India & Vikramaditya's Judgement

A story to ponder over....

Subject: India & Vikramaditya's Judgement

 

Will we get Vikramaditya's justice?

*
Once there lived an old and pious man, renowned for his honesty.
One day his neighbor, a rich merchant comes to him with a request.
The merchant was leaving on a voyage and wants the old man to safeguard his wealth, until his return.
The old man agrees and with God as witness promises to protect and safeguard the merchant's wealth.


*
The old man then entrusts the safe keep of the merchant's wealth to his son, from whom he takes an oath of propriety and honesty.
Slowly the son starts dipping into the merchants wealth, people notice this and warn the old man of the son's misdeeds.
The old man calls his son asks him to explain, he also reminds him of his oath on following the right path.
The son rubbishes the accusations as rumors and the idle gossip of jealous people, who could not bear to see his prosperity.
The old man accepts the son's explanation and things go on as before.


*
The merchant returns and demands his wealth.
The old man calls his son, who hands over a quarter of the merchant's wealth saying that is all there was.
The merchant realizing that he has been cheated approaches the King.
The King listens to the merchant's complaint and summons the old man.
The old man comes to the court with his son and handing him over to the King says,
"your majesty, the merchant is right. My son has confessed to the crime. Please punish him."


*
The king has the son flogged and imprisoned.
He then praises the old mans honesty and dismisses the case.
But the merchant demands punishment for the old man saying,
"I have still not received justice. I had entrusted my wealth to the old man which he swore by God to safeguard. The old man's integrity is intact, but what of me, I have been robbed of my life's savings, and made a pauper. It was the old man's decision to entrust my wealth to his son for safe keeping that has caused this loss. As far as I am concerned the old man is the real culprit, and should be punished."


*
The king is astounded by this demand.
The old man, was neither a party to the theft nor did he benefit from it.
In fact, he had sent his son to jail. Yet, the merchant was asking for the old man's punishment.


*
The Betal asks Vikramaditya,
"What should be the Kings decision."


*
Vikramaditya replies,
"Though the old man is innocent of the actual theft, he is guilty of dereliction of duty.
The son's crime was a straight forward one, the old man's was a graver crime.
He did nothing to protect the merchant's wealth.
Far from being vigilant he failed to take action even when he was warned of his son's misdeeds.
Because of his laxity the merchant is condemned to a life of penury.
He should be punished."


*
*
*
NOW TRY TO SEE THE HAPPENINGS IN INDIA & 2G SCAM IN LIGHT OF THE ABOVE STORY:


*
India 2010, Dr. Manmohan Singh, esteemed economist, former Governor of RBI, Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission, former Finance Minister, a man whose personal ethics and integrity are unblemished, takes oath to protect and safeguard the Nation and its assets.
He appoints Raja, as his Cabinet Minister for IT & Telecom.


* 
Unlike the story, this heist of a precious national asset is carried out in full view of Dr. Manmohan Singh and his cabinet colleagues.
Newspapers across the country cry out at this outrage in front page headlines.


* 
The Indian Constitution grants the Prime Minister absolute power in running the country.
He is the head of the Government and the Union Cabinet functions at his pleasure.
As per the Transaction of Business Rules the Prime Minister has the unrestricted right to demand and get any file, any record from any Ministry. Dr. Man Mohan Singh could have at any time stopped this heist of a National asset, yet he chose to remain silent.
The Minister's failure to exercise his constitutional rights has caused irreparable loss to the Nation.


* 
Dr. Singh did not profit personally from Raja's shenigans, but his failure to act, to honor the oath of office, to protect and safeguard the nation and its wealth is unforgivable.
Like the old man, he has sacked Raja from his ministerial berth, but does his culpability end there.


* 
The people of India had entrusted their faith and the future of the Nation in Dr. Manmohan Singh, believing him to be a man of integrity and honesty, and not to Raja.


Does dismissing Raja absolve Dr. Singh or like the old man is he guilty of dereliction of duty and failure to safeguard the Nation and its citizens.


Does he deserve punishment?


Who can decide here?.....

Money is yours but resources belong to the society

Germany is a highly industrialised country. It produces top brands like Benz, BMW, Siemens etc. The nuclear reactor pump is made in a small town in this country.
In such a country, many will think its people lead a luxurious life.

At least that was my impression before my study trip.     
                                                                            

When I arrived at Hamburg, my colleagues who work in Hamburg arranged a welcome party for me in a restaurant.

As we walked into the restaurant, we noticed that a lot of tables were empty. There was a table where a young  couple was having their meal. There were only two dishes and two cans of  beer on the table. I wondered if such simple meal could be romantic, and  whether the girl will leave this stingy guy.                             
                                                                            There were a few old ladies on another table. When a dish is served, the waiter would distribute the food for them, and they would finish every bit of the food on their plates.                                             
                                                                            We did not pay much attention to them, as we were looking forward to the dishes we ordered. As we were hungry, our local colleague ordered more food for us.                                                            As the restaurant was quiet, the food came quite fast. Since there were other activities arranged for us, we did not spend much time dining. When we left, there was still about one third of unconsumed food on the table.
                                                                           
 When we were leaving the restaurant, we heard someone calling us. We noticed the old ladies in the restaurant were talking about us to the restaurant owner. When they spoke to us in English, we understood that they were unhappy about us wasting so much food. We immediately felt that  they were really being too busybody.

