Creating Character Bank of India.........EPCO, Bhopal

Initiatives of change

After a long gap of about two-three months, have got time to sit with me yet again and write something. Thanks to EPCO for organizing a workshop on a Sunday, and I could really make it.

Initiatives of Change (www.iofc.in.org), an initiative of MRA an organization based in Pachmarhi, Maharashtra, have conducted this workshop. A wonderful thought of creating ‘Character Bank Of India’ has reminded me of my research area; ‘Human Quotient’which has not given much attention in the recent past. The idea behind the workshop was to bring a change in oneself. The session began with a ‘Jana gana mana’ video which was awesome. It was shot at a school of the differently-abled children and the actions they were doing on the music of ‘Jana gana mana’ were simply amazing; so beautiful, so inspiring and synchronized that I was just lost in a different world.

The team comprised of eight members:

1. Mr. Suresh Khatri and Mrs. Leena khatri- life long volunteers at Initiatives of Change
2. Mr. Jayang Drojee and Mrs. Jisun Jung, a Tibettan couple
3. Ms.Trishael Lal-Law student from Fiji
4. Mr. Siddharth Singh-Trainer from Mumbai
5. Mr. Kiran Ghandhi-HRD, Veteran, Pune
6. Dr. Amit Mukherjee, stalwart from Jamshedpur

What I learnt from the workshop?

The PHUL (फूल ) concept

Absolute

Purity

Honesty

Unselfishness

Love

and to reach these absolute values ‘what works’ and ‘what doesn't work’ have to go through various dimensions of the very persona of an individual. The pointers that Mrs. Khatri gave were:

Connection

Correction  n

Direction

The 4 Cs

The  4 Cs that make the difference in your dealings and being a ‘change agent’ or being an ordinary man who complaints rather than being the change, to the best of understanding are as follows:

1. Conviction
2. Compromise
3. Convenience
4. Confession

Rather than doing things with Conviction we seek Convenience and Compromise with the wrong and unjustified and never reach to the stage of Confession.

Initiatives of Change: The four principles

1. Change Yourself
2. Inspire change in others
3. Create answers
4. Give hope to Humanity

The concept was taught through beautiful acts and songs. The problems we are facing today as a nation are created by us only: Inefficient Governance, terrorism, Violence  Corruption, Racism, Rape cases and what not??? Problems are many but where is the solution?, it’s within us; once we strive to make the world a better place to live for ourselves we could leave a better place for our future generations to survive.

It was a wonderful experience to be the part of this workshop and the take away was this touching song which I keep humming:

कल क्या रोटी मिलेगी पिताजी सो जाने से पहले ?

आपने वादा  किया था मिलेगी , याद है न क्या कहा था? 

कुछ लोग इतने क्यों हैं मोटे  और दुसरे हम जेसे दुबले ?

आपका बचपन ऐसा था क्या? हमेशा ऐसा ही रहेगा ...............

Festivals bring a definite rise in Human Quotient

I was speaking to one of my helpers at home today as to know whether she has done with the preparations for Diwali and she started sharing her experiences, "this year the festivals have been tough", I can't resist laughing and asked, "how can the festivals be tough?, are you facing some monetary issues? will help you out". "No didi that you always do, its not that, though "महँगाई तो है but "इस बार सन्लंगन हो गया"one after the other festivals are lined up Dussehra, Durga Pooja, Ganesh festival an Deepawali and more to come".... I said, "but that's amazing! you will have no time to be sad, the whole year will be spent enjoying", and the talk continued she agreeing on my point.

The conversation led me to a different world of human emotions and association of human quotient with the day to day activities of our life.(plz refer my previous blog on Human Quotient).  The celebrations and festivals make us more humane. I think festivals are times when everyone has the highest level of human quotient, a below average can rate high on these occasions. Even the marketers use the maximum possible human quotient in their marketing strategies. The very reasons to celebrate festivals bring us more to humanity. I remember the sayings ईद के दिन तो दुश्मन भी गले मिल जाते हैं , दीवाली जेसे त्यौहार पैर तो सब कुछ भुला देते हैं! How ingrained these values are may it be any religion, any country, offering gifts on Christmas, Zakkah in Ramzan or sweets on Diwali all these occasions bring a sense of belongingness to the society, to be considerate, to be kind, to be the best in terms of your behaviour not only to the dear ones but to the society at large.Being humane comes so naturally to you as if some task is given to you and you make the best of effort to accomplish it and it fades away once the task is over and we resume the normal life as before, the same hectic schedule and the 'run' for 'survival'. This 'run' makes us selfish again and make us  'save' more than to 'offer'. It is not only the cruel acts of violence that make us 'inhuman' but the smallest act of saying an unkind word pulls us to be less humane.

I wish we could have festivals every day to boost up our human quotient.....

Day 3 EPCO training on Environmental Management

Day 3 was a technical session. The technical aspects of environmental Management were taught. Sessions on 'Climate Change' and 'Water as a resource' were taken. Ms. Sonal Khare presented the statistical facts about the Green House Gases(GHGs). Again a shocking fact came into fore as to it is not the CO2 but the other  industrial gases like CH4, SFC etc  are the major pollutants. Quite an interactive session it was, we all shared our experiences and ideas. There were many civil engineers as participants,  their ideas about green buildings were quite innovative. Little adjustments in the construction can make buildings green and a lot of resources can be saved.

Things like contribution of GDP in the development of nation and the Happiness Index used by Bhutan were the topic of  debate.

The next session was on 'Water a commodity or a natural resource?' taken by Ms.Rajita kurup. The categorization of water as Blue-Grey-Black and the conservation was quite interesting to know and the misuse of water in terms of 'virtual water' i.e. indirect use of water. To make 1 litre of petrol approximately 88 litre of water is used, These facts are alarming, but not much has been done to address the problem.

Things that I learnt from the session:

MP has the highest cattle population and thus the emission of Methane.
CDM- Clean Development Mechanism
UNFCCC- convention on climate change.
NAPCC-National Action Plan on Climate Change
The State Action Plan on Climate Change(SAPCC) of MP is  prepared by the EPCO team of Climate Change cell with the immense contribution of many experts and representatives of departments, Mr. Lokendra Thakkar being instrumental in the process.

Then there was regular submission of assignment and Valedictory session. Each participant was involved in the certificate distribution in terms of presenting it to another.
I wrote a poem on the last day:

Workshop बहुत छोटी थी 
पर अनुभव  बड़े  थे!

 Workshop बहुत छोटी थी 
पर वाद-विवाद बड़े थे !

Workshop बहुत छोटी थी 
विचार बहुत बड़े थे !

गाँव बहुत छोटा था 
पर कूड़े कई पड़े थे !

गाँव बहुत छोटा था 
पर समस्याएँ कई बड़ी थीं

                           दिल बहुत छोटा था 
                           जगहें बड़ी बड़ी थीं !!

