Corporate Leadership
It was indeed a reliving to note that the new Satyam Board has worked out a package for its ten thousand employees. It had been reported today that the 10,000 excess staff at Satyam Computer Services are set to be offered 40% of their salary for six months along with medical insurance and provident fund in what can be termed as a severance package being firmed up by the beleaguered IT firm. The above gesture of supporting employees by a company despite undergoing such a financial turmoil is reflected only in Indian ethos. The foundations of core Indian values of a considering even the employees as a family members and ensuring their well being speaks highly of the value system of the Indian companies. This is the reason that in time of recession Indians abroad are coming back to India. They know that even if the salary may not be high but there is a lot of stability and security while working in India . They have learnt it a hard way that the foreign firms will only look for profits and margins. For them employees can be hired and fired any movement. The foreign firms may be talking strongly about their value system, may be putting it all across their offices, have it printed on their cups and stationary but the only thing they lack is they are not able to internalize those values. There is a mark difference between words and action. It is a bitter reality that while working in a foreign firm your boss may ask for your resignation in a telephonic discussion at 6.10 pm and will expect it in his mail box by 6.13 pm (three minutes given for typing the resignation e-mail; unless an employee is not smart enough to have a draft resignation e-mail always ready in his draft folder. )
But if we look at the virtues which an employee looks forward in a company. I think the answer will be fulfillment of body, heart,mind and soul. By body (please keep off the dirty mind) I mean that an employee should get a good salary, by heart I mean that the superiors and juniors should have good relations. By mind I mean that there is knowledge growth for the employee and by soul I refer that the employee should be allowed to work with integrity. If an organization ensures that all above are fulfilled then an employee will never leave the organization. Having worked in diverse organizations I would like to share my experiences on the same. One of the company I worked in had many of us new joiners on bench. We were getting good salary but for a person like me there there was no growth of mind (no work). Another place I worked I experienced strong issues of soul. There were serious issues of malpractices in that organization. Another organization I worked was perfect in mind, heart and soul but was a little lacking in needs of body (salary). But for a person like me my longest tenure was with this organization only and I think it will be correct for most of us (atleast Indians) that while working we look for satisfaction of our heart, mind and soul. Another organization I joined was highest on the heart, good on the body (salary) , acceptable on mind (knowledge) but there was serious soul searching required there. One of my boss in this organization told me to go and give tickets to one of the clients. I had to oblige him at that movement but within a week my boss got my resignation, I do not think if till date my ex-boss realizes that what may have gone wrong. I could not also tell him as there were excellent rapport of the heart. Infect this was one organization where everyone was a kind of close knit family. Another firm I worked was excellent on body (salary), infect if I look back there were no parallel to that salary. But beyond salary there was nothing more – your boss will have rarely talked to you, you would be using your own limited knowledge to work and despite having a greatest value system there were serious issues of soul.
It is also rightly said that an employee never leaves an organization but he leaves his manager. Infect its is a manager drives people away. Different managers can stress out employees in different ways - by being too controlling, too suspicious,too pushy, too critical, but they forget that workers are not fixed assets, they are free agents. When this goes on too long, an employee will quit - often over a trivial issue. There are managers who always keep an eye on their subordinates,themselves or through their other juniors. But if an employer suspects an employees intension then employees will also do the same. Any ways any kind of monitoring on an employee signifies lack of trust. There are organizations which spread false and malicious information, which make an employee part of a false ecosystem, where employees live in false situations, with false people often developing illusions about themselves and their work. Such an organization which presents a total lie to its employees will always fail, because truth is so strong that it cannot be hidden. And a small mistake is good enough to discover the whole truth. In some organizations when an employee raises a point on ethics, he will be put to great scrutiny so that some vested interest may ensure his character assassination. But does the organizations believe that a person is so naive to understand what goes behind the scene.
N R Naryana Muthy in an article on Rediff.com says that “Do not think your employees are dumb and can be taken for any ride (even water ride). They are also thinking individuals. Set practical goals, not dreams that others of relatively less genius can relate to.”
There are other organization and many times the HR experts who may conduct fake interviews to know if a resource is leaving or is staying back. The term is often refereed to as the interview trap. Many a times existing employers also take help of consultants to interview their employees who may be showing inclination to leave. But one must imagine that an employee will never give an interview in broad public view in the office of existing employer. HR must be smart enough to understand that they are falling in the same trap which they had created for the employee. Such an organization quickly falls on the parameter of trust and ethics of an employee. A person may leave such an organization but he will leave after leaving a strong foundation of the need for change. It is essence of truth that it will always come out but what requires as a character is the strength in a person that he is able to speak truth. The hollow incidents will always make even a toughest of person as weak.
As of individuals there are many people in an organization who will be YES SIR, YES MAM. There will be others whose focus of all activity is pleasing their boss. I call them spine less beings. There boss tells them to bend and they will lay down on the floor. But a person who has strength to call a spade a spade is the true employee of the company. He may be thought as a stubborn, non flexible and what more. But it is this individual only who shows the truth to management. It is the organizations misfortune that if such a person is shown a door. An employee with strong value system may take time to shine but when he shines he will enlighten many. An organization must evaluate a short term gain or a long term loss.
Organizations also need to understand the concept of social inclusion in essence which is to have an approach helping the underprivileged by investing in them to bring them into the mainstream. The same is an excellent approach where everyone is considered as a potential wealth creator and any investment in them by company is an investment in their human capital. Indian organizations like Infosys, Tata, Wipro are succeeding because they have a strong value system (in practice rather than on paper) and they do pass this value system to their employees. And it is this value system that stays with the individuals for the lifetime. Organizations must look inside and realize that were they to truthful to an employee as to expect his best performance. An employee will always identify the mirage or the hollow values created before him. An employee will stay back in organization if he has to look up to his boss and leave the movement he has to look down to his boss
Vasudevan Thulsidas who was one of the key leaders in the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines always said that, “My employees are my greatest resources, not the aircraft”
Organizations must realize that the talented men will leave and the dead wood stays on. The talented few are never stationary. They are always on the move like the wind. One has to be “Truly a Narayanaa” who can ensure that the blowing winds stay calm. But if one thinks that one is the only “victorious prince” then the wind of course will blow him off. If one feels that he is only symbol of “advancement” then one will not realize how fast will the wind advance. If one feels that he is “gigantic” and others are small; one will not even realize when the under current passed over. If one is “born of dust” the wind will take those particles along and will leave those particles at its wish. And if one is the “tree full of fragrance” the air will further spread the fragrance. Or if one is a “honeybee” who instead of giving sweetness stings then the wind will blow off its nest. We must realize that wind has power to conquer even the “unconquered”. In case one is a boss who resembles “a song sung by the Supreme for the soul when the soul was in a state of melancholy and undergoing the stage of dejection” then such a boss becomes the founding principles of one's career. Only an honest boss can pass his honesty to his employees. All I meant was that the employee will always get the qualities of his employer. A calm employer will give his calmness to his employees, an egoistic employer will pass on his ego, an honest employer his honesty. The fact remains an employee will follow the standards set up by his employer. The combination of a “moon crest” and air is the most superior combination of all because its the situation where calmness meets calmness. Organizations must try to achieve that state of calmness for its progress. And an employer has to be a boss who “does not cause sorrow” and ensures that the employee lives in calm in the organization.
.Al said the organizations need to understand the two Sanskrit verses and they are Sathyannasti Paro Dharma (there is no dharma greater than adherence to truth); and Satyameva jayate (truth alone triumphs). These two verses are essence of good corporate leadership in my view.
(this article is also available at http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/vision-india/ )
Friday, May 29, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Guru Dakshina
Guru Dakshina
The death of Babli Ghosh in Bengal and Shanno in Delhi brings in the negligent behavior of the teachers towards the students. This negligence in behavior can be willful or a matter of chance. The history is full of both kinds of incidences where in it had been willful act or a mistake by the teacher.
If we turn the pages of history there were teachers like Dhrona who asked the thumb of Eklavya so that his dearest student Arjuna should remain the Best Warrior. The above is a willful act of a teacher to give a living death to his student. But we still refer Dhrona as a good teacher, why ? We must know that a good teacher is like a candle - it consumes itself to light the way for his students. But despite Arjuna being his favorite student, the same Dhrona stood against his disciple in the war. A teacher who has put in so many efforts to make his student an ideal student then why the same teacher waged a war against his disciple. And that to when the teacher knew that the Dharma is not on the side of his student. When we look back in history the only reason Guru Dhrona stood against Arjuna was because he was to oblige the Kauravas for the debt of the salt. Or in other words Dhrona was getting favors from the Kauravs and having taken the favors in past, he was in not in position to leave them. But Dhrona also taught Arjuna a lesson in life - that there is no one who is his own and that a student has to fight even if he sees his teacher on the opposite side. It was the belief of Guru Dhrona that Arjuna being his best student will be victorious. Infect the success begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called "truth." . But the best lessons can be learnt only with stick of truth.
The current case here appears to be totally different as the teacher Rekha Bhakat had asked her students to memorize a poem at home but Babli told her she had not been able to buy her Bengali book yet. Teacher probably thought that by little punishment the Girl will be more attentive towards her study. It is rare that anyone can conclude that the teacher wanted to kill her student. But the fact remains the student got killed and the teacher has to take the liability of her negligent act. The incident proves that good teachers may be costly, but bad teachers cost more. In case of Shanno, it may have happened that Shanno was too weak to receive the punishment and the teacher was not aware of her health issue. But the fact of the matter is that she also died and the teacher cannot be absolved of her responsibility in the above case as well.
