Vote For, Your Self! !!

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“Elections belong to the people. It's their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.” … Abraham Lincoln.

“The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.”… Winston S. Churchill.

Well, do I need to introduce above two names probably most famous leaders of two countries which are known to have best of the democracies’ in the world’s  history & look at the way they have put their views about the voters in words, actually knowing about the attitude one will think the quotes have been changed as Lincoln who was always known for his soft nature & accommodating attitude has expressed his opinion about voters in a fashion which doesn’t go with his reputation whereas, the usual head strong Churchill is saying exactly opposite of his nature i.e. having a dialogue with voters! And that shows how an election can make best of the leaders change their perception regarding the voters (read citizens) & I think that’s real beauty of the democracy as its this time when the rulers realize it’s no more just a common man or citizen he is The Voter which is like The Terminator for next few days i.e. from announcement of election day to voting i.e. “D day”!  Well there are few hitches during this time span such as getting party’s ticket (read most sought after party, whichever is in ruling) to silencing most troublesome candidates (please read as making such candidate withdraw his or her from contesting) etc.  And the reason I recalled these quotes is the D day for largest democracy in the world has finally come i.e. Loksabha Chunaw (feel lot better this way than Assembly Election type terminology) are here. It’s a show which entertains entire India more than any Bollywood block-buster or IPL as before announcement of actual day to results of the voting, nearly two & half month entire country is busy in the process. And everybody for his or her own reasons to be exited because of elections; political parties off-course for their next five years future is depending on it, bureaucracy is interested as to decide which side to switch as well responsibilities for the execution of election process, everybody has got their all senses focused only at one thing i.e. elections! And then there are vendors, suppliers of various services right from transportation to sound system to banners/ flags/posters makers to designers to speech writers to social media handlers (most sought after, now a days) & yes Biryaniwalas for karyakartas (read caterers) all such tradesmen whose turnover suddenly gets multiplied in the year of election, so they too are eagerly looking at elections! Well I may not mention but even a small kid who doesn’t has voting right also knows what more is traded during elections!

So, now you can imagine if for 542 people (loksabha count) it’s the fight for ruling the country then for millions it’s the business opportunity coming once in five years & everyone wants to make full bounty of it! Well, this is for all those who are looking at elections as an opportunity considering general elections as a market but what about the ones who are clients for this market but actually are being used as product, yes I am referring to the voters! Just few days back I had a dialogue about voting pattern as well campaigning with one of my friend whose close family member is contesting loksabha election & against some giant name in politics! As well go to any nukkad or cafe or take any group, the current topic is obviously the elections & everyone has his or her own opinion about the candidate or the political party & their agenda! Then I met many who are least interested in elections because the New India’s famous dialogue is “yaha kuchh nahi honewala” i.e. nothing is going to change here which in nut shell means whichever party or candidate gets elected still for me there will be no change in circumstances (read difficulties of the life)! But the by saying so we ourselves are becoming the biggest enemy of our own self as when I ask myself why I should vote then do mind it’s not for some party or candidate I am voting but I vote because its sign of my very existence, is what I think!

It’s a shame that a country where everyone has his or her freedom to express opinion about everything i.e. right from Indian Cricket Team selection to International Politics we express our self without having even any say on it & yet when it’s time to make real difference by casting our vote then we stand back saying “yaha kuch nahi honewala”; real hippocratic lot we are & mainly the educated ones! As the poor votes by lot as they feel that their vote can get them something & take it as bargain & nothing wrong in it as you vote to someone who you feel (or think) will represent you to solve your daily problems & it’s always the poor who has got more problems & the first & foremost of it is day to day survival! So, no wonder the slums comes out for voting with numbers & you may name that their votes are purchased but who is responsible for the situation where a poor guy is ready to sale his or her vote, has someone asked this question ever, even to self! Its, we the educated ones who don’t vote are the main reason for creating a situation where poor people’s vote can be purchased by small things like Rs 500 note or some ceiling fan or set of clothes is a bitter fact we refuse to accept! 

