On the 30th of Oct 2008, a series of bomb blast hit 4 towns of Assam, killing and injuring innocent people. Assam is not new to terrorist attacks, having suffered insurgency problems for a couple of decades. But this time, the attack was different. It was a different form of attack – lethal and brutal, akin to the new urban warfares that have sadly become common post 9/11. Previously, the targets were often individuals killed by 2-3 militants or ambushes on military in the mode of guerrilla warfare, carried out in the thick jungles and away from cities. Yes, there have been a few exceptions, but nothing in the scale of what was witnessed on the 30th Oct.
The attack had the signature of foreign hand – blasts that targeted innocent ordinary people in the middle of a working day. And as much as the politicians have been harping on local militants are involved, I refuse to believe that there is no foreign hand in the carnage. It stank of LET jihadis.
But an interesting sidenote was the reaction of people to the blast. People were angry that there was no disaster recovery plan, that fire engines took ages to react and the ambulances were as broken as the injured they were meant to rescue. Of course, public memory is notoriously short and people are back to day to day business, and looking forward to ODI between India and England. Somehow, we term this under the cliché ‘resilience of the human spirit’.
But, is this resilience or apathy ? Honestly speaking, can the pain of the mother who lost her 20yr old to the blast, become any less with the passage of time ? Can any parent actually overcome the pain once they outlive their children ? Can any child forget the father who was snatched suddenly away from her on that day ? No. I think that the pain does not cease. People just exist and forget to live. So while the rest of us, fortunate enough to escape unscathed by the blast, start queuing for the ODI matches and vote for the latest state entrant on Star Voice of India, those unfortunate people suffer from the pain which haunts them ceaselessly.
Should we not do something about this ? Afterall, we are in a democracy and the strength lies in people to bring about a change. Should we not demand an explanation from the government on why there was an intelligence failure ? Why is it that we are resigned to accepting fate and just carry on, ignoring the blatant political misjudgements and misdemeanours of politicians of all hue and creed ( I honestly do not belief that they have any ideological platform).
Why can we not make the following few demands ?
1. Create an Anti terror Squad for Assam, that is adept preventing terrorist attacks and bring them to book. A vital success factor is that this squad should be an independentbody, part of a nationwide anti terror squad and over which, no politician has any influence. Well, in real world, I should perhaps qualify this as ‘have as little influence as possible’. Something like the Election commission.
2. Bring in stringent anti terror laws in the state that allows the terrorist to be tried in special courts and in tougher terms that what is permissible now.
3.Relief the local police of the duty to look after the security of the local people and instead officially concentrate on what they have been doing so far – provide security for the politicians and their wives and mistresses, cook food in the kitchens of their top brass, escort the darling children of the police bosses and do the school run, grow long moustaches and get special allowances for it and harass the common man for bribes. These among several other commendable tasks that they have.
4. Have a proper disaster recovery plan where all the relevant stakeholders are briefed on their role and well equipped to respond to such crisis at short notice.
5. Seal our very porous borders so that the militant movement is restricted. Yes, that will have a dent in the vote bank, but its high time we finished the job which began with a student agitation in the 70s. We do thing Lahe lahe (slowly,slowly), but this is beyond what is humanly possible.
6.Fill the banks of brahmaputra with cotton candy ‘kohuwa’ and other flora and fauna by flushing out the illegal migrants. They can raise the Bangladeshi flag in peace across the border.
7.Educate the masses and eliminated the hate preachers who have infiltrated the very insides of our rural geo-politcal landscape.
These and many more steps….
Yes, the tribe of politicians will be loathe to agree to any of the above. But, then we ordinary people also have a right to live and feel the security offered to the politicians by the police force. We too have a right to breathe freely and not having to worry everytime someone steps out of the house.
If everybody stands up in one voice, we can make it. But, question is, will we stand up together ?
Friday, 28 November 2008
Tuesday, 23 September 2008
Social Quiz
A friend forwarded the following Social Quiz to me. Please find my irreverant comments below the answers to the Quiz.
