Thursday, October 8, 2015

Life starts after 00:00 (Engineers)

The moment you join an engineering college, you sort of sign an imaginary contract with your life to sacrifice night's sleep for all the good (or silly) reasons. Basically, you can't sleep when all your friends are thundering into the enemy in Counter Strike at 1 am in the night. Late night chats with your friends or distant mates are nothing to be compared with. Your parents have no idea that you are awake after 12-12.30 midnight for you have already turned 'Last seen' off from your whats app account ( I know right). Be it tens of Assignments or mugging for exams or a marathon of F.R.I.E.N.D.S episodes, you just can't go to bed! After all the discussions of science, religion, politics with roommates, you check the time and its 4 am and decide to sleep.  Mornings are opposite BTW as you can't leave the bed for the 8 AM class... Then you check your attendance, calculate the drop if you miss it and take an important decision whether to run to class or to keep sleeping. Its already 7.55 am!

The professors know that they suck and you attend their class for the sake of your 75% quota, so he deliberately will show tantrums like not allowing you when you are ten minutes late. In those lucky days, you might sneak in at even 20 mins past class-time but not always and the walk back to hostel will bring back all the activities you did the previous day which costed your attendance. Imaginary scenes of you pleading in front of dean to allow you to write the exams despite less attendance comes to your mind. You vow not to miss class the very next day (Too much!). 

Not to forget the exams and the all-nighters before it, studying all night and directly sitting for exam in the morning, that feeling of completion is something not everyone gets. The running back to hostel and sleeping all day without care for the world is another such feeling.

As the Second year ends, a deep realization seeps in, ' Sab moh maya hai ' and you feel like give up everything and go to Himalayas but alas that can't be! You came here for a reason- Career and degree which is still tens of exams and assignments away.  

Finally, when you get past all the hurdles, 1000 formalities, hundreds of short and long exams, and 4 years of screwing yourself up, you get the piece of paper with 'Certified Engineer' written on it. You think for a second what have you sacrificed in life for that piece of paper and wish the interviewers understand this value (Which is not gonna happen :P ). 

The habit of staying up at night keeps you up even in future when you are in job or settled and it is something like this: 


Thursday, March 19, 2015

14 Perks of living in a small city

This post will cover some of the perks of living in a small city or as we call, a town. Having spent my childhood in Dibrugarh town I had my memory as ready reference for this post.

Here are 14 reasons why living in a small town is absolute bliss : - ) : - )

1. Everyone is family: 

Family is not restricted to the four walls of the house. The neighbors, their kids, their dog, their neighbors and relatives are also very much like family. Birthdays round the year, food exchanges and any help possible- You name it, you get it! You can go into anyone's house almost as frequently as thrice a day that too without annoying them. Imagine doing it in a metro- HuLaLaLa!





2. Everything you need is just few steps away

Stationary, Grocery, Snacks and haircut at cheapest possible rates, Wholesale firecrackers, Ready-made garments and shoes, small malls, cinema and restaurants are all near by and the owners know each and every customer by name! You can take a bicycle and tour the complete city in less than 2 hours and walk to school even if you are late!


Dibrugarh Town, Assam 

3. Sacred culture and traditions: 

Even minute traditions are followed which makes you feel very special being a part of the vibrant and colorful culture. Wash your feet outside before entering home :D
Bhawna: A type of play mostly concerned with stories of Lord Vishnu
    
4. Less or No pollution:

Noise? What is that? The noise in a big city makes life really stressful and induces headaches which is not the case in a small city or town. Vehicular pollution is also less giving us a cleaner and greener environment. Less chances of Asthma and healthier lives ;)


Less crowded street are common.


