I SAY RUN ( Indian Students and Youth Representative to the UN )

And its Delhi ... again!

2011-08-13T18:54:00.002+05:30

Dear All,

We have been in talks with some people and I got invited to be part of the IFUNA youth wing which should start anytime soon. The first meeting was supposed to be in June but since many of the invitees could not attend it was shifted to a latter date. I haven't heard from them since.

But the great news is that I am back in Delhi, this time for an MA course in Sociology from South Asian University. The experience is simply awesome and I am enjoying myself.

The atmosphere is very upbeat and I hope to get something out of this place for this campaign in particular. We are also exploring several different avenues and I will update you guys when something concrete comes up!

Till then... my Delhi number is +91 9560 530 137

Do call me and lets take this forward!

Cheers

And we're back

2011-03-12T22:07:00.002+05:30

Dear All,

As you can see my desperate trials to get someone else to write hasn't borne fruit so its me again.

If you have been here before you might have noticed that we have changed our logo to a much more swankier smoother version and the 'waye' name has been put in the freezer for now.

I'm sad to tell you that our functional relationship with WAYE didn't work out as we had hoped it would. Though I was in Delhi and wanted to get many activities going there wasn't much I could do due to several constraints.

So we are back on our own and there is good news that someone from India who is part of the WFUNA team has actually contacted a bunch of youth and is trying to set up a youth collective for us.

Its a good initiative in the right direction. Late no doubt, but as the cliche goes, better late than never :)

I will keep everyone update on what happens to this line.

I should thank Tanmay for the new logo, he's done a great job in spite of his tight schedule. I should persuade him to write more though :)

See you sooner than later!

Cheers!

Rohith

Action in Delhi

2010-08-21T10:45:00.002+05:30

Dear All,

We now have a physical presence in Delhi and eagerly look forward to getting our hands dirty with this project of ours :)

So all the zealots out there feel free to leave a comment or contact me at rohith.nathan@gmail.com

We will be contacting a few youth NGOs also to take this forward along with them as we feel this is a people's movement and shouldn't be restricted to few who have been given the opportunity.

If you are from a youth NGO or you know someone who is working with a youth NGO please feel free to buzz me.

Looking forward to meeting everyone in Delhi

Best Regards

Rohith

Skype Conference

2009-11-21T14:28:00.003+05:30

Dear All,

We are having a series of skype conferences to discuss issues that we need to solve in our beloved motherland.

These issues range from corruption, to education to tackling terrorism.

The person leading this venture is Mr. B. Shantanu. He has a very illustrious career behind him and is a great speaker.

We would be glad to have you all for the conference. If you are interested in this do let us know asap

Best Regards

Rohith Nathan

+9840709717

rohith.nathan@gmail.com

For Each and Everyone of Us

2009-10-18T09:13:00.001+05:30

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 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 aface - 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 go out without your head covered in Jeddah .
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 ?

Once in an interview, the famous Ex-municipal commissioner of Bombay , Mr. Tinaikar , had a point to make. 'Rich people's dogs are walked on the streets to leave their affluent droppings all over the place,' he said. 'And then the same people turn around to criticize and blame the authorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. What do they expect the
officers to do? Go down with a broom every time their dog feels the pressure in his bowels? 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?' He's right. 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 towomen, 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 neighbours, 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 rape the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience is mortgaged to money.

Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a greatdeal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too...... I am echoing J. F. Kennedy 's words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians..... .

'ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA
AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA
WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY'

Lets do what India needs from us.

Thank You

Essay Competition

2009-10-04T12:16:00.003+05:30

Since many of us are patriots here I thought I might let you in on some food for thought.

There is an Essay writing Competition

http://www.siv-g.org/

Thought You might be interested

cheers

Kochi Trip

2009-10-04T11:31:00.002+05:30

Last weekend I was fortunate to be in Kochi to attend the Indian Parliament Simulation conducted by Young Indians (Yi) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

The experience was quite enriching to say the least. I met many different people from all over the country and as expected I had a blast of a time ! :)

Session 1 started off on a sober note with the Core group members reading from their scripts, I started feeling left out since it looked nothing more than a staged drama and all I was doing is clapping at predetermined intervals and acting as if I agreed to what my leader of opposition had to say. Half way through and after much prodding the organizers introduced a 'one' spontaneous question. This actually happened after my hand was in the air for a fair bit time and the speaker ignored my frantic attempts to catch his attention.

So then rolled out a hell lotta fun :) This session then underwent a metamorphosis of sorts and turned out to be better than the 'Royal Rumble'. Fiery opposition members shooting questions to the leaders of the ruling party like a machine gun out of control. And on unacceptable answers we would keep prodding like the true politicians we were trying to emulate to get a good answer from them. On this note the speaker got to throw me out around 4 or 5 times only to find me back within 5 mins along with a resurgent sense of patriotism to get answers out of the ruling government.

Session 2: Was a little bit more drab, I mellowed down after the leader of opposition for Session 2 warned me about my sense of ethics and conduct within the house. But what do you expect me to do ? I didn't spend a train ticket onward and a flight ticket to return just so that some guys could read from a script. Besides if I feel answers are unsatisfactory I will object to them just as any common man would, a gallantry show of histrionics is not what the ruling party is supposed to show. They are to show action and deed and not fiction and greed for crying out loud.

Anyway, my mellowed down version was dampened even further when I found out the supplementary question I was supposed to ask was cancelled due to lack of time. *drats* I told myself, but this slip in the plan didn't keep me down for long and I was thrown out of the house yet again twice this time in the session. I came back and staged a walkout since my answers were not being answered and that brought the session to an end. :)

Session 3: This session had a fair bit of drama involved and the members of opposition staged a satyagraha demanding an apology for god know's what reason. It got monotonous after a point in time and I started to feel what an absolute was of public money and time is involved when our REAL MP's act like kindergarten children in parliament. Maybe this is because they have never watched themselves on screen or rather, never been to kindergarten leave alone school.

