‘I am not an environmentalist, I am an Earth Warrior and protecting the mother earth is my duty’  

World Environment Day is observed every year on June 5 to raise the awareness of public regarding the protection of our environment. Government agencies, Municipalities as well as NGOs come together to create awareness about the importance of protecting the environment. Theme of this year’s World Environment day is Solutions to plastic pollution.

World Environment Day is the biggest international day for the environment. Led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and held annually since 1973, it has grown to be the largest global platform for environmental outreach. It is celebrated by millions of people across the world.

World Environment Day 2023 is hosted by Côte d’Ivoire and supported by the Netherlands and the theme will focus on solutions to plastic pollution under the campaign #BeatPlasticPollution. It is a reminder that people’s actions on plastic pollution matters. The steps governments and businesses are taking to tackle plastic pollution are the consequence of this action.

Plastic Pollution Coalition which is a non-profit communications and advocacy organization with its office at Washington, DC, USA, collaborates with an expansive global alliance of organizations, businesses, and individuals to create a more just, equitable, regenerative world free of plastic pollution and its toxic impacts.

Plastic Pollution Coalition underlines that plastic is found in the water we drink, the food we eat, the air we breathe, the soil below us, and even inside of our bodies. Plastic pollution is a human health, social justice, environmental, climate, and wildlife issue. People and communities across the world are finally waking up to the fact that plastic pollution impacts everything. At every stage, from extraction to production to transportation to use to disposal, plastic pollution threatens human health on a global scale. Communities on the fence-line of petrochemical and plastics infrastructure face chemical pollution of air, land, and water, in addition to pollution of dangerous plastic particles, noise, and risk of deadly industrial accidents like fires and explosions. Serious human health problems associated with fossil fuel extraction, plastics production, use, and disposal are numerous, and include cancer, diabetes, obesity, respiratory issues, reproductive and hormone problems, asthma, and more.

Plastic Pollution Coalition highlights that the ninety-nine percent of all plastics are made from petrochemicals derived from fossil fuels—gas, oil, and coal—and drive the climate crisis. Despite the urgent need to cut our reliance on fossil fuels, the plastics and petrochemical industries plan to quadruple plastics production by 2050—threatening our chances of keeping global temperature rise below the critical 1.5-degree Celsius threshold. By 2050, plastic production and disposal could generate greenhouse-gas emissions equivalent to 615 coal plants annually and use up to 13% of Earth’s remaining carbon budget. Microplastics and nanoplastics may be interfering with the ocean’s ability to absorb and sequester carbon, our biggest natural carbon sink. Plastic can be found all throughout nature, from the oceans to fresh waterways, to soils, air, and outer space. Plastic contains harmful chemicals and never benignly degrades; instead, plastic breaks up into small toxic pieces. Scientists call these plastic pieces “microplastics” and “nanoplastics.” Plastic items and particles easily travel across the planet, threatening the health of wild animals, plants, humans, and the interconnected ecosystems we rely on to survive. Instead of being recycled, most plastics are sent to landfills, illegal dumps, or escape into the natural environment; are incinerated; or are shipped to developing nations unequipped to handle this waste.

Plastic also affects the wildlife. Many wild animals mistake plastic for food. In the oceans, fatal entanglement in and ingestion of plastic by marine mammals is increasing along with the amount of plastic in the ocean. Once ingested, plastic items and particles can inflict deadly physical injuries on animals’ digestive tracts, including perforation of stomach and intestinal walls. Even small quantities of plastic can shorten animals’ lifespans, as has been observed in sea turtles. The dangerous chemicals in plastics build up in animals’ bodies over time. Plastic is a threat to all animals, of all sizes, everywhere.

So, today we must take a pledge that we will avoid using plastic. We will also make people aware about the harmful effects of the plastic and we will take the plastic thrash to the nearby plastic recycling unit so that we can hand over a safe environment for our future generations.

The writer of this article is a Ph.D scholar of the Department of Zoology, University of Jammu.

The post World Environment Day: Let us say no to plastic waste this year appeared first on JK Newsline.

The word meditation in Hindi means ‘Dhyaan’ or in English ‘Trance’ or ‘Musing’. Meditation is an age old technique that was developed by the world’s wisest people to gain full control of the mind and in doing so, to manifest and build its enormous potential for worthy pursuits.

‘When meditation or Dhyaan is attain, the mind is unwavering like the flame of candle in a windless place’ (- Bhagavad Gita).

Methods for doing simple and effective meditation:

1. Take a seat: Find place to sit that calm and quiet the mind and body.

2. Set a time limit: For a beginner, it can help to choose a short time, such as 5-10 minutes only.

3. Notice your body: Close your eyes. Just make sure you are stable and in a position where you can stay for a while.

4. Feel the breath: It is an amazing and wonderful step to feel the sensation of the breath as it goes in and as it goes out. This is also called the mindfulness way of meditating.

5. Notice when your mind has wandered: When themind start wandering- in a few seconds, a minute, five minutes simply come back, come back to the breath again.

6. Be kind to your wandering thoughts and mind: Don’t assume or judge yourself and just come back, come back on the breath.

7. Close with kindness and compassion: One who create kindness for their self is the one who creates kindness, compassion for others.

8. Open your eyes: If your eyes are close, open it, gently lift your gaze. Notice any sound in the environment.

The state now in which you are is the state of truth and the state of enlightenment.

Benefits of meditation is endless, but few of them are:

1. Meditation help in reducing negative thoughts and emotions.

2. Increasing patience and tolerance.

3. Increasing self-conciousness and self-awareness.

4. Creating emotional and mental balance.

5. Increasing memory and creativity.

6. Creating a reservoir of kindness in our heart.

(The author Supriya Sharma is a PhD. Research Scholar in the Department of Zoology, University of Jammu.)

The post Meditation- the Mystic way of Living appeared first on JK Newsline.

This is for the first time that the slogans reading ‘Brahmins Bharat Choro’, ‘Brahmino-Baniyas, we are coming for you! We will avenge’, were seen on the walls of the university bringing out the hate against the communities that have been thriving without any reservation in the country.

Many say that the slogans were pasted on walls by those with the sick mentality who are hell bent to target the Brahmin and other upper castes due to their own failures. “It is not an isolated incident but such cases are taking place across the country. Targeting Brahmins brings out the deep hate among those with terrorist mentality against a community that is thriving without any reservation. It is time that government must think about removing the creamy layer from all reservations so that people having caliber get their due” said a Sociologist from Delhi University who did not want to be identified.

The issue of creamy layer has been discussed many times but the governments do not interfere in the SC and ST reservation as it consist their vote bank. The problem arises when important government positions are taken over by those on the basis of reservation and people having caliber are left out.

“The Vice-Chancellor has taken serious note of the incident of defacing walls and faculty rooms by some unknown elements in SIS, JNU. The administration condemns these exclusivist tendencies on campus. Such incidents will not be tolerated as JNU belongs to all,” the university said in a statement.

Brahmins percentage in India

As per surveys and records, Brahmins constitute 4.3% of the total population in India. It is around 6.04 crore individuals out of the total 1.30 billion. While many claim that Brahmins are on the top position of social hierarchy because of their caste, it is a fact that several IAS, IPS and top government functionaries are Brahmins who have reached their position without any reservation.

 There is a need by government to end this hate against Brahmins in India and start a process where those with intelligence and ability are provided jobs without bowing to the pressure of political compulsions.

The post Opinion: Is hate against Brahmins growing in India? Why is 4.3% population a threat to many? appeared first on JK Newsline.

A bioabsorbable polymer can be described as a chemical compound that has crucial applications in orthopedic implant devices. It eventually gets dissolved and gets absorbed by the body. Bioresorbable polymers are ideal materials for prosthetics since their dissolving rate is the same as that of the growth rate of a new bone.

They are extremely elastic and durable compared to stiff metal alloy bone prosthetics, which are known for interfering with bone re-growth.

What are the Major Types of Bioresorbable Polymers?

One of the most popular types of Bioresorbable Polymers includes polylactic acid (PLA), or polylactide. In general, it is the key building block for all bioresorbable polymer materials. Some common derivatives of this type of bioresorbable polymer are poly-D-lactide (PDLA), poly-DL-lactide (PDLLA), and poly-L-lactide (PLLA). In the body, it degrades and turns into lactic acid, which is a non-toxic chemical that happens naturally inside the body.

