എസ് ഐ ഒ നേതാവിനോട് ഒരു ചോദ്യം ചോദിച്ചതും, അതാ ‘നിങ്ങളുടെ രക്ഷാകർതൃത്വം ഞങ്ങൾക്കാവശ്യമില്ല‘ എന്ന ആക്രോശം മുസ്ലിം റാഡിക്കൽ സ്ത്രീപുരുഷ ആക്ടിവിസ്റ്റുകളിൽ നിന്നുമുണ്ടായിരുക്കുന്നു. അവരുടെ കൂക്കിവിളിക്ക് ആക്കം കൂട്ടാൻ ചില ദലിത് സിംഹങ്ങളും സട കുടഞ്ഞെഴുന്നേറ്റിരിക്കുന്നു. അവരുടെ തന്ത്രങ്ങൾ പരിചിതങ്ങളാണ് – മുൻപ് ചുംബനസമരം നടന്ന സമയത്ത് പയറ്റിയ ചില അടവുകളാണ് അവ. എന്നെ ‘അധികാരത്തെ മോശമായി പ്രയോഗിക്കുന്ന പവർഫുൾ സ്ത്രീ’ എന്നും, ഷാഹിനയെ ‘ചീത്ത മുസ്ലിം’ എന്നും, അരുന്ധതിയെ ‘സവർണ്ണസ്ത്രീശരീര’മെന്നുമൊക്കെ ആദ്യമായല്ല മുദ്രകുത്തുന്നത്. അങ്ങനെ ചെയ്താൽ ഞങ്ങൾ പറയുന്നതു മുഴുവൻ തെറ്റാണെന്ന് മറ്റുള്ളവർ ധരിച്ചുകൊള്ളുമെന്ന ശുദ്ധഗതി കലർന്ന പ്രത്യാശയിലാണ് ഇതു ചെയ്തു കൂട്ടുന്നത്. മുസ്ലിം സമുദായത്തെ ചില വാർപ്പു മാതൃകകളിലേക്കു ചുരുക്കുന്ന രീതി സ്വീകാര്യമല്ലെന്ന് വാതോരാതെ കരയുന്നവർ തന്നെയാണ് ഈ പണി ചെയ്യുന്നതെന്നത് തീർച്ചയായും കൌതുകകരം തന്നെ. Continue reading Save Yo Drama for Yo Mama :യഥാർത്ഥരക്ഷകർത്താക്കളോട് കലിപ്പ് തീർത്തുകൊള്ളുക
Category Archives: Bad ideas
React To The Savagery in West Bengal
Is there a level of political violence that a state must reach before it becomes national news? If not, what explains the country’s stony silence to the savagery in West Bengal?
The state has been plunging deeper and deeper into the abyss of political violence, while the ruling deity of the cult moves around the country with tolerance, peace and democracy on her lips. It is nearing that point from where there may be no return. And yet all it elicits is unconcern.
What happened to Dhiren Let, a former four-time MLA of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), in Mayureshwar in Bibhum district on Saturday should have been on the front page of all the national dailies. It, however, found place in only The Telegraph. Continue reading React To The Savagery in West Bengal
Of Flags and Fetishes – The Paris Attacks and A Misplaced Politics of Solidarity: Debaditya Bhattacharya
This is a guest post by DEBADITYA BHATTACHARYA
Megan Garber’s article ‘#PrayForParis: When Empathy Becomes a Meme’, published in The Atlantic (November 16, 2015) has claimed that Paris hashtags and French flag filters on Facebook make for an “act of mass compassion” – a “compassion that has been converted, via the Internet’s alchemy, into political messaging”.
I have absolutely no problems with flag filters on Facebook. Or for that matter, profile-picture revolutions that happen all too often. I’m not, in the least bit indignant about such a competitive exhibitionism of feeling – indexed through a currency of memes and emoticons. In an age of such mass-production of violence (‘terroristic’ or ‘humanitarian’), it is no surprise that the event of mourning must become a symptom of the incompatibility between ‘act’ and ‘response’.
