|
India Thinkers Net Archives Index
|
Subscribe
|
|
| << August17, 2007 - [India Thinkers Net] Indian Moslems go to Israel , Naxal menace etc |
August19, 2007 - [India Thinkers Net] Hindus/Christians persecuted in Pakistan,SC-ST,wakf chief >> |
|
[1] COMPULSORY REGISTRATION OF MARRIAGES UNDER GOVERNMENT'S CONSIDERATION --------------------------------------------------------------- 15:39 IST Lok Sabha [Lower House of Parliasment opf India] On the recommendations of National Human Rights Commission and National Commission for Women and as per the judgement of the Supreme Court, the proposal to enact a suitable legislation relating to Compulsory Registration of Marriages is under consideration with the Government. In view of the importance and complexity of the matter, it may take some more time before a Bill could be brought before the Cabinet. The Supreme Court in its judgement dated 23.7.2007 in Smt. Seema Vs. Ashwani Kumar, has reiterated its earlier judgement dated 14.2.2006 that marriages of all persons who are citizens of India belonging to various religions should be made compulsorily registrable in their respective States, where the marriage is solemnized. This was stated by the Minister of State for Law & Justice, Shri K. Venkatapathy in a written reply in Lok Sabha today, 17 August 2007. -------- [2] From: Pradip Kumar Datta <pradip200@yahoo.com Date: Sat Aug 18, 2007 Subject: India?s freedom ? a shattered dream ? Dr Jyotsna Bhattacharjee India?s freedom ? a shattered dream ? Dr Jyotsna BhattacharjeeIndia became free of British domination due to the selfless endeavour of thousands of our countrymen. Who can forget the contributions of our great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Nehru, Sardar Patel, Lokmanya Tilak, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, to name only a few? It was due to their sacrifices and untiring efforts that India became free from the shackles of slavery. But our Imperial masters left the Indians to dislike our glorious traditions. The situation now is that we are neither Indian nor non-Indian? and we have no ground to stand upon firmly. Those forgotten great leaders paid a heavy price for freedom?they suffered untold misery?many of them died. And we are enjoying the fruits of their sufferings, without being the least grateful to these noble leaders. Actually Independence does not mean anything to us, it has become a kind of routine affair for some VVIP to hoist the national flag in presence of a handful of dignitaries, under a security cover. Common people seem to be entirely indifferent to the significance of Independence Day celebrations. For them it is just a paid holiday?to watch television, or to go for a picnic or to go to the zoo with the children. They are disillusioned and are fed up with these hollow festivities and are no long interested in listening to the rehearsed speeches delivered by our leaders. The old people often can be heard grumbling that the situation was far better during the British rule. I still remember the euphoria of the people across the country on that first day of independence. People came out of their homes at midnight, when India won independence. Processions were taken out, sweets were distributed and there was signing and dancing by the old and the young. Even strangers were hugged excitedly by the frenzied crowd. Expectations were high-and so were the dreams of the people. Within sixty years after independence those dreams have been shattered to smithereens. Naturally those of us, who witnessed that first day of independence, feel cheated and are disillusioned. Hence they have started grumbling that things were much better in the pre-independence era, when there was no violence, no corruption, and no hypocrisy. People could move around freely, even at night, without fear. There was no apprehension of bomb blasts in cinema halls, market places or buses. There was no fear of hijacking of planes, of abduction or unnecessary killing of innocent people. Perhaps their grievances are due to the frustration of the people at large, who were hoping for a ?Ramrajya? after attaining freedom, as the Mahatma had envisaged. India was divided on the basis of religion and the country witnessed widespread communal violence and hatred as never before. Friends turned into foes and there was bloodbath with thousands of people getting killed. The harmony amongst different sections of the pre-independent India was lost forever. The Father of the Nation was heart broken at the turn of events. He preached and practised non-violence ? he wanted unity among various sections and peace for the country. But he saw hatred all around and himself fell down to the assassin?s bullets. That was perhaps the beginning and now India has been torn asunder by violence and hatred. Mahatma?s non-violent India has turned into a hot bed of violence, intrigues and hatred. It is true that India has developed an astounding fashion after independence. None can deny the tremendous progress the country has made in all sphares. During the British period we had only a small number of educated schemes, people have become aware of the value and importance of education?and more and more children have started going to school. The country has a large number of educated people, excelling in diverse spheres. But we are also exporting many who are giving wonderful service in foreign lands. We have lost thousands of talented people, who could have done a lot for the country. They are reluctant to come back and believe that they would not get all the facilities here which they are enjoying in their adopted country. They are of course right in their views. India does not lack resources. The country has vast areas of fertile land, wonderful industries and sufficient raw materials. With all these resources in hand we have ample opportunity to grow into