Sunday, June 20, 2010

National Integration: The way forward


By

Ram Puniyani

National Integration Council (NIC) is the apex body deliberating on the issues pertaining to overcoming the divisive tendencies in the nation. The divisive tendencies prevail on the basis of language, region and religion. NIC has recently been in the news as one of its members, Shabnam Hashmi resigned from the council. Hashmi is one of the foremost activists engaged in fighting the evil of communalism; she also is the secretary of ANHAD (Act Now for Harmony and Democracy). This NGO has been active from last several years undertaking campaigns to fight divisive politics, it also organizes cultural programs and political training camps for promoting the values of secularism and diversity.

Hashmi resigned in the aftermath of appointment of Shiv Sena Executive President Uddhav Thackeray on the council. Thackeray has been appointed as the leader of a regional party. Hashmi states that, “The news of Mr. Uddhav Thakre being included in the National Integration Council today has left me quite shocked. Mr. Udhav Thakre's whole political life is based on divisive and hate politics. His entry into NIC is a cruel oxymoron. His brand of communal politics is against the secular and plural value system that the Council upholds. It was bad enough to have highly communal people on the NIC by virtue of being Chief Ministers. Udhav Thakre's entry into the Council will further derogate the high credentials and stature of the body forever.”

There are multiple issues involved in this. To begin with the NIC was formed in 1961, in the aftermath of Jabalpur violence. Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime Minister of the country was very shaken by the communal violence in Jabalpur and decided to form this council to combat the evils of Communalism, casteism and regionalism. It was meant to be a broad forum with representation from political parties, Chief Ministers, Central Cabinet ministers and representatives from the civil society. It was not much in news most of the times. Two major points one remembers regarding the council are, one when Kalyan Singh the UP Chief Minister, then belonging to BJP, promised to the Council that the Babri Masjid will be protected at all the cost. Same Kalyan Singh later took pride in being part of the process of demolition of the mosque.

Later, when BJP led NDA came to power and ruled the country for six years the NIC was not constituted at all. The signal was that the BJP does not care for national integration as it believes in the Hindu Rashtra. That apart even in the present scheme of things NIC has a very limited advisory role to play. During the previous UPA I regime, the NIC met only twice. The UPA II is in power from last one year but not a single meeting of the body has taken place. All said and done it is a national forum which can give vent to the voice of those who are victims of communalism in one form or the other.

By its very nature the council has to have all the Chief ministers as the member of NIC. So naturally, Narendra Modi, the one who presided over Gujarat carnage, is also the member of the same. One recalls that during UPA I, in the first meeting of NIC, he was probably the only one who managed to make his presence felt in the media, with his claim that minorities are safe in Gujarat! One is sure that members of NIC like Shabnam Hashmi, Swami Agnivesh and Asghar Ali Engineer, amongst others, have been articulating the pain and anguish of the victims of communal violence and communal politics in this forum. One also guesses that they must have been countering the falsities propagated by the likes of Modi.

The questions Hashmi’s resignation raises are what should be the composition and functioning of such bodies. The question is being asked that while people like Narendra Modi and many of his ilk are already the members of this august body, in what way will Uddhav Thackeray being there make it worse?

One recalls that Shiv Sena has been the major party accused by Srikrishna Commission report for its role in Mumbai violence. It is precisely because of this that Shiv Sena first discontinued the commission when it came to power, then it sat on the report on the ground that it will reopen the wounds of Mumbai violence. Lately Shiv Sena has been playing the divisive politics in the name of language and region. In the competitive divisiveness with MNS, it is devising new ways to put the wedge between Marathi speaking and non Marathi speaking people. So surely people like Thackeray will add to the communal elements in the council.

BJP-Shiv Sena are communal by their very goals and agenda. While theoretically Hashmi has raised very important question, what a sorry state of thngs we have come to, that people like Thackeray, and Narendra Modi, who are blatantly communal are the members of this council meant to combat communalism! The other point is, can things be better by keeping these communal elements out from the Council?

