India Has Jobless Growth, Admits Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattareya

May 31, 2017

Conceding that growth of the economy was not translating into more employment, Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya today said a task force has been set up to compile figures of jobs generated in the last three years. "The current growth is a jobless growth. Many European and Asian countries, including India, are facing it… growth is being reported but it is not reflecting in employment generation," he told reporters here.

The Gujarat developmental model, much hailed by sections of crony capitalists and aggressively pushed by Narendra Modi when he was chief minister of that state has also been critically examined by economists as a questionable model for a developing economy given its character of 'jobless growth.' Clearly under the same regime now at the Centre, this pattern, insensitive to the human resource needs of the country, is being pushed at the national level.

A jobless growth describes a situation in which an economy recovers from a recession but the job market does not.

"But we should also know that our country has only two per cent technical workforce, against the requirement which is huge," Dattatreya said. However, the Union Minister for Labour and Employment said the Narendra Modi-led governments initiatives such as Skill India aim to address this shortfall.

He said it was true that the statistics department showed that employment generation figures appeared to be very low. "But I have not received confirmed data from 23 ministries about job creation in their respective fields. I have therefore set up a task force to compile the figures and come up with (figures of) actual employment generation," he said.

The minister also said the current education system has too much emphasis on theory.

For instance, he said, in the engineering field 80 per cent curriculum is theory and 20 per cent is practical knowledge, while it should have been 75 per cent practical and 25 per cent theory. "We need to have more practical approach towards educating the youth," he added.

Why are Dalit MPs & MLAs Silent on Attacks in Saharanpur, Protest Marchers to Ask Starting Zanzarka, Gujarat

May 31, 2017

Beginning June 3, Dalit activists from Gujarat have planned a series of public meetings across the state starting with June 3 at Zanzarka, about 110 kilometres south-west of Ahmedabad, to protest against the alleged failure of elected Dalit representatives to speak up against the attack on Dalits in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh.

Saharanpur Dalit Violence

Home to Rajya Sabha Dalit BJP MP, Shambhunath Tundiya belongs to Zanzarka, and is considered among Gujarat Dalits their dharmaguru. Said to be belonging to the Garoda community – loosely called “Dalit brahmins” – Tundiya has his religious seat in Zanzarka.

Forwarding a detailed programme of the public meetings, Martin Macwan, founder of Gujarat’s top Dalit rights NGO Navsarjan Trust, which is coordinating, said, these are being organised to “expose” the political conspiracy of silence in the wake of increasing number of caste attacks after the BJP came to power in India, and now in UP.

A leaflet distributed to mediapersons wondered why – despite slogans like ‘Ambedkar Murdabad’ and ‘Ravidas Murdabad’ in Saharanpur, ransacking of the Ravidas temple, chopping a Dalit woman’s hand, torching of 56 Dalit houses, two Dalits gunned down and 17 others suffering serious injuries – Dalit elected representatives from Gujarat have remained silent.

After Zanzarka, a public meeting will be held at Gadhada in Bhavnagar district, on June 6. This constituency is represented in the Gujarat state assembly by social justice and empowerment minister Atmaram Parmar. Parmar is believed to be the main person behind the Government of India ban imposed on foreign funds to Navsarjan Trust in December 2016.

Similar questions would be posed by protestors at different spots where the march goes: Rajkot (June 7), Kadi (June 8), Ahmedabad (June 9), Idar (June 10), Dasada (June 12), Patan (June 13), and Vadodara (June 16).

At the meetings in all these cities, marchers will questions Dalit representatives on what action they have initiated against cow vigilantes -especially with regard to demands for a ban– following the Una incident of July 2016. Questions will also be raised on the silence if the establishment -government and elected representatives- on the the Sanjay Prasad Commission report on the 2012 Thangadh police firing in which three Dalit youths were gunned down. Especially why this report is still not public.

