A New Kind of World War

OPINION For many of us, it may not be obvious. The prelude towards the third world war has already started. This time against a cancer, an enemy without a state. A deadly, dangerous (ruthless ), hidden and ever rapidly spreading world enemy. An enemy without uniforms, who can strike anywhere and everywhere, because they cannot be seen outside Syria and Iraq among the civilian population. They don't have a base; no territory of their own, which makes them even more dangerous. It would have been easy to defeat them if they were a state enemy. We Indians are not bothered; perhaps because we don't understand the magnitude of the situation; and perhaps also because of religious ' restraints '. I am talking about the ISIS. We thought the Taliban were dangerous; maybe they are; but the ISIS have quickly overtaken them, and have extremely rapidly spread their tentacles. The ISIS have a magnetic drawing power for recruitment, because of their extreme ruthlessness. Youth find excitement in suddenly becoming powerful and feared. So they join the movement. And mind you : the youth from many a country! The US have made mistakes in Iraq and Afghanistan previously; and now in Syria; so they are wary and unsure this time, to the extent that President Obama shocked his country by saying that he doesn't have a definite plan of action against the ISIS. Russia has it's own reasons for bombing and making air strikes in Syria ( albeit with clandestine US approval perhaps; but granted that Vladimir Putin does not require permission from anyone to bomb anyone ). Today we see France and Germany join the air strikes against the ISIS. France because of the ISIS strike in Paris recently, and for other reasons too perhaps. The UK too; they have been an ally of the US since WWII; perhaps even WWI. The recent ISIS strike in California have left the Americans shocked. So we now see a more definite Obama! Let us see in the days to come, what happens. It will not be an easy fight ( war ), unless people counter react promptly and unitedly. My personal view is that all nations of the world should unite with a clear and definite policy to wipe out this cancer with the same ruthlessness and determination through which it was born. THIS CAN BE DONE. This, then is ' my ' ( sorry 'Our ') WW III ! -- Sent from Fast notepad

The Opposition in India

https://prajkhowa1.wordpress.com/

OPINION & VIEWS

Mr Arvind Kejriwal is the Chief Minister of Delhi at present, for a second time, after a disgrace in his first  tenure.

One would expect him to get down to the business of administration and such other  duties of a CM now.

For more  than a month after he was elected, he was missing from office because he had a cough problem, and thought it wise to get himself into a yoga training centre.

Now for many months after he has joined office, he spends more time canvassing to people over the radio announcing the many things his government has done,and how he has already kept his word about his pre-election promises to the people of Delhi. One can hear his voice on the  radio every twenty minutes telling everyone what a "great guy he is"!

Perhaps he has forgotten that the elections are over? Nay, he is canvassing for his next tenure without realising that first he has to get down to work, and do genuine business in this tenure!

But not everyone would understand his tactics. Least not the "aam admi" section who do not see through politics, who are poor and uneducated. His target in his tantrums are these people!

Clever, no?! Hoodwinking  is one thing; but the jester does not realise that one cannot hoodwink everyone all the time.

I wish him luck; and the "aam admi" more "akal" to see through things as they are.

ÒPINION: RAHUL GANDHI

The Congress Party, after decades of ruling the country, has lost horriblly ìn the last general  elections.

Scam after scam, indecision, throwing the   buck on others,not taking responsibility squarely on their own shoulders, ťoo many formalities  in making even a simple decision, has çost them heavily. Top this up with a makeshift Prime Minister who was incapable of making  decisions of his own,and seeing them through for ten years. He had no voice, a lackey to Sonia Gandhi,  who could not reach out to the people.

When something  ģoes wrong ,committes  are formed. When there is still no answer, sub-committes are formed. There is no proper supervision over these committees,with the result that no work was done.

What is the value of a national political party of the Congresses' grace that they disregard their senior and more seasoned members and put a young 'kid' at the helm? He throws his weight with people of his father's age, is aggressive, thinks that by gimmicks he can win over the younger generation. And then for some reason he disappears from the scene totally for a month or two.

