The Great Nastik Revolt

~~ by Prabhakar Kamath 

Intellectual Ferment: By 600 B.C.E. a great intellectual ferment was brewing across the Indo-Gangetic plain the likes of which India has not seen since. Countless different Kshatriya-inspired philosophies sprang up from the agitated intellect of the Indo-Gangetic Civilization. During this period (900-500 B.C.E), thousands of wandering sophists, known as Parivrajaka, crisscrossed the country questioning anything and everything, including the doctrines of the Gunas and Karma, the Vedas, Vedic sacrificial rites, animal sacrifices, Varna Dharma, and supremacy of Brahmins. They engaged each other in robust public debates on every topic on earth. They challenged their adversaries to either win them over in debate or to follow them. These ‘argumentative Indians‘ came to be known as ‘ ‘Hair splitters’ or ‘Eel wigglers.’ The public halls all over Aryavarta were packed with curious people eager to learn and experiment with new ideas to cope with life’s vicissitudes. New Age Philosophies thrived everywhere. They were all sick and tired of Brahmanism’s remedy for every problem in the world: Perform sacrifices!

The Rise Of Heterodox Dharmas:

This was the period in India’s history when massive winds of change were blowing through the land resulting in the overthrow of the decaying old social, political, and religious orders. Disgusted and disenchanted by Brahmanism, the opposition gradually coalesced into a number of reactionary groups over the centuries following the Vedic period. These reactionaries could be broadly classified into two groups: The Upanishadic sages, who attempted to reform Brahmanism from within (as we studied in the previous article), and Nastiks, nonbelievers, who rejected the essential elements of Brahmanic Dharma, and abandoned it altogether. Those days the epithet Nastik did not mean Atheism since the concept of God was still very nebulous. The Upanishadic entity Brahman, being free from any positive attributes, did not qualify to be a true God. Kshatriya nobles led the heterodox groups just as they did the Upanishadic effort to reform Brahmanism.

Two Nastik Groups:

Within the Nastik movement itself there were two distinct groups: Sramanas (monks) who renounced worldly pleasures, and Lokayatas (worldly) who embraced them. A detailed discussion of the principles of these groups is beyond the scope of this article. The main purpose of this article is to show how they arose in reaction to the decadence of Brahmanism and what their legacies are and what lessons we could learn from them.

1. Sramanas: This group resorted to Sanyasa- literally, “throwing down”- and renounced not only all material comforts but also all socially obligated duties (Karma). Within this group, four distinct sub-sects emerged:

Shri Nakoda Jain Temple

A. Jainism: The first subgroup, following the philosophy of Mahaveera, later on formed Jainism. The hallmark of this religion was absolute nonviolence toward all living things. This religion was clearly reacting to the horrors of animal sacrifices emblematic of Brahmanism. Some of these monks walked around naked as an expression of their complete renunciation of material things and accidental violence against living creatures. Jainism gained many adherents, mostly in the business class. It got a huge boost when Chandragupta Maurya abandoned his throne and joined it in 298 B.C.E. He retired to a Jain hermitage at Shravana (Sramana) Belagola in what is today Karnataka State, and starved himself to death in the manner of Jain saints.

B. Ajivika: The second of these Nastik groups was Ajivika, founded by Gosala, a contemporary of both Mahaveera and the Buddha. This sect believed that everything in this world was predetermined (Niyati). Destiny, not man’s actions, determined the outcome of one’s soul. Their philosophy can be summed in one line: Go with the flow. Chandragupta’s son Bindusara (ruled 298-272 B. C. E), who boasted the title of Amitraghatha, meaning Slayer of Foes, abandoned Brāhmanism and embraced Ajivika sect. He detested Brahmanism and yet he did not care for Buddhism and Jainism as they were too nonviolent to suite his title or temperament. He believed in his destiny as the emperor of the largest empire ever in India. In fact, his empire was larger than present day India, Pakistan and Bangladesh combined!

Mauryan Empire during Ashoka's rule

C. Buddhism: The third subgroup, following the teachings of Gautama Buddha, later developed into Buddhism. This was essentially a rational Dharma that emphasized right thinking and conduct. Buddhists rejected all aspects of Brahmanism except for the doctrine of Karma. Right conduct, not birth-class, should decide one’s status on life, they said. Morality, not class system and rituals, defines a true Dharma. As we will study in our future articles, Upanishadism and Buddhism had many things in common. The Buddhist monks were known as Bhikkus as they made their living by begging. Beggars became holy and begging became fashionable in India. Buddhism’s Three Fundamental Laws, Four Noble Truths, and Eight Noble Paths arose in reaction to the decadence of Brahmanism. From the Buddhist point of view, man created God to meet deep psychological needs such as to fulfill desires and protection from evil. Buddhism gained royal patronage for nearly 1000 years. Ashoka the Great (ruled 272-232 B.C.E.) abandoned Brahmanism and embraced rationalist Buddhism, which he referred to as the true Dharma (Dhamma). He was singlehandedly responsible for making Buddhism the predominant Dharma of India till the 8^th century A.D., and into a World Religion.

D. Asceticism: The fourth subgroup of Sramanas consisted of individual Ascetics (Munis, the Silent Ones), who renounced everything and wandered in search of the Ultimate Reality. These people often practiced severe austerities (Tapas) in the form of self-denial and self-torture as the means of mastering their senses to achieve personal liberation from Samsara. Half-naked Sadhus and Sanyasis, who stick long needles into their tongue and cheeks; who hang from trees by means of hooks, and who stand on one leg for years, belong to this subgroup (BG: 17:5-6). We can find true as well as false Ascetics, Swamis and Gurus such as these all over India and abroad to this day.

Dharma of Brahmanism versus Dharma of Buddhism:

Both Brahmanas and Buddhists used the term Dharma to promote their own agendas. To Brahmins, Dharma meant people of each class (Varna) faithfully and helplessly performing their class-designated duties as per their specific Guna (Sattva, Rajas, etc.). For example, a Kshatriya’s Dharma was to invade his enemy’s territory, steal his cows, burn his buildings, kill him and acquire his wealth. This was exactly what Ashoka did when he invaded Kalinga. To emphasize this, prince Krishna often addresses Arjuna as Dhananjaya (Conqueror of Wealth, BG: 1:15) and Paranthapa (Scorcher of Foes, BG: 2:3), and Arjuna addresses Krishna as Madhusoodana (Slayer of Madhu) and Arisoodana (Slayer of Foes, BG: 2:4). If a Kshatriya refused to fight for a ‘righteous cause’, whatever that phrase meant, then he was considered as one who had abandoned his Kshatriya duty, as did Arjuna in the Original Gita, before he was brought to his senses by prince Krishna. Such a Kshatriya was described as unmanly, impotent, cowardly, dishonorable, and the like (BG: 2-3). He would suffer dishonor in the society here on earth and hell hereafter (BG: 2:33). There was no room for compassion, mercy, kindness, etc. when a Kshatriya performed his Dharma. And it did not matter who the identified enemy was -Guru, uncle, great uncle, grandfather, cousins- one must give up his Ahamkara (I, me and mine) and perform his Dharma as defined by his Varna. No guilt or sin would arise from such actions (BG: 18:17). Likewise, a Brahmin’s Dharma was to chant the Vedic hymns, perform Yajnas, kill animals and sacrifice them in the fire to please the gods. Their logic was that all Dharmas are attended with some evil like smoke enveloping fire; that is no reason to abandon them (BG: 18:48). It is better to perform one’s own Dharma imperfectly than to perform another’s perfectly because in the former case one goes to heaven and in the latter case one goes to hell (3:35). The ultimate goal of all classes was to gain perfection here on earth by performing faithfully and helplessly his class-designated Dharma (BG: 18:45). Therein lay the stability of the society -and supremacy of Brahmins in the Varna system.

To Buddhists, on the contrary, Dharma meant ethical principles such as nonviolence, truthfulness, generosity, kindness, tolerance, equality, goodness and mercy, which people of all classes should practice. The Dhamma (ethics) of a Brahmin should not be different from that of a Sudra. In fact, such class distinction should not exist at all. Furthermore, one must respect sanctity of life and not kill animals for the sake of sacrifice. Even burning rice kernel with chaff was not good. To them Vedic rituals were useless as compared to the practice of ethics. Ashoka says:

Rock Edict # 9: Other ceremonies (rituals of Brahmanism) are of doubtful fruit, for they may achieve their purpose, or they may not, and even if they do, it is only in this world. But the ceremony (practice) of Dhamma is timeless. Even if it does not achieve its purpose in this world, it produces great merit in the next, whereas if it does achieve its purpose in this world, one gets great merit (here on earth) and there (in heaven) through the ceremony (proper practice) of the Dhamma.

