It's beyond the MALE Gender

“International Women’s Day is our opportunity to reflect as women on how far we have come and what more we need to do to make sure women everywhere have the opportunity to write their own story.  Changing the world, like living your own life well, requires a sense of purpose, the courage to pursue it and the preparedness to risk the most public of failures. Nothing big was ever achieved by cowering.” 

             – Hon. Julia Gillard, 27th Prime Minister of Australia.

Madam Julia Gillard generously shared these words on the eve of International Women’s Day on 7^th March 2013 at Canberra in Australia. She wanted to communicate the message of empowerment of women on a day on which much more needs to be done than to just say that men and women are alike. As Australia’s first female Prime Minister and a law student, Julia believed that she had much more in her bags than just documents or few copies of affidavits. She had a dream to courageously spread the message across the world that women at every stage are as strong and resilient as men. She is one who stepped out of her comfort zone many times, which made her a role model. But, the sad part of the story is that there aren’t many successors to Julia. There aren’t many women to sit at the decision making tables.  

With women occupying just 17% Fortune 500 board seats, only 19% of parliament seats worldwide, earning less than 10% of world’s income and forming only 22% of the workforce across the world, the gender gap is still far too broad. Women start careers in business and other professions with the same level of intelligence, education, dedication and commitment as men. Yet comparatively few reach the top echelons. There’s been a lot of talk in the past about why more women don’t become leaders and what our society needs to change to produce more female leaders.

It’s a fact that if we account the amount of work women do at their homes, our economy will triple. The world has been successful in developing women leaders who lead a team as big as 10,000 or more workforce. We must appreciate them because they are the ones who took a brave decision to deal with their life in somewhat different way than others of their breed. But the number of these women is very less.

I have always considered ‘women’ as those creations of God, who are bravest at heart to love, strongest enough to rejoice and wisest enough to understand.

To bring a change, we need to change to change the mindset. We can achieve this through enlightenment and education. We need to design our curriculum and workplace in such a way that it should not discriminate against women, rather it should welcome them. On the occasion of International Women’s Day, let us appreciate the efforts of Women on humanity and pledge to make this world a harmonious place for them to live.

KIIT Alumni Meet at Mumbai

24^th November 2013 was a memorable day for all the KIITians based out of Western part of the country when about more than 100 alumni’s gathered under one umbrella to meet, share and revive the good old memories. KIIT has always been in the forefront in getting connected with its alumni and more so in giving an opportunity to the passed out student to develop an everlasting relationship with its alma-matar.

The meet started with a welcome address by Dr. Sucheta Priyabadini, Joint Registrar (Student Affairs), which was followed by the KIITians who introduced themselves one by one. Dr. Sucheta shared a wonderful coined term – ‘Student for few years, Alumni forever.’ It was indeed heartening to see that KIIT Alumni’s are elevating the KIIT flag high by showing their talent in different areas of their career. The grand moment of the entire event was yet to come. The crowd applauded Mr. Venkat Sastry – the person who has arranged bread and butter for many KIITians till date and is continuing to do so in various capacities.

Finally, the moment came when the torch bearer and the most beloved Dr. A Samanta came to the podium to address his lovable KIITians. The entire room was engulfed with silence as each one of them didn’t want to miss a single word which flowed from his mouth like perfume. He talked about the entire strategy which KIIT and KISS has together laid down to grab a place in the top 500 Universities in the world. Listening to him brought joy, happiness and pride in the KIITians. What touched everyone was his quote which read, “Strengthening Alumni, Strengthening KIIT.”

The event ended with a joint dinner and students left carrying a memento with them. A memento which they have always treasured – KIIT Review, a book which keeps them connected with KIIT 24X7. This day certainly marked a day in the calendar when all those who experienced it could walk down the memory lane and made it available to spend some quality time with their teachers, mentors, batch mates, friends and fellow KIITians.

KISS: A Revolution against POVERTY

The eminent policy makers, economists, politicians and now even the new governor of RBI is busy finding a solution to the never ending problem of our country – Poverty. There are many who believe that it has become a national joke, while there are few who have brought some changes in the country with their efforts. One such person is Dr. A. Samanta.

