Sparsh

1- Retuning Alha Udal : The lustrous versatility of film music, and change wrought by time. Gulzar knows our culture more than anybody in music industry. 2- Evaluating responses to India's macroeconomic crisis by Shubho Roy and Ajay Shah. 3- Not an April Fool : We are encouraged to over-share, for commercial reasons (just as we are encouraged to over-consume, but that's an issue for another time). 4- वक्‍त की छलनी में चेहरे गुम हो जाते हैं, गीत अमर रहता है ♦ जावेद अख्‍तर - पिछले दिनों जावेद अख्‍तर को राष्‍ट्रपति ने राज्‍यसभा की सदस्‍यता दी। 17 मई 2012 को जावेद साहब ने संसद में अपना पहला भाषण दिया। 5- Sheryl Sandberg’s Inspiring Speech At Harvard Business School . Sandberg urged the new graduates to think of their careers as a “jungle gym,” jumping around instead of following a preordained progression. She urged her listeners to take similar leaps, perhaps accepting a job that’s a step down from what one is currently doing if it offers the chance to learn something ...

Why Rural economy is always in a poor state ? Poverty exists in both rural and urban India. Slums are visible signs of poverty in the our cities. Slums are our failure in planning to implement an affordable housing in metros for the poor migrants at the cost of welfare state. There is an immense migration of the landless labours in cities from the rural areas. Many reasons can be cited for this state such as failure of rural economy, regional nature of growth, absence of basic civic amenities in rural India and caste discrimination in rural India. Poor people can afford the physical torture of the slums but cannot bear the mental torture of rural habitation caused due to caste discrimination. In slums people have only class identity and not caste identity. There is a huge connection between poverty and caste system in India. Majority of land in rural India is in the possession of minority upper castes. Hence, all the subsidies and growth in the agricultural sector is enjoyed by t...

An odd sort of joke about Hinduism in general is that where the Western religions face up to scientific discoveries with an attitude of "That's blasphemy! You're going to Hell!", Hinduism faces up to them with an attitude of "See? I told you so! We knew it centuries before you did!" Hinduism as a collection of schools of thoughts is extraordinary, but when you top it off with senseless rituals and practices, contradictory theories, and nationalism and Hindutva forces, it is as dangerous as any other religion. It doesn't denounce brain and have more sophisticated worldview than the Judeo-Christian-Muslim tradition. It is difficult to debate Hindus because they take advantage of the fact that Hinduism is an unorganized religion. It is fragmented to the level, where one can cherry-pick the "goodies" and glorify Hinduism, but when shown the utter inconsistencies, majority easily disqualify it saying that some sects have them and not Hinduism a...

I was reading an article about casteism by Aditya Nigam published under Caste Politics in India in an South Asian journal. Quoting a paragraph on Mandal commission will be necessary : "What was interesting about the agitation and the highly charged public debate that followed, was that it was entirely conducted, from the side of the opponents of the Mandal Commission, in the most immaculate secular and modern language of ‘merit’ and ‘efficiency’. The question was posed as one of dilution, if not the elimination, of merit at the cost of getting in ‘unworthy’ and ‘undeserving’ people simply because they happened to belong to certain castes. 'Would you like to be operated upon by a doctor who had became one through reservations?' 'Would you like to fly by an aircraft that was piloted by a reservation pilot?' Such were the kinds of questions that were asked by the anti-Mandalites in these discussions. Not once was the question of upper-caste and brahminical privileg...

Questions of Identity, Caste & State has bothered me from long time. This article is mine stand at present moment on these issues. I will start this article on the caste matters with the opinion of two prominent bloggers. 1- My friend Apocryphal pointed correctly about mentality of upper caste Hindus: For them, Caste is passe. That is no longer a problem, the problem of course is ‘reservation’. All problems radiate from ‘reservation’ playing it out through ‘vote bank politics’. 2- Namit Sir on  famous Shunya blog was telling his experience on this issue : An upper caste friend recently complained that reservations are socially divisive and instigate disharmony. I had to laugh. Isn't the caste hierarchy all about social division? Caste identities have been strong for ages, since folks marry within their own. If caste now also shapes political consciousness, it is because, in part, its members share a common experience of discrimination and inherited disadvantage. If the db...

I read a book review of 'The Indians' By Sudhir Kakar & Katharina Kakar in the blog of my freind Abdusalaam al-Hindi . I will quote a paragraph of the book as it shows about Indians particularly deep rooted in Hindus. The inner experience of caste : The preoccupation of the caste system with high and low has been associated with suffering and humiliation for several millions through the centuries. As the Marathi poet Govindraj puts it, Hindu society is made up of men ' who bow their heads to the kicks from above and who simultaneously give a kick below, never thinking to resist the one or refrain from the other. ' The hierarchy is so fine tuned that even a low caste will always find another caste that is inferior to it, thus mitigating some of the narcissistic injury suffered by it at being seen as inferior. Thus for instance, 'among those lowest scavenging sections which remove night soil there is still a distinction: those who serve in private houses consi...