The most important thing about session3 was that I got freely publicize ISAYRUN. There was a question topic on Red Tape. And as we all know our campaign has faced its fair bit of red tape. I quoted statistics from our campaign and asked the ruling government why their IAS officers haven't replied to our mails, phone calls and messages ? They were bowled over. Many of the parliamentarians didn't know this program existed ( which was the whole point of me going there so we get more patriots within our ranks ) So my purpose was satisfied, I kind of sent a googly to the ruling party and got everyone to wake up to the fact that this Youth Rep Program is imperative to the country's youth.

The Session came to an end and I exchanged contact details with many of the participants, I had an enriching experience of interacting with some brilliant minds and fellow patriots and I thoroughly look forward to working with them again on something close to my heart.

I returned by flight, which was such a relief since I wouldn't have lasted a train journey and I came back to some good home cooked food and my very own pillow on the floor :)

Cheers

New happenings

2009-09-14T07:22:00.002+05:30

Chennai,September 13th :

New developments over the past few weeks which we have not updated ya'll on. I hope that we mentioned that we visited our boss and got some inputs over the weekend. We couldn't meet for the next weekend due to some unavoidable reasons and so we met yesterday after a hiatus of 2 weeks.

Lots of new developments have been happening, firstly IFUNA has told us that the IFUNA-youth office is now in kolkata. So we are trying to find out where it really is. As you might know by now, the numbers and email ids of people in IFUNA youth are outdated. We're trying to catch hold of someone responsible.

The person who we spoke to from kolkata was actually a real gentleman and gave us very precise information which we needed.

Looking at the immediate future, there is Youth Assembly of India which is going to be held in Hyderabad, it is being hosted by the Passionate Foundation. So let me know if any of you want to part of this. Actually its very simple, just google passionate foundation, chekc out the details of the youth assembly, if its comfortable for you to be in Hyderabad then just book your tickets and let us know that your going. We will talk to the hosts about it.

Other than that, we had some new attendance in yesterday's meet. Its been giving me great hopes and a renewed sense of responsibility.

Till the next post...

Cheers

Saturday 22nd Aug

2009-08-26T17:54:00.002+05:30

22nd August 2009

The meeting was held at mocha and there was 7 volunteers present including me .Lakshmi Kala, Arjun, Vaidhy, Kamtchi, ridhi, shashant (ridhi’s friend} and ridhis cousin

The agenda was about the Campaign managemen

I represented a part of the management in absence of other campaign managers

Kamatchi and I are going to the corporation on Tuesday to get permission to go to the local police station for security.

There were few volunteers who came up with their own ideas on how to go about the beach clean up procedures

Kamtchi came up with the idea of creating awareness to ppl about cleanliness and asking the shopkeepers next to the beach to keep their surroundings clean

Ridhi- we ll get help from the “warewah” people in beach clean up

Shashant- he ll do the posters maximum of 25 to be put up in college’s coffeshops and Landmark.

Arjun responsible for the band and sacks.

Kamatchi - she ll get the T shirts designed by her junior Laya

Campaign work to be started by this week and date to be decided soon

See you at the campaign !

Lakshmi Kala

Independence Dhamaka ! ! !

2009-08-17T10:44:00.012+05:30

It was Independence Day and a Saturday too. That is right. Saturdays mean I SAY RUN meetings. This meeting meant a lot to all of us. Well, I’m not going to bug you with the unnecessary details. Let’s get to the point.

The agenda of today’s meeting was to create awareness. And we decided to do it by doing some social work So the brain storming began. And we liked to call this our I SAY RUN campaigns.

So many ideas came up. Our friend who has already done a lot of social work, Arjun, suggested that we should work towards the down trodden, educate a child. Kamatchi and Arun suggested that we do something about E-Waste. We also decided to create awareness by talking to people in a Coffee Shop when we happen to be there, as you guessed, most of the people sitting in a coffee shop fall into the category of teens and youths.

We wanted to create promo videos. And the easier way is to address something that bothers almost everyone in day to day lives, like Traffic. Kamatchi also brought about the fact that Ranipet (Vellore District) is claimed as one of the most polluted area(http://www.citymayors.com/environment/world_pollution.html). Ridhi came up with environment related issues, like cruelty towards animals, going LED, avoiding polythene bags, etc. This reminded us of the fight that Tanmay and I had with a medical store because they were giving out plastic carry bags.

Our creative head, Tanmay, brought about the topic of littering and smoking. And then there was “Go-Veg”.

Finally we decided on going with E-Waste campaign and concluded the meeting.

Day: 2 Sunday, August 16, 2009

We all met in Nageswar Rao Park in mylapore around 10.30, only to be thrown out at 11.00. Then we went to Café Coffee Day, Cenotaph Road.

The meeting kick started. We found out that the Nokia E-zone doesn’t collect anything besides Nokia Batteries. So we ended up in square one. Kamatchi came up with the idea of collecting e-waste and creating a junkyard display. We didn’t go for it though.

Yes, we decided to go for the “Beach Cleaning”. Kamatchi, Arjun and Arun were voted as campaign managers. Arjun also said he could invite a reporter for the event. We were all happy, finally, something solid to look forward to. The dates decided, were to be somewhere around this month end. So, YES, we do need you guys to come.

This year’s Independence Day was my personal best in all the years that have come by.

And yes, the movie. We are going for a movie, Kaminey (Dhan Tan Nan :P) Thanks to Tanmay and Vaithinathan.

Cheerios…

For further details contact,

Tanmay: +91 9962385581

Saravana: +91 9884828277

I SAY RUN First Video!! =)

2009-08-17T01:48:00.003+05:30

Here is our First ever I SAY RUN Video.. yey!! ^_^

it is based on the problems which India is currently Facing(most of them)..And the background music is just Brilliant..

I've tried to make it as touchy as possible..

Come on people..

Lets make a Difference

Lets be the change..

I SAY RUN, do you??

(Comments Please)

How to catch peoples attention

2009-08-16T20:02:00.002+05:30

It was a pretty good I-Day yesterday, celebrated it thoroughly in IITM. Come to think of it, its the first I-Day that I've celebrated. Interesting.