2. Lokayata: The second major Nastik reactionary group, known as the Lokayatas, also known as Charvakas or Materialists, went in the opposite direction. The most prominent Lokayata philosopher was Brihaspati who lived around 600 B. C. E. We can get glimpses of this great man’s thinking from a quote in Madhvacharya’s Sarva Darshana Samgraha (early 14^th century):

“There is no heaven, no final liberation, nor any soul in another world, nor do the actions of four castes, orders, etc. produce any real effect. The Agnihotra, the three Vedas, the ascetic’s three staves, and smearing one’s self with ashes, were made by nature as the livelihood of those destitute of knowledge and manliness. If a beast slain in the Jyotisthoma rite will itself go to heaven, why then does not the sacrificer forthwith offer his own father? If the Shraddha produces gratification to beings who are dead, then here, too, in the case of travelers when they start, it is needless to give provisions for the journey… While life remains let man live happily, let him feed on ghee even though he runs in debt; when once the body becomes ashes, how can it ever return again? If he who departs from the body goes to another world, how is it that he comes not back again, restless for love of his kindred? Hence it is only as a means of livelihood that Brahmins have established here all these ceremonies for the dead, -there is no other fruit anywhere…”

The amazing thing about the above statement is that this man, who lived 2600 years ago, appears to be so modern and rational in his thinking! If we met this man in the street today, we might have a conversation with him like we would with an enlightened man of 21^st century. As regards living on borrowed money, which I think was a rhetorical statement, I am sure there are a lot of followers of this particular aspect of Lokayata philosophy all over the world.

Legacy Of, And Lessons From, Sramana Sects:

Jainism: Jainism has lingered on as a minor religion in India to this day, patronized over the centuries by minor royal houses and rich merchant class in the western and southern India. Jainism did not have a great royal patron like Buddhism did in Ashoka the Great. Jainism did not pose a significant threat to Brahmanism and so it has survived in India to this day. Even though a minor religion, the influence of Jainism on Brahmanism and the rest of the world was as profound as Buddhism, if not more. It was Jain philosophy of Ahimsa (nonviolence), which led to Brahmanism finally giving up animal sacrifices and embracing vegetarianism. Mahatma Gandhi’s Satyagraha movement during India’s independence struggle was rooted in the Jain philosophy of nonviolence. Dr. Martin Luther King’s successful struggle to emancipate African-Americans in America was patterned after Gandhi’s nonviolent method in India.

Ajivika: Ajivika sect lingered on till 13^th century and met its Destiny in the dustbin of history thereafter. However, its theory of Destiny (Niyati), which is often interpreted as fatalism, occupies the intellect of many Indians to this day. We can frequently get glimpses of Ajivika philosophy in conversations with Indians: “No one can change one’s Destiny.” “Whatever is destined to happen, will happen.” “All this is a play of Fate!” “Whatever is written on your forehead cannot be changed!” Complete acceptance of Destiny gives one complete peace of mind as well as absolute passivity!

Young Monks

Buddhism: For 1000 years after the Buddha’s death, Buddhism spread in leaps and bounds under the patronage of great royal houses: Maurya, Greco-Bactrian, Kushana, Gupta, Maukhari, Pala and the like. Resurgence of Brahmanism began in the early centuries of Christian era, probably under the patronage of the Guptas. By the time of Harshavardhana of the Maukhari house (590-647 A. D.), its lobby was strong enough to attempt his assassination for patronizing Buddhism. Another development that enhanced decline of Buddhism was revival of Brahmanism led by Shankaracharya (788-820 A. D.). He singlehandedly revived Brahmanism from ts deathbed by means of his great intellect, and even greater gift of the gab, and perhaps the greatest duplicity of all the Acharyas in interpreting anti-Brahmanic literature such as the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita. In the course of our quest for truth, we will study some examples of his deliberate misinterpretations and nonsensical commentaries on the anti-Brahmanic shlokas of the Bhagavad Gita. By doing so, he converted the Bhagavad Gita, ‘The Manifesto of the Revolution to Overthrow Brahmanism’, into ‘The Standard Handbook of Brahmanism’. After the arrival and spread of Islam (10^th -12^th A. D.), Buddhism disappeared from India altogether. Brahmanism absorbed what little was left of it and half-heartedly declared the Buddha as the ninth avatara of Vishnu. A section of Brahmanism continued to vilify him as one born to mislead Nastiks to hell. Regardless, Buddhism became the World Religion, thanks to two great Chinese pilgrims to India and innumerable Bhikkus who spread the message of the Buddha all over Far East and Middle East. I will not be surprised if some day some open-minded Christian scholar will trace the origin of Jesus’ ‘show him the other cheek’ philosophy to that of the Buddha, exported to Middle East by Ashoka’s emissaries in the 3^rd century B. C. E. In fact, Jesus’ revolt against Orthodox Judaism, and subsequent birth of Christianity, followed the blueprint laid by the Buddha.

Legacy And Lessons From Sramanas:

The lesson to be learned from all the above Sramana sects is that any attempt to bring sanity into Brahmanic Dharma should be characterized by purity of purpose, speech, thought and action. The rationalist activist must be perceived by his target population as a person who is rational, reasonable, good, honest, nonviolent and free from common human weaknesses such as anger, hatred, greed, selfishness, arrogance, and deceitfulness. Nothing hurts a reform movement like the perception by the target population that the activist himself is not of exemplary behavior. In other words, all reformation movements are nothing but exercise in self-improvement. Without trust in the reformer’s bona fides, his attempts will not bear any fruits. A rationalist’s approach should be one in which he comes across as genuinely interested in helping the religionists in overcoming their irrational fears and insecurities, which are the basis of their irrational beliefs and behaviors. This reminds me of the anecdote in which a psychotic patient tells his psychiatrist that he lives on the moon. The psychiatrist empathically plays along and even accepts the patient’s invitation to visit him on the moon on a certain date. On the designated day of the visit to moon, the psychiatrist says, “All right, I am ready. Let us go.” The patient surprises the psychiatrist by asking him, “You mean you really believe that I live on moon?”

Lesson From Lokayatas:

Lokayata philosophy was largely misunderstood, ridiculed and hooted off the Indian stage of philosophy by Brahmins as it struck at their very livelihood. Most of what we know of its fundamental beliefs comes to us from its staunch Brahmanic critics, and therefore is of dubious value. Many of their tenets were deliberately or out of ignorance misinterpreted by Brahmanic commentators. Its literature was available to scholars at least till 17^th century. It disappeared entirely over the past few centuries. Either Brahmanic loyalists destroyed it, or the palm leaves rotted away or were eaten by termites. Prakriti has a way of destroying everything, especially in India!

As the reader can discern, the Lokayata philosophers did not mince words. They indulged in frontal attacks against what they considered as Brahmanic fraud. However, frontal attacks, such as those launched by the Lokayatas against essentially irrational beliefs of Brahmanism rarely, if ever, get desired results. Logic, facts, and reasoning are no match to deep-rooted beliefs of delusional proportion, which majority of Hindus have. When Mahmud of Ghazni stormed the temple of Somanatha in 1025 A. D., he found 50,000 deluded Brahmins and devotees crying with their hands wrapped around their necks and repeatedly pleading with the stone lingam (phallus) of Shiva to save them as well as their rich temple from the sword of Mahmud. Mahmud, though no less deluded by his own religion, had more faith in his own sword. He gladly obliged the Brahmins and devotees to chop their bobbing heads off. Till the last man the devotees refused to believe that the stone lingam had no power to protect them. It didn’t occur to their deluded intellect that if the Shiva lingam did not save them from Mahmud’s sword after one pleading, repeat pleadings would not make any difference. Such is the deluding effect of religion on one’s reasoning powers.

Changing Beliefs And Behaviors Is A Mighty Task:

Man is essentially a creature of well-established beliefs, habits and behavioral patterns and it is mighty hard to change these. For example, people, who are always late for parties, as is the case with the vast majority of Indians I know in America, rarely change their behavior no matter how well one reasons with them. When confronted, they give one or more totally irrational explanations for their tardiness. They might need a combination of insight into their unconscious belief system (such as “I have to keep my ‘dignity’ by showing up late”, or, “If I show up on time my host might think I am dying to eat his food”) and incentive to change (such as “Sorry, all freshly made Jelebis were gone an hour ago! You are too late!” or a note on the door, “Sorry, the party ended an hour ago. We have gone for a walk.”). It takes a lot of mental energy for people to adopt a new belief system (such as “It is a sign of utter disrespect for the host if I don’t show up on time”) and conform their behavior to their new beliefs (such as “I must show up for the party on time”).

