नेचर फ्रेंडली पोएम्स

कवितायेँ लिखना एक बकवास काम है
प्रेमिकाओं पे लिखना उससे भी बकवास.
प्रेमिकाएं जाने के लिए पैदा हुई हैं,
और तुम लिखी कविताओं के पन्ने फाड़ने.
बेवकूफ!! पेपर बनाने को पेड़ खर्च होते हैं,
इको-सिस्टम की माँ-बहन एक मत करो,
रुको! प्रेमिकाओं पे कवितायेँ मत लिखो.

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मैंने एटीएम से पैसे निकाले
लेकिन पर्ची न निकाली,
कागज़ का एक टुकड़ा बचाया,
कोई पेड़ थोड़ा कम काटा गया होगा.
(कागज़ पेड़ से बनता है.)
इस इको-फ्रेंडली काम के बाद,
पैसों की सिगरेट खरीदी
बीच सड़क फूंकी
चे-ग्वेरा वाली टी-शर्ट से हाथ पोंछे.
आँखों में क्रांति की चमक आ गई.

 तुमने भी साहित्य अकादमी लौटाया क्या?

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तुम्हारे कार्बन फुट-प्रिंट ,
करते तुम कुछ नहीं,
बोझ हो,
मर ही जाओ

रुको! रुको!
मरने पे ज्यादा कार्बन
उत्सर्जन करोगे.
चलो! बाद में मरना.

वैसे भी धरती आदमी के बोझ तले
कहाँ ज्यादा दिन ज़िंदा रहने वाली है.

पांच कवितायें

मोबाइल फ़ोन पे तुम्हारी मासूम शक्ल 

बन जाती है.

और जब तुम बोलते हो

तो आँखों में तुम्हारा मासूम अक्स उभर आता है.

तुमसे बात करना जैसे

पागलों को मनाना है.

तुम पैदा नहीं हुई होगी,

तुम्हें तुम्हारे माता-पिता ने

बेवकूफ़लड़की.कॉम से डाउनलोड किया होगा.

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तुम्हारा लगाना किसी को गले,

तुम्हारे अंदर बवाल कर देता है,

तुम्हारी आँखें तुम्हें धिक्कारने लगती हैं.

बीसवीं सदी में जब

देविका रानी ने भी नहीं दिया होगा

बॉलीवुड का पहला चुम्बन.

उसके पहले शायद बूढी हो चुकी थी

तू, पच्चीस बरस की वालिग लड़की!

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वैसे कुछ खास नहीं लगता तुम्हें पढ़ना,

वही सब है

जो कहा गया पहले,

बेवकूफ पोएट्स ने लिखा पहले.

खास लगता है

तुम्हें पढ़ के सोचना

कि किस गधे को अपने दिमाग में रख

इमेजिन किया होगा सबकुछ.

उफ़! तुम्हारी फैंटेसीज़.

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तुमसे बात न कर के

बस उतना सा ही दुःखी हूँ

जितना सुबह की कॉफी न मिलने पे होता हूँ.

सुबह से शाम पढ़ने में मन नहीं लगता 

और अजीब सी बैचेनी होती है.

कोशिशें होती हैं कि 

किसी तरह मिल जाये बस, एक कॉफ़ी.

मरिजुआना से ज्यादा नशा होता है

कैफीन का.

विज्ञान की कोई किताब उठा के पढ़ लो.

तुम कैफीन हो शोना.

बेरोज़गार की किताब से

रोटियों के पैसे किसने चुकाए तुम्हारे
कॉफ़ी की ये आदत
दिन में दो दफे चाहिए तुम्हें.
पांच रूपये की पड़ती है घर बनाओ तो,
पचास की बाहर.
शुक्र है सिगरेट नहीं पीते.

तुम्हारे कपडे हैं न, ठाठ वाले,
अठरह सौ की वो शर्ट
अच्छे घर में जन्मने का फल है.
साठ प्रतिशत आबादी नहीं तो
रोटी जुगाड़ रही है,
सुबह से शाम.


तुम्हें अपने बाप से शिकायतें हैं,
जिसकी नौकरी से
बिल भरे जाते हैं तुम्हारे.
टाटा तो वो भी पैदा नहीं हुआ था.
उसने मत्था फोड़ा, हाथ-पांव-दिमाग खपाये
तब तुम पढ़ पाये.

