make a difference

Blogspots – Empowering The Consumers

2007-01-27T10:19:00.000-08:00

A blog is a website where an individual makes entries in journal style and these entries are displayed in reverse chronological order. Blogs often provide commentary or news on a particular subject, such as food, politics, or local news; some function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. So, essentially a blog is a modern interactive way for people to express their views on a diverse plethora of topics and also to gain knowledge on them.

We can say that a consumer is empowered when he has knowledge about what he is consuming, power to make his consumption decisions and the legal right to redress his complaints in case the consumer is being cheated. Thus consumer empowerment is a holistic concept which ranges from the knowledge to the legal rights of the consumers.

Now the issue here is how do blogs empower the consumers?

Essentially, blogs act as a means of spreading awareness. As of now, almost all blogs have no sign up cost and thus anyone and everyone who has access to the net can start one. Thus anyone can start his blog, read other people’s blogs and also post their reply on them. As a result, a person’s knowledge increases and he can get to know diverse views on the same subject. Blogs provide the consumers with the opportunity to know about various aspects of the thing they are consuming and the nitty gritties related to it. Thus blogs increase the awareness of consumers.

More importantly, blogs are not subject to any ‘editorial restrictions’ and people can express views on any issue without being subject to any restrictions. This encourages people to be frank and openly view their thoughts, which in turn enables the consumer to get the opinion of his fellow consumers and get knowledge from them about their experience regarding it. Thus, the consumer can get a honest and truthful opinion from other consumers as compared to the excessively covered up and one sided view given by the companies selling the product. As a result, the consumer is protected from the ‘salesmanship’ of the company.

Blogs have the unique distinction of having a personal touch. They are used to express the views, thoughts or experiences of an individual. It acts as a sort of an online journal. So reading another person’s blog will provide the consumer with an insight and knowledge, alongwith the experience, which that person has had with a particular consumption decision. It also allows the consumer to relate to the other person and thus more closely understand his viewpoint and experience. As a result, there is a greater understanding for the consumer.

Let me illustrate this with the help of an example. Suppose Apple has launched an updated version of its IPOD, which consumers were eagerly awaiting. A few weeks after the launch, a number of people agreed with the company’s claims that:

a) Its battery life lasts longer than the previous versions
b) It can store up to 10000 songs, 2000 images and 300 videos
c) It has a standby time of 6 hrs and a playing time of 3 hrs
d) Most importantly, it is value-for-money

However, one techno-savvy blogger buys the product and after using it for many days comes to a conclusion that is different from the current market trends and the company’s claims. He posts the following conclusions on his blog:

a) The battery life is almost as long as the previous versions, except that it takes less time to charge up.

b) Its storage depends upon the size of files. The larger the file, the more space it consumes. Apple also hasn’t told the consumers about the most appropriate file formats in which images, music and video should be converted so that they do not occupy too much space.

c) The standby time is actually only 4 hours because its display lights up during darkness and thereby more battery power is consumed. The playing time is just about 3 hours but it’s the same as its previous models.

d) It certainly is not value for money. There are other companies who provide similar, or in some cases, better products that are priced lower than the IPOD. It’s because of the Apple brand name and the roaring success of its earlier products that its new version is creating such hype.

From this example we can see as to how a blog can change the perception of the public.

Also, if a consumer feels cheated or mislead by any company, then he can post his experience on his blog. Through this more people will get to know about the cheating done by the company and consequently the company will be compelled to take action to redress their mistakes. This will also ensure that the company is very careful and will not try to do the same thing to other consumers. Consequently, the consumer’s probability of getting cheated falls.

However, we must also keep in mind that this phenomenon of blogging is not very pervasive. It is limited to the English speaking world and only to people who have access to the internet. Even though it has the potential to be a very powerful tool in the hands of the consumers, it’s potency will depend on how seriously it is taken by the concerned parties ie consumers and sellers. Also, blogs are seen only as a means of expressing views and is not taken very seriously. Since blogs don’t require the individuals to reveal their real identity, there is a possibility that the views expressed will not be trusted upon.
In conclusion, we can say that blogs are here to stay. They can be very useful in empowering the consumers but the extent of their usefulness will depend on the seriousness with which they are taken. Thus blogs are a way of empowering consumers, but in today’s world they are limited because of the lack of spread of the internet.