Most People Are On Autopilot:

It takes a highly “aware” person to transcend the power of childhood indoctrination and resort to reasoning. Most Hindu religionists I know do not fall in this category. Even a confirmed Atheist might reflexively exclaim “Oh, my God!” when he witnesses a tragedy or when he has an extremely pleasurable experience. That does not make him a believer in God. It simply proves that deep-rooted behaviors are often on autopilot and are very difficult to remove. Very high level of self-awareness and reasoning power are needed for one to change one’s irrational behavior. As a psychiatrist, I can attest to the fact that majority of my highly educated patients are unable to change their well-established behavioral patterns in spite of many attempts and reminders even in the context of a trusting relationship.

Note: Dr. Prabhakar Kamath, is a psychiatrist currently practicing in the U.S. He is the author of Servants, Not Masters: A Guide for Consumer Activists in India(1987) and Is Your Balloon About Pop?: Owner’s Manual for the Stressed Mind.

Courtesy: Nirmukta

Paid News: How corruption in the Indian media undermines democracy

Sections of the media in India have willy-nilly become participants and players in practices that contribute to the growing use of money power in politics, which undermines democratic processes and norms— while hypocritically pretending to occupy a high moral ground, says the report released by Press Council of India
The Press Council of India’s once suppressed report on paid news, which indicted many publishers and broadcasters of taking money for reporting on state assembly elections in 2004 and 2009; praising one candidate while maligning others; which had a significant effect on the voting results is finally out.
The recommendation of the Press Council report were withheld from the public until an right to information (RTI) application from journalist Manu Moudgil forced to Press Council to come out with all the relevant details by 10 October 2011 after an order from the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC).
The report says, "It is widely believed that many media companies, irrespective of the volume of their businesses and their profitability, were 'selling' news space after arriving at an 'understanding' with politicians and representatives of corporate entities that were advertisers. Space in publications and airtime were occupied by advertisements that were disguised as 'news'."
After the ‘paid news' scandal surfaced, the Press Council, on 3 June 2009, under Justice GN Ray set up a subcommittee to inquire into the racket. The committee comprising Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, senior journalist, and Sreenivas Reddy, produced an explosive 71-page report which clearly mentioned the names (and details) of the personalities who were involved in this racket.

  

Courtesy: Moneylife Digital team

Osho Teachings on Celebration

Osho - That's my whole teaching, celebration; not worship but celebration. When you worship, you start making a hierarchy; the lower and the higher. When you worship you put something on top of other things. When you worship, something becomes sacred and something becomes profane. When you worship you divide, you split existence. Then something is praised but in the wake of it, something is condemned too. So worship is not religious.
The god of the worshipper is not the true god, because to exist it needs a devil. Without a devil the god will not be possible. The more you praise the god, the more you have to condemn the devil. Then the world is torn apart into two enemy forces, and when you divide the world, you are also divided in it, you become split and schizophrenic. A part of you becomes evil and a part of you becomes holy, and then there is constant conflict, repression, and all joy is lost. A worshipper is basically ill-at-ease; he is dis-eased.
Celebration is a totally different dimension. When you celebrate, you celebrate all, you don't divide. For a celebrator, prayer is as beautiful as drinking tea. The tea is not profane and prayer is not separate; all is one. The church, the temple, the mosque and the pub are all one. Making love to a woman or a man or praying to a god is the same.
Celebration does not divide. It unites, it brings things together; it creates a togetherness in the world. The duality disappears and there is unity, and with unity there is joy because there cannot be any conflict. There is no struggle, nothing has to be overcome. All is overcome in the celebration itself. The worshipper has a goal; he has to attain it. The celebrator has no goal; he has attained it already. Worship is always future-oriented; celebration is present-oriented. You celebrate this moment, you worship some other moment.
You worship Christ; now two thousand years have passed. You worship the past -- Krishna, Mohammed, Rama -- or you worship the future -- heaven, god -- which is going to happen. But the celebrator worships this moment, he lives this moment. That is his worship; he lives it totally.
It happened once: a Christian theologian went to see a Zen master who was a painter too. Celebrators are always creators; worshippers are non-creative. The master was painting. He was just going to do something, he was in that moment of waiting when something descends, when something takes possession. The Christian said, 'I would be very happy if you can paint Jesus Christ for me. ' The master said, 'Okay, I will paint Jesus Christ.' And he painted a bamboo!
When the bamboo started coming up, the Christian was a little puzzled; had he forgotten what he had said When the painting was completed it was one of the most alive bamboos ever done. The Christian asked, 'I am sorry; the painting is beautiful, but you had promised to paint christ.'
But the master said, 'This is Christ! Can't you see Christ in it? The fragileness of it is exactly the fragileness of Christ. The wind is moving it; can't you see it? It goes with the wind: thy will be done. It is exactly Christ. And it is so alive and so beautiful; it belongs to god! What more can you expect? This is Christ...this moment this is Christ; Christ has taken the shape of a bamboo. And Christ was a bamboo, a hollow bamboo. He was not there, that is his beauty. He allowed god to exist in him, he allowed god to come through him, he allowed god to have a contact with the world; he became the connection.' But the Christian could not understand. He can only understand a jesus on the cross; how can he understand a bamboo as christ?
Christians have been very much puzzled by the Zen attitude towards life, because it has no worship in it; it has celebration.
A Zen master was asked, 'What is the essential secret of Buddhism? And the master said, 'The cypress tree in the courtyard,' because in that moment that was the only reality for the master.
I have heard another story. A man came, a monk, not belonging to the Zen people. He wanted to be initiated by the master, a Zen master. He was asked, 'From where are you coming?' He said, 'I come from a monastery which is called "the monastery of spiritual light".' The master said, 'Spiritual light? Never heard about anything like that. Strange! I am ninety and I have never heard anything about spiritual light; what do you mean? In the day there is sunlight, in the night there is the lamplight. From where comes this spiritual light, what is this spiritual light?'
The man was at a loss, he couldn't answer. Then the master answered for him. He said, 'Don't be worried. In the day, sunlight; in the night, lamplight. This is what spiritual light is; there is no other spiritual light.'
This is a different vision of life -- as it is, in its suchness, and enjoying each and every moment of it. So don't just remain contented with the name celebration; become celebration!
That's what sannyas is all about: it is a celebration of god, not a worship. And celebrate in your own way, because celebration cannot have any form. Worship becomes petrified into forms; celebration remains alive. And all is divine; there is nothing profane.

Source: from Osho Book "The Sun Behind the Sun Behind the Sun".

Additional note: Osho (11 December 1931 – 19 January 1990), born Chandra Mohan Jain, and also known as Acharya Rajneesh from the 1960s onwards, as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh during the 1970s and 1980s and as Osho from 1989, was an Indian mystic, guru, and spiritual teacher who garnered an international following. [Wikipdia].

Makaravilakku season begins in Sabarimala Temple

Makara Vilakku Festival

Sabarimala: The 'Makaravilakku' season began with much fanfare and devotion at the hill shrine of Lord Ayyappa on Friday evening. The festival will continue for 21 days.
According to reports, the sanctum sanctorum of the temple was opened at 5.30 pm however in accordance to tradition no ritual was conducted in the temple.
On January 12 the annual petta thullal at the Erumeli Sree Dharma Sastha Temple would be held. Two teams have been formed to conduct the special ritual known as the petta thullal. One team would take out the ritual procession from Erumeli Kochambalam to Erumeli Sree Dharma Sastha Temple at 12 noon. This will be done after seeing the 'krishnaparunthu' in the sky. The other would do the same from the Kochambalam to Erumeli Sree Dharma Sastha Temple at 2 pm soon after seeing the star in the sky.
The 'Thiruvabharanam' procession would be take out from Pandalam Valiyakoickal Sree Dharma Sastha Temple at 1 pm on January 13.
The Thiruvabharanam is an attire in gold to be adorned on the idol of Lord Ayyappa on the Makaravilakku day on January 15.
The auspicious 'Makarasamkrama Pooja' would be held at Lord Ayyappa Temple at 12.58 am on January 15.
Other important dates:
January 15: After the Thiruvabharanam ceremony, the deeparadhana would be held at 6.30 pm.
January 15 to 19: Carrying the 'thidambu' of Malikappuram Devi on a finely dressed elephant.
January 20: Guruthi ritual at Malikappuram at 11 pm.
January 21: Temple closed at 7 am.

Courtesy: Parda Phash

Drugs, Item girls, New Year

Mumbai: People getting busy with New Year celebrations beware - the drug peddlers are on the prowl. According to reports, item girls are the preferred way of transporting the narcotics inside the party arenas.
Since item girls are the star attraction at these dos, the drug peddlers are reportedly offering huge amounts in the name of 'performance'. It has been reported that the item girls are being instructed to carry a travel bag which, they are told, contains cash but actually has drugs.
Reports say that a model-turned-item girl revealed the plans to the police in her complaint filed in Mumbai.
Rozlyn Khan told the police that she was approached by a caller who posed as an organiser offering her an amount three times of what she charges. On further prodding she came to know that she will have to carry a bag full of drugs to the New Year bash for which she has a VIP entry meaning that she won’t have to go through the security checks.
Rozlyn informed that a lot of item girls were being approached by these drug dealers and many of them agreed to the deal without knowing what was inside the bag.
The police have registered the complaint against the anonymous caller under section 507 IPC, criminal intimidation by anonymous communication.
Reports say that the police teams are also keeping an eye on the New Year bashes across the city. 