5. Tuition and art classes are fun: 

No matter which school you study all your friends will be with you in the evening at tuition, art or guitar classes because small cities don't have much of a choice for these classes. Few are reputed ones and students flock these so you won't miss your friends in the evenings. Yippee :D


Couldn't find a picture for this point but the feeling is the same as depicted in this photo :P


6. Festivities and brotherhood: 

Be it Diwali, Durga Puja, Holi,Bihu, Chatt puja, Idd or any other we all celebrate with full enthusiasm and brotherhood. There is hardly any incident of riots or hate mongering due to less outreach of politics and peaceful hearts at these places. Fortunately places like these exist :)



Bihu celebrations
Durga Puja pandal
The Procession before immersion of goddess Durga when whole city
comes out to pray for another prosperous year.
7. Fairs/ Circus (It used to be conducted earlier) and music concerts: 

Events like these are like once a year activity and whole city will turn up for these. You get to meet the random aunt you always ignore or the secret crush of previous school in such events and also enjoy with your buddies roaming around, eating fast food and doing pranks. Bliss!


A shop at a trade fair.


8. If anyone from the town achieves something big at State/ National/ International event its a GRAND celebration in town: 

People literally clog the gates of nearest airport or railway station to welcome their hero. A participant in KBC, A winner of reality show, sports star, gallantry award winner or famous journalist all are heroes for the masses in town and they are honored with garlands and prizes.
Former MP Sarbananda Sonowal felicitating 17 Year old Pinky Karmakar at
 Dibrugarh airport who was torch bearer in London Olympics.
9. The long wait and plans to visit an upcoming shopping complex/ Multiplex:  

Finally the rumors come true and you see the construction site of upcoming tall building which is surely a shopping mall or multiplex and it becomes talk of town. Friends and family plan when to go and what to buy :P
Junction mall, Dibrugarh

10. No news is secret: 

The rumors (Both true and fake) are the talk of town within hours. Any recent news or upcoming event grabs the attention of all and you can't ignore it no matter where you hide :D





11. Bi-cycles and bikes are luxury: 

If you have a bi-cycle then you are rich and you save enough time and money by saving the auto/Cycle-Rickhaw fare. It is eco-friendly and hassle-free mode of travel to anywhere in town in shortest time IF you know the shortcuts ;)

Pic Credits: Devopratim Biswas :)

12. Beautiful environment:

If you are a nature lover or nature photographer you won't get bored anytime in a town. Small buildings and absence of sky-scrappers mean that you can always see the horizon- sunrise and sunset and also admire the beauty of variety of trees and different kinds of birds. Any place near town is a picnic spot literally :)


Sunset at Dibrugarh. 

The beauty of  Tea Gardens 



13. Cricket/ Football tournaments, Carom contests, Badminton nights etc etc: 

There will be a season when every empty field will be full of people playing badminton with high power lights and proper markings, Every corner and pavements filled with carom players aiming for a strike and big grounds witnessing cricket tournament. You don't have to search for playing space, no need of any permissions, no clubs or fees and even equipment aren't mandatory. That feeling! :))


A local football game.

14. The reunion, joy and love: 

Even if you are settled somewhere else and visit the town after years people will recognize you and treat you with full hospitality, cheer and love! That's something unique about small towns. :))))

The clock tower in Dibrugarh Town


Share it if you enjoyed living in a small city and can relate to these points (Y) :) 


Friday, January 23, 2015

Blood Buddies

Even before birth at about 3-5 weeks from conception the heart of the foetus starts to beat and pump the most vital fluid tissue of our body that is Blood. It is responsible for transporting nutrients, electrolytes, hormones, vitamins, antibodies, heat and most importantly oxygen. It also removes waste matter and carbon dioxide from the body. The White blood cells are body's primary defence against infections while the platelets help in clotting of wounds.

 The whole point is that Blood is life but what happens when there is shortage of this life-giving fluid? What happens when there is an accident and due to heavy bleeding the victim is close to death but only one thing can save him that is blood? Where will he get this vital fluid? The solution to this 'Blood Bank' which stores and dispatches blood when emergency. Are they enough?