Polyglycolide (PG), or Polyglycolic acid (PGA)is another key bioresorbable polymer type that is used majorly in bioresorbable sutures. It can be copolymerizedusing lactic acid to develop poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid), or PLGA using e-caprolactone to develop poly(glycolide-co-caprolactone) and more.

Polylactic Acid

PLA is a highly popular polymer material since it is economically developed using renewable resources. PLA is the second most used bioplastic in the world,but its application is hindered by various processing and physical shortcomings.

It is the most extensively utilized plastic filament materialin 3D printing. Its high strength, low melting point, good layer adhesion, high heat resistance, and low thermal expansionwhen annealed render it the perfect material to be used in 3D printing.

What are the Applications of PLA?

Consumer Goods

PLA has uses in different consumer goods like cutlery, disposable tableware, kitchen appliances as well as electronics like handheld devices and laptops, along with microwavable trays. On the downside, PLA can be used in microwavable containers given its low glass transition temperature.It is also used in food packaging, loose-fill packaging material, and compost bags. In the film form, when heated, it shrinks, which allows its use in shrink tunnels. When in fiber form, it has uses in monofilament fishing lines as well as netting. In the nonwoven fabric form, it has uses in disposable garments, upholstery, feminine hygiene products, diapers, and awnings.

PLA also has critical applications in a variety of engineering plastics, in which the stereocomplex is combined with a rubber-like polymer like ABS. Such combinations have impressive form stability as well as visual transparency, rendering them crucial in low-end packaging applications.

PLA has uses in different automotive parts like panels, covers, and floor mats. Its durability and heat resistance are not as good as the widely utilized polypropylene (PP), however; its characteristics are improved when the end groups are capped to bring down hydrolysis.

Medical

PLA completely degrades to turn into lactic acid, which makes it perfect to be used as medical implants that are in the form of screws, anchors, pins, plates, mesh, and rods. Based on the type that is being used, PLA breaks down in the body between 6 months and 2 years. This degradation process is ideal for a support structure since it gradually shifts the load completely to the body while that region is healing. The high strength property of PLA as well as PLLA implants is well-known.Thanks to its biodegradability and biocompatibility, PLA is also used as a polymeric scaffold deployedfor drug delivery purposes.

Polyglycolic Acid

Polyglycolic acid or PGA can be understood as a semi-crystalline, biodegradablethermoplastic, known for its tremendous gas barrier characteristics, excellent biodegradability, and relative high strength. A few grades come with a biodegradation rate that is the same as that of cellulose, which decomposeswhen composted into water and CO2 within a month.

What are the Applications of PGA?

PGA along with its copolymers like poly(glycolide-co-caprolactone) and poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)have critical uses in numerous applications. Owing to its extremely low permeability to CO2 and O2, it is utilized as a packaging film for products that are sensitive to oxygen. Other crucial applications are shale gas extraction as well as various industrial processes coupled with synthetic fast absorbable sutures used in internal surgeries.

Polycaprolactone

Polycaprolactone or PCL can be described as a biodegradable polyester that has a low melting point of nearly 60°C along with a glass transition temperature of close to −60 °C. Polycaprolactone’s most common use isin the manufacturing of specialty polyurethanes. It imparts excellent resistance to oil, water, chlorine, and solvent to the produced polyurethane.

This bioresorbable polymer is generally deployed as an additive for various resins to enhance their processing properties as well as their impressive end-use properties (such as impact resistance). Given the high compatibility with various other materials, Polycaprolactone can be blended with starch to cut down its cost and elevate biodegradability. It can also act as a polymeric plasticizer when added to polyvinyl chloride or PVC.It is further deployed for modeling, splintingas well as a feedstock for various prototyping systems like fused filament fabrication 3D printers.

Biomedical Applications of PCL

PCL’s degradation happens by the hydrolysis process of its ester linkages in several physiological conditions (like in the human body) and is therefore, subjected to a lot of attention for application in implantable biomaterials. It is especially used for preparing long-termmedical implantable devices, considering that itsdegradation rate is much slower compared to that of polylactide.It finds widespread use in long-term medical implants as well as controlled drug release applications.

Bioresorbable Polymers Market Status Quo

Factors including the mounting number of a variety of surgical interventions, escalating demand for numerous biocompatible medical devices, and the rise in drug delivery applications will favor the worldwide market for bioresorbable polymers in the years to come. The supportive reimbursement scenario, the lower costs associated with bioresorbable polymers compared to traditional polymers, the huge preference for minimally invasive surgeries, and the lenient quality control regulations in developing economies will also benefit the global industry.

A significant opportunity that can emerge in the resorbable polymers industry in the years ahead is the rising demand and development of eco-friendly products that cater to the regulatory standards implemented by numerous environment protection agencies worldwide.

The post Bioresorbable Polymers Market: Steady rise in medical applications to be a major opportunity appeared first on JK Newsline.

The beautiful quote by Paramhansa Yogananda- a great Indian Monk, yogi & guru is:

‘Meditation is like giving a loving hug to ourselves, getting in touch with that awesome reality in us. While meditating we feel a deep sense of intimacy with God or Divine, a love that is inexplicable’.

The word meditation in Hindi means ‘Dhyaan’ or in English ‘Trance’ or ‘Musing’. Meditation is an age old technique that was developed by the world’s wisest people to gain full control of the mind and in doing so, to manifest and build its enormous potential for worthy pursuits.

‘When meditation or Dhyaan is attain, the mind is unwavering like the flame of candle in a windless place’ (- Bhagavad Gita).

Methods for doing simple and effective meditation:

1. Take a seat: Find place to sit that calm and quiet the mind and body.

2. Set a time limit: For a beginner, it can help to choose a short time, such as 5-10 minutes only.

3. Notice your body: Close your eyes. Just make sure you are stable and in a position where you can stay for a while.

4. Feel the breath: It is an amazing and wonderful step to feel the sensation of the breath as it goes in and as it goes out. This is also called the mindfulness way of meditating.

5. Notice when your mind has wandered: When the mind start wandering- in a few seconds, a minute, five minutes simply come back, come back to the breath again.

6. Be kind to your wandering thoughts and mind: Don’t assume or judge yourself and just come back, come back on the breath.

7. Close with kindness and compassion: One who create kindness for their self is the one who creates kindness, compassion for others.

8. Open your eyes: If your eyes are close, open it, gently lift your gaze. Notice any sound in the environment.

The state now in which you are is the state of truth and the state of enlightenment.

Benefits of meditation is endless, but few of them are:

1. Meditation help in reducing negative thoughts and emotions.

2. Increasing patience and tolerance.

3. Increasing self-conciousness and self-awareness.

4. Creating emotional and mental balance.

5. Increasing memory and creativity.

6. Creating a reservoir of kindness in our heart.

At last- ‘Live quietly in the moment and see the beauty of all before you. The future will surely take care of itself’ ( Paramahansa Yogananda)

The writer of this article is a Ph.D. Scholar of the Department of Zoology, University of Jammu.

The post Learn the methods of simple and effective meditation and have all benefits appeared first on JK Newsline.

Assembly polls in J&K, whenever they are announced, are going to be one of the major tests for the parties after the abrogation of article 370. The proposal of delimitation commission by adding 6 new assembly constituencies for Jammu division and one for the Kashmir valley has not brought any joy for Jammu either.

In Jammu many feel that though six seats have been added making it total to 43 seats, there is only difference of four with that of Kashmir the draft proposal is still titled towards Kashmir despite Jammu having a larger area (26,293 sq km vs 15,948 sq km in Kashmir) and, as is commonly believed here, near-equal population as Kashmir as per The Indian Express.

Ankur Sharma, chairman of IkkJutt Jammu, a Jammu-based organization said that Jammu always wanted the delimitation exercise to be done on the basis of the 2021 Census and added that after estimating the 2011 Census, as per their calculation, there should have been 49 Assembly seats in Jammu and 41 in Kashmir had other parameters like area, accessibility etc. been given due weightage.

Also the political parties of Kashmir has opposed the proposal and stated it as unreasonable.

PAGD spokesperson and CPI(M) leader MY Tarigami on Tuesday, soon after a meeting of the grouping at National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah’s residence in Jammu said that this proposal will lead to more division in people of J&K and create a big gap.

