Letter to The Prime Minister to arrest A Raja

Following are few snaps of Lok Satta's "Letter to Prime Minister" program thats organised in hanmakonda in Dec 10. The program was aimed at demanding prime minister to take action against the cuplrits in 2G spectrum scam. I have participated along with our team in the program on recieving a call from KodandaRama Rao, State Vice President of Lok Satta. Its a very successful program in terms of letting know the prime minister about the ground reality and in creating a public mood against corruption.

We Want a Corruption Free India

Following are few snaps of the anti corruption rally that's organised in Dec 10 in my village to create an awareness among people on corruption issue. Around 800 students and youth participated in 5 kms rally which continued for 2 hours. Children from age of 5 till youth and old aged participated in it and made it a huge success. This is a first hand experience for me in organising mass rallies.

A tribute to the inspirer

Inaugurating Vivekananda statue in my village is just a small tribute that I could offer for my inspiration Swami Vivekananda. It's swami vivekananda's life and his thoughts on several aspects of life which inspired to become what I am today. And like me there are numerous youth who are being continously inspired by Vivekananda's ideology. It's in Oct 10, we, a group of 10 youth came together and discussed the need for a Vivekananda statue in our village. And that's it. We planned and executed it with freinds support and cooperation from our village. The statue is inaugurated by an ardent follower of Vivekananda and the BJP State President Shri G Kishan Reddy Garu in the presence of several other dignitaries. Around 1200 members participated in the program and made it a huge success. Following are some of the snaps of the program:

Man can rise to Mahamta

This blog is about a wonderful program that I have attended at Hyderabad. On Oct 9th, Nirmaan has arranged an IT company exposure program In Mahindra Satyam for the children of the schools which it has adopted in urban slums of Hyderabad. The students of my village are fortunate to be part of this excellent program. Students have gone through the campus, the learning centers there, the zoo, the different facilities that Mahindra Satyam provides to its employees and finally to the big convention hall where the students are shown video conferencing and few inspirational videos. It’s been a wonderful trip both for students and myself. At the end of the program, Rajesh was kind enough to provide me an opportunity to speak to the students in the convention hall. The talk was mainly intended in telling the students not to get stopped in thinking big because they come from economically or socially backward families. The talk was mainly intended in telling them they too can become great achievers inspite of their troubled backgrounds.

Respected members of Mahindra Satyam foundation who have not only granted their permissions for this excellent program but also provided their full support and encouragement, members of Nirmaan who have made this possible with their exceptional planning and execution, members and representatives of other organizations who extended their support for this program, dear teachers and students - My whole hearted Namakars to you. I have a habit of starting my speeches by first submitting my pranams to our dear mother land, Bharat Mata.

Bharata Mata ki Jai. Bharata Mata ki Jai. Bharata Mata ki Jai.

Some of the volunteers and students over here very well know that if by mistake they handover the mike to me, I will not leave them without atleast half an hour of my speech. But friends, today I promise you that this time I will not speak more than 5 minutes. It’s because today we have come here to spend our time in a much better program than listening to my speech. Today in our country, more than 60% of our children study in Government schools. India has travelled a long way from 1947. Today India is growing at a rapid scale. Today our foreign reserves have grown to unimaginable numbers. Government is spending crores of money for improving infrastructural facilities in schools. Government is taking several measures on soft infrastructure development area. Yet, the children lack confidence and are not able to compete with children from Private schools. Four years of our uninterrupted research and experiments in Government schools in rural and urban areas reveals that schools lack programs that can inspire for dreaming big and for them to know the latest happenings in the world. It is in this context, Nirmaan, With a lot of effort and planning has arranged this Mahindra Satyam IT exposure trip. Today you have been provided this opportunity which even engineering students from reputed institutions could not obtain. You are really fortunate enough to get such a wonderful opportunity. You have been going around the Mahindra Satyam Campus and have been observing many new things and listening to people from the morning. Have you learnt new things today? “Yes”. Have you enjoyed this program “Yes”. Then I would definitely treat that the program is successful.

