90,000 MCD employees fake?

M. K. Gupta

Out of total number of 1.75 lakh MCD employees, 90 thousand may be fake. According to lead news in Times of India dated 30.6.09, about 85,000 employees have already got themselves registered for the biometric identification system while 45,000 are missing. This is the saga of the Municipal Corporation of the Capital of India where the CBI, CVC, Vigilance Department of Delhi Govt. and even the corporation’s its own vigilance Department are at work. MCD Commissioner K S Mehra deserves the credit for unearthing this scam as he took decision three months back to extend the biometric identification system tin all the 12 zones of the corporation. The monthly wage bill of the MCD is Rs 207-crore, which may come down to half after this revealition. Had these so called vigilance departments been attentive, the scam of this big dimension has not gone unnoticed. According to senior officials, the practice of phantom employees is most rampant in the sanitation and horticulture departments and in the face of it; How Delhiites can expect a green and clean Delhi? Country will keenly watch the action taken against the officials involved in such a fraud rampant for years. They will also be keen to see if the Municipal Taxes are reduced or more money is invested in the development work after the discovery of this racket.

DWARKA FORUM DELEGATION MEETS CHIEF MINISTER Ms. Sheela Dixit

M K GUPTA
A delegation of Dwarka Forum met Mrs. Sheila Dikshit, Chief Minister, Delhi on 28.6.09 to demand the solution of problems being faced by the Dwarkaites. They demanded early construction of 700 bed hospital, revamping public transport, transfer of water from DDA to Delhi Jal Board, improvement in law and order situation, unified Assembly and Parliament Constituencies and creation of Dwarka Municipal Corporation or Dwarka Development Council on the lines of NDMC. The delegation comprised Mr. Rejimon CK, President, Sushi Kumar, Gen. Secy. Anil Nayal, Rajiv Solanki and V.S. Bisht.
--------------------------------------------------------------
To
Ms. Sheela Dixit
Honb’le Chief Minister of Delhi
New Delhi

Honorable Madam,

Greetings from Dwarka Forum on the tremendous victory in last two elections.

Dwarka Forum is Non-Political Organisation, engaged in efforts to solve the Civic Problems of the Residents of Dwarka Sub-city and works as a Networking Platform for 2000+ strong RWA / CGHS Representatives as well as eminent residents of Dwarka Sub-city. The aim of this Forum is to make Dwarka an Ideal Township, to fight for common cause & seek solutions of day-to-day civic problems of Dwarkaites by raising awareness among the Residents & by taking up issues with relevant authorities from time to time. It is thus the voice of the Dwarkaites & surely extends

Dwarka Forum runs a successful campaign to ensure near 100% Voting in the Assembly Election and achieved a good result.

Members of Dwarka Forum and Residents of Dwarka Sub City are keen to have your active intervention to resolve various issues & problem being faced by Dwarka residents. Lok Sabha election has confirmed the faith in your leadership and hence we solicit your action plan & commitment towards resolution of following issues & problems:

1. Public Hospitals – Delay in multi-specialty Hospital at Sector-9, Dwarka. Foundation Stone has already been laid by you but construction is delayed beyond imagination. No General referral Hospital in Dwarka.
2. Transport: Residents demand of operation of more DTC buses and a circular service within different Sectors of Dwarka Sub-city. Residents are depending on their private vehicles.
3. Water: Take over the Distribution of Water from DDA and transfer to Delhi Jal Board as DDA is depending on DJB.
4. Deteriorating Law & Order in Dwarka- Need Police posts in every sector with enough police personnel.
5. Currently, Dwarka Residents & nearby areas are required to vote for 3 MLA's & 2 MPs. Dwarka constituency should be unified & should represent genuine Dwarka Residents.
6. To maintain unique character of Dwarka Sub City & address its unique problems, Dwarka Municipal Corporation or Dwarka Development Council should be created on the lines of NDMC & DCB.

We look forward to hear from on the above issues & problem being faces by Dwarka Residents.

Thanking you,
Yours truly,
Dwarka Forum

Subscribe Popular Dwarka Info Blog & enjoy popular songs/ video, play games, daily Horoscope prediction... : http://dwarkaparichay.blogspot.com

Maoists take on soft state

Joginder Singh ji
(Former Director - CBI)

Policing has become extremely complex in our country. While some States may have problems of caste violence, others suffer from agitations and spiralling crime, while many more may be facing insurgencies or infiltration. But States like Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra have to deal with another kind of menace. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described the Maoist problem prevailing in these States as the “biggest internal security challenge ever faced by our country”.

The Maoists are Left-wing extremists who were almost wiped out by the counter-insurgency efforts in the 1970s by determined State Governments. They broke up into smaller factions such as the People’s War Group and the Maoist Communist Centre. Then they merged in 2004 to form the Communist Party of India (Maoist), which challenges state power with violence, allegedly in the name of helping the landless poor, tribal people, and ‘lower’ castes.

Three days after they killed 10 policemen in a landmine explosion in West Singbhum in Jharkhand, the Maoists, in the first week of June, brazenly launched two daylight attacks in and around a small town close to Bokaro, killing 10 policemen and injuring several more. They used landmines and bombs in the attack. In the first five months of this year, at least 162 security personnel have been killed by Maoists, most of them in Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa. The policemen in these places are cannon fodder for the Maoists. Hardly a day passes without some or the other policeman falling victim to their bullets or land mines.

Unfortunately, there does not appear to be a clear strategy or policy in dealing with the Maoist problem. Depending on political exigencies, different parties sing different tunes. During elections politicians can go to any length for the sake of votes and even cut deals with Maoists.

Laws are framed keeping in view the existing situation. In 1863, when our present criminal laws were framed, nobody could foresee the grave security challenges that we face today. As a result, given our archaic laws, we have been following a policy of ‘willing to strike, but afraid to wound’.

The law requires that there should be independent witnesses to any Maoist killing, even in remote areas where people are scared to come out of their homes. But from where do you get witnesses who will have the courage to come to the court for years and depose against those who can easily kill them?

Our laws are not only inadequate but also unenforceable. In fact, there is no concrete law to deal with Maoist violence. This, in spite of the fact that there have been reports of Maoists trying to kill the Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. Recently, a Maoist leader said his organisation wanted to carry out the death sentence on Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee because “the people of Bengal demanded he be hanged”. He was referring to the landmine explosion targeting the Mr Bhattacharjee’s convoy in November 2008.

Till the security forces moved in, Lalgarh area in West Bengal reportedly looked like a ‘liberated zone’ where the State Government’s writ did not run. The Maoists and the local population’s People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities were calling the shots, as police camps were abandoned.

The argument that a law aimed at curbing the Maoists would not stop their activities is both outrageous and puerile. Laws exist against rape, murder, dacoity, dowry and rash driving. They have not put an end to those crimes completely. Does that mean that we should have no laws against criminals responsible for such crimes? It will be a good practice if those in the Law and Home Ministries are made to spend a month in a Maoist-infested area so that they can have a clear picture of the ground situation there.

Maoism looks different on paper and in the safe, air-conditioned environment of North Block and South Block. Whenever there is talk of a tough law being introduced, human rights activists move heaven and earth to have it spiked. As a result, the laws are not only diluted but are so framed that they can make no difference on the ground. The Union Government says that fighting Maoists is the responsibility of the State Governments, which have neither the money nor the wherewithal for the job.

Today, the Maoists are waging a guerrilla war, often with weapons looted from the police. Our security forces are fighting a life and death battle against them. People who are out to kill innocent civilians are ruthless and cannot be controlled by sermons on human rights violations.

A guerrilla enemy is invisible and is very difficult for conventional security forces to combat. The Centre is setting up National Security Guards hubs all over the country to quickly respond to terrorism. But no need for a similar strategy has been felt by it to fight the Maoist threat.

The Government proposes to set up a 24-hour, multi-agency centre for providing continuous, integrated tracking of terror-related data. It also plans to develop a co-ordinated response capacity through the establishment of the National Counter-Terrorism Centre. However, the impact of the Government’s efforts is yet to be felt in the fight against the Maoists.

Whenever policemen are killed while battling terrorists or Maoists, not even a tear is shed for them. The standard excuse or justification for such violence given by our so-called intellectuals is that it is either due to unemployment or poverty. They never call a spade a spade. Nobody denies that there is dire poverty and widespread unemployment in the country. But skewed movements like that of the Maoists’ make it impossible for such problems to be solved.

Whether we like it or not, if we are to survive and thrive as a nation, we have to wage war on all disruptive movements, including Maoism. Mere intentions are not good enough. They have to be translated into action on the ground. The Government must go all out to stamp out the Maoist menace before the situation gets out of its hand.

WAYS AND COURAGE OF CORRUPTS

Mahendra Kumar Gupta

Sonia, Rahul and Priyana are the workers under NAREGA scheme and worked for Rs. 91/- per day. Don’t be surprise; this is what the record of village Bavalia Khurd in Indore of Madhya Pradesh says. Each of them earned Rs. 637/- for working from 20th April to 26th April respectively. Though in the muster roll, Sir name has not been mentioned, but against the name of father/ husband of Sonia, Rajiv is mentioned. Not only this, former Union Minister, Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyer and some local leaders and officers of the District have also worked under the scheme on Rs. 91/- per day. Now, poor, deprived and underprivileged should not weep any more because the VIP’s are poorer.