Other questions to be asked are: Dalits face social boycott and are forcibly displaced from their own homes, why are Dalit leaders and elected representatives silent? Manual scavenging practice continues in Gujarat even today, sanitary workers die because of asphyxiation in gutters, why are they silent? How much agricultural land has been allotted to the Dalits in the area /constituencies where these leaders are elected from?

To be held under what has been called Stop Selling Ambedkar Committee, the six page leaflet, prepared for the programme says, “For quite some time, planned efforts are on to suppress Ambedkar’s ideology and Dalit movement.”

Protesting against the effort of saffron outfits to to project Dalit icon BR Ambedkar as a Hinduist, it recalls that it is he alone who organised mass burning of Manusmiriti and converted to Buddhism during the later days of his in order not die as a Hindu.

“There is an effort to project him as anti-Muslim by distorting what he said. Just as Buddhism was destroyed by calling Gautam Buddha as the eighth incarnation of Lord Vishnu, a well-planned conspiracy is on to destroy the ideology of Ambedkar”, the leaflet claims.

Citing how the ruling BJP in UP is undermining Ambedkar, the leaflet said, even at the provocative Ambedkar Shobha Yatra, took out by BJP MP Raghav Lakhanpal Sharma, only slogans like “Jai Shri Ram” and “Yogi Yogi” (for UP chief minister Adityanath Yogi) were shouted.

Currently, says the leaflet, Uttar Pradesh police is seeking to find a link between Dalit protesters in Saharnpur led by the Bhim Army with Naxalites, wondering, “The government is thinking of using the National Security Act against the Dalits. The National Security Act will not be used against those who attacked the Dalit locality for five hours with guns, swords and petrol bombs!”

Now the CIC Has Upheld MHA’s Stand on Not Making Naga Framework Agreement Public: Blow to RTI

May 31, 2017

The Government of India (GoI) signed a peace accord (Naga Accord) with the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland-IM (NSCN-IM) in August 2015 in the presence of the Prime Minister of India. A press release issued by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) called it a “framework agreement” and hinted at releasing the details and the execution plan soon after (2nd attachment). Given the concerns raised by several quarters about continued confidentiality of the contents of the Naga Accord, more than a month later, I filed an RTI application with the PMO seeking the following information under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act):

Image: PTI

“Apropos of the news release dated 03/08/2015 caused to be published by your public authority on the website of the Press Information Bureau (PIB) relating to the signing of the “framework agreement”, between the Government of India and the representatives of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN), I would like to obtain the following information under the RTI Act:
1)    A clear photocopy of the said framework agreement along with Annexures, if any;
2)    A list of all files including electronic files and emails indicating the subject matter, and date of opening of each file in relation to the said framework agreement held by your office along with the total number of pages in each file;
3)    A clear copy of all emails and records and documents included in the files referred to at para #2 above;
4)    A clear photocopy of all communication received from every source in hard copy or electronic form till date, in relation to the said framework agreement;
5)    Details of the compensation package along with the monthly remuneration paid till date to the Government Interlocutor mentioned in the said PIB news release and all other persons providing him assistance;
6)    Item-wise details of the expenditure incurred by the Government of India for negotiating the framework agreement since 01/01/2015; and
7)    Item-wise details of the funds spent on the travel and accommodation of the representatives of NSCN in New Delhi for participation in the ceremony of signing the framework agreement.

I am a citizen of India. I have attached an IPO (bearing #32F 044910) for Rs. 10/- towards payment of the prescribed application fee. I would like to point out that the information specified above is in the nature of information that is required to be proactively disclosed by your public authority under the terms of Section 4(1)(b) and (c) of the RTI Act. As I am unable to find the said information on your website, I am constrained to submit this formal request. Kindly inform me of the additional fee payable for obtaining the information described above.”