Reservation - a Rethink

2006-11-11T13:19:00.000-08:00

Hitler once said, “The receptivity of the great masses is very limited, their intelligence is small, but their power of forgetting is enormous. In consequence of these facts, all effective propaganda must be limited to a very few points and must harp on these in slogans until the last member of the public understands what you want him to understand by your slogan.”

I have to confess that the anti reservation propaganda had compelled me to believe that reservation is not good for our society. The flashy headlines in newspapers, the exaggerated stories and even the interviews of ‘intellectuals’ had me totally fooled into believing against reservation. Only later did I get to know that not a single national newspaper has any person from the backward community as its editor. So a deeper look into the reservation problem has compelled me to change my viewpoint on the issue.

It was said that reservation would undermine the value of merit, reduce the quality of our educational institutions, further create caste differences-thereby dividing the society and was against the very ideals of ‘one society’ laid down by our founding fathers. I would like to dwell into each and every one of these issues and decimate the propaganda employed by the anti reservation group, thereby providing justification for reservation for the backward communities.

Just like parents always give greater affection and care to their weaker children, similarly it is the duty of the government to take greater care of the weaker and backward sections of our society. The main purpose of this preferential treatment is to ensure their upliftment, which will enable them to compete with the people of the ‘privileged classes’. It is for this purpose that the government has introduced 27% reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBC’s), thereby bringing the total reservation to 49.5% for SC’s, ST’s and OBC’s.

The anti reservation protestors said that reservation would further divide society, but how can you divide an already divided society? We all know that traditional Indian society was divided into 4 classes – Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Viashyas And Shudras. These ‘Shudras’ were the worst affected because of the ill treatment meted out to them by the upper classes. It is this ill treatment, which manifested itself in the form of deep divisions in Indian society. The upper classes progressed both economically and socially, whereas the ‘Shudras’ ended up as the modern day SC’s, ST’s and OBC’s – the majority of whom are backward in every sense. So now when the government is trying to provide opportunities to these people to grow and develop, then what right does the ‘privileged classes’ have to oppose this decision of the government?

Independent India was always in the favor of reservation. The Constitution provides for ‘Protective Discrimination’, which calls upon the government to positively discriminate with respect to the backward communities in order to ensure their development. Articles 15, 16 and 46 of the Constitution requires that the State Governments should undertake all necessary measures for the education of the backward communities and Article 38(2) states that the State Government must work to reduce the differences in income, opportunities and facilities among different sections in society. Thus it would be incorrect to say that reservation is ‘unconstitutional’ and against the vision of our founding fathers. As you would remember, it was the ‘Harijans’ who were the closest to Gandhiji’s heart!

It was also propagated that reservation would reduce the quality of our premier educational institutions. This was because students of the general category would be more meritorious and that of the backward classes would be less meritorious and thus the overall standard of education would fall. But while proposing this, the anti reservation protestors conveniently forgot that the primary assumption behind their argument was that the students of the backward classes are less intelligent than them. So why is the government wrong in trying to uplift these people and bring them to the same level as that of the general category? Any rational person will agree that the quality of education students receive in urban schools cannot be compared to the quality of education in villages and other rural areas. Thus students of backward communities are at a disadvantage and thus cannot compete with the students of the urban elite areas.

It is often argued that why does the government not reserve seats in schools rather than colleges. I believe that reserving seats in schools doesn’t make sense because children of poor students will be unable to afford the education of urban schools. Banks and other financial institutions would prefer to provide financial assistance to college going students rather than school going ones. This is because college graduates have a greater probability of working and earning well, and thereby repaying the student loans, whereas at the school level there is no assurance of this happening. Moreover, the difference in the lifestyles and culture of the urban and rural people will make it impossible for rural students to adjust in the new urban environment.

It is also argued that the government should setup good schools in backward areas. But due to the large geographical diversity and the sheer size of the country, this task is an extremely difficult one. Even if the government does setup schools, the level of teachers and infrastructure cannot be comparable with that of the urban schools.