Let us look at some statistics:- 


  • Every year our nation requires about 4 crore units of blood out of which only 40 Lakh units are available. Shocking right? No, We live in a country of 125 crore people!
  • Every 2 seconds someone needs blood BUT not every 2 seconds someone donates it. Basically demand and supply ratio is never satisfied due to lack of enough blood banks/ donations.
  • A single car accident victim can require as many as 100 units of blood 
  • More than 38,000 blood donations are needed every day. It is not a large number considering our population but truth is that this number is never reached! Only 10 percent of this number is reached.
The most important fact of all is-

Blood cannot be manufactured – it can only come from generous donors

The only solution is donate more and in large numbers and become blood buddies by saving lives of others.

Let us see blood donation process in brief now-
  • Blood donation is a safe and healthy process in which a sterile needle is used for each donor and then discarded. Every healthy adult can donate blood with an interval of 56 days!
  • It is a four step process- Registration, Med history and mini physical checkup, Donation and Refreshments.
  • Donors are kept under rest for 10-15 minutes after donation to prevent any adverse conditions.
  • For safe donation a doctor does the mini physical checkup to see if the BP, pulse, hemoglobin and temperature are alright. 
  • The donation time takes less than 12 minutes but the total process takes around an hour.
  • An average person has 10 units of blood in the body and one donation means only 1 unit which will soon be produced by his body again.
  • The donated blood is tested for various infections by the lab and sent to hospitals for treatment of patients who need blood.

One more fact-

There are four types of transfusable products that can be derived from blood : red blood cells, platelets, plasma and cryoprecipitate. Typically, two or three of these are produced from a unit of donated whole blood – Hence each donation can help save up to lives. So donate 1 unit of blood and save as many as 3 lives.

Only 7 percent of people in India have O-negative blood type. O-negative blood type donors are universal donors as their blood can be given to people of all blood types. 

Type O-negative blood is needed in emergencies before the patient's blood type is 
known and with newborns who need blood

0.4 percent of people have AB-blood type. AB-type blood donors are universal 
donors of plasma, which is often used in emergencies, for newborns and for patients 
requiring massive transfusions

I was afraid of needles, hospital procedures, blood and treatments from childhood but got past my fear this week. I went to a Christian Medical College, Vellore blood bank and donated 1 unit of blood and the staff told me it will go to some accident victim that had arrived that day. It was not even painful and I saved one or two lives. It feels great so more and more people should start donating. I am a blood buddy and will continue donating in future too.

Are you a Blood Buddy?


Thursday, March 6, 2014

RAINCOAT can make your eyes wet!

Imagine you are sitting in front of your lost childhood sweatheart after a gap of few years and she is married. What does it feel like? Is there a lump in your throat everytime you try to speak a word. Now imagine that the first hurdle is overcome and you both are talking all sorts of things about your life, marriage and job but both of you can't express the pain you feel each day for each other. None of you try to explain the dark conditions of your lives to each other but both of you are going on talking about every other thing. This pain is realistic and aptly described in the art film ''Raincoat'' by Rituparna Ghosh.

 The two hour movie just doesn't let you breathe properly in anticipation of the unfolding of the story. I never heard of parallel cinema of bollywood untill the death of Rituparna Ghosh when media gave him respect for being a comrade of the force behind art films of bollywood. It was then that I discovered the true world of cinema where reality is honestly portrayed without racy item songs or mindless promotional events. Unlike the big stars of commercial cinema the actors and directors of art films are not attention seekers and thatsy many of us are unaware of their existence. These films touch our mind and heart equally and make us think at least for a few minutes which is way more beneficial than laughing hours on adult comedy which has made a prominent place nowadays in commercial cinema.

The movie Raincoat is shot in record time of 17 days and the brilliant direction and acting won it the National Award too. Aishwarya Rai as Neeru is so beautifully portrayed that you could actually feel the character as if it was alive. Ajay Devgan also played one of his best roles according to me in this film as a passionate lover from a village Bhagalpur who visits kolkata to collect money from his past friends in order to come out of financial crisis. There he visits his childhood love Neeru's house for a short trip and the twists and turns keep us glued to the movie along with occasionally thinking deeply about the awesome story originally written by O. HENRY.

