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Frog in the boiling water: Dying Hinduism

Anant Chetan
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Frog in the boiling water: Dying Hinduism

The other day, an old fable about the boiling frog came to my mind. Lets suppose you have a pot with tepid water. If you put a frog in it, it might stay in it. If it stays, you could turn the knob and start heating the water, but very-very-slowly, you would notice that the frog stays in it, does not jump out of it but dies after a threshold temperature is reached. However, if you would have either dropped the frog in the hot/boiling water with the temperature at which the frog dies in the first go or increased the temperature suddenly (rate of change is higher), it would have jumped out and spared its life. Why are frogs so stupid? They keep on repeating the same thing. But why?

Unlike human beings, frogs are cold blooded creatures. They do not have a fix body temperature and they adjust their body temperatures according to their surroundings. The clever human who knows this, exploits this and cooks the frog. Frogs are not stupid, it is their inherent nature to adjust their body temperature as per their surroundings.

[Note: If you disagree with me, please do not hurt the frog, nobody has to prove anything, just say it and I will believe you. Frogs don’t need to suffer because of humans anymore.]

Native Indians i.e. the generations of human beings living between the Himalayas and the Indian Ocean not just for years or decades but for centuries (even Before Christ Era BCE), are not cold blooded creatures like frogs, but have definitely mirrored a behavior similar to that of a frog. They could be called cold brained creatures “Mendak Buddhi” by not being able to see the slow changes but only reacting to extreme conditions or sudden changes. And not just once, time and again they have demonstrated this behavior. Pick a time frame of your choosing and you could see this behavior. Be it during the medieval period where different foreign invaders from middle-east invaded India or during the British Raj or Post Independent India ruled by Congress or even the UPA1 & 2 era, Indians behaved exactly in the same way each time.

All the invaders brought slaughter, slavery, rape, violence, pillage; destruction of religious sites, art and architecture; poverty, exploitation, humiliation, famine, forced conversion, decline in intellectual pursuits, social destruction and a worsening of social ills to India. But still Akbar is ‘the Great’ and Aurangzeb is despised. Why? It is not that Akbar did not massacre thousands and thousands of civilians (other than warriors), or did not built heaps with Hindu skulls or did not take Hindu women as sex slaves.

It is just that he cooked the frogs at a very low flame in contrast to Aurangzeb who turned the knob to the maximum. For instance – his so called religious tolerance was “we will spare your life and not kill you or even give you a job if you marry/trade your daughters with us and of-course you can not marry our women”; it gave a slow, humiliating death to millions of Hindus whereas Aurangzeb was religiously intolerant because he gave a sudden death and took the slaves. The end goal was only one, there has to be only one religion. How do you think a Hinduism was going to survive (in Akbar’s case) if there were no Hindu women to procreate? Glamorizing those invaders and rulers in today’s time shows a submissive, subservient and pervert mindset of a few.

Not only me but Pt. Nehru also thought on similar lines. He himself in his book “The Discovery of India” pronounced Aurangzeb too Muslim to be a successful Indian king: “When Aurangzeb began to oppose [the syncretism of earlier Mughal rulers] and suppress it and to function more as a Moslem than an Indian ruler, the Mughal Empire began to break up.” This is the reason why he followed Akbar and never increased the intensity, he always cooked the frogs at low heat. However, his daughter along with her son in the ’70s made a mistake and turned the knob to maximum. Forced castrations/sterilizations, emergency etc. and many other cruelties caused the temperature to rise above the threshold and the frogs tried to jump out i.e. people reacted and the Indian National Congress for the very first time lost a general election.

We don’t even have to go that far, look at UPA 1 & 2. What was the difference between the two? They had the exact same people, the same prime minister, the same party, the same party president and almost the same senior leadership; what changed? The only thing that changed was the rate of heating. They transitioned from Akbar to Aurangzeb; they got greedy, turned the knob and tried to cook the frogs at the maximum temperature. People reacted!

Some how Indians and Hindus still have a confidence that they, their beliefs (good or bad does not matter) are immortal. They are happy reciting lines like these:

“यूनान-ओ-मिस्र-ओ-रोमा सब मिट गए जहाँ से,
अब तक मगर है बाकी नाम-ओ-निशां हमारा,
कुछ बात है कि हस्ती मिटती नहीं हमारी,
सदियों रहा है दुश्मन दौर-ए-जमा हमारा,
सारे जहाँ से अच्छा हिन्दोस्तान हमारा!!”

Make no mistake and do not worry, our identity would be vanished one day, sooner than you expect. Whatever you stand for would fall, whatever is your would be taken away. The frog in gradually heating water dies not because of the boiling water but because it exhausts all its energy in adjusting its body temperature to that of the water. And when the frog strains all its energy it succumbs to the weakness; its inability to decide when to jump killed it. India has been losing a part of itself, a part of its soul every time India was attacked, oppressed or Indians failed to decide. Foreign invasions caused the Hindu population to shrink from approximately 600 million in around 1100 AD by 400 millions to 200 millions by the end of 15th century. The British squeezed all the wealth from the country and made India a poor country. Moreover, they took only 90 years to do that. Reason, we were weak but still had some vigor left to retaliate.

