Pradeep Thakur's Blog, page 2
July 13, 2014
India After English? Think Again!
For a couple of decades now, the rise of English-language journalism was assumed to be a natural consequence of India’s steady gains in literacy and rapidly growing middle class, which now includes more than 200 million people. In 1990, India had 209 English dailies; two decades later, the number had increased nearly seven-fold, to 1,406.
Most recently, though, India’s major newspapers have been expanding in a different direction. In 2012, Bennett Coleman, the publisher of The Times of India, the world’s largest English daily, started a Bengali newspaper and poured fresh resources into its older Hindi and Marathi papers. Last October, the publisher of The Hindu, a 135-year-old English paper, launched a Tamil edition. Another leading English daily, The Hindustan Times, has enlarged the staff and budgets of its Hindi sibling Hindustan. And this past winter, a few months before the election, The Times of India launched NavGujarat Samay, a Gujarati paper for Modi’s home turf.
In nearly every case, the publishers of these new papers aim to be more sophisticated than the existing vernacular press. Editors are asked to court the young and the middle class by covering technology, world news, and business, so that the Ukrainian revolution or the launch of a new iPhone, for example, gets as much serious play as in an English daily. The tone is less partisan, the style less tabloid. These papers are finding exceptionally diverse audiences: youngsters buying their first paper, older adults to whom a paper has never been marketed before, people who are the first readers in their families, and urban subscribers who purchase The Hindu in Tamil or Bennett Coleman’s Bengali paper alongside their regular English daily.
A decade or more ago, the publishers of English newspapers scorned Indian language readers, assuming that, as hundreds of millions more Indians became literate, they would turn automatically into consumers of English papers. But the steady rise in literacy rates—from 64.8 percent of the population in 2001 to 73 percent in 2011—has had unexpected consequences. The new middle class is increasingly found in smaller towns, and prefers to read in its own regional language, rather than English. Meanwhile, major media houses have discovered that English readership is declining or stagnant, and that advertising rates in English papers cannot be pushed much higher. Along with an influx of politicians from non-elite backgrounds and the growing importance of regional and state-level politics, these developments have begun to challenge the assumption that English is the default medium of Indian public life.
English was brought to India by the British—the invisible cargo of their ships—and in hindsight, its durability seems obvious. At the time of India’s creation in 1947, it was home to more than 1,500 languages, and a shared official language was urgently needed. Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, had initially wanted this link to be Hindustani, a blend of Hindi and Urdu. But the south Indian states, where people speak a different family of languages, resisted, and in the end, the country turned to English. Nehru, who had studied at Harrow and Cambridge, didn’t object: English was the language of science and progress; without it, he thought, there was the risk of “becoming complacent in our own little world of India.”
Once English was tied to the apparatus of power, the side effects were predictable. An English education became essential for anyone aspiring to advance in society, and the “English-knowing caste” (as Nehru called it) soon dominated the consumer economy. Advertisers showed little interest in Indians who read in other languages, reckoning that they had little money to spend, and media houses, sensing slim potential for profit, neglected their Indian-language dailies. The Hindi paper Hindustan came to be known as lottery-walon ka newspaper, because only lottery firms advertised in its pages. For a while, Bennett Coleman took to replacing the back page of its Hindi daily, the Navbharat Times, with the English front page of the Times of India. It was as if Hindi readers were being told to read an English paper instead.
Of course, there were always readers who preferred the Indian languages—millions and millions of them. How could there not be? Nearly every government-run school still used one of these languages as a medium of instruction, and only a scattering of private schools were teaching in English. Close to 300 million Indians, out of a population of 683 million, were literate in 1981, and most of them were reading in local languages. Yet few of these people were deemed sufficiently affluent to constitute a major newspaper market of their own.
In the early 1990s, however, India began to liberalize its statist economy, and over the course of the following decade, vast numbers of Indians were lifted out of poverty. The divide between India’s rural and urban populations does not precisely match the divide between English- and Indian-language readers, since the cities are filled with people who cannot read English. But it is revelatory that by 2009, rural Indians were spending money faster than urban Indians—and spending money not on food but on TVs, motorcycles, and mobile phones. The best way to reach these new consumers was through Indian language newspapers.
(In fact, by 2012, according to a KPMG India analysis, the split was already closer to 40-60, in favor of the language press.)
Even the recent spike in India’s literacy rate owes largely to gains made outside the cities. Over the decade from 2001 to 2011, the urban literacy rate rose by 4.2 percent, less than half of the 9.1 percent improvement in rural areas. (Those numbers are even more striking when one considers that 833 million people, out of a population of 1.2 billion, live in rural India.) Moreover, contrary to the expectations of the 1980s and 1990s, the rise in literacy was not matched by a rise in English language use. A 2005 survey found that only 3.8 percent of Indians between the ages of eighteen and sixty-five can converse in English with some fluency; another 16.2 percent speak it in a fractured, uncertain manner.
This doesn’t yet mean that the status of English as the national elite language is under threat. But the myth has been broken that only English, and English alone, can earn you an assured future.
