My take on Jan Lokpal Bill and Anna Hazare

I feel that Jan Lokpal bill is not the solution to end corruption in India. It could be just another means but could play havoc to democratic foundations if misused just as any other law (remember TADA). As it is perceived by many, corruption is not a "Rakshasa" which can be killed. But it is more like a virus which has spread among us and it needs to be eliminated just like a virus is. It is attitude of most Indians towards corruption that has to be changed.
"when we do it, it is just an adjustment and when others do it, it is corruption." Until every Indian realises that when they do it, it is the same corruption that is all talked about,
corruption will remain a part of India.

I do feel that corruption in India must end if we want to prosper as a country and as an individual. Indeed, such a mass support to end corruption is very positive sign. People of India are not as passive as they looked. But this power of people must be channeled constructively. The members of so called 'Civil Society' must spread awareness about the grass root corruption that has plagued the Indian society. And how that has to be changed from bottom up, if we really want to end corruption.

As a civilian, i may ask myself ,
do I pay extra money to auto-rickshaw to get preference, Do i pay double the money to get LPG cylinder illegally, In fact do i feel it is illegal? Do i pay zilla parishad/ municipal officer to get better posting place as a primary teacher ? Do i pay bribe(read donation) to get admission to my child in the engineering college? Do i pay at police station to get a certificate for loss of mobile ? Do i declare my additional income for filing Income tax? Do i give receipt of all the payments as a shop owner ? Do i pay in cash when i buy a 20,000 Rs mobile to save VAT ? Do i pay 100 Rs to traffic police without demanding a receipt ?
If i am not concerned about these issues then there is no point in discussing scams and frauds that happen all across India.

Corruption is at all levels. it is in government, it is in NGOs, it is in schools , it is in private sector too. it is in most of the institutions. To end it we should imbibe this value into next generation that any kind of corruption is not a good thing. It must be understood by every citizen of this country that corruption is bad whoever does it. Only then it will end.

No bill, no act can help solve this issue singularly unless the people and their mindset change.

वेचक www.vechak.org

वेचक हया वेबसाईटवर सुशांत देवळेकर हयांने मराठीतील काही निवडक लिखाण ठेवले आहे.
त्यावरील प्रा. कृ. श्री. अर्जुनवाडकर हयांचे लेख वाचनीय व उपयुक्त आहेत.

http://www.vechak.org/gamabhana

New kind of phishing. very personalised...

I got this email from unknown source ...
initially seems to be some genuine email. It was smart phishing email. they have used my last name (as a company name) and first name for personalisation.

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from Leonard McKay to ashishfa@cse.iitb.ac.in subject Are you in any way related to Engineer Ramesh Almeida? signed-by gmail.com

Dear Ashish ,

Happy new year! My Name is Dr. Leonard McKay; I was a personal physician and an

appointed sole administrator/executor to Late Ramesh

Almeida´s estate. Ramesh was a contractor in my country and

was the owner of Almeida Construction Company. He died of brain tumor

just six months ago. He has a daughter Jaheel who left with her mother

after they divorced in 2004. She was just 3

then.

I have been searching seriously for any of his relatives, especially

Jaheel, to be presented as his next of kin to receive the balance of the

contract payment now ready for approval and payment. I got your email

contact while searching for his family in the web.

I have been called upon, by virtue of my appointment as the executor

and administrator of his estate, to present his Next of Kin within a

short period of time to claim and receive the balance of his completed

contract payment.

If the payment in question is not claimed within the specified time as

ordered by the Contract Payment Office, the payment will be cancelled

and labeled UNCLAIMED CONTRACT PAYMENT, It will be lost for ever. This

I want to avoid by all means.

Please, let me know urgently if you are in anyway related to the late

Ramesh so that I will stop my search or if you know Jaheel's

whereabouts.

Sincerely,

Dr. Leonard McKay

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Apathy of Nallasopara station Master

Today while i was traveling from my home to Nallasopara, a railway station in Mumbai at around 7 pm, I was caught in mad rush at railway station bridge. There is only one foot over bridge at Virar end and it was too much crowded. It was so bad that at any moment it could have turned into a stampede. People were rushing in from all ends on the over bridge and they were all stuck-up. It was worse that what i have seen at Dadar Station on 6th Dec. Considering the seriousness, i visited Station Master's office and informed him about the situation. and requested him to keep one or two policeman to control the crowd. To my surprise he said that he was aware of the problem and reason. He further added that it happens every Sunday evening. When asked about the possible police help, he said he had informed the police but they did not have anybody to help since they were deputed at other places (he was referring to the date- 6th Dec)

Further, he advised me to go ahead and stand up there on the bridge and direct/control the people. And thoroughly the tone was irritating over my suggestion. It quite disappointed me, there were no police men on station despite it is known fact that there are some miscreants had created trouble in the past. I think it is responsibility of station-master to handle such situation, make every effort to control it and not run away from it. It is better to prevent such stampede-situation than just reading news about stampede and the deaths. We better should not have such station masters.

