The Bharatiya Chhatra Sansad is an Indian Student Parliament initiated in 2011 to provide a platform for young student leaders across India to interact, discuss issues, and be guided by eminent leaders. It aims to mobilize student leaders and encourage them to enter public life and politics to provide positive leadership to the country. Over 25,000 students from 400 universities participate annually. The event includes sessions with prominent personalities from various fields. It aims to enhance the role of youth in democracy and politics by providing political training and guidance to young people.

1. Democracy.. Leadership.. Governance..

3. Chhatrarth - February 2014 1

4. NO
TITLE
04
What is Bharatiya Chhatra Sansad?
05
Voters Savdhan! “Beware of Social Media”
08
Is Consumerism Consuming India?
12
Money and Politics
16
Channelising Youth Power
17
Role of Corporate Governance
Operations
Vasudeva Dongare
21
Glimpses - 4th Bharatiya Chhatra Sansad
Design and Layout
Pravin Shinde
26
Philosophy of Consumerism
30
Voice of Youth
34
Developmental Administration
36
Voice of Youth in BCS 2014
38
Tech Savvy India
41
Photo feature
42
Letters to The Editor
43
In the next issue
44
Last Issue - My take
Vol. I, Issue : 5
February 2014
Editor
Rahul Vishwanath Karad
Chief Coordinator, BCSF
Prof. (Gp. Capt.) D. P. Apte
Consulting Editor
Dheeraj Singh
Resident Editor
Makarand Malwe
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5. Rahul V. Karad
Founder Convenor-BCS
Initiator & Dean,
MITSOG
Dear Readers,
in the last 62 years India has progressed tremendously, but the development has
been tangent. There is a dearth of young leaders withintegrity, discipline, energy,
enthusiasm, morality, and diligence, especially in the field of governance of the
nation. The apathy of today’s youth towards politics is justified to some extent. But
ratherthan being passive observers, they can contribute in many ways. Looking at
the on-coming LS elections to be held this year, the youth will have to play a major
role in determining a good governing team at the Centre. Besides election, much can
be done in areas like educating people, raising awareness about social issues such as
unemployment, underemployment, socio-economic inequalities and poverty social
unity, justice and peace, as well as long-term development in the global context.
Inequality and discrimination is still so deep-rooted that lot of efforts need to be
made to eradicate these anomalies which is possible only by inducting youth with
morals into the nation’s governance process. The recently held 4thBharatiya Chhatra
Sansad conveys this message strongly. It provides lessons on the functioning of a
democracy and encourages the students to serve the society by entering public life
i.e. by taking active part in politics of country and perform leadership roles.
This issue of Chhatrarth, which is dedicated to the students and youth of the world,
contains many debateable and interesting views besides extracts of speeches given
by prominent stalwarts of the nation, namely Dr. Abhay Firodia, Chairman, Force
Motors; Mr. Sudheendra Kulkarni, Ex-Sec. PMO, Govt. of India; eminent journalist
Mr. Swaminathan Gurumurthy, and Shri. J.P. Vaswani, spiritual guru & head, Sadhu
Vaswani Mission, during the BCS process.
As Swami Vivekananda has said: “Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life;
dream of it; think of it; live on that idea. Let the brain, the body, muscles, nerves,
every part of your body be full of that idea and just leave every other idea alone. This
is the way to success”. Chhatrarth wishes you readers to emulate the philosophy of
Swamiji and seek higher growth in your day-today life.
-Editor
Chhatrarth - February 2014 3

6. What is Bharatiya Chhatra Sansad?
Bharatiya Chhatra Sansad envisages that motivated , committed and dynamic political youth leaders will emerge
to provide a positive leadership to the country and practise ethics in politics
B
haratiya Chhatra Sansad (Indian
Student Parliament) was initiated
by Prof. Rahul V. Karad, Chief Initiator
and Dean of MIT-SOG in 2011.
Students from 25000 colleges of
more than 400 universities in the
Country participate in this grand
event.
Mission :
Bharatiya Chhatra Sansad’s (Indian
Student Parliament) mission is to
mobilize the Student Union Leaders
of India to come together on a single
platform with a view to entering
public life and bringing about a
positive change in the leadership
of the country. This will be done by
regularly convening parliament of
student leaders at the national and
state levels in collaboration with
the state legislative assemblies and
by divulging the leaders to eminent
personalities of repute, who will
guide them in this Endeavour.
Objectives :
• To create a common platform for
4 Chhatrarth - February 2014
the young student leaders.
• To facilitate interaction with
eminent leaders from different
sectors.
• To sensitize the participants to
think on regional, national & global
issues.
• To focus on the areas which need
immediate attention followed by
action.
• To create solidarity and a sense
of togetherness among the
participants for future cooperation.
• To foster brotherhood and mutual
understanding.
• To inculcate democratic outlook.
• To initiate a process to attain
equality & social harmony.
Impact :
The
overwhelming
and
spontaneous response to the 1st,
2nd, 3rd Bharatiya Chhatra Sansad
has been very encouraging. The 4th
BCS strived further to enhance its
achievements so far. The 4th BCS was
organized on 10th, 11th, 12th Jan
2014 at MAEER's MIT campus, Pune
comprising of eight sessions apart
from the inaugural & valedictory
sessions. In the span of these three
days participants got an opportunity
to
interact
with
prominent
personalities
from
politics,
spirituality, environment, media,
social activism, entertainment &
sports world and speak their mind
on the dais.
Former President A P J Abdul Kalam,
spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar,
UIDAI chief Nandan Nilekani and
actor Aamir Khan are among the
host of prominent personalities
who addressed the first 'Parliament
of Student Council Leaders' held in
Pune.
2nd Bharatiya Chhatra Sansad (2nd
Indian Student Parliament) which
was held on January 10, 11 & 12,
2012 provided a platform for the
young student leaders to engage
in dialogues and deliberations to
develop a national perspective on
numerous contemporary issues of
importance.

7. Guests of honour lightening the lamp of 4th Bharatiya Chhatra Sansad
Third Bharatiya Chhatra Sansad
(BCS) was held in association with the
Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and
Sports, Government of India, Ministry
of Higher & Technical Education and
Ministry of Sports & Youth Welfare,
government of Maharashtra, under
the aegis of Bharatiya Chhatra
Sansad Foundation. Rajesh Tope,
Maharashtra Higher & Technical
Education minister, and Padmakar
Valvi, State Youth Affairs & Sports
minister and Mr. R.K. Laxman were
the keynote speakers.
Bharatiya
Chhatra
Sansad
provides political coaching to
nearly 10,000 students in the age
group of 18-25. It provides lessons
on the functioning of a democracy
and encourages the students to
serve the society by entering public
life i.e. by taking active part in
politics of country and perform
leadership roles.
It is aimed at enhancing the roles
and relevance of youth in democratic
institutions like political parties,
social
organizations,
colleges,
universities and Public institutions.
India is the largest democratic
country in the world. It is a nonpolitical platform.
Role of Youth :
Young
people
should
be
considered both as a key factor for
helping the society to overcome
the crisis like unemployment,
underemployment, socio-economic
inequalities and poverty. It will help
to gain political stability and social
unity, justice and peace, as well
as long-term development in the
global context. The youth should
take active participation in politics as
this is important for the reformation
of society. The inequality and
discrimination is still so deep-rooted
that lot of efforts needs to be taken
by the youth of the country to
eradicate these anomalies and it is
only possible through their active
participation in the politics.
Our country desperately needs
young leaders who have energy,
enthusiasm, morality, and diligence.
India has progressed a lot in the
last 62 years but the development
has been completely different. In
these past years young people were
not given opportunities to prove
themselves as they are not having
enough experience to participate
actively in the governance of the
country. It has become the monopoly
of old leaders to be in majority in
most of the political parties of the
country. Experienced people should
realize that proper development can
take place only when they involve
younger generation to take active
part in all the governance activities. It
is the moral duty of the experienced
leaders to induct young blood into
the main stream politics and guide
the youngsters to be future leaders
of the country.
Youngsters can contribute in many
ways than just contesting elections.
Much can be done in areas like
educating people, raising awareness
about various social issues and many
other areas.
As Kiran Bedi said - Only those
youth with adequate training about
governance and related issues
should enter politics and cleanse the
system from the roots.
MIT School of Government (MITSOG), under the guidance of Prof.
Rahul Vishwanath Karad, is the first
and of its kind institute in India &
Asia to initiate a one-year full time
residential academic program titled
"Masters Program in Government
or MPG" for a career in Politics.
The students in this programme are
taught to undergo rigorous training
on various aspects of Politics &
Government. MPG programme is a
combination of theory, case studies
and wide practical exposure, which
is imparted through Interactive
sessions with eminent leaders from
various sectors, local field visits,
study tours and internships with
political leaders & offices of the
political parties.
- Vandana Dhumal
Chhatrarth - February 2014 5

8. voters savdhan! “BeWare of soCial media”
Social media is the new mantra that is being used by the political parties to reach out to the younger
and vibrant youth of India
C
ampaigning plays a very
important and crucial role
during the elections. It showcases
the party profile, their goals in near
future and what the public expects
from them. Social media is a new
trend in India. It is a concept of
using electronic platform to interact
with the people across the globe,
anywhere, anytime. Social media
comprise of certain websites such
as Social Bookmarking, Social News,
Video Sharing, Wikis, and Blogs etc.
With the changing politics in India,
the ways to reaching out to a younger
and aspirational Indians too are
changing. Political parties have taken
a giant leap from the era when they
6 Chhatrarth - February 2014
used to campaign by mainly using
posters, cardboard cutouts, fliers and
house-to-house visits. Today they
are campaigning by embracing the
recent technological development
called social media. In Urban India
political parties are becoming tech
savvy, realizing that this is the only
way to reach out to the articulate
young. Among the major parties the
BJP has strong and biggest presence
in social media followed by Congress
Party. There are many eminent
politicians using tweeter like Kapil
Sibal, Shashi Tharoor, Digvijay Singh
, Sushma Swaraj, Rajnath Singh and
not to forget Narendra Modi & Rahul
Gandhi. They are using this social
medium to live in contact with the
citizens.
Today every political party has
recognized this new and powerful
medium to interact with the masses,
make them participate and enable a
2 –way communication. Social media
are becoming a primary outlets and
expressive written medium via web
pages, blogs and more.
Political communication are driven
by third parties usually citizens,
Firms and foundations or Non
Profit seeking firms to encourage
greater involvement of young
people in India. But with elections
approaching, the grey end of India’s