Jamane Ko Dikhana Hai

Panchams Fan Club and Adarsh Nagar Sadbhawna Manch (Sh. Bhupender Jain, Chairman, Sh. Ramkumar Barar, Vice-Chairman & Sh. Jitender Aggwal, President) hosted an extravaganza named ‘Jamane Ko Dikhana Hai’ (4th R D Burman Music Award), a grand show at Auditorium of Technia Institute of Advance Studies, Madhuban Chowk, Rohini, Delhi. The Event commenced with the lighting of lamp by the Hon’ble Guests Sh. Jay Prakash Aggarwal, MP and President Congress Party, Sh. Mangat Ram Single, MLA, Sh. Hari Shankar Gupta, MLA and Smt. Neelam Buddhiraja, Counciller, MCD and team of Panchams Fan Club followed by a welcome address by Sh. Harish Nadan, Managing Director of The H.N. Events.

There are about 43 upcoming singers sang the famous songs composed by RD Burman and even a song ‘Lakdi ki kathi’ from the film Masoom sung by Master Abhishek Ramchani, Master Aditya Ramchani, Ms. Pallavi Talwar and Baby Jayati Bansal also.

May be it was the music, or the chilly night or perhaps, the romantic nature of Delhities that the people got so carried away by the music that they were not ready to leave the auditorium and the programme proved quite a hit with the crowd.

The event ended with the announcement of Sh. Harish Nadan, Managing Director of H-N Events that more events like this will be organized in future.

ROLE OF MEDIA IN DWARKA

A seminar on "ROLE OF MEDIA IN DWARKA" was held at Hotel Malaber, Sector-7, Dwarka. Mr.S.S.Dogra-Convener of the seminar revealed that it was presided over by Sh.Joginder Singh-Former Director C.B.I. Dr.Kirti Kale, M.K.Gupta, Sanjay Mishra, Naresh Saxena, Shruti Phul and S.S.Dogra expressed their views. Sh. Joginder Singh also expressed his views on media and its importance in day to day life. He even suggested some useful tips of better working capabilities and security of Journalists.

Closer of ICFAI University

P. S. Singh

A bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan fixed the matter for final hearing after Rishabh Jain, the petitioner, refused to settle the matter out of court.

Counsel P S Singh, appearing for the student, said the university had been running more than 40 institutes all over the country without any recognition from the University Grant Commission (UGC) or AICTE and offering graduate and post-graduate degrees/diplomas in more than 100 streams such BBA, MBA, MCA, B.Com through several IFCAI national college centers (off-campus), study centers and regional centers operating across the country.
"The petitioner is before the court seeking direction for closing down these universities and colleges with immediate effect declaring them as illegal as it is violative of fundamental rights enumerated in the Constitution of India," said the petition.

P S Singh alleged ICFAI was giving misleading advertisements, and claimed the university had only recognition from Tripura and Uttarakhand for running only a few certificate courses but had been running around 43 institutes all over the country and more than 20,000 students were registered with it.

MADRAS HIGH COURT ORDER TO CLOSER OF ICFAI OFF CAMPUS CENTER

The Madras High Court on Friday directed closure of off-campus centres and study centres run by the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India (ICFAI) Society in Tamil Nadu.

Disposing of a batch of petitions, a Division Bench, comprising Justices S J Mukhopadhaya and V Dhanapalan said "we have no hesitation to hold that ICFAI Society and ICFAI University have no legal right to run institutions of this kind in the state of Tamil Nadu and they are hereby restrained from running such institutions".

Noting that as per regulations, no off-campus centres or study centres could be opened without prior approval of UGC and state governments, they pointed out that in the case on hand, such centres had been set up with prior approval of UGC and Tamil Nadu government.

"They cannot be allowed to run any longer. If such centres are allowed to continue, the future of gullible students will be jeopardized by way of money and time', the Judges said.

The Judge felt that irregularities and improprieties in using the educational system to the advantage of certain private institutions would give a wrong signal to the field of education and put the common man in peril if such kind of mushrooming of private institutions, without recognition, affiliation and proper grant of permission was allowed.

"Therefore we hope that statutory bodies such as the "All India Council for Technical Education, UGC or another equivalent bodies will take constructive steps to bring in appropriate rules and regulations with stringent penal provisions to scotch all irregular and illegal institutions", they said.

Stating that they were conscious their decision was likely to adversely affect the students, the Judges said such 'a hard and drastic decision' has to be taken in the interest of curbing the unabated activities of some persons who start unauthorised educational institutions.

The Judges hoped the government would also be vigilant enough to prevent individuals and institutions from starting unauthorised educational institutions so that students would hereafter not be trapped or lured into taking admissions in such institutions with the temptation of getting some degree.

The Bench rejected ICFAI's contention that it conferred degrees only within the territorial jurisdiction of the state of Uttaranchal and had no study centres, constituent colleges and off campus centres beyond the territory of that state and it was not granting degrees in violation of UGC regulations.

The Bench noted that the counter affidavit filed by ICFAI clearly showed that the society had established an all India network of 200 branch offices and set up around 180 centres for full time campus based programmes and conducted exams at over 100 test centres all over India four times a year.

Observing that AICTE was empowered to regulate imparting of technical education in the country, the Bench said that when this was the position, the ICFAI and ICFAI University could not contend that they did not need the approval of UGC and AICTE for imparting such education country wide.

The petitioners, including one B.N.Devadas, contended that as per the ICFAI National College Prospectus, 23 full time academic national colleges had been established in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
Bureau Report

Dare To Dream

Joginder Singh ji
(Former Director - CBI)
We all start, our days, with good intentions and a resolve that we will get, so and so things done. But unfortunately, at the end of the day, we find that, we have not accomplished much and are, nowhere near, our intended target. The same is true, of our acquiring new skills. Probably one reason is that either we get too many diversions, or interruptions or load ourselves with a lot of unimportant items, which are easier to do or simply procrastinate.
One thing is certain, that we constantly need, to improve our organisational ability and go on focussing on what is most important and vital to us. Occasionally, we are busy with nothing. But we must realise, that being busy is not the same thing as being productive. I find that quite often, I frequently go to the internet to check my mail, both on my lap top and my, I phone.
Any diversion, from writing and coming back, to where I left takes, a few minutes. Further coming back to the stream and line of thinking where I was, takes another few minutes.
Even when I am back some phone will ring again causing interruption in the work. Earlier the major attraction would be the TV. But now since viewing a two hours Movie, means spending four hours in front of TV, I have cut out that option.
Life is a trade off, as we have to forego one thing to gain another. I have realised that time is one precious commodity, which cannot be bought back at any cost. I calculate the cost benefit ratio of any activity and then, either undertake it, or get it done by delegating it to others.
I am aware that the person to whom I am delegating the work, is going to make a double cut of money out of it. I look at this way, that my time is costlier than his and so I buy it to add to my productive. Sometimes back, to give an instance, a telephone bill was received late and the last date for its payment was the same day. So I gave it to my Secretary to pay it and also gave him Rs. 50 to cover the cost of transportation. He wanted happily and I was happier than him that I had spent two hours on reading and writing.
Similarly, the adopter of my lap top had developed a minor problem. So I went to the internet and talked to the supplier, who agreed to send it to me through his salesman at an extra cost of Rs. 150. I happily agreed, as it saved me three hours of time, which I spent more usefully, rather than in commuting to simply collect the plug adopter.
Keeping an open door policy may be a good public relations exercise, for some people .But it is the most undisputed and unquestionable way to ruin your focus and credibility. I find, that if I do not bar people, visiting me at all hours, then I am done in. Indeed, instead of meeting people face to face, I try to dispose off most of the work on telephone. A few days back, a press reporter said that he wanted to see me. I agreed to meet him in the market, where I gave him an interview exactly for five minutes. He was happy and I was happier, that I did not have to waste any time waiting for him and fret over his unpunctuality.

We have to face this problem squarely, fairly and head on, if we want to have time for the things we want to do. It means, organising our life, work and getting rid of pre conceived notions as to how we should systematize and arrange our life. It includes as to what tasks we should do and what we should delegate to others. Our life is our own and it depends upon us, as to how we live and how we approach the problems and difficulties faced by us.
Of course we need the cooperation of others for success in life. But anybody would first succeed and help himself, if he could, rather than others. We should not leave our success to others, neither we should adopt, ‘luck’ as a strategy.
Our whole life is a learning process and there is no finality, to our learning in life. Our ability to learn, absorb and retain knowledge is unlimited. We can learn from anybody we meet. Our thinking and what we want to do should be clear. A garbled thinking leads to garbled results. Clarity of objectives and approach reduces our chances of making mistake. What we sow, is what we reap. Sowing good seeds, leads to reaping a good crop. This law is equally applicable in our lives. We cannot undo, what we have done, whether it is done in good or ill faith. But we can always learn a valuable experience from what we have done, so that we can become conscious, as to what we should do or what we should not do, now or in the times to come. Whatever we do, has a resultant effect on our life and on the life of the others. The days, of our life are less important than the life in those days.
Try to build a good reputation, A good reputation is a great asset for all branches of life. Reputation is not built on one day, but it takes a long time to do so.
Good and efficient workers are always cherished by their bosses, subordinates and colleagues. Whenever I had a chance, I made sure that I had an excellent team of good workers for any work or job, I have or had undertaken. A good reputation is a credibility asset, about which we should be careful and not lose it.
Quitting does not require guts and any one can quit. The important thing is not to quit and instead, stick along till we have accomplished, whatever we wanted to accomplish. You have to give priority to yourself and do introspection from time to time, as to, on what you are spending your time. You examination will reveal to you, as to how much time you are factoring in for yourself. After in the world, you are the most important person to yourself and your life and life style.

