कामना है

रंग देखे हज़ारों संसार में पर,
इक  नयी दुनिया बनाऊँ, कामना है।

सामाजिक बन्धनों में हूँ बंधा पर,
कुछ क्रांतिकारी बदलाव लाऊँ, कामना है। 

सदियों पुराने ढांचे में हूँ ढला पर,
इसी जनम में फिर नया जन्म लूँ मैं, कामना है।

माँ बाप को बेहद रुलाया हर मोड़ पर,
पर उन्हें मुस्कान की दावत खिलाऊँ, कामना है।

रूह को कत्ल मैंने किया है कई बार पर,
किसी की जिंदगी रौशन बनाऊं, कामना है।

ग़ैरों से लाखों मुलाकातें करी पर,
खुद से खुद का परिचय कराऊँ, कामना है।



------ ---- राजेश मीणा 'बुजेटा'

Book Review : The Elephant and the Dragon

Title of the book: The Elephant and The Dragon

Author: Robyn Meredith

Submitted by: Rajesh Meena Bujeta

About the book:

The book ‘The Elephant and the Dragon’ has been written by Robyn Meredith, an award winning international journalist in 2007. She has been associated New York Times, Forbes magazine, Bloomberg television etc. and is based in Hong Kong. She generally writes about Asia-Pacific situations and particularly on India and China.

This book details the rise of India and China in the last few decades and what it means for the world, especially the USA. The main focus of the author has been on the economic condition and economic developments of the concerned countries, but she has also touched socio-political conditions of these countries. The book very well describes the economic blooming of these countries through proper examples, case studies and statistics. The comparison of the two Asian giants with US every now and then is quite interesting. The geopolitical situations and politico-economic conditions of various other important countries like UK, Japan, Germany etc has also been done at relevant places.

The book travels through the land of India and China as they progressed in the modern times. It discusses at length the liberalisation adopted by both the countries; China in 1978 and India in 1991, and the subsequent changes that reflected in the economies. China has since then became the powerhouse and factory of the world. This can be seen by the fact that about 75% toys in the world are manufactured in this land only. While in 2005, it replaced Germany as the third largest economy of the world, it is slated to edge past Japan as world second largest economy around 2008 (at the time of book writing).

The book while traversed through Mao’s communism in China, it also throws light on the Gandhi-Nehruvian philosophy regarding India. These leaders played a great role in shaping their countries in modern times. The book also tries to look into the future, as to how these two countries will perform in the coming years.

The book also warns both the countries that there are still so many problems which need to be taken care of like increasing population, poverty, mal nutrition, illiteracy, pollution etc. The issues like poor condition of peasants, unequal distribution of economic growth needs proper thinking. Both the countries needs to take proper policy initiatives to address such specific issues otherwise the so called ‘demographic dividend’ may turn into ‘population time bomb’. It states that the biggest hurdle in the path of India in becoming a manufacturing hub is its shabby infrastructure, particularly roads.

The book has finally shown how US in particular and West in general should react to the advancement of these two Asian giants. Keeping in mind the fact that ‘demographic dividend’ is going to give significant advantage to both the countries in future, it is in the interest of US to have good relations with both the countries. The market of India and China is huge, mainly because of its sheer size of population, be it for goods, services, oil, defence equipments etc, hence US should strategise accordingly. Meredith warns the middle class US people about the movement of jobs from their country to these Asian giants. She also tells about the possible repercussions of young working population of these countries on the health of US economy.

The positives about the book:

This book has been a commendable work by Ms. Meredith. It has allowed readers to look into the economies of India and China, the two fastest emerging powers. It shows the past of these countries and the link to the future. Talking about India, the book throws light as to how India has evolved from the land of Spinning wheel to that of Fibre optic wires. While for China, it has very elaborately described the Mao’s strategy of Communism as it worked after the formation of People’s Republic of China in 1949. The book has helped readers in understanding the Mao’s ideas, Cultural Revolution and exact conditions which prevailed in China under him. It has successfully highlighted the transition of Indian economy post 1991 liberalization and Chinese economy post 1978 liberalization. While China has been growing at more than 10% per annum growth rate since then, India has also managed to grow at around 8% per annum. The book also clearly explains the difference of being a Democratic and Communist country. The advantages and disadvantages have been explained at proper instances.

