Top 10 Zombies in India!

We all love countdown programs,somehow it keeps our interest more than others,since you really don’t have to think much during those programs and also u wanna know where ur favourite song or movie is ranked in it (obviously depending on the ranking of our favourites we decide whether we like it or hate it). Being a desi in Pardes, one of the few ways to demonstrate patriotism is talk incessantly about india, wonder when India would have a decent infrastructure like US and ofcourse yap about how farce our democracy is (compared to US that can have someone make a funny movie about their president while he is in power and we can’t stand two women kissing in a movie). So I thought let me make my own countdown of patients that are in “emergency” ward in our country and if someone doesn’t attend to them soon, any one of those patients can turn out to be like the zombie in “28 Days Later” and we don’t have to worry about the existence of a country called “INDIA"(bcoz it won’t be there!)

Pateint No.10 in Ward 12 --- Social Welfare System

Wonder how long we will be talking about Food,Shelter and clothing as an issue .Guess as long as there are people without it in our country.
In the new world order with terms like terrorism, jehad, Infidel etc., the people without these three basic necessities of life are the perfect candidates for the “school of advanced shooting of innocents” run by religious fundamentalists.
We still have children begging at traffic lights, farmers committing suicide, ill-treatment of handicapped people,huge neglect of AIDS patients (3.9 mill. according to UNAIDS and ofcourse rising unemployment). With 550 millions of Indians, 25 and under, we better fix these problems soon lest we become another Afghanistan.

Pateint No.9 in Ward 20 --- Strong Patent Laws

Stealing someone’s idea without any guilt or the fear of being reprimanded has become a national hobby, be it movies/songs/products/Research papers etc. One industry that would benefit the whole country by establishing Patents is healthcare.
The SICEclearly shows the reluctance of Pharmaceutical companies from US to enter India as they are afraid counterfeits of their products would be in market in no time and there is no protection of their products under Indian Law. Having patent protection law is a two way street. We lost Basmati to world and Ganesha is being used in all foreign art/fancy things. If we could patent all that’s indian and use the existing intellectual property, it could be a starting point for showcasing real indian innovations at world level.(instead of drum-beating our ego with inventions made 5000yrs ago)

Pateint No.8 in Ward 17 --- Federal System

Lets not trumpet the idea “we are all one" all the time because we are not. Each state people are different. Instead, lets celebrate the differences and live as one. No longer can a central government dismiss a legally elected state government.
“United states of India” sounds great.

Pateint No.7 in Ward 14 --- Removing Social Apathy

Forget about sympathy and even empathy for someone who is handicapped or some kid begging on the streets. People have become so numb to these things that they have apathy towards social evils. They yell and scream if it happens to them but until then they have a "who cares attitude". A country is developed only as broad as the minds of their people.

Patient No.6. in Ward 16 --- Develop Alternative energy

Brazil uses 70% Bagasse—Sugarcane waste to fuel cars. The government needs to encourage R&D and develop a scientific temperament (Kalam’s favorite two words) among our children. Maybe we did not have an Intel in India to develop Vinodh Khosla , but I hope today’s companies will not let go of the economic potential of Brain power.

Check out the following link for a project called The Pedal Power Generator which converts power generated by pedaling to electricity. This helps people in village save 150rs. per month which is lot considering their income.

Patient No.5. in Ward 8 --- Develop Micro-Enterprise

Perhaps the greatest idea of micro-Enterprise came from Gandhiji who insisted we make our own clothes.Let’s not get caught with only High-tech innovations in a country like ours and encourage micro enterprises that generates real employment for poor people like making Papads,Pickles, arts and crafts etc. Give all the fillip to small scale industries and not bury Entrepreneurship in red tape.

Patient No.4 in Ward 9 ---Accountability in Social and Political Structures

Cameras in every government office, balance sheets in internet and access to Media to all public records.Television/Radio/internet are always on the look-out for when the government would screw up.(Remember Tehelka ?).We need more expose’s of public corruption and accountability of individuals.

Patient No.3 in Ward 3 --- Health Care system

Affordable Medicine. Something a rickshaw-wala doesn’t hear when his son or daughter is handicapped or has jaundice. Yes, we have government hospitals . But, would any one of us risk it ? Most of our villages don’t even have proper drainage system. We were so lucky that SARS appeared first in China instead of India. Do we have a system to control epidemic diseases ? Our country was a victim of Plague not long ago. If an epidemic occurs, trust me, rich or poor, it will make no distinction.

Patient No.2 in Ward 2 --- Law & Order

Perhaps the most important area that needs immediate attention. It shocks me to hear that people in US complain about delay in call response to a 911 emergency which is at an average of 6mins!!!

All India conviction rate is at a shameful 6.5%.How can the people of a country feel safe and secure, when only there is 6.5% of a chance that someone who robbed your home or someone who killed your neighbor would be punished inspite of being caught ? That’s a scary reality.(Again we wouldn’t worry about it until it happens to us)

Patient No.1 in Ward 1 -- Population Control

According to 2001 census, our population density was 324 persons per square kilometer. By 2050, we will be 544 persons per square kilometer. Check the following site for the projected chart of India’s population until 2050.

Future India

Its not very heartening to see we will beat China by a significant 200 million by 2050.

We need to FORCE people to have children according to their income. Set a minimum age for having kids at 25 for men and 22 for women.If you violate it,he loses all benefits of government(as if there is a lot..but nevertheless some start). If you have more than 2 kids,then government approved “complete circumcision”. If you need space to breathe,we need to go the “sterile” way.There is not much time left.