Electricity saving tips

Don't Leave Electrical Appliances on Standby

Many of us with use the remote to switch off the TV or stereo, leaving the appliance running on standby. This actually means the appliance is still using up electricity and wastes a considerable amount of energy. By switching off at the main power button, or even the socket, you could be saving both energy and money.

Items left on standby use up to 85% of the energy they would use if fully switched on. An extra million tonnes of carbon will be released into the atmosphere through this power wastage.
Tumble Dryer

Electric tumble dryers are commonly the second biggest energy user in the home, after the fridge. They are obviously used a lot less, but still use a huge amount of electricity when switched on. You can avoid using the dryer so often by line drying clothes whenever possible or using an indoor clothes dryer when the weather is bad.

If you do need to use the dryer, then ensure the clothes are as dry as possible after washing, eg, they have gone through a fast spin so that there is minimum excess water. This will reduce drying time considerably.
Lighting

In most homes, about 10-15% of the electricity bill is for lighting so energy saving light bulbs can cut your costs considerably. Traditional bulbs waste a lot of energy by turning it into heat but energy saving bulbs work in the same way as fluorescent lights, the tubes coating glows brightly as an electric current passed through gas in the tube.

They may be more expensive to buy than traditional bulbs, but they are worth the investment as last over 10 times longer and use up to 4 times less energy. Where you would use a 100w ordinary bulb, you would only need a 20-25w energy saving bulb. With savings like this, changing bulbs throughout your house could really cut your electricity costs.

No matter what type of lighting you are using, always turn the lights off when you leave a room.
Solar Garden Lights , There are a number of different solar powered lights available at the moment for use in the garden. These lights are highly energy efficient and convenient as do not require external extension leads or special electric fittings. These lights contain solar cells which convert the suns energy into electricity. They charge up during the daylight and light up as it gets dark. They are not usually hugely bright but are less intrusive than electric lights and look nice in the flowerbeds.

Economical Washing and Drying
Your washing machine and tumble dryer are two of the appliances in your home that use the most energy. You may not be able to cut down how often you use them, but you can make some small changes to how you use them that will help you save energy and money.

When using the washing machine, between 85-90% of energy is used just to heat up the water. Therefore, dropping the water temperature of your wash could significantly decrease your energy consumption. Over a year, by using a warm wash rather than a hot wash, you could cut consumption nearly in half.

Other tips for conserving energy when washing are: Only use the machine when you have a full load, and if you have to do a smaller wash, use the half load function. The spin on the machine may mean that more energy is used but by spinning your clothes you are removing more excess water, therefore reducing your drying time in a tumble dryer.
Fix a Dripping Tap
A dripping tap can be not only annoying but if it is a hot tap it can cost you in both water costs and water heating costs.

If left to drip, over time a hot tap can waste enough water to fill half a bath. So don't pour water and your heating costs down the drain, make sure you fix it.

Efficient Cooking

There are a few easy ways to save energy when cooking which can also speed up the amount of time you spend over a hot stove. Always use the correct size pan, and when heating water only use the amount you need so the electricity is not burning unnecessarily to heat the excess.

If only using a small pan, then use a smaller burner. Boiling water in the kettle first will save the time the burner needs to heat the water, and putting a lid on will help it come to a boil quicker.

When making a cup of tea, only boil the amount of water that you need. Boiling a full kettle unnecessarily is a waste of electricity.

Fridge and Freezer

The location of your fridge can make a difference in how energy efficient it is. Make sure it is out of direct sunlight and not close to the oven. It is best to keep it against an outside wall so that the heat it generates can escape easily, and always make sure that there is a few inches space all around the fridge so that air can circulate.

Make sure you defrost your fridge and freezer on a regular basis or whenever necessary. An iced up freezer will make the freezer work harder, therefore wasting more energy than needed. Only set your fridge to as cold as you need it and avoid keeping the door open for long periods of time as the more cold air that escapes, the harder the fridge has to work. You should check the seal regularly as well, as if it is damaged then cold air will be escaping also.

You should never put warm or hot food into the fridge as this will make the fridge work extra hard to try and keep it cold; always allow food to cool down first.
Another good tip is to defrost frozen food in the fridge as this helps to keep it cool as it thaws.
Source: http://www.electricity-guide.org

DWARKA LACKS ARRANGEMENT TO FIGHT FIRE IN HIGHER FLOORS

M. K. Gupta

Dwarka Sub City where about 35 per cent population lives in fourth and above floors, lacks arrangements to fight fire even on fifth floor despite having flats up to 10th floors after obtaining NOCs from the fire department.

In Ganpati Apartment of Sector 9, there was a fire in a fifth floor flat which spread to the sixth floor flat also in the intervening night of 21-22th June. According to K.S. Rathi, President of RWA, fire engulfed the goods worth lakhs of rupees. Sources says that the fire brigade came after an hour after giving information to it. The residents of the flats were lucky to save their lives by running out of their flat. .

According to Dainik Jagran, 23rd June, 09, the fire brigade was unable to douse the fire as it lacked arrangements to fight fire at fifth and above floors, the residents doused fire with their own efforts.

There is a need to upgrade the fire station at Dwarka to reach up to the highest floor in any apartment. Only this way, any apartment can be stopped to become another Gopala Tower of Rajendra Nagar, New Delhi.
---------------------------------------------
This is certainly alarming.Yes there is lack of Govt agency in placing proper infrastrucutre.AT THE SAME TIME MOST THE SOCITIES FROM MEMBERS LAKHS FOR RUPEES ARE COLLECTED IN THE NAME OF FIRE FIGHTING..WHICH REMAIN ONLY A DECOR. Responsibility from all must...So dear Dwarkites please ask your respective CGHS management/RWA management to fix all Fire system and also get mock drills before it get too late.we will certainly asking govt to put infrastructure in place. Rejimon

Mr Gupta has raised a very important and serious matter regarding inadequecy in fire fighting in high rise buildings. Whereas Managements should ensure sevicability of society fire fighting equipment and training of security personnel in using them, the Fire Deptt has to be made aware of their commitment. We can even solicit support of local MLA., for expediting procurement of deficient equipment by Fire Deptt. S C Arora

Our Forum has always taken up the important issues but it is sad to see that there is no continuous follow up by the RWA/CGHS.Even in this case Fire depptt.has not accepted their fault.For quick relief and putting pressure on authorities it is always advisable to send such objections in numbers by the RWA/CGHS. Sushil

Shocking information that our fire service is poorly equipped.Instead of blaming anybody, we may try to get them properly equipped.Let us use all our efforts to make government do something urgently. P.J. THOMAS

Shri. S R Solanki,

Chief Engineer,DDA

Sir,

Please refer to trail mail below from one of the residents of Dwarka.

During the online discussions on the recent fire at one of the flat in Ganpati Aptment, Sector 9, Dwarka. The members expressed concern over the delay.

Through the below correspondence we learned that the Fire Service Station located at Sector 6 is compelled to use (with heavy/fully loaded vehicles) SERVICE Road instead of direct access to main road . This is certainly cause delay and smooth flow and reduce the time to respond.

We would be obliged your good office give immediate direction to concerned XE/EE/AE to have the Road No 201 access directly from Fire Station.

We would appreciate if you could share with us the outcome of the request.

Thanking you,

Rejimon CK

President-Dwarka Forum (Regd).

cc: EM, DDA, Vikas Sadan, INA.

-------------------------------------------------------

One more disturbing fact about the fire safety in Dwarka (or lack of it). As all of you know the Dwarka fire station is located at Sector 6. And shockingly the fire station does not have a direct main road access. The fire engines are required to take the service lane to come
out on main road, either on the side of Shiv Lok or Vajra societies. Now we all know the condition of the service lanes. Moreover if even a single vehicle breaks down, the whole lane is blocked.

Now some more startling fact: the fire department head of Dwarka has been writing to the authorities concerned (Concerned??????) for last two years to get an access to the main road directly in front of the fire station. For whatever reasons the permission is not forthcoming.
So even for an emergency situation in societies like Apoorva, that is bang in front of the fire station, the fire engine would have to travel through the service lane on either of the sides and hope that there is no vehicle broken-down on this road.