Courtsy: http://www.nybooks.com/blogs
Corporate karza maafi at Rs. 36.5 trillion
It was business as usual in 2013-14. Business with a capital B. This year’s budget document says we gave away another Rs. 5.32 lakh crores to the corporate needy and the under-nourished rich in that year. Well, it says Rs. 5.72 lakh crores but I’m leaving out the Rs. 40 K crore foregone on personal income tax since that write-off benefits a wider group of people. The rest is mostly about a feeding frenzy at the corporate trough. And, of course, that of other well-off people. The major write-offs come in direct corporate income tax, customs and excise duties.
If you think sparing the super-rich taxes and duties worth Rs. 5.32 lakh crores is a trifle excessive, think again. The amount we’ve written off for them since 2005-06 under the very same heads is well over Rs. 36.5 lakh crore. (A sixth of that in just corporate income tax). That’s Rs. 36500000000000 wiped off for the big boys in nine years. .
With Rs. 36.5 trillion – for that is what it is – you could:
Fund the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme for around 105 years, at present levels. That’s more than any human being could expect to live. And a hell of a lot more than any agricultural labourer would. You could, in fact, run the MNREGS on that sum, across the working lives of two generations of such labourers. The current allocation for the scheme is around Rs. 34,000 crore.
Fund the Public Distribution System for 31 years. (current allocation Rs. 1,15,000 crores).
By the way, if these revenues had been realized, around 30 per cent of their value would have devolved to the states. So their fiscal health is affected by the Centre’s massive corporate karza maafi.
Even just the amount foregone in 2013-14 can fund the rural jobs scheme for three decades. Or the PDS for four and a half years. It is also over four times the ‘losses’ of the Oil Marketing Companies by way of so-called ‘under-recoveries’ in 2012-13.
Look at some of the exemptions under customs duty. There’s a neat Rs. 48,635 crore written off on ‘Diamonds and Gold.’ Hardly aam aadmi or aam aurat items. And more than what we spend on rural jobs. Fact: concessions on diamonds and gold over the past 36 months total Rs. 1.6 trillion. (A lot more than we’ll spend on the PDS in the coming year). In the latest figures, it accounts for 16 per cent of the total revenue foregone.
The break-up of the budget’s revenue foregone figure of Rs. 5.72 lakh crore for 2013-14 is interesting. Of this, Rs. 76,116 crore was written off on just direct corporate income tax. More than twice that sum (Rs.1,95,679 crore) was foregone on Excise Duty. And well over three times the sum was sacrificed in Customs Duty (Rs. 2,60,714 crores).
This, of course, has been going on for many years in the ‘reforms’ period. But the budget only started carrying the data on revenue foregone around 2006-07. Hence the Rs. 36.5 trillion write-off figure. It would be higher had we the data for earlier years. (All of this, by the way, falls within the UPA period). And the trend in this direction only grows. As the budget document itself recognizes, “the total revenue foregone from central taxes is showing an upward trend. “
It sure is. The amount written off in 2013-14 shows an increase of 132 per cent compared to the same concessions in 2005-06.
Corporate karza maafi is a growth industry, and an efficient one.
(Courtsy: http://psainath.org)
June 25, 2012
Dr. Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher: The King of Good Times and Latest Turbulence
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Pradeep Thakur, Capt Bed Upreti
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9350492350
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9789350492352, 978-9350492352
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An Indian liquor and airline baron; a Rajya Sabha MP; a keen racer; a skilled aviator; party-lover; spiritual-searcher; a passionate derby… these are the many facets of Vijay Mallya. This book tells you his story, where he discovers and learns through life’s experiences. Born in an affluent family, son of industrialist Vaal Mallya, but succession didn’t come so easily. His father expected him to work hard for everything. Mallya succeeded as Chairman of United Breweries Group in 1984 and took it” to. commendable heights. In 2006, Mallya established Kingfisher Airlines. Today, he is known for his flamboyance and panache. He also co-owns the Formula One team Force India, the Indian Premier League team Royal Challengers Bangalore, and the I-League team East Bengal FC. Aviation industry in our country has experienced a rather trying phase last year. Being an Integral and significant part of the industry, Kingfisher had its share of turbulence too. However, much of it was more speculative than factual. Our strong belief is that the mighty, Intelligent and confident captain of Kingfisher Airlines, Dr. Vijay Maliya, will sail the plane through this phase with his charismatic leadership… ,the clouds will clear and the plane will land safely. Bringing Mallya’s exciting success story to life the book takes us through his childhood, youth, achievements, passions, trials and tribulations, possessions, complemented with rare photographs to make an interesting read!
February 11, 2012
MADONNA: Unstoppable! (Revised & Enlarged Edition)
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Paperback, 658 pages
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Madonna has been considered to be one of the greatest figures in music and one of the most influential women in history. In 2010, Time magazine included Madonna in the elite list of the "25 Most Powerful Women of the Past Century", where she became one of the only two singers included, alongside Aretha Franklin. Madonna also topped the VH1's list of "50 Greatest Women of the Video Era". In June 2010, for the fist edition, PRADEEP THAKUR had titled the first edtion (2010) of book the "Madonna: The World's Most Powerful Musician". Although she didn't figured in the Forbes Celebrity 100 list, but her activities during last two years (2010-11) clearly indicate that she is unstoppable and destined to move on with unending creations in the years to come defying her age is nearing 60. So, now, the book is updated and enlarged (about 700 pages); and tiled "Madonna Unstoppable!"