One concedes the point that some political streams have communal agenda deep in their core, and one cannot expect non-sectarian policies from them. Still there are some questions and dilemmas associated with this too. One is that if the likes of Modi-Thackeray are part of the ‘formal’ democratic process, how can you keep them out? And secondly by leaving such platform, NIC, one is losing the little, whatever limited opportunity it gives, to intervene for plural ethos, against the divisive politics. Boycott versus dialogue is the question. Her move as a protest is worth registering and appreciating but the need of the hour is to use every available millimeter of space to propagate democratic views, to seize every single opportunity to strive for the goals of plural India, as already the democratic space has shrunk very badly.

It is a message to the authorities that they should keep Thackeray type elements to the minimum obligatory level. At the same time they can make this council more active and dynamic and ensure that the voice of victims of divisive politics is heard more often than at present and that remedial measures are implemented in all seriousness.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Operation Green Hunt's Urban Avatar


By Arundhati Roy

14 June, 2010

The Dawn


While the Indian Government considers deploying the army and air force to quell the rebellion in the countryside, strange things are happening in the cities.

On the 2nd of June the Committee for the Protection of Democratic Rights (CPDR) held a public meeting in Mumbai. The main speakers were Gautam Navlakha, editorial consultant of the Economic and Political Weekly and myself. The press was there in strength. The meeting lasted for more than three hours. It was widely covered by the print media and TV. On June 3rd, several newspapers, TV channels and online news portals like Rediff.com, covered the event quite accurately. The Times of India (Mumbai edition), had an article headlined "We need an idea that is neither Left nor Right", and the Hindu's article was headlined "Can we leave the bauxite in the mountain?" The recording of the meeting is up on YouTube.

The day after the meeting, the Press Trust of India (PTI) put out a brazenly concocted account of what I had said.

The PTI report was first posted by the Indian Express online on June 3rd 2010 at 13.35 pm. The headline said: "Arundhati backs Maoists, dares authorities to arrest her." Here are some excerpts:

"Author Arundhati Roy has justified the armed resistance by Maoists and dared the authorities to arrest her for supporting their cause."

"The Naxal movement could be nothing but an armed struggle. I am not supporting violence. But I am also completely against contemptuous atrocities-based political analysis." (?)

"It ought to be an armed movement. Gandhian way of opposition needs an audience, which is absent here. People have debated long before choosing this form of struggle," Roy, who had saluted the "people of Dantewada" after 76 CRPF and police personnel were mowed down by Maoists in the deadliest attack targeting security forces. "'I am on this side of line. I do not care...pick me up put me in jail,' she asserted."

Let me begin with the end of the report. The suggestion that I saluted "the people of Dantewada" after the Maoists killed 76 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is a piece of criminal defamation. I have made it quite clear in an interview on CNN-IBN that I viewed the death of the CRPF men as tragic, and that I thought they were pawns in a war of the rich against the poor. What I said at the meeting in Mumbai was that I was contemptuous of the hollow condemnation industry the media has created and that as the war went on and the violence spiraled, it was becoming impossible to extract any kind of morality from the atrocities committed by both sides, so an atrocity-based analysis was a meaningless exercise. I said that I was not there to defend the killing of ordinary people by anybody, neither the Maoists nor the government, and that it was important to ask what the CRPF was doing with 27 AK-47s, 38 INSAS, 7 SLRs, 6 light machine guns, one stengun and a two-inch mortar in tribal villages. If they were there to wage war, then being railroaded into condemning the killing of the CRPF men by the Maoists meant being railroaded into coming down on the side of the Government in a war that many of us disagreed with.

The rest of the PTI report was a malicious, moronic mish-mash of what transpired at the meeting. My views on the Maoists are clear. I have written at length about them. At the meeting I said that the people's resistance against the corporate land grab consisted of a bandwidth of movements with different ideologies, of which the Maoists were the most militant end. I said the government was labeling every resistance movement, every activist, 'Maoist' in order to justify dealing with them in repressive, military fashion. I said the government had expanded the meaning of the word 'Maoist' to include everybody who disagreed with it, anybody who dared to talk about justice. I drew attention to the people of Kalinganagar and Jagatsinghpur who were waging peaceful protests but were living under siege, surrounded by hundreds of armed police, were being lathi-charged and fired at. I said that local people thought long and hard before deciding what strategy of resistance to adopt. I spoke of how people who lived deep inside forest villages could not resort to Gandhian forms of protest because peaceful satyagraha was a form of political theatre that in order to be effective, needed a sympathetic audience, which they did not have. I asked how people who were already starving could go on hunger strikes. I certainly never said anything like "it ought to be an armed movement." (I'm not sure what on earth that means.)

