Why APJ Abdul Kalam should not be the next President of India?

 The debate in the country over who would, or should, be the next President of India after Pratibha Devi Patil completes her tenure in July is touching the height of temperature. Every political party apart from the major two, the Congress and the BJP, has started communicating its outlooks, and most seem to be swerving around to at least one spot – the new individual for the job should be apolitical, beyond partisan politics, and non-controversial. I might also add cherished, loved, looked up to and possessing an impeccable quality among the qualities. Moreover, it is the newspapers, news channels, or the new media tools every where the hot topic is the next President.

As the analization shows, the two major parties clutch their cards close to their coffers, it might not mean much as neither of them has the figures to sway the result. In a way, that is great, for we know what can be wreaked upon us in circumstances where one party calls the inoculations and has all the figures.

The enlargement is stirring, undoubtedly, and gratitude to the social media, there is intense debate and discussion on what and who the next head of state should be. Among the number of names being thrown around, the name of the former President APJ Abdul Kalam has been the most in strife. Would Kalam making it back as the resident of Rashtrapati Bhavan. It is tuff to figure it now since it is a big prospect in the biggest democracy of the world.

In March I got the golden chance to meet Kalam in a function at Allahabad. (Thanks to Dhananjai Chopra,CC of my centre) When I heard that yet again name of Kalam is at the top position for the President I was pleased. But I have a different outlook on this. On one hand, at least one powerful party may not let that happen. More prominently, howsoever good Kalam was as President, and there is no hesitation that he was effortlessly the most esteemed and non-political chap we have had, I find it very gloomy that we have to even foster opinion of calling him out of retirement to be our President yet again. No, I am not saying Kalam is flabby for the job, for he was a astonishing ambassador of India, but do you see the catastrophe in this? A nation of over a billion people, do we have such a liquidation of human resources, leadership that we cannot find another who is laudable enough to dwell in, the utmost office and possesses the qualities mentioned earlier? It is gloomy, isn’t it?

After this different view one may ask again why not Kalam? I am in no doubt to articulate that from the names in the run Kalam is certainly the best. But folks please try to understand we cannot find another Kalam? If we can find ‘missile-woman’ after ‘missile-man’ we can certainly find an able candidate who can work with the dedication like Kalam. A big example to proof my view is E Sreedharan who had resigned following a key Metro construction accident in July 2009. At that occasion many sections from the media had argued-Should Sreedharan be allowed to go?. Since Sreedharan knew how the system works and has always delivered and given that the Commonwealth Games were round the corner, we needed him there to supervise the work. But other than that, it again pointed to our liquidation that we had to depend so deeply on a personality and couldn't find someone precious enough to swap him.

For a country that frequently desires to be among the world superpowers, provide me a favor to understand the nation is only as good as its human assets. It may sound too rounded, but the verity remains that we have a lot of workers and no leaders. Lack of suitable leadership and leaders would foil every endeavor or hallucination of turning out a nation that the world looks up to.

I might be wrong with this different point of view and would not be surprised when I will see visuals of Kalam entering as the resident of Rashtrapati Bhavan. Lastly certainly I  could be criticized but one thing is very clear i.e. why cannot we produce a leader like Obama?    

Prateek Pathak

Student

B.A in Media Studies

University of ALlahabad

Why people don’t use auto mode in SLR cameras?

It is outlandish that in times of plethora, we often choose not to exercise our selections. We guzzle without giving a thought to the future. We do stuff that make our lives as pleasurable as possible without a second peek at the byproducts of our lenience. It is simple to reason with ourselves that all of this is innate. It is, of course, in the personality of all beings to consume before we conserve.

Preservation, too, is a purely humans attribute. Animals do not preserve, in the way humans connote it. They basically live within a natural equilibrium, acquiring what is essential and furnishing what needs to be given. As humans, we tend to deem that we are a slash above other creatures in the evolutionary ladder, because we have bigger brains and produced religion and attitude, and because we can decide when to mate. This is innate. Nature, it appears, is not devoid of a sagacity of paradox.

Undeniably, nature boom on all things ironical and parody ambiguous. For example, the hardest metals are born from the liquids inside the hearts of the hottest flames. And, it is in the times of trials and tribulations, that heroes are born. Can elation exist without the familiarity of sorrow? Imagine war between India and Pakistan without harmony… or life without death. Scientists theories that life itself was born in the middle of uncongenial chemical soups, created by lava vents so deep in the sea that the water touching the molten rock cannot twinkle into vapor. However let us leave the phoenixes of the globe to their relevant ashes, and talk about photography.