9. politics is deploying their dubious
tools of trade and playing dirty
game.
It was found by Cobra post
Investigation (A Research Agency)
that there are many IT firms
that are engaged in the racket
of manipulating reputation of
politicians on popular social media
sites by:
Creating fake followers and online
fan base in lakhs. It was found during
the study that Mr. Ashok Gehlot,
Chief Minister of Rajasthan had fake
Facebook followers who were based
in Instanbul.
Providing demographic data on
voters divided on linguistics and
communal lines for effective booth
management to win elections.
These firms hire journalists or even
detectives to throw muck on Netaji’s
opponent. These firms use different
IP addresses offshore servers , proxy
codes or wireless connections,
disable tracking device of computer
system and destroy the same when
the job is over.
These firms charge between few
lakhs to couple of crores to provide
such
reputation
management
services. They accept only cash
payments to avoid paper trail of
connection between them and their
clients (political parties).
These firms hack into the
computers of other individuals to
post defamatory contents using their
IPs. Use internet based messaging to
circumvent TRAI guidelines on mass
SMSes .
Wrongly, social media is being
used to play dangerous game in
an already vitiated communal
environment. Use of social media is
done today for fanning hatred and
communal sentiments. Example;
Recent riots in Muzaffarnagar in UP
or exodus of Northeastern people
from cities across India last year.
All this matter because Social
Media is going to play a huge role in
upcoming elections.
Such trickery and dirt game on
Social Media will affect the 243
million users of social medium.
Through such usage of Social Media
the sentiment and faith of AAM admi
is been abused by these politicians.
Therefore I appeal to the voters to
be more careful while selecting and
voting the leader for India’s bright
future and do justice to the nation’s
integrity.
- Mrs. Meenal K Pendse
Chhatrarth - February 2014 7

10. Is Consumerism Consuming India?
If you say consumption is consumerism then somehow you are making a connection between over –consumption
that you see and the depravity, poverty and misery
W
e
are
talking
about
consumerism, What is it, What
does it do, Where it arises from
and India; is it badly affected, is
it deteriorated, as a result of this
aspect-that is consumerism. Let
me begin by invoking Gandhi. One
of Gandhi’s devoted followers, a
very respectful man, came to the
Fergusson College as a visitor in the
1940s where my uncle was studying
as student. My uncle narrated to
me that a young energetic man
asked him; what plans do you have
to improve the standard of living
of Indians, once India becomes
independent. The answer that
Gandhian gave had one very specific
view. He said `my friend why do
you want to increase the standard
of living? Increase the standard of
satisfaction. Consuming something,
enhancing
your
expenditure,
expanding your own presence is
not necessarily satisfaction. Are you
interested in consumption? Are
you interested in merely acquiring
things or are you interested in being
a better and happier human being?
Now this is one view, we have
to remember that this view was
expressed by a man who was born
in the 19th century in the steam
age before the automobile, the
telephone, the television and many
other gizmos and gadgets, fast
foods, concrete buildings, highways.
He belonged to a much matured
society, a much matured line of
thought .But that was the old world.
The world changes, modern world
has evolved, we live in this world.
We don’t live in the world of 19th
century. We are in the 20th century,
the I Pad, the mobile phone, the
scooter, the motorcycle, the airplane;
all are realities of modern world.
When you use a shampoo or you eat
some readymade food or you use
a better quality of soap, you have
to do so in order to be at a level of
performance, efficiency in society
which is expected.
You can go and say, I want to lie on
the banks of Ganga wear nothing but
a langoti and look at the Ganga and
feel happy about it or if you are more
modern you may say well, I will go to
a beach in Goa and will lie there and I
don’t want to do anything else. Then
you are not consuming. Believe me
happy, Can you sustain yourself, have
you the way with all to completely
shun consuming anything? If not,
then you have to understand what
One side of the coin is over consumption due to number of supermarkets and malls
8 Chhatrarth - February 2014

11. is the level of consumption that you
are obliged to have without which
you can’t be competitive, modern,
creative and be in synchronization
with the world around you.
So consumerism should not be
condemned out of sight. There is
an example, Water if it enters the
boat, the boat sinks, but if there
is no water you can’t operate the
boat. For the boat to float and go
from one place to another you need
water but you should not allow the
water to get into the boat because
if that happens the boat would
sink.. Situation with consumption is
similar; you need consumption and
you need sufficient consumption
in order to be successful; efficient
and effective but if you become
just a consumer then you are liable
to sink like the boat full of water.
Consumerism has to be looked at
in very balanced manner. You can’t
condemn that outright and you can’t
embrace it in a hedonistic manner.
You say I just want to have a fling
with life; you have to do both things.
Consumption does put a load on
earth, when we have millions of
automobiles and when we have so
much of electricity being produced,
so many boilers being run, we do
pollute the atmosphere. When we
take minerals out we do pollute
the environment. So we have to be
clear that there are costs to be paid
for making the society modern, but
can you say that I will not live in the
modern society that is an intention
which is extra ordinarily difficult to
meet.
In today’s world, a fridge, a watch,
a laptop, and an I Pad, all of these
are essentials and therefore having
many such things in my opinionate
consumerism, it is consumption and
it is valid consumption in current
times.
To look at the way our country
has changed, I would like you to
take back you in history, India, 4-5
thousand years ago was Dravidian,
a highly evolved society which
what we now call as Indus valley
civilization, peaceful society, no arms
no armaments have been found in
Indus valley side. The society which
was orderly organized lived by
agriculture lived by a set of values.
However, The Aryan invasion,
transformed the society into an
aggressive conquering society.
India changed, morals changed,
values changed then came the
Muslim invasion and the Mughals.
Again India changed, complete
transformation as different from
the Aryan society. Then came
the colonialists. They came and
they brought modern education
along with them, they brought the
company, they brought the bank,
the insurance company which
transformed Indian society. Do
you know the name of the bank of
Mughals or the insurance company
of Peshwas that didn’t exist?
If India modernized in the last
two hundred years, it was mainly
because the joint stock companies
Chhatrarth - February 2014 9

12. were introduced which could create
wealth, the insurance companies
got introduced because the beared
risks and enterprise was possible,
the development was possible,
employment was possible. So there
was a hug transition to a new set
of values and a new kind of society.
Gandhi transformed India in the
early part of last century. Gandhi’s
period is roughly from 1920-1950;
30 years, but in that two and a half
decade Gandhi changed India with
a new set of values. Gandhi was
not alone in this endeavour. Swami
Vivekananda, Tilak, and Tagorethese people created new set of
values, they were not western but
they were modern. Each one of
them had a set of ideals which were
extremely modern but they didn’t
jettison the intrinsic values created
in this country over centuries and
eons.
Today in 2014 we are standing in
post Hazzare age, the impact that
Gandhi had on India was to create
10 Chhatrarth - February 2014
that urge for freedom as a mass
movement. Was Tilak a smaller man?
No. He was a great scholar. A very
burning nationalist, courageous
man but he was not a mass leader.
He was an intellectual of the highest
order. Gandhi was a mass leader;
he was an intellectual no doubt. He
taught the message that freedom
has to be won by every generation.
It is not something, handed down to
you. You want freedom, stand for it.
In the post Hazzare era, they are
again awakened; this generation has
to examine again, what do we want
of this country? How do we want our
country to be governed?. Are we a
corrupt country? Are we a mislead
country? Are we a badly governed
country? Are all our laws wrong must
we wreck everything; can we not
modify; can we not improve; these
are some of the important issues to
be debated upon.
It is said that the person who is not
a socialist before the age of 25 has
no heart and a person who remains a
socialist after 25 has no head. I have
to say that there is much more to
life .I will give you a small example.
Most people who get married don’t
think about responsibilities in life
afterwards. So today when we stand
on the cusp of history, when we are
looking at a new age in India, I want
to challenge the young people. Want
the young people to respect the fact
that we don’t only want change; we
want to change for the better.
So consumerism is not necessarily
bad. You can’t live without
consumption and is it consuming
India?. If you say consumption is
consumerism then somehow you
are making a connection between
over consumption that you see and
the depravity, poverty and misery
that you see has been connected
with consumerism, this is a mistake
in my opinion. I believe that we have
to put aside political issues.
Our politicians in the last over half a
century have misled us on two fronts.