a prosperous nation. The country has produced enough food?we have sufficient natural wealth, enough technological, scientific and defence knowledge?perhaps more than our expectations. India is one the most important developing countries of the world, posing a challenge even to the super powers. But all this progress has not been able to give us happiness. Most of the people are poor and are suffering a lot. Babies are being sold due to poverty and there is no ray of hope for these unfortunate people. Our experts have not been able to discover means to combat natural calamities. For instance, our State is prey to devastating floods each year. This year too is no exception. Thousands of people become homeless, some die, animals are washed away, communication with other States gets disrupted. And we remain helpless spectators when nature strikes lethal blows. That is not the only problem. The country is reeking with corruption. Money seems to speak louder than words. You cannot expect the smallest service, which is your due in these sacrosanct departments unless you are prepared to grease their oily palms with your hard?earned money. You may not be able to get an honest employee, even if you scour the entire length and breadth of any of these offices. Terrorism has spread like an infectious disease throughout the country and Assam possibly is the worst sufferer. Life has become a dime a dozen. It has become so uncertain that you are not sure if you would be back home in the evening from your office. A group of young men at the gate gives us shivers. One is afraid to go down a dark alley, in case somebody lurking behind the bushes takes pot shot at him. We cannot go to a cinema or to the market with a mind free from qualms. Bus journey is also not safe for us?nor is train or air journey. We do not know how to protect ourselves from violence. Shooting, stabbing, abduction, extortion, rape etc have become the order of the day. Minor girls are raped by men old enough to be their grand father. Even a three year old little infant girl may fall victim to the lust of some lascivious male. That is the situation in a nutshell. Some people, specially those from the pre-independence era say that liberty has become a liability for us. What has it brought? Merely moral decadence, price rise and violence. But that is not the fault of liberty. The blame actually lies with us. We have not realised that to preserve liberty, we have to make some united efforts. Freedom without responsibility is disastrous. It is like giving a loaded gun to an ignorant child. We are pround to assert that ours is a large democracy, yet we are not responsible enough to preserve it. Our democracy has turned into mobocracy and it is money that rules the election process. There does not seem to be any perceptible laws and order in our country. People are suffering a lot and the criminals are waltzing around with any number of anti-social activities. The talk about a corruption?free society has become a damp squib. Lack of responsibility has made us a bunch of corrupt, unscrupulous people, who have no idea about how to protect and preserve our hard-earned freedom. Infiltration from across the border has posed a tremendous hurdle in our path of progress. Some are trading freedom for personal and political gain. In place of the strong leaders of the past we have a new bunch of clay-footed leaders, who have no other objective except to cling to their position by any means available. People have to be made aware of their responsibility. The children are our hope and the destiny of the country depends on them. Childhood is the most vital period in human life. What is learnt in childhood develops character. Therefore, instead of giving them career-based education, they should be trained in such a way that they can be worthy citizens of the country in future. The parents and the teachers should note that children learn from what they see and what they hear. Every child has potential divinity in him and divinity should be made actual. India was famous for spiritualism, Renunciation was the ideal of ancient India and it is also the need of modern India. Helping others around us will bring us peace and happiness. It will also promote community well-being. Hatred and ill-will can be conquered only by selfless activity. Life is so very short ? what is the point in nurturing hatred? It brings nothing but misery. We must remember that one day we are going to die and power, wealth or money will mean nothing to us on our day of departure. Hence we have to forget petty things. Even a few good people can do a lot for the welfare of the multitude. India had a glorious past; but unfortunately the glory was lost in the mire of selfishness, corruption and cruelty. Materialism and modernism have ruined our future generation. Hence spiritual discipline has become a necessity. The young people have to be trained in selflessness, spirit of service and truthfulness, so that they can lead the country in the right path in future. (The writer is former Head of Philosophy, Cotton College) --------- [3] From: syed rahman <surahman2000@yahoo.com Date: Fri Aug 17, 2007 Subject: Taslima Nasreen should leave or die: Muslim clerics Taslima Nasreen should leave or die: Muslim clerics http://www.khabrein.info/index.php? option=com_content&task=view&id=4629&Itemid=8\ 8 Kolkata, Aug 17: Muslim clerics in West Bengal Friday issued a "death warrant" against Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen if she did not pack her bags and leave India. --------- [4] From: Sukla Sen <suklasen@yahoo.com Date: Fri Aug 17, 2007 Subject: Indo-US Nuclear Deal: EPW Editorial EPW Editorial, August 11 2007 Notwithstanding the protests by the Bharatiya Janata Party, the left parties and assorted groups of nuclear scientists and self-appointed strategic affairs specialists, the