Inspirational Thoughts

Don't miss the Miss @ D4. Posted By : M G Warrier Inspirational thoughts https://youtu.be/3SDkzDlw1yc Warrier's Collage 30092020 : Economics and Commonsense A Interaction 1) V Sundaresan "There cannot be a better tribute to late SPB than the one paid by Sh Babusenan. He has aptly described the late singer’s best qualities, in a few lines." 2) Dr K Kanagasabapathy, Mumbai " I visited both these places (Ref : Article on Sri Narayana Guru : Varkala and Shivagiri- Collage) during a tour in Kerala a few years back. I also climbed a hill to the top where Narayana Guru sat on meditation for some years. It was a spiritual experience." 3) Dr T V Surendran, Mananthavady " Dr Abdul Kalam's letter and Sri Narayana Guru's "Ezhava Siva" are indeed the rich delicacies in our Collage today" 4) Mohan Ganesan "Fantastic message from Dr Abdul Kalam" 5) R Jayakumar " Keep your fork... the best is yet to come.. The story sent by Vathsala Jayaraman about a cancer afflicted young woman who had only three months to live, has a valuable lesson. The woman is young and facing death, and she displays courage to explain how well she is prepared to face death. Our life is a time given to us to use it to be well prepared for our life after death. Just like, being well prepared before an exam or interview gives us confidence to expect a happy future, our good deeds, as well as readiness to accept sufferings in life, will guarantee a place in heaven. Not leaving the fork anywhere but to hold it in our hand all the time signifies, that we deserve to expect the best yet to come. Our sufferings and persecutions in life are seen as the means to expect great rewards in Heaven. But what is happening is that we all are in constant search of happiness in our worldly life." (Collage View : Pursuit of happiness by itself is not wrong. Let's go by Sri Narayana Guru's teaching : " The Guru wrote*: "Avanavan aatmasukhatthinu Aacharikkunnava Aparannu sukhatthinaay Varenam. (What one does for one's own happiness should result in the happiness of another.) This can be regarded as the essence of his philosophy." *Excerpted from Babusenan's write-up) B Economics and Commonsense 1) Speech by F A Hayak https://youtu.be/pYCD7_OG2fU Evolution of Tradition 2) Speech by Sanjeev Sanyal https://youtu.be/9z0hK8acrjs On rewriting India's History BB Current Affairs Short of MPC members, RBI announces deferring monetary policy meeting C Readers Write 1) V Babusenan To us modesty is a virtue. To the westerners too it is generally so. But there was a celebrated westerner who differed. That was Sherlock Holmes, the master detective. Once he accidentally told his Boswell, Dr.Watson that he had a brother, by name Mycroft Holmes, working in White Hall, the Secretariat of the British government, who possessed better powers of observation than he. The latter took this as a sign of modesty on the part of his friend because, if it was true, such a man could never remain unknown. Holmes laughed and made the following remarks: "My dear Watson, I cannot agree with those who rank modesty among the virtues. To the logician all things should be seen exactly as they are, and to underestimate one's self is as much a departure from truth as to exaggerate one's own powers. When I say, therefore, that Mycroft has better powers of observation than I, you may take it that I am speaking the exact and literal truth." ('The Greek Interpreter')" 2) Sivaraman Jaswant Singh* " I take this to express my feeling of sorrow of the passing away of Mr. Jaswant Singh former EAM and FM. He was one of the finest of ministers that I have served with though only for 11 days. When he was MP he complained to FM Dr. Singh that the opium cultivators were being oppressed by heavy minimum productivity demands as ordered by me 85 kg per hectare as against earlier 55 kg. This was to prevent illegal sale of opium. I did not agree to reduce it. So the FM constituted a committee under the MOS finance with Jaswant singh and a few other MPS as members to personally interact with the opium cultivators. We went by a chartered flight to Chittorgarh in Rajasthan from where Jaswant singh was due to contest the elections. On the way I explained to the members the importance of the minimum quantity and that I had already notified it and the UN had also been informed. I told them despite that there will be smuggling of a few hundred kGs which will be bought by heroin smugglers through Indian agents. So I made my position clear that I will not change my order and ony the GOVT will have to overrule me. India is the only country authorised by the UN to cultivate and extract opium. It is under the Rev Dept. Australia is also authorised but only poppy straw. They cannot extract opium from the pods. Jaswant Singh heard me patiently and I told him of the reputational impact it would have on India if we went back on on our decision as experimentally it had been proved that 85 kg per hectare was not difficult to produce but there will be hardly anything left for illegal sale. In Chittorgarh there was a big gathering of opium cultivators and as Jaswant Singh was a Rajasthani he interacted with the farmers. At the end he spoke to his other colleagues and the Minister and then publicly announced that he supported my decision. He told me he was in favour of my decision though he knew he could face defeat ,in the election. Jaswant singh was squarely defeated in the election I think in 1998 by a congressman who championed the demand for reducing the average yield . (PC reduced the average after he became FM.) Jaswant was for 11 days the FM. When he lost office after the defeat of the first Vajpayee govt he gave a dinner to all the officers of the Finance Ministry with their wives included in the Maurya Sheraton hotel. Later, the VP ITC in charge told me the very next day Mr Jaswant Singh sent a personal cheque to pay for the dinner. I was very unhappy that he went to Kandahar escorting the most dreaded terrorists Mullah Omar and two others and yielded to the terrorists in exchange for the passengers of the hijacked aircraft. In his interview