A funereal Facebook must therefore bleed profile pictures, because that seems the only charter of our most intimate emotions. We naturally do not care if Facebook is using the Paris tragedy as a marketing platform, as long as it helps us reclaim a deeply ‘personal’ angst in the face of more-than-a-hundred ‘spectacular’ deaths.
Davids Versus Goliath – How Yogi Adityanath had to ‘Go Back’ to …..(err not Pakistan but) Gorakhpur
The Pandal was ready.
The Sainiks with their saffron bandanas – who were scattered here and there – were eagerly waiting to listen to another fiery call from their Senapati.
Time was already running out but the ‘Star Speaker’ was nowhere to be seen.
Little did they knew that their Senapati had already made an about turn and was headed back home as the district administration had ‘advised’ him against entering the district and was told that he would face ‘legal action if he dares to do so.’
For Yogi Adityanath, the firebrand MP of BJP, who is widely known for his controversial statements as well as acts and who every other day asks dissenters to ‘go to Pakistan’ , it was his comeuppance moment when he was rather forced to ‘go back’ to Gorakhpur. And all his plans to be the star speaker at the inaugural function of Students Union of Allahabad University – once called ‘Oxford of the East’ – lay shattered. Continue reading Davids Versus Goliath – How Yogi Adityanath had to ‘Go Back’ to …..(err not Pakistan but) Gorakhpur
बिहार के जनादेश को लालू प्रसाद का पहला तमाचा
दो वर्ष पहले लालू प्रसाद के दल के एक नेता ने पटना से दिल्ली की एक रेल यात्रा के दौरान मुझे बताया था कि लालू प्रसाद के पारिवारिक समीकरण के जाल में कैसे उनका दल फँस गया है.पुत्रों में किसका महत्त्व होगा,पुत्री उपेक्षित तो नहीं होगी,लालू प्रसाद के लिए इन झगड़ों को सुलझाना एक बड़ा सरदर्द है.
उस वक्त उन्होंने बताया था कि लालू प्रसाद के बड़े बेटे के प्रति माँ की ममता के दबाव से लड़ना लालूजी के लिए उतना ही कठिन साबित होगा जितना अपनी पहली पारी में पत्नी के भाइयों की आपराधिक दबंगई से निबटना था.उन दोनों को ही खुली छूट मिल गई और बिहार एक भयानक अराजकता में फँस गया. उन सालों में न जाने कितनी बार ‘मृच्छकटिक’ के पात्र शकार के उस संवाद का ध्यान हो आया, “तू जानता नहीं, मैं राजो को सालो हूँ.” Continue reading बिहार के जनादेश को लालू प्रसाद का पहला तमाचा
Vande Mataram?
An art installation ‘The Bovine Divine’ by artists Anish Ahluwalia and Chintan Upadhyay was taken down by the police at Jaipur Art Summit
The artists were taken to the police station and held for two hours.
[Correction: The art work was by Siddhartha Kararwal. Anish and Chintan are Sandarbh coordinators. But they were the ones talking to the cops and who were eventually taken to the police station.]
After the cow made of styrofoam was taken down, it was “worshipped and garlanded by a group of protesters”.
While the artists said they wanted to show what eating plastic does to cows, the SHO of Bajaj Nagar Police Station, Mahendra Gupta, was deeply disapproving.
“The way the cow was hanging in the air”, he reportedly frowned, “it was only sending a negative message.”
Com Kislay and Shubham Arrested by Goa Police – Glory to the Struggle of FTII students
(Photo : Courtesy – goanews.com)
Ultimately the roaring voice of the FTII students reached the IFFI (International Film Festival of India) inaugural held at Panaji, Goa.