प्रकृति की गुहार Plea of 'Nature'

प्रकृति की गुहार


In the poem below the nature is speaking about its helplessness given all that exists and still it finds itself to be धराशायी that is defeated, degraded and depleted. This poem is an attempt to express the feelings of 'nature.'

धरती बहुत,
धरने सभी
और मैं धराशायी!


धन बहुत,
धनवान सभी
और मैं धराशायी!


धुंध बहुत,
धूमिल सभी
और मैं  धराशायी!


धाक बहुत,
धाराएँ सभी
और मैं धराशायी!


धार बहुत,
धड़कने सभी
और मैं धराशायी!


धुन बहुत,
धव्नियाँ सभी
और मैं धराशायी!


धूप  बहुत,
धधकन सभी
और मैं धराशायी!


धैर्य बहुत,
धीरजवान सभी
और मैं धराशायी!


धार बहुत,
धाराएँ सभी
और मैं धराशायी!


ध्रूत बहुत,
धिक्कारें सभी
और मैं धराशायी!


धुर्व बहुत,
ध्रुवतारे सभी
और मैं धराशायी!


धांस बहुत,
धधकन सभी
और मैं धराशायी!

Day 2 EPCO training on Environmental Management

So have now got the time to sum up the learnings from the Day 2 of the training on Environmental Management programme at EPCO (Environmental Planning and Coordination Organization) Bhopal.

Here we go.......

Day 2 was quite a brainstorming session and of course the most debatable one as the groups that went on the field the previous day are supposed to give presentations on the field experience and the guided topics. Group A had been assigned a field visit to an urban slum and Group B to a rural area.

The first presentation was of group A. It was a good presentation, the Shnati nagar slum they visited was a good example of the Community development programme. Some astonishing facts included the Rain water harvesting system implementation and the waste disposal. The slum dwellers were quite active and the samiti had really done a commendable job in terms of daily disposal of waste and water harvesting plants. The only issue that came up was the re-habitation proposed by the govt. The group was very enthusiastic about the developments but the other group that is mine were not convinced that the facts they are quoting are real.

Any way after a heated debate which was intervened by the facilitators, we got our chance to present and our presentation was based on the shortcomings of the 'Niraml gaon' we went to. As the village was awarded the status of 'Nirmal gaon' with a cash award of rupee one lac our expectations from the village were quite high in terms of Health, Education and Sanitation. What we observed was that all the progress was superficial, nothing commendable has been done, the ground reality was different from the one mentioned 'on-papers'. For example construction of NADEP pit; it was there but didn't put to use, the sewage system was not up to the mark, women did not attend the school and to a large extent the children too, open defecation was prevalent, solar panels were not working. The facilitators who went with us made us realise the fact that the change is gradual, motivation level has to be increased then only you could expect a consistency in the performance.

The next session was a knowledge talk by Mr. Kailash Pant, a renowned personality with many awards to his accolade especially in promoting Hindi. He spoke about the issues like 'Self esteem' nature in terms of the cultural degradation when we talk about nature it is not only the 'natural resources' but also the 'human resources'. Some points that strike the conscience were:

मनुष्य बनने का क्या लक्ष्य होना चाहिए ?
पद यात्रा का महत्व

His session was followed by a talk by Mr. Dhurva Shukl a  famous writer and thinker. 'सच का सामना ' is a great book in which the present concern of depleting natural resources has been addressed in a very innovative manner. The book is yet to complete but the portion I read till now is mind stirring.
He also raised some very serious aspects of human behaviour which have led to the condition of today. The disrespect of nature that human race has done in his view is the root cause of all the destruction, he termed it as प्रकर्ति का अनादर , प्रकर्ति से झगड़ा . This disrespect of nature has made man think himself to be the superior and the only race that exist on the earth. He raised a question of 'Qualification of existence'.
The most interesting part of his talk was the techniques used by the people of previous generations(when technology was not dominant) to locate the winds, the winds were supposed to have names like पुर्वय्या , पूचुआ  and they guided about the crop rotation techniques, the reason behind keeping a mud pot under Durga's feet is to know the growth of the wheat crop in advance.

Some ideas and concepts that I liked are:

Flooding Customer care centres rather than Citizen care centres
Pollution of language
मानसिक पर्यावरण का प्रदूषण
Wall Marts and the malls of today increase cholesterol and the local sabzi mandis increase energy

The last session for the day was the calculation of Water footprint which was meant to calculate the quantity of water consumed by us per week and consecutively per year. It was an eye-opener, we were shocked to know the consumption of water by us and to our surprise it is not the food for which we consume much water, it is the Industrial products and the Life style that consume an enormous amount of water.My consumption came out to be 2358434 litres per year..... hope to control it from now on. Have learnt a lot from the WFP ( water footprint calculator), will describe the process in the later blog.

to be continued.........

Environmental Management programme by EPCO, bhopal

Environment has always been a topic close to my heart. I love nature( want to say it like this; I am a nature lover by nature:)) My hobby is to be in the company of nature, exploring landscapes et al but never been to many places as I find the nature at its best at my place Bhopal. There are abundant lakes and green land  to go and simply sit and talk to the nature. 'Bharat Bhavan' is my all time favourite place to spend time with the upper lake. The backyard on the roof is an extremely quiet place to sit,you can have the view of the lake and almost 75% of the city. This love for nature keep me awake to learn some or the other thing about it given the elephantine problem of pollution today, try to know more about how can I contribute to make earth a better place to live.

EPCO The Environmental Planning & Coordination Organisation is the State's premier organization in the field of environment related matters. It has made a strategic shift to focus on environment issues that confront the poor in the rural and urban areas. A lot of work has been done by the organization in terms of sensitising people about the environment related issues. They conduct training workshops on a regular basis and this time I've got the opportunity to attend a course on Environment Management. 

Today is the day 2, so just quoting my experiences of day1. 

The programme was scheduled at 8 and we were already briefed about it via mail. Most of the participants were late including me;) The workshop already started an hour late. While the introduction was taken by Mr. Lokendra Thakkar, the principal of the institute, a kit was distributed to us. It was beautifully arranged, along with the regular schedule and a quiz paper on Gandhiji's life there were two publications in the folder one was आज भी खरे हैं तालाब by Anupam Mishra and अनमोल बूँदें a booklet by UN habitat prog ( Water for Asian cities, UN Human settlement prog.) आज भी खरे हैं तालाब describes about the development of lakes and the rich culture of India to make water bodies and the techniques used to construct a lake like the three tier technique, the dynamics of related occupations, celebrations associated with it et al( have not yet read the whole book, will describe it in the later blog). अनमोल बूँदें describes the technical aspects of retaining ground water and the water purification technology.The session began with a thought provoking lecture by Mr. Uddayan Bajpayi, a thinker, Writer, Philosopher, doctor and a researcher. The versatile personality led us to a different world of reality through his knowledge talk. He took us to the era of 1800s and talked about the British invasion of India and the attacks on Indian culture, the गौ रक्षा आँदोलन of 1888 and the truth behind it, the hand-loom revolution, the plight of Red Indians and all about our existence in continuum with the nature. Some facts that I learnt from the talk are:

*Indian culture was disgraced by the British Parliament in 1813
*The गौ रक्षा आँदोलन was against the British army not against the Muslims.
*In the Japanese book of metallurgy the iron made by the Indian tribe 'Aagarhiya' had been awarded the best iron of the century. 

