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Kamala Harris as Maa Durga opens up questions about her true identity

Staff Report
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Kamala Harris as Maa Durga opens up questions about her true identity

By hiding a big part of your ethnicity, heritage, religion – you are practicing bigotry and bias, in a new form

On October 17, Meena Harris, the US Vice Presidential candidate Kamala Harris’s niece posted an offensive tweet and imagery on Twitter. This tweet coincided with an auspicious Hindu festival called Navratri, celebrated all over the world by Hindus. Navratri is the beginning of the festive season that leads up to the most important Hindu festival of Diwali.

The actual image, story revolves around around the depiction of a battle between a feminine divine Goddess, Maa Durga and an evil demon Mahishasura, which is narrated during Durga Puja (festival event). In the imagery, the depiction shows the Goddess killing the demon with her weapon, a trident. The Goddess Maa Durga sits on her “vahana” or vehicle, a lion. It talks about how the daemon Mahishasura used his power for evil and attempt to attack and conquer the kingdom of Gods, his demand for immortality and not believing he could be killed by anyone in battle, let alone a woman.

The demon Mahishasura is described as an evil being who can change his outer form, but never his demonic goals. Maa Durga was incarnated from Goddess Parvati, created by the trinity Gods – Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma, to defeat the demon Mahishasura and bring his evil reign to an end. Maa Durga is also referred to as “Shakti” or the essence that runs through all of the universe. Upon killing the evil demon Mahishasura, Maa Durga, tore his chest and fed him to her pet lion.

Hurting Hindu Sentiments

Hindus in the US and around the world have sought an apology from Meena Harris for tweeting this disgusting, disrespectful and offensive image in which Kamala is depicted as Goddess Durga and President Donald Trump as the evil demon Mahishasura. With Joe Biden as the pet lion and vehicle for Kamala, many find this distasteful.

The depiction also shows Kamala’s character trying to kill the demon, morphed with the face of President Donald Trump, using the trident with her pet lion (Joe Biden) mauling the character of President Trump. This has deeply hurt the sentiments of Hindus in US and around the world at many levels. The Hindu festival of Navratri and many other festivals are themed around the victory of good over evil and the triumph of truth and divine energies. So the use of Hindu divine imagery to further political agenda or to spread hate against the countries President, is blasphemous, extremely offensive and insensitive.

Not to mention how serious this matter is for Meena Harris, who depicts a sitting President as being attacked (and symbolically being killed by a VP candidate, as in the story where Mahishasura is killed and eaten by the lion). It will not be a surprise if the FBI and Secret Service have had a good chat with Meena Harris and others involved in creating this image and tweet. Possibly letting them off without consequences, with just a warning. If this was a tweet by a common citizen, they would be locked up forever for depicting harm and violence on a US President.

Identity Crisis

Hindu Americans are still not clear on what religion Kamala Harris or Meena Harris follow. They believe Kamala Harris and Meena Harris are of the Hindu faith and are thus surprised by the lack of judgement. Little do they know that neither Kamala Harris nor Meena Harris follow the Hindu faith, Kamala Harris considers herself a Baptist Christian. Harris is the first Indian/Jamaican American woman to get a major party’s vice presidential nomination. However Kamala Harris has often struggled with color and race politics, she has often been seen to shift her identity – juggling between Indian, Brown, Black, Hindu, Baptist Christian identities.

While Harris was raised and grew up in a Tamilian(Hindu ethnic group) household by a Hindu single mother, and named after the Hindu goddess Lakshmi, and with majority of her early life influence from her maternal side, she considers herself a Black Baptist Christian. So why did Kamala completely distance herself from her Hindu faith, upbringing and influence? You will never see her in recent years talk about her Hindu faith or traditions, customs, it’s influence on her value system, as she often does proudly talk about her Christian faith, no harm in doing that, but is there a bias towards one over the other when it comes to presenting in front of the US voters.

In an ideal world, a politician would not be playing race or color politics and treat themselves and all others the same, but if you are calling out the obvious and you are ignoring the other big part of your ethnicity, heritage, color, religion and upbringing – you are practicing bigotry and bias, in a new form.
Can America vote for a Hindu Vice President?

The most opportunistic politician is one who can change it all for their benefit – color of their skin, ethnicity, values and religion for political gains to blend in with their vote bank. The question that this has raised for the larger Hindu American community as they get more politically engaged and involved is – do they retain their color, ethnicity and religion as they continue to serve, as they aspire to run for political positions or do they transform themselves into a new brand with a different color, race or religion to appeal to the voters? Secondly, can America accept a candidate that is brown, Hindu, Tamilian and then elect them to a post of Vice President? Do we educate and train our current and future generations that the only way they can aspire to be the President of US is by shedding away their Hindu beliefs, tradition, culture and identity.

At the moment, it looks like we are not there yet or not yet ready to accept this fact. Kamala has not done much to change this either, in fact she has doubled down and done everything possible to shed away her true Hindu identity, at least that is how many Hindu Americans see it. Not all blame is on Kamala either, there have been other Hindu American candidates that have transformed themselves prior to getting into politics. To be fair, we also have many other Hindu American politicians who run with their original identity – color, ethnicity, values and religion, but in predominantly Indian American or Hindu American dense constituencies. What will these candidates have to change as they aspire and get ready to run for higher office? Looks like they will have to change a lot.

