Sunday, November 13, 2016

An Open Letter to Mr. Kejriwal on Demonetization

THIS CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT SENT A MIND BLOWING OPEN LETTER TO KEJRIWAL ON CURRENCY DEMONETIZATION! MUST READ

Sir, I am a practising Chartered Accountant aged 28 in Surat and I was very hopeful that you would support the Notification for Demonetization of Currency and was very eager for your Reaction because your very entry into Politics was for supporting any small move to reduce Black money and Corruption and after all, this was indeed a very big and bold move….!

But after going through the Video released yesterday, my expectations from AAP as a Commonmen were shattered once again because I believed that a person of such stature and designation as you would spread positivity all around without any ifs and buts to make this Mega Clean-up Drive possible and rather help the common men in mitigating the problems rather than nagging about the same and hence I would like to bring to your knowledge the following Points.

Point 1
As you have stated in your Video that it took full 2 days for you to understand the various aspects of the Scheme and even after consultation with various Experts , you could not basically understand the Logic of why 2000 Rupee Notes were released instead of 1000 Rupee Note, I would like to make an attempt to tender my best possible logic ( Please enlighten me if I am wrong somewhere) as follows:

Sir, let us Simply take 2 Scenarios to understand the funda !
Scenario A : If as per your suggestion , Rs. 2000 Note are not issued but only New Rs. 1000 Notes are issued.
Lets say , for example Mr. X has Rs. 1,00,000/- black money in 100 Old Notes of Rs. 1000 each.
Mr. X divides those Rs. 1,00,000/- into 10 Equal Bundles, each comprising of 10 Old Notes of Rs. 1000 each and puts each Stack on a Table.

On Day 1 , in the morning Mr. X would deposit the first Bundle i.e. 10 Old Notes of Rs. 1000 valued at Rs. 10,000 into the bank and on same Day 1 in the Evening he would withdraw 10 New Notes of Rs. 1000 again valued at Rs. 10,000 and put it in the Locker in his house.
Now the real Game starts.

On Day 2 : Morning , Mr. X would deposit the second bundle of 10 Old Notes of Rs. 1000 valued at Rs. 10,000 kept on the Table. However in his books of accounts submitted to Income Tax Department, he will show that he has deposited the same 10 New Notes which was withdrawn on Day 1 : Evening ( which is actually still lying in the Locker of House )
On Day 2 : Evening , Mr. X would again withdraw 10 New Notes of Rs. 1000 valued at Rs. 10,000/- and keep the same in Locker . So at the end of Day 2, Mr. X has Rs. 80,000 on Table in Old Notes and Rs. 20,000/- in New Notes in Locker.
Now Day 3 will come in next week as limit of Rs. 20000 per week.

The same exercise shall continue till Day 10 and by the end of Day 10, Mr. X shall have no Old Notes and Rs. 1,00,000 in 100 New 1000 Rupee Note in the Locker.
However, to the Income Tax Department, Mr. X has shown that he was having only Rs. 10,000/- as black money initially ( i.e. one bundle of 10 Notes of Rs. 1000 ) and he has rotated the same Rs. 10,000/- by depositing it into Bank account in the morning and withdrawing it in the evening and again redepositing the same on next day and so on.

Thus, Mr. X has paid tax only on initial Rs. 10,000 whereas he has managed to convert all his Black money of Rs. 1,00,000 into new Notes.
This Modus operandi is called Peak theory i.e. theory of rotation of same money which is accepted by most of the High Courts and Tribunals. Revenue is also helpless to catch Mr. X because the above scenario can also occur in genuine cases where you withdraw money from bank to purchase something and then when you think that no good deal is available, you may again deposit the same money into your bank account and are not required to pay tax again.

Scenario B : Watch what happens when PM issues New 2000 Rupee Note instead of 1000….!
Mr. X deposits first bundle of 10 Old Notes lying on Table in the Bank on Day 1 : Morning and then he withdraws 5 New Notes of Rs. 2000 on Day 1: Evening and keeps it in locker.
Now on Day 2 : Morning when he goes to deposit second bundle of 10 Old Notes of Rs. 1000 each and wrongly shows the Income Tax Department that he has redeposited the same money which was withdrawn on Day 1:Evening – Bingo !!!

He is caught red handed !! because the Bank slip on Day 2 submitted to bank shows deposition of 10 Notes of Rs. 1000 each whereas the Govt knows that Mr. X could never have withdrawn on Day 1 any note of Rs. 1000 because they were never Printed !!!!
Now Isn’t it really a Master Stroke by Mr. Narendra Modi, the beloved Prime Minister of our country ?!
Sir, you have stated in the Video that if Someone gives you the logic of issuing New notes of Rs. 2000 instead of Rs. 1000, you will Salute the PM and support him in his endeavour. I hope this explanations finds you in good health and I am waiting for the support in full sense.

