@ Neo ... no, this fizzled out quite some time back.

Been 4 years since this thread was started...any progress so far?

*not trying to sound sarcastic/sardonic*

politics in India has its own quirks like there was this anti-sivaji site on Orkut , there a huge furor in mumbai and the mumbai police got the IP adresses of the community owners aand members and arrested them, there is an absolute lack of free speech in our country , the government can ban anything at its whim and u hav so many acts which make a mockery of democracy assam armed forces act , defense act chattishgarh.Anyways i m anarchist and beleive all big govts are equally bad , as a normal citizen in negligible in these big units.

its gr8 thread bt again questions arise of what to do?

it is truly said "small deed is much greater than tons of noblest

thought"

now if we want to make a change what can we do?

here r something dat even personaly i m trying to do and get a fair

amount of success and more importantly satisfaction

1 do not throw garbage on road if there is no dustbin keep in pocket

or ask hawker to arrange for dustbin

2 in holidays or sunday go out to slums and teach children something

share dreams and encourage them to see big dreams

3 if any one throw garbage on road than do point out that and ask

politely and urge them not to repeat that

4 whenever traffic police catch u not settle for less some ask d

reciept and pay full fine

5 try to avoid spitting on d road and urge ur friend to do same



this are small things bt has gr8 importance

" whn i see how gr8 outcomes comes from small things

i tempted to think there are no small things "

Whats ironic is the fact that this thread has gone for 13 pages about the benefits of voting but the very same did not exercise thier vote in the pg award thead ..just 'blocked' it ? -.-

Raghav... just turn what you said on its head and you will get a clear insight into where people's priorities truly lie.

Whats ironic is the fact that this thread has gone for 13 pages about the benefits of voting but the very same did not exercise thier vote in the pg award thead ..just 'blocked ' it ? -.-

As posted by Nikhil aka Nikhilkulk on AugustFury:

The anti-reservation protests continue in Pune, after the success of the rally held on Sunday 14th May

The schedule for the rallies this sunday is as follows. There will be two routes for the rallies as follows:

1. Beginning at SNDT College, Kothrud Pune at 4.00 pm concluding at JM Road, Pune.
2. Beginning at B J Medical College, MG Road, Sahdu Vaswani Chowk, Pune also at 4.00 pm. Concluding at JM Road, Pune.

The rally is being conducted under the banner of "Youth for Equality".
The rally is being organized by Active members of Rotaract Club, Pune and the Students and staff of College Of Engineering , Pune.

It is likely that more than 500 people from various fields, students, professionals, parents and concerned citizens would be joining. So if you too feel that its time to move ahead from the usual board room discussions, then here is your chance


Also there is one more rally on Sunday. Its from University circle to Corporation circle beginning at 10 AM. Though I dont have much details of this rally, as to who are the organisers of the rally. So lets get out and support these iniatitives.


PS: My personal expereience of the rally held on Sunday 14th May coming up soon.

Jo, will search for the relevant news coverage on TV right away. Thanks for the directions to your post.

Heya Amar:)

Great to have some veterans back here.

Mumbai had some protests on 2nd May. If you want to get in touch with them this site might be useful.
http://www.mumbaiyouth.blogspot.com/

The following is the original YFE blog for those interested.

http://youthforequality.blogspot.com/

Hi all,

Sorry for the long silence from my end.

Thanks for the info, Jo and for the interview with Ipsita. Will surely watch the news coverage in the evenings.

And i suppose there was protest in my hometown pune too. Shall seek the details.

Please do let me know if there is any similar kinda action happening in Mumbai.

Regards,
Amar

Hrmm how I hoped that it was a server overload problem, but apparently it isn't.
Chalo 12 hours of praying that when the servers are up AF, is still the AF we knew and loved :(

No updates on Delhi, our lady is too busy to talk for more than a minute on the phone.

Alrite,for once, the culmination justifies the hype. And the students in delhi are voting with their feet,no less. One only hopes that the IIT's and the IIM's come out clean on it so that the message of the collective consciousness of the student community is loud and clear.

P.S : Yea, Augustfury server is down;But boy that tells a happy story of its own:) . Some proof that, if at all needed, that we are up and about.