Just when the inaugural had formally ended, chief guest had spoken and the administration was on the cusp of heaving a sigh of relief for a ‘trouble free beginning’ and was contemplating to ‘pat its own back’ for managing to save its ‘image’ the precints of the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium reverberated with slogans in favour of the historic FTII struggle.
This struggle, which had continued for around five months since 12 th June , a struggle against political appointments at one of the most prestigious institutions of India which was also a wake up call at the systematic attempts underway since the ascendance of the Modi regime at centre to undermine the academic autonomy of universities and educational institutions, as everybody knows has received tremendous national-international support.
Slogans were loud enough that all the celebrities and dignitaries who had gathered there heard them.
‘It was heard by Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley, his state minister Rajyawardhan Rathore, defence minister Manohar Parrikar and all the I&B ministry officials.
The two students found an empty block on top, where they were seated silently till the whole inaugural ceremony ended.’
Security people who were present there in large numbers pounced on the two of them – Com Kislay, a young film director, an alumni of FTII, who has received critical acclaim for his very first film and Shubham, another alumni of FTII – and according to a facebook post (https://www.facebook.com/FTII-Wisdom-Tree-1607915209448356/?fref=ts)
both of them have been badly beaten by the Goan police for showing the placards and shouting slogans… They are still under the police custody and being interrogated.
As of now they have been detained in Agassaim Police Station and would be presented before the magistrate. It is also learnt that they are being ‘charged with serious offences’
It is important to note that the authorities at various levels went out of way just to ensure that the voice of FTII students does not reach the IFFI. It ‘ensured’ that this year the festival would not screen a single film by students of the prestigious FTII whereas in recent years, at least five FTII entries could make it to the screening of this annual fest.
As opposed to its regular practice of paying for the conveyanc and accomodation of its students who had enrolled for the same, the FTII administration took an adhoc decision and told the students to bear their own expenses.
But despite all their attempts to intimidate the students into silence the voice did reach IFFI. It is definitely a victory of sorts – albeit of a symbolic kind.
There is no doubt that this struggle of the FTII students would continue to receive the support which it has received from artists, intellectuals, film personalities and all those people who believe are opposed to the dumbing down of society under all pretexts.
If possible contact the Goa police – especially its higher officials – and ensure that the two are not further harmed and released immediately without any charges.
Glory to the struggle of FTII students.
New Epidemics in Kerala – Ephebiphobia and Losing-Control Anxiety
“Torture isn’t new to us, ” quipped my seventeen-year-old daughter. We were discussing the future of Indian democracy.She had just quit regular school and got herself enrolled in the Kerala State Open School.
I turned to look at her, surprised. She held me in her gaze, questioning that surprise. “In school, we were watched constantly through CCTV cameras … We were summoned to the Principal’s room whenever they thought they saw or heard something wrong. My friend was questioned by nine people, teachers and non-teaching staff. They sat in a circle with her standing in the middle. The more she denied their accusations, the more they pressed charges, threatening and insulting her… So why should we feel illegal interrogation to be abnormal? It is utterly normal to us!” I could only stare blankly. “And the punishments … do you know how humiliating they are? They even maintain ‘reports’ – gossip by teachers – which they pass on to the next school you’d join.” Continue reading New Epidemics in Kerala – Ephebiphobia and Losing-Control Anxiety
Autumn’s Anger: Sonia Anwar
This is a guest post by SONIA ANWAR
As everybody knows by now, not everybody was cheering when the Indian PM recently visited the U.K. Some photos and a short write-up sent by a protestor and eyewitness…
The pictures didn’t come out very good as I was trying to absorb everything that was happening around me yesterday in front of No: 10 Downing street and later in the Parliament Square and also shout against Modi as loud as I could at the same time. The air was filled with angry slogans coming from different groups. The centre point was behind the barricades right across the gates to No: 10. There were people of all genders, faiths and nationalities. We shouted out as loud as we could; they had to bring in Modi on foot to No: 10 through the Foreign Office building to avoid us and our angry shouts that he is a murderer and has blood on his hands. Later we marched down towards the Parliament square.