It was said that reservation would undermine the value of merit. Students of the general category who have worked hard and secured excellent marks will be unable to get admissions in good colleges because their counterparts belonging to the reserved category will be able to get those seats even with lower marks. Thus there is a strong feeling of hatred and resentment in the students of the general category against the students of the reserved category. But the question that arises here is that in this era of cut-throat competition is it correct to blame your failures on somebody else? Even today in ‘elite’ colleges like St.Stephens College, the admission cut off is generally above 95% for most courses. But does this mean that someone who gets 94% become less intelligent or meritorious than the one who got 95%? In this scenario, should the person who has got 94% blame everything and vent his anger on the persons who have secured 95% and above? So is it justified to blame the reserved category for your own failures?

I believe that in such a case, Darwin’s theory of the ‘Survival Of The Fittest’ will come into being and thus ensure that the most intelligent get the best possible education opportunities. Thus instead of lowering standards, the standard of education will rise because of increased competition. So it will be grossly unfair to say that the education standards will fall because of reservation.

The media has been extremely biased in their coverage of the reservation issue. Almost all news channels highlighted the anti reservation protests but hardly anyone cared to cover the pro reservation rallies. The media should have played a more socially responsible role, but since it was catering to a predominantly urban audience it preferred to highlight the anti reservation propaganda. Except for a few newspapers like ‘The Hindu’, none of them cared to even try to project the pro reservation views.

These days India is projected as the next global superpower and an emerging economic giant. The stock market touches new peaks every fortnight. But is this propaganda a true reflection of the standards of living of our people? We cannot claim to be a developed country if we still have OBC and SC/ST castes that lack equal social status and deprived of social respect. Have the ‘privileged classes’ become so engrossed with the hype against reservation that they totally refuse to acknowledge the deplorable standards of living of people in rural areas. To quote a Congress leader protesting against the BJP’s ‘India Shining’ campaign, “India is shining only for the rich and upper classes. The farmers and people of the rural areas have been totally left behind. If economic growth is not equally shared among all section of society, then these backward classes will take to arms in order to fulfill their aspirations. Thus we need government policies to actively uplift the people of these backward areas.”

THE SOCIAL ACT OF SERVICE

2006-10-28T14:45:00.000-07:00

This is dedicated to the sweet one who first coined the term ‘Sweetu’

Mahatma Gandhi once said “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” Prima facie it is a very simple and straightforward line yet it goes into greater depths, which must be understood. The most important aspect which the quote focuses is on the area of “finding yourself” through the act of “service of others”. This implies that for finding your true inner self, an individual has to give up himself and sacrifice for the service of others; thereby implying that sacrifice of the self leads to a social benefit for everyone. What this above quote does not tell us is the precise meaning of service and how this service can be done?

Man is a social animal because he lives in a society among his fellow beings. Since the very beginning of our education we have been taught the values of compassion and empathy towards our fellow beings. Thus, the desire to help others or service is inherent in all human beings. The only thing is that in some people this desire is very open and expressive whereas for others it remains only as a part of their value system, which they remember only when needed. The main difference is that in the second case, people prefer to help others indirectly through donations, charity etc whereas in the first case people would prefer to have a more hands on approach by directly assisting the needy persons.

Any normal individual may ask himself, “How can I be useful, of what service can I be? There is something inside me, what can it be?” The answer to this question does not necessarily imply that working with NGO’s can only fulfill his inner void. Can the term “Social Service” be limited to working with NGO’s and helping the poor and needy by trying to uplift them?

I have personally nothing against NGO’s, but at the same time I believe that they are predominantly useless. A NGO may work very hard for helping a particular community with regard to certain problems and it may or may not succeed. The success will depend on the availability of funds, quality of people, the degree of responsiveness of the people concerned and other such factors. Thus there is too much left too chance for the success of any project. Also, the work done by any NGO is temporary in nature and cannot leave any long-term impact on the society at large.

A simple example will prove my point – Medha Patkar, who is in all probability, India’s most prominent ‘social activist’, has been campaigning for years against raising the height of the Sardar Sarovar dam on the Narmada River through her ‘Narmada Bachao Andolan’. Inspite of all her protests and hunger strikes, the Supreme Court gave orders to raise the height of the dam. Thus, the years of effort, which she put in for just one issue, goes down the drain. Wouldn’t it be easier for her to help the people if she was in the administration or even a part of the legal system?