In my opinion,  Mr Rahul Gandhi has to learn about  India, and what it means to be an Indian. The common Indian is no fool.He is well aware of  what is happening.

Secondly he has to study and mature as a politician. This cannot be done overnight. It takes years. Thirdly he has to respect his elders, and learn to seek advice. Then again he has to cut the apron strings that tie him to his mother.

Fourthly he has to develop a personality. Just being aggressive with his mother backing him will not do. He has to realise that the Congress Party doesn't belong to him or his family. He also has to take it in his stride that Sonia Gandhi is a person non-grata in Indian Politics today.

Rahul Gandhi is making a fool out of himself in the public eye. The  Indian public is vibrant and mature, and can't  be taken for a ride.

It will take time for the Indian National Congress to come up again. My take is that it will take quite some time. They need to find a strong leader with solid backing. At the moment  they have none.

~ Dr Pranjal Rajkhowa

OPINION : Mr Arvind Kejriwal

The tussle between the AAP ( read Arvind Kejriwal ) and the Lt Governor of Delhi, Mr Jung, is becoming an embarrassment to India and abroad.
There is a hidden reason to this tussle; the common man may not be able to see through this; but many people do.

Mr Kejriwal is given to tantrums, gimmicks, playing to the galleries, and drama which will catch the common man's emotions. He banks on this for political mileage. He calls himself an anarchist, which he probably is, judging by what was going on in his last short tenure as CM, and this new tenure too.

Emotional blackmail of the public, strances and drama is all right if you look at him as a politician in the short run. But in the long run, this could be self destructive.

He has no respect for the law, knows very little about governance, and by the time he does get down to proper governance, he will be long gone, and remembered as a jester.

Aurangzeb would have probably loved to have him as a court jester, and then perhaps would have put him to the sword.

Why does Mr Kejriwal oppose everything?  He tries to recruit policemen from Bihar for the Delhi Police, which constitutionally is not under his control. He promises hundreds of jobs to people of his own choice without knowing that there are set rules and norms for recruitment. I am saying " without knowing ", but my take is that he very well knows this.

Why does he want the control of the Anti Corruption Bureau? He behaves as if he already owns this Bureau!

To hundreds and thousands of voters who have made him the CM of Delhi a second time ( despite his losing face in the first ), he has become a thorn in the neck, and has vanquished their aspirations.

His continuous fight with the Lt Governor, Mr Jung, is an embarrassment to India and abroad.

What will Mr Modi do?  Nothing perhaps. Mr Modi has no time for jokers and will wait for Kejriwal to destroy himself!

The woes of Assam

Assam is a lovely place, developing now, and has a warmth, which makes it a home for us.

We feel proud of ourselves being Assamese, although there are many different people here; multilingual and muti cultured. Most of our people speak Assamese, but we have Boros, Kacharis, Tiwas, Ahoms, Bengalies and a host of other sects of people. There is no fixed definition of the word 'Assamese', but an Assamese is an Assamese! Hindus, Muslims and Christians live together peacefully and other religions also co-exist. There is a sense of brotherhood among us

. We have several Universities; the oldest and the most prestigious being Gauhati University; and several colleges, the most famous being Cotton College. Recently many other private institutions and colleges have come up, giving way to regular and job oriented courses.There are many good schools too to make our younger generation at par with the rest of India.

Tourism too, but much has to be said about this, and our wild life sanctuaries. And then Sibsagar, the base of the Ahom kings of yester years, and the remnants of their architecture. And the oil towns of upper Assam. Assam is also strategically important to India, being one hop away from China and Myanmar. And yes, we do not forget the continued decades of the Central Government funds that come in each year for development

! So much for the good part.

The famous historian H. Barpujari once wrote that the people of the Brahmaputra valley are lazy by nature; he continued saying that this could be because of the hot and humid climate.