13. One, they sold us wrong medicine.
They told us that socialism delivers.
I am sorry it does not. Every socialist
country in the world which failed has
changed. China, Russia and whole of
Eastern Europe has changed. There is
only Cuba hanging there with North
Korea, those who feel that this kind
of aggressive socialism will deliver,
please immigrate to Cuba or North
Korea.
If you want India to be prosperous
then you have to have a more
balanced approach. You have to
look for growth. You can’t get rid
of consumerism. You can’t avoid
modernity. A trick in recognizing
it is we want to be modern but not
western. Quoting Japan which is
smaller than the state of Maharashtra,
they are not millitarilistic but believe
me if they choose to be so, within 5
years it can become a global military
power. That is their competence.
In my opinion India should not
lose sight of the need to grow.
Seven thousand young energetic
fresh faces, want to say that is India
every day. The problem is that we
can’t produce one thousand jobs
merely by distributive justice. I am
not against distributive justice at all
but it is like distributing something
which is national, which is not there.
You need growth first and if you are
going to have growth, you have to
have policies which support growth
not policies which simply support
distribution.
We should create wealth and
prosperity to embrace, understand
and tame, control consumerism
but you can’t do without it. In these
worlds if you want to be a sadhu it
is not an option. India is polarizing
fast. In the last one year the average
Indian’s thinking has changed
dramatically. We are on the cusp of
another change and if we stand for
the same in the next two years our
country will change dramatically.
That it will change dramatically is
indisputable, whether it will change
for the better is if we follow policies
which ensure that we consume, we
create, we distribute in a sensible
manner based on the market
economy. Market economy is not
lending our country to Tata or Birla.
These are wrong concepts. Market
economy means consumer, you who
are buying a mobile, a motorcycle or
a t-shirt or a coca-cola, whatever it
is. You decide what you want. That is
Market Economy.
So I want to submit that we can’t
do without consumption, that we
have to cater for that consumption,
have to create the growth and when
we create that growth we have to
ensure that our enduring values of
society are protected, that we don’t
just westernize for the heck of it, but
we must modernize and we must be
moderate.
Gandhi’s message was economic
and social. According to economic
message we should be self sufficient,
self reliant and creative. Khadi was not
a fad. It was to make you self relied.
The other message is be conciliatory.
Don’t get into accusation phase and
split the society. Nehru tried that and
failed. We have to have a conciliatory
society. We have to differentiate
between what Congress, BJP, and
AAP stands for. Anarchy is easy to be
achieved but I am not for it. It is easy
to destroy but difficult to build.
The task for youth is to build. A
sensible youth will never destroy.
Dont think of consumerism as
consuming India; think how
consumerism can enrich the lives of
people living in India. How can we
better distribute it?.Don’t act before
you think. It will be American system
of management. So I want every
youth to think what consumerism
is. Is it consuming our society or is it
something which is necessary and
if it is necessary how we are going
to control it, how we are going to
create more. How we’re going to
distribute better. I am sure you will
do your best and take the country
you love forward.
- Dr. Abhay Firodia.
Chairman, Force Motors
Chhatrarth - February 2014 11

14. money and PolitiCs
is demoCraCy for
sale?
Corruption and the influence of money power on politics is something that is playing havoc with
the entire political system
elders. There
I
consider the Indian Student
Parliament as a truly commendably
initiative. The name Parliament
associated with this annual session is
significant and I want to dwell a little
on the significance of calling this
Parliament. India has adopted the
Parliamentary form of Democracy.
India’s parliament, as we all know, is
situated in Delhi.
Then why has that Parliament come
here to Pune on the aegis of BCS? It
not a rhetorical question, it goes to
the heart of what democracy is all
about. The essential characteristic of
Parliament is that it’s a consultative
body; it’s a deliberative body, a body
that deliberates on the issues of
national and societal importance.
Of course, Parliament in Delhi is a
unique one, it is established by the
Constitution of India and therefore
it’s not just a consultative body but
also a legislative body. It has the part
to enact laws. But it would be wrong
for us to think that there could be
only one Parliament in India. There
can be only one Lok Sabha but
there can be several associations of
people such as Farmer’s Parliament,
Student’s
Parliament,
Business
parliament,
Spiritual
leader’s
parliament. For example, Swami
Vivekananda participated in world’s
first parliament of World Religion, it
was also called as Parliament, and so
parliament is a place where there is a
meaningful dialogue.
Now this has become all the
more necessary because the real
parliament, the constitutionally
established
parliament,
unfortunately
has
become
dysfunctional. We can only hear
about walk outs and back outs in
12 Chhatrarth - February 2014
Indian Parliaments but we cannot
find appropriate discussions taking
place. The Indian Student Parliament
is setting a very good example for
everyone. Become more disciplined,
become more involved, discuss
across
ideological
differences,
difference
of
politics,
social
differences, because each of you
as if envisaged by this parliament
is expected to become tomorrow’s
leader.
You should set a new example, a
different example, a better example.
The youth is not an attribute of
age, young in idealism, young in
commitment, young in adventurism,
young in terms of ambition,
young in terms of innovation, the
determination to do new things
in spite of all odds, but young also
as our philosophy, our culture, our
spiritual traditions teach us young
also in your willingness to learn from
should be no arrogance among
young people that the elders have
messed up things so we don’t need
their advise, we alone can set things
right. Don’t think so, because those
who are elders were also at one
time young people like you. They
were also patriotic, they were also
dreamers like you and they were
also idealistic. They struggled, they
succeeded in some things and they
failed in others. So learn from their
mistakes, but respect them and try
to go beyond them.
Learn from the past, that never
remain prisoners of past. And I
would like to urge you, especially
reflect upon this question: Why
is our democracy in a bad shape?
You should also know that in
spite of all the shortcomings our
democracy, our parliamentary form
of democracy has fared better than

15. others.
Just look at our neighborhood.
Few days ago, elections were held
in Bangladesh Parliament. What a
farcical elections it was! Even before
the elections were held, the ruling
party got a majority. Out of 300
seats 154 were elected unopposed.
Bangladesh is in turmoil. You all are
also aware of what is happening in
Pakistan. For the first time in 67 years
an elected government completed
5 years. Every time a question arose
if Musharaf would hold the power
once again or if Kayani Sahab would
capture power. Somehow or the
other the government completed
5 years, which means that even
Pakistan is in doldrums as far as
democracy is concerned. Nepal is
not able to even draft and adopt a
Constitution. The problems in Sri
Lanka are well known. Above us,
northwards, in China there is no
democracy, there is no Parliament
itself. The Parliament that belongs to
a communist party, one party rule.
So if you look at this we certainly
have achieved something and we
should be proud of what we have
achieved.
We should protect what we have
achieved and resolve to go forward.
Nevertheless, we cannot turn a blind
eye to the shortcomings of our
Parliamentary democracy. And the
biggest shortcomings, the biggest
blot on the democracy is how the
power of money is increasingly
dominating democracy, dissipating
democracy, damaging democracy
and as a result more and more
people are becoming cynical and
getting frustrated. The emergence
to the Aam Aadmi Party, is a sign of
frustration and also a sign of their
determination to try something
new. Why is this so?
Rahulji has told me that you should
not only talk about problems but also
focus on solutions. I have a few ideas
but before I come to that I would tell
you, I was for a long time an activist
for BJP, I am not with BJP any more. I
am not with any party any more. But
with some experience of politics, I
would tell you it’s my advice to you
please don’t get carried away by
any wave. Be objective, be critical.
When you look at all the political
parties, don’t just blindly accept
what the leaders are saying because
corruption, the influence of money
power on politics is something that
is playing the entire political system.
When the short film was projected
on me there was one point missing,
in the year 2008 I had taken some
efforts to expose the influence of
money on politics. I was in BJP at that
time and few of the political leaders
and MPs had decided to expose the
most shameful episode in politics. In
July 2008 UPA won government and
it reduced to minority, that the Left
parties had withdrawn their support
in UPA government.
The issue was, the indo-US nuclear
deal, I still have very high regards for
Dr. Manmohan Singh. I regard him
as one of the better Prime Ministers
that we had and I said so openly a
few days ago and a lot of my previous
party colleagues were not happy
with me at all. Nevertheless I think
that under Dr. Manmohan Singhji’s
Prime Ministership, the way in which
elected Members of Parliament
belonging to the opposite parties
were purchased just to ensure that
the government would survive the
trust owed to the Lok Sabha was a
very shameful episode. 10 Crores,
20 crores, 25 crores were paid to
each Member of Parliament to cross
over and support the government.
We tried to expose it. The scandal
came to known as ‘The Cash for
Vote Scandal’. For my role in it, I was
imprisoned for two months in Tihar
Shri Sudheendra Kulkarni ,Former Secretary, PMO talking about ‘ Money and Politics ‘
Chhatrarth - February 2014 13

16. Jail. I don’t have any regrets for I
really thought that I had done the
right thing.
Going to jail for doing the right
thing actually enlightened me and
educated me more on the realities
of Indian politics and also on the
realities of our criminal justice
system, what happens in Indian jails,
what happens to common people,
common prisoners who spend years
and years and years in jail without
even a trial beginning, I have seen
all this first hand. But I don’t blame
only Congress party for this. Around
the same time that the cash for votes
happened, a different type of Cash
for Vote was enacted by BJP. You
must be knowing about ‘Operation
Kamal’ in Karnataka, there was one
government which emerged as the
largest party in assembly but did not
get the majority votes.
There was a danger of Government
14 Chhatrarth - February 2014
collapsing and therefore the
then Chief Minister and others
had planned something called
‘Operation Kamal’. What did it mean?
It meant that MLAs belonging to
opposition party were paid huge
sums of money, made to resign and
then contest the mid-term elections
on the ticket of BJP and get elected
and thereby get converted their
minority into majority. This was also
‘Cash for Vote’ of a different type.
And saying this, just to tell you that,
the corruption in the Indian political
system is not the monopoly of any
one party. Some are more corrupt,
some are less corrupt.
I was talking to a former student of
MIT School of Government, a young
student for whom I have great
admiration. After having studied in
this school he has gone back to his
village in Maharashtra and is serving
the people with utmost dedication
and of course he believes he should
serve the people even in the field
of politics. He wants to contest
elections and he deserves to contest
elections and even get elected.
He was telling me that I wanted to
contest election as a candidate of a
particular party and the party asked
him to pay some of 5 crore rupees for
the ticket. This is also Cash for Vote
of a different kind. Today in many
political parties, not all political
parties, it has become a norm for the
candidate to pay money to the party
leadership in crores of rupees just to
become a candidate.
If this is how the elections are
conducted, what can become of
our democracy? I know of cases
where candidates pay 10 thousand
rupees, 15 thousand rupees per
voter. They are spending crores and
crores of rupees in elections. Is this
how elections are to be fought? Is

