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9 years ago
anil wrote: Not only individuals but government is also doing it. I read today that in one city local administration sent notice to God Hanuman ji to remove his temple and idol from road. Did it issue summons to Hanuman to appear in the Court ? Anil, is there any limit to this foolishness ?  
9 years ago
rambabu replied to the topic Reservations on Caste.
MG Singh wrote: rambabu wrote: Reservations is disease plaguing this country. Unless this country get rid of Reservation system, we continue to stay in Dark ages sans progress and Development . I ask how will it be done and who will do it. remember Gandhi and Vivekananda backed caste system,  so what is solution? It's a Million Dollar question, living with us since ages.This question remained  as a question and remains forever. Courtesy our sinister Politicians.    
9 years ago
I don't want to be writing stuff that's been written before. But when I tried to sift through older material, it doesn't show all the articles. So do I just go ahead and hope for the best?
9 years ago
There's a very detailed report on the subject dating back to 2014, that should answer a lot of your questions at http://www.slideshare.net/dhanurajd/report-onliberalizingliquortradeinindia. It's a lot of stats and info that you might find very tedious unless you like data mining.  But it gives a good background and is very informative. In fact its, to my mind, very comprehensive though its over a year old. It will probably take a while for researcher's valuable material to reach the necessary authorities, unless they are looking in the right places. Otherwise it will the pages will just grow cobwebs in some library or elsewhere. My attention was drawn to this particular para which I"ve copied for you: The black market in liquor is so large that it creates great uncertainty for the economy. It is impossible to estimate the size of this market. However, tax burden generated every year from this can be remarkable. Fines and penalties collected through the illegal trade are difficult to track. Liquor obtained through the black market can sometimes be of unpredictable quality and can even cause serious chronic illnesses.x Problems with Current Liquor Policies and Restrictions  High Taxes on Foreign and Domestic-Produced Liquor In 1947, Article 47 of the Constitution under the Directive Principles of State Policy stated that The State shall regard the raising of the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people and the improvement of public health as among its primary duties and, in particular, the State shall endeavour to bring about prohibition of consumption except for medicinal purposes of intoxicating drinks and of drugs which are injurious to health.xi Even though implementation of this Article differs from state to state, it is constantly used as a moral and legal foundation for restrictive policies. According to the law, alcohol is a sensitive state subject so that Imported Foreign Liquor (IFL) shall be heavily taxed and regulated by federal government. The current system of taxation on imported spirits including BIO (Bottled in Origin) and BII (Bottled in India) dates back to2001. Imported spirits are taxed at both the federal and the state levels. As a result of a case against Indian's liquor policies at WTO filed by the European Union, the country has removed some of its barriers to liquor imports. However, it later introduced new restrictive measures.xii Today average customs duties on IFL remain as high as 150 per cent, down from 450 to 700 per cent in 2000. In addition, federal/state taxes can push total taxes to around 550 per cent high (exact number might vary by states).
9 years ago
  Personally I was quite oblivious to MOST of the layers within layers that have become entrenched in the caste system, until I was handling a weekend news supplement which had a column by a Dalit writer. Chandrabhan Prasad. Then I discovered, and I'm going to put this down very generally, and simplistically, that the subdivisions and hierarchies that have risen within the castes are one reason the situation is one entangled mess. Within castes you have the 'lower' and higher and the someone or another of another religion within the caste and subcaste, and then the community that does a certain profession etc. It just gets complicated, but all these convolutions and complicated, weird arrangements are what keep the system alive. Ideally what they should do is just scrap the column, 'Caste'' entirely from all official documents, and then you'll see the people left floundering are the ones with the most prejudices. They will be those who give it most importance. And those who've given it unnecessary importance to their identity, because they don't know better or are complete innocents about the effects of being stereotyped or put in a box. On the other hand, the ones with the prejudices are also innocent because they haven't been in the right environment, or had the right experiences that would make them feel differently. Unless of course they are sociopaths, which is different matter altogether If they just had the column, Indian, Asian (just for the sake of international communication)-though I and a million others would prefer HUMAN BEING, or INTERGALATIC SPECIMEN or LIFE FORM, which is what we essentially are-it would be a different scenario. Though I'm sure the silliness of the unemployed human mind would find something else to fill that gap. I think its too simplistic  to say the 'politician' is the culprit. Doesn't a mass of over a billion people have a brain. The politician does not have an magic hypnotic quality, apart from the one that we assign to him. He fulfills a function that we have put him up to, because we don't want to do it ourselves. It has served some factions interests to keep this ludicrous system in place, (though you will argue that Manu the Codegiver was racist, as he was sexist, but those were diffeent ages calling for a different social plan). Or so it seems. But I also think a lot of people simply haven't thought over it much. They grew up with it, and its what they are used to. Most people don't have the energy and luxury to ponder over these things, unless it affects them personally. They already have the job of survival to deal with. So its the job of thinkers and intellectualls to ponder over all that and incite change. Otherwise caste has no meaning. It is an abstract concept and only gains weightage if you give it attributes. Otherwise, I mean will it really be difficult to put up an internet petition that calls for all Indians to sign and do away with the caste tag officially by scrapping it from the books and agree to Vasudev Kutumbakam.  