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December 25, 2011
KAMASUTRA
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The Kama Sutra, generally translated as "Aphorism of Love", is an ancient Indian Hindu text widely considered to be the standard work on human sexual behavior in Sanskrit literature written by Vatsyayana. A portion of the work consists of practical advice on sexual intercourse. It has 1250 verses, distributed in 36 chapters, which are further organized into 7 parts. Contrary to popular perception, especially in the western world, Kama sutra is not an exclusive sex manual; it presents itself as a guide to a virtuous and gracious living that discusses the nature of love, family life and other aspects pertaining to pleasure oriented faculties of human life. The most widely known English translation of the Kama Sutra was privately printed in 1883; usually attributed to renowned orientalist and author Sir Richard Francis Burton. In this improvised edition, Pradee Thakur has mostly adopted the Bruton's work; but edited and also added notes in different chapters to fill the gap.
See Full Cover: Kamasutra (Paperback) "Aphorism of Love" by VATSYAYANA
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See Full Cover: Kamasutra (Hardcover) "Aphorism of Love" by VATSYAYANA
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Kabir’s Poems
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Kabir is a very important figure in Indian history. He is unusual in that he is spiritually significant to Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims alike. Kabir openly criticized all sects and gave a new direction to the Indian philosophy. Kabir touches the soul, the conscience, the sense of awareness and the vitality of existence in a manner that is unequalled in both simplicity and style. Kabir’s Poem is the adopted selection of the best of his 100 Poems; originally the “Song of Kabir”, translated by Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, the great author of Gitanjali and the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature.
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December 21, 2011
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Kabir's Poems
View this Author's Spotlight
See Full Cover: Kabirs Poems (Paperback)-An Adoption of "Songs of Kabir"
Kabir is a very important figure in Indian history. He is unusual in that he is spiritually significant to Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims alike. Kabir openly criticized all sects and gave a new direction to the Indian philosophy. Kabir touches the soul, the conscience, the sense of awareness and the vitality of existence in a manner that is unequalled in both simplicity and style. Kabir's Poem is the adopted selection of the best of his 100 Poems; originally the "Song of Kabir", translated by Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, the great author of Gitanjali and the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature.
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April 21, 2011
ANNA HAZARE: The ‘Gandhi’ of 21st Century
By Pradeep Thakur – PRADEEP THAKUR & SONS
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He calls himself a “fakir” a man who has no family, no property no bank balance, and wears only khadi. Anna Hazare starts an agitation; every leader from Mumbai toDelhisits up and takes notice. His small frail body has taken several blows from the countless agitations, tours and hunger strikes he has undertaken since he came in public life in 1975. Today, Anna Hazare is the face of India’s fight against corruption, and regarded as “The Gandhi of 21st centry’, because countrymen feels that he is fighting for to realize Gandhijee’s drem of SWARAJ and sustainable economic development based on MODEL VILLAGE.
Anna Hazare has soldiered on relentless, from one battle to another in his war against corruption. He fought from the front to have Right to Information (RTI) implemented. He is now fighting for the implementation of the Jan Lokpal Bill. More than 30 years after Anna Hazare started his crusade, as the 72-year-old observes a hunger strike inDelhiagainst large-scale corruption at the national level, nothing really has changed except the scale of his battle. But there are many questions to be answered and Anna must have to check and blance them.
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978-1-257-63581-8
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April 21, 2011
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CONTENTS
Preface (7-10)
Chapter-1: THE MAN AND HIS VISION (11-26)
Early Life
In Army
Back to Serve Native Village
Anna’s Vision and Philosophy
Popular quotes
Chapter-2: RALEGAN SIDDHI-A GANDHI-MODEL VILLEGE (27-56)
The Historical Context ofMaharashtra
Gandhi & His Economic Ideals
Anna’s Inspiration
How It Happened?
The Situation
Anna’s Development Process
Anns’ Programs in Ralegan Siddhi
Chapter3: ANNA’S NON-STOP STRUGGLES (57-68)
Anna’s Personal Clarification
Anti-corruption protests inMaharashtra
Right to Information movement
Chapter-4: CORRUPTION: ANNA’S ROAD TO FINAL CRUSDE (69-110)
Amazing Figures of Corruption
Global Financial Integrity Report-2010
Major Scams After 1991
Indian Political Scandals
Targeting Gandhi Family
Chapter-5: LAWS & ACTIONS TO CHECK CORRUPTION (111-138)
Actions by Central Government
Vohra Committee Report
Right to Information (RTI) Act
Deficiencies in the Present Anti-corruption Systems
The Fallout
Critique of the Government Lokpal Bill
Jan Lokpal Bill: The Alternative
Chapter-6: LOKPAL BILL: ANNA’S FINAL BATTLE (139-164)
Anna Letter to Prime Minister
State Bows to the Street Power
Crusade Time-line
A Day After Crusde
Narendra Modi’s Open Letter to Anna
Chapter-7: MILES TO GO: ANNA MUST CHECK AND BALANCE (165-192)
Of the Few, by the Few
All Checks, No Balance
Of a Few, By a Few, For the Few
Good Intentions and the Road to Hell
PREFACE
At about 80 km towards Ahmednagar from Pune, turn left at Wadegaon. Ask anyone the way to Ralegan Siddhi. They will point you to a Shangri La. Be ready to strain your credulity as facts are reeled off, and evidence is presented. No one starves here –in fact everyone is well nourished–, there’s no disease, the environment is clean and wooded, all the young are at school, the farm economy is booming, there are no social divisions, women are empowered and no one wastes time or money on movies, tobacco or liquor.