While there was only reservation for Scheduled Castes (SC) in J&K, Muslims in Kashmir did not get it as there are no SCs among Muslim community. However now even Muslims including Gujjars and Bakerwals have been granted reservation under Scheduled Tribe (ST) category as per the proposal of Delimitation Commission.

The post Why is Jammu not happy despite getting additional six seats? appeared first on JK Newsline.

However, Srinagar has witnessed around 18 encounters between the ultras and security forces since January 2020. Moreover, 20 civilians and unarmed policemen were also killed in terror attacks.

One CID Inspector, one sub inspector on probation and two constables were killed in attacks. Also, the recent series of killing of members of minority community which included chemist Makhan Lal Bindroo, two non-Muslim teachers and two golgappa vendors was witnessed.

Peaceful areas of Allochi Bagh, Rambagh, Hyderpora, Nowgam, Parimpora and Lawaypora on the south-western periphery also witnessed attacks.

On 7 October 2020, Police and security forces claimed to have killed two top wanted terrorists of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT)–Saifullah and Irshad Ahmad Dar of Pulwama in an encounter at Rambagh. On 23 August 2021, police and security forces claimed that The Resistance Front (TRF), chief Abbas Sheikh, and his ‘second in-command’ Saquib Makoor were killed in a lightning strike at Rambagh.

Three youths from Pulwama, Athar Mushtaq, Zubair Ahmad, and Aijaz Maqbool Gai, were killed in an Army operation in a Lawaypora hostel.

The families claimed that the three youths were innocent civilians but the security forces claimed that they launched the operation based on specific information and said that three young men were terrorist associates.

The killing of two well known civilians Altaf Bhat and Dr Muddasar Gul on 15 November 2021 shook everyone. Three terrorists Mehran Yaseen Shalla of Jamalatta Srinagar, Mazoor Ahmad Mir of Babhar Pulwama and Arafat Ahmad Sheikh of Nikloora Pulwama were killed by the Jammu and Kashmir police.

However, two former chief ministers including Mehbooba Mutti and Farooq Abdullah are seeking judicial inquiry in the incident. With Lawaypora and Hyderpora, they are also seeking judicial inquiry in the Rambagh encounter. On 29 November 2021, NC’s three Lok Sabha members from Kashmir–Farooq Abdullah, Mohammad Akbar Lone and Justice (retired) Hasnain Masoodi–staged a protest outside the Parliament.

They are demanding judicial inquiries in the three disputed encounters as well as restoration of J&K’s special status under the redundant Article 370 and 35-A. On 6 December 2021, Mehbooba Mufti, with a team of her party leaders, put up a similar protest at Jantar Mantar, alleging fake encounters and, like the NC, and demanding judicial inquiries into Lawaypora, Hyderpora and Rambagh encounters.

The post Opposition is again playing with fire in comparatively calm Kashmir appeared first on JK Newsline.

Yoga came from the word ‘Yog’ which means connection. When we have connection with soul it always make us marvelous and blissful.

A good connection create our right thinking pattern, our thought process create our feelings, feelings create our attitude finally a right attitude create a right powerful action and a fortunate destiny.

Two kinds of lifestyle in ancient scripture was seen- one Bhogi and another is Yogi. Bhogi means sufferings whereas yogi means empowerment over the sufferings. Yes its true, we cannot completely alleviate pain and sufferings but we can shift our attitude to tackle every suffering calmly and happily, so as to remain elevated and strong over it.

A beautiful way of true living is by becoming a yogi. A yogi has a broad vision, elevated thoughts and connected to soul.

Yogi lifestyle :-

• A personal connection with Supreme almighty authority.
• Increase divinity to increase mental flexibility
•  Giver attitude
• Spread harmony around in relationship and environment.
• Always spread happiness, peace, joy, love and power around them like an angel.
• Forgiveness and let go is their strong attributes.

Lets become Yogi, it’s just a thought away.

The author of this article is a Phd scholar, Dept. of Zoology, University of Jammu.

Thoughts expressed are personal and JK Newsline may or may not endorse them

The post International Yoga Day: Mind over body not Body over mind appeared first on JK Newsline.

“Fragrance always remain in the hands of those who distribute roses, peace remain in heart of those who distribute love”

Unconditional love means loving without any expectation. With the passage of time, we come into a phase of life where loving someone with full heart become a fearful task. Uncontrolled mind would definitely ponder on some questions like, what if our loved ones left us alone, what if he/she becomes untrustworthy and deceitful. With these constant insecurities we diminish our power of unconditional love and compassion.

Again recalling ourselves with this beautiful term, unconditional love, which changed the life of millions and capable of changing whole vision towards everything around us.

Unconditional love has the power of acceptance and this acceptance will raise the strong knots of understanding in any relationship. It’s not at all tough to practice but we have to give time and importance to our relationship more than the pity issues we indulge in our day to day life.

  “I need more Acceptance & Love when I least deserve it”

When we have the ignition of unconditional love for others, we are the first to cherish it and this creates self-love & self-care bond with our own soul. We become vibrant with empathy and compassion.

The person who believes in unconditional love have a strong aura of giving that reach to the whole universe and cosmos with an unimaginable power. These extraordinary people feel deep connected with every creature on earth.

All the relationships at any level can heal by initiating acceptance and unconditional love. According to the different researches it is seems that people excel easily in their career when they have more stable and happy relationships.

Unconditional love is an attribute of strong and powerful soul. This can increase manifolds our problem handling capacity. We start enjoying life without worries and live peacefully.

Forgiving the mistakes of others as well as done by us in the past and letting go the things make us natural givers. The givers are always much happier than the takers who might have accumulated more materialistic things in this unpredictable world. But givers are truly happy from their souls and blessed by the mighty God.

If we are loving and expecting something in return then we are doing business and not love.

“Never ignore the one who cares a lot for us. Else some day we realize that we have lost a diamond while we were too busy in collecting stones. From today lets care for our loved one.”

The author of this article is a Phd scholar in the Dept. of Zoology, University of Jammu.

The post Unconditional love: Fragrance always remain in the hands of those who distribute roses appeared first on JK Newsline.

The mind can be wicked or gentle, the mind can be foe or friend. Peace and happiness spread in life, when the mind becomes pure. 

Mind spends most of the time in fantasies and illusions, re-living the pleasant or unpleasant experiences and anticipating the future with eagerness or fear. While lost in such cravings or aversions, we are unaware of what is happening in present.

The powerful tool, our mind, many of times not work according to our will. Just by breaking the loop, the loop of past and future we can very easily enter in a state called as Mindfulness- yes the state of awareness and relaxation. As per the need of the hour, mindfulness become a subtle conscious technique for the human being to be fully aware of what they are thinking, where they are and what they are doing without any aversion. It would be great to know  that the fully aware mind will directly open the road towards enlightenment for an individual. There are some simple steps to tune up with this powerful practice-

1.Choosing the right posture and place- We all know, the correct posture is to sit with a straightback. As straight body posture directly interconnect with the watchful state of the mind which help us to become vigilant.Close your eyes and sit comfortably in a calm place.“The birds of wisdom needs two wings to fly. They are awareness and equanimity” 

2.Breathing, our lifelong true Partner- “Observing breath after breath, the mind becomes relax. Unwavering and calm mind is pure and naturally find liberation from pain and pleasure.”

 From birth to our last moment, breath is our naturalcompanion. Extracting time from our busy schedule, so that we can start a journey towards selfrealization,observing and controlling the breath is of utmost importance . Our breathing pattern occur by two ways- Fast and Slow. Observe the breath tillthe feelingof the natural flow of calmness, relaxation and perseverance is felt. During this relaxed momentwe are away fromthe past and future and move towards self awareness.

3.With diligence and patience observe the whole body sensations; part by part; piece by piece-“Rolling, rolling and rolling in sense pleasure we keep tying knots. Observing, observing and observing we open all the knots.”

Moving from head to foot in a synchronized flow by passing the attention from every part of the body one by oneby just observing and moving ahead. Feel the touch of clothes, the surface you are sitting on and the sensation of air (cold or hot),just observe, objectively. This free flow of the sensation will elevate our state of alertness and attentiveness towardsour present.“Soft heart, strong determination and active life” is the best state of living.

