Vedanta - You're Your Best Teacher

J KRISHNAMURTI





What is the real meaning and intention of education? Can your mind, which has been conditioned by society , the culture in which you have lived, be transformed through education so you'll never under any circumstances enter the stream of society? Is it possible to educate you differently?
`Educate' in the real sense of that word; not to transmit from the teachers to the students some information about mathematics or history or geography , but in the very instruction of these subjects to bring about a change in your mind -which means that you have to be extraordinarily critical. You have to learn never to accept anything that you yourself do not see clearly , never to repe at what anoth er has said.I think you should put these ques tions to yourself, not occasionally , but every day . Find out. Listen to everything, to the birds, to that cow calling. Learn about everything in yourself, because if you learn from yourself about yourself, then you will not be a second-hand human being. Find out how to live entirely differently .
That is going to be difficult, for most of us like to find an easy way of living. We like to repeat what other people say , what other people do, because it is the easiest way to live -to conform to the old pattern or to a new pattern.
We have to find out what it means never to conform and what it means to live without fear. This is your life: nobody is going to teach you, no book, no guru. You have to learn from yourself, not from books.

the speaking tree - There Are Many Sides To Giving And Receiving

Ezekiel Isaac Malekar





The obligation to render help to the needy and to give them gifts is stated many times in the Bible and was considered by Rabbis of all ages to be one of the cardinal mitzvot or commandments of Judaism. Charity is an attribute of God himself, “For the Lord ... doth execute justice ... and loveth the stranger in giving him food and raiment.“ Prophet Isaiah proclaims that the “acceptable day to the Lord“ is not the fast which only consists of afflicting the soul and wearing sackcloth and ashes but rather the day on which bread is dealt to the hungry , the poor that are cast out are brought into the house and the naked clothed.A proportion of one's income should be earmarked for charity as a visible expression of universal love. It is said that charity saves a man from death. The virtue of charity is stressed over and over in the Book of Job. Following the precedent in the Torah, the Book of Esther makes sending gifts to the poor a part of the new festival it inaugurates, Purim, when Ezra and Nehemiah taught people about the importance of giving charity to the poor. The word Tzedakah in Hebrew literally means righteousness or justice ­ by their very choice of word the Rabbis reveal a great deal of their attitude to the subject, for they see “charity“ not as a favour to the poor but something to which they have a right, and to the donor it is an obligation.The poor man does more for the householder in accepting alms than the householder does for the poor man by giving does for the poor man by giving him charity .
“For six years you shall sow your land, gather in its yield; but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, so that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the wild beasts may eat.“ You shall do likewise with your vineyard and with your olive orchard. There are Maimonides' eight degrees of charity which are as follows: He who gives grudgingly , reluctantly, or grudgingly , reluctantly, or with regret; he who gives less than he should, but gives graciously; he who gives what he should, but only after he is asked; he who gives before he is asked; he who gives without knowing to whom he gives, although the recipient knows the identity of the donor; he who gives without making his identity known; he who gives without know ing to whom he gives, the recipient too not knowing from whom he receives; and he who helps a fellowman to support himself by a gift, or a loan, or by finding employment for him, thus helping him to become self-supporting.
Four traits characterise those who give: He who wishes to give but does not wish others to give; he who is grudging toward others; he who wishes that others should give and he not; and he, the saintly one, who wishes himself to give and others to give.
Caring for one's fellow man is not merely a generalised moral commandment in Judaism; it is spelled out in specific, legally binding obligations which each one must heed in all ages. Charity is a form of a vow, and a promise to give must be fulfilled immediately . Charity money must be used for the purpose for which it was given and it is forbidden to divert the funds to some other cause. (The writer is priest and honorary secretary , Judah Hyam Synagogue, New Delhi.) Follow him at speakingtree.in and post your comments there.

Economic and Political Weekly: Table of Contents

Medical Devices: Imbalance in Policy Thrust

Vol - L No. 24, June 13, 2015 

• Editorials

The draft National Medical Device Policy emphasises "Make in India," and ignores quality and pricing.