गांधी से नफरत, गोडसे से प्यार
देश विभाजन के काफी पहले ही गांधीजी को मारने की साजिश रची गई थी।
( Photo by Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images, Courtesy – blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com
हिन्दू महासभा ने 15 नवंबर को बलिदान दिवस मनाने का फैसला किया है। इस दिन महात्मा गांधी के हत्यारे नाथूराम गोडसे को फांसी हुई थी। पिछले साल हिन्दू महासभा ने देश भर में नाथूराम गोडसे के मंदिरों का निर्माण करने का ऐलान किया था। काफी हो-हल्ला मचने के बाद यह अभियान रुक गया। इस बार केंद्र सरकार हिन्दू महासभा के प्रति क्या रुख अख्तियार करती है, यह देखना दिलचस्प रहेगा। महात्मा गांधी की हत्या को लेकर एक बात अक्सर कही जाती है कि नाथूराम गोडसे गांधीजी से नाराज था, क्योंकि गांधीजी ने देश का बंटवारा होने दिया और वह पाकिस्तान को पचपन करोड़ रुपये देने की बात किया करते थे।
दरअसल इन दो तथ्यों की आड़ में उस लंबी साजिश पर पर्दा डाला जाता है जो हिन्दूवादी संगठनों ने रची थी। सचाई यह है कि गांधीजी को मारने की कोशिशें विभाजन के काफी पहले से शुरू हो गई थीं। आखिरी ‘सफल’ कोशिश के पहले उन पर चार बार हमले के प्रयास किए गए। चुन्नी भाई वैद्य जैसे सर्वोदयी के मुताबिक हिन्दूवादी संगठनों ने कुल छह बार उन्हें मारने की कोशिश की, जब न पाकिस्तान अस्तित्व में था और न ही पचपन करोड़ का मसला आया था। पिछले दिनों गांधीजी की हत्या पर ‘बियॉन्ड डाउट: ए डॉशियर ऑन गांधीज असेसिनेशन’ नाम से लेखों का संकलन (संपादन: तीस्ता सीतलवाड) प्रकाशित हुआ है, जो इस मामले की कई पर्ते खोलता है। Continue reading गांधी से नफरत, गोडसे से प्यार
The politics of the Bihar-Verdict
No matter who wins, Bihar would be a loser. Social justice faces a roll-back .’Secular’ politics exposed. Governance a non-issue
This is what thinker-politician Yogendra Yadav had tweeted on September 9.
He, like many others, was not for the Bharatiya Janata Party but was unhappy with Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar for having forged an alliance with Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and the Congress. That the move robbed Nitish Kumar and, in turn, Bihar of the possibility of an alternative politics, was – and still is – the view of many like him. Continue reading The politics of the Bihar-Verdict
The Message From Bihar
‘For Nitish Kumar the message is to be democratic. With the support of the BJP, he had suppressed criticism in Bihar. He would also need to change his highly authoritarian way of governance.’
‘The Grand Alliance, given the decisive mandate in its favour, cannot afford to fail the people. They have a duty to make it a model for the rest of India,’
‘The people of Bihar have shown that they are not communal and that they are literate,’ read a Facebook post of a school teacher who is also a Muslim woman after the trends of the election results of Bihar firmed up. Her Facebook history shows that she is a normal, apolitical, if not non-political, person who defines her life within the circle of her family and friends.
On Sunday, November 8, when some television news channels started predicting a comfortable victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party, a middle age housewife, again a Muslim, hovering round the television set, asked her husband, ‘Does this mean we’ll have to live in constant fear now?’
“Assalamualaikum,” was the early morning greeting I received when my phone rang the next morning. On the other side was a friend, currently in the US. He is not a Muslim, but he belongs to the much maligned community of those who are now officially called ‘sickulars’ by the BJP and its friends, against whom a leading Bollywood actor organised a march in Delhi a few days back.