I believe that we cannot hold a torch to light another’s path without brightening our own. Working in NGO’s is good but only for solving temporary problems. NGO’s have proved to be of immense help in case of natural disasters like the Gujarat earthquake and Tsunami, where the government was unable to reach the remote locations in villages. But these NGO’s cannot bring about any long-term sustainable change in our social setup. This change can only come around through some authority like the government or the judiciary.

Not everyone is born to change the world, but if you deliberately choose to live a life of mediocrity, without living up to your ability, then your life loses its purpose. If you are seriously interested in uplifting the large mass of people who are suffering, then working with NGO’s is not the solution. What is needed is a permanent change, which can flow only through power. And I believe that all power flows from laws. Thus any individual who can formulate, amend or nullify laws is in a position of power. And it is this position of power, which is needed to bring about change on a large scale. Working with NGO’s will only let you help a small section of society but if you are in the government or the judiciary, then you can bring about the desired change which will help a greater number of people. In this age, the man who dares to think for himself and to act independently does a service to his race.

If you are helping people for your own self satisfaction, then go ahead and join any NGO but if you are seriously interested in bringing about any change in the lives of innumerable people who are suffering today, then working with NGO’s is not the solution. What we as a country need today, is people who are visionary, desirous of helping others and are willing to go to any extent possible to fulfill their dream of creating a better nation.

In conclusion – “The essence of freedom is the ability to make choices and I believe that we are solely responsible for our choices, and we have to accept the consequences of every deed, word, and thought throughout our lifetime.” So I urge you to seriously consider everything I have written here before you take your decision. This is because “It is our choices ... that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”

The Right To Information Law

2006-09-17T10:21:00.000-07:00

The Right to Information is important for the functioning of a representative democracy. It helps in creating transparency in the bureaucracy and empowers the people i.e. the aam aadmi to actively participate in the functioning of our democracy. The honourable Supreme Court of India has stated that the right to freedom (Article 19) cannot be executed properly without the right to information. The Central right to information law came into force on the 12th October 2005.

The Act states that there must be Public information officers (PIO’S). PIO’s are officers designated by the public authorities in all administrative units or offices under it to provide information to the citizens requesting for information under the Act. The act also asks for the creation of an Information Commission, which shall have the powers similar to a civil court, and can investigate specific cases and give punishments for defaulting officers.

The persons can access information by filling an application form and paying a nominal amount for the information. The PIO is responsible to provide the information. If he fails to do so, then he will be punished as per the provisions of the RTI act, which provide both for fines and suspension.

The main purpose of the act is to remove corruption from the bureaucratic system. The act provides path-breaking powers to the public. The assets and liabilities of government servants are in the public domain and can be accessed by anyone under the Right To Information Act. This should help boost the Act’s power to curb bureaucratic corruption. Also, the public can access any information relating to developmental projects and other social issues, which are taking place in their area.

The public can get information about how the MP’s and MLA’s have used their development funds. This will help to prevent the misuse of funds. Also, the public can access the information about the construction of roads, bridges and other civic amenities. They can also know about the officials involved in various tasks and examine whether they are performing their jobs properly or not.

Through these powers, the public can get greater control over the functioning of the bureaucracy. This will totally change the way the bureaucracy functions. It will be the officers who will oblige towards the public, rather than the current scenario where the public has to run after the officers to get their work done. But most importantly, the RTI will root out corruption from the bureaucratic system.

However, there are some problems with the RTI act. Firstly, the PIO is generally an IAS officer or some other civil servant. This defeats the primary purpose of the law, because it is highly unlikely that an IAS officer would provide information, which would harm his colleagues. Secondly, it has been decided that the ‘file noting’ made by the officers will not been made public. Consequently, the public will not be able to know as to what deliberations took place between officers before they took a particular decision. This aspect related to ‘file notings’ is very important because the public will not get to know as to how the government machinery is working; which is the essential aspect of the RTI. Thirdly, the RTI only provides access to information. However, the illiterate public will find it very difficult to decipher the complicated language and procedures of the files.

In spite of these problems, the RTI is a very important tool in the hands of the public that can create a second revolution in the country. If properly implemented the RTI can help to eradicate corruption that has become deeply rooted in our bureaucratic process.

Should We Have Reservation ?

2006-09-09T08:14:00.000-07:00

Reservation for backward communities is both a social and economic issue. It is a social issue because it creates a difference among the different communities. Instead of reducing caste barriers, it further increases them. It is also an economic issue as it will affect the quality of education provided in educational institutions and thereby affect the quality of workforce employed by firms.