17. parliament for sale? Is the Vidhaan
Sabha for sale? Is the Panchayat
for sale? If Parliament becomes a
market place, what will happen
to India’s democracy? We used to
compare ourselves with neighboring
countries such as Bangladesh,
Pakistan, China and feel proud. But if
this trend continues it will be a great
threat. We need to recognize this
threat. We must remove the blot of
money power on Indian Politics.
Now I come to some positive things
we can do to reduce corruption
in politics. We cannot completely
eliminate but what can we do? I
believe we must first of all admit that
political parties need money. Where
will the money come from? If Indian
democracy needs political parties,
we are multi-party democracy, and
then it is the responsibility of people
to fund the political parties and also
to fund the elections. So one big
change that we should bring about
is let there be a certain tax. We are
ready to pay surcharge on diesel
and petrol for national highway
development project, surcharge
on tax for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan,
why should people not pay tax
to keep the democracy working?
Otherwise these political parties will
depend on builders, contractors, big
industrialists and sometimes also
on the money coming from abroad
which is cancerous.
So my first solution is that let us
earn funding of political parties and
funding of elections by the people
of India. There is a benefit in this, if
people fund political parties they
can demand accountability. Some
months back there was demand
to bring political parties under
the purview of RTI. All the political
parties said no, we don’t want to
come under RTI. But imagine when
every citizen pays a little for the
legitimate activities of the political
parties and also for their election
needs then every citizen has also the
right to demand how the money is
spent. So we need accountability
from political parties.
As someone who has worked very
closely in the political system, I can
tell you, as far as funds collection
is concerned and expenditure is
concerned there is absolutely no
transparency. In any political party
the treasurer never shows the
balance sheet even to the members
of the party. How much money came
in, from where did it come and where
has it gone is unknown to everyone.
We must have transparency in the
financial functioning of the political
party. My second suggestion is that
we should as is envisaged by our
constitution – executive is different,
legislative being of democracy is
different.
Unfortunately, today only people
who are elected as MPs and MLAs
become Ministers. Why should it be
so? The government, the Cabinet,
the Council of Ministers is part of the
executive. Why should only MPs and
MLAs become Ministers? In many
countries of the World the Ministers
are not elected representatives.
They are chosen on the account of
their expertise, their competence,
their policy making. India today is
facing very complex challenges. Is
the power ministry consulting any
knowledgeable person or some
appropriate person to solve the
problem of Natural gas, oil, power?
For the environment shouldn’t an
environmentalist be a Minister?
For science and technology a
person related to the field of Science
and technology should be the
minister.
So my second suggestion is that
we should de-link the executive
and legislative rules of democracy
and must have at least 25%
of the Ministers coming from
outside Parliament and outside
Vidhan Sabha. This will reduce the
importance of money in Indian
Politics.
My another third suggestion is
that our democracy to be truly a
representative, we should have
a proportionate representation.
In many constituencies, 40, 50,
60 % people vote. If there are 5-6
candidates, the person who is
selected will have the support of
20-30% of the voters. Is he the true
representative? He is not. What
about those parties which have only
5-10 % of the total vote but never
get elected? They can’t get a single
candidate elected.
In the spirit of democracy,
representativeness of democracy
I think the time has come at least
to have some members of the
Parliament and State legislatures
who come from this new peculation
of proportionate representation.
This means that the parties have to
spend less on getting their people
elected in the parliament. This
means the domination of money
power to that extent will come
down. Next, we simply have to
decentralize. Mahatma Gandhi’s call
all along the course of the freedom
struggle was what we should have
in free India, a Political system,
a government system based on
decentralization of power. There is
too much centralization of power in
New Delhi and in the state capitals.
Decentralization is absolutely must
because the closer the people are
in the building power they are the
people the more vigilance people
can have on the functioning if those
representatives. We can have many
technical solutions but unless we
reach an ethical revival or moral
revival in the Indian Politics people
will always find ways to subvert
every new solution that we could
follow. Swaraj is not only political
freedom; Swaraj is self control and
not ruling others. We need people
in politics who are capable of Self
Control. Mahatma Gandhi says “Self
is individual self, the society self, the
nation self, the entire humanity self but there is a larger self”. S stands for
God. We should follow God. When
we think of God and do our work we
will not commit any mistakes. We
won’t get into corruption. So if we
want a democracy to survive there
should be a revival in every human.
- Mr. Sudheendra Kulkarni
Former Secretary, PMO,
Govt. India
Chhatrarth - February 2014 15

18. Channelising Youth Power
There is an urgent need for ethical and valuebase education system building in all educational programmes to
make our youth better equipped to face the globalization challenge
T
he 2011 Census of India can
be a very good observation to
study the drift of Indian population.
66% of the total population is of
Youth between the age of 18 and 35.
Currently, it is largest in the world,
while developed countries are
facing this acute problem of old age
people’s population. India’s young
population is being sought out by
the corporate sector all over the
globe; our youth is getting attracted
towards all corners of the world to
achieve their boundary less growth.
There is great demand for our
young Indian talent in the world for
Information Technology in the past
decade. Even US President Obama
also has to take the cognizance of
Indian Talent and alerted American
youth to think of how to save their
job from the influx of Indian talent.
Though this is a very positive sign
for India to become a Super Power in
year 2020, it is also creating a lot of
issues which are very new for India.
The biggest challenge for the Indian
government is how to channelize
this talent and youth power to
achieve higher Gross Domestic
Product. Current education system
is not sufficient to hold the global
challenge that our youth is facing in
today’s global market. There is lot of
scarcity of skilled manpower in many
fields and at the same time there are
no jobs for a very large number of
young population. This can be easily
felt when there is a Placement fair in
cities like Pune or Mumbai, where the
queue of prospective candidates can
be seen more than 2 to 3 kilometres.
This picture clearly shows there is
lack of understanding in our today’s
youth in knowing the new avenues
of opportunity and to avoid over
saturation in any specific field. There
can be many reasons for this e.g they
never plan for their future, follow
16 Chhatrarth - February 2014
the crowd, choose career / course
by influence of others, get tempted
by current trends, influenced by
the media, live in fantasy world and
lack of motivation. But ‘frustration’
is a common problem our youth is
facing when they complete their
education system and try to enter
the open job market.
Overcrowding of youth in one
field is observed, where our young
engineers are expected to start their
career at a salary of Rs. 5000/-. Is it not
demotivating when they are starting
their career with such a paltry
amount? Our government needs
to protect our youth by making a
provision of minimum wages as per
their cadre to maintain the dignity of
our young population.
The concept of boundary less
country, boundary less jobs
(interdisciplinary) and world as
a global village is observed in
terms of job market. The frequent
international travel of today’s youth
is showing the change, which
India accepted to tap the global
opportunity. But the problem while
adopting this global culture is that
our Indian youth is easily adaptable
to the bad habits of western world,
as seen from many observations.
The tremendous sale of cigarettes
in front of any company / college,
hike in sale of liquor, the increasing
culture of pubs, high addiction of
social networking sites, the live-in
relationships, are some of the new
issues / problems our youth had
ventured into recently, which shows
that the youth is missing the power
to discover themselves. Our youth
is blindly following the western
countries and missing our great
Indian values and culture. India has
to pay a lot in coming future to do the
damage control which is happening
because of such misleaded youth
population.
India is becoming the land of
opportunities because of the youth
population. There is a urgent need
to promote, ethical and value base
education system building in all
educational programmes to make
our youth better equip to face the
globalization challenge. Today’s
youth is vibrant, want to take part
in system change, want to do work
against corruption, want to take
part in social work and change their
negative attitude in many sense
India can surely become a super
power in 2020, but it is not possible
without focusing on the issues of
youth.
Prof. Dinesh S. Bhutada

19. Role of Corporate Governance
Corporate governance system is one which attaches "a high degree of priority to the interests of shareholders
who have placed their trust in the company to use the funds wisely and effectively"
G
overnance refers to "all
processes
of
governing,
whether
undertaken
by
a
government, market, or network,
whether over a family, tribe, formal
or informal organization, or territory,
and whether through laws, norms,
power, or language." It relates to
processes and decisions that seek
to define actions, grant power, and
verify performance. In general terms,
governance occurs in three broad
waysThrough
networks
involving
public-private partnerships (PPP) or
with the collaboration of community
organizations;
Through the use of market
mechanisms
whereby
market
principles of competition serve to
allocate resources while operating
under government regulation;
Through top-down methods that
primarily involve governments and
the state bureaucracy.
Corporate governance refers to
the set of systems, principles and
processes by which a company
is governed. They provide the
guidelines as to how the company
can be directed or controlled
such that it can fulfill its goals and
objectives in a manner that adds
to the value of the company and is
also beneficial for all stakeholders
in the long-term. Stakeholders in
this case would include everyone
ranging from the board of directors,
management,
shareholders
to
customers, employees and society.
Corporate governance is based
on principles such as conducting
the business with all integrity and
fairness, being transparent with
regard to all transactions, making
all the necessary disclosures and
decisions, complying with all the
laws of the land, accountability
and responsibility towards the
stakeholders and commitment to
conducting business in an ethical
manner. Another point which is
highlighted in the SEBI report on
corporate governance is the need
for those in control to be able to
distinguish between what are
personal and corporate funds while
managing a company.
Why a discussion point?
Corporate governance has most
recently been debated after the
corporate fraud by Satyam founder
and Chairman Ramalinga Raju. In
fact, trouble started brewing at
Satyam around December 16 when
Satyam announced its decision to
buy stakes in Maytas Properties and
Infrastructure for $1.3 billion. The
deal was soon called off owing to
major discontentment on the part of
shareholders and plummeting shareprice. However, in what has been
seen as one of the largest corporate
frauds in India, Raju confessed that
the profits in the Satyam books
had been inflated and that the
cash reserve with the company
was minimal. Ironically, Satyam had
received the Golden Peacock Global
Award for Excellence in Corporate
Governance in September 2008 but
was stripped of it soon after Raju's
confession.
The listed companies in India
were required by SEBI to comply
with a corporate governance code
with effect from January 2000. The
code was reviewed in 2003 by a
new committee, headed by Mr. N
R Narayana Murthy, who defined a
good corporate governance system
as one which attaches "a high
degree of priority to the interests
of shareholders who have placed
their trust in the company to use the
funds wisely and effectively".
Prof . Babasaheb Jadhav
Chhatrarth - February 2014 17