A day before the results, a friend, again a non-Muslim, and a hardened professional journalist who does not like to be called ‘secular’ told me that it was necessary for the BJP to be defeated in the Bihar elections for the profession of journalism to get breathing space to revive itself in its integrity. Continue reading The Message From Bihar
Is it end road for the BJP’s very own Stalin?
This article was published on JULY 26, 2013. My mind went back to it when I heard that the Marg Darshak Mandal of the BJP has finally managed to find its spine and stand up to revolt against the leadership of the Party. They could do so because the BJP is fortunate be functioning in an open, democratic political system of India which it wants to destroy. It is this outside democracy from which they’ll expect to get support. One’ll have to watch the development in the party as the loyalists have been imediately pressed into action to defend the leader.
Remember,Lalu Prasad and Rahul Gandhi have been been saying all along that the BJP is not a normal democratic political party.It is the mask of the RSS.
The new leader of the BJP, Narendra Modi is, however RSS+.
For the RSS to survive and keep BJP under its thumb, it’ll have to control Narendra Modi. Will it happen? They can only hope at this juncture.
While reading it, keep the dateline in your mind: July 26, 2013
Yashwant Sinha is a worried man these days. He is apprehensive of his leader Narendra Modi being taken for a ride by the Congress party. He says that the Congress party is laying a trap for him, a trap of the binary of Communalism and Secularism and fears that his upward looking Narendra Modi might fall in it. So, well wisher that he is of Narendra Bhai, he wants to alert him: do not get entangled in the conspiracy of the wily Congress. He appeals to Narendra Modi to stick to people’s issues and not let the political discourse shift to the terrain of the Secularism versus Communalism debate.
And then Yashwant Sinha rushes to clarify- ‘ No, no, he was speaking to Congress and not to Narendra Modi’. After all, how can HE, the SAB-JANTA-WALA be advised by an ordinary party member like him? Sinhaji only wants the nefarious design of the Congress to be foiled. Read what he writes, “The Modi-baiters have a clear game plan. The more he speaks, the more controversy they will create. The pre- election political discourse will, thus, be distorted and attention will shift from the mis-governance and corruption of this government to what happened more than 11 years ago in Gujarat. We must bring the discourse back from the past to the present.” Continue reading Is it end road for the BJP’s very own Stalin?
Yes, the Biharis chose Mud over the Lotus. Get Over It.
It is not difficult to imagine some of the reactions to the sweeping victory for the Grand Alliance in Bihar. All those who have spent a lifetime thinking of Bihar as the worst kind of social, economic and political cesspool in the country, all those who shudder at the sight of Lalu Prasad Yadav and amuse themselves with jokes about his rustic origins and his apparently appalling antics, all those who are charmed by the hologram charm of our current PM – all those have found the best kind of alibi to explain the result of November 8th. As Prem Panicker has noted on Twitter, the sum total of their reactions is – “Illiterate Biharis deserve this”. A particularly pee-yellow variant of this jaundiced view of the lower castes and classes was given (and mysteriously withdrawn later) by one Sonam who goes by the handle #Asyounotwish on Twitter:
Thank you Bihar for choosing mud over lotus. You deserve to stay rickshaw walas.
It’s perfect – for the thousands of Sonams out there, Lalu and Bihar are made for each other in a kind of self-limiting loop, and we can return to our economically dynamic, socially vibrant and thankfully un-Bihari Indian lives. Another joke that is doing the rounds:
Wife: Ever been to Bihar?
Husband: No
Wife: Moving there?
Husband: No
Wife: Relatives fighting elections?
Husband: No
Wife: Then give me the damn remote…
Continue reading Yes, the Biharis chose Mud over the Lotus. Get Over It.