Courtesy: Parda Phash

Adult Film Condom Proposal Qualifies for June Ballot
The city attorney calls it "needless and wasteful," but supporters argue the measure is needed to prevent and reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS
By Jonathan Lloy

A proposal that would require adult film actors to use condoms has qualified for the June ballot after proponents gathered enough signatures to put the issue before Los Angeles voters.
Proponents gathered more than 70,000 signatures, exceeding the 41,000 required to place the issue on the ballot, according to AIDS Heathcare Foundation spokesman Ged Kenslea. The signatures were certified last week by the LA City Clerk.
The Adult Film Workplace Condom Initiative would condition adult film permits on the production company's agreement to use condoms on the film set. Under the proposal, fees may be charged to "provide for inspectors to ensure compliance with conditions on film permits."
"We have other conditions on film permits," said Michael Weinstein, of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, a backer of the proposal. "If you're going to blow things up, you have to have the fire department involved."
The ballot measure is the subject of a legal challenge by City Attorney Carmen Trutanich. His office filed a lawsuit earlier this month, calling the measure a "needless and wasteful expenditure of public resources made in connection with a measure which the voters have no power to adopt."
State laws already mandate use of condoms when workers are exposed to blood-borne pathogens, the lawsuit states.
But in a letter sent to the LA City Council after Trutanich issued his opinion on the matter earlier this year, Cal/OSHA officials said local authorities can require condom use on adult film sets.
"State law does not preempt such action by the City because the City does not seek to enact an occupational health and safety standard but rather a public health standard applicable to any film activity (regardless of employment relationship) within the City boundaries," officials said in the letter.
The ballot proposal has come under fire from the Free Speech Coalition, a Canoga Park-based industry trade group. The group issued a statement in support of the lawsuit, calling the measure "political grandstanding" and a waste of taxpayer dollars.

Courtesy: NBC Southern California

3 (three) women in Zimbabwe Charged in Series of Sex Attacks on Men 

By Columbus S. Mavhunga

Harare, Zimbabwe (CNN) -- Police in Zimbabwe on Friday charged three women found in possession of 33 condoms containing semen with 17 counts of aggravated indecent assault in a case that may be a break in a string of sex attacks over the past two years by women targeting male hitchhikers.

Prosecutor Michael Reza told a court in Harare that the counts were for each of the 17 men who had positively identified the women as having sexually assaulted them in 2010 or 2011.

The women, all of them in their mid-20s, were arrested Sunday in Gweru, about 300 kilometers (186 miles) south of Harare, when their car was involved in an accident. Police found the condoms in the women's car. Police appealed to any other victims to inform police.

The three were taken Wednesday by police to Harare.

"Since Monday, 17 men came and positively identified the women as having raped them," said a police official in Harare who refused to be identified. "Most of the men said the women would offer a drink either laced with something to tranquilize them or were forced at gunpoint."

Watch Ruparanganda, a professor of sociology at the University of Zimbabwe said : "Some sections of the society use these sperm for ritual purposes. The thinking is that it can be used for regeneration of life since they are source of life (biologically). Some people think that they can have their bad luck gone by using semen. I am sure that explains all this we have been witnessing (men being forced)."

The prosecution identified the suspects as Rosemary Chakwizira, 24, Sophie Nhokwara, 26, and her sister, Netsai Nhokwara, 24.

They were to be held in custody until their next appearance, set for October 28, when more charges may be filed.

"We might have had more victims come identify these women," said the police source.

Source: CNN.com 
Photo Courtesy: Nutty News

 ~:The Indian Jews:~

To be against "Brahminism" is part and parcel of the political correctness of progressive scholars in twenty-first-century India, much like being against Muslims is part of the message of their Hindutva colleagues.

~~By Jakob De Roover

Social science debate in India has been hijacked by the struggle between secularism and Hindutva for decades now. Usually the Sangh Parivar is blamed for this turn of events. However, it could well be argued that the Hindutva ideologues simply adopted the stance of the secularists.  Perhaps the best illustration is the case of anti-Brahminism.
To be against "Brahminism" is part and parcel of the political correctness of progressive scholars in twenty-first-century India, much like being against Muslims is part of the message of their Hindutva colleagues. This indicates that something is very wrong with the Indian academic debate. Promotion of animosity towards a religious tradition or its followers is not acceptable today, but it becomes truly perverse when the intelligentsia endorses it.
In Europe, it took horrendous events to put an end to the propaganda of anti-Semitism, which had penetrated the media and intelligentsia. It required decades of incessant campaigning before anti-Semitism was relegated to the realm of intellectual and political bankruptcy. In India, anti-Brahminism is still the proud slogan of many political parties and the credential of the radical intellectual.
Some may find this parallel between anti-Brahminism and anti-Semitism ill-advised. Nevertheless, it has strong grounds.
First, there are striking similarities between the stereotypes about Brahmins in India and those about Jews in the West. Jews have been described as devious connivers, who would do anything for personal gain. They were said to be secretive and untrustworthy, manipulating politics and the economy. In India, Brahmins are all too often characterised in the same way.
Second, the stereotypes about the Jews were part of a larger story about a historical conspiracy in which they had supposedly exploited European societies. To this day, the stories about a Jewish conspiracy against humanity prevail. The anti-Brahminical stories sound much the same, but have the Brahmins plotting against the oppressed classes in Indian society.
In both cases, historians have claimed to produce "evidence" that cannot be considered so by any standard. Typical of the ideologues of anti-Brahminism is the addition of ad hoc ploys whenever their stories are challenged by facts. When it is pointed out that the Brahmins have not been all that powerful in most parts of the country, or that they were poor in many regions, one reverts to the image of the Brahmin manipulating kings and politicians behind the scene. We cannot find empirical evidence, it is said, because of the secretive way in which Brahminism works.
Third, both in anti-Semitic Europe and anti-Brahminical India, this goes together with the interpretation of contemporary events in terms of these stories. One does not really analyse social tragedies and injustices, but approaches them as confirmations of the ideological stories. All that goes wrong in society is blamed on the minority in question. Violence against Muslims? It must be the "Brahmins" of the Sangh Parivar. Opposition against Christian missionaries and the approval of anti-conversion laws? "Ah, the Brahmins fear that Christianity will empower the lower castes." Members of a scheduled caste are killed? "The Brahmin wants to show the Dalit his true place in the caste hierarchy." An OBC member loses his job; a lower caste girl is raped? "The upper castes must be behind it." So the story goes.
This leads to a fourth parallel: in both cases, resentment against the minority in question is systematically created and reinforced among the majority. The Jews were accused of sucking all riches out of European societies. In the decades before the second World War, more and more people began to believe that it was time "to take back what was rightfully theirs." In India also, movements have come into being that want to set right "the historical injustices of Brahminical oppression." Some have even begun to call upon their followers to "exterminate the Brahmins."
In Europe, state policies were implemented that expressed the discrimination against Jews. For a very long time, they could not hold certain jobs and participate in many social and economic activities. In India, one seems to be going this way with policies that claim to correct "the historical exploitation by the upper castes." It is becoming increasingly difficult for Brahmins to get access to certain jobs. In both cases, these policies have been justified in terms of a flawed ideological story that passes for social science.
The fifth parallel is that both anti-Semitism and anti-Brahminism have deep roots in Christian theology. In the case of Judaism, its continuing vitality as a tradition was a threat to Christianity's claim to be the fulfilment of the Jewish prophecies about the Messiah. The refusal of Jews to join the religion of Christ (the true Messiah, according to Christians) was seen as an unacceptable denial of the truth of Christianity. Saint Augustine even wrote that the Jews had to continue to exist, but only to show that Christians had not fabricated the prophesies about Christ and to confirm that some would not follow Christ and be damned for it.
The contemporary stereotypes about Brahmins and the story about Brahminism also originate in Christian theology. They reproduce Protestant images of the priests of false religion. When European missionaries and merchants began to travel to India in great numbers, they held two certainties that came from Christian theology: false religion would exist in India; and false religion revolved around evil priests who had fabricated all kinds of laws, doctrines and rites in order to bully the innocent believers into submission. In this way, the priests of the devil abused religion for worldly goals. The European story about Brahminism and the caste system simply reproduced this Protestant image of false religion. The colonials identified the Brahmins as the priests and Brahminism as the foundation of false religion in India. This is how the dominant image of "the Hindu religion" came into being.
The sixth parallel lies in the fact that Christian theology penetrated and shaped the "secular" discourse about Judaism and Brahminism. The theological criticism became part of common sense and was reproduced as scientific truth. In India, this continues unto this day. Social scientists still talk about "Brahminism" as the worst thing that ever happened to humanity.
Perhaps the most tragic similarity is that some members of the minority community have internalised these stories about themselves. Some Jews began to believe that they were to blame for what happened during the Holocaust; many educated Brahmins now feel that they are guilty of historical atrocities against other groups. In some cases, this has led to a kind of identity crisis in which they vilify "Brahminism" in English-language academic debate, but continue their traditions. In other cases, the desire to "defend" these same traditions has inspired Brahmins to aggressively support Hindutva.
In twentieth-century Europe, we have seen how dangerous anti-Semitism was and what consequences it could have in society. Tragically, unimaginable suffering was needed before it was relegated to the realm of unacceptable positions. In India, anti-Brahminism was adopted from Protestant missionaries by colonial scholars who then passed it on to the secularists and Dalit intellectuals. They created the climate which allowed the Sangh Parivar to continue hijacking the social sciences for petty political purposes.
The question that India has to raise in the twenty-first century is this: Do we need bloodshed, before we will realise that the reproduction of anti-Brahminism is as harmful as anti-Muslim propaganda? What is needed to realise that the Hindutva movement has simply taken its cue from the secularists? Do we need a new victory of fascism, before we will admit that pernicious ideologies should not be sold as social science?

