Culture

Nowadays , the best way to get into limelight is indulge in hooliganism in the name of culture. This is what precisely done by Pramad Muthalik and the obscure organization, Ram Sena, dominated the national headlines and became the talk of the every household. These rowdies went on the rampage to protect the so called Indian culture. This raises several questions about culture viz, Is it static?, Are there particular guidelines to be followed ?, Is it different for men and women ?, Is there something called “Indian culture”, with India being so diverse ?, and above all, Can it be defined ? and if yes then who will ?

Anthropologists define culture as sum total of ways of living built by a group of human beings and transmitted from one generation to another. Now the coming generations with their thinking capabilities must amend the unwritten rules according the changed circumstances and this is how culture evolves. If culture is static then why have we banned “Sati”, the practice of human sacrifice by the tribals in Chota Nagpur region, Purdah system, untouchablity etc. At one time all these formed the basis of our culture but now they are no more considered a part of it. Culture is something ever evolving and it takes its own course depending upon the environment of society. These miniature group of rowdies cannot define culture, leave alone the idea of containing culture.

With India being full of diversity, How can we have a common culture? Why would a community in North East or Kerela abide by something which is Punjabi or Hindi in nature.

Moreover, howcome the guidelines are different for men and women in our society. These self appointed thekedars of Indian culture, only remember culture when women started going to pubs. They never pitched their voice when men were visiting these pubs. These punks only remember culture when girls roam with their friends outside.

I feel the basic question is not about culture but the liberty to the gentle sex. Most of us are not comfortable with the idea of women given the equal opportunity and liberty. We frown when they demand autonomy to decide their future, their life partner and more importantly their just place in this male dominated society. These things are somehow deep seated in our minds, and need great deal of resistance to overcome that. But we certainly have to do that if we want to maintain ourselves in this race of civilization. How can we hope to take-on the world if we just waste half of our human resource in the name of protecting the culture?

Censoring Press ?

Apart from national security, another very important issue which Mumbai Attack has raised is about freedom of press. The live telecast of Mumbai mayhem made our security forces more vulnerable to terrorist’s firepower. The terrorist could counter every little move of forces which led to death of many of our jawans and even the casualty of civilians struck inside may have increased.
It has raised serious questions whether the media went over the edge and just to increase its TRP ratings it did which it should not have. Did it misuse its freedom? Shall there be some restrictions on media reporting? These are not simple questions to answer. Freedom of press is the most fundamental basis of a free and democratic society. And it has been guaranteed as fundamental right by our constitution under Article 19(1)(a). We should not forget that it is freedom of press only that differentiates a despotic rule from a democratic rule. The best example of this is China where the state news channel Xinhua reports what government asks it t to report. And it was through press only that our freedom struggle which was only limited to some patches of urban India became a mass struggle. Newspapers like Anand Bazar Patrika, Lokmat, shabad Kamudi etc. took the freedom message to every hook and corner of the country.
Government is deliberating on bringing a bill in the parliament to gag the media. In this regard a cabinet resolution has been passed which says that only ‘authorized officers’ (policemen or bureaucrats) will have to clear all feeds during crisis situations and, in some cases, an approved feed (that is, Doordarshan) will be provided to all channels and they will be asked to carry only that.
This sounds vaguely reasonable in the context of the Bombay operation. But these restrictions will be used to censor coverage of many other events: communal riots, police brutality, anti-government demonstrations etc.
Imagine the government censoring media in situations like Godhra riots, 84 riots etc. The truth would have never been out if there was no free media. The very apt example of this is the recent mayhem in Nandigram. There is very little we know about what happened inside, because our comrades cordoned off the area and never allowed media persons to go inside and report the true happenings. They even did not allow security personnel then what to think of media.
With gagged media it would become very easy for the state to silence its critics. Once we empower government then we cannot complain of these powers being misused by future governments whose motives are not noble.
The government can do something like delayed telecast and not the live one. But it should not stop the media from covering the various incidents. The government should impose moral and ethical responsibility on the media.
Let’s hope that government does not go with its current cabinet resolution and amends it before presenting it in the parliament.