A bunch of volunteers got a great idea to spread the word on WAYE's yes+ courses and ISAYRUN. So what we did was... 10 people + a guitar + music + dance + 1000 bewildered brainiacs whose cumulative IQ would have put ambani's salary to shame :)

Right in the middle of the Himalya-lawns we had an amazing evening and when the crowd got really interested we stopped and spoke about ISAYRUN and our initiative. Which was bloody awesome cos they were really in a patriotic mood and one which they were willing to listen :)

It took a lot of guts from our guys to organise this, especially chetan cos his neck was on the line if anything went wrong. But I guess if you wanna go far you gotta take risks.

We had two meetings this weekend and the team is going for a movie on monday ( to keep up the morale :) ) The updates will be up soon .

So if your missing out on the fun ... hop right on

I say run, do you ?

Dont be a Fool, Be Cool..Join us(I SAY RUN Meet 08 Aug 09)

2009-08-10T09:36:00.013+05:30

It was a Normal Saturday for me, I woke up,looked at the clock..It was 10..and the I SAY RUN meeting was scheduled for 2..Trust Me when i say this but the 4 hours between 10 and 2 seemed to be moving slower than a sloth..I just could not wait for the Meet to start cause all our previous meets had been Amazing fun combined with Some even more amazing Hard work.. :)

Finally it it was 1:15 and i decided it was time to make a move in spite of the venue(Madras Terrace House) being only 10 minutes away from my house..

I Reached There by 1:30 and I was the First one there(at least that's what i Thought) SO i decided to wait out for others to come.. After sometime a friend of mine called me and told me that she had reached and could i pick her up?.. So i went picked her up and we both entered MTH(Madras Terrace House) only to find someone already sitting there from a time which was surely before 1:30..poor her..even more eager than me.. :P

People slowly started to drop in and the Meet had officially started..YEY :)..SO we started by updating the new members about I SAY RUN, told them what we had in mind and what we had achieved Till now..We also told them About This amazingly awesome Blog that you are reading right now(how could anyone not know about this blog is beyond my reach :P) and Our Facebook Group( http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=102277551005&ref=ts ) which has over 800 members now..Oh ya.. 8)

We discussed our Progress with MEA( No.. not the Famous Singer Mea..but the.. MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS.. MEA..Ahh!! :-))

We Were talking about this when the cafe Owner came up to us and told us that we couldn't sit here anymore...SO.. Heart Broken we stood up to leave.. But to our surprise The Owner actually Invited us to come sit in the Air conditioned Mega Super Duper Hall..Do something Good and Something even More Better Happens.. :D

Yeah.. So we Decided it was time To come up with a Promo Video( We need actors for that BTW..contact us via a comment if interested :)) AND we have a Very Good Idea For that..(you Missed the Meet..so you wont know what the Idea is..Muhahaha)

We also Decided which Daily(Newspaper) to Approach regarding this campaign..We Decided to Design and Start Wearing our own T-Shirt..how cool is that??WE Had fun pulling the leg of our Beloved HR.. who is an Air Hostess BTW..And a very hot one to top that.. :D And we Discussed many more things Which just cant be explained by Typing..Oh and we Finally Have a LOGO planned.. :)

All This Happened While you were sleeping,Dancing,partying or doing nothing..IT WAS FUN..woooHoooo.. I think its about Time You people showed up for a meet..Mark my words.. "YOU WILL LOVE IT"..

I SAY RUN, do you??

For More Details Regarding the Next meet you can Contact:

Myself(Tanmay)- 09962385581

Sarvana Kumar- 919884828277

Brothers In Arms

2009-08-03T09:54:00.004+05:30

Whenever there has been war..There has been death in large numbers..the soldiers who fight for our lives putting theirs in danger..When we are sleeping peacefully in the night,they stay up and guard our borders..everyday we read in the papers.."5 soldiers die in a militant encounter,Solider dies fighting"..This post is for all those soldiers who sacrificed their life to save ours..I have played many war games..I know what these soldiers face everyday..When you are least expecting a grenade comes out off no where and blows you off.But unlike games these soldiers don't have a save game option..they cant start afresh from the last save point..if they are shot..they are dead..Yet they are not afraid..Rather they fight with all the strength they have..Even during the 26/11 Mumbai attacks..we saw how these soldiers fought for days without taking a break..not even a drop of water..They had to kill or capture a terrorist without putting the lives of the civilians in danger..So just give a few minutes from your busy lives to remember those brave men who gave up their life so that you could live yours..The Indian military has all my respect..Its because of them that i feel proud to say.."I AM AN INDIAN"..

Think it, Do it!

2009-08-03T09:49:00.000+05:30

very man has a dream,its something we all need
but A dream remains a dream if not achieved
A vision is only a vision if not fulfilled
A mission is mere a mission if stays dormant
Take a step, move forward be bold and fervent
Easy to utter and verbalize
Becomes a power house when you internalize
Dream with action creates momentum
Act on it give yourself an ultimatum
Subconscious mind is a place to be
Be proud have pride, it brings dignity
Follow your heart, love & care, it is road to immortality
A man is just a man without substance
A man with substance has compliance
Death with a dream brings eternal peace
Body remains here soul you release

I DREAM,
I SAY RUN, do you?

Story of our First Youth Delegate

2009-08-02T16:17:00.010+05:30

posted with permission of the author, thank you .

Story of a Youth Delegate: Bremley W.B. Lyngdoh

How were you appointed as an official Youth Delegate to the United Nations?

I am very honored and privileged to be the first ever Youth Representative from India to be appointed by the Prime Minister to represent my country as part of the official government delegation at the historic Millennium Summit and Millennium Assembly which was held at the United Nations headquarters in September 2000.

I have been a member of the United Nations Student Association (UNSA) of India since I was 13, which is an affiliate organization of the Indian Federation of United Nations Associations (IFUNA). The Federation has representatives from 20 of the 25 states. The Federation is part of the World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA) that has members in about 85 countries. I am also active in a large number of youth service organizations in the United States and coordinate projects for the Global Youth ACTION Network (GYAN). I have completed my internship at the United Nations headquarters in New York, working in the area of sustainable development. After my nomination, my organization sent my name to the Ministry of External Affairs and the Prime Minster's Office for approval. Upon clearance from the national delegation selection committee, my name was included as part of the Indian National delegation of the 55th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

What was your role as a youth delegate?