Today in this short time available, I would like to quickly tell you two things very clearly. First, do you Abdul Kalam? He is our former President. Yes he is not only our former president but he is also Bharat Ratna. Such a man has started his education from a small school in Island of Rameshwaram. And when Kalam wanted to move away from Rameshwaram for doing his engineering studies, Kalam didn’t had enough money to pay the fee. His sister has given all her gold ornaments and with the money that is received from the sale of those ornaments, Kalam went for his engineering studies and with the scholarships he received from college, he was able to complete his education post which we all know what happened.

Do you know Ambedkar? He is the architect of our constitution. He is just not an architect of constitution, but he is also a Bharat Ratna, highest civilian award holder, a great intellectual, a great fighter of the oppressed. Such a great man was discriminated in the worst possible manner in his school because he was born in a backward meher family. In school, Ambedkar was not allowed to drink water with the glass available near the pot. The attender has to pour water and Ambdekar used to drink it by joining his two hands together. From such a worst and shameful discrimination, Ambedkar has grown as a proud leader for India. At this moment, I would hesitate to say that it is because of his masterly work in writing an excellent constitution, India is able to distinguish itself from Pakisthan. We have corrupt leaders in both the countries. But India could survive because of the futuristic thinking that Ambedkar had put in defining our constitution.

Do you Know PV Narasimha Rao? He is a man whom we all should feel proud of. PV Narasimha Rao is our former Prime minister. He hail from a small village called Vangara, which is close to Warangal city. PV has studied in a small Government Junior college in Warngal which still exists today. The students of this college proudly say that they are students of the same college in which the great PV has studied. PV having studied in such a small Government college, has started from the smallest position of our democracry, Sarpanch of his village and occupied almost every important position like MLA, MP, State minister, Chief Minister, Governer, Central defense minister, external affairs minister, home minister and finally led the nation in severe economic and political crisis times as it’s Prime Minister and gave a new direction to the nation through rapid economic reforms which he introduced.

Do you Know Shastri? Shastri was born and brought up in economically troubled family. But, he has grown to the highest possible position in our democracy and has remained in Indian history as one of the greatest Prime Ministers we had.

Dear children, by narrating all such cases, I would like to tell you that being born in a socially backward family or economically family or studying in Government schools or small private schools is not a hindrance to your growth. If we are passionate about our goals, if we have the right attitude and if we follow the right path and if we work hard to reach goals, one can overcome all the short comings in life and still achieve the highest possible things in life. I wouldn’t like to convince you by just giving few good examples or just through my oratory skills, but I would like to prove this with a great philosophy. As you all know, Hindu culture is one of the most ancient and one of the most renowned cultures in the world. Such a culture has a great philosophy as its base. i.e.” Advaita” which means “na dvaitham” which means “two are not different”. God and we. Every human being is part of the creation of the sacred God. This means that every human being has unlimited and unimaginable power in himself. It’s all about exhibiting that power by following the best values, ethics and leading a disciplined life. That is the reason why, people from the ground, people from the oppressed sections, people who are discriminated have achieved the highest possible things in life.

Friends, the second point which I want to tell you is that if we keenly observe the life histories of great people, we can clearly see that there will be few incidents in their lives which turned as major turning points in their lives due to which they have become what they are. Let’s take Ambedkar life history. It is the severe discrimination that he has faced that filled a great fighting spirit in his blood and that has made him fight for the poor and the oppressed. That made ultimately him the Bharat Ratna.

Let’s talk about Kalam. Jalaluddin is a resident of Rameshawaram. Jalaluddin was a close friend of Kalam in his childhood. Even though Jalaluddin was around 10 years elder or so to Kalam, both were close friends. Jalaluddin was a very learned man. He was the only person in Rameshwaram at that time who could fluently read and write English. At a later point, Jalaluddin marries Kalam’s sister and becomes kalam’s brother in law. Being well educated, Jalaluddin used to closely follow the new inventions in science and he used to share all such information with Kalam when Kalam was at his school age. That made Kalam very inquisitive about things and made him develop his love for science and research and that made him a great scientist and thus a great leader for this country.

