Be sympathetic on Women’s sexual needs

The national conference of sexology organised by the council of sex education & parenthood

international (CSEPI) is taking place at Vashi, Maharashtra and several Doctors and experts in the field are participating in it. They were unanimous in their assessment that women in India have become more forthcoming in demanding a fuller sexual experience from their husbands and if it needs a Doctor’s help, together they go and see a Doctor. The women no longer are secretive and suppressive about sexual matters and view the conjugal bliss their right too.  Dr.Ikshita Asagekar said “earlier women used to consider sex merely as a marital duty towards their husbands. However, now Indian women are demanding their sexual right to orgasm and satisfaction. This is a radical change”

The gynecologists are having more women visitors to their clinics to clear doubts on practical sex, while the doctors running advice columns in Magazines are inundated with letters raising all sorts of doubts on sex, some of them most elementary and stupid, like whether one would get pregnant by touching a man.  The ignorance on sex is appalling .

 But it is only from among the educated urban middle class couples that are coming forward to consult the doctors and they are a small minority. The majority of women living interior rural areas are still shy of making an issue about sex, even when most of their men are guilty of criminal indifference and selfishness towards their spouses in denying them their rightful enjoyment in the sexual partnership. There are males who go to sleep immediately after a quick love-making without ever bothering about his partner's` share of enjoyment in the act. Since liquor is amply available in the country a major portion of intercourse takes place under its intoxication and in many cases it would not be a satisfactory union for the female partners, they are left high dry. It is intriguing why the husbands are least caring in the happiness of their spouses in sexual matters.

The question of satisfactory sex hinges on a number of factors like mutual love, character, health, economic condition, sense of well-being, personal hygiene, sense of beauty, peace of mind etc if the couples are mutually loving and caring it can go a long way in giving a satisfactory sex life.  The alcohol, drugs and other intoxicants are all inhibiting factors for healthy sex. Even the excess viewing of porn can lead to unsatisfactory sex with the partner.

 It is found that people living in countries that have liberal laws and views on sex are more sexually satisfied than those living in countries with restrictions and taboos on sex. Though the U S boasts of its long history of democracy and individual freedom, in the stat report it is not considered a country with people of most satisfied sex life, the inhibiting factors being its puritanical nature of its religious thinking. In the same stat report India is surprisingly high in the satisfaction scale with 60 plus percent satisfied in sex life.  India cannot be said as a sexually liberal country, yet India scores not badly irrespective of its cruel husbands and endless marital dis harmonies.

But it was the other 40 % Indians that we were speaking about and they constitute about500 million citizens in India, it is not a small section of people and the urgent attention of social workers is needed to enlighten the public on healthy sex life and happiness.

Let more and more spouses come out from their inhibitions.  
 

 
 
 Image Google

On Kerala going dry.

The Government of Kerala is in the process of curbing the use and sale of alcoholic

drinks and the State machinery is working overtime for its implementation.  The news of it was received in a variety of ways by different sections of people. The womenfolk welcomed the decision wholeheartedly because they were at the receiving end of its vices and vagaries at the home. But surprise and disbelief were the main emotions among the people. Although politicians often made speeches about prohibition no one took them seriously including the politicians themselves. For, Kerala tops in the per ca pita consumption of liquor in India. Even school going children take a swig before the class and  no one thought prohibition was ever possible in Kerala. The people who really yearned to see the end of liquor were not an organised lot in the state and beyond their wish they were powerless to do anything, whereas the liquor lobby is organised, powerful and wealthy. The state thrived out of their tax money and politicians found a generous source of funds for the party in them. In such a circumstance it was difficult to expect that one day the liquor kings would be controlled and supply of alcohol curbed.

The decision of the Kerala Government to curb alcohol was more accidental  than pre-planned and

the decision was not easy either. There are 731 bars in Kerala and the licences for them to operate are given on yearly basis. This year the licence for 418 bars were kept pending finding them not up to the mark.  The normal course of action in such a  situation is to order the inferior quality bars to make them suitable for functioning and they in turn would execute some repairs before licences are given to them. This year the K P C C President Sri V M Sudheeran insisted not to extend the licence of those 418 bars in order to limit the supply of liquor in the state. The Chief Minister found it difficult to discriminate bars in the issue of licenses. So the Government decided to revoke bar licence to the entire bar owners . Now bars would function in 5 Star Hotels only as they are under Central Government purview.

The initiation of Sri V M Sudheeran and the Chief Minister's willingness to rise up to the occasion helped the decision to come out. Actually the Government is only limiting the availability of liquor and does not prohibit use of it anywhere in the state at one blow. The users of alcohol have enough time to slowly come out of the habit (or to drown in it) as it would take nearly ten years to close all Government outlets.

There are only a few states in India prohibiting the consumption of alcohol. The number one is Gujarat state where Mahatma Gandhi was born and as a mark of respect for him the state remained dry since its inception in 1960. The other states are Mizoram, Nagaland, Manipur and Lakshadweep. Although they are all so called dry states there are plenty of underground water to tap and no one is dying there out of thirst.

