Monday 26 June 2017

Solving Hunger needs a Revolution


When around seventy years ago, our forefathers brought forth upon this continent our great nation, they knew that a time will come when we will be made to change- change not for change’s sake, but change to endure- and today that time has indubitably arrived.
India has made unprecedented processes in the seventy years of its independence. After being left completely robbed of its charm in the hands of the Brits, our nation was thought to be nearing apocalypse. Moreover, our uncanny experiment with democratic ideals compelled the world that India doesn’t need any antagonist it will self-pulverize itself. However, the clairvoyance of great economic, social and political pundits was purged when India stamped on their prediction to appear into the limelight as the pioneer of this new epoch.

The nation has certainly exhibited a paradigm progress in its term as an independent country, but unfortunately, the societal chasm in our nation has also widened to a greater extent. Though our advancements are exemplary, still we have been unable to prune the great divide in our country which has been conducive to the rich becoming richer and the poor becoming poorer. One of the worst faces of this thrutch has been ‘hunger’.
Such a pity it is that the nation which is home to the fourth largest population of millionaires also shelters 15% of its population which is not even able to feed itself two times a day! Hunger in this nation has always been a major issue. Notwithstanding our big strides in all the directions, this problem has consistently been a problematic issue for the nation. It has been a heartrending fact that the colossal economic progress that we have made has not been able to engender substantial transmutation in the respective scenario of the nation.
Every year 16th October is treated as the “World Food Day”. The world gathers to pledge many novel initiatives in order to tackle the problems of malnutrition and hunger but unfortunately after a few day that craze fades into oblivion and nothing changes. Our careless attitude towards such a grave problem leads to the death of 3000 children every day in our own nation. The disheartening figures here limpidly exhibit the current state of so many people around the nation and certainly, it is high time that we realized that we are currently in a situation of “either do or die”.

Whenever a harsh problem strikes our door and there seems no way out, a great revolution is needed to transform things for better. There used to be a time when our country’s agricultural and milk products were unable to feed the growing population of the nation. The agricultural and dairy equipment, as well as the methodologies that we had been using, were antiquated and in spite of veracious efforts, our produce was meager and abysmal. A humongous abyss was created between the demand and supply and anything fruitful remained elusive. When nothing worked, two great people came forward- Mr. M.S. Swaminathan and Dr. Verghese Kurien and we got our Green and White revolutions which changed the nation for forever. The ginormous extent of progress turned the once deficient nation into a surplus one. This problem too needs to be dealt in the same fashion. A radical change with a stiff approach to get the work done is the only way ahead. When more than 192 million people are stuck in this vicious problem, when more than half the pregnant women in the nation are anemic due to malnourishment, only a great upheaval can take the nation forward. It is difficult to even envisage the condition of a family that is not able to even afford a two-time meal; it shatters our heart to even imagine the great plight these people are in. It is their right to live, the right to sustain themselves and hence it’s our onus to effect a revolution for the sake of these people who can’t help themselves.  

How can we bring in a revolution?

The basics of hunger have always been wrongly understood in our country. Surprisingly, there is enough food to feed everyone in the world. If the food resources are distributed equally around the world, there will be plenty for everyone, with enough to spare. Today the world produces 10% more food than is needed, but unfortunately, 30%-50% of the produced 1.2-2 billion tonne food is wasted and as a result of this the poor are not able to feed themselves. Despite being blessed with enough resources to feed the whole world, our own injudicious use of our food resources has led to the genesis of various problems. The need of the hour is not to produce more food; it is to save the already produced food. Such a humongous amount of our food resources are made futile because of our imprudent attitude. The need of the hour is to infuse a revolution in the behavior of people. There have been so many programs aimed at generating awareness regarding this topic, but we have actually missed the most important thing i.e. changing the mindset of people. A revolution to decimate hunger will certainly revolve about inculcating though into people, that the food that they consider ‘extra’ and ‘waste’ can help many people go to sleep with a content stomach. The food that they leave out in hotels and marriage function can help a small child live his life and redeem himself of the shackles of malnourishment.

Our simple choices can lead to inexplicably great changes, our ordinary tweaking of our habits can paste a smile on so many faces- so why not step ahead and make that revolution start from ourselves!


THE REVOLUTION IS NOT AN APPLE THAT FALLS WHEN IT RIPE, YOU HAVE TO MAKE IT FALL.---CHE GUEVARA






 JAI HIND, JAI BHARAT
JAI MA BHARTI

Tuesday 20 June 2017

Letting the cats out of the bag.

