Atrocities on Women – Frighten and Punish the Culprits

The abduction and molestation of a leading Malayalam actress is two days ago is capturing national headlines. Understandably so because the horrible incident happened in Kerala, which is considered comparatively safer place for women. Forget Delhi, Haryana or UP; women are not safe even in God’s Own Country!

The atrocity on the actress happened at night will become handy for the socio-religious-political obscurantists to parrot their anti-women parodies. They will reveal their argument that women should not venture out at night. They are the same group of people who prescribed proper ‘dress code’ for women!  The less said about their medieval mindset the better. They even don’t deserve condemnation.

Increasing atrocities on women clearly indicate that the Nirbhaya holocaust and the subsequent nation-wide outrage have not weakened the criminals to strike at will. Women, and for that matter, the common people don’t need condemnation, announcements, declarations or slogans by politicians. What actually needed is action on-ground. Free the police from political clutches. Let the law enforcing authorities clamp down criminals before they strike. Quick police action followed by severe punishment within a timeframe will certainly help reduce crime against women.

The dangerous situation today is criminalization of politics and politicization of criminals. There is no escape in sight from this nexus. Now-a-days crimes are carefully planned and executed. Political patrons and skilled criminals are proving to be better event management experts than professional agencies. With political patronage, even if something goes wrong, the criminals get away unscathed.

What is more appalling is that media coverage of skillfully planned crimes become free advertisement for the criminals and antisocial elements. In the current case, the alleged mastermind, Pulsar Sunil, is getting more media coverage than the criminal act itself. Politicians, mafia and other powerful antisocial elements would have already shortlisted him as the ‘hot prospect’ for planning and executing crimes in future. Even the police succeed in nabbing him, when the hue and cry dies down, he will come out on bail and continue his “quotation crime” activities.

Not only terrorists, criminals are also becoming highly hi-tech savvy. They effectively manipulate the Digital platforms and social media tools-in-aid for crime. ‘Management of crime’ has turned to be a lucrative business proposition for the so called experts with criminally inclined mindset.

Women don’t need sympathy. They don’t need candle light mourning or protests. What women and the society as a whole need, is a free and fair police culture to frighten criminals before they strike. This should be supplemented by a quick justice system to mete out severe punishment to criminals.

Congratulations ISRO, We are Proud of You

As Indians it is our right to feel proud of our scientists. They did the incredible. They showed to the world that they are second to none. Hearty Congratulations to ISRO scientists for the successful launch of record 104 satellites in one go. What makes this achievement all the more significant is, out of 104 satellites, 101 belong to six foreign countries. What is more, the lion’s share of 96 satellites belongs to USA. Yes, the same mighty USA which imposed all kinds of restrictions on ISRO in the past. A sweet revenge for ISRO and India.

It is also worth noting that the success rate of ISRO’s satellite launches has been the best, even far better than the so called super powers. More and more foreign countries seek help of ISRO mainly because of comparatively cheaper launching costs. ISRO has pioneered design and development of qualitatively superior satellites at lesser costs. ISRO’s design, development and launch costs are far lower than even China.

Years ago, ISRO has foreseen the potential and set up a separate commercial/marketing division - Antrix Corporation. Ever since its inception, Antrix has been earning profits by bagging foreign satellite launch projects. ISRO’s massive achievements speak volumes and it is there for the whole world to see. Hence, Antrix needs little or no marketing or advertising. Customers i.e. foreign countries will voluntarily come forward and entrust their satellite launch projects on ISRO. What needed is event management i.e foolproof scientific preparations for successful launch.

By hitting its maiden century in satellite launch, let us hope that the day is not far when ISRO scores double century.  Let us recall that in 2013 ISRO put an unmanned rocket to  Mars orbit. Cost of this project was nothing but peanuts when compared to the huge expenses incurred by NASA for a similar mission.

The years ahead will see many more glittering feathers being added to ISRO’s crown of success. The second moon mission, Chandrayan-2 is slated to happen next year.  ISRO is also pursuing missions to Jupiter and Venus. Besides, the second Mars mission is tentatively slated for 2021-22 wherein ISRO plans to put a robot on the surface of the red planet.

Wishing ISRO and its team of scientists all success in future missions. We are proud of our scientists and their historical achievements.

Once again, Congratulations, Team ISRO.

Long Live Celebrations!

Television channels and newspapers announced commencement of “Valentine week” with celebration of “Rose Day” on Feb 7, followed by “Propose Day” on 8th and “Chocolate Day” today (Feb 9).  The coming days, in that order, will be Teddy Day, Promise Day, Kiss Day, Hug Day, and finally, the big Valentine Day on Feb 14. Don’t be surprised if an ardent wannabe of the Valentine wonderland adds more “days” to prolong the celebrations a fortnight long affair!

It seems there are more days attributed for various celebrations and observance than 365 in a year! Remember, these are in addition to traditional festivals and national holidays.

The electronic and digital revolution triggered celebrations of even obscure ‘days’. How many Indians heard about Valentine Day, not to speak of its celebration, a decade ago? Our very own “Karva Chauth” which was observed on a very limited scale earlier, has now become a popular big scale celebration, thanks to eulogistic portrayal of the occasion in some Bollywood blockbusters.

Backed by advertising and publicity blitzkrieg, celebrations have become big business opportunities. Branded outlets, shopping malls and hotels launch special offers for each occasion. Event management has also become an integral part of these celebrations.

The upper class status symbols of branded products apart, it is interesting to see that festivals and even days of spiritual significance are getting ‘branded’. Branding of festivals has become an upper class extravaganza of show-baazi in post residential colonies and shopping centers. Advertising agencies and event managers are roped in to “manage” the events.

In the melee to outdo others, display of extravaganza becomes all the more important, leaving aside the spiritual aspects and originality of the occasion.  Men and women dress up exclusively for each occasion. Designers “modernize” traditional dresses. There is no dearth of people to buy such glittering dresses at excessively high prices.

Now-a-days people are always on “selfie mode”. Even before a celebration is over, social media is flooded with photographs in different poses and outfits.

India is a land of festivals. We are moving fast towards globalization and digitalization. We can proudly claim that we have pioneered globalization of festivals. Don’t be concerned over celebration of Valentine Day, an import from the West. Have you not heard of Diwali celebrations at the White House!