Leave and Travel?

For last few days, there was much noise about the tax on EPF. Thankfully the government has reversed the same now. But there is a feeble cry in my mind for a long time. This is about the non-taxable nature of Leave and Travel Allowance (LTA). To makes things simple and not to waste time on things that are not related to this post, please read about LTA here: http://taxguru.in/income-tax/taxability-of-leave-travel-allowance-lta-and-relevant-aspects-to-keep-in-mind.html

Why traveling alone is given a privilege over other forms of recreations or entertainments?

So what is the problem with LTA? I am not against LTA tax exemptions. But I am asking why traveling alone is given a privilege over other forms of recreations or entertainments? It is correct to argue that travel encourages tourism and indirectly benefits the economy and hence the tax exemption. But this can be said to anything. For example, a good guitar costs around 7,000 to 15,000 rupees. A good set of encyclopedia costs around 5,000 to 10,000 rupees. A hobby telescope costs around 4,000 to 8,000 rupees. Can you get tax deduction on these? They also encourage trade and business. It is profitable for the business and pays the craftsmen. It also encourages the "scientific temper" among the public which in turn may result in more inventions, discoveries, creativity and overall progress of the nation. Why there is no tax exemption on these things?

Also not everyone likes to travel. For example, I like to spend days together in a locked room than visiting 10 locations in 3 days. It is neither relaxing, not informative to travel that much in the small vacations we avail now-a-days. Some people may have a working spouse or studying kid or bedridden parents and hence couldn't plan for a travel. Physically challenged people, people with chronic diseases etc. also prefer to stay home instead of taking that extra risk of travelling. Also travels result in increased number of accidents, which indirectly harm the economy through reduced productivity, insurance cost and loss of life. As we can see, LTA is skewed towards people who like to travel a lot. But why leave behind the considerable population who don't want to travel?

A group of friends can travel to Goa or Pondicherry and booze and happily claim the travel expenses under LTA while another group of friends interested in astronomy have to fund their telescope without any encouragement like tax benefits. Is this acceptable? I think it is not! I try my best to list few of the things that can be exempted from tax. This can be clubbed under one new category "Recreation and Hobby Allowance" or RHA!

a. Exercise and Fitness Equipment

As an encouragement towards a stronger and healthy India, fitness equipment with valid scientific backing can be excluded from taxation. Why I say they should have valid scientific backing? Because claiming tax benefit for a magnetic amulet that can "cure" obesity is not what we want end of the day, right? Indian Medical Association and other such Government bodies should have a transparent process to identify valid fitness equipment so that people can get tax benefits for them. Also spending on proper sport gears like balls, nets, helmets etc. for children should be non-taxable for the parents. The price tag on a 600 rupees shoe will look like 540 rupees for a salaried middleclass parent. Will it not encourage a student somewhere to become a Olympic gold medalist holding the Tricolor?

b. Musical Instruments, Drawing and Painting Tools and the Likes

Music is integral part of our culture, so are the various arts. Music, drawing, painting, dancing, sculpting and other forms of arts demand lot of money for the equipment and tools involved. We all know that it is not cheap to learn any art. And art has no age too! Art is long and life is short, right? Is it wrong to learn Tanjore painting at 35? I am not even saying that the fee amount should be non-taxable (I will be happy if it is!) At least the money spent on the articles, tools and instruments involved should be non-taxable. Again, institutions like UGC should strongly scrutinize the candidates for this exemption as pseudo-science and religion can sneak in to this category easily.

c. Books, Infotainment Media (CD/DVD/e-Books/Downloaded Contents)

Good books are indicators of a good culture and civilization!

We are reading lesser and lesser if we don't consider our WhatsApp and Facebook ASCI diarrhea as reading. Good books are indicators of a good culture and civilization. In this modern era, not only books, but interactive software, videos and audios can also play a good role in shaping us. Again, government should make sure that no religious or pseudo-scientific books or media slips in to this category.

d. Scientific Hobbies

Young children often ask their parents "Dad, can you buy me a microscope?" or "Mom, can I get a electronics kit for this birthday?". Even if the parent is willing, when they check the price of the "gift", they get upset and settle with a video game console or a cricket bat, for which the kid shows no interest. But when the kid doesn't get what it loves and forced to love what it gets, we are silently murdering a scientist in making. If the government gives a double tax benefit on scientific equipment (again no pseudos!), we can see more and more kids looking in to the night skies or testing the salinity of the nearby pond. Who knows how many Sir C. V. Ramans and Satyendra Boses are going wasting time on WWE only because they couldn't get their hand on a book or an instrument they wished for? Giving a 10 or 20% tax benefit on these items can return the nation in many ways. Even if only 1 out of thousand becomes a scientist, given the population of India, we will be world's number 1 in few decades.