I was responsible for providing youth perspectives to assist my delegation in their consideration of agenda items, especially those relating to youth. While at the UN, I organized regular meetings with other Youth Representatives to develop an agenda of common priorities and aim to raise awareness of these issues through a series of meetings with UN bodies. Within my delegation, I attend a range of meetings, receptions and informal negotiations, as well as provided administrative assistance, including covering debates and formulating reports which were sent to my capital, New Delhi.

I followed the Second and Third Committee meetings, and delivered a statement on the theme "Creating Sustainable Livelihoods for Youth" to the Third Committee of the General Assembly on behalf of the youth of my country on the 28th September 2000. I believe that the meetings were effective. After hearing my statement, many government delegates and UN officials asked for further discussion and there were a lot of networking opportunities with the World Bank, UNDP, UNICEF, UNEP and ILO. I want to stress that it is just rhetoric until something concrete actually happens at the national and local level. I believe that the UN is getting better at focusing on youth issues but there needs to be follow-up on all the commitments that have been made in many past UN conferences. I am satisfied overall with the reforms and inclusive nature of the UN, but I would like to see the member states of the UN work as partners with their youth organizations without any conditions or restrictions. I made a suggestion that the UN Youth Unit should also make alumni lists of former youth representatives who can help new youth delegates network.

What did you do in your country after being a delegate?

After I returned home to India, I had to brief youth organizations, schools and colleges on what had I observed at the Third Committee meetings and what role I played in voicing the concerns of the 250 million youth of India at the UNGA. From my own observations and findings I strongly recommended to my government that it should maintain its policy of sending youth delegates to the UNGA in the future.

What can the United Nations learn from young people?

I believe that the UN can learn a lot from young people. For example, during the youth delegates short period of stay in New York, they were able to work together and organize meetings with many top UN and government officials. Youth have energy and spirit by working across boundaries, young people can share common interests the world over. I also feel that the youth can have a big impact if many countries send youth representatives to the meetings of the General Assembly. I think that it is important to have active and meaningful participation of youth in the UN system all levels of decision making processes.

I am striving very hard each day to balance my activism life with my academic life. Life is a constant journey for me, never a destination. So I live life to the fullest each day with honor, passion and adventure.

I am an "Indian"

2009-07-31T10:31:00.001+05:30

As a little boy i used to ask my Grand mom about her freedom struggle experience and every time she told me the story i swear her eyes shined brighter than the sun on solstice.. She had a look of accomplishment..she had achieved something..and today i sit and wonder..what have i done for my Country?When some foreigner asks me where i am from, I proudly say " I am an Indian".. But what have i done to call myself an Indian? Yeah..I do stop my friends from littering..once in a while tech little kids to read.. but come on..that just makes me a good citizen..The country needs me..us.. We the youth have to get together and do something.. as an individual we can only make excuses(what can i do alone?) but as a group we actually do something.. Rohit told me about Indian students and youth representative to the united nations and i really liked the Idea and today i feel proud to say that, Yes! i am an active member of this group.. We all want to grow up and settle down in different countries but why not develop India instead and make people want to settle down here? we have the resources, we have the land and we have manpower..Why wait for the day when we have a literate politician in the ministry when we qualified youth can address the problems of our nation right now?? Lets do something, Lets work for a better India cause i for one want to have the same look in my eyes as my grand mom when i tell my story to my grand kids.. I SAY RUN.. Do you?? :)

We the People

2009-07-30T17:04:00.001+05:30

India-Classified as a developing country..Developing?? but why?? why not Developed? Its been more than 50 years since our Independence..Then why is the Country still developing??Even we have big,tall and shiny buildings..we have the best medical facilities..malls..sport complex..we have everything..but then why? what could be the reason? could it be us? we the people!? well ill tell you bout a little experience that i had recently.. I was traveling by train..it was a long journey so i had ordered food..and when it comes to food, i go crazy..i ordered almost everything on the list only to realize that i cant finish it all.. I dint want to waste food.. We all would have seen those poor little kids who come and clean the train in a hope of earning some money.. so One of those kids entered my compartment..so i thought i can give away the food pack to him..I was placed in the upper birth..I called out for him..but he dint listen..so I asked the people sitting on the lower birth to call him.. and i saw something that shocked me.. literally shocked.. The lady below was about to tap him on his back and ask him to look up..when she stopped..stopped.. took a slipper and tapped him with that.. she dint want to touch him.. how sad is that? Did i just witness untouchability?? Its our mindset people.. if as a person we cant develop then how can we expect our country to develop??We have to change.. we cant sit around and blame the politicians for everything..that's the cowards way out.. we can sit and play the blame game or actually step up and do something.. the choice is ours, cause till then the country is only developing..

UN YR log 02

2009-07-14T22:23:00.003+05:30

well . just for an update, day before yesterday, sunday the 12th

T n I made our first presentation at the YES+ creative workshop in chennai.

There would have been some 30-40 ppl and I think it was quite a fruitful event and we got a few leads into the murky world of Indian politics :)

The next thing we are waiting for is some underground work in delhi which i will update with you shortly :) ... and oh . do wish our people the best of luck with that work ;)

For all the ppl who want to make presentations to their friends, schools, colleges etc . I have a skeleton which you can work on and make it better

so mail me if you want it

UN youth Rep log 01

2009-07-09T23:55:00.004+05:30

We've had a couple of good meetings, done some solid work which i'm very proud of :-)

We have spoken to dinesh bhaiya about it, we are doing it under WAYE, so THAT is confirmed.

Next, we have got correspondence from Bremley Lyngdoh . The first Indian Youth Rep to the UN in the year 2000. Very impressive man . He has addressed world leaders and done some of the coolest things ever. I'm glad we have him in the loop.

