Letter of some facts of India by APJ Kalam

Letter of some facts of India - APJ
Why is the media here so negative?Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements?We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why?We are the first in milk production..We are number one in Remote sensing satellites.We are the second largest producer of wheat.We are the second largest producer of rice.Look at Dr. Sudarshan , he has transferred the tribal village into a self-sustaining, self-driving unit. There are millions of such achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters.I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert into an orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried among other news.
In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime.. Why are we so NEGATIVE? Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things? We want foreign T.Vs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreign technology.
Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize that self-respect comes with self-reliance? I was in Hyderabad giving this lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her what her goal in life is. She replied: I want to live in a developed India . For her, you and I will have to build this developed India You must proclaim. India is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation.Do you have 10 minutes? Allow me to come back with a vengeance.
Got 10 minutes for your country? If yes, then read; otherwise, choice is yours.YOU say that our government is inefficient.YOU say that our laws are too old.YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage.YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke. The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination. YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits.
YOU say, say and say. What do YOU do about it?
Take a person on his way to Singapore . Give him a name - 'YOURS'. Give him a face - 'YOURS'. YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International best. In Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in the stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground links as they are. You pay $5 (approx. Rs. 60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of Mahim Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM. YOU come back to the parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity… In Singapore you don't say anything, DO YOU? YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai YOU would not dare to go out without your head covered in Jeddah.YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange in London at 10 pounds (Rs.650) a month to, 'see to it that my STD and ISD calls are billed to someone else.'YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88 km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop, 'Jaanta hai main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so's son. Take your two bucks and get lost.' YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo ? Why don't YOU use examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston ??? We are still talking of the same YOU. YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign system in other countries but cannot in your own. You who will throw papers and cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be an involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot you be the same here in India ?
Once in an interview, the famous Ex-municipal commissioner of Bombay , Mr. Tinaikar, had a point to make. 'Rich people's dogs are walked on the streets to leave their affluent droppings all over the place,' he said. 'And then the same people turn around to criticize and blame the authorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. What do they expect the officers to do? Go down with a broom every time their dog feels the pressure in his bowels?In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job. Same in Japan .Will the Indian citizen do that here?' He's right. We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility.We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative. We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms.We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least opportunity.This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service to the public.
When it comes to burning social issues like those related to women, dowry, girl child! and others, we make loud drawing room protestations and continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse? 'It's the whole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my sons' rights to a dowry.' So who's going to change the system?What does a system consist of? Very conveniently for us it consists of our neighbours, other households, other cities, other communities and the government. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to us actually making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for a Mr.Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the country and run away.Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in their glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure we run to England When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight out to the Gulf.. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is out to abuse and rape the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience is mortgaged to money.
Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a great deal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too…. I am echoing J. F. Kennedy's words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians…..
'ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY'
Lets do what India needs from us.
Forward this mail to each Indian for a change instead of sending Jokes or junk mails.
Thank you,
Dr. Abdul Kalam
I humbly request you to forward this to every Indian…… ……… ……… …

Illusion

A Message by George Carlin:A Comedian of 70s & 80s

Isn't it amazing that George Carlin - comedian of the 70's and 80's - could write something so very eloquent...and so very appropriate. A Message by George Carlin:The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more,but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses andsmaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degreesbut less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yetmore problems, more medicine, but less wellness.We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh toolittle, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up tootired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk toomuch, love too seldom, and hate too often.We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added yearsto life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back,but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. Weconquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, butnot better things.We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered theatom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We planmore, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. Webuild more computers to hold more information, to produce more copiesthan ever, but we communicate less and less.These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and smallcharacter, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the daysof two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. Theseare days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, onenight stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything fromcheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in theshowroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology canbring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to sharethis insight, or to just hit delete...ALWAYS REMEMBER:Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by themoments that take our breath away.
Contributed by Dr.Harsh Shah

