Bharti – my wife- suggested that a medical museum is a useful place to visit. I added : particularly hospitals should have this in their campuses. This was while we were visiting NCMA (Nassau County Arts Museum) in long Island a couple of weeks back.
We, a few common friends have been thinking for some time to constitute an NGO to do socio-political activism in India. It will not be a political party, but we will essentially do political -or more appropriately, socio-political work. It will be a non-partisan or even a bi-partisan movement and we will act as a pressure group to bring about better democracy and governance. The ultimate purpose is to form a “Shadow Cabinet” so that we act as a very effective opposition party to the government. And we have the weapons like Satyagraha and PILs (Public Interest Litigations) to fight the menances of political subversions, corruption and maneuvers! It will not be a fight against indivduals, but against the wrongs of the system.
The experiment will be started at a state level, for example to begin in Haryana and will be extended further.
We appeal to socially-committed individuals to join this movement! We need individuals who feel that the politics in India has come to the lowest ebb and want to bring about a change- gradullay but surely- so that this degeneration could be arrested. We often say that politics has become full of goons, and politicians donot care about the country: We will challenge this and bring about changes- slowly but surely. This is a humble begining but the grit and determination is strong. We have nothing to lose, we stand to gain! Why: Because our democracy and polity has degenerated to the worst!
Letus begin! This is a clarion call to unite to empower our democracy! Also, if you know someone else who will be equally suitable for this cause: please refer him or her to us.
Contacts:
India: Mr Akbar Khan: Safidon, Haryana.
Phone: 01686- 231100
0981-319-5234
USA: Dr Munish Raizada, NY.
Phone: 516-570-6857;
Email ID: pedia333@yahoo.com
कुछ समय से हम मित्र-गण सोच रहें हैं कि एक एनजीओ बनाया जाये जो सामाजिक तथा राजनीतिक काम करे। यह राजनितिक दल या पार्टी नही होगी, लेकिन अपना काम वास्तव मे सामजिक व राजनैतिक ही होगा। यह एक नॉन-पर्तिसन समुह होगा, जो कि दबाव -समुह का काम करेगा, ताकि बेहतर जनतंत्र एअवंम सरकारी वयवस्था लोगों को मिले। अंतत अपना प्रयास एक “छाया सरकार” ( षडो मिनिस्ट्री) बनाना है। हमारे पास सत्याग्रह तथा कोर्ट के माध्यम से हस्त्क्छेप जैसे हथियार हैं। हमारी विरोध व्यक्ति के विरूद्व ना होकर गलत सिस्टम के प्रति होगा।
प्रारम्भ में यह कार्य एक राज्य -उदहारण के लिए, हरियाणा – से शुरू होगा तथा इसका आगे विस्तार किया जाएगा।
जागृत व्यक्तियों से अनुरोध हैं कि इस आंदोलन के साथ जुडें। हम सब लोग अक्सर कहते हैं कि राजनीति गंदी हो चुकी है तथा सरकार तथा राजनेता हमारे सिस्टम को करप्शन व तोड़-मोड़ कर बर्बाद करने पर जुटे हैं। आइये एक सुरुआत करें: धीरे परंतु ससक्त। हम कामयाब जरुर होंगे: क्योंकि हमारे पास खोने को कुछ भी तो नहीं है (भला इससे नीचे पॉलिटिक्स हमारी किस स्तर तक जाएगी!!) , इसलिये हम कुछ पाएंगे ही सही !
यदि आप किसी ओर को भी जानते हैं जो इस पर्यास के लिए उपयुक्त हैं , कृपया उन्हें हमारा पता दीजिए या हमें उनका रेफ़रन्स दीजिए।
सम्पर्क:
भारत: श्री अकबर खान , सफीदों, Hariyana ।
फ़ोन: 01686- 231100
0989-600-2225
अमेरीका: डाक्टर मुनीश रायजादा ।
फ़ोन: 516 -570-6857.
ईमेल: pedia333@yahoo.com
Now you can blog in Hindi language too. Google has made this possible. This is a revolutionary step. When I am doing this, I find it pretty simple to do. I understand that more and more people will be be able to connect with the world of internet now.
Hats off to Google for this effort!
आप हिंदी मे भी अब ब्लोग बना सकते हैं। यह सुविधा गूगल ने उपलब्ध करवा दी है। यह एक क्रन्तिकारिक कदम है। जब में टाईप कर रहा हूँ तो यह बिल्कुल साधारण बात लग रही है। मैं समझता हूँ कि इससे आधिक से आधिक लोग इन्टरनेट से जुडेंगे।
गूगल को इस पर्यास के लिए हार्दिक अभिनन्दन।
Verbatim II
1. “That goverment is best which governs least.”
– Thoreau
The official website describes: “Sagamore Hill was the home of Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, from 1885 until his death in 1919. From 1902 to 1908 his “Summer White House” in Oyster Bay, New York was the focus of international attention..”
