When the looms fall silent!

As we walk through the tiny alleys of Banaras, leaving behind the sheer grandeur and the gentle echoes of the beautiful and divine river Ganges, we enter a completely different world, a world where dreams are woven and given a shape. However as we walk  through the narrow and filthy lanes of Bazardiha, it didn't bear witness to the same Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency which was once represented by former HRD Minister and senior BJP leader, Murli Manohar Joshi and in the 16th Lok Sabha represented by India’s Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi. One of the oldest surviving cities on earth, the cosmopolitan part of Varanasi probably has everything, good roads, shopping centres, food joints, reflective of a growing urban city. But a few kilometres inside, if you wish to make a visit to Bazardiha, auto and cycle rickshaws refrain from taking you there. And this is a personal experience that we're sharing with you. Why such a stepmotherly attitude  towards that part of the city? The reason isn't that difficult to predict because they have to spend more time plying these areas as most of the roads leading to Bazardiha village in Sevapuri Tehsil of Varanasi district are broken and filled with water and mud. This area is home to more than two lakh people, 90 percent of them being Muslims, is known as a hub of weavers in Varanasi. But Bazardiha has multiple other identities as well. Sometimes these ‘other’ identities are more convincing for people who visit here from rest part of Varanasi to recall this place. They remember Bazardiha as an area which has power outage, filthy and broken streets and unemployed youths.  

All these weaver families depend on earning from handlooms but since the past decade though they've been working equally hard but what they earn is too little to sustain a livelihood. These workshops usually have unhealthy working environment, lack of basic resources and health services as a result it has led to a high number of diseases including Tuberculosis. Child labour is rampant and cases of drug consumption among youngsters are on the rising. Several cases of suicide and hunger death have also been reported during last couple of years. Millions of lovers of shinning and marvelous Banarasi saris across the globe may not know that these weavers who make such beautiful saris are in such a pitiable state. In May 2013, the plight of the local weaver community came into limelight when two children, Shabeena (14) and Murtuza (3.5) died due to malnutrition in Bazardiha. Their father Abdul Khaliq had died 10 months ago due to several diseases. After this incident members of civil society groups approached several government officials and then Nadira, mother of kids, got a Below Poverty Line Ration Card to get monthly grain supply from the government on subsidised rates. But is this enough?

Local weavers hoped that the then sitting MP, Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi would visit the victim family but he didn’t show up. There is also a high level of tuberculosis, particularly Multi Drug Resistance Tuberculosis (MDTRB) reported in the area. Ghazala Qamar, an activist associated with People's Vigilance Committee on Human Rights, alleged that all governments have neglected the area. “People of Bazardiha are facing lots of problems. There is only one government health centre but it is too small and works only four hours a day. Child delivery mostly happened in homes or they have to go to hospitals far from their homes. No government is serious about problems of Bazardiha people,” said Qamar. She said some of nearby towns have better facilities than what they have in Bazardiha. Basic government services like banking and education are also a rare sight in the area and people have to depend on local moneylenders for loan. Several families have huge debts on them which lead to various other diseases like blood pressure and depression and sometimes it even leads to suicide. “There is neither a single bank nor an ATM. There is only one school which has only three teachers for 180 students,” Qamar substantiates. Because of huge poverty and lack of resources they are exploited by masters and owners, known as gaddidar, because these gaddidars set the market rate and pay less to the weavers. Abdul Qadir, a weaver, says he earns less than a daily wage labourer. 

"The level of market is declining day by day. Earlier we used to get Rs 900 for a set of work but now it is hard to get more than Rs 600,” said Qadir in helpless voice. " 

"Saris are not being sold and gaddidars are telling that you people should work on low price if you want to continue. They are telling that market of saris is very down. Even a daily wage labourer earn ₹300 every day but we don't even make that!" he explained.

He said that the government had issued Resham Card (Silk Card) like ration card but according to Qadir, for labourers like him it is almost impossible to use such facilities. He said that with this card one has to purchase at least four kg silk and our need is only about half kg. We can’t afford to purchase four kg silk at one time. According to Qadir four kg silk costs at least Rs 4500. He demanded the government to open Bunkar Haat in the locality where government should purchase their products directly.

 

Rahmatullah, another weaver who is in the business for last 26 years, is worried due to high rate of inflation and low income. “I am in this business for last 26 years but since last couple of years it seems that it is a dying business. Inflation is rising and income is declining,” Most of weavers like Qadir believe that due to rising power loom industry in Gujarat’s Surat district, Varanasi handloom industry is suffering. Power loom produces these saris at cheaper cost and faster rate and they also use synthetic rather than silk. “A sari which we weave in six days will be weaved in power loom within one day,” Qadir explained. A large number of weavers reportedly had migrated to Surat for job after power loom industry boomed up since last decade. They also accused industrialists in Surat for copying their design which are illegal.

