Sunday, March 22, 2009

JaI vIrU


Jai Viru is the story of two friends who find themselves on opposite site of the law. Fate steers Veeru (Kunal Khemu), a car stealing conman into meeting Jai (Fardeen Khan) who saves him from the wrath of goons in a pub.

They become fast friends and Veeru convinces Jai into his dubious business of theft. Soon mistrust ensues between the thick friends when Jai’s secret unveils, and Veer discovers that the former is in fact an undercover agent out to nab the infamous Tejpal (Arbaaz Khan) who Veeru works for.

Further, Veeru accidentally shoots Jai, and his intentions are misunderstood. An already betrayed and heartbroken Veeru flees the country not only from his former comrade but from Tejpal as well who needs Veeru’s diary containing volatile information.


The movie repels innovation and novelty and sends the audience rushing for popcorn within ten minutes of boredom. Fardeen Khan does a forced, lifeless act though his girlfriend Dia Mirza brightens the screen with her fresh looks and also redeems her character into an interesting twist in the climax.


Arbaz Khan looks utterly bored himself and the only sincere performance is delivered by Kuna, who still does not rescue audience from fretting for the interval to come and give a breather. The movie then hops around the mainstream plot in an attempt to be a package deal but one has to wait for the drab of a movie to end and salvage one’s sense of life and joy.


Directed by Puneet Sira, music by Bappa Lahiri and lyrics by Sameer and Omer Inayat.

Monday, March 2, 2009

TaX In PRIVATE ScHoOl


The Finance Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai told, "if a large number of a community’s parents do not fully believe in the community school system, it gets more difficult to skip the country. And that directly impacts the schools’ ability to operate." This statement came after getting some obstacles to collect the education tax from private school which government announce in Budget.
Although it's No surprise there: parents might not want to pay for services they don’t use. But are we to presume the reverse is true? Those parents with kids in private schools are more likely to back tax increases? Could be, could be. Certainly kids in school are not taught to be suspicious of the powers-that-be; quite the reverse. I think nobody wants to back their kids from private school, but they want to teach there.
The private schools organization PABSON announce 2 days Seventh General Assembly on this Sunday and Monday. The assembly announces not to pay and start demonstration against the government and finance minister.
Educational development of the last few decades and one of the most hopeful signs for the future--is starting to catch on in a big way.
Just look at the logic of Dr. Bhattarais. Why do private schools need taxes in order to have the "ability to operate"? Why can’t they operate on the money they have now? It’s because they are run by the getting fee by there poor and middle class parents. Which can’t do anything as well as the private sector?
The per-pupil cost of public schools averages Rs. 3700, compared with Rs 4500 for private schools. In other words, all else being equal, we could abolish all private schools and the taxes that support them tomorrow, let the market replace them with private schools, and cut the total cost of education by nearly half.
Why isn’t this done? The short answer is that there are many people on the payroll of the education bureaucracy who would be unhappy. But wouldn’t teachers also be unhappy? Not necessarily.
Despite poorer pay, private school teachers as a group are more satisfied than public school teachers with their jobs. In the aggregate, private schools seem to offer a greater sense of community, greater teacher autonomy in the classroom, and more local influence over curriculum and important school policies. In addition, on average, private schools have a climate that would appear to be more conducive to learning, including greater safety and fewer problems caused by students having poor attitudes toward learning or negative interactions with teachers. Finally, private school students take more advanced courses than do public high school students. They also appear to follow a more rigorous academic program overall....
Now, it’s bad enough that the public-school lobby demands twice the amount of money to run schools than the private schools do. But it’s even worse that Bhattarai demands ever more money each year through tax increases.
Imagine if the computer industry said it always needed to raise prices in order to have the "ability to operate." It might like to try, but competition and innovation keep prices falling. In fact, if it weren’t for government-instigated inflation, computers would be much cheaper than they are. And despite falling prices, quality improves every day.
Bhattarai meanwhile, is thinking only about how to get more money. It seems that a number of tax-limitation measures have passed in Arkansas in recent years. Panicked legislators have been inching up the sales tax to feed government’s voracious appetite, and yet people are starting to catch on to that device too.
Not so with schools. Even where taxes grow and grow, the quality falls. And it’s not only the quality of the education that parents have to worry about these days. They must also be concerned for their kids’ safety.
In the end, Dr. Bhattarai complaint against the private school "Private school may turn out better students, but does it create better citizens?" The question in translation: do public schools only creating good citizen for nation?