All this was wrung out of a drought prone 4 sq km land where till 1975, only 80 of its 2200 arable acres were farmed. The annual rain — about 400 mm in a good year but mostly a third of that — ran off the undulating land. The 2000 strong population sat and stared at a hopeless future. Children died early, men beat their wives, and diseases ran rampant and about the only businesses that made any money were the liquor stills – 40 of them. From there to paradise might seem an impossible hop. Yet, all it took was a mere 20 years — and, an ex-army truck driver called Kissan Baburao ‘Anna’ Hazare.
Hazares owned 5 acres which if productive, should easily support a family inIndia. But given the conditions, they were in deep poverty. Young Hazare left for Mumbai after 7 years of schooling. He was in his mid-teens. He began to sell flowers and was quite successful, but life seemed so empty. He would frequent the movies, hang out with mates at street corners and was generally lost. By chance, he came to read the lives of Vivekananda and Gandhi. And gained two firm convictions: the purpose of life was to serve others, and never to preach what you did not practice.
China’s incursion intoIndiain 1962 provoked him to join the army. He was trained as a truck driver and sent to the front. There, after an accident he was alone and lost for several days. He faced death and when eventually rescued, convinced himself that he had been spared for a purpose. He foreswore marriage and determined to help his village.
The Ralegan that he returned to in 1975 was as we saw, a heartache place. A drought in 1972 had crippled it further. Fist fights and vandalism throve around the liquor vends and the bazaar. Wood work from the now crumbling temple had been ripped out to stoke the stills. But there were some game triers at reforming this unruly village. A relief committee run by the Tata group was reaching out. Catholic Relief Society supplied food grains to keep off hunger. And then there was Ashok Bedarkar, a young professional managing the Tata programmes. Hazare began looking for a beach-head to start his campaign. Unmarried at 35 made him rare. And his giving away his pension money to the needy made him an odd ball.
Prompted by his intuition and powered by the settlement funds from the army, he renovated the village temple. And began to live, as he does till this day– in two rooms there, totalling, 200 sq feets. Slowly people began to come and meet this man with strange ideas on money. By now he had earned their trust and the Maharashtrian honorofic, ‘Anna’. The road out of the village’s problems had to be built with contributed labour or ‘shramdaan’, he lectured. Each of the 250 families had to send one volunteer per day per week. Each day’s labour counted as a Rs.30 contribution and earned Rs.70 from the government. Thus began small watershed works. As soon as about 60 small bunds, check dams, trenches and percolation ponds had been built there was a dramatic change: water table rose throughout the village. Anna had changed a despairing mind set and set the pace for galloping changes.
Within three years farmed acreage grew from 80 to 1300. Farmers gave away over 500 acres in the catchment areas. Village labour engineered these for harvesting all the rain that fell. Soon they were raising three crops a year and exporting table produce to the cities and even overseas. They worked out a water use regime: water drawal and crop selection is strictly regulated based on the rainfall and by sounding the water table. Today nearly 90% of the arable land is farmed. Along the way, Anna persuaded the villagers to accept the 25 Dalit families as their own, fought off the liquor barons, chastened the wife-beaters [--he had them thrashed in public], drove tobacco out of town, began a massive afforestation programme, built 11 bio gas plants, a 65 feet dia. community well and as a crowning innovation, started a Grain Bank, at the temple: anyone can ‘borrow’ grains when in need and return when able, with a little ‘interest’ added. Not many borrowers these days, though — mostly farmers come bringing a little of their surpluses to add to the bank’s reserves.
In 1992, the village built itself a grand school with its own funds and labour. Today 850 boys and girls study in it, only 650 of them Ralegan children. In the boys’ hostel are 250 kids from all overMaharashtra. To be eligible they need to be drop-outs; if they have failed in their studies their chances of admission are better. Yet, over 90% of the children pass high school. The school has science laboratories, computer courses and a big library. There’s a retired army sergeant who drills fitness into them. Kids rise at 5.30 am for a shrieking, mass run through the village. The school has vast play grounds. Children run a nursery, and actively plant and care for trees. Girls are taught to swim, to ride bicycles and lately bikes. Anna believes that development in society isn’t possible without women playing an active part.
He calls himself a “fakir” a man who has no family, no property no bank balance, and wears only khadi. Anna Hazare starts an agitation; every leader from Mumbai to Delhi sits up and takes notice. Even his detractors and politicians, who hate his guts, grudgingly accept he is the only person who has the power to mobilize common people across the country and shake up a government. His small frail body has taken several blows from the countless agitations, tours and hunger strikes he has undertaken since he came in public life in 1975. He lost his mother Laxmibai in 2002 and has two married sisters one in Mumbai and another in Sangamner who worry every time their “stubborn brother starts an indefinite hunger strike”.