 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi who won Varanasi Lok Sabha seat by defeating Arvind Kejriwal with a huge margin in this general election hails  from Gujarat. It would be very interesting to see if he listens to the grievances of weavers of his new constituency and if he does something to make a balance between Surat and Varanasi. They argue that only six districts of Uttar Pradesh including Varanasi have Geographical Indication (GI) certificate which means only in these districts Banarasi sari can be produced. The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 which came into effect from 15 September 2003, is followed by World Trade Organization member nations including India. According to Geographical Indication Registry of Ministry of Commerce and Industry “Geographical Indications of Goods are defined as that aspect of industrial property which refer to the geographical indication referring to a country or to a place situated therein as being the country or place of origin of that product.” Weavers of Varanasi got the certificate of GI in 2009 but unfortunately Banarasi saris are being manufactured illegally in several parts of the country which is one of the main reasons behind such pathetic condition of weavers in Bazardiha.

Recession and low earning are not the only problem here. Due to poverty, lack of education and work drug consumption is spreading among youngsters. According to Bunkar Ekta Manch, a local body of weavers in Bazardiha, 60 percent homes at least have one drug addicted youth. Usually they use cough syrups and pain killer medicines, which are easily available in the area. It is first time in history of Varanasi in Independent India that the Prime Minister himself will be representing it in the Lok Sabha. However, people of Bazardiha are not much hopeful that their good days will come soon. Qadir says that during this Lok Sabha election some candidates raised weavers’ issues. “Some candidates have raised our issues but I am not sure that problem will solve because these politicians often forget what they promise,” Qadir said. “Among the tall leaders only Arvind Kejriwal visited the area and I don’t have any hope that anyone will hear poor people,” Qamar said sadly.

 

The apathy however tends to continue and there is no end to the plight of these poor weavers who toil day and night to make our brides beautiful. Can't we make an effort to help them at least live a life and dignity and sustain a livelihood? There surely isn't asking for a lot. Our Prime Minister has promised to make Varanasi a smart city, a world class city. But can just infrastructural changes are enough when people residing in the interiors are dying out of malnutrition, hunger and poverty? Or are we waiting for some big Bollywood film to highlight the issue and then we'll start agitating? It is high time that the issue is dealt with urgency and seriousness otherwise a grave tragedy is on the calling and by then it would be too late. 

The Faults in Our Cabinet!

"Minimum Government, Maximum Governance", an idea popularised by our Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi after he took oath following his stellar performance in the Lok Sabha elections doesn't seemed to have found enough resonance when it came to actual governance. Initially lauded as a great idea and an efficient style of governing, now appears to have lost all its sheen in the power corridors of Lutyens Delhi as finally PM Modi expanded his cabinet and nearly 22 ministers took the oath of office and secrecy on a Sunday afternoon in the Durbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan. Cabinet reshuffles has always been an exercise of balancing caste equations and regional aspirations at the Centre and often led to tokenism winning over merit. Something similar seemed to have happened on Sunday when PM Modi expanded his cabinet. 

Out of the 22 new ministers inducted, four were of the cabinet rank, three MoS with Independent charge and rest 15 were of the MoS rank. In order to understand the politics behind the cabinet reshuffle, let us have a look at those inducted, their past track record and which portfolios they're allotted. Beginning with Shri Manohar Parrikar who has been given one of the most prized ministries in the North Block, Defence. The former Chief Minister of the state of Goa and an IITian, Parrikar is known as a clean man and for possessing the image of a tough and no nonsense guy. For a ministry such as Defence, he is considered to be the best choice. However, observers of Goa politics points towards resentment which was slowly brewing against Parrikar in the state for his multiple U turns and failure to control the mining mafias and bring in much needed reforms as promised during the elections. South Goa in particular felt most cheated. The very fact that Laxmikant Parsekar, a long time RSS aide has been made the new Chief Minster of Goa indicates that the change of guard has well been initiated from Nagpur itself. 

Among the other newly inducted Cabinet Ministers is Shri Suresh Prabhu. Prabhu is considered to be PM Modi's G20 Sherpa and is known and globally respected for his work. A long time Sena man, he quit the saffron party this morning and joined the BJP before taking oath. His induction is one of the major reason behind the rift between the BJP and the Shiv Sena which led to Sena calling it's nominee Anil Desai back from the airport hours before he was all set to take oath as one of the council of ministers. Prabhu has been allocated the Railways ministry and is the person to watch out for. Otherwise a clean man, he is also under scanner for owning a flat in the controversial Adarsh society. 