Twenty Questions: Social Justice Quiz 2008
By Bill Quigley
(Answers Below)
1. How many deaths are there world-wide each year due to acts of terrorism?
2. How many deaths are there world-wide each day due to poverty and malnutrition?
3. 1n 1965, CEOs in major companies made 24 times more than the average worker. In 1980, CEOs made 40 times more than the average worker. In 2007, CEOs earned how many times more than the average worker?
4. In how many of the over 3000 cities and counties in the US can a full-time worker who earns minimum wage afford to pay rent and utilities on a one-bedroom apartment?
5. In 1968, the minimum wage was $1.65 per hour. How much would the minimum wage be today if it had kept pace with inflation since 1968?
6. True or false? People in the United States spend nearly twice as much on pet food as the US government spends on aid to help foreign countries.
7. How many people in the world live on $2 a day or less?
8. How many people in the world do not have electricity?
9. People in the US consume 42 kilograms of meat per person per year. How much meat and grain do people in India and China eat?
10. How many cars does China have for every 1000 drivers? India? The U.S.?
11. How much grain is needed to fill a SUV tank with ethanol?
12. According to the Wall Street Journal, the richest 1% of Americans earns what percent of the nation's adjusted gross income? 5%? 10%? 15%? 20%?
13. How many people does our government say are homeless in the US on any given day?
14. What percentage of people in homeless shelters are children?
15. How many veterans are homeless on any given night?
16. The military budget of the United States in 2008 is the largest in the world at $623 billion per year. How much larger is the US military budget than that of China, the second largest in the world?
17. The US military budget is larger than how many of the countries of the rest of the world combined?
18. Over the 28 year history of the Berlin Wall, 287 people perished trying to cross it. How many people have died in the last 4 years trying to cross the border between Arizona and Mexico?
19. India is ranked second in the world in gun ownership with 4 guns per 100 people. China is third with 3 firearms per 100 people. Which country is first and how many guns do they own?
20. What country leads the world in the incarceration of its citizens?
Answers to Social Justice Quiz 2008
1. 22,000. The U.S. State Department reported there were more than 22,000 deaths from terrorism last year. Over half of those killed or injured were Muslims. Source: Voice of America, May 2, 2008. "Terrorism Deaths Rose in 2007."[Sumita Dutta] Are the civilians killed in Iraq counted as victims of terror ?
2. About 25,000 people die every day of hunger or hunger-related causes, according to the United Nations. Poverty.com – Hunger and World Poverty. Every day, almost 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes – one child every five seconds. Bread for the World. Hunger Facts: International.[Sumita Dutta] Sad.
3. Today's average CEO from a Fortune 500 company makes 364 times an average worker's pay and over 70 times the pay of a four-star Army general. Executive Excess 2007, page 7, jointly published by Institute for Policy Studies and United for Fair Economy, August 29, 2007. 1965 numbers from State of Working America 2004-2005, Economic Policy Institute.[Sumita Dutta] Average worker - is that an American average worker or a Bangladeshi daily hajira labourer.
4. In no city or county in the entire USA can a full-time worker who earns minimum wage afford even a one bedroom rental. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) urges renters not to pay more than 30% of their income in rent. HUD also reports the fair market rent for each of the counties and cities in the US. Nationally, in order to rent a 2 bedroom apartment, one full-time worker in 2008 must earn $17.32 per hour. In fact, 81% of renters live in cities where the Fair Market Rent for a two bedroom rental is not even affordable with two minimum wage jobs. Source: Out of Reach 2007-2008, April 7, 2008, National Low-Income Housing Coalition.[Sumita Dutta] Shoot the landlords. American learn to live in slums like the lakhs in Dharavi and other areas of parallel human existence.
5. Calculated in real (inflation adjusted) dollars, the 1968 minimum wage would have been worth $9.83 in 2007 dollars. Andrew Tobias, January 16, 2008. The federal minimum wage is $6.55 per hour effective July 24, 2008 and $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009.[Sumita Dutta] Ah...less than the tips in the restaurent,you mean !!