This is a fundamental question and one that is being discussed in the Hindu American community, will we continue to see Hindu American candidates denouncing or shy away from their color, race, values and religion? Some of that struggle can be seen by the response, the uproar, around the disrespectful Hinduphobic tweet by Kamala’s niece Meena Harris.

from Twitter.com
from Twitter.com

On Saturday both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris extend Navratri greetings via Twitter, to the Hindu American community. This may not be enough for Hindu Americans. While Meena Harris has since deleted her own offensive Navratri “greetings” tweet, she has not apologized despite the many calls to do so by Hindus Americans, including Democrats.

It is time that Hindu Americans aspiring for higher office or in any sphere, assimilate and stand by their color, ethnicity, values, and religion and not shy away as these characteristics make up a big part of who they are and the good they bring to their communities, country and the world.

Article by – Nitin Anand

Congress: Staring at bleak future

Vijay Sundar
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Congress: Staring at bleak future

“Mistakes happen, that’s life. Repeat the same mistake, that’s stupidity” – Unknown

In Indian elections, most of the time a party wins because of the mistakes of the opponent. In 2014, Congress lost because there was so much public anger against the party. Congress earned its defeat due to its massive corruption, arrogance, excessive minority appeasement, and its tacit support to anti-national elements.

If there was any introspection, we would have expected Congress to have changed its attitude and faced the 2019 elections with new policies. But nothing changed, the party went to the electorate hoping that it could win with anti-incumbency BJP might face. Worse still, Rahul unleashed a dirty campaign against Modi with lies on Rafale deals. So much so that he had to offer an unconditional apology in the Supreme Court for twisting the facts. Congress was hoping that with almost the entire mainstream media supporting it, with Minority and Dalit votes, by splitting Hindu votes in the name of ‘secularism’, it could easily win. The electorate showed Congress was wrong.

One year since elections, there is absolutely no change in Congress’s attitude. It continues to support anti-India elements. Look what Congress is doing:

  • Opposes the revocation of article 370 in Kashmir.
  • Opposes the CAA that provides citizenships to affected minorities from neighbouring countries.
  • At the time of Chinese aggression, instead of showing solidarity with the government, criticises Modi.
  • Seem to be exaggerating and exploiting stray incidents in BJP ruled states and directly or indirectly contributing to the rumours spread by Lutyens media.
  • Opposes anything and everything that BJP proposes, even the legislations that were originally proposed by Congress in the past.
  • Relies only on dynasty to lead the party forever.

It appears Congress cannot come out the vicious cycle. The party seems to be guided by leftist forces that have infiltrated the party. The leaders appear determined in taking the party to ruins.

Left has been defeated state after state, now by embracing Leftist agenda, Congress is going the same way as the Left: Towards Extinction.

How twins became the twin stars of valley

Touseef Rasool Dar
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How twins became the twin stars of valley

Hatched in the bewitching drop of Takiya Batapora Tangmarg, plummets in the paddock of Gulmarg, the two young identical brothers namely Gowhar Bashir Bhat and Shakir Bashir Bhat made the entire valley pompous by Qualifying National Eligibility Entrance Test with effulgent tincture. It is a great saying that, “A dream does not become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, and hardwork” and the same was demonstrated by these two identical brothers.

Belonging to frugal background, being a twin sons of a private security guard, they did their secondary schooling from Muhammadia school and higher secondary education from government Higher secondary school both from their native town Kunzer Tangmarg. Both Gowhar and Shakir were so hardworking from the very beginning and passed all the exams with colossal attainments. The identical brothers sustained lot of austerity during their bumble because of financial crunch but instead of squeezing off from hope they put in every drop of blood to Chalk up their venerated pretension. Gowhar and Shakir have became the talk of the town after Qualifying the NEET 2020 by scoring 651 and 657 respectively. They have become inspiration for the entire young generation of the valley as such achievements are very rare.

Right After passing the 12th standard examination, they wanted to pursue medicine but couldn’t made it in the first attempt because of lack of guidance and financial support and were selected for Engineering in one of the Prestigious institutions of knowledge in Kashmir valley- The National Institute of Technology Srinagar but their inquisition to be a doctor didn’t stop here. They also participated in many other competitive exams besides NEET and came under the notice of the Major Rohit of 2RR camp Kunzer, falls stones throw of their aboriginal village. The company Commander espied their endowment and implicit to contribute to the society and nation at large by their script and troth them to hand all sine quo non assistance from the armed forces.The company commander stayed in touch continuously with both the brothers and kept them guiding and encouraging for their sacrosanct ambition.

The duo with the guidance and encouragement of Armed Forces finally achieved what they and their father dreamt for. Despite the situation in Kashmir valley, they made it possible to crack the entrance and enlightened the name of Kashmir valley among the stars. The duo gave a strong message to the people of Jammu & Kashmir that hardwork is the key to success and it never goes waste. Picking up guns and choosing the path of violence is not a solution but had always put us in dogs house. Kashmir will become heaven only when the youth will come together to pen down the future of valley by education rather than hero worshipping terrorists.

The duo marked a strong message to the youth that Kashmir needs a well educated environment to produce skillful doctors, Great lawyers, engineers and teachers to construct our better tomorrow. The Company commander and CEO A. S. Malik Shaib of 2RR kilo force went to the house of the duo and felicitated them with different rewards. Both the brothers were so happy and thanked the Armed forces for moral and financial support and mentioned guidance of armed forces as main reason for their success. The duo submitted that we can achieve what we aspire for only through our hardworking, dedication, patience and education. The twin along with their father thanked the armed forces for support and the concerned officer also assured them for help in future. The Armed forces must take steps to launch a flagship programe under which youth must be given free education, counselling and other assistance for various academic and competitive exams to give valley more visionaries who will glorify it with shinning colours.