We have also decided on the campaign name, acronym or moto . Whatever you'd like to call it. We are going with I SAY RUN . Indian Students and Youth Repesentative to the UN . Hope ya'll like it :)

oh btw... i have taken a liking to this place called madras terrace house. its a very nice cosy place where we had our last meeting.

Sadly i dont think we will be meeting this saturday. YES+ creative happening and we're all doing it ! :)

Anyway.... other than that . We have still haven't been able to catch mr.vikram doraisamy . I don't understand why they make it so painful ! :) anyway. i'm enjoying the journey !

and oh .. remind me to whack my HR guy on the head and tell him to take some nice pics so i can keep an account and a documentation of the fun we are having at saving the country :) . yes his codename is Abe . so go find him . hit him . ... its a him ;)

I'll fill you guys in later !

till then .. remember , population is our strength

jai hind !

Our Facebook Group!!

2009-06-25T20:03:00.002+05:30

Today we created a group on facebook called "One million for youth representation for India at the UN". There's been a decent response to it so far, the whole point is to make ourselves visible. Where better than facebook to be visible!

The group looks all nice and fancy. We have other stuff like a video and plays coming up. But what we really need are volunteers! This isn't going to happen if the youth doesn't work! It's about making, having and eating the pie ourselves.

So do help us anyway you can.

It shouldn't be a problem to garner a million votes in a country of a billion. To quote Bawa, the population is on our side!

A Myriad Opportunities- None taken.

2009-06-21T20:10:00.005+05:30

As youth, we need to ask ourselves one very important question- how useful are we to our community, country and the world at large? Half of us do not fulfill our most basic duty as citizens, that is vote. Before the recent general elections, I was involved in a campaign to raise voter awareness among the youth. There was a lot of hooplah about how in the largest democracy a large number of youth would be voting for the first time. Sadly, as the voter percentages showed, the young urban Indian voter had disappointed once again. Yes, there may be no candidate you want to see in power, but most of us are oblivious to the fact that we have the option to cancel our votes or even fill in a "none of the above"form. Most of us aren't even aware of our rights. We as a nation are so opportunistic that political awareness has never been thought to be of even remote significance to the population since politics is only for those already influential. This explains the absence of politics as a subject in our school education. It is important for the youth to give up it's ignorance and shuttle into the light of knowledge of how policies are made and how a majority can influence policies. We should be a vote bank that exploits not exploited.

Community service to many is nothing more than a certificate that is a key to admission to a university in the US orsome other foreign university! Teachers in charge of distributing community service projects lure students by enticing them with the wonders a piece of thick paper could do. Little wonder that not only is there a wide rich poor divide but also most middle or upper class do not sympathise with the needy. The only time we ever celebrated slums was after "Slumdog Millionaire's" Oscar glory.

Yet we all have a dream to do something big for our country in the middle of running after that lucrative job or "settling down". An opportunity that we need to knock at is youth representation for India at the UN.

So much for being the youngest country in the world, we do not have a youth representative at the UN. It is nobody's point that presence of youth in India's delegation to the UN would work things in our favour in a largely West-dominated sphere. But at least representation is a beginning. The world has mostly heard from our leaders, none of who can really understand the pulse of the youth. In a rapidly globalising world it is important for us, as future policy shapers to collaborate with youth of other countries starting now. I can see no better opportunity than at the UN.

This campaign is not just a bunch of teens and tweens childishly rebelling against a government mostly constituted by people of their parents' or grandparents' age wanting a say in world affairs. It is about training ourselves for the future. Experience matters, but there should be not fixed age when one should start gaining it. The earlier we start, the better for our future.

UN youth rep - log entry 1

2009-06-21T10:21:00.002+05:30

Well it was a fun evening yesterday . I gave my first public/semi public address about the UN youth Representative issue and that we are going to lobby for it :)

It was at a party, and towards the end rather ! so I don't know how many people actually listened to it :)

But the response I got was quite heartening to say the least, people were really enthusiastic and glad that we were taking this initiative. We will be starting facebook and orkut groups in the near future and we're looking for volunteers who can dedicate some minimal amount of cyberspace time for this. So if your one of those guys who sits on the comp for more than 2 hours a day, your our man ! :)

So just leave a comment on the blog and we'll get in touch with you within 48 hours.

So one million signatures eh ? ... piece of cake ! :)

Jai Hind

UN Youth Representative

2009-06-19T22:22:00.006+05:30

What is a UN youth representative ?

participation in decision-making is one of the key priority areas of the UN's agenda on youth. One form of youth participation at the United Nations has been through the inclusion of youth delegates in a country's official delegation to the United Nations General Assembly and various functional Commissions.

The role of a youth representative varies from country to country. One focus of a youth delegate’s work is in the Third Committee, the part of the General Assembly that deliberates on Social, Cultural and Humanitarian Issues. In past instances, youth delegates have delivered statements on issues of concern to young people in the Third Committee.

Unfortunately, as you might have noticed India does not have a youth representative to the UN as part of its permanent mission to the UN. We here are lobbying for that . Our aim is to make the government realise that the youth representative is a integral part of foreign policy and international decision making especially when India has the largest youth population in the world, which is largely under represented in the international arena.

If you want to help, please do leave your contact details in the comments collumn. We will personally get in touch with you and see how we can help.

If you REALLY want to help . start telling your friends about this issue . make them visit

http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unyin/youthrep.htm

and tell them all about it and how important it is for us Indian youth to be represented in the UN General Assembly.

If you are REALLY REALLY REALLY interested, we have started a signature campaign, we are aiming at 1 million signatures before new years. Yes, thats before Jan 1st 2010. On the signature campaign we need NAME, ORGANISATION, EMAIL/CONTACT NUMBER and ID PROOF (anything on the lines of drivers license number or id card of a college ).

Population is our strength, now remember that :)

Jai Hind

2009-04-25T21:29:00.000+05:30

As part of the current generation, the so called youth of the country I have two choices in hand. I can either hang my head low in shame at the state of the nation or look up into the horizon with a dream and a goal. A goal that is not just about making India developed, but one which means a lot more to the people of this country. I want an independence struggle. A fight for a second independence, freedom from corruption, from social evils, from communal blood baths, from the mind numbing education system, freedom from the tyrants that have come to rule this country. Not politicians I blame, but greed, jealousy, anger, angst, revenge and suspicion.