Conclusion

There can be more such things which can be classified as both entertainment/hobby and beneficial to the individual and society. I am not here to list them all. This post is just to share my opinion on the skewed nature of LTA benefits. Why I am saying this is because, government cannot decide that travel alone is what everyone wants and it is not sufficient to give travel alone some tax benefits while things far better and beneficial than travel are given no encouragement at all. As we have seen in above examples, there are lot many things people like to get involved in their free time. Given the direct positive effects on trade and economy and the indirect benefits of building a stronger and brighter nation, tax exemption on these secular and scientific areas of human interests is need of the hour!

Confessions of a Cauliflower Cultivator

I knew that from day one. The guys at neighboring farm were up to something. They were doing something with cabbage. Something odd, that every season, the cabbages of their field became whiter and whiter. Was that the leaf or the flower? I didn't know back then. I am not that silly to jump over the fence and have a look at it. But they harvested it, loaded in carts and sent it to some unknown place every season. It happened by accident. I was in the town to sell my cabbages. There was a new shop in the market. They sold some fried food. People were all around the shop, shouting and pushing each other. It made me curious. I went near the shop.They were selling some red stuff deep fried in oil. When I was waiting for my plate of the fries, I saw the cart.

The same cart of my neighbor, which he used to carry the white stuff. The cart was parked behind the shop and his men were unloading the white stuff from the cart. Before I could get a better view, I was given my plate of the fries and asked to move on. The stuff was hot. It was nothing but the regular batter they used for other such fries. But inside it, it was the white stuff. Crunchy and juicy, with a taste that was similar to cabbage stem. But the upper part of the stuff was somewhat rough and grainy in texture. So this is the stuff they are harvesting and selling secretly! I waited in the market till evening. When the crowd had gone and the shopkeeper was counting his money, I went to him.

I asked him, what was that stuff he was selling. He gave me an odd look and continued counting his money. I told him that I am from the same village as the other farmer who supplied him the stuff. He gave me a stare and asked what I wanted. I said, I will pay you twice the money, just give me the white stuff without frying. He refused. I raised the money up to 10 times the cost of fries. But he refused and asked me to leave. I stayed that night in the market. Before the dawn, some boys rushed from the back of the shop and dumped a sac in the garbage pit. I ensured that they were back in the shop and jumped in to the pit. I loaded some of the leftovers in my bag and rushed back to home.

It was clear from the leaves. It was a cabbage plant. But something had happened. Like what happened 100 years ago, when a great demand for turnip got started, they made cabbage plant to grow turnip like stem. How they did that? I remember my grandfather explaining that to my father. First they selected the wild cabbage with somewhat stouter stem, then every generation, they replanted plants with stems that were even stouter than the previous generations, while the other plants were carefully uprooted and fed to cows. After 60 cycles, they got it! A turnip like stem, green in color and crunchy to eat. It was an instant hit! People added it to their soups and salads. Almost half of the farmers switched to this new product! So my neighbor had done something similar with the flower this time. And he kept that secret unlike how they shared the idea 100 years ago.

3 months later, it was my youngest son who went to play with my neighbor's children, brought home those pods. They were like cabbage pods. But I understood that they are of the new large-flower breed. I managed to get 8 to 10 seeds from that and planted them on a patch of land behind my cottage so that my neighbor couldn't see it easily. It grew. Exactly like how it grew in his farm. I didn't know how my neighbor will react towards this. But I was curious to show him the plants and get more information on it. I was even ready to exchange some of the new breed chicken I got from a friend abroad.

So I gave him a shout and called him to the patch of land where those white buds were smiling at the sun. He didn't expect the surprise awaited for him. He was angry and shouted that I had stolen his hard work of 15 years! I was speechless. He almost made me cry. I promised him that I will destroy the plants and will never plant them again. But that was not enough for him. He revealed that he had an agreement with the fries shop. Moreover a share of the profit, he sent to the duke as tribute in exchange for protection in case of any problem. According to him, I have stolen his work of body and mind and deserved punishment. He called his men and tied me up and took me to the duke. The duke ordered me that I should give him an years yield and I should be imprisoned for twenty years! I was on my knees and I was crying for mercy. Neither the duke nor my neighbor considered my plea.

