September 03, 2010

Foundation course





The foundation course for the 85th batch of IAS/IPS/IFS/IFos started at Lal bahadur shastri academy of administration, Mussorie on 31st August 2010. Her excellency Margaret Alva, governor of uttrakhand had come to inaugurate the course. I am fortunate to undergo the course along with some of the most intelligent and compassionate youngmen and women of our country.




I must say that each of my batchmates here have something unique about them and are a source of inspiration. I would like to write about a gentleman with whom I had gone for a sightseeing trip around mussorie. He hails from a small village and had started his career as a sub-inspector. However, he always had a burning desire to crack civil services. Despite his hectic schedule of 12 hours of taxing duty, he would come home and prepare for the exam. He cracked the exam in his very first attempt hitting the bulls eye and is now an IAS officer. He will remain a source of inspiration to me and for many people for a long time to come.


August 12, 2010

A new journey









Finally, after having cleared the civil services exam 2009 with all India rank 84, I have got my service allocation today. I have got into the Indian Police Service, which was my first choice. I decided to enter the civil services in 2005 after an incident involving my mother. A gang of robbers had broken into my house and looted everything after assaulting my mother. Although they were caught by the police and were punished in the court, I felt the police could have been much more efficient. I wanted to do more than just being cynical about our system and resigned my lucrative job to prepare for the civil services. I followed the Mahatma's saying "Be the change you want to see in this world".
In retrospect, I feel happy that my hardwork has paid off. However, this is just the beginning. There is no end to what an IPS officer, or for that matter any civil servant, can do to bring in a positive change to this society.
I hope this journey would be a fulfilling experience for me and for the people I serve.
V. Vikraman I.P.S.,

April 26, 2010

Personal effectiveness scale

We had a training session on "accepting ownership" at my office. we were asked to fill a sheet as a part of that training, I felt I should post it for everyone's benefit.

The instrument is for your own benefit, so be frank in your responses.
Read each statement below and indicate how much it is true of your behaviour, by using the following guidelines.

Write 4: If it is most characteristic of you, or if you always or most often behave or feel this way.
Write 3: If it is fairly true of you, or you quite often behave or feel this way.
Write 2: If it is somewhat true in your case.
Write 1: If it is not true of you, or if you only occasionally feel or behave this way.
Write 0: If it is not at all characteristic of you, or you seldom feel or behave this way.

1. I find it difficult to be frank with people unless I know them very well.
2. I listen carefully to others' opinions about my behaviour.
3. I tend to say things that turn out to be out to place.
4. Generally, I hesitate to express my feelings to others.
5. When someone directly tells me how he feels about my behaviour, I tend to close up and stop listening.
6. On hindsight, I regret why i said something tactlessly.
7. I express my opinions in a group or to a person without hesitation.
8. I take steps to find out how my behaviour has been perceived by the person with whom I have been interacting.
9. I deliberately observe how a person will take what I am going to tell him, and accordingly communicate to him.
10. When someone discusses his problems, I do not spontaneously share my experiences and personal problems, of a similar nature with him.
11. If someone criticizes me, I hear him at that time but- do not bother myself about it later.
12. I fail to pick up cues about others' feelings and reactions when i am involved in an argument or conversation.
13. I enjoy talking with others about my personal concerns and matters.
14. I value what people have to say about my style, behaviour etc
15. I am often surprised to discover (or told) that people were put off, bored or annoyed when I thought they were enjoying interacting with me.





Score sheet

For the questions that have Star(*) symbol in the response table below, use the table to reverse your response. For example, if you had originally indicated '4' as your response, look at the table and put '0' beside it. For other questions (non starred) simply write the number you had originally indicated as response to that question.

TABLE

Original responses

Reversed responses

0

4

1

3

2

2

3

1

4

0


Now, lets go to the response table. Write your response and calculate the totals for each response column.

Item

Response

Item

Response

Item

Response

*1

2

*3

*4

*5

*6

7

8

9

*10

*11

*12

13

14

*15

Total

Self disclosure

Openness to feedback

Perceptiveness


B. Write Low(L) or High(H) for each of these three total scores; If the score is 11 or below, write L; if the score is over 11 write H.

Mark one category out of the eight given below, based on the combination of your totals. This is your effectiveness type.

Category

Self-disclosure

openness to feedback

Perceptiveness

Effective

High

High

High

Insensitive

High

High

Low

Egocentric

High

Low

Low

Dogmatic

High

Low

High

Secretive

Low

High

High

Task-obsessed

Low

High

Low

Lonely Empathic

Low

Low

High

Ineffective

Low

Low

Low


In the table where you have filled in values (after reversing), prepare an action plan for scores equal to or below 2 to improve your behaviour and become more effective.

January 14, 2010

Is India really a 'soft' state?

