Delhi most uncaring of elderly: Study





Delhi has emerged as most uncaring of the elderly with a multi-city survey , finding that 92% of young Delhiites were not willing to act to prevent the abuse of senior citizens, reports Durgesh Nandan Jha.Across cities, the study found that 73% of working adults accepted the problem of elderly abuse but few were willing to take steps to stop it. These included 62% of those surveyed in Chennai, followed by Hyderabad (45%), Ahmedabad (41%), Bengaluru (37%) and Mumbai (35%).

Vedanta

ULLHAS PAGEY





Our Daily Conflicts
The Mahabharata war at Kurukshetra, as the story goes, was fought only once between the Pandavas and Kauravas.But there is another, or several, Mahabharatas, so to speak, the wars we wage every day `within ourselves' and these seem to go on forever. Why?
Let's take a closer look at this phenomenon. The Pandavas symbolise noble qualities like compassion, truthfulness, kindness and fairness, whereas the Kauravas signify deceit, untruth and evil designs.
So, when we talk of the war going on within us, we're talking of the ongoing tussle between the positive and negative forces. If positive forces win the war, it will result in dharma, righteousness; if negative for ces win the war, it would lead to dys functional be haviour. So, what decides `who' wins the war within?
For that, we need to understand the behavioural dynamics of our body , mind and intellect from the stand point of the Kathopanishad that says that our body is like a chariot, with the soul being its sole owner, with intellect in the driver's seat, controlling horses (sense organs) with the mind as the reins.
Materialistic objects constantly pull these sense organs towards them, resulting in the horses going haywire; but the winner is one who uses his intellect to control the horses by holding a tight leash over the reins (the mind). Anyone putting his intellect to intelligent use will always generate positive forces in the cosmos and would attain the strength to transcend all states, to achieve the Supreme Reality .

Jun 15 2015 : The Times of India (Delhi) Train To 21st Century   Government must use Debroy report to bite the bullet and reform Indian Railways Ever since the first passenger train left Bori Bunder for Thane on 16 April 1853, Indian Railways has been the underlying glue that literally held the nation together.The problem is that this glue has worn away and is no longer relevant to a new century. That first train journey in 1853, with steam locomotives, took an hour and 15 minutes. Bori Bunder station is not used today but a non-stop train journey from Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji terminus to Thane still takes 57 minutes. Indian rail needs urgent reform to make it much faster, more efficient, better managed and significantly leaner. The recently submitted Bibek Debroy committee report suggests precisely this. It lays down a five-year roadmap to evolve a statutory rail regulator, scrap the rail budget as a separate entity and make room for more players in an “open access“ regime which would turn the Railways into just another train service provider. Its major suggestions of creating an independent, quasi-judicial Railway Regulatory Authority of India, of freeing the train network from political interference, of unbundling railway services and restructuring the jumbo-sized railways into more manageable smaller units must be pushed through forthwith. In indicating how railways can actually do this, the eight-member committee has toned down its earlier aggressive approach outlined in its March 2015 interim report by calling for gradual changes. This is pragmatic given that there have been nearly a dozen committee reports since 2000 alone that have recommended similar measures. At one level, the plethora of committees shows the urgency of the railway problem. Yet, hardly any reform measures have ever been implemented, demonstrating how reluctant all governments have been in taking on the biggest of public sector behemoths. Yet reform we must ­ as the rail network affects every Indian and the growth of the economy directly. Consider this: Independent India inherited 53,596 km of train routes. This has grown by just over 22% to 65,806 km in 2013-14. In contrast, originating passenger traffic grew almost eight times from 1.28 million in 1950-51 to 8.3 million in 2013-14.We have constantly increased the number of daily trains but not capacity and management. Railways must open up to competition, reform and professional management. Given that Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to emulate the Chinese miracle and in Suresh Prabhu we have a dynamic railway minister as well, this is India's chance.