Ranjitha, its big time on the TV now. Whatever I could catch in the lunchbreak as follows.

Times Now seems to be giving it more air-time than NDTV and CNN-IBN.

The students are marching on to the Parliament. Last I saw them they were barricading roads near India Gate and running towards Rajpath.

It is actually a protest on the run, developing from sit-ins on the roads on CP, march to India Gate and a race all the way to Parliament.
The police got back to water-cannoning and tear-gassing the crowd. Apparently one teargas shell hit a student right on the head. So yes it is out of control.

One demand being made very clear is that government break its silence on the issue.

Seeing these people actually running towards Parliament while explaining their stand to the media literally got me out of my seat. Hell even I got pumped.
To think that I was having a general chat with Ipshita about their plans when she told me somethings happening, I got to go. And then this!

Switch on your TVs!

ps: Of all the things that could possibly happen today, AugustFury's server went down. I can only hope its a request overload.
In anycase I'm a little too excited to care.

I would request those who have access to a television, to scan through the news channels and update this thread with what is happening. Right now I'm pretty much writing this blind.

Hmm, none of the channels are running this story as important yet, just a small mention so far. NDTV's reporter says the protests have gone out of control in some parts. Some protesters have been stopped, watergassed. Traffic jams in CP, and protesters on the side of the India gate are being teargassed.

I support reservation cos:
It satiates my 'EGO'.

It is an 'UNDECLARED Proof' of my 'BRILLIANCE'.

It helps me 'PRESERVE' my 'HERITAGE'.
>

Cool post dude!!

Its 12:11 PM on my office computer right now.

I talked to the concerned member of YFE, just 15 minutes back, the assembly polls were over and done with yesterday and Arjun Singh has still remained silent.

The situation in the morning was a congregation of 1,000 medical students with more expected and as I was talking to her it seems the protests have gotten underway in Connaught Place area.

I would request those who have access to a television, to scan through the news channels and update this thread with what is happening. Right now I'm pretty much writing this blind.

If you would like to contribute to the cause with ideas on how the protest should be organised and what and who should be targetted, please go here.

ps: Just caught the news. Roads have been blocked in CP. I guess this wasn't all talk no action after all eh

I support reservation cos:


It satiates my 'EGO'.

It is an 'UNDECLARED Proof' of my 'BRILLIANCE'.

It helps me 'PRESERVE' my 'HERITAGE'.

It gives me a reason to 'LOOK DOWN' upon others.

It unduly tags me as a more 'GIFTED' child of God.

It reaffirms my belief in 'REVENGE'."Do unto them wat they did unto u."

It gives me atleast 1 'REASON' why I shud 'SHUN' my Motherland.

It gives me atleast 1 reason to 'HATE' the already 'CORRUPT' politicians.

It gives me 'LESSER' level of 'COMPETITION' at work.

It gives me an 'EXCUSE' for 'NOT Making' it 'BIG' in life.

It gives me a 'FALSE PRIDE' that I m amongst the better-off ppl of the society.

It increases my 'RESPECT' for 'WOMEN' for they r competing 'WITHOUT' any 'RESERVATION'.

It will help in the 'UPLIFTMENT' of the 'PRIVATE Colleges' run by politicians.

It augurs well for our 'DEMOCRACY'.Wat if the OBCs and the Upper Caste people start thinking alike?

It gives me a reason to tick off yet another 'BRILLIANT' son of an OBC to be a 'PRODUCT of QUOTA'.

I am an 'UPPER' Caste Kshatriya and I KNOW all the above is 'BULLSHIT'.

bump...

Wow, great stuff there. Good to see so many proactive students in the country, with media now joining the students in protests the government cannot afford to ignore the opposition. Hopefully, the government will not go ahead with this stupid decision.

Great going YFE and August Fury.

@Bloggers: Let's support them by posting abt YFE and this interview on our respective blogs.

Cheers!

