Oil Prices

The International crude oil was $ 110/ barrel in June 2014. It is $ 63 / barrel in June 2015.

In Chennai the petrol price was Rs 75/ litre in June 2014. It is Rs 70/ lit in June 2015.

Hmmm...

Majoritarianism - The solution to Democracy!

From an article by Gopalkrishna Gandhi:

"The question takes us back to Nicholas I and Indira Gandhi. Like those two historical figures, Prime Minister Modi has a sense of ‘order’. He backs that up with an attentiveness to his own fitness, punctuality, ‘turnout’. By personally leading, like an adept instructor, the phalanx gathered on the Rajpath lawns, he has choreographed yoga into an opera of mass power. But not just of power as in wholesome personal strength. Rather, power as in a collective mission, a mass drill that goes beyond personal well-being into a national nostrum, a national mission that bears an unmistakable family resemblance to the drills by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. And what is the mission’s message?

Quite simply, this: ‘We have been a weak nation, a nation of do-gooders and pacifists, of men who are afraid of the noise of crackers, the smell of smoke. Men of withered wills and sunken chests. It is time we built up our sinews, physical and mental, time we toned up our tissues, tightened our tendons. We must retrieve Bharat from the shambles that our so-called liberal leaders of the last six decades have left us…They were not leaders but mis-leaders who tell us that being muscled-up is mean, being belligerent is bullying. In fact such peacemakers and liberals are dangerous anarchists. Let us march, not saunter, stand and sit in neat rows, not haphazardly, observe mauna rather than chatter away and if we have to speak, let us speak on the glory of Bharat Mata…’

Forty years ago, the Emergency spoke the same script. There were no Yoga Day type drills organised at the time but ‘spontaneous’ rallies were called to hail the proclamation, hail the Emancipator. Even as mass leaders were jailed, sections of the middle class welcomed a sudden improvement in the punctuality of train movements, attendance in government offices, the check on profiteering that followed. ‘Honesty’ at shopfloors and workplaces became visible. But all ‘for the present’, because it was imposed by fiat, monitored by fiat, by fear, by bhayayoga.

A person who has recovered from a stroke values the faculties of motor ability, mental comprehension and speech more than one who never lost it.

The Constitution as amended in 1978 has made a proclamation of the 1975 type National Emergency impossible. What we have to be wary of is something as bad — the robotisation of our minds into a ‘yogic’ acceptance of one drill — majoritarianism — and its masterful drill-master.

Cutting the Food Act to the bone - The Hindu

Simple definition - Food Security means having reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food.



Why are we backing away from implementing National Food Secuity Act? Is it that in order to maintain a docile workforce for the Industry - you need a hungry society?



Revolution happens when people demand change - when your workforce remains hungry the worry is about the next square meal and not about rights - like equality, freedom of thought etc. 



Cutting the Food Act to the bone - The Hindu 

Yes, there’s sexism in science

Sexism in work area,
disrimination based on gender has been talked about since - EVER!

Since 1901 more than 500 men have won a Nobel Prize in the
sciences. Only 15 of them—about 3 percent—have been women. 

A Nobel
Prize-winning scientist Tim Hunt is supposed to have said
this “Three things happen when they are in the lab.... You fall in
love with them, they fall in love with you, and when you criticize them, they
cry."  He won the 2001 Nobel Prize in medicine for his work
on cell division and was talking about women. (Ref: Article in Washington Post)

A
study conducted by Yale University highlighted the unconscious gender
biases in hiring processes for women in science academia. When they
controlled for all other variables, the researchers found out what was holding
these fake women back from their dream jobs: All other things being equal, the
academic hiring squads were rating the women as less competent than the men.

Now the discussion turns to the tech icons of the last 2 decades - we have heard of Steve Jobs, Zuckerberg etc.... Today's tech icons are all men - the nerd is pictured as a white man...



Well a link to Indian scientists into the repository of all knowledge under the Sun online 



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Indian_scientists lists about 140 scientists  - 139 Men and 1 woman (social scientist)! kindly note this list has names of Aryabhatta, Mahāvīra, Varāhamihira

I read this article in The Hindu ... wanted to share it 

Yes, there’s sexism in science - The Hindu

Rape accused granted bail by Madras High Court to 'mediate' with victim - Seriously!

This is one of the most ridiculous judgement - I have read! In what cuckoo land is the judge living??

