Pakistani Poetry

Someone said Pakistanis are good poets and their language skills are great. 

I said there is nothing new in it. Poetry, art, drama, kauwali, mujra - all forms of art flourished during Muslim rule of Mughals and Nawabs in India. This happened while Europe was witnessing Industrial Revolution!

Certainly jihadis and a lot of pen pushers would have excellent language skills. After all, they would need all of it in order to brainwash an entire generation and make them into fidayine.

Book Readers Hating Modi?

Someone said that most of the people he knows who read a lot of books hate Mr. Modi. 

I thought he meant that people who acquired second-hand intellect through books hate Modi but people who are hands-on and have their own individual opinion about things support Modi. This is something which would only please Modi's fans...

Movie Starts do not go to College

Someone said he was disappointed with a famous actress while she spoke to a journalist about some news. 

I thought it was hardly surprising. Most movie stars are maximum Std. 12th pass from schools and did not go to college. They are in show business. Not expected to be intellectuals.

Karl Marx and his False Theory of Religion as Opium of Masses

Karl Marx while defining Religion as opium of masses had said that removal of religion would usher in 'real happiness' in place of 'illusory happiness' (provided by religion).

This quote is often repeated by all sorts of people when they want to speak against religion. But I disagree with it. 

The fate of communist countries like Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam and state of Naxals including 'Urban Naxals' in India do not prove that being communist i.e. being without religion has made them any happier.

In the World's Happiest Nations Survey/Ranking, most of the time Christian countries come at the top. This settles the debate. 

Karl Marx and his quote on religion should be ignored instead of being given undeserved credit for giving us a false theory.

Failure of Aakash Tablets

Someone said that Aakash Tablets were earlier unveiled by the government with much funfair but have now disappeared. And this is a failure of government. I disagreed. 

Akash tablet was launched by UPA Govt led by Congress Party in year 2011. The project was a failure from the beginning and did not take off well. Therefore there is nothing to blame the current government! 

- Rahul Tiwary

UGC Circular on Surgical Strike Day

Recently, UGC has asked all higher education institutes to celebrate Surgical Strike Day marking the day from last year when Indian Army crossed line of control and destroyed several Pakistani terrorism infrastructure. Some people objected, calling it government's self-patting. But I disagreed. 

First, this will be celebration of our Army, not of any political party or person. 

Secondly, compare that to Children's day which has been forced to be celebrated in the guise of celebrating birthdays of Nehru ji. What have children got to do now with old bald Grandpa Nehru ji? This is the difference between Con Party and NaMo Sarkar!

Also, this UGC circular is not binding to institutes but only advisory in nature. Hence no one should have problem with it.

- Rahul Tiwary 

Why Democracy does not mean Govt elected by the 'Majority'

Someone asserted that "democracy means govt elected by the 'majority' people". I think it is an unfair assertion and democracy is seldom seen to be so. 

The religious, linguistic or ethnic "majority" people's votes also get divided because of "multi-party system". If one political party tries to appeal to them in order to consolidate their votes; several other political parties also rush to complete with it and hence votes get divided among these parties. Hence the so called "majority" group could never vote as one unit for only one party. And hence govt in a multi-party democracy does not represent only the majority people's opinion. 

On the other hand, it is the "minority" people who are seen to be showing totally "undemocratic" traits. Since they are less in numbers, they are easy to consolidate and often they are more centrally controlled/influenced. The minority people seldom show "individualistic" traits using their own minds but often vote as herds; running on "fear psychology". 

Bottom-line: Democracy is more complex than "a govt elected by the majority".

Agricultural Loans Worth Rs 59,000 Crore Went to 615 Accounts in one year

Answer by Govt to an RTI filed by 'The Wire' reveals that Agricultural Loans Worth Rs 59,000 Crore Went to 615 Accounts in one year. That makes a per capita loan of 95 crores to so called Agricultural Institutions at a concessional rate of Interest @4%. Some people asserted that this was unfair and the real beneficiary should always be the end farmers. They thought government was doing something wrong in allowing agriculture loans to big corporate. 