Most of the Corporate Houses in the country believes that Eastern India is a key potential area for Growth. One such state in this part of the country is Odisha – a state which has remained poor, even though the development has started in the recent years.  Dr. Samanta has faced poverty first hand. This was when he lost his father at the age of 4. It was during his childhood when he made it a mission to do something for the poor. He developed a vision that poverty can only be eradicated only through Education.

A man who started a small ITI Institute in the city of temples – Bhubaneswar with a small sum of Rs. 5000/-, has today made it become an educational conglomerate par excellence. It is called Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS). KISS started 20 years back as a modest residential school with 125 tribal children. Today KISS has become World’s Largest Tribal School, which takes the credit of providing free education and livelihood to more than 20,000 tribal children who come from 62 tribes of Odisha and nearby states. The uniqueness of this institute is that it has a zero drop our rate and a far better pass percentage. It doesn’t stop here. The students of this school have Won India Under – 14 Rugby World Cup in 2007. The students have represented not only India but also Asia in various international championships. Recently a 17 year old student of this school named Laxman Hembram was selected (the only youth from India) to participate in the Malala Day United Nations Youth Assembly at UN Headquarters in New York. The school not only imparts education but also teaches new skills to the students such as tribal arts, craft, horticulture, poultry farming, etc. While grasping this vocational training course, the students can earn some money by selling the products which they make and proudly send back this money to their family living in remote and poverty stricken areas.

The awards and achievements of Dr. Samanta and his KISS are enormous. The President, The Vice – President, The US Ambassador and many Nobel laureates, policy makers and international luminaries have visited this heaven on earth. The Chief Ministers of Chhattisgarh and Delhi have invited Dr. Samanta to open a KISS in their state as well. This world class model is a testimony of the dedication, hard work and efforts of a man (Dr. Samanta), who himself is a bachelor and still lives in a rented house.

I feel proud to be a fan of Dr. Samanta, by choice.

Sarabjit Singh: The victim of political games

Imprisoned for last 23 years, in an enemy country, surrounded by fellow inmates, who are always ready to swoop on him at the slightest clue or provocation, living with the curse of a (possible) mistaken identity, the life of Indian prisoner named Sarabjit Singh has been thorny enough to be injured at the mere thought of it. 

As I am discharging my thoughts through my keyboard, this gentleman Sarabjit lies on the ground to be cremated at Bikhiwind, a village situated 23 kms from Amritsar in Punjab. This martyr of India was brutally assaulted in a jail in Pakistan – a country in which lives fade and fall much faster than the petals of flower on a windy day. This incident has brought tempest as far as the relationship between the two countries are concerned.

Sarabjit was one such unheeded pain, beating mutely in the soul of India. The silence just got louder, when a group of his jail mates with knives, iron rod and other sharp metal objects pounced on him in Pakistan`s Kot Lakhpat jail. Having suffered serious skull fractures made him stay at Jinnah Hospital for a couple of days. This dreadful incident symbolizes the fault lines in our country’s policy on its citizens in Pakistani jails.

Sarabjit’s only hope was his sister - Dalbir Kaur and the incessant prayers of his sister and two daughters for the last 23 years.

His sister continued campaigning painlessly for her brother’s release for more than two decades, and has left no stone unturned in striving for her brother’s release. Her voice fell in deaf years, both in India and Pakistan. She kept her tiring and exhausting efforts on by running post to pillar for her brother, but of no avail.   

I feel touched when the news channels write in bold red, ‘Sarabjit is Dead.’

No one knows the truth of Sarabjit’s life. Not me, nor you.

The fact to focus on is, even if he was one of the spies working for Indian government, shouldn’t our government rethink its strategy on spies and other innocents who go astray near Indo-Pak border and end up meeting indescribable fates? Because there are many more Sarabjit’s in Pakistani jail’s who are fighting hard to come back to India.

Rest in Peace, Martyr Sarabjit Singh !

(PS: The views expressed by me are PERSONAL)

Why INDIA is so violent?

The anger, antagonism, outrage and collective soul searching which the country witnessed in the wake of a young girl’s brutal gang rape in Delhi could only get magnified by her death in a hospital in Singapore – a place, where she would have once dreamt to serve as a doctor being a medical student.  The protests started in Delhi where the shrill and anger of the Indians who were in deep slumber until recently, could then be heard from every ‘galli’, ‘nukkad’ and ‘muhalla.’ 