Even if the above explanation is not completely true, we should rely on and respect the PM of our country who is elected through clear democratic majority.

Further, the fact that when someone is holding the new Rs. 2000 Rupee Note , he is phychologicaly getting a sense of freshness that the country is in the growth phase. Messages are being circulated not to write anything on New Notes. Imagine if the Govternment would have never issued new higher denominations notes with inflation and growth we would still be dealing with Annas and Pavlis!!

Sir, the above example also gives you an explanation as to why the withdrawal limit is kept so low because the above modus operandi can still be done with Rs. 500 note however, the incentive would be less because Mr. X cannot withdraw more than Rs. 10000/- in a day and even if he withdraws Rs. 10,000/-, there is every possibility that Banks shall give Mr. X, 2000 Rupee note. So Mr. X cannot follow the above modus operandi.

And believe me Sir, each and every condition in the Notification is seen to take care of the problems likely to be faced by Citizens and at the same time making sure that such Sophisticated theories are not resorted to by Black money hoarders, but questioning everything in the name of Freedom of Expression may create Panic situations or bring out Loopholes and hamper the success of reforms.
Point 2
Sir, you have again criticised and stated in the Video that printing Rs. 2000 rupee note will help to increase Corruption because Stacking those Rs. 2000 Rupee Notes would require lesser Space as compared to Stacking Rs. 1000 Notes.
In this regard, I would like to ask that Sir, have you come across any case where the “Babus” have not taken any bribe and done work honestly because they had a small Bag which could not be fitted with Rs 1000 Notes ?!
Or have you come across any Businessman who has declared unaccounted money solely because there was no space to keep those Rs. 1000 Notes !!

Point 3
As stated in the Video by you, it is true that inspite of PM efforts, there shall be dubious commission agents and unaccounted Investment in gold through jewellers, but as far as I remember when the jewellers were on strike for 45 days when our PM levied excise duty on gold in month of April 2016, it was you who supported their strike. It shows that whenever some changes are suggested to regulate a particular Market, AAP opposes them and then now you nag that the Gold market is unregulated.
Infact I believe that the PM had a full blue print for the development of our country right from Day 1 of his being elected if I recall my last 3 years as a Professional.

Firstly they asked for all the bank account number in your Return of Income
Then they linked your PAN with Aadhar
They linked all the subsidies, pension and other benefits directly to your bank account through Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme.
Then they gave opportunity to all the common men to open an account with bank through Jan Dhan Yojna

They entered into revised treaty with most of the countries in which unaccounted money goes through HAWALA e.g. Mauritius and thus the route of Black Money coming from Mauritius which everyone knew is stopped.
They passed few strict laws to overcome the evil of black money such as Benami Transaction Act and Foreign Black Money Act
They levied Excise duty on Gold.
They also made TCS compulsory for Cash transactions above 2 lakhs.
They withdrew lakhs of pending income tax and service tax litigations where Common men had won at Appeal level and Department had gone further.

They also entered into information exchange agreement with such countries.
Then they gave last opportunity to all black money hoarders through Income Declaration Scheme, 2016
Now they have a Scheme for Dispute Resolution Panel again to reduce Litigation till December 2016.
Now the masterstroke, that they have banned Rs. 500 & Rs. 1000 denominations.
Not only the destination of this whole process is commendable but even the journey or the chronology of these events is interesting which explains the ultimate destination and who knows , may be the journey is still not over and the ultimate destination may still be the Swiss Account holders!!

Point 4
Further, you have stated in your Video that penalty would be levied at the rate of 200%. The said statement has created a panic and people have stated discounting their own hard earned cash.
Being in Income tax Department in the past , you ought to know that as per the present Income Tax Act,1961 penalty is never levied on Cash deposits but on “concealed income”. Hence when the common men is depositing Cash in hand which is duly accounted or out of his past savings and even out of unaccounted current years income whose return is yet to be filed, there shall not be any penalty if there is no mismatch between returned income and assessed income. Even the Government Officials in their statement used the words “underreporting” or “mismatch”. To understand the definition of “underreporting”, Sir please refer Section 270A of the Income Tax Act or go through the following article:

No penalty on high denominations notes deposited into bank if such amount is declared in return of income by paying appropriate tax
Instead you could have encouraged the citizens to pay appropriate Tax.

Point 5
Nowhere in the Video have you stated anything relating to Fake currency or Counterfeit Notes because you know that the issue of Existing Fake Currency is solved foolproof.
Which situation would be better ?
Scenario A:
A Labourer standing in queue to exchange Notes from bank for a Short term.
Scenario B :
A Labourer working hard whole day to get a Fake Note at the end of the day?!
The issue of Terrorrist Funding is also tackled but you chose to remain silent on the same.
You have stated that Modiji should have infused Rs 100 Note from before and it would have been you only to have said in this video that “Arre ATM se do din pehle se hi Sirf Rs. 100 ki Note bahar aa rahi thi toh sab ko pata tha , yek koi Secret nahi tha”
Conclusion.