In last 70 years, Hinduism and Hindu values were being taken away. Hinduism is being persecuted. Cows are being used to build a narratives. Honesty, trust, non-violence, vegetarian diet have become taboo now. Idol worship is out-dated now; building a temple has become next to impossible. Being cunning is considered smart. Power and a lot of money, that should have been a luxury in life have become a necessity to live a sane life in India. If you don’t believe this, look around. Why are people so obsessed with civil services/bureaucracy? Either you become one or you marry one. Why? It is better to get humiliated within four walls rather than in public. There are more than several thousand women raped and humiliated or men/women murdered every year, the cases are languishing in courts. They are the ones without power or extra money. We are still living in the medieval era, its just the costumes have changed. Who is responsible for building and nurturing such a system? This system was not made in a day or a year or a single term. Please stay tuned for my next blog on how did this system came into existence.

Don’t be a Frog! Choose wisely while you still can, there might be a time where demographics would not let you choose.

Thanks for reading! Please visit Infinite Sea Of Opportunities for other similar articles.

AYUSH Ministry must promote auto-healing methods of AYUSH and not cross pathy

S Ranganathan
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AYUSH Ministry must promote auto-healing methods of AYUSH and not cross pathy

Modern medical science also believes strongly in auto-healing or the power of healing from within our body to combat several diseases. Many scientific evidences also have proved the above possibility. The above theorization doesn’t undermine the science or the importance of drugs for treating diseases.

Drugs, surgery or other means of treatment only aide the healing process but the innate intelligence of our body alone really offers healing and when it fails to do so, the disease become chronic and the patient succumbs to lifelong treatment. The self-healing of our body is definitely linked with our mind, the way we think, the way we perceive the problem, the way we deal and dialogue the problem etc. Therefore healing the mind, providing positive treatment, counselling etc., are very important. Depression, worries, undue anxiety, insomnia are known to cause several diseases and as well as worsen many health problems and diseases.

AYUSH, especially the Siddha and Ayurveda systems of healing pay rich tribute to auto-healing power of the body and have several recipes and recommendations for the above. The Prakrithi (vata, pitta and kapha) based classification of people itself is only on the premise of how to classifying the susceptibility pattern of different people in the society what are the dos and don’ts to be followed to prevent the disease episode.

Cross pathy by several AYUSH vaidyas in private practice has destroyed the wonderful aspects of Siddha and Ayurveda healing. The paramedical, wellness based healing elements of Siddha and Ayurveda are extremely essential for those who suffer from various non-communicable diseases and further those who sufferer of various chronic diseases needs the gentle and humane touch of AYUSH vaidya, more as healer than as doctor.

The difference between a healer and a doctor is that doctor believes fundamentally in what he has learned from the textbook and follow them more or less strictly with slight modification based on own experience. But the healers often deals the mind of the sufferer, offers various means to calm the mind, bring positive hope and faith in the patient, strengthen the existence of almighty so that the patient is slightly relieved from the worries by latching on to God. More often AYUSH vaidyas tries to convince the patient to believe in them and the treatment which is uncommon among allopathic doctor. The reason being, faith is the basic element of AYUSH therapy.

The duly qualified allopathic doctor would focus more upon the diagnosis and the drugs that are used for the treatment but the healers on the contrary would focus on the overall wellbeing of the patient, his mental status, his tridosha prakriti, his life style, diet regimen etc. According to the patients’ requirement, the vaidya would customize the therapy and that is why AYUSH therapy is highly individualized than broad based as in the case of allopathic system of medicine.

But unfortunately several Siddha and Ayurveda vaidyas in private practice have destroyed the system by engaging in cross pathy just to prove that they have versatile knowledge in allopathic system of medicine than in either Siddha or Ayurveda.

Government of Tamil Nadu must take utmost care to preserve the paramedical, wellness based essentials of Siddha system of healing and which is possible only if the Government of Tamil Nadu and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare along with the Ministry of AYUSH take stern legal action against all those Siddha vaidya in private practice who are engaged in cross pathy. Cross pathy not only destroys the values and credence of AYUSH but also produce medication health fraud, wrong or delayed diagnosis, wrong treatment, increase the suffering, wastage of the money of poor people and the chance of spreading the disease in the society if the diseases is communicable.

Cross pathy is crime against humanity, therefore cross pathy by AYUSH vaidyas in private practice must be contained and the glory of AYUSH as an excellent paramedical, wellness based healing method of the past must be regained. The faith contents of the faith based healing practice needs to be revived by AYUSH Ministry.

