Does anyone remember Maulana Azad and Rafi Ahmed Kidwai anymore?
The frenzied debate over the comparative legacies of Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, sparked by Narendra Modi’s foray into counter-factual history, provides an occasion to remember two tall Congress leaders whose contribution to the idea of a modern, united and secular India has gone by default because there are no votes to be had by invoking their names.
Continue Reading on The Hindu.
Photo Courtsy – The Hindu
An exclusive compilation of, whole Indian history with different dimension, is just an outstanding and deserve appreciation. This gives an exclusive information about the whole Indian history, with different dimensions and well studied aspect. This video gives us an ideal understanding about the History in written and History in reality.
About the Author: https://www.penguinbooksindia.com/en/content/romila-thapar
Photo Source: https://www.penguinbooksindia.com/sites/default/files/author/author_pictu…
While I don’t agree with the Citizen Elite construct due to the connotations brought in by the work ‘elite’, I do believe there is a lot to learn from this talk. Quiet and invigorating talk by Prof. Dipankar Gupta. The concept in principal means at any given time in history, change is brought about be a single or a group of elite individuals who believe in an elite idea and go against all odd to change the course of history. Prof. Dipankar argues that people like Gandhi, Ambedker, Nehru, etc., where elite citizen who were not bound by the usual constraints as ordinary citizens and brought about change for which they had absolute conviction. Listen to the talk and decide for your self. I for some reason am not entirely convinced and have my reservations about the ‘Citizen Elite’ concept.
Weather they win or lose, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has already done a great service to the nation. I don’t trust Mr. Arvind Kejriwal (supremo of AAP) or the party, but to their credit, they have brought hope back in the hearts of the marginalized voters. They’ve managed to convince a large number of people that politics can be of the people, by the people, for the people, etc. They have convinced people that there is still hope, that democracy can have an alternate model of governance. They’ve promised Ram rajya to the people.
Will they get a chance to fulfill their promises and usher in Ram rajya is to be seen. What matters is, they’ve managed to successfully challenge the two party system (Congress & RSS/BJP) and presented a viable alternate to the people. Unlike many other political parties, AAP brings in an alternate interpretation of democracy. For too long, people have been made to accept the flaws and failings of Indian democracy as a necessary evil. AAP has awakened people to the possibility of a more participatory form of democracy. This is a good thing.
I don’t think so. I personally believe, they are a party of the middle class, by the middle class, for the middle class, and slightly towards the right of center. There is also a bit of naivety in the party, which actually isn’t a bad thing, but I believe not all of it is genuine. Some of it is deliberate projection. I can see a lot of disillusionment, both within and outside, if and when they come to power. We’ll soon know what they are like once the election results are declared. Even in opposition they are bound to expose their true colors.
Another issue I have with AAP is that it is essentially majoritarian. It works on the principal of numbers and for minority things may not change much. AAP believes, the collective will choose what’s best for everyone. For, non-homogenous societies like ours this could be bit of a problem. Let’s see what happens. Democracy has a way of self-correcting itself.
In the larger context, AAP has already had an impact. They’ve compelled political parties in Delhi to mind their candidates image and become more transparent about their working and financial dealings. Pressure from AAP will force other parties to change their way of functioning for sure. And if AAP is successful in Delhi they’ll be ushering in a new era in Indian democracy. People will demand change from every corner of the society. That will be a good day for India.
Perhaps they are the catalyst of change we needed. So, although I don’t believe or trust them, I still think AAP, with all its flaws, is a better alternate than Congress or RSS/BJP.
So way to go AAP!
Image Source: https://www.indiatvnews.com/politics/national/aam-aadmi-party-know-arvind…
On 7 February this year, Durgappa, a three-month old child, died of hunger and cold after the shanty he lived in at Jai Ambe Nagar in Mankhurd, Mumbai was demolished. The police officer in charge had responded saying that the boy’s father Nagesh Kadumanchi, who was left with just one piece of cloth around his waist, should’ve stripped down to cover his son and keep him warm. The municipal authority had confiscated clothes, cupboards, pots and pans, leaving people with nothing but what they were wearing on the day they lost their homes.
It is almost futile to state the obvious – the incident had zero media coverage. It was an everyday reality that a majority of the bystander population had become de-sensitised towards. There was no political party visiting the boy’s family, no online campaign, no tweets from celebrities, no mainstream media coverage, for the death of a poor child is not an anomaly. There are thousands of Jai Ambe Nagars. At Bhim Chhayya, another three-year-old child Jayesh Mohite died in 2011 after he drowned in a miasmic ditch dug by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to prevent further ‘encroachment.’ The father of this child was on a hunger strike for 19 days to seek justice, but he received minimal media coverage, mostly from smaller Marathi newspapers and news channels. Another man had died of a heart attack at Ambujwadi in 2011, when bulldozers tried to demolish his home. There was also a lathi-charge on women trying to non-violently protest a demolition in Sion and false cases against 80-year old women in Golibar for the same.
The invisible city has a thousand stories of struggle and despair, but as the controversy over builders, demolitions and the BMC has now found primetime coverage, the media that never visited those in Golibar in four years and seven demolition drives, is now asking if any politicians have ever visited them.
Originally Published on Sep 30, 2013
An Interactive Workshop with Prof. Romila Thapar
Chaired by: Prof. Rustom Bharucha
Professor in Performance Studies,
School of Arts and Aesthetics, JNU
Department of Sociology in Collaboration with
Faculty of Social Sciences, SAU
You’ve got to be taught to hate and fear,
You’ve got to be taught from year to year,
It’s got to be drummed in your dear little ear,
You’ve got to be carefully taught.
You’ve got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff’rent shade,
You’ve got to be carefully taught.
You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You’ve got to be carefully taught!
“You’ve Got To Be Carefully Taught,” (Lyrics from South Pacific.)
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You%27ve_Got_to_Be_Carefully_Taught
This is so true in our country. We are unfortunately tought to hate from the day we are born. Our mothers would tell us, beta/beti (son/daughter), marry any one but a muslim. Or how we are taught to ignore atrocities on lower casts but asked to stand up for the cast/community/religious honor… We are taught to hate woman by our religion, our customs, our socital bias, our overlooking for domestic voilance and rapes by relatives. All this we are carfuly taught.
On Wednesday, May 1, 2013, the Askwith Forum commemorated the 45th anniversary of the publication of Paulo Freire’s “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” with a discussion about the book’s impact and relevance to education today.
