Facts about Single Parenting

Posted by Phoenix on Dec 18, 2009 in Society | 0 comments

While some two-parent households may find it difficult to raise children today, imagine how increasingly difficult it must be for a single parent. Here are some facts about single parenting that will dispel many myths associated with it.

What was once thought as the exception to the rule is now becoming the norm. Statistics reveal that there are approximately 59% of children in the US who are raised by single parents. In fact, over 15 million children live in single-parent homes today.

Another fact about single parenting is that there is no more emotional or behavioral problems experienced by children that those who are raised by a two-parent household. Thus, children who live with a single parent grow up just as healthy and are just as emotionally secure as children who live with two parents.

Sometimes children who live with a single parent are labeled. Their peers may tease them about coming from a broken home or that one parent left because of them. Yes, kids can be cruel. The fact is that children have nothing to do with the fact that moms and dads fall out of love or can no longer live with each other. In fact, when a parent leaves, it opens the door for a more peaceful and stable home life. Moreover, single parents are just as creative and responsible that dual parents.

Another myth that has to be dispelled is that children who grow up with single parents lose their self-worth and confidence. This is so far from the truth. A child’s self-worth is no more dependent upon a single parent than two parents. Situations can occur in both households wherein children lose their self-esteem due to peer pressure and other outside forces that make them feel less confident. A good parent will teach their child to become a viable member of society, filled with self-love and respect for oneself and others.

Another notion that single parents cannot sufficient raise children is a misnomer. There are more single parents today who are successfully raising children despite the many challenges they face. They hold jobs, take care of the kids, and complete all of the daily tasks that face them.

If there is a problem in a single family household, there are a number of support groups for single parents wherein they can network with other single parents and discuss issues that all are familiar with and can help each other learn to cope with the day to day trials and tribulations of raising children. More importantly, single parents learn very early on how to nurture their children and give them the wisdom and strength to become independent members of society.

Just as there are many myths, the aforementioned facts about single parenting are just the tip of the iceberg. Every day there are children who have to face living with one parent either because of divorce, separation, or death. Single parents can and do provide for their children in countless ways. To suggest otherwise is the greatest myth of all.

Ram Gopal Verma -A Perfect Showman of Movies

Posted by Phoenix on Apr 4, 2009 in Society | 0 comments

I have really Liked this man, right from his early day of making Films, Films that I love to watch.

Be it his, Satya, Rangeela or Sarkar.

All his Movies Are my favorite.

I like them even if they fail to do well at the Box Office.

Not all the Movies are good earners, but they make you learn so many things about the life.

Yes, I am Talking about none other than Ram Gopal Verma.

I tend to read the article about him on wiki and came to know about his life.

He had a great interest and was not at all interested in Academics like any other Great People, who were the same.

Unlike Ram Gopal Verma, they did some Discoveries, gave few theories and Invented fw things and that is why we call them great people.

But to be great , you don’t need to discover, invent or apply anything.

You just have to be unique.

There is a very famous line I remember,

‘Winner don’t do different things, they do things differently’

This is exactly he does, Every Director makes films, but there are really very less people who are qualified to show things Out of the Box.

I like him because of his vision.

Rangeela was his first Hindi Blockbuster film. His Favourite is Amithbh Bacchan, whom he has used in many of his films, and he calls him Sarkar.

They have give the Hit Film Sarkar even the most flop film Ram Gopal Verma ki Aag.i

All these things I came to know about him from WikiPedia.

Children Rights and You ( CRY)

Posted by Phoenix on Jan 14, 2009 in Society | 1 comment

Every weekend , we go out for a movie without knowing if it will be nice or not.

Without reading a review, sometimes you just waste your money and time.

Just asking a little favor, make donations sometime.

If I go on calculation the money wasted by every individual, it will be in millions.

This ad created by Hussain Savani

Half used Libraries and Us

Posted by Phoenix on Jan 10, 2009 in Society | 0 comments

Long time back on a November evening of 1995 when the shadows were growing larger, chirping birds ready to flutter their wings to leave for their nest me at the age of 8 first entered into the dusty, untidy room of our local rural library at my place Chakulia, another small village of West Bengal. There were total 5 Almiras in that library and Librarian told me later that all of them had more than 2500 books. I was kind of electrified to think of so many books to read though most of them were in Bengali. In the next 4 years I had literally gorged on them and 400 books were registered in my name. Though selectively I read most of the Bengali Classics and also the translated Russian ones but slowly I started to hunger for more quality books and not the conventional romantic fictions left there. I wanted to read more about the History, Cultures, Literature of other languages etc. After I left the place for my higher studies here at Aligarh Muslim University I got to know that more students treaded on the way I had been through. Probably they also hunger now for the same and jaded with the usual ones.