Several states experimented prohibition on and off  but most of them failed. The erstwhile Andhra state was dry from 1958 to 1969 and again became dry in 1994 and lifted it in 1997. The Tamil Nadu was dry for two decades from 1952 and Haryana experimented prohibition for two years in 1996. All states come back to liquor supply after the experiment and in the states where prohibition is still in force  alcoholic beverages are not such a rare commodity. The three vices, prostitution, Gambling and alcoholism, were always with us and the human race is accursed to live with them forever.

Mr. ROBIN WILLIAMS

The Oscar-winning actor, Robin Williams died in his California home by hanging .

On last Monday morning his personal Assistant found it odd that Mr. William’s bed room was not opened even after 11  in the morning. He knocked the door at 11.45 and got concerned when no response came. The assistant went inside the room and found Mr. Robins hanging on a belt near the door frame in a sitting position. The Assistant called the 911 number and emergency workers came and they found Mr. Williams dead.

There was a wound on the left wrist of Mr. Williams and a pocket knife was also found from his shirt pocket with blood on it. It seems that at first he tried to end life by cutting the wrist and chose hanging later.

He was fighting against alcohol-Cocaine addiction, in addition to depression. The depression itself is enough for suicidal tendencies and, in his case, the addiction and early symptoms of Parkinson’s disease settled the decision.

Mr. Robin Williams was actually depressed inside while he was making fun out of mimicry and laughing heartily with the audience.  The depression is a real sickness and to carry on, a profession like comedy along with such disease is a big challenge for any person and despite his repeated attempts on and off  stage to make fun of his own addiction and depression, the sickness won at last in the fight and Robins had to bow out from the stage.

 May his soul rest in peace.

   

The Pune Landslide tragedy

 A Tragedy struck in a Pune village in the form of a land slide on July 30 killing nearly 200 people.

  In fact no one knows exactly how many people died in the mishap. The dead were tribal people and the place was most backward area on the slopes of a hill. The poor people did agricultural work on the hill and lived on the slopes in a cluster of huts. When the rain lashed incessantly on the hill the loose soil and rocks flowed downhill and inundated the hutments. Except for a lucky few all the inmates died there and then. The poor souls never knew what happened.

In this case, a tribal employment scheme sponsored by the Government was also reported to be guilty in ushering-in the tragedy. The scheme gave employment to the tribal people and the work was flattening the hill top which made a large portion of hill top soil turn loose and bunds were not erected to prevent the soil from flowing downhill. There was not much rain when the work on the hill was doing. Later the rain strengthened and the unprotected soil and rocks flowed down.  In the Pune tragedy a Hanuman temple situated on the hill was also inundated and a group of visiting students who stood in the temple premises to escape from a sudden rain were suspected to have buried. Some local students were also in the vicinity and they too are missing. The incident turned out to be a great tragedy with a big loss of lives.

 Similar landslides occur wherever people do agri.works on the hill tops. There are many people living on the slopes of Western Ghats of Kerala cultivating Rubber, tapioca etc and the land slide tragedy strikes them often. Since they do not live in a cluster of houses as the tribal people, the inmates of a couple of houses or so die in the mishap. Such incidents are always tragic irrespective of the death toll.

The trees, plants and grass protect the soil from erosion and when the eco system is upset the Mother Nature will retaliate. We have to live in tune with the nature to avoid such calamities.

The Election result and Sri Rahul Gandhi

 It is a difficult period for the Congress party. The party not only failed in election but also fell short of even winning enough seats, 10% seats, to become leader of the opposition. It is not easy in politics to fail because the party high command has to bear the brunt of it squarely. Ever since the election results came out Smt. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were bearing the silent accusations of party workers for the dismal failure of the party, especially the young Rahul Gandhi, who the party workers expected to bring in victory against all odds.

The reason for the dismal performance of the party was obvious. The Congress party was at the helm of the Government for the last ten years and the incumbency factor along with price rise and corruption charges had reduced much of the shine of the Government before the public. No one could have changed the attitude of the people by any length of speech or party work.

There is a perception among the Congress workers that if Sri Rahul Gandhi were more spirited, things would not have come to such a pass. It is a wrong perception. When a party is in power for a decade people do get fed up with it and Rahall Gandhi can do little against the people’s desire for a change and he was the vice President of the party too. If he was a new face in the Party he would have had a fighting chance.  It is, therefore, not a verdict against Rahul Gandhi.
One other perception of the party workers that Priyanka Gandhi could have brought the party to victory is also not on reason as the factor of incumbency is still there.

 Sri  Rahul Gandhi is young and he has ample chances to  try his hand at administration.  In the meanwhile, as Emperor Marcus Aurelius said let him live his life on his own terms.








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Sri Narendra Modi's Nepal visit

The Nepal visit and utterances of Sri Narendra Modi had an unusual warmth which directly went into

the hearts of the people of Nepal and they only have praises to shower on Sri Modi. His speech at the Nepal  Parliament was an excellent one, he took care not to speak anything against their sensibilities and at the same time telling everything they wanted to hear from him. He was even careful not to utter the worn out word,’ secular’ when speaking about the constitution-writing of Nepal. Sri Modi assured help to Nepal Government in the areas of hydro power and infra structure and offered $1 Billion as concessional loan. Nepal has immense potential to make hydro power the excess of which can be sold to the needy and thus creating a permanent source of income to the country.