At last, I asked for a chance to meet my eldest son to settle things before I went to the dungeons. It was granted. Apart from advices on money dealings and other stuffs, I asked him to go to hill side and get some wild cabbage. I instructed him that he should plant them and replant them selecting the ones with larger and larger flower cluster, cycle after cycle. This he had to do it in my brother's farm in the next village. It may be a hard task for a 13 year old. But still, he had to do it for the honor of his father. 20 year passed and I came out half the man I used to be. Instead of taking me to my home, my son took me to my brother's farm. It was almost the same! White mounds of flower clusters! It almost looked like those clouds in the Heaven! He did it! He did it on his own. Now nobody can come and tell that we have stolen their work. It is our own work! Our entry in to our village was almost a carnival! A cart full of the harvested flowers followed us. My wife and other children came running to me cheering and yelling.

It was almost the same! White mounds of flower clusters!

That evening was almost like a dream. We were all reunited. My youngest son was already planning what to buy with the money we get when we sell those flowers in the market. Someone knocked on the door. Then there was a bang and the door flung open. Men of the duke marched in to my house. They kept a knife on my throat and my son's throat and pulled us away to the court. My neighbor and his son were standing there, filled with anger. The duke, now a ripe old man, looked at me and wondered was it the same man he released that morning. Now my neighbor's charge against us was "copying his idea". The duke heard for some time and declared that we both had violated the law by copying his idea and stealing his wisdom. We were clueless. If selectively planting the seeds with the desired traits is the "wisdom", then it was not their wisdom. This, everyone knows. If making a cabbage plant with larger flower is the work, my son had done it on his own. What had we copied? What had we stolen? But nobody listened to us.

At last they sentenced me to death for repeated offense and my son to 20 years in prison. I begged them to give me a chance to confess my sins to you, the public, before the sword takes my life. These are the crimes I have committed. I did to the flower exactly what they did with the green turnip. I wanted to share the fruits of my work like how they shared the new breed of cow that gave more milk. I wanted to sell more cabbage flowers so that the fries will be cheaper and made at everyone's kitchen. But I stand before you awaiting the sword. For his profit, you are going to pay with that extra money every time you eat the fries. I am paying with my flesh and blood. Good bye!

Reliable Source

Introduction

What is a reliable source for any information? Anybody with an Internet connection can write anything they want. Even this blog is one such thing. I have no qualification to write on any subject with authority save for some "public static void main". But still I am writing. So if a thousand blogs say that something is correct and only few "unknown" sites say the opposite, democratically, is it not correct, because that is majority? Is truth is what we feel and experience or something that is proven beyond doubt? Is truth is what works for me and may not for you? Is there no ultimate truth that is objective instead of subjective "feelings" or "experiences"? Is that coffee is hot for me and cold for you? But is there not a thermometer that says the coffee is 67C? What if someone sounds like a genuine skeptic while questioning the caliberation of the thermometer itself? I have seen people questioning moon landing and vaccines like true skeptics. Does questioning something makes you a skeptic while questioning something else makes you an idiot?

People who believe Coco-Cola and Mentos can produce cyanide without a question suddenly start to ask millions of question if you say that it won't. People who don't even have a doubt that solar eclipse causes birth defects become "Doubting Thomases" when you say that mercury in shark is harmful for lactating mother and label you as a foreign agent who questions their native wisdom! The source for the Coke-Mentos story may be a blog written from Brazil and the source for mercury in shark is FDA's own website. It doesn't matter. Both are websites. And some even argue that it is better to trust the Brazillian blogger as he has no financial interest than the FDA site which is influenced by corporate lobby! So whom can we trust?

History of Writing

Back in the old days, people who were educated alone could read and write. And only a minority of the educated minority wrote books. Majority of the population never had a chance to read something or express their ideas to a wider audience. Hand written copies of books were costly to produce, hard to maintain and almost out of reach for the public. Some countries allowed only the rich elites to possess books. Even worse, in some other countries only those people who were born in to particular castes were allowed to read and write.

Then came the printing press which allowed mass production of books. Books became cheaper and were within the reach of public. At the same time, industrial revolution and political changes allowed majority to get education. As literacy rate grew along with the increase in number of books, we saw a boom in creativity, inventions, discoveries and critical thinking. But there was a problem. Even though almost anyone could read a book, not everyone was able to publish a book. You can have your own manuscripts on your desk. Else you can even print a copy for yourself. But hitting market was out of question.

Even today, to reach a good number of audiences, you need a publisher. And the publishers lay out certain rules and restrictions to the buyers as well as to the writers! Writers are asked to surrender the copyright to publishers. Readers are restricted from creating derivative works. Even reselling of books and photocopying are becoming "offences" in the eyes of corporate publishers. On one side, quality books are becoming costlier and costlier. Also on the other side, whoever has money can publish anything they want. The books cover, paper quality and print, everything will look exactly like an encyclopedia from a renowned university, yet the content will be no better than "Weekly World News". On the third side, rise of Internet provides costless (apart from what you pay for data) information. Again in Internet, most of the serious researches and information are pay-walled, and anyone with a connection can write anything (they don't even need the power of money!) the picture is becoming very complex.