What to do? Mera Bharat Mahan Atul

No End to Greed for a Few Pieces of Silver

Joginder Singh ji
(Former Director -CBI )
What we call, real estate or property quite often is the foundation, of crimes of greed. If a person owns land or property, the land and house also own him. Wars, quarrels and killings have been caused, over undefended wealth and property. The father of communism Karl Marx had propounded the abolition of all private property.
Most crime in the world is about real estate or property. All the so called world conquerors like Alexander and Mughal and others like British and French invaded and took control of India for the sake of adding to their already existing property, which were called their empires. They were thieves, but came under the different garb and openly went about their purpose with the use of their might.
The common thieves also respect property. Their only peculiarity is, that they want to acquire the same for themselves, without working for it. The world and the society judges us, by our possessions. Our station in life and position, is determined, by what we own in life. Indeed, if we examine our scripture Mahabharata, it begins, with the dispute between two set of Cousins, Kauravas and Pandus over the distribution of empire or in other words their ancestral property. The former refused to give even five villages to the Pandus and literally tricked them, into going in for an exile of fourteen years, after a bout of gambling. To add insult to the injury, in a bid to win over their property or portion of the empire, they bid their wife Draupadi, in the final and ultimate, gambling dice play.
Of course, the entire episode, led to the unique scripture Gita being preached to a reluctant Pandu warrior Arjun, by Lord Krishna. If there was no Mahabharata or a grand war, between the cousins on property, there would have been no Gita. The world would have been poorer to that extent.

It was again a property dispute as to who should succeed to the Empire of King Dashrath, which led Kekayee, the youngest of his three queens, to extract a promise from her husband, her son Bharat would succeed to the empire and not the eldest, Lord Rama, who would have to spend fourteen years in exile. Out of this dispute was born Ramayana, which is revered as a great scripture, revealing, as to how finally the truth and righteousness will always win over the evil.
What we call real
So recently when I read a news item, that a man was allegedly stabbed to death by his younger brother over a property dispute in Jharoda village in Delhi cantonment area of the National Capital, I did not feel a bit surprised. The body of the killed person by name , Milton Peter, was found lying in a pool of blood by his father , who informed the police. According to a report the accused, Dominic Peter, younger brother had a property dispute with his elder brother Milton and they often used to have arguments over it.
Their father returned home in an inebri­ated condition one and saw his sons Dominic and Milton in a heated argument.
He did not bother to inter­vene and went to his own room. When next day, the younger son Milton, did not come out for breakfast, the father went to his room and found his body lying in a pool of blood. When he enquired about Dominic, his elder son, he found that he was not at home.
Obviously, the greed has no time or boundary to its capaciousness. Its one object is to perpetuate itself. It is an endless phenomenon. It has no pity for any living human beings. It is prepared to act ruthlessly and to snuff life, as long as it can gain a few pieces of silver or gold.
It only illustrates, that where money is concerned, morals walk away. All the wealth in the world is too little for a greedy person. Greed is a fat demon with a small mouth and whatever you feed it is never enough. Says Bhagwat Gita; "Hell has three gates: lust, anger, and greed". But will humanity learn from Gita?

BE CAREFUL OF THIS DUBIOUS PRACTICE AT CIC

M. K. GUPTA

A new practice at the CIC has started when the complainant/appellant is asked to wait at the waiting room and in the meanwhile, Information Commissioner hear the Public Authority and subsequently pass order that the complainant/ appellant was either came late or was not present. The case pertains to the hearing held on 27.4.2009 before ********* *****, Information Commissioner in a case against the All India Radio.

In the second such trauma undergone by the undersigned on 11.6.09, he was present for hearing about 40 minute in advance and therefore was asked to wait in the waiting room by the staff, the IC started hearing the public authority little after the fixed time of 1.40 p.m. without calling the complainant by anyone for hearing.

Though the complainant reached on his own at about 2.00 p.m. during the on going hearing and took part in the hearing. He also marked his attendance earlier but the order issued by the IC says that “The complainant did not appear before the Commission.” The complainant has now asked the Hon’ble Information Commissioner to issue modified order rectifying this mistake about his presence during the hearing. He has also informed about this through a letter to the Hon’ble Chief Information Commissioner. The hearing took place before Hon’ble Information Commissioner, *.* . ******.

The RTI users should be wary of such dubious practices at Central Information Commission. Eventually, some body will have to bell the cat by knocking the door of High Court against such questionable practice.

The need of a Guru

Swami Vivekananda

Every soul is destined to be perfect, and every being, in the end, will
attain the state of perfection. Whatever we are now is the result of our acts and thoughts in the past; and whatever we shall be in the future will be the result of what we think end do now. But this, the shaping of our own destinies, does not preclude our receiving help from outside; nay, in the vast majority of cases such help is absolutely necessary. When it comes, the higher powers and possibilities of the soul are quickened, spiritual life is awakened, growth is animated, and man becomes holy and perfect in the end.

This quickening impulse cannot be derived from books. The soul can only receive impulses from another soul, and from nothing else. We may study books all our lives, we may become very intellectual, but in the end we find that we have not developed at all spiritually. It is not true that a high order of intellectual development always goes hand in hand with a proportionate development of the spiritual side in Man. In studying books we are sometimes deluded into thinking that thereby we are being spiritually helped; but if we analyse the effect of the study of books on ourselves, we shall find that at the utmost it is only our intellect that derives profit from such studies, and not our inner spirit. This inadequacy of books to quicken spiritual growth is the reason why, although almost every one of us can speak most wonderfully on spiritual matters, when it comes to action and the living of a truly spiritual life, we find ourselves so awfully deficient. To quicken the spirit, the impulse must come from another soul.
The person from whose soul such impulse comes is called the Guru ? the teacher; and the person to whose soul the impulse is conveyed is
called the Shishya — the student. To convey such an impulse to any
soul, in the first place, the soul from which it proceeds must possess
the power of transmitting it, as it were, to another; and in the second place, the soul to which it is transmitted must be fit to receive it.

The seed must be a living seed, and the field must be ready ploughed;
and when both these conditions are fulfilled, a wonderful growth of genuine religion takes place. "The true preacher of religion has to be of wonderful capabilities, and clever shall his hearer be" ? ; and when both of these are really wonderful and extraordinary, then will a splendid spiritual awakening result, and not otherwise. Such alone are the real teachers, and such alone are also the real students, the real aspirants. All others are only playing with spirituality. They have just a little curiosity awakened, just a little intellectual aspiration kindled in them, but are merely standing on the outward fringe of the horizon of religion. There is no doubt some value even in that, as it may in course of time result in the awakening of a real thirst for religion; and it is a mysterious law of nature that as soon as the field is ready, the seed must and does come; as soon as the soul earnestly desires to have religion, the transmitter of the religious force must and does appear to help that soul. When the power that attracts the light of religion in the receiving soul is full and strong, the power which answers to that attraction and sends in light does come as a matter of course.

There are, however, certain great dangers in the way. There is, for instance, the danger to the receiving soul of its mistaking momentary emotions for real religious yearning. We may study that in ourselves. Many a time in our lives, somebody dies whom we loved; we receive a blow; we feel that the world is slipping between our fingers, that we want something surer and higher, and that we must become religious. In a few days that wave of feeling has passed away, and we are left stranded just where we were before. We are all of us often mistaking such impulses for real thirst after religion; but as long as these momentary emotions are thus mistaken, that continuous, real craving of the soul for religion will not come, and we shall not find the true transmitter of spirituality into our nature.

So whenever we are tempted to complain of our search after the truth that we desire so much, proving vain, instead of so complaining, our first duty ought to be to look into our own souls and find whether the craving in the heart is real. Then in the vast majority of cases it would be discovered that we were not fit for receiving the truth, that there was no real thirst for spirituality. There are still greater dangers in regard to the transmitter, the Guru.There are many who, though immersed in ignorance, yet, in the pride of their hearts, fancy they know everything, and not only do not stop there, but offer to take others on their shoulders; and thus the blind leading the blind, both fall into the ditch.

"Fools dwelling in darkness, wise in their own conceit, and puffed up with vain knowledge, go round and round staggering to and fro, like blind men led by the blind." ? (Katha Up., I. ii. 5). The world is full of these. Every one wants to be a teacher, every beggar wants to make a gift of a million dollars! Just as these beggars are ridiculous, so are these teachers.

Submitted by: Arun Dey

Lazy babus hold up India’s march

Joginder Singh ji
(Former Director - CBI)

The Hong Kong-based Political & Economic Risk Consultancy, which conducted a survey of 12 Asian economies recently, says that Singapore’s civil servants are the most efficient among their Asian peers, but they tend to clam up unhelpfully when things go wrong.

It has ranked India’s “suffocating bureaucracy”, as the least-efficient. The survey says that working with Indian civil servants is a “slow and painful” process and that these bureaucrats are a power centre in their own right, both at the national and the State levels, and extremely resistant to reforms that affect them or the way they go about their duties. According to the survey, the ranking of the economies from the most efficient to the least efficient is as follows: Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam, China, Philippines, Indonesia and India.

This is in conformity with the Corruption Perceptions Index, 2008, prepared by Transparency International, which has ranked India as the 74th most corrupt country among 180 in the world.

Those who do not get justice or do not want to pay bribes have to approach the courts for redressal of their grievances. An individual has to spend his own money for this, whereas the other party, that is the Government, is a faceless respondent. The Government is by far the biggest litigant and is responsible in a large measure for the staggering backlog of civil suits — over 10 million at last count — that are clogging the courts. The Centre, the States and the public sector companies determinedly appeal every adverse verdict, despite eventually winning only a small minority of them.