He visited Lord Pasupathinath temple and offered not only prayers but cash and sandalwood also.

I think Sri Modi’s great success of Nepal visit has also to do something with his contact with Jeet Bahadur Magar a Nepali youth who inadvertently landed at Ahmadabad and subsequently reached Sri Modi’s house and was looked after there. It is possible that at leisure times Bahadur talked to Sri Modi about his country and kindled enthusiasm about Nepal making him study more about its underlying problems.

The Government of Nepal should be thankful to sri Bahadur for his  unconscious help in making Sri
Mody  discover Nepal's problems.













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A Surrogate mother's plight in Thailand

Thailand is a favored destination for choosing surrogate mothers as there are no strict laws against surrogacy. Then the Thai women are beautiful, healthy and willing to become a surrogate mother, mostly driven by the need for money.   The price for surrogacy is nominal and in order to take care of hospitalization

 etc there are good hospitals in Bangkok. It was those considerations that made the medically infertile Australian couple to go to Thailand and meet an agent for arranging a surrogate mother. The couple did not directly contact the surrogate, their agent did all things for them like finding out suitable mother, fixing fees  and the hospitalization etc

. The surrogate mother the agent chose was 21 year old Pattharamon Janbua hailing from a village in Chon Bun province of Thailand, 90Kms from Bangkok and she has two other kids aged three and six. She agreed to become surrogate mother out of poverty. She was offered $15000/ which she found satisfactory to educate her children and pay back outstanding debts.

By the time the pregnancy reached 4 month old Doctors had found out that it was twins and one baby suffered down syndrome, a genetical disorder affecting growth and personal abilities. In such cases the Doctors advise abortion and in this case also the Australian couple had advised their agent to get the pregnancy aborted. But the mother, Ms Janbua refused to oblige and she said that being a Buddhist she  would not allow it.

Thus the pregnancy progressed and she gave birth to a baby girl and boy of which the boy, named Gammy suffered from down syndrome and congenital heart condition.

The agent  came to her  after she delivered the babes and took away the healthy baby girl leaving her with the sick kid , Gammy who needed expensive treatment to lead normal life. In addition to the Gammy’s routine treatment for the Down syndrome he suffered some lung ailments also which needed urgent medical attention. Janbua was virtually left high and dry.

The money Janbua got as surrogate mother was insufficient to meet even the immediate medical expenses and knowing her plight some people helped her put up a campaign named ‘ Hope for Gammy’ via the Newspaper and the ad read as such:  ‘ six month old baby Gammy was born in Bangkok with Down syndrome and congenital heart condition, He was abandoned by his family and is being cared by a young Thai woman who does not have the funds for the desperately needed medical treatment’ The ad concluded with a request for donation.

The request somehow got wide publicity and good response and she got more than $120000 in a couple of days. Now Ms.Janbua can give her Gammy the required love and care. She said she did not expect such overwhelming response. The identity of the Australian couple has not been revealed. They certainly would not have thought that their secret mission for a babe would wind up with such bad publicity against them. Everyone blames them as mean-spirited . They actually brought down the status of parenthood to a level of shopping.

In the end Ms Janbua advises her Thai friends not to stand as surrogate mothers. She asks them to think as to who will take care of the child if something goes wrong, like her own case.




 Images from Google

The Facebook and Money transfer

The migrant workers all over the world have to seek the services of money-transfer firms in regular

intervals to send money home. The fees of such money transfer are exorbitant and a chunk of the hard earned money goes to those firms which do the service.

On thinking about it, it may appear to be a welcome move on the part of the Facebook to start the money transfer business between account holders especially in a developing country like India. There are millions of migrant workers from India in various countries and they along with their spouses have Facebook accounts already. They must be willing and ready if with a few clicks here and there they can transfer money to the home along with their love and regards.

Now the cheapest method for a migrant worker to transfer money home is through the banks. But a majority of workers do not prefer the Bank- transfer as it is not only cumbersome but also practically difficult  to find time for the workers to go to Bank, stand in the queue, fill up forms and arrange the transfer. They, therefore, choose the informal route of Hawala payment for which the fee is almost four to five percent of the money transferred. The money transfer via the Indian Postal service is also both cumbersome and as much expensive

The Facebook platform is familiar and a meeting place for friends and relatives at the leisure time. If the Facebook makes the money transfer possible for a nominal fee the account holders would be happy to do business despite its shortcomings. But the scheme is in the infant stage in all places except in the U S. The Facebook has applied for permission at the Ireland office of the European Union to start the scheme at Europe and has not got the reply. Similarly it is in such an uncertain stage in  other parts of the world also.

In addition to the question of sanction from respective Governments it is also a big task for the company to start global business and carry it out without a hitch. The question is doing the money transfer safely and easily on a global basis  There is always the possibility of criminals roaming through the Facebook accounts for pilfering money.

