'Expression of regret' is not an apology.

 

 

Recently the Indian Ambassador to the USA was singled out by the TSA in the USA for a full body pat down. This has violated not only the rules of diplomatic behavior but also the laws of humanity since the Ambassador was singled out just because she was wearing the traditional Indian dress of a saree. This points out towards discrimination without any doubt. Over the past two years, the Americans have insulted one former President of India; rwo Cabinet Ministers and as umpteen other Indian dignitaries. All this.while the American Ambassador to India scampers around New Delhi with a special Delhi police escort. Traditionally, Indians are a Nation that respect humanity and social norms. Americans seem to be lacking in the required values of tradition and diplomacy. The Indian humility should not be considered a weakness. Soft at heart, Indians are also strong of resolve and determination. The Indian nation must receive a full apology from the American government. An 'expression of regret' is frivolous and indicates a " high and mighty attitude" that will only bring more negativity in the Indo - US relationship.

Nigerian cocaine peddlers in India

 

The increasing number of Traffic accidents and acts of insane rage by the youth of India are mostly due drug abuse, cocaine being the illicit drug of choice. In most cases, the cocaine is said to be supplied by Nigerians in India. The Indian police are said to be afraid of the Nigerian drug peddlers, as these Nigerian drug suppliers are supposedly HIV-carriers. Nigerians use one of their local dialects to communicate with one another and have thus built an impressive drug supply chain all across India, especially in India’s big cities. These drug dealers come to India pretending to be students, and once they’re in, become part of an already-existing impressive network of operatives. One of the first things The Indian Government needs to do is stop approving student visas for Nigerian students. Secondly, as soon as the Nigerians are caught, instead of leting them loose to their consulates, they should be taken directly to the prison and have their hand chopped off. (In Africa it's called as giving criminals the "half sleeve" choice). Thirdly, the Indian government needs to raise this issue all the way to the top of Nigerian food chain. We can’t have these guys messing our youth up. And if any Nigerians are found bribing the local police (how else have they been able to do what they’ve been doing for last 20 years), let us deport those local police officers to Nigeria as well. The real perpetrators are the cocaine supply chain specialists who need to be either hanged to death for messing up with India’s next generations or sent back to their dismal tribal life in the Nigeran delta, minus a hand or two.

Is it time to pull out of the Commonwealth?

 

 Over the last one year, India and Indians have been put down by the three leading nations of the Commonwealth. First, Australia started the ball rolling with their total disregard for International norms and stated as a matter of their Government's policy; that they would not supply Nuclear Reactor material to India for peaceful purposes. 

Australia stopped just short of calling India a "nuclear non-trustworthy state". And this does not even start to cover the blatantly racial crimes of assault against and murders of Indian students in Australia. The policy of Racial discrimination against Indians was then shouldered by England; where 10 days ago, members of the Indian Shooting Contingent were insulted verbally and then left stranded by the employees of a Transport company which was contracted to transport the participating teams to & from the ranges to their hotels. 

Whether this transport company had an additional contract for Insulting Indians is yet to be clear. The latest incident is the first secretary of the Canadian Embassy in New Delhi; accusing in writing the Border Security Force of War Crimes and Actions against Humanity. (This insult would be the equivalent of calling the Canadian Mounties as Mafia in Red Tunics). 

A First Secretary of an Embassy represents his / her nation in a foreign country. Are the comments of the First Secretary of the Canadian embassy the official position of Canada towards a legal Police Force of the Indian Government? This has not been clarified till date. 

 All in all, it is time that India & Indians world-wide gave up the 'slave mentality' towards the Commonwealth countries and withdrew immediately from the Commonwealth.

Non Confidentiality In India

 