Note: Jakob De Roover is a postdoctoral fellow of the Research Foundation (FWO) Flanders at the Research Centre Vergelijkende Cultuurwetenschap, Ghent University, Belgium.

~:এক সপ্তাহে সিরাজগঞ্জ জেলার বেলকুচি উপজেলা ও এনায়েতপুর থানার ৭ টি মন্দির ভাঙচুর:~

গত এক সপ্তাহে সিরাজগঞ্জ জেলার বেলকুচি উপজেলা ও এনায়েতপুর থানার বিভিন্ন মন্দিরে প্রতিমা ভাঙচুর করেছে দুষ্কৃতিকারীরা ৷ বেলকুচি উপজেলার মহাশ্মশান ঘাট কালীমন্দিরের কালী মূর্তি, এনায়েতপুর কালীমন্দিরের কালীদেবীর মূর্তি, বটতলা কালীমন্দির, হালদার পাড়ার দুর্গামন্দিরের লক্ষ্মীদেবীর প্রতিমা, খামারগ্রাম কালীমন্দিরের কালী দেবীর প্রতিমা সহ মোট সাতটি মন্দিরের দেবীমূর্তি ভাঙচুর করা হয়েছে।
বেলকুচি থানা পুলিশ প্রতিমা ভাঙচুর ঘটনায় ৫ জনকে আটক করেছে বলে থানা সূত্রে জানা যায় ৷ কিন্তু ধারাবাহিকভাবে প্রতিমা ভাঙচুরের ঘটনায় স্থানীয় হিন্দুদের মধ্যে আতংকের সৃষ্টি হয়েছে ৷ জেলা পূজা উদযাপন কমিটি, শাহজাদপুর উপজেলা পূজা উদযাপন কমিটি, বেলকুচি উপজেলা পূজা উদযাপন কমিটি প্রতিমা ভাঙচুরের ঘটনায় নিন্দা জানিয়ে বিবৃতি দিয়েছে এবং অবিলম্বে দুষ্কৃতিকারীদের গ্রেফতারসহ ক্ষতিগ্রস্তদের ক্ষতিপূরণ দেওয়ার দাবি জানিয়েছে।
এদিকে উক্ত ঘটনার প্রতিবাদে বাংলাদেশ জাতীয় হিন্দু ছাত্র মহাজোট ঢাকা বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় ক্যাম্পাসে একটি বিক্ষোভ মিছিল বের করে। ওই মিছিলে ছাত্ররা মূর্তি ভাঙার ঘটনায় তীব্র প্রতিক্রিয়া ব্যক্ত করেন ও মন্দিরগুলোতে প্রশাসন কর্তৃক ক্ষতিপূরণ দাবি করেন। সংখ্যালঘুদের মানবাধিকার ও ধর্মীয় স্বাধীনতায় অপশক্তিদের হস্তক্ষেপের নিন্দা জানিয়ে প্রশাসনকে এ বিষয়ে আরও সতর্ক হওয়ার জন্য দাবি করেন তারা।
 

হিন্দু বার্তা হতে 

Translation:

~:In Belkuchi subdivision and under Enayetpur Police Station, in the Shirajganj district, 7 Hindu Temples were desecrated/damaged by the miscreants:~

In the last one week, in one of the most bizarre incidents, in Belkuchi sub-division and under Enayetpur police station, in the Shirajganj district, Bangladesh, several Hindu temples were vandalized and idols desecrated/destroyed by some miscreants. The following  list includes some of prominent names, among the seven such incidents in the last one week: 
(i) "Mahashamshan Ghat Kali" Idol in Belkuchi sub-division.

(ii) The idol of goddess Kali in Enayetpur, Kali Temple

(iii) Bat-tola Kali Temple

(iv) The Lakshmi idol of "Durga" Temple in "Haldarpara"

(v) The idol of goddess "Kali" of Khamargram Kali Temple and few more.

In the connection the Belkuchi Police Station has rounded up 5 mischief mongers. But,  this unwarranted breaking of the idols of Hindu Gods, in chronological order in so many places, has created a lot of furor among the local Hindus. The office bearers of District Pooja Celebration Committe, Shahjadpur subdivision Pooja Celebration Committe, Belkuchi subdivision Pooja celebration Committe, have vehemently criticized such motivated communal strikes by vested interest individual/groups on soft Hindu Targets and have asked for an immediate action against those responsible for perpetrating such heinous crimes against the Hindus. They had also, demanded compensation for the damaged party.  

In another crucial development related to this shameless incident, National Students Federation of Bangladesh had organized a protest march within Dhaka University Campus. In that rally, the student leaders strongly condemned such motivated attacks on Hindu Symbols of reverence. They have also demanded an immediate compensation package, for those damaged temples, from the current Bangladeshi Government. The participating students in that rally, had also urged upon, the government of Bangladesh, to take stringent measures, against the culprits; so that the Human Rights and Right to religion, of the minorities of Bangladesh are not trampled upon by vested groups. 

Courtesy: Shonaton.com

Who Says Politics is the Last Resort of a Scoundrel ?