 After two hours of this moving experience I thought why not ask my friends if anybody had heard of this film. It turned out nobody among my friends and not even people on quora have any idea of this movie except some freaks. The movie did decent work in box office despite being a low budget art film. I wonder if anymore such films would come up in India given the conditions of neglect towards such films. Such realistic films are instant Flop generally in the bolly market which only wants khans and kapoors dancing with bikini clad dancers. If even a small percentage of money that meaningless films earn nowadays could go to these art films we could have hoped for more such movies.

If you haven't enjoyed it, Go to Youtube and keep napkins ready!!!! I bet you will remember this movie whole life.

Friday, January 24, 2014

AAPun ka DILLI : A political review

Almost a month has passed since the so called revolutionary AK took oath to uphold the constitution in Delhi and here am I as promised with a crisp and sour review of it's performance so far.

Lets start with the HITS first !

The infant party has certainly given every common man a hope to fight elections and win at a healthy budget given the fact that average spending of AAP Mla's was around 4 lakhs. Earlier even a college election would not be wrapped up without going to crores although Congis and Bjpians never openly accepted this fact!. Hoax or fact only time will tell but as of now the issue of black money and huge spending in elections has been reduced at least in a single state ( Or claimed to be so ). They must be given the credit for raising a hope for a better democracy.

Second hit was quick decision making (although immature as of now but it can be made better in near future by more maturity in handling the things). We can't be hypocrites cause it was we the same people who always cursed the long processes existing in governmental work. So even if few decisions were in fact misses it can be rectified and a better decision making mechanism can be developed but at the moment we must praise the commitment to quicker governance. The audit of power companies was a good decision again.

Third hit was that ministers stayed like commoners and did a lot of surprise visits to supervise to keep things in proper order. AK didn't take the 5 bedroom home after people protested. I don't remember any minister in history to have done that after people's request.

Fourth and the last HIT according to me was the idea to convert unused buses into night shelters. It is a great initiative by AK cause we were tired to see assets rendered unused largely under government control like old ambassador cars, buses, rail coaches, empty water tanks, machine parts etc. If these are put to some beneficial use it would amount to development that is sustainable. Hardly any other leader in India talks of sustainable development!

The MISSES now:

INEXPERIENCE: Law minister who himself is a lawyer calls a meeting of judges and argues with secretary when he said that judiciary is independent of legislature and only Delhi high court has power to call meeting of judges. It was a laughing matter for many. Sense of power is creeping onto the nerves I think barring brain to think rationally.

IMMATURITY : The decision to subsidize power or free water for three months to show how you are fulfilling promises? Since sixty years congress is winning by freebies like these through subsidy. Honestly I expected better decision in this for these two were main poll promises. " If you exceed free water limit of 20 Kilo liters a month you have to pay full amount". WOW. Cleaver play of words. Its for the public to interpret now whether AAP really fulfilled the poll promise cause they are using taxpayer's money to subsidize electricity and have NOT reduced electric bills by even a penny. It's again clever tactics to give freebies just like congis did all these years. Many CMs of other states have done much better work in this regard by giving 24/7 power at cheaper rates.

Janata Darbar flop ! - The day when media followed the street beside Delhi assembly all day but only to witness a flop show. CM and ministers were to sit on street every Saturday to listen to public grievances and take immediate action in urgent issues. People turned up in thousands forcing the authorities to take away all ministers. It was a pretty bad management all together as Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has been doing Janata Darbars in an appreciable way for quite a sometime now and the Public interaction scheme of Modi in Gujrat is also very successful where he connects to people of the state by video conferencing joined by all top level officers for quick on the spot decisions and grievance redressal. The worse part was that AK scrapped the plan altogether by providing an helpline number instead for future! Annoying decision when other CMs have already succeeded in this scheme. This points towards another MISS i.e ARROGANCE.