The extent of Government involvement in litigation was acknowledged by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at a conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices in 2004. He revealed that a sample survey conducted in Karnataka found that in 65 per cent of the civil cases, the Government was a litigant, sometimes on both sides, and so Government litigation “crowds out the private citizen from the court system”.

The Prime Minister, on the same occasion, also confirmed that the Karnataka survey found much of the Government litigation to be in the form of appeals, and that 95 per cent of such appeals fail. He observed, “In a way, they are appeals that shouldn’t have been made in the first place.”

There is little reason to assume that things have changed since then. Several Chief Justices of India themselves have drawn attention to the Government’s litigiousness on numerous occasions. One might even say that after his first term as the Prime Minister, there has been no change in Mr Manmohan Singh’s Government insofar as reducing the huge volume of Government litigation is concerned.

Incidentally, the Law Commission too had observed nearly three decades ago that there was much avoidable litigation by the state. It exposed many instances where the judges found that citizens were compelled to litigate because of the “utter indifference” of the Government, where the latter pursued litigation on “frivolous” grounds as a “matter of prestige” with an attitude of “vengeance” or “callousness bordering on vendetta”, displaying “arrogance and a superiority complex”.

About the officials responsible for avoidable litigation, the Law Commission was of the opinion that “the lack of accountability of the officer in whom the power vests to initiate litigation or perpetuate the same by preferring appeals, is largely responsible for mounting litigation ... cases are not unknown where corrupt motives may be at the root of the tendency to continue litigation so as to exhaust the other side in the fond hope that he/she/it may, out of exasperation, be willing to grease the palms. There is a third independent cause generating this tendency to initiate or perpetuate litigation and that is to avoid taking decisions”.

But regrettably, even after such an incisive report, there does not seem to have been any change in the proliferation of Government litigation. India has witnessed major transformations in many areas during these years. But few of these changes have been in the Government itself, and the colonial mindset that set the bureaucracy apart from, and above, ordinary citizens, still survives.

The Second Administrative Reforms Commission, headed by the present Law Minister, observed that bureaucracy in India is generally perceived to be “unresponsive, insensitive and corrupt” and a common complaint against it pertains to “excessive red-tapism”. It noted that during its visits to the States, it interacted with a large number of people and most of them complained of the poor quality of services provided by the Government, as well as the indifferent attitude of Government servants, corruption and abuse of authority and the lack of accountability.

It is not that there is a lack of ideas as to how to make the bureaucracy more effective and responsive. The problem is that our laws are so over-protective of the accused that we seem to have reached a dead end. It is not that the Government does not know how to deal with this. The Government has the absolute power to sack anybody for reasons to be recorded in writing.

There is not a single case where an inefficient or a corrupt official has been shown the door. In fact, this is the reason why everybody wants a Government job as it gives you ‘life-long job security’ whether you work or not. And once you retire you get pension for the rest of your life. This is apart from the wealth that you will accumulate indulging in corruption.

As per statistics, 24,130 cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act were pending in trial courts across India at the end of 2007. A large number of them were 15 to 20 years old.

Incidentally, 153 of the newly-elected MPs in the 15th Lok Sabha have criminal cases pending against them. The BJP has 43 tainted MPs, while the Congress has 41. Rajiv Gandhi once said, “Only Re 1 out of Rs 10 allocated to the poor is reaching them”.

His son, Mr Rahul Gandhi, just before the 2009 election, said that only 10 paise out of Rs 10 allocated to the poor was reaching them. No amount of big schemes is going to ameliorate the lot of the poor if all this money is to end up with middlemen and bureaucrats in nexus with corrupt politicians.

There is also the strange practice of the Government using inefficient and dull bureaucrats as its advisers after their retirement. Actually there are far too many people in Government with practically no work to do. To say that the Government is using their ‘talent’ is a shame. The Government should put its own house in order before it can put the country in order. It should end the reign of corruption and substitute it with development.

RWA-R stands for RESIDENT & RESPONSIBILITY ?!!

VIJAY K. SALUJA

However efficient & selfless workers, the office bearers of RWAs are, they will not be able to fill the gap, unless, the residents put their best [honest] foot forward in helping them do so??!! Some may say, what am I talking about. Others may ask, what do they want from them, when they have appointed them the office bearers & also contribute maintenance charges [there are many, who shirk contributing, that, too!]

Well, I will discuss, why it is very imperative for each one of the resident to contribute his or her mite, in case society premises/markets, in which they live/trade-in, have to be properly maintained, on a sustainable basis. As the things stand, it is observed with anguish & concern that most of the residents/traders do not relate themselves to the activities of the RWA/TWA?
Why? They have no time?! There is too much politicking, some crib. They have many other chores to do-attending to children, old parents, girl [boy] friends, cars, pet dogs [who shit in the common areas] going to Gym, parlours, PVR, clubs, have to socialize to network, to surf, to chat , go to kitty parties, do other social work [as if RWA/TWA- activity, is anti-social work], rest at home, watch TV/ DVD`s, listen to newly acquired MP3, or stare at the ceiling etc etc! .Lists of chores, are endless.

But, if you have all these things to do, don`t office bearers have their personal tasks, too, to attend. If they devote time & energy on various [now] almost thankless tasks of RWA/TWA, then why grudge them some little benefits, if they try to derive[not that they should], one may ask. Why don’t you, the `aam` resident, come forward & loose the `tag` of aam & become special, by participating in RWA/TWA activities?
It is very easy to criticize & spend hours doing so, on the benches of local parks, in kitty parties or at homes, & pontificating, but, it is another matter, playing pro active & positive role [that too for your own benefit]
Let us see, how residents/traders can play their parts, in supplementing the efforts of RWA`s/TWA`s office bearers -a few suggestions

First thing which is imperative is-Stop criticizing the efforts of office bearers of RWA/TWA or Authorities.You never know under what constraint ,they could be working,too.

Second –applaud their efforts & use your network, in removing the bottlenecks[office bearers may be facing] of particular society, in which you live.-

Active, healthy senior citizens or housewives can help the school- children of their locality, in crossing busy roads, on which their school buses come, at going time & arriving time. I have observed this practice in UK & many European cities. They put on a Traffic Warden `overall`, given by the Traffic Police., during that period. They can as well co-ordinate with the traffic-authorities. I can try to get this organized with the Traffic Police, if there are willing residents. This will be BHAGIDARI, in real sense.

Talented –skilled, residents-which there are many, can organize skill development classes in the community centers of their sectors/societies. Social Welfare Deptt of Delhi Govt may also then render help..
Retired networked, civil, electrical, mechanical engineers, horticulturists, in particular, can help the authorities, in plugging water leakage/wastage, proper laying of road surfaces & their maintenance, efficient sanitation, upkeep of parks, drainage & sewerage systems, pillar boxes of electricity & telephone lines, getting information from the authorities about other facilities viz lifts, laying of utilities, conservation of trees & parks
etc etc.

Last but not least-Love your locality/society & nurture it like a child?! Why allow unauthorized construction, next door? Check it yourself. Seek the help of RWA/TWA etc etc.

Walk a disciplined dog[not shitting everywhere]!??

Bring a sense of discipline/order in the well-planned markets Presently,these are in very big mess-encroachments in corridors,parking lots,circulation spaces etc etc!!?

There are endless tasks, in a locality/markets & role for everyone & not for only the office bearers.

I am reminded of John F.Kennedy`s line –Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country`.
In a similar way, allow me to say `ASK NOT WHAT RWA,TWA OR AUTHORITIES, CAN DO FOR U, TELL THEM, WHAT U CAN DO FOR , YOUR LOCALITY & AUTHORITIES & THEN DO IT. `
If we try to follow a little, in spirit of, what little[though,there are many other points] I have said in these lines , I have no doubt, we can make USA or Singapore[ talking of their better managed localities, with no graffiti] out of our Dwarka/ Delhi.! What are we, the residents of Dwarka/DELHI, waiting for?


The writer is an Ex Chief Engineer[civil] , New Delhi Municipal Council

The Joy of Less

Pico Iyer

“The beat of my heart has grown deeper, more active, and yet more peaceful, and it is as if I were all the time storing up inner riches…My [life] is one long sequence of inner miracles.” The young Dutchwoman Etty Hillesum wrote that in a Nazi transit camp in 1943, on her way to her death at Auschwitz two months later. Towards the end of his life, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “All I have seen teaches me to trust the creator for all I have not seen,” though by then he had already lost his father when he was 7, his first wife when she was 20 and his first son, aged 5. In Japan, the late 18th-century poet Issa is celebrated for his delighted, almost child-like celebrations of the natural world. Issa saw four children die in infancy, his wife die in childbirth, and his own body partially paralyzed.