the speaking tree - Eternal Entity Versus Biological Mortality

B V Vaman Maharaj





Human beings are considered mortal. If so, then how is it that they desire eternal existence, knowledge and bliss? Human beings devoid of the attributes of eternal existence, knowledge and bliss, logically cannot express the desire to live in this world eternally, to attain complete knowledge and complete bliss.Human beings are special
Although human birth is considered the best of all other life forms due to endowment of the special quality of power of discrimination, the perceived physical bodies of human beings are all non-eternal; they have an expiry date. Physical bodies are in the grip of numerous births and deaths, and are subject to many other drawbacks.
Further, beyond the existence of the physical body , a human being can directly feel the existence of mind, intellect and perverted ego. As the human is of a finite nature, it follows that his mental and intellectual capacities will also be finite.
The existence of a perverted ego can be perceived by the presence of specific thoughts such as thinking that one belongs to this or that country; this or that religion; that one speaks this or that language or belongs to this or that group ­ whatever it may be.
It may then be questioned whether after death of the physical body there is the existence of any such nationalist, religious or language groups ­ in fact, it may be pertinent to ask whether everything is destroyed or if there is the existence of a subtle body consisting of mind, intelligence and perverted ego or even beyond that, the existence of an eternal entity.The great potency of the Absolute As per the Bhagwad Gita, living beings ­ individual conscious units ­ are the outcome of the marginal potency of the Supreme. The definition of a jiva or individual living being in the Naradiya Purana says, “The spiritual entities which have emanated from the potency of the Absolute Spiritual Substance and have their existence in the marginal potency ­ when tinged with the three qualities of maya the external deluding potency , sattva, rajas and tamahs ­ are designated as jivas.“
Now living beings or souls in one sense are identical with the Supreme as potency cannot be separated from the Substance. That is, potency cannot be conceived of without the Substance. In another sense the jiva or individual soul is distinct from the Supreme as it is an atomic part of the potency of the Lord and not the Substance itself. Even the summation of all the potencies of the Substance cannot become the Substance.
The source and its parts
Sri Krishna is the Infinite Absolute Entity while jivas are the absolute infinitesimals or spiritual atomic parts of the marginal potency of the Absolute as the particle of the ray of the Sun is distinct from the Sun itself.So jivas are simultaneously distinct and non-distinct from the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna. This is inconceivable. As the real Self of the jiva is nirguna and transcendental ­ beyond the range of mundane mind and intellect ­ and as Paramatman is also Transcendental (Nirguna), the relation between the two is Nirguna or transcendental, that is, inconceivable.
The soul is eternal. Therefore, due to the Self being eternal, all living beings tend to desire eternal existence, knowledge and bliss. (The writer heads the Sree Chaitanya Gaudiya Math in Chandigarh.) Post your comments on speakingtree.in

CARE FOR ELDERS - Law not friendly to elderly

Abhinav Garg & Manash Pratim Gohain

New Delhi: TNN





Abused By Own Family, Lack Of Awareness Keeps Them Away From Justice

The murder of a 94-year-old and his 64-yearold daughter-in-law in Patel Nagar on the eve of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day has reinforced the opinion that India is no country for the elderly . Even though there are laws that protect them, these are so badly publicized and implemented that a large section of those suffering cruelty at the hands of friends or strangers don't get any reprieve.Take for instance the case of late Lotika Sarkar. The noted academician's property was grabbed by an IPS officer. But she was plain lucky , as the media and a whole lot of well-wishers came forward to help her. Ultimately ,a tribunal under Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Citizens Act, 2007 cancelled the `gift deed' that formed the legal cover for dispossessing Sarkar of her south Delhi house. That was in 2009.
But even today , say lawyers, awareness about the law and its provisions remain abysmally low. And because of this, senior citizens continue to suffer mental and physical abuse from their children or kin.
Earlier this year, one Sudeshna (80) approached the south district tribunal, seeking relief against her daughter-in-law who forcibly grabbed her three-storey house. In her complaint, she narrated how her signatures were forged and the house transferred in the younger woman's name.
Advocate Ashutosh Lohia, who helped Sudeshna prepare the brief, said, “First of all, there has been a crumbling of social structure due to advancement of technology. Earlier, society provided protection to elders as it boycotted those who maltreat their parents. Now, husband and wife work and want to become social butterflies, but can't spend time with the elderly . The Maintenance Act was enacted precisely to prevent this.“
While Sudeshna at least managed to fight it out legally , an informal study by Agewell Foundation found that majority of such cases go unreported as the victims fear retribution, isolation and neglect from their kin if they go out to complain. “One of the most common reasons is the old person's fear of losing family members or support. Heshe fears that reporting the crime will result in tension and stress in old age, as the abuser may discontinue relations once accused, charged, or convicted,“ said Himanshu Rath of Agewell Foundation.
World Health Organization's report on `Missing Voices' stated six key categories of elder abuse: structural and societal abuse, neglect and abandonment, disrespect and ageist attitudes, psycho logical, emotional and verbal abuse, physical abuse and legal and financial abuse.
An India-specific part of the report also stated: “He (a case study) has lost his freedom of choice around meals, bedtimes, housekeeping, etc.If he makes suggestions, he is told to mind his own business. Although he has asked his son and his family to leave, they have refused. In fact, he has even suggested that he would like to remarry for the sake of a companion so they must leave the apartment for his exclusive use. They do not move out of his apartment but continue to neglect him. The problem of adult children living with their parents in their accommodation is worse for lower income families, because lodgings are smaller.“
Lohia also said that quite often it is the outsider who takes advantage of breakdown of communication between a senior citizen and his adult children. “Parents are easier to manipulate in old age. A third person brainwashes them and gets them to sign papers, evicting both the children and parents and grabbing the property ,“ he added.
Delhi high court lawyer Ajay Verma said, “There is no awareness among elders That is also because rules law is not highly promoted Only literate people may be aware but what about the illit erate? They suffer badly . The government must advertise widely , hold special camps and come up with an online case filing system.“
Though lawyers have been kept out of the mainte nance tribunals, many argue it has its disadvantages be cause the process remains technical. Once a complain is filed, notices are issued statements recorded and evi dence gathered--all these re quire legal assistance.