But what has surprised me the most is the induction of JP Nadda who has been allocated the Health Ministry. A behind the scenes person, Nadda has been recently accused of stopping all the corruption cases in the MCI and also behind the removal of the honest vigilance officer, Sanjiv Chaturvedi. This move clearly indicates that something is really wrong in the entire process and the removal of Dr. Harshvardhan and induction of Nadda reaffirms the point. Another surprise is allocating Shri Sadanand Gowda, the Law and Justice ministry at a time when his son is undergoing trial. This proves that the Modi government doesn't care about public resentment and considers these as petty allegations.

Among another MoS inducted is Shri Ram Shanker Katheria, a two time MP from Agra and a professor by profession. Katheria has 23 criminal cases registered against him, including one in which he has been accused of attempt to murder and in another cheating according to his election affidavit. Apart from cases like obstructing public servants and rioting, he also faces cases of serious nature, in which he is accused of cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property, forgery, forgery for purpose of cheating, attempt to murder and promoting enmity between different groups on grounds including religion. Well in terms of criminal record, the list doesn't end here. How can we forget to mention Shri Giriraj Singh who infamously said during the Lok Sabha election campaign that all those who doesn't vote for Modi should be sent away to Pakistan. He is currently out on bail while a case is running against him for keeping unaccounted money to the tune of ₹1 crore which was recovered from his residence during the Lok Sabha elections. Looks like our honourable PM has finally rewarded him with an MoS post in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises ministry.

With an eye on future assembly elections, PM Modi has played the caste cards quite well and  is the prime reason for the induction of Agra MP Ram Shankar Katheria and Fatehpur MP Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, one a Dalit and the other belonging to the electorally powerful Nishad community. From West Bengal, Modi did not choose old party hand S S Ahluwalia but went for Babul Supriyo, a singer-turned politician with an eye to the upcoming West Bengal assembly elections in 2016. Similarly are the choices of Sanwar Lal Jat and Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (a Rajput) as ministers from Rajasthan, which continues to be without a Cabinet-rank representation at the Centre despite the fact that all 25 seats went to the BJP. The induction of Hoshiarpur MP Vijay Sampla as MoS also came as another surprise. Sampla, a Dalit, is expected to be part of the BJP’s efforts to become a major anti-SAD, anti-Congress force in the state which has the nation’s highest percentage of Dalits which is around 32 per cent. 

Even party turncoats have been well rewarded in the recent cabinet reshuffle. Case in point is Choudhury Birendra Singh and Ram Kripal Yadav. Singh, who has been a Congressman for 42 years recently switched sides to the BJP and has been inducted to placate the Jat community since the BJP decided on a non-Jat Punjabi as Haryana’s Chief Minister. He is now a Cabinet Minister with varied portfolios such as Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water and Sanitation. While  Yadav, an erstwhile loyalist of Laloo Prasad Yadav, has been made an MoS in the low profile Drinking Water and Sanitation ministry. His induction again is seen to be made with an eye on the upcoming Bihar assembly polls to consolidate the Yadav votes. 

And how come a cabinet expansion can take place without the Midas touch of its ideological parent, the RSS. Hansraj Gangaram Ahir (Maharashtra), the four-time MP from Chandrapur, the whistle blower in the coal block allocation scam is considered to be close to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. Gautam Budh Nagar MP Mahesh Sharma, considered close to the RSS, was made Minister of State (Independent charge), Culture and Tourism as well as MoS, Civil Aviation. The Sangh is believed to have strongly batted for Manohar Parrikar, JP Nadda, Giriraj Singh, Bandaru Dattatreya, the sole MP from Telangana, Mahesh Sharma and Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti. 

On a lighter note, while Shri Arun Jaitely have been relieved of the Defence portfolio, he has now been given the key I&B Ministry. Popularly known as Bureau Chief in the Lutyens  zone, the twitteratti was flooded with jokes that he finally got the prized possession of a ministry which is reflective of his connections in the media. What I find more funny is the induction of his deputy in the Finance Ministry, Shri Jayant Sinha, an MP from Hazaribagh and the son of senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha. Funny because it makes two of PM Modi's own statements fall flat in his face. One, where he famously said "We don't want Harvard educated but Hardworking people" in order to take a dig on the then Finance Minister, Shri P Chidambaram. Sinha is an alumnus of the Harvard Business School. Second, his promise that his cabinet will not give any space to dynasts and would be purely on the basis of merit. Certainly Mr. Sinha has got his appointment owing to his merit and not because of the fact that he is the son of Yashwant Sinha. 