I’m not sure I knew the details of all these lives when I was 29, but I did begin to guess that happiness lies less in our circumstances than in what we make of them, in every sense. “There is nothing either good or bad,” I had heard in high school, from Hamlet, “but thinking makes it so.” I had been lucky enough at that point to stumble into the life I might have dreamed of as a boy: a great job writing on world affairs for Time magazine, an apartment (officially at least) on Park Avenue, enough time and money to take vacations in Burma, Morocco, El Salvador. But every time I went to one of those places, I noticed that the people I met there, mired in difficulty and often warfare, seemed to have more energy and even optimism than the friends I’d grown up with in privileged, peaceful Santa Barbara, Calif., many of whom were on their fourth marriages and seeing a therapist every day. Though I knew that poverty certainly didn’t buy happiness, I wasn’t convinced that money did either.

So — as post-1960s cliché decreed — I left my comfortable job and life to live for a year in a temple on the backstreets of Kyoto. My high-minded year lasted all of a week, by which time I’d noticed that the depthless contemplation of the moon and composition of haiku I’d imagined from afar was really more a matter of cleaning, sweeping and then cleaning some more. But today, more than 21 years later, I still live in the vicinity of Kyoto, in a two-room apartment that makes my old monastic cell look almost luxurious by comparison. I have no bicycle, no car, no television I can understand, no media — and the days seem to stretch into eternities, and I can’t think of a single thing I lack.

I’m no Buddhist monk, and I can’t say I’m in love with renunciation in itself, or traveling an hour or more to print out an article I’ve written, or missing out on the N.B.A. Finals. But at some point, I decided that, for me at least, happiness arose out of all I didn’t want or need, not all I did. And it seemed quite useful to take a clear, hard look at what really led to peace of mind or absorption (the closest I’ve come to understanding happiness). Not having a car gives me volumes not to think or worry about, and makes walks around the neighborhood a daily adventure. Lacking a cell phone and high-speed Internet, I have time to play ping-pong every evening, to write long letters to old friends and to go shopping for my sweetheart (or to track down old baubles for two kids who are now out in the world).

When the phone does ring — once a week — I’m thrilled, as I never was when the phone rang in my overcrowded office in Rockefeller Center. And when I return to the United States every three months or so and pick up a newspaper, I find I haven’t missed much at all. While I’ve been rereading P.G. Wodehouse, or “Walden,” the crazily accelerating roller-coaster of the 24/7 news cycle has propelled people up and down and down and up and then left them pretty much where they started. “I call that man rich,” Henry James’s Ralph Touchett observes in “Portrait of a Lady,” “who can satisfy the requirements of his imagination.” Living in the future tense never did that for me.

I certainly wouldn’t recommend my life to most people — and my heart goes out to those who have recently been condemned to a simplicity they never needed or wanted. But I’m not sure how much outward details or accomplishments ever really make us happy deep down. The millionaires I know seem desperate to become multimillionaires, and spend more time with their lawyers and their bankers than with their friends (whose motivations they are no longer sure of). And I remember how, in the corporate world, I always knew there was some higher position I could attain, which meant that, like Zeno’s arrow, I was guaranteed never to arrive and always to remain dissatisfied.

Being self-employed will always make for a precarious life; these days, it is more uncertain than ever, especially since my tools of choice, written words, are coming to seem like accessories to images. Like almost everyone I know, I’ve lost much of my savings in the past few months. I even went through a dress-rehearsal for our enforced austerity when my family home in Santa Barbara burned to the ground some years ago, leaving me with nothing but the toothbrush I bought from an all-night supermarket that night. And yet my two-room apartment in nowhere Japan seems more abundant than the big house that burned down. I have time to read the new John le Carre, while nibbling at sweet tangerines in the sun. When a Sigur Ros album comes out, it fills my days and nights, resplendent. And then it seems that happiness, like peace or passion, comes most freely when it isn’t pursued.

If you’re the kind of person who prefers freedom to security, who feels more comfortable in a small room than a large one and who finds that happiness comes from matching your wants to your needs, then running to stand still isn’t where your joy lies. In New York, a part of me was always somewhere else, thinking of what a simple life in Japan might be like. Now I’m there, I find that I almost never think of Rockefeller Center or Park Avenue at all.

Submitted by Vijay Khare
Source: http://www.dailygood.org/

Donate Blood - Save Life

World BLOOD DONAR'S Day
14 th June 2009

Amitabha Bose

Myth #1: You can get a blood-borne disease by donating blood.
Fact #1: All materials used to collect blood are new. They have been sterilized by the manufacturer and have never been used before.

Myth #2: I only need to donate once per year.
Fact #2: You can donate every 56 days. It is important to do so because, platelets only have a shelf life of 5 days and red cells have a shelf life of 42 days.

Myth #3: My blood type is so common, that I don't need to donate.
Fact #3: NOT TRUE. Some blood types are more common than others, but the rarest type of blood is the type that is not available when needed. Regular donations are needed throughout the year for all blood types..

Myth #4: Giving blood hurts
Fact #4: The pain experienced is no more than a needle prick. The slight soreness that maybe where the needle was is just a reminder of the good deed done.

Myth # 5: HIV or other infections can be contracted from donating blood.
Fact #5: A clear procedure exists for taking blood from each donor. Sterility is maintained at all steps. A sterile, new needle is used for each donation and is then properly discarded. Use of sterile equipment and technique limits the chance of infection.

Myth #6: Giving blood is time consuming
Fact #6: The time taken for a single donation session is normally not more than an hour or so.

Myth #7: There is limited blood in the body and it is unhealthy to give some away.
Fact #7: Only about 470ml of blood is taken during a donation session. There is enough blood in the body to donate it without experiencing any ill effects. The body makes new blood after donation.

Myth #8: Age is a deterrent to blood donation.
Fact #8:Anyone up to the age of 60 who is fit and healthy can give blood.

Myth #9: Heavy people are healthier and have more blood to give.
Fact #9: Being overweight makes people less healthy. Overweight people do not have more blood.

Myth 10: Health deteriorates after donating blood.
Fact #10: If you are healthy prior to donation, your recovery is complete in a day or two. It is advised to rest a while after donating. Drinking enough liquids replaces the lost fluid within a couple of hours. The body produces new cells faster after a donation. All the RBCs are replaced within 3-4 days and WBCs within 3 weeks.

Myth #11:You cannot take part in sports or other physical activities after donating blood.
Fact #11: Giving blood does not interfere with ability to perform physically. Advice to avoid heavy lifting or strenuous workouts for the rest of the day is given after the donation. You can get back on track the next day.

Myth #12:Taking medication means that one cannot be a blood donor.
Fact #12: Depending on the medication being taken, it may halt donation for a period, though in many cases it won't prevent a donation. The person in charge or the nursing staff should be informed before donating.

Myth #13 When there is a requirement, blood can be manufactured.
Fact #13: Blood is not something that can be manufactured. It can only come from healthy human beings.

Myth #14: Being of mixed race precludes blood from being helpful.
Fact #14: Race and caste have no bearing on eligibility for being a blood donor. It is the blood type and group that is of importance

Get the best deal on voltas and samsung product

Rush on to gokul garden at dwarka near sector-7 fly over and get the best deal on voltas and samsung products. Offer valid for 2 days . You will also get free gift on every purchase.

The National RTI Awards 2009

Opening Date of Call for Nominations - 1st June 2009
Last date for Receipt of Nominations - 30th June 2009
Date for Award Ceremony ----To be declared (November, 2009)

The National RTI Awards 2009, instituted this year by Public Cause Research Foundation (PCRF), aims to honor every year starting the year 2009, those Information Commissioners, Public Information Officers and Citizens who display exemplary commitment towards the Right to Information Act, 2005. Each award will carry a citation, a plaque and prize money of Rs. 2 Lakhs.

Motivation for the RTI Awards
Despite the power of RTI to transform Indian democracy, the Act faces stiff opposition from many sections of the government, particularly the bureaucracy. For example many Officers are not performing satisfactorily. Some Information Commissioners, who are the final adjudicating authority under the Act, are perceived to be sympathetic to bureaucrats. But there are many among the bureaucrats who are committed to transparency and honesty. They go over and beyond the call of duty to implement the RTI Act in letter and spirit.

Award Ceremony
The Award Ceremony is an opportunity for us to recognize the winners of this year’s awards in person. We intend to give this ceremony maximum visibility across the country and the world. We are privileged to have the support of NDTV, Hindustan Times, Dainik Jagran, Mathrubhumi, Andhra Jyoti, Deshonnati, Dhoritri in this endeavor. Our panel of jurors will be attending the event (schedule permitting) to personally congratulate the winners. A national level dignitary (to be announced) will be the Chief Guest for the ceremony. The Awards Ceremony will be held in November 2009 in New Delhi. Exact date of the event is yet to be finalized.


Eligibility Criteria
Award for the Best Citizen of the Year

Eligibility Criteria: Any Indian citizen who has filed one or more RTI Application/s and has either:

Received a response to his/her RTI application(s) on or before 31st December 2008, or
Never received any response to his/her RTI application till 30th May 2009
And, feels that his/her application has created substantial public impact, is eligible to apply for the Best Citizen of the year Award.

Award for the Best Public Information Officer of the Year

Eligibility: Any government officer who has worked as a Public Information Officer (PIO) for any period of time during the calendar year 2008 (1st January 2008 to 31st December 2008) is eligible.

Award for the Best Information Commissioner of the Year
Information Commissioners need not apply. All Information Commissioners are automatic nominees

For any queries, please call 9711222577 or at 0120 2771017

http://www.rtiawards.org

ACCIDENTS- Points to Ponder?