ARROGANCE- AK made us feel as if he is a dictator by the dharna(protest) he did threatning republic day celebrations. First time a Chief minister sat on dharna and first time republic day was threatened! It was just a bizarre clash of egos although AAP justified the dharna saying that police should come under their control. AK demanded suspensions of 3 policemen who didn't listen to law minister Somnath Bharti's order to raid without warrant!. All heights of arrogance crossed when AK openly backed his law minister's illegal deeds like racist comments against African nationals. AAP wanted delhi police to come under state control but in most countries capital's police is under central control. The controversial law minister named a rape victim, ordered police to carry on raids without warrants, led people to forcefully take African women to test for drugs although it was found that they were clean. The women alleged that the mob led by Mr Bharti misbehaved, racially abused, forcefully took to hospital for blood and urine tests and were labelled as prostitutes who are facing the taunts of people repeatedly now. Still AK backs this law minister who has no respect for law. He also skipped Women commission's summon by sending a lawyer instead.

Cracks in the party : A rebel AAP MLA openly alleged APP and it's leaders of cheating people and of being anti-democratic but AAP top boss labelled him as BJP agent too ! OMG!  Till today they used to question every government but when they are at the other end today every person raising question against them is BJP agent ! That's dictatorship traits and lethal for democracy.

After disruption of section 144 by CM and ministers, illegal activities of LAW minister I seriously don't know how is AK upholding the constitution but AAPtards still be like ' Give him some time at least they are doing something good'. What if they make billions in scams and loot the country of all it's wealth. Did we get a hint when congress did all the high profile scams? What if these 'GOOD-Doers' have separatist ideolody or communist intentions to ruin the country? Till when will we keep praising their good intentions? Even Manmohan Singh had good intentions accoriding to us back in 2004. Look what he did. All these should be thought off.  ALL THESE WERE MY OWN VIEWS AND EVERYONE IS FREE TO AGREE/ DISAGREE.




ADDITIONAL Analysis : This guy seems to take my view quite forward in his analysis: (FROM HIS BLOG) 


Suyash Bhardwaj (IIM - Calcutta 2011 Batch) has written an excellent piece on Aam Aadmi Party:

Aam Aadmi Party has created a lot of waves among the masses as well as classes. This debutant party has shaken the foundations of existing Congress and the BJP. Many people see in it, the much needed agent of change, which the city of Delhi and perhaps the whole country needs. Will the AAP change the way politics is done in India? There are many good things (some extremely good) and many bad things (some extremely bad) talked about this party. I would select a few points to show that the much hyped ‘Change’ this party is offering is only in the minds of its supporters.

1. Claim - AAP/@Arvind Arvind Kejriwal are Completely clean and honest

Reason - The foremost explanation given is AAP declares its Donors list and Kejriwal has ‘clean image’, and that he could have earned crores in his government job (IRS) if he wanted to earn just money. This narrative further changed over time and translated to “Atleast he is cleaner than Congress & BJP”

Analysis – In Politics as we have seen through 2G, CWG, CG etc, 1 can earn billions of dollars, not just Crores of rupees. Therefore the reason that he ‘sacrificed’ everything is meaningless. A corrupt traffic policeman would earn a few thousand rupees, a corrupt politician would earn billions, is it fair to say Policeman is more honest or less corrupt? NO! Simply because he didn't get enough chance to loot public money. So the real test should be on whether a person has looted money when he has got the chance to do so. Kejriwal took home salary as an IRS officer for years, even while he was on vacation. He later returned the money when the Congress govt. caught his act. In the Sting video (howsoever politically motivated 1 may call it). Kumar Vishwas says that he is ready to take money from an MLA, for doing a show, without knowing who the MLA is, i.e what the sources of his funding is (Money laundering). It shows Top AAP leaders have taken advantage of situations as and when they have got it. Why would they not gobble up billions once they get a chance to do so? On Donors list, one does not know if it is complete & exhaustive, who has verified their claims? Has it been audited by a 3rd party? That way anyone can put up random list. In short AAP is making a lot of noise only because it has lesser stake, once it gets more entrenched, it would show the same, if not more, level of dirt as Congress

