1. California based Indian doctor -Sandeep kapoor- has been charged in Anna Nicole death case.
2. Dr Sushil Sheth of Illinois was recently charged in defrauding Medicare and Insurance companies. The details.
Indian Doctors in Trap in USA.
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Author Archives: Dr. Munish Raizada
Why We Need 2nd Independence and Who Will Get Us That?
India is still not independent. I still call it under rule! This time it is not Moguls, nor Britishers. It is under seize and rulers are we Indian ourselves. The characteristics of our rulers who continue to exploit the common masses are:
1. They are not foreigners, hence look very much like common Indians. Of course, they will wear ties and suits (which are of no relevance at Indian soil where temperatures soar to 40s and 50s. Or, they just wear white kurta pajama and shamelessly denigrate Gandhi ji.
2. Political leadership: They are either elected by voters in polls where voters have limited options ( have no choice to reject them). In the electoral process that we have, these candidates exercise all means to get elected: by hook or crook. The parties have more or less no ideology. The only standard they look up to is victory. Once we keep our political affiliation aside, we will realize that they just want to come into power, means are not important, end is what they are targeting at.
3. Bureaucracy: The babus are selected by merit or by bribery. Either way, the end result is same for the most: educated and intellectual class they constitute, but sooner than later, become self-serving. They are the guardians of rules, but let the political class bend them instead of confronting them. They are eager to become appease their bosses, start focussing on promotions and filling their own coffers and wallets.
Tell me honestly, why there is so much craze among Indian families to see their wards become IAS, IPS officers and SDMs? To serve the country: no, that is not the first reason. If my son becomes an IAS, IPS: kothi, gaddi, naukar, fat dowry and life long aaraam! These are the considerations thta we aim for.
It is a common knowledge that in HCS (Harayana Civil Service), the seats are for sale. If I have to pay 20 lakhs for my son to become an HCS officer, shall he serve the state: it is easy to guess the answer.
4. Police: Unrestrained is the best term for pur police forces. The training does not translate in this simple message: you are here to bring culprit to the book.Instead what happens is: bullying commoners, extracting money and distorting evidence to their suitability. In UP, recently we came across the news of a 6 year old girl beaten mercilessly by police at the police station. That one incidence is not an exception. It represents the real mindset of our police forces.
5. Judiciary: Slow and lethargic. Jutstice delayed is justice denied. Corruption at lower level is well known.
6. Media: Has not matured into a socially responsible media. The lust for making money has made distanced it from reality. Do we know of any code of conduct that the media seem to follow. The unashamed beaming of Mumbai terrorist events has exposed the real character of our media. This does not mean there is dearth of professional journalists in our country. But the lack of self-regulation, ethics has driven the current media into a bazaar.
7. Public: Feels helpless. Has resigned to the fate of bribery, corruption, nepotism. Over-populated hence every chore seems to be a competition. So, what we have become: aapna ghar pahle, samaaj baad mein. Self-conceited, self- centered we have become. Do not take me wrong, majority of people still want to live with conscience, but the monster of unregulated democracy seems unsurmountable, hence selfishness is the first trait that creeps in.
Those who are away from the country (Indians abroad): they too seem to be wary of the the way our Indian system works. As one of my friends Dr Vidya put it: }The charity in India is highly unregulated, no one knows where your hard-earned money will go! If you donate here (USA), you know that where your money is being used.”
So, what are the solutions?
The fight against foreigners was not easy, but it was easier to define an enemy, a looter! It was easy to descriptively conclude who our enemy was: The one who invaded us. It made sense to the people!
Today, the enemy is from within us. That is a big problem! It is not easy to convince all that what is wrong, who is doing wrong to us.
The good news is that we are not at the mercy of some individuals (Kings or queens or senators or MPs sitting in a different country in a buidling – call it Parliament- and decide our fate by their whims or whishes). But the democracy that was bestowed upon us almost 6 decades ago has not been able to fulfil our needs. It did not bring in corrections and fixes as the time passed on” rather the changes were not incorporated by our political leadership!
1. Hence our democracy needs updates. Bring in the needed reforms to make our system really workable. Not just toothless democracy.
2. We must- each must- think what we are doing for our society and nation. We need patriotic individuals who are there to serve and not extract. To be patriotic, we do not have to wear a Gandhi cap, or leave our job or business! To do the things with sincerity and conscience: that alone will help us a long way.
What a Simile: Corruption Vs Vegetarianism
The other day I was talking to one of my colleagues Vidya who grew up in USA but has keen knowledge of India and its affairs. The conversation veered towards democracy and ways to strengthen it. She obviously is very familiar with the corruption-infested Indian system. She even said that donating money for charitable cause in India is like putting money in a bag and throwing it in water: no one knows where it will end up. When I countered that despite all these odds, Indian has to come up with a credible system of deliverance if our democracy is to survive.