Then it is also not possible for the Facebook to physically carry the money to the account holder’s home like the messages, even if the sender can avoid a journey to the Bank the recipient has invariably to reach the Bank to get the cash. In other words the Facebook cannot do business as the Hawala people do it who do not take a rest until the cash is handed over to the addressee in person wherever he is.

 The Facebook knows the enormity of the task and the world premiere of the scheme is waiting just on account of it.

THE EBOLA

The word Ebola hides a very grave disease behind its sweet sounding name and only a lucky few have escaped from its grip.The mortality rate of the disease is almost 90% with horrible end symptoms. Ebola is a virus disease and as such there is no effective medicine for it other than the best clinical care.  The disease is capable of spreading from one person to other through fluids of the sick person and it is also possible by other means in close contacts. Once contracted, the symptoms like fever, muscle pain, headache etc. start soon and in its progress it affects liver and kidneys as blood pressure comes down due internal bleeding. As the initial symptoms can be mistaken for other diseases it can contaminate easily to the unsuspecting bystanders.

The Ebola virus was discovered as early as 1976 when the disease appeared first time in Congo near the Ebola River which gave the disease its beautiful name. The virus contaminated humans from pigs and monkeys and some of those animals often carry the Ebola virus in African countries. Anyway now several African countries report Ebola cases.

 Since the disease is spreading far and wide with a new-found vigour the world health organisation is keenly watching it and helping the affected countries earmarking $100 M for controlling the disease. As the disease is prone to quick contamination specially trained nurses are required for the patients and the nurses have to be relieved from duty in 4 to 6 weeks due to stress. The affected countries have declared Medical emergency in their respective countries.

At present the disease is mainly found in three African countries, Liberia, Sierra Leon, and Guinea and the disease has so far claimed officially about 729 lives and 1323 are under treatment. Patrick Sawyer, an American citizen who was working in Liberia died of Ebola, making him the first citizen to die outside the affected African countries.

No effective anti-viral for Ebola has yet developed, at least officially. But we can rest assured that it would not take much time to it especially in the light of the horrible nature of the disease.

The healthcare infra structures in developed countries are so efficient that even a deadly disease like Ebola is incapable of   making much impact there. However the disease has to be eradicated  as early as possible for the welfare of countries which have lesser infra structure to combat the disease.



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India's stand on the Gaza issue

It is not correct to interpret India’s stand on the Israel-Gaza conflict as a confused one.  On the contrary

the stand taken by India is fair and sensible both at the Parliament and at the U N. In the parliament the B J P took the stand that both Palestine and Israel are India’s friends and it is not proper to discuss an issue pertaining to those countries in the Parliament and adopt a resolution one way or other. Though the matter got discussed in the Parliament no resolution condemning any nation was passed. The external affairs Minister deserve praise for smoothly guiding and culminating the discussion in a harmless way and thus defeating the opposition parties’ intention of exposing Government’s mind in the matter.

In fact, discussing and adopting a resolution in the Parliament against a nation is a serious matter and should be reserved for extreme cases in which the nation that passes the resolution should also be an affected party and I do not know whether any other nation other than India has discussed the Gaza issue in their parliament. India too would not have discussed the internal matter of a couple of nations in the Parliament unless the opposition parties insisted for it and disrupted other proceedings in the Parliament.

At the U.N Human rights Council, in Geneva, India supported the resolution along with BRIC nations of Russia, China Brazil and South Africa. India cannot abstain from voting nor vote against the resolution as it cannot take a sudden different stand in foreign policy without proper reason. India never supported violence in west Asia.

The voting pattern clearly shows the mind of world nations in the matter. The U S is the only nation that voted against the resolution. While the majority of 29 nations supported the resolution to launch a probe in the Israel’s offensive in Gaza 17 European nations abstained from voting. The passage of the resolution clearly reflected the feeling among nations that the Israeli reprisal is disproportionate to the Palestine attack and somehow the war must end soon.
The U S must also be thinking on that line but would not openly agree it.

Image : Google

A Hangman for Kerala

There are about 16 convicts in various jails of Kerala awaiting execution.  Among other reasons one

factor for not taking place their final punishment is lack of a hangman. The hangman’s job is not a permanent post in the Government as there is no need for a permanent post since executions take place once in a while. The remuneration for that gruesome job, until recently, was only five hundred rupees. Obviously no one came forward to do the work. In the circumstance the Government of Kerala  enhanced the remuneration recently to 2 Lakh Rupees, a 400 percent increase and the Newspaper Mathrubhumi published the News. The result of the News and such imaginative enhancement was very encouraging, now scores of young men are coming forward to do the work and one young man is even ready to hang the entire lot of 16 convicts at one go and to use the money to settle many pending things at home. There is no remorse, sympathy or feeling of guilt in killing  persons who have done no wrong to him.

 Kerala, is a place of persons of sophisticated desires with primitive resources. A climber of coconut trees can earn any sum around a thousand rupees or more daily. But the State has acute scarcity for such workers and people from other states like Bihar, Bengal or Odisha are doing the work. The young men are interested only in big money and in white collar jobs. It is not simply a question of unemployment amongst the educated youth.