The offshoring or outsourcing of jobs from the developed countries to India and China have generated voluminous work in both the destination countries. With the advent of internet, this outsourcing has become very intense. The young and English speaking Indian youth has a big advantage in such situation. The cheap labour force in both the countries has lured the foreign companies to set up offices in these lands. The book correctly describes the influences of such job movement across the boundaries on both the source and the destination countries. For India and China, it has resulted into inflow of foreign investment, rise in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and per capita income, decrease in the incidences of poverty etc. While in US, this phenomenon has generated fear in the mind of middle class that their jobs are at peril.

Another good point about the book is that there is ample use of facts and data by the author. This has helped a lot to the reader in understanding the information accompanied. The reader could analyse the comparative performances of Indian, Chinese, US and other world economies. These data is in the form of GDP figure, number of employees, literacy levels, production of goods and services etc. in the concerned countries. Her statistics and data are sort of eye opener for the US, as they show that India and China have finally arrived on the world stage, and they are going to stay for a long time to come. The information, data and other details are very important for the US businessmen, policy makers and other people in forming their future plans and policies.

The book has also allowed the reader to appreciate the functioning of an economy in both developed countries like US and developing countries like India and China. The description of how factory works, assembly lines, disassembly lines, trade etc has been quite good. The examples of Infosys, Reliance, Tata Industries etc. in India and Phillips, People’s Bank of China etc. in China, has helped a great deal in understanding the above mentioned terms.

The book has also shown successfully the cultural changes in both India and China. Both the countries are adopting the western methodology in the functioning of their economy. The youth of both countries, who are working in multinationals, BPOs etc are particularly adopting the western culture, accent etc. in their professional as well as personal lives. While tradition has been very integral to an average Indian and Chinese citizen, but the things are now changing slowly.

Meredith has also touched the negatives which are still persistent in both the economies. While China has a very healthy literacy rate, India has still about 30% illiterate people, particularly in rural areas and among women. Similarly both these countries constitute the biggest share of poor and destitute in the world. The Dharavi slum of Mumbai, where more than 6 lakh people live, is a live example of this. In spite of being different political set ups, corruption is prevalent in both the countries. But while in India, people enjoy more political freedom and rights, freedom of press etc, Chinese citizens have no such luxuries. The author has warned both the countries against them.

Finally the book has touched the present global geo-political conditions and the role of India and China in shaping present day world. The huge energy requirements of both these nations is forcing them to enter into various types of cooperation with different countries like petroleum rich Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan etc. The phenomenal demand of energy from these countries will force the foreign powerhouses to change their policies accordingly.

The negatives about the book:

Though the book has been written quite well by Ms. Meredith, but still there are some points which need critical evaluation. For example, the excessive use of data and statistics has made this book little dull and boring. Also she has a kind of created an alarm in the mind of US middle class citizen about the hazards of fast rising India and China, without giving them a clue about how to deal with the situation. The fact that she is a journalist and not an economist or proper writer was quite visible from her writing style. 

Conclusion:

This is a wonderful book, which has done comparison between the two developing giants of Asia, India and China. The book trademarks China as a Dragon, because like a fiery dragon, its economy is galloping at a very fast rate and it is moving with all its force towards a bright future. While India has been labelled as an Elephant, because it has just awaken from a deep slumber, and now is lurching towards a healthy growth trajectory. The book, very cleverly, instil a sense of fear in the mind of US, about the rise of India and China. At the same time, it also suggests how US should react and behave in today’s highly globalised and interlinked world. In the end, I would say that it is a book worth reading, especially for those who want to know about the globalised economy and particularly about the rise of India and China.