4.Change is inevitable- “Past moment cannot come again, everything is new.”Each feeling shares the same characteristic; it arises and passes. We must experience the nature of sensation, understand its flow and learn not to react to it.We can experience the eternity of change as we go deep in meditation.

5. Be attentive- Don’t get upset if the focus is lost. Come again, start again, work diligently, work patiently and you are bound to be successful.It is believed that “When one experiences truth, the madness of finding fault with others disappear.”

6. From Entropy to Order – Entropy is lack of order or predictability, so our focus should be to bring back our mind from disorder to orderly state. Mindfulness is the best way to bring back our mind to order. Entropy will vanish once we learn to control our mind and body.

7.Not dancing when pleasure comes, not wailing when in pain. Keeping equilibrium with both, this is real happiness.

Technique ofmindfulness strongly leads to:

• Inculcating awareness.
• attention to what is occurring in the present moment by only observing thoughts, feelings, sensations as they arise and pass.
• attitude that is non-judgmental, curious and kind.

After attaining mindfulness we would be blessed with self-awareness, enhanced willpower, increased attention, liberated from anxiety, depression and mental disorder, reduce pain by boosting emotional regulation, better sleep quality, increase memory and make us more courageous to fight against any addiction occurring through physical, mental and emotional ways.Forgiveness, patience, letting go, compassion, kindness and truth become our hard core original self.

“Of hatred and ill will, may not a trace remain. May love and good will fill our body, mind and life”

The author of this article is a Phd. Research Scholar in the Department of Zoology, University of Jammu.

Views expressed are personal

The post Mindfulness: A Way towards Enlightenment and Truth appeared first on JK Newsline.

Unfortunately, second wave has been anything but milder as was expected. Experts failed to predict severity of this wave because there were three major reasons which caused a spike in daily covid cases. If the government wanted then it could have dealt with these major causes and covid cases count would have been much lower and probably along the lines of numbers predicted by experts.

1. Kumbh Mela: Government data states that around 91 lakh people participated in Mahakumbh in Haridwar from 14 January to 27 April. A majority of these people i.e., 60 lakh congregated in April when the nation was going through a deadly second wave of coronavirus. On 12 April, around 35 lakh people gathered for Somvati Amavasya holy dip.

No matter how much government authorities claim that all SOPs were followed during these massive congregations, any person with an IQ level in double digits would know about veracity of these tall claims. How is it possible that covid guidelines were followed while lakhs of people were taking collective baths? Were these people putting on masks and maintaining social distancing while taking “holy dips”? It is even ridiculous to expect that guidelines would be followed in such an environment.

A minimum of 100 seers were found to be covid positive and four of them lost their lives because of the Chinese virus. People from across the nation participated in Kumbh Mela. Not only would have these people infected themselves but also carried the virus to their hometowns. Rather than discouraging people to attend Maha Kumbh, government was rather encouraging people. Uttarakhand chief minister Tirath Singh Rawat said, “I invite all devotees across the world to come to Haridwar and take a holy dip in the Ganga during Mahakumbh. Nobody will be stopped in the name of Covid-19 as we are sure the faith in God will overcome the fear of the virus.”

2. Farmers’ Protest: Tens of thousands of farmers have gathered in Delhi borders with demands to take down three agriculture reform bills passed by the Central government. These farmers have been protesting since end of last year. Since such a large amount of people have gathered, it is obvious that coronavirus will find a home among these farmers. Unfortunately, farmers have been reluctant in putting off this protest due to pandemic so far. Many of them even believe that coronavirus is Modi government’s conspiracy to end their protest. Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait said on Thursday (29 April) that they will not take down their protest.

I have reasons to believe that what has been presented as a genuine farmers’ protest is nothing but a conglomeration of Sikhs who want to flex their muscles with blind-modi haters who have criticism scripts ready even before BJP government issues a press release. Still, they all have rights to protest in a democratic nation like ours. However, this right to protest should have been snatched just like other basic rights of people have been cancelled through lockdown to deal with this pandemic.

3. Political Rallies: Assembly elections took place in four states (West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Assam) and one Union Territory (Puducherry). Numerous political rallies were held in these states by various leaders of different parties. A legitimate question must be raised that why these elections were not postponed for a couple of months? If it was not possible to postpone then atleast a ban could be imposed on rallies and online campaigning could be promoted.

Unfortunately, none of this happened. Political leaders shamelessly kept on boasting about large number of people attending their rallies while covid numbers consistently increased.

If Government would have postponed elections, restricted general public from attending Kumbh Mela and dispersed farmer protestors in Delhi borders then covid numbers would not be probably as scary as they are now. However, doing so would have ensured a strong opposition from people (especially Hindus and Sikhs) which power hungry politicians could not afford even if people die struggling for oxygen.

The post 3 reasons why India is witnessing a second wave of coronavirus appeared first on JK Newsline.

Generally, people don’t like disruptions in the status quo unless it is not possible to survive otherwise. So, governments tenaciously cling to the status quo even when it is dangerous and if it doesn’t annoy the majority of people. Because, ultimately, democracy is the appeasement of majority.

What happened with farm bills could be called an example of the same. Year after year, agricultural experts like Ashok Gulati have maintained that some laws concerning agriculture are seriously problematic and outdated. For example, let’s consider the Essential Commodities Act, 1955. Under this act, the government can set limits on the quantity of agricultural products to be stored by any private party. This provision was framed after a while our nation got independence. At that time, there was a scarcity of food and the government wanted to ensure that nobody stores food grains and then sell it at a higher price to people.

It has been many decades since that unfortunate era when India was suffering from a shortage of food grains. Now, the nation produces surplus food grains than it can not only consume but also export to other nations. Still, the outdated act remains applicable and many people are being convicted of the same. According to the economic survey 2019-20, 2900 people were convicted under this law. The other two amendments provide farmers freedom to sell their products outside APMC markets and engage in contract farming with firms.

In these amendments, the government is not giving farmers freedom but rather returning them what is rightfully theirs. It should not be of any government’s concerns if any farmer wants to trade with a corporate or sell his products outside government-sanctioned marketplaces. The popular perception about farmers is that they wear dirt-ridden white clothes with a turban of the same colour and are illiterate, compassionate and can’t think what is good for themselves.

This last part is what has propelled governments to be extra-possessive about farmers and avoid them from the “evil hands” of corporates. Moreover, farmers themselves have been in a delusion that somehow more control of the government in their lives would improve their lives and the only thing that is keeping them away from prosperity and affluence is comparatively lesser control of the government over them.

When, somehow, the BJP government decided to amend these farm bills, a protest broke out in Punjab which started gaining momentum gradually. National media tried to ignore these protests as they were not of much significance and everybody thought that it will calm down after a while which, obviously, didn’t happen. Farm bill amendments and protests only became a part of general discussion when these farmer protestors reached border of the national capital. Suddenly, News Channels which were earlier busy hounding the food delivery boy outside Rhea Chakraborty’s house started explaining the intricacies of farm bills to their audiences.

Opposition parties like Congress and AAP started attacking the “anti-farmer” BJP and its new farm bills shamelessly forgetting that these parties themselves supported these amendments in the past. In its 2019 Lok Sabha manifesto, Congress wrote that “The Essential Commodities Act, 1955 belongs to the age of control. Congress promises to replace the Act by enabling a law that can be invoked in the case of emergencies”.

AAP promised in its 2016 Punjab election manifesto to amend the APMC act to let farmers sell in and outside the state and invite large-scale private investment. When Captain Amarinder Singh and Arvind Kejriwal were engaged in a Twitter spat to garner sympathies of farmers, it must be asked to them that if these bills were anti-farmers then why their parties supported them earlier. These political parties need to be called out for their hypocrisy.

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 The political graph of the BJP in West Bengal has seen a significant rise since the  Lok Sabha elections in 2014, but the state assembly polls in May 2021 polls will not be an easy task as Mamata Banerjee led TMC has a record of improving its performance in elections.

TMC on the other hand was able to bag 22 seats and 43.69 percent votes. BJP was still four seats and 3 percent votes behind Mamata’s party.  

From Lok Sabha polls in 2014, BJP saw a quantum jump as at that time it was only able to win 17.02 percent of the votes and two seats -Darjeeling and Asansol.

