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Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Visva Bharati varsity launches PG diploma course in yoga studies


The Visva Bharati University in West Bengal is launching a post graduate diploma course in yoga studies in the current academic session as part of its new Yoga Education Centre, eastern India’s first at the varsity level, an official said on Tuesday.
The Ministry of Human Resource Development had recently announced that six central universities will have full-fledged yoga departments from academic session 2016-17.
“Initially we are launching a PG Diploma course in the present session beginning July-August. The MHRD has sanctioned Rs 5 crore for infrastructure and Rs 5 crore for bringing in and training faculty. As the curriculum and infrastructure develop, we will start BSc, MSc and certificate courses,” Sabujkoli Sen, Director of Studies, Educational Innovations and Rural Reconstruction, at the varsity, said.
Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University in Uttarakhand, Central University of Kerala, Indira Gandhi National Tribal University in Amarkantak (Madhya Pradesh), Manipur University in Imphal and Central University of Rajasthan in Ajmer are the other five varsities that will introduce yoga studies.
Source: Hindustan Times, 22-06-2016
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Refugees in their own land: UN report glosses over India’s internally displaced

If there is one photograph of the Syrian refugee crisis that will haunt the world for the years to come, it must be that of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi, whose body was washed up on a beach in Turkey in September. The young boy, found lying face-down on a beach near Turkish resort of Bodrum, was one of at least 12 Syrians who drowned attempting to reach Greece from their war-torn country. The latest United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) report — Global Trends, Forced Displacement in 2015 — is not only an eye-opener on the scale of the crisis but also a reminder how little governments of the world have done to tackle the problem, which was in the making for quite some time.

According to the report, forced displacement increased in 2015, with record-high numbers. By the end of 2015, 65.3 million individuals were forcibly displaced worldwide as a result of persecution, conflict, generalised violence, or human rights violations. This is 5.8 million more than the previous year (59.5 million). On average, 24 people worldwide were displaced from their homes every minute during 2015 — some 34,000 people per day. This, the report added, compares to 30 per minute in 2014 and six per minute in 2005. Interestingly, developing regions hosted 86% of the world’s refugees. At 13.9 million people, this was the highest figure in more than two decades. The Least Developed Countries provided asylum to 4.2 million refugees, or about 26% of the global total.
While the report is timely and useful to understand the challenge governments have at hand in tackling the crisis, it surprisingly glosses over the crisis of internally displaced people in India. Take, for example, civil strife-induced internal displacement in Chhattisgarh and in other insurgency-hit areas of India such as the North-East or Kashmir. While there is no official figure, civil society organisations in 2013 put the number of displaced people above 3 lakh. This is just one kind of displacement; environmental problems, caste issues and communal riots have also been pushing people out of their homes in large numbers. By overlooking this huge number, the UNHCR has glossed over a refugee crisis that is in no way less critical than what is happening in other parts of the world.

Source: Hindustan Times, 22-06-2016

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Maharashtra first state to award Jews ‘minority’ status

One of India’s smallest religious communities, the Jews, has now got an official identity in Maharashtra. Ending their decades old struggle, the Jews were finally conferred with the ‘minority’ status by the state cabinet on Tuesday.
Maharashtra is the first state to categorise Jews as a minority group. Of the estimated 5,000 Jews in India, around 4,300 live in the state, concentrated largely in Mumbai, Thane and Raigad district.
The government’s move means the community is now eligible for state schemes for religious minority groups, including scholarships for students and grants to educational institutes run by community members, among others.
However, more than the government schemes, the community is excited about other factors. Documents registering births, deaths and marriages of Jews did not carry their religion, instead categorising them as ‘others’, which will now change.
“Even the census didn’t count us as ‘Jews’, as a result of which, there are no official figures for our community. Our internal estimates show we are only 5,000 members, which makes us a miniscule, microscopic minority,” said Ezra Moses, the secretary of the Indian Jewish Federation.
The other benefit, Moses said, will be the community will get full subsidy from the government to visit Jerusalem, the Israeli capital, for pilgrimages.
With their major demand accepted, the community hopes the government will pay heed to another request they had made. “The holiest day for the community, Yom Kippur, is generally when our kids have examinations. Families can’t celebrate this day because of that. With this official tag for us, I hope the government considers making the day an optional holiday,” he said.
Another community member, David Talegaonkar, who is on the trust which runs one of the three community-run educational institutes, the Sir Elly Kardoorie High School, welcomed the decision. “We receive a lot of applications from Jewish students who don’t have the means to support their education. This tag means they can have access to government scholarships.”
The Maharashtra government had, in 2006, recognised six minority groups – Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis and Jains.
Source: Hindustan Times, 22-06-2016
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JNU library named after Ambedkar
New Delhi:
TIMES NEWS NETWORK