GOI was initially not prepared to confirm who actually held a copy of the Naga Accord

The Central Public Information Officer of the PMO replied that they did not hold a copy of the Framework Accord and transferred the RTI application to the North East Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). The MHA also said initially, that it did not hold a copy of the Naga Accord (see 4th attachment). So I filed a complaint with the Central Information Commission (CIC). The CIC conducted five hearings in the matter. The RTI application, the complaint, all additional arguments I submitted and the MHA’s Counter and rejoinder are in the 4th-8th attachments.

Most of the time was taken to ascertain which office in the Government of India actually held a copy of the Naga Accord. Finally, it was revealed that the Office of the Government of India Representative for Naga Peace Talks, who is also the Chief of the Joint Intelligence Committee, holds the Naga Accord. Readers may recollect from the PIB release that he had signed the Naga Accord on behalf of GoI in August 2015.

Initially, CIC directed partial disclosure

The CIC directed disclosure of information relating to the remuneration paid to officials working with the Office of the GoI Representative, also known as the Government Interlocutor for Naga Peace Talks.

The information provided by the MHA indicated that the NSCN leaders paid for their own travel and stay during their visit to Delhi to sign the Naga Accord. About Rs. 13.07 lakhs had been paid to the two consultants hired by the Office of the GoI Representative for Naga Peace Talks. The remuneration paid to the GoI Representative himself was not disclosed.

Later CIC upholds GoI’s decision to keep Naga Accord confidential in public interest

Until the fourth hearing held in April, 2017, MHA contended that it did not hold the information at all. Then under pressure from the CIC, MHA confirmed that the GoI Representative for Naga Peace Talks held a copy of the Naga Accord, the MHA contended that it was the competent authority to take a call on whether to disclose the information or not. MHA argued that the information sought cannot be disclosed on grounds of Section 8(1)(a) pertaining to national sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of the State. I presented the following public interest arguments in favour of disclosure:
1) that MHA has repeatedly extended the application of The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 in Arunachal Pradesh and adjoining parts of Assam citing the alleged illegal and criminal activities of NSCN-IM and other Naga militant groups as major reasons. NSCN-IM is the party with which the Naga Framework Accord was signed in August, 2015. So I argued that the people have the right to seek clarity about the official policy of GoI towards militant groups that challenge the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India. This is especially important in view of the zero tolerance policy towards such groups repeatedly announced by senior members of the NDA Government;
2) that the contents of the Naga Accord had become a matter of widespread public debate during the recent Assembly elections in Manipur and that people had the right to know its contents from official sources;
3) that the NSCN spokespersons were making public statements about their version of the contents of the Naga Accord while GoI remained silent. So the voting and tax-paying citizens of the country have the right to know about the contents of the Naga Accord from GoI.

During the last hearing conducted by the CIC earlier this month, the CIC called for the text of the Naga Accord and other related documents for examination in camera. The GoI Official Representative for Naga Peace Talks provided an overview of the situation regarding the ongoing parleys during the open part of the hearing. The actual records were examined in camera after the CPIO and I were asked to exit the chamber, temporarily.

Now, after weighing the competing public interests favouring or opposing disclosure of the contents of the Naga Framework Accord, the CIC has ruled that it will uphold the MHA’s decision not to disclose the contents of the Framework Accord as so doing will prejudicially affect India’s sovereignty and integrity and the security and strategic interests of the State.

Most of the arguments that MHA and I put forward have been recorded in the CIC’s 24-page long decision. Unfortunately, after the final hearing, the NSCN spokesperson made some more statements about the contents of the Accord. Even though I sent a copy of the related news report to the CIC by email, the CIC elected not to take these materials on board. Fair enough, as the hearing had concluded and the decision had been reserved.
To the best of my knowledge this one of the rare instances where competing public interests were weighed by the Information Commission and a decision to favour one of them, in this case continued confidentiality was taken.
Now it is for the rest of the citizenry, civil society and the mass media, particularly, those who bear the brunt of the activities of the non-State actors in the affected States in northeastern India to press GoI for disclosure of the details of the Naga Accord and the current state of the parleys that is going on.

