On Immigration

Some say that immigrants take away jobs from Americans.

How many American nurses and computer programmers are out of work because of cheaper immigrant labor, and how many American doctors are unemployed because of Indian doctors? And how many American gardeners and laborers are jobless because of Mexicans or Vietnamese?

In most cases the answer is negligible.

Is it better to have immigrants here doing jobs in America, paying taxes, shopping at American stores, building American economy or we should export jobs to keep out immigrants? Is that not like cutting our nose to spite our face?

We have failed to create high demand jobs. Other countries have created affordable career education directly linked to international industry demand patterns, therefore foreign nurses, doctors and computer programmers in America - and that's why more job exports because now the same trained work force is available in cheaper currencies in their native countries.

The answer is not fighting immigration. It is creating a competitive work force right here in America by making education affordable. If the States dealing with millions of unemployment claims got proactive about educating the unemployed ONLY in in-demand careers situation would improve but they are not, that is why we are not seeing a reduction in the unemployed ranks. Which State is going gung-ho on programming, nursing, project management, SAP, Oracle training? None, and those training courses are priced out of reach of most, but in India they are not, so we are pricing education out of reach of most Americans, and blaming Immigrants on our woes. Silly, isn't it?

As far as undocumented workers are concerned they are an easy target. If they went away would Americans take up $7 jobs, or want more because they are worth more? Not taking a cheap job and not being able to get a higher paying one is our problem, and no Immigration bill will fix it. Affordable education, taxes on imports and companies exporting jobs will fix it.

66% Indian

66% of Indian population is under 35 – www.youthportal.gov.in/statistics/demographicdetails.htm

So why is that not reflected in the candidates contesting current elections? I mean why isn’t the ideology or the idealism of youth – hope, change, ambition, courage and things like that – reflected in the current crop of contenders who still carry dynastic lineages, criminal records, hate filled communally divisive ideas, negligible track records of holding down a job, and some of who are about dead?

If Indian youth pretending being Harold Robbin’s Americans on Page 3, or pretending being the MTv ghetto American, or that unique mix of English speaking-kurta/ jeans wearing doing nothing talking a lot Indian becomes worthwhile by doing something about India, and that might entail risk to comfort, health and maybe life, but then heroes are those who take risks, not flaunt their nothingness on page 3, then this 66% would be something to be proud of, to repose faith in as leaders leading India out of scary bad times sometime in this century.

Child murdered

Shanno was always in danger.

If her gender was detected pre-birth she might have been aborted. If she survived the beating that killed her she would've endured recurring groping in city buses and other forms of sexual harassment in public places. And then would come the possible danger of being burnt alive or if lucky getting away with just being derided for lack of dowry.

Shanno Khan was murdered by her teacher for failing to memorize and recite the English alphabet. In her school classroom her head was banged on the desk and then she was made to stand in the blazing Delhi summer sun for 2 hours by her teacher.

She was 11 years old:

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=CinemaSectionPage&id=2ebdc9eb-06fc-43f5-8275-12ce124612a3&Headline=Girl+dies+after+punishment+in+school

Shiela Dikshit - the elected head of Delhi - came on TV, solemn faced and spouting philosophic, moral questions like, "..did she deserve to be treated like this.." instead of uni vocally banning corporeal punishment in schools. Mrs. Dikshit has been elected for her 3rd term, credited with building roads and overpasses, while murder, rape and molestations go on unhampered in her City-State - not that roads and overpasses are not important, but human dignity and life are more important, which somehow don't factor on any Indian election manifesto.

Since this isn't the first child killed in India and since this isn't the first time that the Politicians have failed to rally around the cause of banning corporeal punishment in schools; and making violence against children (at least in schools) punishable by dismissal and mandatory jail terms we Indians can either decide to abort girls before they are born so that our baby girls do not risk the Shanno fate, or we can bash heads of the politicians against their desks and then make them stand in Delhi summer sun, or we can take a moment of silence for Shanno and then boot out the callous lawmakers and start a new India in which human life and decency are measures of Shining India.