I went on to say that all the various resistance movements today, regardless of their differences, understood that they were fighting a common enemy, so they were all on one side of the line, and that I stood with them. But from this side of the line, instead of only asking the government questions, we should ask ourselves some questions. Here are my exact words:

"I think it is much more interesting to interrogate the resistance to which we belong, I am on this side of the line. I am very clear about that. I don't care, pick me up, put me in jail. I am on this side of the line. But on this side of the line, we must turn around and ask our comrades questions."

I then said that while Gandhian methods of resistance were not proving to be effective, Gandhian movements like the Narmada Bachao Andolan had a radical and revolutionary vision of "development" and while the Maoists methods of resistance were effective, I wondered whether they had thought through the kind of "development" they wanted. Apart from the fact that they were against the Government selling out to private corporations, was their mining policy very different from state policy? Would they leave the bauxite in the mountain - which is what the people who make up their cadre want, or would they mine it when they came to power?

I read out Pablo Neruda's "Standard Oil Company" that tells us what an old battle this one is.

The PTI reporter who had made it a point to take permission from the organizers to record cannot claim his or her version to be a matter of 'interpretation'. It is blatant falsification. Surprisingly the one-day-old report was published by several newspapers in several languages and broadcast by TV channels on June 4th, many of whose own reporters had covered the event accurately the previous day and obviously knew the report to be false. The Economic Times said: "Publicity seeking Arundhati Roy wants to be Aung San Su Kyi". I'm curious - why would newspapers and TV channels want to publish the same news twice, once truthfully and then falsely?

That same evening (June 4th), at about seven O'clock, two men on a motorcycle drove up to my home in Delhi and began hurling stones at the window. One stone nearly hit a small child playing on the street. Angry people gathered and the men fled. Within minutes, a Tata Indica arrived with a man who claimed to be a reporter from Zee TV, asking if this was "Arundhati Roy's house" and whether there had been trouble. Clearly this was a set up, a staged display of 'popular anger' to be fed to our barracuda-like TV channels. Fortunately for me, that evening their script went wrong. But there was more to come. On June 5th the Dainik Bhaskar in Raipur carried a news item "Himmat ho to AC kamra chhod kar jungle aaye Arundhati" (If she has the guts Arundhati should leave her airconditioned room and come to the jungle) in which Vishwaranjan, the Director General of Police of Chhattisgarh challenged me to face the police by joining the Maoists in the forest. Imagine that- the police DGP and me, Man to Man. Not to be outdone, a Bharatiya Janata Party leader from Chhattisgarh, Ms Poonam Chaturvedi announced to the press that I should be shot down at a public crossroad, and that other traitors like me should be given the death sentence. (Perhaps someone should tell her that this sort of direct incitement to violence is an offense under the Indian Penal Code.) Mahendra Karma, Chief of the murderous 'peoples' militia the Salwa Judum which is guilty of innumerable acts of rape and murder, asked for legal action to be taken against me. On Tuesday June 8th the Hindi daily Nayi Duniya reported that complaints have been filed against me in two separate police stations in Chhattisgarh, Bhata Pada and Teli Bandha, by private individuals objecting to my "open support for the Maoists.

Is this what Military Intelligence calls psyops (psychological operations)? Or is it the urban avatar of Operation Green Hunt? In which a government news agency helps the home-ministry to build up a file on those it wants to put away, inventing evidence when it can't find any? Or is PTI trying to deliver the more well-known among us to the lynch mob so that the government does not have to risk its international reputation by arresting or eliminating us? Or is it just a way of forcing a crude polarization, a ridiculous dumbing down of the debate-if you're not with "us" you are a Maoist? Not just a Maoist, but a stupid, arrogant, loudmouthed Maoist. Whatever it is, it's dangerous, and shameless, but it isn't new. Ask any Kashmiri, or any young Muslim being held as a "terrorist" without any evidence except baseless media reports. Ask Mohammed Afzal, sentenced to death to "satisfy the collective conscience of society."