Reserved About Reservations?: An Insider's Perspective.
By Johan Jose
Published: May 10, 2006
Ipshita Parida is an intern at the Lady Hardinge Medical College (LHMC) and associated hospitals in Delhi. In her four and a half undergraduate years she has held office as an elected representative of the college students union, has been involved with a lot of high profile agitations in the capital and is currently the intern representative at LHMC. She is here speaking on behalf of Youth for Equality, a movement that commenced in New Delhi against the proposed extended reservations. She is also a friend of the interviewer.
Could you introduce yourself to the people who will be reading this interview?
Sure. My name is Ipshita Parida and Im an intern at Lady Hardinge Medical College, Delhi.

I believe you associate yourself with something called Youth for Equality?
I associate myself with a number of other protesting medical students who have cumulatively come up with a forum called the Youth For Equality (YFE).

What exactly is Youth for Equality about?
I am taking the liberty to presume that most of you are aware about the current stand on reservations and the proposed bill in the Parliament by the Human Resources Development Minister Mr Arjun Singh, which increases the total number of reservations including those for OBCs and other reserved categories in educational institutes to 49.5 pc.

I think we have a fair idea go on.
Youth for Equality is a forum created by representatives and students from the 5 medical colleges in the capital and a host of other colleges splattered all over the country, who believe that such a bill is discriminatory, regressive, cripples merit and is completely opposed to the principles of equality and democracy.

Who is heading YFE?
No one heads YFE because its not a body, its a forum, and more like a banner that covers all voices of dissent.

So when was YFE born and how did it evolve to become what it has?
YFE started post the announcement in the papers about the now famous or infamous bill. It started small with some founder members that made their cause known through posts on our notice boards. It really did start small, just a small voice by some passionate people who had the courage to fight for what is right but then gradually it gained momentum and strength.

What were the first signs of action on your part?
We observed a black badge day on the 17th of April in colleges and hospitals and had a couple of meets before the episode on the 26th of April, which made the news. About 300 students had decided to protest peacefully in front of the HRD Ministers residence, however what actually transpired was essentially baffling given this is 21st century India.

Why, what happened?
It soon turned into a shocking lapse in the democratic face of this country that totes free speech and liberal thought. We were lathi charged, tear-gassed, mobbed and barricaded. They even soaked us to the skin with water cannons. Talk about washing down the issue!

Where was the Minister while this crackdown was taking ...
The rest of the interview can be found here.
ps: People please keep an eye out for the 11th of May!

Harsh... please visit the AugustFury website for more activity.
Thats where everything will be happening henceforth.

What happened guys??

Just when the country and the youth are rising in revolt against the reservation plan, why are we sleeping?? Why is there no activity here, where we've been talking for long of changing the way government works?? Why no support for those who've dared to raise their voices against votebank politics?? Where are the 62.90% people who voted for "I want to make a change"??

Let us rise my friends, and be a part of this first step to change the way our country runs!!

INQUILAB ZINDABAD

Harsh Mody

The rising? Can we really rise that high on our own, or do we need to do it together?
Can we rise at all just on our own???
Hats off to your post, Harsh.

Wonderful post there Harsh.

I'm all applause for it

In November 2002, Satyendra Dubey, an engineer working on the Golden Quadrilateral Project in Gaya District, Bihar, an alumnus of IIT Kanpur, was shot dead by gunmen. His fault - he dared to send two letters to the PMO, complaining about corruption in awarding contracts to companies, which sub-contracted the work to other small companies, who didnt have resources to do proper work. This, he wrote led to bad roads, made of poor quality cement and mortar. He had specifically mentioned in his letter that by writing he was going against his superiors, and may face threats to his life by the kidnapping mafia-bureaucrat-small industry conglomorate in Bihar. He had requested anonimity in the letter, though he had signed the letter.
PMO Officials allegedly leaked the name to NHAI, and Satyendra Dubey was shot dead. The Indian Express reported the story in December 2002, and this was followed by sustained campaign by the paper to get the perpetrators of crime punished. Daily, I would read 15-20 letters to the editor on the issue, from the youth of the country, from NRI's,from Mr Narayan Murthy and others, but never from any politician. No politician spoke on the issue, nor was it raised in Parliament. Yet, one & a half week after Indian Express first reported the story, the then PM Vajpayee was forced, by public pressure, outrage and disgust to refer the case to CBI. Two of the killers committed suicide before they could be arrested, and the irregularities mentioned by Dubey have been found true by the CBI, which led the NHAI directors to change the process awarding contracts.