The performance of the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha election was a vote for Narendra Modi as PM. The political influence of TMC is limited to the politics of West Bengal and the voters chose BJP over Congress, the Left and the regional parties.  

A worrying factor for the BJP is that TMC sees an upswing while its performance slides in the West Bengal Assembly elections. This is probably due to Mamata Banerjee’s charisma (just like Modi).  

Since the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, when it won 19 seats and got 31.18 percent of the votes, TMC has grown by leaps.  In 2014, TMC won 34 seats and 39.79 percent in the Lok Sabha elections, despite the Modi wave.  

TMC improved its tally in 2016 assembly polls by bagging 211 seats and 44.91% of votes, fighting on its own steam.  

In 2019, its share of votes decreased by only 1.22 percent over the 2016 assembly polls.

 
It is clear from all accounts that the Bengal polls in 2021 are going to be highly polarized.  

The Act on Citizenship (Amendment), NRC, differences between the Centre and the government of the state. From all accounts, it is clear that the 2021 Bengal polls are going to be highly polarized.

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They mark the continuation of a democratic electoral process in the union territory after the abrogation of the special status of the erstwhile state on 5 August 2019. But not all the elections are as democratic as they seem. At least this is what the opposition in the region is alleging.

Several workers of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration, or PAGD, like Waheed Ur Rehman Para, have got arrested while campaigning for the DDC polls. Para was allegedly supporting anti national activities and was arrested by NIA.

Other candidates from the opposition parties have been given a fixed time slot in which they are allowed to campaign. Many candidates are forced to travel in one car after first visiting their local police stations, which hardly leaves them hardly any time to campaign.

The BJP wants to win this election at every cost. If BJP wins this election, then it will send a message at national and international platforms in the favour of the party. BJP’s win will push a message that everything is fine in the valley and people of the region are satisfied with the policies of the government.

It will signal the international community, especially the new Joe Biden administration in the US, that the people of Kashmir support the revocation of Article 370 move by the government.

The DDC election will loudly and clearly announce the voice of the people of Jammu and Kashmir that that finds little space in wake of a 4G internet restrictions. Probably that is why the BJP, just before the election, changed its tactics.

The party was aware that attacking the Gupkar Alliance as ‘anti-national’ could favour the PAGD as the word has been continuously used to label critics of the BJP. The BJP has now brought the Roshni land scam to people’s attention to the alleged corruption of the Abdullahs and the Muftis.

To show to the people of Kashmir that the PAGD could not be trusted, the names of the alleged ‘beneficiaries’ of the Roshni land scam —former finance minister Haseeb Drabu, Farooq Abdullah’s sister Suraiya Abdullah, Congress leaders K.K. Amla and Mushtaq Ahmad Chaya along with prominent bureaucrats and businessmen — are being brought to the public’s attention.

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These are not farmers but terrorists, he adds. Thousands like his tweet and hundreds of others expressed their support to the twitterati’s opinion. Roughly speaking, what “Khalistani” is to Sikhs is what “Jihadi” is to Muslims. Both the terms refer to radicalised members of Sikhs and Muslims and are used as a slur/abuse to dehumanize their moderate followers by people of right wing. What happened today on Twitter could be used as an example.

In my humble opinion, the “Delhi Chalo” march is more about the Sikhs’ (Punjabis in particular) disenchantment for the government and its “Pro-Hindu” stance, more than their disapproval of the three farm laws passed by the Central government. While often demonizing other religions (especially Muslims), “Kattar Hindus” have always considered Sikhs as a part of their religion.

A major reason behind this particular belief could be attributed to the fact that not long ago, Sikhism originated out of Hinduism and the Sikhs fought Mughals too. Since they both shared a common ancestry and an “enemy”, right wing organisations have always had a sweet spot for Sikhs. This affection of Sikhs did not deteriorate much even after radicalized environment in Punjab in the last quarter or half of the 20^th Century.

But the main problem remained that the Sikhs did not reciprocate the feelings of Hindu organisations. On 13 July, 2004, the Akal Takht (Britannica: the chief centre of religious authority of Sikhism) even cautioned Sikhs about the activities of the RSS and its Sikh affiliate, Rashtriya Sikh Sangat. Even though the caution was directed as a response to a particular matter but it serves the general theme that the Sikhs do not trust Hindu organisations.

The problem arises when the Hindu organisations start to preach to their followers that Sikhs are just another form of Hindus which a majority of the Sikhs decline to accept. In a statement, the Akal Takht Jathedar, Giani Harpreet Singh said that they have no problem with the RSS preaching Hinduism but they should give up on defining Sikhism. He said that there are many institutions within Sikhism to define who they are and they don’t want ‘outsiders’ to do it for them. He added that they are not a part of the Hindu nation of the RSS.

So, when the Sikhs started to pour in the national capital for registering their lack of faith in the new farm bills and the Central government at a more fundamental level, BJP IT cell and a section of media which act as a PR agency for the government were hit by the responsibility to manage this crisis. So, they all decided to antagonize the protestors like they have done in the past in the case of Shaheen Bagh.

They want the public to believe that any nationalist person can’t criticize the BJP government and reversal of this theory makes anybody who criticizes the government can’t be a nationalist. Hence, they used their age-old technique of calling the critics of BJP anti-national and this time, they called the protesting farmers Khalistani.

This very act of calling farmers Khalistani had a subliminal message for the people of the nation that these protesters are not farmers who were revered in the slogan “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan” by former PM Lal Bahadur Shastri but rather dangerous separatists who want to break India and were protesting under the garb of farmers.

This theory of antagonizing the farmers circulated highly in the past few days on the social media platforms. This theory that all the protesting farmers are Khalistanis and hate the nationalist government is tried to be established by PR agencies in the form of news media outlets. Some of the media organisations have tried to prove it by showing that a random protestor in the crowd is somehow affiliated with Khalistan movement, so, it implies that all the other thousands of protestors are Khalistanis.

In my opinion, it would not be an exaggeration to say that this is one of the most idiotic arguments made in the 21^st Century so far.

Many others argue that the Khalistanis in Canada have somehow arranged this massive march. I don’t think that many will disagree with the fact that Canadian or British Khalistanis do not hold any significant influence over the majority of the Sikhs in India. So, it will not be a wise argument to say that the protesting farmers have received orders from foreign Khalistanis.

If radical elements had so much away on Sikhs in Punjab, why would have they waited for such a long time to organize these protests?

Rather than painting them as some sort of villain, the Centre should talk to them. Trying to muzzle their voices by putting various restrictions on their agitation is not a sign of a healthy democracy even if the protestors are misled, as the BJP supporters claim.

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However, a blow to the happiness of the people of Jammu came in the form of the new set of land laws. In the lack of any law to safeguard their interests over land issues and job security, the people of Jammu are skeptical whether the moves related to Article 370 have benefited them or not.

People are uncertain about the utility of recently introduced “domicile certificates” which will replace the earlier Permanent Resident Certificates (PRCs) which were being issued by the erstwhile Maharajas. The new land laws introduced by the Central government make the purchase of non-agricultural land by the non-residents possible. The Central government has not done anything significant in terms of job production or employment for the youth of Jammu other than just giving them verbal assurances.

Narender Singh, Former Jammu Mayor, asked where is the promised land protection like Himachal? Where is the jobs reservation  for the locals? BJP ruled states like Haryana and Uttarakhand provide more jobs reservation. What is the crime of the people of Jammu?

The people of Jammu fear that ultimately Jammu would start to act like a dumping ground and the local people will come under pressure. If safeguards are not applied then reverse migration will take place as people from outside the UT would dominate the region.

Manik Batra, chairman of J& K chapter of ASSOCHAM and director of the Batra Group said that many of the factories in the region have already closed as they couldn’t compete with products which are being imported from other parts of the nation which have become cheaper as toll tax on imports got removed. The Government must protect local industry and trade.

The Government’s approach in dealing with the domicile laws and new provisions has added to the problems of the local. The issuance of new domicile certificates in place of the earlier PRC has added to the woes of the people. It seems to have no significance after introduction of the new land rules. People stood in lines for hours and in many cases had to use other means to get the certificates. Suddenly the certificates lost their value.

The post Has Jammu actually gained anything since abrogation of Article 370? appeared first on JK Newsline.