The glitz and glamour of life is perhaps urging young men to make money as quickly as possible   making them  do any heinous crime if there is good money in it. The obscene urgency and desire for the money in an executioner’s work proves it, though it is a state sponsored and legitimate work. Then one would wonder if a private institution or individual offered enough money would not they be ready to do any job including one of a criminal.  If even the convicted persons themselves offered four Lakh rupees for freedom (against the 2 Lakh for the hangman’s work) would not they be ready to look the other way for them to escape.

  There are persons who make a living by doing the work of killing poor animals for food or persons who are willing to take up contract work for bulk killing of stray dogs.  Why they take up such horrendous jobs for living is best known to them alone.  The young men who hastily applied for the post of lyncher must be belonging to such genre of people who live by killing.



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On the discussion of Gaza conflict in Indian Parliament

 The Israel-Gaza flare ups occurring in intervals inflict heavy casualty for the Palestinians .However it

does not stop the Palestinian militants from foolishly sending a rocket or two to the Israeli border to start another round of war  killing women and children in the Gaza strip. And once in the war mood, Israel is ferocious and does not look back without inflicting heavy destruction.  Indeed it is very sad and seeing the Palestinian people's plight in the T V none can blame the legislators of Rajya Sabha in India for their demand for a discussion of Gaza conflicts.

Actually the left party members in the Parliament intend to blame Israel for the conflict and a resolution passed to the effect, though in no way it can influence Israel nor alleviate the pain of people living in the Gaza strip.

The ruling party opposed the move on the ground that both the Israel and Palestine are friends of India and a resolution one way or other is detrimental to the foreign relations. The Government stand is appropriate and right. The previous  U P A Government  had passed resolutions against Israel  as it served fine then for the ruling Congress party to appease the minorities. The present Government is against appeasements and also it would help little for the  ruling B J P.

The present demand of left parties for a discussion on the matter is,therefore, not reasonable for an independent nation like India, while there is no two opinion that the attack unleashed against the innocent civilians in Gaza strip by Israel is quite heavy and very tragic.




Image: Google

India- Russia engagement

Indian Prime Minister Sri Narendra Mody was in Brazil for BRICS annual meeting and on the side

lines of the summit both Sri Mody and Sri` Vladimir Putin had a meeting. The meeting lasted for about 40 minutes and both leaders resolved to expand the strategic partnership between India and Russia in the coming months.  In December Putin would be visiting India and Sri Narendra Mody has urged Putin to visit the Kundankulam nuclear power plant in South India.

After the cold war era India’s engagements with Russia were, more or less, limited to trade and commerce alone free of any love for socialist ideology as was before in the Nehru- Indira Gandhi period. Although Russia cannot be called a socialist country now the communists and socialists in India would like Russia for doing business other than with the U S The B J P also prefers a deeper relation with Russia. Sri Mody said that Russia stood first in India’s foreign policy engagements.   India is not without problems with Russia too on a couple of issues like the civil liability clause of Koodankulam nuclear power plant and India’s failure to secure investment of Russian Telecom company, ,Systema Shyam Tele services Ltd ( comprising a couple of Billions) However those issues are thought not to eclipse close engagements for India.

In the case of Pakistan the question is of mutual trust, even while the Prime Minister Nawas Sharif speaks of Pakistan’s abiding friendship with India, Pakistan soldiers violate ceasefire against India and the P.M .takes little action to curb it. The words do not go along with the deeds confusing things. However, Prime Minister Sri Mody is engaging Pakistan also in spite of the long wish list for India from Pakistan before achieving a true friendship.  .

As for the U S, the Visa issue of Sri. Narendra Mody proved that U S Government is prone to the manipulations of pressure groups in that country, while the mistreatment on diplomat Khobragade on account of her alleged underpayment of wages to her Filipina maid made clear how insensitively often things are handled by the U S foreign office. Although those incidents can be termed as minor hick-ups in the broad engagements of two nations fact remains that some actions take time to heal completely.

In the circumstance it would not be surprising if India makes efforts for a lasting friendship with Russia in the coming days. Mr Vladimir Putin is often characterised as an autocrat, yet he is quite friendly with Heads of States he likes to get engaged with and in the case of Sri Narendra Mody both persons seem to have developed a liking each other.

Image courtesy:    Google

SYRIA AT A CRUCIAL PERIOD

It is almost certain now that the U S will intervene in the Syrian crisis and it spells doom for the

present regime. The tragic thing about Syria is that a change of regime does not necessarily guarantee peace as there is no idea who will rule the country once the Assad Government goes out or the character of the future formation, like whether it would be secular, religious, autocratic or democratic etc.  It is a decisive period for Syria and the events which would unfold before and after the transition might not be smooth and easy.

The inherent weakness of ‘Arab spring’ is its division of priorities. In Egypt a democratically elected Government was ousted alleging its overbearing religiosity. The same fate is waiting for Syria too if the majority of people there do not believe in democracy. Russia is afraid whether Syria would become a breeding ground of Jihadists when the secular Assad regime is removed. The U S too is uncertain as to what would happen to the country after the military operation. At the same time the U S cannot even think of negotiating with Assad Government without jeopardising the fundamentals of  its  foreign policy.  