North Korea seems to be a perennial issue around the political lobbies of the political lobbies of the world. The dictator regime has always been an issue of concern for the Americans and the South Koreans but with its advent and rapid upgrading of the technologically advanced artillery, issues regarding the vision of the capricious regime of North Korea continue to be clad in a nebulous enigma.

Rocket men of Kim Jong Un are having hard days. With so many military exercises, artillery explosion and testing, the North Korean despot is incessantly striking the top headlines almost every day. The immense surge in the military activities of this secluded nation is of nightmarish concern to the think tanks around the world. According to the available numbers, the North Korean army launched eight missiles in the incipient two years of their contemporary tyrant, but since then there has been no looking back. Kim Jong Un has pressed the throttle hard and now the country launches more than 15 missiles every year. The country is also suspected to be making arrangements for its sixth nuclear test. Currently, North Korea has garnered enough power to haunt Japan as well as its southern counterpart- South Korea. But Kim Jong Un seems not uncontended with that much progress. Lately, he has also said that the country is taking huge leaps forward in the development of ICBM (Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles) which could cross even the Pacific. Though Mr. Trump has replied back to him by saying that this won’t happen, but still the international pundits don’t rely on such fallacious assurance, for North Korea’s nuclear program doesn’t let them deem the nation as a scrawny one.

It is no hidden fact that internally North Korea has been at a receiving end of various maladies. The country is struggling with underfed population, weak army, and a hobbling economy. But, notwithstanding being marred by blights from inside, Kim Jong Un, as well as his predecessors, have somehow made the nation appear as an international threat to the peoples around the world. Though the grandeur of North Korea may look mighty, but a close scrutiny lets the cats out of the bag.

North Korea’s success is in pure terms accidental. The country is not riding on its own success but is simply accidentally exploiting the circumstances of its neighbors. The acrimonious relations between China and the US have led to an extended fling for the country. The US stands well established on the South Korean as well as the Japanese coasts, and this has led to US’s wielding of huge influence in the Indian Ocean as well as strategically pivotal Asian countries. And as the USA is busy channeling its friendship to more and more Asian countries in order to pulverize and tame the Mandarin influences in the area, and in the midst of all this, the Chinese authorities are bound to rank resentment. Though, Chinese are also not far behind and have always vehemently reproached the growing influence of the American Marines on its neighboring shores, but they too, are well aware of the fact that sporadic claims of ownership of the South China Sea can’t suffice for the dragon’s humongous ambitions fraught with the desire to rule the world. Thus North Korea is actually a trump for the Chinese to keep the Americans at bay. North Korea’s serendipity lies in its geographical countenance on the globe.

China is well conversant with the fact that the abdication of the North Korean regime will lead to the presence of gum chewing Marines at its shores and soon the dragon will face impending jeopardy of its dream to project itself as the super-power of 21st century. Therefore China has decided to bring up a skittish regime on its borders rather than the Uncle Sam. This policy started after the Korean war and since then, it has not betrayed the Mandarins even once. Moreover, the development of the nuclear supplies of North Korea has turned it into an even more faithful neighbor for the China since now the world knows that meddling with a flippant nuclear power is nothing less than self-destruction.
Thus one can veritable claim that North Korea is an accidental regime. To ward off the Americans, China is helping a perilous and belligerent regime. But one thing that Chinese are also worried about is the faithfulness of North Korea. Although North Korea is useful for China, but the question of the reliability must also be haunting the Chinese leadership. The soaring extent of its defense advancements is slowly accommodating freedom to the North Korean regime. Its nuclear program and missile testing are making it more and more powerful and soon that day is not far enough when North Korea won’t deem China as a crucial element of its survival. And it is high time that Chinese too realized the fact that breeding nations like Pakistan and North Korea will lead to the genesis of self-destruction. China can’t remain sangfroid after threatening the whole world with disasters. An excessively empowered North Korea will be nothing less than a suicide bomb for the Chinese. Though it may harm others, still the biggest pain is borne by the one who is wearing the bomb armor.


JAI HIND, JAI BHARAT
JAI MA BHARTI

Friday 16 June 2017

How to be an inspiring leader.