The house was built at that time at an approximate cost of 17,000 US dollars (which the guide told us would amount to 5 millions dollars in today’s era!!). The house has 23 rooms so as to accomodate his big family ( he had 6 kids). “Infact Sagamore Hill is a rambling 23- room Victorian structure of wood frame and brick”. Most of the furnishings are original pieces and very little has changed since then. It may be noted that Roosevelt had inherited great wealth and belonged to an aristocratic Dutch family.
There is a nearby museum which displays the exhibits on the this great President. It becomes abundantly clear that TR was a man of courage, vision, and liberty. He was an avid reader and infact had stated that books are the ammunition for the body. He wrote many books and contributed numerous articles. After his 2 terms of Presidency, he went to Africa and Eurpoe and thoroughly enjoyed as a voyager. After returning, he actually decided to contest for the 3rd term and when denied the Republican nomination, he formed a separate party, but lost the elections.
He died at Sagamore on January 6,1919 of Pulmonary embolism.
Sam Harris, the noted contemporary atheist says the following in his debate over God. The full text of the debate-in an article published in April 2007 issue of NewsWeek- can be accessed through this link:
1. “…..and it’s instructive to notice that we’re all atheists with respect to Zeus and the thousands of other dead gods whom now nobody worships.”
2. No society in human history has ever suffered because it has become too reasonable.
3. The thing that bothers me about faith-based altruism is that it is contaminated with religious ideas that have nothing to do with the relief of human suffering. So you have a Christian minister in Africa who’s doing really good work, helping those who are hungry, healing the sick. And yet, as part of his job description, he feels he needs to preach the divinity of Jesus in communities where literally millions of people have been killed because of interreligious conflict between Christians and Muslims. It seems to me that that added piece causes unnecessary suffering. I would much rather have someone over there who simply wanted to feed the hungry and heal the sick.
4. Pastor Warren said: A low probability? When there are 96 percent believers in the world? So is everybody else an idiot?
Sam replies:It is quite possible for most people to be wrong—as are most Americans who think that evolution didn’t occur.
Pastor Warren: That’s an arrogant statement.
5. Right now, we have to change the rules to talk about God and spiritual experience and ethics. And I’m denying that that is so. You can have your spirituality. You can go into a cave and practice meditation and transform yourself, and then we can talk about why that happened and how it could be replicated. We may even want, for perfectly rational reasons, to say we want a Sabbath in this country, a genuine Sabbath. Let’s realize that there’s a power in contemplating the mystery of the universe, and in reminding yourself how much you love the people closest to you, and how much more you could love the people you haven’t met yet. There is nothing you have to believe on insufficient evidence in order to talk about that possibility
The voices and concerns against female foeticide are getting morea and more attention, as evidenced in this letter published in The Tribune:
“The state-level conference on female foeticide at Kurukshetra recently was one of the few conclaves organised in this part of the country. It was heartening to see representatives from the executive, the legislature, the judiciary and various religions come on a common platform on this crucial issue. The response from the public was overwhelming.
The issue of women’s empowerment and female foeticide has become the focal point for the nation to turnaround, jettison the old mindset and look at the future in a different perspective. We must save our unborn daughters at any cost. The whole nation is one on tackling this issue and would like to get on to the task of nation building from here. “
Dr MANOJ LAMBA, Radiologist, Kurukshetra
(Ref: The Tribune, Chandigarh: April 4,2007)
The biggest challenge which India faces today is corruption in the public life. The beaurocrats and politicians are hand- in- glove; transparency and accountability have taken a back seat as far as the governance is concerned. Similarly, because of the lack of electoral reforms, politicians are making a mockery of the democracy.
What a common man (the voter) do: He or she uses the power of ballot to change the government every five years. That is the most he or she can do! One government is replaced by another. One political party is replaced by another, but the loot system and the indulgence in the corruption continue. The power game of politicians continues and the issues of developments, welfare remian the low priorities. These phenomena of Revolving Door Democracy have repeatedly been seen in many States and even at the Center!
In a democracy how do we get the relief?
A non-partisan group of people -in the form of NGO- is the best bet. There is a need to form a “pressure group“ whose only ideology is to test the government on the scale of performance! Thus such a pressure group is essentailly working as a strong opposition party: appreciate the government what is right and take the government to task were it faults. An extension of this is a “Shadow Government” where the NGOs has on its panel experts working as various ministers , like Education Minister, Finance Minister, etc and they analyse the working of the concerned departments of the government and are thus keeping the government on alert.
Thus such a movement of people is essentially participating in the functioning of the democracy and is trying to “empower” people by scrutinizing the working of the government. But these NGOs will have to evolve a strong policy and ideology and adhere to them (i,e be non-partisan) otherwise as they ‘try to participate in the governance’, they will be swayed away in the currents of controversies and allegations!
Can we begin such an experiment at a district level, to be extended to the whole State? If successful, this can be further extended.