Some quotes which I liked are:
*circulation of decision for discussion( निर्णय का flow)
*separation is never absolute( i.e. we are in continuum with the nature) Having attended his lecture one book which I've added to my reading list is 'Hind Swaraj' by Mahatma Gandhi.

Post lunch we were taken to a field visit after a brief introduction on the topic 'Sanitation' by Ms. Neeta Shukla. 

Some interesting facts learnt were:*Quantity of germs liberated by 250gms of stool via open defecation
*Global hand washing day is observed on 15th of oct since 2008
*The seven components of a 'Nirmal Gaon' and the 'Ujjawal gaon' and the various schemes of the govt. to promote sanitation.Mr. Amod took a session on 'Drinking Water in MP n CG. Some interesting facts learnt are:

*40/55 lpcd( litres per capita per day) in the vicinity of 500 metres is the standard
*A very good point he raised was the non availability of data with the govt. about ground water in terms of its being 'over exploited' and in the 'critical stage'.

to be continued.................................. 

Keeping 'Human Quotient' in your brand.

Customer service is something which can either make or destroy brands.In today's market where 'customer is the king' you need to make your customer happy so much so that they simply love your brand.I know this is not something great I am talking about, everyone knows that and working on it, but the problem is in spite of all the efforts and investment, companies fail to do that especially when it comes to 'service industry' and when I talk about service industry and customer satisfaction, the first thing that comes to my mind is the telecom sector.You rarely find any customers happy with their service provider may it be the telecom giant Airtel or BSNL or any other service provider, people are not happy with the 'service' and therefore the MNP option has changed the statistics of all the players.Airtel caught hold of the nerves of the customer and with their better services have occupied a great share in the market and had almost beaten BSNL at its launching period and of course maintained it thereafter but today with a lot of new entrants the focus is shifted toward 'cost', the one paisa concept has really changed the scenario but till when? and how long? today's customer is ready to pay a price for better service and convenience.This is the reason why some players are able to make a position in the market though the customer base is low and the brands which used to enjoy the greatest market share are shrinking. They loose customers largely because they are not able to see 'who is killing their brand?'Now to do that is really difficult as you may come with fantastic products and services but all those who are delivering them should be under the scanner.

Before I move on further I would share an experience of mine with Vodafone which has superbly performed and has made a place for itself not because of the zoo zoo advertisement or the innovative products( as almost all the other operators have some or the other innovative product/service) but because of the 'customer service and satisfaction'. About a month ago I needed a GSM connection as mine was a CDMA technology and doesn't have advance features. Though the MNP option was available but I thought of changing the number as my department in the organization had also changed, it sounds better to me to keep two numbers so as to segregate myself from the previous one.And the change in technology was an important requirement to my new position in terms of sending daily reports, being online and connecting to key people through BBM et al.So I decided to take a Vodafone post paid connection which my elder brothers uses and were quite happy with that. I find an outlet on the way to my office at Platinum plaza and was happy to have the outlet at a commercial place where it ought to be located at, the main store was at MP Nagar again, a commercial and the appropriate one. Now as it was convenient for me to go as the other one was quite far, I approached the outlet and demanded a post paid connection with a BBM plan. The outlet was almost unfurnished with a seating capacity of two and a couple of desks. There was only one attendant and was not able to provide me a list of numbers to choose from, she said, 'madam is not here,she has the numbers with her,plz. wait for sometime once she returns I will give you the numbers". After a day long job you cannot wait for choosing the numbers for a connection, I told her to text me the numbers and told her the documents required are ready once she give me the list of numbers I will send someone with the money and the documents and requested her to do it as early as possible as I needed the connection urgently.The next day I didn't receive any text, I went again to the outlet while going back home, there was some other attendant and said that he doesn't have the numbers right now, he will provide by tomorrow as the attendant that you met yesterday is on leave, on my complaint of having lost already one day, he gave me the form and a blank sim card and asked me to fill the form and deposit an ID proof and the amount tomorrow, thankfully after a wait of an hour or so I got some good numbers and chose one, he assured me that he has booked that number and said that he will call himself and activate it all I need to do is to put the blank sim card and promised to do it by afternoon. The next day, I called up again on the number he gave(as it was already evening and I did not receive any call), the man replied that he was on the field and gave me a number of the office, I called up on the number and to my surprise it was switched off.

Again, on the way back home, I stopped at the outlet to finally take the connection with the amount and a photo copy of my driving license with me, met another attendant..... different from the other two, introduced himself as the 'store manager'. I told him the whole story, having given due attention to the whole episode, he replied, though he was unaware of all this, will do it now, he asked about the ID proof and I gave him the copy of driving license which I had already kept with me, the man refused to acknowledge that photo copy saying it is photo copied only from one side, the seal at the back must have been photo copied as well.I asked him about the facility of photo copy at the store, he refused to have it, asked him to get it done from somewhere, the payment to be done from my side, I got a sweet reply of 'no' there's no place nearby to do so. I kept my patience intact, as I was so tired to go home that I cannot wait for anything else. Requested him to take the photo copy and promised to submit another by tomorrow but the reply was a ''no maam, we are bound by the rules, will activate only once we receive your ID and the verification team verifies it", I said that I need the connection anyhow by tommorrow afternoon as I need to send the reports by evening, can I drop the photo copy by morning while going to office, by what time the store is opened ?, by 11 a.m he replied, I said, "my office starts at 9 a.m. and I cannot come back by 11, plz have some alternate arrangement" and was shocked to hear a 'no' from him.