Other ministers inducted include party loyalists such as Mohanbhai Kalyanjibhai Kundariya and Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary, both from Gujarat, have been Modi loyalists for long. Rajiv Pratap Rudy, a pilot by profession who defeated former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi in Saran, has been made an MoS with independant charge for Skills and Development and also an MoS for Parliamentary Affairs. Also in the list is party Vice President Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who is seen as the token Muslim face and has been stashed in the Minority affairs ministry  with an additional charge of Parliamentary Affairs. It is also interesting to note that all those ministries which had non-BJP ministers at the helm of affairs now have a deputy in the form of an MoS in the ministry belonging to the BJP.

It is not for the first time that caste equations and regional aspirations has played such a key role in the cabinet expansion. However what is important is the fact that the way the cabinet is expanded defies what PM Modi said months ago when he emphasised that political compulsions, caste equations, dynastic politics and regional political ambitions will not dictate the selection of his cabinet. It's a complete detour from what he said. For those who don't remember, he is yet to also appoint an alternative to the Planning Commission which he abolished during his maiden Independence Day speech and was supposed to be functional within three weeks from then.

This cabinet expansion holds big gaps and is skewed in gender, religion and regional representation and has more of a Male, Hindu and North dominance defining the political and ideological limitations that the current government holds. It also destroys the argument of having a lean government as for your information, UPA had about 70 ministers and the NDA count is around 67. Also the PMO staff count under Dr. Manmohan Singh was 112 while under Shri Narendra Modi it is a whopping 356. In Twitter star Ramesh Srivats words, it's no longer a cabinet but a walk-in wardrobe. So now that minimum government is longer a reality, can we have at least effective governance if not maximum governance, Mr. Prime Minister?

Report Card of NaMo 2.0: 100 Days of Disillusionment

       

On May 16th when the results of the Lok Sabha elections were announced, a section of the country rejoiced. For the first time since independence, a single party other than the Indian National Congress came to power with absolute majority promising change and development. Many in the country who'd voted for the NDA thought that the much awaited and promised Acche Din has come. Three months down the line, we're still waiting for the good days to come as promised by our honourable Prime Minister during the polls. Hundred days have already gone by but the Modi government which was considered strong and decisive still doesn't seem to have come out their honeymoon period in office pushing the country into further disillusionment. 

Almost immediately after Narendra Modi took oath as India's Prime Minister with all the fanfare, hundreds of construction workers of Indian origin were kidnapped by Islamist militants in Iraq. But the inept handling of the crisis by his government was much criticised both at home and abroad. What is rather interesting is how he has gone silent ever since he assumed office. During his poll campaign, Mr. Modi virtually spoke on every issue possible on Facebook, Twitter, through interviews but now we hardly get to hear his opinion on crucial issues some times for weeks. Whether it's about the killing of a young techie in Pune by a Hindu mob over a Facebook post or the outrages comments made by the leaders of the RSS and the VHP, he has maintained his silence over all these issues. What he perhaps fails to understand is that as the head of country and given his past affiliations, his silence is well taken as his endorsement and that is very dangerous for the country. 

Among Modi's many promises during the polls, one the central themes were that of security of women and that of price rise. Inflation is higher than ever, prices of vegetables are sky high but the government is yet to put it in place. Over the past few months a spate of incidents of rape have been reported across the country including the shameful and horrific Badaun rape case but we didn't hear a single word coming from the Prime Minister. Not only that, a series of incidents of communal violence in Uttar Pradesh and poll bound states of Maharashtra, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir has now become a regular phenomenon. What is the government doing to curb such incidents? The last I heard was the Home Ministry's decision to give the Muzzaffarnagar riots accused BJP MLA Sangeet Som Z security. Yes that talks a lot about the priorities that the current government seems to have.

The maiden budget of the Modi government was also far from being impressive. Many economists who were even until recently were batting for Mr. Modi's as being a visionary were seen disillusioned. Interestingly,  Arvind Subramania who is all set to become India's next Chief Economic Advisor, also has some serious reservations about the budget and considers it to be really lacking in reforms. What can we expect from a government which commissions Rs. 200 crores for a statue in their budget and allots a token amount of only Rs. 100 crores for the safety of women. Again, priorities you see! Industrial productivity has reduced from 5.2% to 3% last month. Rupee is yet to see any recovery and neither there is any good news as far as the country's economic condition is concerned. 