In Indian society one is surrounded by false values right from birth irrespective of religious background. Rare People try to change the notion of modernism and put reforms in this plural democratic nation. Today, the language of secularism and equality is different from ground realities. Despite faith based flaws of Abhrahmic religion, it considers all humans equal. While Hindu considers and see people in  hierarchical manner. Leave this old theoretical aspect of religion and culture aside. Look into Hindu Law (not obsolete and biased Manu Smriti) through insight of an excellent article of Ramchandra Guha : Those who want to explore the details of these changes are directed to Mulla's massive Principles of Hindu Law (now in its 18th edition), or to the works of the leading authority on the subject, Professor J.D.M. Derrett. For our purposes, it is enough to summarise the major changes as follows; (1) For the first time, the widow and daughter were awarded the same share of p...

1- The Dance of Indian Democracy covers about a democratic form of governance, a liberal constitution, and secular public institutions in India since 1947. 2- The email Interview with Anupama Rao is largely about her new book, The Caste Question: Dalits and The Politics of Modern India . Anupama Rao is an Associate Professor of South Asian History at Barnard College, New York. 3-The Southasian Idea debates intensly on Development and Violence: Some Clues? : How does one characterize the Indian state and understand its actions on the issues of development. 4- Over at An Academic View of India, Vikram highlights key differences between the US and India in the way their higher ed institutions interact with the community at large . Extending the discussion with more opinions by Prof. Abi at nanopolitan and Rahul Siddharthan at Universities and cities ; 5- Contract Workers at IITK: A Response to Commonly Held Misconceptions : Rahul Verman is attempting to understand various a...

The first step in solving any issue is accepting the presence of the problem. A man convinced against will is of the same opinion still. So let us broadened our opinions about issues here - 1- Before the home ministry raises new paramilitary battalions, it needs to ask why the old ones are quitting in droves. raman kirpal reports on a brewing crisis : Soldiers of Misfortune . 2- Taking offense an be a competitive sport. Islam is forefront runner in this game : Not Even in South Park? 3- Opposition to reservations for women in Parliament have centred on at least four points. Step by step Vaijayanti Gupta rebuts the arguments and re-iterates the case for reservations. Women’s reservation Bill – the 2010 story . 4- Need tribal voices for their rights to counter corporate propagandist nationalism. The Fall Out Of Dantewada By Vidya Bhushan Rawat. 5- David Mumford reviews Kim Plofker's Mathematics in India ; 6- In this interesting paper [PDF], Lant Pritchett argues tha...

I was trying to complete this series in the draft form long ago. Roshmi bombarded me with comments in 2nd part of the series and I became busy in reading history of Pakistan. While 3rd part of this trend comes to my notice during debate with my sister. There was talk about equality, merit and anti casteism without seeing the ground level discriminations practiced in the society. I recall only rough details of our conversation: - She was clearly seeing the 'quota' as a toy given to each section of society who makes fuss about it. She was holding very strong points over implementation of the anti-discriminatory laws and strict punishment to law breakers. It is not about the implication of laws but raising of consciousness over this issue. Upper caste Hindus how much they shout will never take action against one of their own over Dalit issues. It is that their conscience is not a public conscience but a caste conscience, imbued with values derived from caste. Quotacracy is indee...

There is one incredible India and one untouchable India. - Manjula Pradeep; Tradition are poured inside the child through their parents first. All of the parents teach their children about ethics and values. Still, parents themselves practice some form of caste and religious discrimination. The rituals of marriage and eating's give children first hand knowledge and practice of discrimination. Our education system gives very little information about caste atrocities. There should be complete restructuring of society which openly commits caste discrimination and it is not told as a crime for normal routine. The Governments in the past have viewed the communal riots or caste atrocities as a matter of law and order, and hence they have failed to evolve a just society. There is a rise of an individual and followed by a group in opportunist way on the name of caste. The badlands of India in its small villages, have their own on-going caste wars, con-men and utter lawlessness. The lesson ...

Caste is so complex matter that it is constantly changing and adjusting to new circumstances. This poses a great challenge for all of us because it is deeply embedded in the mind of India and caste attitudes are not fading away even after so much education. Today, Indian society still retains part of the age old caste system and that Dalits still face social stigma even in urban circles. The manners and food habits of those from the lower section of the social ladder are still laughed at by the so-called upper class who are unwilling to let them enter their world unless it is for their benefit. 1- 26th January is approaching near, still a question arises in my mind. Why eminent persons like Dr. Ambedkar, Sardar Patel and Ram Manohar Lohia are reduced and viewed as caste representative leaders in political circles? 'Blowin' in the Hind' is an article exploring about Dr. Ambedkar on the eve of the Great Indian Republic Day. 2- A special report from the 2nd day of Jaip...