If we look down history a teacher is like a charioteer who takes his warrior towards the right direction. In Mahabharta the success of Arjuna was all written based on directions of Krishna. But can we imagine that if Krishna took Arjuna to various targets himself, without Arjuna understanding about it then both the warrior and the charioteer would have failed. A teacher must teach and not manipulate a student. A teacher's purpose is not to create students in his own image, but to develop students who can create their own image. If a teacher wants a student like Arjuna then he must build qualities of Krishna. Just throwing dusters on students or giving them punishment will not help students. A teacher must realize that he need not try to fix the students but he must fix himself first. The good teacher makes the poor student good and the good student superior. When the students fail, a teacher, too, has failed.
(this article is also available at http://sameersachdeva.blogspot.com/ )
The death of Babli Ghosh in Bengal and Shanno in Delhi brings in the negligent behavior of the teachers towards the students. This negligence in behavior can be willful or a matter of chance. The history is full of both kinds of incidences where in it had been willful act or a mistake by the teacher.
If we turn the pages of history there were teachers like Dhrona who asked the thumb of Eklavya so that his dearest student Arjuna should remain the Best Warrior. The above is a willful act of a teacher to give a living death to his student. But we still refer Dhrona as a good teacher, why ? We must know that a good teacher is like a candle - it consumes itself to light the way for his students. But despite Arjuna being his favorite student, the same Dhrona stood against his disciple in the war. A teacher who has put in so many efforts to make his student an ideal student then why the same teacher waged a war against his disciple. And that to when the teacher knew that the Dharma is not on the side of his student. When we look back in history the only reason Guru Dhrona stood against Arjuna was because he was to oblige the Kauravas for the debt of the salt. Or in other words Dhrona was getting favors from the Kauravs and having taken the favors in past, he was in not in position to leave them. But Dhrona also taught Arjuna a lesson in life - that there is no one who is his own and that a student has to fight even if he sees his teacher on the opposite side. It was the belief of Guru Dhrona that Arjuna being his best student will be victorious. Infect the success begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called "truth." . But the best lessons can be learnt only with stick of truth.
The current case here appears to be totally different as the teacher Rekha Bhakat had asked her students to memorize a poem at home but Babli told her she had not been able to buy her Bengali book yet. Teacher probably thought that by little punishment the Girl will be more attentive towards her study. It is rare that anyone can conclude that the teacher wanted to kill her student. But the fact remains the student got killed and the teacher has to take the liability of her negligent act. The incident proves that good teachers may be costly, but bad teachers cost more. In case of Shanno, it may have happened that Shanno was too weak to receive the punishment and the teacher was not aware of her health issue. But the fact of the matter is that she also died and the teacher cannot be absolved of her responsibility in the above case as well.
If we look down history a teacher is like a charioteer who takes his warrior towards the right direction. In Mahabharta the success of Arjuna was all written based on directions of Krishna. But can we imagine that if Krishna took Arjuna to various targets himself, without Arjuna understanding about it then both the warrior and the charioteer would have failed. A teacher must teach and not manipulate a student. A teacher's purpose is not to create students in his own image, but to develop students who can create their own image. If a teacher wants a student like Arjuna then he must build qualities of Krishna. Just throwing dusters on students or giving them punishment will not help students. A teacher must realize that he need not try to fix the students but he must fix himself first. The good teacher makes the poor student good and the good student superior. When the students fail, a teacher, too, has failed.
(this article is also available at http://sameersachdeva.blogspot.com/ )
The Intruding Bureau (IB)
The Intruding Bureau (IB)
Recently I came across a report which said that the IB has reported that Congress will get between 160 and 165 seats and along with allies it will total about 210. (source: headlines today). I was wondering when the nation is on highest security alert, the elections in progress, key leaders traveling across nation then how come the premier intelligence agency of India is busy with an exercise which have very little significance. I was confused with the above task then I further came across another story that the Congress headed United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre has instructed the Intelligence Bureau (IB) to bring out a survey of all the new parliamentary constituencies and provide a conclusive new data base of caste equations in the same.
I am told that this is not an exception of this government but successive Governments including the previous NDA government have used IB for above purpose. In an era of terrorism the agency which should have been busy with intelligence gathering to avert terrorist attacks, is busy with gathering political intelligence.
I came across an interesting book by a former Joint Director of IB, Mr. Miloy Krishna Dhar called Open Secrets. I do not know the book was written with true intentions or to plant stories, but there had been some wonderful mentions in the book which are related to political intelligence: Quote / Un-quote from the book:
“I was not aware of IB surveillance around Indira and her important aides, including Dhawan. The IB has bugged most of their phones and planted discreet watchers at 12 Willington Crescent, the home and hub of activities of Indira Gandhi. Dhawan's parental home at Atul Grove lane was also covered under blanket intelligence coverage. His personal residence at 141 Golf Links was covered by the IB sleuths. In fact, two IB agents were infiltrated amongst security staff that guarded Indira Gandhi.” (Page 234 – Open Secrets by M. K. Dhar )
(Think it over - when residence of a former Prime Minister, her aides can be bugged, who are me and you)
“The tasking included surveillance and shadowing on Maneka and her associates and generation of intelligence on her activities.... My officers had burrowed deep into the affairs of the family. Some of the personal details were nauseating and I did not cherish the idea of looking into private bedrooms of individuals. Human frivolities often open up exotic windows into their character and in some social sectors the players exhibited extreme resilience. But in high stung political drama the bedroom scenes often spelt out irretrievable disaster” (Page 266 / 267 – Open Secrets by M. K. Dhar)
(Think it over – IB used by a mother-in-law to have surveillance of a daughter-in-law and if the IB can enter bedrooms of a daughter-in-law of PM, mine and your residences are not immune to it)
“The domestic servant was won over and he offered running commentaries on the happenings inside the residence. An unexpected tip from him that his employer would be out of Delhi for two days offered an opportunity to place the bugs in the target home..... The assigned task was accomplished without breaking into the premises of Menaka Gandhi. I managed to identify the pairs of wires that connected the telephone of her office and home telephones. Appropriate miniature radio transmitters were connected to the target pairs of wires near the junction boxes and, which were hooked to miniature tape recorders.” (Page 271/274 – Open Secrets by M. K. Dhar )
(Think it over – how simple it is to place bugs in your home, telephones and more – does that matter even if you win a case in Supreme Court)
“At one point of time in 1982, Indira wanted the parliament office of a particular ruling party to be bugged for sifting out intelligence nuggets about a possible coup against here.” (Page 286 – Open Secrets by M. K. Dhar)
( Think it over - Parliament which is the most scared institution of Democracy was also not spared but why this surveillance on our own colleagues ?)
“I was assigned the task of electronic sweeping/cleaning of the PM offices in the south block by using certain bug detecting equipment. I tumbled against an unexpected bug and a forgotten micro-radio monitoring machine. The bug was planted inside the phone of an aide to the Prime Minister, planted by IB during V.P.Singh regime. …The other device was installed at a point of time when Rajiv Gandhi and Zail Singh had developed irreparable hostility. The devices mounted some where on top of the PMO picked up telephone conversations from certain treated phones in Rashtrapati Bhawan.” (Page 433 – Open Secrets by M. K. Dhar)
(Think it over – our own agency bugging offices of Prime Minister and President- I think they do not trust anyone)
There are more revelations of Dhar which I missed in the book but were reported in the Indian Express (http://www.indianexpress.com/oldStory/64588/ ) and they include:
L K Advani wanted the IB’s videotape of the demolition of the Babri Masjid from its archives to prove his innocence. The IB director, apparently instructed by officials from the PMO, refused to oblige.
Indira Gandhi got the IB to check out whether one of her ministers was holding a yagya to destroy her. Another time a bugging device was planted in the office of a party colleague.
Dhar helpfully ‘‘straightened out the service record’’ of Zafar Saifullah, who ended up as Cabinet Secretary.
Rajiv Gandhi used the IB to channel funds to BJP candidate Kailash Meghwal to ensure the defeat of his Congress opponent, Buta Singh.
The IB was used to select the Congress candidates for the 1983 Delhi Municipal Corporation election.
The IB was asked to bring around a western UP leader to support Narasimha Rao’s government and his price tag was reportedly Rs 500 million!
Even after sixty two years of independence the IB continues like the Chanakya’s secret service. It bugs the telephones in Parliament and Rashtrapati Bhavan. It keeps tab on not only the political opponents but even on ministerial colleagues of the Prime Minister.
There are many methodologies adopted by IB which includes the use of media as information outlets. Spreading of rumors, planting false stories, surfacing forgeries, use of agents, funding NGOs, influencing collaborators, voluntary or paid. Have you heard of the story before these elections that IB was looking into four houses for Dr. Manmohan Singh in case he loses elections. It is rumored that the IB intercepts and open around 6,000 letters daily. It also has an email spying system similar to FBI's Carnivore System. The Intelligence Bureau is also authorized to conduct wiretapping without a warrant. The IB also has numerous authors who write letters to various newspapers and magazines to support the government's perspective. I have seen it myself where in many such individuals wrote on the e-group moderated by me. Infect there was also one individual who planted stories to tarnish the image of many.