Why we need a time-use survey

The moment we mention the market, there is an implied price, and the poor person’s per unit labour input is valued less than the rich person’s.

Why are some people poor and some relatively rich? This is an age-old question with multiple answers, in that there are different ways of looking at the problem. The income of a household is one indicator of relative prosperity. Since we don’t have satisfactory data on income, we go by a surrogate indicator, per capita consumption expenditure. How is income obtained? By selling a good or service in the market — for the most part, labour. The moment we mention the market, there is an implied price, and the poor person’s per unit labour input is valued less than the rich person’s. Often, we say the poor don’t possess the requisite skills. That’s inaccurate. Every individual possesses some skill. What we really mean is that poor people don’t possess the skills valued by the market, or possess skills with low market value. Hence the emphasis on skill development. However, in addition to developing skills, it is sometimes possible to develop markets for skills already possessed by the poor.

The market thus has a skills ladder, measured according to the per unit price of those skills. If one leaves out issues like inherited wealth, the poor are poor because they are low down on the skills ladder and the rich are rich because they are higher up. Therefore, the path towards prosperity is to make available education, skills, healthcare and other things that enable one to move up that ladder. These enable an individual to obtain a better price per unit of labour rendered and become more “productive”. Now think of the rich versus the poor with or without the urban/ rural lens. If you live in urban India, more often than not, electricity is available at the flick of a switch, and cooking gas and water at the turn of a knob or tap. That’s not true of an urban slum, where one has to queue up for water. It is certainly not true of rural India, where one has to trudge in search of water and firewood.

Water, electricity, transport, education, health, financial transactions — the average rural resident spends much more time on these pursuits than the average urban resident. The poor urban resident spends much more time on these pursuits than the rich urban resident. Stated differently, since some services have been outsourced, so to speak, the relatively rich person has more time to spend on more “productive” pursuits. Conversely, the relatively poor person spends a lot of time on “unproductive” pursuits that are unnecessarily in-sourced. Isn’t it surprising that there is little research in India on what poor people spend their time on? If you are poor, you will spend more of your income on food. If you are rich, you will have more discretionary income. There is plenty of stuff on distribution of consumption expenditure, nothing on distribution of time. Part of the reason is lack of data, since the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) asks questions on consumption expenditure, not on time expended. But surely it would be

- See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/why-we-need-a-time-use-survey/#sthash.4d9m2FBr.dpuf

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY COURSE IN SOCIAL SCIENCES FOR PH.D. RESEARCH SCHOLARS

Date: 3rd to 12th August, 2015
Sponsored by: The Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), New Delhi.

Last Date for Application: 1st July, 2015.

Organizers: The Centre for Studies in Society and Development, School of Social Sciences, Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar and ICSSR, New Delhi.

About: The Centre for Studies in Society and Development, School of Social Sciences, Central University of Gujarat is organizing a Ten Day Research Methodology Course in Social Sciences (in English) for Ph.D. research scholars (30 in all) belonging to SC category. Applications are also invited from ST/OBC/Minority categories and women research scholars. However, their application will be considered only if required SC research scholars are not available. Research scholars from Gujarat and neighbouring states will be preferred. [read full..] 

ELIGIBILITY OF THE PARTICIPANTS: Registered/enrolled Ph.D. Research scholars of any Indian University/Institute/College in any branch of Social Sciences are eligible to apply in the prescribed application form. M.Phil students and faculty members are not eligible for this Course. Candidate will be selected on the basis of (1) the strength of their research proposal (250 words in English) (2) stage of research (pre-data collection / fieldwork phase) and (3) first time applicants for Research Methodology/similar workshops.

HOW TO APPLY: Interested candidates can apply to Course Director at cssdworkshop@gmail.com in the prescribed application form in soft or hard copy on or before 1st July, 2015. Application form can be downloaded from the University website http://www.cug.ac.in.

The duly filled in application form must be accompanied with the following enclosures:
1. Brief CV of the applicant and scanned copy of the supporting documents.
2. A brief note about his/her research proposal of 250 words in English. This should include plan of research and proposed research tools.
3. Caste/Community Certificate for SC/ST/OBC/Minority.

REGISTRATION FEE: No registration fee for the selected participants.
Application Form