Telangana 59: Why do we accept Telugu movies?

Why do Telangana people accept Telugu movies if almost all the movies show Telangana people in negative light? 

One Andhra commenter asked:

Tell us what is the primary, if not the only, motive of a movie-producer? Making money or not? If a producer is dumb enough to make a movie showing discrimination, wouldn't his Nizam area collections tell him to correct his ways in the next movies?

Andhras reason this quite simplistically.  They reason that a movie producer is interested in making money and nothing else.  The producer is not sitting there to insinuate a message that Telanganas are inferior.  There is no benefit for the producer doing that negative characterization because he will tend to lose certain portion of the audience.  

Andhras ask if indeed there is a negative characterization of Telanganas in the movies, why do Telangana people go and watch these movies? They could have easily exercised their right not to watch these movies, right?

Since the collection from Telangana is quite substantial, isn’t it clear that people of Telangana gladly welcome these movies?  Since they welcome these movies, isn’t it clear that there is absolutely no negative characterization of Telangana people in these movies?

Telangana 58: Impact of Movies

Most Indians do not realize the impact of media caricatures on the minds of the masses and how these depictions may perpetuate some of our prejudices leading to large scale discrimination.   Our movies, ads, TV serials are laden with negative characterizations of certain people being unconscionably lapped up by biased Indians without an iota of squeamishness that most civilized world would normally experience.   There are many references to caste, color of the skin, weakness of a woman, etc, that continue to fuel our prejudices perpetuating large scale discrimination of certain sections of people on a daily basis.  

For example, in many Telugu movies, there is consistent negative characterization of dark people.  They are looked down upon, laughed upon and are easily dismissed with a slap on the face or kick in the butt.  And this portrayal perpetuates our low opinions towards dark people in many families, leading to massive inferiority complex for dark skinned girls and boys who get taunted by many family members.

Telangana 57: Presentation to SKC

These are the three slides from my part of the presentation to SriKrishna Committee in May 2010.  I will add the actual text and speech at a later time.  For now, I am presenting those slides.  [There is a mistake I made in the slides.  It should say "More than 10,000 movies..." instead of "More than 25,000 movies..."].

Telangana 56: Article on Rediff

A commenter (Kiran) forwarded an article published on Rediff, titled ‘We don't know who represents the Telangana movement’ by Jyotirmaya Sharma and asked few questions.   Here is my response:

"The problem is that between those who are asking for a separate state and those who oppose it, there is no debate, there is no serious conversation. Every difference of opinion on both sides is sought to be resolved either by violence or by an extra dose of rhetoric."

Right now, yes, if you watch only the TV, then definitely there is no healthy debate.  That’s sad.   However, if you go attend some of the meetings held by various forums on Telangana, you will see an argument for Telangana which is sound, rational and pragmatic.   True, a genuine debate is missing.  The reason the debate is missing is because Telangana supporters and its detractors do not see eye-to-eye on this issue.  While Telanganas believe the root cause for the entire problem is ‘discrimination’, no Andhra person ever accepts it and rubbishes it saying it is a fantastic imagination of few politicians.   It’s like India and Pakistan talking about Kashmir.  There can never be a healthy debate if we don’t agree on basic premise of the argument.

The healthy debate will start only when Andhras concede that discrimination could or might have happened, and then go about asking if and so why it happened.  That would the first point of entering a healthy debate.  Instead of accepting the glaring truths that Telangana is indeed backward, they come up with Satyam like statistics to prove otherwise.   Right now, I don’t see a chance for healthy debate because the detractors are not being honest about topics on discrimination.  Unfortunately, Indians are not mature enough to concede they are capable discriminating others.

Telangana 55: Last refuge of the scoundrels

Recently a group of Ministers from Seemandhra made a presentation to SriKrishna Committee and describe Telangana Movement as ‘anti-national’.  Here are some excerpts from the THE HINDU [emphasis mine]:

…the demand for statehood to Telangana should be treated as a cognizable offence under IPC as it had the potential of disintegrating the country itself.