Governments across the Globe have snooped on their citizens, and Indian is no exception. You need not be a lawbreaker or even a suspected one. But this is done on a random basis to build a possible evidence against you that could be used to build a case against you. Bank account application, driver's licence, telephone calls, paper mail, e-mails, Internet activity all come under preview of this surveillance. There are possibilities for abuse in such a system. I remember one of the senior Government officer abused such information against me. But as citizen in Democracy would you like to have a policeman to have access to your telephone conversations and without your knowledge ? And without any recourse even if you do find out about it ? Would you like a someones eye in your bedroom when you are in those passionate movements with your wife? (or someone else)
Honey trap is one of the most common method used by intelligence agencies across the world and these days it can be a guy or a girl because the intelligence agency knows you inside out. Just that you need to fall in the trap. Another trap which is the most common amongst Indian agencies is the Horoscope trap. It is a trap wherein lot of politicians, officers and even common man falls. Initially lot of information is planted about the correct predictions of the said under cover officer. Even a couple of predictions are proved correct as well and then follows a never ending trap of Horoscopes and future predictions. Have anyone imagined, how many horoscope readers predicted about the success of key political leaders like Advani, Mayawati and Jayalalitha. There are also rumors that once an astrologer was taken blindfolded to house of a senior leader who wanted to know if he will ever become a Prime Minister or not. (Read more about the horoscope trap at http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/\papers20\paper1985.html ). The organization is also believed to play a psychological warfare with individuals and even in countries or groups. Many a times key aides of an individual actually are all infiltrated to create a thought amongst the said person. The agencies also don't desist to take help of religious gurus, in the process. In order to control cyber crimes , the related rules, regulations, policies and law have evolved,not only agencies even bureaucrats can now sneak in your computers. The result is that a cyber terrorist is not caught but the same results in undue harassment to the genuine user. With networking sites the agencies do infiltrate the friend lists of their targets and then take things forward. Infect realizing that the same technique can be used against them the members of the defence forces have been asked not to post their pictures in uniform on social networking sites because the military intelligence has learnt that foreign spy rings could use women to "honey-trap" such officers to obtain sensitive defence information. (http://pibmumbai.gov.in/scripts/detail.asp?releaseId=E2009FB29)
And above it there are multiple famous incidents of phone tapping:
1.Allegations that the state government of Gujarat had tapped phones of former finance minister Haren Pandya and senior Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela. (http://www.indianexpress.com/oldStory/65874/ )
2.The allegations by Amar Singh of tapping of his phones (http://www.hindu.com/2006/01/05/stories/2006010510670100.htm)
3.In the recent elections the alleged tapping of phones of the leaders of Praja Rajyam party in AP (http://www.bharatwaves.com/news/IB-tapping-Chiru’s-phones--10548.html )
4.The source of the Salman Khan – Ash tapes which reached all the TV channels http://www.tehelka.com/story_main13.asp?filename=Ne073005Bollywood_in.asp
5.And we all remember the Menaka Gandhi Vs Union of India
But these days the press had started focusing on the secret state. Refer articles by Ritu Sarin in Indian Express, Swati Chaturvedi in th Statesman, Prabhu Chawla (long ago in India today) It is no secret that all key post offices keep tabs on domestic mail and you never know your Post Man, Domestic help or driver are the undercover agents. Nor is it any secret that telephones are routinely tapped and thousand of domestic calls have been placed under surveillance including all international calls are subjected to some kind of screening. Most deluxe hotels provide IB with facilities to tap guest telephones; some even allow the Bureau to place listening devices in bedrooms. (http://www.rediff.com/news/apr/02vir.htm )
The government has decided to create a database of all mobile and fixed line calls within the country in an ambitious and unique attempt to track unlawful activities by identifying calling patterns and mapping social networks. (http://www.rtiindia.org/forum/1311-centre-map-your-phone-network.html )
During the budget sessions the Finance Ministry takes no chances. The security agencies have started to set up a small telephone tapping exchange in North block. The electronic contraption can intercept private mobile operators’ cell numbers. Electronic sweeping devices are being installed on either side of the corridors of the finance ministry section of the North Block, fortify the security futher The mini intercepting exchange also keep a close eye on the 100 odd landline telephone numbers installed in the chambers of various bureaucrats. The intelligence bureau also block e-mail facilities to most of the computers in the offices of Union Finance Ministry. (A discussion thread on RTI India forum
http://www.rtiindia.org/forum/34-budget-document-official-secret.html )
But is it appropriate to blame the Intelligence agencies for these political intelligence. The fact remains that their efficiency has been impaired by political interference or inaction. It is no secret that the Intelligence Bureau spends a huge amount of resources collecting information on Opposition parties and leaders to ingratiate its officers with the ruling dispensation. Every Government in India has misused the Intelligence Bureau for internal political snooping. The most serious aspect of the whole debate is the alleged lack of transparency and accountability of intelligence agencies. United States of America has paid maximum attention and it now keeps tab on these agencies so that they do not violate the basic law of the country. Apart from an Inspector-General who forms the internal oversight mechanism reporting directly to Director- CIA; the system also has a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) and a House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Also, the Intelligence Authorization Act, 1990 brought in congressional oversight of the working of CIA's Inspector-General.
In the UK, both MI5 and MI6 are now governed by statutes and are subject to scrutiny by an Intelligence and Security Committee appointed by the Prime Minister. Although not a statutory committee of Parliament, its multi-party composition promotes objectivity.
Interestingly, neither our IB nor RAW is the creation of a statute, nor do they have a written charter,. There is a big problems in running this kind of omnipresent surveillance. In a democratic framework citizens would be outraged if they knew that they were the subject of this kind of surveillance. In India, though the Constitution does not provide for Right to Privacy as a Fundamental Right, multiple judgments of Supreme court exist wherein the right to privacy has been defined as part of fundamental right to life and liberty. Also, citizens of India are free to express their opinion under the fundamental right to Freedom of Expression and Speech. But then why this surveillance on individuals who are just expressing their thoughts. I recall when I wrote an e-mail to the india-egov group that I would be writing about corruption in name of Good Governance, the result was that my services were gone by end of September. The Government banned the yahoogroups on the pretext of banning a small yahoo group which was of very little consequence. All this in time when a journalist – politician was heading the Ministry of Communication and IT. I still feel at times that because of the e-group I was subjected to such surveillance. Anyways the UPA Government gave a wonderful tool in name of Right to Information Act wherein I have applied with MHA for the said information. But all I would say that unreasonable surveillance of this nature is usually extra-legal and anti-constitutional. Activists would be alarmed, and certainly raise a huge furore, if any such cases came to light. But the citizens will feel offended if they know that their privacy is being invaded in this manner.
Recently I came across a report which said that the IB has reported that Congress will get between 160 and 165 seats and along with allies it will total about 210. (source: headlines today). I was wondering when the nation is on highest security alert, the elections in progress, key leaders traveling across nation then how come the premier intelligence agency of India is busy with an exercise which have very little significance. I was confused with the above task then I further came across another story that the Congress headed United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre has instructed the Intelligence Bureau (IB) to bring out a survey of all the new parliamentary constituencies and provide a conclusive new data base of caste equations in the same.
I am told that this is not an exception of this government but successive Governments including the previous NDA government have used IB for above purpose. In an era of terrorism the agency which should have been busy with intelligence gathering to avert terrorist attacks, is busy with gathering political intelligence.
I came across an interesting book by a former Joint Director of IB, Mr. Miloy Krishna Dhar called Open Secrets. I do not know the book was written with true intentions or to plant stories, but there had been some wonderful mentions in the book which are related to political intelligence: Quote / Un-quote from the book:
“I was not aware of IB surveillance around Indira and her important aides, including Dhawan. The IB has bugged most of their phones and planted discreet watchers at 12 Willington Crescent, the home and hub of activities of Indira Gandhi. Dhawan's parental home at Atul Grove lane was also covered under blanket intelligence coverage. His personal residence at 141 Golf Links was covered by the IB sleuths. In fact, two IB agents were infiltrated amongst security staff that guarded Indira Gandhi.” (Page 234 – Open Secrets by M. K. Dhar )
(Think it over - when residence of a former Prime Minister, her aides can be bugged, who are me and you)
“The tasking included surveillance and shadowing on Maneka and her associates and generation of intelligence on her activities.... My officers had burrowed deep into the affairs of the family. Some of the personal details were nauseating and I did not cherish the idea of looking into private bedrooms of individuals. Human frivolities often open up exotic windows into their character and in some social sectors the players exhibited extreme resilience. But in high stung political drama the bedroom scenes often spelt out irretrievable disaster” (Page 266 / 267 – Open Secrets by M. K. Dhar)
(Think it over – IB used by a mother-in-law to have surveillance of a daughter-in-law and if the IB can enter bedrooms of a daughter-in-law of PM, mine and your residences are not immune to it)
“The domestic servant was won over and he offered running commentaries on the happenings inside the residence. An unexpected tip from him that his employer would be out of Delhi for two days offered an opportunity to place the bugs in the target home..... The assigned task was accomplished without breaking into the premises of Menaka Gandhi. I managed to identify the pairs of wires that connected the telephone of her office and home telephones. Appropriate miniature radio transmitters were connected to the target pairs of wires near the junction boxes and, which were hooked to miniature tape recorders.” (Page 271/274 – Open Secrets by M. K. Dhar )
(Think it over – how simple it is to place bugs in your home, telephones and more – does that matter even if you win a case in Supreme Court)
“At one point of time in 1982, Indira wanted the parliament office of a particular ruling party to be bugged for sifting out intelligence nuggets about a possible coup against here.” (Page 286 – Open Secrets by M. K. Dhar)
( Think it over - Parliament which is the most scared institution of Democracy was also not spared but why this surveillance on our own colleagues ?)
“I was assigned the task of electronic sweeping/cleaning of the PM offices in the south block by using certain bug detecting equipment. I tumbled against an unexpected bug and a forgotten micro-radio monitoring machine. The bug was planted inside the phone of an aide to the Prime Minister, planted by IB during V.P.Singh regime. …The other device was installed at a point of time when Rajiv Gandhi and Zail Singh had developed irreparable hostility. The devices mounted some where on top of the PMO picked up telephone conversations from certain treated phones in Rashtrapati Bhawan.” (Page 433 – Open Secrets by M. K. Dhar)
(Think it over – our own agency bugging offices of Prime Minister and President- I think they do not trust anyone)
There are more revelations of Dhar which I missed in the book but were reported in the Indian Express (http://www.indianexpress.com/oldStory/64588/ ) and they include:
L K Advani wanted the IB’s videotape of the demolition of the Babri Masjid from its archives to prove his innocence. The IB director, apparently instructed by officials from the PMO, refused to oblige.