With the increase in cross-border trade and an enhanced competitive climate in India, confidentiality, non-compete and non-solicitation agreements are becoming increasingly popular there, especially in the IT and technology sectors. An increasing number of outsourcing and IT companies are including confidentiality, non-compete and non-solicitation covenants in agreements with their employees, with terms ranging from a few months to several years after the employment relationship is terminated. The companies claim that such restrictions are necessary to protect their proprietary rights and their confidential information. Similarly, foreign companies doing business in India often seek to include confidentiality, non-compete and non-solicitation covenants in their agreements with senior management and employees, as is customarily done in certain foreign jurisdictions. However, Indian courts have consistently refused to enforce post-termination non-compete clauses in employment contracts, viewing them as “restraint of trade” impermissible under Section 27 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 (the Act), and as void and against public policy because of their potential to deprive an individual of his or her fundamental right to earn a livelihood. The principles of Section 27 were aptly summarized by the Supreme Court of India in Percept D’ Mark (India) Pvt. Ltd v Zaheer Khan (AIR 2006 SC 3426), in which the Supreme Court observed that under Section 27 of the Act a restrictive covenant extending beyond the term of the contract is void and not enforceable. The court also noted that the doctrine of “restraint of trade” is not confined to contracts of employment only, but is also applicable to all other contracts with respect to obligations after the contractual relationship is terminated. This long-standing stance was clearly reaffirmed recently in a 2009 decision by the New Delhi High Court in Desiccant Rotors International Pvt Ltd v Bappaditya Sarkar & Anr (I.A. No.5455/2008, I.A. No.5454/2008 & I.A. No.5453/2008 in CS(OS) No.337/2008), which involved a senior marketing manager at a manufacturer of evaporative cooling components, products and systems. As part of his employment agreement with Desiccant, the manager agreed that for two years following the termination of his employment, he would be bound by a covenant with Desiccant that would require him to keep Desiccant’s matters confidential, and that would prevent him from competing with Desiccant and soliciting Desiccant’s customers, suppliers and employees. Expressly embodied in the employment agreement was an acknowledgement by the manager that he was dealing with confidential material of Desiccant, including know-how, technology trade secrets, methods and processes, market sales and lists of customers. After a few years of employment, the manager resigned and, notwithstanding the terms of his old employment agreement, within three months of his resignation joined a direct competitor of Desiccant as country manager in charge of marketing and started contacting customers and suppliers of Desiccant. In injunctive proceedings against the manager by Desiccant, the High Court reiterated the principles embodied in Section 27 of the Act and the individual’s fundamental right to earn a living by practicing any trade or profession of his or her choice. Brushing aside any argument by Desiccant that the restrictive covenants were primarily designed to protect its confidential and proprietary information, the High Court ruled that in the clash between the attempt of employers to protect themselves from competition and the right of employees to seek employment wherever they choose, the right of livelihood of employees must prevail. Similarly, in a 2007 decision in V.F.S. Global Services Ltd. v. Mr. Suprit Roy (2008 (2) BomCR 446 ) the Bombay High Court held that a fully paid three-month “garden leave” agreement with a senior manager did not renew the employment contract and constituted a “restraint of trade” unenforceable by V.F.S. Foreign investors in India need to be aware of Section 27 of the Act and the well-established line of court cases under it, as they structure their employment relationships and incentives with local management. As a general principle, confidentiality, non-competition and non-solicitation agreements will be enforceable during the term of the employment relationship. After termination of employment, however, many provisions of these agreements will be struck and deemed unenforceable by Indian courts in enforcement proceedings, even if the provisions are reasonable in scope and duration, subject to certain exceptions. One of the few instances in which non-competition clauses will generally be enforceable is in the context of the sale of a business, where the owners of the business will agree to a non-compete in exchange for consideration for the goodwill associated with the business (for example, in a stock sale where the promoters will sell their stock in the business to a buyer in exchange for consideration). To be enforceable, the non-compete will need to be reasonably limited in time and scope, and consideration will need to be attributed to the goodwill in the transaction, as evidenced in the documentation. Similarly, a non-compete clause in a joint venture in which shareholders mutually agree not to compete with each other on certain terms and conditions, which include time and geographic restrictions, will generally be enforceable in India. Non-solicitation obligations post-termination of employment may be enforced in limited circumstances, based upon the facts of each individual case. For example, they were upheld in the Desiccant case, in which the High Court did allow an injunction against the manager prohibiting him from soliciting Desiccant’s customers and suppliers to stand in effect. In the V.F.S. case, however, relief for breach of non-solicitation obligations was denied on the basis of vagueness of the relief claimed. Confidentiality obligations post-termination of employment will similarly be enforced in limited circumstances so long as they remain reasonable and limited in time and scope and the employer can support that the information is confidential and proprietary to it. Indeed, while denying enforcement of the garden leave in the V.F.S. case, the Bombay High Court established the principle that a restraint on the use of trade secrets during or after cessation of employment is not tantamount to a “restraint on trade” under Section 27 of the Act and therefore can be enforceable under certain circumstances. This case and others show that Indian courts will in certain circumstances enforce confidentiality agreements intended to protect an employer’s proprietary rights. But the courts remain sensitive to the possibility that employers may try to use these covenants as a back-door means of restraining employees from exercising their trade and will place an extremely high burden of proof on employers seeking to enforce these provisions. In the Desiccant case for example, the court held that a marketing manager could not be deemed to possess confidential information and that his written declaration to that effect in his employment agreement were meaningless; the court rejected Desiccant’s claim to enforce the confidentiality obligations of the manager. Therefore, when dealing with local management and key employees in India, foreign investors need to remember that the position of Indian courts on the question of non-competes is unmistakably clear—any restriction with regard to freedom of employees to seek employment and earn a living after termination of their employment contract will generally be unenforceable as contrary to public policy as set forth under Section 27 of the Act. Quote-pull, if needed: Indian courts remain sensitive to the possibility that employers may try to use restrictive covenants as a back-door means of restraining employees from exercising their trade and will place an extremely high burden of proof on employers seeking to enforce these provisions.