Communal Harmony

India represents the perfect example of a piece of land which has been invaded throughout the history whether its Aryans, Arabs, or Europeans, its just that they invaded at different times. All these people came and made India their home. India is like a cultural Melting pot where all these cultures intermingled and what came out is our composite culture. For instance, caste system (in positive terms its nothing but division of labour (lohar(blacksmith), Badai(carpenter), Sunar(Goldsmith) etc.) where the work for all these groups was predetermined and thus high level of sophistication was achieved) is essentially Indian. Although there is no caste system among muslims around the world but in India it is very much part of their society. Similarly Sikhism bans casteism but today there are jat sikh, ramgarhiya sikh and others. This composite culture is our biggest strength and the day this bond is broken, India will break into islands of different groups. I do not mean that there will be island of hindus, muslims, sikhs etc. Intially it may be so but later there will be fight inside a particular group and it will further break different strands like Hindus being divided into baniya, rajput, punjabi, bengali, marathi etc. Luckily we have an example out here, our most important neighbour Pakistan, which was created solely on the basis of religion and now see whats happening out there, there is constant fight among Baloochs, sindhis, punjabis and the tribes for north west frontier, although all of them belong to the same religion and they themselves accepted Pakistan. The goverment of Pakistan which comprises majorly of Punjabis donot have control over 40% of their area.
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Lets talk about India, Hinduism, the religion of around 81% of its inhabitants. But most of us will be startled to know that the term Hindu does not appear in any of our epics. It is the term which was given by the Arab invaders especially from Persia (now Iran). Actually these people could not pronounce the name of river Sindhu (Indus) and called it as "Hindu". So the people living east of river Sindhu came to called as Hindus. Similarly Greeks (at the time Alexander invasion) pronounced Sindhu as Indu and we have name India, Indus.
People living in India was amalgation of different tribes which followed different practices and each tribe had their own God, the so called "Kul Devta & Kul Devi". You can have glimplse of this in the marriage ceremonies, where first "kul god" is worshipped and then turn of different god comes. Thats why its said that there are 80 crores devi-devta worshipped in India. The different god worhipping tribes were united for the first time by Chandra Gupta Maurya and in the modern period, the media and information revolution has made people aware about different other deities which there parents or grand never knew. And most importantly it has given them the formal name of their religion "Hinduism".
Now Lets come the most pressing issue of enimity which has been created between Hinduism and Islam. Islam as a religion was born in desert land of Saudi Arabia where virtually nothing grows. And it was adopted by the various tribes of the desert which kept moving. Islam as a religion prescribed several things which were diagramatically opposite to Hebrew (Jewish, Yahudi) religion. The tribal Arabs chased away these Yahudis from their homeland (present Israel and Palestine) and we have one the most pressing problem of modern world (Palestine Israel conflict).
These Arabs came to India also for spreading Islam. Indians (no India at that time) could not put up a united front and they kept on loosing. The Arabs converted all captured soldiers. Some people also joined Islam because they were impressed by its ideology. So this brings us to a point that the muslim people residing in India are nothing but the original inhabitant of India who changed their religion. India belongs to them as much it belongs to any other Indian. Then question arise Why this Enmity ?
This enmity has its roots in the policies of Britishers and then our own politicians. To achieve their petty, narrow electoral goals they have made us believe that the interests of Hindus and Muslims do not merge rather run parallel. And we poor citizens of India have always believed them and were ready to kill someone just because he belongs to a particular religion. These politicians have always made us to believe that we are still living in medieval time and its ok for us to kill one in the name of faith. Muslim Leaders preached this to muslims and Hindu Leaders to hindus.
But in this we forgot that the kill and hate attitude will never bring peace. People will keep dying on both sides and our so called leaders will use those charred bodies for seeking votes. We have to understand that one communal riot produces 2-3 generations of terrorists. Don't you think that terrorists attacks are a post-Babri masjid phenomenan and the intensity and brutality has increased after Gujrat riots. A child will certainly become terrorist if his mother and father are murdered in front of him. I remember one documentary, which was being shot in the relief camps of Gujrat and later banned, in this a small child of around 6-7 yrs was saying that he will buy gun and will kill all policemen because they killed his abbu and ammi.
As a majority community, Hindus have to understand that it is through love only that peace can be brought. They have to concede some space; have to make them feel that they are no stranger out here. I firmly believe thats the only way you can stem out terrorism and extremism. Extremism will continue to flourish if it has the support of the masses. The best example of this is Punjab insurgency. The goverment had no clue on how to tackle the insurgents. It was only after the people of Punjab came in support of the goverment that the insurgency could be controlled.
Its a well known fact that Muslims are the most unrepresented community, there is absence of national leaders, they live in the most pitiable conditions and is infested with high mortality rates. There is need of special packages by the goverment(as also pointed by Sachar commission) to bail these socities and bring them to the national mainstream. It has become utmost necessary to alieniate them from the clutches of extremist organisation. This is the only way we can assure that our future generations live in peace.

Is Strike Panacea for solving all the Problems?

With less than five months left for general election, the time is ripe for holding goverment by its throat and get one's demands fulfilled. And goverment seems highly vulnerable at this time of their tenure.

To take full advantage of the situation Oil PSU Officers (not worker), earning close to three Lacs per month, went on to the strike. Similarly Truck Unions are also on strike. Both these strikes is causing immense hardship to the common man. Luckily has not given in to their unjust demands. It should be commended for not getting swayed and resolving to deal it with firm hands.The central govt. asked states to enforce ESMA(Essential services maintainance act) under which a person can be suspended, terminated and even jailed for disrupting the services meant for common man. For the first time govt. brought full page advertisements in the newspapers clearing the whole situation and justifying their stand. It mentioned why the demands are not acceptable. I think this is good sign for Indian democracy where the people are involved in the matters which impact them the most.

With this the erring PSU officers have not only resumed their work but worked during weekends to make up the lost manhours. But the other strike by Truck Union is bound to persist because it being backed up political parties. It has become an important tool wherein the prices especially of food items are bound to increase, so that the common man becomes vocal critic of the goverment thus giving other parties an advantage.