Now that Operation Green Hunt has begun to knock on the doors of people like myself, imagine what's happening to activists and political workers who are not well known. To the hundreds that are being jailed, tortured and eliminated. June 26th is the thirty-fifth anniversary of the Emergency. Perhaps the Indian people should declare (because the government certainly won't) that this country is in a state of Emergency. (On second thoughts, did it ever go away?) This time censorship is not the only problem. The manufacture of news is an even more serious one.

Monday, June 14, 2010

UP girls become Gujaratis: Symbolic or Zionist mindset at work?


No, not Amitabh Bacchan or Sanjay Datt. These are three Muslim girls operating computers who all of a sudden became 'Brand Ambassadors of Gujarat' and found themselves to be symbol of ‘Muslim Prosperity’ in Gujarat. They appeared in the full page advertisements in Bihar dailies reportedly released by the Gujarat government ahead of Modi’s visit to the state. But in a sudden reversal of event, it was revealed that the girls do not represent the Muslims in the ‘Modi Land’ but they are from Shibli College, Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh. Yes, the same Azamgarh that is regarded as ‘Atank-garh’ by the likes of people who are in power in Gujarat today.

It is a clear case of distortion of the facts if the website that claims ownership of one of the photos is to be believed. The Editor of the website claims, not only is the photo used in the advertisements far from representing Muslims in Gujarat, the statistics mentioned to justify the progress of Muslims in Gujarat are not current but are of 2001. The advertisement controversy is a major blow to Narendra Modi - who in an attempt to change his anti-Muslim image tried to project himself ‘Pro Muslims’ but landed in a controversy.

The entire ad controversy, reminds the famous broadcast made immediately after 9/11 terrorist attack on Twin Towers in New York. The broadcast was reportedly made by the ‘Pro-Zionist Media’ that showed Palestinians celebrating after the tragic event. It was only later that the world came to know the video was file footage of earlier date and had nothing to do with the terrorist attack. But, the advantage that the Zionists wanted to gain was accomplished and the propaganda that the Palestinians are TERRORISTS was well placed in the minds of the people already saddened and shocked by the attack. Later on it became easier to ignite the already palpitating anger against the Muslims world over.

Though unlike the Zionists, Narendra Modi could not succeed in achieving the goal he might have desired to, looking at the alleged misuse of the photograph and the video broadcast showing the celebrating Palestinians, it is not difficult to find the affinity between the two. This is perhaps to hide this affinity that BJP top brass is trying to brush aside the controversy by terming the use of photographs as ‘symbolic’ and a small incident of little importance.

However, the incident has once again exposed the fact that there exist in India the people who have the same Zionist ideology and follow the same mindset that is normally witnessed against the Palestinians. Though, this was never a mystery that those in power in Gujarat today are the front leaders of the strong lobby in India that takes pride in taking sides with the Zionists. They are in India not only their staunch supporters, but there are incidents to suggest that they try to emulate against the Muslims and other downtrodden people in India the inhuman Zionist tactics used against the Palestinians in their homeland.

The revelations of the slain ATS Chief Hemant Karkare showing how the Zionists were partners in the evil designs of Colonel Prohit and his team notwithstanding, the entire history of these people are full of such acts. The way they used the Godhra train accident to justify the genocide of Muslims in Gujarat is one recent example. Also, there are no dearth of people in the country who believe that the bomb blasts occurring with regular intervals in India had their roots in the same Zionist mindset – blast the bombs any where at will, put the blame on existent or non-existent organisations with Muslim sounding names, pave the way for arrest of educated Muslim youths and then corner the entire Muslim community. The tactic was used successfully for years till Hemant Karkare exposed it, though it was not the first time that their dirty game-plan was revealed to the general public.