Paradox of our times....

 

 

Today we have bigger houses and smaller families; more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees, but less common sense; more knowledge, but less judgment. We have more experts, but more problems; more medicine, but less wellness. We spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get to angry too quickly, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too often, and pray too seldom. We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too little and lie too often. We've learned how to make a living, but not a life; we've added years to life, not life to years. We have taller buildings, but shorter tempers; wider highways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less; we buy more, but enjoy it less. We've split the atom, but not our prejudice, we write more, but learn less; plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait; we have higher incomes, but lower morals. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies, but have less communication. We are long on quantity, but short on quality. These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion; tall men and short character; steep profits and shallow relationships. More leisure and less fun; more kinds of food, but less nutrition; two incomes, but more divorce; fancier houses, but broken homes. That's why I propose, that as of today, you do not keep anything for a special occasion, because every day that you live is a special occasion. Search for knowledge, read more, sit on your front porch and admire the view without paying attention to your needs. Spend more time with your family and friends, eat your favorite foods, and visit the places you love. Life is a chain of moment of enjoyment, not only about survival. Let's tell our families and friends how much we love them. Do not delay anything that adds laughter and joy to your life. Every day, every hour, and every minute is special. And you don't know if it will be your last.

Bloody Tuesday as Maoists massacre 75 security personnel

 