2. Claim - Arvind is highly efficient and can solve any problem

Reason – Arvind’s educational background. He is an IIT Graduate. He is a former IRS officer which is tough to qualify. SO because of his impressive educational background he should be able to solve everything

Analysis – 1 can only ask for Arvind’s achievements in his life before IAC activism and forming AAP. As an IRS officer, how many corrupt politicians did he bust (Note the word bust and not extorted)? What were his other achievements? If it is about educational qualification, is our esteemed PM Dr. Manmohan Singh any less educated? He is perhaps the most educated politicians not just in the country but the whole world and what a mess he has turned the country into? I did have the privilege to study from a very good educational institute where people from quite impressive background (including the IITs) also studied. With my experience I can easily say being from IIT is no certification that the person even possesses a common sense. Bottom line, there are enough and many people from the IITs/IIMs who are Dumbos (not talking of myself) and there are enough and many people from average backgrounds who are geniuses.

3. Claim - AAP is a True Blue Secular party

Reason – AAP Thinks only about Indians and not about Hindus, Muslims etc

Analysis –The very 1st thing AAP did after its formation was build exclusive political cells for Muslims, Sikhs etc. How is it different from any other 'Secular' party? Later on it indulged in writing separate letters for each religion, the standout being a letter to Muslims where Kejriwal said court convicted terrorists were innocent. Later on, he went to meet Maulana Taqueer Raza of the Samajwadi party so that he could use his influence to garner votes on religious lines, the same way Congress or Samajwadi Party does. In their election manifesto, they have mentioned that Muslims youth’s fake encounter would be prevented. SO they are completely ok if the ones encountered are Hindus? Such divisive politics is already existent in a large scale and I am sure people are not looking for AAP’s version of change

4. Claim – AAP is a Fully Democratic party

Reason – All the candidates have been selected through a democratic process, similar to USA primaries elections

Analysis – The truth is some of AAP (NOT all) were pre decided as accepted by former prominent AAP members. They also changed candidates based on unknown reasons. Like the candidate for Kalkaji was changed, despite the former winning the ‘primary’. In-fact AAP is a 4 man party which revolves around Arvind Kejriwal and his Inner Circle of a few members, who run the party in an autocratic fashion. Plethora of resignations from the party, barely within months of its formation testify this

5. Claim – AAP supports RTI/RTR/RTr

Reason – AAP volunteers say so. Kejriwal says so

Analysis – So far AAP has not responded to RTI filed by some Social Activists. Their candidate from Uttam Nagar was rejected by local Volunteers of AAP. A huge majority of Uttam Nagar AAP volunteers wanted the candidate to be rejected and replaced with a new one. They even sat for weeks of Anshan (fast). Result – AAP did not allow Right to Reject (RTR) which it preached about

6. AAP has only clean candidates

Reason – Kejriwal says so. AAP volunteers say so

Analysis – AAP raised a Lot of hue and cry over how Congress, BJP etc had ‘tainted’ candidates. But AAP itself has 5 or 6 tainted candidates. Arvind himself has 9 FIRs on him. Maybe those FIRs are fake, maybe not, courts will decide, but shouldn't the same yardstick then apply to other parties? Or atleast if he took that Moral High Ground, should he not set an example by removing those tainted candidates including himself?

7. AAP has very good, clean, competent candidates & their ‘Swaraj’ model will CHANGE everything

Reason – Kejriwal says so. AAP volunteers say so

Analysis – Cannot verify if all are clean but assuming they are, what of their competence. Are they good enough? Some of the candidates are so naive that for every problem, their solution is Swaraj and Lokpal. They seem to be out of the world. Swaraj Model in itself is 1 flawed concept. It talks of decentralization of power and providing autonomy at a regional level. How will this be achieved? No clarity on that.