Indira Gandhi got the IB to check out whether one of her ministers was holding a yagya to destroy her. Another time a bugging device was planted in the office of a party colleague.
Dhar helpfully ‘‘straightened out the service record’’ of Zafar Saifullah, who ended up as Cabinet Secretary.
Rajiv Gandhi used the IB to channel funds to BJP candidate Kailash Meghwal to ensure the defeat of his Congress opponent, Buta Singh.
The IB was used to select the Congress candidates for the 1983 Delhi Municipal Corporation election.
The IB was asked to bring around a western UP leader to support Narasimha Rao’s government and his price tag was reportedly Rs 500 million!
Even after sixty two years of independence the IB continues like the Chanakya’s secret service. It bugs the telephones in Parliament and Rashtrapati Bhavan. It keeps tab on not only the political opponents but even on ministerial colleagues of the Prime Minister.
There are many methodologies adopted by IB which includes the use of media as information outlets. Spreading of rumors, planting false stories, surfacing forgeries, use of agents, funding NGOs, influencing collaborators, voluntary or paid. Have you heard of the story before these elections that IB was looking into four houses for Dr. Manmohan Singh in case he loses elections. It is rumored that the IB intercepts and open around 6,000 letters daily. It also has an email spying system similar to FBI's Carnivore System. The Intelligence Bureau is also authorized to conduct wiretapping without a warrant. The IB also has numerous authors who write letters to various newspapers and magazines to support the government's perspective. I have seen it myself where in many such individuals wrote on the e-group moderated by me. Infect there was also one individual who planted stories to tarnish the image of many.
Governments across the Globe have snooped on their citizens, and Indian is no exception. You need not be a lawbreaker or even a suspected one. But this is done on a random basis to build a possible evidence against you that could be used to build a case against you. Bank account application, driver's licence, telephone calls, paper mail, e-mails, Internet activity all come under preview of this surveillance. There are possibilities for abuse in such a system. I remember one of the senior Government officer abused such information against me. But as citizen in Democracy would you like to have a policeman to have access to your telephone conversations and without your knowledge ? And without any recourse even if you do find out about it ? Would you like a someones eye in your bedroom when you are in those passionate movements with your wife? (or someone else)
Honey trap is one of the most common method used by intelligence agencies across the world and these days it can be a guy or a girl because the intelligence agency knows you inside out. Just that you need to fall in the trap. Another trap which is the most common amongst Indian agencies is the Horoscope trap. It is a trap wherein lot of politicians, officers and even common man falls. Initially lot of information is planted about the correct predictions of the said under cover officer. Even a couple of predictions are proved correct as well and then follows a never ending trap of Horoscopes and future predictions. Have anyone imagined, how many horoscope readers predicted about the success of key political leaders like Advani, Mayawati and Jayalalitha. There are also rumors that once an astrologer was taken blindfolded to house of a senior leader who wanted to know if he will ever become a Prime Minister or not. (Read more about the horoscope trap at http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/\papers20\paper1985.html ). The organization is also believed to play a psychological warfare with individuals and even in countries or groups. Many a times key aides of an individual actually are all infiltrated to create a thought amongst the said person. The agencies also don't desist to take help of religious gurus, in the process. In order to control cyber crimes , the related rules, regulations, policies and law have evolved,not only agencies even bureaucrats can now sneak in your computers. The result is that a cyber terrorist is not caught but the same results in undue harassment to the genuine user. With networking sites the agencies do infiltrate the friend lists of their targets and then take things forward. Infect realizing that the same technique can be used against them the members of the defence forces have been asked not to post their pictures in uniform on social networking sites because the military intelligence has learnt that foreign spy rings could use women to "honey-trap" such officers to obtain sensitive defence information. (http://pibmumbai.gov.in/scripts/detail.asp?releaseId=E2009FB29)
And above it there are multiple famous incidents of phone tapping:
1.Allegations that the state government of Gujarat had tapped phones of former finance minister Haren Pandya and senior Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela. (http://www.indianexpress.com/oldStory/65874/ )
2.The allegations by Amar Singh of tapping of his phones (http://www.hindu.com/2006/01/05/stories/2006010510670100.htm)
3.In the recent elections the alleged tapping of phones of the leaders of Praja Rajyam party in AP (http://www.bharatwaves.com/news/IB-tapping-Chiru’s-phones--10548.html )
4.The source of the Salman Khan – Ash tapes which reached all the TV channels http://www.tehelka.com/story_main13.asp?filename=Ne073005Bollywood_in.asp
5.And we all remember the Menaka Gandhi Vs Union of India
But these days the press had started focusing on the secret state. Refer articles by Ritu Sarin in Indian Express, Swati Chaturvedi in th Statesman, Prabhu Chawla (long ago in India today) It is no secret that all key post offices keep tabs on domestic mail and you never know your Post Man, Domestic help or driver are the undercover agents. Nor is it any secret that telephones are routinely tapped and thousand of domestic calls have been placed under surveillance including all international calls are subjected to some kind of screening. Most deluxe hotels provide IB with facilities to tap guest telephones; some even allow the Bureau to place listening devices in bedrooms. (http://www.rediff.com/news/apr/02vir.htm )
The government has decided to create a database of all mobile and fixed line calls within the country in an ambitious and unique attempt to track unlawful activities by identifying calling patterns and mapping social networks. (http://www.rtiindia.org/forum/1311-centre-map-your-phone-network.html )
During the budget sessions the Finance Ministry takes no chances. The security agencies have started to set up a small telephone tapping exchange in North block. The electronic contraption can intercept private mobile operators’ cell numbers. Electronic sweeping devices are being installed on either side of the corridors of the finance ministry section of the North Block, fortify the security futher The mini intercepting exchange also keep a close eye on the 100 odd landline telephone numbers installed in the chambers of various bureaucrats. The intelligence bureau also block e-mail facilities to most of the computers in the offices of Union Finance Ministry. (A discussion thread on RTI India forum
http://www.rtiindia.org/forum/34-budget-document-official-secret.html )
But is it appropriate to blame the Intelligence agencies for these political intelligence. The fact remains that their efficiency has been impaired by political interference or inaction. It is no secret that the Intelligence Bureau spends a huge amount of resources collecting information on Opposition parties and leaders to ingratiate its officers with the ruling dispensation. Every Government in India has misused the Intelligence Bureau for internal political snooping. The most serious aspect of the whole debate is the alleged lack of transparency and accountability of intelligence agencies. United States of America has paid maximum attention and it now keeps tab on these agencies so that they do not violate the basic law of the country. Apart from an Inspector-General who forms the internal oversight mechanism reporting directly to Director- CIA; the system also has a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) and a House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Also, the Intelligence Authorization Act, 1990 brought in congressional oversight of the working of CIA's Inspector-General.
In the UK, both MI5 and MI6 are now governed by statutes and are subject to scrutiny by an Intelligence and Security Committee appointed by the Prime Minister. Although not a statutory committee of Parliament, its multi-party composition promotes objectivity.
Interestingly, neither our IB nor RAW is the creation of a statute, nor do they have a written charter,. There is a big problems in running this kind of omnipresent surveillance. In a democratic framework citizens would be outraged if they knew that they were the subject of this kind of surveillance. In India, though the Constitution does not provide for Right to Privacy as a Fundamental Right, multiple judgments of Supreme court exist wherein the right to privacy has been defined as part of fundamental right to life and liberty. Also, citizens of India are free to express their opinion under the fundamental right to Freedom of Expression and Speech. But then why this surveillance on individuals who are just expressing their thoughts. I recall when I wrote an e-mail to the india-egov group that I would be writing about corruption in name of Good Governance, the result was that my services were gone by end of September. The Government banned the yahoogroups on the pretext of banning a small yahoo group which was of very little consequence. All this in time when a journalist – politician was heading the Ministry of Communication and IT. I still feel at times that because of the e-group I was subjected to such surveillance. Anyways the UPA Government gave a wonderful tool in name of Right to Information Act wherein I have applied with MHA for the said information. But all I would say that unreasonable surveillance of this nature is usually extra-legal and anti-constitutional. Activists would be alarmed, and certainly raise a huge furore, if any such cases came to light. But the citizens will feel offended if they know that their privacy is being invaded in this manner.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Worshiping False Gods....
Can there be so many Gods ?
A recent incident about one of the sects in India made me think that, Can there be so many Gods? Leader of each sect claims that he is the one who will ensure the soul meets the source. I thought of my experience of joining a religious sect and thought what happened to me.
A friend of mine took me to one of the local preacher of the Group and he introduced me to meditation. I was already in an emotional turmoil and was very prone to the suggestions of this preacher. He introduced me to the so called transmission from the main preacher of the sect and mentioned that he is the Master and we all humans are his Slaves. He introduced me to a prayer as well which was having a similar meaning. There were so many suggestions by this local preacher that I went in the flow of those suggestions and started experience similar auto suggestions as well. But today when I look back, I feel as if I was victim of hypnosis. I joined this sect, left it, rejoined it again and left it and then rejoined once again. And in all these years I faced a lot of downfall in my career. From a star performer I became the least performer who failed in each of his job. I started feeling that I am enlightened soul who has come to this earth with a purpose. I started on a mission to change the world rather than trying to change myself.
When I look back I feel that I was made emotionally weak and weak. I went into a deep depression and at times and mania at others. I started experiencing the hallucination and started feeling smell while meditation, at times visualizing flowers, light, darkness and so on. But when I look back I feel that the first few sessions were of hypnosis. Then the self sessions were of auto suggestion which began with a prayer which lead to further auto suggestions. Then there were group sessions which were infect done to create Group Effect so that we all believe what we are doing. In the name of obedience to the so called Master, I started destroying my life .I became weak and weak and was not able to make a decision about myself. At times I used to feel in the so called individual sittings that the master is guiding me to a path. But was it the suggestions made to my mind in those hypnotic sessions or the suggestions made my the local preacher in my head.