Let me categorize them vaguely.

1. Really Good Books

These are books that are product of serious research or study or skill. They are genuine works and they can be verified scientifically. They are written by scientists and researchers who invest their time, money and effort on their fields. These books are meant to be consumed by public and increase the awareness, ignite discussions and pave way for improvements or rectification of existing ideas. But the sad facts about the books are as follows. They cost more. They are "dry" and uninteresting for general public and most people seldom know the titles of these books! Add to this the threats and violent opposition to such books which dare to question existing beliefs or status quo!

2. Bad Books that Resembles Good Books

Majority of books sold in railway stations or book fairs etc. are of this category. They have polished covers, colorful photographs, shiny paper, good quality print, cost you a fortune and authored by a famous writer/activist you often see on TV or in movie credits. They resemble the "good books" in every aspect from ISBN to Best Seller endorsements. But they are nothing more than self-help crap, new-age rap, astrology bullshit, biased history batshit or mumbo-jumbo on any subject. Go to any book shop. You can find at least a dozen of books on Homeopathy but you can't get a book that explains Homeopathy is fake! As the free market neutrality and voting-with-your-wallet democracy "naturally selects" the "fittest for survival", you have books that endorse Homeopathy, Crystal Therapy, Astrology etc. widely and cheaply available, while a good book on astro-physics or bio-chemistry is out of stock (never been in stock) or out of budget!

3. Good Sites

Enter the Internet! There are some sites which are actually continuation of international science journals and serious magazines with genuine journalism from the printing era. They have made their way in to the Internet. But most of them are pay-walled. Even some of them are not pay-walled but they are unpopular among masses. Again, these sites serve articles that are not so "interesting" to read. Even though serious efforts (like this) are taken to make books that are already in public domain freely available to people in digital format, relatively new and fresh information is blocked by subscriptions, pay per view etc. Also attempts like Facebook's Internet.org (FreeBasics) will add another layer in between people and these sites. If you have to pay Rs. 200 every month for a full-fledged Internet connection while FreeBasics comes for Rs. 0 (I won't say it is free of cost! It costs your privacy and freedom of choice), most people will choose to stick with the few sites provided by Facebook. As far as Whatsapp is working, who cares to do a data recharge?

4. The Other Sites

The rest of the Internet is nothing but the noise you hear in the market. Absolute democracy! Everyone has their say! From flat-earthers to neo-Nazi racists. All are given equal opportunity to write and spread their "message" to the world. Whatsapp messages, Youtube videos, Facebook updates and retweeted blog links can enlighten us on GM diet, while nobody cares to check what it is actually. Even some widely read news sites publish unethical articles (see example below) and distance themselves from questioning by a lame disclaimer that the opinion expressed is the writer's and not of the publisher's. Again the genuine idiocracy democracy of the Internet wins! abchomeopathy.com has Alexa rank of 72,613 and quackwatch.org has a rank of 193,968. You know what it means right? People at abchomeopathy.com are 267% correct than people at quackwatch.org. If 100 blogs say that vaccines contain poisonous chemicals and cause autism and 3 or 4 sites say vaccines are needed to prevent diseases like polio or mumps, then surely those 3 or 4 sites are run by corporate funded doctors who have no idea about vaccines while those blogs are run by highly concerned citizens who are rightly qualified in UFOlogy or Tarot reading.



This article from The Hindu (Tamil version) claims that a single Siddha medicine can cure diseases cold, diabetes, cancer and AIDS. How can a Newspaper like The Hindu publish an article like this without moral responsibility?

Screen grab from the The Hindu's article titled "தொற்றுநோய்களை விரட்டும் மகா சுதர்சன மாத்திரை"

What’s My Problem?

People are choosing what they want to believe and it is their choice and their life. How can you say what you believe is correct and what I believe is wrong? What is your problem? Do you know whatever you say is 100% correct? Nobody is 100% correct. Unless you experience it yourself, you won't believe.

These are the usual response people give when confronted that what they believe is pseudoscience or hoax.

An engineering graduate believes that a pulse check by a naturopath is equally valid as an ECG and a glass of coriander juice is equally good as angioplasty. He even said that former is better than later as it is fully natural, safe and without side-effects. You don't see a problem?

A person with pain due to gall stones ignores it and goes for acupuncture to treat the pain. He is rushed to ICU with severe jaundice. No problem yet?

