Students lead the way.

If 2019 has sent society any positive message, it is that when it really matters, it will students who will lead the way. There have been multiple examples of co-ordinated movements and uprising driven primarily by college and school students. Around the world ! They might have not yet completed their eduation, but they know enough to rise against wrongs.

When heptagenarian heads of world governments denied man-made climate changes, children lead the charge. Greta Thunberg was the most visible leader of these students, who encouraged climate activitists to walk out of their school classes around the world.

Over in Hong Kong, university students took up the baton against China's attempts to an earlier power grab.

And now in India, when both the houses of the government, along with its puppet president, passed two laws which are fundamentally against India's constitution, it is once again students, who were the first to protest.

For me , this phenomenon is the best news to have come out of this mess of a year. The uncorrupted, educated minds of young students is where the true future of the world resides. We see it time and time again, education is the only path to enlightment. Here is hoping more of us get to see the light of truth and righteouness in this new year.

Happy New Year. And long live the revolution !

Out with section 370

By now all online media, and most of the western world, will have heard of India' government passing a new rule, abrogating one of its own, self imposed 'special status' clause to a state very much within its sovereignty. While those with prior knowledge of the history, present, and forthcoming future will , I think , rightly agree with this decision, a huge part of those ignorant are going to question if India has this right in the first place.

Short answer: No one knows either way. Political experts, pundits, and citizens of every country are debating both sides. Section 370, the just abrogated law, was not imposed by the UN, or any other country in India. It was designed by India's parliament. So India should have full power to decide when to take it off. That’s where my point of view ends.

But others more knowledgeable than me have spoken wisely on this matter. Change, however small , or even big as this, is good.

. Why not plebiscite?

Answer: Plebiscite is not for Article 370 but for annexation to Pakistan. The plebiscite, promised by once by Chacha Nehru (Greatness be unto him), could only be done, as per T&C, if Pakistan withdrew their troops totally and then India did, just keeping that part necessary to maintain order. Since the preconditions of Pakistan withdrawing from PoK will never happen, neither will the plebiscite. There is also that little moral problem I have that you do not get to do a plebiscite after demographic change, after communally picking out Hindu pandits and ejecting them from their homeland. Any plebiscite is rigged by default.

The power of abrogation of 370 comes to the current government from the people of India, Kashmir included, through our democratic institutions. You may say “this fascist Hitler is not my leader”, but unfortunately this is the way democracy works. Sorry.

Is this the right way forward. Any way forward from a logjam, is good. Will this help the people of the region ? Only time can tell.

Is this change good ?

I do not know, but it is worth a try. Because we have been “talking” for decades, and there has been very little to show for it.

India Isn't the Next China

 

 

Violent Times

We live in strange, violent times. And nowhere is this more evident than on current news. This has lately caused me to intentionlally lose track of news from India. I wonder if India has always been like this, or is it because nowadays these kind of news gets reported more often ?

The number of domestic violences reported has spiked. From incidents of stalking, to confirmed cases of assault, leading to murder. Dissed lovers used to splash acid as revenge,  now they set their ex-partners on fire. Out in the daylight. Rising counts of sexual violence against minors. More rapes and murders being reported, specially from inner villages. Crime is rising, and democracy is decaying.

What is leading to these spikes in pre-meditated crimes ? Apart from a false sense of superioty by the preprator, it is lack of crime control. Lack of an efficient justice system. And lack of fear. The law in the country is so slow and backward, it takes decades for a court case to come ot conclusion. And the increasing bribery in the government does not help either.

One can only hope, foolishly, that humanity will come to its senses sooner, than later.

Getting trickier to get in here

 

I have been out of touch with the whole Australia PR migration thing. But the other day, someone enquired how we got here, and asked for pointers. I looked up some information before passing on my tips, and was surprised that things have changed quite a lot in the meantime.

Changes galore:

For one, they now have the EOI slots only once a month, compared to twice a month earlier. This change was from August 2018. The number of invitations remain the same, but applicants will have to wait and entire month to find out if they made the cut. Ohh..the agony !

Minor news: they changed their website from border.gov.au to immi.homeaffairs.gov.au

They also changed the minimum points required. From July 2018 onwards, an applicant needs to have a minimum of 65 points to apply. This cutoff was earlier 60. This will help Australia get better skilled people, and it means theres no place for lazybones to enter the country.

And…they have set a higher score for some job codes, including the very popular Softwar Engineer. Take a look at the latest results available online, from September 2018.

A minimum 75 points required for Software Engineers now ! No places for 60-65 pointers anymore.

The affect of this new set of rules can be seen in the applications as well. Applicants are buckling up to increase their scores, trying to keep up with the increasing cutoffs. Over at the immigration tracker, there is an increase in the median scores, whereas earlier it was full of applications with 60 & 65, now the most common scores are 70 and above, some even getting 80 !

 

Application charges for some Australian visas are going up on 1 July 2018. The government is hoping to generate $410 million dollars over a four-year period from 2017 to 2021.

 

Fineprint:

So , what does this all mean for new migrants ? Well, most of this was expected. Immigration is currently a hot topic in Australia, they recently had elections in Victoria and candidates were fighting about how the cities are getting populus, where as rural regions remain empty. Also the increase in terrorist-like attacks have gone up, with migrants being arrested for those crimes.

The changes they have brought about are not targetted at any particular country, region, religion or laguage. And that is such good news, compared to how other countries totally ban immigrants just based on their nationality. But these changes will probably affect Indians the most, simply because the receive the highest number of resident permit visas.  Australia is making it more difficult to get in here, this will allow highly skilled and experienced folks to come in. Theres simply no place for anyone average.

But looking at how the applicants are also increasing their own points, it is clear that the higher threshold is still reachable. All it takes is will power (lots of it) and planning (some). Applicants with 5 years experience and good english can easily score 70 points. They need to score top points in English to get higher.

Good luck, and hope you make it too.

 

 

 

 

 

It floods here too

 

Living in India through floods and famines, I thought, had prepared me for the worst of climate change elsewhere in the world. Almost, because I knew well to stay at home today. Because it is flooding outside right now.

The whole NSW region, Sydney specially, has been continously battered by rain and winds since early this morning. The memes are out, and still coming in.  Roads are flooded, trains have stopped, underground stations are flooded too, and people are stranded. Just like that time.

But the one thing that separates this reality with what was witnessed back home, was that NSW was prepared. The oncoming storm was called out weeks ago, and warnings were issued well in advance. People still tried to get to work, but I guess most are safe.

Some pics:

 

 

 

As of right now, there are no deaths reported. Two deaths have been reported. Far less than what is otherwise expected.

There is no fighting nature. All that we can do is to be prepared.

Small Victory

 

There is a blue wave small blue-ripple going through the US today. A small victory for the other side. While the senate remains with the Republicans, the Democrats have taken over the house of representatives.

Will this change anythign ? Hope so. Will have to wait and watch if the system really works, or was it broken permanently.

 

This is Weird

 

Sobering picture of Indian economy

 

Read Scroll’s takedown of the Economic survey report for this year. Previous years reports were drenched in optimism. But now even they are admitting to reality.

They forgot the farmers.

More challenges:

Shit Stuff happens

 

“Until early 2016, India’s growth had been accelerating when growth in other countries was decelerating. But then the converse happened. The world economy embarked on a synchronous recovery but India’s GDP growth – and indeed a number of other indicators such as industrial production, credit, and investment – decelerated,” says the latest survey suggesting how things did not go as expected.

India was the only major economy in the world to have registered a growth slowdown in 2017, even as most other countries have emerged out of the 2008 crisis.