6. True. The USA spends $43.4 billion on pet food annually. Source: American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, Inc. The USA spent $23.5 billion in official foreign aid in 2006. The government of the USA gave the most of any country in the world in actual dollars. As a percentage of gross national income, the USA came in second to last among OECD donor countries and ranked number 20 at 0.18 percent behind Sweden at 1.02 percent and other countries such as Norway, Netherlands, Ireland, United Kingdom, Austria, France, Germany, Spain, Canada, New Zealand, Japan and others. This does not count private donations which, if included, may move the USA up as high as 6th. The Index of Global Philanthropy 2008, page 15, 19.[Sumita Dutta] Send the dogs to China and ask the people to feed the hungry children in Q 2 and provide shelter to those in Q4
7. The World Bank reported in August 2008 that 2.6 billion people consume less than $2 a day. http://siteresources.worldbank.org/DEC/Resources/Poverty-Brief-in-English.pdf[Sumita Dutta] $2 = Rs 80. That's a lot more than what I could spend per day as a student !!
8. World-wide, 1.6 billion people do not have electricity. 2.5 billion people use wood, charcoal or animal dung for cooking. United Nations Human Development Report 2007/2008, pages 44-45.[Sumita Dutta] More electricity = more power, hence things like the nuclear deal in India. But then, it also means more pollution. We should all go back to nature and live like the 2.5 bn people !!
9. People in the US lead the world in meat consumption at 42 kg per person per year compared to 1.6 kg in India and 5.9 kg in China. People in the US consume five times the grain (wheat, rice, rye, barley, etc.) as people in India, three times as much as people in China, and twice as much as people in Europe. "THE BLAME GAME: Who is behind the world food price crisis," Oakland Institute, July 2008.[Sumita Dutta] Oh...those fat Americans....!! Meat consumption in India - but so many of us are vegetarians !!
10. China has 9 cars for every 1000 drivers. India has 11 cars for every 1000 drivers. The US has 1114 cars for every 1000 drivers. Iain Carson and Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran, Zoom: The Global Race to Fuel the Car of the Future (2007).[Sumita Dutta] Hail the public transport system, cycles, rickety buses, bullock carts India/China !! Wait for the NANO, we will outnumber the US !!
11. The grain needed to fill up a SUV tank with ethanol could feed a hungry person for a year. Lester Brown, CNN.Money.com, August 16, 2006[Sumita Dutta] Depends who the hungry person is...or rather how hungry (s)he is !!!
12. "According to the figures, the richest 1% reported 22% of the nation's total adjusted gross income in 2006. That is up from 21.2% a year earlier, and is the highest in the 19 years that the IRS has kept strictly comparable figures. The 1988 level was 15.2%. Earlier IRS data show the last year the share of income belonging to the top 1% was at such a high level as it was in 2006 was in 1929, but changes in measuring income make a precise comparison difficult." Jesse Drucker, "Richest Americans See Their Income Share Grow," Wall Street Journal, July 23, 2008, page A3.[Sumita Dutta] Humko bhi to lift kara de....thodi si to lift kara de !!
13. 754,000 are homeless. About 338,000 homeless people a re not in shelters (live on the streets, in cars, or in abandoned buildings) and 415,000 are in shelters on any given night. 2007 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Annual Homeless Report to Congress, page iii and 23. The population of San Francisco is about 739,000.[Sumita Dutta] Most are drug addicts...homeless by choice. There are many in the streets of London and I regard them as useless pests....no sympathy since they are 'victims' of drugs and excesive drinking.
14. HUD reports nearly 1 in 4 people in homeless shelters are children 17 or younger. Page iv – 2007 HUD Annual Homeless Report to Congress.[Sumita Dutta] Sad - blame it on the parents in Q13
15. Over 100,000 veterans are homeless on any given night. About 18 percent of the adult homeless population is veterans. Page 32, 2007 HUD Homeless Report. This is about the same population as Green Bay Wisconsin.[Sumita Dutta] Oh...I remember a saying that 'Old life should be spent in India'
16. Ten times. China's military budget is $65 billion. The US military budget is nearly 10 times larger than the second leading military spender. GlobalSecurity.org[Sumita Dutta] IRAQ, Afghanistan...tut tut...they all cost money. China just creeps into Tibet and Arunachal and claims those to be their territory. Gave up launching a war after '62 when they realised that its not worth spending so much on money on India who is busy with Pak anyways. So creep and grab is a better and more cost effective strategy. They look like us, so they belong to us....hmmm....