स्वयं को जीतने आ

पलकों के बीच छुपे,
ख्वाबों तो तोड़कर आ,
दो बोल प्यार के न हो, न सही,
पर नफरत जताने आ।

जकड़ा हुआ है तू,
बंधा हुआ जंजीर में है,
बेड़ियाँ न टूटे, न सही,
पर मन के खौफ़ को मारने आ।

है लक्ष्य दूर,
और राह कठिन,
जीत की आशा न हो, न सही,
पर हार का स्वाद चखने आ।

अरमान हैं अगण्य,
और स्वेद गिरा बेशुमार,
मंजिल न मिले, न सही,
पर खुद स्वयं को जीतने आ।


------ राजेश मीणा बुजेटा 

True Story : Reflections of Truth

It was a bright day, which was covered under a blanket of cool breeze. We were busy in selling our foodstuffs. Gulab-Jamun, Vada-Pao and Shahi Toast, which we made ourselves with the assistance of mess workers, were making quite a good selling. Well, I am talking about the fete organized by the Officer Trainnes (OTs) during our training. Our group comprised of 16 OTs of which about  only 10 of us were working. Others were intelligent enough to understand the uselessness of group work, hard-work and futile toiling in the sun and they acted as 'free-riders'. So they were out in the field, busy in eating and enjoying. This was followed by departure to their respective rooms, to have sound afternoon sleep, while we brainless creatures were carrying out their burden on our shoulders.

There were the above three food items and one game at our stall. After selling for about two hours, we were tired and got replaced by another team from amongst ourselves. Finally we had time to roam around and see what actually was happening around, what items other stalls were selling, and where we stood in comparison. During the strolling, I realised that it was really a very colorful day with all sorts of food items and games being displayed at the stalls. There was a healthy crowd as the customers included not just fellow OTs, but also the faculty members, staff members, their families, school children and local people. After roaming around, eating and enjoying for about an hour, I came back to stall to handle the charge.

Still we were doing quite good in selling the food items. I then got busy in management of the stuff around the stall. Suddenly, there came a child, a small kid of around 7-8 years old. He visibly belonged to a poor family and was attracted to the fete venue by its unusually large, cacophonous crowd, mixed with deafening sounds of loud-speakers. He knew that the time of year had come. The time which comes every year around same time, same place and with same kind of things.

"Ye...kitne ka hai, how much is its cost?", he asked hesitatingly, with his index finger pointing towards Gulab-Jamun.
I was still looking at his face. A face, which was covered by hesitation and expectation. A face, which was happy and sad at the same time.....
"Rs. 30 a plate", the voice of my friend, who was selling them, disrupted my thoughts.
The boy felt like a shock. His little dirty finger, was taken aback by a natural reflex action. After some time he picked the courage and pointed his finger towards Shahi Toast,
"Ye... Kitnaa...? How much?"
"Rs. 10", my lady OT friend correctly judged the situation and brought down the price steeply to one - third of its original value.
The boy again looked worried. The creases on his forehead became so visible. He looked down at his folded palm. A crumbled five rupee coupon was all that he had.

I was drowning in the waves of that dramatic scene. We put the prices so high, because we wanted to earn maximum revenue, for which there was a prize by the Academy. It was not our fault. Everybody was doing same thing- maximizing their revenue and exploiting the customers. Actually this is what we do in our real life out there. And those who suffer are these poor kids!! The Group-D employees were also having difficulty in purchasing food items like halwa, chhole-bhature, parantha, juice, ice-creams etc. But since they were grown up, their emotions couldn't betray their facial expressions, or at least we didn't bother to heed them. But now, there was a child in front of us.

The inability of the poor kid, to purchase even one food item was a hard slap on our face. And the echo of that slap had made us deaf and dumb. I looked at my friend, and without any words being uttered, a sort of communication was done and we gave a plate of Gulab-Jamun to him.
"Keep it", was the maximum she could say.