Save Hindus, save Bengali

ashley
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Save Hindus, save Bengali

Save Hindus, stop exodus of Hindus in Meghalaya in north east India

Normally in India, 7 sisters states are consider to be in sub Himalayan terrain with beautiful scenery. But what eyes see and what the reality is far more different, since 1979 the Hindus living in Meghalaya are consider a third class citizen, being the domicile and being minority religious community of the same state they have to go through a lot of unjust and equality, they cant buy land, can’t get government administration jobs even can’t live peacefully. In 1972 population was 40% of Hindus but now its 9% of the state population. Sometimes I wonder what happened why there is so much decline in the population rate of Hindu but when saw the reality my eyes rolled out tear. Being Hindu in Meghalaya seems to be a crime, since 1977 Hindus have been butchered by local NGO (KSU,GSU,HNLC). Its time for Hindus from all over India to unite and save our Hindu brothers and provide them equality. Let’s we all unite and let us not make it second KASHMIR.

Recently they have beaten NIIT student and bengali people. They Have been granted special status of state; it doesn’t mean that they will start killing Hindus.

Please find the link of youtube this Hindu Guy (Vicky Dey) and his friend clearly explain how they have been tortured:

This Guy is clearly explaining how exactly genocide and persecutions of Hindus has happened since 1977 in Meghalaya. Please support this. Its not any agenda but fight for right to equality and a proud life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jODSITbiInA

State misusing state organs: TRP scam case

ujjwaltiwari
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State misusing state organs: TRP scam case

Recently acts of Mumbai Police Commissioner in “TRP Scam Case” were something that is a clear example of state influencing the state organs leading to the misuse of the official position. Now when we look into the legality of the case, it’s a case of alleged scam and the case is under investigation. Now the issue arises when the Police Commissioner of the state does the press conference in a particular case and takes name of “Republic Media Network” and Mr. Arnab Goswami alleging them of TRP Scam. On the other hand FIR in respect of TRP scam case no where talks about the “Republic Media Network” and therefore the act of police commissioner Mumbai are under serious suspicion. Naming a media channel during the press conference by none other but police commissioner of the state without having the name of the media channel in the FIR, shows the malafide intent of the commissioner to falsely engage and publicly defame a news channel.

In India Express Newspaper Ltd. v. Union of India; AIR 1986 SC 515 hon’ble apex court has clearly held that freedom of press is extremely essential for proper functioning of democracy. In such a situation wherein baseless accusation on a well known media house is been made is an attack on freedom of press. If in case police thinks fit that Mr. Goswami on among the accused in TRP scam case though his name not mentioned in FIR, police may issue summons to Mr. Goswami which is then due process of law. But as said earlier state machinery is influenced by state government and hence the due process is been exploited by doing press conference. Legal position as of now is that if an FIR is registered “where a criminal proceeding is manifestly attended with mala fide and/or where the proceeding is maliciously instituted with an ulterior motive for wreaking vengeance on the accused and with a view to spite him due to private and personal grudge” then such a criminal proceeding against accused with malafide intent can be quashed by court while exercising its jurisdiction under Secction 482 of Code of Criminal Procedure the same was held in State of Haryana vs Bhajan Lal; [1992 Supp (1) SCC 335].

The government of Maharashtra accepted the fact in the court that neither “Republic Media Network” nor Mr. Goswami is named in the FIR in respect of TRP scam case. So this made it more clear positioning as to deliberate act to defame a particular media house just to satisfy the personal vendetta resulted to press of conference of Mumbai police commissioner and his continuous fictitious allegation on a media house. If we minutely look police commissioner of Mumbai has definitely committed a criminal offence of defamation mentioned under Section 499 of Indian Penal Code. Deliberate publication of a defamatory statement that has caused harm to the reputation of Mr. Arnab Goswami satisfies all the ingredients of section 499 of Code of Criminal procedure and hence should be liable to appropriate sanctions just to secure freedom of press as well as smooth functioning of democracy.

Algorithms and bias

lakshmi7
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Algorithms and bias

By Lakshmi S Menon

The technological innovation have called for the data mining algorithms which provides a more effective way to predict the credit risk than the traditional methods. In earlier times the credit scoring was based on human calculations. Nowadays the artificial intelligence coupled with advanced machine learning methods have contributed to an innovative method for analyzing the credit worthiness of borrowers. Aftermath of the financial crisis of 2007-2008,the central banks in various countries have put forward intensive data mining algorithms and financial statistics modeling to improve their supervisory and monetary responsibilities. Certain information about the borrowers like the missed payments, default on previous payments are used to create credit report and generate credit score, for example the FICO score in the US. Pricing algorithms depends on the statistical information of potential buyers. Many online shopping sites including Amazon uses dynamic pricing algorithms to set the prices of various goods.

Larson et.al(2016) in their paper titled “Unintended Consequences of Geographic Targeting” studied about the behavior of pricing algorithms used by Princeton Review. In their study it was found that the incidence ratio of Asians that are affected by higher pricing than Non Asians was 1.8,that is Asians are nearly twice as likely as Non Asians to be offered one of the highest price of the materials by the Princeton Review. So it was argued that the prices of Princeton Review’s online tutoring packages differ substantially depending on the geographic location of the customers. Princeton Review told that they set their prices depending on the “Costs of running our business and the competitive attributes of a given market”. The price also depends on the local tutors.