Last year, a quality inspector with the IOC and IIM-L alumnus, Manjunath Shanmugam was shot dead on the outskirts of Lucknow. His fault - he warned a petrol pump owner not to adulterate petroleum with kerosene, or get his license cancelled. The petrol pump owner hired a local goon and next day, Manjunath is dead. Again newspapers throughout the country mobilize public opinion, again I get to read youth, students, NRI's expressing disgust and outrage at the incident, cursing our red tape. Chairmen of Indian Oil, ONGC and HPCL issue statements saying that their employees are always at risk in Bihar and UP, and unless they are provided with security, they will close all pumps in the regions. Finally, at an Indian Express function, Manjunath's parents meet President Kalam, where they were assured of justice.


Last month, 9 accused in the Jessica Lal murder case are set free, may be because of faulty investigations by the Delhi Police. Again, I see the same public outrage, candle light vigils at the India Gate, and finally, politicians from across the spectrum, The PM, Chief Justice, Delhi CM, etc condone the acquittal, and the police reopening the case, sending it to the Delhi HC, inspite of the fact that reopening would mean Policemen coming under the spanner of the all powerful Delhi High Court.


Last week, the Maharashtra govt approved a plan for the Peddar Road fly over. Lata Mangeshkar and other rich residents of the area oppose the move, as their privacy would go, as the land prices would go down. Lata tai threatens to leave Mumbai if the project is not stopped. Again I read the youth, students, daily commuters from suburbs to the town, write in newspapers, asking Lataji to leave the city, saying that we could do without her, but we cant do without the flyover. The same Lata tai, who singlehandedly had delayed the same project in 2001, eats her words, and local politicians across the spectrum commit themselves to the flyover.


All these isolated events, when looked together, throw an interesting pattern. The country's people, atleast those who are educated and have access to communication, wont let the country be run by politicians according to their own whims. That, if they find anything amiss, be it a flyover, sewage line, or gruesome murders, they wont let the administration get away with anything. That they want answers, that they will set things right themselves if politicians dont do it. That they dont trust the administration, and wont shy away from taking things in their own hands. That they dont fear anyone, not the rich and influential Peddar road residents, nor politicians, bureaucrats, police, etc. That they will prove that the country is a democracy and is run by the people, not the govts. That they are the ultimate power, and when they exercise it, the ruling class shall be left with no option but to bow down in front of them.

A revolution, a silent revolution is in the offing. This revolution will be led by the educated class, will have no leaders, will be driven by the media and will set things right in our country.

JAI HIND.

Harsh Mody

I received this in email from a friend:

Government of India has an online Grievance forum at http://darpg-grievance.nic.in/ Our government wants people to use this tool to highlight the problems they faced while dealing with Government officials or departments like Passport Office, Electricity board, BSNL/MTNL, Railways etc etc. I know many people will say that these things don't work in India, but this actually works as one of our colleague in CSC found. The guy I'm talking about lives in Faridabad. Couple of months back, the Faridabad Municipal Corporation laid new roads in his area and the residents were very happy about it. But 2 weeks later, BSNL dugged up the newly laid roads to install new cables which annoyed all the residents including this guy. But it was only this guy who used the above listed grievance forum

And to his surprise, BSNL and Municipal Corporation of Faridabad was served a show because notice and the guy received a copy of the notice in one week. Government has asked the MC and BSNL about the goof up as it's clear that both the government departments were not in sync at all. So use this grievance forum and educate others who don't know about this facility. This way we can at least raise our concerns instead of just talking about the 'System' in India. SPREAD THIS MESSAGE
--
Regards
Sandeep Nasa



-------

Please use this to voice your grievances against such activity.

The summation of all the discussion is that we have to make a START from somewhere.... we need a push in our activities... and a pretty nice way to do it would be through gatherig ideas from like-minded people in a forum... who have a zeal to do something for their country.. Agreed, we will have jobs and livelihood to take care of, at the same time and since it can't be ignored, we must try to do the best we can.... May not be a full time work, yet a contribution is good, as long as it comes with a dedicated spirit.