It is here that the problem lies with these people. Even though they are exposed with regular intervals, they are neither ashamed of what they do nor are ready to change their mindset. Instead, they insist on changing forms to achieve their selfish goals. Don’t know when it would become evident to them that if they really want to change their image, they need to shun their Zionist mentality. Once they do this, they would not need any Brand Ambassador - FAKE or REAL - to demonstrate to the world what they are.

Courtesy: Ummid.com

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

The clumsy teeth of Hindutva terrorism


The inglorious Nazi strategy carried out to wipe out democracy and replace it with fascism does have a less-discussed affinity with the Hindutva strategy chalked out to convert India into a ‘Hindu Nation’. From Nathuram Godse, the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi, to Abhinav Bharath-RSS members arrested in connection with Ajmer Darga blast early this month, have chosen the way shown by Hitler and Mussolini to accomplish their goals. Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's closest aide and the Minister of Propaganda, has inspired Brahmin-dominated media which shamelessly lip-synch the police rant against Muslims. More than 15 prominent bomb blasts carried out by ultra right wing Hindutva outfits across the country from the 2003 blast in Muhammadiya Masjid, Marathwada, Maharashtra to the 2009 blast in Margao, Goa acknowledge the threat of Hindutva terrorism pose to the nation. The media and investigative agencies have long hushed up the truth and accused Muslim terrorists for the various blasts taken place across the country at different times. However, the arrest of Malegaon blast perpetrators, Col. Purohit and Pragya sadhvi, paved the way for a turnaround. Now, the latest developments in Ajmer blast investigation expose the knotty web of Hindu terror organizations which have spread across the country and are alleged to have connections with some naxal groups.

In both cases, all the governments need to do was to come up with a theory that would justify the arrests of innocent Muslims. Unsurprisingly, the media came to its help with an incredible enthusiasm. Blatant lies and cooked theories, especially those by the Hindus ‘in house terror pundit’ Praveen Swami, were dished out, to suit the government’s claims. Swami wrote fabulous fables dotted with his own clichés ‘revealing’ that this is the war against popular Islam and tolerant Sufi traditions. In his article turned up in the Hindu on Oct 12, 2007, he says “But the bombings also reflect less-understood project: the war of Islamist neoconservatives against the syncretic traditions and beliefs that characterise popular Islam in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh”. The new breakthrough made by the ATS and CBI in both cases with the arrest of RSS-Abinav Bharath members has broken the back born of this theory and, now, Praveen swami is dodging by doling out some idiotic justifications.

The arrests of Devendra Gupta, an RSS pracharak, from Muzaffarpur in Bihar and Chandrasekhar, a key member of Abhinav Bharath, from Shajupur, Madhya Pradesh, underscores the truth that the Hindu terrorists operate in the country with lethal plans and sophisticated weapons. And they are so powerful that they managed to elude from glare of media and law-enforcement agencies so far. The Rajasthan ATS, now, suspects the brain behind three blasts- Ajmer, Malegaon and Hyderabad- is same. The ATS’ discovery of the connection between recently arrested Ajmer blast suspects and Col. Purohit, who allegedly masterminded the Malegaon blast, reveals the complex terror network prevalent in the country. One of the alarming factors ATS investigates now is their alleged link with some of the Maoist outfits working in the country.

One cannot help asking some serious questions regarding the credibility of the system which blatantly did what it did so far. Do the state and investigative agencies deliberately attempt to frame Muslim community for the crime they didn’t commit? How did these Hindu terror outfits manage to evade from the watchful eyes of law so far, and with whose help? Another stark truth came out later is that the arrested Muslim youths for Mecca Masjid blast were really rounded up before the blast and the cases were slapped on them later. Many of them were kept in jail for seven months and allegedly tortured, even, without filing any chargesheet. Later on, one senior police officer revealed that the list of suspects was given by Central Intelligence Bureau.