Now Sir, if I am to believe that you really don’t understand these simple concepts even after consulting with Experts for 2 days as already described by you, I am deeply saddened because the common men believe that you are an IITian and have spent considerable time in Income Tax Department also.

Contrary to the same, If I am to believe that you already know the benefits of demonetization which I first learnt in Standard 8 when subject of economics was introduced to me and the concept of Peak Theory which is described by me above and which I learnt with my very limited experience while pursuing my profession of Chartered Accountancy , then I am more saddened and feel AAP Party as more dangerous because I believe that above any religion, politics or reservations in any caste or creed, it will always be education which shall uplift the common men and it is the common men who have elevated you to a position where you are looked by millions as their Idol and it is your duty to educate them and spread knowledge and not keep them in ignorance to preserve your vote bank.
I am grateful to all my Teachers who have selflessly shared their knowledge and some fellow members of CA fraternity who are playing an active role in creating awareness and educating Commonmen about the positive consequences of Demonetization true to the Jewel crowned to the profession as “Partner in Nation Building” and I would therefore like to advise the citizens not to sell the notes at discounted prices or deposit the cash into bank accounts of other benami persons in fear of penalty. Further, do not claim any bogus expenses or bogus loss to gain more trouble. Do not manipulate accounts by creating bogus cash on hand. Be sporty and pay tax honestly to buy peace of building capital.

I  have mainly written this Letter mainly for my love for writing and my love for questioning and understanding the concepts and in view of the freedom of speech and expression my country offers and hope that no one is offended.

#CopyPaste

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

An Open Letter to Mr. Hardik Patel

Respected Mr. Hardik Patel,

I, Dip Joshi, am a common citizen of Gujarat... I would like to make it clear right at the beginning that reservations are something I don't support... I think that caste based reservation increase caste difference rather than remove them as was the original intention... I have been a firm believer that reservation should only be given to people with economically weak background... However over the last 60 years it was used as a political tool...

Now coming back to the original topic... I did not know who you were until a few days ago... And I have a feeling I will be seeing a lot more of you now... I have read that your organisation, Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), came into existence less than a month ago... I believe you think that the Patidar community is losing out in the development race because of reservation quota...

I completely agree with you.... Reservations are the problem... One thing I don't understand is, if you think reservations are a problem, why are you asking for it...???
In a television interview, you said that the Government should either give reservation to the patidars or remove reservation all together...

On one hand you are saying that reservation causes problems and on the other hand you are demanding it too... If the Patidar community gets reservations, it will still be a problem for the rest of the citizens.. And the Patidar community will go from being against the problem to being a part of it... As someone who is a strong supporter of the Patidar community, why are you letting this happen to the reputation of the community...???

You claim to be fighting for Youth.. but how, by demanding reservation..???
What a joke..!!!
You should help Patel Youth in finding more opportunities instead of spreading such a disease further in the society...

I was also curious about a few thing that I saw during your rally... In a state where majority of your audience speaks in Gujarati, your speech was completely in Hindi... Who was your real audience..???
Your speech had reference about naxalism, terrorism, farmer suicide, development etc... What all this topic have to do with the development of your community...???
Your yesterday’s speech where you were showing disrespect to Gujarat CM Anandiben and our PM Narendra Modi but showing immense support for Arvind Kejriwal & Nitish Kumar is enough reason for me to stay away from any such movement... Because its not a movement, but a political propaganda for self promotion... Tell me, how is Nitish Kumar related to Patel community reservation demand..??
By the way Nitish Kumar has declared you “Leader of youth”... Congratulations on that... But i firmly believe in Chanakya's quote : “Supporter of opportunist leaders can never be trusted”....
We have seen how, in the past, Kejriwal used youth of entire nation and fooled them... How he killed a sacred anti-corruption movement for his political gains... Media is interested in this story because they like such type of negativity and it helps in gaining TRP...

Anyways, coming back to what happened yesterday... You wanted to hold a rally to demand reservations for Patidar... It is your right to demand anything you want to from the Government as long as it is peaceful... Government told you that they would give you official permission to use the GMDC ground to hold your meeting and even permitted that you walk all the way to the government office from that place... The road blocks by your supporters caused a lot of inconvenience to a lot of people but the government still let you do it...

Now You got the ground... You got the permission for a rally right through the heart of the city... You even got thousands of police personnel to ensure that no one disrupted your rally and everything was peaceful....

But you were given permission to use the GMDC ground till 8 pm... No one questioned or stopped you from using it till that time... At 8pm, when the police asked you to vacate government property, why did you not agree..???
Why are there photos and videos of your fellow patidars shouting slogans and destroying public property..???
Doesn't the government have the right to ask you to move out after the permission expires..??