The author is Programme Coordinator, Access to Information Programme, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, New Delhi

Is the Latest Affidavit by the AIMPLB a Pathetic Attempt to Cover Up Its Defeat in the SC?

May 31, 2017

The recently filed final affidavit in the Supreme Court by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, purportedly with a view to end the triple divorce controversy, has in effect the potential of giving rise to more controversies, assuming that the Supreme Court will, on the strength of the undertaking contained therein, dispose of the petitions with the pronouncement that the problem has been solved and gender justice for Muslim women has sufficiently been ensured which was the basic objective of its suomotu registered petition titled “ Muslim Women’s Quest for Justice”. As for other petitioners, their lawyers have unanimously rejected the affidavit and its contents out of hand terming it “useless and an eyewash”. The document, drafted in the person of and signed by the Gen. Secretary of the Board, is made up of three brief paragraphs, the first containing a legal formality and the third listing the annexures. It’s the second paragraph that contains the Board’s undertakings etc. and is reproduced below:

“ I say and submit that the All India Muslim Personal Law Board will issue an advisory through its website, publications and social media platforms and thereby advise the persons who perform ‘Nikah’ (marriage) and request them to do the following:-

(a) That at the time of performing ‘Nikah’ (marriage), the person performing the ‘Nikah’ will advise the Bridegroom/Man that in case of differences leading to Talaq the Bridegroom/Man shall not pronounce three divorces in one sitting since it is an undesirable practice in Shariat;

(b) That at the time of performing ‘Nikah’ (marriage), the person performing the ‘Nikah’ will advise both the Bridegroom/Man and the Bride/Woman to incorporate a condition in the ‘Nikahnama’ to exclude resorting to pronouncement of three divorces by her husband in one sitting.”

Annexed with the Affidavit are copies of the resolutions made by the Board on April 15 and 16 at its Lucknow session whereby it was proposed that a Code of Conduct for men regarding matters of marriage and divorce would be issued and punishment of social boycott would be meted out to men resorting to three divorces at one go.

Lawyers appearing for all petitioners rejected the Affidavit out of hand as being ‘useless’ and ‘an eyewash’. Senior Advocate and erstwhile Additional Solicitor General Ms Indira Jaisingh wondered whether any bride to be would dare discuss divorce at the time of solemnization of her marriage, if for no other reason than for the fear of scaring away the groom to be and the marriage being cancelled. Petitioner Shayara Bano’s lawyer raised the question of the legality of marriages where in the ‘Nikahnamas’ the conditional clause of non-resort to triple divorce was not included. But apart from any hypothetical questions which may and are bound to be asked, the fact remains that the Affidavit has not taken into account various social and legal hurdles which render it absolutely impracticable.

In reply to a question posed by the Constitution Bench hearing the matter the Board’s lawyers had admitted that ‘Qazis’ in the country were not bound by their advice or instructions, and now the Affidavit asserts that ‘advisories’ shall be issued to them. To what purpose? What will be the position if the advisory is ignored and the ‘Nikah’ is performed? Will it be an invalid marriage? And what if such a marriage is ended through triple divorce? Will the divorce be valid and marriage considered dissolved? And the most practical question is whether the Board has a list, not to speak of the addresses and contact nos. etc. of all ‘Qazis’ in the country.

This question becomes even more crucial when one is reminded of the fact that a Muslim marriage requires no religious ceremonies and/ or liturgical rituals for its solemnization. Almost any reasonably educated adult Muslim can perform a ‘Nikah’ between a Muslim bride and groom and it will be a valid and legally binding marriage for all practical purposes. The board whose members have been enjoying largesse received from Muslims all over the country and the political clout they have been wielding as a representative body of twenty crore Muslims of India for the past 44 years have not taken pains to educate the gullible Muslim masses on the point even of Muslim marriage, what to speak of divorce, and how both should be gone through in accordance with Sharia law.