What is going horribly wrong for the Modi government is the tall promises that they'd made during the elections and are now struggling to keep them. It's a classic case of falling into one's own trap and then not knowing how to come out of it. They have been following the exact footsteps of the UPA government, continuing the same policies, pushing for the same set of bills which as Opposition they never allowed to get passed and the number of U-turns that they've taken is beyond my count. Someone also needs to remind them about their promise of bringing back black money stashed in foreign banks within 100 days of coming to power. Probably because of the workload they've forgotten about it and as responsible citizens it is our responsibility to remind them about their promises. So what if they can't fulfil them. 

It has been just been hundred days of them coming to power and the country is busy talking about things like Love Jehad, Meerut riots, construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya and how everyone living in India is a Hindu. All this under a government which came to power in the name of development. When at the Maharashtra Sadan, irresponsible Shiv Sena MPs forcibly tried to feed an innocent Muslim worker while he was fasting, I expected if not Narendra Modi then atleast the Prime Minister of this country to speak but it didn't happen. When BJP leader K Laxman opposed the appointment of Sania Mirza as Telangana's Brand Ambassador saying she is a daughter-in-law of Pakistan, I expected the Prime Minister to speak. These and in so many more occasions I wanted the Prime Minister of this country to speak but I guess that was expecting a little too much.

After 1972, Pakistan has violated ceasefire for the highest number of times in the last few months but what is our government doing? Isn't it the same government which criticised the UPA all throughout for being incompetent and weak in handling Pakistan? So what is now stopping them to act against them? Incompetency? After all we don't even have a full time Defence Minister as Arun Jaitely himself has termed it a temporary responsibility when he assumed office. While the Prime Minister has also abolished the Planning Commission and replaced it a 8 member think tank, experts say that it is old wine in a new bottle and is unlikely to bring in much change. 

There are so many things to point out that has either gone wrong or hasn't changed despite this massive win and hardly anything good to talk about. I know by the time this piece will get published, the online brigade will start trolling me and my timeline will be filled with abuses and name calling but the truth cannot be buried  for a long time. People have already started getting disillusioned and if the results of the latest by polls are anything to go by, the Narendra Modi government has a lot of reasons for introspection. They need to understand that no victory is a victory big enough to take the voters for granted. It is time they realise it and try to bring about real change, roll out reforms and ensure development of the country. Hundred days are probably a short span of time to expect so much but it is long enough to get an indication of what the future has in it's store. It is high time that the government realises that!

Fifty Shades of Saffron

Given Gujarat government's past records, the Dinanath Batra books issue is no new trend  

On a chilly yet warm December afternoon, I with my other two colleagues stepped inside the premises of Prashant to meet Father Cedricks Prakash, a Jesuit Priest and a civil society activist to interview him for our documentary The Gujarat Promise. Over coffee and some wonderful Shrewsbury cookies brought from Pune, he took us through a set of history textbooks prescribed by the Gujarat government and it was for the first time that we were witnessed to the kind of saffronization that was taking place in lieu of imparting knowledge on history. The history books as he showed us had chapters on Hindu fables and characters from the Vedic age such as Luv-Kush, Shabri, Eklavya etc. Now the point being made rightly by Father Prakash was that there is no problem if you call them mythology or fables but calling it history is highly unfair. 

It was only recently after a verdict of the Gujarat High Court that changes were made to the history textbooks in Gujarat which taught kids that people from all other religions except Hinduism are foreigners. Such kind of absurdity and bizarre statements are nothing but outrightly silly. But hey, are our kids smart enough to make such informed choices? Surely kids these days are much more smarter and informed but the mind of a 10 year old is too fertile to be sown with such insensitive teachings. Keeping in mind the popular saying that what you sow, shall you reap, fundamentalists across the globe have always tried to tweak the pages of history to serve their propaganda and to an extent have been hugely successful too. The latest fiasco about the Dinanath Batra textbooks introduced in schools being one of the point in case. 

Ever since Shri Narendra Modi has taken charge as the Prime Minister of the country and Anandiben Patel being elevated to the post of the Chief Minister of Gujarat, nothing much seemed to have changed as far as Gujarat government's propaganda in the state is concerned. Apart from buying herself a 100 crore chartered plane as soon as became CM, Anandiben Patel hasn't yet been seen as taking big, bold decisions albeit the latest circular issued to schools which made the inclusion of Shri Dinanath Batra's books in the syllabus as a mandatory reading. What is then the big deal about the entire thing? The furore has stemmed from the sheer absurdity that the content propagates which eventually would be read and to a huge extent also believed by students.