Picked this from  CNN-IBN - I don't know how authentic the news is - need to read about before I conclude that the news is true... 

In an unusual development, the Madras High Court has granted bail to a rape accused so that he could participate in a mediation process with the victim in the case.

According to a report in The Indian Express, the victim was a minor when the incident happened, and has now lost her parents. The victim also gave birth to a child after the rape.

The decision by the Madras High Court to release the accused on bail came after the alleged culprit filed an appeal and a bail petition.

The judge who granted bail to the accused claimed that he had referred a similar case for mediation and the result of it was...

Now to an unusual judgment in a rape case "happy conclusion" as the accused had agreed to marry the victim.

Hot Pursuit - Nation-State

This is one of the best articles I have read on the topic 'Hot Pursuit.'



We seem to be loosing our ability to think rationally - in the face of growing redefintion of India as a nation-state of homogenous identity.



M. K. Narayanan on India’s current foreign policy on its neighbours - The Hindu 

Ghettoisation!

Its about saftey in numbers! Its also about easily finding the other!

Uprooted from Mumbai after the 1992-93 riots, thousands of Muslim families found safety in Mumbra on the city’s outskirts. Visiting it over a few days, Basharat Peer discovered islands of progress amid large seas of neglect in the township that nine lakh people call home.

In India’s largest Muslim ghetto - The Hindu 

Police have filed an FIR against a Councillor. The councillor locked a Muslim family out of
their own house and continues to be defiant about not letting them stay in the locality.

Evicting a Muslim family out of a Hindu-dominated area

International Yoga Day!

Did you know that the UN observes the following

• 27 January - International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust
• 4 February - World Cancer Day
• 6 February - International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation 
• 13 February - World Radio Day 
• 20 February - World Day of Social Justice  
• 21 February - International Mother Language Day  
• 1 March - Zero Discrimination Day 
• 3 March - World Wildlife Day 
• 8 March - International Women's Day
• 20 March- International Day of Happiness 
• 21 March - International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination 
• 21 March - World Poetry Day 
• 21 March - International Day of Nowruz 
• 21 March - World Down Syndrome Day  
• 21 March - International Day of Forests 
• 22 March - World Water Day  
• 23 March - World Meteorological Day 
• 24 March - World Tuberculosis Day  
• 24 March - International Day for the Right to the Truth concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims 
• 25 March - International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade  
• 25 March - International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff Members
• 2 April - World Autism Awareness Day 
• 4 April - International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action 
• 6 April - International Day of Sport for Development and Peace
• 7 April - International Day of Reflection on the Genocide in Rwanda
• 7 April - World Health Day 
• 12 April - International Day of Human Space Flight
• 22 April - International Mother Earth Day
• 23 April - World Book and Copyright Day  
• 23 April - English Language Day 
• 24 - 30 April - World Immunization Week [WHO]
• 25 April - World Malaria Day
• 26 April - World Intellectual Property Day
• 28 April - World Day for Safety and Health at Work
• 29 April - Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare
• 30 April - International Jazz Day
• 3 May - World Press Freedom Day
• 8-9 May - Time of Remembrance and Reconciliation for Those Who Lost Their Lives During the Second World War  
• 9-10 May - World Migratory Bird Day 
• 15 May - International Day of Families 
• 17 May - World Telecommunication and Information Society Day  
• 21 May - World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development
• 22 May - International Day for Biological Diversity
• 23 May - International Day to End Obstetric Fistula 
• 29 May - International Day of UN Peacekeepers
• 31 May -World No-Tobacco Day
• 1 June - Global Day of Parents 
• 1 June - "Vesak", the Day of the Full Moon
• 4 June - International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression 
• 5 June - World Environment Day  
• 6 June - Russian Language Day at the UN 
• 8 June -World Oceans Day 
• 12 June - World Day Against Child Labour
• 13 June - International Albinism Awareness Day 
• 14 June - World Blood Donor Day 
• 15 June - World Elder Abuse Awareness Day 
• 17 June - World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought 
• 20 June - World Refugee Day  
• 21 June - International Day of Yoga 
• 23 June- United Nations Public Service Day 
• 23 June - International Widows' Day 
• 25 June - Day of the Seafarer  
• 26 June - International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking
• 26 June - United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture 
• 4 July (first Saturday in July) - International Day of Cooperatives
• 11 July - World Population Day  
• 15 July - World Youth Skills Day  
• 18 July - Nelson Mandela International Day 
• 28 July - World Hepatitis Day 
• 30 July - International Day of Friendship 
• 30 July - World Day against Trafficking in Persons 
• 9 August - International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples
• 12 August - International Youth Day
• 19 August - World Humanitarian Day 
• 23 August - International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Its Abolition  [UNESCO]  
• 29 August - International Day against Nuclear Tests
• 30 August - International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances 
• 5 September - International Day of Charity  
• 8 September - International Literacy Day 
• 12 September - United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation 
• 15 September - International Day of Democracy
• 16 September - International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer 
• 21 September - International Day of Peace 
• 25 September (last week of September) - World Maritime Day 
• 26 September - International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons  
• 27 September - World Tourism Day
• 1 October - International Day of Older Persons
• 2 October - International Day of Non-Violence 
• 5 October - World Teachers’ Day 
• 5 October (first Monday in October) - World Habitat Day 
• 9 October - World Post Day 
• 10 October - World Mental Health Day 
• 11 October - International Day of the Girl Child 
• 13 October - International Day for Disaster Reduction 
• 15 October - International Day of Rural Women 
• 16 October - World Food Day 
• 17 October - International Day for the Eradication of Poverty  
• 24 October - United Nations Day  
• 24 October - World Development Information Day  
• 27 October - World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 
• 31 October - World Cities Day 
• 2 November - International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists  
• 6 November - International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict  
• 10 November - World Science Day for Peace and Development
• 14 November - World Diabetes Day  
• 15 November (third Sunday in November) - World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims
• 16 November - International Day for Tolerance  (Resolution 5.61 of the 28th session of the UNESCO General Conference)
• 19 November - World Toilet Day 
• 19 November (third Thursday in November) - World Philosophy Day
• 20 November - Africa Industrialization Day 
• 20 November - Universal Children’s Day
• 21 November - World Television Day 
• 25 November - International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women  
• 29 November - International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People 
• 1 December - World AIDS Day
• 2 December - International Day for the Abolition of Slavery
• 3 December - International Day of Persons with Disabilities  (A/RES/47/3)
• 5 December - International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development 
• 5 December - World Soil Day 
• 7 December - International Civil Aviation Day 
• 9 December - International Anti-Corruption Day
• 10 December - Human Rights Day
• 11 December - International Mountain Day 
• 18 December - International Migrants Day 
• 20 December - International Human Solidarity Day 