Apart from the recent economic slowdown the country has been doing brilliantly well. Or that’s what we make it out to be. A country’s growth and prosperity is measured in terms its GDP. But is that the point? Does success have to be measured with the obscure yardstick of who is the biggest spendthrift? So that means the greediest people in the world will supposedly be the richest or the most prosperous. But here lies the catch, urban India is no more spending its own money. With credit cards and the like, we are spending money that doesn’t exist and getting caught in a debt trap that we can never get out off. Just like what happens and has happened in the US. This could be the problem, but also the answer to the paramount problem of corruption which I will elaborate at a later stage.

It all boils down to, is this how you measure success? Personally, I don’t think so. The measure of success or prosperity of a country should be the happiness of its people. And using their spending to calculate their happiness is just not right, we’re all human and subject to the unquenchable lust for luxury, money and all the nice things that come along. What does happiness have to do with corruption? Well obviously if your happy you would be more satisfied, thus less greedy so ideally you wouldn’t take or give bribes because you are more or less content with life.

To fight corruption and its vicious cycle we need to start, as the Mahatma once said ‘from the bottom up’. The average age of the Babu’s as we loving call them ( Indian politicians ) is between 50 and 60. That of the average union minister as Asia Times magazine puts it is 60.4 years whereas the average age of an Indian according to the 2001 census was close to 25 years. So the first thing I suggest is for the new generation to actually get into politics. By get into politics I don’t mean grab a dagger and a petrol bomb and try and kill the opposition as we are all used to seeing. By getting involved I mean actually going up and voting in elections at the very least.

The problem with working from the bottom up is that the problem looks really huge at the bottom of the pyramid, where it is the largest. One of the most complex problems is that of the servile attitude that most Indians have, an attitude that has been ingrained right from time immemorial. With a servile attitude of accepting everything your superior says to you. We fail to realize that we are letting wrong things go unnoticed and actually giving way to corruption. It might not be related just to money, but someone not doing their duty, or doing a half cooked job of it is still corruption. If a subordinate does not question a superior’s action just to ensure he gets a nice under-the-table cut is worse than actually doing the crime.

We can trace this attitude to the deep rooted Indian traditions that we hold so close to our hearts. Something that I have tried questioning right from the time I could remember. We as children are always taught to ‘respect the elders’. This on a plain, ideal sense seems to be alright. But when things go a little awry it takes a gruesome turn. When we are forced to respect our elders, it means absolute respect for their word and humbly accepting their superiority and authority over us. We are taught not to question them in any sense, because they are older to us and thus have acquired more wisdom and are always right. This attitude actually held good for a large part of history, but now times are changing, or rather, times have changed. The elders are no longer perfect. And of course, the life expectancy of Indians has grown from 24 when we gained independence in 1947 to 63 in 2006 (WHO survey). That is almost a three time jump. Its like trying to impose Charles Babbage’s ‘difference engine’ when we are debating whether to stick with Windows XP or shift to the Macbook.

I am not asking for an outright disrespect of all elders, parents and teachers. I am asking for people to not take it so far as to blindly follow the orders that they are given by superiors and stand up to them when they do something wrong. Especially when it comes to child sexual abuse, cases of bribery or a superior just not doing his/her duty. Sometimes even asking questions in a classroom becomes sinful.

If we blindly stick to adhering to the word of our superiors it would turn out to be disastrous for us as a country. Creativity, individuality and originality would have to be given a go by, why? Because we will be forced into the same mould as the preceding generation and all end up the same prosaic, uninspired pack since questioning anyone above your level would be unholy. Who would be the whistleblower in perilous times? Who would set right the system gone wrong? This is what we need the leaders of tomorrow to do, question. Question authority, question red tape, question the laxity of employers, employees and even consumers, question the bribe giver and the bribe taker and most importantly question the system.

Another way of looking at the reason for corruption is incompetent officials and the major reason for incompetent officials as we can say, is the caste based reservation system. When a government official is under threat for not doing a bad job there is usually a method to either shift him from it or remove him completely. But he is doing a bad job because he is not competent enough and he won’t get a promotion because of that. This will obviously force him into bribing others to save his own skin and where will he get the money from a modest government income? Obviously through receiving bribes from the people. The reservation system which was brought to bridge the divide between sections of the society has only divided it more. With several castes being inducted as scheduled tribe and scheduled castes even after sixty years of independence. The reservation system has become an important tool for political gain as the country had witnessed in2006-2007 with the Gujjar issue in Rajasthan which brought the country to its knees when the Gujjars demanded to be classified as ST and blocked highways and railway tracks to show their might and choke the government into accepting their demands.

To be continued ....

Aum or Om or Omm or very rarely Ohm

2009-03-08T20:23:00.000+05:30

The most mystic, least understood word the world has seen.

well if you wanted to know more about this word or syllable you would have gone to wikipedia. but i am here to tell you something that you definitely won't know about Om

Om is as you might have found out by now, the culmination of different syllables Aa-uuu-imm-nnnnn

most people associate Om with hinduism or lets just say the rightist saffron front. it is absolutely not so.
it is the universal sound. and sometimes you can say the universal truth. i am not bragging here. trust me.

when you sit down... on an isolated place with your eyes closed. far away from the hustle and bustle of city life and just sit down on a lonely beach or a viewpoint from atop a hill. just close your eyes... and listen . you will hear Om if you listen deep enough. when you take your ears to a sea shell, they say you can hear the sea. if you listen more carefully you will hear Om.

Om is somewhat the beginning and the end ... have you ever seen a baby in a mother's womb on a sonograph ? ... it will be in the shape of Om in tamil script. and before the baby leaves the mother's womb it will be in the exact position of the Om. so in a way life starts Om :)
the first screams of a baby are of Aaa ... the begining of Aum .

and the end is even simpler. when we die the last sound or ending will be in a dinn or sound that comes from the end of the nose 'nnnn' such as showing how life leaves us all at one point of time.

aum is thus the begining and the end of life...

and not just hindu life . you have the same references in islam as well as christianity
both ameen and amen, words sacred to different religions have their similarities to Om or aum

Om is universal . it has no begining and no end. just as life goes on for the unfortunate from one birth to another.