Today, Anna Hazare is the face of India’s fight against corruption, and regarded as “The Gandhi of 21st centry’, because countrymen feels that he is fighting for to realize Gandhijee’s drem of SWARAJ and sustainable economic development based on MODEL VILLAGE. He has taken that fight to the corridors of power and challenged the government at the highest level. People, the common man and well-known personalities alike, are supporting him in the hundreds swelling to the thousands. He fought first against corruption that was blocking growth in ruralIndia. His organization is the Bhrashtachar Virodhi Jan Andolan (People’s movement against Corruption) and his tool of protest is hunger strikes. And his prime target is corruption.
His weapon is potent. In 1995-96, he forced the Sena-BJP government inMaharashtrato drop two corrupt Cabinet Ministers. In 2003, he forced the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) state government to set up an investigation against four ministers. Maharashtrastalwarts like Sharad Pawar and Bal Thackeray have often called his style of agitation nothing short of “blackmail”.
But Anna Hazare has soldiered on relentless, from one battle to another in his war against corruption. He fought from the front to have Right to Information (RTI) implemented. He is now fighting for the implementation of the Jan Lokpal Bill, an anti-corruption bill drafted by leading members of civil society that envisages speedy action in corruption cases against everyone, including ministers and senior bureaucrats.
More than 30 years after Anna Hazare started his crusade, as the 72-year-old observes a hunger strike inDelhiagainst large-scale corruption at the national level, nothing really has changed except the scale of his battle. But there are many questions to be answered and Anna must have to check and blance them.
I have compiled and edited this book—Anna Hazare: The Gandhi of 21st Century– form different news sources, duely quoted in the relevant texts. I am thankful all of them. I hope this book will create a window to see through the challenges of the corruption in all walks of Indian life and the struggle of civil society eventually led by Anna Hazare, and will certainly give better reading delight to the readers.
PRADEEP THAKUR
15 April 2011
ANNA HAZARE: The 'Gandhi' of 21st Century
By Pradeep Thakur – PRADEEP THAKUR & SONS
View this Author's Spotlight
He calls himself a "fakir" a man who has no family, no property no bank balance, and wears only khadi. Anna Hazare starts an agitation; every leader from Mumbai toDelhisits up and takes notice. His small frail body has taken several blows from the countless agitations, tours and hunger strikes he has undertaken since he came in public life in 1975. Today, Anna Hazare is the face of India's fight against corruption, and regarded as "The Gandhi of 21st centry', because countrymen feels that he is fighting for to realize Gandhijee's drem of SWARAJ and sustainable economic development based on MODEL VILLAGE.
Anna Hazare has soldiered on relentless, from one battle to another in his war against corruption. He fought from the front to have Right to Information (RTI) implemented. He is now fighting for the implementation of the Jan Lokpal Bill. More than 30 years after Anna Hazare started his crusade, as the 72-year-old observes a hunger strike inDelhiagainst large-scale corruption at the national level, nothing really has changed except the scale of his battle. But there are many questions to be answered and Anna must have to check and blance them.
Product Details
ISBN
978-1-257-63581-8
Copyright
Pradeep Thakur (Standard Copyright License)
Edition
First
Publisher
PRADEEP THAKUR & SONS
Published
April 21, 2011
Language
English
Pages
192
Binding
Hardcover (dust-jacket)
Interior Ink
Black & white
Dimensions (inches)
6.0 wide × 9.0 tall
List Price:$37.95Price:$34.16You Save:$3.79 ( 10% )
CONTENTS
Preface (7-10)
Chapter-1: THE MAN AND HIS VISION (11-26)
Early Life
In Army
Back to Serve Native Village
Anna's Vision and Philosophy
Popular quotes
Chapter-2: RALEGAN SIDDHI-A GANDHI-MODEL VILLEGE (27-56)
The Historical Context ofMaharashtra
Gandhi & His Economic Ideals
Anna's Inspiration
How It Happened?
The Situation
Anna's Development Process
Anns' Programs in Ralegan Siddhi
Chapter3: ANNA'S NON-STOP STRUGGLES (57-68)
Anna's Personal Clarification
Anti-corruption protests inMaharashtra
Right to Information movement
Chapter-4: CORRUPTION: ANNA'S ROAD TO FINAL CRUSDE (69-110)
Amazing Figures of Corruption
Global Financial Integrity Report-2010
Major Scams After 1991
Indian Political Scandals
Targeting Gandhi Family
Chapter-5: LAWS & ACTIONS TO CHECK CORRUPTION (111-138)
Actions by Central Government
Vohra Committee Report
Right to Information (RTI) Act
Deficiencies in the Present Anti-corruption Systems
The Fallout
Critique of the Government Lokpal Bill
Jan Lokpal Bill: The Alternative
Chapter-6: LOKPAL BILL: ANNA'S FINAL BATTLE (139-164)
Anna Letter to Prime Minister
State Bows to the Street Power
Crusade Time-line
A Day After Crusde
Narendra Modi's Open Letter to Anna
Chapter-7: MILES TO GO: ANNA MUST CHECK AND BALANCE (165-192)
Of the Few, by the Few
All Checks, No Balance
Of a Few, By a Few, For the Few
Good Intentions and the Road to Hell
PREFACE
At about 80 km towards Ahmednagar from Pune, turn left at Wadegaon. Ask anyone the way to Ralegan Siddhi. They will point you to a Shangri La. Be ready to strain your credulity as facts are reeled off, and evidence is presented. No one starves here –in fact everyone is well nourished–, there's no disease, the environment is clean and wooded, all the young are at school, the farm economy is booming, there are no social divisions, women are empowered and no one wastes time or money on movies, tobacco or liquor.