From the days of the accession to the present one, discrimination has cost the region a hefty price. So-called secular arrangements have left the region of Jammu in lurch. The nationalistic people of Jammu have suffered a lot and as a consequence, their situation deserves pity. Their nationalism has caused them to suffer.

They are taken for granted by the administration and all the schemes are first exercised in Kashmir and then left for Jammu. Jammu voted for BJP in the 2014 assembly polls making the party win 25 seats in the region for the first time ever. However the saffron party entered into an alliance with PDP, a Kashmir centric party now being accused of having separatist sentiments by the same BJP.

Kashmir was pampered for being the sympathizer of separatists since the government wished to make them ‘fall in line’. But even after so much money being spent by the government, their behaviour did not change much and many Kashmiris remained sympathetic to the cause of separatists.

Jammu was always treated like a stepchild. Majority of the welfare schemes were run in Kashmir only and the region of Jammu was left to rot. Jammu was discriminated against even though the region has more area and legislative assembly seats than Kashmir.

In order to rectify the wrongdoings, Jammu is in more need of delimitation exercise than Kashmir. Kashmir got more developmental funds than Jammu. Consequently, Even though Jammu has a larger area than Kashmir, still it has a lesser number of schools and hospitals. In all the aspects, Jammu lagged behind Kashmir as a result of discrimination by the governments.

The leaders of Jammu failed to put a strong resistance against this exercise of discrimination because of their internal division. As a result, the people of Jammu suffered. In order to bridge this discrimination, the authorities should equally divide the funds meant for the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

The people of Jammu have a very low representation in the government jobs and in the seats of the secretariat. If we consider administration, Jammu has a very less number of officers compared to Kashmir.

Jammu gives more revenue to the government than Kashmir and still, it receives discriminatory treatment. Even tourist attractions in the region of Jammu are not developed to their potential which could benefit the people in that region in terms of employment. Jammu is waiting eagerly for the time when the government will stop discriminating with the region.

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This advertisement caught the eyes of many political enthusiasts not only in Bihar but also, throughout the nation. The reason why the advertisement blew up was because the 33-years-old smiling lady in the advertisement was highly educated not even by the standards of Bihar but also by the national ones too. She has spent quite a long time studying in the United Kingdom and holds dual masters degree. In 2016, she got her masters degree from University of Sussex in Development Studies. Three years later in 2019, she finished her masters from the prestigious London School of Economics in public administration.

Such a highly educated CM face in Bihar politics which is otherwise infamous for its political candidates with excellent criminal records and disappointing educational backgrounds caught everyone’s attention. Many prominent news websites dedicated a whole article for her. Nobody in their right minds would have expected her to become the Chief Minister of Bihar without any coalition but many believed that she will be able to score something in the upcoming elections. It seemed that her educational background and her list of candidates, many of which were social activists or teachers, will appeal to the youth. If lucky, she could even get seats in double-digits. If we just consider the support she gets on social media platforms, then it surely doesn’t look like a far-fetched dream.

By now, Around 7.5 lakh people have liked her official Facebook page which is around half the number of likes on the pages of main opposition figure Tejaswi Yadav and the incumbent CM Nitish Kumar. On Twitter, her number of 1.39 lakh followers seem comparatively small but significant in front of Tejaswi Yadav who has 27 lakh followers or Nitish Kumar who is followed by 61 lakh individuals.

These all numbers signify that she has indeed appealed to the youth and might receive significant support in terms of votes. A couple of months down the lane after the famous full front page newspaper ads incident, Pushpam Priya contested for two seats of Bisfi and Bankipur in the Bihar elections. When this article was being written, the Election Commission had declared results in every constituency other than 50 in which the counting is still going on. It is unclear if in the contested seats of Pushpam Priya votes are still being counted but it is highly unlikely that the remaining votes will have a huge influence.

In the Bisfi constituency, around 1.78 lakh votes have been counted by now. BJP candidate Haribhushan Thakur is leading the poll with 86,574 votes which constitute about 48.4% of the total votes counted. Pushpam Priya 1521 votes which makes up even less than one percent of the total votes counted. Comparatively, 2929 people chose NOTA which is twice the votes given to her.

She seemed in a better state in the Bankipur constituency but overall, it was a shame. Around 1.22 lakh votes were counted out of which Pushpam Priya managed to get 4,619 which constitute around 3.8% of the total votes. This constituency was bagged by BJP candidate Nitin Nabin who managed to get about 60% of the total votes. Overall, the Plurals Party couldn’t manage to win even a single seat in the whole state of Bihar.

Now, this leaves us with two other prominent youth politicians who were constantly making headlines throughout the election period – the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) face Chirag Paswan and the main opposition face from RJD and ex-deputy CM Tejaswi Yadav.

Self-proclaimed ‘Hanuman’ of PM Modi, Chirag Paswan’s party LJP candidates contested on every seat where a JDU candidate was running. Political analysts were expecting that LJP could manage to garner a handful of seats which could, in turn, decide the CM face in case of a hung assembly. In that case, 38-years old Chirag Paswan possibly could play the role of a ‘kingmaker’ in the Bihar elections. Unfortunately for him, the LJP could only get a single seat, with no other possibilities, which doesn’t matter much in a clear BJP-JDU victory.

This leaves us with the only prominent young contender left – Tejaswi Yadav. His rallies were amassing a huge number of people which were many times as large as Nitish Kumar’s. His promise of 10 lakh jobs in his first day of the office was appealing hugely to the youth voters. Almost every prominent exit poll declared him a clear winner. But, still, when the counting of the votes stopped then, his party and its alliance members could only manage to bag 110 seats, 12 seats short of the victory mark.

At present, most of the big players of Bihar politics have roots in the movement of 1974. It was sensed that a major portion of the voters couldn’t connect with these politicians of 70+ years. But the ‘Modi wave’ seemed to drown the possibility of emergence of young faces in Bihar. If not for Modi, three young possible future CM faces of Bihar would have held their ground.

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India also said that Pakistan acts as a victim of terrorism while, in fact, it is the one who endorses it.

Since the Indian government has bifurcated the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories, Pakistan has been extremely frustrated. It has continuously tried to raise the issue of Kashmir in various International forums.

In all of them, it has been snubbed. India’s default response to the Pakistan raised issue has been that Kashmir is an internal issue of the nation and Pakistan or any other nation need not to interfere in it.

While this is not the first time when India made such a remark, it is again a signal to Pakistan that it needs to shut up and think about its illegally occupied part of Kashmir. Secretary in MEA, Vikas Swarup bashed Pakistan Foreign Minister Qureshi for raising the Kashmir issue. India described Pakistan as a nation which brought genocide to the South Asia 49 years ago when it killed its own people.

India was referring to the genocide in 1971 when Bangladesh, or East Pakistan as called then, was separated out of Pakistan. At that time, around 2.5 million Hindus were slaughtered when they were trying to migrate out of the area.

Later, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said that it becomes very hard to conduct normal relations with Pakistan because of the state sponsored terrorism. He was speaking at the Asia Society. He said that as far as “our neighboring countries are concerned, our stand is that this is something which is internal to our nation. Every country has the right to change its administrative jurisdictions and we have just exercised that. He said that many countries do that and even China has done that. Neighbors should worry only if a nation tries to change its external boundaries and in this case, that has not been done”.

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They alleged that in an order to suppress the voices of dissent, the Central government imposed lockdown, stopped mobile data services and put the major political figures under the house arrest. 

However, this could not stop them from demanding the status quo ante. Upon release, leaders of the major political parties in Kashmir announced the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration on October 15. The aim of this alliance is to “return to the people of the state the rights they held before August 5, 2019”. It was made clear by the National Conference provincial spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar that the alliance’s main task is to fight for the restoration of Articles 35A and 370. 

The novel alliance is named after an area called Gupkar, in Srinagar. The leaders of the Jammu and Kashmir got a wind of what’s going to unfurl so they decided to meet on 4th August of 2019 in Gupkar. One day later, they were all brought to house arrest. On August 22 this year, six political parties again met in Gupkar, in Farooq Abdullah’s house, to reiterate their commitment to restore the Special Status of the Jammu and Kashmir. The joint statement affirming the cause was released by People’s Democratic Party, National Conference, People’s Conference, Awami National Conference, Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

The alliance was formally announced on October 15 after the release of Mehbooba Mufti, former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir and the face of the People’s Democratic Party. Other than the regional players, the only national party to join the alliance is the CPI(M) as the Congress decided to stay away even when the party was invited.