 The Syrian upraising started on 15^th March 2011 and survived nearly two and half years making Syria a devastated battle field. The ordinary life has long disappeared from that country. The children are not going to school because schools have become shelters for refugees. No food, medicine or medical care. People are always on the move, running away from one fighting zone to some relatively calm place and when the fighting reaches there run again.  They eat and sleep if any relief camp supplied food and shelter on their running route. The sufferings of the people of Syria are unimaginable and it is said that more than a hundred thousand people were perished in the revolt.  

Although sympathetic about the cause, no countries are openly supporting the agitators though it is no secret that they are provided with funds and arms by certain Arab countries which in turn  prolong the revolt and the agony of its people. On 21^st August nearly 1500 people were killed in a chemical attack allegedly with a nerve agent, Sarin, in the outskirts of capital Damascus. One-third of thedead were small children. And it seems to have touched President Obama deeply, for  he began talking about intervening in the Syrian revolt immediately after it.  

The thinking of the majority people in Syria would be known once the present regime resigns from power. It is not impossible for Syria to opt for a democratic rule and peace to return to the country.

Hope the best for the people of Syria.

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Indian Rupee: The Real Crisis

 The long queue for Dollar at the Foreign exchange counter in India reminds the ‘bank run’ narrated in Arthur Hailey’s Novel, ‘The money changers’. In the novel the Bank was saved by a man when he came forward to deposit his meagre savings while all others were in queue to withdraw money The mood of the aggressive crowd was suddenly changed positively in favour of it and the crisis blew over.

Actually the similarity ends just at the sentiment of investors, because a bank can bust if all its customers demand their deposits on one bad morning, but not a nation like India.

India’s two major import items are Crude oil and Gold.  As a result of India’s love for gold, there is an impressive stock of the yellow metal under Government stock, among the public and in other institutions including temples. In temples like Thirupathi there would be enough gold to pay out the entire balance of payment of India. Similarly, the gold among the public is estimated at twenty five thousand tonnes.. The problem is to find a viable mechanism to make it support the economy. The gold bonds are an option. In earlier times the currencies were propped up with the support of gold, now the value of currencies are left to decide by the market forces  and the gold reserve does not come in the reckoning. I am of opinion that gold stock of the country should also be given a place while rating a country’s economy.

Any way India will survive the present crisis. It can issue gold bonds or auction some gold in Government stock.  But the real problem is its political class and their vote oriented mind set. Many a reform measures had to put off by the objection of the supporting political parties which sent out negative message to the foreign investors. They rightly doubted India’s ability to carry forward reforms.

 India failed to give proper incentives and encouragement to the foreign investors to invest in infrastructure and industries. India's neighbour Bangladesh is an example, the Bangladeshi currency, tak, is gaining strength against Dollar when Indian currency is sliding. In Bangladesh the foreign investors have invested in industries  which cannot be withdrawn as easily as  investments in shares. India's foreign investment in shares have brought in the twin danger of falling rupee and share value simultaneously, creating a financial catastrophe.

Finance needs meticulous management and India needs to learn a lot in that sphere.

  

  

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THE SORDID RELATIONSHIPS

All sorts of bizarre sexual relations are reported in the Newspapers now and by their growing numbers they have even ceased to be news at all, not alone in India but all over the world. So the suspicion is whether sexual activism is a by-product of economic development.

 A recent news report tells the sordid story of 11 year old girl who gave birth a baby on her wedding day in her wedding dress.  Yet another Press report from New Zealand beats all stories so far heard. A boy of eleven years old impregnated a 39 years old woman and she gave birth to a healthy baby. The woman was the mother of boy’s friend and that way he often visited the house. The woman felt infatuation over the boy and she somehow coerced the boy into the relation and continued it for some months. Meanwhile she got pregnant and gave birth to a healthy baby.

 It seems the boy did not quite like it all and with a prick of conscience he confessed the story to his school Principal who was spellbound hearing it and immediately informed the authorities. Thus the case came to light.

The people who read the story would certainly wonder if it is possible to impregnate a woman at such a tender age of eleven. An age above 15 would have been closer to reality. Well, it is proof now that it is possible.

 Whether a man rapes a woman or woman rapes a man the primary sufferer is woman, physically and socially, so the law generally stands to protect woman. In this case much proof is not needed to surmise that the woman coerced the boy, since a boy of eleven would not dare take advances on his friend’s mother aged 39. Jail sentence is justified if a man rapes a woman, but in this case a punishment would be hollow and adding insult to injury for the woman. The woman who already conceived a baby from the relationship with all its problems, must be undergoing the trauma of social ridicule also.

At the same time how an offense can be ignored ? The law in New Zealand has not dealt with a similar case before.  

THE LEGAL STATUS OF SEXUAL INTERCOURSE

The recent Madras High court verdict on the legal status of a couple without formal marriage,  by Justice Sri Kannan attracted much attention. The case started when a woman who conceived two children from a person without legally marrying him was abandoned by him. She filed petition in the family Court to get maintenance from the person. The Court had ordered him to pay Rs 500 per month for looking after the children while denying maintenance for her on the ground that there were no documents to prove their marriage. The woman filed appeal in the High Court and it was on that petition the ground-breaking judgement came out, setting aside the family court verdict.