If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more –You are a leader.”
-JOHN QUINCY ADAM

A leader is indubitably the most pivotal link in any organization, the one who coalesces various discrete departments to collaborate together. Visions don’t beget leaders but leaders do create them. The part and parcel of any defined structure is the paramount vanguard which will lead the institution to accomplish victory and veritably there is no doubt that having no leader at all is better than having an insipid leader. Having no leadership will corroborate defeats but having a vapid leader summons catastrophes too.
In this cut-throat competition, a strong leader is a sine qua non. Any institution that wants to conquer this competition ought to have a robust leadership and an inspiring leadership is hence, certainly indispensable.

So, how can you be an inspiring leader? Though the process is not that much of a cake walk; but, it is not impossible either. Here are two step which can guide to engender in yourself, the requisite charisma needed out of a stimulating leader.

1. WHO IS A LEADER?   - The first shot that you can have at solving anything is to understand the thing! A leader is not an esoteric person who is immaculate, exceptionally proficient in everything he does; a leader is also not the one who talks in the language of assignments and deadlines; but in fact, a leader is simply a person who inspires action.  Leadership is not some elusive quality; it is just the courage to inspire others to find the latent leader in themselves. Wolf of Wall Street expounds the vitality of an inspiring leader. Jordan Belfort(Leonardo DiCaprio) just comes in and evokes action out of a dull set of employees and just through the powers of his inspiration, these people go on to play one of the biggest Ponzi games in the world.
 Leaving out the treacherous conclusion of his inspiration, we can actually infer that inspiration can indeed move mountains, and to get some incredible results out of your employees, you have to be inspiring. Hence, a leader is none but a “motivational creature”.
Great leaders are products of necessity and opportunity. Nobody needs inspiration in serenity, we demand leaders when we are walloped into pandemonium and hence leadership is all about taking responsibility when others are making excuses. Napolean Bonaparte has correctly quoted, “A leader is a dealer in hope.”  When turmoil is around, the pretentious ones will step aside and a veracious leader will rise to the helm. 


2.  HOW TO INSPIRE? : The first step might have seemed pretty simple; so, here is your cup of tea- the formidable path.

Famous leadership programs author John C Maxwell has given his criterion for the true quality of a leader by saying: Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough to motivate them.

The first step to perform well as per Maxwell’s rubric is to strike the right chord with them, to find a shared ground and to make them feel that you care about them. You must condescend to their level and listen to their problems, in order to unravel what’s troubling your employees. No good organization can go on to achieve “bigger” aims if it continues to be deaf to the “smaller” problems of its employees.

Next, comes the most crucial part of Maxwell’s statement – “to be far enough to motivate them”.  Since you want to distinguish yourself as a leader, you must have a limpid vision over how to extirpate the problems in your workplace. Once you have deigned to the level of your followers/ employees, use your intuition to find the optimum solution. People look up to a leader because he/she can allocate them with remedies to their problems; once you understand their problems, you have to look out for exacting cures. Don’t bludge away with excuses; instead, be honest and work for them.  Use your understanding to come up with novel plans to obliterate various nagging issues. Start from the scratch and then go on to annihilate the problems engulfing your workplace. Here your experience will come in handy (remember you need to be far ahead). When you creatively look for ingenious solutions and put things into action; you will indeed inspire leadership in your office/ area etc. A true leader inspires by action and not by abysmal hyperbole. Inspire your people not to work half-heartedly for their job but to work full-heartedly for you.
Jeff Bezos, founder-CEO of Amazon says, “Believe that your company is a successful one when your employees feel proud to be referred to as its employees.” People working in Google and Microsoft do feel proud to mention that they are working at these dot coms not just because they are big names in the market but because of the great overall atmosphere that these companies present, the milieu which these companies render to their employees is the biggest reason behind the success of these tech giants and hence a leader must understand how to create the perfect setting for his work and this, in fact, motivates people to forego the worry of projects and deadlines, and  indeed work for their leader.


Set precedents for others to emulate and this will in itself motivate people to action.

Follow these two not-so-simple steps to tread on a journey not-so-simple to be forgotten.
 JAI HIND, JAI BHARAT
JAI MA BHARTI


How Leaders Can Push People Into Action.



The difference between a boss and a leader is that the former says “go” and the latter says “let’s go”.

There has been no eminent leader in this world that has not spearheaded his organization with his own example. A leader, in actuality, is not just an elected personality, but is someone who has proved himself; the one who has expounded to others that he knows how to govern.
The first step that a leader must take to push his employees to give their best, rather than inducing them in torpor, is to encourage them to mull over his great vision.