Speaking on the occasion, National Conference leader and former Chief Minister of the state Farooq Abdullah told the press, “Our battle is a constitutional battle. We shall struggle for restoration of what was snatched from Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh”. But as the alliance was announced, suspicions were raised about its functioning as it brings united the arch rivals of the valley.

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Responding to the whole situation, the French President Emmanuel Macron visited the school where the victim worked. Reacting to the whole situation he said, “One of our compatriots was murdered today because he taught the freedom of expression, the freedom to believe or not. We must stand all together as citizens.” Macron called the incident “Islamist terrorist attack”.

Even though, Muslims are a minority in Europe still they form a significant number. It was estimated by Pew Forum that the total number of Muslims in Europe was about 44 million (4.4 crores) which is approximately 6% of the total population in 2010. France has the largest number of Muslim population in Europe followed by Germany. As of 2016, there were 5.7 million (57 lakhs) Muslims in France which constituted about 8.8% of the country’s total population. 

Europe is battling against the problem of radicalized Islamists for a while. The 2004 Madrid train bombings could be called the deadliest Islamic attack. The terrorists put explosives in a train in Madrid, Spain in 11 March, 2004. The incident killed 193 people and injured around 2,000 individuals. The investigation found that the attack was carried out by an Al-Qaeda terrorist cell. The 7/7 or 7 July 2005 London bombings was another misfortunate attack on the civilians by radicalized Islamists. Islamist suicide attackers targeted people travelling in London’s city transport system. 56 people were dead including the 4 bombers and 784 others injured.

These incidents directed by Islamist terrorists are not based only in other parts of Europe but have found roots in France too. The infamous Charlie Hebdo owes allegiance to the fact that the radicalized Islam is a major problem in France too. Charlie Hebdo is a left-wing weekly satirical news magazine founded in 1970 and headquartered in Paris, France. The magazine published some satirical caricatures of Prophet Mohammed, a religious figure in Islam. The controversy followed because depiction of the Prophet is prohibited in Islam, and adding to that, some cartoons were even nude. Unlike many other nations, 1905 law on the separation of states and churches in France allows its people to criticize religions and religious figures. 

However, the law couldn’t stop Islamists’ ire. On the Wednesday of 7 January 2015, Charlie Hebdo staff was gathered for an editorial meeting. Around 11:30 in the morning, two hooded and armed men entered in the office. They killed around 12 staff members while 11 others were injured. The people killed range from psychoanalysts to columnists for the magazine. The gunmen were identified Chérif and Saïd Kouachi and were linked to Al-Qaeda.

France is the fountainhead of “laïcité” or secularism. However, because of the increasing Islamist terrorist attacks, the nation had to make some changes in the law in order to salvage the grim reality radicalized Islam offers. In 2004, France banned the headscarves in public schools saying that the state institutions should be religiously neutral. France became the first European nation to ban burqas in public in 2010. The law banning burqas and face-covering niqabs was drafted on the grounds to promote open and equal interaction in the society. 

The French President is planning to introduce a “Seperatism Bill” which will directly affect the Muslims living in Fance. However, the exact details of the bill are not disclosed but it is believed that the bill will stop foreign imams and increase the number of imams trained in France. The bill also includes a tight scrutiny of the foreign funding into Islamic religious institutions. Macron said that the government needs to know where the money comes from, who gets it and what for.

On September 7, French Citizenship Minister and Interior Minister confirmed that such a bill was being drafted. If everything goes well then the French President might be presenting the bill in the French Parliament for debate in the month of December this year. The critics argue that the bill will alienate the Muslim population of the nation. There are legal hurdles too which the bill have to pass as the France is a secular nation and bill might sound discriminatory against the Muslims.

In a left-wing news site Médiapart, 100 Muslim academics and activists signed a joint statement. It read, “More than the necessity to fight terrorism as a criminal phenomenon, President Macron is today participating, with his speech, in constructing a Muslim problem, targeting all believers and their faith.” president Macron defended his stance by saying that his focus is on radical Islam and not on the faith in general.

However, the proposed bill is not limited just to tackle a social evil that is radicalization. Much more than that, the bill also has a political element according to the experts who closely follow French politics.

Emmanuel Macron is thought to be a centrist political leader who has moderate views and doesn’t leans to much either right or left. His main opposition comes from a 52-year old lady named Marine Le Pen who is a far-right wing politician. She is a leader of the National Rally party. Marine has her enough share of controversial remarks against Muslims. In 2010, fighting for the leadership of the party she compared Muslims praying in the street to Nazi occupation. She was charged for inciting racial hatred.

Next French Presidential elections are expected to take place in 2022. The most worrisome thing for the French President is that in the recent polls, she is fighting neck-to-neck with him. Moreover, the government’s Coronavirus handling didn’t go very well with the French people. According to the Politico poll of polls, Emmanuel Macron’s approval ratings are just at 39% while 60% of the people in current situation disapproves his governance. Experts allege that Macron’s Muslim separatism bill is a gimmick to appeal to the right-wing people in order to win 2022 French Presidential elections.

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Lakhanpur is the gateway to Jammu and Kashmir for anyone’s entry into the UT and the administration of J&K has delayed the implementation of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHAs) guidelines over the unchecked inter-state/UT movement of people and vehicles. Travellers planning to visit Jammu and Kashmir have to wait for at least 3-4 hours to get clearance as they have to secure passes for deporting in their respective districts.

Union Minister Jitendra Singh in his tweet wrote “talked to Lieutenant Governor of J&K Manoj Sinha about the inter-border movement restrictions at Lakhanpur.   Manoj Sinha has assured me that he will immediately look into the matter and get the issue resolved to the satisfaction of local people”.

Later the Central Home Secretary rang up the J&K administration to remind them about the guidelines issued by the MHA on the inter-state/UT movement according to which there should be no restrictions on the movement. Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla recently wrote to all the Chief Secretaries of the States and UTs that the administration should ensure the free inter-state/UT movement of public and vehicles. 

The Secretary of Higher Education Department Talat Parvez Rohella apart from his duties has been appointed as the overall in-charge to ensure fast Corona testing and smooth movement at entry and exit of vehicles at Lakhanpur by the government of J&K. Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan Project Director, Arun Kumar Manhas in addition to his duties will assist Rohella in ensuring that all the vehicles are allowed to enter and exit the UT without any delay. 

Both the officers have been immediately sent to Lakhanpur and have to stay there until further orders from the J&K government. According to the order from J&K General Administration Department, Sanjeev Verma Divisional Commissioner of Jammu has also been sent immediately to Lakhanpur to review the problems being faced by the people while entering the Union Territory.

According to the reports additional counters have been set-up at Lakhanpur for Light-Motor-Vehicles (LMV) to quickly clear the traffic. The travelers will be released after the issuance of passes and the online registration will be done later. Five separate counters have been set-up at Lakhanpur which are already operational for the laborers who had gone back to their hometowns and are now coming back to J&K.

According to the District Magistrate the residents of Kathua district have to undergo a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) Sampling at Lakhanpur and people who are testing negative for Coronavirus are allowed to go home immediately while the people who test positive have to follow the Covid-19 Protocol. The people of other districts in J&K are given passes and they have to report for testing at the Sample collection center in their respective districts. 

Despite a steep rise in the Covid-19 cases the MHA on 30 September announced the guidelines for the Unlock 5.0. The guidelines have come into force from 1 October 2020. MHA has made it clear that there will be fewer restrictions and more relaxation. Unlock 5.0 is very crucial as several festivals are coming in October including Navratri, Dussehra, etc. The first phase of Bihar assembly elections is also scheduled for October. There is a possibility that the center will revise the guidelines to the maximum number of people who can gather at a place. The Schools are allowed to re-open from 15 October and the students can attend the school after the consent of parents. The cinema houses, theaters, and multiplex can operate their working with a 50% population. 

According to the sources, many people are exercising the ill practice of taking other routes to skip Lakhanpur on the way from Punjab to Kathua. The people visiting the holy shrine of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi are facing extreme difficulties.