The judge gave their relationship to a marital status in the judgement on the premises that they had lived like man and wife and had even had signed in the birth certificate of their child and in some other hospital document. The spectacular part of the judgement was that it gave more importance to the legal aspects of the live-in relationship than to the ritual part of a marriage like exchanging garlands and rings in front of a crowd.  

The judgement created some flutter among the general public and in social net-work sites saying that it encroaches upon the sanctity of marriage while equating sexual relation with marriage and some others protested against giving a new status and meaning to the sexual intercourse. But the protests were without fully understanding the verdict. They missed the humane aspect of the verdict.

The live-in relationships are on the increase now and to bring them within the ambit of law akin to marriage the Supreme Court had stipulated the presence of some required elements in such relations. 1. The couples should hold out themselves before the public while in relationship 2 they must be at the legal age and qualified otherwise to get married. And 3 they must have voluntarily co habited and held out before the public as couples for a period of time.  

In the Madras High Court verdict all the stipulations have been answered and additionally extend a helping hand for a poor woman who would have left unprotected if the verdict was against her.

It raises the question of the legal status of sexual intercourse I think the Courts have not bothered to look into it singularly and at present it is not illegal to have consensual sex for adults.  However the story might turn different if the woman gets pregnant and approaches Court for justice. Then a single intercourse would be enough to get them marital status whether the person like it or not.

MUSINGS ON MODY'S ELEVATION

 AS expected, Narendra Mody has been chosen to lead the elections campaigns of B J P   for the

Assembly and Parliament elections in the National executive Meeting in Goa, despite Sri L K Advani and a few top brass  stood against the decision. In other words, the B J P  has entrusted Sri Mody the duty of making the party win the coming Assembly and Parliament elections and weighed in that way, it is a  big and risky responsibility for Mody since a lot of prestige hangs on his success or failure of the mission.

Queerly, it is the 2^nd time that Goa becomes venue for another important decision on Sri Mody’s political life and in both cases Sri Advaniji had played a role. In the National executive Meeting held at Goa after the 2002 Gujarat riots Prime Minister Vajpai wanted to remove Mody from the post as the negative sentiments was so strong against him.  At that time, it was Advaniji who intervened and requested Vajpai to give him another chance. Vajpaiji relented and Mody continued at Gujarat. If Advani had not supported Mody then, his political life would have ended there and then at Goa. Now, after eleven years Advani takes a different stand on Mody.

Notably, it was when Sri Mody was down and weak that Advaniji supported him and now when Mody got strengthened with hard work  Advaniji does not support him, maybe he thought that Mody would get too big to put him under his wing. However, there are many people who think that Advani should not have stood against Sri Mody taking into account of the mood of the party men and the writings on the wall.

 The world undergoes change every minute and at 85 he would have been better off letting things take its own course. After the Vajpai era he had two Lok Sabha chances to win and undoubtedly  to become the P M. He could not make it. Now when a man comes up with sterling election performance and matching administrative skill, willing to lead the party to victory, silence was Gold for Advani unless he could support it.

Anyway, the 2^nd decision at Goa for Mody is not as cosy as the first one. Though Mody is an uncrowned king at Gujarat, his acceptability beyond its borders has not been proved yet. To cite an example if Sri Mody stands for election in Kerala his chances of winning are remote because of various socio-political undercurrents. Similarly Mody’s campaigning in Karnataka did have little influence in the recent election results there.  Perhaps he can exert more influence on voters in the North, yet it is a huge risk that Mody has taken upon himself and in that sense Advaniji might be actually helping him when he objected to his election as chief campaigner.

On the part of Sri Mody, he thinks he has spare energy and wants to test his luck beyond Gujarat for which the present assignment is best suited. If B J P gets as many as 200 seats or nearby it, it can form a Government at the centre with the help of other supporting parties. In that scenario no one can ignore Sri Mody for the post of Prime Minister.

Easier said, the road is rough and full of pitfalls, Sri Mody will have to invent suitable strategies to  surmount them  in order to win and prove himself right.

Image from Google

SYRIA IN AN INTRACTABLE WAR

IT is time to wonder how the Syrian civil war is going to end.  It began on 15^th March 2011 and is

continuing with no end in sight. More than 80,000 people were killed and 15 Million people were displaced. The war is not concentrated at one spot; the conflict is spread all over the country making the normal life impossible everywhere.

The discontentment against the Syrian Government was always there among the people. The country is ruled by Bashar Al Assad and his family who belongs to minority Alwite sect which represents only 12% of the population when the majority of the population is Sunny Muslims comprising more than 75% of population.

 The reason for the uprising is not just sectarian. There were all the ingredients in the Syrian society to trigger it. The rising prices, economic inequality, unemployment, falling standard of living, human right abuses everything that make life difficult for common people.  They cannot be blamed for  wishing to change the ruler. The Arab spring that visited in some neighbouring countries kindled the hope that a change of Government was not impossible after all.