He took the plate, with his eyes staring the content as if he was seeing them for the first time in his small life. Then he looked at her, then at me and again looked at the plate. Finally he turned back, and started walking away from us. Three of his friends were standing there at some distance. Their eyes were filled with reluctance and silent fear, a fear that was created because of constant ignorance, negligence and abusing by the 'developed' society. We signaled them to come and gave all of them whatever foodstuffs they pointed at. Even without uttering a single word to us, they gave us valuable lessons. We couldn't speak anything after they were gone and a dull calmness descended on the stall. It was only by the request of next wave of customers, that we were waken to our senses. But the image of those children were still hanging on to our eyelids. I was feeling little uncomfortable as well as was tired a bit, so I asked my friends to take control of the stall and i excused myself. I started walking towards the exit. When I was near the exit gate, a broken and meek voice stopped my gait.
"Bhaiya... wo dila dijiye..."
I turned to my left and found a small boy standing, with his finger pointing towards an ice-cream cone at the next stall. One more boy and a girl were also standing close to him. I thought that he was the same boy I met earlier. But when I looked at him intently, I realized that he was not that boy. It is so true that poverty doesn't discriminate among those who live under its shade. They were all so similar,  their beautiful eyes were scarred because of sleep deprived nights. Their soft skin was buried under the layers of dust. Their torn cloths greased with dirt. And many other similarities were there.....

I went close to them. They looked at me. Their eyes were filled with something. Was it suspicion, fear or expectation? Or was it something else which I was unable to grab? Suddenly I remembered that I had 300 rupee worth coupons left with me, out of the total 500 rupee coupons, which were given to every OT. I thought of putting them in the our group's earnings so as to help us get the maximum revenue award. But instinctively, my hand went to pocket and  I drew all  the coupons out. I was still looking at the face of those children. Without counting, I started distributing them among those three kids. When I was almost done, two more similar boys came running to me. I was surprised and could handle only one or two of the left coupons to those two boys. They looked at their coupons and then at what others had got. Then they looked up at me. Their eyes were asking me something.  I was again unable to decipher them. Their look made me hate myself even more. I slowly stepped back, turned around and walked away. I was walking out of the exit gate. The music from loudspeakers was still audible.

----Rajesh Meena Bujeta

CSE: How to prepare for Interview ??

People often ask - where do we go from here?
“Well, it depends a great deal on where you want to go? In case you don’t know where to go, then it really doesn’t matter which direction you take!”

Hello to the all the  interview facing candidates!! The above quote is equally applicable to the interview process, we will see in succeeding paragraphs, as to how? This post is just to tell you some things about how to deal with interviews, especially if you are giving it for the first time. Well, Personal Interview is the last stage of the too long, 3 stages studded Civil Services Examination (CSE). So you just can't let the steam go off, before giving your best shot. It presently accounts for 300 marks which are sufficient enough to throw you in or out of the merit list or to put you from the bottom of the merit list to the top.

Well to start with, let me tell you that whatever they will be asking about you, will be based on what you've filled in the Detailed Application Form (DAF) or what you speak on the spot. There are just very few question that they may ask which essentially depends on what is happening around you at the national and international level. So you have to look out for three things:-

1. You should thoroughly work out on your DAF, including any minute detail that you might have filled in there, either knowingly or unknowingly. I am discussing about it in details little after.

2. You should have a significant grasp over what is happening at the national and international level especially on the politico-economic forum, though other things also do matter.

3. You have to be very attentive and careful as to what and how you are speaking in the final interview.

Having said that, let me come to the points individually. So talking about the DAF, many of us (esp those giving interview for the first time) don't have a very clear idea about it, so we end up giving many information in it which may creating problems for us at the time of personality test. The DAF has been filled and submitted, you can't do anything to change, so our focus should be on how to master it. My suggestion is to go through all the points mentioned in it, one by one and start forming your answers. This is applicable to the extracurricular section, your hobbies etc. Once you have gone through all the details that you have filled in there, it would be easy and comfortable for you to handle the preparation in general.

Simultaneously, one should also give adequate focus, to what's happening in the nation and also at the international level. This can be easily done by simply focusing on any one newspaper on a daily basis, no need to do any more like, reading 2-3 newspapers, magazines, or purchasing notes from the market.