How the Hindutva Propaganda Machine Manufactures Lies
Did you know that the return of awards by writers, film-makers and scientists was a plot hatched jointly by the United States of America, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan? Well, if you did not, you will probably not ever understand why the ‘tolerant’ multitude that turned out at Anupam Kher’s March for India rally today, could so vilely abuse and attack NDTV’s Bhairavi Singh and Aaj Tak’s Mousmi Singh. After all, it is one thing for the netas to simulate their anger and laughter on TV channels and elsewhere, but how do you actually get ordinary people to go crazy? How and why does the ordinary Hindutva footsoldier act the way he or she does? Basically, he (and occasionally, she) is made to believe things that most people would know to be false. So why does as innocuous an act as the returning of awards by writers become such a big threat to India’s position in the world and to the very existence of the government of the day? Well, because, it is not a simple matter of some writers acting out of their conscience but already a part of an international conspiracy plotted by the US-Saudi Arabia-Pakistan nexus!
Published below is the text of a note that has been circulating over different social media platforms. We have left the typographical and printing errors as they are in the original. Paranoid in its content, it is also illustrative of the way the RSS ‘rumour-machine’ works to produce lies. In earlier days, it used to start circulating from the morning shakhas via the shakha participants. Nowadays it moves from one social media platform to another, with lightning speed. Continue reading How the Hindutva Propaganda Machine Manufactures Lies
Multiples of Four: Anitha Santhi
This is a guest post by ANITHA SANTHI
We certainly are living through confusing and tumultuous times in Kerala. Amidst the Local Self-Government elections and beef festivals, deplorable attempts to segregate young minds on the basis of gender in campuses ( how one wishes that the same zeal was shown to segregate waste that is spreading like an epidemic), a mini drama was enacted by a few on the outskirts of the capital city. A quote from Bertolt Brecht’s To Those Born Later rings in my mind as I write this :
What kind of times are they
When a talk about trees is almost a crime
Because it implies silence about so many horrors?
The Silence about Trees and other Horrors: Continue reading Multiples of Four: Anitha Santhi
An ‘Anti National’ Response from JNU to the ‘Nationalist’ RSS: Pratim, Gargi and Lenin
Guest Post by Pratim, Gargi and Lenin.
As writers, historians, scientists, film makers, poets, actors and others return their awards in protest against the rising intolerance and anti-rational climate in this country, we in JNU keep stocking up accolades of a different kind. These accolades are ones which are very generously gifted to us from the RSS and its affiliates. These accolades come in more than fifty shades, only highlighting the deep seated trouble that these folks have in seeing this University up to them, despite their attempts to tarnish it. A few days back the ever-so-absurd/islamophobic/irrational Subramaniam Swamy endowed JNU students with the honours of being ‘Jehadis’, ‘Naxal’ and ‘Anti-National’.
What Communal Attacks And Our Own Blindness have Cost Us: Thoughts for Malayalees on the Eve of Panchayat Elections
On the eve of the panchayat elections in Kerala, I can’t help noticing how different it has been this time. Every time, the build-up to voting day includes heated debates about the state of the local bodies and discussions on the promises made by political parties. Not that it was completely absent this time, but somehow it appeared that such questions were hardly on people’s minds. The coming of decentralized governance in the mid-1990s divided the political field in Kerala into two: ‘local governance’ and ‘high politics’ involved very different conceptions of power, authority, and agency. Welfarism, now also reimagined in terms of self-help, was moved into the former, while the latter remained the more decisive arena of political activity and authority. However, given that the space on local governance was crucial to the poor in that welfare entitlements flowed through it, it remained a key area of public concern. Over the years, from Plachimada to Vilappilsala, the local bodies even seemed to form sites around which resistance to top-down destructive ‘development’ could take shape. Each election was an opportunity to take stock of this large network of institutions which despite all the flaws remained quite decisively important to the lives of the poor in Kerala. In fact, it is worth noting that the elections were the occasions in which the better-off sections paid relatively more attention to local bodies and even set aside their cynicism and reluctance to engage. Not so, this time, I can’t help feeling. Continue reading What Communal Attacks And Our Own Blindness have Cost Us: Thoughts for Malayalees on the Eve of Panchayat Elections
My name is Ajmal: Ajmal Khan A.T.