India untouched

Yesterday saw this documentary. It is very insightful. Though I am aware of this issue, the documentary showed many different shades of untouchability. From remote villages to JNU, one of the best university in capital city of india, it is everywhere.

Everyone who is concerned about india must watch this documentary. it is available on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_UnVZT0-0k (it is divided in 10 parts.)

Here in IIT also I have seen this problem. All the sweepers or 4th grade workers are from the lowest caste of the society. No upper cast people do these jobs. It is not done by rules but subtly followed and done. Same is true for BMC 4th grade workers.

I feel that this situation will change if these people are economically empowered. Thus education, job must be created for this worse treated section of the society.

Do not disturb: may take 45 days to activat on vodafone

When I register today through the online interface of vodafone mumbai site I got the following reply. It may take 45 days to register the request. The company service all paid services in minutes. It needs no explanation. This is a example how the company follows TRAI regulations.

--------------------------------------------------

Hello Ashish Almeida,

We understand your need for privacy and do our best to respect it. Your Do Not Disturb request has been received and is being acted upon. However, it may take around 45 days to register your request. In case you need any further assistance, feel free to contact us.

Happy to help,
Vodafone Care

Email vodafonecare.mum@vodafone.com

----------------------------------------------

दुबळे देव

काल आनंद यादवांची बातमी ऐकली. वारकर्‍यांची सहिष्णूता कमी झालेली दिसते.

हल्ली देव लोकांना सांभाळण्याएवजी लोकच देवाची काळजी घ्यायला लागलेत. देव का एवढे दुबळे झालेत ? कादंबरीत काही लिहिल्याने काय देवाचे मोठेपण कमी होते? बरे आज-काल सर्व धर्माच्या लोकांच्या भावना दुखावतात. असेच जर चालू राहिले तर ही वाईट सवयच लोकांना लागेल. आणि ती व्यक्तीस्वातंत्र्यावर गदा असेल.

How to get the PDF files from Marathi Vishwakosh CDs

How to get the PDF files from Marathi Vishwakosh CDs

In July 2008, Marathi Vishwakosh Madnal (MVM) released the CD of the Marathi vishwakosh for people. You will get extra details/ contact addresses below.

• http://maharashtratimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3867793.cms
• http://mr.upakram.org/node/1547)

Usually we get 6 CD set when we buy it from the shop. Each cd contains auto-start program which only works in windows. The CDs contain 4-5 vishwakosh khandas each. Each khanda is broken into 3 files.

1. prastavana

2. content (large file 400-600 MB)

3. rangeet chitre

Many of my friend were unable to use the CDs, claiming they can not see any content.

Most of the time the problem was linked to the slow speed of the computer. This is occurring because of the very weird user interface designed by the MVM. Though we hope that they will rectify this in their new edition here is the simple solution to use the Vishwakosh on any computer.

What happens when we start the CD ?

when user clicks one one of this that perticular "PDF" file is extracted from the archive and temporarily stored into the temporary directory and then opened from that location. This temporary directory is usually

"C:\documents and settings\\local settings\temp"

But this process repeats every time we use the CDs and it takes more time if we have computer which is older than 2005 (approximately).

To get the PDF files from this archive.

1. open each file on some fast computer. (or wait for long time on your slow computer)
2. after some wait the PDF file will open in the acrobat reader.
3. let that be open.
4. go to the folder "C:\documents and settings\\local settings\temp"
5. select details view.
6. sort the files view on "date modified" column. (latest files first)
7. you will see the file of our interest at the top.
8. copy that file and paste it into some other directory.
9. close that file from acrobat reader.
10. repeat this process for all the parts of the each khanda. i.e. 3(parts) * 17(khanda) = 51 times. You will get 51 pdf files.

These PDF files can be used on your own PC for your personal use provided you have bought the CDs. The PDF files will open easily even on slower computers. They can also be referred to through the linux machine with acrobat reader for linux.

Note: only the khanda 17 is in unicode. Rest of the khanda's(pdfs) are merely scanned images. Only they are indexed on article names. That is , one can not copy the text and paste into another document. It has to be read and typed manually.

got back..

its long time i was not able to write on this blog.. I couldn't find the login page somehow.. which i got now :)

Indirctly Tax to stop use of thin plastic bags

There is lot of talk these days on plastic bags in India. People here use very thin bags here which are almost throw-able after one use. These are so thin, at less than 20 micron, that they can not even hold a 1/2 kilogram of weight. There has been an attempt to ban the use of such bags. but that has never been implemented with success.

Why cannt government impose tax on manufacturing of such thin bags. That will indirectly increase the price of these bags and customer will be discouraged to use them.