Many often these pricing algorithms leads to unintended and biased outcomes. It means that there is often a high chance of preferential treatment for certain classes of people and exclusion of certain classes from the process. In an independent report by the UK government titled “Interim report: Review into bias in algorithmic decision making”(2019), it was found that data driven technology of algorithmic pricing have ethical challenges. Credit scoring algorithms take into account the customer behavior and patterns. So it is more likely that the data is unrepresentative of reality and reflects prejudices. For example a credit scoring algorithms may mark certain classes of customers who shop in certain specific shops as not creditworthy because they are less likely to pay back the loans.

Artificial intelligence desires to make the system more equitable and desirable but very often financial institutions and credit companies often fails to remove the ambiguity and bias that exists in the system that discriminates people based on race, gender and certain other perspectives. The data collected for prediction depends on your orientation, your political beliefs and even depends on the college where you have studied. It learns the patterns of the customer and generates the credit score. It may be like a white American can have higher credit scores than a black American and it’s a case for ethical and racial bias.

Sometimes it was found that the same person can have different credit scores with different agencies because the criteria that each lender uses to determine the credit worthy borrowers differs from each other. Although algorithms helps the banks and financial institutions to determine the potential customers it is often leading to biased outcomes and exclusion of certain classes of peoples access to credit. The set of instructions to be fed to the computer programming is often challenging. The inclusion of certain factors in the predictive algorithm model is often very challenging. The variables which is to be included or not included in determining the credit risk is often a herculean task.Sometimes pricing algorithms use historical data to make predictions. If the historical data is biased against a certain section of the population it may lead to inaccurate results. Amazon biased against its female candidates for the job positions some years back due to its Algorithms using historical data as a variable in deciding the worthiness of persons.

The effectiveness of algorithms depends on the variables that are fed into the computer programming that determine the credit worthiness of the person. The predictions can moreover lead to a bias towards a certain ethnic groups or gender due to the inefficiencies that have crept into system. So there is often a dilemma posed by these algorithms. In a study by Dwoskin(2015) it was found that a credit scoring algorithms have a higher probability of error prone to groups that have less representation in the credit market. Thus it calls for technical and nontechnical approaches in rectifying the artificial agents.

The artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to predict credit risk are actually in the infant stage of development. There are many inadvertencies that have crept into the model. Many of the engineers and data scientists who deal with artificial intelligence models have less or no exposure to the public policy design so there is a need for a different kind of wisdom to be demanded from these persons who work in this field. One way to mitigate the further risk of credit scoring algorithms can be through the regulatory mechanisms. In the working paper by Osoba and Welsor titled “The Risk of Bias and Errors in Artificial Intelligence” it was found that “The error and bias risk in algorithms and AI will continue as long as artificial agents play increasingly prominent roles in our lives and remain unregulated”. 

Avoiding these algorithms completely is not possible. There is a need to inculcate transparency in the algorithmic models that is the common public must be aware of the criteria and procedure which the algorithm uses. According to Sandvig et.al (2014) the algorithmic audit can be a way forward to analyze the efficiency of the financial algorithms. That is artificial agents and algorithms should be tested according to how efficiently they deliver the results or output not taking into consideration the procedures or codes they use. There is a grave need to push towards transparency especially in the algorithmic models that are involved in financial lending and credit operations. But more often these predictive algorithmic models are so complex that people who create them itself have no idea how well the system works efficiently.

Algorithmic accountability can be improved by analyzing whether the results of the output are biased towards a certain groups or population or not. Algorithms have the huge potential to arrive at a more efficient decision making than the humans. Algorithms were invented to reduce the unconscious risk of humans but there are even more problems associated with them. These problems should be identified and rectified in the years to come so that there is less discrimination and more accountability in the outputs of the process. Algorithms are great tools and should not lead to black boxes posing threat. So there is a need to inculcate transparency in the system to find out where do the bias come from and formulate ways to correct them.

The voter shall always have the last word-MSM & pollsters learn Their lessons

Narasimhan Vijayaraghavan
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The voter shall always have the last word-MSM & pollsters learn Their lessons

The @POTUS elections are absolutely fascinating to follow. It is beautifully poised even as @realdonaldtrump is ‘fighting against the odds’. Most polls, all across the US of A, national in particular, reveal that @joebiden is in the lead. It has been so ever since Joe Biden, 78 years old, became the official Democratic Party nominee, aspiring to become the oldest ever @POTUS to come to office, in the 244 year old country’s history.

Yet the Mainstream media and the psephologists are holding out a lot of ‘caveats unlike most times in the past’ as a Havard Professor is amused. They are not so sure to predict a winner this time, despite the wind in the sails of Joe. Why? Why are they hesitating unlike in the past? They always claim Psehpology is a science. They have ‘evolved tools which are sturdy’, they always claim. What has gone wrong with their ‘chiseled models beaten by the weather’?

It all harks back to their and our experience in the Nov, 2016 elections. At this point of time, in the Nov, 2016 elections Hillary Rodham Clinton was virtually declared a winner bar the shouting, as even Republicans had given up on Donald J Trump. Yes, it is true that Hillary won the popular vote by 3 million votes and it was Trump’s triumph by just 77,000 votes in three critical swing vote states, which made the difference. But, it has always been so in the US.

It needs to be noted, appreciated and understood that @POTUS elections, which take place once in 4 years, on the first Tuesday of November, 3rd it is, this year, and the Presidential inauguration takes place on Jan,20, the following year, are not of the ‘first past the post kind’. The popular vote may go to one candidate. But the winner could be another who gets to win the votes in the Electoral College, an ‘ indescribable animal which needs to be caught and consigned to the dustbin of history’ as a Yale law professor calls it.