to the press some 10 years later he said that it was his most unhappy moment in life. I went to meet him in the Watergate Hotel in DC where he was staying when he was probably the Dy Ch of the PC. I was surprised when he accompanied me up to my car after our meeting. He was a thorough gentleman. May his soul rest in peace. Sivaraman" *Forward received from V R Chittanandam, Chennai 3) V N Kelkar Follow up Current Affairs (Collage 27092020) UN Follow up : India in Security Council India has been elected non permanent member of UN Security Council with 184 out of 192 votes. India's term begins from January, 2021. India has been a founder member of UN since 1945. India has become a Member of UN Security Council many times in the past, the last being 2011-12. More important news is that India wins elections, beats China to become Member of prestigious UN Commission on Status of Women (UN CSW). India and Afghanistan got more votes than China in the elections to UN CSW a body of Economic and Social Council ( ECOSOC ). For the two members to be elected from the Asia Pacific states, India secured 38 of 54 votes. Afghanistan secured 39. China got 27 failing to cross even half the mark. This is a body exclusively dedicated for promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women. The Commission on Status of Women (CSW) is UN organ for promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women. India became a Member of UN's CSW, a body of Economic and Social Council. Historically speaking there is a background of social reformers in India since pre independence days who made hurculean efforts for promoting women's rights and gender equality. As many as fifteen women were part of the constituent assembly that drafted Indian Constitution. These women were to represent women of India and to protect their rights. The successive five year plans laid emphasis on empowerment of women, gender equality and education of women. Thereafter, Planning Commission and now Niti Aayog continue to give importance to development schemes for women. There are a bunch of on going schemes like 'Beti Bachao Beti Padhao', STEP, Ujjwala Yojana, Encouraging women in defence forces, Mahila Shakti Kendra etc. etc. which take care of women's rights. In short, consistent efforts made by India for promoting women's development and towards achieving gender equality made her win the election to UN CSW. VNKELKAR" 4) Character Profound Lesson* History has it that when the ancient Chinese decided to live in peace, they made the Great Wall of China; they thought no one could climb it due to its height. During the first 100 years of its existence, the Chinese were invaded thrice and every time, the hordes of enemy infantry had no need of penetrating or climbing over the wall, because each time, they bribed the guards and came through the doors. The Chinese built the wall, but forgot the character - building of the wall-guards. Though the Great Wall has over the years become a powerful symbol of the country’s enduring strength and spirit, but it has actually been a good reminder to the Chinese of the superiority of human character. The Chinese realised much later that the best defence against the enemy is not a fortified wall, but a fortified character. Thus, the building of human character comes before building of anything else. William Shakespeare captured it succinctly when he said: “The fault is not in our stars, but in ourselves" Peter Schutz, the former chief executive officer of Porsche said: “ HIRE CHARACTER; TRAIN SKILLS" Lastly, back in the days when Germany was divided, a huge wall separated East and West Berlin. One day, some people in East Berlin took a truck load of garbage and dumped it on the West Berlin side. The people of West Berlin could have done the same thing, but they didn't. Instead they took a truck load of canned goods, bread, milk and other provisions, and neatly stacked it on the East Berlin side. On top of this stack they placed the sign: “EACH GIVES WHAT HE HAS" You can only give what you have. Is it *hate* or *love* ? *Violence* or *peace* ? *Death* or *life* ? *Capacity to build* or *capacity to destroy* ? What have you acquired over the years? *Team spirit* or *pull down* architecture ? "EACH GIVES WHAT HE HAS" Please give out the good in you always. *Forward received from S M Sendil, Chennai D Blogs and Links 1) Pension Rules https://m.economictimes.com/news/economy/policy/deceased-employees-daughters-entitled-for-family-pension-even-in-pendency-of-divorce-centre/articleshow/78339797.cms 2) Maskology https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/readersblog/pen-my-thoughts/masks-essential-component-of-our-attire-26537/ Posted online comments. 3) COVID impact on students https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/readersblog/covid-19-effect-on-student-life/covid-19-effect-on-student-life-23470/ A student thinks aloud in July 2020. Still valid. Posted online comments. 4) How old are you? https://www.livescience.com/63645-optical-illusion-young-old-woman.html Dug out this woman after accessing this link : https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/new-cdc-estimates-fatality-rate-covid-19-drops-again-and-may-surprise-you E Books by M G Warrier https://notionpress.com/author/m_g_warrier The book "India's Decade of Reforms" by M G Warrier was published by Notion Press, Chennai in 2018. Available in 3 formats (eBook, Paperback and HC) with the Publisher and major online outlets like Amazon, Flipkart etc Access this link to read the first few pages. The same publisher, namely the Notion Press, Chennai is publishing Warrier's third book with focus on Fiscal and Monetary Policies in October 2020. This will be a "Companion Volume" of "India's Decade of Reforms". Follow me at www.warriersblog.com for updates. This Blog has crossed 2.8 lakhs pageviews. There were some queries about availability of my books outside India. These links may help : https://www.amazon.co.uk/Indias-Decade-Reforms-Reserve-Central/dp/1642491438 https://www.amazon.com/Indias-Decade-Reforms-Reserve-Central/dp/1642491438