And speaking about the voter’s pattern there always will be supporters which majorly go by some political party & their agendas (which is same actually with any party) & yes in this country saddest part is many voters still vote by looking at caste or religion of the candidate & even the political parties also chose their candidates keeping this aspect in mind! Now tell me on one side we are taking pride in calling ourselves a secular democracy & other side every party looks at the caste equations when its voting pattern, are we not making fool of ourselves! This again happens because the so called educated people don’t vote & when I say educated then it means those who have gained not just some degree but gained knowledge to analyze difference between good & bad, right or wrong! By not deciding to vote or even by voting with caste & religion like aspects in mind even we have got a degree I will say we are illiterate & a worst lot than the poor living in slums & fighting for their daily needs like water , food, shelter & cloths! If you see the voting pattern the average voting of the country is just around 60% & this is divided in majorly between some three or four parties! Means when a party comes in ruling this country just represents some one fourth of the citizens, isn’t it weird! And then when such ruling party doesn’t stand to your expectations you say, “bola tha, yaha kuch nahi hoga!” But again you not going for voting is the reason for making some bunch of people rule the entire country when they have got just a quarter of entire voter’s support actually; is again you are conveniently forgetting!

Actually when people vote, there are those who vote for the party, then there are those who votes for the person contesting (for reasons like he or she is my relation or from my caste types) & then there are ones who votes for personal gains they have been offered (read vote purchasing) & these all people makes some eighty odd percent of actual voters. But there are some twenty percent of the voters who till they go to vote are unable or hasn’t been sure to decide whom they should vote & why! I told to my friend, it’s this twenty percent lot is the one which makes the difference in making any candidate win & its this lot on which any candidate or party should focus on. As well another big lot is the one who don’t come out for voting at all; if we really want to make the change then its these two categories we must focus on, is what I shared with him!

I used to wonder (pity) for our country where we have to appeal people to vote but then that’s why I said I used to wonder but no more; as the country where people still need a law to wear a helmet for their own safety, a country where party’s ticket is given on which caste the candidate comes from, a country where national holiday is needed to be declared so people can go for voting, a country where  election commission has to interfere on everything right from candidates information to expenses made by the candidates, a country where people has to walk miles even to go to polling booth; what else can be expected here! And yes just by voting you don’t earn that right is equally true as next five years it’s your job only to see that your vote doesn’t go waste just like if you have paid some amount for servicing of your PC or AC then you see that it remained in working condition, same way if you have voted someone then it’s your duty that make your vote count & this duty is for five years! Even if the candidate you have voted doesn’t get elected then also do mind it’s a democracy & the elected candidate is of entire constituency & not just for those who has voted him or her! This also is your job to make that candidate remind this truth about the power of your vote! And this is why I go to vote & even then if nothing changes then at least I have gained my right to say, “yaha kuch nahi hoga” which won’t be actually required then, as if everybody votes to someone & make that someone count for his or her vote then only “yaha kuch to hoga” is a fact!

With heavy heart I confess due to my preplanned trip I won’t be in town for voting though I am trying for voting by mail or other sources but at least if I can make few sleeping souls to vote by my sharing will balance my sin of not being able to vote, is the sole reason for this sharing!

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Sanjay Deshpande 

Sanjeevani Dev.

Please view my sharing about real estate in Pune at U-Tube link below..

https://youtu.be/g3lx1Nq7pBs

Please do visit my blogs to know about our philosophy at Sanjeevani ! (Click the links below)

http://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2018/08/pune-city-no-1.html

http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.in/

Social Side of Sanjeevani ! (Click link below)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/sets/72157627904681345/

For any of your complaints about city, log in at link below

www.punecorporation.org

Take your issues to Hon PM at link below..

https://secure.mygov.in/#

Think Green, Think Life

www.sanjeevanideve.com

Spiders, Lizards, Termites & Wild Life!

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“The difference between utility and utility plus beauty is the difference between telephone wires and the spider web”… Edwin Way Teale.