Lastly, a stick is very easy to crack... but when sticks are bundled, they can't be cracked easily... and hence unity is what we need as of today, to fight injustice..

AND so on and so forth.


The reason why Pagalguy is such a great place for rhetoric like ours is coz it has POTENTIAL. The junta here is among the most educated in the country, the most intelligent, and (hopefully) the most talented. Ergo, the money-makers and scene-shakers.
In other words, the kinda people who'll get bored with their respective jobs or forced by the young'uns to retire from it by the age of 40 , and hence have a lot of free time and money on their hands. Maybe THEN they'll come back to this thread, look at what they'd said at that time, and think, "Why not do something now?"

How's THAT for a lighter note? mg

i do biliv tht its abt self realisation...its our country...if every1 thinks ke -"iss desh ka kuch nahin ho sakta"...then hw can it b..... som1 shud take an initiative...im ready 2 do my bit 4 my country..iv decided,im nt gonna work 4 ne white punks.im born here die here n work here.i just lack direction, some body guide me.i wanna contribute 4 my INDIA's progress...

Have u heard of the saying Poison Kills Poison ?

Guys,

a thought on the lighter side:

Dont we already have enough Pagalpan in our politics?? With PAGAL stepping in this would what our parliament would look like ---->>> ( imagine 500 of them) :)


-------
MC

@ lone.verse

agree totally
it's the simple rule of the steps of self-realisation. the basics gotta be in place, a.k.a. social, esteem-related, security, physiological (sorry if this sounds like an excerpt from a book, well the concept is well-documented ) before one can go on to the final step of making things better for another person.

Shrikanth... there is a case to be made for accelerated change. This theory of self-interest implicitly leaves a fair number of people out in the cold... which may be less to do with their own competencies but more to do with some social inequities that might need correction hence some form of social activism.

Jo, I would be lying if I said I understand all you've said here
But what I do understand in a very simple sense is that there is a point here...professionally successful people end up contributing the most constructively to society.

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but not many people actually WANT to help society ('course everyone talks about it, its in fashion these days)

Unless a person really WANTS to do something, how can he put his heart and soul into it? Ask an unemployed, yet educated person, someone who may even dream about saving the people single-handedly one day, if he'd take part in any kind of serious activism immediately, something that he might have to dedicate his life to. In most cases, the answer would be a straightforward no - its logical, coz the person needs to do some things for himself first, before thinking of the rest of the world.

Now, if a successful person, who is genuinely appalled by the current situation, has to make a choice between a career and his duty his society and people, the chances of his choosing the latter would be a lot higher. He's tasted success, he's got his two bits for himself out of life, so what problem would he have in doing his bit for betterment of the society? After all, its the next level of achievement, a way to greater self-contentment.

Just a mixture of commonsense and Ayn Randish philosophy:satisfie:

Nice effort man!! but the link isnt working (upon clicking) so i had to copy the link and paste it... Do correct it..:)

Sent it to all my friends through email...:)

Dear Friend,

Please do not discard this e-mail, as another junk, or spam e-mail. Instead kindly read it carefully. It will take only a minute.

1. Most of us, the young and educated people of India, simply have started thinking that getting social changes are the jobs of politicians and other social workers. Not ourselves. All of us have seen what these politicians have done to our country. So much so, that a politician today is synonymous with corruption, lies, cheating, violence, racial hatred and shady deals.
   
2. So let us not be like Ostriches with our heads buried in the sand and allow these rascals to take our precious country down. Let us do out own little part in the social changes needed in the country. Imagine - if each of us spared even a minute a month, that would be perhaps a 100 million minutes a month and 1.2 billion minutes a year. This is more than 150,000 man days allocated for social changes ! Will it help ? Of-course it will !!!
   
3. The first change needed is in the judicial syatem itself. Let us start with a genuine case of total injustice. The acquittal of all the nine accused in the Jessica Lall murder case by a Delhi court ( Some amazing judge called S.L. Bhayana - who has further been promoted to the high court, after he delivered " His " justice ! )
   
4. Is this not a sad reflection of the state of affairs in our country ? It is a pointer to everything that's wrong with our police, our prosecution and our criminal justice system. The verdict is proof of the fact that in this country, the rich and the powerful are above law ! Not only can they commit any crime with impunity, but they can also get away with it !
   