Citizenship Bill- A must for Indians to live in dignity and freedom: Hail Modi Govt.

S Ranganathan
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Citizenship Bill- A must for Indians to live in dignity and freedom: Hail Modi Govt.

Narendra Modi ever since came to power in 2014 started to focus on development, sab ka vikas and upliftment of the most neglected people in India over 70 years of misrule of the dynasty. To ensure right place to live with dignity and freedom, he introduced a bill seeking to amend the Citizenship (Amendment) act, 1955 to grant Indian citizenship to several non-Muslim Indians such as Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who were subjected to religious persecution by the Islamic countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afganistan. As a result of such religious persecution, several people like Buddhist, Jain, Parsis, Hindu, Sikh and Christian were beaten to flee to India.

The new bill is aimed to protect all those immigrants who entered India before December 31, 2014 and have spent minimum of 6 years in India.

Congress has never shown any importance and human worth to non-Muslim immigrants of religious persecution, after partition. Narendra Modi was the first Indian leader to show commitment to protect the right and dignity of all those non-Muslim Indians because India was their birth land. But this initiative of PM Modi has caused serious worry to several politicians who are banking on Muslin vote bank. For example, Muslims account for 34 per cent of Assam’s population and are in majority in 11/33 districts.

Similarly, the population of Muslims, especially the illegal immigrants account huge vote bank for several political parties in West Bengal. Naturally all those political parties who are surviving on Muslin vote bank politics do not want non-Muslim population in their territory that might threat their political existence as they fear that the persecuted non- Muslim Indians may vote for PM Modi. Because of such fear they oppose the citizenship of all those non-Muslim Indians and are spreading fear and lies in the society.

The fear of Mamata Banerjee is that already the Hindus in West Bengal have shifted their allegiance to BJP because of violence and atrocities of TMC and the associated corruption. Therefore, Mamata fears the worst loss due to the genuine intentions of the Prime Minister Modi to grant citizenship to all those non-Muslim Indians who were subjected to religious persecution by Islamic states such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afganisthan. The main objective of TMC and other opposition parties are that Narendra Modi should not come to power because he will develop the nation and will ensure sub ka vikas.

In Assam, several fringe groups oppose Citizenship bill by citing that the present move violate the Assam Accord of 1985 and NRC. As per the Assam Accord which was agreed by Rajiv Gandhi government that all illegal Bangladeshi immigrants migrated to Assam after March 24, 1971 will be identified and deported. Recently NRC has been updated by Modi government. Unfortunately the fringe political forces in Assam does not want to accept the fact that non-Muslims migrated to India are not immigrants as India was their original mother land and Muslims are only the real immigrants. Therefore it is the duty and responsibility of India to grant citizenship to all Indians who suffered religious persecution from Islamic states and they include Christian, Sikh, Parsis, Buddhist, Jain, Hindus etc. Muslims can be deported to their Islamic states but where else the non-Muslim Indians would go other than India.

In order to oppose the bill, the fringe players are spreading lies and confuse people that if the bill is passed, nearly two crore Bengali Hindus would migrate to Assam from Bangladesh which is an utter lie. It is also needs to be understood that once the bill is passed, all those granted citizenship will not automatically become Assamese therefore the ground truth is that Assamese at large are not concerned about the bill which was well reflected in the Panchayat election held in December where BJP swept power and pushed the congress party to distant second. The government of Assam may constitute a committee to define ‘Assamese’ to avoid unnecessary confusion. Like in Northeast, Assam also may seek special status under Article 371 which denies jobs, facilities and political space for outsiders.

In true sense, the intent and initiative of PM Modi to bring Citizenship bill to all non-Muslim Indians who were persecuted by Islamic countries post partition must be supported and appreciated. But the political parties known to play Muslim vote bank politics and minority appeasement politics are finding their ground shaky due to the new initiative. Where else non-Muslim Indians would go? The illegal Muslim immigrants can be pushed back to their respective Islamic countries but for the non-Muslims, India must welcome and give space to live with dignity and freedom.

Indians must understand the truth and must support Narendra Modi in 2019 to develop India and ensure sab ka vikas.

Secularism, its origin, and why it is the most abused word in Independent India

yash2328
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Secularism, its origin, and why it is the most abused word in Independent India

Secularism is an inherent part of Independent India. It has always been, so-much-so, that it makes its way in almost every discussion or debate centered around the country’s present or its future, its politics. It is also the most abused word in Independent India which the politicians, as well as, the main-stream media use to peddle their propoganda.

But, very few people seem to know about the origin and the real meaning of ‘Secularism’.

India officially became a secular republic in 1976 with the 42nd Amendment of the Constitution of India. But, what does secularism actually mean? Unlike the west, which is very clear about the basic tenets of it, very few people in India actually have a clue of what it really means. Even the Apex Court in one of their judgments has said that secularism is too complex a subject to define. So, how is one supposed to be secular, when one can’t even define it? The west doesn’t have any such conundrum. According to them, secularism is based on four basic tenets.

