Woman Empowerment doesn't mean Man-Woman Equality

I am writing a new post after a long time..after more than an year. I keep promising myself that I will write regularly but due to some or other reason it doesn't happen.
Today it's International Woman's Day. In India, at social level i.e. in Media as well as in Government this day is being celebrated overwhelmingly. This is good change that's being seen in 21st century. It also shows the changing mindset of Indians..be it of government, of media or of common people towards women. Women empowerment is definitely an important aspect in any civilized society. When we look at Indian history..right from the ancient times like during Ramayana Age till 1947 when India got independence from British Rule, women were always treated as secondary in male dominated society. From 19Th century onwards, women education started in India which was a turning point for Indian woman. As an effect of this we can see changing face of Indian society where at least now women can lead their independent life.
Now here comes the key question....Is Indian Woman living Happy Life with quality education, good job and independence? I mean good education, good job opportunities and financial and social independence in liberal India looks very lucrative from woman's perspective specifically in urban India.
But this is a phase of social transition wherein on one hand woman is getting more independent and empowered while on the other hand she has to go through a lot of turbulent emotions. Yesterday I was watching a reality show wherein loyalty of your love partner is tested using detectives and hidden cameras. There was this case of a young model of 18 years of age. This lady earlier had a boyfriend at her age of 14 with whom she had a painful breakup. Now at 18 she had found a new love in a young choreographer. This young man couldn't pass the loyalty test and the lady found out that her boyfriend was a cheater. So this lady went through another painful breakup. This and similar emotional traumas might have been experienced by a lot urban girls or boys. This is an impact of a sudden independence received by woman who are financially active.
In last 10 years rate of divorce in Indian urban society has increased drastically. Indian Penal Code has laws like IPC 498a or Domestic Violence Act which give power to women to file a complain against any torture and cruelty by their husband and any of his relative(irrespective of their age...be it small kid or the old person). Just the statement of a woman is enough for an FIR under these laws and these are non-compoundable offences. According to Govt. of India statistical data only 2% of the cases under 498a are proved in the court and rest 98% couldn't be proved in the court. This is one example which proves how judiciary which is meant for woman empowerment is being misused. The problem is not just the misuse of these laws but after they are being misused divorce is inevitable. This is another emotional and social trauma for the woman.
These are some of the implications of gender inequality or in feminist words "equality for women." Women shouldn't be harassed or there shouldn't be any discrimination against woman. No doubt about it. But this is also a fact that there are natural differences between man and woman. There are not just physical differences but there are emotional differences as well. And hence the feminist concept of man-woman equality is wrong. Of course this doesn't give born superiority right to man or woman is not inferior. But it is to be understood that man and woman are different for sure. So while empowering women let's not create gender bias or inequality in society.

Terrorism & Indian Government

Last 2 days were the darkest days in Indian History. Terrorist Attack on Mumbai by jihadee muslims was not less than a war against India, against US, UK & other western countries. Till this time indian security forces are fighting in Hotel Taj Mahal Palace in Mumabi against the infiltrators. This terror was sponsered by Pakistan & it's infamous intelligence agency ISI. The time has come for the entire world to force Pak. Government to take stringent action against terrorists to control it's army & ISI. Pakistan Govt. must understand unless until pak. military forces(i.e. Pak. Army) & ISI is under democratic control world can't remain peaceful.

Coming to Indian govt. & it's failure to tackle the terror, I must say current Indian Govt. severely failed to tackle the terror in it's tenure so far. Every 2-3 months we hear/read of terror attack in some or other indian city. J&K seperatists, North-East ultras, Naxalites, Maoists...to whom this govt. has controlled? Indian Home Minister always talk of handling the current situation but what has he done to avoind that situation? Indian International IntelligenceAgency RAW has the most infamous, unintelligent & incompetent person as it's chief. Current RAW chief(Mr.Ashok Chaturvedi) is surrounded by so many controversies right from sex harassment charges to lack of simple general knowledge about foreign policies. You can refer http://www.metimes.com/topic/Ashok_Chaturvedi/ to read the stories about our RAW chief. This itself explains why we are facing so many terrorist attacks, why there is such a severe intellegence failure. Our Home Minister is not doing anything to tackle this incompetency in it's port folio. Indian Prime Minister is the best economist as well as very good administrator but I am very sorry to say that in his tenure security of common man in India has drastically gone down. That is specifically because he bared incompetent Home Minister, incompetent RAW chief. Some youth of the age of 25-30 comes on our soil & kills 3 top cops of the country. Don't we see urgency in implementing police & judicial reforms? Mr. Prime Minsiter, all good things which you have done during your tenure has no meaning unless until you provide security to the comman man of this country. It is perfectly acceptable that entire world has to unite in the fight against terrorism but we must guard our own house & can't expect any outsider to do so.