 On Tuesday 06 April, Maoist guerrillas Tuesday carried out the worst ever massacre of security personnel by trapping and slaughtering 75 men of the CRPF in the dense forests of Chattisgarh. Over the last 3 months the Maoists have shown a remarkable improvement in their battle tactics, inflicting massive damage on the security forces of India. This cannot be attributed to either a large number of Maoists forces attacking smaller numbers of security personnel or to the sudden high level of efficiency in the Maoist cadres. The finger of suspicion points unwavering to the other “Mao forces” namely elements of the People’s Republican Army (PLA) of China. Over the last 18 months, Chinese companies invested into projects in India. Some of these projects are in the mining sector in Central India regions. Based on this contract the Chinese companies brought into India 100,000 Chinese laborers and strangely enough the Indian Government allowed this to happen. Nobody in the Government of India even thought about the fact that maybe, just MAYBE these 100,000 young Chinese laborers could be members of the PLA. Can the Indian Intelligence services track down the locations of these 100,000 laborers? Is there any system in India that can track the movement of foreigners in India? The real answer is a big ‘NO’. It is my opinion that today we our forces and our nation are suffering from the consequences of inefficient bureaucracy compounded by wide scale corruption in our society. Till June 2008 attacks by Maoists usually resulted in casualties in single digits. It’s only after June 2008 till date that the efficiency of the Maoists has suddenly shot up that they are planning and executing operations on a battlefield combat level with Indian security forces sustaining climbing number of casualties in every incident. Our police are not combating half starving bands of guerillas; but a disciplined and well trained army. And that can only be the PLA of China. Our politicians and our bureaucracy may or may not admit this fact but, India today is in a ‘State of War’. Our enemies are as yet undefined, but are well trained, well equipped, strongly financed and highly motivated. And the finger of suspicion points towards China. Recent violent activities by Maoists • April 6, 2010: At least 73 CRPF and district force personnel were killed when a large group of Naxals ambushed them in the Mukrana forests of Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district. • February 20, 2010: Maoists killed a village guard by slitting his throat. • February 18, 2010: Twelve villagers were killed and 9 injured in indiscriminate firing by the Maoists in Jamui district of Bihar. The dead included three women and one child. Twenty five village houses were also burned down by the Maoists. • February 16, 2010 : Silda camp attack • October 8, 2009 : About 150 Maoist ambushed a Police patrol and killed 17 Policemen in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra • October 6, 2009 : Police inspector Francis Induwar was beheaded by Maoists in Jharkhand. The action has been compared to the tactics of the Islamist Taliban of Pakistan-Afghanistan • April 13, 2009: 10 paramilitary troops are killed in eastern Orissa. • February 23, 2009: Maoists kill a contractor, sets fire in police post at Govindpalli of Malkangiri. • July 16, 2008: A landmine hit a police van in Malkangiri district, killing 21 policemen. • June 29, 2008: CPI forces attacked a boat on the Chitrakonda reservoir in Orissa carrying members of an anti-Naxalite police force. The boat sunk, killing 33 policemen, while 28 survived. • In November 2007 reports emerged that the anti-SEZ movement in Nandigram in West Bengal had been infiltrated by Naxalites since February; the reports quoted unnamed intelligence sources. Recently, police found weapons belonging to Maoists near Nandigram. • In 2008, The Hindu newspaper reported that a Maoist killed a man and publicly cannibalized him in Malkangiri district of Orissa to terrorize villagers. The alleged incident occurred in Bandiguda on August 14, 2007. • On March 15, 2007 an attack happened in the rebel stronghold area of Dantewada, in Chhattisgarh state. Fifty-four persons, including 15 personnel of the Chhattishgarh Armed Force, were killed in an offensive by 300 to 350 CPI (Maoist) cadres on a police base camp in the Bastar region in the early hours of Thursday. The remaining victims were tribal youths of Salwa Judum, designated as Special Police Officers (SPOs) and roped in to combat the Maoists. Eleven person were injured. The attack, which lasted nearly two-and-a-half hours, was spearheaded by the "State Military Commission (Maoist)", consisting of about 100 armed naxalites. • On March 6, 2007 the CPI (Maoist) reportedly claimed responsibility for the Mahato assassination, but JMM members of the Jharkhand state cabinet, including the Chief Minister, subsequently announced that a state police investigation is under way into the authenticity of this claim. Police reportedly believe that political rivals of Mahato, including organized criminal groups, may have been behind the assassination. • On March 5, 2007 Maoist shot dead a local Congress leader (Prakash, a member of the local Mandal Praja Parishad (MPP)) in Andhra Pradesh while he was inspecting a road construction project in Mahabubnagar district. • On March 4, 2007 Maoist shot dead a member of the parliament (Sunil Mahato) of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) party from Jharkhand state. • On December 2, 2006 the BBC reported that at least 14 Indian policemen had been killed by Maoists in a landmine ambush near the town of Bokaro, 80 miles from Ranchi, the capital of the State of Jharkhand. • On October 18, 2006 women belonging to the Maoist guerrilla forces blasted four government buildings in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh. On the day before, over a dozen armed cadres of the group, with support from male colleagues, blocked traffic on the Antagarh-Koylibera Road in the Kanker district, near the city of Raipur. They also detonated explosives inside four buildings, including two schools, in Kanker. This incident occurred two days after a major leader of the party's operations in Orissa and Andhra Pradesh, Kone Kedandam, surrendered to authorities in the town of Srikakulam. • On July 16, 2006 the Maoists attacked a relief camp in the Dantewada district where several villagers were kidnapped. The death toll was 29. • On February 28, 2006 the Maoists attacked several anti-Maoist protesters in Erraboru village in Chhattisgarh using landmines, killing 25 people. • On 13 November 2005 CPI (Maoist) fighters stunned authorities by attacking Jehanabad in Bihar, freeing 250 captured comrades and taking twenty imprisoned right wing paramilitaries captive, executing their leader. They also detonated several bombs in the town. A prison guard was also reported killed. • In August 2005 Maoists kidnapped from the Dantewada district of the state of Chhattisgarh.This follows violent incidents in 2004 in the same region when 50 policemen and about 300 villagers were killed in the Dantewada district and over 50,000 villagers were staying in relief camps out of fear from Maoists. • In February 2005 the CPI (Maoist) killed 7 policemen, a civilian and injured many more during a mass attack on a school building in Venkatammanahalli village, Pavgada, Tumkur, Karnataka. On August 17, 2005, the government of Andhra Pradesh outlawed the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and various mass organizations close to it, and began to arrest suspected members and sympathizers days afterwards. The arrested included former emissaries at the peace talks of 2004.