17. The US military budget of $623 billion is larger than the budgets of all the countries in the rest of the world put together. The total global military budget of the rest of the world is $500 billion. Russia's military budget is $50 billion, South Korea's is $21 billion, and Iran's is $4.3 billion. GlobalSecurity.org[Sumita Dutta] Ah...that's how they are the super powers !!
18. 1268. At least 1268 people have died along the border of Arizona and Mexico since 2004. The Arizona Daily Star keeps track of the reported deaths along the state border and reports 214 died in 2004, 241 in 2005, 216 in 2006, 237 in 2007, and 116 as of July 31, 2008. These numbers do not include the deaths along the California or Texas border. The Border Patrol reported that 400 people died in fiscal 2206-2007, 453 died in 2004-2005, and 494 died in 2004-2005. Source Associated Press, November 8, 2007.[Sumita Dutta] Ha...ha...ha...there's a difference between jumping from the frying pan to the fire or to a beautiful city where the streets are lined with gold !!
19. The US is first in gun ownership world-wide with 90 guns for every 100 citizens. Laura MacInnis, "US most armed country with 90 guns per 100 people." Reuters, August 28, 2007.[Sumita Dutta] Most of the Indian guns are unregistered ....so not worth going by the official figures !!
20. The US jails 751 inmates per 100,000 people, the highest rate in the world. Russia is second with 627 per 100,000. England's rate is 151, Germany is 88, and Japan is 63. The US has 2.3 million people behind bars, more than any country in the world. Adam Liptak, "Inmate Count in US Dwarfs Other Nations'" NYT, April 23, 2008.[Sumita Dutta] India houses them in the parliament, state assemblies, etc apart from Jails and reform centers...!!
Bill Quigley is a human rights lawyer and law professor at Loyola University New Orleans. He can be reached at quigley77@gmail.com
Twenty Questions: Social Justice Quiz 2008
By Bill Quigley
(Answers Below)
1. How many deaths are there world-wide each year due to acts of terrorism?
2. How many deaths are there world-wide each day due to poverty and malnutrition?
3. 1n 1965, CEOs in major companies made 24 times more than the average worker. In 1980, CEOs made 40 times more than the average worker. In 2007, CEOs earned how many times more than the average worker?
4. In how many of the over 3000 cities and counties in the US can a full-time worker who earns minimum wage afford to pay rent and utilities on a one-bedroom apartment?
5. In 1968, the minimum wage was $1.65 per hour. How much would the minimum wage be today if it had kept pace with inflation since 1968?
6. True or false? People in the United States spend nearly twice as much on pet food as the US government spends on aid to help foreign countries.
7. How many people in the world live on $2 a day or less?
8. How many people in the world do not have electricity?
9. People in the US consume 42 kilograms of meat per person per year. How much meat and grain do people in India and China eat?
10. How many cars does China have for every 1000 drivers? India? The U.S.?
11. How much grain is needed to fill a SUV tank with ethanol?
12. According to the Wall Street Journal, the richest 1% of Americans earns what percent of the nation's adjusted gross income? 5%? 10%? 15%? 20%?
13. How many people does our government say are homeless in the US on any given day?
14. What percentage of people in homeless shelters are children?
15. How many veterans are homeless on any given night?
16. The military budget of the United States in 2008 is the largest in the world at $623 billion per year. How much larger is the US military budget than that of China, the second largest in the world?
17. The US military budget is larger than how many of the countries of the rest of the world combined?
18. Over the 28 year history of the Berlin Wall, 287 people perished trying to cross it. How many people have died in the last 4 years trying to cross the border between Arizona and Mexico?
19. India is ranked second in the world in gun ownership with 4 guns per 100 people. China is third with 3 firearms per 100 people. Which country is first and how many guns do they own?
