Democracy’s essence

India’s fundamental belief in democracy is often taken as a given, but it is instructive to understand the basis and strength of this belief. A new national survey by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies shows that in 2013, under half the country unequivocally preferred democracy as the best form of government in all cases; the outcome was the same when a similar survey was conducted in 2005. The proportion of those who believe that an authoritarian government is acceptable in some cases has grown, but at 11 per cent it remains a minority view, and significantly lower than those with the same view in neighbouring Pakistan. Among the poor, the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, the preference for democracy was not what was significantly higher, but indifference as to the type of government. Satisfaction in the functioning of democracy has declined sharply in India, and with it, presumably, the belief that a form of government in which one notionally has a voice is the most desirable. Preference for authoritarianism was higher among those with the highest media exposure, those who lived in metros, those who were rich and those who were college-educated — groups for which democracy has delivered much more than for the marginalised sections, yet among whom such conservative views are growing. Even among those who identify themselves as democrats, many believe a strong leader would do well to take decisions on his or her own and do away with elections and Parliament, the survey reveals. Perhaps this reflects frustration with a system which while representative is simply not delivering equally and efficiently to all.

India would do well to watch out for the growth of such authoritarian tendencies, especially when they come in the garb of patriotism. This is evident, for instance, in the branding of criticism of the death penalty as “anti-national” and in support, even among some journalists, for the government’s move to go after television channels which aired views against Yakub Memon’s hanging. Simultaneously, the government would do well to not misunderstand the nature of its democratic compact with its people, especially the poor. Top among the essential characteristics of democracy as rated by respondents in the survey was the freedom to take part in protests and demonstrations, evidence of a country that holds the right to dissent dear. Several welfarist ideals — provision of basic necessities such as food, clothing and shelter, as well as a narrowing gap between the rich and the poor and job opportunities for all — came next in the list of most cherished tenets of democracy. The everyday experience of dealing with the state for these is no doubt frustrating — ration shops are ranked as being among the most corrupt, and the police are seen as the least trusted. Majoritarian and jingoistic notions of democracy are not what the people of India are looking for, but a welfarist democracy that delivers.

Keywords: Indian demcracy, electoral activities, Yakub Memon, jingoistic notions, 

THE SPEAKING tree - Highest Form of Giving

MAULANA WAHIDUDDIN KHAN





Experts say that the organs from one donor can save or help as many as 50 people.Most organ and tissue donations occur after the donor has died. But some organs and tissues can be donated while the donor is alive, without the slightest harm to the donor. People of all ages and backgrounds can be organ donors.Organ donation is allowed in every religious tradition, including Islam. According to Islam, organ donation is sadqa jariya, or continuous charity .For example, if a blind person receives another person's eyes after the person's death and is able to see, that is sadqa jariya, because even after his death, the benefits from his donation continue for another person.
Organ donation promotes a noble, humane spirit in society. It means that one is desirous of extending one's spirit of service to others even after one's death. Some Muslims may argue that organ donation is like `muthla', or disfigurement, and muthla is unlawful in Islam. But drawing this parallel is completely wrong. Muthla always involves extremely bad intentions, in terms of humiliation. Anything, including disfigurement, is unlawful only when it is done with bad intentions, otherwise it is lawful.
Organ donation is entirely an act of good intention. It is done with the best of wishes for fellow human beings. So, there is no similarity between disfigurement and organ donation.August 13 is Organ Donation Day. To sign up, go to http:www.organdonationday.in or give us a missed call on 08080055555