Indo-US nuclear agreement is now a done deal. Parliament will, of course, see a heated discussion on prime minister Manmohan Singh's statement on how the 123 Agreement that the two countries have negotiated conforms to the assurances he gave the two houses in August 2006. We cannot expect the people's representatives to even this time ask the two all-important questions which have never figured in the high voltage political and media debate over the past two years: Should India be pursuing nuclear power and aiming to establish 20,000 megawatts (MW) of installed capacity by 2020? And should we be concerned about the right to assemble nuclear weapons for a so-called "minimum deterrent"? This journal has consistently argued that India should not be chasing the chimera of a Kamadhenu of nuclear energy and that the Indo-US deal is therefore not one that we should be engaged in. Similarly, to examine the bilateral agreement through the magnifying lens of whether or not it will hinder our "strategic weapons programme" is to buy into the dangerous illusion of security with a stockpiling of nuclear weapons. Yet, an enthusiasm for nuclear power and the need at all costs to build a nuclear arsenal have both informed the domestic debate in the country. The left is right in arguing that the deal is part of a larger web of relationships ? military, economic and political ? which the US is drawing India into and that it should therefore be rejected for the dependency this engagement with the imperial power will create. However, this position of the left will not convince anybody, for until now it has formulated its arguments largely on the lines put out by the domestic nuclear lobby which has carried out a high-pitched campaign that the pact with the US will, in particular, place constraints on India's nuclear weapons programme. So to now turn the emphasis on the larger relationship between the US and India will not cut ice with anybody. In cementing the 123 Agreement with Washington, India has formally descended from the high moral ground it had taken for decades on the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT). Once upon a time, New Delhi used to argue that the NPT had created, on the one hand, a small and exclusive club of "nuclear haves", which were allowed to legally possess nuclear weapons, and, on the other, a vast number of "nuclear have-nots", which were prevented from legal possession of such weapons. India had maintained that the NPT had utterly failed to address the objective of universal and comprehensive non-proliferation, the country all the while claiming to use nuclear energy only for peaceful purposes, and insisting on a comprehensive, time-bound action plan for a nuclear-free world. But sooner or later New Delhi had to drop all such ethical claims. This India first did with Pokhran-I in 1974 and followed it up with Pokhran-II. Its hypocrisy has been now fully exposed with its enthusiasm for the agreement with the US. If India meets the requirements of the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Suppliers' Group, and the 123 Agreement is passed by the US Congress, commercial deals worth $ 150 billion may well be up for grabs as India aims to expand its nuclear power generation capacity from 4,000 MW to 20,000 by 2020. In all this, what seems to have been disregarded is the economic and political power of the military-industrial complex in the US, which has been pushing Washington to use the real and urgent issue of global warming to give a big push to nuclear power. Nuclear power is simply too risky and dangerous for India to see it as a major source of energy, and the expectations whether in terms of its contribution to electricity generation or to reducing greenhouse gas emissions are extremely unrealistic. First, after the enormous amount of expenditure and energy the nation has expended in the area over the past half a century, the nuclear establishment has little right to protect its turf, which now contributes a mere 3 per cent of India's electricity generating capacity. But the Indo-US deal will not make much of a difference for, even if the ambitious target for 2020 is achieved, nuclear will still account for no more than 8 to 10 per cent of the capacity India hopes to have on the target date. Second, all independent estimates point out that nuclear power is more expensive than other sources of energy ? thermal, hydro and renewable. Third, the new argument that nuclear will help combat global warming is illusory, for it has been shown that for that to happen a new nuclear plant has to come up every week! The fourth and most important argument against nuclear power is the social, health and environmental threat it poses to human and all forms of life. The financial and environmental costs of nuclear power are too onerous and the government needs to invest instead in renewable energy. The nature of the two-year debate on the Indo-US deal in the country, in the political arena and, sadly, even in the media, has shown that both state and society have, shamefully, managed to make India completely abandon a principled position on nuclear weapons. India is now not just an enthusiastic advocate of nuclear energy, it strongly believes in its right to possess and accumulate nuclear weapons. This is surely a matter of national shame as the country sets out in the coming week to celebrate 60 years of independence. ----------- |
|
| << August17, 2007 - [India Thinkers Net] Indian Moslems go to Israel , Naxal menace etc |
August19, 2007 - [India Thinkers Net] Hindus/Christians persecuted in Pakistan,SC-ST,wakf chief >> |
|
India Thinkers Net Archives Index
|
Subscribe
|
|
|
Archives powered by Zinester's Mailing List Service
Details on India Thinkers Net |
Browse for more newsletters at Zinester's Ezine Directory
Managed by Zinester's Mailing List Management |