The Gujarat government recently published nine books in March this year and made it mandatory through a circular to include them in the supplementary reading for the primary and secondary students. In a series titled Prernadeep consisting of four books put together anecdotes about how Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan told the British that Indians were "rotis cooked right by God". Yes you heard it right! It's that absurd. But the list doesn't end there. It professes use of words like 'acharya' instead of professor as the latter is believed to be a British legacy. It also tells how a 'Bal Narendra' hid behind a bunch of plantains waiting for Hunuman. I was choked to death as I laughed my lungs out after reading this. 

The unchallenged and genius mastermind behind penning down eight of these amazing books is Shri Dinanath Batra, National Executive of the RSS Education Wing, Vidya Bharti. The books published by the Gujarat State School Textbook Board carry a full page bio of the author along with messages from then Chief Minister and now the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi and education ministers Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, Nanubhai Vanani and Vasuben Trivedi. Well, this tells us a lot about the thinking that must have gone before introducing these books as compulsory reading in schools. What worries me most is the kind of impact that it'll have on the innocent minds who would be reading them and the kind of ideologies that they'll carry with them. 

While those in the Gujarat government find nothing wrong in it for obvious reasons, it is on the other hand setting a very dangerous precedence which could be well replicated across India if latest news of RSS officials meeting Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani, is to be believed. In that case, a much bigger threat is posed on the future generations of our country who are going to be tomorrow's guardians of our country's image across the globe. Till the time we don't raise our concerns, nothing will change and those in power will continue with their propaganda and ruin the mindset of our future generations. 

Mary Kom Trailer Review

This is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated films that I personally have been waiting for this year. No, not only because it's a biopic on Mary Kom and since I too belong to the North East, I've a certain bias towards the film. But because of all the good things I've been hearing so far about it. And if the latest trailer is anything to go by, this is going to be one of the best performances by superstar Priyanka Chopra in her entire career and why not, after all she has worked too hard to bring herself at par with the character she was entrusted with. 

A few seconds into the trailer and it narrates the gender bias we have in our country when Mary Kom's father says pointing towards the fighting pads, "Yeh ladki logo ka khilona nahi hain" (This is not a toy for girls to play with). There are so many good things to talk about the trailer that by the end of this review I might just run out of words. There is an extravagance in the minimal cinematography that the trailer shows us and the background score is very intriguing. Every character other than PeeCee seem to have their own acting brilliance whether it's the father or the coach or her husband for that matter, who if I'm not mistaken haven't been seen in Bollywood before. 

Throughout the trailer I continued to have goosebumps as the trailer picked up pace. As a revelation I also got a bit emotional when after Mary Kom is married, her father snatches her boxing gloves and put it on a pyre of burning coals. In India, where everyday millions of dreams are killed just for the sake of pacifying the society or because of a certain bias towards a particular gender, the shot touched me in more than one way. The shots of her getting trained rigorously made me reminiscent of Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. 

One of my most favourite part of the trailer is when the coach ties up Mary's kids at her back and says, 'Ek aurat Maa banke bahut strong ho  jati hain aur tumhara taakat ab do guna ho gaya hain' (A woman becomes stronger after becoming a mother and now your strength has doubled). In a country where knowingly or unknowingly there has always been a certain level of discrimination towards the people of the north-east, this film would prove to be of extreme importance and be an inspiration for people like us. 

Director Omung Kumar in his debut film wins our heart away with such impeccable storytelling and strong cinematic brilliance. I being a critic literally have no complaints with the trailer of Mary Kom and I'm pretty sure few of my fellow critics too would. As I said before, Priyanka Chopra in the role of Mary Kom is just too good and her performance is sheer brilliance. 

I'm going with 4.5/5 for the Omung Kumar directed Mary Kom trailer. The 0.5 less is not because of some fault lines but have been just kept reserved for the main film when it is out. To end with I would like to quote a line from the trailer which I also PC's one of the favourite dialogues from the film, "Kisi ko itna bhi mat darao ki darr hi khatam ho jaye". Take a bow Piggy Chops! If any of you haven't watched the trailer yet, watch it right HERE!! 

The film is releasing on 5th September 2014

The Man behind the Mask

The sudden monsoon that has hit Delhi recently has made it the wettest month of May in recent times as it seemed to give respite not only to the burning city but also washed away the most heated fight in the general elections that just passed by. Elections are over, nearly 815 million people have sealed the fate of the nation and if opinion polls and exit polls are to be believed, NDA's poster boy Narendra Modi is just inches away from claiming his throne at the 7, Race Course Road. 