There was a time when I used to take my own decisions or my family helped me to take it but then there was a time the master started taking those decisions. I started going into state of mania (as the psychiatrist call it) and felt as if I am reaching a state of enlightenment. I resigned over five -six jobs in that mania phase thinking that I the best and the people who are with me have limited knowledge or have a limited vision. No doubt I started more and more research in a topic of my research and reached a level of success but the mania and depression lead me to be successful at times and lead to great downfall at times. Some psychiatrist told me that I went into state of Bipolar Mood disorder, others opined that since I felt the hallucination effect , it as schizophrenia, others looking at my environmental evolution said its Borderline Personality Disorder. But when I look back I have my doubts that it was impact of hypnosis. Anyways I don't want to blame anyone else, when my mind surrendered to someone else.
Now when I look back I question myself that Is God too weak that he needs a messenger to reach to its people ? Does God wants that we stay away from the family and practice meditation and leave behind the beautiful creations of life. When its choosing between family and master many people choose the master for they were conditioned for the same. I studied many cults / sects / religions and realized that almost all cults are propagating with a hidden motive of mind control. Some do it with their preaching, some do it with things like meditation (or I call it hypnosis).
Any ways many Indians do get influenced by speeches of political leaders during elections then what stops them to get influenced by a weekly sermons. These cults actually brainwash individuals and get them to do things for their limited means. Some do it to spread terrorism and others in name of peace fill their coffers with donations. It is very difficult for an individual to move away from many of these cults once they flow into those suggestions and they are brainwashed. I studied many cults / sects / religions and realized that almost all cults are propagating with a hidden motive of mind control. Some do it with their preaching, some do it with things like meditation (or I call it hypnosis). There are others who know that millions want to stay healthy and they start exploiting them on things like pranayam. I discussed with many thought leaders and they were unanimous in their view that not only these religious gurus but everyone in the world is exploiting the emotional insecurity of the other. And if an individual is emotionally secure then he will never visit these gurus. The past sayings are not without any meaning. Remember, “Dhukh mae simiran sab kare sukh mae karne na koi”. So when a person is emotionally secure he does not need to find solace in these Gods and Goddess but when he is emotionally weak he looks out to those auto suggestions. Even the astrologers do the same and they are most visited when anyone is in distress. Infect in many countries including India intelligence agencies are using this religious gurus and horoscopes as a trap for individuals.
And this is how the control is managed and abused.
It was the individuals emotional weaknesses which were exploited by these so called religious leaders. Let us look into the traditional concept of Hinduism. At one time it says that God is One and on other it puts in so many deities before us. Was it the financial exploitation by the pandits in name of God and religion. And then the each religion or cult face a battle for control of property or the heir of the so called spiritual leadership. Why these leaders who are messengers of Good run after control, power and money. If you are God or its messenger why then this fight for earthly desires. All sects and religions have built their own fortresses , properties, ashrams which collect millions in name of charity. There are many cases pending in the various courts against these religious sects over control of property and claim to be heir. We must just look into the judis link in the website supermecourt.nic.in and we can realize the truth.
I tried to look into definitions of the world cult. The psychological definition of the practices within a cult sis an institution which uses coercive persuasion which suppresses the ability of people to reason, think critically, and make choices in their own best interest. Another definition said that "A cult is a group or movement exhibiting a great or excessive devotion or dedication to some person, idea or thing and employing unethically manipulative techniques of persuasion and control (e.g. isolation from former friends and family, debilitation, use of special methods to heighten suggestibility and subservience, powerful group pressures, information management, suspension of individuality or critical judgment, promotion of total dependency on the group and fear of [consequences of] leaving it, etc) designed to advance the goals of the group's leaders to the actual or possible detriment of members, their families, or the community."
Truth, purity and selflessness are the foundation of any religion and do we see anything like that. There are great individuals who do a lot of good and are principled in their life. They attain a status of God and there are individuals who may not have done good attain a status of the demon. But is it correct to see every individual as Black or White. Every individual lives in shades of Grey. But when the history is written individuals who won the battles of past are renounced as all White and others as all Black. Is it not distortion of history. There had been many good individuals who have worked in this world for the good of the fellow human beings like Sh. M.K.Gandhi , Mother Terasa, Bhim Rao Ambedkar . But is it correct to name one as Mahatma, other as God and the third as Messiah of the deprived class. And when we will look down the history say thousand years down the line we will see many of the humans of today recognized as God / Goddess of future. We already see many temples being erected of many thought leaders and actors. Do we realize that future generations will believe them as Gods ?
Each religion talks about enlightenment but can we fight a darkness with other darkness. Many individuals on earth decide to follow themselves and other few needs the spiritual guides. But the fact remains these spiritual leaders are human like you and me. A partial list of various religious groups / cults as is available at from wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_groups_referred_to_as_cults_in_government_documents
There are many sects which had been in news for mass suicide / terrorism / riots. Is it the message of peace which is foundation of all religions. Anyways I will conclude that when we look for a Master we need to look for a master of own self. And wish that all individuals may realize this bitter truth of life. I could never have realized this truth of life if I had been in state of mania or depression but thanks to my doctor, I could realize the truth in the stable state of mind.
A recent incident about one of the sects in India made me think that, Can there be so many Gods? Leader of each sect claims that he is the one who will ensure the soul meets the source. I thought of my experience of joining a religious sect and thought what happened to me.
A friend of mine took me to one of the local preacher of the Group and he introduced me to meditation. I was already in an emotional turmoil and was very prone to the suggestions of this preacher. He introduced me to the so called transmission from the main preacher of the sect and mentioned that he is the Master and we all humans are his Slaves. He introduced me to a prayer as well which was having a similar meaning. There were so many suggestions by this local preacher that I went in the flow of those suggestions and started experience similar auto suggestions as well. But today when I look back, I feel as if I was victim of hypnosis. I joined this sect, left it, rejoined it again and left it and then rejoined once again. And in all these years I faced a lot of downfall in my career. From a star performer I became the least performer who failed in each of his job. I started feeling that I am enlightened soul who has come to this earth with a purpose. I started on a mission to change the world rather than trying to change myself.
When I look back I feel that I was made emotionally weak and weak. I went into a deep depression and at times and mania at others. I started experiencing the hallucination and started feeling smell while meditation, at times visualizing flowers, light, darkness and so on. But when I look back I feel that the first few sessions were of hypnosis. Then the self sessions were of auto suggestion which began with a prayer which lead to further auto suggestions. Then there were group sessions which were infect done to create Group Effect so that we all believe what we are doing. In the name of obedience to the so called Master, I started destroying my life .I became weak and weak and was not able to make a decision about myself. At times I used to feel in the so called individual sittings that the master is guiding me to a path. But was it the suggestions made to my mind in those hypnotic sessions or the suggestions made my the local preacher in my head.
There was a time when I used to take my own decisions or my family helped me to take it but then there was a time the master started taking those decisions. I started going into state of mania (as the psychiatrist call it) and felt as if I am reaching a state of enlightenment. I resigned over five -six jobs in that mania phase thinking that I the best and the people who are with me have limited knowledge or have a limited vision. No doubt I started more and more research in a topic of my research and reached a level of success but the mania and depression lead me to be successful at times and lead to great downfall at times. Some psychiatrist told me that I went into state of Bipolar Mood disorder, others opined that since I felt the hallucination effect , it as schizophrenia, others looking at my environmental evolution said its Borderline Personality Disorder. But when I look back I have my doubts that it was impact of hypnosis. Anyways I don't want to blame anyone else, when my mind surrendered to someone else.
Now when I look back I question myself that Is God too weak that he needs a messenger to reach to its people ? Does God wants that we stay away from the family and practice meditation and leave behind the beautiful creations of life. When its choosing between family and master many people choose the master for they were conditioned for the same. I studied many cults / sects / religions and realized that almost all cults are propagating with a hidden motive of mind control. Some do it with their preaching, some do it with things like meditation (or I call it hypnosis).
Any ways many Indians do get influenced by speeches of political leaders during elections then what stops them to get influenced by a weekly sermons. These cults actually brainwash individuals and get them to do things for their limited means. Some do it to spread terrorism and others in name of peace fill their coffers with donations. It is very difficult for an individual to move away from many of these cults once they flow into those suggestions and they are brainwashed. I studied many cults / sects / religions and realized that almost all cults are propagating with a hidden motive of mind control. Some do it with their preaching, some do it with things like meditation (or I call it hypnosis). There are others who know that millions want to stay healthy and they start exploiting them on things like pranayam. I discussed with many thought leaders and they were unanimous in their view that not only these religious gurus but everyone in the world is exploiting the emotional insecurity of the other. And if an individual is emotionally secure then he will never visit these gurus. The past sayings are not without any meaning. Remember, “Dhukh mae simiran sab kare sukh mae karne na koi”. So when a person is emotionally secure he does not need to find solace in these Gods and Goddess but when he is emotionally weak he looks out to those auto suggestions. Even the astrologers do the same and they are most visited when anyone is in distress. Infect in many countries including India intelligence agencies are using this religious gurus and horoscopes as a trap for individuals.
And this is how the control is managed and abused.
It was the individuals emotional weaknesses which were exploited by these so called religious leaders. Let us look into the traditional concept of Hinduism. At one time it says that God is One and on other it puts in so many deities before us. Was it the financial exploitation by the pandits in name of God and religion. And then the each religion or cult face a battle for control of property or the heir of the so called spiritual leadership. Why these leaders who are messengers of Good run after control, power and money. If you are God or its messenger why then this fight for earthly desires. All sects and religions have built their own fortresses , properties, ashrams which collect millions in name of charity. There are many cases pending in the various courts against these religious sects over control of property and claim to be heir. We must just look into the judis link in the website supermecourt.nic.in and we can realize the truth.
