to humanity and this world cannot survive without humanity.

http://www.merinews.co.in/catFull.jsp;jsessionid=22C455517627895ECBA5E335BFD85D6C?articleID=124737

The complexities of adolescent psychology

It is believed that the adolescent stage is the most difficult period of human life. As children get introduced to various aspects of life, they prefer to be in the company of their peer groups and avoid interacting with relatives and parents.



AN INFANT is born with tactile qualities. The process of learning starts with childhood and ends with death. Learning, perception, motivation, judgment, and emotions help in human growth.

A child perceives things and learns with a sense of touch. Early intellectual growth arises first and foremost out of the child’s physical interactions with objects in his environment.
Children do not know to discriminate in objects, even in genders. As they grow, the child develops a sense of gender identity, thinks of himself or herself as a boy or a girl, and begins to relate to others differently according to their gender. They learn how to dress and decide what to wear. For example, a 5-year-old boy will not feel comfortable if he is dressed in frock or any other feminine dress.

Gradually children experience sexual feelings and at the same time learn to respond to their stimuli. With this process of learning they are introduced to a wider stage, adolescence period, when he or she is 12 years old. During the period of adolescence the physical changes, physiological changes, thoughts, behaviour, and social relations transform radically.

Adolescents often decide about their career and think about starting their own families in a few years. For example, adolescents can begin to decide what to buy with their money or who will be their friend. One of the things they start early is to start making their own decisions. Adolescents can spend hours a day dreaming about their future life. They have limited freedom and are weak economically. But they have more time for themselves, love to socialize with people of same age group, and often involve themselves in peer relationships.

Another common characteristic in adolescents is a sense of uniqueness. Searching for a unique identity is one of the problems that adolescents often face. Adolescents often have role models. Every movie star, sports player, stage player, or rock star have mostly adolescents as their fan following. Adolescents often express a desire to be like their chosen role model. In western countries children often have rock musicians as their role model. So adolescents do influence the market too.

According to pop singer Jo Stafford, "Rock and Roll is an economic thing. Today’s nine-to fourteen-year-old group is the first generation with enough money given to them by their parents to buy records in sufficient quantities to influence the market."

In India, we see the majority of adolescents follow movie stars. Adolescents choose their role model and often try to copy their style of living, attitude, hairstyle, clothes and so on. According to India Today majority of boys follow Salman Khan and want to be macho like him and girls want their dream date like Salman Khan.

An adolescent’s psychology is broader and more complex. The major problem with adolescents is group socialism. They opt to spend times with peers than their parents. The adolescent comes to rely heavily on the peer group for emotional support. Adolescents in a peer group are less likely to be depressed or have anxiety.

It is difficult for a depressed adolescent to make friends. Though family does everything within its capacity, peers often influence adolescents about issues like educational aspirations and performance. In most cases there is an overlap between family and peer influences. And this is the reason why most of the adolescents are confused about their decision and often fail to conclude.

During this age the attitude of a child changes towards people in general and parents in particular. He / She shares, talks and keeps relationships formal towards parents and more informal towards members of his or her age, particularly the opposite sex. Adolescence is the period during which the person experiences a rise in sexual feelings. During this time, the person learns to control and direct his sexual urges.

The concept of dating a boy or a girl arises in their mind. This is very natural and very few people can have control over it. An adolescent person enjoys company of a person of opposite sex. Sexual feelings at this age sometimes lead them to the wrong path. When suppressed and desires of adolescents are not satisfied, they find alternatives to satisfy themselves by reading or watching pornographic books and movies etc.

Several movies in the west like American pie, A Short Story About Love (Polish), Eu Tu Mama Tambian (Spanish) and in India movies like Rockford, Ek Choti Si Love Story depict the life, nature, attitude, relationships, and sexual feelings of adolescents.
Sometimes these depressed desires occupying one’s mind and the emotional instability may cause a youth to commit a crime like rape. Therefore, it is very important to understand an adolescent’s psychology and behaviour and seek help if necessary.

http://www.merinews.co.in/catFull.jsp?articleID=124736

A Tribute to Bhagat Singh

September 28th is the birth anniversary of one of the most heroic figures of the Indian freedom movement. Bhagat Singh, an outstanding revolutionary and martyr of the Indian freedom struggle and a great source of inspiration to the revolutionary mindset of the Indian youth.

His Life

On 28th September 1907, Bhagat Singh was born in the Khatkar Kalan village into a family of Sandhu Jats. He was born in the midst of two decisive phases of the Indian National movement – the phase of the Extremisms of Lal-Bal-Pal and the non-violent mass action of Gandhian phase. In 1919, He was just child when Jalianwala Bagh Massacre took place in Punjab. That incident deeply affected the little child. In 1920 when he was 13, he actively participated in Non-Cooperation movement started by Mahatma Gandhi. He showed his enthusiasm by burning his government-school books and any British-imported clothing. But in 1922 Chauri Chaura riot took place that compelled Gandhi to call off this movement and he was disappointed by Gandhi’s decision. One can easily see the hatred of a kid against British administration and love towards his own country.