“The Centre should not give credence to demands for self-rule and self-respect as it will sow seeds for disintegration of the country. Asking for a separate State on these grounds is equivalent to waging a war against Indian Union. It is most reprehensible and dubious ground for formation of a new State under Article 3 of the Constitution”, the delegation of 16 Ministers said in their report.

Besides, the appointment of a committee by the Centre to look into such an anti-national demand was also surprising, they felt.

Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrels, it is said.  Detractors to a movement, a new policy or a brave action resort to introducing the elements of patriotism and national security as a last ditch attempt to slander a genuine aspiration or demand.   That is what is happening in Andhra Pradesh today.

Let go, India

Kashmir is not simmering anymore.  It is boiling and spilling over.  In the last two months 40 people were killed by Indian security forces.  These are young boys of Kashmir, less than 20 years of age, some of them as young as 8 years, and they are challenging the might of Indian armed forces by coming out onto streets violating the curfew orders imposed onto them. Look at the news headlines from THE HINDU in the last 4 days.

Aug 04: 5 more die as violence continues in Kashmir

Aug 03: Thousands defy curfew; 7 more civilians killed

Aug 02: 8 killed as violence escalates in Kashmir Valley

Aug 01: 2 die in police firing as protesters defy curfew

The new generation of Kashmiri David takes on the Goliath machinery of India.  These young boys risk their lives to defy all the restrictions imposed on them by Indian security forces.  India is at a loss.  It does not know how to deal with this situation.  There are no AK-47s, there are no hand grenades or rocket launchers so that India can claim these protestors are terrorists.  All these young boys have is bunch of easily available stones to take on the sophisticated Indian armed forces. 

Telangana 54: By Elections

Telangana Movement became a mainstream agitation in December 2009 when KCR undertook a fast for the cause of Telangana.  The silent movement of nearly thirty years took an upswing and became an active and vocal one all of a sudden with the events of December 2009.  The popular sentiment that has been lurking in the minds of the people of this region took on the national stage affecting the politics of the state and the country. 

Since December 2009, there have been repeated resignations by MLAs of the state in both Telangana and Seemandhra regions of the united state of Andhra Pradesh.  When the MLAs of Seemandhra resigned en masse after P Chidamabaram’s 9 Dec 2009 declaration for a separate Telangana, the speaker of the State Assembly belonging to the ruling Congress Party did not accept any of them citing a petty technical error in resignation letter format.  However, when Telangana MLAs of non-Congress parties resigned, the speaker immediately accepted them.  This was done with a motive of winning at least some of the seats vacated by Telangana proponents highlighting one of the farces of Indian democracy.

Indian democracy does not deal with referendums and therefore elections are forced onto the people again and again as happened in Telangana.  No matter how people of Telangana vote, the elections are interpreted differently by different factions.  When people find themselves unable to express through polls, they take to streets and resort to suicides, while MLAs tend to resign again and again unnecessarily forcing elections onto the people.  Looks like Indian democracy has no means of addressing genuine aspirations of its people.

Another Ramar Pillai?

I don’t know how many of you remember Ramar Pillai.  In 1996, Ramar Pillai became one of the most widely recognized Indians when he converted ordinary herbs soaked in water into petrol.  It looked like he solved the problem of energy for India forever.   It was a story too good to be true but Indians lapped it up without scrutiny.  Ramar Pillai created a mega sensation amongst Indians and Non-Resident Indians.  He was hailed as an Indian genius, a product of India without trace of western education or influence, someone who solved a mega problem with tools that were easily available to a village boy in India. 

When I wrote a small note of criticism on Ramar Pillai and his claims, when he was at the zenith of his popularity being feted by the Chief Ministers of India including renowned scientists, many Indian readers berated me for being a party pooper.  I was told to shut up.  ‘Why could you not just celebrate when Indians do well?  Are you only looking for bad things about India? Why can’t you recognize our achievements when they actually happen?’ they asked me.  

After few years, in 2000, it became clear that herbal petrol of Ramar Pillai is a hoax.  He turned out to be a charlatan, a cheap magician who conned an entire nation because it was hungry for hard-to-find achievements.  Ramar Pillai turned out to be a reprieve for a civilization that was bereft of any greatness in the recent past.  Indians were hungry for achievements and Ramar Pillai came into cash in on that popular sentiment.   