It is a conspicuous fact that people can’t give their best in something they are not passionate about; hence if a leader wants to embark on a fling of  success, he must make sure that he invigorates an uncanny passion in all of his employees. He needs to make sure that they acknowledge his passion for his project. He can’t sit idle in his cabin doing nothing and expecting others to do the requisite work. The best would come only and only if each person in the gamut of the project is inspired by his leader. The paragon profits can only be achieved when every employee finds it a pleasure to work with their leader and deems the leader as the exemplary person to lead the project. They must be certain that they can confide in their leader because he is not just an attribute-hopping person but is, in fact, someone who knows how to ascribe his team for the progress they make and concede his failure whenever they fail. Rather than creating a virtual chasm between their cubicle and his (leader’s) cabin, he must learn to fill lacunae in their relationship and then only the best can come.

One more thing that a leader needs to know is the nuance between being bold and being a bully. There is always a thin subtle line between being “strong’ and being “rude”; being “bold” and being “bully” and the whole game is about distinguishing them correctly. If a leader is too weak, he will become a laughing stock and if he is too strong, he will be considered nothing but a cantankerous bully. On one side he needs to make all his people feel comfortable under his guidance, he must make sure that none of them is having any issue regarding anything pertinent to the project and on the other side, he must also be an expert in getting all the works done on time. Even if he is compassionate but fails in his assignments, he will lose the respect of his colleagues as well as teammates and who would love to work with something who fails the whole team repeatedly!

He must learn to develop an indelible bond of understanding with his teammates but he must also not shirk away from being a man of his word.
The challenge of leadership is to:
Be Strong but not rude
Be thoughtful but not lazy
Be humble but not timid
Be Proud but not arrogant.
  


JAI HIND, JAI BHARAT
JAI MA BHARTI

Monday 12 June 2017

THE FAULTY LINES OF ICBR (India-China Border Roads).

The Indian subcontinent, these days, is fraught with several problems originating from the neighbor global states. While Pakistan has always been a peevish menace, the advent of the People’s Republic of China, the ginormous influx of people from Bangladesh and soaring bellicose presence of PRC in the Indian Ocean are becoming major causes of vexation. In such grave times, when the nation must be scrupulous in substantiating its strategically empowered presence on the border, a dismaying report came yesterday which must raise angst in every Indian’s heart.

The report published by the Indian Express hints at the dilatory attitude of various authorities regarding their duty of accommodating Indian army with good infrastructure support at the border. In the last 12 years, our nation could manage to make only 21 out of the planned 73 roads under the strategically pivotal project of ICBR (India-China Border Roads). The ICBR project was commenced in 2005 during the reign of UPA government and under the aegis of the project, 73 roads were to be made till 2012 so as to provide a strategic upper edge to the Indian army officials, but unfortunately we have done anything on our part but decrying the Beijing government over its extensive infrastructure development in the border’s vicinity.

For years, scores of reports have talked about the ambitious program of the Chinese government to provide their armies with the latest technology and infrastructure in the border areas. Contrary to that, the flippant attitude on our part clearly expounds how much prepared we are. Though both the nations have experienced no significant breaching of cease-fire agreements, but still we can’t dare to delay the strengthening process of our army in such sensitive areas.

The Indian Express report states that the ICBR roads are being constructed by three authorities — 33 by Defence Ministry as General Staff roads, out of these only nine have been completed; Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) is responsible for 27 roads, but only 5 have been completed; 13 roads are being built under the China Study Group headed by Foreign Secretary but only seven have been completed.

The plight of our border areas came to the limelight a few days after, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Bhupen-Hazarika Bridge on Lohit River in Assam. The bridge is meant to inflict a reduction in the congestion at the Siliguri Corridor and to ameliorate the connectivity of the seven sister states with the rest of India. Ironically, this project was also a delayed one and had to suffer various red tapes and policy paralysis to become extant.

Following the focus on the bridge, top level meetings took place to address the issue of border infrastructure, and now the deadline has been shifted to 2020 to complete the whole ICBR project. De facto, no deadline can ever gauge the gravity of the situation. 

Reprimanding the Mandarin government sans taking any constructive measure on our part, is totally futile and jejune and it’s about time that we focused on our blemishes and try to rectify them as soon as possible.


JAI HIND, JAI BHARAT
JAI MA BHARTI