How to get Voter ID in India

Yesterday I happen to see an advertisement by Tata Tea aimed at election awareness. The jingle of the ad goes “election he... agar aap vote nahi kar rahe to aap so rahe he (It’s election. If you are not voting than you are sleeping)- an initiative by Tata Tea aimed to stir up citizens from their slumber. But, just waking them up a’int enough! To let them know what to do and most important how to do is more important.

As per law any citizen of India age above 18 years is entitled to vote provided that he have Voter Identification Card. As you go to poll booth to use your franchise you need to produce your Voter ID before election incharge.

What is the Voter ID and how to register for it??

Voter ID is identification card for Indian citizens aged above 18 years and is issued by Election Commission of India. If you meet the eligibility than you can register for Voter ID by filling the Form No.6 provided by election commission of India The form can be downloaded from official site of Election Commission (EC)- www.eci.gov.in In case you don’t have access to Internet to download this form than you can collect this form from –

- Revenue Officer if you live in municipality

- Revenue sub-divisional office if you live in a mofussil area.

- Tahsildar office if you live in rural area

Documents Required For Voter ID

• Photocopy of Identity card
• Photocopy of any of the following documents for address proof- Electricity bill, Water bill, Telephone bill, Passport, Pension cards,. Property Tax Receipt, LPG (cooking gas) bill, Bank account statement, Residential rental/lease agreement
• An affidavit in case you comes for any of the following information- Criminal antecedent of the candidate, Assets, Liabilities including government dues or Educational Qualifications

Where To Complain For Election Related Grievances?

State Level : Chief Electoral Officer

District Level : District Election Officer

Constituency Level : Returning Officer

Taluka/Tahsil Level : Assistant Returning Officer

Polling Station : Presiding Officer

Group of poling stations : Zonal Officer

Some Tips

• To object somebody’s name or to get your name or any other person name deleted you can fill Form No. 7
• In case there has been discrepancy in such as name, house number, middle name, last name, age, sex, epic number etc you need to fill Form No. 8.
• It is important to note that you get voter ID for the local area you are resident of. When you move from that area but under same constituency due to any reason you need to get your local residency changed in electoral roll by filling Form 8A.
• When you move from one state to other you need to fill Form No.7 to get yourself deleted from that constituency and then enroll by filling Form No. 6 attaching the deletion certificate with it.

Remember

1. You can’t vote with any other identification card except Voter ID.

2. If you have registered for Voter ID but haven’t got it till Election Day than you can vote by carrying the acknowledgment you have received by submitted Form No. 6 along with address proof you have written in form and Photo ID card.

3. If you don’t make address change as you move to some other locality than you can’t vote from your new residence area. Thus, to vote you need to go to the polling booth that comes under the address you are carrying in your Voter ID.

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How to use paypal?

With increasingly high number of freelancers budding from India, the demand for Paypal has also seen a steep rise. Graphics, software development, translations, recording, networking or writing- all the skills sets are presently being outsourced from offshore companies to Indian freelancers. Earlier freelancers in India hesitated for online work from offshore companies due to discrepancy in payment mode and thus delay payment. With the quality work- a timely commensurate payment is the demand of every service provider. Hence, came online payment modes to support online payment. Wire transfer, xoom, Western Union etc are some of the means to let you have your payment.

What is Paypal?

Paypal owned by e-bay has always been considered as reliable gateway for payment both for buyers and providers. But earlier in India, paypal doesn’t supported withdrawals of funds into the bank account. But since 2007 it was made possible and banks like State Bank of India, Allahabad Bank, Union Bank of India, HDFC, ICICI etc now has join hands with paypal to facilitate this service.

In plain words, Paypal is an online medium to which buyer and service provider comes on same platform to send and receive funds. A buyer can send funds and service provider can receive funds using paypal accounts. What all you have to do is to register for free account on paypal. You can register on paypal by complying with simple steps provided by instruction on site itself.

Before getting started you may feel bit on edge for registering on it or not but believe me it’s very simple and convenient. The same was case for me and I used to avoid work from clients who have their payment settled to paypal. And the problem further arises when you ask from more and more people regarding its operatability and none seems to come up with satisfying answer.

How to withdraw money using Paypal in India

One you are registered you can immediately start receiving or sending fund. There are three methods to which you can receive funds

1. Credit Card- To withdraw money using your credit card you need to verify your registration status by providing your card numbers and other required details. After doing so you are free to withdraw funds up to any limit and you becomes a verified member.
2. Cheques- You can demand cheques from paypal for the amount you want to withdraw. But the adverse side of it is the fees they charge from you for delivering the cheques at your place in addition to the time that is taken for cheque delivery. The fees that you have to give for requesting cheque is 250 INR and the time cheque may take is 25-45 days. The other problem is that you will need minimum 150 $ in your account to request a cheque
3. Bank Withdrawals is the most convenient way for withdrawing funds. This is so, as you can withdraw funds using this option even if you are not a user of credit card (which means you are an unverified user). Being an unverified member you have certain limitations on withdrawing funds like you can withdraw amount up to $500 in a month. The time taken for money transfer from your paypal account to bank account is 5-7 business days (though I usually receives money in my account within 3 days). You can add your bank account by going on profile settings and can make a withdrawal request for desired amount whenever you want. As you add your bank account to paypal you need to provide IFSC code usually provided on leaflets of your cheque book or else you can download the excel sheet from http://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/neft.aspx by clicking 'List of NEFT enabled bank branches' and check out your bank IFSC code

