Social Evil - 1 of 3. Drug usage on the rise among India's youth

When I studied my Engineering about 20 years back in Chennai, we used to hear about drugs on-and-off. Mainly there used to be rumors that certain group(s) of students would do drugs on special occasions (college day celebrations) in some forsaken place.

But, recently it seems the drug usage among youth/teens/college and even schools students is heavily on the rise.

Too many news items of late. Just a 5 minute search on google throws up so much
Woman arrested with 21kg marijuana
Drug addiction among students on the rise

Here is a Sting by NDTV on how easy to get drugs in front of Bangalore colleges

if you think only Bangalore has a problem, check out Pune - Here and here  and about Chandigarh - Chandigarh youth turn slave to drugs and 27 Kgs of Heroin seized!

A combination of factors seem to be fanning the fire!

More money in the hands of the youth, More exposure and hence confusions on rights and wrongs, Confusions over rights and responsibilities, Terrible pressure - Peer pressure, pressure from Media, pressure from competitions for everything - from college seats to sweetheart's hearts.

On the other hand, seems the crooks have gotten brazen, the hierarchy and levels of playing fields extend to the gates of schools and houses, Greed has taken over good and common sense with some of the enforcers also taking part in the crime.

It is a killer for our future generation, they being harmed mentally and physically. Just read this story about a eighteen year old girl who got addicted to drugs even before her 10th standard and how it consumed her.

Once they get into the habit, sadly they don't realize the effects it has on their physique , their minds and their family members.

With such a mushrooming of the problem, it is very good timing that Prime minister Narendra Modi has started a debate/discussion on this and is planning to talk about it on his next Mann Ki Baath. 

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-pm-narendra-modi-invites-views-experiences-on-dealing-with-menace-of-drugs-2031979. Please check the links and place your views to save the youth of India

Here is a prayer for those victims - To get a better frame of mind, Understand the implications and Be able to resist the temptations and live their lives to the fullest.

Good news today - Kerela High court upholds liquor ban

Picture By Sreejithk2000

The Kerala high court has upheld the liquor ban by the kerala state government, as a first step towards prohibition in the state. About 600+ bars will be shut from tomorrow.

For more info check http://www.newkerala.com/news/2014/fullnews-120363.html

Hope that this starts a first step towards the long road towards prohibition

Transparency in the Indian Central government

The new government seems to be taking serious steps towards transparency and clean goveranance. The list of assets and liabilities of all ministers in the Union council is listed in pmindia.gov.in.

Good job!

Festival of lights in Pakistan - A good news

Saw in papers today about the festival of lights being celebrated in Pakistan, with official posters and declaration of holiday for senate etc.

While Economic times states "Pakistan enthusiastically celebrates Diwali", the Hindu writes "Diwali lights across the border"

Found a nicer note and the official posters another blog - 
http://www.anindianmuslim.com/2014/10/diwali-celebrations-in-sindh-and-other.html

Here is the picture and news from "Pakistan Hindu Council" website.

Diwali in Pakistan

This is very good news!

Seems these have been happening earlier too, but hoping that this is sustained and is a good start of better relationships. 

Not just for Pakistan and India, but a good gesture towards inclusive society and sharing happiness with community irrespective of their majority/minority status will improve compassion and reduce the conflicts everywhere. 

RTI Replies to be posted online from Nov 1 2014

Interesting announcement from the government to place all RTI replies online from Nov 01 2014. News link 
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-10-22/news/55318960_1_rti-act-upa-government-transparency

The advantages are there to see
a) Will improve transparency. 

b) Will reduce the work load on RTI, since common questions can be answered once and referred rather than spending time. 

Hopefully it increases efficiency in answering the more important and specific ones.

At this point, it seems the information will be whetted to remove personal  details before publishing. If that happens, then the worry about personal information being made available publicly will be handled.

Want a search engine that does not track you - try duckduckgo.com

As we know, most of the information that we enter in our computers, search engines, websites etc are being tracked, analyzed and used for advertisement and many other purposes.

A breath of fresh air is a search engine, that does not track you. 

I Have been using www.duckduckgo.com for the past many months and its been a good experience so far.

If you are one of those who is excited about the "no-tracking" feature, recommend you to give it a try.

If you have any comments or any other information, feel free to share.

Quotable quote - Great minds discuss ideas. where do you spend your time?

Read this quote a few months back and I think it is a very effective one.  

It helps you identify where you spend your time and I think it is one of the key traits of successful people, helping them focus their time and attention. 

Sharing with you with hope that it helps you too.

"Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people."

- Eleanor Roosevelt