The Edison of India - G. D. Naidu

 Wikipedia has this to say about him:

G. D. Naidu (Gopalaswamy Doraiswamy Naidu (23 March 1893 – 4 January 1974) was an Indian inventor and engineer who is also referred to as the Edison of India.He is credited with the manufacture of the first electric motor in India. His contributions were primarily industrial but also span the fields of electrical, mechanical, agricultural (Hybrid cultivation) and automobile engineering. He had only primary education but excelled as a versatile genius.

 You can read the whole wikipedia article if you wanna know about this man... It says there he started philanthropic work after some years of his life and built colleges for engineering. But there is much more to the story said [which I heard from my parents]... You can call it "the word on the street".

If You Want to be a PM, Fill this Applicationg Form!

Application Form To Be Filled For Contesting Indian PM Elections

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1. Name of Candidate: _______________________

2. Present Address

i) Name of Jail: _______________________

ii) Cell Number: _______________________

(If not in Jail, attach proof of residence)

Corruption ~ The Plunder of India

Corruption in India 2010 and Before
A mail from Nivedhita... :) Thanks Nive... It surely is an informative file.

Skit Based on Corruption - Class Presentation

This is the play which we enacted for our [XI 'A'] class presentation a few weeks back. The play was written by two of us [Karthiga and I] and well... I thought it was worth posting it here, as it's about the most frequently discussed topic everywhere - Corruption.

Narrator: It’s August 14th, the day before the Independence Day and the day looked beautiful and promising. One lady is seen amongst the crowd. Though she looked like any normal woman, her noble and dignified demeanor set her apart from everyone else in the place. Yet, people went by without even throwing a glance at the stately lady. For some reason, she is invisible to their eyes. She is the Bharat Mata. Yes, the Mother of India. As she crossed a building, she heard some voices and stopped to listen.

Scams Cram the Country

There have been lots of scams in the news lately… some of them capable of making even the least-concerned man downright indignant. Before anyone even attempts to figure out the reason for so many appalling scams rocking the country and how they can be stopped, one has to know a lot about them. In other words, one has to do homework and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing… No matter how unforgivably shameful these scams are, I can’t deny that it has been rather interesting to read about them… and even more fascinating to write about them… mainly because these scams [in my opinion] are not diseases in themselves. They are just symptoms of a greater ailment called CORRUPTION.

The most buzzing news is about the former telecom minister A. Raja’s resignation. Contrary to the popular misconception, the former union minister did not stash away all the lost cash [1.7 lakh crore] in some Swiss Bank account. He had actually allocated the 2G spectrum to companies for a very low cost, which resulted in a loss of about Rs. 1, 70, 000 crores [that’s about the total expenditure that had been planned in the Union Budget for the years 2008-2009] for the Government [technically the loss of tax-payers’ money].

The Common Loot Game

Corruption, Terrorism, Cleanliness, Inadequacy - What else can possibly go wrong with the Commonwealth Games 2010 in Delhi?

Media accessed reports in late July of the Chief Vigilance Commission (CVC) which points to corruption at every level in the organization of the games. The CVC report says that almost all organizations executing infrastructure works for Commonwealth Games have flouted rules in tenders and increased their prices. This means contractors have been paid more that what is the right price. But despite higher rates, work has allegedly been delayed and quality has been compromised in all venues. The report says there is no guarantee of quality of the work done because test records have been fabricated to show compliance.

Then there is the threat from terrorist groups and there was also a small scare when two Taiwanese people were seen in Delhi's Jamma Masjid mosque. Countries and their Sportsmen are more than a bit afraid about potential terrorist attacks.

Corruption

India is ranked 85 out of a 179 countries in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index, although its score has improved consistently from 2.7 in 2002 to 3.4 in 2008.
A 2005 study done by Transparency International (TI) in India found that more than 50% of the people had firsthand experience of paying bribe or peddling influence to get a job done in a public office.
Officials often steal state property. In Bihar, more than 80% of the subsidized food aid to poor is stolen.
A 2009 survey of the leading economies of Asia, revealed Indian bureaucracy to be not just least efficient out of Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam, China, Philippines and Indonesia; further it was also found that working with the India's civil servants was a "slow and painful" process.

Right to Information Act

Right to Information is a part of fundamental rights under Article 19(1) of the Constitution. Article 19 (1) says that every citizen has freedom of speech and expression. As early as in 1976, the Supreme Court said in the case of Raj Narain vs. State of UP, that people cannot speak or express themselves unless they know. Therefore, right to information is embedded in article 19. In the same case, Supreme Court further said that India is a democracy. People are the masters. Therefore, the masters have a right to know how the governments, meant to serve them, are functioning. Further, every citizen pays taxes. Even a beggar on the street pays tax (in the form of sales tax, excise duty etc) when he buys a piece of soap from the market. The citizens therefore, have a right to know how their money was being spent. These three principles were laid down by the Supreme Court while saying that RTI is a part of our fundamental rights.

If RTI is a fundamental right, then why do we need an Act to give us this right? This is because if you went to any Government Department and told the officer there, “RTI is my fundamental right, and that I am the master of this country. Therefore, please show me all your files”, he would not do that. In all probability, he would throw you out of his room. Therefore, we need a machinery or a process through which we can exercise this fundamental right. Right to Information Act 2005, which became effective on 13th October 2005, provides that machinery. Therefore, Right to Information Act does not give us any new right. It simply lays down the process on how to apply for information, where to apply, how much fees etc.

Right to Information Act 2005 empowers every citizen to:

• Ask any questions from the Government or seek any information
• Take copies of any government documents
• Inspect any government documents.
• Inspect any Government works.
• Take samples of materials of any Government work.

The Central RTI Act extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir. All bodies, which are constituted under the Constitution or under any law or under any Government notification or all bodies, including NGOs, which are owned, controlled or substantially financed by the Government are covered. All private bodies, which are owned, controlled or substantially financed by the Government are directly covered. Others are indirectly covered. That is, if a government department can access information from any private body under any other Act, the same can be accessed by the citizen under the RTI Act through that government department.

Isn’t Official Secrets Act 1923 an obstacle to the implementation of RTI Act? No. Sec 22 of the RTI Act 2005 clearly says that RTI Act would over ride all existing Acts including Officials Secrets Act. A PIO can refuse information on 11 subjects that are listed in section 8 of the RTI Act. These include information received in confidence from foreign governments, information prejudicial to security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the country, breach of privilege of legislatures, etc. There is a list of 18 agencies given in second schedule of the Act to which RTI Act does not apply. However, they also have to give information if it relates to matters pertaining to allegations of corruption or human rights violations.

One or more existing officers in every Government Department have been designated as Public Information Officers (PIO). These PIOs act like nodal officers. You have to file your applications with them. They are responsible for collecting information sought by you from various wings of that Department and providing that information to you. In addition, several officers have been appointed as Assistant Public Information Officers (APIOs). Their job is only to accept applications from the public and forward it to the right PIO.
[www.righttoinformation.org]