  1. Freedom of religion.
  2. Equal rights for all citizens, irrespective of all the religion they embrace.
  3. Separation of State from the Church.
  4. Uniform Civil Code.

Uniform Civil Code:

The Uniform Civil Code is an essential requisite to the existence of secularism in the west, yet in India, it is a contentious issue and Muslims are still governed by the Islamic law. The ‘Jamaat – e – Islami- Hind’, the ‘All India Muslim Personal law board’ and the ‘Jamiat – Ulama – e -Hind’ are the self-appointed ‘thekedars’ of Islam, and any attempt to make Islam inclusive of reforms viz, the UCC, is met with strong resistance. It is absurd and painfully funny, yet we Indians don’t realize how ludicrous it is. It is deeply Hindu Phobic and pro-minorities. But, to understand how secularism really made its way to India and the way it is being practiced, we need to know where ‘secularism’ originated from.

Origin of Secularism:

Yes, Secularism is as import just like cricket and English language. It is an alien concept to an inherently pluralistic society on which it was foisted and embodies centuries of discussions and debates of the unfamiliar European culture. To understand secularism, we need to understand religion, and for that, we need to know what religion really meant for the early Europeans.

1) The creator, God.

2) A pope or prophet meant to be the messenger of God.

3) The holy book, which contains everything. Catholics are divided into two major sects: Roman Catholics and the Protestants. While the Roman Catholics believe in Jesus and its messenger, the Protestants believed that religion was a deeply private affair between God and the man himself.

  • The Protestants vehemently opposed the interference of the Catholic Church in state machinery.
  • While the Roman Catholics opposed interference of the state in religious matters in the fear of ‘eternal damnation of god’.
  • The Roman Catholics believed in one and only church under the leadership of pope, while the Protestants considered each denomination of church as equal.

It is also important to know about the main differences between Christianity and Judaism.

1) Christians believed in Christ, who they believe has come to earth to cohort human sins, while the Jews did not regard Christ as divine or worldly.

2) Judaism rejected the theology of sin or salvation.

3) Christians thought of themselves to be different from the Jews in terms of traditions and customs, sparking vituperative debates in the west, which ultimately culminated in the mass Jews genocide.

Thus, in the European context the inter- Christian and Christian-Judaism conflicts led to the birth of the word ‘Secularism’, a concept completely alien unknown to India, where Hinduism was treated as ‘a way of life’ and other religions like Jainism, Buddhism too didn’t adhere to the Catholic concept of a creator, who has created universe at a certain point in history.

Hence, the European concept of secularism does not have any significance in the Indian context.

Birth of secularism in India:

Now, that we know about the origin of secularism from the west, and it’s non-relevance to the Indian context, it is imperative to know why the neo Christianised concept was morphed into Indian secularism.

It was done in order to-

1) Control or stop the alleged ‘tyranny’ of the Hindu majoritarian community against the minorities, who in the past have no track record of any kind of despotism.

2) Pander to the minorities, creating a constant sense of fear among them against the Hindu majority, reducing them to ‘vote – banks’.

3) Typecasting anyone who speaks pro Hindu or deviates from their said definition of ‘secularism’ as communal or ‘Sanghi’ as the “liberals” say these days.

PRE- SECULARISM ERA:

The pro-Islamic component of Indian secularism received a massive boost when Mahatma Gandhi openly supported Khilafat movement, deeply strengthened divisive tendencies among the Muslim community that helped Mohammed Ali Jinnah to materialize his two – nation theory evident from the majority of votes the ‘Muslim league’ got in the 1946 elections particularly from UP, Bihar and CP (then ‘Central Province’ and today’s Madhya Pradesh).

The Hinduphobia component of secularism under Ambedkar and Nehru received a massive boost with their strong critique of Hinduism and lending support to the colonial idea :

India, lagging way behind in the field of science and technology due to its Hindu roots, which is both laughable and ludicrous.

Secondly:

Annihilation of Caste, which again represented the colonial mindset in which they considered European socialism as great and ours as inferior to them.

With the mood in the nation prior to independence pro-minority, Nehru got the opportunity to implement the colonial and Christianised concept in 1949, when he famously said :

to talk of Hindu culture, would injure India’s interests

~Jawaharlal Nehru

The statement vindicated his brazen ignorance of the Hindu culture and set the tone for an already flawed concept, become the most abused word in the history of independent India.

Reference:-

  1. for the words “SOVEREIGN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC” the words “SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC” shall be substituted; http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/amend/amend42.htm
  2. http://www.dw.com/en/the-main-differences-between-catholics-and-protestants/a-37888597

Need for revamping the all India service rules of IAS and IPS officers

sudip47
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Need for revamping the all India service rules of IAS and IPS officers

The new director of CBI has asked all his officers to play by the rule book. This is what it should be. The bureaucracy should be neutral i.e., without any bias and go by rulebook only.