Moulana Azad Library of my University comprises of more than 10 lack books and third largest University library in the Asia. I feel proud to look at its collection and always dream to finish some stacks of books. But when I look at the students here I feel upset. Though they would issue books of their syllabus but probably very few read books on the other topics, the books those would help in the gentle opening of the petals of their mind. Yes such a big library is remained unused on some fronts.

Yes this is a global phenomenon now. We think of the old adage, “Reading maketh a full man” – reading makes a woman and a man full of information, of history, of all kinds of knowledge.

This generation feel proud to be teemed with superficial knowledge. News on the front page of the paper, Headlines at 7pm and if little more it would be the columns by the modern ‘experts’ that shape their knowledge and ideas. Some would like to enlist themselves in the elite class of reading if they had been through some Sydney Sheldon, Jeffry Archer or Chetan Bhagat stuff. They defend themselves talking of the modern revolutions like Computers to Internet, Mobile to IPods’. This is not the first revolution the human race has dealt with. The printing revolution, which did not take place in a matter of a few decades, but took much longer, transformed our minds and ways of thinking.

Not long ago, I read somewhere about a village in Zimbabwe where the people had not eaten for three days, but they were still talking about books and how to get them, about education. People want to read the same kind of books that people in Europe want to read – novels of all kinds, science fiction, poetry, detective stories, plays, and do-it-yourself books, like how to open a bank account. All of Shakespeare too. A problem with finding books for villagers is that they don’t know what is available, so a set book, like The Mayor of Casterbridge, becomes popular simply because it just happens to be there. Animal Farm, for obvious reasons, is the most popular of all novels.

I really don’t know how my next generation will perceive reading in the next few decades or this shunning of ‘reading’ will continue giving the excuse of the inanities of Internet or tech-savvy life. But I believe that in the corners of the world, at the terra incognita’s some people would remain there with the same hunger for the books, for the knowledge mankind seek since its evolution on the earth.

Serial Bomb Blastas in Ahemdabad (Gujarat)

Posted by Phoenix on Jul 27, 2008 in Society | 0 comments

AHMEDABAD: Close on the heels of Bangalore serial blasts, serial blasts rocked Ahmedabad on Saturday evening. (Watch)
All the explosion were low intensity blasts. At least twenty people have been injured in the blasts, they have been taken to Maninagar hospital. Six blasts have been confirmed. According to reports two people are feared dead.
The Gujarat Home Minister said 12 blasts had occurred. All metros have been put on high alert. The entire mobile network has come to a standstill. Chief Minister Narendra Modi is due to hold an emergency meeting.
The Prime Minister has condemned the Ahmedabad blasts and appealed for calm.
Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Shakeel Ahmed said that serial blasts speak of serious security lapses on the part of the state government. Maharashtra, Rajasthan and several other states have been put on high alert.
There are reports that there many live bombs still across the city. According to reports, a terror outfit claiming itself to be Indian Mujahidden sent an email at 6.41 pm(local time) claiming that the blasts at Ahmadabad were being carried out to avenge the Gujarat riots.
The first explosion took place in Maninagar, which happens to be Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency. The second blast happened in the Sardar Patel Diamond market. The third and fourth blasts took place in Saranpur Bridge and Isanpur. While the first bomb was reportedly planted in a cycle, the other bombs were hidden in tiffin boxes, according to police sources. There were other blasts in Bapu Nagar and Raipur.

Source: Times of India

The reason I have highlighted those lines in the news, just to write what I am going to write now.

I’ll not write actually, I’ll ask from you!

should Muslims of Gujarat be Prepared for the next Riots? the same thing happened back in 2002, things were done without any investigation. Few people said, its just a Reaction,

So What do we expect now?

The Same Reaction?

Terror attack in Jaipur and it’s ramifications

How far are these reality shows REAL?