Guest Post by AJMAL KHAN A.T.
What is your name?
Ajmal,
Ohh…Ajmal Kasab?
No, I smile.
This is a familiar exchange for me, not to mention my friends often calling out to me, hey, Kasab!
I noticed this started in Mumbai post 26/11, of course.
But there are other instances. Once, while I was traveling by train from Mumbai to Kerala, a man who was in his mid 50s with whom I was sharing a seat, asked while I was about to get down at the Calicut railway station, ‘boy what is your name?’ I replied – my name is Ajmal. A cute little boy, around 9 years old, who was traveling with him, responded with Ajmal Kasab?
I somehow managed to smile and say, no my dear. I got down at my station. Continue reading My name is Ajmal: Ajmal Khan A.T.
The Polariser is peddling a lie that could lead to a civil war. And yet we’re silent.
(First published by Catchnews on 29 October,2015)
The man has spoken yet again. If the liberals keep complaining even after this about his silence, they should go and get their ears checked.
He speaks again and again, but they do not hear him. Is it just their old ‘secular’ embarrassment that prevents them from accepting what he has been saying all along in his own voice?
This time, the mobiliser, or polariser, tried to give an anti-Muslim spin to the reservation debate. He told his audience that there was a conspiracy being hatched by Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar to snatch away the quota of the Extremely Backward Classes and Scheduled Castes, and give it to a particular community. He left the community unnamed. Continue reading The Polariser is peddling a lie that could lead to a civil war. And yet we’re silent.
Knowledge and Innovation for a Better Society : Ravi Sinha
An Address to the Students of Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune, India
Guest Post by Ravi Sinha
It should be a matter of no small comfort if, in today’s world and in today’s India, any discussion takes place anywhere about the relationship between knowledge and innovation on the one hand and the prospects for a good society on the other. It is greatly more satisfying and reassuring if this topic interests talented young minds such as present here, who, I hope, also nurse hopes for a better future, not only for themselves but also for the entire society and civilization. Yours is an esteemed institution with such a long history of cultivating and disseminating knowledge about society – about politics, economics and other related disciplines. I am sure this issue has been a core concern right from the inception of this institute, and I doubt if I will be able to bring in anything of added value. But, as I said, this is always a welcome topic for discussion. I am very happy for this opportunity to share some of my thoughts with you.
Today if one mentions these two words – knowledge and innovation – together, it is very likely that the image of a Mark Zuckerberg or Steve Jobs or Bill Gates will come to mind, even if such an association is not obvious to everyone. I, for one, often need to tell myself that I should not complain. After all, these gentlemen are symbols of one of the greatest technological revolutions humanity has experienced and we are living through. It has changed the way humanity works, communicates and lives, and it is not over yet. Unrealized potentials far outweigh the realized ones and far greater changes are in the pipeline. Physicists have recently discovered that the Universe now expands at an accelerated rate, but when it comes to accelerated expansion into the unknown, the Universe appears to be no match for technology.
For many the technological explosion is a cause for unadulterated excitement and a source of unbounded hope. For many others it is a cause for grave concern. There are yet others for whom it presents a mixed picture. In times of rapid and radical transformations, it is not unusual for many to have a sense of unease. Humanity has always innovated and created new ways and forms of life, and it has always found it difficult to adjust to its own innovations and creations. But the capacity to adjust improves with time. If the sense of unease or consternation appears widespread despite a greatly improved capacity for adjusting to the new, part of the reason lies in the break-neck speed of the current change. Continue reading Knowledge and Innovation for a Better Society : Ravi Sinha
KAFILA - COLLECTIVE EXPLORATIONS SINCE 2006 