In 1923, Bhagat Singh joined the National College, Lahore. There he started reading European philosophies of Marx, Lenin, and Mazzini etc. At this age, he was completely dedicated to the cause of national liberation. Nothing illustrates better than his attitude to his marriage. He ran away from Lahore to Kanpur and left behind a note for his father in which he clearly explained him his dedication to the noblest cause and that is freedom of the country. In that note he had also mentioned about his two uncles who had gone that way and they had left two widows and he cannot leave another.

After reaching Kanpur, he worked with Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi where they brought out a weekly newspaper called Pratap. Here Bhatgat Singh met with new people like B.K.Dutt, Shiv Venna, and B.K.Sinha etc. Ajoy Gosh in his book wrote about his first meeting with Bhagat Singh where he perceived Bhagat Singh from his shabby dress as a typical village lad lacking smartness and self-confidence.

In 1924, Bhagat Singh became a member of the Hindustan Republican Association. The main organizer of this association was Chandra Shekhar Azad. Arms revolution was understood as the only way to fight against British imperialism. Therefore, the British government branded revolutionaries as terrorists. Later in 1925, he returned to Lahore and within a year, he along with his workers started a youth organization and named it Naujawan Bharat Sabha. In 1926, Bhagat Singh along with Sohan Singh Josh started a monthly magazine Kirti in Punjab. In 1927-28, he along with the other leaders was first arrested on charges of association with Kakori case. The first thing he did was to change the name of the organization (HRA) into Hidustan Socialist Republican Association.

The British government created a commission under Sir John Simon to report on current political scenario in India. The Indian political parties opposed the commission and demanded Simon to go back. On 30th October 1928, Lala Lajpat Rai led the protest against the commission in silent non-violent march rather in a peaceful way. But the police responded violently. Lala Lajpat Rai died when Police chief, Scott, beat him brutally. Bhagat Singh determined to take revenge of Lajpat Rai's death. Sukhdev and Rajguru also joined him and ploted a plan to shoot the British official responsible for the killing, Deputy Inspector General Scott. But accidentally he shot down Assistant Superintendent Saunders.

In 1929, Bhagat Singh and B.K.Dutt threw bombs onto the corridors of the assembly and raised the slogan "Inquilab Zindabad!" ("Long Live the Revolution!"). A shower of leaflets followed this. Both of them refused to run away from the scene and then they were arrested. During his trial, Bhagat Singh refused to employ any defence counsel. In the same year, Bhagat Singh wrote a letter to Sukhdev in which he said:

“I can say with all my might that I am immersed in the hopes and doubts that give life a meaning. But when the time comes, I will sacrifice everything. In the true sense this is a true sacrifice…you will recognise soon.”

During the trial for the Assembly bombing, the British came to know of his involvement in the murder of J. P. Saunders. Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev were charged with the murder. Bhagat Singh decided to use the court as a tool to publicize his cause for the independence of India. Later, Bhagat Singh, Sukh Dev and Raj Guru were awarded the death sentence.Despite great popular pressure and numerous appeals by political leaders of India, Bhagat Singh and his fellow comrades were hanged in the early hours of March 23, 1931. At the time of his martyrdom, he was on 23 years old.
(Bhagat Singh in prison)




His Ideologies

During the freedom struggle, revolutionaries had raised their fingers at the ideology and methodology of Gandhi and Congress. They even apprehended that freedom might prove mere transfer of powers from white ones to coloured ones. Bhagat Singh deeply studied European movements, and attracted to anarchism and communism. He expressed his views on almost all problems of Indian Society. In his early life, one can see the influence of anarchist philosophy on his life. He wrote many articles on anarchism and in 1928 Kirti serialized his articles. Bhagat Singh in one of his essays declared, “The people are scared of the word anarchism”. According to him, the ultimate goal of Anarchism is complete independence. When he was in condemned cell in 1931, he released a pamphlet ‘Why Am I an Atheist?’ in which he clearly expressed his views on God and religion. He believed in total eradication of religion, God, state and private property.

Russian revolution influenced him and forced him to study Marx and Lenin. In his pamphlets, one can find the essence of Marx as he described religion as “the opium of the people”. He considers religion and God as the products human ignorance, fear, lack of self-confidence. He acknowledged Bakunin’s God and the State, which severely criticises God. When he got rid of anarchist philosophy then he understood that only socialism could be the solution to the problems. He along with his fellow comrades argued that ‘radical change’ was necessary. Gradually he realised the need of mass mobilisation by the communist party.