When the 13 states joined in to morph the Confederation into a Union of States, thanks to the persuasive skills of the Founders of the US Constitution, the smaller States had their way ‘to assert their status in the union’, by insisting on a creature dubbed the Electoral College. Each State got allotted an agreed number of electors and the winner in the State took all the Electoral College votes- skewing the entire popular vote out of shape and size . In fact, only in 2020, we had the @SCOTUS ruling that the electors in the Electoral College cannot vote against the popular mandate in the State. Until then, it seemed as though they could, making a mockery of the precept and practice of popular votes in the hustings at both state and national horizons. Donald J Trump trumped Hillary in 3/5 swing states taking him over the hump, in the Electoral College, beyond the 270 magic number.

It was against the run of play. More than Hillary and Clinton and Democrats, it was the Main Stream Media and the ‘trained professional psephologists’ who were stunned into silence. They have been dissecting and analysing the ‘results’ since, and beyond suggesting that ‘the silent Trump voter killed them with their silence and misrepresentations’ there has been no worthwhile research results. Tomes have been penned and Seminar Circuit calendars full, but no credible answers. Yes, the MSM and psephologists shamefully conceded that they were trumped by the Trump voters as they failed to have their ears to the ground and ‘lost touch with the reality’.

It is this once in a life time experience that is holding back the MSM and Psephologists from pronouncing big on the polls and poll numbers in 2020. They are forced to admit that it is after all not a science or a precision tool. There is an inevitable and inexorable element of guesswork and estimation which makes mincemeat of their projections. And the voters who matter cannot be reduced to prognosis or projections, on samples and models, no matter the size, they handle with the huge margin of errors.

The Trump candidacy has been a revelation. He has had a 40% approval ratings since he began in June, 2015, throwing his hat into the ring. Despite the chaotic administration and his despicable handling of the Pandemic virus, defying and demeaning scientists and doctors, his base is not budging. They are stead fast. They know who he is. They knew him when they voted him in. As an elderly white female voter proudly exclaimed, “You took him literally. We took him seriously. He is our kind of politically incorrect rascal you elites hate”. And that base has remained unswerving in its devotion as if ‘Trump Presidency was a cult phenomenon’ as Tom Friedman remarked. Whatever, MSM and psephologists have learnt their lessons well.

No matter how smart they claim themselves to be or the tools and models they employ, ultimately, it is the little man with the little finger visiting the booth or mailing in his vote, who shall have the last word. It is not unique to US of A, but it is equally applicable to all democracies. MSM and psephologists would do well to be humbled by this experience, lest they are rudely humbled, again and again, by the little man or woman with the little vote.

( Narasimhan Vijayaraghavan- Author is practising advocate in the Madras High Court)

Food, faults and figures : How vegetarianism can be the answer to global warming

Dinesh Hosamani
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Food, faults and figures : How vegetarianism can be the answer to global warming

Let’s ignore that we are in a pandemic. Let us also ignore that this pandemic is caused by zoonic virus i.e., by a virus predominantly found in animals. Here we can safely assume that transmission to humans is mostly via consumption. There is something about one’s diet that makes it so interesting. I at times believe that cooking our food is one of the defining characteristics of humans. Sure, there are other species that eat food (dah!) but it is only humans that consciously cook their foods, add flavors and spice there by making it palatable for their taste. In fact, the innate need to have specific food has led to major wars and colonization. Wasn’t it a British quest for sugar and spice, that led them to Asia? The Opium war for tea in China? If these can’t be the examples of human conflicts over food, I don’t think what else can be? Hence next time when you come across a friend who has a sedulous diet and taste, go easy on him, he isn’t waging war. Humans of all the species can be proactive about their food habits specially if the choices they make effects their own inhabitance. Yes, your food habits does make difference to this planet and you could make a difference and it is very simple, I will not preach you what to do , but give you the data to make you aware what food style should we celebrate and what should be frowned upon.

My following proposition is heavily based upon the study done by UCLA’s climate lab. There are many other studies which points to this single thing: MEAT IS BAD FOR THE PLANET. This may surprise many of you, since its vegetarian diet that is heavily associated with clearing forests to make farmlands, etc. In fact, in common arguments its always said, “Vegetarians eat plants, that’s not helping.” Let’s start with basics, global warming is mainly caused by two gases carbon dioxide and methane. Methane is twenty-five times more potent than carbon di oxide, imagine 1 unit of methane produced being equivalent to 25 units of carbon dioxide, hence we need to be more cautious of our methane emissions than our carbon emissions. Ruminant animals like cows and sheep release a lot of methane. Imagine rearing all these cattle for meat. The study mentions that a single serving of grass-fed beef produces around 330g of carbon. This is equivalent of riding a card for 3 miles, which is around 5km. Chicken on the other hand produces 52g of carbon, fish around 40g, whereas lentils produce just around 2g.

Image courtesy :UCLA Climate lab.

Livestock’s causes 14 % of greenhouse gas emissions this is equal to that of transportation, which is also around 14%. Imagine, all the ships, aero plane, cars, bikes and every other imaginable modes of transport being equivalent to meat consumption. Also, not to forget the fertilizers and billions of tons of food grain required to feed the cattle .The message is clear and simple, not everyone of us can afford electrical vehicles, not everyone of us can switch to public transport, but all of us can very well make changes to our diet.

If everyone were to be a vegetarian it would be equivalent of taking off one billion cars off the road.