Posted by Phoenix on Jul 4, 2008 in Society | 2 comments

The trend started around two to three years back to facilitate the exposure of hidden talents but now it has taken a drastic commercial turn ensuring big financial bonanza for television channels.

I still remember Abhijeet Sawant and Amit Sana competing each other for the first Indian Idol crown in an healthy atmosphere. The people use to enjoy the talent feast and moreover it generated great deal of interest in the minds of Indian youths.

But the next part of the story is very saddening. After the high profile success of first Indian Idol there came an era of reality shows with almost every television channel toeing the same line. In between commercials at crucial junction to maintain the suspense, hot dialogues between the judges to make the show spicy, asking the candidates to request for votes in order to earn money almost every thing was done that is hardly related to talent search. The modus operandi is same of every channel and the purpose is very clear, to earn maximum by banking on the fates of the candidates.

The worst part of it came when a sixteen year old Shinjini from West Bengal suffered partial paralysis and refused to speak after being publicly rebuked by a judge in a reality show .The parents have alleged that the television channel is solely responsible for the critical condition of their child. It came at a time when nation commission for the protection of child rights has already set up a committee to frame guidelines for children’s participating in the show .The commission has requested for the opinion of labour ministry to tackle with this menace which it calls as new age child labour.There are few sections in the society who are in favour of penalizing parents for pushing their child in these shows to earn publicity.

There are frequent tense moments and the channels have exerted enough pressure on the participants which ends up hampering their mental development up to a certain limit. Every year few candidates win the crown and remain in the lime light for few days until they are forgotten, as it is very rightly said public memory is very short. But at the end of the day the channels earn huge amount and look forward to another show.

At last there some reprieve as the child rights commission has taken up the matter seriously and hope the results are witnessed soon. Let’s pray we don’t meet any more shinjini in the same manner.

Do we need reservations?

Posted by Phoenix on Jun 24, 2008 in Society | 0 comments

Reservations on the basis of birth is a crime against humanity.With the reservations already touching 49.5% mark ,I am afraid whether we are heading towards a divided or united India?

Further demands of reservation being raised up consistently it would not be a surprise if there will nothing be left for the general category youths in the government sector. Nowadays they are demanding reservations even in the private sector.

How can you think of providing reservation to rich scheduled caste candidates bypassing below poverty line forward classes just on the basis of birth? Further shocking is the fact that we repeatedly keep shouting for the welfare of backward classes without genuinely doing anything for the them at the grass root level.Still number of them are forced to child labor and have never been to school.

Moreover our politicians never care for the true representations of backward classes in their personal offices which was recently disclosed by and RTI filed.why don’t we provide good quality education for them upto senior secondary level like in private schools and then allow them to face the test ,which would result in the fair selection.

Another sad part of it is that we are providing reservation in higher education as well as in job sector,which is highly uncomprehensible move.If there are reservations, it should be only in one sector.When the reservations were implemented for the first time they were meant to be for a stipulated time but now it has become an issue for politicians to meet their political dreams.

These days there is a huge uproar over the reservations being implemented for a particular community in the most reputed institute of the country,it is almost unacceptable to implement 50% reservation for a community which comprises less than 3% of the population.But then we need to digest that.

In an another move, the rajasthan government toed over the reservation demands of a community after they adopted violent means ,paving way for further more violent demonstrations by other communities.

Well its really paining but we need to live up with it,until we don’t stand united.Else our politicians will keep scoring the wrong goals.

Who will bell the cat?

Posted by Phoenix on May 12, 2008 in Society | 0 comments

In recent times a controversy is very much in the air and that is fuelled by the Union Health Minister Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss. He has literally attacked the smoking on screen and also complained that the surrogate advertisements have increased with the latest platform as in Indian Premier League cricket matches which have a massive viewership. He has argued that creativity as an art should be used for improving lives instead of taking them and claimed Tobacco and alcohol together make a perfect recipe for early death.

Well about me I would like to say that neither I drink nor I smoke and I vehemently oppose both as a part of our lifestyle. No, not for the reason that my name sounds Muslim but for the fact that since childhood I had experienced the adverse impact of these on the society and I find it hard to acknowledge that the major source of energy of a nation the youth community would be under the curse of unhealthy practices. Many of my friends have embraced smoking and drinking with the course of life. Mostly since the school level and some after coming to this Aligarh Muslim University(AMU) where smoking is a commonplace. Now among all my old friends only as little as 5% are untouched by these harmful practices. I am proudly one of them.