In a democratic set-up, parliamentarians are elected by the citizens and they are responsible for making laws and policies; while bureaucrats are responsible for implementation of the same laws and policies.

Indira Gandhi and her colleagues could not appreciate the value of efficient and impartial civil services. They did precious little to check deteriorating standards of the service. The political complexion of the nation was reflected in the performance of civil services and its capacity to work impartially without any fear or favour.

During 1969 to 1974 great changes occurred in the character of the civil services: personality cult was promoted. The officers were not expected to be as loyal to the Constitution, as they had to be to their ministers. Mrs Gandhi desired the bureaucracy to be completely committed to the ruling party. On a sustained and systematic basis, the process of committed bureaucracy flourished, thus undermining the integrity, values, ethos and confidence of the service. Officers were supposed to be the servicemen to carry out the orders of political bosses.

The simplest of the arm-twisting measures, which politicians took in their hands, was to take the power of transfers, posting, and extensions. It placed the officers at the receiving end. Political patronage gave encouragement to corrupt and ambitious officials.

In order to divert public attention from real issues, abstract issues like social justice, socialism, secularism, communal-ism were floated in the political world. The logic of economics and administrative acumen were subordinated to the logic of politics.

Meanwhile, tampering with the institutions of governance was also undertaken. The concept of ‘committed’ bureaucracy was widely broadcast to mean that the officers running the administration have to be totally subservient to the dictates of those in power even in matters which undermined the system. Side by side the judiciary was also sought to be made subservient by means of browbeating—for instance, the superseding of senior judges in the matter of appointment of the Chief Justice in 1973 which was widely resented.

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi talked of “minimum government, maximum governance”, he had in mind the recalcitrant bureaucracy which does not serve the people but rules over them. Nitin Gadkari, Union minister for road transport and highways, once rued that 265 projects worth Rs 75,000 crore were held up in the pipeline due to bureaucratic wrangling.

With Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar allegedly evading interrogation by CBI officers and participation of him and the DGP, West Bengal.in the Dharna led by Mamata Banerjee, the Centre has decided to seek a report from state chief secretary on the role of IPS officers in purportedly obstructing investigation by CBI and violating service conduct rules. The Union home ministry is the cadre-controlling authority of IPS officers in India. Further, Supreme Court directed Kumar’s interrogation in Shillong, a neutral territory and issued contempt notices against West Bengal’s top officials for their coercive action against CBI officers. All this show Bengal’s governance in poor light and that it is partisan and compromised. It is also true that there ought to be clear rules on the primary reporting authority for IAS and IPS officers in the context of the federal set-up in the country.

However, CBI also seem to have overplayed its cards. It should not have attempted to interrogate the Police Commissioner at Kolkata at his residence without the state’s formal concurrence. From the organisation’s point of view, it is therefore necessary to revamp the rules and procedure for strict compliance and to start afresh with a new set of unbiased leaders. This may help the process of rebuilding the CBI. We have earlier seen in CBI how their executives, despite 70 years of institutional know-how on due process and rule of law, subvert them for personal and or political gains. So much so that the government had to clamp down on the two of its senior-most officers and bring in a new director to set the matters right. It also seems necessary that the CBI – just like its counterpart in the US, the FBI — should now convert itself into a multidisciplinary corruption-fighting force with experts from diverse fields such as finance, banking, purchase, procurement, insurance and engineering.

The writer is a long standing commentator on contemporary issues.

WhatsApp trouble in India

avery
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WhatsApp trouble in India

Facebook has been in some hot water recently over its security concerns. While Facebook seems to be facing these concerns from a variety of different angles, one of the most prominent of these issues that Facebook has had to deal with has been the spread of fake news and dangerous content from dangerous entities such as ISIS and Russian hackers.

In India, the Facebook-owned messenger WhatsApp has been facing scrutiny just like its parent company over the spread of dangerous, hateful, and abusive content. With India’s upcoming elections, the largest elections in the world, there’s been a collective push by Indian newspapers, politicians, and regulators for Facebook to address these concerns regarding WhatsApp.

Carl Woog, a representative for WhatsApp, told journalists in New Delhi the WhatsApp team, “Saw how parties tried to reach people over WhatsApp, and in some cases that involved attempting to use WhatsApp in a way that it was not intended to be used,” regarding the Indian elections.

WhatsApp is currently used by about 200 million Indians daily, but the ramifications of misinformation spread on the platform during an election cycle could very well affect the entire country. Roughly 2 million fake accounts are deleted by WhatsApp on its platforms monthly, but the efforts haven’t been enough to appease India’s politicians regarding the matter.