And same is the case with Gandhi. Gandhi after coming back from South Africa has toured the whole country, observed the worst poverty that country is facing, talked to people, understood the pain that India is going through under British and that made him dedicate his life for the independence of this nation. It is that tour which made him wage an uninterrupted fight against the British in his rest of the life and become champion of all sections of people In India and it is that moment which made him rise from man to Mahatma. Same is the case with Vivekananda. It is the meeting of Shri Rama Krishna Paramahamsa which made him a great monk, a great thinker, a great patriot who has given a great hope to India when India was in deep despair through his simple and yet inspiring and eloquent summary of all the great Indian scriptures.

Friends, it is few incidents and few moments in many people’s lives which offer them a permanent inspiration to become great achievers. I pray to God that this Manhindra Satyam IT Company awareness program organized by Nirmaan gives you such inspiration for you to become achievers and thus becomes a milestone and a turning point in your life.

With this I would like to end this talk by singing my two favorite sholaks.

mahaa mangale punya bhoome twadarthe
patatwesha kaayo namaste namaste

let our bodies be perished in the service of the motherland

param vaibhavamne tume tat swaraashtram
samrthaa bhavatwaashishaa tebhrusham

May our victorious organised power of action, by Thy Grace, be wholly capable of protecting our dharma and leading this nation of ours to the highest pinnacle of glory.

Grama Swaraj alone can bring Real Swaraj to India

Confluence, the NSEF Annual convention 2010 with the theme, "Social Entreprenuership and Youth" has truly been a great congruence as its literal meaning suggests. The MLR Convention Hall was fully packed with more than 300 audience passionate about social entreprenuership listening to some of the great and inspiring talks and discussions by social entreprenuers and leaders. Kudos to the whole organising team -Yashveer, Nitesh, Nishanth, Gaurav, Sujoy, Srikumar, Anil, Devendar etc for succesfully organising such a wonderful conference.

I was fortunate enough to be called by the organising team to present the inaugural address for such a great conference. Following is the text of the inaugural address.

On this great occasion, in the presence of such an august audience, let me begin my speech by sharing a few words about the greatest social entrepreneur of this country and probably the greatest of the whole world, Mahatma Gandhi.

Gandhi was not an emperor, not a military general, not a president, not a prime minister. He was neither a rich business man like a Tata or a Birla or a Ambani. He is neither a Harward MBA nor a Stanford MBA nor a religious leader. Yet he has touched lives of almost every Indian through his innovative approach and inspiring leadership. Being an adamant idealist, courageous fighter, a deep thinker, and a great leader of men and ideas, he could challenge the complex socio political problem of independence and fight for it. He identified himself with struggles and pains of the common Indians and became the champion of the downtrodden and the exploited. With a strong determination and commitment for common people, for their rights and dignity and with a powerful and innovative approach, he has not only championed the cause of millions of Indians but he has also stood as an example and as an inspiration for every Indian. His nature of thinking big, his dedication to cause and his deep rooted ethics have made him rise from a common man to a Mahatma.

His life and his work are great sources of inspiration for everyone right from the older generations to the generations to come, especially for people aspiring to become social entrepreneurs. Without Gandhiji’s inspiration, we would have never witnessed Martin Luther King Junior's "I have a dream" speech, or Nelson Mandela's struggle against antiapartheid in South Africa. Gandhiji has also been an inspiration to many other great social leaders and entrepreneurs like Vinobha Bhave who fought for land reforms, Jai Prakash Narayan who brought back the country from the darkness of emergency. I have no doubt in saying that Gandhiji is a perfect role model for each one of us who wants to challenge social problems for the welfare of the people. Even if his methods and principles cannot be practiced by each and every one, at least if one can understand the spirit of his thoughts, that can help us in bringing a great change. His deep rooted ethics, commitment to common man’s cause and courage are the qualities that are needed to be imbibed by every social entrepreneur to achieve high in his entrepreneurial deeds.