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Editorials The Illusionary Road Mumbai's coastal road project is a recipe for more congestion and pollution. Read more	H T Parekh Finance Column When Will the Next Financial Crisis Start? T Sabri Öncü The question is not "if" but "when" the next financial crisis will hit. The 2007 crisis has still not ended. The quantitative easing initiatives of many countries have not had the desired effect of inducing liquidity. Instead... Read more
Commentary Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement Biswajit Dhar The full implications of the establishment of the United States-led Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement need to be considered carefully by the global community. The proposed agreement could act as a trigger for the setting of a "new normal... Read more	Commentary Are Our Seas Up for Grabs? John Kurien Our marine fishing communities are once again restive about the possibility of a neo-liberal opening up of the seas to Indian and foreign industrial interests. Though the track record of industrial deep-sea fishing has been very poor compared to... Read more
Commentary Monetary Policy and Informal Finance Saibal Ghosh, Rakesh Kumar This article utilises state-level data for 1961-2012 to examine the interlinkage between informal finance and monetary policy. The analysis suggests that in response to a monetary contraction, borrowing from moneylenders declines, whereas that... Read more	Commentary Sadbhavana and the Paradox of 'Winning Hearts and Minds' An Institutionalist Perspective Kaustav Dhar Chakrabarti Counter-insurgency in theory separates itself from conventional war by rendering the insurgent movement and its goals irrelevant. Concurrently, government is reinvigorated and welfare schemes implemented under the rubric of "winning hearts... Read more
Commentary Gods, God-men and the Gullible Nita Mathur God-men continue to hold a large section of people in thrall. This article explores how god-men cash in on people's fears, anxieties and problems. Read more	Commentary What Is To Be Done About Indian Universities? Academics for Creative Reforms The manner in which the state is intervening in higher education is causing alarm. This position paper is the collective product of roughly six months of discussion among teachers of several central universities in Delhi. As part of a larger... Read more
Book Reviews Memories of a Forgotten Cosmos Sukanya Sharma Forgotten Friends: Monks, Marriages, and Memories of Northeast India by Indrani Chatterjee; New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2013; pp 453, Rs 1025. Read more	Book Reviews A Psychoanalysis of Partition Violence Haimanti Roy Reconstructing the Bengal Partition: The Psyche Under a Different Violence by Jayanti Basu, Kolkata: Samya, 2013; pp xlii + 249, Rs 550. Read more
Perspectives The Importance of Being 'Rurban' Tracking Changes in a Traditional Setting Dipankar Gupta A categorical distinction is facing rough weather--that between urban and rural. If we take just agriculture, there is so much of the outside world that comes in not just as external markets but as external inputs. Further, many of our villages... Read more	Special Articles Strategic Lives When the Indian Knowledge Migrant Returns Home Ratnakar Tripathy Based on extensive fieldwork in Pune, Hyderabad and Bengaluru, this article attempts to chart the migratory life of the Indian knowledge worker who having worked in the West returns to the country. The article focuses on the different aspects of... Read more
Special Articles Analysing the Structural Change and Growth Relationship in India State-level Evidence Nirvikar Singh Examining the link between structural change and growth in India, this study constructs indices of structural change, and performs a panel data analysis using data for India's 16 major states. It finds that there is a one-way positive effect... Read more	Special Articles Marikana and the Subaltern The Politics of Specificity Camalita Naicker This article addresses recent debates around the strikes and the massacre of the mine workers at South Africa's Lonmin Platinum Mine in Marikana from 2012 onwards. It argues that there is a failure to delve deeper into the culture of people... Read more
Notes After the Dividend Caring for a Greying India Debasis Barik, Tushar Agrawal, Sonalde Desai As in any other society, in India too, the economic security of the aged is based on three main sources: their own income and savings, support from the extended family, particularly children, and support from the state. As India moves rapidly... Read more	Economic Notes Commodity Futures Trading at the Crossroads Tulsi Lingareddy The Forward Markets Commission and Securities Exchange Board of India merger may provide a relatively strong regulator, but the move needs to be supplemented with better information and warehouse networks to achieve the desired objectives of... Read more
Discussion Growth in GVA of Indian Manufacturing R Nagaraj Two comments on "Growth in Gross Value Added of Indian Manufacturing: 2011-12 Series vs 2004-05 Series" (EPW, 23 May 2015) question the defence of the statistics on growth in manufacturing in the new National Accounts Statistics of the... Read more	Discussion Manufacturing Growth in the New GDP Series Surajit Mazumdar Read more
Postscript Mirrored Voices Indira Chowdhury   A tête-à-tête with a 95-year-old Nepali cultural historian endows the experiences of both narrator and interviewee with new meaning and shared connections... Read more	Postscript We, the Schooled Middle Class Vikas Bajpai In the light of today’s social and political environment, when secular credentials are under threat, we need to seriously re-examine our education system. Read more
Postscript Education: Rain Water Chalani Ranwala The rain trickles far away Read more	Web Exclusives The New Sino-Russian Partnership Ukraine and the Logic of Market Capitalism China’s muted response to the Russian annexation of Crimea and its proximity to Putin can best be interpreted as a strategic move by both to combat the dominance of Western hold on diplomacy. With Chinese support, Russia need not depend on... Read more
Reports From the States / Web Exclusives Army’s Trans-Border Raid in Myanmar Interrogating the Claims Subir Bhaumik Some reasonably astounding claims have been made about the commando raid carried out by the Indian army on rebel camps in Myanmar. A long time observer of the region and military operations there separates the chaff to prise out the possible... Read more	Reports From the States / Web Exclusives India’s War Against Itself A View from Manipur Pradip Phanjoubam Delhi's chest thumping journalists have become mere stenographers of power, forgetting to ask questions and interrogate official narratives. A journalist from Manipur recounts the events leading up to and around the 9 June 2015 “...

