Dropping 'secularism' from preamble and Civil Service conduct rules

"Nothing wrong in Sena's demand for deletion of 'secular' from Preamble of Constitution. Leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and B R Ambedkar were "more intelligent" than the present day Congress leaders and did not include 'secular' and 'socialist' words in the original preamble of the Constitution":-Ravishankar Prasad

The constitution makers were no-doubt intelligent than the present political leaders.They were more faithful and trusted the future politicians that they will lead India in a proper path.

It was this blind faithfulness which they had on the future generations that led to them not finding the necessity to include the word "secular" in the Preamble for Indian Constitution.

And regarding the intelligence of constitution-makers, they were very well aware that constitution must not be so rigid, so that it can be amended suitably to adopt change and not so very flexible that some ideology-driven party securing majority in lok sabha can amend it to suit their needs.

Don't confuse "intelligence" with "blind-trust".

There is something terribly wrong with Shiv sena's demand to delete the word "secular" from the preamble and the Law minister's support to it.

1. Secularism is the basic structure of the constitution which the Judiciary has upheld in its various judgements.

2. The reason that secularism was not in the original preamble and so it can be removed is akin to demanding that the subsequent amendments(99 in total till dec 2014) also can be nullified as they amended the original constitution.

3. As already mentioned above, sorry for the trust the constitution-makers had over the future political leaders and voters.
Just like Article 356("President rule") which was introduced hoping that it would remain a dead letter but turned soon to be a deadly weapon by future leaders, likewise it seems the 'spirit' of "secularism" too will be wiped out soon from the constitution before the word "secularism" gets dropped from the preamble.

4. I can understand the ruling party's zeal to implement the original constitution. Please begin with the "Directive Principles of State Policy"(Part IV) instead of the preamble. Because preamble was enacted after the rest of the constitution was enacted and it is non-justiciable and of ornamental significance.

--One civil servant wants to post this as his FB status. Is it wrong as per civil service conduct rules?? Civil servants please enlighten me

50th anniversary of anti-hindi imposition movement

This Republic day marks the 50th anniversary of anti-hindi 'imposition' movement in Tamilnadu. The movement succeeded in forcing the central government to pass Official Languages Act in 1965 which declared both English and Hindi as Official Languages of the Indian Union. 

--But till date Hindi enjoys special status vis-a-vis the remaining eighth schedule languages. There is no reason for the central government to give special funding to promote hindi through a separate department within the Ministry of Home Affairs.

--Central government recruitment exams give an edge to candidates with hindi mother tongue as the exams are conducted only in Hindi and English medium. This puts the non-hindi candidates at disadvantage as they have to master English to compete equally with the hindi speaking candidates

-- To those who think that English is foreign and not "our" Language, please realize that even Hindi is not the language of "many Indians" here and is alien to them. Stop comparing India with countries like Italy or france having a single language. as they are nation-states formed out of something common among its citizens. 

-- The legacy of the "anti-hindi imposition" movement which sought to usher in linguistic equality has completely been neglected. Instead future generations were taught wrongly that Hindi is the national language.

--One of the important component of healthy democracy is to protect the interests of minorities. Interests of linguistic minorities within each state and within the country as a whole must be protected to ensure successful functioning of democracy. In order to bring in a 'mindset' of Linguistic equality among citizens, firstly the central government must stop the special and differential treatment for Hindi.

Happy Republic day.

Spokesperson named "Joseph Goebbels"

First time cheaters in relationships are usually given a warning --"Dont do Politics". 

Cheating got more synonymous with politics mainly because of two things viz. corruption and floor-crossing. Floor-crossing assumes bigger proportions sometimes during oppurtunistic pre-poll and post-poll alliances among political parties. The Anti-defection law tries to some extent in curtailing floor-crossing among legislators. But there exist no law to control floor-crossing among political leaders or to check opportunistic pre-poll and post-poll alliances.

If it would have been any other political leader joining any other political party, he/she would have received brickbats for floor-crossing on the eve of elections. I have seen Political Parties who receive floor-crossers coming out in defense of them. But this is the first time I see even those party-sympathizers in FB coming out in defense of a floor-crosser. The defense these common voters (who are supposed to think neutrally) put across will make even the party spokespersons to blush. 