Remember

Make sure that you register with the details like name and address correctly especially the last name. Whenever you make withdrawal request- if paypal found any discrepancy in the name with which you are registered and the name you have on bank account than it will return with request charging you a return fees of 250 INR.

As you proceed with withdrawal request, Paypal pay you 1 Rs. less than market rate on Dollar conversion rate. Also if you withdraw amount less than 7000INR than 50Rs will be charged as fees to bank withdrawals. However no fee is levied if you request amount more than 7000INR towards bank withdrawals.

Enjoy your paypal banking and get flooded with e-money :-)

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The Terror Dream

[An entry from my diary – 22^nd November 2002]

A few days back, I dreamt a mind threatening dream. My flesh shivered into goose bumps for the fear of loosing my loving ones especially my dear brother.

I saw, as we all family members were in some sought of hostel like building and staircase as one in my granny’s house. So, it was a mixture of both, as it was just only a dream. Then I saw we were beleaguered and attacked. It seemed that some sought of war has broken out. Fighter planes were just above our head and we were hiding ourselves in rooms, corners and some other places with no hopes left. We were all shattered on our part with lost hopes.

Further in dream, there seemed to be some truce. In that, I saw my father infact my mother sending my brother to market to bring some essentially important accessories and I was not letting him go for the fear of something happening to him. I was crying and vociferating that we can live like that, we don’t need anything and instead I need my brother. Then my father was scolding me that don’t act like a kid, it’s essential to go. If not him than someone else ought to go…Then all the dream got blurred with painstakingly bleak sounds of planes and jets following it.

The dream was really absurd but for the first time did I realizes what would have happened to the people at the time of partition (probably this feeling came first as I saw movie ‘Gadar’ just a month back). But what’s the need of delving such deep, it has happened with the people of Gujarat just few months back- my aunt has suffered it. It is happening with the people of Kashmir, with the people of Palestine… Israel… Afghanistan… with the people of…….and so on it’s going on happening and happening.

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Environmental Problems of the World

Literally environment means ‘atmosphere’ that surround us. A healthy environment is important as it is responsible for keeping human beings in sound physical shape and sustaining their livelihood. This is why environmental pollution is one of the biggest problems the world faces today. It is an issue that troubles us economically, physically and everyday of our lives. The contamination of the environment is also being linked to some of the diseases that are around currently. Despite the initiatives of public awareness via large campaigns, media attention, researches and international agreements; environmental problems is still a pressing problem that hasn’t been resolved even after all high beam efforts.

There is no denying the fact that if human beings are major victims of environmental problem than only they (exponential rise in population) are the catalyst to boost up the environmental problems in the world. As per United Nation’s Report, the human population is living far beyond its means and inflicting damage to the environment that could pass points of no return (New York Times, 2008). Though we typically know the remnants of environmental problems but we still are unable to seek out the issue of environmental problems. Harris (2004) reflects broad reasons to explain why we are still so helpless to resolve the environmental problems affecting all and sundry around the globe as required lifestyle changes that no one is willing to adopt comfortably.

Major Environmental Problems That World Faces Today

Where population and pollution is considered as major culprit of environment; climate change, loss of biodiversity, unsustainable energy and agriculture, water level, habitat loss etc are some eminent problems accrued as biggest environmental problems of the world.

Global warming, also known as the 'greenhouse effect', is the term used to describe the gradual rise in the world's average temperature. The effect is also known as 'climate change' (BBC h2g2, 2008). The consequence of global warming is explicit climate change that countries are witnessing in present times. An example of it is Europe which has witnessed the rise of 0.8°C over the last century and a temperature rise between 1.5 to 4.5°C is further expected by 2100. Scholars argues that though this may seems as a minor rise but we must not forget that only a difference of 5°C separated us from last ice age. Thus, global warming could result into melting of ice caps and could lead to unexpected weather change, floods, storm and rain which is believed to have direct impact on factors like health, agriculture, water resources, coastal regions, forests, and wildlife (Maslin, 2007)

Energy Problems or Exhaustion of non-renewable resources is another big problem that stands forth all of us. In our pursuit of comfort living and fulfilling our needs, we tend to ignore the sustenance of existing natural resources (fossil fuels and minerals) and thus are endangering their existence for our future generation. The human population is now so large that the amount of resources needed to sustain it exceeds what is available at current consumption patterns. The major result of this effect can be visualised as hampered social and economic aspects due to tendency to industrial growth which depends upon energy resources.

