What happened in Bangalore recently due to rain was expected to happen some day.

Bangalore ( Bengaluru) in 1980s boasted of hundreds of lakes and ponds, rather it was called as a city of lakes and gardens but a recent report on lake encroachment, in Bengaluru Urban district, mentioned that  88 lakes covering an area of 1,307 acres have completely disappeared and 80% of the existing lakes are contaminated.

In 2018, Bellandur lake caught fire due to toxic waste floating on the water surface that raged for almost 30 hours. Being the largest lake of Bangalore it carries bulk of city’s sewage. In addition to raw sewage, illegal effluents are also dumped into the body containing chemicals and oils.

Till a few years ago, another lake , called as Varthur lake was a hub for migratory birds from South Asia but as the sewage started seeping in aquatic life terminated, and eventually birds stopped visiting.

The issue is not only contamination but also of disappearance. The greedy politicians, bureaucrats, contractors, after Bangalore became the IT hub constructed shopping complexes, office complexes over the Ponds. The environmentalists, the right minded citizens kept warning the people and the Administrators but as usual they were humiliated , harassed and called ; anti Development, urban Naxalites, libtards and the construction , and degradation of environment went on ; some times in the name of Development, at times in the name of religion and traditions.

People from all parts of the country kept walking in for jobs and Bangalore kept expanding and kept submerging the lakes to accommodate the increasing population and politicians, bureaucrats and contractors kept pocketing the riches.

So, we ourselves destroyed the Beauty and as Gandhiji had once said ; EARTH HAS ENOUGH TO MEET OUR NEEDS BUT NOT OUR GREEDS. The nature has paid back this year.

Today is the time to ask ourselves ; HOW MANY PLOTS/ SHOPS/FLATS  DO I OWN ? 

As a matter oof fact we need just ONE House to Live. 

This is the story of every Indian city be it Delhi, Mumbai, Simla, Mussorie, Nainital, Dehradun , Bhopal , Pune, etc., It is not only about lakes , we have not even spared the air.

The AQI of Tokyo which has a population of 3 crores plus is 36 whereas Bangalore which has a population of one crore plus has an AQI of 53 and Delhi hovers around 145 and above.

Our greedy politicians , beuraucrats and businessmen are destroying each and every city.

The WHO recommends at least 9 square metres of green space per capita, in Bengaluru, it is only 2 two square metres per capita. What is in your city ? Is it not worthwhile to find and tighten the politicians of our area on this who are sanctioning Buildings and Buildings and pocketing huge sums of money for themselves and their party.

We are virtually sitting on an environmental disaster, if Pakistan has faced it this year, it could be India’s turn next year.

There are few lessons to be learnt from what is happening around us in particular on the climatic front ;

One, Changing names of cities and roads and Symbolism does not matter. Nature is too powerful.

Two. Being religious does not matter. Nature does not care which God you worship, How you worship and What traditions you follow, what Hawans and Yagayas we do.

Three, The Politicians and the Administrative machinery they control are defunct, corrupt to the core and lack vision.

Four. Nature has intelligence, Consciousness and patience - what we call the threshold level. Once we cross that threshold level and test its patience long enough, the nature reacts and no one can then withstand its fury even the mountains and rocks crumble down.

Five. Nature wants us to live in harmony with everything around ; trees, water bodies, animals, plants , human beings and so on.

The message is LOUD AND CLEAR ; If you do not care for nature it will hit back with all its fury.

Many scientists are saying that we have already crossed the tipping point so tokenism is not going to work.

There is only one God and that is MOTHER NATURE and it does not care whether you worship it every morning or not  , all it looks at is ; Do we genuinely Care  for it , love it, nurture it and live in harmony with it.  

 The path that we took in 2014 with a big bang, raising hopes and aspirations of the countrymen including those who were settled abroad– ACCHE DIN, SABKA SAATH SAB KA VISHWAS, Development, Smart Cities , SWACCH BHARAT , ATM NIRBHAR BHARAT appears to have gone astray and has now got buried under dust.