Now was just not able to control my anger, I gave a very aggressive reply, " do you think you are the only service provider? what do you think to yourself? In today's competetive environmrnt when every single customer is important, you are trying all means to loose a customer, you don't have a sense to judge a customer, I am not a Rs. 10 pre-paid customer, a person demanding a post paid connection with a BBM plan, writing the designstion as a manager in a reputed organization, go to hell, will take another connection" That idiot said 'ok maam without an apology and I left the store throwing away the blank sim card I got and went straight to Airtel's office next door, the executives not only get the ID photo copied but also asked to take the form and fill it as per my convenience and will send an executive to collect it either from home or office wherever I feel comfortable, was very happy with the customer service and came back home to get the Airtel connection.Got so late in the process, came late, my brother asked the reason of getting late, I told him the whole story, he just asked me to relax and insisted on taking a Vodafone connection only as he and his business group use the same and were very happy with the network and service as well. In the afternoon, went out for some official work to MP Nagar and saw the Vodafone outlet, thought of getting the connection as liked the number very much, in the meantime got a call form Airtel executive, liked the number so much and was very close to the store, I refused the executive and went to the Vodafone store, thinking that the number has already been booked on my name so why to waste it? Went to the store and asked about the number, you will surely laugh on hearing the reply, that the number has been taken up by someone, it was not booked in my name. Now, two days were already past and if I choose another option it will take one more day, having left with no choice I asked the lady to give me some numbers to choose from and finalized one, paid the charges, again the photo copy was needed to get done from my side, thankfully there was a photo copy shop nearby, completed all the formalities and requested the lady to get my number functional by tomorrow afternoon, but the reply was, 'no', it will take 24 hours, I could do nothing but wait, next day by evening the number was not operational, called her up many times but of no use, got busy with my office work and forgot. The next afternoon came and the number was not functional, I didn't call up for two days as it was Diwali- the festive season and then Sunday. Finally I called up on Monday, this time it was this lady's turn to be 'on leave', hearing that I lost my control and shouted on her like anything, she gave me the number of some senior official.I called him up and told him the whole story, the officer wtih all the apologies said, he himself will come to my place and hand over a functional sim to me in an hour. Several hours passed and I kept ringing as I had to leave for some urgent meeting, I made the last call and yelled at the person 'to hell with the connection and sim, ask your senior to be where he was and never come to my place and keep the amount I paid for the connection with him, I don't want to take a brand with a pathetic service" and went off.Got engaged in the meeting, 10-15 missed calls from them but not replied any, finally, got a call from my brother and picked up, he told me that the officer and his team was waiting for me for about half an hour, I asked my brother to shoo them away and keep their connection with them. Again, my brother insisted that they are feeling sorry about what happened and not read to go unless you meet them, I was so pissed off and left it on my brother whether to take their sim or not. My brother, a brand loyal of Vodafone, took the sim and entertained that team.

This is how I got the Vodafone connection........

Was just using it, though the plan, the network is good, but the experience was bitter, so never praised it. Keep getting those 'privildged customer' messages but was never happy, few days back got a message, 'Happy Birthday from Vodafone, along with the wishes some free messages and all. On receiving that message and the service message after every enquiry and call has really made me feel good and made me realize some observation about the brand as to how they want to give a human touch to their brand, the service messages after the interaction with a tele customer executive to give your feedback, is really an effective way to know how each and every interaction with a customer is valued, various VAS et al.

Technically the efforts are successful, but they failed to do it on the grass root level, the customer executive on call is being monitored but the executives as the ground staff is not at all being monitored. Some very important lessons has to be learnt from the above story, deliberately shared it so that every one knows that there's some one who is killing the brand, it's not the bad experience at some point makes the entire journey a bad one. Has my brother not being a brand loyal forced me, they would have lost a 'privileged customer'

'Keeping it human' is the key, you must be empathetic to the customer(the store manager might have understood the situation and have gone an extra mile to come to the office early to collect the photo copy)

You must value the customer's time( the lady must have made sure that it is going to be a holiday, I must send the form by evening to the head office)

You must give feel good factor to the customer(the senior officer no matter how busy he was must have taken the case on a priority bases as it was already delayed)

Just give a 'humane' approach to your customers and see things through the eye of the customer.

Once you give this 'human touch' ( wishing birthday) and the you will have enough 'brand loyals'.

NCRB survey for country's most crime-prone state-Will there be a survey of Human Quotient?

Was going through the article of Times of India-'Kerala is country’s most crime-prone state, NCRB statistics show'. To my surprise, found a shocking fact on which my research is going on (Plz refer the previous blog-'Who has more Human Quotient-a literate or an illiterate?). Kerela, a state with the highest literacy rate is country's most crime-prone state and the state which falls under one of the lowest literacy rates is the second in the list. I know the definition of a 'literate' but strongly believe that once you learn to read and write you move into a broader horizon, it is not only about knowing how to read and write but about a better understanding of yourself and the world around.

As the article states number of crimes committed per 1 lakh population — gives a more realistic and comparative picture of law and order than a total of offences registered in a state or city. A state with a larger population can report a higher number of offences as compared to a small state. But it is the crime rate that is an index of law and order. Again, in order to have a better understanding of Law and Order, one must know about it and being a literate facilitates it. Now the question arises is 'knowing' sufficient? If more number of people are literate(i.e higher literacy rate) do they create an atmosphere of positivity i.e less crimes? Is that counts for a deduction in violent crimes(murder, attempt to murder, rape, kidnapping and dowry death)? and on the other hand if there are more illiterates and don't have any access to 'knowing' Law and Order, will there be less crimes? or say less violent crimes? Can you justify the crimes committed on account of being poor, neglected or mentally ill?( as in the Hindi movies, a poor man becomes a thief as someone has denied him food) What leads to the criminal behaviour? Can we say the rich economies where ample facilities are available to people, living of standard is high are not prone to crimes?

Some examples are really a teaser like off late, I see this news quite often in the newspapers about committing a murder on the dispute of 'water'(areas where there's a limited supply of water, people stand in queue to fill water and situation becomes critical), a son stabbed his mother to death so as to have the entire property of father or a father raped his daughter, how can you judge the degree of crimes?

Can we take it as a shock that Kerela is the most crime prone state or compare it with Delhi and Bihar and satisfy ourselves with the indexes? or shall we put all the blame on the government machinery? I read the term 'violent crimes' in the article and the crimes mentioned above in brackets and fail to understand this concept, will definitely undertake more research on 'violent' or 'non-violent' crimes. But one thing I am sure if there's a demarcation has to be made,it should be on the basis of the reason of an offence for example the property disputes or dowry deaths and the deaths due to a dacoity, or a terrorist attack.

There's a mutiny in mind which compels me to raise these questions.......,
still in search of answers for all these............

Baharon mera jeewan bhi sanwaro...........बहारों, मेरा जीवन भी संवारो................