Last Days

Bhagat dingh was convicted of sedition and treason and awarded death scentence by the Lahore high court. He was to be hanged till death on 24th March 1931. This news spread like wildfire and all the residents of Lahore started a series of processions and protests. They thronged outside the jail. They wee keen to defeat the jail authorities and set Bhagat singh free. British authorities, fearing an uprising by public, decided to hang the three friends a day ahead of the decided day i.e.24th March.

On 23rd March Bhagat Singh was going towards the hanging rope while singing the famous song from Punjab, which his martyr uncle Udham singh used to sing –
Mera rang de basanti chola…
O! Maiee rang de basanti chola.

He knew that nation is never going to forget him and his sacrifices.

References

Bhagat Singh, ‘Why I am an Atheist’, 1930
Vinod Mishra, ‘Shahidon ke khat’, 1990, Publication Division – Government of India.
Niraja Rao, ‘ Bhatgat Singh and the Revolutionary Movement’, http://www.revolutionarydemocracy.org/
Ajoy Ghosh, ‘Essays on Bhagat Singh and his friends’.

Social Impact of Rock & Roll

“Rock music can change things. I know that it changed our lives.”
~ Bono

I don’t remember where I have read it or heard it but I am certain that in few occasion I have seen the existence of Rock mania in the Society. This may not have been the most perceptive analysis but it draws attention to an important point. The music of a country - a culture, an era - can tell us a great deal about that country - that culture, that era. Musical production and consumption are not accidental. They do not exist bracketed off and isolated from the country - the culture, the era - as a whole. Music is integral.

I have spent my precious two and a half years in a famous University of India though I was not a legal student of that University. There I got chance to meet real Rockers. Like other Teens I was also addicted to rock music. I had accepted Rock as a fashion and followed Punk style uncombed hair, cigarette and torn out jeans. There were few rock bands in the university. Many of them use to smoke marijuana, grass, and tobacco in joints and then they start feeling very happy and it stimulates their mind. Even I believed that someone who is “high” has a positive view on the world and on life.

Rock music is one of the world's most popular and adaptable musical forms. When it originated in the United States in the early 1950's, rock music was known as rock 'n' roll. From the start, it was party music, dance music, and music that appealed to young listeners. It often celebrated the joys of being young, and it occasionally expressed the frustrations of the youth.

Many adults dismissed rock 'n' roll as a passing fad or condemned it as a threat to society. By the mid-1960's, however, rock 'n' roll had earned wide respect as a legitimate art form. The music's popularity spread internationally and among older listeners as well. By the end of the 1960's, the music had moved far from its roots in blues and country music, and it became known simply as rock.

In the 1970's, rock became a bigger business than ever. It not only dominated the music industry, but also influenced everything from film to fashion to politics. As rock music became increasingly accepted, it lost much of the rebelliousness that had originally given it its power.

Since the early 1980's, rock music has continued to defy musical barriers and has drawn much of its strength from international musical influences. Today, rock music is no longer only the music of young Americans. It is music of the world.

The massive popularity and worldwide scope of rock and roll resulted in an unprecedented level of social impact. Far beyond simply a musical style, rock and roll influenced lifestyles, fashion, attitudes, and language in a way few other social developments have equalled. The social impact is so large that rock stars are worshipped worldwide and often performances of several artists in diverse arts and cultures are scaled to and appreciated as being close to that of a "rock star".

Rock as a culture has some darker aspects. Rock is often linked with sex, drugs, suicide, and violence. Today, at almost any "heavy-metal'' rock concert one can hear the audience being exhorted to rape and murder in the name of Satan. Lyrics such as the following are typical:

"We come bursting through your bodiesRape your helpless soulTransform you into a creatureMerciless and coldWe force you to kill your brotherEat his blood and brainShredding flesh and sucking boneTill everyone's insaneWe are pestilent and contaminateThe world Demonic legions prevail""DEMONS" by Rigor Mortis

Any loving parent today would be horrified and shocked to learn that their sons and daughters are eagerly listening to such evil.

Long hair, torn out jeans, long T shirts, satanic necklace, Tattoo, Leather jackets, pierced body and all accessories that normally parents call it indecent are all rock style. Basically rock is all about being rebellious. Rockers want to look tough both physically and mentally. Listeners want to look like their favourite rock star. A cultural war broke out in the mid-1960s in the UK over the rivalry between the "Mods" (who favoured high-fashion, expensive styles) and the "Rockers" (who wore T-shirts and leather); the songs were composed to praise one style and abuse another. Today we can see among teens that majority of them have long hair and wear printed T-shirts of their favourite rock star. Like in India t-shirts of Kurt Coben, Bob Marley, Linkin Park, Eminem etc are very popular among urban teens.