India after having achieved independence under the leadership of such a great leader and social entrepreneur is today facing a very peculiar situation. India is growing rapidly at a growth rate of 7%/8%. Stock exchanges are hitting 20,000 mark, India is competing with world leaders in science, atomic power and India is organizing prestigious common wealth games, India is witnessing huge infrastructural development in cities like Mumbai, Calcutta, Bangalore. But friends India is not just the metros. India is just not the booming stock markets. As Gandhiji said, India lives in village. Villages are the heart of our country. It is the culture, tradition, the customs and the life style that exists in villages which defines India.

Villages used to be self reliant. Village used to produce all the products and services by its people. Village used to have farms which produce the agri products, they used to have small flour machines and mills which process agri products, villages used to have carpenters, potters, excellent craftsmen, artists, land surveyors, architects, peasants, priests, teaches etc. Villages by producing the required products and services on their own in their villages in turn used to provide livelihood for its people. Village by itself used to be a separate world with its own resources and the system. But, today such villages are in a big chaos. With the of effects globalization slowly entering into villages and with the political leaders lacking a long term vision and strategy, with the Government adopting unthoughtful and illogical policies, our villages are put to chaos. Traditional occupations are slowly getting extinct. Traditional cottage industries are facing lot of pressures. Our craftsmen who once earned name and fame across the world for their expertise are today losing their livelihoods in villages and moving to Dubai and other Arab countries for third grade jobs. Due to climatic changes and due to illegal human intervention, lakes are disappearing; cultivable lands are becoming arid lands. Due to modern methods of farming and due to high cost fertilizers and seeds, farming is becoming expensive and becoming an ineffective value proposition for farmer. Costs of farming have gone up. Farmers are leaving farming. And as a result, Farmer who is the provider of food for the country, who once used to live with a great pride and dignity, is today working as labor in those SEZs, in small companies in urban areas.

Such is the condition of our villages, the real India. It is in this context, Social entrepreneurship assumes a far greater relevance than ever. It is in this context, social entrepreneurship assumes a greater significance than ever. It is in these pressing times, social entrepreneurship becomes a greater necessity than ever. And friends, it needs young and dynamic minds with full of energy and enthusiasm, with a complete understanding of the core of our country and with a commitment for the cause. It needs such youth who can pursue social entrepreneurship and challenge the socio economic problems of this country who can change the fate of this country. It needs such dynamic leaders who can put Gandhiji thoughts of Grama Swaraj into implementation who can bring the real Swaraj to the nation. And it’s in this context, NSEF has chosen “Social Entrepreneurship and Youth” as the theme for this confluence, The NSEF’s annual convention 2010.

I have started Nirmaan four years back when I was studying in BITS Pilani. It’s a non-profit organization which provides education and employment opportunities to unprivileged people. A good number of my batch mates and juniors joined the efforts and spent more hours with Nirmaan than they did attending classes. The result is that we were able to provide help to a considerable number of people. But the model was not sustainable. Four years of grass roots experience in Nirmaan has taught me that charity has its limitations and that it’s not a practical approach to lead sustainable solutions for addressing social problems even though charity has a continued place in society for its welfare. That’s when I realized that we need to help people build organizations that can apply innovation along with powerful tools and techniques to develop sustainable solutions.

In Mar 2009, I shared my thoughts of need for promotion of social entrepreneurship with a few of my colleagues, Sri Kumar and Yashveer at Nirmaan. And the result is what we are seeing today. NSEF with the sole aim of promoting social entrepreneurship among youth, with efforts and dedication by NSEF members, NSEF has grown from one member to three members and from one chapter at BITS Pilani to 6 chapters at Goa, IIM Lucknow, IT Kharagpur, Mount Carmel Bangalore, IIT Kanpur, BITS Hyderabad etc. conducting various events like NSEF Idea conferences, Start up exhibitions, business competitions, internships etc. Through its chapters, NSEF has been putting efforts to empower the students by exposing them to the field of social entrepreneurship. As a part of its activities, NSEF conducts an annual convention every year. In this year’s one day annual convention, we would have a series of talks by experts, panel discussions on various upcoming trends in the field by renowned social entrepreneurs and social leaders, interactive sessions among the audience etc. Convention would act as a learning platform for the audience where we discuss various topics related to social entrepreneurship and how youth can pursue it to challenge complex socio economic problems.