IIMK students developed mobile app to help police

Students from Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode (IIMK) has developed Spider, a new mobile application that can act as a communication bridge between Ernakulum Rural Police and the public. The app will be launched at Aluva on 13th March by the Minister of Home and Vigilance, Ramesh Chennithala.

The mobile app will be available on the android platform. One of the key features of this application is that the users can report the incidence of crime or violations of law by a single touch of a smartphone. The report would automatically contain the information of the location of the user.

The application also has provisions to add photographs, as evidence, if the users wish to do so. Another key feature of the application is that there is an option for checking the status of the petitions online by entering the appropriate petition number.
Users are also aided with emergency contact information of the Ernakulam Rural Police, which they can dial on a single touch. They can see important rules regarding traffic fines, regulations etc. in the application. Ernakulam Rural Police can reach the public with notifications and news items through this application, as well.

The application was developed as a part of the Social Development Project (SDP) of the Executive Post Graduate Program (EPGP) of Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode (IIMK). The project team was led by the Ernakulam Rural SP, Yathish Chandra GH IPS. It was mentored by Professor Satish Krishnan of IIMK. Professor Anubha Shekhar Sinha and Professor Priya Nair Rajeev of IIMK are the coordinators of the SDP programme. The team consisted of students of EPGP 2013-2015 batch of IIMK Kochi Campus viz. Antony TM, Banarji B, Geo Joe Mathew, Nirmal Sajo Thomas and Renjith Viswanath.

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Charter of liberty

How Magna Carta, an 800-year-old peace treaty, came to be one of the most influential secular documents in world history.

The power of Magna Carta, the “Great Charter”, rests on its status as a myth. Yet amongst useful political myths, Magna Carta has a particular strength: its mythic status has a firm basis in historical truth. The document issued in June 1215 made a clear promise of the rule of law. The king granted that: “To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny or delay justice or right.” Arbitrary action by the ruler was prohibited: “No free person is to be taken or imprisoned or dispossessed or outlawed or exiled or in any way ruined, nor will we go or send against him, except by the lawful judgement of his peers or by the law of the land.” And these promises remain on the English statute book to this day. Such durability both explains and justifies the celebration of the octocentenary of Magna Carta, on June 15, as a fundamental document in the English-speaking world and beyond.