20. 4th Bharatiya Chhatra Sansad
(Indian Student Parliament)
With best complements from
4th Bharatiya Chhatra Sansad
(Indian Student Parliament)
Best complements from
Mr. Abhishek Anand
(Student of T.Y.B.Com., MACS College, MIT, Pune)
S/o. RAM KISHORE JHA, R. K. Advisory,
Dhanbad, Jharkhand
Cell No. 07276515586
18 Chhatrarth - February 2014

21. Chhatrarth - February 2014 19

22. 20 Chhatrarth - February 2014

23. 4th Bharatiya Chhatra sansad held at mit Pune on 10th, 11th & 12th January 2014
glimPses
Performance by the dance group lead by
Smt. Swati Daithankar
‘Tejonidhi’- A drama based on the life of Swami Vivekanand
Chhatrarth - February 2014 21

24. Bharatiya Chhatra Sansad – A unique gathering of the young and
22 Chhatrarth - February 2014

25. aspirant leaders across the country held at MIT , Pune ,India
Chhatrarth - February 2014 23

26. Ekta Sutra tied up by all the young leaders … depicting bond of unity and bond for strengthening the democracy
24 Chhatrarth - February 2014

27. Chhatrarth - February 2014 25

28. Philosophy of Consumerism
The philosophy of consumerism draws its energies from what is known as methodological individualism
T
here are two ways in which
you can express your thoughts
on the issue `Is consumerism
consuming India`. Thoughts which
will be popular and welcome and
which will probably make people
clap, others you express your mind
whether people are receptive or
not I generally don’t belong to the
first category I had always taken a
position which is according to me
closer to what I believe to be the
truth and so I will be taking that
position before you.
Consumerism is not bad provided
there is some restrain, there is
some kind of moderation. But
who is to draw the line? You
know consumerism is based on a
philosophy. A philosophy nobody is
in a position to articulate and gauge
whether that philosophy suites a
country like India which is family
based. If consumerism is going to hit
the duties and responsibilities how
to draw that line is precisely what I
26 Chhatrarth - February 2014
am going to tell you.
The Philosophy of consumerism
draws its energies from what
is known as methodological
individualism. Sociology students
will perhaps find it easier to
understand what I am saying but
the modern economic theories are
also rooted in the methodological
individualism & that asserts a man’s
right over families over society over
neighborhood and an individual
stands alone in asserting his rights
and this is an evolution over the
last one century and Max Webber
and later Carl Popper were the
persons that shaped this idea. This
did not remain in theory this very
much manifested in practice and it
so manifested in practice that the
output is here for us to see.
Max Webber was the person who
read sociology into economics and
economics as a social science became
part of Webbers thinking that
ultimately individualism so manifest
that an individual’s role will have to
be assessed and there is nothing as
a society. Carl Pope declared it later
that there is no such thing as society
which Margret Thatcher endorsed.
In the west the sense of society has
been greatly undermined. And from
the 1960s and 70s the sense of family
was badly undermined. The family
as a unit is shaken in the west and I
am going to talk about perhaps the
most sighted country in the world,
the USA which is a powerful country,
which is an eg of efficient economic
admin, a militarily powerful country
educationally powerful country and
so this is some kind of an e.g. which
has immerged in the last 30 years
before all countries and an English
educated country like India is always
looking to a country like America
to draw a sense of how to shape its
future.
Today you know 41% babies born
in America are born to unmarried
women (outside wedlock) 21%

29. of them are born to school going
children. Directly relatable to the
high level of individualism which
was insisted over families & this is
a creation of not just sociology this
is a creation of commerce, creation
of companies, creation of social
attitudes, media, intellectuals &
govt. policies and this has led to
51% of the families being led by
single parents mostly mothers who
have been discarded by husbands
and most people decide to remain
unmarried. The US president Mr.
Obama has created a national
marriage project last year because
60% of people in Americans do
not want to be married. People
do not want to get married how
to persuade them to get married.
You know this is the kind of social
disharmony; disruption which an
attitude which plays the individual
above family above elders above
everybody and individually supreme
this has completely demoralized the
social structures.
It is very important to know what
the philosophy of consumerism
is. Consumerism is built on
individualism,
individualism
is
always based on a certain degree
of greed and when the greed is
recognized and celebrated as the
cause for economic success this is
what M Keans on of the most brilliant
minds in economics which is what
turned the depression period into a
period of prosperity within a period
of 10 years by forking the govt.
funds to promote consumption and
consumption as the drive of growth
became later integral part of modern
economics and became known as
anthropological modernity. This
is the base of western sociology,
politics, economics and in this all
the concept of efficient economic
theories, economically rational
man all these things sprouted out
of this theory and to mention one
of the most prominent western
anthropological theories by a
prominent American anthropologist
Marshall Sahlins as he wrote in his
paper “anthropology of modernity,
or, some triumphs of culture over
despondency theory” A late classic
of the genre was Walter Rostow’s
Stages of Economic Growth (1957),
with its unilinear sequence of
five developmental stages from
‘traditional societies’ to ‘the age of
high mass consumption.’ (Rostow
must have been among the first
to perceive that the culmination
of human social evolution was
shopping.)” This is important
shopping is not just an economic
act it is the end of modernity it is
the end of fulfillment of human
desires and it promotes not only
greed it promotes competitive ego,
it promotes inferiority complex
which a man wants to overcome by
competing with people who have
the same brand of goods, he must
have new brand of goods and this
way we turn waste into wealth and
wealth into waste.
“Explicitly argued as an alternative
Chhatrarth - February 2014 27

30. to Marxist stages of progress,
Rostow’s theories appeared as
a mirror image, with the added
advantage of turning left into
right twice over. Common to many
theories of development was a
cheerful sense of cultural tragedy:
the
necessary
disintegration
of
traditional
societies
that
functioned, in Rostow’s scheme, as a
precondition for ‘economic take-off’”
what this meant was disintegration
of traditional society including
family is a must for economic takeoff.
Don’t think it remained in theory
level in 1957 it was, it was put into
practice, policies were affected, and
commercial organizations prepared
their advertisement plans marketing
plans.
In 1980 many economists from
NBER warned America that it was
moving towards an irreversible
process of self-destruction. Foreign
domination was necessary to
accomplish this salutary destruction
because domestic forces will not be
able to change as fast towards these
goals to destroy relationships to turn
all relations into contracts between
husband and wife, between brother
and sister, between neighbors there
is no relationship other than mere
contract law. You are all citizen of a
particular country other than that
there is no other relationship this is
western anthropological modernity.
Unless we understand it we will
not be able to understand what
28 Chhatrarth - February 2014
kind of economic model is being
advocated, marketed and imposed
on the world. Today the government
does only a little bit of pushing,
it is commercial interests, market
research, economists, sociologists,
market researchers, marketing
organizations, philosophers, media
they market it and market it so
effectively that we are made to
believe these ideas are coming from
neutral sources and are forced into
consuming and believing these
ideas.
“Foreign domination was needed
to
accomplish
this
salutary
destruction, since otherwise the
customary relations of traditional
production would set a ceiling
on economic growth. By its own
providential history, Europe had
been able to develop itself, but
according to Rostow, other people
would have to be shocked out of
their backwardness by an intrusive
alien force. No revolutionary himself,
Rostow could agree with Marx that
in order to make an omelette, one
must first crack the eggs.”
MEASURES FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH:
This is not just Rostow; I am going
to read out to from the UN paper UN
department of social and economic
affairs MEASURES FOR ECONOMIC
Development of underdeveloped
societies 1951. “There is a sense in
which rapid progress is impossible
without
painful
adjustments.
Ancient philosophies have to be
scrapped, old institutions have to be
disintegrated” in short disintegration
of family is must for economic
growth. Two notable studies
emphasize these claims. In 1950
the average family size in America
as 3.5 today it is 2.5 this reduction
meant additional housing for 35
million contributing to 10 trillion
$ to the GDP. Similar studies in
European Union support the claim
that for economic growth families
have to be destroyed. Making
individuals depend on the state is
the basic principal of the western
anthropological modernity which
most Asian countries have not yet
accepted and which is why 75% of
the worlds savings is in Asia. While
75% of global savings is borrowed
by America.
US foreign debt rose 160 times
from $1 billion in 1970 to $16 trillion
in 2011. While domestic debt rose by
40 times GDP rose only by 16 times.
This is clear from the fact that 11 cr.
American families have over 120 cr.
Debit/credit cards which amounts
to $130 lakh Cr. debt from credit
cards, $10 trillion debt on home.
Family savings in America accounted
from 80% of national savings in
1960 and has now crashed down to
-20% in third quarter of 2006. This
is purely because of individualistic
consumerism being promoted.
This is down to the American social
model where family is becoming

31. nationalized as government takes
up parenting and looking after
elders and government is becoming
privatized.
72% of American
economic growth is sustained by
consumerism. Replicating that in
countries like India is impossible as it
is needless consumerism.
It’s not a matter of whether
consumerism is good or bad it
is about whether there is a new
need based consuming in which
case it is not consumerism at
all it is life based on needs. Dr.
Jagdish Bhagawati had published
a paper based on request from Dr.
Manmohan Singh on suggestions
to revive Indian economy during
economic downturn. His 72 page
paper addressed the Indian families
in 3 pages. His suggestions included
reducing the 19% Indian family
savings to half and increasing the
encouraging the spending of Indian
public (women in particular whom
he termed as stingy). New policies
were introduced, marketing was
done, songs and advertisements
were made. Indian women sang the
songs but dint buy the products.
Indian family savings grew from
19% in 1992 to 29% in 2009 that took
the national savings to over 37% and
a growth rate of 10% based on capital
output ratio. During the period of
1991 to 2011 foreign investment in
India accounts to only 1.2% while
the remaining 98.8% of funds were
raised in India itself. Goldman sacs
global economic paper no. 187
Oct 2010 projected $1.7 trillion
Infrastructure
Investment
that
India will make in the next one and
a half decades would be funded
without any foreign investment
because Indian families would save
sufficient. Annual attrition to Indian
family savings is estimated at $800
billion which is equal to all the bank
advances today.
SOCIETIES FUNCTION :
value system that involves taking
care of family. Sixty crore people
are taken care of by family. Can we
hand over this responsibility to the
government? No we can’t as it will
be utter disaster. Consumerism blast
a family out of existence. We have to
understand what consumerism truly
is. Need based consumption yes,
glorified consumption will destroy
the society which we can’t afford.
It is my appeal to this educated
gathering of young bright students
don’t carbon copy the western
individualism which has grown
out of the western sociological
foundation and models which
cannot be transplanted sold and
marketed in this country.
- Shri. Swaminathan Gurumurthy
Eminent Journalist
Co-Convener,
Swadeshi Jagaran Manch
According to culture & Indian
society functions on a certain
Chhatrarth - February 2014 29