There is a sudden surge in FB posts praising the floor-crosser's performance in government jobs, images comparing the floor-crosser's superior qualifications with her ally-turned-rival, justifications claiming that the floor-crosser is just entering politics and not switching sides, more and more..... There seems no need to search for any "Goebbels" or to create any separate "Ministry of Propaganda". 

I sincerely wish only the politicians 'did politics'. 

The cash-for-vote Scam in Delhi:-

The contract and the three bidders.

There is a huge government contract worth crores of Rupees coming up in Delhi. 

Mr.B and Mr.C, the high profile bidders decided to bribe the government officials to any extent to win the contract.

Mr.B knows to portray very well that he has a good track record in executing contracts 'with quality' irrespective of the ground reality. Government officials also forget that in weberian bueraucracy, they ought to forget their private interests like religion, caste, family etc so that they can carry out their duties neutrally . This comes in handy for Mr.B who doesnt hesitate to win brownie points by appealing to the religion of government officials.

Mr.C has a track record dating back to more than 50 years. Mr.C's ancestors have mixed records in executing government contracts. In fact, Bidding and executing government contracts is his family's profession.

Then came Mr.AK.
Mr.AK has claimed to have fought tooth and nail against corruption. He won the last contract based on this claim but ran away because he couldnt end corruption. Corruption will end the very next day, when Mr.C's Jan Lok pal comes into operation. But as Jan Lokpal didnt come, Mr.AK terminated the contract just after beginning it. 


Now,Mr.AK is trying to cut a deal with the government officer. "Take bribe from both B and C, but don't do the work for them. Award the contract to me. This is the only way to fight corruption. If B or C doesnt give you money go and demand from them. Its your right to ask for bribe and you deserve it. Its not bribe, its a fee to do your duty."

Mr.AK also promises to execute the contract with high quality without any kickbacks or cuts. Because his "Jan lokpal" will end corruption the very next day after coming into operation. Corruption is defined by Mr.AK as "fraudulent actions done by Mr.A and Mr.B to obtain the contract and while executing it". The same fradulent actions done by Mr.AK cannot be covered under that definition.

Forgot to add. you can identify Mr.AK easily by the cap he wears occasionally. The cap is the symbol of the man who said "You must be the change you wish to see in this world"

Dont protect "me from criticism". Protect "criticism from "me"- In support of freedom of speech

On 10th March 1922, Gandhi was arrested for certain articles he wrote in Young India and booked under section 124A of the IPC.

Section 124A of the IPC punishes sedition. Sedition via words spoken or written, visible signs etc are covered in this. The interesting part is the way this section defines sedition. Attempting to bring hatred or contempt, disaffection towards the government, disloyalty etc are defined as sedition. 

So when M.K.Gandhi wrote in Young India articles entitled "Disaffection a virtue" and "Tampering with loyalty" it was easy to frame charges against him under this section. The titles themselves said he was trying to spread disaffection and disloyalty towards the government and so, Gandhi and the publisher Mr.Banker were brought to trial. This IPC section exists till date and has been used according to the whims and fancies of the government of the day as only the government has the final say regarding what can be constituted as "disaffection" and what should not. Even a mild criticism towards the government can be booked as sedition under this section. Last year this section was used to arrest a few college students in jaipur who supported the pakistan cricket team!!

Similarly there exists section 66A of Information Technology Act which was used to arrest 2 girls last year for criticizing the bandh organised subsequent to Bal Thackeray's death. And there is also section 295A of IPC which punishes "acts" intend to outrage religious feelings.

Again what exactly is an "act" and to what feelings get outraged are completely subjective. This subjectivity benefits the mighty.  My religion must be strong enough in politics to make sure the government of the day punishes "acts" which outrage my religious feelings. So when Mr.A.K Ramanujam's essay regarding different versions of Ramayana is included in DU's History syllabus, Mr.Dinananth Batra's feelings get outraged. And considering his power, even though the committee set up by Delhi HC recommended including the essay, the DU academic council removed it from the syllabus. The final say regarding what exactly is Ramayana is to be decided by Mr.Batra. He also decides there can be no alternative history for hindus and ensures that  "The hindus: An alternative history", a book by Wendy Dongier gets pulped.