8. AAP has massive support across the countries. Many volunteers work for it for free

Reason – Kejriwal says so. AAP volunteers say so

Analysis – In their own website, AAP has shown that the Volunteers expenditure monthly is somewhere between 5 Lakhs and 10 Lakhs, apart from other Network/Social Media expenses. This goes on to show that AAP has an Army of Paid Volunteers who work for it to spread its propaganda in Social Media as well as Ground. There are people who have also left Jobs to campaign for AAP, but that doesn't nullify existence of an active Paid Army

9. AAP is a Pro Youth, pro Middle Class party

Reason – Kejriwal says so. AAP volunteers say so

Analysis – If you read AAP manifesto carefully, it would be clear that AAP has a Socialist agenda, which is to cripple the industries and strengthen the culture of Freebies (Doling out gifts like Laptops, TVs etc). Despite the bleeding Economy they have offered to lower electricity bills by 50%, free water upto 700 litres for a family. These are just socialist schemes which would lead to lower jobs in the economy, thereby increasing the UNEMPLOYMENT rate among the youth. State will get into a bigger debt trap. The party aims at Poverty alleviation and not Wealth Creation, like any other socialist party such as Congress, DMK, NCP etc.

I can go on and on but I am not even getting into how some Top leaders of AAP have ridiculously blamed Indian Army, praised dangerous terrorist organizations like SIMI, talked of possibility of gifting Kashmir to Pak, including a Convicted dreaded Naxalite in their Core reforms team, fought cases for deadly terrorists/suicide bombers to ensure they get free and kill more people, run mercy plea campaigns for these terrorists or how they have formed alleged collusion with certain political parties or how Yogendra Yadav said that Janlokpal movement was only for Hindus and not Muslims. AAP has just finished 1 year of its formation and already shown signs of dirt running deep into its system. Once it gets older and gets more powers (responsibilities), it will show more of this dirt.

I am definitely not saying that one should not be hopeful or should avoid voting, for not voting is a social crime. What I am saying is we need a change, a LOT of change, change in the way how court drags cases for decades, change in a lot of systems, change in red tapism in Babugiri, but Aam Aadmi Party is not that agent of change because it is nothing but an old wine (and a rotten one) in a new bottle. AAP has possibly picked all the bad points of different political party. AAP has been hijacked by the Leftist Mafia, same one which dictates the many of the other political parties including the Congress and the BJP. It is a HOAX and one of the biggest Hoaxes to have hit us in the recent times.


Friday, January 17, 2014

PSEUDO Healthcare in India



The prefix ‘Pseudo’ in the title serves two purposes here. First it is to take our attention towards the condition of healthcare in India which is often termed one of the best in the world by our leaders. Secondly when read like “‘PSEUDO’ healthcare in India” it means this post is not only about Indian healthcare but it has a political twist too. Obviously our medical facilities are not of good quality that is why Mrs Gandhi visits US every year for health checkups spending crores of taxpayer’s money. The irony is out of 65 years of independence congress was in power for more than 49 years headed by Gandhi family. Still can’t make a world class hospital? I wonder why. This post tries to explain how petty politics have so far reduced the quality of healthcare in India despite having largest number of doctors in the world. So if you hate politics go ahead and close this post, be happy and keep suffering helplessly ignoring the facts about administration and political class who in the first place are responsible for those sufferings. 

Let me explain how politics have ruined our opportunity to be a medical superpower. World class healthcare demands four main things: 

Doctors . (India has the largest population of doctors both here and abroad.)
Medical staff. ( India have the largest pool of youthful citizens who if trained skilfully can rise up to the occasion )
Infrastructure. ( India has largest population of Civil engineers, IT professionals and MBAs who if coordinated properly can easily create world class infrastructure)
Political will. ( The only thing India, the world’s LARGEST democracy doesn’t have in this field even after  65 years of independence)

So despite having everything in abundance why is Mrs Gandhi going to US for treatment? Why do film stars rush to Singapore for treatment? Why members of parliament and top beaurocrats spend large sum of taxpayer’s money for their treatments abroad?
Singapore is smaller than average Indian city so it is much easier to develop it. This might be an excuse to justify our weakness but what about US, Canada, China? All of them have one or more shortages of the above 4 points still why are they medical superpowers? Because the fourth point is the main point and should be kept at first necessity. Political will is what those countries have and we lack. They have health as one of their main priorities. Health checkups are compulsory in many of those countries, Doctors are regularly supervised, wrongdoers are punished, med schools are regulated efficiently and corruption is kept at minimum.