The big question that has been cleverly edged out of the ongoing debates is that why do Intelligence Bureau and other agencies come up with a ‘Muslims-behind-Blast’ theory whenever any bomb explodes in the country? The allegation of former Maharshtra senior police officer, SM Mushrif, who was instrumental in exposing the multi crore stamp paper scam, that ‘Brahminisist lobby’ has overpowered all the establishments in Intelligence Bureau seems true. That the infiltration of Hindutva power into these agencies undermines the very nature and the foundation of them is quite unequivocal now.

Both the Ajmer and Hyderabad blasts have striking similarities in the modus of operandi, nature of explosion and the kind of bomb used. It was the seizure of these SIM cards that demystified both the blasts and established the complicity of saffron forces in them. However, at that time neither IB nor the state police could came out with clues which could have solved the mystery. On the contrary, their stories were, served as the evidence against Muslim, played up by the media. The questions about the extent of Hindutva influence in media and bureaucracy are to be raised and need to be addressed with due importance.

With several terror strikes being planned and carried out by extremist Hindu groups having allegiance to their parent organization RSS, how long can the government turn a deaf ear to this ‘harmless’ cultural organization? No doubt, it is futile to expect a nation to remain immune from the malice of terrorism if the government and investigative agencies fix their attention at one particular community letting the real perpetrators get away. At any cost, RSS and other hard core Hindutva organizations should be banned; otherwise gravest security threats to our nation may persist.

Courtesy: AbdulRahoof kk

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Drive safe while you are on Social networking


Are you a fan of networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, Orkut etc.? While you enjoy interacting and sharing information with people across the world, make sure you are safe in the virtual world.

Here's how you can protect your personal information as well as privacy of your family and friends when you are hooked to these 'social' sites.

Set your privacy controls to restrict public access

Make sure your privacy levels are set so that only your friends and family can see anything that is private. Some sites let you segment your contacts or friends list so you can control what co-workers, family, or your buddies are allowed to see.

Don't include identifying information

Keep personal details private, such as your phone number, address, place of work, or your birthday. Don't even share the state where you born since this can be used to obtain your social security number. Even with your privacy controls set, err on the safe side and don't post information that could enable someone to steal your identity or stalk you.

Respect the privacy of friends and family

Avoid identifying people by name in public profiles and pictures. And ask your friends not to identify you in their photos or post pictures of you that are available to the public.

Be wary of phishing attempts

Sophisticated cyber criminals are taking advantage of the popularity of social networking sites. It can be hard to tell if an e-mail supposedly from a social networking site you belong to is an attempt to steal your login information. So to be safe, never click on a link from an e-mail that looks like it came from a social networking site- type in the site's URL manually.

Don't put your entire work history online

A full history of everywhere you've ever worked can help an identity thief fill out a loan application. So on sites like LinkedIn, limit your work history details and/or restrict access to your information to just those in your network.

Beware of scams

Scammers can gain access to one of your friend's accounts (through a phishing attempt for instance) and then solicit all the friends linked to the account for money. Never respond with a credit card number or online payment, even if it looks like it is from a friend. Call your friend and ask if it's a legitimate request.

Be careful about giving about your location

With Twitter and similar tools, you may be broadcasting to lurkers, stalkers, and thieves where you are and how long you'll be there. Just as you wouldn't put a note on your door saying you're out of town, be mindful of disclosing similar information online.

Choose your password carefully

Make it at least eight characters and include a number and a symbol in it. This way it's very difficult for someone to guess your password and hijack your account.

Courtesy: Rediff.com

Monday, June 7, 2010

The scars of Bhopal Gas Genocide shall remain for ages ...


The Bhopal court judgment on 7th June 2010 is the Second Judicial Disaster in the issue of the Union Carbide genocide of December 1984. This judgment excluded the CEO of Union Carbide Corp. Warren Anderson from the list of guilty and allowed the rest of the guilty (including Keshub Mahindra, the then CEO of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. which controlled the Indian subsidiary of Union Carbide Corp.) to go Scot free of the charges of genocide in Bhopal more than 25 years ago. Looking back, the First Judicial Disaster took place on 14-15 February 1989 when the Supreme Court of India put its stamp of approval on the shameless agreement reached between Union Carbide, on the one hand, and the Union of India and the M.P. Government, on the other. The Supreme Court, through its 1989 judgment, freed Union Carbide of all Civil Liabilities and negated both compensatory and punitive damages and thus rolled red carpet for the neo-liberal capital to begin its plunder and loot in India from 1991 onwards. The Bhopal court’s judgment today freed Union Carbide of all Criminal Liabilities and enabled the neo-liberal capital to put the last nail in the coffin of the Indian judicial system. The Indian scientific establishment, too, played a disastrous role in this tragic drama, amounting to the Third Bhopal Disaster. With frequent disaster, the ray of hope for justice seems diminishing.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Quality & Development at Stake with New RTE bylaws