I am always in the favor of inclusive development of backward caste and tribe with general caste. Equality, dignity and merit to GE, OBC & SC, ST irrespective of their caste backgrounds. I always think that government gives equal ground through regulations and reservation in theory only. I don't know that our higher caste Hindu is now accepting lower caste as their equals or not. I always ask elders that has society became more feudal, caste oriented and communal than 60 years ago ? No clear cut answers. People still ask surname with smile to map out the caste and ancestry in their minds. I hope one day caste discrimination will fade away and it will remind us of our ethnicity only. 1- An interview of Shahid Siddiqui , Editor of Urdu daily Nai Duniya about caste politics. 2- Call for first caste census in India. Officials said the ministry had asked for caste to be included as one of the criteria in the 2011 census, and recommended a differential headcount of the Othe...

Words are often served both as a sign of resentment and as an expression of pain. There is huge power in the words to heal or injure anyone. Suddenly, I introspect about Hindi vocab used mostly in northern Indian cities. I observed lately that words like ' chamaar ', ' bhangi ' and sometimes ' baniya ' are used by higher caste Hindus to degenerate others in the sarcastic way. This usage of insulting vocab and idioms is high in the previous generation who had lived their childhood in the villages. But, it is embraced by youths of our generation in the daily usage unconsciously. I hope that this usage of caste based remarks will be extinct once notified to the concerned persons. Our changing language can easily reflect attitude towards equality and showcase ours hypocrisy. Most of the high caste feel utmost pride in their caste. You can find several communities heading 'Proud to be .....' on orkut or facebook. Whole Hindu caste system is based on the inequ...

Usually, I write what I like but was taken back by a witty remark. Vijay Tendulkar has said a gem about writing - “It’s never about the writing. Anyone can write. It is about the observations.” So astute is his observation in this regard. Procrastination is the disease of lazy person like me and preparation of irma is lacking in honest efforts. Bahut ho gayee mere kahani, Ab duniya ke samachar padiye--- Caste: The ongoing session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva looks set to recognize caste- based discrimination as a human rights violation. This is done, despite India's opposition and following Nepal's breaking stand in support on the culturally sensitive issue. Hence, ours dream of caste annihilation is finally getting solid paper work. ( TOI repor t & Official version in pdf ). Thanks Anu for bringing it to my notice. Rewriting History: Some new studies done on the basis of genome project and anthropology are focusing evolution and human migration at Ind...

Banaras Hindu University is an internationally reputed temple of learning, situated in the holy city of Varanasi. This Creative and innovative university was founded by the great nationalist leader, Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya , in 1916 with cooperation of great personalities like Dr Annie Besant , who viewed it as the University of India. Recently, The South Campus of the Banaras Hindu University is attempting to become the first carbon neutral (rate of emission and absorption of carbon being equal) university campus in the country , with a massive plantation drive of 1.76 lakh saplings on 400 acres of land under National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) Scheme in the region. Already BHU has placed a ban on Coke and Pepsi on campus. They are the positive aspects of the development and more can be found out here . These are good news but now I will embark our journey to some 'negative items' unknown in mainstream media. I often quote the Spanish born American phi...

Let me recall the punchline of Popeye the Sailorman : “That’s all I can stands, I can’t stands no more!” . Cast out caste from our social system, it is killing talent based on the merit. The paragraphs given below are the the reproduction of a part of the interview of N. Murthy , Infosys Founder . " The Indian society is a society of ideas. It is a society that has revered talk. In this society, articulation is mistaken for accomplishment. We are quite satisfied with our voice, with our writings. This is not a society that is focused on execution. Frankly, the problem is due to our caste system and the dominance of Brahmins in our society for long period. The Brahminical system said my job is to think of the higher worlds. My job is to think of connecting you people with God. I don't want to do anything that has a relationship with the real world. Now that is a problem that has played havoc with the Indian culture. So, here in this culture, if you do anything with your hands, ...

I was talking to my flatmate yesterday. We had a small argument about intercaste marriage. He will not do intercaste marriage due to his family and community background. Thats, ok reply for me. Then, I fired next shell on him, " What about your daughter in the future?". He replied that he will go for intracaste marriage if the girl does not opt for the love marriage (consider it against his wish). I was astonished by his reply and blaming his impotency to stand on this issue on his family and community. I can imagine the upbringing of the girl (daughter) in that environment very easily. So full of prejudice and what more to say.. Most of the people who support intercaste marriage openly, they are not going to do that. They said that just to show people their pseudo open mindness. At the juncture point, they don't have guts to do that. And latter justify that he/she can't marry intercaste girl/boy because of there parents and relatives, community. The neutral accent ...