Friends, Swami Vivekananda, the greatest patriot of this country who has let the whole world know about greatness of our country and the culture and the traditions over here through his speeches has once said “Give me hundred pure and selfless men and women, I will shake the world”. I pray to God to let this conference inspiration to atleast ten of us whom Swami Vivekananda wanted. With this, I wish you all the best for the next 8 hours of inspiring and learning sessions.

param vaibhavamne tume tat swaraashtram
samrthaa bhavatwaashishaa tebhrusham

May our victorious organized power of action and social entrepreneurial deeds, with God’s Grace, be wholly capable of protecting our supremacy and leading this nation of ours to the highest pinnacle of glory.

Is This Gandhi Real or Duplicate?

The Indian media specially the Indian English media often refers Rahul Gandhi as the youth leader of the country. Each time I hear such statements, it wonders me. How can someone at the age of 39 be called as a youth leader! Isn’t it funny? Under what definition someone at the age of 39 be called as youth? Had he got married at the age of 20, he would have probably had a son or a daughter of age 18 or 19. What would have this media called them? Kids? Ok fine. For the moment, Let’s agree to media’s argument that Rahul at the age of 39 is a youth leader. Then, what happened to Agatha K Sangma, Jyotiraditya Scindia who, Sachin Pilot, Dushyant Singh who are younger to Rahul and who are doing very well in political field? Are they not Indians or are they not youth? Why don’t the media call them as youth? Can’t the media calculate their ages using simple calculations? Are they so poor in simple arithmetic? Probably their arithmetic logic is different. It’s because Rahul is from Gandhi family and he is from the congress party, they call him youth at the age of 39. I think that’s the only logic that they can apply to call him so. Else, no other logic in the world can help them say so. And the funniest part is that Rahul Gandhi himself calls as a Youth leader. I am not sure how he says so? I think he should keep meeting his classmates and batch mates every now and then to help him realize that he is no more a youth.

Here are some of the statements he has made which I would like to analyze to understand how matured Mr.Gandhi is.

During the Uttar Pradesh election campaign in 2007, Rahul Gandhi said that "if anyone from the Gandhi-Nehru family had been active in politics then, the Babri Masjid would not have fallen". What an arrogant statement? Isn’t it a statement that underestimates and insult the socio-political talent in this country? Does that mean that only Gandhi family has the capability and the eligibility to rule this country? Has Indian constitution laid down any special provision that Gandhis alone can capture Gaddi in this country? I am not sure if Mr.Gandhi is unaware of the Sikh Riots that his own party has initiated during his grandmother’s reign? Or is he conveniently and wantedly forgetting this fact? One must understand the fact that none of the non Gandhi family congress leaders, be it Patel or Lal Bahadur Shastri or P V Narsimha rao, neither of them are recognized and remembered by congress party for their contributions to their party and to this nation.

In another instance, Mr Gandhi says its congress party alone which can protect and preserve democracy in India and that he would continue the tradition. Isn’t it a big joke? Isn’t it congress which has misused article 356 more than 100 times to dismiss the democratically elected state governments formed by non congress parties? Isn’t it congress party which distributed cash in the house of Parliament to protect their Government? Isn't it his Grand mother who has thrown this country into a complete darkness by illegally imposing emergency? Should we assume that he is unaware of such kind of worst history of congress and making such kind of statements? Probably for him, preserving and protecting democracy in India means preserving and protecting congress party and their Governments in India either by hook or crook.

In his recent congress youth meetings, he said there are equal opportunities for youth in congress party. Isn’t a hypocritical statement? Can ever in congress party, a term called equal opportunity exist? Can a party that’s known for its hereditary politics talk about equal opportunity. Let’s assume for the moment what he said is true, then how the hell Rahul has become the head of Youth Congress as soon he entered politics? When there were so many youth leaders working for the party for years? Can someone ever in congress’s history other than Gandhis occupy the Presidnet position? In my view, Gandhis have no moral right to talk about equal opportunity in politics.