The circular on Right to Education released by Education Department last month might have relieved parents, teachers, students, academicians and experts following increasing number of suicide cases among students. However, it will leave more ‘negative’ than ‘positive’ impression on students! According to this circular under section 16 of the RTE Act, no student of standard 1st to 8th can be failed, detained or even rusticated for any reason. This means that students are now free to do what they want and study as per their whims and fancies. Consequently, demeaning the quality of education and so the development of students who pass through a crucial age of learning. Though this decision might help decrease or reduce the number of suicide cases among students who fails every year and will definitely save their one important academic year. But certainly we are getting at the cost of quality and development of students. Secondly, today all that matters for teachers is marks and percentage.

The teaching method adopted by most of the schools urge students to score good marks and equip them with techniques to scoring good marks. Even parents insist their children on getting good marks or percentage. But does education means only numbers? The way teachers and parents are pressurizing students on scoring good marks makes clear that getting marks is more important than gaining knowledge. It is this extra pressure on scoring which is the only reason of increasing number of suicides among students. The only solution lies in changing the method of teaching and conducting seminars for parents regarding how to create hassle free environment for students so that they won’t take studies as burden because change is the only thing that has brought progress in this world.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Tight your lace … as this WED have loads of stuff to do


With this World Environment day coming at our doorstep, we need to make our minds to contribute in the betterment of our planet Earth. Amidst dwelling in the 21st century, where environmental issues are becoming our prime concerns, we are left with no choice but to redefine the values and principles that underlie our relationship with the Earth. Clearly, a new approach is required. The industrial civilization has brought about an abundance of goods and services to humankind, at the same time, this come with an obsession for materialism and a distortion of human values. Science and technology have played a critical role in the development of human history and will be one of the key determining factors in shaping a sustainable future. However, the impacts of technological development and their applications have also become so serious that they threaten the stability of the ecosystem and human society.

The planet Earth is the common home for all of us. We must all strive to share equitably the benefits and burdens resulting from the use of the environment. All members of human society are responsible for maintaining the integrity of the environment as a Whole-Life-System. Individual efforts can be enhanced through building networks within and among all levels of civil society and government, industry and business, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Education, especially at an early age, has a significant effect on how people form attitudes toward the environment, and is thus crucial. Educational programmes designed to enhance awareness of environmental issues and ethics must be developed and applied at all levels of society through all available and practical means. Lets pledge on this Environment Day that we cultivate a lifestyle that accepts and is consistent with sufficiency rather than greed and excess.

Bearing in mind that Earth's resources are limited, each person must avoid a culture of extravagant material consumption and pursue ways to preserve the planet by improving consumption patterns. A good time to start would be now! We can make. You being a responsible citizen certainly feel concerned about the environment, then can think of trying the following things while we have World Environment Day 2010 and make a difference:

Live Green

Want to put more “green” in your life by saving money and reducing waste? Here is practical information about environmentally friendly food, drink, fashions, cars and cleaning products, to name a few. Make eco-friendly lifestyle choices and buying decisions that will help sustain the environment rather than deplete it.

Reduce Global Warming

Reducing global warming may seem like a daunting task, but if each of us makes a commitment to taking steps now, we can make a difference. For example, if every family in the United States replaced one regular light bulb with a compact fluorescent, 90 billion pounds of greenhouse gases would be eliminated. Look here for more steps, big and small, that will help to reduce global warming.

Conserve Energy

One way to do your part to protect the environment is to make choices every day that enable you to use less energy.