Indian lawmakers have asked that WhatsApp increase the regulatory efforts and eliminate any content that violates Indian law within 24 hours of its posting. WhatsApp representatives responded that such actions are “not possible today, given the end-to-end encryption that we provide, and it would require us to re-architect WhatsApp, leading to a different product.”

Fundamentally, WhatsApp is a messaging application that uses advanced encryption technologies to make the messages sent on the app extremely secure and prevents external tampering with the information sent on the app. This encryption, to a large extent, even limits WhatsApp’s own abilities to regulate the content that is propagated on the app.

While this adds a large degree of privacy and security to common users, it also provides the same to abusers of the app that seeks to spread misinformation and, in India’s case, undermine the election. While WhatsApp has agreed to increase its efforts to combat the issue, it hasn’t stated that it’s willing to alter its encryption system to accommodate India’s concerns. In fact, the company has stated quite the opposite, arguing that such a move would ruin the product.

This is not the first time that WhatsApp has run into serious problems regarding the content on its platform. Particularly in the UK, authorities have found prolific use of WhatsApp amongst terrorists and radicals alike. Unlike other messengers that are strictly controlled by the company, one of the main selling points of WhatsApp is that the messages are completely secure and even the company itself can’t fully know what is being sent on the application.

Ultimately, the question will come down to whether or not a brewing scandal in India will hurt WhatsApp’s bottom line. If there is enough social and political backlash that the Indian population drastically decreases its use of WhatsApp, surely the company will adjust its encryption policies. If that does not happen, then WhatsApp will proceed to carry on its operations like business as usual.

In the situation when every institution is being questioned, media is the solution

varadavaidya
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In the situation when every institution is being questioned, media is the solution

The nature of discussion that goes on in news channels and social media has planted many questions in me regarding the quality, manipulation of data and also the conduct of journalists in handling sensitive issues. There were many incidents in recent political scenario that have made me fact check with other sources. One of them was politicians and spokespersons falsely claiming with numbers regarding the issue of unemployment. I recently was going through some numbers regarding this issue, I was able to remember the numbers given by one of the spokespersons in a TV debate, which turned out to be the numbers that of another country with poor indicators.

In one of the incidents when the union minister of textiles, Smriti Irani, took pride in the ease of sanctioning of loans in her government’s tenure which helped a poor, uneducated woman with whom she had a chat, to do a small business was immediately replied with mockery by the interviewing journalist who goes on to ask if the government intends to improve the life of poor by making them sell pakoras etc. which was the pun already existing in the social media. This reply would imply that, either the interviewer hoped that the woman in this case should have been provided a job in an MNC or she takes pleasure in reading such puns from the social media. Many such incidents would plant a question in viewers, if the quality of discussion in television has reduced. I am now habituated to check the numbers on the internet, if I find them bizarre.

One such incident was that of Rafale deal debate, the journalist fraternity went on asking the questions to ministers, who answered many questions even after the Supreme Court verdict. What amuses me is that the interviewers started their sentences with “But the opposition accuses the government of…”, this comes after there is facilitating power like RTI, and defense experts for every channel. A member of the parliament didn’t shy away in falsifying the information, not in an interview but in front of cameras in rallies and those that were on him in party HQs, airports etc..

The hon’ble Prime Minister, Narendra Modi on the occasion of new year’s eve, gave an interview, thus making clear of his views regarding many issues. Now the ball is in the opposition’s court, let us not make this upcoming election a failure of democracy where people vote with skepticism, which might work wonders for most parties, except the party in power, and would be unjust to the government which grabbed every decent opportunity for answering to the questions raised, be it in parliament or on many news channels.

To make this a fair play, the journalists might have to run a campaign “#AnInterviewMrGandhi?”, this would make either him or the ones who are alleged to come out clean. Or else already sensationalized false reports on the deal would be the exceptional indicators that the system is ill in itself i.e. confusing the citizens. To balance the situation the whole fraternity must give the one who interviewed the Prime Minister, an opportunity this time too. In case the country enters election without Audi alteram partem, “Listen to the other side”, in this case Rahul Gandhi, the fourth pillar of democracy is doing justice to no one, let alone themselves. People from the political domain understand the compulsions that the bureaucrats and the judicial fraternity have, to not to let information out in public, which the politicians make complete use by claiming fictitious things. This is where the media has to play it’s cards right. It has immense intelligence and responsibility that it can break these shackles by questioning and understanding the views on other side and also clearing doubts in people, about its role in a democracy.

The above exercise would clear doubts in those who are skeptical to choose between the spectrum of parties, this might lead to increase in voters turnout. Also the debate on problem of people opting for NOTA would have found a new solution. I remember the co-founder of Infosys, Narayan Murthy, in one of his interviews emphasizing the way presidential debates being held in US need to be implemented in other ways in this country, so that people are clear of the views and claims of candidates. I think this could be a start to at least let people vote with confidence in what they believe is right. This is possible only by the media, which has power to uphold the principles of democracy when all the other democratic institutions are either truly or falsely questioned on their credibility.

