Two Titans as Warriors in Freedom Movement

Gandhiji Mohandas Karamchand and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose were those two warriors fighting for the freedom of our motherland Bharat in the first half of 20th Century. Both were titans in their own approach towards a common goal. One was from the western coast and the other was from Eastern India. Gandhi the man from Gujarat followed the path of non-violence and succeeded in driving away the British from India in his style although his main goal of keeping together the whole of India under one roof remained a dream. S.C.Bose on the other hand followed the path of aggression and war with the colonizers to achieve freedom for the nation. He even got elected once as the President of Indian National Congress but was not supported by Gandhiji. He therefore changed his approach and course of action.

During the World War II the British government sought the help of its colonies including India to support it. When it found Netaji collecting the Indians against the British, it put him behind the bars in July 1940. He wanted to take advantage of the initial set back suffered by the British and take the help of anti-British forces to secure India’s independence. He succeeded in escaping from house arrest in disguise on January 15, 1941. From Calcutta he travelled in train up to Peshawar and crossed over to Afghanistan. Although he wanted to go to Italy through Russia, he got an invitation from Hitler. Hence his journey to Berlin, the capital of Germany and a meeting with Hitler who promised to help India for her freedom from the British. Netaji believed that India would get freedom this way but it didn’t materialize as we all know. He reached Tokyo by a submarine. He took the leadership of the Indian National Army started by Rash Bihari Bose and announced the formation of an independent government at Singapore on October 21, 1943 in a conference. He also hoisted the national flag as the head of the government on December 29, 1943. This government of Netaji was supported by nine countries including Japan, Italy, Germany and China. He waged a war against the British from the borders of Burma. When the war was going on, the nature too turned hostile in the form of South-West monsoon towards his forces and hundreds of soldiers died in heavy rains, thunder, lightening, floods causing the disruption of communication links and followed by epidemics like cholera and diarrhea.

At this juncture Netaji was told about the reverses encountered by Axis powers and he therefore made a plan to escape from Singapore to Saigon through Bangkok along with his friend Col. Haphifur Rehman in a Japanese plane. The plane reportedly met with an accident and collapsed when it was flying over the Formosa islands. The Japanese radio announced on August 15 about his death in a crash. The common people in India refused to believe this story and many governments in Independent India (under the prime minster ships of Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and A.B.Vajpayee) constituted committees to probe this incident and tell the truth. All the three committees confirmed his death in the air crash and reported that his mortal remains were being preserved in Rengoji temple in Tokyo although some people still believe that he lived in the name of saint Bhagwanji in Uttar Pradesh till 1985.

The mysterious death of Netaji never fails to enthuse the Indians in exhibiting their respect and gratitude towards this national Hero.

Land of Peace

On the eve of 65th Birth Day of the popular chief minister of Tamil Nadu Ms J.Jayalalitha, an article presumably written by a police officer claims that Tamil Nadu has returned to its earlier status  viz. the peaceful park on the Indian soil by quoting crime figures of the current period compared to DMK regime and those of the neighbors like Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal. It takes pride particularly in the case of lands usurped by anti-social and politicians and the action taken by AIADMK government. It reports that more than 53000 cases were reported to the police and about 1500 cases were registered and 1943 persons were arrested. One may perhaps ask what happened to the remaining complaints numbering about 51000 cases and how many are still in custody out of 1943 persons detained. As one reads in the newspapers and watches TV channels every day it is difficult to count a day when jewellery thefts, burglary, murders are not taking place in the state. If, in spite of all this development, one says that the state is free from crimes, it is nothing but a travesty of facts on the ground.

Politicians as New Zamindars

The title mentioned above was the heading of an editorial in Times of India today January 26, 2013. 'Having abolished the zamindari system long ago, our netas (leaders) have with aplomb assumed the role of the new landed gentry as if to the manor born'.

The politicians have accumulated wealth and assets worth a few crores of rupees out of politicking over the years. In fact politics has become an earning profession for several individuals with the least investment in money terms. Chief Minister of West Bengal has started demanding the CPM party and its leaders to surrender their landed properties so that her government's deficit can be reduced considerably.

Christians celebrating Pongal

Hats off to the efforts of Fr. Gnana Prakasam, the Diocess Member of Virdhunagar District and the Divisional Head of Holy Ignatius Church near Virdhunagar Municipal Office and his team of Catholics who took the initiative and arranged the celebration of Pongal festival in the premises of the church. They arranged special prayers as well as the cultural activities on this occasion to exhibit religious harmony and brotherhood, seeking adequate rainfall and ensuring equality among the people in the vicinity.

One has to really admire and appreciate this initiative and approach for creating harmony among the communities living in those areas.

Over half of China's people now live in urban areas

For a nation whose culture and society have been shaped over millennia by its rice-farming traditions, and whose ruling party rose to power in 1949 by mobilizing its traditional peasantry, China has just passed a remarkable milestone: its city-dwellers now outnumber its rural residents. New data from the National Bureau of Statistics show that of China’s 1.35 billion people, 51.3% lived in urban areas at the end of 2011. In 1980 less than a fifth of China’s population lived in cities, a smaller proportion than in India. What a transformation?

Over the next ten years the government remained wary of free movement, even as it made its peace with free enterprise. Touting a policy of “leaving the land but not the villages, entering the factories but not cities”, it sought industrialization without urbanization, only to discover that it could not have one without the other. Even now, its ratio of city-dwellers is, if anything, low for an economy at its stage of development. America reached the 50% mark before 1920. Britain passed it in the 19th century. Go further back, however, and China’s cities dazzled the world. It is likely that one thousand years ago, the Song Dynasty capital of Kaifeng was the world’s most populous city. Marco Polo, who visited China in the 13th century, claimed that Hangzhou was “the most splendid city in the world” with 13,000 bridges—although later estimates suggest the true number was 347. In other words it could mean the report was either based on hearsay or wild guess. How Kaifeng could be the most splendid city unless the writer-traveler had personally seen at least a dozen of similar other cities in the world. It could be an exaggerated statement on seeing a tolerably well built and populated city unlike the ones he had seen earlier to this.

The point to be noted here is however the fact that China is growing faster on the same lines than other players on the globe and mesmerizing one and all undoubtedly.

A matter of deep satisfaction is that the state of Tamil Nadu in India has achieved 51% urban population as per 2011 Census. Urbanisation has, on the other hand, its own disadvantages in Indian context at the moment.

 

(Jan 18th 2012, 15:09 by The Economist online)

Initiatives of school girls

Four school-going girls from Thane near Mumbai have devised one particular footwear which can operate small devices with 5 volt current and cause a shock to the party in front. At the same time the alarm bell in the hand bag or wallet would start ringing and sending alarm signals to the select-few mobile phones indicating the location of the user for the rescue in danger.

This device is in addition to the pepper-spray and the chilly powder the women can carry when they are alone or at the receiving end from the male attackers. This innovation should receive the attention of the elders and the government for mass production and sale to the girls/women so that molestation, rape and gang-rape can be tackled by themselves in defence.

Free and Misuse of Guns

Radcliff Hatton (45) a black man became angry with his wife, lost temper and rushed to the beauty parlor on October 21, 2012 where she was working and shot down three women and injured four others before committing suicide in Brookfield area of Milwaukie town in Wisconsin Province of U.S.A.

In USA the gun acquisition and its usage is very simple and liberal. As things are unfolding in the last couple of months the citizens indulge in shooting spree killing several people freely and madly. The point is how to correct this malady? Probably the acquisition of arms should be controlled by licenses from concerned authorities