the speaking tree - Learning To See With Inner Vision

Francis Gonsalves





An old sage had become blind and could neither read nor recognise people who came to consult him.A doctor offered to cure him of his blindness. “There's no need of that,“ replied the sage, “I can see everything i need to see.“ Many of us have eyes that do not see reality as it truly is, and there are many , though physically blind, are blessed with insights that open our eyes to what we often fail to notice.Beyond the physical and emotional planes, eyes and eyesight belong to the common treasury of spiritual imagery .Since all our conceptualisations are limited by our human condition, our images of God are always anthropomorphic, meaning, we attribute to God ­ albeit to an infinite degree ­ qualities which are human. Thus, the Biblical God is omniscient: “The eyes of God are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good“ (Proverbs 15:3).
The first chapter of Genesis repeat edly asserts: “God saw“ that everything created was good. God's “seeing“ engenders divine nurturance and protection of people: “The eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love“. But, God's eyes also detect evil and injustice, which are denounced. Interestingly , Indian popular art portrays Gods with big eyes; for they never fail to see! While God eternally oversees everything and everyone, human beings yearn to see God.This is expressed in Arjuna's humble plea to Lord Krishna: “I want to see your divine form“ (Bhagwad Gita, 11:3). He is then given a vishvarupa darshan ­ a panoramic, mystical vision of t the universe. Likewise, in the Gospel, Apostle Philip asks spe Jesus, “Lord, show us the tr Father-God,“ and Jesus answers, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father-God“ (John 14:8-9).
Mahatmas and prophets are called `seers' because they possess illuminative insights into all of reality . They are gifted with mystical consciousness or a `third eye', so to say. In response to Arjuna's petition, Lord Krishna grants him the gift of a `divine eye' (divyam dadami te chakshu, Gita 11:8), to perceive the Universal Divine Form. Similarly , Jesus stresses that his disciples must have the “eye of faith“ to look, see, believe, love and serve.
Anybody reading this page is blessed with fairly good eyesight. Presumably, we all also possess sufficient `sight' in the sense of understanding what we see and read. However, life's experiences constantly challenge us to gain deeper `insights' into our own inner selves, human behaviour, historical processes, sociopol itical movements, cosmic currents and spiritual matters. Here, true `seers' are not swayed by superficial appearances of persons and things but venture to go higher, deeper, further, wider to see how all of creation mirrors the Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent One.
Today , we increasingly live in an audio-visual world and communicate through cyberspace. We are bombarded with hundreds of images of people and places via internet, TV , computers and the like. But, are we truly wiser than our forebears who, due to limitations in transport and communication networks, hardly saw too much? Do we really `see' more than them?
In his Sermon on the Mount Jesus says: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God“ (Matthew 5:8). Just as the bottom of a pool can be seen if the water is pure and calm, so do goodhearted persons delve into the depths of reality ­ seeing not what `appears to be' but what life truly `is'.

Aug 10 2015 : The Times of India (Delhi)

Super 30 kid wins Tokyo varsity call

Patna: PTI





Kunal Kumar, a student of Super 30, hailing from unprivileged section of society, has been selected by the the University of Tokyo for higher education.Earlier this year, another student of Super 30, Abhishek Gupta, was selected for education in Tokyo after clearing the JEE-Mains.
Kunal Kumar's father is unemployed. “Till four years ago, I was struggling even for proper education, even though I had high dreams. It was sheer luck that I was routed to mathematician Anand Kumar's Super 30 through a friend of his and that changed my life,“ said an emotionally charged Kunal.
Impressed with the astounding performance of Super 30, officials of the Tokyo University had visited the institution last year and offered free education to its selected students.
“It is good that Kunal Kumar has got the opportunity .International exposure in a technologically advanced nation like Japan will help him a lot,“ said Anand Kumar, who could not go to Cambridge in his youth due to poverty .
Founded in 2002 , Super 30 has managed to send more than 300 students from extremely poor family to the IITs so far.

MHRD conducts survey on dropout rate of school children 

To ensure quality education in government schools, the Central Government through Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has supported State and Union Territories on early grade reading, writing and comprehension and early mathematics programmes through a sub-programme ‘Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat’.

The SSA will also support states and UTs on sharing an exemplar on continuous comprehensive evaluation in elementary education developed by the NCERT, notifying learning outcomes by class and stage of education brought out by the NCERT, conducting the 3rd round of National Achievement Surveys for Class III, V and VIII to track student learning outcomes, provide funds and technical guidance to states for annual refresher training of teachers and lastly to provide academic support to teachers and schools through Block and Cluster Resource Centres.

The identification of Special Focus Districts (SFDs) is an important step in the direction of providing universal and quality education to SCs & STs student at elementary level. These districts are identified based on indicators like concentration of out of school children, high gender gap, low retention rate and infrastructure gap as well as concentration of SC, ST, Minority population. During 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15 & 2015-16, 48 per cent, 48 per cent, 42.8 per cent & 49 per cent respectively of the funds under SSA were targeted to SFDs. As a result, the annual average dropout rate of boys has reduced from 5.89 per cent in 2012-13 to 4.68 per cent in 2013-14 and of girls from 5.34 per cent to 4.66 per cent during the same period.