Edwin Way Teale was an American naturalist, photographer and writer. Teale's works serve as primary source material documenting environmental conditions across North America from 1930 - 1980. He is perhaps best known for his series The American Seasons, four books documenting over 75,000 miles (121,000 km) of automobile travel across North America following the changing seasons. And no wonder with such closeness with nature Teale can differentiate a telephone wire & spider web so wonderfully! Just look at the work Teale has put in to make mankind rich on the front of not just knowledge but making them aware about importance of thousands of species which we have not very (read at all) bothered about species like spiders, frogs, lizards & many such! And Teale did it by his sheer dedication towards nature in totality by spending over fifty years rather actually living with all such species, not something one can even imagine! As I always wonder about the so called recent Face book wild lifers who goes to forests with fancy gears with all protection like sun cream, outfit, glares, stays at best of the resorts & yes cameras with zoom lenses & click snaps (mostly of tiger) & after coming back post them on social media & discuss sightings & what thrill it was types things over chilled beer at some bar with their friends! Can any of such lot survive even twenty four hours if put in a real forest or nature is what I always think & then you realize hard work & dedication people like Teale has put in & that’s why they are real wild lifers or say wild life conservationist. And then when it comes to wild life, all our love, passion, awareness etc stops at four or five animals, tiger is at apex of it. If you don’t believe me check wild life groups on FB, who calls themselves wild lifers & see the numbers of photographs of tigers & like such snaps gets & rest all photographs of insects or smaller species & the likes as well comments they gets! Especially if the photograph is of some lizard or a spider or a frog or any such species which is equally a part or form of wild life as tiger is then barring few no one even bothers to comment or ask about details of such specie! Well I don’t judge something (read importance of wild life) from the “likes” but just pointing out the trend as the likes definitely shows what masses cares about or say runs behind is proper term!

Last year I had been to Panna forest & it’s mainly famous for leopards & we also were not exception as a leopard is rarer than tiger because of its hide & seek way of living. On one safari our guide RP More, who is very enthusiastic about entire wild life (again a rare species by himself with such attitude) asked to stop suddenly gypsy & excitedly pointed at something. As usual we thought tiger or leopard & aimed our cameras towards the direction he was pointing but we couldn’t even see what he was trying to show in first place! He said it’s a “Tree shrew”, a small euarchontoglire mammal, native to the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. It was hardly of size of mouse & even looks alike but Omre was so excited, he said he hasn’t seen a Tree shrew in last five years & never in day time in forest. We clicked enough snaps of it & pretty clear ones; More than next 30 minutes kept telling us about Tree shrew & its life style & how rare its sighting is etc etc. Frankly I came to know about Tree shrew for the first time but I also felt great & a day before that at nigh safari we have seen Civets; a civet is a small, lithe-bodied, mostly nocturnal mammal native to tropical Asia and Africa, especially the tropical forests. The term civet applies to over a dozen different mammal species. Most of the species diversity is found in Southeast Asia. Again till we actually saw civet we didn’t realized how difficult sightings of such animals is in forest as all we know about forest is tiger, leopards & slot bear at the most! Well, after coming back home I posted snaps of tigers, leopards & Tree shrew on FB, needless to say to my expectation not a single comment was about Tree shrew, nobody even bothered to ask what’s so special about it & where it found or any information about its food & such things! At the same time I have got snaps of tigress drinking water as well few of leopards & those snaps got loads of likes! I repeat I am sharing this only to tell you how even the so called wild lifers also are unaware or non-interested in animals apart from Big 5 i.e. Tigers, leopards, sloth bear, bison & at the most barsingha types or sometimes wild dogs gets some attention! And the story with many animals like Porcupine or Ud Manjar (Ant Eater) Or Lizards or Snakes (King Cobra is exception again) is not different as all such species exists but not many cares about their existence is a bitter fact! Seems most people either knows all the things about such animals (just sarcastic) or don’t bother about it as for us jungle is tiger. As most of the people who has gone to jungle has seen tiger & it indeed is great sight (I too agree) but you can like the snap of animal which you have seen many times but you don’t even look at the snap of an animal who you haven’t ever seen even after visiting its habitat (I am not asking to like something from rain forests of Brazil) but you are not interested; and you still call yourself a wild lifer?

