a l a h C n o Kho
The Uprising...
One man. One voice. A billion hearts. We want JUSTICE!
A Rotaract Club of H. R. College Publication R. I. Dist. 3140
The Legend Lives On...
Khoon Chala
Words From the Wise...
Today we see Anna Hazare sitting like a lighthouse on the shores of the tempestuous seas of India’s corrupt public life. He is 73, and was not born today.
And his avatar as the conscience of the nation, as the galvanizing voice against graft did not happen in a day. This sincere Gandhian social worker has seen with his own eyes honest, frank, truthful sons of India being murdered just because they had the courage to stand up against corruption.. And their souls speak through Anna Hazare. I am very happy that Indian Govt was compelled to listen to the demands of the Indian People without use of force or bullets. That democracy is thriving in India is beyond doubt. What has been achieved is nothing but a milestone in the history of India! Long live democracy and long live the nation!
- Rtr. Romeeta Sukhtankar, President 2010-11, Rotaract Club of H. R. College
From the Editors’ Desk... Anna Hazare and his fast unto death at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi has attracted the attention of Indians all over the world. Almost every friend of mine in Australia has heard about it. The messages of support to this cause have been spread by Facebook, Twitter, Blogs and emails. Social media has again proven to be a powerful tool. Anna Hazare was not alone in this protest. ShantiBhushan, Retd Supreme court Justice, Santosh Hegde, Swami Agnivesh, Baba Ram Dev, Sri SriRavi Shankar, Mallika Sarabhai, Kiran Bedi and RTI activist, Arvind Kejriwal were all with him. Millions of Indians were supporting him and numbers were growing by the minute. India media also supported him in this fight against corruption. As we all know, corruption has become a menace and a massive problem. You might recall Rajiv Gandhi saying famously that only 19 Paise of the 100 Paise from the Govt money was reaching those who the money was meant for and rest was gobbled by the corrupt politicians and bureaucrats. It was 19 Paise in 1980s and I am afraid it might not even be 10 Paise now. Something had to be done! Our great social activist, Anna Hazare, and the whole India have achieved a massive win. They have forced a backdown from the Govt of India which has agreed to introduce a “Lok Pal Bill” in the Parliament by 30th June, 2011. This Bill/Act will have significant powers to combat corruption in India. Govt's initial Bill was not good enough and was therefore rejected by Anna Hazare and the Indian people. Not only is this bulletin a milestone of our club, but also is a trend setting moment in the history of India... Anna has reinstilled the faith in the system. India is here to stay, India is here for good!
- Rtr. Junaid Khan and Rtr. Yash Muthiyan, Editors 2010-11, Rotaract Club of H. R. College.
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Khoon Chala
Anna: The Making of the Legend Anna Hazare started his career as a driver in the Indian Army. He spent his spare time reading the books of Swami Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi and Acharya Vinoba Bhave that inspired him to become a social worker and activist. During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, he was the only survivor in a border exchange of fire, while driving a truck. At ralegoan siddhi‌ Anna Hazare and the youth group decided to take up the issue of Alcoholism. It was very clear that there could be no progress and happiness in the village unless the curse of alcoholism was completely removed from their lives. Through the closure of liquor brewing reduced the alcoholism in Ralegaon Siddhi, some villagers continued to drink. It is now twenty five years since such measure were used to cure the village of alcoholism. Along with the removal of alcohol from the village, it was decided to ban sale of tobacco, cigarettes and beedies. In order to implement this resolution, the youth group performed a unique "Holi" twenty two years ago. The festival of Holi is celebrated as symbolic burning of evil. The youth group brought all the tobacco, cigarettes and beedies from the shops in the village and burnt them in ‘Holi’ fire. From that day, no tobacco, cigarettes, beedies are sold in any shop at Ralegaon Siddhi. Anna realized that the only way to increase agricultural production in a sustainable manner was to build better irrigation system. Taking into account the geographical location of Ralegoan, located in the foothills, Anna Hazare persuaded villagers to construct a watershed embankment to stop water and allow it to percolate and increase ground water level. He motivated the residents of the village into voluntary labour to build canals, small-scale check-dams and percolation tanks in the nearby hills for watershed development; efforts that solved the problem of scarcity of water in the village that also made irrigation possible.A trust set up by him decided to take over the function of the village school which was in bad state due to government neglect and also lack of interest. So, it is no surprise seeing the fire of passion within Anna, considering the worthy life he has already lived.