And as far as a ‘Nikahnama’ is concerned, Muslim marriage is a social contract and Islam enjoins every contract to be reduced to writing and duly witnessed; point here being that any condition, unless it is immoral or against the basic tenets of Islam, can be incorporated in the ‘Nikahnama’. That includes right to divorce being delegated to wife at the time of Nikah.

The proposal to send advisories to ‘Qazis’ is useless considering the fact that the couple to be married can refuse to take the Qazi’s advice. Will the ‘Qazi’ refuse to perform the marriage in that situation? And if the marriage is after all performed without the advice being heeded and conditions being met will the marriage be invalid in the eye of law and as per Sharia?

As for the proposed punishment of ‘social boycott’ contained in the Affidavit, not only such a punishment be unconstitutional and illegal in view of the laws of land, it will be against the Shariat of Islam which is based entirely on the concept of ‘Jamaat’ which implies collective or community living and togetherness. The essential question here is under what law and by what authority can the Board prescribe “punishment’ to any citizen? And if prescribed anyway how will the same be enforced? Do they have a mechanism for such enforcement or have they planned to raise a religious police force on the model of Saudi ‘Mutawwa’, the most hateful and hated police in the whole world.

Furthermore, what punishments has the Board ever conceived for Muslims who indulge in greater sins than triple divorce, for instance, drinking alcohol, gambling and adultery (live in relationship) to name a few, all of which are legally permissible and widely practiced and enjoyed.

The holy Quran is considered to be a perfect Code of Conduct for all humans. Nobody cares to follow that in toto. Who will give a damn about the Board’s Code of Conduct? This proposal is patently blasphemous because it implies that Quran lacks something which they will now fill in. The affidavit has been drafted mindlessly, but it clearly admits that triple divorce is not only undesirable, it is a punishable offence and in such a situation the practice is bound to be struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court and criminalized by the Govt. through legislation.

Courtesy: New Age Islam

Karnataka’s Ban on Planting Eucalyptus, Acacia treesa Boost to Improving Ground Water Levels

May 30, 2017

The Times of India, Bengaluru reports on this radical and much-needed move by the Congress-led Siddharamaiah government.

It was the World Bank-aided project to supply firewood and timber to feed the rapidly unfolding urbanisation back in the 1980s that ended up converting the districts of Bengaluru Rural, Kolar and Chikkaballapur into barren lands today.Largescale planting of eucalyptus and acacia trees under the Social Forestry scheme to meet the firewood and timber demand not only squeezed the districts of its rich underground water table, but also made annual rainfall in the region a mirage of its former self. Even though the state government had directed the Karnataka Forest Department (KFD) not to create Eucalyptus plantations back in 2011 saying it would have a serious impact on the ground water levels, there was no proper documentation on the damage caused to the ecosystem. However, with pressure being mounted on the government to extend the ban on farmers and the general public from planting these species, the KFD has notified shocking revelations on how these species made these three major districts barren.

Finally, heeding cries of environmental activists, the state government has banned creation of eucalyptus and acacia groves in Karnataka since February 2017.Putting together various research papers, studies and observations by forest officials, agriculture and geology researchers belonging to various organisations, an expert committee headed by the Minister for Forests, Ecology and Environment studied the subject in detail in January 2017 and were shocked to learn that eucalyptus and acacia were responsible for the present day parched condition of these districts.

Species exhausted entire water table in two decades

A senior official from the KFD told Bangalore Mirror that a first-ever collaborative study on these species was taken up in the late 1990s by KFD, Institute of Hydrology (UK) and Mysore Paper Mills. "They chose three locations in Shivamogga and Bengaluru Rural (Hoskote) which had recorded an average rainfall of 800 mm every year. After the third and fourth sightings, it was discovered that the usage of water by these species was higher than agriculture crops. Especially in Hoskote, Bengaluru Rural district, the amount of water drawn by these eucalyptus plantations for a period of three years was greater than the actual rainfall," Forest Minister B Ramanatha Rai revealed.