बहारों, मेरा जीवन भी संवारो ...............
सत्तर के दशक का यह गीत एक बहुत ही मधुर संगीत का नमूना है ! केवल स्वर ही नहीं बोल भी अपना महत्त्व रखते हैं!यह किसी भी motivational गीत से कम नहीं ! 'बहारों मेरा जीवन भी सवारो' अपने आप मैं एक बहुत ही सकारात्मक सोच है, जहाँ कवि  बहारों से कह रहा है की जैसे  तुम खुशहाली का सूचक हो वेसे ही अपनी सुन्दरता को केवल अपने तक सीमित न रखो बल्कि मेरे जीवन को भी सुन्दर कर दो! normally हम बहार को देख कर खुश होते हैं, मन को शांति और आँखों को सुकून मिलता है जब बहार की ऋतु  में  हर चीज़ अपने सौंदर्य के चरम पर होती है !रंगों के जितने shades आपने अपने सारे जीवन में  नहीं देखे होते वो आप बहार के मौसम में  देखते हैं ! अगर हम गीत की इस पंक्ति को अपने जीवन में  उतारें तो पाएंगे कि  शायद हमने बहार से कभी कुछ माँगा ही नहीं , केवल प्राकर्तिक सौंदर्य का आनंद  उठाया है या फिर अपनी दुआओं में  माँगा है कि  हे इश्वर मेरे जीवन में भी बहार ला दे !जो बहारें हमारे सामने हैं उनसे कभी कुछ लिया ही नहीं चाहे व्यक्तिगत जीवन हो या व्यवसायिक , बहारें हमेशा ही हमारे सामने रही हैं किन्तु हम उनसे शायद मांगते ही नहीं यदि हम व्यक्तिगत जीवन की बात करें तो बहरें हमारे सामने उन सफल व्यक्तियों क रूप में  होती हैं जो अपने जीवन मैं एक लक्ष्य ले कर चले  हैं और कामयाब हुए हैं ! यहाँ सफल व्यक्ति से मतलब  धनवान व्यक्ति बिलकुल भी नहीं है ! सफल  व्यक्ति वह  है जो अपनी जीवन मैं खुश है चाहे वह परिवार के बुज़ुर्ग दादाजी क्यों न हों जो आज अपने नाती-पोतों के साथ ख़ुशी से जीवन बिता रहे हों जिन्होंने ज़िन्दगी के हर पड़ाव  को भरपूर जिया हो  जवानी मैं कमाया, अपने बच्चों  को सही मार्ग दिखाया और आज  धन-दौलत की चिंता किये बिना अपने परिवार को एकजुट देख कर खुश हैं या फिर एक विधवा माँ जिसने अपनी बेटियों को अपने पैरों पे खड़ा किया और आज उनकी प्रतिष्ठा और मान से गौरान्वित होती है! इन बहारों से हमें सीखना चाहिए, इनसे कहना चाहिए कि मेरा जीवन भी संवारो, अपने experiences share  कर के! जीवन के वो कठिन रास्ते जो आपने  सहज ही गुज़ार दिए, हर छोटी-बड़ी कठिनाई का सामना कर, हमें भी बताओ, हमें प्रेरणा दो कि जीवन केसे खुशहाल बनाते हैं, कभी क्रोध को पीकर तो कभी एक बड़े झगडे को एक मुस्कराहट से सुलझा कर !

और व्यवसायिक जीवन तथा प्रबंधन के क्षेत्र में देखें  तो यह पंक्तियाँ एकदम सटीक बैठती हैं कयोंकि  एक क्षेत्र का विकास पूरे देश के विकास को गति दे सकता है ! हमारे देश में  ऐसे कई उदाहरण हैं जहाँ एक व्यवसाय विशेष या क्षेत्र विशेष ने पूरी अर्थ व्यवस्था का उद्धार  किया है चाहे वो भिलाई का steel plant हो, गुजरात की industries या फिर south का IT सेक्टर; इन बहारों से इन क्षेत्रों ने वाकई अपना जीवन भी सुधारने  का अनुरोध किया होगा! आज भी हम सुनते हैं कि  इस गाँव में  पक्की सड़क बनने  के कारण  बहुत  विकास हुए हैं! स्कूल , सहकारी बैंक , दवाखाना इत्यादि सभी कुछ बन गया जबसे सड़क बनी है !पर खेद की बात है की जिन बहारों ने जिस जगह जीवन संवारा ऐसे उदाहरण  होते हुए भी विकास कम है! पिछले कुछ दशकों से स्तिथि  सुधरी हैं वरना  सिर्फ उपयोग किया  गया  हैं उद्धार नहीं! जैसे भारत वर्ष के इतिहास में  कई शासक जो विध्वंस बन के आये वह  बहार बन के  भी आ सकते थे  और भारत को संवार  सकते थे किन्तु सँवारने से ज्यादा भारत को लूटा गया! अंग्रेजी शासन भी एक बहुत बड़ी बहार साबित हो सकता था यदि वो अपनी technology, अपने inventions, अपनी तरक्की से हमारी तरक्की को जोड़ता पर शायद भारत इस संधर्भ में  कल भी unlucky था और आज भी है! दुनिया के सबसे अमीर व्यक्तियों की सूची मैं भारत के कई नागरिकों  का  नाम   है किन्तु दुनिया के सबसे  best brands में  भारतीय  brands  नहीं आते! भारत का GDP दुनिया के best GDPs earning nations में  नहीं आता !
ऐसा नहीं है कि  कुछ भी नहीं हुआ है या Corporate Social Responsibility नाम मात्र को ही है! कई नामी कम्पनियाँ और उद्योगों ने  भारत की तस्वीर बदलने में  महत्त्वपूर्ण योगदान दिया है पर आज भी ज़रुरत है कि हम इन बहारों से हक़ से मांगे कि  हमारा जीवन भी संवारो  , तुम अगर prosper कर रहे हो  तो हमें भी prosper करो यदि एक team leader की तरक्की होती है तो वह पूरी टीम की तरक्की करवाए , यदि एक राज्य में  खुशहाली है तो वह दुसरे राज्य में  खुशहाली लाने  का प्रयास करे तभी हम एक self sustained ecosystem rather economic system बना पाएंगे!
 इसलिये किसी पे बहार आने पर जलन या द्वेष मत लाये बल्कि हक़ से उस बहार से कहिये कि  मेरा जीवन भी सवारों!

सूफ़िया  कुरैशी
copyright@sufia

ON WHAT PARAMETERS DO YOU MEASURE HUMAN QUOTIENT? IS IT A LITERATE OR AN ILLITERATE? WHO HAS A GREATER HUMAN QUOTIENT?

Crime Patrol, jurm ki dastak is gaining popularity among the audience nowadays. The program is based on the real life cases of loot, murder and other crimes. Every episode gives a message about an issue like child abuse, domestic violence, kidnapping or love affairs as the basis of crime.

In a recent episode, a case of Bhopal army cantonment, Bairagarh has been aired.

A senior army official shot an adolescent (a boy of 11 yrs of age) to punish him for stealing almonds that fall from a tree which was in the army campus. An educated and respected figure in the society, a personnel of the country’s highly responsible and revered wing-the army, acted   in such an irresponsible rather horrible manner. When you hear the word; 'an army officer', suddenly a feeling of respect, a sense of dependency comes to your mind. Someone whom we consider as our ‘life guard’ but what happens when a life guard takes away a life of an innocent young boy who had the least idea of picking up the fallen almonds is stealing, crossing the boundary is indiscipline and a crime for which there is no complaint, no warrant, no judge......just the punishment, the punishment to lose life.

Switch to another case where an illiterate auto driver brutally stabbed his wife and a three year old daughter to death just because he was angry that the food that his wife prepared was not of his choice.