You refused to vacate and so the police arrested you and took you to the police station which had jurisdiction... You were let go after sometime... But while you were in the police station, your supporters burned a lot of private vehicles and buses which belong to the city transport department. They even destroyed a few shops...

I don't see how your supporters think any of these things will help their case... If they were angry at you being arrested, there are legal ways to go about it... If they were angry that they are not in the reserved category then also there is a pre-defined procedure to ask for it.... Government authorities decide if your community is eligible for reservation... There are set guidelines/checklists to do this....

Freedom of expression is a great thing to use but Government has the right to stop it when it clearly violates other citizen's freedom to live peacefully and feel safe....
It was also great to see people come in really expensive cars to rallies and then claim to be 'under priviledged'... As a lot of people have noted, a 'show of strength' to prove that you are one of the 'weaker castes' is ridiculously ironic... If the money spent in organizing this rally was used to help the poor families of your community, no one in the community would even need reservation....

And you claim to choose this path following the footsteps of Sardar Patel, Let me take a moment to remind what Sardar Patel had said addressing students at Gujarat Vidhyapeeth on 19th Feb 1939...

"One can take the path of revolution but revolution should not give a shock to the society...
There is no place of violation in revolution..."

I hope I have made my point... I have a feeling I will see you more often atleast till the 2017 elections in Gujarat... I hope you use your power to bring positive change in the country... Youth in India rarely get this chance, don't spoil it for the rest of us... Don't malign the reputation of your community/city/state....

If you ever take start a peaceful campaign to remove reservations, I will stand by you... For now, lets stop this and bring back normalcy to our city and state...

Here's to hoping for a more peaceful tomorrow...

Thank you..

- A Common Gujarati Citizen...

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Curious Case of Adil Shahryar

Amidst a washout of the monsoon session of the parliament, an interesting flashback triggered with a term called “Quid pro quo”....

Congress' accusation of Quid pro on Sushma Swaraj, came back as a boomerang... Sushma Swaraj roaring with a reply of what quid pro quo means and how Congress executed it... Mention of Adil Shahryar and Mohammad Yunus by Sushma Swaraj opened up a list of questions for this generation...

Who is Adil Shahryar...??
Who is Mohammad Yunus...??
How is Adil related to Nehru family..??

Adil Shahryar is the son of Mohammad Yunus... Mohammad Yunus was an officer at the Indian Foreign Service and served as an ambassador in few countries... Mohd. Yunus was born in 1916 in Abottabad to a wealthy family... During the fight of independence, Mohd. Yunus had become so close to Nehru’s daughter Indira Gandhi that he chose to stay in India, post partition...

Now it’s a known fact that relations between Firoz and Indira wz not at the best and both stayed in separate houses but not divorced... Mr. M.O. Mathai, then private secretary to Mr. Nehru writes in his article called “SHE” (From the Book "Reminiscences of the Nehru Age"),
She said that when she came from her dressing room to drink her usual glass of milk, she discovered that there was finely powdered glass in it. The powder was floating on the thick cream. At the first sip she immediately sensed it in her mouth and spat it out. She said that from her dressing room, she heard her husband sneaking into her bedroom and making an exit. She controlled herself..."

Now here by the time of Sanjiv’s birth (younger son of Indira), Mohammad Yunus who had become a long time resident of Nehru House... He ensured within the first week of Sanjiv’s birth, he was circumcised on the excuse of the baby having a disease called “phimosis”... But it was carried out in Islamic tradition... This information is available in Yunus’ book, “Persons, Passions & Politics”...
Now it’s up to the us, the readers to search on who is Sanjiv’s father... As there are many articles and books available claiming that Sanjiv wz not a son of Firoz Gandhi...

[ Off-topic information; Sanjiv was renamed to Sanjay after the British police arrested Sanjiv for car theft in the United Kingdom and seized his passport... India’s ambassador to UK (name undisclosed), ensured Sanjiv’s name change to Sanjay and obtained a new passport for him...]

So now Mr. Mohammad Yunus, had another son (not from Indira) called Adil Shahryar... Adil, Rajiv, Sanjay grew up together and were close to each other....

In the early 80s, Adil Shahryar had a company called "Caribbean international Investment Corporation" which had signed a deal with "Shapton Producers" to supply video cassettes... Instead, he supplied scrap paper... Shahryar had fallen out with the suppliers and later attempted to set fire on his hotel room... He was taken to custody in Miami in 1981... He was charged with a fraud with shipping authorities as well as American Express International Banking Corporation... He was also charged with use of fire-arm while in felony... As a result, he was sentenced to 35 years in jail by the US fed court....