We, the Assamese people, are by birth lazy, always shifting responsibility, and negative towards work and progress and duty consciousness.  We do not innovate, do not realise that there are plenty of resources in Assam, and we could utilise these resources to become a second Gujarat.

Good organisation, sincereity and awareness and dedication is required for this. Yes govt help is required; but all the infrastructure is there; yet nothing happens.

At Dispur only paper work is done most of the time , and then half hearted work using 'lubricants' and not otherwise. It is govt business and so nobody's business is the idiom of the day!

Go any day to any govt office and you will find that most officers are not present in their seats till 11.30am. Come 2pm and there is a break again supposedly for lunch. Around 5pm just before chutti the office becomes lively again, and you are told to come tomorrow.

And then there are excuses saying ' I have a meeting now, so please come later'! And so on and so forth. It is the clerks who are the bosses at Dispur. The officers do not take the trouble to read any particular application or file.

I don't think many of the officers (I.A.S or A.C.S) even understand what is written in a letter or application, and the consequences involved, and the line of action to be taken.

They simply mark the paper to the dealing assistant " Pl put up". And the clerk puts up the file to his own convenience in such a way that the officer concerned can either write 'yes' or 'no' to the remarks that the clerk has put up and not to what could be the real content of the letter involved. The officer never read the letter in the first place, remember?

If financial considerations are involved the file will return because the state finance dept people know their job. And if it is a complicated situation, so done by the original office official, then the finance people will play a merry go round with the file, not knowing or caring of the petitioner's discomfort.

And please, the petitioner could be a govt dept itself! So much for Assam's developmental vigour! Our people should wake up to this and move enmasse to remove this malaise and lubricant culture. Then only we can be proud of being Assamese.

The Indian National Congress has lost badly in the 2014 General Elections

The Congress has lost badly in the 2014 General Elections.

Some are willing to write off the Indian National Congress as a spent force, but all may not be gone yet.

True, the Congress does not have a leader at all at present; mis-rule, non-action and scams after scams, total arrogance of their leaders,have vented public anger against them.

But in politics anything can happen.

Just now the Modi govt is all bent to see a better India with good governance. The new govt. will need time to set things through. It will be better for the Opposition to play a constructive role and thereby gain people's respect.

Squabbling, rhetoric and lame and disgusting overtures should be avoided, because people see through things!

Constructive criticism is ofcourse alright. Within days of the new govt taking office, we see unnecessary hassles that could have been avoided.

The Indian polity is vibrant and aware of happenings and their context.

It is necessary for the powers that be in the state or national level to also understand this. And realise this for their own good.

We are at a threshold where we need better days to come. Be it from Modi or otherwise, we still do; there will be bigger factors at play otherwise, and we do not seem to realise this as yet.
~ Dr Pranjal Rajkhowa

Youth

Youth is an ever splendid thing. It is vibrant, joyous and adventurous. An era of no responsibilities to many; sheltered, and everlasting. No qualms, perhaps also with a disdain for any kind of guidance. Then comes a realization that one has to compete in today's world. This too, is an adventure, and taken in stride. When we were children, our parents were responsible for us; and true they did a great job of this. In our teens we knew better, or so we thought; we rebelled against things staid; we had a confict of personalities; why? Because we were growing up; neither here no there. Who cares about the world, anyway? It is ours to enjoy and make the most of it. Such is the opium of things at that stage. A few years later we are youthful men and women; many with jobs and family; happy in life. We become sociable, begin to take responsibilities just as our parents did, at home and at work. Slowly we understand things. Some get vain; others mature. But this is still youth! But too late we realize that youth does not last for ever. Our bodies age; our mental make up changes. No longer do we have the energy of days gone by; we look older, and cannot recall why, how and when all these changes came to pass. We yearn for days gone by; of our innocent days when there were no burdens; for our parents, who are no longer with us today; golden words they had said to us; their love and silent wisdom. They had been through this, too, we then reckon. Yes, youth is a wondrous thing; it never comes back.