Both the cases show an extreme level of inhumanity, taking someone’s life for granted, but again the question that arises is do we associate human quotient with literacy? Who scores high on HQ, a literate or an illiterate, a civilized and highly respected citizen or a slum dweller without an identity of his own?  Is it a natural instinct? or an instant reaction? Can you say that the army official had a low HQ for his entire life or was it just an instant reaction? Should we forget all the good deeds that he did throughout his life which includes saving the life of others or should we remember the only cruel act of killing an innocent boy? Or should we consider the regret, the guilt he had after this act?

In case of that laborer should we blame the poverty?, the frustration of living a miserable life to be root cause of low human quotient?, or should we say that the importance of life for him has never been so important as he doesn’t had a normal life of going to school, getting employed and loved? Or should we blame the society where there is distinction between the life of a rich and a poor, where rich have an access to every happiness and poor try too hard to make both the ends meet and that man became so frustrated not to have a proper meal for which he worked hard for the whole day?

ON WHAT PARAMETERS DO YOU MEASURE HUMAN QUOTIENT?.................

something is missing....I don't know why?

I wrote this poem when I was in 10th std.

In the midst of July,
when there is brightness in the sky
the trees are swinging, the flowers are laughing...
and leaves are talking to every passerby.....


something is missing....I don't know why?


The vehicles are moving, faces are grooming
when hawkers are singing, pakodas are ready to fry....


something is missing....I don't know why?

sometimes I thought.........

I wrote this poem when I was in std. 8th.

Oh! God,

Sometimes I thought, what I've got is enough or not,

and sometimes I thought, that what I've got is just a part...... of a filled pot

and have the desire to get a lot,

but as a matter of fact, what I got is enough.... and a bit more from the rest part, and a lesson is learnt.....

to be greedy not.

God is great.., He has given some or the other thing in everybody's plate

it's you have to decide, how to Take and make its Best...

ROADIES' AUDITION AND THE YOUTH OF TODAY-Learn to be YOURSELF

MTV Roadies is the most popular show among the India youth today. Though I have not followed all the episodes of any season but I never miss the auditions as I find so many astonishing facts about the youth of today. The way Raghu and friendz make them zero in on what they actually are is worth noticing. This is more of a concern rather than entertainment. It is pathetic to learn that the future of India lacks a vision, a goal to attain and are running blindly to have name and fame. For them 'easy money' is all that they want, when they are being asked 'what is the quality that you have to become the winner?' they stammer, say anything, boast of their physique and beauty, want to prove themselves but don't know  their own 'self', what is that they want to prove is again a blind reply, something that they failed to prove in some part of life, may be a compartment in some subject at High school or a fail in Secondary results, a feeling of not having enough power to hit back a classmate or senior or last but not the least to prove the parents that 'I am worth something'........... an endless list.The shows of this sort fascinate them the most as you become a rock star overnight, you are being watched at TV no matter what you do whether you bring shame to your family by using the abusive language at its extreme or being proved a cheater or a good for nothing fellow, and you have ample opportunities to make money....easy money in a short time(with no offense to the tasks that are really tough and some of the  very creative ones)

Exactly the same situation is faced by them when they face an interviewer, they write something in the resume and speak out a different thing.They write they 'want to work in an organization where I get maximum chance to learn' but at the back of mind goes 'where I get maximum chance to earn'. The same goes in my counseling sessions when I ask 'why do you want to do MBA?, the answer comes, 'I want a good job?' , 'what kind of job is good for you?' no answer, 'what is the profile that you are looking for?' 'don't know', where do you see yourself after 5 years?', 'not sure', 'I want to do MBA to become a good businessman', what business do you have in your  mind?', 'any'.......

This gap of 'what you want' and 'what you say you want' is an alarming situation for a country which has a phenomenal population of youth.The skill gap, employability everything else revolves around this. Though such shows are a source of entertainment but  some useful lessons that you can draw form these auditions are:

• Know Yourself
• Be clear about your thoughts
• Be yourself
• Be focused
• Have your goals set and put a deadline on them.
• Don't ever try to pose yourself as what you want to be but accept what you are.
• Acknowledge your weaknesses.
• Don't assume, prove by doing not by saying.

The feedback and comments are welcomed at suphia.q@gmail.com

Why not use the money of the uncountable scams to subsidize petrol??? Will Lokpal do something about it??

The increasing rate of inflation, price hike and poor infrastructural facilities and a phenomenal number of scams are causing consistent disappointment and distrust among the citizens.Though Anna Hazare's Campaign against corruption and the Lokpal Bill sounds promising I am not very much convinced with it, there should be an ultimate solution to all these problems which could be possible only by some of the radical changes and out of the box tactics.

One such type could be rather than keeping corrupt politicians to jail, their looted money and their personal property as well should be utilized for a common cause. Take for instance Suresh Kalmadi, A Raja, Amar Singh etc. sell all the personal wealth of these people (of course with due consideration to their families, but they too have to suffer the misdeeds of their dear ones as the property gets registered in their names only) and subsidize petrol which is blowing the middle class off.  And if this becomes law that anyone who is involved in corruption he will be deprived of his personal property and the amount itself will be confiscated, I am sure they will dare not cheat the millions of people whose hard earned money is being poured into the system in terms of hell lot of taxes as when it comes to your own loss or you know that if I do such act my family is ultimately going to suffer then only you will realize the importance of all that money which goes into all such scams. If you look at Harshad Mehta's case, the tremendous amount of money he made will be sufficient for generations to generations of his irrespective of the punishment he got and though the accounts were seized but in the mean time he had enjoyed all the luxuries of life whereas people might be starving to death at the same time somewhere.

It should be made mandatory for the govt. to disclose the amount seized in various scams and cases and to give an account of how that money is used publicly. All the govt. schemes and grants are aimed at BPL people and needless to mention how fruitful they are, no scheme has ever been formulated for the middle class strata who actually bears the burden of tax as poor are exempted, rich are evaders, the salaries employees which form the chunk of middle class have to pay the tax honestly and with the same honesty have to bear the burden of price hike as they need to adjust their budget, their salaries will not get adjusted.

When I heard that petrol prices are going to increase because the govt. could not subsidize it anymore, the first question that came to my mind was why not use the money of the uncountable scams to subsidize petrol???

Hindi For Foreigners, English for Indians-Be proud of your mother tongue.

'Hindi For Foreigners, English for Indians'.