 The unrest started at two main cities of Damascus and Aleppo. The Government was already apprehensive of people’s unrest as Tunisia and Egypt came under revolt and when some students wrote anti Government slogans on a city wall, the Government took action against them with all vengeance far beyond their action warranted to nip the tendency in the bud. The incident, on the contrary, triggered a mass protest which continues to this day.

Unlike the protesters in Tunisia and Egypt the Syrian protesters are not well organised.  There is not a common leader representing the protesters. It is the fundamental weakness of the Syrian opposition. There are political leaders, religious Heads and sectarian leaders in the protest group and they all want the Assad Government to go, but between them there is no idea what to do next or who to take charge. It has complicated the situation in Syria to the advantage of Assad Government and to the sufferings of its people.

  There were times when the Government appeared to be losing ground but it withstood them with brutal attack against the protesters like they were invaders from another country. The Assad Government says that they are terrorist groups and treats them just as such. While the world condemns the violent crackdowns on protesters countries like Iran and Russia are tactically supporting Syria. The protesters get support from Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

 The Russian Republic has been an all-weather friend of Syria and it does not like the Assad Government to fall. Apart from the fact that Russia has military outposts in Syria it fears that religious fanatics would take over Syria if Assad Government fell.  In the case of Iran, one of the Shia countries, does not like Sunny Muslims taking over Syria after the fall of Assad Government and hence it supports the present Alwite Assad Government. The Alwite is a sub-sect of Shea Muslim group

Like in all similar cases the losers are the people of Syria. There is not proper food supply and shelter. People have turned nomads, changing camps from violence ridden places to comparatively peaceful places and when that area comes under attack they flee from there.  The  camping at local schools or colleges and they are provided food by local administration or other agencies as and when it is possible by them. In cities when the violence starts all shops down their shutters and people stay indoors. There are snipers on tall buildings, so walking outside is very dangerous. No factories or other establishments are working in areas of conflict and people are mostly unemployed. The students are unable to attend

schools or colleges as they are full of refugees. In short the country is literally paralyzed except at the war-front.

If properly administered Syria has every potential to become a prosperous nation. It is an oil producing country. The Assad family which has been in power for nearly half a century did not give her a proper and peaceful administration. If people got what they wanted they would not revolt against any Government and once they start it, the uprising is hard to put out with piecemeal offers or plans and like ants, they will fight till the end.

Images from Google

  

CHINA: ONE CHILD NORM AFFECTS YOUTH BEHAVIOUR

The Sky news reports an exceptional case of jealousy from China and the incident is related to two school girls aged 12, called Qin and Zhou for convenience. They were classmates. Of the two Zhou is nice looking with proper stature and Qin is chubby yet not ugly. Their common friends liked Zhou to make company with and for other extracurricular activities more than with Qin who they dubbed as fat and not very pretty.

Qin could not bear it and she got very jealous of Zhou. One day she invited Zhou to her home to play and while they were in Qin’s room, Qin smashed a stool on Zhou’s head from behind, killing her instantly with a broken head. Neither the killing nor the splash of blood on the floor unnerved Qin and her vengeance had not finished yet. She cut off her head and hands  with various weapons like kitchen knife, scissors, beer bottle etc and put the body parts in plastic bags and cleaned the floor.


The crime was soon found out.  Since Qin is below 14 years old criminal case was not slapped on her and the court sentenced her for two year’s rehabilitation. The court also ordered Qin’s parents to pay about $18000 to the Zhou’s family. Qin was sent to the rehabilitation Centre. Under one-child norm, for both the parents of Qin and Zhou they must be their only child and Qin while smashing the head of Zhou smashed the hearts of those parents too.


It is an extreme case of jealousy, there is no doubt about that. But cases of student rivalry are not uncommon in China and there are reported incidents of poisoning and killing fellow students in colleges. In 2004 a bright student from a poor family hammered and killed four of his classmates in cold blood. The reasons are more psychological than physical.


   The Chinese Government adopted the one-child norm to cut the spiralling population of their 1.3 plus Billion by half. The rule is strictly followed. As a consequence of it,  female foeticides increased and the  the parental care on the only child got too big to be comfortable for the child.


 In the present day Chinese society the only way to acquire prosperity and position in life lies in academic excellence. So the parents are always breathing on their only child’s back to guide him every minute of his life and push him to the frontier limits for better academic results. No child enjoys a carefree life. After the classes at school or college tuition classes awaits him. The parents have set a timetable  and a child’s life revolves round it. In schools or colleges too excellence and competition rule the roost.


The psychiatrists generally agree that growing up as a single child is not mentally healthy and does more harm to the child than good. There is every possibility for the child to become selfish, unloving, and obstinate and to lack such qualities like sharing, compassion and commitment. Has  the unusual jealousy of Qin got any relevance to it ? May be. But one thing is sure while the one child rule may help ease the burden of population it is giving unbearable stress on the children.

In a wider view, when all families in a nation have only one child how it would collectively affect the national behaviour ? It is yet to know, because no nation other than China has imposed and executed   the one-child norm before as is China doing now.  China being an important nation in the world, not only sociologists but the others are also curious to know the out come.