Is it right for a handful of person to hold the entire country to its terms and bring life to stand still ? Does a person should have a right to strike? According to Supreme Court, Constitution does not confer a right to strike. It ruled in "CPM Vs Bharat Kumar & Others case,1998" that Strike is valid only if due process is followed and it does not cause any inconveniences to others. 'Band', 'Chakka Jaam', 'Tools Down' Strike are illegal because they involve an element of Coercion causing psychological fear in the minds of people. There is compulsary shutting down of trade, bussiness, workplaces, educational institutions etc. Its illegal because it violates the fundamental right that is, right to life, of an individual, violating their freedom of movement, their ability to earn wages etc.

Strikes have been an important tool for the workers to have their voice heard by the management. But they should not be allowed when the impact of the strike is borne by the common men. Rather they should use other ways to press for their demands like civil society, media, pressure groups.

In countries like Japan, France people protest not by halting the production but by over producing. In France whenever goverment decides to lower down the subsidy given on agricultural commodities, farmers have replied by giving record production and flooding the market with agricultural products. Similarly in Japan, people protest by working more in their factories. We need to take a clue from these societies and reorient our protest system. For this to happen, politicisation of trade unions must be stopped.

Volatility in Crude Market

The Liquid which revolutionized the energy sector and transformed the lives of nomadic tribes of barren, desert land of West Asia, made it the world’s most sought-after destination with all the ultra modern facilities, making it the hotbed of international politics, causing various catastrophic wars(Gulf wars, Kuwait war etc.) is nothing but Petroleum.
Its prices have been increasing steadily for past four decades. Just a few months ago crude oil was traded at an all time high price of 147$ a barrel and when it seemed that it is going to touch the magical figure of 200, the prices nosedived and right now it is at 43$ a barrel. The volatility in the prices can be attributed to a constellation of factors.
First let’s look at the demand side factors. There is no denying to the fact with advancement of the world the demand for energy has increased manifold. Energy is the main catalyst in the growth of any nation. With more and more countries joining the path of development and the ever increasing population of the world, the demand of the sweet liquid spiraled, with majority of it coming from India and China. The epitome of this is the Olympics 2008 (the most spectacular in its history) organized by China which increased the prices of the petroleum and other essential commodities, with Indian inflation rate reaching the psychological double digit mark.
And the simple law of economics says that when demand increases supply remaining constant, the price will increase. That is the reason where the cartel OPEC meets as soon as prices starts falling and decides to cut back the production decreasing the supply.
Now let’s analyzing the supply side reason. The most important is the one related to the reserves of the crude oil. Not even a single country has declared the amount of oil reserves it has. With remote possibility of finding huge oil reserve and the fact that the current reserve anyhow are not going to last long leading to lower supply, is the most fundamental cause of rising prices.
In addition, turbulence in Middle East, US led invasion of Iraq, Israel aggression towards Palestine, Lebanon and Syria, has led to decreased exports. Outside Middle East, there is political turmoil in Venezuela and growing instability in West Africa, the other two oil exporting regions.
Moreover the cost involved in extraction of oil has also increased. The easily accessible sources of light sweet crude oil are almost exhausted and in future world will depend on more expensive sources of heavy oil, which is difficult to extract and refine thereby adding to the cost of oil.
There is another group of economists which says the volatility in the prices of oil is not due to the simple game of demand and supply. Instead the prices are rising due to speculation in the market that is trade in Future and Options. [It means that one buys or sells a commodity without actually possessing it and he can cancel the agreement by paying a particular sum]. The Economist (newspaper) pointed out that the “number of transactions involving oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) the biggest market for oil, has almost tripled since 2004. That neatly mirrors a tripling of the price of oil over the same period.” OPEC secretary Abdullah al-Badri says the current world consumption of oil at 87 million bpd is far exceeded by the “paper market” for oil which equals about 1.36 billion bpd (about 15 times the actual demand) The current economic slowdown which has decreased the demand for oil and the slump in the stock market which has subdued the speculation market are the chief reasons for current fall in oil prices.
There are other causes which may not significantly maneuver the prices but certainly have impact. Countries like Iran, UAE, Venezuela want the prices to be high, as they it an opportunity to earn more money which help in their nation building. Therefore they exercise their clout in the oil cartel OPEC and do not let the prices to moderate.
Another area is related to international politics. Russia under the able leadership of Putin has befriended several Middle East Asian countries and is in the process of joining OPEC. It is also putting pressure on OPEC not to moderate prices as it sees this as the rare window to bring the power hungry western Europe and USA on its knees. The current suspension of Gas supplies to Ukraine from which pipelines to Western Europe radiate. Keeping this scenario in mind, USA is toying with the idea of building new pipelines through Turkey coming from Central Asian countries, effectively bypassing Russian mainland.
These are the various causes responsible for volatility in the market. But one thing is sure that prices of petroleum will be increasing with time until any cheap, renewable and green source of energy is not found.