So coming directly to the fourth point, Health and Education are not even in the top 3 priorities in our budget. Instead MILITARY, INDUSTRY and AGRICULTURE are given highest shares of GDP spending. Whatever mere expenditure happens in education and health is further filtered into the pockets of officials at every level due to largely unearthed corruption in these two sectors. Finally 20 to 30 percent of the sanctioned money goes into ground work and for decades now healthcare is running like this.
 Once I congratulated my 9th grade English teacher after I saw in news that central budget has introduced a scheme to give laptops to all government high school teachers for better standards of teaching. He started laughing and I failed to understand why he was laughing after I Said ‘Sir now you will be able to refer to internet or power point presentations while teaching us’. So I asked him the reason for laughing and he explained ‘Kid you say they have promised a laptop? Just wait and watch it’s a matter of time we will witness for ourselves if we can even get the laptop’s outer skeleton!’ I understood that he was referring to governmental delays in India to carry on schemes which are targeted only for media as a poll gimmick but I still asked him why he says he won’t get the laptop and is not expecting even the laptop’s outer skin. He explained that the laptop will surely start its journey from New Delhi but it will deteriorate at every level. The central officials will keep the mother board, the state officials will keep the hard drive, the education board officials will take their share and finally we are not sure what the teacher will get actually at the end of this. Metaphorically he explained how money sanctioned to various schemes go into the pockets of beaurocrats and officers at each level. This is the primary reason why our healthcare and education sectors are in dilapidated state.

A recent report by an UK journal showed that in the last five years more than 1500 UK doctors were barred from practicing medicine due to the cases of medical negligence but strangely NOT A SINGLE INDIAN DOCTOR IS EVER BARRED FROM PRACTICING BY the Medical Council Of India who receive thousands of complaints on a daily basis. They temporarily suspended few doctors with serious charges like female foeticide but never have permanently barred any doctor. That’s really strange and any sane mind will be out of explanations for this. Either UK doctors are so bad, Indian doctors are so good OR the MCI doesn’t have proper powers like many other toothless Indian laws! Whatever it may be it is giving a free hand to people running malpractices in medicine (wrong to call them doctors). A report based on a survey in Delhi showed many practicing doctors there did not even know the spelling of Paracetamol still their complaint files are stashed untouched in MCI office. And innocent people flock their clinics daily unaware of the consequences. For these reasons an average middle class Indian can’t even think of going to govt. Hospitals. He would rather borrow money but will go to a private hospital with a good record for the sake of safety and better service to his family.  

 Government hospitals in India seem more like refugee camps with people all around doing all household chores in the hospital premises. The floors are an alternative to hospital bed (which are always in shortage be it Mumbai, Delhi or Kolkata). Injections, saline and medications are administered to the patient sitting on floor itself. Maternal and infant mortality is sky rocketing and what more can you expect if delivery takes place on floor. I wonder what would be the situation in the remote villages of eastern India. Irony is that homes and even small offices maintain more hygienic conditions than government hospitals. Patients and relatives make the hospital corridors their newly found homes as the treatment drags on for weeks. Doctors come once a day to give instructions to subordinates to perform all the functions of a doctor and then swiftly moves to his private clinic. In many cases drivers, cleaners and what not have been caught on cam administering injections to infants which in turn resulted in rise in stats of the IMR. Sigh! It is too much of the grim situation analysis right? But reality no matter how harsh should not be ignored.  

Here are few photos in this regard :



an indian govt hospital

UP again in news for such reasons

Uttar pradesh: 3rd such case

2 year old child died after wardboy gave wrong injection.