Hypocrisy of mass movements

pulkitkaul
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Hypocrisy of mass movements

A particular class of movie lovers get fascinated with espionage theories and love to see James Bond movies. The theory propagated about secret missions and super Hero activities is all garbage. Its the gradual process of Ideological Subversion which manipulates mind of youth. It changes perception of Reality and the media propaganda, movies textbooks etc may make you hate your own religion and culture. The primary work of Intelligence agencies is not espionage but cultural propaganda. We have seen hypocrisy of Bollywood, fake mass movements etc. Everything is part of game. Environmental problems come only during Diwali. European environment activists who criticized African tribes must peep inside their own deeds.

Dalit movements and its perspectives

Some leaders just creep out start abusing upper castes just cry on cherry-picking some issues and deliver the verdict that Hinduism is root cause of all evil. Some political leaders who want to protect reservation for Dalits forgot that Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Milia University do not give any reservation as they are protected under the name Minority institutions.

Have you heard any activists or media raising this issue?

Dalit atrocities factor

One cannot question Islam on poor conditions of women. Some of our learned lawyers of Supreme Court started defining civil and criminal laws in their own convenient ways. Islam wants Indian laws in criminal cases but separate Shariat in family and civil issues!

According to the convenience of some political classes and so called social activists atrocities on Dalit start increasing. The scripted drama of social justice starts and blame game played. Its always the attempt of secular political class to unite votes of minorities but divide Hindus on caste lines.

A Dalit boy named Savan was burned alive by Muslim goons. At that time all Dalit activists were sleeping and this was never seen as case of communal hatred. A section of media who is always excited Dalit rights was silent. The status of Dalit atrocities and narrative is changed according to convenience. Caste divide created by our secular class.

A perfect example of selective outrage

Dirty truth of large scale mass movements

A large scale mass movement is always orchestrated by state or some powerful capitalist. The aim of such movements is to De-stabilize the system, social culture and ultimately the prime religion of a nation. The Bolsheviks of Russia killed Czar of Russia alleging capitalism in the state and plight of working class. The end result was that freedom of speech was lost and Gulag slave masters crept up.

When I read History of Reformers in India I am surprised to know that all just wanted to reform Vedic Hinduism! No one ever questioned Burkha and no one ever asked why caste system exist in Portugal system of Christianity. The word caste itself came from Europe.

Those who believe that Socialism and Communism are great must read what Gulag slave camps did! Rich merchants were killed, their properties were distributed to poor downtrodden. Every commodity became state controlled and poor people worked as slaves were sent to concentration camps!

Those who think Hinduism is bad and Islam or Communism (state which ban religion) will give the something great are living in illusion. Arab sheikhs buy teenage Muslim girls from Hyderabad which never become a month long debate topic like Dadri!

Sedition v/s hate speech law

pulkitkaul
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Sedition v/s hate speech law

Journalists in India and section of super-intellectual class often say that law of sedition is outdated, law enacted during British times which is used as instrument of harassment and therefore must be abolished!

I never heard a single voice against law of Hate Speech which is also a British time law and often used to pamper Islam and target Hindus.

Media wish to ask tough questions to politicians but they are unable to answer simple questions asked to them on social media/online medium. They want authority of people’s mind without responsibilities and feel that debate in comfortable rooms will sort out all national problems!

It’s good to criticize Government in power. But I have not heard constructive criticism on Fasal Bima Yojana and report of CAG. I have not heard continuous debates on how much progress made under Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana. Some news channels started discussing about employment and vacancies shortage in Government jobs. This noble job happened when they realized that crying on issues like Dadri’s Akhlaiq won’t matter now. Also they never compare what happened in recent past Governments and what they did at that time.

The thing I hear frequently- How Muslims will change political equation? Is there any Modi Wave?

For a change to show that they have sympathy towards society, journalists may show you one poor village on TV or Bank sector problems. After that its enthusiasm for some cricketer marriage or celebrity gossip!

No debate on Hate Speech law.

On News channels Sitaram Yechury categorically said that shouting slogans in favour of Pakistan does not come under lens of sedition. To my surprise since several months people have not discussed about Hate Speech law which is often used to pamper Muslims and target Vedic Hinduism! Let us discuss history of Hate speech laws.

In 1927 a writing piece named Rangila Rasul came out. It described about life of Muhammad. At that time no Hate Speech law existed. Muslims killed the author. After that British enacted laws which punish on hurting religious sentiments. Sections of IPC like 253A, 153A deals with Hate Speech.

In 1953 Periyar damaged Ganesh idol. He was booked and trial was held. The lower court said that if an atheist damages an idol then the case is not about hurting sentiments. The High Court disagreed with comment of lower court but dismissed petition as 5 years passed.