Coming to third point, you should also practice, as to how you speak and how you should speak. Now this can be done in many ways; individually, in a group and by joining some mock interviews. I don't say that you need to attend mock interviews compulsarily, but the same helps in judging yourself in a little improved ambience, which may to a little degree have some resemblence with real interview like conditions. This also include to control your body expression and gestures, which are not favorable to an interview climate and cultivate some favorable ones. What are those gestures and how to control them, you will learn automatically during your preparation. So i am not mentioning all them here.

Finally, having confidence on yourself is the biggest, however hard you practice, try or learn things, if they don't click on the interview day, its gone! and gone for at least one year!! So keep your cool for the D-Day, be patient, calm and speak like a gentleman/lady. I know everybody gives same preachings about the final day, but trust me, this is what actually is the truth. Another important thing is that you don't need to be perfect and fearless. It is very common to be a personality with imperfections and nervousness on the D-Day. These are common things which happens to everybody, but many refuses to admit :) And the person taking interviews are humans like us, who have been taking interviews every year, almost every month and many interviews per day hence they don't have too much interest in you, as it is their routine work. So you needlessly don't put too much pressure on yourself so that you might buckle under it.
Remember that you can get selected without even giving a correct answer and you may not get selected even after giving all answers correct. What matters is how you give those answers??

“And one has to understand that braveness is not the absence of fear but rather the strength to keep on going forward despite the fear.”

Essay : War as an Instrument for National Security Strategy

---- Rajesh Meena Bujeta

Civilisations do come and go. Nations do rise and fall. But one nation, India aka Bharat aka Hindustan has always been on the map of this world since time immemorial. India has been a land of cultures, art, love, traditions, etc all woven together into a single garland. But any nation can sustain itself only till it is able to secure its boundaries from external aggressions as well as from internal disturbances. India has been a very good example of such nation. Be it ancient Mauryas or Guptas, be it the Medieval Rajputas or be it modern war of independence, we have innumerable stories of valour and sacrifice for the sake of motherland. It is only after such innumerable sacrifices that we have stood as a nation over centuries.

But now the time is changing very fast. With the coming of industrial revolution and the imperialism, the political face of the world has been changing very rapidly. And with the ushering of modern technological revolution, developments in the field of missile technology, nuclear technology, communication and information technology, the task of protecting the national frontiers has become very difficult. This has been further complicated with the rise of international terrorism, left wing extremism, political ideological differences and other such developments in the recent past

Though India is armoured with nuclear weapons with the Pokharan-1974, but still its response to terrorists attacks in past has led to it being labelled as a "Soft State". While the American response in post 9/11 episode is a different story, Indian response post Parliament attack in 2001 is an altogether different story. But there are many things which need to be kept in mind while embarking on such a journey; and thankfully in my personal opinion, India has been slowly moving on a right track.

The biggest threat to the national security today is the rapidly changing geopolitical conditions of today's world. India has been uniquely located such that it is surrounded by the countries which are posing a direct or indirect threat to our security. Terrorism today is one of the major problems which the world is facing. There is no colour, nation or religion which can be attributed to them. The episode of 9/11 has created a new world in which we are living in a constant fear and danger of being attacked by the terrorists anytime, any day. The terrorist groups like Al Qaida, Taliban, Hijb ul Mujaheddin etc. are slowly getting access of latest tools and technology which is making them more dangerous day by day. The possibility of terrorist groups getting nuclear technology or device and Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) in near future can't be ruled out. This becomes more probable when we see some of the covert links between state agents like Pakistan and these terror groups. No doubt, Pakistan-Afghanistan belt is the epicentre of modern day terrorism. Also it has been very clear that the west played a great role in the breeding of terrorists like Osama bin Laden himself in the Afghan Wars of 1980s in order to gain materialistic gains. Such political blunders by various states are putting the lives of thousands of innocent people around the globe at stake. While Osama attacked the World Trade Centre, thereby killing scores of people, another American bred terrorist Mullah Omar has gave vent to his frustrations by destroying 1500 years old twin Buddha's statue in Afganistan's Bamiyan province [1].