20. What country leads the world in the incarceration of its citizens?
Answers to Social Justice Quiz 2008
1. 22,000. The U.S. State Department reported there were more than 22,000 deaths from terrorism last year. Over half of those killed or injured were Muslims. Source: Voice of America, May 2, 2008. "Terrorism Deaths Rose in 2007."[Sumita Dutta] Are the civilians killed in Iraq counted as victims of terror ?
2. About 25,000 people die every day of hunger or hunger-related causes, according to the United Nations. Poverty.com – Hunger and World Poverty. Every day, almost 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes – one child every five seconds. Bread for the World. Hunger Facts: International.[Sumita Dutta] Sad.
3. Today's average CEO from a Fortune 500 company makes 364 times an average worker's pay and over 70 times the pay of a four-star Army general. Executive Excess 2007, page 7, jointly published by Institute for Policy Studies and United for Fair Economy, August 29, 2007. 1965 numbers from State of Working America 2004-2005, Economic Policy Institute.[Sumita Dutta] Average worker - is that an American average worker or a Bangladeshi daily hajira labourer.
4. In no city or county in the entire USA can a full-time worker who earns minimum wage afford even a one bedroom rental. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) urges renters not to pay more than 30% of their income in rent. HUD also reports the fair market rent for each of the counties and cities in the US. Nationally, in order to rent a 2 bedroom apartment, one full-time worker in 2008 must earn $17.32 per hour. In fact, 81% of renters live in cities where the Fair Market Rent for a two bedroom rental is not even affordable with two minimum wage jobs. Source: Out of Reach 2007-2008, April 7, 2008, National Low-Income Housing Coalition.[Sumita Dutta] Shoot the landlords. American learn to live in slums like the lakhs in Dharavi and other areas of parallel human existence.
5. Calculated in real (inflation adjusted) dollars, the 1968 minimum wage would have been worth $9.83 in 2007 dollars. Andrew Tobias, January 16, 2008. The federal minimum wage is $6.55 per hour effective July 24, 2008 and $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009.[Sumita Dutta] Ah...less than the tips in the restaurent,you mean !!
6. True. The USA spends $43.4 billion on pet food annually. Source: American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, Inc. The USA spent $23.5 billion in official foreign aid in 2006. The government of the USA gave the most of any country in the world in actual dollars. As a percentage of gross national income, the USA came in second to last among OECD donor countries and ranked number 20 at 0.18 percent behind Sweden at 1.02 percent and other countries such as Norway, Netherlands, Ireland, United Kingdom, Austria, France, Germany, Spain, Canada, New Zealand, Japan and others. This does not count private donations which, if included, may move the USA up as high as 6th. The Index of Global Philanthropy 2008, page 15, 19.[Sumita Dutta] Send the dogs to China and ask the people to feed the hungry children in Q 2 and provide shelter to those in Q4
7. The World Bank reported in August 2008 that 2.6 billion people consume less than $2 a day. http://siteresources.worldbank.org/DEC/Resources/Poverty-Brief-in-English.pdf[Sumita Dutta] $2 = Rs 80. That's a lot more than what I could spend per day as a student !!
8. World-wide, 1.6 billion people do not have electricity. 2.5 billion people use wood, charcoal or animal dung for cooking. United Nations Human Development Report 2007/2008, pages 44-45.[Sumita Dutta] More electricity = more power, hence things like the nuclear deal in India. But then, it also means more pollution. We should all go back to nature and live like the 2.5 bn people !!
9. People in the US lead the world in meat consumption at 42 kg per person per year compared to 1.6 kg in India and 5.9 kg in China. People in the US consume five times the grain (wheat, rice, rye, barley, etc.) as people in India, three times as much as people in China, and twice as much as people in Europe. "THE BLAME GAME: Who is behind the world food price crisis," Oakland Institute, July 2008.[Sumita Dutta] Oh...those fat Americans....!! Meat consumption in India - but so many of us are vegetarians !!
10. China has 9 cars for every 1000 drivers. India has 11 cars for every 1000 drivers. The US has 1114 cars for every 1000 drivers. Iain Carson and Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran, Zoom: The Global Race to Fuel the Car of the Future (2007).[Sumita Dutta] Hail the public transport system, cycles, rickety buses, bullock carts India/China !! Wait for the NANO, we will outnumber the US !!