Image courtesy :UCLA Climate lab.

While, the science is very clear about it, we should all feel happy being in India. In our country we are predominantly having vegetarian diet and thereby, having a lesser footprint. These practices should be appreciated. I have seen many food blogs, social media influencers on various social media and cookery shows, where delicious recipes are shared, a small appeal to them is to reiterate the need for sustainable diet. Although, going vegan is trendy, we need to communicate that this is science based and not a fashion statement. The food culture in India should be cherished and celebrated, especially vegetarian diets. Lately it has been a fashion statement to call vegetarian food as “ghas-phoos”, “is it even eatable?” “there isn’t such thing called veg biriyani”, etc.

This amazes me how one side of the spectrum claims that they have right to eat whatever they want at the same time take shot at the people at other side of the spectrum. In fact, every time you see a meat eater, especially someone who eats it at disproportionately , you should know he is indeed more responsible for global warming than any gas guzzling vehicle , while shaming them wouldn’t help, least we could do is to celebrate the vegetarians. In India I agree that most meat consumed is that of chicken, but it is still not as sustainable as vegetarian diet. One could no doubt argue about more sustainable way of farming, but there is no way we can have a sustainable planet of seven billion meat eaters.

As it is said that we haven’t inherited this earth from the previous generation, but we have on contrary borrowed it from our future generation. We are mere custodian of this planet; we should act responsibly. The very idea of handing down planet as a better place to live in than we inherited may sound to good to be true, but we can always give it a try. We should also highlight the sustainable diet we inherently have followed should be a model for the rest of the work. We are a nation of billion population, what we can do is immense, how we do it will be an exemplary to the world and can be the very solution to the sustenance of this planet. We can always talk of being an inter planetary species and can no doubt be in pursuit of it, but it will yield little to no difference if we don’t mend our ways which is living a sustainable lifestyle.

Legally speaking, marriage between a Hindu woman and a Muslim man is irregular and invalid in India

Kiran
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Legally speaking, marriage between a Hindu woman and a Muslim man is irregular and invalid in India

The recent Tanishq Advertisement on Hindu-Muslim Interfaith event on Ekatva (one-ness) has opened up a Pandora box on social justice, equality and liberty of Hindu women. Although, the left liberal progressives support interfaith marriage between Hindu woman and Muslim man, they choose to hide some legal aspects that could threaten the liberty, equality of the Hindu women. However, the majority of Hindus believe inter faith marriages are another form of religious conversions. Historically, since the 11th century, Indian sub-continent has witnessed the Islamic aggression and Hindus are the victims of religious conversions and caliphate.

What Hindu Marriage Act and Succession Act says:

Unlike the United States, India is a land of democracy and every religion has a personal law board and Hindu women are guaranteed with all fundamental rights, liberty and equality under Hindu Marriage Act of 1955, Hindu Succession Act of 1956 bolster Hindu daughters equal property rights as sons to inherit father’s property. Per Hindu marriage act of 1955, polygamy is illegal while the spouse was still living. However, the same polygamy is not illegal for Muslims even today although Supreme Court of India in its judgement on February 2015 declared that “Polygamy was not an integral or fundamental part of the Muslim religion, and monogamy was a reform within the power of the State under Article 25”.  

Muslim Women’s Rights under Muslim Personal Law Board

Photo Courtesy : Press Trust of India

Muslims in India are governed by Muslim personal law board also called as Shariat Act of 1937 which deals with marriage, inheritance, property, succession, and charities. While this Muslim personal law board is applicable in every state of India except the State of Goa, the State of Goa has the Goa Civil code that is applicable to every religion. Under Muslim law board, the rules of inheritance are rather strict. A son takes double the share of a daughter, on the other hand, the daughter is the absolute owner of whatever property she inherits. If there is no brother, she gets half a share. It is legally hers to manage, control, and to dispose of it as and when she wants.

While Hindu women enjoys equal rights as Hindu men as per Hindu marriage act and Hindu Succession act, but Muslim women doesn’t have the privileges of equal status and rights. In the famous Shah Bano case in 1985, the Supreme Court of India, had held that in case of a divorce, it is the responsibility of the husband to maintain his former wife even after separation under Section 3 (1Ha) of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986. In the event of the death of her husband, a widow gets the one-eighth share if she has children, but will get one-fourth share when she has no children. If there is more than one wife, the share may come down to one-sixteenth as Muslim personal law board support polygamy. However, until a daughter is not married, she enjoys the right to stay with her parents’ house and seek maintenance. In case of a divorce, the charge for maintenance reverts to her parental family after the iddat period (approximately three months) is over. 

In August 2017, the Supreme Court of India had declared Triple Talaq unconstitutional. On the lines of the judgement, Prime Minister Modi administration passed a law to ban Triple Talaq in 2019 that guarantees the fundamental rights of women. This law is one of the historic law that upholds the dignity and respect of Muslim women.

Marriage between Hindu Woman and Muslim Man is Invalid

Interestingly, the marriage between a Hindu woman and Muslim man was declared as irregular and invalid by the Supreme Court of India in 2019 upholding the Kerala High Court verdict. The judgement also underlined that the child born out of such wedlock is legitimate. It also said that the legal effect of such an irregular marriage is that a wife is entitled to get dower but cannot inherit the husband’s property. The judgement was delivered by a bench of justices NV Ramana and MM Shantanagoudar ruled that the son of a couple — Mohammed Ilias and Valliamma (who was Hindu at the time of marriage) — was legitimate and was entitled to share in his father’s property according to law. The top court said that high court relied on principles of Islamic law to conclude that such rules do not treat the marriage of a Muslim with a Hindu woman as void, and confers legitimacy upon children born out of such wedlock.

