Monday 16 January 2012

Mr. Azad, Mr. CM, how much more time for Jammu's Super-speciality Hospital?

 The Super Specialty hospital, Jammu is being developed at the whopping amount of Rs 135 crore. It is expected to ease the overcrowding from the existing Govt. Medical College Hospital (GMCH) Jammu. Presently, the GMCH Jammu is catering to 1200 to 1400 Out Patient Department (OPD) patients on daily basis, besides emergency and admitted patients and it has always proved to be a failure in dealing with emergency cases or those requiring expertise and equipment. The hospital doesnt have any medicines except the very basic tablets or injections and its a normal sight to see patients being taken on strechers on the busy road to near by private Test Labs.

 The 200-bedded hospital, which has already missed deadlines thrice, would have the facilities matching All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) New Delhi. The work on the upgradation of the GMC Jammu was started in 2006 but it couldn’t meet the deadlines for three consecutive times due to administrative red-tapism and slow pace of construction work.

In August 2011, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad said that Jammu and Kashmir is getting full support from his Ministry for early completion of super-specialty hospitals at Jammu and Srinagar. The Union Minister asked the state government to take up the construction of new maternity hospitals at Jammu and Srinagar at the earliest. These hospitals will be fully air conditioned equipped with modern facilities and will be hundred percent funded by the Government of India, he said.

Azad had fixed a deadline of 18 month from the date of commencement of construction work.  Later, the state government fixed December 2010 as the second deadline which the executing agencies failed to meet. The deadline was revised again and the government set June 30, 2011 to make the hospital functional.  Earlier, former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee led NDA government had announced the construction of a hospital on the pattern of All  India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Jammu and other States, but it was decided later to upgrade the existing GMCH Jammu.

Can Mr. Azad and Jammu & Kahmir Chief Minister answer that do they mean what they say and is the government machinery in the state willing to do any constructive work or atleast let it happen? Or like Akali Dal in Punjab, Congress NC coalition is waiting for the next polls to come, when they will again inaugurate one more phase of construction of these hospitals in Jammu and Srinagar!

Sunday 15 January 2012

Jammu's Wetlands on the verge of extinction

The Tribune, dated 15th Jan 2012 reported that two of the five wetlands of Jammu region have completely vanished and migratory birds are choosing just one of the remaining three wetlands for their seasonal trips.

The state government and Wildlife Department have completely ignored over the years that people have settled at leisure on these wetlands. Nanga wetland reserve in Ramgarh sector and Sangral Wetland in Abdulliyan sector near the Indo-Pak border are completely lost.

The dried up ponds at these wetlands could have been an attractive tourist spot and would have helped the government to generate revenue and jobs at such places.

The newspaper reported that the records of Wildlife Reserves nd Wetland Reserves of the department state 5 wetlands of the region, including Gharana Wetland Reserve (0.08 sq km), Pargwal Wetland Reserve (4.82 sq km), Kokrian Wetland Reserve (2.40 sq km) Sangral Wetland Reserve (0.68 sq km) and Nanga Wetland Reserve (1.21 sq km).

The Gharana wetland exists and receives birds but its future is bleak as its area has been reduced from 1600 kanals to 800 kanals now.

Regional Wildlife Warden, U Pachnanda said the administration is to be blamed as no initiative was taken to settle the issue despite issuance of a notification in 1982.

Punjabis & Liquor! What are we upto?

With Jan 28-30 dry days, families in Punjab shifting marriage function venues out of sate. Has alcohol become so important to us? Punjabis consider celebrations incomplete without uninterrupted supply of liquor.
Punjabis consumed 29 crore bottles of Punjab made liqour, Indian made foreign liquor & beer in last financial year. Consumption is expected to cross the 30.6 Crore bottle mark this fiscal.
The annual revenue from sale of liqour in Punjab is Rs.3,300 crores, as per Exise and Taxation Dept estimates.
Its only in Punjab that government has allowed sale of liquor on roadside shops, dhabas and one can consume freely where ever they want. The nerves of the Punjabis have been freely allowed to b filled with liquor and other drugs, like nowhere else in India. Who is responsible?
Another act of shame- Lady who was elected as SGPC Chief, with support of politicians, Jagir Kaur booked after liquor seizure. 183 cases of Indian made foreign liquor were seized from a tempo at Talwandi Village.
Families, younger generations are getting ruined but the flow of liquor is ever increasing in Punjab. Whats the use of education & money? The energetic, enthusiastic Punjabis are being diverted, their energy is being misused/ channelized in wrong direction for self destruction.
And this is not happening now but from many decades and still the people of Punjab are not realizing it and going on blindly. Strange! What future do the people of Punjab have and what future do their wives, daughters and sisters have when living in such a condition where every man is a die hard drunkard? Is it a boon for those daughters of Punjab who are killed inside the womb rather then being subjected to such family atmospheres?
All this is happening because we are ready to get ruined. Religious temples are being mis-ruled by corrupt politicians and those who could share knowledge about religious, social and family values have been sidelined. It is much worse than the so-called alarming situation in Punjab and its the people themselves who can make a difference for their own sake and for the sake of their families and children.