I tried to look into definitions of the world cult. The psychological definition of the practices within a cult sis an institution which uses coercive persuasion which suppresses the ability of people to reason, think critically, and make choices in their own best interest. Another definition said that "A cult is a group or movement exhibiting a great or excessive devotion or dedication to some person, idea or thing and employing unethically manipulative techniques of persuasion and control (e.g. isolation from former friends and family, debilitation, use of special methods to heighten suggestibility and subservience, powerful group pressures, information management, suspension of individuality or critical judgment, promotion of total dependency on the group and fear of [consequences of] leaving it, etc) designed to advance the goals of the group's leaders to the actual or possible detriment of members, their families, or the community."
Truth, purity and selflessness are the foundation of any religion and do we see anything like that. There are great individuals who do a lot of good and are principled in their life. They attain a status of God and there are individuals who may not have done good attain a status of the demon. But is it correct to see every individual as Black or White. Every individual lives in shades of Grey. But when the history is written individuals who won the battles of past are renounced as all White and others as all Black. Is it not distortion of history. There had been many good individuals who have worked in this world for the good of the fellow human beings like Sh. M.K.Gandhi , Mother Terasa, Bhim Rao Ambedkar . But is it correct to name one as Mahatma, other as God and the third as Messiah of the deprived class. And when we will look down the history say thousand years down the line we will see many of the humans of today recognized as God / Goddess of future. We already see many temples being erected of many thought leaders and actors. Do we realize that future generations will believe them as Gods ?
Each religion talks about enlightenment but can we fight a darkness with other darkness. Many individuals on earth decide to follow themselves and other few needs the spiritual guides. But the fact remains these spiritual leaders are human like you and me. A partial list of various religious groups / cults as is available at from wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_groups_referred_to_as_cults_in_government_documents
There are many sects which had been in news for mass suicide / terrorism / riots. Is it the message of peace which is foundation of all religions. Anyways I will conclude that when we look for a Master we need to look for a master of own self. And wish that all individuals may realize this bitter truth of life. I could never have realized this truth of life if I had been in state of mania or depression but thanks to my doctor, I could realize the truth in the stable state of mind.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Diversity in Indian Politics
PM's team lacks diversity
Eleven out of nineteen ministers in the PM's team are drawn from Law background, which puts us into a question that is it only lawyers who make good Ministers. In the nineteen member team inducted on 22nd May'09 the following eleven are with law background:
1. Pranab Mukherjee
2. AK Antony
3. P Chidambaram
4. Mamta Banerjee
5. SM Krishna
6. Veerappa Moily
7. Sushil Kumar Shinde
8. Vayalar Ravi
9. Meira Kumar
10. Kapil Sibal
11. Anand Sharma
And its a fact that parliament spends least time in debating the legislatures which can easily be referred to Ministry of law for legal inputs. We actually need more of specialist to handle portfolios then lawyers to participate in debates. A formal education in the specific area of Ministry will be helpful in understanding the key aspects of that Ministry. The same will help in handling the real bottlenecks in the specific area of expertise. Why not a person with specialist education background / experience be inducted as a Minister ? Lets take a few debates:
1. PG from IIFT (Indian Institute of Foreign Trade) or a former Ambassador as Minister of External Affairs
2. A Professor, teacher or an Educationists as Minister of Human Resource Development
3. A former Army Man as Minister of Defense
4.A farmer as Minister of Agriculture
5. A supply chain expert as Minister for Public Distribution
6. An infrastructure specialist as Minister of Railways
7. A Chemical Engineer as Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers
8. A small entrepreneur as Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
9. An industrialist as Minister of Commerce and Industry
10. A sarpanch as Minister of Panchayati Raj
11. A person from North East as Minister of Development of North Eastern Region
12. A Technocrat as Minister of Communications and Information Technology
13. A doctor as Minister of Health & Family Welfare
14. A NRI settled back in India as Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs
15. A management graduate as Minister for Parliamentary Affairs
16.An Engineer as Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises
17. A Chartered Accountant as Minister of Corporate Affairs
18. A Scientist as Minister of Science and Technology
19. An Environmentalist as Minister for Environment and Forest
20. A former Bureaucrat as Minister for Personnel
21. A journalist as Minister for I& B
22. A Space Scientist as Minister for Space
23. A statistician as Minister for Statistics & PI
22. An Unemployed Youth as Minister for Labor and Employment
23. A Youth as Minister of Youth Affairs
24. A sports person (non cricketer) as Minister for Sports
23.An Economist as Finance Minister
24. A cine-star (so many of them) as Minister for culture
In any case the diverse the cabinet the more diverse experiences will be captured in the development of country. We must start thinking in terms of diversity beyond representation of States. Any further thoughts on other areas of diversity in Politics and Government.
Eleven out of nineteen ministers in the PM's team are drawn from Law background, which puts us into a question that is it only lawyers who make good Ministers. In the nineteen member team inducted on 22nd May'09 the following eleven are with law background:
1. Pranab Mukherjee
2. AK Antony
3. P Chidambaram
4. Mamta Banerjee
5. SM Krishna
6. Veerappa Moily
7. Sushil Kumar Shinde
8. Vayalar Ravi
9. Meira Kumar
10. Kapil Sibal
11. Anand Sharma
And its a fact that parliament spends least time in debating the legislatures which can easily be referred to Ministry of law for legal inputs. We actually need more of specialist to handle portfolios then lawyers to participate in debates. A formal education in the specific area of Ministry will be helpful in understanding the key aspects of that Ministry. The same will help in handling the real bottlenecks in the specific area of expertise. Why not a person with specialist education background / experience be inducted as a Minister ? Lets take a few debates:
1. PG from IIFT (Indian Institute of Foreign Trade) or a former Ambassador as Minister of External Affairs
2. A Professor, teacher or an Educationists as Minister of Human Resource Development
3. A former Army Man as Minister of Defense
4.A farmer as Minister of Agriculture
5. A supply chain expert as Minister for Public Distribution
6. An infrastructure specialist as Minister of Railways
7. A Chemical Engineer as Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers
8. A small entrepreneur as Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
9. An industrialist as Minister of Commerce and Industry
10. A sarpanch as Minister of Panchayati Raj
11. A person from North East as Minister of Development of North Eastern Region
12. A Technocrat as Minister of Communications and Information Technology
13. A doctor as Minister of Health & Family Welfare
14. A NRI settled back in India as Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs
15. A management graduate as Minister for Parliamentary Affairs
16.An Engineer as Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises
17. A Chartered Accountant as Minister of Corporate Affairs
18. A Scientist as Minister of Science and Technology
19. An Environmentalist as Minister for Environment and Forest
20. A former Bureaucrat as Minister for Personnel
21. A journalist as Minister for I& B
22. A Space Scientist as Minister for Space
23. A statistician as Minister for Statistics & PI
22. An Unemployed Youth as Minister for Labor and Employment
23. A Youth as Minister of Youth Affairs
24. A sports person (non cricketer) as Minister for Sports
23.An Economist as Finance Minister
24. A cine-star (so many of them) as Minister for culture
In any case the diverse the cabinet the more diverse experiences will be captured in the development of country. We must start thinking in terms of diversity beyond representation of States. Any further thoughts on other areas of diversity in Politics and Government.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
After RTI - its Right to Privacy
The Right to Privacy is the next wave after the Right to Information Act. The right to privacy will affect the IT Act, e-governance initiatives, it may also have consequence on the various policies and PPP initiatives in e-Governance. This paper discusses privacy laws as they exist in their current form in India
1.Privacy as a concept is still evolving in India and it will take many years for the Indian state to come forward with a Privacy Regulation that protects the privacy of the citizens. However even though the Parliamentarians are silent on same, the Hon'ble Supreme Court has come forward to recognize the said right of citizen. Accordingly it was felt that the right to privacy was implicit in the right to life and liberty guaranteed to a citizen under Article 21 of the Constitution. Article 21 states, “No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law.”
2.India is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966 . The Article 17 of the said covenant states that, “ No one shall be subject to arbitrary unlawful interference with his privacy family, human or correspondence, nor to lawful attacks on his honour and reputation. Every one has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks."
3.Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 states that “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks. “
4.The right to personal privacy is also protected through the application of tort and/or criminal law, e.g. malicious falsehood, trespass, nuisance. The tort of defamation operates to protect the right of a person to his reputation (in which case defences of truth and privilege could be argued).
5.Privacy in case of patients is reflected in the Code of Ethics Regulations, 2002 issued by MEDICAL COUNCIL OF INDIA which lays down section 2.2 and 6.6 which state that : 2.2 Patience, Delicacy and Secrecy : Patience and delicacy should characterize the physician. Confidences concerning individual or domestic life entrusted by patients to a physician and defects in the disposition or character of patients observed during medical attendance should never be revealed unless their revelation is required by the laws of the State. Sometimes, however, a physician must determine whether his duty to society requires him to employ knowledge, obtained through confidence as a physician, to protect a healthy person against a communicable disease to which he is about to be exposed. In such instance, the physician should act as he would wish another to act toward one of his own family in like circumstances. Similarly section 6.6. which talks about Human Rights:states that the physician shall not aid or abet torture nor shall he be a party to either infliction of mental or physical trauma or concealment of torture inflicted by some other person or agency in clear violation of human rights.
6.Even in case of Press the norms of Journalist conduct have various section. The section 13 states that The Press shall not intrude or invade the privacy of an individual unless outweighed by genuine overriding public interest, not being a prurient or morbid curiosity. The section 16 states that The Press shall not tape-record anyone's conversation without that person's knowledge or consent, except where the recording is necessary to protect the journalist in a legal action, or for other compelling good reason. The section 17 states the Intrusion through photography into moments of personal grief shall be avoided. Further the conduct rule also states that Every mass medium must observe the terms of the final document of the international consultation of AIDS and human rights, and promptly report the violation of such rights protecting the basic human rights to life and liberty, privacy and freedom of movement.