32. Voice of Youth
Current education has failed because it is education in words. We need new type of education that may teach
that life is larger ,that the end of knowledge is not gains in kind but in service and sacrifice
W
e are meant together on a
sacred day, the day as you
all know is the birth anniversary of
The Great Swami Vivekananda. He
was a Prophet of young India. He
was a man of Fire. He placed before
young India the ideal of loving
service. He asked Indian youths to
dedicate themselves to the service
of teaming millions of Indians, to
give relief to famine stricken areas,
to nurse the sick and the dying, to
serve the orphans beholding in all
one shiver. They asked him what is
your politics?And he said my Politics
is service of the poor. This politics is
open for every one of you, everyone
of you can join this politics and build
a new India, an India of the strong,
an India of the free.
Swami Vivekananda believed that
30 Chhatrarth - February 2014
India’s spirituality alone could save
our sinking civilization but not until
We of India bow witness in teeth’s
of daily living to the great ideals of
our great ancestors. I refer to you
as fellow youths because I regard
myself as youth. Youth is not a
matter of age or years, Youth is a
state of mind. If your mind continues
to be open and receptive to new
ideas, If your prepared to work in
new experiments in the laboratory
of your life. You continue to be
young. A person can be young, a
person can be young at 90, and
another can be old at 19. 65 years
ago, The Winds of the Spirit swept
over the nations and The Call came
forth Let India be Free and India
became free. The great task that lies
before us is that of building a new
Indian Nation and India of the truly
strong, an India of truly free for not
yet is India truly free and strong that
narrows the spirit of provincialism,
of parochialism, of casteism has cut
India’s unity into bits. India still walks
the way of imitation. All imitation
is emasculation, all imitation is
weakness.
India lacks the strength to press on
a dynamic march of her own genius,
her internal destiny and not yet is
India a land of the truly free. For in
India, millions of our countrymen,
they live below the poverty line.
They can’t get two full meals a day.
Millions of our countrymen do not
have a roof under which to hide
their heads in the cold of wintery
night millions sleep on the roadside,
millions of our children do not get
primary education; millions of our

33. countrymen do not get the bare
necessities of life. India’s not yet
become a nation of the truly free
and a nation of the truly strong. Who
will build this nation? Who if not you
who are students today, who are
youths today but you must first build
yourselves.
Look at the conditions around
yourselves. As I survey the situation
around me I find that in India today
chaotic forces are on the increase. In
India today forces of darkness think
to choke the voices of light. In India
today freedom sleeps while men
mingle in selfish strive. In India today,
knowledge and power both are
running to West. They are becoming
instruments of social chaos and
destruction. In India today, the
moral base of public life has been
shattered. Intellectual honesty is a
thing of past, discipline is absent
and our entire administration is
honeycombed with corruption. As I
feel the great task lies ahead of us.
The great task is that of building a
new Indian nation, an India of the
truly strong an India of truly free.
Last year, I was in America and there
they held a press conference and
at the Press Conference, they asked
me they said to me you have visited
America a number of times, what
would be your advice to average
American? Tell us in a few words and
I told them I will give you an answer
in four words.
To the average American I would
say: Slow down your Pace. Then
they asked me, they said what is
the greatest need of your own
country, India, today? And with
my head hanging low, I said to
them according to my mind the
greatest need of India today is men
and women of character, men and
women with pure heart and clean
hands. Men and women whom the
lust of office will not lead astray and
the games of office will not tempt,
but who will not scramble office
and power and use all their power
in spirit of humanity and the service
of India’s teaming millions. This is the
greatest need of India today.
What is the condition of India
today? The condition of India today
when I think of it, it makes me so sad.
All around me what do I find, I find
as I said chaotic forces are growing,
It is for you to come out and serve
the people of India. Let your politics
be the politics of service. This is what
is needed in India. What may I tell
you, I listen to your answers but may
I Tell you my hope, I’m sorry to say
this; my hope is not in politics but is
in education. Education should be
inspired. Men and women of light
and men and women of illuminatory
vision.
science is marching on, technological
progress has been made but the
problems that are before India today,
they will not be solved by the devil
of brain alone, illuminated hearts
are needed. We need a new type of
education which should be directed
and inspired by the men and women
of light of illumination. Education
that may teach the students that life
is larger, that the end of knowledge
is not gains in gold, silver and
bronze, not jobs and careers but
service and sacrifice. My friends in
this connection may I pass onto you
a few practical suggestions?
Current education has failed
because it is education in words.
Brain power has been developed,
Practical suggestion 1: Forget all
differences of caste, colour, creed
and believe that you are above all an
Chhatrarth - February 2014 31

34. Indian. I am an Indian. In India you
can get all types of people, you can
get Punjabi’s, you can get Madrasi’s,
you can get Bihari’s, you can get
Bengali’s, you can get all sorts of
people but you can’t get an Indian.
Every one of you should forget
everything and say I’m an Indian.
Practical suggestion 2: Be simple
and strong. Simplicity is the secret of
strength. Be simple, be strong and
spend your strength in service of
surrounding world.
Practical suggestion 3: Speak
the truth. Mahatma Gandhi said
People say that God is truth, but I
say that truth is God. Gurudev Sadhu
Vaswani said truth though shall lead
me to scaffold, truth thou she take
me through fire. There was a woman
who was travelling by bus or matter
of small significance, She became
angry, She lost her temper when she
was getting down, the driver said
to her Madam look behind you she
immediately turned behind and she
snapped what am I leaving behind?
And the driver said to her you are
leaving a very bad impression. Never
be angry. Howsoever strong, be the
provocation. You must never be
angry. You must be a person of self
32 Chhatrarth - February 2014
control.
Practical suggestion 4: If you
would be a builder of new India,
Never you must give the same
respect to women as you give to
men you must give the same respect
to a wealthy man you must give the
same respect to Bill gates, as you
would give your servant.
Practical suggestion 5: If you
are a builder, you must believe in
reconstruction of village life. India
lives in village. You live in cities but
you must rebuild the villages.
Practical suggestion 6: You must
learn to share good things of life with
those in need, you must promise
yourself that you will atleast do 1
good turn everyday. Do something
which may give happiness to a man,
to a woman, to a child, to a bird, to
an animal, for they belong to the
one family of creation. They are your
younger brothers and sisters. If I
had a million tons, I will still appeal
young friends who are going to be
tomorrow’s leaders and who are
going to be tomorrow’s to seek not
power, but seek service. I will close
with a small poem which I wrote
sometime ago:
Hindus, Muslims, Christians all
Buddhists and Bahai’s, we share each
other’s friendship and the love that
never dies. One is the faith we live
by, one is the song we sing with little
deeds of service, and we worship
him as our king. We feed those who
are hungry, we work for no reward,
we help the poor and needy, for love
of him, Our Lord, we are friends of
the friendless, servers of those in
pain; we are brothers of the wise
less that cow, that dog, that hen. We
trust in God, His mercy, and then
ourselves believe all that we today
hope for, we shall one day achieve.
Hand in hand we march on still a
better end to build and of love and
service, with peace and plentiful.
Forget all the things that may have
been told you but do not forget this
one thing. Seek not power, seek
service. Swami Vivekananda himself
said my politics is politics of service.
This is the ideal that is left forth and
follow his footsteps. And we should
all come out, and we should make
mans of service. We should build a
new India.
Naveen Hindustaan, Naveen
Bhart Banao. Aur sare sansaar par
jadoo lagao, jadoo lagao.
Question and Answers:
Sanket Oswal, Jaipur, Rajasthan:
Shouldn’t it be mandatory for
a politician to hold a degree or
diploma before joining politics?
The difficulty with politics is,
politics makes parties and parties
make conflicts. As a result, the shakti
of the nation is lost. India is in such a
state that all parties should join and
lift India up but they begin to starve,

35. they begin to quarrel with the result
that all shakti is lost.
Sandeep
Ghadge,
Maharshtra:
Alibaug,
What is the role of Spirituality
in nation building and how is the
youth to be educated about it?
We don’t need spiritual teaching,
we have plenty of spiritual teaching.
What we need now is spiritual living.
You must show it in life. This is the
great tragedy of India; we talk and
talk and talk. Let us talk of it less and
practice more.
Swapnil ,Satara, Maharashtra:
Is Indian youth today following
blind faith, instead of spirituality,
What can be done to stop this?
There should be no blind faith,
for which you should be trained
properly therefore we need a type
of education which will give triple
training: the training of the hand,
the training of mind, the training
of the heart, then there will be no
blind faith at all. We should train our
minds that training of the mind and
training of emotions is not there.
This is the difficulty. To give you an
example, a person brings to me a
bribe he tells, you do my work, I will
give you a lakh of rupees. My brain
tells me that it is wrong, to accept a
bribe. I may even go to jail. But the
emotion of greed has and I accept
the bribe under the table. Education
does nothing to train the emotion.
It is all words words words. It is of
no use. We must have a new type of
education. If u want a new India you
must have a new type of education.
An education which will train the
emotion and emotions are the
master and the brain is only servant.
Pooja , Jamnagar , Gujarat:
Why our education system lacks
the subject of our culture like India
is well known for mythology then
why don’t we have a subject for
mythology, that teaches us pure
and clean values?
The difficulty that we have,
that Indian education is from the
Britishers. We keep on following the
same type of education, Britishers
had their type of education because
they want clerks but we don’t want
only clerks, now we want inspirers.
We want educators. We want people
who will draw the best that is in us so
that we may build a wonderful India.
As I said India of the truly strong,
an India of the truly free. Now all the
nations have hopes in India, they
find hopes in India. Materialism has
not given but India too is in slumber.
Kunal Jagtap ,Pune , Maharashtra:
Is there any relation between
religion and science? Because one
part of the country is becoming very
scientific the urban class whereas
the village class it is becoming more
and more religious. Is the country
being divided into a Bharat and an
India?
For you who are students, you
should go to the villages and
you should pass onto them the
knowledge that you have and
they will again pass onto you the
knowledge that they have. Then
India will be united, then India will
be one.
- J. P. Vaswani
Spiritual Guru &
Head, Sadhu Vaswani Mission
Chhatrarth - February 2014 33