To understand how we observe few these Days in India: - 

The World against child labour day - In India we are amending laws so that children below 14 years of age to work in family enterprises or entertainment industry... 

The Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women  - The concept of marital rape does not apply in India as marriage is treated as sacred here... 

The World Toilet Day  - India launched the Swachch Bharat Abhiyan with a budget allocation to build toilets. We are so there.

The International Day of Democracy- hm... yes ... we will commomerate this shortly!

The Human Rights Day - hm... well... we will commomerate this also, shortly!

The Anti - Corruption Day - hm...

The International Yoga Day  - And Wow! the money, time and effort spent by Indian Government to promote is phenomenal!  

 - Childern asked to come to school on the weekly holiday at 6.30 AM to be photographed doing Padmasana

 - Media houses encouraged to promote the Day to ensure maximum success

 - Industries encouraged to organise the day in factories and work places - ostensibly to promote healthy living and working conditions :)

- The PM is going to demonstrate some special Asanas! :)

Afterall, we have to get into the Guiness Book of World Records... 

Marital Rape and Misogyny

In an aritcle in The Hindu... "When Marriage is Less than Sacred" ...  Vasundhara Sirnate said this

"To suggest that a husband has a right to his wife’s body is spurious. Let me illustrate this. Suppose a wife bakes a cake and asks her husband to eat it. He says no. So, she forcibly opens his mouth and shoves large chunks of cake down his throat without his consent. Even when he says he has had enough and asks her to stop, she continues to shove more cake down his throat. He then asks her again to stop but she does not. She slaps him and force-feeds him the whole cake until he throws up. Once he is done throwing up, she feeds him a second cake until he throws up again. He is terrified of her because this is a never-ending cycle. Technically, she is a good wife feeding her husband. But chances are that she would be booked for cruelty and abuse."

I just loved the underlined bit so much that I wanted to share it!