If my religion is powerful enough, I can ensure that movies are shown to me before getting released. I can force the director to mute koran recitals or even alter the screenplay. Despite my power,  voices against me do emerge here and there. There was one poor girl in Pakistan, named Malala, who criticized our decision to ban girls from going to schools. We had to respond to her with bullets.

My religion is so sacred and no one can question it. Questioning something sacred offends my religion. I will keep on expanding the domain of sacred to ensure protection for my religion.

How exactly can freedom of expression benefit a society? There was a thinker named J.S.Mill who defended freedom of expression. He defended it in the following ways.
 First argument- No idea is completely false. If we try to ban false ideas, we may miss out the element of truth in it. And truth always runs the risk of being reduced to an unthinking cliche. It is only by exposing truth to opposing views that it can be made sure truth is truth. Else earth would still have been in the center of solar system. 

Looking the current relevance of J.S.Mill's first argument, 98% of the people who oppose a particular book have never seen the book, 1% have seen it but never read it. And of the remaining 1%, are afraid of the truth present in that book. Can someone opposing Perumal murugan's novel(madhorubagan) tell me what exactly is the truth regarding that annual car festival in tiruchengode?? If you can tell, just tell. Nobody would oppose your view and you too don't oppose Perumal Murugan's view.

The next argument of J.S.Mill is that. "truth does not emerge by itself". Only through conflict of opposing views that truth emerges. But a certain fact which may not be true can exist as "truth" today. This fact may benefit a particular section and these sections have vested interest to ensure that fact remains a truth perpetually. Thats why the Church suppressed opposing views. Women are not allowed to educate themselves in certain religions lest they come up with an opposing view threatening the "dominants". 

Coming back to Gandhi's great trial for charges under section 124A of IPC, Gandhi gave 2 options to the judge trying his case. It was to either resign his post or to inflict on Gandhi the severest penalty if he believes that the law he is trying to protect is doing good for the people. Gandhi also pleaded guilty of the charges and submitted himself to the highest penalty for what in law was a deliberate crime but considered by Gandhi as the highest duty of a citizen. 

We too have 2 options. The first is to allow opposing views in the search of truth and to make truth trustworthy by pitting it against opposing views. The second option is of course to stay static, suppress opposing views and walk back to the dark ages.

P.S-I am not unsympathetic to anyone's feelings. But it is hard for me to believe feelings gets hurt by a novel or a movie. Gandhi once said "One cannot hurt me without my permission". Opinions and views can't hurt you without your permission.






   

மென்பொருள் வேலை பறிப்பு

எதை பற்றியும் கவலை படாத கூட்டம் ஒன்று உண்டு..மென்பொருள் நிறுவனத்தில் வேலை பார்க்கும் சிலர் அந்த கூட்டம்...


1990களுக்கு முன், காந்தி என்றொருவர் இந்தியர்களின் வாழ்கையில் இருந்தார்...வறுமை அதிகம் உள்ள நம் நாட்டில் அதிக பணமும் அதை வெளிகாட்டும் விதமாக பந்தா காட்டுவதும் தொண்ணூறுகளுக்கு முன்னர் மிக குறைவாகவே இருந்தன... காந்தியின் எளிமை, சிக்கன வாழ்வு போன்ற கொள்கைகள் சிறிதளவாவது அப்போது ஒட்டிக் கொண்டிருந்தன...
அதற்க்கு பிறகு நடந்த பொருளாதார மாற்றத்தில் இந்த கூட்டத்திற்கு வேலை கிடைத்தது...வித்தியாசமாக வாழ ஆரம்பித்தார்கள்.. இவர்களது வாழ்க்கை முறையை "consumerist" என சிலர் கூறுவார்கள்..நான் hedonist என்பேன்..இவர்கள் வீட்டில் உள்ள சுவரில் தொங்கும் LCD, LED TVகளில் ஸ்டிக்கர் கூட பிய்க்க படாமல் இருக்கும்..எல்லாருக்கும் அதன் brand தெரிய வேண்டும் என்பதற்காக..