Recently when Kashmir started burning and when everyone is so worried about the tensions prevailing there and when almost all the leaders in the power and in opposition including the PM and the opposition leader are worried about the way state Government handled the situation and taken the decisions, Mr. Gandhi showered Omar with appreciation saying Omar is handling the situation very well. Isn’t it a testimony for Mr.Gandhi’s judgment skills? Isn’t it an indication of what will happen to this Nation if Mr Gandhi is made the PM?

In a meeting yesterday at Bhopal, Rahul Gandhi equated RSS and SIMI and also added that the only difference is that SIMI is a banned organization while RSS is not. Both question and answer lies in his statement. He himself says SIMI is banned and RSS is not. Then how the hell this Gandhi scion says RSS and SIMI are same? If RSS is a terrorist group, then doesn’t his Government ban RSS? Had he even attended RSS shaka to comment on RSS? Had he at least tried to know what happens in an RSS shaka to comment on RSS?

The swayamsevaks in their daily shakas sing the following verses in their daily prayer:

mahaa mangale punya bhoome twadarthe
patatwesha kaayo namaste namaste

which means that let our bodies be perished in the service of the motherland

param vaibhavamne tume tat swaraashtram
samrthaa bhavatwaashishaa tebhrusham

Which means “May our victorious organised power of action, by Thy Grace, be wholly capable of protecting our dharma and leading this nation of ours to the highest pinnacle of glory.”

Can such patriots be compared with terrorists? Can a Vajpayee and a SIMI terrorist be compared? Is Kalam and Kasab equal? By making such statements, Rahul only proves his immaturity and poor judgment skills. Now, it’s up to the nation to think if they want such a person to lead this great nation. They need to realize if they want a Real Gandhi and Gandhian principles or the duplicate Gandhis and their appeasement policies and their power politics.

Ram lalla wins the title of the disputed land in Ayodhya

It may sound very unusual. But it's true that Ram lalla in Ayodhya wins the title of the disputed land. Ram lalla was included as the petitioner in the petition filed by Hindus claiming for the title of the land. Indian law in its unique way considers and recognizes even idols as the petitioners. And in its verdict, Allahabad High court yesterday has awarded the title of the main disputed land to Bhagwan Shri Ram Chandra Murthy filling happiness in millions and millions of Hindus who believe that Ram is born at the disputed site.

Finally the path is cleared for building a Ram temple at Ayodhya. Ram is a symbol of unity, integrity, good governance, victory of truth over evils and protector of the common man. Ram is a national hero for Indians. Bhagwan Ram is the epitome of eternal, inclusive and tolerant culture of India. Courts recognizing and respecting the faith of Indians in such a hero and what he stands for will remain in the history forever. This verdict can be treated as a historic verdict respecting the sentiments of all communities and a verdict that protects the unity of this country and a verdict that believs in Indian culture. The final judgement given by Allahabad High court that the land should be split for all the three parties including Hinuds, Muslims and Akharas should be hailed and welcomed by all Indians belonging to all communities. One shouldn’t expect a better judgment than this.

I think the court's verdict is a befitting reply to all the pseudo secularists who branded all those who believed in Bhagwan Ram and who believed the existence of Temple at Ram Janma Bhoomi as communal. It’s a slap on the face of those pseudo secularists who questioned the belief of Hindus in Holiness and sacredness of ram Janma sthan. It's time to understand what kind of secularism Burka Dutt and Rajdeep Sardesai talk every minute and every day misleading this nation. Now, it’s time for everyone to realize who is communal and who is secular. It’s time for people to understand who fought for truth and who fought for vote bank.

It’s time for Muslims also to realize that they are being used as vote bank by pseudo secular parties and that they are misled by certain political parties for their electoral benefits. It's time for them to extend their cooperation for building a magnificent temple for Devine Bhagwan Ram and to invite Hindus cooperation for building a mosque. That will stand as a great example for our secularism and unity. That will strengthen the Indian secularism that we believe in and practice from time immemorial.