रोटियों की दूकान पे उधारी नहीं चलती,
दोस्त बस भरम हैं,
फ़ोन कर लें एक दफ़े महीने में,
बस बहुत है.

देह वाली भी कुछ कमाती तो है.

सड़क पे पड़े पत्थर तुम,
हटो!!!

भोंदू जी की सर्दियाँ / वीरेन डंगवाल

आ गई हरी सब्जियों की बहार 
पराठे मूली के, मिर्च, नीबू का अचार 

मुलायम आवाज में गाने लगे मुंह-अंधेरे 
कउए सुबह का राग शीतल कठोर 
धूल और ओस से लथपथ बेर के बूढ़े पेड़ में 
पक रहे चुपके से विचित्र सुगन्‍धवाले फल 
फेरे लगाने लगी गिलहरी चोर 

बहुत दिनों बाद कटा कोहरा खिला घाम 
कलियुग में ऐसे ही आते हैं सियाराम 

नया सूट पहन बाबू साहब ने 
नई घरवाली को दिखलाया बांका ठाठ 
अचार से परांठे खाये सर पर हेल्‍मेट पहना 
फिर दहेज की मोटर साइकिल पर इतराते 
ठिठुरते हुए दफ्तर को चले 

भोंदू की तरह 

आएँगे, उजले दिन ज़रूर आएँगे / वीरेन डंगवाल

आतंक सरीखी बिछी हुई हर ओर बर्फ़
है हवा कठिन, हड्डी-हड्डी को ठिठुराती
आकाश उगलता अन्धकार फिर एक बार
संशय विदीर्ण आत्मा राम की अकुलाती

होगा वह समर, अभी होगा कुछ और बार
तब कहीं मेघ ये छिन्न -भिन्न हो पाएँगे

तहखानों से निकले मोटे-मोटे चूहे
जो लाशों की बदबू फैलाते घूम रहे
हैं कुतर रहे पुरखों की सारी तस्वीरें
चीं-चीं, चिक-चिक की धूम मचाते घूम रहे

पर डरो नहीं, चूहे आखिर चूहे ही हैं
जीवन की महिमा नष्ट नहीं कर पाएँगे

यह रक्तपात यह मारकाट जो मची हुई
लोगों के दिल भरमा देने का ज़रिया है
जो अड़ा हुआ है हमें डराता रस्ते पर
लपटें लेता घनघोर आग का दरिया है

सूखे चेहरे बच्चों के उनकी तरल हँसी
हम याद रखेंगे, पार उसे कर जाएँगे

मैं नहीं तसल्ली झूठ-मूठ की देता हूँ
हर सपने के पीछे सच्चाई होती है
हर दौर कभी तो ख़त्म हुआ ही करता है
हर कठिनाई कुछ राह दिखा ही देती है

आए हैं जब चलकर इतने लाख बरस
इसके आगे भी चलते ही जाएँगे

आएँगे उजले दिन ज़रूर आएँगे

Problems faced by women SHGs

SHGs have achieved remarkable success in empowering rural masses, especially women, socially and economically. In fact, the government has been encouraging the micro-finance based model of poverty eradication. E.g. National Rural Livelihood Mission. However, the prevailing model of SHG micro-finance in general and women SHGs, in particular continue to face a myriad of problems.

Problems faced by women SHGs:
(A) Women have little financial independence at home. Therefore, women SHGs often fail to augment their collateral corpus adequately. This makes banks reluctant to finance projects lead by such SHGs.
(B) Given the patriarchal notions of the Indian society, women SHGs are perceived with contempt and suspicion. 
(C) Low literacy levels in rural areas, especially so among women, proves to be a major barrier. Makes it difficult for them to not only gather information but also market their product effectively.
(D) Above-mentioned reasons force many women SHGs to middlemen, leading to their exploitation.
(E) Enormous workload on women, especially on account of their familial obligations, results in poor productivity of women SHGs.