Is India & Indians ready for death penelty for extreme crimes?

 

 

Crimes of Endangering Public Security 

1. Committing arson, causing a breach to a dam or dyke, causing explosions, spread poison that inflicts serious injury or death on people or causes heavy losses of public or private property by other dangerous means. 

2. Sabotaging any means of transport, transportation facility, electric power facility, gas facility, or inflammable or explosive equipment, thereby causing serious consequences to the exchequer. 

3. Any hijacker who causes serious injury to or death of any other person or serious damage to any aircraft, sea-craft, railway and road vehicle. 

4. Illegally manufacturing, trading, transporting, mailing or storing any firearms, guns, ammunition or explosives. 

5. Stealing or attempting to steal any guns, ammunition or explosives. 

6. Theft of any guns, ammunition or explosives or attempt to steal any guns, ammunition or explosives from Police, members of the Armed forces, or the Para- military. 

7. Producing or selling fake medicines that cause death or especially serious harm to human health. 

8. Whoever mixes the foods that is produced or sold with toxic or harmful non-food raw materials or knowingly sells such foods that cause death or especially serious harm. Crimes of Smuggling 

9. Smuggling weapons, ammunition, nuclear materials or counterfeit currency into or out of the country. 

10. Smuggling cultural relics, gold, silver or other precious metals, the export of which is forbidden by the State, or precious and rare species of wildlife as well as the products thereof, the import and export of which are forbidden by the State, under all circumstances. 

Crimes of Disrupting the Financial Administration 

11. Whoever counterfeits currencies and 

      (a) Being a ringleader of a gang engaged in counterfeiting currencies, 

      (b) Having counterfeited currencies in especially huge, amounts; or 

      (c) Being involved in other especially serious matters of counterfeiting. Crimes of  Financial Fraud 

12. Whoever, for the purpose of illegal possession, raises funds by means of fraud 

13. Whoever commits fraud by means of financial bills in any of the following ways 

      (d) Knowingly using forged or altered bills of exchange, promissory notes or cheques; 

      (e) Knowingly using invalidated bills of exchange, promissory notes or cheques; 

      (f) Illegally using another's bills of exchange, promissory notes or cheques; 

      (g) Signing and issuing a invalid cheque or a cheque on which the signature is not in conformity with the reserved specimen signature, in order to defraud money or property; or 

      (h) Signing or issuing bills of exchange or promissory notes without funds as a guaranty, in the capacity of a drawer, falsely specifying the particulars thereon at the time of issue, in order to defraud money or property. 

14. Whoever commits fraud by means of a letter of credit in any of the following manner: 

      (i) Using a forged or altered letter of credit or any of its attached bills or documents; 

      (j) Using an invalidated letter of credit; 

      (k) Fraudulently obtaining a letter of credit; or 

      (l) In any other ways. ... AND if the amount involved is especially huge, and especially heavy losses are caused to the interests of the Nation and the people. 

15. Whoever, falsely makes out invoices for value-added tax or any other invoices to defraud a tax refund for exports or to offset tax money, thus causing especially heavy losses to the interests of the Nation. 

16. Whoever, forges or sells forged special invoices for value-added tax, so that economic order is seriously disrupted. Crimes of Infringing Upon Citizens' Right of the Individual and Democratic Rights 

17. Intentionally commits homicide. 

18. Intentionally inflicting injury upon another person or, by resorting to especially cruel means, causes severe injury to the person, reducing the person to utter disability. 

19. Raping a woman or has sexual intercourse with a girl under the age of 16 in any of the following circumstances: 

      (m) The circumstances being flagrant; 

      (n) Raping a number of women or girls under the age of 16; 

      (o) Raping a woman of any age before the public in a public place; 

      (p) Raping a woman of any age by one or more persons in succession; or 

      (q) Causing serious injury or death to the victim of rape or other serious consequences. 