One of my friends sent me an email which had compared the military prowess of China with that of India. The email tried to prove that India is not prepared to face a threat emanating from Beijing, and this is evident from India’s ‘soft pedaling’ every issue of strategic importance. There have been many instances in the past which are quoted to say that India is a ‘soft’ state which hesitates to take stern action even when its interests are at stake.

The exchange of terrorists for the hostages of the hijacked Indian plane in 1999, muted response towards Pakistan in the aftermath of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks where some prominent persons wanted India to go in for an all out war against Pakistan and ‘finish them off’, the recent LTTE episode when India did not take sides are shown as some examples of the ‘spinelessness’ of the Indian establishment.

However, in my opinion nothing can be farther from truth. India has shown exemplary bravery and heroism in the International affairs where it really mattered. The following arguments would prove the point.

India and NAM

During the cold war era, when country after country was aligning with either USA or USSR, it required a lot of guts from a third world country to stay away from any of these groups. Not only did India stay away from either of the camps, it was the founding member of the NAM (Non-aligned movement) where it sought to bring together a third non-aligned world.

India and the Bangladesh liberation war

India has not only protected her interests – such as during the kargil conflict, but has also protected the interests of her neighbours. It is a known fact that the people of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) had been treated like second class citizens in their own country. For instance, When the Awami league (a major party in east pakistan) led by sheikh mujibur rahman won a landslide victory in the national elections of 1970, he was not allowed to form the government and the elections were cancelled. Not only this, the Pakistani army launched large scale genocide against its own people in East Pakistan (operation searchlite).

Despite the weighing international opinion against India to do anything ‘adventurous’, India did intervene and liberated her brothers in East Pakistan from the tyranny and thus was born the state of Bangladesh.

India and Afghanistan

After the ‘war against terror’ launched in 2001 by the United States, Afghanistan has turned into a hot bed for terrorism with most terrorist attacks around the world being planned there. Many developed countries such as Australia, Canada, and Germany to name a few, which had initially sent their armies to fight the Taliban have pulled out of Afghanistan because the situation is getting too dangerous for their armies!

India on the other hand, has sought to strengthen the nascent democracy that has replaced the Taliban by building crucial infrastructure facilities. For instance, India is building the parliamentary complex of Afghanistan, it has built many schools. The crucial delaram-zaranj highway (also known as the Garland highway) which will serve as the life line of Afghanistan has been built by India and dedicated to the people of Afghanistan. However, it is not without the loss of lives and property that India has accomplished this feat. Many of our engineers and workers were kidnapped by the Taliban and beheaded. There were attacks against the Indian embassy at Kabul which resulted in the killing of two Indian diplomats. These attacks were made to warn India not to proceed with these projects. However, India stood by its resolve to help the people of Afghanistan. India has always been decisive where it matters.

Nuclear testing

If India were really a ‘soft’ state, it would have accepted the dictates of the west and stayed away from testing nuclear bombs. India considered that testing the nukes was in the best interests of its national security, considering the stockpiling of nuclear bombs by her neighbouring china. This is why it went ahead, despite the whole world crying foul, and tested not once but twice during 1974 (Operation smiling budhdha) and in 1998 (Operation shakti). Is this an act of bravery or cowardice?

NPT regime

The NSG (Nuclear suppliers group) which was formed soon after India tested a nuclear bomb in 1974, sought to ‘contain’ India’s rise in the domain of nuclear self-sufficiency. The NPT (nuclear non proliferation treaty) was prepared exclusively to keep many developing countries in their ‘cage’. Although initially many countries resisted this attempt, they could not hold on for long. India is among the three countries of the entire world which has not signed the NPT.

India has recently got an exemption from the NSG which was largely facilitated by the 123 agreement it signed with USA. It must be remembered that India is the ONLY country in the world which has been given this full exemption. This means that India can get nuclear fuel without having to accept debilitating conditions which would come along with signing the NPT. Is this not a victory for our diplomacy? Isn’t this steadfast attitude to preserve our sovereignty an example of our courage?

G20 and WTO

Since the inception of WTO, the developed countries have been forcing the developing block to open up their agriculture market for imports. However, this would mean destruction of the livelihoods of many poor farmers in the developing block. India has led the G20 forum in the WTO and has successfully voiced the concerns of the developing nations, even if it meant rubbing the developed nations in the wrong way. In fact it is largely through India’s efforts in the Doha development round of 2001 that special and differential treatment (S&DT) was given to least developed nations (LDCs). This S&DT clause provides the LDCs with the allowance of exporting their produces to the rich nations without any upper limit. Also, their exports would be exempt from duties or would be nominal. This shows that India not only has the capacity to safeguard itself, but also provide leadership to other nations. India’s leadership to the poor nations proves that a hundred cows led by a lion is better than a hundred lions led by a cow.

Military strength

India has successfully crossed many technology denials. USA stopped Russia from exporting cryogenic engine technology to India in 1993. USA expected India to fall in line and open up its markets. However India took the challenge and has successfully developed its own indigenous cryogenic engine. It took almost 10 years to develop the technology, but then nothing is as important as protecting our national interests.