All this was wrung out of a drought prone 4 sq km land where till 1975, only 80 of its 2200 arable acres were farmed. The annual rain — about 400 mm in a good year but mostly a third of that — ran off the undulating land. The 2000 strong population sat and stared at a hopeless future. Children died early, men beat their wives, and diseases ran rampant and about the only businesses that made any money were the liquor stills – 40 of them. From there to paradise might seem an impossible hop. Yet, all it took was a mere 20 years — and, an ex-army truck driver called Kissan Baburao 'Anna' Hazare.
Hazares owned 5 acres which if productive, should easily support a family inIndia. But given the conditions, they were in deep poverty. Young Hazare left for Mumbai after 7 years of schooling. He was in his mid-teens. He began to sell flowers and was quite successful, but life seemed so empty. He would frequent the movies, hang out with mates at street corners and was generally lost. By chance, he came to read the lives of Vivekananda and Gandhi. And gained two firm convictions: the purpose of life was to serve others, and never to preach what you did not practice.
China's incursion intoIndiain 1962 provoked him to join the army. He was trained as a truck driver and sent to the front. There, after an accident he was alone and lost for several days. He faced death and when eventually rescued, convinced himself that he had been spared for a purpose. He foreswore marriage and determined to help his village.
The Ralegan that he returned to in 1975 was as we saw, a heartache place. A drought in 1972 had crippled it further. Fist fights and vandalism throve around the liquor vends and the bazaar. Wood work from the now crumbling temple had been ripped out to stoke the stills. But there were some game triers at reforming this unruly village. A relief committee run by the Tata group was reaching out. Catholic Relief Society supplied food grains to keep off hunger. And then there was Ashok Bedarkar, a young professional managing the Tata programmes. Hazare began looking for a beach-head to start his campaign. Unmarried at 35 made him rare. And his giving away his pension money to the needy made him an odd ball.
Prompted by his intuition and powered by the settlement funds from the army, he renovated the village temple. And began to live, as he does till this day– in two rooms there, totalling, 200 sq feets. Slowly people began to come and meet this man with strange ideas on money. By now he had earned their trust and the Maharashtrian honorofic, 'Anna'. The road out of the village's problems had to be built with contributed labour or 'shramdaan', he lectured. Each of the 250 families had to send one volunteer per day per week. Each day's labour counted as a Rs.30 contribution and earned Rs.70 from the government. Thus began small watershed works. As soon as about 60 small bunds, check dams, trenches and percolation ponds had been built there was a dramatic change: water table rose throughout the village. Anna had changed a despairing mind set and set the pace for galloping changes.
Within three years farmed acreage grew from 80 to 1300. Farmers gave away over 500 acres in the catchment areas. Village labour engineered these for harvesting all the rain that fell. Soon they were raising three crops a year and exporting table produce to the cities and even overseas. They worked out a water use regime: water drawal and crop selection is strictly regulated based on the rainfall and by sounding the water table. Today nearly 90% of the arable land is farmed. Along the way, Anna persuaded the villagers to accept the 25 Dalit families as their own, fought off the liquor barons, chastened the wife-beaters [--he had them thrashed in public], drove tobacco out of town, began a massive afforestation programme, built 11 bio gas plants, a 65 feet dia. community well and as a crowning innovation, started a Grain Bank, at the temple: anyone can 'borrow' grains when in need and return when able, with a little 'interest' added. Not many borrowers these days, though — mostly farmers come bringing a little of their surpluses to add to the bank's reserves.
In 1992, the village built itself a grand school with its own funds and labour. Today 850 boys and girls study in it, only 650 of them Ralegan children. In the boys' hostel are 250 kids from all overMaharashtra. To be eligible they need to be drop-outs; if they have failed in their studies their chances of admission are better. Yet, over 90% of the children pass high school. The school has science laboratories, computer courses and a big library. There's a retired army sergeant who drills fitness into them. Kids rise at 5.30 am for a shrieking, mass run through the village. The school has vast play grounds. Children run a nursery, and actively plant and care for trees. Girls are taught to swim, to ride bicycles and lately bikes. Anna believes that development in society isn't possible without women playing an active part.
He calls himself a "fakir" a man who has no family, no property no bank balance, and wears only khadi. Anna Hazare starts an agitation; every leader from Mumbai to Delhi sits up and takes notice. Even his detractors and politicians, who hate his guts, grudgingly accept he is the only person who has the power to mobilize common people across the country and shake up a government. His small frail body has taken several blows from the countless agitations, tours and hunger strikes he has undertaken since he came in public life in 1975. He lost his mother Laxmibai in 2002 and has two married sisters one in Mumbai and another in Sangamner who worry every time their "stubborn brother starts an indefinite hunger strike".
Today, Anna Hazare is the face of India's fight against corruption, and regarded as "The Gandhi of 21st centry', because countrymen feels that he is fighting for to realize Gandhijee's drem of SWARAJ and sustainable economic development based on MODEL VILLAGE. He has taken that fight to the corridors of power and challenged the government at the highest level. People, the common man and well-known personalities alike, are supporting him in the hundreds swelling to the thousands. He fought first against corruption that was blocking growth in ruralIndia. His organization is the Bhrashtachar Virodhi Jan Andolan (People's movement against Corruption) and his tool of protest is hunger strikes. And his prime target is corruption.
