Aid to India: A deter to become Superpower

India rejected aid from world community claiming that it can support itself and it doesnt want the support of the world to rehabilitate the victims of tsunami. This is the second time the Govt of India is rejecting such offer, first time(NDA govt) was from Bill Gates foundation donation for AIDS. Both these actions were meant to be a part of india's gesture to the world community that "We are Big and have enough resource to tackle our problems". I accept the first decision, but not the second one.

All these actions by the government was to potray India as an emerging superpower. Such acts create a bonhomie among the public who boast of india on the path of becoming a superpower.
All these arguements are good to hear...but i take these statements with a pinch of salt.
I am sceptical for two reasons, primarily the definition of being a superpower attributed to economic power (read money) and the secondly, the money that is being given are phenomennaly high and it can really be of immense use to the needy.

First let me explain, who according to me is a superpower. No doubt the country has to be economically powerful, but is that all required to make a superpower. We should be powerful in every possible aspect that should make others emulate you. When you see USA, most countries try to emulate what is happening there. A country should have that kind of power to become a super power and more importantly to retain the status. It is the status offered by other countries looking at our mightiness and not self conferred.

On the second issue of rejecting aid from other countries, i feel it was the affected who missed the oppurtunity. I feel a sense of double standard in India's arguements. On one hand we are rejecting aid, while on the other hand, the foreign nationals are allowed to donate money either to PM's fund or to any of the NGOs in India. I really could not understand this. If you are rejecting any help from outside outright, then why have this alternate route? Somebody, please explain.

After deliberating on this topic for some time i found today's (20th Jan'2005) edition of The Hindu carrying an article on the topic "Saying no to aid" by Vaiju Naravane.

India does not get any offer of aid for Kashmir or Telengana rehabilitation. These are man-made and the concerned countries have to take care. But, when it is a natural disaster, when a country loses its people for no reason, countries feel sympathetic towards those who lost lives and towards a country. I think the notion of sympathy towards a country has to be seen as sympathy towards the individual.

I dream of India becoming a Super power, but not at the expense of me and you. It should decide which is more important, political signalling or the immediate impact of the aid.

(The views expresses are personel and are not meant to hurt others)

Tsunami Satellite Pics: Why made in America?

I was wondering why the indian satellites could not get any satellite pics of tsunami....why only American satelites... the question got partially answered today. An article was published in The Hindu's Science and Technology section of 20th Jan'2005.

Titled "Why Indian satellites did not observe the tsunami", the article gives certain information about why we did not get the pics from our satellite. But still my question remains unanswered as to how american satellite alone could do it?

any takers pls!! Just curious.

Virtue in disaster

When everybody is talking about the disaster caused by tsunami, i was wondering all that we will have at the end of the rehabilitation is the count of life lost, monetary loss, emotional loss and mounting losses of all sorts.
After real hard think, i felt there can be some positive outcomes that we can derive if we want to. I would like to list some of the positive outcomes.

1. Countries around the indian ocean have been affected by the killer waves. So, the co-operation among the countries in assisting each other at this time of distress would be a confidence building measure among these countries.

2. There is a great sense of mistrust, suspicion and infact animosity among the countries that have been affected. Providing mutual support would iron out some of the differences between these countries.

to be continued....

My Blog

what prompted me to start blog?

One fine sunday moring during december, when i was in deep slumber at my residence enjoying the term break, i was woken up with a news that my favorite spot in chennai, the marina and its waves have come to see me(quite literally). The plans for the rest of the week that i had scheduled took a back seat and the city lost its shine in a matter of few hours.

The next 24 hours i was glued to the television and internet to get the latest information on the Tsunami(by this time, it has become a household name). Every news bulletin sprayed blood. i really got scared of "Refresh" button on IE. Every time i refreshed, it gave a new toll number which was increasing my pulse rate. I was really disturbed by the event.

My parents did not allow me to go anywhere near the beach and my dad was very particular about it. I spent the whole of monday cribbing, cursing and what not for coming to chennai during this time. I couldn't control myself, so i decided that i should go back to manipal where i study(mid-vacation) or visit the affected areas for myself.

so on tuesday i ventured out of my house, decided to see visit my all time favorite spot...marina. The marina i saw there will remain with me throughout my life. I visited couple of relief camps.(More on the tragedy and on my experience in the relief camps later).

The newspapers and magazines were flooded with pictures and stories of the affected families. Some of the articles were really troubling me. so, I felt i need to react to these articles and reports. But i was not sure how to do it. I used to complain about these articles to my parents and friends....but i was not convinced. I was on the look out for a proper medium, that will give me the freedom to post my views and at the same time, i want others to view and comment on them.

At this time i remembered an incident that took place six months back. Swarna srikrishnan, my friend in TAPMI, introduced me to the concept of blogging. While he was doing his summers in Mumbai, he took blogging as a new hobby. When we met he was all gaga about blog, its features,etc,etc. He tried to educate me about it, but i was not much enthused about it. I did not find much use.

But now, i found a different connation to blogging: a medium to express my feelings, views and opinions. I decided that the first thing i will do reaching manipal is to start a blog.

On reaching manipal, i contacted Krishna to know more about blogging. Now i did not hesitate to start a blog. omkara, was born.