Referring to this law, the bench said that a marriage which is not valid may be either void or invalid. “A void marriage is one which is unlawful in itself, the prohibition against such a marriage being perpetual and absolute. An invalid marriage is described as one which is not unlawful in itself, but unlawful for something else…(like the absence of witnesses),” the bench said.  Despite the fact that the top court did not dispute that Valliamma was the wife of Ilias and contrary to the claims, birth register records maintained by statutory authorities indicate that Shamshuddin was their son. “On the contrary, he is the legitimate son of Mohammed Ilias, and consequently is entitled to inherit the shares claimed in the estate of his father,” it said. However, the bench finds that though the marriage between a Hindu woman and a Muslim man was irregular( Fasid) , it considers that the offspring is legitimate. 

Thus, it is imperative to admit the fact that Hindu women loses everything that she gets from birth including equal rights and justice when married to a Muslim man and it threatens the very basic constitutionally guaranteed rights under Article 25 to a women and the Muslim personal law board overrides the constitution of India. However, the left liberals doesn’t want to discuss in depth on the details of Muslim women rights and as well undermines the loss of fundamental rights of Hindu women guaranteed by Indian Constitution and supports the progressive ideas that could impede Hindu women rights and it is high time to pass the Uniform Civil Code that applies to every religion mentioned in the Article 44 of Indian Constitution. 

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_Civil_Code

https://www.makaan.com/iq/buy-sell-move-property/expounding-sc-order-on-womens-right-to-ancestral-property

https://www.firstpost.com/india/sc-deems-marriage-of-hindu-woman-and-muslim-man-not-valid-but-their-child-is-legitimate-and-is-entitled-to-fathers-property-5945411.html

परम पूज्यनीय से भेंट

Anurag Singh
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परम पूज्यनीय से भेंट

“मै एक साधारण स्वयंसेवक” इस अर्ध वाक्य का परिचय कैसे दूं यही दुविधा का विषय है! संघ कार्यालय में पड़ी हुई धूल से ढकी हुई पुस्तक जिसपर पूज्यनीय गुरू जी का चित्र है, मेरी सोशल मीडिया के बायो के रूप में, या मेरे साथ हुए अनुभव के रूप में? शायद इन सब का अपना स्थान अपने रूप में आरक्षित है।

सामान्य व्यक्ति के लिए शायद यह लेख ‘तिल का ताड़’ हो, किंतु एक स्वयंसेवक के लिए अभूतपूर्व अनुभव हो सकता है। संघ की शाखा, मतलब ३६५ दिन चलने वाली अनवरत साधना, एक निश्चित स्थान, निश्चित समय, निश्चित कार्यक्रम, यह सब कुछ हिंदू समाज को एकत्रित लाने का प्रयास। हम एक ही लक्ष्य लेकर चल रहे है “नित्य सिद्ध शक्ति” का जागरण, उसके लिए “शाखा का चलना” हमारा एक ही कार्य है।

मै एक कार्यकर्ता कैसे बना ये ज्यादा रोचक नहीं है लेकिन जिसने कार्यकर्ता के रूप में गढ़ा वो रोचक है। ७ दिन का प्राथमिक संघ शिक्षा वर्ग करके आरम करने की सोच ही रहा था कि तत्कालीन भाग सह कार्यवाह (उस समय दायित्व शायद यही था) मेरे पास मिलने आए। हरीश जी (हम नाम में “जी” स्वाभाविक ही जोड़ देते है): कितना शुल्क था वर्ग का?
मै: २०० रुपए
हरीश जी: कितने दिन रहे ?
मै: ७ दिन
हरीश जी: ७ दिन का भोजन २०० में मिलता है क्या?
मै: नहीं
हरीश जी: अब संघ का कर्ज है आपके ऊपर भोजन का, उसे कैसे चुकाओगे?
मै: कैसे?
हरीश जी: संघ की शाखा लगा के।

बस श्री गणेश हो गया, जिसे तैरना नहीं आता और पानी में धक्का दे दिया जाए, मेरी वहीं हाल था।

“नमस्ते, कैसे है, घर पे सब कैसे, किधर हो? शाखा में आईए, अपना उत्सव है।”

उपर्युक्त शब्द दिनचर्या बनते गए। सुबह की मुंबादेवी शाखा में प्रार्थना के बाद जब बैठक के लिए कार्यालय पहुंचा। नगर कार्यवाह ने व्यक्तिश तारीख बताई और कहा कि पूजनीय सरसंघचालक मोहन जी प्रवास पर इधर आने वाले है। आप व्यवस्था में जा सकते हो क्या? मन प्रसन्न हो गया,चेहरे पर संकेत देखे जा सकते थे। नगर में ढिंढोरा पीट दिया कि पूज्यनीय सरसंघालक जी की व्यवस्था में जा रहा हूं, अनेकों प्रकार की निवेदन आने लगे, आप फोन करना, हमे मिलाना, ये प्रश्न पूछ लेना, इत्यादी।

तय दिवस पर दादर रेलवे स्टेशन, सब सुरक्षा के प्रबंध के बीच में उनका आगमन, जैसे ही डिब्बे से वो बाहर निकले, शासकीय कर्मचरियों ने अभिवादन जय हिन्द से किया’, अपने आप को शूरवीर समझने वाला, मै उनके माथे के तेज को देखकर आत्ममुग्ध हो गया, सामान लेकर गाड़ी में बैठा और वही परिचय हुआ।

मोहन जी: तो अनुराग जी बनारस का पान खाते है कि नहीं?
उत्तर “नहीं” था।
मोहन जी: कैसे बनारसी है आप की बनारस का पान भी नहीं खाते?

