India: Where life and death come cheap

 I read that 15,000 people die each year just crossing railway tracks (1). As the article says, its a bloody massacre out there, and not much seems to be done about it.

I compared it to a few countries, it turns out that India loses 5 times more people crossing railway tracks than all cause mortality in the entire country of Qatar.

How difficult can it be to make sure this number decreases? How much should the Government do?

Now, 15000 people dead every year doesn't seem a big number for the Government. Though human life is invaluable, I thought let's put a dollar value on it, so that it looks like a bigger deal to the government.

I did the following calculations:

Median age of India: 26.2 years
Life expectancy of India: 67.14 years

Now assuming each person follows the mean:
We're losing 6,14,100 life - years every year (with 15,000 deaths)

Using current data for per person productivity, this translates to:
Average per capita income (PPP): $3,700 per year

Total productivity loss: $2,272,170,000
That is Rs.113,608,500,000 PER YEAR. 

This is considering only productivity loss, but human life has more value than just the amount it is expected to generate every year. This number is substantially low as working population travels around most, and if one incorporates this, the number will be even higher. But I didn't have that data.

So dear Government, we lose more people crossing railway tracks than due to wars and terrorism, and the value of this loss is at least Rs.113.6 billion per year. A good enough reason to do something?

Hum aapke ghulam.

So the Government plans making MBBS 6 and a 1/2 years.

I don't blame them for their incompetence. I blame myself. And I blame you.

WE elected someone who thinks homosexuality is a disease, and the best way to bring down the birth rate is by bringing in TVs in rural India. And better still, WE made him health minister.

So now when he messes with our lives, WE are to blame.

Thank you Ghulam Nabi Azad. Please do remember next time, your policies should bring DOWN the doctor - patient ratio. Just like we should bring down your government in the next elections. And elect who instead? BJP? Ah - crap!

Arrest He Who Speaks! (by Naman Saklecha)

The deal with Congress, Anna and the Lok Pal Bill is very clear. Tyranny has virtually struck our country, and before we knew it, police (having not much power or soundness of their own) started arresting innocent citizens, including 11 year old kids for protesting against the corrupt. It was foreseen that the corrupt would react, but it was not foreseen that they would react in the most childish ways.
 
I was thinking that they would plot some moves, or moreover give in to the Lok Pal; but their strategy seems different. I mean, I used to give them the credit of being politicians (and hence be political about their moves), but these people, as I realize come from a different root. The reason why they have managed to earn this power and this ton of money was not because they are more intelligent or shrewder than you or me. It is simply because our laws want them to be corrupt, and hence it has always been difficult for the ordinary / honest person to even approach these positions because the basic criteria is not education / past background / a test to check your knowledge of the country or the people; the basic need is to be heartless and the courage to ruin and destroy the people (let go infrastructure and other institutions) who are their brothers and sisters and are sometimes at the brim of death.
 
The way corruption has grown in our country we have started to feel that we cannot live without it. This feeling is very legitimate as every single person, from bottom to top is corrupt. Hence any work you have to get done, which usually is legit (unless you are in some real illegal stuff), takes longer, is sloppier, and the rude environment is so overwhelming that you’d rather be outside the passport office gate, pay 200 bucks and get the most expedite delivery of your passport. Yes I will not deny being corrupt. I will, however, deny being corrupt since Anna’s movement.  
 
Many people, even from the general public fear the Jan Lok Pal Bill. Their fears, as what I believe are very short termed. It reminds me of what Sarkar (yes Bollywood again) once said, “Pas ke fayede ko nahi, door ke nuksaan ko dekho”.
The public fears things like – how will they bribe a cop if the Lok Pal Bill is passed.
Well let me bring light to this: without corruption many more entrepreneurs will rise who cannot, due to the 7 million permissions needed before a bribe (none after). There will be a better education system where only the necessary quota will be applied (no “management” quota as Jai Hind taught me), you can commute faster from one place to another given that the nexus between road developers (aka Mahavir Road Construction) will break, and there will be plenty more roads built. Builders can’t build buildings at the dividers, again increasing a half an hour for you to get to work, and the biggest of all, the commodity prices of your foods and every single molecule of air you breath will not go up the days Sharad Pawar has a bad hair day. There are many things, and moreover these things are not just bogus – they are in the open, and not one individual from the public is unaware of these issues. There is only one problem left. us.
 
We all need to get out of our comfort zones, quit whatever we can and more, add your count to the movement, and I want to see how the government denies us our right. Every single individual that adds to this will strengthen the movement; will strengthen our shot at getting this done at the earliest. Let me also correct those who doubt the power of one individual: Anna Hazare! The biggest example. At this long weekend of holidays I want your support at as many rallies as you can attend. I want each rally to look like a Godzilla from the top that is going to inhale the government in one shot if it wants to. These rallies will only be peaceful as they always have been. I have been arrested and have gone to jail, and it was more than peaceful the way we went about it (pics and videos below). Infact we cooperated so much that the cops did not even have to as much touch us to put us in the police vans. We ran in and refused to come out. We helped the police fill in registrations for new inmates as there were 20 cops and 700 inmates… I can understand the difficulty they faced. Finally they had to beg us (I’m not exaggerating now) to leave as the “Azad” Maidan Jail (as my friends like to call it) was packed.
 
The gist of this article is: the country needs you. Come to rally and help as much as you can, and you will see how satisfying that is.
Inquilab Zindabad!

Author: Naman Saklecha

COLD WATER gives you what half hour of Cardio does

I can't wait to go to McDonald's to try out their new Spicy McChicken or whatever it is called. I love food, but unfortunately for me, my metabolism doesn't. Its absolutely unfair when I see my friends hogging as much, as little active as me, but yet not piling on weight like I am in final year of Med school. 

Coming to the point, some experiment has pointed out that drinking 2 litres of chilled cold water through the day will help you burn 100 additional calories. As I believe all the research and experiments that seem right and convenient to me, I chose to believe this as well. My advice to every one - drink ONLY cold water. 

Lets quantify my advice and the experiment findings now:

A friend joined a gym recently, primarily for weight loss which cost him Rs.20000 per annum.

On an average, he goes to the gym 4 days a week, does Cardio for an average of half hour, floor exercises for 10-15 minutes, and no weights because he had a fracture recently, burning about 350 calories per session. 

Now assuming he is sincere through out the year (which I'm sure he won't be):

Calorie loss in one year = 72800 kcals

Cost per 100 calories burnt = Rs.28

Time spent = 12480 minutes

Water method:

Calorie loss in one year = 36500 kcals

Cost per 100 calories burnt = Rs.0

Time spent = 0 minutes

Final result:

Follow my advice to lose 50.1% calories of an average one hour weight loss work out at the gym, but at the same time, also save money (Rs. 10020) and time (6252 minutes) calculated per annum. 

The Indian blogger 'discovers' how to make a BPL citizen earn 16666% more

 Going through the RTI website, researchers at The Indian Blogger have put into place a new employment generation scheme for our Below poverty level brothers and sisters.

When people above the poverty line apply for a Right to Information, they are charged for the filing. Charges are minimal but can be about Rs.50 for an average application. More detailed information is charged higher, at Rs. 5 per half hour spent by the official to research on the desired information, and Rs. 2 per page of information given to you.

So where's the earning opportunity for the BPL citizens? Like many of the social schemes in our country, this 'right' is free for them as well. Individuals below the poverty line don't have to pay any fee for a RTI.

That means, if they do 20 applications on behalf of individuals and give a 50% discount to all, its 500 bucks for a day's work! This is 16666% of the threshold for the poverty line*.