Engineering 101

When I joined B.Tech in Electronics and Communications nearly two decades ago, I was told that whatever I learn in the college will be of little use to me in my life because we will not be using any of the stuff taught in the program.  I took that advice quite seriously.  Instantly I convinced myself that it didn’t really matter if I did not pay any attention to the classes.  I just had to pass and somehow make it through the 4 years.  The campus itself had enough reputation that it will carry me through in my life, so why waste time in studying something which is of no use to me in the long run?

The graduating seniors who had passed out came back a year later to visit us and reaffirmed the same opinion, that not much of what I learn in my B.Tech will be of any use in ‘real’ life.  Because the ‘real’ life is so different that I would end up doing something quite different.  It was true.  Most of my seniors who graduated from the college ended up in MS programs in USA but had already switched to Computer Science, while few others got into IIMs thereby leaving nearly 95% of our subjects behind, and some others got into jobs at Hindustan Lever, Infosys, HCL, etc, securing jobs in marketing or software for health, insurance, banking, never having to bother with B. Tech subjects ever again. 

I guess I was always a 'big' picture person even as a student.  My 'big' thinking suggested that the scores and marks in the B.Tech subjects will not affect my life at all.  I decided not to study more than what was required to pass the exams.  Why unnecessarily waste time on something that is irrelevant in ‘real’ life?  Instead, I spent time on other things which seemed to make sense- like painting, art, debating, and of course, making friends and falling in love.  Since I believed these other things will remain with me for the rest of my life, it made sense to invest in them. 

An engineer uncle told his graduating engineer nephew that he will not use more than 5% of what he studied.   That’s what we have been told and that’s what we believed.  After nearly 16 years since my graduation, I have a completely different story to tell.  I hope this reaches out to some of the passionate engineers in the colleges of India.   I am a part of a technology product company in wireless space and this is our story.

Kashmir: Discussion on TV

I was watching TIMES NOW on TV.  This is some time ago, but relevant even today. 

One guy says, ‘Let us have freedoms. Let us talk about freedoms.  We should have freedoms.  But don’t push it to ridiculous extent.  Like Azadi.  Why Azadi? From whom?  I find this whole Azadi thing ridiculous’.

The other guy says, ‘Think of nation’s sentiments.  Respect India’s sentiments.  Let’s live together.  Think in the right perspective.’

The anchor says, ‘Why are you taking support from Pakistan? Isn’t that country the one which is intolerant?  Pakistan is the one which is intolerant. Not India.  Aren’t Mohajirs discriminated in Pakistan? Why do you want to take refuge in Pakistan’s support?’

And I find something grossly wrong with the whole proceedings though most of my Indian brothers and sisters are OK with these discussions.   Today, once again Kashmir is burning.  More than 20 protestors were shot dead by the Indian forces stationed in Kashmir.   According to TIMES OF INDIA, In Iraq, there is 1 soldier every 166 people, and in Kashmir, there is 1 for every 20, nearly 8 times more.   It’s like living in the Bangalore city with nearly 3 lakh troops, one-fourth of Indian Army. 

In the discussion above, the first guy thinks that we all should have freedoms, but not Azadi (freedom).   Whom are we duping here?  Why is Azadi a ridiculous proposition?  We all want to be free.  Every human being wants to be free.  Who wants to wake up to face the gun on a daily basis?  Who wants armies stationed in their towns and villages on a daily basis? Who wants their sisters raped, brothers killed, uncles gone missing? 

‘Homeopathy is nonsense’

Homeopathy is nonsense, say UK doctors.  They say it is nonsense to drive a point.   They want the state to stop funding this pseudoscience because it is bogus, ‘witchcraft’, and ‘nonsense’.    Almost anyone who has understood science the right way already knows that homeopathy is utter bogus, closer to magic than actual medicine.  And yet, many people swear by homeopathy and continue to consume balls of sugar dipped in alcohol hoping and believing it is actually going to cure them.

