How poverty is measured?

Alright! if someone ask you to carry out a small project on measuring poverty. How do you do so? I presume most people will go for the average earning per day but in India its different. Have a look at this link you may learn further mathematics http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/09/how-many-indians-are-poor/

Discrimination in Indian Education

Indian elites in United States of America and other developed countries has made India so proud because of their achievements but if you really look into their background most of the people hail from India’s prestigious IITs and IIMs and also from privileged backgrounds. It is a case to analysis since India is a developing country which wants to rise to level of developed nations. Before having the aspirations to compete with developed nations we need to fundamentally overhaul our education system. It is a need of an hour because China which is also in the developing league has better system of education and playing field for all the students is almost flat.

China’s education system is centralized mean to say there is only one existence of board and common university entrance examination. Such a scenario is almost non existence in any Indian states especially in southern states. To paint a big picture we have CBSE, ICSE, State Board, Anglo Indian, GCE, etc. and list goes on. This is not to ridicule the system in place but the complexity involved in providing one of the most basic amenities to its citizens. The quality of education provided in each board differs considering and there is an informal ranking in place for students to select their board if they want to score high grades. That’s said, we are not imparting the true education to the child’s brain rather just making a choice. Why are so many boards? Why there is significant difference in the quality of education? Likewise lots of questions pops in any young ignited minds.

If any nongovernmental organization does survey in our elite IITs and IIMs to find out their true backgrounds i.e. their board of education, income status (true status), urbanite or rural. It is safe to assume that more 95% would definitely hail from urban upper middle or rich class and also from either CBSE or ICSE board. This is not to brand CBSE or ICSE board is the best but it is reality we need to concede. Why is this scenario? Does it mean rural students don’t have brains to compete? If we look below the surface we know the hard truth that those boards are highly priced. At the same time, urbanites (upper middle class) have better opportunity to train in expensive coaching class than rural students who basically lacks those infrastructures. Aren’t we denying rights to our citizens?

There are several Cinderella stories happening in India but those come to limelight when that kid usually comes to the city. Two years back there was a guy from village who worked part time in food courts and cinema theatre to fund his IAS coaching in Chennai and he cleared IAS exam in his third attempt. If we made available the same facility in his district capital or big town nearer his village, he wouldn’t have come to Chennai in first place to toil himself day and night. There are several untold stories which are often digested in the half stomach of rural students coming to cities to succeed in their academia. Most students don’t succeed because they have poor fundamentals inculcated by rural schools, not enough money to finance their coaching and culture shock in cities. To add fuel to the fire, urban students often mistreat their rural students instead of helping them.

Infosys founder Narayana Murthy once remarked in an interview, there are two Indias one is the urban India with all the information and facilities to compete with the globe; other is the rural India which is shattered in hope and live in despair. That is true case of the education provided to the students of Indian villages and towns. Aren’t they citizens of India who has to treated equally? There are still caste discriminations prevalent in Indian educations. There are several stories which are reported as well as unreported in the media that a lower caste child is mistreated by teacher or peers. China on the other hand differs in this fundamental right of a citizen. Though it is a communist country, it has provided a same education to all students no big difference in board, only difference which naturally occurs in any case is that urban students has more exposure than rural students.

Our former president A.P.J Abdul Kalam and so many distinguished people hail from villages. We need to understand that was the time when there was no big difference between Rameshwaram (Kalam’s Home town) and Ranchi. But globalization has changed the platform; there are visible inequities in cities and towns now. Kalam himself is afraid that “Will there be any Kalam from villages in next decades?” The situation persist in India says an obvious “NO”. We need to reverse this, we the people of India have to act not the politicians. We should rise up to challenge and protest to petition the Indian government to overhaul or revamp the badly hit education sector. There should be only one board of education. We need to have common entrance examinations throughout India. Multi entrance examinations have increased corruption in private institutions. Urban India has to stop the apathy in not acting to save our citizens who are not getting same education like them. We need a change like how Barack Obama has campaigned!

Is Kumari Mayawati a real dalits messiah?

Kumari Mayawati is the current chief minister of one of India’s most poorest and backward states and also she hails from lower rung of Hindu caste ladder. It is a rejoicing moment for dalits when she was elected as chief minister of India’s most populous state. It is worth noting that dalits were suppressed class of rigid Hindu casteism once they were known as “untouchables”. They did menial jobs which are considered impure, dirty by the upper caste Hindus. When they observe a leader from that caste climbing to the top rung of political ladder, it is an obvious moment of joy. But that moment of joy did not last longer when they witness their lifestyle has not been improved by same political hero.

Recently, India’s Supreme Court has asked Kumari Mayawati to justify spending an estimated $425m in public money to erect statues of herself, her political mentor Kanshi Ram and erudite Ambedkar. This public litigation was presented to the supreme court by two lawyers one namely Ravi Kant urged the court to order central bureau of investigation to investigate the misuse of public development funds on monuments to falsely glorify chief minister’s image. The concerns of lawyers include Uttar Pradesh which is one of the poorest states with some of its highest rates of infant mortality and maternal mortality must first address those some pressing problems.