Vijay K. Saluja

One of the Delhi Paper, printed on its first page the photograph of a bashed blue line bus driver, whose bus was involved in a fatal accident, near Moolchand underpass.
On its third page, was another picture of the grieving wife of the killed young man & his hapless & crying parents! The news report about this accident described another grim part of the sad story. The father of the bereaved wife, had also been involved in the tragic road accident many years back, when the unfortunate wife, was a young girl of seven. In that accident, her father had died & her own leg, had to be amputated!

Can there be more tragic incident than this? Let us ask ourselves. Another accident & the following events, tell another grim tale. Again involvement of buses. Here, I am not commenting anything about, whose fault it could be. But the fact remains, that a tragic accident on Delhi road, involving blue-line has again occurred, a young life has been snuffed out, a bread winner, the only son, the father of two young daughters, have gone, leaving the awesome burden & the burden of sorrowing old parents, on the shoulders of a traumatized, already handicapped [brave] & sorrowing wife.
The incident also brought out the growing anger of the public & onlookers, who decided to deal with the driver themselves & perhaps battered him black & blue & therefore the picture showed gory face of the driver. A very very sad case of poor governance, right on the road, in almost the heart of the capital of India. I don`t think, policemen, could be far away, from the spot of the accident? What sort of professional satisfaction, persons in the government, who are given the authority to govern, get out of these incidents/accidents?!

Don`t they feel bad, guilty, sad, powerless. If not, then perhaps their conscience is also dead. If it is so, how have, they been given the charge of sensitive govt jobs? Why the Government is helpless to effectively deal, as per the law of the land/conduct rules, with them?!

I saw another gruesome accident, a few days back, involving a scooterist & a not so , speeding car. It was the fault of none of them. But accident occurred due to embedded manhole, as the said road had been given a fresh overlay, embedding all the manholes. The scooterist skidded on the same , lost balance, was on the ground & hit by the car which was coming ,behind him. Presence of mind of the car driver, made the impact, very little, but the hapless scooterist, had suffered bruises all over, had a fracture & a broken scooter-for no fault of his!?
The car driver, for no fault of his & even after, showing presence of mind, had to suffer an FIR & attendant many hardships, with the police authorities, insurance people etc.

Whose fault it was?
Isn`t it the normal duty of the concerned, road maintenance/construction authorities, to raise the level of embedded manholes? Isn`t it a regular sight, which all of us, must be observing, wherever a road is resurfaced? Why this is not done? Why no responsibility is fixed? Is this proper, administration/ maintenance/ project management? What are the concerned authorities proud of?
Is it professionalism?
I leave this query to ponder over & draw the conclusion? Is the `Global city` to give these facilities[broken limbs & death], to its unfortunate citizens?

Another scenario which one sees on some roads in central Delhi is the performance of very young acrobats on the main heavy trafficked road junctions? Why can`t the Sports/ Social Services Deptt/some NGO`s, take care of these talented young people & provide them with minimum basic needs to survive & train them to be good acrobats, instead of becoming traffic hazards & endangering their lives& lives of others too ?What are the traffic policemen doing at that time? Why it can not be prevented/stopped.
Same is the story of young girls /boys, begging in the garb of car cleaners,Saturday alm-askers & hawking various artifacts, books, magazines etc etc!
Potholes remaining unattended for long, absence of proper signage , poor geometry of roads, drunken, under-aged, ill equipped, trained drivers, stray cows & bulls on the roads ,in operational [for many days] traffic lights, non strict enforcement of traffic rules, Influence-peddling, encroachment on roads & footpaths, improper barricading at work sites, are some of the other causes of accidents on roads. Apathy of the concerned authorities, perhaps, is one of the main reason for all this chaos on metro-roads.

The list of apathy of some of the members of the concerned authorities is though very long?! They have authority, without accountability-A [sad] Case Study of unresponsive, irresponsible, governance which is becoming poorer & poorer, day by day?!

It is however very heartening to observe that a few civil society groups are doing excellent jobs in playing pro-active roles in articulating civic/traffic problems & woes & as well addressing them themselves, wherever possible within their ken. DWARKA FORUM in Dwarka sub-city in New Delhi is one of those active group

THOUGH GOOD GOVERNANCE IS IN THE INTEREST OF ALL, INCLUDING ALL THOSE, WHO ARE GOVERNING! DON`T YOU AGREE? Just think about it.


The writer is Ex Chief Engineer[civil] , New Delhi Municipal Council

Twenty one Saying of Holy Mother

1.God is one's very own. It is an eternal relationship.

2.Ordinary human love results in misery. Love for God brings blessedness.

3.One who makes a habit of prayer will easily overcome all difficulties.

4.As wind removes the cloud, so the Name of God destroys the cloud of worldliness.

5.My child, you have been extremely fortunate in getting this human birth. Have intense devotion to God. One must work hard. Can one achieve anything without effort? You must devote some time for prayer even in the midst of the busiest hours of the day.

6.Do the Master's work, and along with that practise spiritual disciplines too.

7.Work helps one to keep off idle thoughts. If one is without work, such thoughts rush into one's mind.

8.One must perform work. It is only through work that the bondage of work will be cut asunder and one will acquire a spirit of non-attachment.

9.One should always discriminate and strive hard for the realization of God.

10.Even water, which has a natural tendency to flow downwards, is drawn up to the sky by the sun's rays. In the same way, God's grace lifts up the mind which has got a tendency to run after sense objects.

11.Through spiritual disciplines the ties of past karma are cut asunder. But the realization of God cannot be achieved without ecstatic love for him.

12.It is idle to expect that dangers and difficulties will not come. They are bound to come. But for a devotee they will pass away under the feet like water.

13.Can you call a person who is devoid of compassion a human being? He is a veritable beast.

14.I tell you one thing - if you want peace, do not find fault with others. Rather see your own faults. Learn to make the whole world your own. No one is a stranger, my child; the whole world is your own.

15.When a man sees defects in others, his own mind first gets polluted. What does he gain by finding faults in others? He only hurts himself by that.

16.All teachers are one. The same power of God works through them all.

17.I am your true mother, a mother not by virtue of being your guru's wife, nor by way of empty talk, but truly the mother.

18.I am the mother of the virtuous as well as the wicked.

19.If my son wallows in the dust or mud, it is I who have to wipe all the dirt and take him on my lap.

20.My son, if a thorn pricks your foot, it hurts me like a spear entering my heart.

21.Never fear, and whenever you are in distress just say to yourself, "I have a mother."

-Holy Mother Sri Sarda Devi

THEY COME FROM HEAVEN TO CLEAN THE CITY AND TAKE PAY

The three ex-employees of the MCD are so sincere that even after their deaths, they come on the earth to clean in ward 28 of West zone and take pay regularly. This has been revealed from the information supplied by the MCD on an appeal filed under RTI Act by Shri Ram Niwas Jain of Sanjay Enclave. The names of these three employees are Shayam Lal S/o. Shri Kashmiri Lal, Naresh S/o, Shri Phul Singh and Kishan Lal S/o. Shri Babu Lal. According to reply, Shri Shyam Lal is still performing his duties in Manas Kunj. Also, in place of late Shri Naresh and Shri Kishan Lal, the services of some other workers are being taken in the name of the aforesaid two employees who have already left this world.

If any one knows such a local body like MCD and ‘art of doing duties by returning on the earth after the death’, should inform others. It will be a ‘Karishma’ for the medical science.

HAI NAA KAMAAL
JAI HO.
M. K. Gupta

CIC IMPOSES PENALTLY ON KENDRIYA BHANDAR

M. K. Gupta

Central Information Commission has imposed a penalty of Rs. 250/- per day not exceeding Rs. 25,000/- on Kendriya Bhandar on the complaint of Mahendra Kumar Gupta of Dwarka (Executive Body Member of Dwarka Forum) for not responding to the RTI application in time. In a decision, the Chief Information Commissioner, Mr. Wajahat Habibullah has imposed penalty on Shri R. K. Singh, CPIO, Kendriya Bhandar from the date when the information fell due and when it was actually supplied. CIC has asked Ms. Poonam Rawat, Chairperson, Kendriya Bhandar to recover the penalty amount from the CPIO either directly or through deduction from his salary @ Rs. 5,000/- per month.

In its earlier decision of 8th May 2009, CIC directed the CPIO to respond to the respondent within 15 working days from the date of receipt of the decision. The KB letter of 30th April, 2008 to the CIC did not contain any explanation for the delay in responding to the RTI application. The CPIO was given an opportunity to appear before the Commission on 3rd June or submit his explanation but the letter of KB contained no explanation for the delay.

Shri R. K. Singh, DGM (Operations), submitted that Kendriya Bhandar sent a letter on 30.4.08 to the complainant and the he had not approached the office thereafter, implying that he was satisfied with the information provided. This letter contained answers to the RTI application of 27.8.07 but was sent in response of the complaint notice served on the Kendriya Bhandar by this Commission on 31st March 2008. There is no explanation for the delay in responding to the RTI application. Although the CPIO was given an opportunity to appear before the Commissioner on 3.6.09 or submit his explanation.