The ground reality is that 90% of the people who have studied science do not understand science.  They go through science classes because they have to, learning it by rote, understanding few implications not understanding the gist, and without imbibing the scientific temperament.  That’s quite understandable actually.  Most of the theories of science are counter-intuitive to humans and the laws of nature are not obvious to most of us.   Science has been in the mainstream thought only for the last few hundred years and human brains are not evolved to grasp scientific ideas naturally.   Humans have to leave their natural intuition aside and follow the rigorous tools of careful observations, sophisticated experimentation and logical deductions to understand and appreciate science.  However, most humans are lazy and they continue to see patterns where there are none, and continue to believe in certain miracles where there are none.

Court decisions on Hindi/Burqa

Is Hindi our national language?

In one of the previous articles, Hindi is a North Indian Language, I said that Hindi is not our national language, though many Indians seem to believe that.

Recently, Gujarat High Court has observed that Hindi is not a national language because there is nothing on record to suggest it. 

The court observed, “Normally, in India, majority of the people have accepted Hindi as a national language and many people speak Hindi and write in Devanagari script but there is nothing on record to suggest that any provision has been made or order issued declaring Hindi as a national language of the country.”

Hindi remains an official language.  So does English.  One of the key recommendations I make to emancipate the downtrodden in India is to teach their subjects in English.  All government schools in India should embrace English as medium of instruction right away.  The elite, the politicians and other Indophiles who are keen on protecting the regional language could send their kids to private schools where the medium of instruction is a regional language.

Supreme Court doesn’t allow veiled women IDs

In another landmark decision, Supreme Court of India has asked the veiled women to lift their veil for voter identification. 

Darwin’s Theory and Atheism

Charles Darwin was not an atheist in the conventional sense.  He believed that God was responsible for the First Cause.  And yet, he is a poster boy for atheists nowadays.  As such many non-atheistic skeptics and rationalists of the past are championed by present-day atheists.

We run into these situations again and again – Thomas Jefferson, one of the founding fathers of United States of America, wrote at lengths on freedom, equality and liberty and yet he had slaves in his household.  Abraham Lincoln, who waged war against the Confederates, thus abolishing slavery in the South, was still not ready to concede Blacks were equal to Whites.   Isaac Newton, who discovered Universal Law of Gravitation, thus setting the trend for removing God from affairs of the Universe and Man, was a firm believer in God.

Liberalism or Atheism or any such progressive idea has been changing, increasing in its extent and vigor, being different in different times.  Thomas Jefferson may be a liberal thinker for his times but when we look into the past and measure his liberalism from our yardstick he fails the test.  Charles Darwin or Einstein may not qualify as atheists from our standpoint and yet they were atheists of their times.   When Judaism came on board, atheists were not non-believers of God but non-believers of God of Moses, the pagans, the worshippers of animals.  When Islam came into existence, atheists were believers of other established religions.  During Spanish Inquisition, the Protestants, the Jews, and skeptics of God were all put in the same league as atheists.  

What’s the problem with Indians?

Look at this attitude:

#1. “This is how I live.  This is the right way of living.  You have to live like me”

Many problems in India come from the above attitude.  Many Indians believe they have an idea what a good and moral life is, and they believe they lead such a good and moral life that they take the next step of imposing it onto others.   Contrast the above attitude with the one below:

#2. “This is how I live. That is how you live.  You live your life. I will live mine”

We would solve many social problems with attitude #2.  However, most Indians go with attitude #1 because we tend to believe that we Indians lead a moral life which derives its strength from our Indianness or Hinduness, and we believe it is our prerogative to safeguard our lifestyle by imposing it onto others and correcting other’s lifestyles.

Khap the crap

Most Indians believe that their civilization is the greatest on the planet.  They think it is the greatest civilization because of their unmatched and unsurpassed supreme moral values.  They believe they derive these values from their religion which is not just any religion but a way of life - that gives answers to all the questions and problems you pose, and to even those which you have not posed. 

These Indians also believe that it is extremely important for them protect this greatest civilization and their supreme morals against onslaught of impure alien civilizations that are hell bent on polluting its great culture.  

