Violent films making teenagers more aggressive

• A survey conducted by Samir Parikh among 1,000 students in private schools of New Delhi and in the suburban towns of Gurgaon and Noida reveals that as a large number of children in the 14-17 age group watch violent movies, they might be getting more aggressive.

Some facts of the survey:

1. Boys - 79 per cent - enjoy watching violent movies, while 34 per cent of girls also love seeing such action-oriented films.
2. 44 per cent of boys said they have the urge to hit or harm someone, while the figure was 32 per cent for girls.
3. 35 per cent of boys feel that showing some force or bullying someone is important to make friends like them more. Around 24 per cent of girls agree with this.
4. 31 per cent of boys said they know of someone being threatened or injured with a weapon in school while the figure is 22 per cent for girls.
5. 53 per cent of boys said they felt safer when they are with their own gang or group in school. This is true for girls, too. About 45 per cent of girls said they feel protected in school if they are part of a group.
6. The survey says feelings like physically harming someone score quite high among teenagers. "But it is not clear whether they actually act out their urge in harming someone."
7. Many children shared their feeling of not wanting to go to school as they feel unsafe. This could also be because of bullying by others or the fear that they could be harmed.

Is this really happening because of violent movies only or is there something else also. The kind of video games one play or is it peer pressure to perform in an aggressive nature. Is it that that boys feel more masculine after showing aggressive behavior only? Or is it true only in metros ? What is it that is actually making such young teenagers become so aggressive, is it lack of parental attention or stress or what??? Somebody needs to address this problem and come out with a solution otherwise god forbids that day isnt far where carrying guns will be normal to school or hurting people becomes "COOL"....

40% of newly elected MLAs crorepatis and many of them with criminal records.

• Crorepati candidates have won 40% seats in the elections from a total of 629 seats across the states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram and Delhi. Fewer than 3% candidates, with assets less than Rs 5 lakh, have triumphed, shows the report prepared by Association for Democatic Reforms as part of the New Election Watch campaign. ADR is a collective of more than 1,200 NGOs and citizens groups working for electoral reforms.

• The average Delhi assembly MLA of 2008 is worth Rs 2.86 crore. There isn't much to choose financially between the average BJP (Rs 2.8 cr) and the Congress (Rs 2.7 cr) MLA. Interestingly, the average asset of the six BSP MLAs in Rajasthan works out to a whopping Rs 3.45 crore.

• In Delhi, 31% of crorepatis with assets above Rs 5 crore emerged successful whereas no candidate with less than Rs 5 lakh won. The contrast is sharper in Chhattisgarh where 50%, or every second contesting crorepati with assets more than Rs 3 crore, prevailed. In comparison, among candidates with kitties of less than Rs 5 lakh, only 2% were victorious.

• There is a clear link between high finance and the chance of bagging a seat, say experts. "We found that the more money you have, better the chances of winning,'' says Anil Bairwal, national coordinator of ADR. Well-known activist Nikhil Dey illustrates the point. "The trend shows polls are almost a game of kaun banega crorepati. If you compare the figures with last time's elections, you will find assets have increased by an average of Rs 1 cr in five years of holding office,'' he says.

• A party-wise analysis shows the Congress fielded 121 crorepati winners and the BJP 110 in these polls. The candidates' declarations can be taken with a pinch of salt. In Rajasthan, for instance, an MLA with less than Rs 1 lakh assets owns a high-end car. "The study is based on their declarations and they may be lower than the actual assets,'' says Bairwal, whose study also concludes that the number of MLAs with criminal records has gone up since the 2003 polls.

• In Delhi, for instance, compared to 2003, the number of MLAs with criminal records has gone up from 24 to 27. That means now, 40% of newly-elected MLAs in the 69-seat Delhi assembly have criminal records.

• As per the affidavits, a total 549 candidates with criminal records contested in these elections. Of them, 124 won. That's about 23%. While MP has a maximum of 54 such MLAs, Rajasthan is second with 30, Chhattisgarh 11 and Mizoram 3.

• That deep pockets and crime go hand-in-hand is shown by Rajasthan, where the nine MLAs with serious criminal charges against them are all crorepatis.

• In Delhi all MLAs in current assembly are either lakhpatis or crorepatis. There are a total of 46 crorepatis. Congress has 24, BJP 19 and the BSP 2. One is an Independent. In MP, 12 crorepati MLAs do not have PAN numbers.

• 12 Delhi MLAs with asset declaration of more than Rs 1 crore said they own no vehicle.

If this is the fact of our politics then its high time that all of us should at least vote so that people having criminal records are not elected. And I seriously cant understand why people with criminal records are allowed to even contest. Further why media doesn publicise all these facts before elections? Crorepatis coming to power is good or bad that is very subjective I guess but mostly crorepatis winning shows that there is corruption somewhere exisiting and it is ruling.....