When I read further, I found that these big accounts which received loans are of big agri-business companies e.g. Reliance Fresh who do direct sourcing of farm products and then sell the products. It is easy to say that small farmers should also get easy loans but difficult to recover and get into loan waiver politics. But at the same time I think concessional loans to agri business companies would eventually help the end customers by keeping price down and hence keep food inflation down. So it is not that bad a thing in my opinion.

A cheap loan to anyone part of the whole food supply chain would in the end benefit the end customers by keeping the food prices and food inflation low. 

At the same time one can take note that 'The Wire' has leftist leaning. It was started by an ex-editor of 'The Hindu' (a left-leaning newspaper) and is widely believed to be anti-BJP and anti-Modi. 

महिलाओं की व्यक्तिगत स्वतंत्रता का मुद्दा

यह बगावत का नहीं इंडिविजुअल फ्रीडम या व्यक्तिगत स्वतंत्रता का मुद्दा है।.

जैसे जानवरों को देखें तो ग्रुप में रहते हैं ग्रुप में शिकार करते हैं, क्योंकि उनके लिए "सेफ्टी" या सुरक्षा सर्वोपरि है। मानव सभ्यता में शुरू में ऐसा ही था - पहले जान बचानी थी, व्यक्तिगत स्वतंत्रता को कौन पूछे? पर जैसे जैसे मानव सभ्यता आगे डेवेलप हो रही है, व्यक्तिगत स्वतंत्रता और निर्णय लेने की स्वतंत्रता उतनी जरुरी होती जा रही है।

न तो सारे देश एक हैं और न सारे समाज एक; पर धीरे धीरे मानव समाज को हर व्यक्ति (महिला या पुरुष) को व्यक्तिगत स्वतंत्रता देना ही होगा। आप बोल सकते हैं कि ऐसा होने पर परिवार टूटेंगे और पुराने संस्कार ज्यादा अच्छे थे - पर दुनिया की सोच किसी और ओर जा रही है।

हवा की कोई दिशा मोड़ पाया है कोई?

गो-तश्करों की पिटाई और गौरक्षकों का आतंक

हाल के दिनों में मीडिया में ऐसी खबरों को प्रमुखता से दिखाया जा रहा है जिसमे बेगुनाह मुसलमान व्यक्तियों को गोरक्षा के नाम पर पीटा जाता है।

मैं हिंसा का समर्थन नहीं करता पर हाल में देश में जो माहौल बना है उसे समझ जा सकता है। कानून तो ७० साल से था पर सच ये है कि गोतश्करों को रोकने में बिल्कुल नाकाम था। तो कुछ युवाओं ने कहा कि "अब बस" और लगे खुद ही तश्करों को पकड़ने और सजा देने। यही चीज जब फिल्मों में दिखाई जाती है, जब हीरो गुंडों को मारता है तो सब सीटी बजाते हैं और पसंद करते हैं। जब रेपिस्ट्स को बीच बाजार लटकाने की बात आती है तो अधिकांश लोग "कानून को हाथ में मत उठाना" ऐसा कहते नहीं दीखते। बस जब गोहत्या और गोतश्करों की बात आती है तो कानून याद आता है और हम देश के कानूनी रखवाले और आदर्श नागरिक बन जाते हैं। ऐसा क्यों?

मुद्दे की बात ये है कि अभी जो माहौल है उससे सालों से गोहिंसा और गोतश्करी करते आ रहे वर्ग विशेष में खलबली है। मीडिया जो एक तरह की बात को ज्यादा हाईलाइट करता है वो भी बात समझी जा सकती है। बस "गेहूं के साथ घुन पिसता है' की कहावत की तरह कुछ बेगुनाह लोगों को सतर्क रहना होगा।

यदि राज्यों की पुलिस अब देश के माहौल को देखते हुए गोतश्करों के खिलाफ खुद अच्छे से एक्शन लेती है तो ये गोरक्षकों द्वारा कानून हाथ में लेने की घटनाएँ अपनेआप रुक जाएँगी। पर बिकाऊ मीडिया को "बेगुनाह पीटा गया" दिखा-दिखा कर टी आर पी बटोरनी है; तो देखें क्या होता है।