Clearly the entire elections divided the whole country into two camps- the Modi lovers and the Modi critics. Though I've no shame or fear to accept that I've always been on the latter side of the spectrum, it is important to understand what kind of India we will be living in if Modi genuinely comes to power. When I think about it, it's not the general rhetoric of sending people to Pakistan who doesn't support Modi that worries me. What worries me are the things which would not be otherwise so obvious and apparent with the help of 24*7 media gaze. 

It would be indeed foolish to say that this election has been fought by the BJP only on the development plank. Those who tend to believe can happily continue to do so but we all know what the truth is. The very act of appointing Modi confident Amit Shah as the campaign chief of the politically significant state of UP is a testimony to the fact that how polarised the election has been. The Muzzaffarnagar riots just a year before the elections and statements like 'It's time to take' revenge by Amit Shah in his election speech at the same spot just further reiterates the point. They are back to the age old tried and tested formula of wooing the Hindus and ignoring the minority votes. 

Certainly the fears of Modi indeed sending people to Pakistan who doesn't support him after coming to power is utterly stupid but that is not what I'm worried of. My fear stems from the time when we were shooting for our documentary 'The Gujarat Promise'. We travelled across Gujarat, met many people both Modi lovers, critics and normal civilians. And what really shocked us was the level of insecurity that exists in the state between the people of the majority as well as the minority. While in certain areas the growing insecurity has converted it into a tinderbox, others just simply have accepted that fact and continue to live in the politically polarised atmosphere. 

While BJP might appear to be the one fighting this elections, it is not very surprising to know that the original decision making powers of it lies not in 15, Ashoka Road, the party headquarters but in Nagpur. We can well call it the political wing of the RSS or the extended Sangh Parivar as they themselves can't fight elections. It goes back to the time when RSS was banned by our then Home Minister Sardar Vallabbhai Patel after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi by Nathuram Godse who belonged to the same outfit. The ban was only lifted later when they gave in writing that they would never enter politics and continue to work as a cultural organisation. Ever since then they've indirectly been into politics through different outings namely the Jana Sangh, Janata Party and now the BJP. 

It is the RSS and the extended Sangh Parivar outfits that has been working since years at the grassroots inducing the Hindutva sentiments across the country through their shakhas. In Gujarat, kids going to bal shakhas of RSS after school is a common affair. The very thought of young minds which are so fertile and innocent getting imbibed with the supremacy of one religion over the other is petrifying. Not to forget the Gujarat social science textbooks which said that Muslims, Christians etc are all foreigners. Though due to long term struggle it has been recently taken back but the thought continues to linger. Fascists across the world have tried to tamper with history and the easiest way to tamper with history is to tweak and modify the history textbooks and the case in Gujarat is a testimony to that fact.

It shouldn't surprise many if I may say so that if such things continue to go on. Silently, away from public gaze but quite successfully we might see the emergence of a Hindu Taliban. As even in Afghanistan, it started with the motive of cultural promotion and was never taken very seriously by the citizens but today the reality is in front of us. And even if some of you think that I'm exaggerating, then trust me I'm not.

Indo-Canadian filmmaker Nisha Pahuja's powerful and brilliant documentary 'The World Before Her' is one such example which shows us in a paradox the ugly face of our country. While on one side it shows the journey of the Miss India contest, on the other it takes us through the Durga Vahini camps, an armed women outfit of the Sangh Parivar. The first and probably the last to get access to such camps, shivers went through my body when I first saw the film. It scared me and at the same time made me worried when I saw the kind of work such outfits of the Sangh Parivar is doing to the people of our country. There are thousands of such camps across the country and with the BJP coming to power, it is only going to increase manifold. 

Today when I look back and try to contemplate the future, people ask me to leave behind 2002 and talk about development. But they fail to realise that even after 12 years of that horrific incident, poor Muslims continue to live in pitiable conditions and under utter neglect in the state of Gujarat. The condition is so worse that even after 12 years, the poor riot survivors of 2002 are rehabilitated in front of the biggest dumping yards of Ahmedabad. Yes I'm talking about Citizen Nagar which lies on the other side of the Sabarmati river, away from the hustling and bustling cosmopolitan city of the Ahmedabad. 

So post May 16th, if this is the replica that we're going to see across the country, then I'm afraid we might just lose the sheer respect that we enjoy in the global fraternity for being the biggest secular democracy in the world. As the popular saying goes, 'Power corrupts but absolute power corrupts absolutely' appears to be the most resounding phrase in a situation of a Modi sarkaar. But never be always very sure, as history teaches us that the Indian electorate has more than once thrown in a lot of surprises just when we thought that the game is all over. 