There is something that you can experiment if you are the spiritual type. The Om frequency. once you get on that frequency it is a high like none other. you will travel the world and beyond in that frequency, seeing things that you would have never seen. feeling emotions not known to you. The frequency will carry you and show you the deepest part of you. The same way it is helping me find myself :)

in deep meditation without any worries or attachments to the outter world just relax and listen to the Om frequency. fell the Om inside you and let it reverberate. Donot think about anything else. Keep constant focus on your breath. Cos the breath as you can say is the most important part of you. prana or life force is in the breath. it is the only thing that connects the body to the soul. The difference between life and death. The prana in a way is part of the Om, and it is that which will carry you forth onto fields unknown

.... i am a new traveller myself , but let me tell you the experience is ecstatic :)

love

=>> the stone with a heart

The Evolution of God

2008-09-09T12:57:00.002+05:30

God, probably the worst understood phenomenon that we have.
I too believe in God, but one of a different type. To me god is a force, the ultimate force. Why ? cos if God created the earth, the sun the moon and the stars. Who the hell created God ? To me god lies in actions and deeds. The god thats stops a murderer in front of his victim and turn away. The god that feeds a hungry man who is an inch from starving to death. The god that heals a mortal wound, the god that feels the pain of others. That to me is real god. The power of human spirit and self sacrifice that is capable of making a difference in other lives. Traces of this god is clearly visible in all cultures and I feel that it is so neatly hidden within all our faiths that only those who realise the true inner meaning of their faith are able to reach that state of enlightenment.

There most definitely is a supreme power, a power that watches above us all, it is in a sort of dynamic equilibrium that is defined by our actions. The more good we do i.e the more actions we do help others the closer we get to the force and our ultimate aim being to become one with the force. It is not about committing your sins and dipping yourself in the ganges and expect to be cleansed of all your evil deeds, or killing and raping innumerable people and visiting mecca or undertaking haj, or confessing your evil deeds to the priest. No its not that, if you really are devoted to God, you wont even do those actions. The voice of God is in all of us, and more so in small kids, its closely related to our conscience, the more we commit sins, the softer the voice of our conscience gets, the more we restrain from commiting those sins the louder our conscience gets. So all these pilgrimages and crap is nothing but the making of greedy human beings who want to control the minds of the people who are very happy committing sins, god is not your servant, he isn't your coolie you cant just pay him and get your slate wiped clean. So your making god nothing more than the boy who cleans my car everyday, a daily wage coolie who does your dirty work for money, is that it ?

But lets leave that for another day, the object of this post is more for finding out who or what creates a God. Jesus is considered to be the son of god himself, the messiah of the people, but is he ? or was he just a smart man who created a difference in many lives and planned his exit from the world so well that centuries later his deeds are considered to be supernatural and thus being proclaimed as faith and as god himself. I don't get that part though, why do most christians call jesus the son of god ? and still say jesus is the only god.... ? lol ive heard them say this sorta stuff too many times to count. Guys he is just the son of god. If god can have a son, he can have cousins, daughters, wives, mistresses so on and so forth.
So now, let us look at Gandhi, 60 odd years after his demise we regard him great faith, and there are countries which still erect statues of him for his great service to humanity and he too, could have timed his death so perfectly well, just like jesus did. Nathuram Gotse could have been his most faithful follower who killed him. So that he dies the death of a martyr, so that 600 years later he too becomes an equal to god, or like jesus, a god. Just another cog in the grand scheme of things is what it looks like.

Every few centuries we get these most amazing personalities who change the course of the world, for better or for worse, maybe these are the gods that we so proclaim, maybe these are the devils too. Budhism, Jainism, Jewism to name a very few are pretty much the same thing. Well planned mastermined lives that change the course and influence enough people to be granted the status of gods, faiths and religions. I am not saying these people are not gods, they most definitley are. But they are gods not because of some ultra uncomprehendable power, but because of the human will and the power of human spirit which made them dare beyond the normal and make a difference to thousands of humans whome they touched.

So you never know, one day, when you are one with the great force and looking down on your bloodline, you might find them worshiping mahatma Gandhi, or Martin Luther King Jr or Aung Sang Suu Kyi ( hope i spelt that rite ) . To me God is not supernatural, god is the power in all of us, it is our choice whether to grow it or slowly kill it, and that makes us what we are. Heroes or everything but a hero.

As one great man said.. with great power comes great responsibility.

Cheers
=>> the stone with a heart

An Indian for India

2008-06-26T23:57:00.002+05:30

My India

I had visited Karur, a small town near Trichy, in Tamil Nadu . We had gone there for a relatives wedding. As all Indian weddings have it, we socialized, met up with long lost relatives and got to know of people whom I didn’t seem to remember. My mom was the only person in her element. She seemed to know everyone and anyone, and if she didn’t know anyone she would unabashedly go up to them, and introduce herself telling and complementing them on how beautiful they look in that saree. Now who would not want to be friends with someone who compliments you on the first time you meet! They chit chat and exchange views on everything from the petrol prices to how aunty’s blouse isn’t matching with her nail polish!

But that is not what we are going to discuss in this post. In our sea of boredom, my brother, my dad and myself decide we cannot hang around smiling with all 32 each time we see someone, laughing at all their jokes and whatever they say just grinning back in acceptance! We decide to go on a movie. There are only three theatres in Karur I think, two of them running the same movie. We decide to go for the 10.45 show and reach the theatre by 10.00. I stand in queue and get tickets for us. Each costing a handsome 100 ruppes. I am pretty shocked that it costs so much, even in Chennai the costliest ticket bought right off the counter is only Rs120. We stand in another queue to get in, which limits itself by the wall on one side and a metal railing on the other. On entering the building we notice another counter. Here in this one, a man takes the ticket that we have been given and hands us a real ticket which says Rs25! We were just fleeced! Actually, everyone was fleeced, the theatre ain’t exactly full, but it isn’t sparsely populated either. The theatre guys made a killing 400% margin on the ticket without paying a single paise as tax! But that isn’t what surprised me, what really knocked my rocker was that there were so many people buying tickets for Rs100 and 80 in a small weaver village in a third world country. I doubted whether their daily wage was that amount!