Hinduism has at its roots the dreadful casteism; and casteism cannot thrive without terming certain things and people as pure or impure.  It has whole set of rules on what is right and what is wrong.  If you keep doing things that are right you keep getting purer and if you do things that are wrong you keep getting impure. When you do things that are impure you are born as low caste; you have to do a whole lot of pure things to improve your caste in the next incarnation. 

I am an atheist...

Copied from: http://bestoftheblogs.com/Home/30793. Liked it. Made a new version because the original was small.
 

To Caste or not

When the current population census in India for 2011 got underway, I was really sad that it did not include information on caste.   India has been recording the data on SC/STs but not on OBCs.  The last census on OBCs was done in 1931 by the British.  

Indians have tumultuous relationship with caste.  While caste continues to dominate one’s life, decide one’s food habits, select one’s spouse, and determine one’s access to education and opportunity, the elite and modern Indians do not like to discuss about it.   Though it is a dominant identity, sometimes more dominant than religion or sex, that determines the fate of an individual in nearly 75% of India, most of us living in cities like to believe that caste is a shameful identity of the archaic past.  

In reality, one cannot escape caste so easily even in cities.  Though there are Tamils, Telugus and Malayalee in my apartment complex, close family relationships are maintained along casteist lines. So how did these people discover other’s caste?  They do so by many means, by one’s food habits, one’s last names, and sometimes through the maids who seem to be the conduit for such information disclosing the caste of other families to the curious minds.

While we are quite OK to gather official information on language, religion, and sex, why are we reluctant to gather information on caste, especially when the socio-economic status of an individual has such strong correlation with one’s caste, more so than with any other identity?  When caste is such an important identity why shy away from collecting scientific data on castes in India?

Should MPs get a salary hike?

Today, I woke up to read morning newspapers and I found myself in disagreement with host of issues.  Here’s the first one.   The MPs in Indian Parliament are about to get a hike from the current salary of Rs 16,000 to Rs 80,000.   Is that a good thing or bad thing? 

For a very long time, I have strongly believed that one of the best ways to reduce corruption in India is to increase the salaries of government employees.  In many evening and late-night discussions with my fellow Indians, I found myself in opposition to most others who thought that Indian government employees are extremely corrupt and hence they do not deserve any hike; if ever they deserve a punishment, not a reward.

Freedom from Religion

What we Indians need is freedom from religion; freedom from its foolishness, from its ignorance, from its zealotry.  We need freedom from a religion’s version of morality, from its archaic traditions, from its blind faith, from its superstition.  We need freedom from its imbecility, its bigotry and its intolerant imposition of values and virtues onto us.   Religious people are free to practice any idiocy in their lives, but they have no right to impose it onto us, by any law or by any decree of the land.

And yet, we are stuck with one of archaic and medieval laws.  Section 295A of Indian Penal Code says:

295A. Deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs.

Whoever, with deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of any class of citizens of India, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise insults or attempts to insult the religion or the religious beliefs of that class, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.

Thou shall not eat beef!

In an extremely sad move, inching closer to complete Hinduization of this country, Karnataka government headed by the Hindu right wing political party BJP, has passed a bill to ban cow slaughter, making sale, consumption and possession of beef a punishable offense up to seven years.

India was never a secular country.  It has been including many elements of bowing down to blind and irrational religious sentiments and made them laws to impose it onto everyone.  India is becoming more and more of a Hindu country much to the celebration of Hindutva supporters.  With these moves India is moving away from ideal of becoming a safe place for practice of one’s faith without intervention of state as protected in Article 25 of Indian Constitution. 

This is clear case of a Hindu majority, dominated by upper caste version of Hinduism where cow is a sacred animal, imposing its will on other religions and lower caste Hindus.  Beef is a food to many people just like chicken or mutton.  State has no right to impose what people of this country can eat or not eat, unless the animal species under consideration is deemed a protected species.   Making an animal sacred is not the domain of a secular country.

Women’s Bill: Rotation System

The current Women’s Bill is a landmark bill that is designed to emancipate and empower Indian woman.  However, it has a serious flaw.  

