WE THE PEOPLE
AI proposes to organize competition among Students/Teachers to develop concept of Citizenship / Environmental preservation
Hence they should not miss the opportunity, but prove their mettle to become eligible for Singapore trip
By: Uzair Khan
Srinagar: While realizing its contribution to global warming, Air India undertook massive brain storming and the genesis of the idea was reportedly shown by K.M. Mathew of Malyala Manorama wherein two target groups were identified—the Students being our future and the teachers considered to be the custodians of the future --and a plan was drawn to motivate this segment of the society. Thus RANK and BOLT awards are given away to Students and Teachers in different states of India by Air India. These awards are given away under the aegis of the Reaching Out Project which is a CSR activity of Air India. The main objectives being development of the concept of responsible Citizenship and preservation of our crumbling Environment.
In this backdrop, the Air India has been organizing Rank and Bolt Awards yearly in different states of India to develop sprit of competitiveness and taking the Awardies to Singapore with twin objectives as stated above. It is to be kept in mind that Singapore is the only country in the world where four ethnic communities live together and where the practice of civic responsibilities is of the highest order. It is the country where stress is laid on recycling and preserving of ecology besides it is an emerging center of higher learning.
As for as Kashmir province is concerned, Air India has engaged ‘The Mirror of Kashmir’ as a Media Partner and the last date for submission of bid forms has been fixed as May 31, 2009. The forms can be provided to the candidates by the Mirror office during working hours after these are received from Mumbai office of Air India.
It may be stated that students, teachers and journalists drawn from different states on the country are taken by Air India to Singapore to engage them in different activities and to keep them abreast with the stage of development having taken place in that country since it emerged as a State on the map of the world. The visit is supposed to help the students, the teachers and the journalists to understand the level of civic sense and homogeneity as different communities having different faiths live together without any rancor and bitterness. The visiting teams are expected to learn more and more and take their country to new heights. Water being scarce in Singapore so they have resorted to recycling of the same which is called Newater and conforms to WHO standards.
However, it needs to be reminded to our readers that the World Bank in its latest study has reported that India is home to roughly one-third of the World’s poor. It has also a higher proportion of its population living below 2 dollar a day than Sub-Saharan Africa, which is considered the World’s poorest region. The progress made in the last 61 years since independence is that the poverty rate-- those living below 1.25 dollar per day -– has come down from 59.8 percent to 51.3 percent. This means that nearly 500 million people still live on Rs. 40 to Rs. 50 a day.
Therefore, if India is to mean anything to people within the country and in the neighborhood, it has to go back to its original ideal to a welfare state. Besides the society as a whole must have homogeneous characteristics so that communal riots are curbed and classless society emerges as India is called a land of diversities. It is the land of Chesti (RA), Sheikh-ul-Alam (RA), Guru Nanak and Gandhi, who have preached love, brotherhood, harmony and peace. It is irony that the Indian political parties do not realize that there is no alternative to Pluralism in a country where the dialect changes after every hundred kilometers and where the complexion of the population is different from the one left behind at a short distance. The political parties are interested only in their well being and are after high pedestals in the affairs of administration. This is the reason that the virus of corruption has penetrated deep into the annals of administration. The Transparency International has rated India at 88 on its scale. The least corrupt is Finland and the most corrupt country has been mentioned Bangladesh. This is a serious alarm, which calls for eradication of corruption at all levels so that every penny spent on welfare schemes is spent properly.
We have to also remember that per capita consumption of electricity is considered as a reliable index of the standard of living and prosperity of the people. There are countries that use more than 30 times the per capita electrical energy used in India. India is far below the world average. The installed capacity available is inadequate to meet country’s requirements. There is a shortage of 8 per cent in energy availability and 12 per cent peaking capacity. Nearly half the households do not have access to electricity. Inadequacy and faulty distribution networks have been one of the major reasons for poor quality of supply. The food production is also insufficient to meet the growing demands of the population.
Hence the Contestants should not miss the opportunity, but prove their mettle to become eligible for Singapore trip.
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