Coming to the SHG micro-finance model for poverty alleviation, following concerns remains:
(A) Many a times, SHGs are dominated by the elite among the rural poor. This could lead to alienation of the real beneficiaries.
(B) SHGs don't often follow need-based loan disbursal for the money from the SHG account is usually equally distributed among all members => differential credit needs of the group ignored
(C) Model hardly focuses on investment potential and improvement of skill levels of the borrowers - making credit available is not a panacea to rural problems. 
(D) SHG model has not been used by members to push themselves up the economic ladder. Focus of this model remains on financial inclusion and fails to tap the entrepreneurial spirit of borrowers.

No doubt that the model has successfully inculcated financial training and discipline among rural poor, more needs to be done to make this model a true harbinger of prosperity at the grass-roots level.

प्रेम

एक रोज पत्थर पे
परीकथाएं रख में
छन्न से तोड़ दूंगा सारी.
बारूद रख दूंगा प्रेम की कविताओं में
और जबरदस्ती सोहनी-महिवाल, लैला-मजनूँ के ब्याह करा दूंगा.

फिर देखता हूँ
कैसे अमर होती है कोई प्रेम-कथा,
कैसे बचता है प्रेम.

मुझे 'हैप्पिली लिविंग आफ्टर...'
का सच भी कोई बताओ.
जिनमें सीताएं अग्नि परीक्षाएं देती हैं, राम शासक होते हैं,
जिनमें कृष्णा को रुक्मणी सौलह हज़ार औरतों के संग बांटती हैं.
जिनमें एक बड़ी सी गाड़ी का औरत छोटा पहिया होती है,
जिससे गाड़ी तो चलती है लेकिन औरत की मर्जी जाने बिना ही.

प्रेम एक ढकोलसे से ज्यादा कुछ भी नहीं.
प्रेम बिछोह से सास्वत होता है,
प्रेम साथ होता है तो
वहां प्रेम के अलावा सबकुछ होता है.

Nobel Prize | Medicine

Awarded Nobel Prize winners have contributed revolutionarily in developing drugs to fight malaria and other tropical diseases that are river blindness and Lymphatic filariasis. With the rising cases of death due to these diseases across the world these drugs is acting positively to contain them.

Significance of these discoveries:

1. Malaria:
it is a mosquito-borne disease that erupts mainly in developing countries which has affected specifically the poor. It is being estimated that malaria still kills around 500,000 people a year, mostly in Africa, despite efforts to control it. Newly created drug will be trying to provide early response and will also immunise person from further threats.

2. River blindness:
with the redesigned extraction process of drug it has huge potential to reduce cases of river blindness.

3. Lymphatic filariasis:
which lead to swelling of the limbs and genitals, called elephantiasis, and it’s primarily a threat in Africa and Asia. Since the newly developed drug is cheaper it will primarily reduce cases where huge cost on treatment is impossible for the people.

Hence these discoveries have provided powerful new means to combat these debilitating diseases that affect hundreds of millions of people annually.

National Encryption policy

Draft National Encryption policy, that is published recently enables to create an environment of secure cyber space and to strengthened cyber laws of the country. The policy puts legal barriers over the netizens to produce communications, transactions and any other texts to the government if and when required. But with the concerns to protect the information from cyber-attacks the policy have various short comings:

1. Encryption key:
the service providers, e-commerce companies that uses encrypted keys to secure their websites is required to produce these codes when asked by the government.

2. Time boundary:
it has been mandated to keep all the plain text or encrypted codes of past 90 days to be saved by citizens for the security purposes, which implies that they are more prone to be leaked by the hackers.

3. Registration of service providers:
it is being mooted that the online services, be it shopping online or accessing email, has to register with the government which is
biggest impediment to the net neutrality and impede the growth of nascent companies.

4. Anti-privacy law:
since citizens are barred to delete information, it has perceived as a breach to Right to Privacy instituted by Article 21 of the constitution.

Although the policy is a way forward to create a safe environment, but some provisions may act adversely and may also obstruct the growth of Digital India.

Regulating the regulators

Relations between the finance ministry and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have, for the moment, settled down. Is this a durable equilibrium? A certain degree of tension is inherent and may indeed be desirable in the dynamics of economic management. Unseemly public controversy, however, detracts from cohesive economic management.

