I AND MY WORDS

Image Courtesy (DNA) As the Delhi Police filed a chargesheet in the court with respect to the mayhem resulting from the Delhi Violence, the name of the organization Popular Front of India (PFI) has come up once again. Given this context,  I decided to look at the PFI and its history, and found a disturbing picture of Islamist supremacy emerging, with uncomfortable questions on its activities within India, its troublesome origins, and promoting religious bigotry. Troubling Origins of the PFI As per the website of the PFI, the organization came into existence after the merger of the Karnataka Forum for Dignity (KFD) of Karnataka, National Development Front (NDF) of Kerala, and Manitha Neethi Pasarai (MNP) of Tamil Nadu) among other after the a National Convention on Reservation in Higher Education was organized jointly with All India Milli Council at New Delhi on 29th August 2006. Once the leadership of these organizations decided to merge for better coordination among thems

तेरे शौर्य की है ऐसी गाथा तेरे सौंदर्य पर वो भारी पड़ी तेरी चिता की राख की गर्माहट ज्वाला से भी बहुत अधिक रही करें कोटि प्रयत्न चंद तुच्छ मनुष्य तेरी छवि को आज मिटाने की पद्मावती, तू बस एक रानी नहीं जीवन पर्यन्त तू अमर हुई। तेरे हुकम रावल रतन की आँख का तारा केवल तू नहीं रही तू दूर आकाश में ध्रुव तारे सी जग में यूँ तू ज्ञात हुई तेरी वीरता से ख़िलजी थर्राया तू वीरांगना श्रेष्ठ कुछ यूँ हुई तू बस एक सुंदर रानी नहीं मेवाड़ का अनमोल इक रतन हुई। वो छल पारंगत क्रूर आक्रांता जिससे बन लोहा तू भिड़ ही गई तेरे प्राप्ति के हर संभव प्रयास को तू आँधी बन छिन्बिन करती रही तू बन चरित्र परिभाषा नई हर पथ को प्रतिष्ठित करती चली तू बन सिंहनी कर चली जौहड़ बनी आत्मसम्मान की नई गिरि मरुथल में खिलते नहीं हैं पुष्प तू बात असत्य कुछ यूँ कर गई इतिहास स्वयं साक्षी था वहाँ स्वयं धर्म बना तेरा अनुयायी तेरी स्मृति महक रही आज भी है तू भारत की ऐसी वीर हुई। पद्मावती, तू बस एक रानी नहीं जीवन पर्यन्त तू अमर हुई।

Today, this tweet came up to my knowledge, as I was walking through on the top trends on Twitter for a brief glance. What caught my eye was the image that was inserted in the tweet. Contrary to perceptions about Bihar being some agricultural rustic land, one saw some big plants having been named in the list. The tweet had an angry tone, and was asking that people are wanting to re-develop Bihar's industries so that the migrant labourers do not have to ever leave their state again. Ironically, while this topic rages on among the tweeters of Bihari origin, the topic seems to have hit a stonewall of silence, as if no one wants to talk about the story behind these pictures. https://twitter.com/25kumaranup/status/1263031899993198593 Migrants are not able to get work within Bihar has always been a major driver of the migrant exodus from the state. In 2015, when there were state elections, there was a detailed discussion after perhaps several decades in the news media about ind

Courtesy: The Hindu COVID-19 has impacted economies across the world, forcing people to seek government assistance in times of desperation. India already announced the PM Garib Kalyan Package and there are talks of a package to help the besieged Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector. Reserved Bank of India (RBI) too has announced a host of measures along with Ministry of Finance to ease compliance issues and infuse liquidity in the hands of the people to tide over the crisis.  Interestingly in India, a debate has also started on the very need of a stimulus package given its potential impact on fiscal credit, led by Ila Patnaik and Haseeb Drabu. This section is advocating that instead of fiscal package, states should rather be allowed to raise funds on their own, an ability they lost with the implementation of the GST. While the Indian government is working towards resolving the economic and human crisis in the most appropriate manner, we take a look at other

It is interesting to observe the idea of seva or service in the Indic darsanas. Whatever be the outlook towards life, the importance to service of others is given a lot of importance. This definitely arises from the intertwined helical relationship between karma and seva. A succinct example of the depth of embedding of seva in the philosophy of karma can be be found in the Srivaishnava sampradaya’s understanding of the Advaita marga as put out first by reformer saint Sri Ramanujacharya, who lived in the 12 th century AD. As Mohan Sagar had elaborated in his short piece on Ramanujacharya’s darsana [1] highlights some important facts: ·     Each and every aatma or soul in a crude translation is in its essential nature, its svarUpam, a simple receptacle to the Lord's Grace, and a humble instrument to His Good. This nature of servitude is not only limited to the soul, but is indeed the nature of matter, as well. ·       Consequently, the Lord is likened to the Soul

Whatever be the darsana, the emphasis on purushartha has always been significant. Barring perhaps the charvaka system, each attaches a degree of importance to the ideas of dharma, artha, kama and moksha in varying degrees. The eventual goal of the varying darsanas is not even moksha; rather it is mukti, or liberation from the bonds of the world in their entirety. However, it is not that mukti is to be sought independent of the four purusharthas; rather, the four serve as a sequential process towards the same, somewhat similar to the conceptualization of an algorithm that forms the underlying principle of any software. The concept of purushartha is different significantly from the conception of the Calvinistic and Lutheran thoughts on the relationship of man and God and man and society that eventually serve as the source of all individualistic and libertarian principles. Purushartha defines your relationship with yourself and the society that surrounds you, as it defines your d

सिंगरौली में गर्मियों का मौसम बहुत ही मुश्किल से बीतता है। श्याम तो खासतौर पर बहुत ही सकट गर्म होती है, मानव की सूरज जाते-जाते अपनी गर्मी रात को उधार दी क्या हो। वैसे ही शहर में पावर प्लांट की कोई कमी तो है नहीं उनकी गर्मी भी शायद इस बेइंतहा गर्मी में कुछ ना कुछ योगदान करती होगी। बहरहाल जिस तरह यह मौसम बीत रहा था, उसमें कुछ नवीनता तो नहीं थी हां इतना जरूर था के लोगों के अंदर बारिश के लिए एक अजीब सा उतावलापन पैदा हो रहा था। हाल ही में नवीन दिल्ली से आया था अपनी पोस्टिंग संभालने के लिए। दिल्ली की गर्मी की तो उसे बहुत जानकारी थी लेकिन उसके ख्यालों में भी उसने ऐसी गर्मी के बारे में सोचा तक ना था। दिनभर पावर प्लांट की झुलसती गर्मी से बेहाल हो कर वह जब शाम को अपने क्वार्टर पहुंचता था तो दरवाजा खोलने पर अंदर से आती गर्म हवा के थपेड़ों से लिपट जाता था। किस मनहूस घड़ी में उसकी तकदीर लिखी गई थी, यही सोच सोच कर घर में ऐसी चलाता और एक घंटा बिना कुछ करे बस वही सोफे पर सो जाता। ना जाने कब रात आ जाती, एक का एक उसकी नींद खुलती, कभी खाना बनाता अपने लिए और और कई बारी भूखे पेट ही सो जाता। हां, लेकिन ए