Our conversation continued. Not very impressed that corruption can be uprooted from India, she added: “Removing corruption from Indian system is like converting Americans to vegetarianism.”
I could not help laughing , but her observation has merit. Corruption has become a way of life for us. Undeniably, it has its pitfalls.
Moribund Judiciary means Limping Democracy
A person becomes sick and his condition is worsening rapidly. His family members take him to the emergency department of the local civil hospital. If it takes 3 days (I am just throwing up a number) for the emergency department to assess him and take next step, will you call it an effective Emergency Services? No, rather this will be a blot on the very term ‘Emergency’. If it takes courts years to decide a case of murder, will you call it a functional judiciary? Not at all!
The very concept of a democracy is existent on basic premise: where there is injustice, there shall be a redressal system. Hence, judiciary is sine-qua-non for a meaningful democracy. A sleepy and exhausted judicial system will result in a limping democracy. And that is precisely what is happening in India! The slow and over-burdened judicial system has failed to take adequate care of the grievances of the citizens. If a murder trial takes years to decide, it is tantamount to pushing the aggrieved party to immense physical and mental torture, leave alone punishing the victim to the desired extent.
Think about it! Where does lie the problem? Before I go into these issues, let me throw up a few common scenarios:
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Why do we have paucity of judges? When a district has number of hospitals (main civil hospitals to Community hospitals to Primary Health Centers) and hundreds of doctors to cater to the health needs of its population, can a single-digit number of judges tackle the legal health of the district?
Why judges are such a scarcity? Rather why such a crisis is produced? Why judges are made such a precious commodity? Are they very costly to the system? No, they are like other gazetted officers, essentially affordable. It deifies any logicthat our judicial system is so severely understaffed.
I remember a car accident involving my family member took 3 full years to be decided in a Haryana court. This is simply ridiculous. Looking at the pace of the case, I got a feeling that the whole judicial system had adopted a sadistic attitude, where both parties suffer endlessly. Believe me, it is totally un-necessary. We as a state and country can afford to make our judicial system more efficient.
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There is a perception that the judiciary has not been aloof from the virus of corruption. It raises more doubts when it is left to the State government to select judges for the district and lower courts.
The solutions:
- Obviously, we need more courts and more judges to expedite the cases. A paralyzed judiciary is a great deterrent to the functional democracy.
- The judges should be selected by a centralized judicial commission and out- of – state postings should be a norm even at the lower courts.
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The judiciary should be free from political interference.
A healthy judicial system will help our democracy to be more mature and transparent.
Negative Voting: Empower Us ASAP! Can Not Wait!
I was delighted to read this news item that SC is still acting upon the issue of negative voting as a voter’s right. This right still exists, but is not simple to carry out and majority of the people do not know about it. Negative voting as a right should be as simple as casting a ( positive) vote. And this right will be revolutionary in many steps: the right to cast a negative vote will bring the real power to the voters. If this is combined with a provision to set a minimum percentage of votes to be gained to emerge victorious, this will fundamentally weed out goons of our political system. Think about it: this is a real right which is long due.
The full news story is: (NDTV)
The Supreme Court on Feb 23, 2009 referred to a larger bench the question as to whether a voter should be permitted to cast a negative vote during elections.
A two-judge bench of Justices B N Agrawal and G S Singhvi said the issue needs to be examined by a larger bench as the question involved interpretation of a citizen’s fundamental right.
The bench also requested the Chief Justice to refer the matter to an appropriate larger bench for further consideration.
People Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), an NGO, had approached the apex court seeking directions to the Centre to ensure amendment to the Representation of People’s Act (RPA) so that a voter can mark “none of the above” in the electronic voting machine.
This is because presently a voter if he or she desires not to cast vote in favour of any candidate, he or she should mandatorily inform the presiding officer of the polling booth.
Such a pre-condition was violative of the citizens right under Article 19(2) (Freedom of Expression and Speech) and makes the voter vulnerable to threats and intimidation from political parties, the PUCL had state
Halva: What is the Origin of this Word?
My wife asked me that day:” What is the origin of the word ‘Halva’ (हल्वा)? I said it is a Hindi word. She came across her one of the East European colleagues savoring a dish which he so proudly declared as Halva. When my wife confronted her what was that halva all about, he sheepishly admitted- even though he continued to munch the delicacy- that he did not know the details, but halva was not something new to him. And obviously he had not purchased it from an Indian grocery store. The halva that East European guy was eating looked and tasted same as we know in our Indian culture.