Pollution is yet another threat that revolves around the world. Air pollution and water pollution is a direct effect of environmental degradation that effects human beings in a very critical way. No fresh air to breather and pure water to drink can make the situation horrible in near future. The technology which was created to give comfort to human life is a trigger to pollute the sustenance of basic needs needed for survival (air, water and food) in the long term. Acid rain, smog, dissolution of the ozone layer, and the general depletion of "clean air" is the major area of concern that follows with environmental pollution at large.

Reference

- ABC News/Washington Post/Stanford Poll: The Environment Embargoed for Release (2007). Concern Soars about Global Warming as World’s Top Environmental Threat. Retrieved September 12, 2008, from http://woods.stanford.edu/docs/surveys/GW_2007_ABC_News_Release.pdf

- BBC h2g2 2008. Global Warming. Retrieved September 12, 2008, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A197499

- Harris, F. (2004). Global Environmental issues. Chichester, UK. John Wiley and Sons

- Maslin, M. (2007). Global Warming: Causes, Effects, and the Future. Voyageur Press

- The New York Times (2008). U.N. Warns of Rapid Decay of Environment. Retrieved September 12, 2008, from http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/26/world/26environ.html

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Practical Tips To Quick Fix Your Home-Office

Orchestrating the symphony of office in a grandiose home is vogue nowadays among the comfort-loving working class.

Public at large these days look for new innovations. Where bringing office to home has been a concept of strife in families for a long time; settling down with office work in an exclusively set office zone in your shell aka home is a much sought after option now. In the world whetted by intense competition and hectic schedules, solace of working in house is a fantasy in itself.

And then, it’s not even that tough. You just have to specify or allot space in your home. It’s not necessary that you end up occupying a big deal of space, making your home a rather haphazard and hotchpotch-ed affair but dealing with a dead corner is a smart choice. Backyard space or some unused corner or room in your house can serve the purpose very well. What really matters is what you can do with this dead space? Creativity unlimited!!

A Cross-Check

Before you can go on with assembling your office, just check out for following tips -

• Power and connectivity of phone, cables, Ethernet etc.
• Is the cost that incurs in renovation pocket-friendly?
• Does the makeover of this specific space match with the entire house?
• The legality factor

Create An Ambience

Fresh vibes and set-ups make your home-office a perfect workplace. It is not necessary to buy expensive furnishing, tables, flooring, decoration pieces etc., only a basic requirement that’s chosen smartly or renovating the existing stuff is sufficient to add a personal touch to your office desk.

To choose proper furnishing and lightening, measure your room and preferably make blueprints keeping windows, doors, electricity wiring etc. in mind. Next, comes the table which as a matter of fact is perfect in an L or U-shape if space allows for it. Here measuring the height and width of table is quite necessary as the desk is something that matters the most. Measure the parameters in accordance with computer mounting, drawers, and other amenities you wish to have.

On the top of all tips is the visibility that you must have in your office. Power comes first here. Choose prominent light shades and not the ornamental types that end up dampening the effect. Light arrangements should be such that you are enlivened even in the worst bouts of work pressure. And while in office what else can you wish for besides a cheerful mood?

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Patients Right to Participate in Clinical Trials..??

Yesterday, I happened to see a very interesting article on a website. Though I could just read excerpt as it was a paid article but the concept itself was very new in its approach. The article talked about the patients veto power in the participation of clinical trials. At the first glance I was baffled about the approach and gone weary but later as I put a second thought over it, I realized that it was even more than worth to be discussed and think off.

The article described the very raging concept arising these days about patient denial towards their participation in Clinical Research. A food for thought.!! The more you think more you get perplexed. It seems like entangling in web with no way out. Any Clinical Research on present patients is conducted for the welfare of forthcoming and future generation. So, in no case it gets futile and waste. The person participating in Clinical trials are almost equivalent to army soldiers who fight for their country without caring for their lives. And, to fight for safety of one’s country is obligatory. But then contradiction is-sparing few (like Great Britain) almost all the countries leave it up to the consent of people only whether or not to join the army. Henceforth, it doesn’t stands as a mandatory duty of any citizen of a country.

Connecting with this burgeoning argument the idea is- patients can’t veto their participation in the Clinical Trials. In no circumstances they can pull off from study unless and until authorities decides to do so. Or simply some of the others want it to attach it in fundamental duties of citizen for their active participation whenever need be.

A clinical Research as we all know encompass around four stages where an existing or entirely new drug is tested in different stages upon animals, volunteers, patients , healthy human being etc depending upon the stage of the clinical trial.

With human life at stake, the arguments of ‘to veto’ or ‘not to veto’ becomes too critical an issue to be wind up mere with the passing comments. Here all are invited to think of it and read it seriously and post what they think about these kinds of ongoing trends of diminishing the individual freedom or is it making them more important by involving them directly for country’s growth. Is it a test of how patriotic is you or….?

(This article has previously been published on http://fermish.com/blogs/)

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