Until then, the water table in these districts was anywhere between 100 and 200 mt. "Yet another study by Mukund Joshi and K Palanisami on the ground water condition of Kolar area revealed that 20 years of continuous cultivation of eucalyptus in private and public lands deepened the freshly-dug borewells up to 260 mt from the mean depth of 177 mt. The findings were so alarming that even National Green Tribunal (NGT) referred to the findings while hearing a case pertaining to Punjab and made remarkable observations on effect of eucalyptus on ground water scenario in 2014," a senior KFD official, who was part of the committee, told BM.
According to NGT observations, even though the distance from the eucalyptus plantation had a negative correlation with the depth of freshly dug borewells, the borewell yield was reduced by 35 to 42 per cent in less than 3 to 5 years. All of them were well within the diametre of 1 km from a eucalyptus plantation. Observations are backed by factors such as identical set of soil, rainfall, rock formation and cropping.

"The NGT pronounced in its order that eucalyptus is well-known for high water uptake ranging from 50 ltr a day to 90 ltr a day depending on the adequacy of supply. In stressful conditions such as drought, its roots are capable of reaching out up to 20-30 feet and extracting more water. Species such as eucalyptus are regarded as bio-drainage species to poorly-drained areas," the official quoted from the NGT order.

Eucalyptus—The villain

On the plummeting levels of the underground water table in various parts of the state, especially in these districts, the government was told that an increase in number of borwells is the major reason for the fall. But now the government has also realised that the last nail in the coffin was delivered by these eucalyptus plantations.

"The water table in most of the districts is dipping further as the years go on quite rapidly. In terms of the status of ground water exploitation, many taluks in the state are over-exploited or in a semi-critical stage. But eucalyptus plantations are quite common in many districts. Further, these districts are not the areas the NGT has found favourable for planting eucalyptus in its order. In view of the research findings and NGT order, there is sufficient reason to believe that high intensity and number of eucalyptus plantations is one of the many causes for the falling levels of water table and requires to be checked," Rai said

The government also discovered that propagating the tree species causes colonisation of an alien or invasive species which is the host or alternate host for pests and vectors that can cause diseases adversely affecting the hygiene.

CHRONOLOGY OF A EUCALIPTO

* Eucalyptus was introduced for planting under World Bank aided Social Forestry project in 1980s for firewood and small timber

* In1984, the govt banned cultivation of eucalyptus in areas with more than 750 mm rainfall as it had begun to be infected by a fungus

* In the late 1990s, the government removed eucalyptus from the list of species to be planted under the rural development schemes under a GoI initiative

* In 1990, the government restricted the planting of eucalyptus to areas that receive rainfall between 500 mm and 750 mm annually

* In 2011, a circular banning the raising of eucalyptus at KFD nurseries was issued

* In 2017, an official ban on cultivation and propagation of eucalyptus trees by anybody across Karnataka was put in place by amending the Karnataka Tree Preservation Act

Failure is No Shame, Vaibhav Says in this FB Post to Others who Dread Board Exam Results

May 30, 2017

'Don't hurt yourself, physically or emotionally. I am saying this as someone who rode the same wave that you are right now,' Vaibhav Jha wrote in his Facebook post. Failure is No Shame, Vaibhav Says in this FB Post to Others who Dread Board Exam Results

The day of board exam results often cause fear and tension and while many students pass with flying colours, there are the others, who 'fail.' Failure is a heavy cross to bear, and such is the pressure that students face, that reportedly, a 17-year-old from Mumbai committed suicide after his results. Which is precisely why, this man’s Facebook post is important. Vaibhav Jha, based out of Chhatarpur in Delhi, wrote from his experience that it’s okay to fail, because your Board results most likely will not decide how your life turns out to be.