11. The grain needed to fill up a SUV tank with ethanol could feed a hungry person for a year. Lester Brown, CNN.Money.com, August 16, 2006[Sumita Dutta] Depends who the hungry person is...or rather how hungry (s)he is !!!
12. "According to the figures, the richest 1% reported 22% of the nation's total adjusted gross income in 2006. That is up from 21.2% a year earlier, and is the highest in the 19 years that the IRS has kept strictly comparable figures. The 1988 level was 15.2%. Earlier IRS data show the last year the share of income belonging to the top 1% was at such a high level as it was in 2006 was in 1929, but changes in measuring income make a precise comparison difficult." Jesse Drucker, "Richest Americans See Their Income Share Grow," Wall Street Journal, July 23, 2008, page A3.[Sumita Dutta] Humko bhi to lift kara de....thodi si to lift kara de !!
13. 754,000 are homeless. About 338,000 homeless people a re not in shelters (live on the streets, in cars, or in abandoned buildings) and 415,000 are in shelters on any given night. 2007 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Annual Homeless Report to Congress, page iii and 23. The population of San Francisco is about 739,000.[Sumita Dutta] Most are drug addicts...homeless by choice. There are many in the streets of London and I regard them as useless pests....no sympathy since they are 'victims' of drugs and excesive drinking.
14. HUD reports nearly 1 in 4 people in homeless shelters are children 17 or younger. Page iv – 2007 HUD Annual Homeless Report to Congress.[Sumita Dutta] Sad - blame it on the parents in Q13
15. Over 100,000 veterans are homeless on any given night. About 18 percent of the adult homeless population is veterans. Page 32, 2007 HUD Homeless Report. This is about the same population as Green Bay Wisconsin.[Sumita Dutta] Oh...I remember a saying that 'Old life should be spent in India'
16. Ten times. China's military budget is $65 billion. The US military budget is nearly 10 times larger than the second leading military spender. GlobalSecurity.org[Sumita Dutta] IRAQ, Afghanistan...tut tut...they all cost money. China just creeps into Tibet and Arunachal and claims those to be their territory. Gave up launching a war after '62 when they realised that its not worth spending so much on money on India who is busy with Pak anyways. So creep and grab is a better and more cost effective strategy. They look like us, so they belong to us....hmmm....
17. The US military budget of $623 billion is larger than the budgets of all the countries in the rest of the world put together. The total global military budget of the rest of the world is $500 billion. Russia's military budget is $50 billion, South Korea's is $21 billion, and Iran's is $4.3 billion. GlobalSecurity.org[Sumita Dutta] Ah...that's how they are the super powers !!
18. 1268. At least 1268 people have died along the border of Arizona and Mexico since 2004. The Arizona Daily Star keeps track of the reported deaths along the state border and reports 214 died in 2004, 241 in 2005, 216 in 2006, 237 in 2007, and 116 as of July 31, 2008. These numbers do not include the deaths along the California or Texas border. The Border Patrol reported that 400 people died in fiscal 2206-2007, 453 died in 2004-2005, and 494 died in 2004-2005. Source Associated Press, November 8, 2007.[Sumita Dutta] Ha...ha...ha...there's a difference between jumping from the frying pan to the fire or to a beautiful city where the streets are lined with gold !!
19. The US is first in gun ownership world-wide with 90 guns for every 100 citizens. Laura MacInnis, "US most armed country with 90 guns per 100 people." Reuters, August 28, 2007.[Sumita Dutta] Most of the Indian guns are unregistered ....so not worth going by the official figures !!
20. The US jails 751 inmates per 100,000 people, the highest rate in the world. Russia is second with 627 per 100,000. England's rate is 151, Germany is 88, and Japan is 63. The US has 2.3 million people behind bars, more than any country in the world. Adam Liptak, "Inmate Count in US Dwarfs Other Nations'" NYT, April 23, 2008.[Sumita Dutta] India houses them in the parliament, state assemblies, etc apart from Jails and reform centers...!!
Bill Quigley is a human rights lawyer and law professor at Loyola University New Orleans. He can be reached at quigley77@gmail.com
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