Religion: Perspectives of the Young v/s the Old

India is a diverse country with a mix of caste, creed, race and religion. India is known for its cultureall over the world. We Indians don’t leave a single chance of bragging about our nation and the unity we possess in front of outsiders.

But we very well know that India can no more be called a united country. We have been killing each other brutally in the name of religion.

When a person is born, he is born to be a human. God doesn’t send a letter with the new born saying which religion he should belong to or what name should he be called by. It’s we who decide.

Going further to the basics, what is religion? I doubt if anyone can answer this question. Everyone will have their own definitions. We will get at least a hundred odd definitions. Because it is us, humans, who have made the word religion and have defined it according to our convenience.

If you are happy talking about your religion, it is fine. But then talking bad about other religions is not acceptable.

I went around asking about religion to both youngsters (below 25) and elders (above 60). My motive was to try and figure out whether there is a generation gap in the way people think about religion.

Young respondents: (A general view)

They never bother to know about the religion their colleagues or friends belong to. According to them, the person whose thoughts match theirs is a friend. Their religion has nothing to do with it. Some do believe in letting religion be the deciding factor for a relationship, but a majority did not really care what caste or religion a friend was from. All that mattered was if their minds matched.

Elder respondents: (A general view)

But on the contrary when some elder people were asked about their views on religion, and also about what the young respondents thought, they acted furious. Most of them did not seem to be happy with the fact that religion does not matter for a majority. They felt that religion is God like and one must, marry or befriend a person preferably from their own religion. But is this kind of thinking really their fault? They were probably never sensitized about religion the way we were, and probably, they did not have a similar diverse environment to grow up and develop themselves.

People today are much more rational than they used to be in the yesteryears. They believe in what they see and have parted ways from the idealistic approach.

Today, youngsters are touching new heights and moving ahead leaps and bounds. It is us, the youngsters who are changing the way people think. This is the generation that believe in “on the face” commentary, and when in doubt, they do research. This is the reason why the religion jargon has been removed (or being removed).

But the big question still remains, all of the above is true for the urban youth, but what about the majority rural youth? They are the ones who are picked up by the political goons to spread their venom, terror, frustration, and what not. They are the ones who help in the collapse of a Mosque at the command of a single politician.

Well, the debate can go on and on, but are we inspiring others? Are we making sure that charity begins at home? Are we even trying to change the mindsets of people who are our relatives, our workers, our maids, etc.?

Think, and act! Rest is up to you…

5 Reasons Why FDI is Limited in India

Over the last decade India has emerged as one of the favourite destination for foreign investors. But compared to China, India still lags behind in attracting foreign investment. Some of the main factors which tend to act as roadblock for foreign investment in India include political considerations, poor infrastructure, inadequate government policies, rigid labour laws and rampant corruption.

1. Political Considerations: The fractious nature of Indian politics has led to expiry of one party rule system. No government is possible these days without the support of regional political outfits. These regional satraps in the name of protecting the interests of poor, oppose liberalisations of policies which might lead to increase in foreign investment. Government which is dependent on support of these outfits is hence forced to slow down liberalisation of FDI policies. Besides, opposition parties often oppose foreign investment senselessly, inciting locals on the way, just to ensure that government doesn’t run away with the credit for bringing investment. A case in point is POSCO steel plant in Orissa which is yet to take off due to opposition by locals. A change in government also sometimes leads to step motherly treatment towards projects setup by foreign investment during previous government’s tenure. Such kind of unpredictability makes foreign investors sceptic of investing in India.
2. Infrastructure: Despite the importance being accorded to infrastructure by the government it continues to be a reason to not invest in India. India’s roads still continue to be one of the worst in the world. The power cuts remain a way of life. States like UP, Bihar which face severe crunch of infrastructure are also the ones to attract least foreign investment. Existing infrastructure projects often do not get adequate government support leading to withdrawal of foreign investment. Enron faced such situation when it pulled out of the Dabhol power project which had an FDI of $2.9 billion citing government opposition to the project.
3. Government Policies: India happens to have one of the highest tariff rates in the world. Most of the East Asian countries charge taxes up to 30%. However the corporate taxes are charged in excess of 35% in India. A cap on the foreign equity in certain sectors also limits foreign investments. Though in recent times, government has taken measures to facilitate easy entry of foreign investors in India, but the exit barriers are still not as flexible. Investors find it difficult to exit the market freely, even if they find entering relatively easy.
4. Labour Laws: India has abundance of manpower available at one of the cheapest rates in the world. But, the inflexible nature of labour laws often makes investors shy away from India. The present Indian labour laws forbid layoffs of workers for any reason. These laws protect the workers and thwart attempts to restructure business. To retrench unnecessary workers, firms require approval from both employees and state governments-approval that is rarely given. Labour unions extort huge sums from companies through over-generous voluntary retirement schemes and often resort to strikes in case their demands are not met. India needs to upgrade its labour laws to attract foreign investors which in the long run will prove beneficial to labours also.
5. Corruption & Bureaucracy: In India corruption is the norm, not an exception. India is afflicted with a crisis in governance, with corruption in nearly every public service. In order to set up an operation in India, investors whether local or foreign have to pay some form of bribery. Despite steps by government in recent times to simplify norms for foreign investors, various surveys reveal that foreign investors still find it difficult to cut a path through the paper work of overlapping government agencies. International reports on transparency rank India as one of the most corrupt country every year. A combination of legal hurdles, lack of institutional reforms, bureaucratic decision-making and the allegations of corruption at the top have turned foreign investors away from India. Many of the foreign investors have become leery of the country’s history of discrimination against foreign companies and its reputation as a slow, difficult, bureaucracy ridden environment to do business.