Read the Facebook post here.

“Confession Time!
I flunked in my 12th Boards. Me, coming from the Maithil brahmin ‘paida hotey he ladka hua toh engineer banega ladki hui toh doctor’ family.

I was almost abandoned by everyone around me. There was a constant cloud of SHAME, in bold, hanging out everywhere I went. Neighbours loathed me, parents hated me and the mother wouldn’t go a second without cursing her womb for carrying me, a failure, for 9 months. Like that thing comes with a display “fail hoga ye baaraveen mein, isko gira do doosra upload karo”.
My family didn’t like me. Or so I thought. In reality, they didn’t understand me. They didn’t understand that brainwashing a kid into taking up Science stream for a better prospect in the future does exactly that. I will be dead honest. I am an intelligent dude. I failed because I would do anything. And I mean ANYTHING to avoid studying. I would sit on the study table for three straight hours, making little balls out of papers and playing a mock football match to avoid memorising a Gatterman-Kotch reaction. And the results spoke for it. I failed. Boo fucking hoo.
Now, I wasn’t depressed. Because I knew that this was my doing. I didn’t want to study what was piled on me. I hated for my parents to be ridiculed by the relatives and others around so I kept at it. But it showed, the unpreparedness. The results came out and it was out there for the world to see. Vaibhav Jha has flunked his 12th standard CBSE Board exams. But what irked me, or rather, made it very amusing, was the fact that rather than my world coming crashing down (I was pretty cool about it. I knew what I had written in the papers afterall LOL :P), everyone else around me acted like I had committed a crime. Relatives who I to this date think are folklore and urban legends, who I have never even seen a picture of, all of them had something to say. And everything they said was underlining the sentiment of “Now this dude done fucked up and he gotta be grounded for possibly forever and made to sit in a small shop that his dad invests in or join a call-centre because dude can atleast spit angrezi because fancy public school”.

None of that happened. Nope. I decided that I will study a bit(I swear that was hard), cheat a tad, and pass my compartments. Kaisa bhi karkey. Tution masters who charged as high as 1500/- and hour (And this is way back) were summoned. They realised in a day that I simply loathed the subjects I was made to study, so to make sure my parents got their monies worth, they thought me innovative ways to cheat, or put a word to the invigilator in my centre so that he let me cheat. The world conspired to make sure I passed. I swear to god, the pressure was so much, that some dude told me that he could get me the question papers a day before the exams from CBSE itself and I needed to pay 25k a pop. So, me being a 17 year old, went to inquire how much a kidney sells for. No shit. I bought into the pressure too. So I know it gets to you. If it got to the cool cat that I thought I was, it ought to get to anyone.

Cut to today, the 26 year old me runs a small design/advertising setup and has worked with the biggest names in the business. I have marketed start-ups, Production-houses, Film Festivals, Feature Films, Restaurants, Hotels, Actors & Directors. You name it. I make a pretty decent living and so do the people that work with/for me. So, I pay salaries. Me. The dude who was scheduled to sit in a grocery store or a telemarketers chair. I know countless other folks like me. People who failed thrice! (OMG imagine how that would be) And they make 6 figures every month doing what they love. Don’t get sad. Especially if what you are studying simply doesn’t appeal to you. It is OKAY to not like what you study. It’s OKAY that you hate graphs and eco makes you react to gluten. It’s OKAY. It is just a passing phase. Don’t kill yourself over it. Don’t harm yourself over it. Don’t go screaming at the top of your lungs to your old man and woman, telling them off and blaming them for your failure. They didn’t do jack shit, really. They will shout and scream and call you a disgrace to the family. Well, that is standard Indian parenting, tho. But it will pass. I promise it will. No one gives two shits about your 12th std marks after an year.