36. develoPmental administration the need of the hour''- Prof. dr. Bharat Bhushan
H
uman resource development
has traditionally been one of
Maharashtra's major strengths.
The importance of evolving sound
and
responsive
administrative
systems was realized as far back
as 1963 when the Administrative
Staff College (ASC) was established
in Mumbai. The ASC was
relocated at Pune in 1984 and
renamed "Maharashtra Institute
of Development Administration"
(MIDA) to serve as the apex body
for promoting and developing
modern management practices and
was to function as the nodal state
level training institute in the field
of development administration.
Aptly enough, it was rechristened,
"Yashwantrao Chavan Academy
of Development Administration"
(YASHADA) in 1990 and meets
the training needs of government
34 Chhatrarth - February 2014
departments and rural and urban
non-officials and stakeholders.
In an impromptu interview Prof.
Dr.Bharat Bhushan, Dean (Academic) & Secretary YASHADA
spoke to the students of MIT-International School of Broadcasting
and Journalism, about the importance developmental administration
and many more for the proper governance of a nation. Excerpts:
At Yashwant Rao Chavhan Academy
of Devlopment Administration
(YASHADA) what is the basic
objective behind the training
provided to the Administrative
officers?
YASHADA
is
an
academic
staff college of Government of
Maharashtra, It trains administrators,
elected representative, senior govt.
functionaries also trains village level
and city level representatives. We
ensure that we bring conversions
in
training
to
development
administration. It is very different
from business administration or
public administration. YASHADA
conducts 4500 programs in a year
interact with more than 2 lakh
trainees a year. There are 108 training
campuses.
As a citizen do we owe towards our
state as well as our nation?
First of all we should be proud
to be Indians, apart from negative
aspects we should better look for
the beauty of India which is most of
the time unseen by the observers.
As YASHADA tries to train from
village level with the efficient use
of technology similarly every citizen
should voluntarily try to spread the
education with any possible mean.
Even if protecting environment you

37. serve not only your country you help
to maintain balance in the layers
of Earth. Plant Grass rather than
Tree. Grass are the fastest growing
roots which retains water and more
efficient than a tree.
How should we maintain balance
between coping of Industrialization
as well as conserving our
environment?
First of all we all should know
that development is not against
environment, development does
not stop wild life conservation. We
have 4% of our land mass under
protected forest. Protected area
consists of wild life sanctuaries and
national parks. Most of which areas
are at hilly regions and at height of
mountains where no one is going
to setup any industry. Now we are
only left with 0.25% protected area
system which is very important to be
conserved and only if the proposals
for development comes for that
particular region the ministry denies
for the approval which is very
necessary.
What is the solution for garbage
decomposition
near
water
reserves?
Navi Mumbai Municipal
Corporation has very
advanced form of
water
treatment
plants
which
can
convert
sewage
water
into
drinking water barely in an hour
they transplant sewage water better
than mineral water. We need to
learn many more technologies of
purification of water. But our major
problem is we do not take this as a
serious issue, we pass this problem to
somebody else. Every single society
or locality should be responsible for
their treatment of water , the water
comes out of our locality should be
treated by us only and should be
make sure that the water is clean.
We are trying to improve from our
side that we should advance in our
technology as soon as possible.
There are many such technologies in
foreign countries that we are trying
to bring here for better treatment of
water in coming years.
How forest can be conserved?
Forest can’t be protected by the
guards or the rangers, if we are
concerned about the tigers as a
nation we should be more concerned
about the Tiger habitats, and how
should we do that? We need to
ensure that a large mammal does
not fall under minimum viable
population. Which means exchange
of genetical materials should be
intact. We need rotation of tiger
from one place to another within
particular time period, we also need
to protect the surroundings around
that corridor and keep it safe for
the animals by providing additional
biodiversity values.
What careers do we have in Wild
life Journalism?
As a wild life Journalist first you
should be aware of all the subjects
related to the wild life and about the
wild life diversity. You need to have
detailed study about the geography
of wild life spread in our country
from Western Ghats to Eastern
Ghats, until and unless you won’t be
able to do justice with the subject. To
see your career in wild life you first
need to consider wild life along with
the normal life in our country.
Do you have to face any
restrictions from government while
working on any projects?
While I was chairman of Mumbai
Pune express way project, the project
was looking very dirty although any
project when it is done, seems to be
that it is destroying the environment
but we also take care of every single
measures to be taken to save the
environment, we are very cautious in
saving the environment.
How we can spread awareness to
the people to save our wild life?
It is very hard to spread awareness
all around the nation to save the
environment or the wild life, so do we
have any such idea where economics
can play a vital role in conserving
the wild life, than people may take
interest in saving our wild life. Only
lectures and advertisements on wild
life conservation won’t help us in
saving the environment.
- Ayush Deshpande
Indore
Chhatrarth - February 2014 35

38. Voice of Youth in Bharatiya Chhatra Sansad 2014
“ In bharatiya chhatra sansad, we actually think we are the politicians, each
and every background here is portraying the same, this means we are here as
unity, we are here as one. One nation!!”
“I ask you from this dais ,not to focus solely on questions of growth for
some …but uplifting the bottom for many… because that’s truly where
india’s future lies!”
“ Let consumerism empower india and not consume it…
its our responsibility to look into the fact, in this way!”
Malav Patel, Gujrat
Ruchi Gidwani, Chhattisgarh
Priyanshu Shukla, Madhya Pradesh
Maduram Aparjita, Jharkhand
Mr.Promit Sengupta, Maharastra
36 Chhatrarth - February 2014
Swati Iyer, Tamil Nadu
Priyanka Gadhave, Maharashtra
Piyush, Maharashtra
Ashutosh Kulkarni, Maharashtra

39. “ Former president of united states of america franklin d roosevelt said
that ….’we may not build the future for our youth but we can definitely
build our youth for the future’… and that’s what the youth empowerment
is all about. and such empowerment can be achieved only through innovative
education”
“The human capital is therefore an important determinant of long time
growth on the basis of which young indian nation can invest in the training of
the youth!”
“Being a leader simply doesn’t mean
to lead the nation. it also means
leading new people in new way of
thinking!”
Alpana Sharma, Gujarat
Lauren Rishardson, Florida
Rohan Mirpury, Maharashatra
Khyati Shrivastava, Uttar Pradesh
Hussain Ali Karimi, Afghanistan
Shaikh Tariq Aziz maharashtra
Mr.Divyesh Arora, Uttar Pradesh
Abhishek Singh, Bihar
Shital Birajdar
Andrew Scheartz, Florida
Chhatrarth - February 2014 37

40. Tech Savvy India
Google Develops Contact Lens Glucose Monitor
A wristwatch monitor was approved
by the FDA in 2001, but patients said
the low level electric currents pulling
fluid from their skin was painful,
and it was buggy.“There are a lot
of people who have big promises,”
said Dr. Christopher Wilson, CEO of
NovioSense. “It’s just a question of
who gets to market with something
that really works first.”
B
rian Otis, Google X project lead,
holds a contact lens Google is
testing to explore tear glucose in
Mountain View, California.
Google unveiled on Thursday a
contact lens that monitors glucose
levels in tears, a potential reprieve
for millions of diabetics who have
to jab their fingers to draw their
own blood as many as 10 times a
day.The prototype, which Google
says will take at least five years to
reach consumers, is one of several
medical devices being designed
by companies to make glucose
monitoring for diabetic patients
more convenient and less invasive
than the traditional finger pricks.
The lenses use a minuscule glucose
sensor and a wireless transmitter to
help those among the world’s 382
million diabetics who need insulin
keep a close watch on their blood
sugar and adjust their dose.
The contact lenses were developed
during the past 18 months in the
clandestine Google X lab that
also came up with a driverless car,
Google’s Web-surfing eyeglasses
38 Chhatrarth - February 2014
and Project Loon, a network of large
balloons designed to beam the
Internet to unwired places.
The device looked like a typical
contact lens when Otis held one
on his index finger. On closer
examination, sandwiched in the
lens are two twinkling glitter-specks
loaded with tens of thousands of
miniaturized transistors. It’s ringed
with a hair-thin antenna.“It doesn’t
look like much, but it was a crazy
amount of work to get everything
so very small,” Otis said at Google’s
Silicon Valley headquarters. It
took years of soldering hair—thin
wires to miniaturize electronics,
essentially building tiny chips from
scratch, to make what Otis said
is the smallest wireless glucose
sensor ever made. Other non-needle
glucose monitoring systems are
also in the works, including a similar
contact lens by Netherlands-based
NovioSense, a minuscule, flexible
spring that is tucked under an eyelid.
Israel—based OrSense has already
tested a thumb cuff, and there have
been early designs for tattoos and
saliva sensors.
Google is getting into the medical
field, and that he’d like to be able
to offer his patients a pain-free
alternative from either pricking
their fingers or living with a thick
needle embedded in their stomach
for constant monitoring.“Google,
they’re innovative, they are up on
new technologies, and also we have
to be honest here, the driving force
is money,” he said. Worldwide, the
glucose monitoring devices market is
expected to be more than $16 billion
by the end of this year, according
to analysts at Renub Research. The
Google team built the wireless chips
in clean rooms, and used advanced
engineering to get integrated circuits
and a glucose sensor into such a
small space. Researchers also had
to build in a system to pull energy
from incoming radio frequency
waves to power the device enough
to collect and transmit one glucose
reading per second. The embedded
electronics in the lens don’t obscure
vision because they lie outside the
eye’s pupil and iris.