This quota reserves a constituency for woman on rotation basis.  That means 33% of constituencies have quota for women in one term of Lok Sabha, and then another set of 33% constituencies have quota for women in the next term of Lok Sabha, and so on.  That means every constituency gets a woman leader every three terms.   The flaw in this system is following:

Assuming only men win during non-quota time, at any instance, there are potentially 66% of candidates in Lok Sabha who would not be able to contest from the same constituency in the next elections.  That means 2/3 of Indian Lok Sabha has no incentive to perform for their constituency in the current term.  This results in serious damage to India democracy because the only check against the incumbent lawmaker in Indian politics is the incentive to win in the next elections.  With that incentive gone, 2/3 of Indian constituencies do not have a leader who is accountable to them.

Telangana 53: Raj in Bangalore

2014 AD

Raj is a Malayalee from Kerala who migrated to Bangalore with his wife and a kid when he got a job with an MNC in Bangalore.   He looked for a nice apartment and moved in.  After settling down he realized that apartment building consists of Tamils, Telugus, Malayalees, Marathis, and North Indians.   The maids at his home are Tamilians.  

He was happy that he was in a cosmopolitan environment surrounded by people from different regions. But he never bothered to notice that there were no Kannadigas in the entire building.  At work, he made friends with many kinds of people.  It included non-Indians, and Indians from various regions.  There were few Kannadigas but they spoke English or Hindi and looked like any other Indian in their deportment and makeup. 

The only Kannadigas who spoke Kannada were auto drivers, with whom he had bitter experiences in haggling fares.   Other than that he did not know many Kannadigas who spoke Kannada.  ‘Jaasti’ ‘Swalpa’ were good enough words to talk to an auto driver, and that’s all he knew about the region around Bangalore – those few words.

Once in a while he saw few auto drivers carrying the regional flags.  He didn’t bother to understand what the flag meant, whether it was red on top or yellow on top.  He didn’t bother to see the insignia on the flag either.  As far as he is concerned, these flag-bearing auto drivers and low class workers were a major nuisance because they stopped traffic once in a while during their dharnas and bandhs. 

Women’s Bill in the Parliament

Usually I refrain from writing about topics on which I have not made up my mind.  Here’s one topic where I have not made up my mind but still decided to write about.  It is about Women’s Bill in the Parliament.  With passing of this bill, India is going to reserve 33% of the seats in Parliament and State Assemblies to women. 

At the outset, I am happy that such a bill is coming into existence.  We are going to set a great example in the world if we have many women parliamentarians and ministers. India has emancipated some of its women through series of steps, started during British Empire where sati was banned and women were allowed into schools through Independence Movement where we saw women standing shoulder to shoulder with men. 

Telangana 52: Curious case of MIM

While most of Telangana irrespective of their caste, religion, political affiliation, is supporting the cause of Telangana, one man and one party stand out.  It is Akbaruddin Owaisi leading AIMIM who enjoys massive support from Muslims of old city Hyderabad.  He has now made his stance clear against separate Telangana after maintaining silence on this matter for many months.

So, why does he stand out?  To understand his stance, we should go back in time and open our closets.

MF Husain takes Qatar Nationality

It’s unfortunate that India could not become a home to an artist that was born and raised in India.   MF Husain who was haunted by Hindu zealots for many years now has eventually taken up Qatar nationality giving up Indian citizenship.   This is a major setback to Indian democracy.  This shows that we are still a long way from becoming a mature democracy.   

Related Topics:  Nude paintings, Nude God, Judgment, Talibanization of India Slowed Down, Nudes and Mothers. 

This is how MF Husain depicted Sita

 

 

Telangana 51: My answers to questions for JP

I have taken liberty to answer some of the questions that Jayaprakash Narayan (JP) of Lok Satta was asked.  In most cases JP was vague and completely evasive.  He is not taking a stand on many questions.  Here is my rebuttal.

kondal311: Do you mean politicians are using this sentiment for their gain. In 2004 elections TRS was part of UPA and during 2009 it joined hands with TDP. Almost all parties said they are OK for telangana during 2009 elections. Is it oppertunistic politics or Do we need Telangana really ?

Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan: In our first-past-the-post system(our election system in which even one vote majority gives the victory to a candidate), parties are desperate to get a few more votes to be in power. So, they mean one thing, but say another thing. It is these short term political tactics which lead to this crisis.

Sujai: Yes, politicians are using this sentiment for their gain.  Every political party in India, Congress, TDP, Praja Rajyam, TRS, and even those who are not contesting in Telangana, like NCP, Trinamool Congress, BSP has endorsed Telangana.  They all want to get political mileage out of this sentiment.  During British rule in India, Congress and Muslim League won most of the elections because they all said they are fighting for freedom.  Just because some political parties have used a sentiment doesn’t mean the sentiment does not exist.   Most of Telangana people want a separate state and they voted those parties which promised them Telangana, which happen to be many parties.

K Suresh:Good evening sir.Earlier we didnt see much responce from students on telengana issue.why do you think students are actively participatiing in telengana issue?

Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan: Jobs are important, and there is a misplaced hope that everyone will get government jobs if a new state is created.

Sujai: Every great movement on the planet which brought about great changes for their people was carried out by students.  The fight for freedom in Tiananmen Square in China was carried out by students; the fight against Vietnam War in US was carried out by students.  Even the recent anti-Iraq War protests in US were carried out by students.  The fact that there is a Black man as US president is a change the young people of United States brought about.   Therefore, the fact that students are carrying out this movement in Telangana shows that it is beyond political parties and that it is truly a people’s movement.   We should celebrate this instead of ridiculing it like JP is doing.  

Telangana 50: Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics

What happens when you give a fire extinguisher to bunch of monkeys? They use it to kill other small animals.  Though a fire extinguisher is designed to save lives, it can become dangerous if the user doesn't know how to use it.  The same holds true with statistics.  If the user doesn't know how to use them and when to use them, they can become lethal.

There are fools and then there are educated fools.  I have not studied Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan of Lok Satta, but was happy to know that he has chosen to fight corruption.  That's laudable.  But in the context of Telangana, I chose to describe Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan as one such educated fool who doesn't know how and where to use these statistics.   This is an excerpt from a chat with him:

There are some more facts. Literacy growth: Telangana : 1143% Rest of AP: 448%.

Some facts: Agricultural implents: Telengana-67% Rest of AP-33% Food grains-Rice growth(1955 to 2006): Telengana-708% Rest of AP-191%. Gross irrigation growth: Telengana-140% Rest of AP-38%.   

 
Because the growth rate in Telangana was high he quickly concludes that Telangana is doing much better than rest of AP.  Detractors of Telangana are using his observations to say that Telangana has never been discriminated - and in fact it developed more and better than rest of AP.

Here are three different countries with GDP growth rates for year 2007.

Country A: 11.1%

Country B: 5.9%

Country C: 2.0%

If you ask Jayaprakash of Lok Satta (JP) which country is doing the best, he and his followers will tell you that Country A is doing the best, followed by Country B, followed by Country C.  If JP was asked which country is far ahead of others, he would say that Country A is far ahead of Country C by many counts.  JP may even tell you that it is much better to live in Country A followed by Country B and the least desirable place would be Country C by all standards.  So, what are these countries?

Telangana 49: Naxals

Naxalism in Telangana

Many detractors of Telangana movement are trying to blemish our genuine people's movement by calling it a Maoist-led movement, and that the student protestors are none but 'Naxals'.

Unlike what most other people think outside Telangana, calling someone a Naxal is not derogatory to most people of Telangana.   He is not seen as a terrorist as most people think.  Naxalism, according to us, is a socio-economic problem, something that needs to be addressed as a collective responsibility, the way we would address suicides of farmers.  Our current government in New Delhi got the whole thing wrong.  They are on the brink of creating another Frankenstein monster approaching this problem as a menace rather than a socio-economic problem.  Like Indira Gandhi who goofed up on Telangana, Punjab and Northeast, the current administration is about to goof up on this problem which has its origins in poverty, injustice and lack of land reforms that continue to exist since pre-Independence.   Unlike most others outside our region, we think that Naxals need to be embraced and rehabilitated so that they become a part of the mainstream. 