Sunday 8 January 2012

India, China, Russia- The Most Powerful Alliance!

India and China should include Common Friend RUSSIA, solve the issues between the two countries and form alliance of three- Russia, India, China. Let it be RIC, because we dont need BRICs to build nations. It needs much much more and BRICs can be had from anywhere. There dont seem to be any such issues which cant be mutually discussed and solved. Both the countries need to respect each other's integrity and sovereignty like decent and mature neighbours.

All three together i.e., India, China and Russia can contain Pakistan sponsored terrorism against India and help Pakistan to come out of it too. It will b a win win situation for everyone. India and Pakistan will get rid of terrorism and border tensions between India, China and Pakistan. All the four put together will be able to take benefits of each other's strengths and grow stronger, much more stronger than what any of these countries alone cant even dream of.

And perhaps will be the most powerful alliance in the world. It can be Asian NATO for the 21st century and will be much more stronger than NATO because of the resources, manpower, land area that these four countries hold. Formation of such an alliance will weed out unnecessary interference and policing of the US for its personal benefits/ self interests.

To materialze this, it only needs an uplifted thinking of politicians of these countries. Our politicians need to rise above selfish political motives and work in the larger interest of the country and the region.

But I am afraid they wont. Because this will virtually eliminate most of issues on which they encash votes and win elections. If things normalize with China and Pakistan, how will they play Hindu-Muslim-Pakistan hatred card? How will they play anti China card?

But if it happens, what more benefits can India have? I am talking of India only but for sure the rest three of our friends will also enjoy the same or may be more. Politicians have been exploiting us and using us in the name of religion, caste or hatred against China and Pakistan. They wont be able to do it anymore. The seeds of hatred against China and Pakistan were sown at the time of Pandit Nehru and Indira Gandhi respectively and we ar paying the cost of it till now. And we have been so strongly made to believe that its China and Pakistan who are the culprits that we never questioned the credibility of these politicians.

RSS and BJP wont be able to exploit and play Hindu- Muslim hatred card anymore. Huge Army budget will be cut considerably and thousands of crores of rupees of our hard earned money will not go in the pockets of politicians, high rank defense officials and other middlemen. This money infact will be used for our benefit, for development works, for providing food, shelter, clothing and shelter to more than 40 crores Indians who still live below poverty line.

Above all, politicians will have only one major card left to play with and that is the work they do and their performance in 5 years term. So its for the people of India and China to realize and wake up for common good and to change the scenario forever and make our politicians work for it. We can change our fortunes and the scenario of the world because we are 120 crores strong!!

 

Thursday 5 January 2012

Culprits- We, the people of India!

All we need to do is to vote for a genuine, clean candidate in elections, irrespective of patry, religion or caste he belongs to and India will change in a day. And from past 64 years, we couldnt understand and do this much. Then who is to be blamed? Its we, the people of India. Rather than doing this much, we have learned the "Art of Blaming". When everyone blames others and himself/herself is not ready to take any responsibility, the result is present day India, which actually is none of ours responsibility today because we never think what I can do and where I am wrong and whats my responsibility.

The logic behind why should we implement this is very simple. Criminal doesnt ask or bother about your religion or caste before committing a crime. Likewise, a good, gentle and honest man doesnt ask about your caste, religion, sex before dealing with you honestly.

But still we see caste, religion or party before voting and this clearly shows that we dont even love ourselves and our families, forget about the country. We are biased and vote blindly, give chance to criminals, corrupt and communal to come to power and give them chance to deepen their roots so survive for years and decades to come and thus let them create dirty, poisonous environment for our families and future generations to come.

I have been regular on Twitter and mostly follow those who are supposed to be the most learned class in a society- the journalists. To my surprise and great disappointment, most of them have learned to host TV programs and become Editors, Associate Editors, Senior Journalists with leading Newspapers but are either "Friends of BJP or Congress" and very few stand for the truth, irrespective of the party, religion or caste.

Similar is the case with most of us. We are either pro- BJP or pro- Congress and whatever our favourite party does, we justify it, irrespective of the fact whether it is actually right or wrong. Then what do these parties want? - Just fools like us! Congress takes vote on the name of Nehru- Gandhi Family, who can be majorly held responsible for India's present condition as they ruled for most of the years since Independence. Secondly, they take vote because they dont have any strong opposition in the country.

BJP, which is the political arm of RSS plays a more dangerous, poisonous game and takes vote on the name of Hinduism, spreading communal sentiments and hatred towards other communities/ religions. Ultimately, both the parties are enjoying power in different states and exploiting the people of the country and depriving the most of our people of even very basic amenities of day to day life and themselves looting the country of its wealth.

So, the point I want to make is that we should not vote under any influence and the only parameter should be the background, past record and credentials of the candidate. Hope that in coming elections, we all will not get fooled again and 2012 will write a new history of New India, which will outshine every other country of the world.