Business Basics & Financial Crisis

We are hearing & reading news of economic slowdown & financial crisis which has hit the US economy badly. Latest in the row is Citi Group's near future possible fall. Citi Group management is thinking of expelling it's current CEO Mr.Vikram Pandit or sell 50% or the entire business or take help from US government (in the form of a bail out package). As far as Citi Group is concerned it's too big to fall & it's bankruptcy will affect the world economy drastically for sure. Hence possibly US Government may bail out Citi Group at the cost of it's own terms & conditions. US already has witnessed the fall of Lehman Brothers. Further US Govt. bailed out AIG & other financial institutions & has already announced the package of $700 billion to its financial corporations.
But the Big Question is would this situation have been avoided & what can be done to avoid such situation in future? Citibank & almost all financial institutions had taken the growth/profit for granted. But let’s not forget Continuous Improvement (CI) is the key to success in all sectors & this CI means self assessment, learning from previous mistakes, fool proof plans for future growth & backup/alternative solutions in crisis situation. Today I was reading a news of the arrest of a co-operative bank’s directors which fallen due to improper & hap hazardous loans being given to one specific director’s family. This is the case of corrupt governance at smaller level, but when the similar situation occurred in US at national level it is definitely not the corrupt governance but that typical attitude of extravagant spending.
When due to political pressure US Financial institutions gave loans to almost everyone without checking their repayment power nobody would have thought of such economic disaster. We were reading about Citi Group’s losses for last 2 years & when Citi would have joined this “you ask for loan we will give you” spree it might have acted as fuel in already burning Citi. When Mr. Pandit took charge as CEO of Citi Group last year he had a Herculean task in front of him. But instead of providing remedy to internal problems Mr. Pandit decided to buy Wachovia Bank for $2.2 billion. Such a decision is definitely suicidal especially when you yourself are in loss, when financial market is tumbling & when cost cutting is the mantra everywhere. And now today Citi Group needs bail out package to survive. We must remember that unless until we are capable enough to stand on our own we can’t take somebody else’s burden on our shoulder. Recently Citi Group decided to slash 52000 jobs worldwide (which is almost 20% of its total staff) as remedial major to tackle the crisis. When you slash 1/5th of your workforce then there is something terribly wrong.
Citi Group might come out of this crisis but the lesson to learn from all this crisis situation is to let’s make realistic assumptions about everything we do & not to take anything for granted.

Television - The Best Medium

Hi....back after a long time again....Umm...don know but somehow I miss regular blogging.

Anyway, I will come straight to the point. I was watching Big Boss - a reality show on Indian TV. One of it's participant & the most entertaining & lively person in the Big Boss house Mr. Rahul Mahajan left the house in the last week. But the popularity which he has received & the image which is changed to positive direction definetely shows the strength of Television over all other media. Rahul who went through the challenging times in his personal life like lost his father( a renowned politicial & one of the prime ministerial candidate), then within few days after that found using drugs along with his father's PA who died due to the overdose of this drugs & the latest blow i the form of divorce from his wife. In all these incidents' Rahul's image was of a villain. But in Big Boss he showed his positive side & became the most famous person across India amongst Big Boss viewers.

Also all Indians might remember how KBC changed the fate of Mr.Amitabh Bachchan when he was in dee debt. Shahrukh Khan, today's Bollywood Superstar started his career from a TV show named "Circus." Definetely TV is proving to be the most successful medium not just for viewers but even for those icons who are eagerly waiting for that golden chance which can open the gates of success in their lives. Games are so much popular due to their live coverage.(We have the example of IPL's success.) No filmmaker take the risk to release his movie when there is some major sports tournament is going on with Live TV coverage. So no doubt TV is the most successful medium today which might be replaced by Web 2.0 but we might have Internet TV etc....So all businessmen look at the television with an amazing business potential.

Continuing with the previous blog entry, I am quite happy with the election of Mr.Obama as US President. Entire world celebrated his victory. He will take the charge in early 2009. World has many hopes from him considering today's economic crisis as well as they expect major shift in US Foreign Policy. Like calling back US troops from Iraq. But I was bit shocked when I read about Obama's interest in Kashmir Issue since Kashmir is not an international crisis but is a bilateral issue between India & Pakistan. Also during his welcome call to world leaders, Mr.Obama called up different world leaders except leaders from Russia, China & India, at least not till date. (Do I need to mention the significance of these 3 nations in the 21st century world structure?)
According to Mr.Obama, "Kashmir issue must be resolved for Pakistan to get completely involved in the fight against terrorism". Well, this sounds very logical when we just read it or hear it. But Kashmir is a Bilateral Issue between India & Pakistan & the logical solution to the same is to accept the current Geographical nature of Kashmir by both India & Pakistan(i.e. POK as a part of Pakistan while J&K a part of India.) But if Pakistan has to say that they will help the terrorism in Kashmir in the name of Freedom struggle of Kashmir's people & if US supports this stand then the threat of terrorism will always cover the entire world. Let's understand Terrorism in all the cases is always fatal not just for other's but for them who supports it. All the nations must condemn terrorism & must fight against terrorism unconditionally or else terrorism will destroy it's supporters some day for sure.
So Mr.Obama, it would be great if all of us fight against the terror first & other issues will be solved once terrorism is destroyed.

Defeat of the Race!!!

I am back again after few days' gap. Well, there is no force or condition that I must write new entry daily but it is quite helpful & more or less retrospective if we express ourselves regularly.
Between last entry & this entry so many things happened worldwide. Most imortant of them was the historical US Presidential Election. Mr.Obama as first Afro-american President of world's most powerful country shows the victory of humanity & democracy. This one incident will prove to be the turning point in the world history. Hopefully this positive change will motivate all the lower & suppressed sections of the society.
Many Congratulations Mr.Obama!!!

Happy Diwali

I am back again after a gap of few days. Today it's Diwali morning in India. Diwali is a festival of light & about positivity & victory. It is the biggest festival for Hindus. Today it's even more special for me personally since I am at home.
In Hindu culture one can find multiple occasions which are celebrated as festivals, probably more than any other religion. We have festival in almost every month of the year. But the purpose of each festival is the same to celebrate life & spread positivity everywhere. Be it Hinduism, Islamism or Christianity or any other religion, everywhere it's the celebration of life & make this world a joyous place is the basic concept behind any festival. There can be challenges, pain or grief in our lives but these festivals provide us that positive mindset which can further enhance the happiness in this world.
So Enjoy! May all of you a very Happy, Prosperous & Wonderful Diwali!!!