I unquestionably find it a matter of concern that over a million deaths in India occur due to Tobacco use, and according to the World Health Organization study 15% of the school children here in India use Tobacco. It is also proved that 52% of youngsters start smoking after being influenced by movies. Being the Convener of University Film Club of AMU I had noted some interesting figures given by the Health Minister and if things are judged too closely then I personally believe there must be a line drawn between creativity in the film and the present scenario regarding drinking and smoking. It is stated that India produces the largest numbers of movies in the world (900 in year 2001). In the 1950’s, 30 percent of films had smoking scenes with an alarming percentage touching 89 in 2004. Yes indeed it’s true earlier the characters depicted as smokers in the movies in 1950’s were only villains or ‘bad guys’. Now 76% of smoking scenes are done by heroes or lead characters. And yes from my personal experience I have seen that the idea of a ‘negative hero’ is quite alluring for the youths these days. Today it’s very much true that drinking is characterised as macho, youthfulness, and acceptability in elite social circles. The idea is indeed futile. The average drinking age in India from the average age of 28 now it has come down to shocking 19.

It’s really interesting to see that the latest two movies by Tamil Megastar Rajnikant were smoke free and biggest hits in the history of entire Indian Film Industry.

We will have to build a new India which will be free from all evils. And India has not turned into an individualistic society, and so many times harmful practices like this affected the entire family. A youth is very much liable to his family and all the responsibilities to the nation. So he must need to be educated and aware of everything.

Let’s address on these issues boldly and find a better solution.

Cyber dissidents and Govt’s apathy

Posted by Phoenix on Apr 27, 2008 in Society | 0 comments

Some always say that internet is a bad thing. We can witness the increase the no. of cyber dissidents around the globe. They are victims of governments who fear that the very technology needed to promote investment and economic competitiveness–the World Wide Web–also allows their citizens access to unprecedented power to make their voices heard.

One year ago Amnesty International launched the irrepressible.info campaign to highlight the plight of these cyber-dissidents and to celebrate the people’s fight for freedom of expression even when the consequences are dire. For Internet repression is rapidly expanding. According to the Open Net Initiative, five years ago serious and systematic Internet filtering was applied by three countries–China, Iran and Saudi Arabia. Today they have detected filtering in more than two dozen countries.

The most talked about example of Internet censorship still remains China, a country surrounded by “The Great Firewall of China”, a filtering system which prevents tens of thousands of political, social, religious and cultural Internet sites reaching people inside the country. The firewall is backed by a matrix of control including a force of net surveillance police said to reach tens of thousands in number.

The Chinese government has promised “complete media freedom” surrounding the Beijing Olympics in summer 2008. But so far movement has been backwards. On 24 January, 07 President Hu Jintao had ordered officials to “purify the online environment” ensuring online information is “healthy” and “ethically inspiring”.

Meanwhile reports of various means of cyber-censorship and intimidation are reported on the Internet nearly everyday–from Russia and Uzbekistan to Pakistan and Fiji. In a new development, ONI recently reported that Cambodia ordered mobile phone message services to be cut off during elections. Iran is reportedly also considering targeting multi-media phone messages.

What has really shocked campaigners over the last year is the growth of Internet repression. Experts speak of the export of the ‘Chinese model’: extensive use of the Internet for economic purposes, with severely curtailed political potential. The latest Open Net Initiative (ONI) Report on Internet filtering shows that at least 25 countries now apply state-mandated net filtering including Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Burma, Ethiopia, India, Iran, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Thailand and Tunisia.

But filtering is only one aspect of Internet repression–politically motivated closure of websites and Internet cafes, as well as threats or imprisonment, are reported far more widely.

Around the world human rights defenders and activists are using the Internet to report, mobilise and campaign. We have got be on our guard against those who want to control access to information and take that free speech away. We must not let them stop that promise being delivered.

Say No to Reservation in Education!

Posted by Phoenix on Apr 15, 2008 in Society | 1 comment

Reservation, such a wonderful word, you are never worried about  your journey to Mumbai, you had reservation in the train, you never face any problem in Mumbai as you had a reservation in a Hotel. Life is so Easy, you should have a reservation in Heaven. Go fight with GOD,