A project manager enrolls his son in mid-brain activation class for a hefty sum of money against his son's wish to join Karate or Swimming. Still no problem?

An MBA gold-medalist spending Rs. 8,000 a month on red-mushroom powder and Spirulina capsules and genuinely believes that it can cure any sort of disease.  Not a problem at all!

Magnetic necklace, pyramid schemes, water therapy, energy treatment, de-tox diet, positive vibrations, vaasthu fish, snake oil, faith healing all are real. Thousands of people are saying it worked for them. So I am just trying it out. Nothing is wrong in trying that. If it fails, I may lose some money or time. But what if it works? And we should fight the "leftist conspiracy" to infect our children with evil ideas like evolution, germ theory of disease, astronomy, physics, chemistry, history, biology and English grammar (their r grammer Nazis r8? Dey cn’t evn tolrite ma Whatsapp msg!). Also we should fight the right wing corporates who are trying to kill the people by vaccination, anti-biotics, fertilizers, cellphone radiation, chem-trails, GM food etc. We should rely on our UFO masters, spirits of nature, kundalini energy, water memory, cosmic waves and organic foods to save us!

Absolutely no problem! Go ahead!

Solution?

What is the solution? Am I the expert to ask? Not so. But here is my opinion. Researches, studies and serious work of science, history and politics should be made cheap or free of cost for the public. Government and rational intellects should encourage people to read and share that information. Sharing, derivative works, collaboration etc. should be encouraged rather than being met with lawsuits in patent courts. On the other hand, people who knowingly circulate unscientific and unethical ideas, misinformation, rumors etc. should be banned and punished. Yes. I hear you crying that I am for censorship and against freedom of speech. But for your kind information, spreading misinformation about vaccine or endorsing a home-made cure for cancer is harmful. It is not freedom of speech. It has direct impact on people who are foolish enough to fall for it. Lives are lost. Damages done in irreversible ways. Yet these people are walking free on pretext of free speech! Scientific community with the help of volunteers should set up a universal review panel to review and rate sites based on the content. Again, these may result in censorship. But we should think a way to make it impartial and honest system rather than giving every retarded view an equal opportunity to corrupt the minds of public. If there are sources with 95% truth and 20% truth, both are logically partial truth. But practically they are not equally valid. It is our duty to ensure the 95% truth grows to 99.999% and 20% truth (80% false) obscured from the public. Long live democracy! Long live freedom of speech!

Sympahty for Homeopathy?

I am deeply saddened by the death of three students of SVS college. But what bothered me more is, the college taught Homeopathy. Homeopathy is proven to be a fake system of "beliefs" and unlike Siddha and Yoga there are no way to explain the working of Homeopathy. Traditional medicines like Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani, Chinese medicine etc are all having some or other active ingredients. Again Yoga as a stretching exercise has a basis for efficacy. But Homeopathy? How can a system without any explanation of its working can be approved by government to be taught in colleges? How can people who are trained in this fake system be allowed to practice as "doctors"?

First to make some points clear, I support only science based medicines i.e. medicines that are proven effective by proper studies and trails (be it garlic or statin). Also I strongly believe that there is NO divine touch on any medical system. All the traditional systems are developed by continuous observations,experiments with whatever methods available at that time, trail and error, blind luck, guess etc. That is why unless studied, tested and proven, it is safe to exclude "traditional cures" for any problem, let alone serious problems. But my problem with Homeopathy is that it is plainly false. 100% lie. 0% true. Fake! Bullshit!

Homeopathy Principle:

Like cure like - Any substance that causes a symptom in large dose will cure diseases with the same symptoms in smaller doses.

This is the basis of Homeopathy. There is no germ theory of diseases. It doesn't deal with nutrients and their deficiencies. There are no room for hormone imbalances etc in Homeopathy. For example, this website of Homeopathy advocates says that germ theory is wrong. Compare this with Siddha. If you look at Turmeric, it is proven anti-septic (type of disease: germ induced). Siddha has clam-shell powder to treat Calcium deficiency (type of disease: nutrients deficiency). There are drugs in traditional medicines to regulate bile secretion, acidity etc (type of disease: imbalance of secretions). But Homeopathy has no such system to address any of the above said type of diseases. It again and again claims that "Like cure like".

Also Homeopathy has no equivalent to vaccination or physical exercise or surgery, which even traditional systems have! But still there are success stories for Homeopathy as people are assuming Homeopathy cured their self-limiting diseases. Some diseases come and go by themselves and some others wax and wane over the time. People wrongly assume that Homeopathy is working! Their "anecdotal evidences" are the "proofs" Homeopathy has!