Ramji Lal Modi was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment because his cartoons insulted Islam. One can clearly see a pattern how some laws specifically target Hindus. But media never debates on such issues!

Hate speech law rarely punished comments against Hindu Gods. People protested against movie PK but nothing happened!

Monopoly of elite on speech

Bharat is a youth nation. The problem with media is that they only present some JNU/DU students as representative of entire population? Will our media come out from Delhi? All debates are hijacked by ABVP/NUSI/AISF concerns and its politics of vote even on non-political genuine needs.

The debate on History is too restricted. One cannot discuss how Islamic invaders destroyed our Temples. I sometimes ask myself is SC/ST Act applicable if Muslim kills Dalit. Because the only narrative presented by media further divided Hindus. Why a person cannot criticize Gandhi in public space.

Last words

If the definition of Nationalism is ambiguous then it’s more complex in case of secularism. Standing for Hindu rights does not make me communal. Speaking against missionary lobby does not make me nonintellectual!

Rahul Gandhi with many cradles and play schools in Indian politics

S Ranganathan
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Rahul Gandhi with many cradles and play schools in Indian politics

Several media houses and political Pundits may be due some obvious reasons show historic affection towards the family of the dynast– Rahul Gandhi and are writing columns after columns highlighting the political vastness, intelligence and shrewdness of the dynast. Ironically the sacred respect of Rahul Gandhi towards Maya and Akhilesh in open air and simultaneously putting up his sister Priyanka Vadra to oppose BSP+SP combine and BJP, both strategies of the dynast are appreciated by the scholars of the dynast in equal measure.

Similarly Mamata Banarjee of TMC has beautifully crafted bi-polar politics in West Bengal by recognizing and opposing BJP as the main political opponent in West Bengal and leaving no space for either congress or communist party. Both these parties are losing their share of vote, political space and relevance in the state which the congress party in West Bengal is wary of, but the dynast is quite cool and indifferent to the ground realities and wants to support Mamata for her cause to stop CBI investigations against Sharada scam. Interestingly congress party in the past has made huge noise about Sharada scam and alleged TMC was involved in the scam but now wants to put up Janus face with full of love for TMC and the other against CBI investigation against the scam allegation that the congress has made against TMC in the past.

May be the political immaturity of the dynast wants him to have several cradles and play schools to learn politics either in UP under Madam Maya or in West Bengal under Madam Mamata, so he is not bothered about his personal stand which he gracefully contradict when he wear the cap of president of congress party. Indeed Rahul Gandhi is a liberal politician who alone can act two roles simultaneously in Indian politics.

The dynast wants to oppose all of them if they do not accommodate congress in their fold but at the same time he also wants to keep his cradle and play school safe with all those regional parties.

The question is can we call such a person wise, smart, intelligent? At best we can only call such person as unclear, unwise and lack political maturity and prudence. It looks like the dynast is not clear about his success, therefore he believes strongly that all his aunts and uncles in Indian politics in various regional parties may resurrect him and fulfill his ambition of becoming the Prime Minister of India due to the inherent contradictions between different regional parties and several Prime Minister Applicants.

The most interesting aspect is that there are several Prime Minister aspirants are contesting against each other but are claiming to the people of India that they are fighting together to defeat BJP. They want to defeat BJP only to become Prime Minister of India and not for the country or people.

In the multi-corned fight of several Prime Minister aspirants, Rahul Gandhi is thinking that he would be chosen when the fight among different regional parties for the post of Prime Minister of India became acute therefore he wants to oppose them and simultaneously wants to be graceful not to rock his cradle which when he chose to sleep in it in future.

The present generation people and first time voters must recognize the truth that 2019 is the best and the only chance for them to save India from the Tukde Tukde gangs. With the recent Dharna drama by Mamata in West Bengal, she had spoiled the budding Prime Minister ambition of Mayavathi of BSP and the so called level player Yashwant Sinha.

The clueless Chandrababu Naidu is running from Telengana to Delhi to West Bengal and so is DMK. None of the regional parties have any clue or idea as to where they should go and how they should face election. Only thing common among them is to oppose the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They all want to oppose the Prime Minister because they all have a common reason to fear that is Narendra Modi. He is firm against corruption and is not going to spare the corrupt.

The corrupts wants to get rid of the most honest Prime Minister of India because as long as he is in the helm of affairs, he not only would stop them from engaging in scams but also would put them behind bars for their corrupt actions in the past.

People of India must realize the absolute truth that it is now or never for them.  If they vote for the regional parties and the party of the dynast, the India that is built brick by brick by the PM Modi in the last 4.5 years would go to drain and the rule of scam, corruption, nepotism and dynasty will back in action.  India needs development and sab ka vikas agenda of PM Modi. India is inch away from its eternal salvation and therefore re-election of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister of India is necessary.  Let us save India, let us elect the Narendra Modi led BJP again.

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