Magna Carta was originally the product of specific political circumstance. Above all, it was a reaction to King John and his oppressive and unsuccessful rulership. He came to the throne in 1199, succeeding his brother Richard the Lionheart as ruler of not just England but a large proportion of France as well. However, in 1202-04 he lost the core of his lands, Normandy and Anjou, to the king of France. He then alienated the pope, and was excommunicated in 1209. In 1213, in order to be reconciled with the pope, he had to accept papal lordship over England. And his final effort to regain his lost French lands failed in 1214. Rebellion grew, and once London had fallen to the rebels in May 1215, the king’s position was grave. In mid-June, at Runnymede, he had to grant the “peace and liberties” recorded in Magna Carta.

Why did the rebels seek a charter of liberties, rather than simply attempt to topple the king? The latter had apparently been their intention in 1212, when there was a plot to murder John and replace him with a new king. No previous rebellion had sought an elaborate and written programme of reform. Yet constitutional ideas had been growing and were debated. Individual towns had received charters that were limited precursors of Magna Carta. And in London, people were saying that “right and justice ought to rule in the kingdom rather than the perversities of arbitrariness; law is always made by right, but arbitrariness and violence and force are not right”.

The problem with a king as slippery as John was to get him to stick to his promises, and for this reason it was a good idea to have them written down in a great charter. But the problem was also more fundamental than just the king’s personality. It is the perpetual difficulty of creating authority above the state. The United Nations today can have a charter, but without an army it can often be ignored. In 1215, the rebels set up a body of 25 leading men who were to force the king to obey Magna Carta. He was no longer the supreme lord in his realm. And the 25 men did have an army, for they promised to supply over 1,000 knights — heavily armed and armoured mounted troops — to secure the king’s compliance.

Still, John escaped the terms of the charter. He had the document annulled by the pope on the grounds that it had been extracted under duress and was detrimental to the king’s rights and dignity. Civil war escalated. Yet the charter was to survive. When John died in 1216, his son Henry III was very young and in desperate need of support. Magna Carta was therefore reissued in his name, with some of the most demeaning clauses removed. Such reissues would be frequent in the 13th century as kings sought support or money; the clauses that today survive on the statute book are in fact based on the reissue of 1225, not on the original grant of 1215.

In the 16th century there was a rare period of quiet in the use of Magna Carta. It is not mentioned in Shakespeare’s play King John. But at this time, interest — in particular in the clauses cited earlier — was growing. It reached a peak in the quarrels between king and parliament that led to the English Civil War in the middle of the 17th century. During the brief English republic of the 1650s, Oliver Cromwell told parliament that “in every government there must be somewhat fundamental, somewhat like a Magna Charta, that should be standing and be unalterable”. Those who disliked Cromwell’s own tendency to despotism invoked the charter against him.

Magna Carta has continued to flourish in the modern period, in particular in the United States. In 1884, a Supreme Court judgment contrasted the English system of parliamentary sovereignty unfavourably with US constitutional arrangements: “In this country a written constitution was deemed essential to protect the rights and liberties of the people and the provisions of Magna Carta were incorporated into the Bill of Rights.” In New York in 1940, the composer Kurt Weill, a refugee from Nazi Germany, wrote his “Ballad of Magna Carta”, a piece mercifully rarely performed. And the US Supreme Court continues to cite Magna Carta often as the basis for habeas corpus, the prevention of detention without trial. In April 2004, Justice Stephen Breyer referred to the right of detainees at Guantanamo Bay to “‘due process of law’ in the words of Magna Carta”.

It is not just in the US that supreme courts hear or speak about Magna Carta. In September 2014, the Indian Supreme Court traced back to Magna Carta Article 21 of the Constitution: “No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law.” Meanwhile, the phrase “Magna Carta” has become a quick way to establish the standing of any protection of liberties. When in South Africa, Mohandas Gandhi referred to the 1914 Indian Relief Act as the “Magna Carta of our liberty in this land”.

In 2015, Magna Carta has been celebrated well beyond England and the US. There have been events in the West Indies and Australia, Canada and New Zealand, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia, Chile and Peru. Such celebration confirms the view of the recently deceased English law lord, Tom Bingham, that Magna Carta “can plausibly claim to be the most influential secular document in the history of the world”.

The writer, professor of legal history at the University of St Andrews, is author of ‘The Oxford History of the Laws of England, 871-1216’

- See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/charter-of-liberty/#sthash.LE4Gy7yk.dpuf