And why just social media even the print media is hell bend of just saving tiger or covering tiger related things & I am referring to news-papers who are face of the society in a way! On this background when you get to read news about some new species of spider & lizard has been found by two researchers in Maharashtra & on top of it the species has been named after a forest officer, its real heartwarming thing! Because first not many youngsters take such field as their career & thing is simple there isn’t enough money which is first mark of success in our culture & then there is no fame! As well being a researcher in something like lizards or spiders needs to you get away from normal urban world i.e. giving up all the luxuries like nice clothes & social life & yes even the mobile net work a times! And then the researcher has to spend hours, days, months even years in adverse conditions as wilderness is fun as a tourist but can be ruthless when it’s your home! Because the very same greens can be suddenly boring & frustrating when it surrounds you all the times with extreme cold or hot or rainy weather! Yet there are few who chose forest as their career & the two names in the news are of Mr. Rajesh Sanap & Dr Varad Giri & Rajesh has found a new specie of spider in Aare Colony i.e. right in Mumbai, Borivali National Park which very few people know a home for many such non glamorous yet wild species! And he aptly named it by the name of Mr. Sunil Limaye, IFS who has been Director at Borivali National Park & has been himself avid wild lifer & does his forest duty not because he gets paid for it but because he loves forests!

And this is the reason I am happy to read the news about spider & lizard because still there is hope for wild life in totality. As when you say forest what you mean or what comes in your mind, is I will like to ask? Most people will say, trees, lots of trees actually, grass, deer, river, leopard & yes tiger; indeed most people’s answer will be this & I don’t blame them! As the problem is right from our school days nobody has  made us understood what actually forest means, all what we have been taught is text books is full of words while forest is something one needs to feel by being in it! As when you will realize forest is much more than the items in above list for e.g. forest is creepers hanging from trees, forest is various sounds surrounding you right from birds chirping to alarm calls to cicadas constant noise & even wind whistling through bamboos,  forest is not just green leafs on trees but fallen leafs which gets rotten on the earth beneath our feet, forest is spider webs hanging across the less travelled tracks & insects caught in them, forest is Baami i.e. termite houses & rodents digging through them, forest is honey bees collecting honey from wild flowers & hanging beehives on tall banyan trees, forest is butterflies dancing on wild flowers! All these & many such makes a forest complete life cycle of which every link is equally important & this is what we need to make people understand if we want to make forests survive. As no link of the forest is less or more important than other; if we want to make tiger or leopard survive then we need its prey i.e. deer, monkeys & wild boars to survive as well water bodies & the habitat in which tiger lives also to survive. To make deer survive we need grass lands as well lots of shrubs to survive, if we need monkeys to survive we need to make fruit as well flowering trees survive, if we want wild boars to survive we need to make termite houses as well roots of grass & many such rotten things to survive. We want to make grass land survive with the help of many insects like termites to make the soil fertile with minerals. If we want to make fruit & flowering tress then we need insects & butterflies & birds to survive so as pollination will happen! If you want water bodies & birds to survive you need to make fish & frogs like species to survive & the list of things to survive goes on & on!

Finally let’s understand every specie, tree, grass, water, air, sky all these combine makes the thing we call forest & these all are connected to each other; the only thing which is not connected to above all is, us the humans & that’s main reason of destruction of forests! And that’s why news of some Rajesh or some Dr Varad Giri finding a new species of spider & naming after some forest office Sunil Limaye is very much important as these are the people who has understood what forest means & so has the guide of Panna, RP More who cares for a Tree shrew as much he cares for tiger! Friends, years after year, sometimes with ignorance & most of the time with our greed, we have killed forest named life cycle which exists right in our backyards also in the form of a small water body or patch of shrubs or a big neem tree! Still all is not lost, let’s understand forests & make them survive, as today we only can help forests & make them survive but once forests are gone, who will help to make us survive, is the question written on the wall ahead!

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Sanjay Deshpande 

Sanjeevani Dev.

