Senator John McCain is reckless…

Senator Barack Obama ran a very political primary campaign against Senator Hillary Clinton but made a very statesman like choice in picking Senator Joe Biden as his running mate. Senator John McCain, on the other hand, ran a very statesman like campaign but ultimately made a very political choice in naming Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin, as his ‘Vice Presidential’ candidate. This decision should concern all voters as this is a kind of vignette into their respective presidencies. These are very difficult times for any US President. In the 1980 election, United States faced only Soviet Union and Middle East as the primary international threats. Picking Ronald Reagan then was a risky choice. Compared to that, this one sure is the roll-of-dice. Can you imagine a 72 years old President in the ‘Oval Office’ with potential of cancer reappearing any time? What you would have then is an irresponsible ‘Bimbo’ to deal with Russia, China, Middle East and Afghanistan-Pakistan war to begin with and lot more to come. What is Senator McCain thinking?

India must introduce the ‘National Guard’, now!

India must establish the ‘National Guard’, to deal with national calamities and not use the national defense forces for such purposes. But before we even consider such an option, India needs to identify the mistakes of the past 60 years or more. The biggest problem has been the qualifications set for such national project enrollments. The British needed the bodies and the brawn rather than the brains and the independent India followed the tradition blindly. We never paused to think through our priorities that are remarkably different than the ones identified by the ‘British Colonial Authority’, in India. What we need now is ‘Brains’ plus ‘Brawn’ and not the other way around. The best way to achieve this is to do the recruitment on collage campuses. Every recruit in the ‘Indian National Guard’ must have atleast 2 year collage degree to qualify for enrollment. A high school diploma for any volunteer in central security services has proved to be absolutely inadequate. This is the prime reason why our security forces are committing human rights violations all over the country.

Delhi Metro must reach Meerut by 2020…

Meerut City and Meerut District, both are too close to Delhi for comfort. Besides having a terrible history of 1857, Meerut could be a great asset to Delhi and New Delhi. Delhi Metro is a rapid transit system in the Indian National Capital Territory of Delhi which does not include Meerut. Earlier, the whole area, 100 kms radius around Delhi, was supposed to be a ‘National Capital Region’. Or was I misinformed?

Meerut City is 72 kms north-east of New Delhi. It has a population of 1.2 million people. According to Pradeep Thakur of TNN, “Meerut contributed a handsome Rs 10,089 crore to the national kitty in 2007-08, leaving fancier cities like Jaipur, Bhopal, Kochi and Bhubaneshwar in its wake. It did even better than the state capital, Lucknow”. This could be a great opportunity to develop ‘Delhi-Meerut Corridor’ but also a grave challenge because of a disproportionately high Muslim population.

The Muslims of Meerut are highly skilled people and, till a few decades back, had very articulate leadership also. I am talking about the days of  Major General Shahnawaz Khan, MP (Member of Parliament) from Meerut. Ever since Chaudhary Charan Singh became the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh in 1967, the relations between Hindus and Muslims in Meerut have been tense, to put it mildly.

It is a convention to have a “Convention”…

Party “Conventions” are mere formalities, or are they? It is a legal process in the public view, where all the delegates from all the 50 states and territories gather to nominate their candidates for the President and the Vice President of the United States of America. Last night, the Democratic Party formally nominated Barack Obama as their candidate for the President of the United States. Joe Biden was nominated as the candidate for Vice President a day earlier, which is kind of strange in terms of sequence. Obama said to the party faithful what he had to say and everyone looked unified and on-board. Or did they? The Clintons (Bill & Hillary) were not seen on the last day, maybe not to draw undue attention! The had done their part in the earlier days.

The strange part of this ‘Democratic Party Convention’ was that the media’s suspicion of the Clintons. The media showed such reverence to Ted Kennedy – one of the only two loosers in the ‘Democratic Party History’ – who destroyed his own party nominee President Jimmy Carter in the 1980 convention. The other was Vice President Hubert Humphrey who stole the party nomination in 1968 convention.

What happened to the idea called “Kiran Bedi”?

India produced an idea called “Kiran Bedi”, the ‘SuperCop’ and then on November 27, 2007, she requested a voluntary retirement and was relieved on December 25, 2007 by the Government of India. What happened? “How could such a bold, fearless, powerful and confident officer surrender to the system? After all, she had been a symbol of empowerment in India’s male-dominated society.” – quoted by Neeraj Bhushan. But did she fail? Yes, she failed. She surrendered to the system. According to Neeraj, she should not have opted out of the Indian Police Service. But I am not talking about an individual, Kiran Bedi. I am talking about the idea of ‘Kiran Bedi’. An idea of a ‘woman law enforcement officer’ in every single district of India with the power and the weight of State of India. All 610 districts of India need a Kiran Bedi.

Kiran Peshawaria was born on June 9, 1949 in Amritsar, Punjab. She is the second of the four daughters of her parents, Prakash Lal Peshawaria and Prem Lata Peshawaria. Kiran grew up in her father’s joint family, who were industrialists and hoteliers. Her paternal grandfather, Lala Muni Lal was a Hindu, the grandmother was a Sikh. The family spoke mainly Punjabi but also Hindi and English. The extended family was conservative but her parents were fairly liberal. They were all used to the country-club culture. In 1954, Kiran started her formal studies at the Sacred Heart Convent School in Amritsar. Kiran started playing tennis at the age of nine. At fourteen, Kiran began to compete as an amateur tennis player. Her mother helped her manage her academics as well as her tennis. Prem Lata Peshawaria instilled the love for knowledge in Kiran. Her father supported her tennis carrier.

Following her graduation from Government College, Kiran attended Punjab University in Chandigarh, receiving her master’s degree in political science in 1970. From 1970 to 1972, she was a lecturer at Khalsa College for Women in Amritsar. In July 1972, she became the first woman to join the Indian Police Service. Kiran Peshawaria met Brij Bedi at the Amritsar tennis courts, and they got married in 1972. Kiran Bedi, to be rigorous, found basic training at the National Police Academy at Mount Abu, Rajasthan. The 1974, Punjab police training was even more difficult. She served in a number of tough assignments ranging from Traffic Commissioner of New Delhi, Deputy Inspector General of Police in insurgency prone Mizoram and Advisor to the Lieutenant Governor of Chandigarh. Kiran Bedi retired as Director General to the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Historical sources suggest that the British Government used the ‘Women Police Force’ in 1938 to handle the labor strike in Kanpur. The force was disbanded after the strike was over. Women were also inducted in the police force in Greater Bombay in 1939. The princely state of Travancore also appointed one woman Head Constable and 12 women Special Police Constables, who in 1942 were regularised in the Police force. It was only after Independence that women were appointed in the police force on regular basis in different states after the partition of India in 1947, which brought endless misery and degradation to women. It was therefore necessary for the Ministry of Relief and Rehabilitation to appoint women police for recovery of abducted women and girls for rehabilitation. Since then, there has been regular induction of women police in the states of India. The Indian Police Service (IPS) has been appointing women in the IPS cadre at par with men. It is not uncommon to see women IPS officers anymore, anywhere in India.