His weapon is potent. In 1995-96, he forced the Sena-BJP government inMaharashtrato drop two corrupt Cabinet Ministers. In 2003, he forced the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) state government to set up an investigation against four ministers. Maharashtrastalwarts like Sharad Pawar and Bal Thackeray have often called his style of agitation nothing short of "blackmail".
But Anna Hazare has soldiered on relentless, from one battle to another in his war against corruption. He fought from the front to have Right to Information (RTI) implemented. He is now fighting for the implementation of the Jan Lokpal Bill, an anti-corruption bill drafted by leading members of civil society that envisages speedy action in corruption cases against everyone, including ministers and senior bureaucrats.
More than 30 years after Anna Hazare started his crusade, as the 72-year-old observes a hunger strike inDelhiagainst large-scale corruption at the national level, nothing really has changed except the scale of his battle. But there are many questions to be answered and Anna must have to check and blance them.
I have compiled and edited this book—Anna Hazare: The Gandhi of 21st Century– form different news sources, duely quoted in the relevant texts. I am thankful all of them. I hope this book will create a window to see through the challenges of the corruption in all walks of Indian life and the struggle of civil society eventually led by Anna Hazare, and will certainly give better reading delight to the readers.
PRADEEP THAKUR
15 April 2011
January 19, 2011
Britney Spears Is Coming-back!
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Not long ago, most of the entertainment world had written Britney Spears off as a celebrity flameout. But in June 2010, Spears was ranked sixth on Forbes list of the 100 Most Powerful and Influential celebrities in the world; she is also ranked as the third most powerful musician in the world. According to concert trade publication Pollstar, "The Circus Starring Britney Spears" tour grossed more than $130 million. Spears took in still more from tour merchandise and another greatest hits album, "The Singles Collection." She really made $64 million last year (June 1 2009 to June 2010). The lead single "Hold It Against Me" of her upcoming album, premiered on January 10, 2011, set the record for most radio plays in one day in the United States, and was expected the track to sell over 400,000 copies in the US its first week. So, it is very clear now that Britney Spears is coming back—slowly but surely—on the path to achieve her lost glory.
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CONTENTSPreface (7-10)
Chapter-1: Introduction (11- 26)
Brief profile
Musical style and influences
Endorsement
Awards
Chapter-2: Early Life (27-34)
Background
Child artist
Career beginning
Losing virginity and alcoholism
Chapter-3: Instant Stardom (35-62)
…Baby One More Time: The debut album
"Oops! …I Did It Again": The second album
Britney Spears' Heart-to-Heart: The book
Chapter-4: Ruling the World (63-94)
"A Mother's Gift": The second book
"Britney": The 3rd album
"Dream Within a Dream Tour"
"Crossroads": The first staring role
"In the Zone": The fourth album
Chapter-5: Personal Struggle (95-188)
55 hours marriage
"Onyx Hotel Tour"
Marriage with Kevin Federline
"Curious": $52 million endorsement deal
"Greatest Hits: My Prerogative": The compilation album
Motherhood
"Britney & Kevin: Chaotic": A reality television series
"B in the Mix: The Remixes"
Parental missteps… divorce filed
…And Britney went bad
Checked into rehab, divorce settled
"M+M's Tour"
Open online letter: "I was so lost"
Topless for "Allure"
The lost battle
"Blackout": The fifth album
Road to conservatorship
Chapter-6: The Coming-back (189-232)
"Ten Sessions"
"Britney: For the Record": The come-back documentary
"Circus": The sixth studio album
"The Circus Starring Britney Spears": The fifth concert tour
"The Singles Collection"
"Britney/Brittany": The Glee's dedicated episode
"Hold It Against Me": The fist single of upcoming 7th album
Photo Feature: Britney Spears-A Life in Pictures (233-256)
PREFACE
Not long ago, most of the entertainment world had written Britney Spears off as a celebrity flameout. But in June 2010, Spears was ranked sixth on Forbes list of the 100 Most Powerful and Influential celebrities in the world; she is also ranked as the third most powerful musician in the world.
When Britney Spears popped up at no. 6 on Forbes list most of us thought it must be some sort of technical glitch in the number crunching process. What else could explain the placement of the former head-shaving, umbrella-swinging, rehab-visiting pop-tart near the top of a list of the world's most powerful stars? Could this one-time train wreck really be that rich or that important to the entertainment business?
The answer is yes. The Britney Spears who made Forbes list was not the tabloid target whose frequent meltdowns only two years ago relegated her to Forbes infamy index. Instead Britney clocked in top 10 was the chart-topping songstress whose past 12 months included the 5th highest-grossing tour of the year. According to concert trade publication Pollstar, "The Circus Starring Britney Spears" tour grossed more than $130 million. Spears took in still more from tour merchandise and another greatest hits album, "The Singles Collection." She really made $64 million last year (June 1 2009 to June 2010).