Open letters to next Prime Minister: Quality of education is important if India aims to be a super power

Even 67 years after independence, as we elect our 16th Lok Sabha after such a massive election, which is well deservedly have been termed the biggest elections across the world, the issues didn't seem to have moved beyond the general rhetoric of Roti, Kapda and Makaan. However irrespective of whoever forms the government at Centre, a plethora of issues would be staring expectedly at the new head of this gigantic country, crying for attention and which needs quick restructuring.  Among issues which have been under severe neglect because of political inefficiency and failure of state machinery is Education.

In a country which is obsessed with IITs and IIMs, the primary issue of basic education has not seen making such inroads even after so many years. While nursery admissions at Delhi schools manages to get the attention of the Delhi High Court and often been guided with comments as to how it should function, somewhere in a far fetched village of Uttar Pradesh, a child continues to struggle to get even basic primary education. Even policies which have been lauded as historic such as the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan and Right to  Education have somehow failed at the grassroots either due to lack of Centre-State coordination or because of faulty implementation. The demographics of our country makes us the youngest country in the entire world, but if this potential is not stirred by quality education and exposure, we'll end up destroying not just the fate of the country but also fail to deliver on the expectations of an entire generation. 

On Saturday, as the honourable President of India —Pranab Mukherjee was addressing the convocation of Indian School of Mines in Dhanbad, he emphasised on the fact that we should focus on creating more industry friendly graduates. And his concern is truly reflective of the current situation of both primary and higher education in this country. Forget about having one of our colleges in the Ivy League, they don't even find mention in the Top 50 universities of the world. This even after we've produced some of the sharpest minds and billionaires through these very same set of institutions. 

When Satya Nadella got appointed as the CEO of Microsoft and caught the imagination of lakhs of youth in the country, we failed to realise that he is not a product of some high profile international schooling nor the alumni of an IIT or an IIM but went to the Hyderabad Public School and then later completed his BTech from Manipal Institute of Technology which is a privately run institute. But at the same time there exists hundreds of such private universities whose degrees are not even worth the paper they're printed on forget about being anywhere close to imparting quality education. Probably both the government and we as a society have collectively failed in our responsibility to educate the masses and bring about a change in the very outlook of how we treat education in this country.

A report submitted by UNICEF recently pointed out the utter failure of state mechanism in curbing school drop out rate of the country. The report says, that while nearly 80 million children don't complete the entire cycle of elementary education, close to 8 million are out of school. The dropout rate is much more higher among girls. These reports are a testimony to the fact that we have utterly failed in providing the children of this country their very basic right of education. Though central schemes such as the Midday Meal has bring in some respite in constraining the growing dropout rate, it has clearly not been of much help. 

Apart from policies, the government needs to focus more on implementing these initiatives at the grassroots and make sure it is feasible and at the same time accessible too. Technology can play a big role in such a setup. Developed countries across the world have tapped the potential of community radio to spread education in rural areas but we in India have somehow still not being able to exploit it's potential. 

When it comes to higher education, for every IIT and IIM graduate that bags a handsome salary package, there are lakhs of other graduates who even after years of completing education can't find a suitable job. The India Skills Report of 2014 reveal that only 52 % of engineering graduates and 34 % of our overall skill pool are employable. Such poor numbers coming at a time when every parent's dream in this country seems to be one day seeing their child as either an engineer or a doctor, preferably from an IIT or an AIIMS. 

It is high time that the government realises that education is not just about earning degrees but also at the same time becoming industry friendly and job ready otherwise the person has no market value. Just regulations and legislations are not enough to solve the current crisis that we're in. The new government has to take a much more concerted effort in not just improving the quality of education but also in making it more accessible to the far flung villages of the country.

So next Prime Minister, the youth of this country has huge expectations from you and this would be one of your biggest litmus tests. Sincere efforts should be made in bringing in a Public-Private partnership so as to ensure that the quality of education both at the elementary level as well as at the higher levels is never being compromised. Effective implementation of existing government schemes and not more policies should be the key to tap the potential of the rural as well as the urban youth. The new government should also ensure that the non-conventional fields of study be made more lucrative so that students have a much more viable choice of alternatives while making a career choice. 

If the new Prime Minister fails to deliver in these fronts, then I'm afraid that even huge economic boom won't be able to help this country in becoming the next Super Power. Unless the youth of this nation is empowered, we can't really rise the ladder of success in calling us the biggest democracy of the world as democracy is all about accountability and only a liberal, educated and socially aware electorate can hold it's government accountable.

(First appeared in DNA)