मेरे पास कोई उत्तर नहीं था। समय अनुसार हम यशवंत भवन पहुंचे। सुरक्षा कर्मियों के हाव भाव बड़े उदासीन से लगते है या फिर कर्त्तव्य का बोझ ही इतना ज्यादा है, ये लिफ्ट में फ्लोर गिनते समय विचार आने लगे।  किसी जौहरी के लिए जैसे पारस दिख जाए, उसकी आँखों में जो चमक हो जाये। मेरी परिस्थिति भी कुछ वैसे ही हो गयी थी।

मन में विचार आया की जीवन के इस ऐतिहासिक प्रसंग को इष्ट जानो के साथ साझा किया जाए। हर युवा की तरह फेसबुक और व्हाट्सप्प के स्टेटस में समाचार जारी हो गए। और फिर इनबॉक्स में एक वाक्य यह इंगित करते हुए लिखा था “आप पूजनीय सर संघचालक जी के साथ हो, ये अनुभव का विषय है या सबको बताने का विषय है, उनके साथ आपकी एक तस्वीर ले लेना, लेकिन व्यक्तिगत ही रखना। ”

अब अहसास हुआ अपनी गलती का और भारी मन से सारी चीजे हटा दी। दो दिन में क्या काम किया ये महत्त्व का विषय नहीं था, उनका सानिध्य मिला ये महत्व का था। कमरे की साफ़ सफाई करवाना,भोजन और दवा,सब कुछ समय सारिणी के अनुसार। दो दिन में दो कार्यक्रम जो की तय था वो टीवी पर या तो ऑनलाइन ही देखना पड़ा।

१- संघ के पूर्व सर सरकार्यवाह एकनाथ रानडे जी, जिनके किये गए अन्यान्य सामाजिक कार्यो में, तमिलनाडु में विवेकानंद शिला स्मारक के निर्माण को विशेष रूप से याद किया जाता है, उनके जीवन के ऊपर एक पुस्तक का विमोचन मराठी भाषा में किया गया।

२-संघ के एक प्रचारक के नाम पर चलने वाले सेवा कार्य (टाटा कैंसर हॉस्पिटल के समीप ही) “नाना पालकर स्मृति समिति” के ५० वे वर्षगांठ पर कार्यक्रम का आयोजन किया गया। उसमे मोहन जी के साथ रतन टाटा जी भी मुख्य अतिथि थे।

उन दो कार्यक्रम के आलावा बहोत सारे महानुभावो का आगमन उनसे मिलने के लिए होता रहा, जिसमे से एक पत्रकार महोदय का विशेष उल्लेख करना चाहूंगा, जो की दिल्ली से मिलने आये हुए थे, चुकी प्रवास के कारण, समय का आभाव था और ये दो दिन में उनसे मिलने के लिए तय किया गया। सबके जलपान की देख रेख करना, यही थोड़ा काम रहा।

सायं काल में उन्हें चाय देने के लिए गया, मन में संकोच था की केतली से कितनी चाय कप में पड़ेगी, और वो सामने ही कुर्सी पे बैठे थे, मेरे संकोच को शायद उन्होंने पढ़ लिया और कहा की यहाँ से चाय दिखनी चाहिए उतनी भर दीजिये। मेरे हांथो में थोड़ा कम्पन हुआ और मोहनजी बोल उठे, डरिये मत, और चेहरे पर हसी आ गयी।

अगले दिन उन्हें एयरपोर्ट पर छोड़ने जाना था, शुरुआत में मन में जो प्रश्नो का ज्वार था जिन्हे लेकर मै चला था, वो लहर शांत हो चुकी थी। उनके साथ एक तस्वीर जो स्मृति के लिए रखनी थी, उसका भी अनुरोध नहीं कर सका। ट्राली पर सामन लेकर जा रहा था और सुरक्षा कर्मी सबको एक तरफ हटा रहे थे, पास में खड़ी महिला ने बगल में कड़ी अपनी स्वजन से पूछा, “Who?”, उत्तर मिला Mohan Bhagwat।

मेरे मन में ये विचार आया की वो आपके लिए वो सिर्फ मोहन भागवत हो सकते है, हमारे लिए वो अभिवावक, त्याग का मापदंड, हिन्दू समाज का उदयीमान दीपक, राष्ट्र के लिए त्याग की प्रेरणा देने वाला व्यक्तित्व और अनेकानेक विशेषण से परिभाषित किया जाने वाला व्यक्तित्व।

उम्र के जिस पड़ाव में लोग सेवानिवृत होकर आराम से जीवन जीना चाहते हैं, उस समय वो मनुष्य जिसका शरीर अब ढलान की तरफ बढ़ रहा है, उसकी दिनचर्या देख के, इतनी उम्र में भी पुरे भारत भर में प्रवास, बैठक, चर्चा। मन में तनिक भी अभिमान नहीं, इतना मिलान सार व्यक्तित्व (जो की हर प्रचारक का वैशिष्ट्य है)। उस संस्मरण ने, उसके बाद मेरे “नमस्ते सदा वत्सले मातृभूमे” के सुर बदल दिए और समझाया की पूजनीय गुरु जी ने क्यों कहा “मै एक साधारण स्वयंसेवक”।

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