Corruption in India

Black money in Swiss banks - Swiss Banking Association report, 2006 Nationals of Top Five countries holding Bank Deposits in Switzerland: India------ $1,456 billion (6,000,000 Crores of Rs)Russia-----$ 470 billion UK---------$ 390 billion Ukraine----$ 100 billionChina------$ 96 billion Is India poor? Ask Swiss banks.With personal account deposits in Swiss Banks of $1,500 billion which have been misappropriated, an amount 13 times larger than the country's foreign debt, one needs to rethink if India is a poor country? Corrupt Indians have deposited in foreign banks this vast sum of money - all misappropriated by them from the people of India and the Government of the day does not bother to do anything about it! If this huge amount of black money and property is repatriated to India, the entire foreign debt can be repaid in 24 hours. Then, after paying the entire foreign debt, we will have a surplus almost 12 times larger than the evaporated foreign debt. If this surplus amount is invested in earning interest, the amount of interest will be more than the annual budget of the Central government. So even if all the taxes are abolished, the Government will be able to maintain the country very comfortably. Why is it that the Government is not moving in this direction. The answer is very simple: Those who are to take decisions are themselves culpable of holding deposits in Swiss Banks! How can the thieves convert themselves into policemen? Some 80,000 Indians travel to Switzerland every year, of whom 25,000 travel very frequently. Obviously, these people would not be tourists. They must be travelling there for some other reason - believes an official involved in tracking illegal money and money laundering. These details show how these thieving INDIANS have sucked out this country's wealth to a foreign country This is not merely confined to Swiss Banks alone; there are Banks in other countries involved too. Now for some simple arithmetic - India with $1456 billion or$1.5 trillion has more money in Swiss banks than the rest of the world combined - surely qualifying for a significant entry into the Guinness Book of Records for maximum Public loot of the national exchequer. No one is asking questions, not even the so-called Communists who are more interested in defence and nuclear deals and not the welfare of the aam-admi. No wonder, everyone in India loots with impunity and without any fear of retribution. After all, this is probably the only democratic country in the world which has not jailed a corrupt politician or bureaucrat so far. In China, they are marched up to the firing squad and done away with. Probably we can try solving this problem with firing squads. What is even more depressing in that this ill-gotten wealth has been stashed away in secret bank accounts located in some of the world's best known tax havens. And to that extent the Indian economy has been stripped of its wealth. Ordinary law-abiding Indians may not be exactly aware of how such secret accounts operate and what are the rules and regulations that help transfer of monies to such tax havens. However, one may well be aware of 'Swiss bank accounts,' the shorthand for murky dealings, secrecy and of course pilferage from developing countries into rich developed ones. In fact, some finance experts and economists believe tax havens to be a conspiracy of the western world against the poor countries. By allowing the proliferation of tax havens in the twentieth century, the western world explicitly encourages the movement of scarce capital from the developing countries to the rich. In March 2005, the Tax Justice Network (TJN) published a research finding demonstrating that $11.5 trillion of personal wealth was held offshore by rich individuals across the globe. The findings estimated that a large proportion of this wealth was managed from some 70 tax havens. Further, augmenting these studies of TJN, Raymond Baker - in his widely celebrated book titled 'Capitalism' s Achilles Heel: Dirty Money and How to Renew the Free Market System' - estimates that at least $5 trillion have been shifted out of poorer countries to the West since the mid-1970. It is further estimated by experts that one per cent of the world's population holds more than 57 per cent of total global wealth, routing it invariably through these tax havens and a substantial percentage of this is from India. Naturally, the secrecy associated with the bank accounts in such places is central to the issue, not their low tax rates as the term 'tax havens' suggests. One should recall that despite all the money wasted on inquiring into Bofors, the ultimate beneficiary of those transactions could not be identified because of the secrecy associated with these bank accounts? Please forward this message to all your friends and let us demand that the Government of India should move towards the recovery of the national loot stashed away abroad as soon as possible which would definitely bring down the inflation in our economy and stabilise prices to the benefit of the common man. Talk to various political parties who have done nothing in this regard and get them to put pressure on the Government of the day. IMPORTANT This appeal has for its origin a Retired Member of the Board of Direct Taxes of the Government of India!--

Fight Global Warming

In the middle of December we have temperature atleast above 3-4Degrees above normal. A week back we had a surprise rain. I just heard that sea in Goa has entered Taj Hotel garden which was earlier atleast 30-40 ft away. The weather is changing fast,if we will not do anything `The Day After Tomorrow' is not far. Act & educate people about the consequences. Start from today.I request you to print the attached graphic & distribute to maximum people or email it to all in your address book.(I have High resolution file if you require)

Lets fight terrorism together

You can make a difference

http://www.abillionhands.com/how_do_i.html
India is now a global super-power, taking its logical place amongst the other nations, in terms of nuclear capability, economic independence and technological superiority. It cannot afford to be a soft target to terrorism. Here is forum to build public opinion around key issues facing India. Let's contribute issues, and take a stand. As a first step, let’s sign this online petition, which will be submitted to the President and the Prime Minister of India by Network18 on Jan 26.
Remember - change starts with the individual. Each one of us matters!