RBI is India’s oldest regulator and was set up under the Reserve Bank of India Act of 1934. Historically, it has always been an autonomous entity even though the governor and the deputies are appointed by the government. Following the economic liberalization of 1991, the autonomy has been progressively strengthened and sought to be benchmarked with the best prevalent international practices.

RBI’s mandate until recently was somewhat opaque. Apart from setting interest rates, it was only in a nebulous sense that it felt obligated to promote growth as well. The government has recently concluded an arrangement with RBI for managing inflation in the band of 2-6%. RBI would like to interpret this as its overriding mandate.

Relations between the finance ministry and RBI have recently been strained on account of two factors. First, the manner of determining interest rates. The Indian Financial Code (IFC) proposed a seven-member monetary policy committee (MPC) with representatives from the Union government and RBI. The issue of whether the governor should have a final veto has, for the present, been settled given the somewhat broad-based composition of the MPC.

The second relates to the constitution of an independent debt management office. This was in accordance with recommendations of the Narasimhan Advisory Group on Transparency in Monetary and Financial Policies, 2000, suggesting separating debt management from functions of monetary policy.

In a more generic sense, RBI’s functions may involve conflict of interest. Setting interest rates, managing foreign exchange reserves, acting as a banking regulator and the government’s debt manager—all these do not entail responses that are symmetric. Reforming RBI is an ongoing process. Inculcating domain knowledge and managing an orderly transition is a continuing challenge.

Continuing economic reforms necessitated the constitution of independent sector regulators. It was necessary to ensure a level playing field, promote a predictable regulatory environment, democratize decision-making and balance conflicting interests. Thus, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), electricity regulatory commissions (CERC/SERC), the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irda) and the Securities Exchange Board of India (Sebi), among others, were constituted. More regulators for real estate, transportation and railway tariff are in the offing. There is also the Competition Commission of India with a broader remit to promote fair practices.

The sector regulators have been constituted by acts of Parliament vesting powers earlier exercised by the executive. Invariably, there are provisions for the Union government to give directives on matters pertaining to public policy such as Section 25 of the Trai Act, Section 107 of the Electricity Act, Section 16 of the Sebi Act and Section 18 of the Irda Act. In fact, even in the case of RBI, the old Act under Section 7 empowers the Union government to give directions to the bank in overall public interest.

These are enabling provisions to be used in exceptional circumstances. In practice, they have scarcely been used. The broader issue is the balance between autonomy and accountability.

When these functions were part of the executive, legislative superintendence was exercised through parliamentary questions, special debates on issues pertaining to various departments, detailed consideration of the demand for grants in the respective standing committees and the audit reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. These mechanisms are not ordinarily available in respect of independent regulators.

In other parliamentary democracies, special institution procedures have been created to fill the void. In the US, for instance, the house committee on financial services and the senate committee on banking, housing and urban affairs have jurisdiction over matters pertaining to the US Federal Reserve, banks and banking, federal monetary policy and price controls.

No doubt excessive parliamentary interference would undercut their functional autonomy and may destroy their basic rationale. Judicious decision-making, depoliticizing decisions for fixation of tariffs, user charges and interest rates improve productivity and growth.

What are some of the options we need to explore to strike a balance?

1. The existing departmental standing committees of Parliament do not per se examine the working of independent sector regulators. Explicitly extending the reach of these standing committees to include sector regulators and submit periodic reports to parliament would be beneficial.

2. The standing committee on finance and planning is overburdened by legislative scrutiny, including the Finance Bill and other important items of legislation. One option could be to create a special committee to be called the committee on financial and regulatory management that can periodically interact with the RBI governor and other regulators in the financial sphere such as Sebi and Irda. Their periodic reports to Parliament would provide better understanding and hopefully augur more informed debates in Parliament.

3. In the non-financial sphere, the concerned parliamentary departmental standing committees could constitute specialized sub-committees designed to interact with sector regulators on policy-related issues.

The issue of who should regulate the regulators is an unsettled one. As liberalization proceeds further, the need for structured institutional mechanisms becomes compelling. Balancing accountability with autonomy is a learning curve.

A former Rajya Sabha member and current member of the BJP, N.K. Singh has held key bureaucratic assignments and has been secretary to the Prime Minister and a member of the Planning Commission.

http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/zeVBlQKBAbF9BBx6dQNpWN/Regulating-the-regulators.html