A survey was commissioned by the Ministry of Human Resource Development and was conducted by Indian Market Research Bureau (IMRB) on “National Survey of Estimation of out-of-school children in age 6-13 in India” and completed in 2014. It was pointed out in the study report that children within the rural areas drop out of school earlier than those in the urban areas. Most of the drop-outs in the said age group from the rural areas have completed education up to Class-II, while those from the urban areas have completed class V.

Free Wi-Fi at 25 monuments this year

The facility will be available free of cost for the first 30 minutes and thereafter, it is chargeable on the basis of additional usage.

The Archaeological Survey of India has finally identified 25 centrally-protected monuments to offer Wi-Fi this year. The facility will be available free of cost for the first 30 minutes and thereafter, it is chargeable on the basis of additional usage. The list includes Humayun’s Tomb, Qutab Complex and Red Fort in Delhi, Rani-ki-Vav in Gujarat’s Patan, Rock-cut temples in Himachal’s Masroor, Leh Palace in Jammu & Kashmir, the Hampi ruins in Karnataka, Elephanta Caves in Mumbai, Khajuraho temple in Madhya Pradesh, Sun Temple in Odisha, and the excavated site of Sarnath in Varanasi. 

Last month, Taj Mahal became the first monument in India to offer free Wi-Fi to tourists. The service, inaugurated by the Union minister for Information & Communications, Ravi Shankar Prasad, is currently being offered at 5G speed through various Wi-Fi hotspots created within the complex. BSNL has collaborated with a US-based company for providing the high-speed service, which is free for the first 30 minutes and afterwards, users pay Rs 30 for an hour. “The service at other monuments will be on the lines of the one being offered at Taj Mahal. Tourists will have options to choose from various easy subscription plans. For security purposes, they will have to feed in their mobile numbers and e-mails to the BSNL Wi-Fi network,” said an official from the Tourism Ministry. “With this facility, visitors can shoot videos and photos and upload them on social media in real time. This, along with the e-ticketing facility, will go a long way in increasing the footfall at our monuments,” added the official. 

Right move

Supreme Court takes a step towards reading privacy as a fundamental right. The timing is just right.

The Englishman has known that his home is his castle since 1628, when Sir Edward Coke wrote it into the Institutes of the Lawes of England, the bible of common law. And he codified a belief that had been in currency for at least a century earlier. Coke’s dictum has been sadly misused by the right in several countries to argue for the right to be badly behaved at home. But, on the other hand, it also established the notion of private space as the refuge of free will, the fundamental building block of democracy. It is therefore surprising that until now, the jury has been out on the question of privacy in India, which has successfully adapted numerous English institutions to an Asian context. In response to Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi’s argument that two judgments by constitution benches in 1954 and 1963 had held that privacy is not a fundamental right, and that there can be no clarity on the question unless it is referred to a nine-judge bench, the Supreme Court has held that without the fundamental right to privacy, the right to life and liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution would be meaningless. This is not the last word on the issue since the matter, in which various parties have argued that the collection of Aadhaar data is a violation of privacy, is still being heard. But the court has clearly indicated its willingness to sanctify privacy. Following his observation on Englishmen and their castles — Englishwomen did not typically own property or enjoy much free will at the time — Coke had elaborated, “…et domus sua cuique est tutissimum refugium (and each man’s home is his safest refuge)”. Hopefully, the court will enlarge on the theme. The idea of private space is no longer defined spatially. It is the dimensionless mindspace in which we think, express and interact. The contemporary “castle” that deserves legal protection is the human community, the media and the ether in which its communications intermesh, where it interacts with institutions and performs all the functions that bring richness to life, from rocket science to slapstick comedy. While individual privacy remains the bedrock of democracy — its basis is a secret ballot — the privacy of the collective and of relationships has assumed equal importance. While public concerns about the collection of private data by Aadhaar for authenticating identity may be exaggerated, the possibility of multiplexing data to profile people and groups is real and could amount to an invasion of privacy. Since deterrents to this possibility will be legal rather than technical, the courts will play a crucial role in resolving this issue. The Supreme Court has moved purposefully in the right direction. -