This is the proposed title of a book I am working on, the draft is almost completed. It consist of mostly the lessons I prepared to teach foreigners. While teaching these lessons to the foreigners (mostly from UK and some from Arab) I learnt so many fascinating facts about the language which I had never thought and was unaware of  and believe me they made me feel proud of knowing the language. My first mentee to learn Hindi was Phillip, a man from London who knew a bit of Bengali.He was in his 50s when he approached me to learn Hindi. For me it was the first experience to teach my mother tongue to a foreigner. I took it lightly and started preparing lessons for him, but  to my surprise it was tough.. very tough....right form alphabets to phonetics to sounds, required a thorough preparation as Hindi is a phonetic language with aspirated and nasalized sounds whereas English is different in all these aspects. I searched, researched and learnt about it and the first lesson is done. As it was my first experience and probably one of its kind in Bhopal as there are no institutions that provides Hindi learnig classes, it was difficult for me to decide how much should I be charging for the classes and as always I discussed it with my family but not that happy with the response, my family underestimated the worth of their own language, their mother tongue and asked me to charge very low saying 'you are not teaching English, you are teaching Hindi', I was taken aback and told them the importance of Hindi in terms of its richness. I explained them that Hindi language is so very rich if you look at the script, the phonetics and the sounds and a special mention of the culmination of various other languages like Persian, Arabic etc.
And above all the feeling of pride that one must associate with the mother tongue. South Indians are a good example of that, they feel proud to speak the regional language of their region may it be Telugu or Tamil, they place it above the National Language. Don't want to indulge into that debate of imposing Hindi language over them but one thing that must be appreciated is the way they have developed themselves in terms of education and technology. There, the regional language has never been an obstacle in their growth unlike many under developed states of the country e.g M.P. where you find a huge gap of talent just because they cannot speak good English. From the elementary level, regional language is taugh in South and there is an absolute freedom to innovate and produce research papers in the local language whereas here I have seen it for myself , a lot of deserving candidates lag behind just because they are poor in English Communication.People here write 'poor communication in English' as their weakness and which is of course is the very accepted concept.

'Poor in Communication' is our weakness not 'Poor in English Communication'. We must be proud to speak Hindi and have a clear stream of thought in order to innovate, invent and evolve.

What matters the most is the sense of pride.

WHAT IS YOUR HUMAN QUOTIENT??...............MP TOPS THE LIST OF RAPE CASES

Just going through the headline in HT today, figures for 2009 released by NCRB(National Crime Record Bureau) for ' Rape cases', MP being the highest among 28 major states, West Bengal second and UP third.

I feel disgusted frustrated and what not when I hear any rape case, it took one week for me to come back to the normal life when learnt about the entire story of Aruna Shaunbag , but don't have words to describe the state of mind when I heard a case of 'Incest' for the first time, it is painful.... so very painful to even think of such a term. Don't have the details of the case I watched on TV where a father raped his daughter and she became pregnant, then the mother lodged a complaint, my hands are shiverig to write and shattered to think of the life of that girl and the one to whom she might have given birth.........?

No women empowerment, no law, no police, no policies can do anything about these cases. You can never empower the 'weaker sex' unless you are over with the very concept of 'weaker sex', the wiring of 'weaker'is to be dismantled and that can only be done by wiring of another concept called 'Humanity'. Unfortunately 'being human' is not taught to us in a formal manner, 'life skills' which play a very important role in shaping up one's character find no place in the curriculum. At the adolescent stage-between primary and middle classes when the youth needs a lot of attention and inculcation of good habits, there must be formal training of their minds.Whether MP with majority of population is uneducated rural or metros where the majority of the population is educated urban, the 'animal instinct' remains the same.

But again though this is not diverting from the topic but yes going to a different area, my point here is that in the society as a whole this inhuman act of rape must be wired as something which is not human, the punishment of this offense should be exile from the human race. The concept of 'biradari se bahar karna' must be applied here and needless to mention that the 'biradari' must be the entire race of human being.
 

DISCOVER THE HAPPY HORMONES IN YOU

Many a times we come across incidences like someone bumped our car and we at our extreme anger look at the person and are about to say something and a sweet smile on his face suddenly reduces the intensity of anger and a little later the anger goes off. Also if you see someone fall on the ground or slipped on a muddy road makes you laugh. The response to such things could be different if you have a different approach, you might become more angry if you see a smile on the person's face who had bumped your car or you might not react at all if someone slips.
The only way to be happy is to discover the 'Happy Hormones' in you. No, I am not taking about the Serotonin or the Endorphin rush, it is not about the chemical composition of the body or mind but about your thought process, your way of reacting toward things.Children remain happy most if the time just because they react to things in a different manner without any logic n reasoning.I still get scolded on laughing in front of someone on any trivial thing but there are instances in everyone's life when you can't resist yourself laughing but you shouldn't as it will go against the norms of behavior.(one instance came to my mind right now is in a strategy building meeting my boss encircled with all of us  started writing the future plan and the first thing on the blank page was his saliva, imagine......)
Well, how can you discover the happy hormones in you? It is as simple as anything the more you look at the things on a lighter mode the more easy they become.Laugh as much as you can and of course a true laughter is different from making fun of someone. Whenever I am depressed I give myself a big smile and laugh at petty things and sometime at nothing and believe me it works, someone is getting angry at you and you divert his mind on something that makes him laugh really works.(unless the issue is not grave otherwise it will backfire at you).The company of kids is a wonderful source of being happy, you laugh to make them laugh, you run, jump, do all sorts of nonsense acts just to see them happy and then gradually you also seems to laugh on such non sense things and make a habit of enjoying little things.

Remember every thing that makes sense may not make you happy.

what is your Human Quotient?

This is in continuation of my previous blog 'What is your Human Quotient/' where I mentioned about a lady being crushed by vehicles the whole day and the flesh scattered on the road(Guna).
Another incident of the same magnitude of being 'INHUMAN':

Chattarpur-22/08/11

Narpat Singh, an elderly man of village Gau died in a TB hospital. and his dead body had to struggle for the cremation for two days.The only survivor of the man was his 68 yrs. old wife The bewildered widow did not know how to go about the cremation ceremony of her husband as she didn't have enough money to arrange for it, when she approached the neighbors for help, they pooled up some money and the cremation wood was bought but was too less for the process, on someone's suggestion the woods at the roof top of the hut of the man were taken and the dead body was put on the fire but was not to much help, some worn out tyres were used but look at the irony, the body was still unburnt. The following day, some people with a low human quotient(at least they have it) finally burn the dead body and the soul with a tremendous struggle met 'parmatma'.

The events that took place in the mean time included:

-finding out the rules of Municipal Corporation-as per section 123 of Nagar Palika Adhiniyam 1961, only construnction of cremation grounds comes nder its purview not the cremation ceremony
-As per Chief Minister's 'Mazdoor Surakhsha Yojna'(Labor Security Scheme)  an immediate compensation of Rs. 2000 is given to the family of the deceased.(though 'immediate' can be more than a week)
-When the SDM was approached the reply was " the case doesn't come under my territory"
-Collector Chhatrpur,"There's a clause for the cremation process if the deceased were registered under 'karmkar mandal; the nagar palika must have taken the initiative, right now I am out of station, will put up an inquiry once I return".

And of course this is not the end of this heart rending incident if I don't mention the 'Post death rather Post cremation events:

-A local leader came with a compensation and promised to continue it for...(an idefinite period)
- A congress leader came with a cash of Rs. 2100
-An MLA 'gifted' Rs. 1000 and promised an extended amount of Rs.5000
- Rs.10000 on account of 'Nagar Palika president's Family welfare Scheme' and a cash of 5000 by a leader of 'Yuva Morcha"

So Rs.23100 and all set. At the outset of Anna Hazare's fighting against corruption and bringing back the Black money from Swiss Bank' the poor Common man's fate is still the same.