In fact, the very thinking that Naxalism can be crushed with violent methods is foolish thinking.  About ten years ago, when I asked a man who was entrusted with combating Naxalism, a DIG in Andhra Pradesh at a dinner, ‘So, Sir, when do you think we will get rid of Naxal problem?’ he smiled and told me, ‘that’s a naïve question.  As long as there is a huge disparity between the haves and have-nots in this region, as long as most of the people are denied justice and opportunity, there will always be Naxalism’.  

Naxalism came about in Telangana region after the ruthless crushing of 1969 Telangana Agitation followed by Machiavellian political maneuvers that completely hijacked a genuine people’s movement.  That’s when the youth of Telangana got disenchanted with legal and electoral institutions of flawed Indian democracy.  

Let’s revisit the events. 

Telangana 48: Idiotic journalism

What happens when journalists become idiots?

Here is an example of a journalist who allows his prejudice cloud his judgment and reasoning.  His name is Shaik Ahmed Ali and he writes on IBN Live.

While Yadaiah's love for Telangana is undisputable, I suspect whether he willingly attempted suicide.  At least I don't want to believe that Yadaiah's suicide bid was a spontaneous reaction. The authorities need to find answers for: who were all aware he would attempt suicide; who were was possessing the suicide note and why; when, how and who brought his life-size photographs in the campus and how the media representatives got access to his suicide note even before the police got it and why did he choose the place where the media cameras were present. The suicide bid was perfectly planned and timed in order to get maximum publicity. But who planned it?

Most newspaper reports and media reports already provide answers to many of these questions.  There was no need for Shaik Ahmed Ali to ask the same irrelevant questions.  In fact, it was his duty to answer those questions to his readers to allay their misinformed suspicions.   Instead, Ali is just playing to prejudices of his audience. 

It is well known now that Yadaiah brought with him a bag in which he had few bottles of kerosene, a set of photographs of himself standing next to few prominent leaders – this can be explained because he was working at video/photo studio and participating in Telangana agitation, a set of his school certificates, and a suicide note.  When he ran towards the police after setting himself on fire, it is natural for anyone to look around, find a bag, open, and show it to the nearest media person.  That’s how the media got access to his suicide note before the police got hold of his belongings.  Media was inside the cordon closer to where Yadiah was standing while the police was outside the cordon. 

One doesn’t need a hand of CIA or Mossad to explain something that is obvious, and yet Shaik Ahmed Ali wants us to believe that there is a conspiracy behind self-immolation of this leaderless, rudderless and clueless young orphan kid of Telangana.  It is duty of a journalist to see the events in the right perspective.  If he thinks there is a conspiracy, it is his duty to uncover it, not just succumb to his prejudices or pander to the detractors that form his audience.

Telangana burns

Yesterday a kid named Yadaiah immolated himself near OU campus.  Last night he died due to severe burns.  Yadaiah was a class XI student living in Rangareddi district.  He was an orphan. 

Dileep Konatham wrote this yesterday:

Friends:

I write this email with a burning heart and tears rolling down my eyes. I went to Osmania University today morning to cover the Chalo Assembly protest called by students. The situation was tense as thousands of students and police pushed and shoved each other for over 3 hours. A batch of students broke the police cordon and ran towards Vidyanagar. I followed them with my camera. Some of these students were intercepted at Vidyanagar, while a few managed to escape from here too.   The next batch was intercepted at Narayanguda. This is where students scattered into small groups.  I then came home. 

I switched on the television only to see the most ghastly visuals of my life. A youngster named Yadaiah immolated himself at OU gates. The visuals of Yadaiah running like a ball of fire will remain etched in my mind for eternity. It was exactly the place where I was standing barely 30 minutes ago. Yadaiah suffered over 80% injuries and was shifted to Apollo DRDO hospital.

It is shame that while youngsters are sacrificing their lives like this our leaders have shamelessly decided to cheat us yet again.

Each passing day the agony is becoming unbearable.