Note- The information solicited was about the proposal of opening the branch of Kendriya Bhandar in Dwarka.

Happy founders day to А.А Family

Dear Friends!

Wishing all members
of the А.А Family
Happy founders day 10th June 1935


May hope and faith carry us all together one day at a time and may God give us wisdom to remain united in carrying the message of AA to the still suffering alcoholics



Celebrations by GOLDEN FOOTWORK INTERGROUP DELHI
On the 10th June 2009

For more details: 9350394094

Our corrupt babus

Joginder Singh ji
(Former Director -CBI )

A Hong Kong-based political and economic risk consultancy, which conducted a survey of 12 Asian economies recently, says that Singapore’s civil servants are the most efficient among their Asian peer, though they tend to clam up unhelpfully when things go wrong.
The survey ranked India’s "suffocating bureaucracy" as the least-efficient. The appraisal said that working with Indian civil servants was a "slow and painful" process. That the bureaucrats are a power-centre in their own right, at both the national and state levels, and are extremely resistant to reforms that affect them or the way they go about their duties. The survey’s ranking in descending order of efficiency was: Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam, China, Philippines, Indonesia and India.
This is in conformity with the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2008, prepared by Transparency International, which ranked India as the 74th most corrupt country among the 180 countries of the world.
The government is by far the biggest culprit and contributes a large part to the staggering backlog of civil suits, over 10 million at last count, clogging the courts. The Centre, states and public sector companies determinedly appeal every adverse verdict despite winning only a small minority.
The extent of government involvement in litigation was acknowledged by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at a conference of chief ministers and Chief Justices in 2004. He revealed that a sample survey conducted in Karnataka found that in 65 per cent of civil cases, the government was a litigant, sometimes on both sides, and that "government litigation crowds out the private citizen from the court system".
The Prime Minister, in the same speech, also confirmed that the Karnataka survey found that most of the government’s litigation was in the form of appeals and that 95 per cent of government appeals fail. He observed: "In a way, they are appeals that shouldn’t have been made in the first place".
There is little reason to assume that things have changed since then. In fact, the Chief Justices of India themselves have drawn attention to government litigiousness on numerous occasions.
Incidentally, the Law Commission also observed nearly three decades ago that there was much avoidable litigation by the state. It exposed many instances where the judges found that citizens were compelled to litigate because of the "utter indifference" of the government, where government pursued litigation on "frivolous" grounds, as a "matter of prestige" or with an attitude of "vengeance" or "callousness bordering on vendetta", displaying "arrogance and a superiority complex". About the officials responsible for avoidable litigation, the Law Commission said that "the lack of accountability of the officer in whom the power vests to initiate litigation or perpetuate the same by preferring appeal, is largely responsible for mounting litigation ...cases are not unknown where corrupt motives may be at the root of the tendency to continue litigation so as to exhaust the other side in the fond hope that he/she may, out of exasperation, be willing to grease palms". There is a third independent cause generating this tendency to initiate or perpetuate litigation and that is to avoid taking decisions.
But, regrettably, even after such an incisive report, there does not seem to be any change in the profligacy of government litigation. India has seen major transformations in many areas during these years. But few of these changes have been in the government itself, and the colonial mindset that set the bureaucracy apart from and above the ordinary citizen still continues.
The Second Administrative Reforms Commission, headed by Union minister for law and justice M. Veerappa Moily, observed that bureaucracy in India is generally perceived to be "unresponsive, insensitive and corrupt" and a common complaint against it pertains to excessive red-tapeism.
It’s not that there is a lack of data or inputs as to how to make the bureaucracy more effective and responsive. It is because there is so much over-protection in the law that we seem to have reached a dead-end. It is not that the government does not know how to deal with the deadwood. It is just that it won’t. The government has the absolute power to sack anybody. But there is not a single case where an inefficient or a corrupt official has been shown the door. Everybody wants a government job, as it gives lifelong job security, whether you work or not. At the end, you get pension for life.
This is apart from the corruption which a vast majority of bureaucrats indulge in. As per the statistics, 24,130 cases, under the Prevention of Corruption Act, were pending trial in Indian courts at the end of 2007. A large number of them range between 15-20 years.
Incidentally, 153 of the newly-elected MPs have criminal cases pending against them.
Rajiv Gandhi once said, "Only Re 1 out of Rs 10 allocated to the poor is reaching them". His son Rahul Gandhi, just before the 2009 elections, had said, "Only 10 paisa out of Rs 10 allocated to the poor is reaching them". No amount of tall talk or big schemes is going to ameliorate the lot of the poor if all this money is to end with middlemen, bureaucrats, in a nexus with corrupt politicians.
The present laws have failed to either deter or prevent corruption and make India’s bureaucracy effective in its delivery system. The leaders should govern well and the lethargy and corruption should be weeded out by it, instead of waiting for the court judgments to come.
The government should put its own house in order before it can put the country in order. It should end the reign of clerk-o-cracy and substitute it with develop-o-cracy.

Frank Analysis of Lok Sabha Polls !

R.D. Bhardwaj “Noorpuri”

The long "Festival of Democracy" is over and the results of Lok Sabha Polls have also been announced more than a fortnight ago. Contrary to the expectations and aspirations of a large number of leaders, both from national parties and regional parties, whose rhetorics and demagoguery skills during the campaigning period, were nothing short of self-glorification and self-gratification, have ended in a smoke; as INC has emerged a victorious once again, with a more comfortable position than before. It has surprised even the big congress leaders, who were certainly not expecting such a positive and encouraging response from the electorates spread across the country, and also made it saddle in the chair of governance once again.

It is good that realisation has dawned on the minds of some of its previous coalition partners, who had openly admitted that, it was indeed a blunder on their part, not to enter into any pre-poll electoral alliance with Congress, which has resulted in not only their winning a fewer seats than they had in the 14th Lok Sabha, but also made some of them to lose their own berths. Majority of the leaders in many parties have miserably failed to gauge / judge the mood and psyche of the people. The electorates have given them a bitter lesson that the largest party with whom they have enjoyed the taste of power for a complete term of five years, it was certainly foolishness and against the principles of social justice, to field their candidates against Congress. It was also a narrow minded and selfish approach which a large majority of the people has stamped out. Simultaneously, people have also made it clear that some of its coalition partners, who often arm-twisted the UPA Govt. on a number of issues and occasions, in the previous Govt., and that too, on whimsical grounds and on not so logical reasons, simply goes against the political morality. And that is why; many of their contestants could not find their names in the list of the winners. Certainly, you can not have the cake and eat it also.

Now, that the main opposition party - BJP, who has been harping high more often than not, has been caught on the wrong foot. Their projection of the PM, Dr. Manmohan Singh, as the weakest PM so far, has been outrightly rejected by the people, as they seriously thought otherwise. Talking loudly and working silently and without making much hue and cry, are certainly two different things. When his manner and method of functioning has been appreciated by the large number of the electorates, he certainly does not need BJP's certificates. Not only that, BJP's own policies of whipping up religious sentiments of the people does not coincide with the people's thinking. Secondly, BJP should also learn the hard lesson that construction of a temple or mosque or a gurudwara is certainly not the job of a government, particularly, in a secular state. Down the south, BJP's adamant policies of not allowing the Govt. to remove the debris of Ram Setu (Adam’s Bridge, lying in seas between India and Sri Lanka), is also against the national interest, as big and heavy ships travelling from Bay of Manner and Bay of Bengal and vice-versa, can not pass thru the shallow waters of Indian Ocean. And they have to traverse a long distance of 650 nautical miles beyond Sri Lanka, thereby, causing India a loss of around Rs. 5,000 crores every year, besides, wasting a lot of time to traverse that distance. If those debris of Ram Setu are removed from the sea-bed and the surface of sea is dredged deep enough, the above mentioned long distance shall be reduced to just 167 nautical miles, which shall help India save precious Rs. 5,000 crores every year, besides cutting traveling time to just 1/3rd .

BJP should realise that what Lord Rama did during the ancient times by constructing a bridge between India and Sri Lanka, was the need of those times, as he had to reach an alien country to rescue Sitaji from the illegal / unholy custody of Ravana. As with the passage of thousands of years, that Ram Setu has collapsed and its debris are now lying on the ocean-bed in the Gulf of Manar, and it is hindering the passage of thousands of ships every year over that sea-route, and thus, now the India's interest lies in clearing those debris by dredging the sea-bed and thereby making it deep enough (20 metres or so); so that the big and heavy ships could easily pass through the much shorter route. If that gigantic task is achieved, it will help India save Rs. 5,000 crores every year and India shall not have to spend heavily on navigation of our ships over that sea-route. Huge money thus saved, can be utilized on several other urgent projects, which are dying / crying for want of sufficient funds. Moreover, everybody, particularly, BJP should realize that no issue is bigger than national interests and only those countries have made progress by leaps and bounds who have given preference to national interests rather than their narrow political / party interests.

Since, UPA's policies and programmes have been appreciated by a large number of people; and it has taken over the steering of the governance again, it should start the long pending dredging work in the bay of Manar at the earliest and complete the long pending / desired project, which lies abandoned because of the stiff opposition from BJP and its allies. The sooner this project is completed, the better it would be, for the larger interest of the nation.