ABSOLUTELY NO ONE! Trust me. I have interviewed people and I don’t understand the ones who write their 12th marks in their resumes. That shit doesn’t define the skills that you carry. All of us have a specific set of talent. Yours wasn’t getting a 90% in your 12th boards. Be thankful that atleast you know that much. Google about things that you think will make a legit career for you. Ask your friends. Talk to the girlfriend/boyfriend. But please don’t think of your failure/bad result as the end of the world. Your parents scream at you because they paid that tuition fee, boy. And it takes a lot of effort, making money. Avoid what they say. All the bad things that the Padosi aunty or door ki Maasi says, avoid that too. Channelize yourself into finding out that one trade you think you could master and do it. And if you fail at that, try again or find something else that’s caught your fancy. But live. Be willing to find what you might like doing. Life is beautiful if you want it to be. Give it a chance. Don’t hurt yourself, physically or emotionally. I am saying this as someone who rode the same wave that you are right now. It will be fine. Trust me.

ICSE Topper Muskan is Overwhelmed with her Performance

May 30, 2017

Pune: Muskan Abdullah Pathan, who topped the ICSE Class X examination with 99.4 per cent, is surprised and overwhelmed after checking the result online.“Until eighth standard, I did not even appear in the top five, but in the ninth standard, I stood first in the school. Thereafter, I started getting good marks,” said Muskan, a student of Hutchings School, Pune.

Muskan, a swimmer and a badminton player, is determined to choose a career in medicine. Born to professionals, she is determined not to be left behind. Her father Abdullah is a software engineer and mother Shakira a doctor.Muskan and Bengaluru’s Ashwin Rao have scored 99.4 per cent to top the ICSE Class X exam.
The ICSE had today declared results for both class XII and class X as girls once again outshone boys.Class XII saw a pass percentage of 96.47 while 98.53 per cent students passed class X.Kolkata Girl Ananya Maity has emerged as the class XII all India topper with 99.5 per cent and Punes Muskan Abdulla Pathan and Bengalurus Ashwin Rao have jointly topped the Class X exams with 99.4 per cent each.

ICSE (Class X) and ISC (Class XII) Examination, 2017, showed a marginal increase in pass percentages over the previous years results, said Gerry Arathoon, CEO of the Council.

A Student of IIT Madras Thrashed by ABVP for attending ‘beef fest’

May 30, 2017

After 50 students of IIT Madras participated in a 'beef fest' inside the campus on May 29, protesting against the Centre’s recent decision to ban trade of cattle for slaughter in animal markets, a PhD scholar was thrashed for participating

Phd Scholar Sooraj Beaten Up for Participating in Beef Festval, Chennai Photo Courtesy: Indian Express

A day after students of IIT-Madras organised a ‘beef fest’ inside the varsity campus, a PhD scholar on Tuesday was assaulted allegedly by a group of ABVP members for attending the event. The student, identified as R Sooraj, suffered severe injuries and also sustained a fracture in his right eye. The AVBP members also reportedly issued death threats to all the ‘beef eaters’ on the campus and also filed a complaint against the fest on Monday.

On Monday, May 29, protesting against the Centre’s decision to ban the trade of cattle for slaughter in animal markets, 50 students of IIT Madras participated in a ‘beef fest’ inside the campus. The next day, the Madras High Court had granted a four-week stay on the Centre’s decision to ban the sale of cattle meant for slaughter. The Madurai bench of the high court sought responses from the state government and Government of India on the issue.

The Centre’s move had generated strong response from politicians across the country, particularly in Kerala, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. ‘Beef fests’ have been organised across the country in protest against the Centre’s decision. In Kerala, Youth Congress Workers and organisations associated with the Left took out protest marches against the government. Beef was cooked and freely distributed to the public at many places.

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A Student of IIT Madras Thrashed by ABVP for attending ‘beef fest’

After 50 students of IIT Madras participated in a 'beef fest' inside the campus on May 29, protesting against the Centre’s recent decision to ban trade of cattle for slaughter in animal markets, a PhD scholar was thrashed for participating

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