The protests in major cities across the country observed men, women and children screaming for justice and an end to the violence on women. Many others in the social and conventional media have added their commentary to the chorus. This isn’t necessarily the view of the majority of Indians, but certainly represents, at the very least, a vocal minority that is giving vent to deeply held frustrations.

But in a country with an abysmally low rate of convictions for rape and other crimes against women, (26% last year, down from 46% in the 1970s) it seems to be pointless to fixate on ratcheting up the penalty further. Consider that out of 635 cases of rape reported in Delhi this past year only one has led to a conviction. In a country of 124 Crore Indians, the countrymen raised their voice for just one incident. It’s perhaps understandable that people, frustrated by a failed and unresponsive system, are looking for novel and creative solutions to tackle the problem of violence in our society.  

As the Indian Republic heads into its 64th year, we seem to be caught between an illiberal, insensitive government-political class and a rampaging mob demanding instant solutions, with only a thin line separating the two. The gang rape ought to have been understood as a complex socio-political issue, resulting as much from bad policing as from entrenched notions of female purity and honour.

The irony which is intended to be raised through this article is, whether Delhi – the country’s capital should now be called as Rape Capital or Rage Capital?  

Life appears full circle for Yuvraj Singh

9:30pm. 10.2 Over’s. It’s another wicket down for India. Raina falls this time. Loud cheers at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, even as Raina was walking off. It was a much anticipated return of ‘You-We’ (Yuvraj Singh).

It appeared as if just for a moment cricket took a back seat.

If you would have touched down any day before 8^th September at Vishakapatnam, a huge hoarding just in front of the cricket stadium proclaimed – “Welcome to the city of Destiny.” It was for a man who has been on a roller coaster of nightmares, dreams and ideas.

Yuvraj Singh was the fairy-tale at Vishakapatnam, a full capacity crowd had thronged inside the stadium in the anticipation of two major milestones. Vishakapatnam was hosting its first ever T-20 Match and it was a very extraordinary match for all Indians. A born-again Indian batsman – Yuvraj Singh was expected to commence his second innings on the cricket field.

The weather gods however had dissimilar ideas as rain made the match non-starter.   

Yuvraj was diagnosed with the ailment between his lungs within months of winning Man of the Tournament award in 2011 World Cup. His cricket career seemed to be in danger when the diagnosis was first revealed but this flamboyant all-rounder brawled back after undergoing three phases of chemotherapy in US.       

  

His comeback triggered excitement. Earlier he had mentioned that it was a new lease of life for him and he wanted to make that most of it. It doesn’t matters whether he scored 1 run or 34. What mattered was that he was playing.

The unique part behind this story is that he took a lap for few days and we, as One Country, One India, cheered for him. Though this champion of ours, had encountered such big problems, but the key was that when he was back on the field, he forgot it all.

Though India lost the match by 1 run, but Yuvraj Singh was the WINNER. 

Tribute to the LEADER

An aviator, an entrepreneur, an industrialist, a visionary, a reformer, a leader and a patriot – Shri J R D Tata was born at Paris on 29th July 1904. The year 2012 is marked as the 108th Birth Anniversary of this legend who lived his live to transform the nation.

J R D Tata was the first Indian to have flown from Karachi to Bombay, when he founded the Tata Airlines in 1932, the forerunner of Air India which is today the national airliner.

he man who obtained the first pilot licence issued in India took this country to the next level. Ever since, he landed at India, he kept on adding new dimensions to this nation. Creating employments for lakhs of people in the world and working with a motive which aimed only at nation development, talks about the magnanimity and the generosity of the spirit named ‘Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata.’

The nation honoured J R D Tata with numerous commendations including the nation's highest civilian award - Bharat Ratna.

The Indian Air Force conferred the rank of Air Commodore on J R D Tata and later promoted him to the rank of Air Vice-Marshal.

This gentleman has made a conglomerate grow, which takes a credit of providing the services and products to the world ranging from salt to software. Under his chairmanship, ‘M’ was replaced by ‘B’ (The Tata Group grew from 100 Million dollar company to 5 Billion dollar company). He started with 14 enterprises under his leadership and half a century later on July 26, 1988, when he left, Tata & Sons was a conglomerate of 95 enterprises which they either started or in which they had controlling interest.

Today on the auspicious occasion of 108th Birth Anniversary of this pioneer, I feel proud to be a part of his legacy and I pledge to sustain this legacy.

Varinder Singh
Blood Group - 'T'