WHAT IS THE HUMAN QUOTIENT OF ALL THESE PEOPLE??????
IT WAS THE CREMATION OF HUMANITY.....

Farmer Vs ENTREPREUNER, Partnership firm Vs PARTNERSHIP FARM-There must be Corporate practices for Indian Agriculture.

Indian farmers have never been assigned the status of an Entrepreneur nor have they themselves ever aspired for that. They face an Identity Crisis. Looking at the extraordinary increase in the number of suicides in M.P. and the surrounding areas one can easily notice the identity crisis being faced by he Indian farmers since time immemorial... Though there is technological advancement, IT boom et al the pathetic condition of agricultural practices India is the same for decades. Why do the Indian farmers have all of a sudden start committing suicides? The simple reason is the identity crisis that is being faced by them. They do not see themselves as entrepreneur rather they see themselves as hapless traders who grow a commodity and sell it in the market. If you look at the farmers in the developed nations, they undertake farming as a business and generate revenues as any other venture. Farmers in India on the other hand are still at the mercy of Govt. and the God (of rain).

3 Gs for farmers:

Govt.

God (the God of rain)

Grants

 Grants and reforms have curbed the entrepreneur zeal of the farmers. Why do they have to beg for relief from the Govt. And today somehow when they have started taking an initiative for themselves is causing more damage than ever, damage to their own life, to their own family, committing suicides is not the way out.

Fact File:

*Rural households’ share in total households in India is 74%                                                            

*Agriculture households form 59% of rural households.                                                                    

*Agriculture’s direct contribution to India’s GDP stood below 17% in 2006-07. It was 2.9% over the period 2000-01 to 2007-08 as a whole; but it stood at 5.9, 3.8, and 4.5% respectively over the three years ending 2007-08. (NSSO)

*40% of the farming community In India wants to quit agriculture, given the other opportunities. (The Hindu Business Line, Mar 21, 2008)

*Six in every ten households in rural India belong to farmers. Such a farmer even if he/she were to be in irrigated area, does not get employed for all the 365 days. (NSSO)

*Though the marginal and small landholdings (up to four hectares) account for 90% of total holdings in India, the area operated by them is just 51%.                                                          (Ministry of Agriculture, Agricultural statistics at a glance, 2003)

*The large population which depends on agriculture for their livelihood cannot survive the financial crisis. 

*Poverty, Hunger, and Malnutrition.

Causes for the plight of Indian agriculture

*Farmers are at the mercy of nature. Indian agriculture is still a gamble on the monsoon.

*Climate variability and change

*The declining rate of agricultural productivity

*Periodical policies of the Government

*Farmers are not assigned a prime place; no position as competitors in the market.

*Instability, lack of sustainable farm practices.

*No freedom to sell the products in the market.

*Changes in the agricultural policy of industrialized nations

Initiatives taken by the government

*Agriculture as a key issue in the five year plans.

*White revolution in 1970s

*Green revolution

*Periodical subsidies and loan waivers.

*The National policy for farmers-2007

*Top priority in the Eleventh plan, for the revival of the agricultural sector.

*Rashtriya Krish Vikas Yojna (RKVY), a Rs. 25000 Crore scheme, to encourage state governments to support agriculture.

*National Food Security Mission- an enhanced outlay of Rs.4882.5 Crore was committed during the period 2008-09 to 2011-12 for expanding irrigation, research and food security.

What can be done?

*As depicted in the picture below, the farming practices should be totally technology driven.

* An Agricultural practices regulatory body to be set to ensure farm practices on the commercial grounds.

* Listing of Agricultural farms in the stock exchange. Larger farms can be combined(as any other management practice) at Blocks and Tehsil level, every Block being a company run by a CEO and the farmers as employees, every farm must have a Manager, HR manager to look after his farm land.

*Partnership between the agricultural colleges and Department of Agriculture to provide for cooperative agricultural extension work.

* Developing practical applications of research knowledge.
*Farm management for individual farmers. Extension agents should be appointed to teach farmers about marketing and helped farm groups organize both buying and selling cooperatives.

*At the same time, extension home economists should teach farm women-who traditionally maintained the household-good nutrition, canning surplus foods, house gardening, home poultry production, home nursing, furniture refinishing, and sewing-skills that helped many farm families survive the years of economic depression and drought.

* Farmers’ Clubs, Societies and Syndicates not only for promoting business but also the activities for overall personality development.

* Cost benefit analysis like any other commodity business the farm produce must be measured in terms of one farmer supporting the food need of 12 persons.

* Agriculture —research and educational programs help individuals learn new ways to produce income through alternative enterprises, improved marketing strategies, and management skills and help farmers and ranchers improve productivity through resource management, controlling crop pests, soil testing, livestock production practices, and marketing.
* Leadership Development —trains extension professionals and volunteers to deliver programs in gardening, health and safety, family and consumer issues, and 4-H youth development and serve in leadership roles in the community.

* Community and Economic Development through local governments to investigate and create viable options for economic and community development, such as improved job creation and retention, small and medium-sized business development, effective and coordinated emergency response, solid waste disposal, tourism development, workforce education, and land use planning.

* For farm workers tending to animals LIVESTOCK WORKSHOPS should be organized to teach them scientific methods of calculating Livestock Numbers by Weather and Climate.

*Farm Journals, Magazines and bulletins where farmers are encouraged to report on their achievements and their methods of solving problems

*There should be emphasis on converting rural population into future customers and employees.

*A strict measure to locate the beneficiaries of the schemes like NREGS (National rural employment guarantee scheme)

*There should be treatment at par with cities rather than subsidies, employment guarantee or amnesty from govt.

*A paradigm shift from a commodity centered to human centered approach in agriculture sector.

*Opportunities for the farming community to deal with the ultimate customers directly.

*Farming operations are to be dovetailed in such a way that each farmer is fully employed throughout the year.

*Multiple crops and Crop rotation to be promoted.

*Technology to make a powerful agro-sector, e.g. drip irrigation as in case of Israel.

*The mindset of the farmers needs to be changed regarding the small land holdings that they can do better than the large farmer using technology.

*Farmers should be directed and guided on conservation, saving and effective use of water thereby promoting scientific water-shed development and water management.

*Farmer field school in the nodal centers of villages to train, direct and offer solution for many of the agriculture related problems in day to day operations.

*Market driven enterprises have to be created in every village like Sericulture, Horticulture, Poultry, Cattle- breeding, Agro-processing etc.

*Organized system of marketing in the sector.

 *An efficient system of agricultural marketing.

*Streamlined agricultural production base from agrarian to commercial interest.

*A National level security movement could be a potential step.

*Agro-retail trading by the corporate giants should be used for the improvement of the sector rather than aiming for super normal profits.

*Ad-hoc agricultural policies that meet the political convenience of the day need to be avoided.