20. Kidnapping and unlawfully detaining another person or unlawfully depriving the personal freedom of another person by any other means AND if causing injury, disability or death to the victim by violence. 

21. Unlawfully detaining or confines another person in order to get payment of a ransom does the same in (20) 

22. Where a functionary of a government department commits any of the crimes mentioned above. 

23. Kidnapping another person for the purpose of extorting money or property or as a hostage. 

24. Abducting and trafficking in a woman or child AND if the circumstances are especially serious beyond the following: 

     (r) Being a ringleader of a gang engaged in abducting and trafficking in women and children; 

     (s) Abducting and trafficking in three or more women and/or children; (t) Raping the woman who is abducted and trafficked in; 

     (u) Enticing or forcing the woman who is abducted and trafficked in to engage in prostitution, or selling such woman to any other person who would force her to engage in prostitution; 

     (v) Kidnapping a woman or child by means of violence, coercion or anesthesia for the purpose of selling the victim; 

     (w) Stealing a baby or an infant for the purpose of selling the victim; 

     (x) Causing serious injury or death to the woman or child who is abducted and trafficked in or to her or his relatives or any other serious consequences; or 

     (y) Selling a woman or a child out of the territory of India. 

Other 

• Illegally selling or transferring weapons or equipment of the armed forces. 

• Any serviceman who, during wartime, cruelly injures innocent residents in an area of military operation or plunders their money or property. 

• All foreign nationals transporting into India weapons of warfare and those foreign nationals who enter India to conduct war or plan to conduct war against the Nation.

Letter from former President Dr. Abdul Kalam

 

Why is the media here so negative? 

Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements? We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. 

Why? • We are the first in milk production. We are number one in Remote sensing satellites. We are the second largest producer of wheat. We are the second largest producer of rice. 

 Look at Dr. Sudarshan , he has transferred the tribal village into a self-sustaining, self-driving unit. There are millions of such achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters. 

I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert into an orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried among other news. 

In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime.. Why are we so NEGATIVE? 

Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things? We want foreign T.Vs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreign technology. Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize that self-respect comes with self-reliance? 

I was in Hyderabad giving this lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her what her goal in life is. She replied: I want to live in a developed India . For her, you and I will have to build this developed India. You must proclaim. India is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation. 

Do you have 10 minutes? Allow me to come back with a vengeance. 

Got 10 minutes for your country? If yes, then read; otherwise, choice is yours.. • 

YOU say that our government is inefficient. YOU say that our laws are too old. YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage. YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke. The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination. YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits. YOU say, say and say. 

What do YOU do about it? Take a person on his way to Singapore . Give him a name - 'YOURS'. Give him a face - 'YOURS'. YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International best. In Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in the stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground links as they are.. You pay $5 (approx. Rs. 60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of Mahim Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM. YOU come back to the parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity… In Singapore you don't say anything, DO YOU? 

YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai .. YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange in London at 10 pounds (Rs.650) a month to, 'see to it that my STD and ISD calls are billed to someone else.'YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88 km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop, 'Jaanta hai main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so's son. Take your two bucks and get lost.' 

YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand .. 

Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo? 

Why don't YOU use examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston? 

We are still talking of the same YOU. YOU, who can respect and conform to a foreign system in other countries but cannot in your own. 

YOU, who will throw papers and cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be an involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot you be the same here in India? In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job. Same in Japan .. Will the Indian citizen do that here?' 

We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility. We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative. 

We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. 

We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms. 

We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least opportunity.This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service to the public. 

When it comes to burning social issues like those related to women, dowry, girl child, and others, we make loud drawing room protestations and continue to do the reverse at home. 

Our excuse? 'It's the whole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my sons' rights to a dowry.' So who's going to change the system? 

What does a system consist of? Very conveniently for us it consists of our neighbors, other households, other cities, other communities and the government. But definitely not me and YOU! 

When it comes to us actually making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for a Mr. Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the country and run away. 

Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in their glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure we run to England . When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is out to abuse and exploit the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience is mortgaged to money. Lets do what India needs from us. Forward this mail to each Indian for a change. 

Thank you, 

Dr. Abdul Kalam

NOTE: This article has not been verified as the original speech of Dr. Kalam. Kindly read it for its content and not necessarily for its author. Thanks