7.The section 2 of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 also gives a wide meaning to the "human rights" which means the rights relating to life, liberty, equality and dignity of the individual guaranteed under the Constitution or embodied in the International Covenants and enforceable by courts in India. "International Covenants" means the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on the 16th December, 1966 . And thus the Right to Privacy as defined above is also available as part of the protection of human rights if the interference in privacy is leading to violation of Human Rights
8.The principles of Privacy are also observed in Lawyer- Client relationship. The Indian Evidence Act provides that no advocate shall at any time be permitted, unless with his client’s express consent, to disclose any communication made to him in the course and for the purpose of his employment as an advocate, by or on behalf of his client, or to state the contents or condition of any document with which he has become acquainted or to disclose any advice given by him to his client in the course and for the purpose of such employment.
9.Even the Right to Information Act also puts reasonable restriction in case of third party information. The Act states that where a Central Public Information Officer or a State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, intends to disclose any information or record, or part thereof on a request made under this Act, which relates to or has been supplied by a third party and has been treated as confidential by that third party, the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, shall, within five days from the receipt of the request, give a written notice to such third party of the request and of the fact that the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, intends to disclose the information or record, or part thereof, and invite the third party to make a submission in writing or orally, regarding whether the information should be disclosed, and such submission of the third party shall be kept in view while taking a decision about disclosure of information:
10.Apart from above there are multiple Supreme Court Judgements which uphold the Right to Privacy of Citizens.
a. In R Rajgopal v State of Tamil Nadu (the Auto Shanker case), the Supreme Court held that every citizen has the right to safeguard his or her privacy and that nothing could be published on areas such as the family, marriage and education, ‘whether truthful or otherwise’, without the person’s consent. In this case, two aspects of privacy were recognized by the Court – (a) the tortuous law of privacy that affords an action for damages resulting from an unlawful invasion of privacy, and (b) the constitutional ‘right to be let alone’.
b. The right to privacy was also recognized as specially originating out of certain specific relationships like doctor-patient, husband-wife etc. In Mr. X v Hospital Z, the Supreme Court held that the disclosure of even true private facts had the tendency to disturb a person’s tranquility, generate complexes in him and even lead to psychological problems and therefore, the right to privacy was an essential component of the right to life as envisaged by Article 21 of the Constitution.
c.In Zahira Habibullah Sheikh v. State of Gujarat, the Supreme Court explained that a “fair trial obviously would mean a trial before an impartial Judge, a fair prosecutor and atmosphere of
judicial calm. Fair trial means a trial in which bias or prejudice for or against the accused, the witnesses, or the cause which is being tried is eliminated”. In essence the court disapproved the trial by media which infringes the privacy of citizens. The Right to a fair trial is absolute right of every individual within the territorial limits of India vide articles 14 and 20, 21 and 22 of the Constitution. Needless to say right to a fair trial is more important as it is an absolute right which flows from Article 21 of the constitution to be read with Article 14. Freedom of speech and expression incorporated under Article 19 (1)(a) has been put under ‘reasonable restriction’ subject to Article 19 (2) and Section 2 (c) of the Contempt of Court Act. One’s life with dignity is always given a priority in comparison to one’s right to freedom of speech and expression.
d. In Gobind v. State of M.P. the Supreme Court laid down that “ privacy-dignity claims deserve to be examined with care and to be denied only when an important countervailing interest is shown to be superior. If the Court does find that a claimed right is entitled to protection as a fundamental privacy right, a law infringing it must satisfy the compelling State interest test”
e. In State v. Charulata Joshi the Supreme Court held that “the constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression conferred by Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution which includes the freedom of the press is not an absolute right. The press must first obtain the willingness of the person sought to be interviewed and no court can pass any order if the person to be interviewed expresses his unwillingness”.
f. In Maneka Gandhi vs. Union of India case the court has observed that "procedure which deals with the modalities of regulating, restricting or even rejecting a fundamental right falling within Article 21 has to be fair, not foolish, carefully designed to effectuate, not to the substantive right itself. Thus, understood, "procedure" must rule out anything arbitrary, freakish or bizarre. A valuable constitutional right can be canalised only by civilised processes."
g.In People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) v. Union of India, the Supreme Court held that the telephone tapping by Government under S. 5(2) of Telegraph Act, 1885 amounts infraction of Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Right to privacy is a part of the right to “life” and “personal liberty” enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution. The said right cannot be curtailed “except according to procedure established by law”. It was observed that conversations on the telephone are often of an intimate and confidential character. Telephone conversation is a part of modern man's life. It is considered so important that more and more people are carrying mobile telephone instruments in their pockets. Telephone conversation is an important facet of a man's private life. Right to privacy would certainly include telephone conversation in the privacy of one's home or office. Telephone-tapping would, thus, infract Article 21 of the Constitution of India unless it is permitted under the procedure established by law."
h. In District Registrar and Collector v. Canara Bank, it was held, that “exclusion of illegitimate intrusions into privacy depends on the nature of the right being asserted and the way in which it is brought into play; it is at this point that the context becomes crucial, to inform substantive judgment. If these factors are relevant for defining the right to privacy, they are quite relevant whenever there is invasion of that right by way of searches and seizures at the instance of the State.” If one follows the judgments given by the Hon’ble Supreme Court, three themes emerge: - (1) that the individual’s right to privacy exists and any unlawful invasion of privacy would make the ‘offender’ liable for the consequences in accordance with law; (2) that there is constitutional recognition given to the right of privacy which protects personal privacy against unlawful governmental invasion; (3) that the person’s “right to be let alone” is not an absolute right and may be lawfully restricted for the prevention of crime, disorder or protection of health or morals or protection of rights and freedom of others;
i. In Smt. Prabha Dutt Vs. Union of India (UOI) and Ors. it was observed that constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression conferred by Article 19(l)(a) of the Constitution, which includes the freedom of the Press, is not an absolute right, nor indeed does it confer any right on the Press to have an unrestricted access to means of information. The Press is entitled to exercise its freedom of speech and expression by publishing a matter which does not invade the rights of other citizens and which does not violate the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, public order, decency and morality.
j. In Kaleidoscope (India) (P) Ltd. v. Phoolan Devi, the trial Judge restrained the exhibition of the controversial film Bandit Queen both in India and abroad. The trial court reached a prima facie view that the film infringed the right to privacy of Phoolan Devi, notwithstanding that she had assigned her copyright in her writings to the film producers. This was upheld by the Division Bench. The Court observed that even assuming that Phoolan Devi was a public figure whose private life was exposed to the media; the question was to what extent private matters relating to rape or the alleged murders committed by her could be commercially exploited, and not just as news items or matters of public interest. Thus, justice was rendered by preventing by intrusion of privacy into the life of the one and only Bandit Queen.
1.Privacy as a concept is still evolving in India and it will take many years for the Indian state to come forward with a Privacy Regulation that protects the privacy of the citizens. However even though the Parliamentarians are silent on same, the Hon'ble Supreme Court has come forward to recognize the said right of citizen. Accordingly it was felt that the right to privacy was implicit in the right to life and liberty guaranteed to a citizen under Article 21 of the Constitution. Article 21 states, “No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law.”
2.India is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966 . The Article 17 of the said covenant states that, “ No one shall be subject to arbitrary unlawful interference with his privacy family, human or correspondence, nor to lawful attacks on his honour and reputation. Every one has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks."
3.Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 states that “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks. “
4.The right to personal privacy is also protected through the application of tort and/or criminal law, e.g. malicious falsehood, trespass, nuisance. The tort of defamation operates to protect the right of a person to his reputation (in which case defences of truth and privilege could be argued).
5.Privacy in case of patients is reflected in the Code of Ethics Regulations, 2002 issued by MEDICAL COUNCIL OF INDIA which lays down section 2.2 and 6.6 which state that : 2.2 Patience, Delicacy and Secrecy : Patience and delicacy should characterize the physician. Confidences concerning individual or domestic life entrusted by patients to a physician and defects in the disposition or character of patients observed during medical attendance should never be revealed unless their revelation is required by the laws of the State. Sometimes, however, a physician must determine whether his duty to society requires him to employ knowledge, obtained through confidence as a physician, to protect a healthy person against a communicable disease to which he is about to be exposed. In such instance, the physician should act as he would wish another to act toward one of his own family in like circumstances. Similarly section 6.6. which talks about Human Rights:states that the physician shall not aid or abet torture nor shall he be a party to either infliction of mental or physical trauma or concealment of torture inflicted by some other person or agency in clear violation of human rights.
6.Even in case of Press the norms of Journalist conduct have various section. The section 13 states that The Press shall not intrude or invade the privacy of an individual unless outweighed by genuine overriding public interest, not being a prurient or morbid curiosity. The section 16 states that The Press shall not tape-record anyone's conversation without that person's knowledge or consent, except where the recording is necessary to protect the journalist in a legal action, or for other compelling good reason. The section 17 states the Intrusion through photography into moments of personal grief shall be avoided. Further the conduct rule also states that Every mass medium must observe the terms of the final document of the international consultation of AIDS and human rights, and promptly report the violation of such rights protecting the basic human rights to life and liberty, privacy and freedom of movement.
7.The section 2 of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 also gives a wide meaning to the "human rights" which means the rights relating to life, liberty, equality and dignity of the individual guaranteed under the Constitution or embodied in the International Covenants and enforceable by courts in India. "International Covenants" means the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on the 16th December, 1966 . And thus the Right to Privacy as defined above is also available as part of the protection of human rights if the interference in privacy is leading to violation of Human Rights
8.The principles of Privacy are also observed in Lawyer- Client relationship. The Indian Evidence Act provides that no advocate shall at any time be permitted, unless with his client’s express consent, to disclose any communication made to him in the course and for the purpose of his employment as an advocate, by or on behalf of his client, or to state the contents or condition of any document with which he has become acquainted or to disclose any advice given by him to his client in the course and for the purpose of such employment.
