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Comments posted by Anand Nair
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BHAGAVAD GITA - CHAPTER 2: A commentary assisted by some insights from the brain sciences
Marshmark, Your interpretation of the Bhagawad Gita is indeed interesting. I too have written blogs on Consciousness, Happiness, Mental Universe and so on. Perhaps we can have an interesting discussion some time... Anand
On
Islamic Terrorism in India
Global Observer,
You claimed, "there was never a Babri masjid . I[t] was the temple wahich was plundered by masjid"
Thus you do admit that AFTER the temple was allegedly plundrered, there was a "masjid" in that location. Right? And this latter structure has been in existence for the past several hundred years. Right?
You will appreciate that ANY piece of land that is today legally owned by ANY ONE was at some stage of history "plundered" from the previous occupants. Surely, land was not gifted to the "original owners" by God!
History of humanity has been a history of migrations out of Africa in search of land to occupy. And there were waves of such migrations. The fact is that the later migrants ALWAYS plundered land from the earlier ones. This happened in recent times in the Americas, Australia and so on. And also in India on several occasions in the past.
The Aryans too plundered the lands occupied by the earlier migrants to India. The legendary conflict between Devas (Aryans) and the Asuras (the forest dwellers) was primarily triggered by the resistance of the earlier forest dwelling people to the newly arrived agriculturalists who wanted to cut down forests and fence off land as private property for cultivation and grazing.
It is the tacit realization of this fact of history that is reflected in the legal concept of "ownership" of land. Let me quote from Wikipedia:-
"Possession is one of the most important concepts in property law. In common law countries, possession is itself a property right.... Possession of a thing for long enough can become ownership. In the same way, the passage of time can bring to an end the owner's right to recover possession of a thing."
It is in this context that we need to regard Babri Masjid as a disputed structure. This is a dispute that can be resolved only by legal arbitration -- and not through claims regarding ancient "plunder". That is the civilized and moral approach to the resolution of such disputes.
But then Advani is a third rate politician bereft of any sense of morality. His attempt to whip up communal discord on this issue is anti-national and despicable. It would seem that the people of Ayodhya have seen through this perfidy -- the BJP candidates were badly defeated in the last elections in the constituencies that include Ayodhya, Mathura and Kashi...
In civilized societies, only individuals have rights and freedoms -- and these rights are equal, irrespective of religion, language, ethnicity and so on. It is racist to talk in terms of rights of a community -- whether of the majority or of the minority.
It is time you realized that you can have no special privileges based on your membership within a majority community. (The only exception to this is by way of affirmative action or "reservations" for individuals from under-represented groups).
Anand
On
Argument against Artificial Intelligence -- John Searle's CHINESE ROOM EXPERIMENT
Harish Kumar,
You rightly said that we cannot "say for sure" whether or not we human beings possess a non-material "soul" that would survive us after the death of our mortal bodies.
However, all the evidence so far gathered by science appear to indicate that there is no requirement to hypothesise the existence of any non-material or supernatural entity. Such a theory is not required to explain or understand the complexities of life, consciousness or to account for our ability to enjoy the beautiful aspects of this world (including of the flowery constructs of language, music and so on).
Anand
On
Extremism and the reassertion of Muslim selfhood
Rampu,
Is that all you have to state by way of facts and counter-argument?
I did not know that Lalu has demanded that "all hindu organizations" should be banned! I suspect you are indulging in vicious bluff. Can you quote Lalu expressing such a view? (Please provide the reference -- so that we can check up on the context and accuracy of the quote)
As for me, I agree with Arundhati Roy when she states:-
"Fighting Fascism means fighting to win back the minds and hearts of people. Fighting it does not mean asking for rss shakhas and the madrashas to be banned, it means working towards the day when they’re voluntarily abandoned as a bad idea."
[Source: "Democracy: Who's She When She's At Home?". This can be accessed at http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0503-08.htm]
Whether or not you agree with Arundhati, hers is a consistent stand on dealing with all types of fascism. Do you have a consistent stand on ANY issue?
Anand
On
Extremism and the reassertion of Muslim selfhood
It is amazing to see "bnsl" writing as if he has solutions to offer for the problem of terrorism. He (along with those like him among Hindus, Muslims, Jews and so on who too seek to spread hate for "the other") constitutes at least half the problem.
If indeed Hindus appear to be liberal minded, it is because those with the political views of bnsl have been confined (till recent times) to the fringe of the community. If many more Hindus get to think like bnsl (or Narendra Modi), then whatever bnsl tells us about "Muslims" will get to be true in case of "Hindus" too!