When the concentration of a drug drops below a certain limit, there is literally no chance to have even a single molecule of the supposed "cure" in the medicine. But Homeopaths claim that water has "memory" to hold the effect of the cure! If so, why water has forgotten all other impurities it came in to contact before it got distilled? And the funniest part is that, they claim, the more you dilute, the more potent the cure will become!

A Typical Homeopathy Medicine (DIY):


Here I am going to explain two Homeopathy Remedies that you can do it yourself! (Disclaimer for stupid enough people: Don't take the following remedies seriously and try them on yourselves or on others! Serious harm may happen! If you have any health problem go to a properly educated doctor!)

1. Insomnia

Ask some 5 to 10 of your friends or family members. At least two or three will complain that they have problem in sleeping. So here is a quick and easy Homeopathy remedy for them! You can prepare it in the kitchen itself. All you need is some coffee powder, distilled water, clean ink filler, clean vessels and sugar pills.

We all know that coffee in higher doses hinder with sleep. So according to Homeopathy, coffee in minute doses can cure insomnia!

Step 1: So take a pinch of instant coffee powder. (Important Note: If you are a Surya fan, use Sunrise or if you are a Karthi fan, use Bru. Else use any other brand you like!) Mix it well in 5 liter water.

Step 2: Now with a clean ink filler pick one drop of the coffee solution and mix it in another 5 liter water. Now stir well. Again

Step 3: Repeat step 2 for any number of time! The more you do, the more potent the drug will become. Now take the sugar pills and spray some "cure" on them.

Call in your friend and ask him to take 5 pills. If you have done the dilution enough, he may fall in coma immediately! Does that sound funny? But before you laugh, take a look at here. They claim the same. But people are believing what they say, while laughing at me?!

2. Indigestion

Now instead of coffee, you can grind a pizza or a scoop of briyani or a piece of chicken 65 and dilute it as explained above and spray on sugar pills. That will treat indigestion. As all these foods cause indigestion in large doses, they ought to treat the same in minute doses. Good luck with that!

Conclusion:

As you can see, a system that is based upon flawed understanding of both disease and drug will not work! Then how can government allow colleges to teach Homeopathy as a medical discipline? Is it not counter-productive to other medicinal systems bundled with Homeopathy? Won't it impact their validity negatively? In my opinion, severe action should be taken against the people who are responsible for the deaths of the students. At the same time, similar action should be taken on all Homeopathy practitioners, hospitals, colleges etc. They should be shutdown and banned immediately. Who knows how many people are being mislead by this fake system and not getting proper treatment?

Book Review: Net Force - CyberNation

Written by Tom Clancy around 2001, the book is set in early 2010s. The book is not worth a review per se, but I am writing this because it confuses free as in freedom with free as in free lunch. Even 10 years after the dissolution of USSR, the author was still afraid of Communism and Socialism. This book is nothing but a knee-jerk reaction towards the presumed threat of deprived "intellectual property rights" or "intellectual communism"!

Long, Boring Story Short: 

CyberNation is a group or a corporate, you can say, consisting of management, hackers, PROs, lobbyists, lawyers etc. Their aim is to replace all the ISPs and fill their space with their own version of Internet, where there is no "Intellectual Property" i.e. people only need to subscribe to the CyberNation to get all their music, movies, books, porn, scientific journals and whatever else that can be downloaded. CyberNation will make money by advertising. So to press the people to make the switch from their regular ISPs to CyberNation, they do all the dirty tricks from DDoS attacks to blowing up hardware using bombs! A special task force called Net Force, tries to identify and stop CyberNation. There are lots of useless diversions like too much of description about martial arts training on both sides (but no martial art fight in the climax!), virtual reality, bashing Russians and commies, New Age bullshit and incorrect futuristic predictions. At last, the "good" guys win.

A Look into CyberNation:

Have you heard about Free Basics by Facebook? CyberNation sounds more like this. It runs ads and campaigns to entice people to support them, just like what Facebook did with Internet.org/Free Basics. It has lobbyists placed in many countries to convince politicians and authorities to make changes in laws exactly like what Facebook did by asking us to send support letters to TRAI. CyberNation has all the money and means to do it exactly like Facebook. Their aim is to loop in more people so that they can earn more by advertising to their user base, again exactly like Facebook. I can feel the ennui here. But I couldn't help.