9.Even the Right to Information Act also puts reasonable restriction in case of third party information. The Act states that where a Central Public Information Officer or a State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, intends to disclose any information or record, or part thereof on a request made under this Act, which relates to or has been supplied by a third party and has been treated as confidential by that third party, the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, shall, within five days from the receipt of the request, give a written notice to such third party of the request and of the fact that the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, intends to disclose the information or record, or part thereof, and invite the third party to make a submission in writing or orally, regarding whether the information should be disclosed, and such submission of the third party shall be kept in view while taking a decision about disclosure of information:
10.Apart from above there are multiple Supreme Court Judgements which uphold the Right to Privacy of Citizens.
a. In R Rajgopal v State of Tamil Nadu (the Auto Shanker case), the Supreme Court held that every citizen has the right to safeguard his or her privacy and that nothing could be published on areas such as the family, marriage and education, ‘whether truthful or otherwise’, without the person’s consent. In this case, two aspects of privacy were recognized by the Court – (a) the tortuous law of privacy that affords an action for damages resulting from an unlawful invasion of privacy, and (b) the constitutional ‘right to be let alone’.
b. The right to privacy was also recognized as specially originating out of certain specific relationships like doctor-patient, husband-wife etc. In Mr. X v Hospital Z, the Supreme Court held that the disclosure of even true private facts had the tendency to disturb a person’s tranquility, generate complexes in him and even lead to psychological problems and therefore, the right to privacy was an essential component of the right to life as envisaged by Article 21 of the Constitution.
c.In Zahira Habibullah Sheikh v. State of Gujarat, the Supreme Court explained that a “fair trial obviously would mean a trial before an impartial Judge, a fair prosecutor and atmosphere of
judicial calm. Fair trial means a trial in which bias or prejudice for or against the accused, the witnesses, or the cause which is being tried is eliminated”. In essence the court disapproved the trial by media which infringes the privacy of citizens. The Right to a fair trial is absolute right of every individual within the territorial limits of India vide articles 14 and 20, 21 and 22 of the Constitution. Needless to say right to a fair trial is more important as it is an absolute right which flows from Article 21 of the constitution to be read with Article 14. Freedom of speech and expression incorporated under Article 19 (1)(a) has been put under ‘reasonable restriction’ subject to Article 19 (2) and Section 2 (c) of the Contempt of Court Act. One’s life with dignity is always given a priority in comparison to one’s right to freedom of speech and expression.
d. In Gobind v. State of M.P. the Supreme Court laid down that “ privacy-dignity claims deserve to be examined with care and to be denied only when an important countervailing interest is shown to be superior. If the Court does find that a claimed right is entitled to protection as a fundamental privacy right, a law infringing it must satisfy the compelling State interest test”
e. In State v. Charulata Joshi the Supreme Court held that “the constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression conferred by Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution which includes the freedom of the press is not an absolute right. The press must first obtain the willingness of the person sought to be interviewed and no court can pass any order if the person to be interviewed expresses his unwillingness”.
f. In Maneka Gandhi vs. Union of India case the court has observed that "procedure which deals with the modalities of regulating, restricting or even rejecting a fundamental right falling within Article 21 has to be fair, not foolish, carefully designed to effectuate, not to the substantive right itself. Thus, understood, "procedure" must rule out anything arbitrary, freakish or bizarre. A valuable constitutional right can be canalised only by civilised processes."
g.In People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) v. Union of India, the Supreme Court held that the telephone tapping by Government under S. 5(2) of Telegraph Act, 1885 amounts infraction of Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Right to privacy is a part of the right to “life” and “personal liberty” enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution. The said right cannot be curtailed “except according to procedure established by law”. It was observed that conversations on the telephone are often of an intimate and confidential character. Telephone conversation is a part of modern man's life. It is considered so important that more and more people are carrying mobile telephone instruments in their pockets. Telephone conversation is an important facet of a man's private life. Right to privacy would certainly include telephone conversation in the privacy of one's home or office. Telephone-tapping would, thus, infract Article 21 of the Constitution of India unless it is permitted under the procedure established by law."
h. In District Registrar and Collector v. Canara Bank, it was held, that “exclusion of illegitimate intrusions into privacy depends on the nature of the right being asserted and the way in which it is brought into play; it is at this point that the context becomes crucial, to inform substantive judgment. If these factors are relevant for defining the right to privacy, they are quite relevant whenever there is invasion of that right by way of searches and seizures at the instance of the State.” If one follows the judgments given by the Hon’ble Supreme Court, three themes emerge: - (1) that the individual’s right to privacy exists and any unlawful invasion of privacy would make the ‘offender’ liable for the consequences in accordance with law; (2) that there is constitutional recognition given to the right of privacy which protects personal privacy against unlawful governmental invasion; (3) that the person’s “right to be let alone” is not an absolute right and may be lawfully restricted for the prevention of crime, disorder or protection of health or morals or protection of rights and freedom of others;
i. In Smt. Prabha Dutt Vs. Union of India (UOI) and Ors. it was observed that constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression conferred by Article 19(l)(a) of the Constitution, which includes the freedom of the Press, is not an absolute right, nor indeed does it confer any right on the Press to have an unrestricted access to means of information. The Press is entitled to exercise its freedom of speech and expression by publishing a matter which does not invade the rights of other citizens and which does not violate the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, public order, decency and morality.
j. In Kaleidoscope (India) (P) Ltd. v. Phoolan Devi, the trial Judge restrained the exhibition of the controversial film Bandit Queen both in India and abroad. The trial court reached a prima facie view that the film infringed the right to privacy of Phoolan Devi, notwithstanding that she had assigned her copyright in her writings to the film producers. This was upheld by the Division Bench. The Court observed that even assuming that Phoolan Devi was a public figure whose private life was exposed to the media; the question was to what extent private matters relating to rape or the alleged murders committed by her could be commercially exploited, and not just as news items or matters of public interest. Thus, justice was rendered by preventing by intrusion of privacy into the life of the one and only Bandit Queen.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Diversity I - Understanding BPD
Diversity – I
Understanding Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)
Symptoms
1.Depth and variability in mood
2.Black and White thinking
3.Chaotic / unstable relationship, self image, identity confusion
4.Periods of Dissociation from family, friends and society
5.Relationship difficulties in Work Place, Social Settings
6.Image Split - It is thinking in extremes e.g. good versus bad, powerful versus defenseless and so on.
7.According to a research over 57% of people suffering from BPD have alternate sexual preferences
8.Obsessive towards Challenging people they believe as Black
9.They feel themselves as responsible for misery of their close ones
1o. BPD Patients experience love and sexuality in perverse (human behavior that are perceived to be a serious deviation from what is considered to be orthodox or normal) and violent qualities
1q. People use splitting as a central defense mechanism. They do this to preserve their self-esteem. They do this by seeing the self as purely good and the others as purely bad.
Causes
1.Childhood Sexual Abuse
2.Genetic Predisposition – People having a close relative with mental health issues have over 5% more chances of having BPD
3.Neurological Factor - People having some disease of neurology have high chances of developing BPD
4.Environment – like death of parent in childhood / neglect by parents
BPD and Bipolar Mode Disorder
1.BPD is similar to Bipolar Mood Disorder and is very difficult to distinguish
2.BPD patients will have fragile moods, delayed development, under developed emotional coping skills
3.BPD will show idealistic relationship patterns – Good or Bad
4.BPD is a software problem (low on emotional quotient) where as Bipolar is hardware problem (chemical imbalance)
5.Patients in BPD do not have any delusion / loss of reality
BPD may become worse:
1.If patients see behavior which are suspicious
2.There moments, actions etc are regularly monitored
3.They are restricted to a close environment
4.They receive a setback from someone whom they trust
5.A job loss may trigger major depressive episode
6.Variability in moods if not treated properly may lead to Bipolar Mood Disorder
7.If a patient is artificially lead towards change
Understanding Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)
Symptoms
1.Depth and variability in mood
2.Black and White thinking
3.Chaotic / unstable relationship, self image, identity confusion
4.Periods of Dissociation from family, friends and society
5.Relationship difficulties in Work Place, Social Settings
6.Image Split - It is thinking in extremes e.g. good versus bad, powerful versus defenseless and so on.
7.According to a research over 57% of people suffering from BPD have alternate sexual preferences
8.Obsessive towards Challenging people they believe as Black
9.They feel themselves as responsible for misery of their close ones
1o. BPD Patients experience love and sexuality in perverse (human behavior that are perceived to be a serious deviation from what is considered to be orthodox or normal) and violent qualities
1q. People use splitting as a central defense mechanism. They do this to preserve their self-esteem. They do this by seeing the self as purely good and the others as purely bad.
Causes
1.Childhood Sexual Abuse
2.Genetic Predisposition – People having a close relative with mental health issues have over 5% more chances of having BPD
3.Neurological Factor - People having some disease of neurology have high chances of developing BPD
4.Environment – like death of parent in childhood / neglect by parents
BPD and Bipolar Mode Disorder
1.BPD is similar to Bipolar Mood Disorder and is very difficult to distinguish
2.BPD patients will have fragile moods, delayed development, under developed emotional coping skills
3.BPD will show idealistic relationship patterns – Good or Bad
4.BPD is a software problem (low on emotional quotient) where as Bipolar is hardware problem (chemical imbalance)
5.Patients in BPD do not have any delusion / loss of reality
BPD may become worse:
1.If patients see behavior which are suspicious
2.There moments, actions etc are regularly monitored
3.They are restricted to a close environment
4.They receive a setback from someone whom they trust
5.A job loss may trigger major depressive episode
6.Variability in moods if not treated properly may lead to Bipolar Mood Disorder
7.If a patient is artificially lead towards change
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