 ~~by Florine Roche

The oft-repeated maxim ‘politics is the last resort of a scoundrel’ may sound harsh and derogatory in the simple sense of the term.  The blanket application of this  maxim to the worldwide  political scenario may not be justifiable.  But if the political happenings in India in the last few decades  are anything to go by,  it makes sense to alter the maxim -  ‘politics is the last resort of businessmen who are scoundrels’ or to change the definition completely  based on individual percipience .  Because for many in our country politics is also a  business, to grab huge mass of land, buildings, shopping malls, apartments and prime properties in major cities of India and to amass wealth.   Considering the way this clan of scoundrels swindle  our country left, right and centre, they deserve a much more ruthless term to describe them rather than stick on to the age old term of a mere scoundrel.   Because words like scoundrel are too mild  and  have lost their meaning in today’s changed circumstances.  May be one can call them avaricious rogues,  parasites, maniacs or a kind of bacteria, virus or  political cancer, who are bent upon inflicting  such a deep wound from which our country cannot survive leave alone recover.
One can only say politics  in India stinks badly, to an inexplicable  degree  as it is unable to come out from the morass of filth, corruption, dishonesty, rank opportunism, expediency, maneuverings and manipulation of all kinds and above all, greed and criminalization that has come to afflict it.  Elections after elections we keep generating more filth  adding on to the existing one.  With many politicians with criminal background getting elected to the parliament both at the centre and in states,  one can only expect the  political situation to become worst than what it is today.  Just wait and watch! The stabbing to death  of a sitting BJP MLA in Bihar  by an exploited  school principal,  is just a small price paid by the politician for his misdemeanor and brazen behavior.  And lo, there will be enhanced security cover to these ‘netaas’ , for which taxpayer’s money will be spent.
You may wonder what warranted this kind of outburst to direct my angst against politicians at this stage, now that 2G scam is losing the initial euphoria it had generated.   What triggered my pent up anger against the degeneration of the  political scenario is the Citizens Report on Governance and Development, 2010, released by the National Social Watch recently showing that 128 out of 543 (25%) of the Lok Sabha members in India are either industrialists, traders, businessmen or builders.  Though it is nothing to gloat about,  Rajya MPs from these groups account for only 10 % (25 out of 245) in the parliament.  Not that it is  something that was not known to a majority of Indians.  The  trend of  businessmen becoming politicians has been on the rise especially in the  last two decades.   But for the first time there was a clear idea of the number of businessmen netaas who have succeeded in spreading their tentacles  to  the precincts  of parliament, albeit as elected representatives.
The report also says that this trend  is a flagrant  departure from the past when both the houses of parliament had the right balance of educationists, intellectuals, industrialists, sportspersons, social workers or people who excelled in art, culture, literature  &  music.  The report says “it was rarely that one found an industrialist or businessmen or others from allied communities in the Lok Sabha  right until the 1990.  But the recent years have witnessed an  astonishing growth of crorepatis in both the houses of parliament”.
Again, it is not just the question of these businessmen  spreading their wings in parliament, but using their clout for their personal gains.  Ever since getting elected to the parliament, the  financial fortunes  of many MPS have also undergone a  sea-change - of course only for the better.  This is, at a time when common people are struggling to live in the big bad world with spiraling inflation and many small time businessmen  struggling to  survive following the onslaught from MNC’s, luxury malls and big business houses and the global economic meltdown resulting in the closure of many businesses. 
Leaving aside common man,  where else but in  politics in India, can one expect his income to rise by a stupendous 3,024 per cent during a period of five years from 2004 to 2009?  This record is created by 46 year old Vijayawada parliamentarian Lagadapati Rajagopal, an industrialists who unabashedly calls himself as a political social worker.  During this five year period his fortunes witnessed  an exponential growth from Rs. 9.25 crore to 289 crore, something that no ordinary mortal can even think of in his dreams.  And behold!   The change in the political fortunes of these elected netaas is not confined to a single individual or any single party.  It spreads across politicians of all hues and political parties.
Among those parliamentarians whose affluence has witnessed a big leap include BJP MP Maneka Gandhi.  Her assets rose from 6.32 crores ibn 2004 to reach Rs. 17.6 crores in 2009.  The assets of another BJP MP Uday Singh, who hails from Bihar,   rose from 3.06 crores in 2004 to 43.86 crores in 2009.
The assets of our own ‘Mannina Maga’s Maga” H D Kumaraswamy saw a sharp rise from 3.06 crores in 2004 to 49.85 crores within a short period of 5 years.  Milind Deora, young businessmen-parliamentarian, son of union minister Murli Deora,  also is a crorepathi whose assets saw a big jump from 4.98 crores to 25.86 crores.  Industrialist-Congress parliamentarian  Navin Jindal  also witnessed a meteoric rise in his fortunes from 12.12 crores to 131 crores in five years.  Another Trinamol Congress MP  Ambika Bannerjee also considerably enhanced her wealth from 23.18 lakhs in 2000 to 17.6 crores in 2009.   This is just the tip of the iceberg, based on the declaration of assets required to be submitted by  these parliamentarians.  One can just imagine the black money staked in foreign banks, benami properties, assets and cash and gold by these unscrupulous and shameless beasts! 
Union minister and veteran parliamentarian S. Jaipal Reddy, who released the report, painted a rather grim picture of what lies ahead saying the proportion of rich parliamentarians will keep rising in the days to come mainly because contesting elections has become a costly affair.   The report also reveals that except in Kerala more money is spent during elections in the southern states.
One would not have grudged these businessmen becoming mere parliamentarians. But, many members of parliament belonging to various political parties  are in the centre stage of the conflict of interest.  This is because many parliamentarians are part of the various standing committees  connected to their specific professions,  despite being industrialists. It is well known in the parliament circles that finance and industry-related committees are the most sought after and many MP’s often  solidly lobby to be a part of such committees. A cursory glance at the list of members of these all important committees including standing committees on finance and industry and the public accounts committee,  reaffirm these facts.  
For example at least 3 members on the Standing Committee on Health,  run their own medical  and education institutions.  The 31 member Standing Committee on finance has everyone connected with industry, cutting across party lines and 8 of them are from Andhra Pradesh, all leading captains of industry. Can these members allow to formulate policies which are detrimental to their business interests?
Nearly 1/3 members of the Committee on Industry are those from the business and industry.  Businessmen Navin Jindal, Tamilnadu educationist M Thambi Durai and  Andhra-based contractor Kamba Siva Rao are members of the Public Accounts Committee. Public Undertaking Committee has three Andhra-based businessmen as members – T Subbirami Reddy, Nama Nageshwara Rao and Rajagopal Lagadapati. An MP who has a defense equipment business is allowed to be on a defense committee that formulates policies pertaining to defense.
These members of various standing committees have the power to summon officers, including those from the income tax and revenue departments and one can imagine the outcome.  It is said these members wield enormous clout and even their personal assistants often browbeat bureaucrats and officials.  Being members of the  powerful standing committees, one cannot rule out abuse of public office for personal gains by these MPs.  It is not without reason therefore, that the personal wealth of many of our MP’s rose by leaps and bounds. 
While our MP’s are bent upon getting a handsome increase in their salaries or even ask to be paid salaries equivalent to that of salary paid to the highest bureaucrat -  may be taking a cue from Japan and France, they fail to emulate politicians of other countries in other matters.  In Switzerland, parliamentarians are not paid  salary or allowance.  They just get paid leave from their employers on the days of the session.  In Mexico, MP’s are paid handsomely but are allowed to do business or practice any profession.  In USA, members of Congress cannot earn more than 15% from outside of their Congressional salary.  But when it comes to Indian MP’s there is no bar.  They only add  up to the existing bars or remove all the bars/obstacles that come in the way of their business interests.
Though becoming a MP is a sure fire way of making more money in this country,  decent people shy away from joining politics. It is not easy also for an ordinary mortal to get into politics where dynastic succession is in vogue both at the centre and in many states.  Even though  some politicians  are naïve at the time of joining politics, with the passage of time and on joining  bunch of unscrupulous  rogues, they become one like them.  May be it is difficult to survive amidst a bunch of crooks  who are driven by the sole objective of swindling this country in all possible ways.
Now you know why our  businessmen sweat it out during election time doing padyatras and even coming to the doorstep of voters with folded hands? It is a kind of investment  to them, as  one months of hard work is sure to earn him or her  in crores in the days to come.  So the  next time a businessman enters into politics and eulogizes about serving the public, you know what he/she  means.  So take full liberty in altering the existing maxim. Let your creative mind work overtime.

Courtesy: Daijiworld.com

"Girls undergo systematic rape and torture in brothels"

KOLKATA: One doesn't expect socialites to spend a languid rainy afternoon listening to horror stories. Especially when it's a diminutive 62-year-old narrating the tales. But when it is one Anuradha Koirala doing the talk, the glamour quotient doesn't matter. The grit that fuels this character does. It jolts listeners out of stupor and lands them in a stark world with sleaze and grime.
A packed audience, mostly members of the FICCI ladies organization, listened with rapt attention as the chairperson of Maiti Nepal (an NGO that has rescued over 18,000 women from sexual slavery and exploitation) recounted stories that touch a nadir in human depravation.
Radhika, a 16-year-old from a well-to-do high caste Nepali family, fell in love with a boy from a low caste and eloped to get married. But with the boy unable to find a job and the girl's family unwilling to support them, the husband convinced her to sell one of her kidneys at Chennai for Rs 65,000. By then, they had already had a girl. After the money was spent, the husband sold her along with the daughter to a brothel in Mumbai. There she was first gang raped and then forced into sex trade. Her daughter's tongue was burned to prevent her from crying for her mother when she was entertaining clients. They lived like this for six years till a client learnt about her tale and informed Maiti.
"We managed to rescue Radhika and her daughter. There are many instances when tip-offs from clients have led to rescue of Nepali girls forced into prostitution. But for every such fairytale ending, there are hundreds of cases in which a girl lives and dies a sex slave," said Koirala.
Sarita, another Nepali girl trafficked to Mumbai and working in a brothel, broke both her legs after jumping off the three-storied building when she attempted to escape from forced oral sex. She survived. But for many girls, it is too late when rescued. "Several of them are infected with AIDS. Others become drug addicts. All that Maiti can then provide them is dignified death. At its hospice, there are 17-year-olds who look like 70, waiting for death to deliver them from a short, yet horribly cruel life. While women rescued from India are usually infected with diseases, those rescued from the Gulf are worse off with 57% psychotic cases from not just sexual but physical and mental abuse as well. Depravation reaches new levels when girls are trafficked to the Gulf. They are like zombies when rescued," she said.
While most girls trafficked from Nepal land up in brothels in Nagpur, Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Surat, Delhi, Bangalore, Siliguri, Gorakhpur and Meerut, girls are increasingly being re-routed to the Gulf, China and South-East Asia as well. "While traffickers in India prefer girls with mongoloid features as prevalent in people from lower castes in Nepal, those in China prefer girls from high caste who have prominent nose and high cheek bone," Maiti Nepal director Bishwo Ram Khadka said.
Of the 600,000-800,000 people trafficked every year globally, 70% are women and children. Of this, 150,000 cases are in South Asia with Nepal accounting for a lion's share. Maiti estimates there are 150,000-400,000 Nepali girls and women in Indian brothels. A big chunk of them are aged 7-24 years.
"The girls undergo systematic rape and torture. They are starved and scalded by smoldering cigarettes and sometimes even murdered. Those who are young are given hormone injections so that they appear big and then gang raped as an initiation into the trade. Thereafter, they are made to entertain 5-50 clients a day," said Koirala.
While extreme poverty in west Nepal is considered the primary reason for Nepali girls being trafficked in large numbers, Koirala says gender discrimination is the root cause, citing social practices like Chaupadi, Deuki and Badi where girls are driven into flesh trade by families.
Koirala took up the cause of rescuing and rehabilitating women in 1993 after suffering domestic violence. "At the time, everyone in Nepal was speaking about trafficking but no one was doing anything. So I took a plunge and have been swimming against the tide since," said Koirala, who was awarded CNN Hero of the Year 2010.