But CyberNation is against "Intellectual property", the meaningless umbrella term that clubs together various different and uncorrelated concepts like copyright, trademark, patents etc. Instead of me struggling with my half-baked knowledge to explain it, you can hear from Dr. Stallman himself (http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/not-ipr.en.html). People who really care for freedom of knowledge and information won't accept invasion of privacy and anything that disturbs net-neutrality. That is why FSF and other like-minded people are vehemently against Facebook's Free Basics and other such schemes that can disturb the net-neutrality. But CyberNation is pro-freedom and anti-freedom at the same time. Like a typical Right-wing person who fights against abortion in public life and forces his daughter to undergo one on her teenage pregnancy to save the "family honor", Tom Clancy can envision such organization without a problem!

CyberNation is much like Mark Zuckerberg running the Pirate Bay. One thing the book got correct is the character of Jasmine Chance. What a person will become when educated in management and shaped by the corporates, a ruthless, self-worshiping person who cares the least about others in achieving their selfish goals. She is much like the so called role models of this generation namely Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison, Bill Gates, Ambanis, Tatas etc. Bribing, killing, cheating all are fine provided you get what you want. This is what today's "business" has boiled down to. Everyone else is labelled as losers or considered running charities.

The book says that the "Intellectual Property Rights" is very important for innovation and without the motivation of monetary benefits it is impossible for new inventions and researches happening. Yeah! We have seen that in the case of Daraprim! Who invented that drug? But the novel idea of "Intellectual Property Rights" allowed a retard like Martin Shkreli to exploit people using a drug that was invented decades before he was born! Similarly the book confuses resale of used book and making unauthorized copies of a book and selling it in market. Coming back to the drugs, what type of drug will get more funds today? Is it the one that will prevent millions of deaths or the one that can amass trillions of Dollars? We all know the answer.

 The greedy, cut-throat completion of the laissez faire economy won't address the "needs" of the people more than the "wants" of the rich any day! For Tom Clancy, putting needs of the general public before wants of the rich is communism. He can call it whatever he wants, but for me this is the very definition of human nature. A monkey never feels guilty for snatching a banana from another monkey. And a group of monkey watching this won't condemn it. But we humans do. If we sit back and allow corporates to exploit labor and resources of the poor for the luxury of the rich, we will be no better than monkeys!

Conclusion:

So sad that Tom Clancy is no more. I am pretty much sure that he will use the exact same arguments like "private property", "individual freedom and rights", "free market" etc. to support whatever Facebook is doing. He will be with the people who are arguing for paid fast-lanes in Internet. All that mattered to him is the rich to win over the poor. He wants the strong to trample the weak with the help of governments holding the poor down with their laws and regulations. That is what democracy is in Clancy's view. But surely a true CyberNation will rise. It will be rule of people. It will fight for freedom of and freedom for ideas, arts, science and knowledge. It will fight for the people's privacy, freedoms and rights. It will shatter the evil monopolies built with the backing of inhuman laws. On that day, NSA or Clancy's Net Force will be silent spectators who will watch the giant force of people marching towards true equality!

Leave The Bulls Alone!

The the common bulls of Tamil Nadu are classified along bears, panthers, tigers etc and hence Jallikattu is technically banned. Wow! Kerala can go ahead with its elephants, which are actually wild animals in every sense. But Tamils should not touch the bull. The bulls of Tamil Nadu are selectively bred for their strength and endurance. As an agrarian society, Tamils relied upon bulls for ploughing and drawing carts from prehistoric times. You can't say that selectively bred and domesticated animals are "wild" by any definition. Also, if bull is wild then how cows can be allowed to be kept in farm and their milk to be sold? Can we sell tiger milk?

Unlike bull-fights of Spain, where the bull is actually killed, Jallikattu actually ends with just holding a bull for certain seconds or certain count of jumps. Usage of liquor, torture devices etc are non-native practices and they should be monitored and stopped. But to stop the event itself is far-fetched. Are we going to ban cricket due to gambling? Also regulations can be made to ensure audience safety. Instead of taking such rational and simple steps, organizations like PeTA are forcing government to ban the event itself.

On the other side there are people who are crying that there is a corporate conspiracy to kill the native breed. This also seems to be an overkill. So these people are saying that same PeTA which wants to ban milk and leather industry in the West wants to bring foreign breed cattle here in India! Also some Facebook/Twitter posts by these conspiracy theorists claim that PeTA is silent about beef but protests Jallikattu. In reality PeTA is actively protesting against all forms of meat from chicken to beef. They will surely protest against goat/rooster sacrifice in rural temples. They have already protested against Eid sacrifices. Please go through the links below.