                                      "We paid for our food, it is none of your business how much food we left behind," my colleague Gui told the old ladies.                   
The old ladies were furious. One of them immediately took her hand phone out and made a call to someone. After a while, a man in uniform claimed to be an officer from the Social Security organisation arrived. Upon knowing  what the dispute was, he issued us a 50 Mark fine.                        

We all kept quiet. The local colleague took out a 50 Mark note and repeatedly apologized to the officer.                                   
 
The officer told us in a stern voice, "ORDER WHAT YOU CAN CONSUME, MONEY IS YOURS BUT RESOURCES BELONG TO THE SOCIETY. THERE ARE MANY OTHERS IN THE WORLD WHO ARE FACING SHORTAGE OF RESOURCES. YOU HAVE  NO REASON TO WASTE RESOURCES.´”                   

                                                 
Our face turned red. We all agreed with him in our hearts. The mindset of  people of this rich country put all of us to shame. WE REALLY NEED TO REFLECT ON THIS.

 

We are from  country which is not very rich in resources. To save face, we order large quantity and also waste food when we give others a treat.

 

THIS LESSON TAUGHT US A LESSON TO THINK SERIOUSLY ABOUT CHANGING OUR BAD HABITS.                                                 

My colleague photostatted the fine ticket and gave a copy to each of us as  a souvenir. All of us kept it and pasted on our wall to remind us that we shall never be wasteful.

- Maj Gen Pushpendra Singh    

 

When someone shares something of value with you and you benefit from it, you have a moral obligation to share it with others

 

Disclaimer - I felt sharing this will help our society even if one person reads and implements.

KK Halli Lake - Increasing Bio-diversity

So many stories are being drafted by our enthusiastic residents after Kaikondrahalli Lake is rejuvenated. One of the such success stories is 'increase of bio-diversity'. One such enthusiastic bird lover is our friend, Manjunath Prabhu.

Manjunath developed fascination for bird photography about an year back. Since then he captured great moments of our birds in thousands (Residents who follow FORward150 blog has seen his snaps in my previous posting). He heard about our KK Halli rejuvenation and its rich bio-diversity and started shooting.

Amazingly Manjunath found many species and variety of birds. He keeps sending incredible snaps to us. He is gaining perfection in photography and we are gaining watching his snaps.

His could able to enumerate some of the bird species ...
* 3 types of Kingfisher birds - common kingfisher, pied kingfisher(black and white) and white throated kingfisher
* Green Bee Eater
* Red Wattled Lapwing
* Paddy Field Pipit
* Black Dorongo
* White Browed Wagtail
* White Wagtail
* Yellow Wagtail
* Jungle Myna
He says there are many aquatic birds too.

He successfully captured few of them recently  with his camera:

* Yellow Wagtail

* Green Bee Eater

* Red Wattled Lapwing

* White Browed Wagtail

* Malabar Starling

Now you must be thinking of visiting our neighbourhood Ranganthittu!!! Yes, You can visit. Have a nice time taking your little ones for a morning walk and watch these birds. But I humbly request you to keep the lake surroundings clean as the pain involved in rejuvenating the lake was stupendous. More than siz man months are already spent by our beloved FORward150 members to bring the lake live for all of us.

Beautification and jogging track works are already started and hope KK Halli lake soon becomes a must visit place for all of South & East Bangaloreans.

BMTC - ROUTE NO. G - 3 - Latest Schedule

ROUTE NO. G -  3                                                              
M.G.ROAD (MAYOHALL) TO SARJAPURA                                                               
                                                              
Departure from M.G.Road
---------------------------
630        650       700        705        715        725        735        755        810        825        845        905
920        930       935        945        955      1000      1000       1015      1025      1035      1045     1055
1110    1125     1145      1205      1220      1235      1255       1330      1340      1350      1400     1410
1420    1435     1450      1500      1510      1520      1530       1545      1555      1600      1620     1635
1640    1705     1715      1725      1745      1800      1815       1825      1835      1845      1855     1915
1940    1955     2110       2135     2205          
                                                              
                                                              
Departure from Sarjapura
--------------------------
500        530        600        750        800        805        815        820        830        830        845        845  
905        915        925        940        955      1015      1035      1050      1105      1120      1125       1140  
1155    1155      1210      1215      1220      1230      1250      1305      1320      1340      1400       1415
1430    1450      1505      1530      1535      1540      1555      1615      1630      1645      1655       1705  
1715    1725      1740      1750      1755      1805      1820      1830      1835      1840      1850       1910  
1925    1940      1950      2000      2010      2020      2045      2100

Corruption Saaku ... That's your money Bothered?