So when my wife threw the question at me , I was not prepared to think that halva could be anything but Indian or Hindi. Thanks to the internet technology, I passed the question on to Google and pat came the reply: Halva is a derived from Arabic word “alāwa” which means sweet!
I continued in a my ‘professorial style’ to Bharti and added that a language must be flexible to absorb words from other languages in order to grow and prosper. Thus call it the flexibility of Hindi that it has enriched herself by including words from other cultures and languages. Now does not it sound interesting that Halva- poori or puri (पुरी) is a common hybrid word or phrase used in Hindi. Poori is a purely Hindi word, by the way! The mesage is: Combine and thrive! BY the way, I remember during our hostel days in medical college in India, halva used to be a common agenda when the mess /cafeteria was closed. I remember, my friends Golu and Vinay were pretty skillful on that item!
Between us!
Swat Valley and Islamic Law
This week Pakistani Government agreed to allow implementation of Islamic law ((Shariya) in Swat valley (bordering Afghanistan).
Obviously this is a victory for Taliban and pro-Taliban elements. India and US have expressed concern over this development. The government of Pakistan has justified this decision by saying that this was necessary to restore peace in the valley.
Conceding to the demands of fundamentalists and extremists, this development has exposed the weakness of Pakistan government. Pakistani political leadership has always been pre-occupied in destabilizing the regional peace (be it India or Afghanistan): Taliban is a creation of Pakistan as the world knows! Let loose the extremism and it comes back to devour you! That is what has been happening there! As the recent times indicate, Taliban seems to be re-emerging in Afghanistan (hence a troop increase by USA in Afghanistan). Similarly, experts say that this so-called peace-making move in Swat valley will actually allow Taliban forces to regroup and re-strengthen.
Ban on Exit Polls: A Welcome Step
The recent decision by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on opinion and exit polls is a welcome step.
According to the new guidelines, the Commission has barred dissemination of opinion and exit polls by the print and electronic media 48 hours prior to the date of the Lok Sabha or Assembly elections in case of a single-phase election and a blanket ban on these surveys till the end of polling in the event of multi-phase elections.
Obviously free and fair elections are a pre-condition for a democracy. The exit polls being displayed while the whole election process has not been completed, has the potential to introduce the bias.
It may be noted that in January 1998, the Election Commission had banned the airing of exit polls during elections till the final phase of voting. However, this order was challenged in the Supreme Court and was quashed.
The ECI recently again asked the Supreme Court to decide whether there should be a reasonable restriction on the opinion polls during certain specified periods during the election process. The apex court gave a verdict leaving the issue to its discretion to lay down guidelines till the Union Government frames regulations. Hence ECI jumped on this opportunity to bring in a healthy practice.
Food for the Brain
“There is one principle that will keep mankind in ignorance forever, and that is contempt prior to investigation”.
This applies most aptly to the religion.
Tamilnadu Foundation Banned in USA
Today in a sensational news Times of India reports that the US has slapped sanctions on the charity group “amil Foundation”for its alleged involvement in fund-raising for banned LTTE. The Foundation has been designated under “Executive Order 13224”, which “targets terrorists and those providing support to terrorists or acts of terrorism,” the US Department of Treasury said in a press statement. The foundation is accused of raising money in the US in the name of charities, which ultimately ended up in the hands of LTTE.
It may be noted that Tamil Nadu foundation has been operating as a not for profit (NGO in Indian parlance) in America for many years and many of its Directors on the Board are well-established professionals (doctors, engineers). Dr.S.Palanisamy ( an MD) is its President. Others include: Vice-Presidents: Dr. S. Deivanayagam from Cookeville, TN (Tennesse), Dr. Parimala NathanTampa, FL 33647, Mrs. Mani ManoharanPittsburg, PA 15241. The Secretary is: Mr. P.K. Aravazhi from Naperville, IL 60564 (Ph: 630-430-2158).
The website is http://www.tnfusa.org/boardofdirectors.html but I am sure the website will close down sooner than later.
TN Foundation states its objectives as:
“NF’s objective is to help promote educational, social and other charitable projects in Tamil Nadu as part of a humble attempt by its members to share their fortunes with less fortunate people.It’s aim and objectives are distinctly different from those of the local cultural organizations. In fact TNF is the only organization in the world that is entirely devoted to the promotion of economic, and social welfare of the people of Tamil Nadu.What was started as a small attempt by a few individuals to offer their contributions to Tamil Nadu has evolved into a well-developed foundation through the dedication of several members throughout USA.”
It is hard to say what went wrong, but some of the patrons and donors may not be knowing what had been happening!