At least as a form of identification. It shouldn't take any machinery if we all thought alike. What will be interesting will be to see the reason why people might oppose such a simple idea. Because otherwise national borders are redrawn overnight, new currencies are created overnight, governments topple overnight. So will this be so difficult. Its mainly about reimagining reality as you thought you knew it. And I don't think it will  take that much longer to figure out what this will means and how you might identify people without all those earlier trappings, unless you've never done that in the first place. Or are starting life as a little kid without any adult baggage. I don't think if you  said you were a Bihari Kshyatria or Himachali Kshyatriya I'm going to think of you as a person as someone who goes around fighting people with swords on horseback. And some of my so-called 'Brahmin' buddies have agreed that you only become a true Brahmin if you are acting with your higher nature. Because that is what it should really be about. The self. And everyone has a higher and lower nature. So that means everyone is a Brahmin and a Shudra depending on their action and how much thought they give to the outcome, as well as their intent. And this is different at different times. So a priest will fall in behaviour to the level of a scoundrel, and a murderer can rise to the level of a saint. In fact as a journalist and writer the best part is when I find that the idea you built up of someone because they had a certain tag don't actually define them as a person. A lot of countries bring up kids without any such tags, so it will be the next generation which will get the benefit of some commonsense changes which is inevitable with information and more wisdom. And when people realise that they are no bigger or smaller than anyone else. And that we have all a dignified place in the world. Basically its just absence of love for the other. More love for one's self, one's family, one's tribe. I'd like to think it was originally either a very abstract concept about the different behavioural tendencies from high to low. Or a practical social division that was simplistic at best, but probably not designed to be evil. Though it eventually got corrupted. Because of man's dual nature. What happened recently in Hyderabad was really sad. But I really wish that poor fellow had stood his ground, because he was the first in his family to study so far, and he should have taken it as a challenge. However, unless you stand in someone else's shoes, its easy to talk. And everyone, no matter how strong they might appear has a breaking point. It has to take hatred to learn to love. Otherwise in actual fact both good and evil are just abstract concepts. They don't really exist unless your mind manufactures them. And now that's a rembling essay instead of a reply!  I'm going to listen to some rock music on Youtube and listen to the rain.
9 years ago
In this quiz, you will be required to identify the correct years in which some certain important events happened from the given choices.
9 years ago
In this quiz, you will be required to identify the correct years in which some certain important events happened from the given choices.
9 years ago
  1. In the caste system, who were referred to as Laborers? 2. Who built the Indus valley cities Harappa & Mohenjodaro, more than 5000 years ago? 3. Which among these is not a most popular Vedic god? 4. On the banks of which river, the ancient Indus valley city Harappa was situated? 5. What did the Aryans of those days have for trading?
9 years ago
Those who love reading fiction, often remember the book by its fascinating characters. So let us check your knowledge, how well are you able to match characters and the books in which they had a role to play.
9 years ago
Those who love reading fiction, often remember the book by its fascinating characters. So let us check your knowledge, how well are you able to match characters and the books in which they had a role to play.
9 years ago
MG Singh replied to the topic Reservations on Caste.
rambabu wrote: Reservations is disease plaguing this country. Unless this country get rid of Reservation system, we continue to stay in Dark ages sans progress and Development . I ask how will it be done and who will do it. remember Gandhi and Vivekananda backed caste system,  so what is solution?  
9 years ago
MG Singh liked a reply to the topic Reservations on Caste.
9 years ago
Not only individuals but government is also doing it. I read today that in one city local administration sent notice to God Hanuman ji to remove his temple and idol from road.
9 years ago
rambabu liked a reply to the topic Places to explore Incredible India.
9 years ago
MG Singh replied to the topic Reservations on Caste.
Jincy Aby wrote: The education and job should be on the basis of merit and not on the basis of caste. Otherwise, talented and capable people cannot reach in deserved positions. Government should take action to stop such unnecessary practices from this society.  Government will not do anything and as a matter of fact they have perpetuated caste reservation for ever. How government will do anything. Our so called reformers like Gandhi and Vivekanada also backed the caste system. So the only hope is a revolution  
9 years ago
rambabu wrote: Certainly I'll visit Rajasthan. Recently my daughter visited Rajasthan and Jaisalmer. Rajasthan is well known for Rajput dynasties who fought against mighty Mughals. Jaisalmer is also in Rajasthan. It is right that Rajpur known for their bravery but only Maharan Pratap fought against Mughals. Most of states had treaty with Mughals and accept their subjection.  
9 years ago
rambabu liked a reply to the topic Places to explore Incredible India.
9 years ago
anil replied to the topic Is this women empowerment? .
rambabu wrote: saying, Man is the owner of Woman,itself says  about Male Chauvinsm. This condition is prevalent in all the Religions. Yes it is right but with spreading of education now women are claiming equal treatment from men.  
9 years ago