Here in India, on 2nd December 1984, in Bhopal, from pesticide plant of Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL), a toxic gas Methyl Isocyanate leakage caused 3700 deaths, blinded atleast 20,000 and over 5 lakh were affected adversely.... Anderson was arrested in Bhopal on Dec 7, 1984... And wz placed under house-arrest in carbide guesthouse... Within a few hours of his arrest, Chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, Arjun Singh received a phone call from Delhi to ensure the safe release and escape of Anderson back to the United States.... Point to be noted here is that Rajiv Gandhi wz the Prime Minister of India at that time...

In June 1985, Ronald Reagan Govt. in the United States, grants presidential pardon to Adil Shahryar... Also important is the fact that Ronald Reagan signed the pardon papers of Adil on June 11 1985... Incidentally it’s the day when Rajiv landed in Washington... Rajiv secured the release of Adil in exchange for the gesture on releasing Anderson earlier... After returning India Rajiv Gandhi was heard saying that “Adil was wrongly imprisoned”....

Sushma Swaraj's reply on Quid Pro Quo opened up many questions and facts which were not known to many of this generation...

References :

http://www.rediff.com/news/report/who-is-adil-shahryar-and-why-was-he-part-of-sushmas-reference/20150812.htm

• http://www.wikipedia.org

• http://www.scribd.com

• http://www.thefrustratedindian.com/2015/08/

• Article "SHE" by M.O. Mathai

• Reminiscences of the Nehru Age by M.O. Mathai

• Book "My Days with Nehru"

• Book “Persons, Passions & Politics” by Mohammad Yunus

- Jai Hind...

Friday, August 7, 2015

History Of Nagaland and Naga Peace Accord

“The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend...”
We saw this happen when the Prime Minister Narendra Modi signed a Peace Accord with the rebel Naga Group, the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah) aka NSCN (IM)... Modi government deserves all of the praise for this accord with the one of the most notorious groups in the North East region... The implication of this accord, if Nagas stick to their commitment, will be a game changer for this region... Bcz most of the development projects in NE region were hampered by such rebel unions, a peaceful NE will rapidly inch towards growth and development...

Initially, NSCN’s demands were far from reality... Demand was for a sovereign “Greater Nagalim” with all Naga inhabited areas of Nagaland, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and even some area of Myanmar... NSCN’s way to achieve it wz rebel and insurgency...

The Naga insurgency is not a recent issue... It is there since Independence... Under the leadership of Angami Zapu Phizo, the Naga National Council(NNC) declared Nagaland an independent state on August 14, 1947... The rebellion group grew among the Naga people... Even Phizo formed an army to fight for the sovereign Naga state...

To address the problem of growing insurgency in the NE, Indian Govt. passed Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958... Since then, hundreds have lost their lives in armed conflicts... After passing AFSPA, the Govt. always kept a door open for peace talks with rebellions... Shillong Accord of 1975 was an outcome of such initiative... The NNC agreed leave the path of armed rebel and accepted the Indian Constitution... However a faction of NNC led by Thuingaleng Muivah, was not happy with the idea of giving up the demand for a sovereign Naga State... He along with Isak Chishi Swu and S S Khaplang formed National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) in 1980... Internal conflict among the leaders of NSCN resulted in splitting of the outfit into :
[A] NSCN-IM (Isak-Muivah), led by Isak Chishi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah...
[B] NSCN-K led by S S Khaplang...

If we look at the last two decades, we can see NSCN-IM being associated with almost all major rebellion incidents in the region...

Apart from the Indian Government, the Nagas are also in conflict with other ethnic groups... Conflict with the Kukis is the major example... The Kukis demand a Kuki majority district in Sadar Hills which is also inhabited by Nagas... Nagas claim that Kukis are later migrants to the Sadar Hills and hence it’s a part of “Greater Nagalim”...

PM Modi while addressing at the event on August 3, 2015 said that the Naga problem “is a legacy of the British rule”... It indeed is... The British had settled Kukis in the Sadar Hills during mid-eighteenth century to counter the Nagas... The fire of hatred hasn’t died since then... And There have been incidents of violent conflicts between the Kukis and the Nagas claiming many innocent lives...
( How true was Mr. Shashi Tharoor in his recent speech saying "Maintenance and even creation of religious, ethnic and communal tension in many of the coutries was a result of British Colonization...!!!!" )

The India Govt had taken numerous attampts to bring NSCN-IM to the table for a peace talk... Past Prime Ministers did their bit to restore peace to the NE India... But nothing concrete could be achieved... P V Narasimha Rao met Muivah in Paris in 1995... Three years later, PM AB Vajpayee met him in the same city... Mr. Vajpayee visited Kohima in 2003...