பல அரசு அலுவலக கேன்டீன்கள் குளிர்பானங்கள் விற்காததை ஒரு கொள்கையாகவே பின்பற்றுவார்கள்... ஆனால் இந்த கூட்டத்தினரின் குழந்தைகள் கூட  கோக் குடித்து வளர்ந்தன...

2008-09 களில் இந்த கூட்டத்தில் பலருக்கு வேலை போனது..அப்போது ஹிந்து நாளிதழில் ஒரு அம்மணி, "விவசாயிகள் கடன் கட்ட முடியாமல் தற்கொலை செய்வதை பற்றி அரசாங்கம் கவலை படுகிறது, எங்கள் கூட்டத்திலும் சிலர் வீட்டுக்கடன் , கார் கடன் கட்ட முடியாமல் தற்கொலை செய்கிறார்கள். அவர்களை பற்றியும் கவலை படுங்கள் என்று கண்ணீர் மல்க எழுதினார்..பாவம், பிழைக்க வாங்கிய கடனுக்கும், சொகுசுக்கு வாங்கிய கடனுக்கும் கூட அவருக்கு வித்தியாசம் தெரியவில்லை...

இவர்கள்  அலுவலகங்களிலும்  contract labourers இருக்கிறார்கள், எந்த ஒரு social security benefitஸ் இல்லாமல் வேலை செய்பவர்கள், அவர்கள் சம்பளம் கம்மி, பணி நிரந்தரம்  இல்லை, விடுமுறை எடுத்தால் சம்பளம் கட் ஆகும்...இந்த contract labourers நிலையை எண்ணி இந்த கூட்டத்தினர் "உச்" கொட்டி கூட நான் கேள்வி பட்டது இல்லை..

இவர்கள் வேலை பார்க்கும் அலுவலகங்களில் எந்த தொழிலாளர் நலச் சட்டமும் செல்லாது...அதனால் இந்த கூட்டத்திற்கு trade unions கிடையாது... திறமை அடிப்படையில்(??) வேலை மற்றும் சம்பளம் என்று மார் தட்டும் இவர்கள் அலுவலகங்களில் "இட  ஒதுக்கீடும்" கிடையாது...

இப்படி செய்யும் செயல்களிலும், எண்ணத்திலும்,  எந்த ஒரு சமூக அக்கறையும் இல்லாத இந்த கூட்டம், திடீர் என்று kisan babu rao உண்ணாவிரத போராட்டதிற்கு (அதாங்க நம்ப அண்ணா ஹசாரே) ஆதரவு தெரிவித்தார்கள்...அரசு செய்யும் ஊழலை பற்றி பேசிய இவர்களில் பலர், sathyam software செய்த ஊழலை(corporate misgovernance?) பற்றி பேசியது  இல்லை..இன்றும்  பல நிறுவனங்கள் sathyam software செய்யும் கோல்மால்களை செய்து கொண்டுதான் இருக்கின்றன.இவர்கள் கண்டும் காணாதது போல் அந்த நிறுவனங்களில் வேலை செய்வார்கள்...


இந்த கூட்டத்தில் பலருக்கு இப்போது வேலை போய்விட்டதாம்...இந்த கூட்டத்திலும் உண்மையான சமூக அக்கறை உள்ளவர்கள் இருக்கிறார்கள். தங்கள் அலுவலகங்களில் நடக்கும் அநியாயங்களை பற்றி வருந்தி புலம்பியவர்கள், இடப் ஒதுக்கீடு (reservation) பற்றி மட்டும் பேசமால் ,எல்லா  சமூக பிரச்சனை பற்றியும் கவலை பட்டவர்கள்.. அவர்களுக்காக மட்டும் இல்லாமல், வேலை பறி போன எல்லாருக்காகவும் நான் வருந்துகிறேன்..

இப்போதைய வேலை பறிப்பு, நட்டத்தினால் நடக்கவில்லை. லாபத்தை அதிகரிப்பதற்காக  முதலாளித்துவ கொள்கையின் அடிப்படையிலேயே வேலை பறிப்பு நடந்துள்ளது...மிகவும் தவறான செயல்..


--வோட்டாண்டி