http://www.petaindia.com/blog/celebrate-life-vegan-eid/ - PeTA against Eid
http://www.petaindia.com/issues/animals-used-for-food/milk/ - PeTA against milk
http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/meat-environment/ - PeTA against meat
http://action.petaindia.com/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=111&ea.campaign.id=2856 - PeTA in action
http://www.petaindia.com/blog/victory-animal-sacrifice-banned-at-nepals-gadhimai-festival/ - PeTA against Hindu animal sacrifice

From above links, it is clear that PeTA is a militant and stupid organization that wants to push its version of morality, disregarding the sentiments and traditions of native people. But the conspiracy theorists selectively portray that PeTA is only against Jallikattu and trying to bring other breeds of cows. This nonsense also takes religious and racist tones in some posts. If you people are silent about other activities of PeTA, then the price you pay for it will be a ban on Jallikattu. Are you ready to fight PeTA in all fronts? Then we can get Jallikattu back!

We either look it as a conspiracy by West/NGO/Corporates or we see it as animal cruelty and act of barbarianism. Both are not exactly true. The truth is some where in the middle.

PeTA, which protests against everything from KFC to cow's milk, is often ignored as a fringe group. But that fringe group already has a lot of impact in our everyday lives. They want to save stray dogs at the cost of road users and children's lives. They want to portray meat eaters as criminals, rapists etc. They want to portray traditional foods like fish, poultry, lamb etc as unhealthy. They want to ban fishing, farming of animals, leather, wool, testing drugs on animals and the list goes on! All these have a direct and enormous impact on our lives. Yet they are deceptively hiding the facts and portray themselves as people for protecting animals and a group that is fighting against cruelty.

From hate speech to scaremongering hoaxes, PeTA has tried its hands on many "below the belt" tactics with the public. And with politicians and bureaucrats, they cheat, bribe, threaten or lobby with people's money against people's interest. This organization without any help from corporates can do such dirty jobs and I think this group itself is a corporate! So what we need to do is to identify such groups, isolate them and ban them. One such group is Greenpeace, which our government rightly identified and banned recently. PeTA should face the same fate.

Some people are cherry picking PeTA's campaigns to support some of their views and care less about what PeTA is doing in other issues. For example, some people who are opposing meat, support PeTA thinking that they are actually helping. But they care less about PeTA's stand on milk. How many Indian vegetarians are ready to give up milk? If you support PeTA, think twice. Check out their motto and modus operandi in all issues and then decide if you want to really support them.

So to conclude, the fight is not only towards Jallikattu ban. Tomorrow it may be a ban on animal sacrifice in temples or ban on camel slaughter during Eid. So for everyone's interest, let us fight these inhuman organizations like PeTA, AWB and other such elements that cause too much trouble in the society.

Update: Central Government has made amendments to allow Jallikattu in the law, but the decision has been challenged in court!

Testing The Waters

There are two things currently trending in social media. Beep song and Sagayam for CM. Thanks for our short-term memories that we have already moved away from recent floods, let alone protest against liquor. In my understanding, these two incidents seems to be testing the waters before a full fledged public "coming out". It is safer for the parties involved.

The song was written, sung, recorded with music and vulgar words beeped-out. Perfectly ready for posting in Youtube or Soundcloud. Then suddenly someone "leaked" it. If the public reaction was positive, then we might have seen people claiming that "Simbu alone didn't do the song." "It is my music." "My recording theater!" etc. But as the reaction is negative everyone else had forsaken Simbu to fight the legal battles alone and face the angry crowd of people. But as the song is not "published" in proper sense, Simbu can claim that the song is "leaked" without his knowledge and it is none of his fault. Perfect example for the benefit of "testing the water"!

Now take the another case: Sagayam for CM. He may be a good IAS officer. And the idea of Sagaym for CM is not that bad. But the way this idea is brought to public is what strikes a nerve for me. Sagayam can resign his post and start a political party or join any existing party if he wants to run for CM. Else he can just openly give a statement that he is not interested in politics and no one should use his name in that way in social media or public gatherings. But his "silence" is deafening as he just sits like it is somebody else's problem. If there is enough support, he may come out as a candidate in coming elections. Else he may just downplay this entire episode as a social media sensation created by some over enthusiastic fans. A Goundamani comedy scene comes to mind!

Even Dr. Kalam tried his hand at this trick, when he said that he was willing to be the president for second term if there is "certainty".  (http://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi/kalam-surprises-third-front/story-YxWB2XRUrveu8aCHigxvBJ.html)

So the lesson for us is, if this method works even for public figures, why not we utilize the same? You can tell your wife that there is a good offer on pizzas in nearby shop. If she shows some interest, you can go ahead and order pizzas and escape from upma. Else you can silently glue your mouth shut with upma without further "consequences". Practical isn't it?