During that time, NSCN-IM gave up the demand for sovereign “Greater Nagalim”... In 2003, they settled for a special status within the constitution of India, which gave them more socio-political scopes... Point to note here is that Nagaland already enjoys special status under Article 371-A, which ensures that “Acts of Parliament shall not apply to Nagaland unless so decided by the Nagaland Legislature with regard to:- (i) religious or social practices of the Nagas; (ii) Naga Customary Law and procedure; (iii) administration of civil and criminal justice involving decisions according to Naga Customary Law; (iv) ownership and transfer of land and its resources”....
(Ref. OpIndia.com)

NSCN-IM now wants the enlargement of this special status... Apart from that, there were two other issues need to be addressed... First the rehabilitation of the rebellion Nagas and pending criminal case against their leaders... There was a proposal to rehabilitate Naga fighting cadre in the Indian army, paramilitary forces or state police... Dropping criminal cases against Naga leaders will not be a bad deal... It will be interesting to see if the Modi, the government has agreed to this...

On the national level, this whole episode will encourage various Naxalite groups of Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Bihar etc to leave the path of violence and join the mainstream....

Jai Hind...

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

Our political leaders, media persons as well as celebrities like film-stars and cricketers all have the power to drive, influence and lead public opinion... As long as they influence public opinion with a view of benefiting the nation, it's good... But what if they overlook that aspect & try to strengthen their market value... What then..?? Would their words do anything other than damaging hope, trust and faith..??

Look at the NDTV-Baba Ramdev interview that is trending on social media these days... It seems that NDTV selectively edited the interview to show Baba Ramdev as a brainless buffoon... Is it fair...??? Well, it generated TRP for NDTV and created enough likes, comments and tags on Social Media for the media house to survive another day... But what did the interview do beyond that..?? It wrecked Baba Ramdev’s image... It spread ill will against him in the society... Probably many of his followers were left wondering- Is Baba Ramdev also like any other Baba..?? His contributions in the area of health and social reforms etc. were overlooked... People began losing hope in a person who has done something good to the country... Ultimately, What purpose did NDTV’s interview achieve beyond creating doubt by damaging hope, trust and faith..???

Now think of Salman Khan’s tweet on Yakub Menon... What purpose did that serve..??? It took our courts more than 20 years to arrive at this verdict... Just think for a second, would the courts not have gone through the case details..?? Would there not be enough evidences..?? For 20 years, relatives of Yakub’s victims have died bit by bit every single day... What about them..???  Did only Hindus die in the ’93 bomb blasts, and even if that is the case, does that reduce the magnitude of crime..?? It is easy for Salman to tweet and then withdraw and apologize, it takes no efforts for Owaisi to shout that people of only minorities are being targeted but what purpose does it serve..?? Once again, it creates doubt... People think our judiciary is so incapable that even after 20 years, it cannot arrive at the correct verdict... People think our system is so unfair that only Muslims are hanged.... People just lose hope, trust and faith...

Lets spare a few lines on Arnab and his hashtags... Today's hashtag probably will be #ModiFailsIndia for the Gurdaspur terror attack.. It would generate likes, comments and retweets... People will abuse intelligence officials, ministers, government and all... What then..??? Will that solve the problem...???

Jeffrey Eugenides once said, "Fair criticism begets positive change, Unfair criticism begets ire, pointless criticism begets scorn." It is easy to ask questions, it is always difficult to answer them, it is even more difficult to take action...

It is easy for any politician to transfer blame... Kejriwal can say Modi isn’t helping him, LG isn’t helping him, police isn’t helping him, MCD isn’t helping him and so on... Modi can choose to say that Congress isn’t helping him... Congress can say Lalu-Mulayam-Nitish aren’t helping them and so on... You can have colourful Dharnas, posters and advertisements around this but who is benefitted..??? You cannot build India by shaming and naming each and every individual...
The poor still go hungry.. The homeless sleep without shelters.. The public still ride on potholed roads.. The residents still complain of overflowing sewage... All this circus for what purpose? To generate publicity and TRPs..??? To shatter hope, trust and faith..??

Hope, Trust and Faith are precious things... One doesn’t appreciate them enough as long as they are there... But when they are gone, there is no direction or promise of the future... We are already ashamed of India in so many ways- bad roads, poor hygiene, traffic, poor policing, pollution and so on.. Our public personalities are working overtime to dent the little trust that still remains... It has become a fashion to curse the system, to damn those in power, to advise those who work in the system. We need to have faith in our institutions, systems, processes, past and future... Only then can India ride confidently into the future....

To our public figures, I would like to say, Think beyond the TRPs and publicity... The nation awaits your lead..!!!

Jai Hind...

Friday, July 17, 2015

Marriage Equality in the USA & A Lesson for India

Probably the biggest news to come out of the USA in the past few days was the landmark judgement by the USA Superme Court which effectively legalises homosexual marriages throughout the country... The reaction on social media was overwhelmingly positive...