India has successfully developed the Brahmos supersonic cruise missile along with Russia, which is the fastest missile in the world. Recently, India inducted the Arihant nuclear powered submarine and entered the elite list of nations possessing this technology. Creating a miniaturized nuclear reactor and running it in deep water were not easy, especially because the technology had to be developed indigenously.

Representation to the voiceless

Incidents such as the Tiennamen square incident of 1989 remind us how governments can turn against its own people. However, India has always sought to provide representation to its people. When the west was contemplating on providing voting rights to its women, India stunned the world in 1947 with the declaration of universal adult franchise. Democracy was considered a joke with a teeming population of poor and illiterate people. However till this day, our democracy is alive and vibrant. Do china and Pakistan have true democracy? Is the media free in these countries? Does it not require more guts to provide people with freedom than to take it away from them?

India’s very first constitutional amendment act was aimed at providing representation to the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. Compare this with other countries which have sought to eliminate their minorities and the oppressed.

India has been maintaining its true identity in the world. India does not openly flex muscles and try to show its prowess like china. However, our non-violence is not that of a coward, but of the strong. Despite the legacy of colonialism, burden of poverty, scar of partition, India will remain committed to non-violence and therein lays our strength.

January 02, 2010

Affordable Indian Marriages

Dear Reader,

Finally, I have decided to do the same mistake many men have committed over many centuries - Marry. Yet, I would like to do my small bit in changing the present system of getting married in our country. Every system requires overhauling, and I think it's time certain irrelevant practices in our wedding ceremonies were changed for better.

I have created a document which I plan to give along with my wedding invitation. The idea was to write a simple, short, yet effective write-up of the evil that surrounds our Indian weddings. I had already shared this with my close set of friends and with their inputs i believe this document has become a lot better. Now i plan to keep it in the public domain so that i can hear your comments as well.

Instead of giving printouts along with invitation, i plan to provide hand-written copies. This way we can provide a sense of participation to those who are convinced by this idea.


Regards
Vikraman

November 29, 2009

Likes and Dislikes – Bagavad gita and love marriages

As a sequel to my post on Bagavad Gita, I thought I would extend the discussion on looking beyond the ephemeral body, to human relationships. In an era of consumerism we find people developing strong likes and dislikes, but likes and dislikes are themselves false. Consider for example cigarette smoking –people who love to smoke enjoy the habit, while there are others who can’t stand its nauseating smell. How is it that the same cigarette induces happiness in some and misery in others? Similarly, we find many divorcees remarrying, how is it that someone hated this person so much to warrant a divorce while someone else wanted to tie the nuptial knot? This clearly shows that likes and dislikes are born out of our senses and thus have nothing to do with the object that is being liked or disliked. Like our senses they are also temporary and are subject to change over time. What we like today, we may hate tomorrow. Therefore, likes and dislikes are attributes of an immature mind.

However, we find in the modern times that people have been increasing their baggage of likes and dislikes. It is very common find people waiting for someone with “similar tastes (likes)” to marry. If they do find such a person with a similar baggage of likes and dislikes they feel excited in finding a ‘true’ life partner. But since this association rests on a false foundation, it crumbles soon and the relationship ends. This is perhaps why majority of the marriages in western nations fail, as they are founded on false reasons such as ‘similar tastes’, ‘my kind of person’ etc.

I think the arranged marriage system in India must be rooted in the gita. In this system, you marry a person chosen by elders, sometimes without even speaking a word before marriage. Marriage in Indian culture is more out of the need to perform one’s karma yoga – that of being a ‘grahastha’( raising a family ) than out of living ‘happily ever after’ with a person of similar likes and dislikes - That’s probably why it didn’t matter whom they married. However since the situation is changing now with more ‘love’ (similar likes) marriages, the number of divorce cases are also increasing.

One of my friends, member of a certain spiritual organization, told me about a unique way of getting married in his society. The boys and girls who want to get married are randomly chosen and their marriage is performed immediately afterwards. Surprisingly, the success rate of this system of marriage is phenomenally high. Though I was astonished then, somehow it is all starting to make sense now – the ‘unique’ system is after all our arranged marriage system with a different name.

November 24, 2009

Dr Jayprakash Narayan - RTC on parlimanetary affairs

Hi all,
I felt i had to post this video series in my blog. Dr J.P is a man of substance, and has pragmatic solutions to most problems affecting the Indian polity. He has had 16 years of experience in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS). He quit his prestigious job and founded the Loksatta organisation which fights for reforms in politics. Like Aruna Roy who fought for bringing in the RTI act, Dr J.P's organisation can be credited with making the declaration of assets by politicians compulsory.

Presently Dr J.P is an MLA from the Kukatpally constituency in Andhra Pradesh. I'm happy to find people of his caliber entering politics.

Here are the videos..

Part 1

Part 2


Part 3


Part 4