Youth and Politics: A Dream?

I have a dream that India lives up to its name for rich culture and exotic diversity, where Indians are treated with consideration of their character and not their caste. I have a dream. Where, the states join hands and work towards the
development of the nation, irrespective of the party at centre. Where, the parliament becomes synonymous to solid plans and rapid actions.

I have a dream.

Where, the government spends more time governing and less time justifying. Where, the opposition spends more time serving and improving and less time criticizing. I have a dream that the citizens take out time to vote for the worthy instead of mocking the politicians. Where leaders are elected and politicians are evaded.

I have a dream that India is led by the Youth. The future of tomorrow become the leaders of tomorrow. But, this dream seems to be simply a dream, at least for some decades from now. For now, India continues to be led by the same traditional orthodox ‘demagogues’, when the need is for leaders who lead by example. What India needs is a change – A change in psychology, a change is approach, a change is methodology, a change in rule. What India needs is a scenario where fresh enthusiastic and young visionaries take up the important tasks of governing the nation.

Even though the requirements are so crystal clear, the dream seems farfetched. 5 IIT graduates formed a political party ‘Paritrana’, creating a sensation and sending waves of hope but only at its inception, ‘coz later the dreams woke up only to see the ‘ugly’ truth. In TN elections Lok Paritran party lost miserably. Medical, Engineering and Law Students formed a political party Youth for Equality (YFE) to revolt against the reservations for OBCs only to oppressed and beaten by police and assailed by water cannons leading to a realization that politicians can do anything. When the YFE fielded one candidate to stand as an independent for the Bombay Municipal Corporation elections and three for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MDD) elections none could win. The Bharat Uday Mission (BUM) was started in 2004 by former IIT-Kanpur students believing that fighting elections does not need money and muscle power any longer – “Thanks to a strict Election Commission, even the middle class can afford to contest polls. This is encouraging young people with no godfathers to enter politics” but when they tried to help a colleague run for the MCD elections from Kasturba Nagar, a slum colony in Delhi, they were faced with the reality: “A candidate from a political party doled out Scotch whisky to the voters. We promised free medical dispensaries and to stay in touch with the people throughout our tenure in office,” the president of the party said. But he discovered that Scotch wins votes in India. His colleague was routed in the elections. Recently even the most promising of youth parties, Lok Paritran Party (LPP) had to undergo a split and a Bharat Punarnirman Dal (BPD) was formed from within it.

The problem now seems different. Clearly, the youth is coming forward but not entrusted upon with the responsibility. It is therefore time for a change not only in the administration but in the way Indians think. Else India will continue to be the best follower but never a leader.

Bhopal Gas Tragedy verdict- Too Little and Too Late

The world famous incident of Bhopal Gas Tragedy is an example of how our country’s judicial system is incompetent in dealing with mass tort cases. On the intervening night of 2nd -3rd December 1984, there occurred in Bhopal the most tragic industrial disaster in which thousands of persons lost their lives and lakhs of people suffered injuries of various kinds. Our ineptitude in dealing with such cases came out in the open when the Union of India filed a case against the Union Carbide Corporation (the defendants) in the United States of America. The suit was brought in the courts of America very selfishly by the Indian Government so that justice could be meted out to those who suffered, but only highlighting their own incompetence and the efficiency of law of torts system in America. The US judge, John Keenan dismissed the suit on the basis of forum non conveniens (inconvenient forum or no jurisdiction). In terms of promises made and acts on paper a lot has been done to compensate the victims of this tragedy. The Bhopal Gas Leak Disaster (processing of claims) Act was passed in 1985 in order to confer certain powers on the Central Government to secure that claims arising out of, or connected with, the Bhopal gas leak disaster are with speedily, effectively, equitably and to the best advantage of the claimants and for the matter incidental thereto. Also, the doctrine of strict liability1 was formulated in the case M.C Mehta v. Union of India which was supposed to hold Union Carbide strictly and wholly liable for their acts. But 26 years later, this doctrine of strict liability has lost its voice along with all the future generations of the victims that have suffered without any fault of their own. The haste and the inefficiency that was shown in distributing the compensation in 1989 was almost barbarous. The compensation figure reached in 1989 has now been distributed amongst five times the number originally intended. Even then the amount distributed amongst the affected families was insufficient; some records say the amount was less than 12,000 Rs. per family. How could these families treat such rare and expensive diseases in 12,000 Rs? To add to their misery, it wasn’t just them present there who were affected but their future generations as well. Also, the estimate of people who were affected was the result of an arbitrarily arrived at scientific survey of the incident.


The seven officials who have been convicted are charged under the Indian Penal Code for bail able offences with a fine of not more than Rs. 1 Lakh. In fact the Central Bureau of Investigation failed to supply enough evidence to support the conviction of Union Carbide Chairman Warren Anderson who has evaded the law till date. This verdict is a slap on the faces of all those activists and NGOs that have worked so hard to literally beg for justice. There are many loose ends that need to be tied, the compensation awarded is too little too late, and this indeed is justice delayed and thus harshly denied.