The marriage equality in the USA is rather insightful for other countries, especially India, which quite honestly has not addressed the concerns of the LGBT community... The reaction by Indians on social media has been mixed... While there is a big proportion of naysayers, there has also been an overwhelming trend to change one's display picture to rainbow colors and show one's support towards the LGBT community... Among them, a lot of these people are indeed well-meaning but some wannabe "cool" people among this "rainbow crowd" is making it rather hard to separate the grain from the chaff... If one seriously wants to achieve the same level of inclusion for LGBT people in India, one needs to first improve the quality of public debate...

The US is most certainly not the first to achieve marriage equality... A few weeks earlier Ireland legalised gay marriage... But the economic and political importance of the US makes it by far the biggest country to do so... And has placed LGBT issues on a global platform for the first time... Additionally the similarities between the US and India makes it a better of comparison than countries in Europe...

It might come as a surprise to many of the crowd that the decision to legalise gay marriage in the US has not happened overnight... If one wishes to achieve the same goal of same sex marriage in India, one has to first create a culture and society that is accepting of gays and lesbians... And give them the same respect and dignity as heterosexuals... Legal considerations aside, frankly speaking, Indian society as a whole is no where close to such levels of tolerance... 

There are two steps that India has to go through to ensure that this issue reaches a logical conclusion:

1) Remove section 377, effectively decriminalising homosexuality...

2) Create a society that is accepting of openly gay people...

Point 1 is an absolute no-brainer... But its Point 2 that is the difficult one.. And is a decade long process, probably even a generation long one... Trolling Karan Johar unnecessarily and making a stereotypical comedy like Dostana a box office success is the indication that Indian society is quite a long way away from accepting homosexuals...

Jai Hind...

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

A Doctor’s 35-hr Shift on 8 Bananas & Sabiston's Textbook

Doctors in Delhi went on strike asking for security, fixed hours and basic equipment. The Indian Express tracks 4 doctors in 4 very different hospitals to check on the complaints.

The following report was written by their journalist Pritha Chatterjee..

"It’s 15 days after their strike ended, and the 32-year-old is back at work at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, located on the bustling Baba Kharak Singh Marg in Central Delhi. The hospital gets around 20 lakh patients annually in OPD, 5 lakh in emergency, and the PG resident in surgery is among its 1,000-odd resident doctors, including non-academic junior residents.

Today Dr M’s (name withheld to protect his identity) duty begins in the surgical emergency, and he arrives at 8.50 am, bolstered for the next 36 hours that will follow with a change of shirt, his copy of the Sabiston Textbook of Surgery, three packets of glucose biscuits, eight bananas and two bottles of water.

Dr M is happy today. He has had five continuous hours of sleep.

There are 45 patients in the surgical emergency ward, sharing a total of 20 beds. Two beds are empty — left for patients who may show up with grave emergencies. Two to three patients share most of the occupied beds; a couple of them have up to four.

Dr M and other senior residents begin their round checking on the patients admitted in the previous shift. The patients here are awaiting procedures, either because the operation theatre is not free or because essential pre-surgery investigation reports haven’t yet come in.

Dr M and a senior sort case sheets in decreasing order of priority. The emergency has a single major OT, shared between the departments of general surgery, gynaecology, paediatric surgery, burns and plastic surgery, ENT and opthalmology. And it is always occupied.

There is a minor OT but that is used for mostly sutures or cleaning of open wounds.

In his first round, Dr M does four catheterisations and changes canulas on six patients. Angry relatives of two patients, both awaiting prostrate surgery and sharing a bed, demand to know why their urine bags are leaking — it’s a common problem, the doctors pacify them.

In the next 24 hours of his duty in emergency, Dr M will do at least 500-600 cathetrisations and canula tweaks alone. In a private hospital ER, both these procedures are done by nurses.

Around 10 am, Dr M scrubs in for the first surgery of his shift. It is a 32-year-old abdominal tuberculosis patient who has been awaiting his turn in the OT for a week.

The surgery lasts five hours. A usual surgery in the emergency OT takes around two hours, and there is a restless crowd waiting outside by now. It’s nearly afternoon and no patient who has come this day has been admitted so far. Dr M is sent out to pacify the edgy relatives.

Dr M shouts out to a nurse that one of the “spider lights” — placed atop a surgery OT table — is not working again. The nurse, busy filling out the fast-depleting blood transfusion forms, barely listens.

Gobbling down two biscuits and a banana, Dr M braces himself for his next shift — at the desk — beginning 3.30 pm. Six chairs are placed around a normal-sized desk. Patients who report to casualty are divided into surgical, medicine and orthopaedic emergencies. Desk duty means reviewing an average of 50 cases in an hour to direct patients where they need to go — minor OT, major OT or admission.