Knowing that the above horror scenario is currently playing out in Gujarat, there is no reason to believe that there is anything intrinsic within the Hindu ethos (which is allegedly missing in the Islamic ethos) that makes us tolerant and liberal human beings. We are as susceptible to the viruses of the mind, as are the Muslims or any one else!
Hence the value of blogs such as this...
Anand
On
Extremism and the reassertion of Muslim selfhood
Prakash,
It was a pleasure reading your blog. It is very well written, and the contents are sensitive and thought through.
Anand
On
Ahmedabad serial blasts...
Thank you sheelair for the comment. I fully agree witth the sincere sentiments expressed by you...
Anand
On
Anti-Reservation Arguments -- Myth & Reality
bright6333,
You said, "but rewards will encourage the desire of the meritorious student!"
We do give rewards to meritorious students -- despite resrvations! Remember that over 50% of all available seats are ENSURED to be allotted only to those who are top most in the merit list!
In fact, reservations do NOT eliminate the need for candidates to compete for limited number of seats. It is only that the under-represented category gets to (fairly) compete within candidates from their own group -- and not with those from over-represented and socially privileged categories!
You cannot become a doctor merely by being born a dalit -- despite reservations! Only the top most ranking students among the dalit category gets admission -- despite reservations! A huge nymber of dalit candidates fail to get admission -- despite reservations!
Among the dalits, "reward" (of getting admission) does encourage "the desire of the meritorious student"!
You asked, "why in the name of heaven do you say that country doesn't have to produce professionals of highest caliber?"
But this is NOT what I say!
The country definitely needs "professionals of highest caliber"! Which is why we ensure that the top ranking students are ASSURED of seats in professional courses. But at the same time I do say that the country ALSO needs ordinary professionals of lesser calibre -- those who would willingly deliver their services at lower cost and in remote villages and tribal areas.
You said, "the doctors who come out with lesser results..."
This will happen only when number of colleges are large -- and not when cut off marks required to join colleges is over 90% marks! In any case, this also means that we can allow under-represented groups to become doctors with "lesser results" -- the aim of affirmative action is to do away with gross under-representation. Let these lesser doctors work among poorer people who can't afford "90%" doctors.
You said, "higher than bc's n obc's will be ignored. india will be deprived of expert's service"
Indeed. And that is bad. But for THIS problem, the solution is to increase the number of colleges -- and not to cast evil eyes on social welfare measures intended to help out the vistims of erstwhile oppression. And don't worry about India. If India needs their services, then India would need to invest in more colleges.
I do not agree with you that in a situation of shortage of government colleges, private colleges (that give admissions to those who can pay for this) is such a bad thing!
So long as some seats are made to be reserved based only on merit, let the rest be given to those who can pay. As I said, we need ordinary professionals too! Whether this need is realized through paid seats (in private colleges), reserved seats (in government colleges) or by increasing the number of government colleges.
I agree that some students who are poor, in the general category and not so meritorious will not gain by any of the above. Which is why we need to increase seats!
You say, "india can also pay more if reservation is banned." and then you give the example of America! You seem ignorant that health care in the US (for the poor) is a disaster. In India we do have a lot more poor people than they have in the US -- and we need large numbers of doctors who would work among the poor, being satisfied with lower remuneration.
You went on "n poverty can be tackled!"
Free market has NOT succeeded in tackling poverty anywhere in the world! In the West, it is socialistic measures (such as social security, universal pension schemes, universal health care, affirmative action, high taxation and so on) that have succeeded in tackling widespread poverty! When they occasionally give up on some of these (as when medical insurance was watered down by the stupid Bush administration), this led to great distress among the poor.
You may be "referring to medical field as race course". I am NOT.
I see medical field as a service activity where the need is for large numbers of ordinary doctors who would treat poor people in remote villages, and accept lower remuneration (apart from brilliant specialists in lesser numbers whose services would naturally be costly).
These ordinary and low paid doctors are required in large numbers to provide tangible medical aid to the poor peopple -- such as for stitching of wounds and administering life saving first aid to accident victims, cardiac arrest or stroke patients and so on. Also to give injections etc after dog bite etc etc. I suppose they can also effectively prescribe antibiotics, pain killers etc -- and have the competence to decide when the specialist needs to be referred.
Anand
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Extremism and the reassertion of Muslim selfhood
Rampu,
I am not surprised that you do not take "panga" with those who would call your bluff! You were bluffing when you said that Lalu has demanded that "all hindu organizations" should be banned. Right?
Anand
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