Many of us have been watching the political developments in our State with a sense of horror. Everyday, there are reports of new scams, and the number of people implicated in these is astounding. Naturally, this leads to some despair, but I'm sure many of you also wish there was something that could be done about it, beyond being angry.

Now there is. Increasingly, civil society organisations in the city are coming together to work against corruption, and to put together systematic working groups to tackle this problem at every level. This week, a number of such organisations are holding events at different places in the city (this is anti-corruption week, globally). These events will culminate in a walk and rally (including prominent anti-corruption figures in India, and also music by Thermal and a Quarter) on 11 December, this Saturday.

The number of people coming together to ensure the success of these events is increasing. What we need is to accelerate this movement, and show that each one of us is committed to this change. Together, we can ensure that Karnataka gets off the national headlines of shame, and back to putting government in working order.

Please join this Saturday's rally near the Hockey Stadium grounds. Please also consider how your schools, colleges and businesses can participate in the chain of events leading up to the rally. There are many ways you can be a part of this.

For more information, please visit ...
- http://www.saaku.in and
- http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=177335022283874

We hope you will be a part of this transformation of governance, and we look forward to seeing you at various events this week. Please also tell your friends about Saaku, and bring them too to the rally on Saturday. Together, we can send a message to all political parties and government departments that we want - indeed, we demand - change for the better, and that we will not accept anything less.

Inflow into Ambalipura Lower Lake - Another success story

I think most of us know how difficult it is to work with Government officials to get the works done. And works related to a social cause will take more time, energy and patience. But the following report makes all citizens to feel happy and ready to shower flowers on the officials who are quick in taking actions on matters related to the social causes brought up by the FORward150 active members. I congratulate all the officials who are directly and indirectly helped us in all FORward150 intiatives.

Latest matter in hand successfully executed is a kind of biggest Rain Water Harvesting in the area done with the help of BBMP officials, Army authorities and Lake Development Authority officials. Mr.Rajesh Rao, who is living in the Trinity Acres and Woods taken up task to convince all the three officials and conducted multiple meetings to bring in success in diverting all rain water on army land (one of the age old catchment areas for Iblur and Ambalipura Lower Lakes) into the Ambalipura Lower lake. Rajesh Rao's efforts towards Greener pasture in our area, goal to recharge ground water and bring back almost vanished bird species were successful with Army authorities approval in making small trenches in their land so that all rain water that was going waste earlier is now being harvested in Ambalipura Lower Lake.

Video - Inflow into the lake during last big rain

Ambalipura Lower Lake is located between Trinity Acres, Mantri Flora, SJR Redwoods and the Army Land. Recently this lake was rejuvenated with about 75 lakh rupees by the Lake Development Authority and its execution was closely monitored and changes brought in by the FORward150 members. About 3 weeks back FORward150 members taken up weeding this Ambalipura lower lake bed and it was successful as we have covered 1/3rd of the area.

We Ward 150 residents are proud to have Mr.Rajesh Rao as active FORward150 member who has so much focus on development of society, greenery and rain water harvesting. Kudos to Rajesh!

How to change name in electricity bill

Process for name change in electricity bill (Note: A khata not required)
1. Get NOC (No objection certificate) from your Builder's Office on their letter head. This should indicate that builder has no objection for name change on electricity bill.

2. Get two forms (one AEH form and other indemnity bond form). Forms can be obtained from BESCOM offices or should be available in any stationary shop near BESCOM offices.
Document is known as 'Name Transfer Document' and entire set of Indemnity Bond + Form + NOC format + File can be obtained from BESCOM office for Rs 300 or so.

3. Get an attested copy of your Sale Deed (by Notary or Bank official from where loan in taken). Bank official easily does this. They just need to mention that original copy is with them and photcopy of sale deed is as per original. Bank charges ~Rs.250/-.
Notary attestation is quicker and cheaper. Notary charges Rs.50 to Rs.100 for attestation on your sale deed.

4. Take the NOC, two forms (mentioned in #2), latest paid electricity bill, attested copy of sale deed, copy of khata (if you have) to Junior Engineer (JE), BESCOM, Bellandur (for Bellandur residents).
PLEASE NOTE - Note down the serial number of your Electricity meter and current electricity meter reading while going to submit the application.

5. JE would verify the documents and provide a report.

6. Submit this report along with the documents to BESCOM office, Kudlu gate.
a) Transfer fee of Rs 100 has to be paid.
b) JE at Bellandur Gate will give the report then and there itself - it may take about five minutes.

7. The Bescom office at Kudlu Gate takes roughly one week for name transfer. The JE there who handles the name transfer is Chandrashekhar alias Chandru. (Kudlu gate is on left hand side when going from Silk Board to E-City. Another landmark is Macaulay public school.)

Thanks to the person (I am bad @ remembering names!) who shared information that benefits all residents of Bellandur Ward and may be whole of Bangalore and Karnataka.