Mayawati claims that all these monuments built will increase the self confidence of dalits but educated elites (from dalits) claim that only good quality education to dalits will truly increase self confidence. She has been fiercely criticized for one of the projects which cover 130 acres which have employed about 25,000 mostly out of state workers. All these workers live like refugees in their home country sleeping in tattered, makeshift tents, spending scorching days carving stone under elephants, like something out of a medieval tableau. This public interest lawsuit adds to the legal woes faced by Ms Mayawati who is already under investigation for her huge wealth accumulation through unknown channels and also a case of corruption in development of areas near Taj Mahal dating back to her earlier stint as chief minister. She has constantly denied any wrong doing and defended her building spree.

Lok Sabha elections results were setback to Ms Mayawati who dreamed of becoming prime minister of India. Before the election, Mayawati’s BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party) was touted to win at least 40 parliamentary seats but election results revealed it has won only 21 seats. Ms Mayawati is widely known for her autocratic style and fierce temper didn’t win votes from her core constituency which suggested her self- aggrandizing projects were alienating herself from voters. Repercussions of her projects are clearly visible and voter’s true concerns are exposed in form of grievances in the election results.

Democracy is defined as Government of the people, by the people and for the people. Ms Mayawati has tweaked the definition to state “Government of the people, by one leader and for glorifying the leader’s image”. It is high time that she should realize there are millions of people in her state without food to eat, cloths to wear and a place to live. She should not spurn the business leaders, the World Bank and foreign secretaries who are willing to provide helping hands to the people in despair. A good political leader is one whom the people always remember is through his or her deeds.

If Mayawati really wants to uplift the impoverished dalits who are still living in the bottom of economic pyramid then she has to stop her building binge and focus on the understanding of their problems. Though problems are clearly known to any layman but there is a complexity in solving those problems. Often poor governance in Uttar Pradesh is blamed for the large swath of people living under below the poverty line. She needs to improve the governance before laying fantastic highways and other infrastructural developments for businesses. Only inclusive growth in Uttar Pradesh can solve the long standing problems of dalits. For that to happen, Mayawati should shun her ego and step up!

Good Will Hunting

This article was published on "Theviewspaper" and link is http://theviewspaper.net/good-will-hunting/
Good Will Hunting was released on 1997 and it was a box office hit, also won two Oscars for best actor in supporting role – Robin Williams, best writing – Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. The movie has very inspirational plot and one of the best performances on the screen by actors. Will Hunting (Matt Damon) has gifted prodigy who can solve any mathematical problem by intuition and also memorize facts. But he works as a janitor at MIT and lives alone in shattered apartment in an impoverished South Boston neighborhood. Will was abused in the childhood so he turns his self loathing for sabotaging his personal and professional lives.

This troubled teenage boy solves a difficult graduate math problem that Professor Gerald Lambeau (Stellan Skarsgard), a Fields Medalist wrote on a board to challenge his students, hoping some of his students will solve problem by end of the semester. Students accidently see the problem solved and approaches Lambeau to find who that genius is. Apparently none says that they solved the problem. Puzzled Prof Lambeau puts another problem which took him and his colleagues two years to solve. Lambeau suspects Will vandalizing the board but much to his surprise, he solved that problem. Prof Lambeau tracks Will who was confronting the law due to his assault on the police officer and some youth. He comes to a deal with Will that Will has to work for him and also consult therapist for his psychological problems otherwise Will won’t be rescued from going to Jail. Will accepts deal but he gives frustrating trouble to the all five therapist who consulted him so they go away.

Lambeau visits psychologist Sean Maguire (Robin Williams), his old friend and fellow MIT classmate who grew up in the same neighborhood as Will thinking that he may connect with Will. Sean forgives Will’s caustic behavior and tells him lot of personal stories to connect with him. Meanwhile, Will meets Skylar (Minnie Driver) at bar near Harvard University and eventually falls in love with her. Sean encourages Will to have objective look at his life and consider job interviews arranged by Lambeau. Skylar also love Will , ask him to move to California where she is going to pursue Med School. Will goes to a dilemma whether to choose the job offers or go with Skylar. Meanwhile his best buddy Chuckie (Ben Affleck) wants Will not to squander the best gift God has given to him.

At this critical juncture Will disclose to Sean that he was abused as a child, to console Will Sean says “Its not your fault”. Will realizes his mistakes and chose to go to California to see Skylar to start a new beginning. This movie is remarkably inspiring to all losers as well as normal people. If we scratch the surface of this movie, we see a human trying figure “who he is”. The screenplay of this movie is very tight; we will never lose a focus or move from the seat. Some people may not digest the profanity in the film but apart from that this film is a clean chit.

The best scene in the move is where one of Will’s friend hits on a girl and get embarrassed by Harvard Phony but Will matches his wits with that guy. There should be a special mention about Robin Williams who acted as Sean Maguire, he acted stupendously super in the movie and it is guaranteed that we may be blown away by his skills. The picturization of MIT and other places is also awesome and thanks to the cinematographer Jean Yves Escoffier. The man behind the success of this movie is obviously the director Mr. Gus Van Sant. His shrewd skills for the clarity in the film brought real colors to the characters. Everyone will definitely love Cinderella stories so this film is no exception.