Drugs were often a huge part of the rock music lifestyle. Rock music also espoused the use of marijuana. Reggae singer of 70’s Bob Marley popularised the use of marijuana in his famous song “smoke two joints”. Even in many colleges and universities in India one can find students taking joints, marijuana is mostly smoked in a joint. This experiment is now internationally recognised and practised everywhere in the world. Marijuana is very common among youth because they believe taking marijuana affects and stimulates thinking and leads to a philosophic, positive life attitude. It causes an euphoric feeling. The use of marijuana was not the worst; the mass distribution of LSD came next.


(Teen smoking marijuana)


In the 1960s psychedelic music arose; some musicians encouraged and intended listeners of psychedelic music to be under the influence of LSD or other drugs. In 1967 The Beatles had released their first album dedicated to the promotion of psychedelic drugs, Sargeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The album contained a fantasized version of an LSD trip, called "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", or L.S.D. for short. It became a top seller.

One month after the album's release, the Beatles shocked the world by announcing, publicly, that they were regularly taking LSD. Beatle member Paul McCartney, in an interview with Life magazine said, "LSD opened my eyes. We only use one-tenth of our brain." They also publicly called for the legalization of marijuana. It is common for rocker stars to experiment with different kinds of drugs. The popularity and promotion of experimentation with drugs by rock stars may have influenced use of drugs among youth of the period. One can say that the consumption of drugs is increasing with the popularity of rock music.

During the past four decades, rock music lyrics have become increasingly expressed -- particularly with reference to drugs, sex, and violence and even of greater concern, sexual violence. Heavy metal and rap lyrics have elicited the greatest concern, as they compound the environment in which some teenagers increasingly are confronted with pregnancy, drug use, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and other sexually transmitted diseases, injuries, homicide and suicide.

Suicide is a prominent theme in music as a generation cries out having no hope. Today death and suicide are a consistent part of the Rock music lyrics as the artists voice their own despair in living in a fallen world. This prompts people to take others lives as well as their own. Ozzie Osborne became famous many years ago called the “Suicide Solution”:

“Suicide is the only way out ... why don't you kill yourself cause you can't escape the Master Reaper...”

Eric Anderson, a 14-year -old fan committed suicide in response to the song. He told his father that he couldn't cope with the pressure. He then went into his room and took a .22 rifle and killed himself.
For decades, Rock music has been blamed for antisocial or inappropriate behaviour in teens. Ozzy Osborne’s “Suicide Solution,” AC/DC’s “Shoot to Thrill,” and Blue Oyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear the Reaper”, these are few examples that provokes depressed teens to commit suicide.


( Ozzy Osborne’s “Suicide Solution” )

Sometimes rock music encourages violence too. Just read the lyrics of a song by Dead Kennedy and judge yourself –

“I kill children, I love to see them die.
I kill children to make their mothers cry.
I crush them under my car and I love to hear them scream.
I feed them poison candy and spoil their Halloween.
I kill children, I bang their heads in doors.
I kill children, I can hardly wait for yours.”

Some people believe that rock music stimulates casual indiscipline. Contemporary rock music is saturated with elements of cohabitation outside of marriage, infidelity, sadism and masochism, homosexuality, rape and necrophilia. According to Christian point of view rock music often encourages sex with anyone you like. From the late Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing" to Queen's "Body Language" to George Michael's "I Want Your Sex" to Madonna's "Chemical Reaction" to White Snake's "Still of the Night" and to the lyrics of Prince and endless others the theme is the same: promotion of sexual licentiousness.

If I went long just talking about sex, drugs and rock n roll then it doesn’t mean rock music has only darker side. Rock musicians have sometimes attempted to address social issues directly as commentary or as calls to action. In 70’s Reggae singer Bob Marley revolted against American imperialism like his famous song “Buffalo soldiers in the heart of America” .

During the Vietnam War the first rock protest songs were heard, inspired by the songs of folk musicians such as Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan, which ranged from abstract evocations of peace Peter, Paul, and Mary's "If I Had a Hammer" to blunt anti-establishment diatribes Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young's "Ohio". Other musicians, notably John Lennon and Yoko Ono, were vocal in their anti-war sentiment both in their music and in public statements.

Famous rock musicians have adopted causes ranging from the environment (Marvin Gaye's "Mercy Mercy Me (the Ecology)" and the anti-apartheid movement (Peter Gabriel's "Biko"), to violence in Northern Ireland (U2's "Sunday Bloody Sunday") and worldwide economic policy (The Dead Kennedys' "Kill the Poor"). On occasion this involvement would go beyond simple songwriting and take the form of sometimes-spectacular concerts or televised events, often raising money for charity. Recently in 2004 a concert was organised by Linkin Park to raise fund for the victims of Tsunami.