Courtesy: The Times of India

~:Social media code: Congress cautious, BJP opposes Sibal's way:~

The Congress Wednesday reacted cautiously to government moves for a code of conduct for social media, calling for larger debate, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was supportive but said Communications Minister Kapil Sibal's way of approaching the issue is not right
Congress spokesman Manish Tewari hoped the government would hold threadbare consultations with all stakeholders before taking a decision.
"The issue is very sensitive and it needs larger debate. We hope that the government will take any step after this issue is discussed threadbare with all stakeholders," Tewari said answering a query over the controversy involving content on social media such as Facebook and Google.
BJP leader S.S. Ahluwalia supported the government's view on objectionable content on the social networking sites but said Sibal's way of approaching the issue is not right.
"We condemn if some distortion has taken place on such sites. No political party would approve distortion of images of public figures on the social network sites," Ahluwalia said.
But he said that "Sibal's way of regulating them is not okay".
Ahluwalia compared the government's move to ask the social networking sites to block objectionable content with the way it treated yoga guru Baba Ramdev when he protested the black money issue in Delhi earlier in the year and was asked to give a declaration on ending the agitation.
The BJP leader said the government should instead bring the regulation that it planned for these social network sites to parliament for discussion. "We will give our views then," he said.
Stating that the constitution granted complete freedom of speech, Ahluwalia said the social networking sites should not promote pervert pictures or hurt religious sentiments of people.
Sibal had said that global internet companies should block some content from their sites in view of senstivities and cultural ethos of people of the country.

Courtesy: Mid-day

'Why censor FB when you allow Sunny Leone on TV?

Sunny Leone

BJP leader wonders why the government wants to repress social media, when it is not censoring the Indo-Canadian porn star who is now a rage on national television; Kapil Sibal states our society is 'not as mature as in the West'.
Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) young leader Anurag Singh Thakur wonders why the government wants to censor social media like Facebook when it is not 'censoring Sunny Leone', an Indo-Canadian porn star who is a rage on the popular television show Bigg Boss.
"Why do they want to censor Facebook, when they don't censor Sunny Leone," Thakur asked a day after Communications Minister Kapil Sibal advocated screening of inflammatory or offensive content on social networking sites.
Sunny trend:
"Thousands of children are searching for her on internet and getting connected to porn sites," said Thakur on the sidelines of a conference on effective legislatures organised by PRS Legislative Research.
Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor, who had 'rejected' censorship for social media, however, said that after an expostulation from his colleague Kapil Sibal he felt some restriction was needed, as Indian politics and society was not as mature as in the West.
Are we immature?
"I talked to Kapil Sibal, he told me that there were inflammatory images of gods, goddesses, prophets. When I saw those, I felt there is a problem. Free speech in India is not the same as in the West," Tharoor said at the conference.
"If certain people see these images, it can cause violence, we don't have a democracy so mature that we can ignore such things. So certain amount of restraint is necessary," he said.
"Inflammatory communal incitement is like a match at a petrol pump, why should we do that?" Tharoor argued, adding in good measure, however, that he was against censorship.
Contradicting him, Thakur said social media was a platform for common expression and should be allowed to grow and become mature.
"Social media should be given time to get mature," said Thakur, adding that it should be left to the social media to create ways of removing objectionable content. "There are options like watermarking," he suggested.
Sibal, however, said the government will not allow social networking sites to host 'objectionable' content and will take steps to screen and remove these.

Courtesy: Mid-day

Nikaah in Shiv Sena 'first family'

Mumbai, December 5: Bal Thackeray's eldest son late Bindumadhav's daughter Neha and her husband Mohammad Nabi got married on Thursday and the wedding reception held at Hotel Taj Lands End on Sunday in Mumbai.
Raj Thackeray, who was present with wife Sharmila and children Amit and Urvashi, did the kanyadaan.
Uddhav Thackeray and wife Rashmi were also present for the occasion, as was Smita Thackeray and her sons Rahul and Aishwary.
Neha's mother Madhavi Thackeray welcomed guests like Manohar Joshi, Ram Kadam, Ashish Shelar, Gopal Shetty, Nitin Sardesai and wife Swati, Mangesh Sangle, Shirish Parkar, Shishir Shinde and others.
The wedding was kept a secret from his famous mama by Vilas Gupte,Bal Thackeray's nephew.
"I haven't had the courage to tell him yet, but I'm sure Bal mama will bless the couple," said Gupte, an anxious but proud father, at the reception.
By all available reports, the bride converted to Islam and had a nikaah three months ago at Bandra (West), a posh Mumbai suburb.
Thackeray lives close by, in Bandra (East), recently declared Mumbai's dirtiest area by the municipal corporation.
"They had the nikaah three months ago in Bandra, which was attended by Neha's friends," confirmed Mohammed Qayoom, the groom's brother.
The bride and her father are denying the conversion. Asked if she changed her religion for the nikaah as is mandatory, Neha smiled and said: "I don't need to convert, I have a very adjusting husband."
Haji Afzal Hussain Khan, the bridegroom's father, said: "They did have a nikaah. Frankly, it depends on the girl's family when they want to tell him (Thackeray)."
Neha and Mohammed Nabi, both physiotherapists, met a year and a half ago at a private clinic in Kurla. They fell in love and decided to tie the knot. "But the family took some time to come around," admitted the couple.
Gupte does not think there could be a permanent falling out between his family and the Thackerays over Neha's marriage. "I'm sure when I do tell him, Bal mama will accept it like the rest of us have."
Neha and Nabi had a registered marriage on Sunday followed by a reception at Wadala, central Mumbai. The bride looked radiant in her red-and-gold zari sari beside her handsome groom in a beige suit.
Gupte's mother and the Sena boss are first cousins. "One of the reasons I kept the news of the wedding from Bal mama was that we did not want to trouble them during the election campaign."
The Sena lost both bypolls held on Saturday, with its Malwan candidate losing his deposit to ex-Sainik Narayan Rane.
The marriage is significant because of Thackeray's past. A saffron supporter, he would denounce Muslims as "Pakade" (Pakistan-backers). In 1999, the Supreme Court barred him from voting in or contesting elections for inciting Hindu-Muslim riots.

Courtesy: Coataldigest.com

~:Bal Thackeray’s granddaughter weds Gujarati guy:~

Mumbai: Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray's granddaughter Neha married a Gujarati guy in Mumbai on December 4, sources said.
Neha is the daughter of Bal Thackeray's eldest son late Bindumadhav. Neha has married Manan, son of an old friend of Bindumadhav and Raj Thackeray. The marriage has further cemented the family’s bond with the MNS leader.
The entire family, excluding Bal Thackeray, attended the wedding at Hotel Taj Lands End. Neha's mother Madhavi Thackeray welcomed guests like Manohar Joshi, Ram Kadam, Ashish Shelar, Gopal Shetty, Nitin Sardesai and wife Swati, Mangesh Sangle, Shirish Parkar, Shishir Shinde and others.

Raj Thackeray, too, attended the reception, along with his wife and sons, reports said.

Meanwhile, there is a speculation in media circles that the Thackeray's son-in-law converted to Hinduism sometime back, but the family has denied the reports.