The recent controversy about reservation arose when the current Human Resource Development minister, Mr. Arjun Singh, decided to increase reservation for other backward classes (OBC’s) in educational institutions. As a result of this proposal, the total amount of seats reserved goes up to 49.5%.

The Constitution of India gives power to the government to undertake reasonable discrimination in order to uplift the backward classes. However, this proposal by the government is a ‘radical’ one rather than a ‘reasonable’ one. This policy, if passed, will drastically reduce the number of seats for the general category in educational institutions like the I.I.T’s, I.I.M’s and other prestigious institutions. Thus caste will be given more importance as opposed to merit.

In India, the policy of reservation has lost all logic and has now become a mere political tool. Seats are reserved on the basis of caste rather than other criteria like the income level, opportunities provided etc. This is because the political parties use reservation to entice people from these communities to vote for them. Thus reservation has now become a means of dividing society rather than uniting it.

Reservation is being used as a political tool. This is clearly visible in the way the reservation policy has evolved in India. Seats are not only being reserved in educational institutions but there are proposals to reserve jobs in both the public and private sector. This idea is ridiculous because reserving seats in educational institutions means that the people of the backward community who will enjoy this opportunity will be at par with the general category people and thus there is no reason to have jobs reserved for them.

Also, contrary to logic, the reservation in India has been increasing over time. Reservation should decline over a period of time because people of the backward communities, who enjoy this reservation, should progress in their life and thereby work for the upliftment of their own community. As a result, the required reservation should reduce over a period of time as people who have benefited from it will improve the condition of their community.

The creamy layer is a major hindrance which affects the effectiveness of the reservation policy. The ‘creamy layer’ refers to the elite or privileged class among each caste which takes advantage of the special provisions made for the upliftment of that community. As a result, it is this creamy layer which benefits rather than the real backward people of that community.

The debate for reservation of seats is not a debate which can be discussed only on parameters of merit and caste. I am not opposed to the idea of reservation, but it is important that the reasons for this reservation should be correct. It must not be based on political considerations; instead we must focus on communities which most desperately need this opportunity. Reservation of seats is all about providing opportunities and thus these opportunities must be provided on a priority basis to the people who most need it and also ensure that the creamy layer does not take undue advantage of these policies.

Reservation must be provided on the basis of opportunity rather than caste or class. The aim of reservation must be the upliftment of backward communities by providing them opportunities to improve their standard of living. The very reason that these communities are backward is because they lacked the opportunities to grow and develop. Thus the government must strive to provide this opportunity to these people rather then using reservation as a political weapon.

By using reservation as a political tool, the Congress party, has itself gone against the principles laid down by our founding fathers. It has totally forgotten the ideology of Gandhiji, Nehruji, Sardar Patel and others, who envisioned India as a country where caste should have no importance. As opposed to this ideology, this reservation policy has made caste the most important thing in Indian society.

If the government is so hell bent on ensuring equal opportunities, then why doesn’t it try to provide equal opportunities at the school level? If students are given the opportunity to get equally good education in schools, then there will be no need to reserve seats at the college level.

The Congress party has often accused the BJP of dividing the country on a communal or religious basis. But with this new reservation policy, isn’t the Congress doing the same thing. It is actually dividing our society on the basis of caste by giving more emphasis to caste as opposed to merit. Thus the Congress is more responsible for dividing the country as compared to the BJP.

The solution to this problem is not so simple. On one hand, the government has to work for the upliftment of the backward classes, and on the other, it has to ensure that merit doesn’t become redundant in the admission process. Thus we need a mechanism through which we can work for the upliftment of the backward classes without hurting the interests of the general category students. One possible method for this is to increase the number of seats as both the needs of the reserved and general category will be met.

We, as students, must agitate and protest against this absurd reservation policy. We are not against other people of lower caste but what we oppose is the hidden intent of the government behind this policy. It has been over a decade since the recommendations of the mandal commission were implemented. It is important that the government study and analyze the impact of the already existing reservation before it introduces reservations for other communities. It is also important for us to create awareness about the ill effects of this reservation policy and also spread awareness regarding other possible solutions like affirmative action.