It takes a life span of tolerance to become a well-known wildlife photographer.  As the great American Wildlife Photographer wrote in his autobiography that “Wildlife Photographers requires endurance and control “Nonetheless, the amount of a renowned photographer’s most illustrious work might not amount to a miniature, if you mull over the entire time the shutter remained open for those shots. Famous photographer Umesh Gogna during a workshop articulated that “In wildlife photography patience is very important. At many occasions photographers spent hours but could not able to get even one picture. I have spent lots of days and hours to get the best pictures of tiger in my kitty” I have seen photographers turn cameras costing lakhs of rupees into point-and-shoot toys. Like my classmate Saurabh Agrawal is planning to spent lots of rupees to buy the best point-and-shoot camera, spending that much he can get a good SLR too. But, what then, is an Auto mode for, if it is not to be used? When I started learning photography from a SLR camera, it was tuff because I thought if one can click pictures via auto mode then why to invest time and brain to think about aperture, shutter speed, mode….etc.  I once read that Dr. Salim Ali, legendary ornithologist and naturalist, got his photographs of birds with a cheap Agfa box camera, by moving very, very slowly… at the rate of an inch a minute. Same was the case with the prominent photographer Raghu Rai.

Still I am planning to buy my first SLR camera and getting rid of point-and-shoot toy. A startling quantity of things in our quest for creativity is coupled with the availability or unavailability of options.

Get the panorama? 

Prateek Pathak

Student

B.A in Media Studies

University of Allahabad

AGNI V - a ‘game changer’ but purely for deterrence…….!

A ‘game changer’ as the Scientific  Adviser to the Defense Minister  V.K. Saraswat says, that can perform different roles, from carrying multiple warheads to providing anti-satellite capability and even launching tiny satellites into orbit. India has successfully carried out the maiden test flight of its longest-range nuclear-capable missile, which can apparently travel more than 5,000 kilometers. The Agni V rocket took off around 8:03 a.m. local on Thursday morning and "met all the mission objectives," said S.P. Das, director of the missile test site. The missile, whose stated range of about 3,100 miles puts major Chinese cities within its striking distance, was fired from the coast of the eastern Indian state of Orissa. Defense minister, A.K. Antony, congratulated the Defense Research and Development Organization for the "immaculate" success of the missile launch.  Our country’s test fires long-range rocket, the missile development is not an aggressive initiative and that its military program is based on building a credible minimum deterrent with a "no-first-use" policy. "Our missiles are purely for deterrence," Ravi Gupta, a spokesman for the Defense Research and Development Organization, had said ahead of the launch. In November, India successfully tested the fourth version of Agni, meaning "fire" in Hindi, with a range of 3,500 km. Built years earlier, Agni I could travel 700 km, according to Indian defense authorities.

Our borders two nuclear-armed states -- arch-rival Pakistan; and China, with which it fought a brief but bitter war in 1962. Both China and Pakistan possess formidable nuclear-armed missiles of their own. The former is in the process of replacing its liquid-fuelled ballistic missiles with more modern solid propellant ones. From bases in Qinghai and Yunnan provinces, these missiles can reach all of India. In addition, in 2004, China launched the first of its second-generation Type 094 Jin-class nuclear-powered submarines that will carry JL-2 solid-propellant ballistic missiles. Islamabad too has a number of long-range missiles in its armoury. An assessment carried out by an Indian strategic studies group found that Pakistan had a “credible deterrent structure” organized around the solid-propellant Shaheen-1 and -2 missiles. However, responsible possession of nuclear-armed missiles for the purposes of deterrence also requires working assiduously to remove sources of friction that can erupt into open conflict. It is also important that India and China start talking to each other on nuclear matters.

The launch of the Agni V is "another milestone in our quest to add to the credibility of our security and preparedness and to continuously explore the frontiers of science,"  Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Thursday. The flight of the missile is a significant move to demonstrate India's technological competence, Uday Bhaskar, a strategic expert, said earlier this week. But the homegrown missile will undergo several tests more before it becomes fully operational, he said. A successful experiment, Bhaskar said, would bring India closer to the group of nations capable of building intercontinental missiles.

Currently, the five permanent member nations of the U.N. Security Council -- the United States, China, Russia, Britain and France -- are thought to have developed such technology, Prime Minister said. As well as homegrown hardware like the Agni, India buys a lot of arms from overseas. It has overtaken China as the world's biggest importer of weapons, according to a recent report by the the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Siemon Wezeman, a senior analyst with SIPRI, said last month that India's defense spending reflects its regional security concerns and Delhi's global aspirations. China's relative decline as an arms importer comes at a time when it is increasing its overall defense budget, investing in major projects such as the development of a stealth fighter jet and an aircraft carrier program. Many of these weapons are produced domestically.

Agni V, India's most powerful long-range ballistic missile, has lived up to the hopes of its creators at the Defence Research & Development Organisation. But a country whose ‘father of nation’ throughout his life has talked about stopping belligerent, has successfully completed a big task. News channels are debating on our funds on development of people and arms. ‘Prime Time’ on NDTV debated this Priyadarshan, news editor of NDTV was talking about overall development but other defense experts were articulating that India should spent more on defense to combat overall terror.

I hope that AGNI V is a ‘game changer’ and purely for deterrence. 

Prateek Pathak

Student

B.A in Media Studies

University of Allahabad