Like her savvier Hollywood cohorts, she had been similarly busy building the Spears brand, extending her fan-base –and wallet—with a host of top-selling Elizabeth Arden fragrances, an endorsement deal for Candie's and a fashion collection for juniors. She would sell her designs exclusively at Kohl's. But for her to land as high on the list as she did, she needed to garner as much fame as she did money. She did. In fact, the mother of two ranked third overall in Web mentions (behind Lady Gaga and Beyonce, who banked an estimated $62 million and $87 million, respectively, during the same period) and second in a social media metric that factored in both Twitter and Facebook followings (Gaga has her beat with nearly 10 million Facebook fans).Still more impressive: in May 2010, Spears overtook Twitter king Ashton Kutcher as the most popular celebrity on Twitter.
So, it is very clear now that Britney Spears is coming back—slowly but surely—on the path to achieve her lost glory.
On September 28, 2010, she made a cameo appearance on a Spears-themed tribute episode of American TV show Glee, titled "Britney/Brittany". During its original broadcast, it was watched by 13.51 million American viewers. It drew Glee's second largest audience ever. Viewership was up 1.06 million over the previous episode, "Audition", 0.5 million over the Madonna tribute episode "The Power of Madonna", and 2.1 million over the Lady Gaga-themed episode "Theatricality". The episode attained Glee's series high rating in the 18–49 demographic, with a 5.9/17 Nielsen rating/share also making it the highest-rated show on the night of broadcast. It was Fox's highest-rated live-action comedy episode of the fall in eight years among adults 18–49, and nine years among total viewers. It was the first time in seventeen years that the highest-rated entertainment show of premiere week grew in its second week among adults 18–49 and total viewers. In Canada, the episode was the most-watched show of the night, attaining 2.4 million viewers. In Australia, the episode was watched by 1.171 million viewers, making Glee the seventh most-watched show of the night.
On December 2, 2010, Spears announced via her Twitter account that the album will be released in March 2011. The lead single "Hold It Against Me" was premiered on Ryan Seacrest's radio show on January 10, 2011…and set the record for most radio plays in one day in the United States, registering 619 plays on Mediabase and 595 plays on Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems (BDS). The song debuted at number eleven on the Finnish Singles Chart. It also debuted at number six on the Irish Singles Chart, the week ending January 13, 2011. Billboard reported that industry prognosticators expected the track to sell over 400,000 copies in the US its first week
For the record, in her twelve year career, Britney Spears has released six studio albums, three compilation albums, and two extended plays. She has sold over 100 million records worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists in the history of contemporary music. According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), she is the eighth top-selling female artist in the United States, with 32 million certified albums. Sheis also recognized as the best-selling female artist of the first decade of the 21st century, as well as the fifth overall. She was ranked the 8th Artist of the 2000–10 decade by Billboard. She also is the world's most successful teenager recording artist with over 37 million albums sold worldwide before she turned 20, with only 2 years of releasing music.
Spears has been nominated for eight Grammy awards and won her first in the category of Best Dance Recording for her single "Toxic" in 2005. She has also won four moon men from the MTV Video Music Awards and sixteen Teen Choice Awards giving her the title of the female with the most surfboards ever collected. Overall, Britney Spears have received 237 awards from 352 nominations. She is also one of the most awarded artists of all time.
Her Elizabeth Arden scents make up 34% of celebrity fragrance sales. Britney competed against other celebrities such as Céline Dion, Jennifer Lopez, P. Diddy, Paris Hilton, and Hilary Duff and succeeded in becoming the number 1 celebrity perfume endorser of all-time with global sales of 1 billion and gross revenue of US$2 billion. To date Spears has grossed over US$1.5 billion from perfume sales across the globe selling an astonishing 1 billion bottles in 5 years.
More than any other single artist, Britney Spears was the driving force behind the return of teen pop in the late '90s. The blockbuster success of the Spice Girls and Backstreet Boys certainly paved the way for her own commercial breakthrough, but Spears didn't just become a star — she was a bona fide pop phenomenon. Not only did she sell millions of records, she was a media fixture regardless of what she was (or wasn't) doing; among female singers of the era (many of whom followed in her footsteps), her celebrity star power was rivaled only by Jennifer Lopez. Kristinia DeBarge, Lady Gaga, Little Boots, Selena Gomez & The Scene, Pixie Lott and Miley Cyrus has been cited Spears as one of her biggest inspirations.
Britney Spears has been Yahoo!'s most popular search term for the last four consecutive years, seven times in total. Spears was named as Most Searched Person in the Guinness World Records book edition 2007 and 2009.
Barbara Ellen of The Observer reported: "Spears is famously one of the oldest teenagers pop has ever produced, almost middle aged in terms of focus and determination. Many 19-year-olds haven't even started working by that age, whereas Britney, a former Mouseketeer, was that most unusual and volatile of American phenomena — a child with a full-time career. While other little girls were putting posters on their walls, Britney wanted to be the poster on the wall. Whereas other children develop at their own pace, Britney was developing at a pace set by the ferociously competitive American entertainment industry."
The book "Britney Spears Is Coming-back!" is before you. I tried to create the window through which you could have a in depth view of personal and professional lives; and be assured that one of the most happening music icon of our times– Britney Spears– is coming back again to prove herself better than before. I hope this book would provide the best useful information and a better reading delight to the esteemed readers of all walks of life. I have compiled and edited this book from different new sources, which are mentioned in the course of the relevant text. I am obliged and thankful to all of them.
Pradeep Thakur
January 18, 2011