41. Handygo Tech's
Service to Help 1 Million Indian Farmers
I
n the age of hi-tech gadgets technology and agriculture, once
considered as different realms of
experience, are partners in progress.
Technology has been used by
developed countries and some
developing nations to generate more
revenue especially in the agriculture
sector by allowing local farmers to
access markets and information
through phone and internet.
India, which ranks second in the
farm output worldwide, is looking
to improve its agriculture sector by
introducing a service called 'mKisan'
which aim to provide small holder
farmers with high quality, relevant
and timely information and advice
via mobile.
Mobile Value Added Service (mVAS)
provider Handygo Technologies
has been awarded a project from
the GSMA Mobile for Development
Foundation to support the design
and launch of an agricultural mVAS
to benefit approximately 1 million
small farmers in India over the next
two years.
'm Kisan', which is a unique mobilebased extension service, will include
comprehensive information and
advice on a wide range of relevant
topics including crops and livestock.
The service also includes agricultural
bulletins comprising agro-met
advisory, information on market
prices, pest and disease alerts and
a dedicated farmer helpline. In
addition to this, the project also aims
to test video-based advisory and
knowledge sharing tools for farmers.
The company has framed a
consortium with CABI, International
Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)
and Digital Green for this project.
CABI will support on actionable
agriculture content and subject
matter specialists. ILRI will support
livestock content and Digital Green
will take care of video content on
agriculture and livestock. Handygo
will promote 'mKisan' in six major
states of the country in their regional
languages.
Apps to Alert Fishermen about Maritime Border
C
oncerned over the rising attack
on fishermen by the Sri Lankan
Navy for crossing the International
Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL),
the M.S. Swaminathan Research
Foundation (MSSRF) Centre has
developed a mobile application that
would alert the fishermen about a
few km from the actual point.
forms part of Fisher Friend Mobile
Application
(FFMA)
phase-II
programme. Five mobile phones
incorporating features such as
providing cyclone and disaster
alerts, real time data on fish colony
and danger zones and helpline
numbers, was distributed to five
fishermen from Kasimedu.
FFMA-II is jointly developed by
MSSRF that provided design and
data, Qualcomm (financial support
and technical advice) and Tata
Consultancy Services (application
developer). FFMA-III will be uploaded
on Google so as to extend its reach.
This
application
has
been
developed to safeguard the
fishermen from Nagapattinam to
Tuticorin when they proceed in
boats for fishing as IMBL is located
closer to their coastline as compared
to other districts of Tamil Nadu.
There about seven lakh fishermen in
the State, of which nearly three lakh
are in these districts, said S. Velvizhi,
MSSRF principal scientist.
The application developed for
Android based mobile phones,
Chhatrarth - February 2014 39

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43. Photo feature
Clicks By: Priya Panda, Kolkata
Mother Nature ! Mother Earth ! Needs to be cared,
to care the flow of the beauty !!
Please send snaps captured in your camera on subjects like
Environment, Democracy And Social Issues to Chhatrarth@gmail.com
Chhatrarth - February 2014 41

44. letters to the editor
Too Many Options
Too many options is never a great
option. What portrays this better than
the current trinity of leadership poised
for action in the coming months? While
on one hand the voters are spoiled for
choices, with the ‘Aam admi’ joining
the race of the dark horses, UPA & NDA,
on the other hand the various choices
coupled with high pitched promises
does no better than confuse the ‘aam’
voter.
Not that I am opining against the
very principal of democracy which
stands for multi party election, but the
prospect parties need to be substantial
enough to last in the post election
scenario too. Adding to this multiplicity
is the propagation of the parties against
each other. The world of web being
the recent favourite medium. I set no
unrealistic expectations from power
trading political parties of being morally
responsible towards the dilemma of
voters. Maximum for the ease of an
ordinary voter like me, can they (the tiger,
the bird, the newbie) stop criticising
others and concentrate more on their
own score card? A concerned voter.
Sutrishna Ghosh, Kolkata.
Decision Taking Leadership
Leadership is mainly about two
things: effective communication and
quick decision making. Our new breeds
of Leaders are taking this to the next
level and what this is doing it is forcing
42 Chhatrarth - February 2014
others to compete on this. Take Modi
for example. His plan is to connect with
20 crore people before the election (not
heard of before) quick decision making
on having the Tata Motors plant in
Gujarat. Kejriwal has taken this to the
next level even though in a small part of
India but a very important state “Delhi”.
He has manifestos for each ward (could
anyone image the CM connecting to
their constituencies like this before?).
Decision in 48 hours of forming the
government which will impact people
positively to name a few. This is forcing all
other political parties to focus on more
transparency and take decisions fast. I
will not elaborate on various examples
on these but Leadership has changed
forever now and if any political part goes
back on these they will be in the sunset.
Overall this is great for India. It is
creating a conducive culture which every
Indian wanted but was not willing to take
the initiative. While skeptics will continue
to point out reasons to what extent it is
helping or why it is not helping in many
situations. You cannot keep skeptics
from looking at the glass half empty! We
now need to start looking at the glass
half full and how it is inching towards
getting fuller. My kudos to all who have
brought about the change including
the public. This is truly a start of a new
India which we should all support and
break the barrier of political affinities.
This is what the India of tomorrow wants
and with the new found energy, will and
enthusiasm we have only one way to go
and that is forward.
Harshita Singh, Varanasi.
Change Our Political System
As a youth, but more than that, as a
citizen of India, I believe the People's
Democracy only exists in India in
the framework but is empty inside.
Democracy in India has failed to
provide stability and overall growth
for its citizens. Being a citizen of India I
think that there is a big loophole in our
system and the fact that we are not yet
fully aware about our rights and duties,
let alone implementing them properly.
India is known as the biggest democratic
country but as Indians we misuse our
power in each and every step that we
take.
Due to the corruption in our
government there is a lot of agitation
amongst the youngsters which only
makes the condition of our country
worse. Today’s youth think of the politics
as a medium for getting rich and famous
and not as a source of bringing change
in the society! Polarisation of votes can
also be claimed to be a reason in the
decreasing interest amongst people
towards the whole political scenario.
India has a deeply-rooted social
discrimination against women and the
frequent rape cases are the example of
age old mind-set of the male dominant
society. India's democracy not only
enables those deeply-rooted bad habits
to survive, but even further fosters them.
Right from the time the constitution
was made up till the governance of
21st century "India needs to objectively
estimate its democracy.
According to me, the political leaders
should be educated and have clean pasts
that they can be a positive role model for
our society!
There is a need of big changes in our
political system and we also have to
educate people towards the politics so
that they don’t misuse the freedom.
Only then we will be able to see the
face of real democratic country.
Surbhi Shirpurkar, Nagpur.

45. in the neXt issue
Women emPoWerment
on the oCCasion of World
Women’s day
• Women in leadershiP
• Women in governanCe
• Women in teChnology
• Women in PuBliC life
Chhatrarth - February 2014 43

46. Last Issue – My Take
India is the largest democracy in
world but it is an unfortunate fact
that the people, specially youth
are highly unaware about politics.
Our governance is such that it
allows every adult individual to
participate in making and breaking
the government. But in spite of
that we have been blaming the
government since many years for
underdevelopment, for various
social issues, for lack of growth,
for instability in society, for being
corrupt and basically for biggest
failure of governance. But I believe
its not the failure of government
that our country lacks advancement
in many sectors, it’s the failure
of common people as in spite of
having liberty to
vote we still don’t
have a spotless
government.
Why is it that
our
country’s
democracy is just
for the namesake,
why are we still
fighting
issues
which
have
prevailed in our
society
since
independence,
why is it that our
country is listed
amongst
most
corrupt countries
in the world, why
is our economy
still backward, why
has the capital of
the nation also
become the rape
capital. We will
only get answers
to these questions
only when we
the people of the
country will take
the initiative to
choose the kind of
government that
44 Chhatrarth - February 2014
our country deserves.We should
take efforts not only to be politically
aware but we should also have a
sense of analyzing and authority of
deciding.
After Independence we have lead
our country on the path of progress
and reconstructed the damage done
by British but our present condition
of the country shows that the graph
of development and progress
is going down and the graph of
corruption and social evils is rising at
higher rate.
Political instability is one of the
major things which is responsible for
this and such a instability in a highly
populated country like India can
Democracy.. Leadership.. Governance..
prove to be hazardous. It holds back
the government from functioning in
the favor of the country’s benefit and
this is what we can see is happening.
Even if issues are highlighted; it takes
ages to implement the solution.
Our system has become so rigid
that there is no place for change.
People who raise their voices are
suppressed, protests have no
response, and candle marches
seem like just dramatic showcase.
Any problem or social issue is never
addressed keeping the country’s
benefit in mind; it’s only for the
benefit of the party’s vote bank.
This vote bank politics has ruined
our motherland to highest extend
possible and we still sit
by and watch all this
happen. This is because
we take our comforts
and luxury so much for
granted that we have
become blind towards
the people who are
suffering the most. We
are so reluctant about
knowing our system
that we even fail to make
use of the benefits our
government provides
us.
I feel proud to claim
that, we have taken this
effort of creating more
social and political
awareness
through
Chhatrarth. It also
provides a platform for
youth and women to
make their voices heard.
And we believe that this
effort will help India in
becoming a developed
and a peaceful nation
from a developing
country.
-Surbhi Modi
Kolhapur

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