Jawaharlal Nehru University's executive council has approved the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad's demand to rename its central library as BR Ambedkar Library on Tuesday .The ABVP , in April, also demanded that Dr Ambedkar's statue be installed there.JNU's library committee approved the proposal, which was then placed before the executive council on Tuesday .
“The proposal to rename the central library as BR Ambedkar Library was approved unanimously ,“ said a council member.
The ABVP earlier wrote to President Pranab Mukherjee and HRD ministry demanding the renaming of the library after Dr Ambedkar, the convention centre after Dr Kalam and stadium ground after Birsa Munda.
Saurabh Sharma, joint secretary of JNUSU and ABVP member said, “The council not only accepted our demand for naming of the central library in the name of Dr Ambedkar but a statue will also be set up there. However we will continue our struggle to name the stadium ground after Birsa Munda and the convention centre in memory of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.“

Source: Times of India, 22-06-2016
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Monday, June 20, 2016

Economic and Political Weekly: Table of Contents


Vol. 51, Issue No. 25, 18 Jun, 2016

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Aurobindo's Integral Yoga
PULKIT SHARMA


The purpose of human life is not to succumb to passivity and hopelessness but to experience heavenly life on earth, said Aurobindo. Our final goal is to realise that heaven and earth are one. Adverse forces confronting us are not ultimate reality; they are like a shadow waiting to be overpowered by light. Light does not depend on shadow for its existence; shadow needs light to be defined.The existence of such negativity in our lives is a sign that there is hope, for immense positivity. Stop looking at the shadow and find the light. This shadow will disappear and get replaced by goodness, perfection and cognisance when the Divine light manifests completely .
In the epic poem Savitri, Sri Aurobindo explains that the occurrence of evil and suffering is not a random happening but a part of Divine plan. God uses pain and suffering as a tool to help man connect with divine consciousness -just as the naïve prince Siddhartha needed to experience suffering so that he could blossom into the enlightened Buddha.
Contrary to our belief, the shadow, therefore, is an affirmation of divine love. We should conceptualise all negativity , adversities and challenges as opportunities in disguise. So, overcoming the shadow may seem impossible but Aurobindo assures us that when the Divine gives us a task, we are also blessed with all that is needed to execute it to perfection.The change we need to bring within us is to completely surrender to the Divine and then `the crown of conscious immortality' will be on our head.
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Inspired by Stephen Hawking, Bihar boy makes voice-controlled wheelchair

Moved by his octogenarian grandfather’s insistence on wanting to maintain his independence in the twilight years of his life, a young man from Bihar has created a voice-controlled, battery-operated wheelchair.
“My grandfather hates it when somebody tries to help him with his daily chores or holds his hand to help him walk. I am sure there are many more like him. I wanted to do something for them,” said Ashutosh Prakash, a final semester student at the Birla Institute of Technology, Patna, about the source of his inspiration.
Prakash came up with the idea during his internship at the Indian Institute of Technology, Patna, three years ago. “My internship guide, Dr Atul Thakur, helped me realise the idea,” he said.
The wheelchair, which is being compared with the one used by acclaimed physicist Stephen Hawking, is a traditional wheelchair that responds to voice command for four basic movements — left, right, forward and reverse; it even stops when it encounters an obstacle or approaches a staircase. “It senses unevenness on the floor, near a staircase and stops, ensuring the safety of the person using it,” he said.
The wheelchair has been fitted with a voice-processor, microcontrollers to amplify control signals, motor and battery, besides microchips. The existing wheelchair is fit for a person weighing up to 80 kgs and costs just `20,000. “Depending on the weight of the person using it, the wheelchair may need stronger battery and motor, adding to its cost,” Prakash said.
Born to teacher Pramod Kumar Mishra and homemaker Renu Mishra, the Darbhanga boy has kept the design open-ended and wants other people to improve on it. He explained his objective is to not make profit, but to help people like his grandfather.
This is not the first time Prakash has used technology to improve lives of those in need. Earlier, he had designed an inexpensive prosthetic limb that would respond to brain signals.
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