- Rtr. Vinayak Narichania
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Khoon Chala The Gandhian Way of Life... What is the Gandhian Way of life? A question very rarely asked because no one cares and no one wants to. They all know Mahatma Gandhi, the father of our nation, the very nation that has corrupted people, corrupted infrastructure and a corrupted government. There is a vast difference between the life that Mahatma Gandhi lived and the life that you and me live today. The Gandhian Way of live was totally based on the principles of honesty and simplicity, qualities that are today mere words and nothing else. Mahatma Gandhi derived non-violence and the principles of trusteeship from fundamentals of simplicity. Be simple in your actions, in your thoughts and ensure that they are directed towards the establishment of equality in society. In simple language, think big but live simple. No fancy expenditures, no influence of the Bandwagon, Snob or Demonstration effects on your purchases of commodities. Buy how much ever you want, spend within your limits. Today before the month’s salary has entered our bank account, it has already been spent on commodities, for which we have absolutely no use. They are a wastage of resources like time, energy and money. I am not being pessimistic or critical in my approach. I just want to lay down the facts, show the difference and allow you to decide which life you want to live. Honesty, the one quality which has been branded with the name Mahatma Gandhi. Truthfulness today means, learn it at an early age, forget it as you grow old. Shockingly both these activities are somewhere involved in our own education system. But the Gandhian way of life prophesizes honesty in every action you do and in every thought you think. Honesty gives birth to trust, to friendship and is the very basis of every successful marriage. But do you think being completely honest will help you today? Someone has quoted, “Straight trees are cut first and honest people are cut first.” But isn’t honesty required to even conduct the simplest of all business as well as social activities. Was Mahatma Gandhi cut or even discouraged because of his honesty? Yes he was but he never failed to try. He believed in his silent weapons of honesty and non-violence and gave the country its most desired gift. Every time he was pushed down he climbed even further. His life suited the times-less population, less pollution, less corruption. There was scope to lead a simple and a honest life in those times. But times have changed, generations have changed, villages have changed into cities, Indians have changed into Global citizens. We have no time to lead a simple life because the world won’t let is live one. What with the constant BBMs, the Facebook updates and the blaring television, who will find time to lead a life full of nothing of this. As times change, we need to change. I leave you with the thought, “ A little of the past, a little of the future, and we can change the present.”
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- Rtr. Jeet Jhaveri
Khoon Chala
The Lokpal Bill The emphatic World Cup victory has not even yet set in and a new major development has completely changed the scenario of the country. The new development is that of a hunger-strike undertaken by Anna Hazare, a social activist for the passage of the Lokpal Bill. The Lokpal bill was introduced in 1969, and passed in the Lok sabha. Unfortunately it did not a get a green signal from the Rajya Sabha. Henceforth, the bill was introduced nine times, but never cleared. The basic aim of the Lokpal bill is to free the country of corruption in politics and bureaucracy by instituting the Lokpal at the centre and a Lokayukta in each state. The lokayukta and lokpal, as per the bill should be free from government interference and the common man can take the complaints of corruption to either of them.
According to the bill, If a common man has a problem in getting his passport or ration card issued he can make a complaint to the Lokpal. The lokpal will have to ensure that the work gets done within a month of the complaint. Whereas allegations for corruption are concerned the time span mentioned is one year for the lokpal to complete the investigations and one and half year to complete the trial, so as to ensure that the case is not dragged for too long. The failure of the passage of the bill has led Anna Hazare to undertake the drastic step of fast unto death. He wants the government to implement the Lokpal bill or provide representation to the civil society when the new Bill is drafted. While on the other hand the govenrment's versions of the Bill says that Hazare and his supporters are too weak. This dispute has resulted in the resignation of Sharad Pawar from the Group of Ministers. The youth which is the future of the country should pledge their support to Anna Hazare in his undertakings and stand up for the passage of the Lokpal bill.