After six years the dream of ACCHE dins has vanished, the smart cities are not to be seen, thousands of toilets built at different locations are lying in disuse. There are TOILET Scams in every state as Toilets have gone missing despite spending hundreds of crores on their construction. 

 In one state when the Toilets were being tagged it was found almost 4 lac toilets were constructed only on papers. Who pocketed the money and who must have got the Contracts ? Does this need any intelligence?

No one in the country despite having spent thousands of crores can point out ; THATS A SMART CITY. 

The situation of smart cities is typically as depicted above in the picture. The residents of the city do not know Whether theirs is a Smart city or not.  

Vishwas(Trust) is fast disappearing after Hindus and Muslims are engaged in abusing each other and disgruntled muslims slitting throat of their Hindu friends, the demands of Khalistan are once again being heard – Sikhs are saying that If Hindus want Hindu Rashtra so whats wrong if they demand for Khalistan.

How did we reach this stage in just six years ?

Have our Hospitals improved? Do we take our sick parents to a Private hospital or a Govt hospital ? Has our Police improved? Are we getting Good quality electricity 24x7 ? Have our schools improved? Are we still sending our children to Private schools? Has the quality of air improved in our cities? Has the water situation in Indian cities improved ? Have the traffic conditions improved? Has the security of women improved? Do we still have to pay bribes to Government officials to get the job done ?

Why is no one talking about Science and Technology, No one is discussing about preparing India for future, No one is talking about improving the Quality of Education, building better health care system, better hospitals, Building better Research facilities, building Better cities and Better Villages ?

Astonishingly, All the time and Energy is now spent on discussing about Masjid, Mandir, Hindi , Devi - Devtas, Hanuman Chalisa, Quran as if there is nothing better left in the country to discuss and aspire for.

Why did we shift the Goal Post from Development to Religion, from Future to Medievalism?

Did it happen inadvertently (accidentally) or advertently (deliberately)?

Only the Government can answer?

However, we as countrymen need to find an answer to following ;

Can the Shifting of Goal Post from Development to Religion help the country?

Can a Country Develop when its politics revolves around Religion and Revenge?

Decide fast, time is slipping, once things slip out of hands, its going to be messy and Bloody and Returning would be very difficult.

Such a lovely refreshing evening drink for 79 million Indians- Liquor, is in news these days for all bad reasons.

It is really perplexing and confusing, that a country where almost 79 million people consume this refreshing drink have little knowledge about the policy that governs its sale and manufacture, the attitude is ; . humey to peeney sey matlab hai !

.

Having served in a liquor manufacturing company many years back , although for a short duration, I realized that due to our hypocrisy and double standards the rules pertaining to liquor trade are not only outdated but they out rightly encourage corruption, the state Govts have virtually turned a blind eye to this corruption in the guise of performing its social responsibility and to earn revenue.

It is therefore important to know the rules, so that  we do not inadvertently become a part of this politics over liquor and also at the same time be able to raise voice to stop this corruption.

Let me explain this.

This is one product for which almost 25 licenses are needed to start a (liquor) manufacturing plant .

So obviously, when there are so many tables and hands through which your application has to pass, it is needless to emphasise the important role, money would play.

Two. Right from the plant/ factory/ distillery to the retailer it is the Govt which monopolizes the whole process. ( Its difficult to find one service that Govt is able to manage efficiently and effectively ; education - No, Health care - No, Railways -No, Law and order - No ).  The excise department officials are posted in the Distillery / Plant , so that all the (liquor) bottles right from the assembly line are accounted for. So, even the Store in the factory is under the control of Excise department. Some may claim what’s wrong in it? Imagine what 3-4 Govt officials posted in the liquor distillery, would be doing the whole day , yes you guessed it right ;  when we all go to bar to enjoy the drinks the excise department officials posted at the distillery might have to just go to their office to get sozzled up and for that , the owner of the factory would not mind obliging them by offering a car also. So, the Store ledger maintained in the factory is fudged/ manipulated, for instance ; instead of showing 5000 bottles manufactured, may be only 3000 bottles are taken on charge. What happens to the balance 2000 ? Please go further.