Then it dawned upon me, money is actually percolating into the smaller towns and villages and the people of our country are having more spending power than we imagined. We city folk think twice before spending on a hundred rupee ticket for a movie, even though our parents earn that, followed by a couple of zeros every month. So where do these people get this sort of money from, money where they can afford a three hour entertainment for a hundred rupees! I just guess they get most of their necessities taken care of. Free TV sets, rice at Rs2 per kilo, free education, free cycles, now even laptops for the toppers, the list goes on !

Later on the day we met a jeweler, he told us how his gold business was booming all year round and how he is doing very well. We asked him, if he really is doing so well in such a non metro why doesn’t he branch out into Chennai ? He coyly smiled at us and told us that the city folk hardly ever spend. People from the simplest of backgrounds walk into his shop and walk out with a kilogram of gold, all paid in full by cash.

Money is surely reaching the common man, so I don’t really think he is common any more. Rural India is consuming so many luxuries that it is quiet unbelievable. I saw fancy cars in Karur which I would find tough to spot in Chennai.

India really is growing, and growing fast. What we thought of the average Indian village is being redefined even as we speak. The only thing, we don’t get to know. The sad thing, less than 2% of the population pays income tax. With wealth percolating into the smaller towns it is high time we look at the bigger picture here. We are growing out of that shell and it is time we awake. What we wait for, is a leader.

=>> the stone with a heart

Economics of Employable Engineering Education

2008-06-26T23:57:00.001+05:30

We are at the time of the year where the fee structure of engineering education is debated hotly by various stake holders. There is also proposal to have uniform fee structure across the country. Political parties particularly in the opposition demand reduction of fees and higher quota for government single window admission. However there is no talk about the quality of the education and standards across a broad spectrum of private and government colleges, most of them languishing without adequate infrastructure and teaching staff. None talks about the quality of the education and how that could be measured for the market to determine what is acceptable fees for the 4 years of engineering education. All branches were considered to be of equal and charged the about the same fees and it is well known that the so called circuit branches is in great demand in a cyclical curve.

The country is currently facing an enormous talent crunch and this is greatly affecting the bottom line of every man power dependant company and I’d like to specifically mention the IT & ITES sector.

Several committees on the fee structure have come and gone but none have provided a long lasting solution for the burning issue. Why we mention the fee structure when we are talking about employability is because only with adequate fees can a college train its students to suite industry needs. But with a uniform fee structure throughout all colleges we are only punishing the good colleges for providing more employable professionals and protecting the bad colleges so they can continue their shoddy business minded activities.

One solution to the fee structure is what we in the BPO sector call output/outcome based pricing. Currently the Justice N V Balasubramanian Committee is calculating the fees structure on input based factors such as the running cost of the college, expansion cost and the like. This is irrelevant since they are taking into consideration that all colleges are paying their staff uniform salaries and having the same quality of infrastructure thus having same running costs. Why then does the AICTE grade colleges based on their quality and performance?

The output based structure is to allow every college to set their fees individually based on the performance of the outgoing batch. That is, if the average salary of the outgoing batch is Rs.4 lakhs per annum, then the college can charge a percentage of that as their fees. If students from backward sections of society are not able to pay the fees of say Rs80,000 per annum they can avail a student loan from banks which will have tie ups with the particular college. After finishing their graduation the bank will receive the student’s degree certificate and hold it as security till he repays the loan and providing a provisional certificate to the employer.

If this method is employed, all colleges will be striving to place their students in better jobs and make every one of them employable against the current scenario of churning out students like a bakery does with bread. Colleges will invest in quality teachers and better infrastructure as the average salary of the outgoing batch will decide the fee of the incoming batch. If there are number of students that do not get placed an agreed percentage (in relation to the proportion of students not securing placements within the final year) of the average salary can be deducted when calculating the fees since the college could not make those student employable. Similarly give positive credit (higher fees) when students opt for higher studies within India or abroad.

The problem of a student not being able to afford the fees charged by the private colleges and government intervention for the same can be avoided in a transparent way where the students (actually parents in most cases!!) get to choose the branch and the college based on employability potential. Companies determine entry level salaries for each year based on inflation, demand and supply. Thus correlating fees to the outcome (average salary) automatically takes care of inflation, standard of the education imparted and demand for various streams of engineering. As the outcome of good quality education is measured by the employability of the batch, we can possibly remove the great disparity among the colleges of various hues run with profit motive. Income tax rebate on student loans can be suitably modified to allow for more money in the student’s hands to enable them to pay back the loan to the banks.

The ‘one size fits all’ fee structure is neither helping good institutions aiming for academic excellence nor the poor students who are supposed to be protected by the uniform fee structure with no correlation to their future. The entire admission process would become less intense as a student can get to choose the branch and the college without any uncertainty of their employability.

This fee model would take care of the vast demand for certain courses, if student are attracted to a particular college and course and the fees for this is determined by the department’s output. This would enable the colleges to invest in better professors and expand infrastructure capability to allow more number of students for their particular branch. AICTE should allow different fee structure for different branches within the same college and allow them to expand the number of seats based on the set criteria. Thus colleges have to innovate and modify their teaching curriculum as per the demands from the corporate sector and close down irrelevant courses where demand from the industry is poor.

This may sound capitalistic but it will be truly beneficial to the students. The buyer pays for the quality of education offered. This will force institutions with a profit motive which are currently protected by the recommended fee structure and single window system of admission to clean up their act and start producing quality engineers or else they face extinction. The student is guaranteed to get what he pays for without any considerable risk of finishing four years of engineering and being left without a job because his college did not deliver what was promised. So basically, supply will not only meet demand but demand will determine supply in terms of quality and quantity. Now isn’t that the ideal scenario ?