Please view my sharing about real estate in Pune at U-Tube link below..

https://youtu.be/g3lx1Nq7pBs

Please do visit my blogs to know about our philosophy at Sanjeevani ! (Click the links below)

http://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2018/08/pune-city-no-1.html

http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.in/

Social Side of Sanjeevani ! (Click link below)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/sets/72157627904681345/

For any of your complaints about city, log in at link below

www.punecorporation.org

Take your issues to Hon PM at link below..

https://secure.mygov.in/#

Think Green, Think Life

www.sanjeevanideve.com

A Toffee Named Ready Reckoner!

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“The one who adapts his policy to the times prospers, and likewise that the one whose policy clashes with the demands of the times does not”… Niccolo Machiavelli.

Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli was an Italian diplomat, politician, historian, philosopher, humanist, writer, playwright and poet of the Renaissance period. He has often been called the father of modern political science! Well we also do have such intelligent thinking financial as well technical minds but the problem is their fatherly advice often get muffled under the pressure of the system i.e. govt! Has it not been so then the policies which we have wouldn’t end always in chaos & when its real estate or anything related t land then lesser we say is better! As usual come March end & entire real estate is buzzed up with only one thing that is Ready Reckoner rates (RR rates) & Stamp Duty! Well, for the lucky & ignorant souls who don’t know what it is, then ready reckoner rates are rates per sq ft of land as well built up areas in every part of the State (Maharashtra in our case) which are decided as well revised by State Govt every year depending on current ongoing market rates (at least that’s what is expected)! And these are the rates which are considered as bench mark for Stamp Duty which is charged in some % on the amount of such deals. Means in Kothrud area in Pune if the land rate is say Rs.7000/sft as per ready reckoner then even if the deal happens at Rs.6000/sft yet the person buying the land will have to pay stamp duty as  per Rs. 7000/sft only! Even the taxation (read Income Tax or any such) will considered the ready reckoner rate only & charge the tax according on every such deal. But if the deal is above ready reckoner rates i.e. Rs 8000/sft then the stamp duty will be charged on the higher rate i.e. as pr Rs 8000/sft! That’s specialty of the govt, it has its cut in both ways when it wants to have a cut which is mostly every time! Now the stamp duty which is a way (big way it is) for the govt to earn revenue via every land or property deal in the State, is also keep changing & govt can add or reduce (well, reduce I said just to give example) the % of stamp duty anytime but read recknoner rates are revised (read increased) on 1^St of April every year which is start of new financial year! And there is a separate department for this purpose & it has two fold jobs; one is to register all the property deals i.e. flat, land or farm, shop, office any such & other task is to keep track of current market trends (read rates) of every property deal so as to set datum line for the rates every year! Though the very registration dept also registers (in a way authenticate) every other document also such as Bank Loan Mortgage, Marriage Certificate, Will of individual person & many such & do charge some amount for the same but major revenue comes via property deals only!

And for this purpose real estate as well govt itself is very much sensitive for the ready reckoner rates & stamp duty percentage as on one side this amount is direct burden on the property deal then on other side its significant income way for the govt’s bank balance (which always is in deficit). Naturally, both sides are conscious & touchy for their own reasons for the ready reckoner rates & needless to say if govt is happy on increasing these rates then real estate (builder’s as well home buyers) definitely get unhappy to see the same increased!  No need to say who wins every time when its an argument between govt & real estate industry as our govt is “of the people, by the people & for the people”, but who are these people that nobody really knows; sure they are not from real estate industry, is I all can say! If you have a look at past ten years then barring last year when ready reckoner rates has not been increased, every year there has been significant rise in ready reckoner rates & no wonder real estate was booming (though not for last three years at least for sure) yet the rise in RR rates was always there as govt needs money! But last year due to all well known reasons real estate has slumped to its bottom, (well, is it?) so RR rates has been kept same & this year indeed there hasn’t been any positive movement on real estate horizon & govt still needs money looking at the subsidies & loan wavers its coming with, so it was expected RR rates will be increased but this year also the RR rates hasn’t been increased & everybody (read real estate related people) are celebrating like India has won World Cup! (Off course cricket’s, which else!).