Three. The State Govts manage the ware houses where all liquor that is to be sold in the specific region is kept. The demand/ requisition for liquor mentioning brand and quantity is sent to the ware house by the retailer. The ware house is also controlled by a senior excise department official.  there may be many ware houses in the region/ state, all manged by the Excise officials.

On receiving the demand, the Excise Commissioner or any District Excise Officer authorised in that behalf by the Excise Commissioner, managing the Ware house , intimates the licensee i.e the manufacturer who shall forthwith dispatch such quantity of liqour as may be required from the distillery and this will then be supplied to the retailer. The ware houses have their own specific area to cater.

So far so good, prima facie looks to be a good procedure. But as they say there is more to it than what meets the eye, the manufacturer by obliging the officials at the plant has already manipulated the distillery ledger and has 2000 bottles unaccounted for, which are not shown in the ledger( refer serial two above). So, he has created a separate avenue to escape the tax dragnet. This unaccounted liquor is sent straight to the retailer / shop and not via ware house. This shop as a matter of fact might be owned by the manufacturer himself.

Four. The Govt has not left any stone unturned to ensure that there is corruption every where. So even the retailers have to apply for license and the shops are allotted through a process of auction, which is also not fair due to issues like ; cartelization, monopolies etc of the retailers. Invariably one would find that the manufacturer himself would also be owning number of liquor shops in various towns. Now, its so simple a portion of liquor is supplied through ware houses and a portion comes straight from factories to the shop.

Everyone in this business is hand in glove ; the liquor traders, the manufacturers , the excise department officials and off course how can the politician and bureaucrats be not part of it.

As a result , liquor in India is sold at shops where you cannot spend more than a minute, there are very few decent bars in the town and if there are any, they are very expensive (so people carry their bottles to dhabas on the high ways) the liquor that is sold at the shops is expensive because of heavy taxes levied on it (In many states the Govt collects almost Rs 85 via taxes out of every Rs 100 spent by a buyer.

Why can’t the liquor be sold in malls/ shopping complexes, why cann’t wine be available on grocery shops, why the liquor be taxed so heavily? Why do we get poor quality liquor? Why are we forcing our countrymen to consume liquor which has high alcohol content? Why cann’t the liquor be purchased on line ?

There is no denying the fact that Liquor is harmful for health if taken in excessive quantities and we often find its adverse consequences on the individual’s health and also on their families, particularly in low income groups.

If the Govts are serious about the health and happiness of its citizens , they must either close down all liquor manufacturing facilities and retail shops or else remove these unnecessary barriers which encourage corruption and are making good quality liquor inordinately expensive and beyond the means of a common man.

So, not surprised, when Kejriwal tried easing up the norms and removing few barriers, obviously there has to be politics. The only mistake that he committed was that when the LG( Lt Governor) changed the policy at the last moment , he should have just called off its implementation. 

It would be naive to believe that the Govts and its huge machinery would not be knowing all this, but then the question arises - why are n't they opening up, why are n't they removing these barriers ? 

Its high time we realize that - Hur gate pey Chowkidar baathaney sey Security nahin acchi hoti hai, phir chowkidar key upar bhi chowkidar rakhna padta hai aur phir uske upar bhi and it goes on.

A Srilankan Manager was lynched to death in Pakistan a few months ago for blasphemours comments, Samsung stores have been vandalized because of same reason, many hindus and Christians have been persecuted or converted or have fled Pakistan due to fear, Pakistan’s economy lies in tatters. Its armed forces been politicized and islamicised. This is the outcome or the destination of the road that Pak took in 1947. If anyone interested can further carry out research as to how religion in last 70 years gradually started playing an important role in its politics and institutions.

It primafacie appears that we are also taking the same road that Pakistan took in 1947. Watch why it appears so ; 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d16pl6rX3E8