5. The outcome in this case strengthens those who have regularly misused and abused the law and the state machinery. It strengthens them and it weakens the rest of us - us, the ordinary citizens like you and me who have a rightful stake in the future of this country . It therefore becomes imperative to fight back this verdict and this outcome. We must join hands to push for retrial in this case to give justice another chance ............. and to give ourselves another chance !!!
   
6. This can be achieved by mounting public pressure in the country - the pressure of public opinion from all regions and quarters of the country. Already we have some media organizations taking the lead in this - through an online signature campaign, we can supplement those efforts and add to the pressure. We are aiming at one lakh signatures, so that after the completion of the campaign, we can petition the President of India and the Chief Justice of India for securing a retrial, this time backed by authentic and independent investigation in the case.
   
7. So, lend a hand and spread the message further so that we can petition the President and the CJI with one lakh signatures at the earliest. It is important that a message is sent across. It is important that we together fight back. And it is important that we win.

PLEASE GO TO THE FOLLOWING LINK AND SIGN ON THE PETITION ............... it will take only a few seconds !

http://www.petitiononline.com/retrial/petition.html


Please be a good citizen of India and do the country a favour, by copying and pasting this e-mail, to a new e-mail in your own name and sending the same to all your friends on line ..............

That is true... i do not deny that.... but if u know ur group properly... if u have the idea of strength, then alone u can fight...

When we give examples of the great freedom fighters who re-shaped our country, dont we ever think, that if these people had thought similarily, had given preference to their lives, their careers first, then how would they have ever fought with so much chivalry as they did?

Here we are talking of bringing a revolution and it is impossible unless u think of ur country before u.... Isnt that what was shown in Rang De Basanti, although their method was not great.... but even those lads those to serve for their country before thinking about their own careers, lives, etc

If we all unite against injustice, then no authority can bend us.... it is our own psychology that how much we can go and to what extent we can withstand that pressure..!!

Coming to what you're saying Gaurav, we Indians give a lot of importance to our careers, our studies, and to success in general. Self above all else, I guess. Any sign of hindrance to these things, and we immediately retreat. In a way, I can understand the kind of social pressure everyone, including I, live with. We have so many people depending and counting on us, and we ourselves have a responsibility to our parents and guardians. But sometimes it becomes necessary to choose between responsibility to ourselves and our family, and that to our society and country. That is when the mettle of a person is really tested, and where the majority collapses into a small group.
Btw, thanks Jo, thats high praise indeed, coming from you.

Very nicely done there Megha :)

And Harsh its nice to have you back after such a long time, hope all your exams went really well.

Keep the posts coming.

Hi lone.verse,
I do not think that by giving up the political scenerio or by becoming an outlaw we can improve the situation.... I am of the opinion that the message in Rang De Basanti was totally inappropriate... because u can't remove this scum of society through violence.... What if u kill 5-6 corrupt leaders today?? It is like Ravan's heads which grows back.... i.e. even if u kill some leaders today, there will be more corrupt leaders growing after that.... and hence we need to go to the roots to eliminate it...

What the media did... It never resorted to any violence... It merely started exposing these scumbags and they were on a run.... They too survive through a fake image and if u take away that image, they are left with nothing....

i do appreciate ur spirit that u decided to take up against the authority and it was great.... but u always have to see how best u can reason with them... how can u get ur group.... A lone tiger can become the master of the jungle if it doesnt use any tricks... What i mean is that if u want to improve them, u need to use their tools against them... like having a strong group and not bending against them... This fight is big and the victor is the one who doesnt give up.... Like in ur case the boys too started a strike... and then u people had a bigger group, but why give up...? If u have started for a good cause, then keep it going? If that group is there, then u shouldn't worry... I do admit that there will always be some cowards in the group of mighty, who will run away, the second they face danger... So count only the mighty before stepping forward!!

Yes, we all have to try and follow the policy of simplicity and it can come best to the society when we start following it on a personal level... This will influence others as well.... and never bend to any sort of criticism....