- Rtr. Purvi Parikh
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Khoon Chala
Anna Hazare’s Struggle
On April 5,2011 Anna Hazare initiated a movement for passing a stronger anticorruption Lokpal (ombudsman) bill in the Indian Parliament. As a part of this movement, N. Santosh Hegde, a former justice of the Supreme Court of India and Lokayukta of Karnataka, Prashant Bhushan, a senior lawyer in the Supreme Court along with the members of the India Against Corruption movement drafted an alternate bill, named as the Jan Lokpal Bill (People's Ombudsman Bill) with more stringent provisions and wider power to the Lokpal (Ombudsman). Hazare had started a fast unto death from 5 April 2011 at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, to press for the demand to form a joint committee of the representatives of the Government and the civil society
to draft a new bill with stronger penal actions and more independence to the Lokpal and Lokayuktas (Ombudsmen in the states), after his demand was rejected by the Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh Before commencing his 'fast unto death' he stated, "I will fast until Jan Lokpal Bill is passed". When Hazare said this that he is going to fast until death , he said this because he wants his demands to be fulfilled by the Government. The PM refused to give into his demands, he is using Gandhiji’s principle of Ahinsa(Non- Violence), which means that he will not act physically, but there will be no violence of any kind during his struggle to achieve his goal of anti corruption. Well if pondered upon then, Anna Hazare is using the correct method of achieving his goal. Logically, our country is very corrupt, due to the politicians and other bodies. The entire system is corrupt. The means used by Anna Hazare is Non violence(Ahinsa), if he would have used violent methods of Guns, bombs, etc. There would be havoc in the entire country as a matter of fact since there are regular protests by his group of men anyway. We saw Great personalities like Kapil Dev and Baba Ramdev who are standing by his side to fight his struggle. When Gandhiji had used this principle to achieve independence it did wonders for India as a whole, and i am very sure that this man will also change the system, and make our country one of the topmost countries in our world. So let us support this man for what he has endured and celebrate his success!
- Rtr. Nikunj Pherwani
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Khoon Chala
The Role of the Media in the Struggle When we talk about politics in recent times, all that comes to our mind is the backlash that is constantly degrading the condition of our democratic leaders.These leaders who in the name of "running our country" just run our money down the drains. 'Power drives a person crazy' and our politicians are giving us adequate evidence to prove this statement right. The patience of every matured citizen of this country has been tried and it is time to draw the line. It is very surprising to see that a man aged 73 had to finally pick the pencil and ruler up. Fortunately enough Shri Anna Hazare has got enough support not only from the average Indian but through the media which is playing a super vital role in this movement... The media has connected the country to every small step that is taken in the movement. News about marches, measures and moderation spreads so easily. The media has expressed itself so well that there is no misconception in the minds of any activist or supporter. When the media asks hard-hitting questions like 'Is India becoming the next Egypt?' or 'Is this the beginning of a new civil war?', the impact is intense and nothing is taken lightly. Mr. Anna Hazare's views haven't been exaggerated and the entire movement is crystal clear to one and all. There are constant shows on t.v and these shows have live talks with people of great importance and a lot of intelligence. Journalists, writers, politicians themselves and youngsters are all questioned and given enough space to put their point forward. No matter how much politicians justify their point, the media has made it quite clear so as to where this movement is heading and where the politicians are taking it. The job of the media is steady and its time for the movement to come up with a positive outcome in near future. The Lokpal bill needs to be made into an amendment. There are columnists and people who are cynical enough to state that the civil society cannot coerce the government to pass laws. What they don't understand is that it does not take 43 years to clear a bill. Its not just another "Hazare show". Hence,the media (electronic and print) has enhanced this movement and spread its importance to every person without any kind of discrimination. Well power corrupts but absolute power corrupts absolutely!!!
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- Rtr. Rhea Kotak
Khoon Chala Victory to Anna, Victory to the Nation!
In todays world,We often remember Gandhiji only through our history books or sometimes he rings an alarm in our head during Gandhi jayanti..People remember him and his methods only because they are forced to ..but its high time that the youth of the country know dat its time for another gandhi to be born in our country to bring the change and to start a new era.This is what happened some days ago..When Anna Hazare the military jeep-driver who is 84 years old took the first step to change our country for good.Anna has had a good history when it comes up to bringing a change.Afterall we all witnessed his potential when he transformed a village into a self-sustainable society.This time he has again chosen a new targetCORRUPTION.We in india have always wanted leaders to guide d mass movement and that is what anna hazare has been doing in these last few days.The importance of this movement cannot be described..India needs people of his calibre because India is a country which has a lot of potential but it needs someone to unleash the potential and I guess this time Anna Hazare is doing exactly something like
that.People say 'India is like a Cold drink bottle ,it has a lot of effervesense but d gas won't come out till d lid is opened'..and I personally feel that for the Moment Annza hazare is acting like an opener to open the lid and let the Nation speak out and do what it should.other than being a guide to the nation people like anna have also been an inspiration to others,for eg-the movement anna started spread out throughout the nation at a large scale and every second person knows about the problem india is dealing with.Everytime the nation comes together success is achieved..but we always forget that the person who brings the nation together is the one who acted as the catalyst in the whole reaction
- Rtr. Yash Ratanpal For feedback, details, enquiries or suggestions, please contact us at: editorial.rchr@rotaractclubofhr.net
A Rotaract Club of H. R. College Publication
The Legend Lives On...
R. I. Dist. 3140
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