A welcome change

Drought looms large

Amitabh Ranjan

Magnificent News Production

Patna. Vanshi Singh, a 70-year-old farmer living in one of the villages by the side of southern bank of River Sone, is a hopeless soul and distraught as well. He is fast loosing his hope in this season of Kharif for bumpy crop which he used to reap earlier. Living near Sone is not going to benefit him any more thanks to almost dried up river.

And, at the moment, Vanshi is wondering what if monsoon will too get delayed. He would perhaps nothing but to face complete drought in his large farming area.For him, monsoon is of course a boon to irrigate his farming, but, it is Sone on which he hinges upon all his savings for

the season.

Much to his ill-fate, the river is devoid of water this year to the most part of its length after entering into the border of the state. Apart from cursing fate, he is dismayed that why state government is not taking notice of his predicament and of other cultivators like him.

"They say there is Sushasan (good governance) under Nitish regime but, it has not yet reached to us. And, it will have no effect now as Rohini nakshtra has also been passed off," he makes poignant statement on his state-of-affairs.

"When we ask (officials) about canal water for irrigation purpose they flatly reply that river has no water in its store," he complains.

"We are least bothered by them as it has no meaning to us whether Nitish or Lalu is in rule," Vanshi remarks pungently.

Apart from rain, for decades, Sone has been a sole source of water for irrigation to hundreds of villages located beside it. Ironically and quite contrary to the other time of the year, dried out river has left more than thousand acres of arable land parched and ominous sign of drought is looming large over here. Along with Vanshi, many other farmers of his village including Ajay Singh and Jitendra Singh are also facing similar dilemma and they have pinned their all hopes on the state government to take steps.

However, Jitendra has threatened that farmers would stage demonstration if water problem would not be solved in coming days.

State chief minister Nitish Kumar too has shown sympathy towards farmers but, he blames neighboring states Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh and defective agreement over Ban Sagar dam project.The Ban Sagar dam was an out come of an agreement signed by three states- Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar- to share the water of Sone.

On Monday, when Nitish was asked about the impending drought in southern part of the state, he alleged that the agreement had not yielded enough quantity of water to Bihars farmers.

"The very agreement was not properly done and it has parched many villages here in the state," he added, "I have just returned from visiting those areas and it is indeed not a good sign."

Nitish said that he had urged the Central government to take stock of the situation without delay.

Love

Once had a friend who grew to be very close to me. Once when we were sitting at the edge of a swimming pool, she filled the palm of her hand with some water and held it before me, and said this: "You see this water carefully contained on my hand? It symbolizes Love." This was how I saw it: As long as you keep your hand caringly open and allow it to remain there, it will always be there . However, if you attempt to close your fingers round it and try to posses it, it will spill through the first cracks it finds .This is the greatest mistake that people do when they meet love ... they try to posses it, they demand, they expect ... and just like the water spilling out of your hand, love will retrieve from you. For love is meant to be free,you can not change its nature. If there are people you love, allow them to be free beings.Give and don't expect. Advise, but don't order. Ask, but never demand.It might sound simple, but it is a lesson that may take a lifetime to truly practice.It is the secret to true love.To truly practice it, you must sincerely feel no expectations from those who you love, and yet an unconditional caring." Passing thought .... Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take; but by the moments that take our breath away. It might sound simple, but it is a lesson that may take a lifetime .

by Swami Vivekananda

इन्हें प्रशिक्षण दो

हर जोडे को प्रेमी समझना हमारी कुन्ठित मानसिकता हो सकती है। कुछ दिनों पहले ऐसी ही मानसिकता का नजारा दिखाया पटना की महिला पुलिसकर्मियों ने जिन्होनें लप्पड़ों- थप्पड़ों के द्वारा पटना के शहीद पीर अली पार्क में अपनी उपस्थिति दर्ज कराई । इस घटना पर जहां महिला पुलिसकर्मी अपनी पीठ थप-थपाने में लगी रही वही सभ्रांत समाज सोचने पर मजबूर हो गया है कि क़ानून-व्यवस्था दुरुस्त करने के नाम पर ‘मोरल पुलिसिंग’ कहां तक न्यायोचित है।

संक्षेप में घटना ये हुई कि शाम के वक़्त इस पार्क में कुछ युगल पुलिस की नज़र में चढ़ गये और सरे आम रुटीन बजा रही महिला पुलिस कर्मियों ने इनकी पिटाई कर दी और सबके सामने उठक-बैठक भी करवा डाला। लड़की पर इन पुलिस कर्मियों के हाथ कुछ ज्यादा ही साफ हुए। उसकी तो जम कर धुनाई कर दी।
हालांकि दूसरे ही दिन पटना की एस एस पी ने आरोपी महिला पुलिस कर्मी को निलम्बित भी कर दिया।

लेकिन सवाल ये है कि जब एक लड़का और लड़की एक दूसरे से बातें करते हैं तो क्या वे महज प्रेमी-प्रेमिका ही होते हैं ?

ये दो एक मित्र के रूप में भी हो सकते हैं । सहकर्मी के रूप में हो सकते हैं । सामाजिक कार्यकर्ता के रूप में हो सकते हैं । एक तरफ तो महिलाओं एवं युवतियों को बराबरी का दर्जा दिये जाने की मांग की जाती हैं तो दूसरी तरफ पुरूषों के साथ कदम ताल करके चलने वाले इन युवतियों को महिलाएँ ही रोकती है ।

दरअसल इन महिला पुलिस कर्मियों को प्रशिक्षण की आवश्यकता है जो संविधान में प्रदत्त अधिकारों को जानें तथा शहरी सभ्य समाज को समझ सकें क्योंकि पुलिस में भर्ती के दौरान शहरी एवं ग्रामीण परिवेश दोनो से कर्मियों की नियुक्तियाँ होती हैं। निचले स्तर पर नियुक्त होने वाले पुलिसकर्मी अमूमन ग्रामीण परिवेश के होते है जहां युवक–युवतियाँ उन्मुक्त वातावरण में नही मिल सकते है। इसलिये इन कर्मियों की मानसिकता भी उसी तरह की होती है ।

साथ ही इन महिला पुलिसकर्मियों को ये भी सोचना चाहिए की उनके साथ काम करने वाले पुरुष पुलिसकर्मी भी होते है और अगर वो कही बैठकर एक दूसरे से अपने अनुभव बाट रहें होते है तो क्या इन्हे भी प्रेमी-प्रेमिका समझा जाये।

महिला पुलिस द्वारा प्रताड़ित हुए युवक – युवती अगर प्रेमी-प्रेमिका थे भी तो वो कोई आपत्तिजनक स्थिति मे नही थे तब इसे उनके स्वतंत्रता के अधिकारों का हनन माना जाना चाहिए।

अन्त में ऐसे प्रेमी जोड़ों से इतना ही कहना है कि अगर वो सही में एक दूसरे प्यार करते है तो डरे नहीं क्योंकि वो कहते हैं ना कि प्यार पर जितना भी पहरा हुआ है, प्यार उतना ही गहरा हुआ है।

राजीव रंजन