Courtesy:Daily Bhaskar 
Photo Courtesy: Pakistan Defence

~:Underage girl forces classmates into prostitution in China:~

A 13-year-old-girl in China pushed her three underage friends into prostitution after suspecting them of disclosing her secret that she was working as a prostitute at a massage parlour.
The incident occurred in Henan province.
Honghong (name changed) was herself lured into the sex trade to earn pocket money after she quit the school two years ago, the Shanghai Daily quoted a media report as saying.
But when her boyfriend broke up with her after learning about her job, Honghong was convinced that her classmates had disclosed her secret and vowed to take revenge, the report added.
The underage Honghong and a fellow 17-year-old prostitute threatened to beat the three classmates, aged between 13 to 14, to death if they didn't join prostitution.
Fourteen-year-old Xiaoshan (name changed) was coerced into having sex with two men at the massage parlour. The other two 13-year-old girls looked so young that the parlour owner refused to keep them.
Honghong was immune from the legal punishment while her helper, Dandan, has been charged with forcing others into prostitution, according to Zhongyuan District People's Procuratorate, a law supervision organ, in the provincial capital Zhengzhou.

All the four girls lived in low-rent communities with their migrant worker parents who struggled to make ends meet in Zhengzhou, the report said.

Courtesy: Mid Day

"Banana, cucumber bring sexual thoughts; women must avoid them"

Cairo: Women should be kept away from fruits like banana or cucumbers as they could arouse them and make them think of sex, feels an Islamic cleric. The unnamed sheikh who is based in Europe was quoted saying to an Egyptian website that if women wish to eat these food items, a third party, preferably a male should serve them.
According to him, these fruits and vegetables “resemble the male penis” and hence could bring sexual thoughts to a woman’s mind.
He also added carrots and zucchini to the list of forbidden foods for women.
The sheikh once featured in an article on el-Senousa news.
One being asked how to “control” women when they are out shopping for groceries, the cleric answered saying this matter is between them and God.
Answering another question about what to do if women in the family like these foods, the sheikh advised the interviewer to take the food and cut it for them in a hidden place so they cannot see it.
The opinion has stirred a storm of irony and denouncement among Muslims online, with hundreds of comments mocking the cleric.
One reader said that these religious “leaders” give Islam “a bad name” and another commented said that he is a “retarded” person and he must quite his post immediately.
Others called him a seeker of fame, but no official responses from renowned Islamic scholars have been published on the statements.

Courtesy: Daily Bhaskar

 Hawking Poison: Desperate US prisons look for lethal drugs from India. Should we market death?

Anjali Puri

Sodium Thiopental:   

• What Short-acting barbiturate used as an anaesthetic. First of a standard three-drug protocol used in the United States to execute prisoners sentenced to death. Lethal dose (up to 5 grams) used to render prisoner unconscious, after which a paralytic and a toxic agent injected in sequence.  
• Why Shortage of sodium thiopental in the US after sole domestic supplier, shut production in 2009, citing lack of raw materials. Demand low, outside of prisons in the US. 
• How Initially, US prisons able to import it from Britain, but ban imposed by Britain, other European countries, after human rights groups protest. Mainstream drug companies reluctant to supply. Therefore, some prisons are turning to India.

***

It all started with a mundane phonecall in August, received by the Noida office of a Swiss-Indian drug company called Naari. The caller, a Calcutta-based Indian businessman called Chris Harris, wanted samples of a drug called sodium thiopental to dispatch, he explained, to Zambia for registration by the country’s drug authorities. It was a perfectly plausible request. The drug, though largely replaced by better anaesthetics in the West, is still used widely in the developing world. Accordingly, Naari dipped into its stocks and sent vials containing 485 grams of sodium thiopental to Harris in Calcutta in end-September; and waited for the large order that he said would follow.
A few weeks later, the firm’s Indian officials were stunned when an investigator with the London-based charity, Reprieve, which campaigns against the death penalty, called to tell them where those samples had really gone. Not to Zambia, but the American state of Nebraska; not for medicinal use, but to execute convicts by the chosen American method, lethal injection (see infographic).
Surprise turned to outrage when they learnt from the investigator, Maya Foa, that Naari had even been named as the supplier of the drug in a press release issued by Nebraska’s Department of Correctional Services (NCDs) on November 3. “We’re not in the business of helping to execute people, we were lied to and cheated,” says a spokesman for the company. The prison paid $5,411 for the chemicals—over 15 times what Naari would have ordinarily charged Harris for them. But Harris hadn’t paid at all. By selling Naari’s free samples to Nebraska’s execution machinery, apparently desperate for drugs, the small-time middleman had made—yes—a killing.
Foa, who’s working with Naari on strategies to prevent the exported drugs being used in executions, says the episode, though shocking, is typical. “It is often the case that manufacturers and suppliers are drawn into this trade unwittingly and have no idea their drugs are going to execution chambers,” she says. That knowledge belongs to perfidious middlemen, key players in a macabre niche of global commerce ominously seeking to widen its footprint in India.
High US standards for foreign drugs drop dramatically when it involves import of drugs for lethal injections.
Harris, for instance, has been in assiduous contact with American prison departments, as shown by documents obtained by campaigners through Freedom of Information Act applications. It was he who brokered transactions in which Nebraska and South Dakota bought sodium thiopental in December 2010 and February 2011 respectively from Kayem Pharmaceuticals Pvt Ltd, which turned out to be a two-room outfit in a Mumbai suburb. (Eventually, US enforcement officials did not permit the use of those drugs, due to procedural violations in the import process.) Dipak Shangvi of Ganpati Exim, a Calcutta wholesaler and exporter of drugs, says he was in discussions with Harris a few months ago over supplying the drug to the US, but pulled out quickly when he realised—thanks to a Google search that led him to ask Harris some probing questions—that it was going to a prison. “We are Jains,” he said, by way of explanation.
The intriguing larger question is: why are state institutions in the mighty United States shopping at the murky end of the pharma trade? The answer is, they don’t have much choice. Drug companies, increasingly reluctant to be branded as suppliers of drugs for lethal injections, are distancing themselves from US prisons, which is no small achievement for hyperactive anti-capital punishment groups. When Hospira, the sole producer of sodium thiopental within the US, shut shop in 2009, for a variety of reasons, some US prisons initially managed to source the drug from Britain. (By now, it will not surprise readers to know it came from a company that operated out of the back of a driving school.) However, campaigners put an end to that trade by persuading several European governments to ban it. Many US prisons switched to a single drug called pentobarbital, commonly used to put down dogs, but campaigners won that round, too. In July this year, a Danish company, Lundbeck, the only licensed maker of the drug in the US, bowed to pressure (especially when it took the form of a major investor, a Danish pension fund, selling off a hefty € 5.4 million worth of its shares) and agreed to deny the drug to American execution chambers.
What has made the campaign against lethal injection popular is not just European aversion to the death penalty, but the campaigners’ unrelenting focus on American double standards. The US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) zealously protects its citizens from the perceived shortcomings of foreign drugs (ask big Indian pharmaceutical firms, which have to jump through many hoops for usfda approval, before their products can enter the US market) but those standards drop dramatically, clearly for political reasons, when it comes to the import of drugs for lethal injections. That’s why consignments arranged by Indian middlemen are able to make it to US prisons.
The tacit rationale seems to be that standards don’t matter for people who will die anyway. But lawyers and campaigners are contesting that cynical argument, both in and outside the courts. They argue that murky supply chains can result in chemicals becoming degraded and lead to torturous and painful deaths. The chilling, oft-cited recent case is of Brandon Rhode, 31, whose eyes remained open until he died, leading a doctor to testify that the imported (from Britain) sodium thiopental injected into him may have “lacked efficiency”.
While campaigners are all set to fight the use of the latest imports for executions, the Indian route is a worry, admits Foa. “We have been very successful; some US states are now in a de facto state of moratorium on the death penalty. This could take us backwards.”
Should Indians care? Opinions are divided, even among those who usually care, reflecting cleavages on the larger question of capital punishment. (There is also a certain exasperation with the blinkered, single-issue vision of western groups.) C.M. Gulhati, usually a trenchant critic of drug companies, sees no case to answer here. “If we execute our prisoners, we really can’t object to Americans executing theirs. There are no legal, clinical or ethical grounds on which we can say, don’t export the drug to American prisons,” he says. Amar Jesani, an expert on ethics, rights and health systems, disagrees: “What is lawful is not necessarily ethical. Section 377 was not ethical, the death penalty is not.” Pointing out that doctors in America do not, by consensus, administer lethal injections, he says: “If they don’t participate in killing, pharmaceutical companies shouldn’t either. They should be named and shamed when they do.”
Interestingly, Dilip G. Shah, secretary general of the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance, takes much the same tack. Dismissively, he says, “This is a niche segment, dominated by unscrupulous small operators looking for easy money. None of the large pharmaceutical companies would touch it. They wouldn’t want to be associated with killing people.” And why, he asks, should the industry compromise on its reputation for relatively small gains: “The volume is nothing—are there that many people on death row?” For campaigners, that last argument might work best, in persuading India to turn its back on this sordid trade. Self-interest usually gets more done than ethics.

Courtesy: Outlook (5th December, 2011)