And reason for being happy or excited by this decision for real estate is very simple though the ready reckoner rate increase means added burden on every deal & in case of the flat sale its usually paid by the flat purchaser yet in the current scenario when already real estate’s every per sq ft rate is so burdened that the homes are beyond budget of the purchaser. And in such times any added burden on home prices is driving the remaining home buyers also away from the market & real estate can’t afford it anymore! At the same time every local body’s (PMC/ PCMC) premiums are directly related to RR rates means if you buy paid FSI or load TDR then all these are charged on the basis of RR rates on the land where the project is going on. This means every such increase in RR rates is increase in cost of making of the homes & this also real estate can’t afford! And from the govt’s side RR rate is two edge sword as if increase in RR rates makes govt happy for more revenue but at the same time it has to shell out more money for the acquisition of lands under reservations especially reservations like roads or play grounds as the govt has to pay as per RR rates of such lands! And TDR is FSI given in lieu of the land acquisition is workable only in cities like Pune or Mumbai where real estate is still surviving, rest all places govt has to pay by hard cash (I mean in terms of money)! Now you will understand how RR rates can make many people’s life miserable & why it’s so eagerly awaited in March end!

So this year as I said RR rates has not been increased by the “Mai baap” govt & for that real estate as well prospective home buyers are praising govt; indeed a welcome step but is it all the real estate needs? As in first place the govt hasn’t done this for benefit of real estate; don’t believe me, here is my analysis! With Central assembly elections on face & followed by state assembly ahead no government would have take risk of increasing ready recknoer rates as look at past except last year every time these rates has been hiked like anything & unfortunate is while real estate is on correction mode i.e. rates in most places has been reduced (reasons may be many) the ready reckoner rates may not been increased for year or two but not reduced also is a fact which in way is hidden increase only by me! Because if today if you go to any builder to book a flat do you accept what rate he has quoted, no is the answer! You negotiate till the builder bleeds & get the best rate is scene & in the process at most places flat sale rates are below ready reckoner rates is fact so just not increasing ready reckoner rates isn’t mean government has done some great relief to real estate! Why can’t govt actually check the deals going on in market & reduce the rates of ready reckoner if it really thinks to make the homes affordable. More than that what the common man (read home buyers) is getting by paying this 8% of stamp duty & registration charges on already hiked reckoner rates, is the question I will like to ask! 

Another aspect is it’s not just ready reckoner rates but look at stamp duty % also which has gone to nearly 7% & above with all sorts of loading , thanks to Metro sur-charge (for Smart City Pune) & with 1 %registration charges the total is 8% which is huge! Means if a flat is of worth Rs 50 lac then Rs 4 lac govt is getting in the form of stamp duty & registration charges only & in lieu  where is water, where if power, where are roads, where is public transport, where are affordable schools as well hospital, the list is unending!  By now when the government has already increased stamp duty by 1% for Pune region just last month which is indirect increase in properties deal value of every real estate deal; so, it’s like fooling some small kid by giving him wrapper of toffee under the name of toffee!  

As I always say, no one is against paying taxes or govt collecting revenue as for infrastructure we do need it but problem with govt is like the story in Panchatantra in which an old lion appoints a wolf to lure animals in his cave as it can’t kill the prey due to old age. One day the wolf tries to lure a jackal to go & meet the old lion to ask his health, listening to wolf, jackal says do convey my best wishes to the lion as I can see the foot prints of animals entering in the cave but can’t see any foot print coming out of the cave”! I think high time for people (read citizens) to become smart as the jackal in the story of Panchatantra about not just ready reckoner rates or stamp duty but approach of govt towards entire real estate (read homes) because just by getting a tag of Smart City, life doesn’t get Smart; mind it!

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Sanjay Deshpande 

Sanjeevani Dev.

Please view my sharing about real estate in Pune at U-Tube link below..

https://youtu.be/g3lx1Nq7pBs

Please do visit my blogs to know about our philosophy at Sanjeevani ! (Click the links below)

http://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2018/08/pune-city-no-1.html

http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.in/

Social Side of Sanjeevani ! (Click link below)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/sets/72157627904681345/

For any of your complaints about city, log in at link below

www.punecorporation.org

Take your issues to Hon PM at link below..

https://secure.mygov.in/#

Think Green, Think Life

www.sanjeevanideve.com