South Asia has been specially affected by such terrorist attacks. They use all sorts of strategies like bombing, kidnapping, suicide, hijacking etc. in order to make their plans succeed. The response of IC-814 hijacking, in which three dreaded terrorists were handed over by the Government of India was really a victory point for them. Nowadays they are using new tactics and methods in carrying out their activities like displayed in the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, where they have used sea route to come to India.

Pakistan, since its origin has been a country which is not as unhappy with its own misfortunes, as is with India's advancements. We have engaged in armed conflicts with Pakistan more than once like in 1948, 1971, 1999 etc. More than once, India has shown its supremacy over Pakistani armed forces. So lately it has started threatening India's security through covert means. The liberation of Bangladesh in 1971, which was mid-wived by India, has not yet been accepted by Pakistan. Its anger and frustration is visible in the aid that it provides to terrorists groups indirectly against India. Even Inter Service Intelligence (ISI), the secret agency of Pakistan has open relations with banned terrorist outfits. The source of modern day Muslim extremism can be traced in the Wahabi movement of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Such extremism is still being nourished in modern day madarsas and other training groups in that belt. The hijack of Indian Airlines flight IC-814 in 1999, attack on Indian Parliament in December 2001, Mumbai attacks in 2008 have all shown directs links with Pakistan based terrorist groups. Instead of helping India in bringing such perpetrators to book, Pakistani government is indirectly helping the terror groups in escaping. Such response from a legitimate nation is completely unacceptable and this shows that Pakistan, as a nation is failing.

Bangladesh too is giving sleepless nights to India now and then. The insurgency in the North-East in general and Assam in particular can be largely attributed to the groups having bases in Bangla soil. The flip flop state of governments in Bangladesh is making it difficult for India to enter into some concrete agreement with that country. The Khalida Zia government in Bangladesh is unresponsive to the Indian demands of dismantling such bases and any positive steps taken by the Sheikh Hasina government is undone by the opposition. Illegal immigration from Bangladesh is also a major problem as it is changing the demography of all the north-eastern states very rapidly. The population of Muslims in districts adjoining Bangladesh is rising very rapidly, much faster than the normal rate of growth of other communities. For example, South 24 Pargana, South Dinajpur etc. in West Bengal; Dhubri, Goalpara etc. in Assam have showing quite significant increase in Muslim population in comparison to national figures [1]. This is also putting a huge pressure over the scarce resources of north-east.

China on the other hand has been posing a different kind of threats to us. After the 1962 debacle, our relations have been moving towards normalancy, but still grey areas persist. The border dispute with China, in the Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) are far from over. There are many instances which have hinted towards Chinese help being provided to insurgent groups operating in the North-East India. China has also been accused of giving shelter to such insurgent groups. The 'String of Pearl' theory of China has been creating unrest in the minds of Indian citizens. Establishing military, naval or other strategic establishments around India, like in Gwadar (Pakistan), Hambantota (Sri Lanka), Chittagong (Mynmar), Sittwe (Mynmar) etc, is sure to raise eyebrows in the political echelons of India. India's counter strategy of engaging with countries like Vietnam in oil exploration in South China Sea has been retaliated by the Chinese government very strongly. Under such circumstances the possibility of an armed conflict in future can't be ruled out.

To read the full essay please follow THIS LINK.

सर्दी की एक सुबह

सूरज की गुनगुनी धूप,

और उसमे समाहित उर्जा,

माघ की शीत में भी,

बादलों को चीर,

ऊँचे पेड़ों की पत्तियों से छन - छन कर,

और भी शुद्ध होकर ,

खिड़की के कांच को विदीर्ण कर,

उस पर जमी ओस को पिघलाकर,

परदे की ओट से निकलकर,

कमरे में आ जाती ।

फिर प्यार से उसे ताकती,

उसके गाल को सहलाती,

आँखों को मसलती,

होंठो को छूती,

माथे को चूमती,

और धीरे से उसे जगा जाती ।

सूरज की धूप,

माघ की शीत में भी,

उसे जगा देती।।

---------- राजेश मीणा बुजेटा