Taking a break from blogging

A very merry Christmas and a happy New Year to everyone who visits here I’m travelling this week so won’t be blogging till the New Year. See you next year!

Thank You Sonia Ben

Modi should thank Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh for his spectacular win in Gujarat. Muslims don’t need Bajrang Dal or VHP to harm them. ‘Nadan Dost se akalmand dushman bhala’ is an age old saying and Congress has proved that. The ‘merchant of death’ statement helped Modi like nothing else could. If Sardar Manmohan Singh continues with his vote bank politics instead of actually helping the minorities nobody can stop ‘Advani Ji ‘ from becoming the next Prime minister of India. Modi started with the development plank but Congress gave him a more effective plank- the communal plank and polarisation of votes started. Modi supporters should thank Sonia’s speech writer and the opponents should fire him.

The only way forward for Gujarat and the country is the ‘Zafar Sareshwalas’ approach. Minorities should not depend on the opportunitist politicians. They are either communal or pseudo-secularists. Both harm the people and communities. I hope this victory makes Modi a better man and he provides security to all his people. A country progresses only when all its citizens taste the growth.

Forced to Love Your Old Parents

The Maintenance of the Welfare of Parents and other Senior Citizens Bill, 2007 was passed by both Houses of Parliament. The purpose of the bill was to take effective measures to take care of the senior citizens. Under this Act, the maintenance of those over 60 by their adult children, grandchildren and legal heirs is a matter of right for parents. Parents may approach a tribunal in order to claim need-based maintenance. Parents and senior citizens may reclaim property gifted to children or relatives if the latter fail to provide the former with “basic facilities and basic physical needs”. The penalty for “abandoning” a parent in someone’s care is punishable with imprisonment of up to three months, a fine of Rs.5,000 or both.
Nobody can deny that the young should take care of their parents. To love and take care of parents should be a natural instinct of children and should not be forced on them by law. We have laws dealing with dowry and child labour.We have achieved little success on those fronts. Senior citizens need a tight social security net in order to live with grace and dignity. But this cannot be achieved by legislation alone. The plight of the old-age parents thrust upon their children to be forcibly looked after can be imagined. They might undergo mental and verbal torture every day. Children who are forced to take care of their parents may not react very well. An old lady remarked- no law can force a daughter-in -law to give you a hot cup of tea in the morning.

It is difficult to imagine parents sending their children to jail, however the scare of parents reclaiming property gifted to children might force children to take care of the parents. A fine of 5000/ Rs is too small an amount to make a difference to anybody.Providing financial support and care required for older citizens is becoming difficult by the day. With nuclear families, shrinking residential space in big cities and employment-related migration on the rise long-term planning on the part of everyone can be the only sure remedy to the problem. Parents should plan their finances for old age well in advance.