Police bring in two patients who have been in a brawl — one has a cut below the eye, the other above. Dr M decides to handle the cut below the eyebrow himself, and assigns an intern to the second case. “How dare you put a junior doctor on my case? Is his vision more precious?” the other patient screams. Dr M tries to explain that a cut above the eye is far easier to stitch.

The lights in the minor OT are not working, and patient beds are placed along walls with regular house bulbs aligned to illuminate the room.

At 5 pm, Dr M shortlists a 26-year-old road accident victim with blunt trauma to his abdomen as the next surgical case. The family is reasonably well to do and agrees to get some pre-surgery essential tests done outside the hospital. These would take hours at the emergency ward. But when told that even a CT abdomen or a CECT abdomen — a radiological test to see the exact spot of the injury — was not available, the family erupts, hurling abuses at the junior doctors.

It is left to Dr M again to explain that only head CT is done in emergency. Meanwhile, the patient is slipping. Doctors decide against wasting any time and wheel him into the OT. They are used to waiving away protocols such as essential tests to save lives now.

It proves to be a case of spleen rupture. It takes two hours to remove the patient’s spleen.

As doctors start closing up the patient, Dr M is sent out to calm down a gynaecology resident who has been waiting for the OT for an emergency caesarean. Every two hours almost, the ward receives a caesarean case. Caesareans always get priority, with the principle brutally simple: it involves two lives instead of one.

So Dr M and an orderly wheel out a general surgery patient — with multiple stab wounds — to first get in the C-sec.

By 8 pm, the ward is overflowing, and patients are now being accommodated in trolleys and stretchers in corridors. Dr M quickly gulps down two more bananas while running in and out of the minor OT. His textbook is always by his side. In the minor OT, doctors use the five minutes or so between cases for a quick read. Dr M’s final year exam is a year away.

At 9 pm, now 12 hours after his duty started, he is preparing for his third major case of the day. A patient has come in bleeding with multiple cuts on his wrist — a suspected suicide attempt. However, a case of ruptured ectopic pregnancy — a pregnancy in the Fallopian tube instead of uterus — arrives just then. The gynaecologists need a general surgeon to assist them, but Dr M’s seniors need him in the suicide attempt case too. So while the gynaecology resident doctor argues with the sister in charge of the OT, Dr M finishes his case in 25 minutes.

Doctors, nurses, anaesthetists are all ready for the ectopic pregnancy now, but they have to wait half an hour for the mobile ECG machine and its technician. Two hours later, at around 1 am, the patient is finally out. But the foetus could not be saved.

Dr M’s next two hours are taken up by a household burns patient. At around 4 am, a six-year-old child who has gulped two beads is brought in. Dr M had been preparing a urology case who had been waiting six hours for his turn in the OT, but again, a child gets priority.

Next, around 5 am, a 13-year-old is wheeled in. She fell from the roof of her house two hours earlier and has already been to three government hospitals. Neurosurgery residents have operated on her concussion but there are multiple wounds in her abdomen and face. With her liver and spleen both ruptured, Dr M and his senior have to take over.

As he emerges from the OT at 7.30 am, Dr M conceals a yawn. He is thinking about his first meal in nearly 24 hours. However, the nurse catches him just as he is cleaning his hands. One of the patients he catheterised in the afternoon has a leak in the urine bag again. A senior calls him to also check on a pancreatitis patient who was brought in during the night.

At 8 am, Dr M is preparing for his next duty shift, finishing the last of his bananas, when he is again summoned. A patient with symptoms of twisting in his testes had arrived with acute pain at 3 am. Doctors needed a colour doppler test to determine if the testes was retrievable, and the patient had been sent to AIIMS. He had now come back with the tests done at a private centre.

By the time doctors finish on him, it is 10 am and Dr M is late for his next shift. It is OT day, his favourite, and he skips the meal he had been longing for. Instead, Dr M heads to the emergency duty room’s washroom to freshen up. It has not been cleaned as usual. With eight hours of OT without a break ahead of him, Dr M ignores the last patient who needs suturing — telling the nurse to wait for the next shift — and hurries out. He drives to a nearby coffee shop and, while his coffee is coming, uses the washroom there.

In 10 minutes, he is back in the car. By the time he is back at hospital, he is an hour late for his shift.

The next seven hours are spent in the OT. Till 5 pm, he assists a consultant on six cases. At 5.15 pm, Dr M sneaks out to the hostel canteen. He has been told his unit head wants to do a round of the wards before he calls it a day, and he has just about time to gulp down four bhaturas with lassi — his first meal in 34 hours. He usually has dinner between emergency cases, but last night was too busy.

Through the 15 minutes of his meal, he leafs through his Sabiston to read up on torsion (twisting) of the testes. By 5.40 pm, Dr M is back with his consultant.

At 8 pm, Dr M is finally off duty. For 12 hours, till his shift in the OPD the next day.

Back to Sabiston, he smiles..."