The total number of visitors that can visit Vaishno Devi has increased from 5000 to 7000 but only 500 people are visiting the holy shrine as people are hesitating in visiting J&K. The trade and industries also suffered because of the restrictions at Lakhanpur.

The J&K administration did not even allow the movement of interstate buses and people had to travel by car, taxis, and any other private vehicle. According to the reports 121 persons were tested positive in the Jammu district out of which 114 were locals and 7 were travelers. About 398 patients recovered from Corona today.

The highest number of recovered patients is 189 in Jammu followed by 55 in Doda.  33,952 patients have suffered from Coronavirus out of 29,540 patients have recovered while only 3,985 are active cases. 

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Moreover, UP and Delhi get more national news coverage than other states so, whenever any criminal incident  takes place, the whole nation knows it by the next day and reverse isn’t true. It could be validated by the fact that most people know the name of Chief Minister of UP, while even many political enthusiasts don’t know the name of the CMs of Kerala, Mizoram or even Gujarat.

On 6 July 2020, the UP state government released crime data of 2018.  NCRB data of 2018 showed that UP despite having 17% population of the country and 13.5% total area of the nation registered only 10% of the crime rate of the total crime rate of nation.

However, the total murder cases in UP in 2018 (4018) surpasses every other state and Union Territories (UT). But it is just because of the massive population of the state as rate of murder in per one lakh people is just 1.8 which is one of the lowest in India with national average of 2.2. Jharkhan tops the list of murder rates with 4.6. Uttar Pradesh fares better than Haryana (3.9), Madhya Pradesh (2.3), Odisha (3.2) and Punjab (2.3). 

Similarly, Uttar Pradesh registered 59,445 cases in crime against women which is more than any other state or UT. But, UP’s rate of total crime is 55.7 per one lakh of population which is less than the national average of 58.8. It is way less than that Delhi (149.6), Assam (166), Odisha (91.3) and Telangana (87.1).

In crime against children, UP again tops the list with highest number of cases as of 19,936 in 2018 out of national total of 1,41,764. But again, when we consider the rate of total crimes against children then that is 22.5 for one lakh of population against the national average of 31.8. It is way better than states like Sikkim (108.9),Delhi (147.2), Madhya Pradesh (63.1) and Harayana 52.5.

In 2018, India registered total 33,356 rape cases throughout the year. Uttar Pradesh contributed 3,946 cases that is lower than Rajasthan (4,335) and Madhya Pradesh (5,433). India’s rape rate is 5.2 per one lakh of population. UP’s rape rate is 3.7 which is better than states like Assam (9.9), Haryana (9.7) and Kerala (10.7). 

These all cases combined proves my point that Uttar Pradesh is not as bad as people believe. UP registers a large number of cases because of its humongous population and not because of its broken system.

Views expressed are personal

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Caste-based discrimination is followed in Punjab since centuries despite the fact that Sikhs do not believe in caste structure.

The effort to end this discrimination is being led by the Shri Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) that is working with local people to end this practice. The discrimination by high caste Jat Sikhs against Dalit Sikhs is witnessed in majority of the villages in Punjab. Dalit Sikhs in many areas are not allowed to enter the Gurudwaras for Jats and instead they have to go to Gurudwaras for Dalits.

In many rural and urban areas of Punjab, there are separate Gurudwaras made for the Jat and Dalit community. 

Caste-based discrimination is widespread in Punjab even though Sikhism teaches equality. In Punjab, there are many separate places of worship and cremation grounds made for Dalit people. In some places, Dalits are allowed to enter the Gurudwaras that are reserved for Jat people but they can’t join the upper caste Jats in langar or community kitchen.

They are also not allowed to touch the vessels that are meant for religious ceremonies in these Gurudwaras. In many incidents in Sangrur and Bathinda district of Punjab, Dalit Sikhs were asked to use separate utensils and were also prohibited from serving langar.

In Punjab, about 32% of the population belongs to the Dalit community out of which 59.9% are Sikhs and 39.6% are Hindu. The upper-caste has only a population of 25%. The Jat community has an upper hand in politics and economy. The Jat people in Punjab own large areas of land while Dalits possess only 6.02% of the 1.1 million operational lands in Punjab. Out of 523,000 families living below the poverty line, 321,000 belongs to the Dalit community. According to the data, 35.88% of Punjab’s labor force consists of Schedule Caste workers. Out of this 79.20% are the main workers who work for 6 months or more and 20.80% are marginal workers who work for less than 6 months. 

However, Covid-19 pandemic has washed away the caste-based discrimination to some extent. In several villages of Punjab, the Jat Gurudwaras send food to the Dalit homes even during the lockdown.  The crisis has taught everyone that no religion is above humanity and the individuals have to help each other irrespective of their caste. Many Jat people are sending money from abroad to Gurudwaras to help the Dalits. Not only Gurudwaras but upper-caste families are also helping the poor.

According to the Sikh scholars, the founder of Sikhism Guru Nanak Dev described all humans as equal and rejected the idea of casteism. “His disciples followed his footsteps and worked to build a casteless kitchen so that no person will sleep with an empty stomach at night. The policy of casteism entered the state of Punjab when political parties started ruling the state. The political leaders started dividing people on the bases of caste and religion to increase their vote bank. Separate gurudwaras in several villages were constructed by leaders of political parties for high-class Jats and for Mazhabi Sikhs or Dalits” said Gurtej Singh, a Sikh scholar. 

Now the efforts are being made to destroy this wall of discrimination in Gurudwaras. The SGPC, has started a campaign in February last year named as One Village, One Gurudwara under which they are merging the multiple caste Gurudwaras into one. According to Harjinder Singh, a Dalit leader of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) this is the first kind of initiative, and people of Punjab have stood against what Guru Nanak has fought during his entire life. He also said that it is very shameful that we have given religious sanction to caste Gurudwaras. 

According to, the Sarpanch of Qila Nau a village in Punjab has a population of 4,400 out of which 50.60% are Dalits. The village has 5 small and 1 big Gurudwara that is reserved for upper-class Jats and one for Dalits and rest are open to all. But now all these religious places have come together to fight coronavirus and to provide food to the daily wage workers. He said that the food is cooked in Gurudwaras and is served to the poor people twice a day. He further said that during the lockdown village youths of different castes distributed langar to all the daily wage workers. 

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This detention gave BJP a chance to make its name in Kashmir valley from where the party has never won a single seat in any elections. BJP made full use of this opportunity and increased its members in the valley. As time passed many leaders were made free from the detention. Currently, only a few leaders are under home detention which includes former Chief Minister of J&K Mehbooba Mufti. 

In August the political parties of J&K issued a statement that had given rise to tension for the Modi led central government and its intelligence agencies. On August 22, six major political parties or J&K released a statement calling the removal of special status and the bifurcation of J&K as an unconstitutional move. They named the statement as Gupkar Declaration. The leaders of the six political parties signed the declaration to stand against the decision of the central government of abrogation of article. 

What is Gupkar Declaration 2.0? 

The Gupkar Declaration 2.0 was signed by 6 major parties of J&k which include the National Conference (NC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the J&K Peoples Conference (PC), the Communist Party of India Marxist (CPIM), the Indian National Congress and the Awami National Conference (ANC). According to the statement, the 6 parties are committed to strive for the restoration of Article 370 and 35A and the restoration of the state.

All the parties unanimously repeat that there can be nothing without the people of J&K which simply means that the centre has to take the people of J&K in confidence before making any changes in the constitution.  The statement further adds that the decision taken by the central government was “grossly unconstitutional” and in reality, the decision was a measure for disempowerment and to challenge the basic identity of the people of J&K. The political parties jointly stated and assured the people of J&K that the political activities that existed before 5 August 2019 will be restored. 

The first Gupkar Declaration was signed on August 4, 2019 before the abrogation of Article 370. The representatives of NC, PDP, PC, CPI(M), PUF, PM, and ANC met at the former chief minister Farooq Abdullah’s residence situated at Gupkar to discuss the tensed situation that was raised due to the massive deployment of security forces and forces removal of tourist from the Kashmir valley.

Former Chief Minister of J&K Omar Abdullah stated that he will raise the Gupkar Declaration in Parliament and the struggle for this declaration will be totally non-violent as they don’t believe in stones and bullets. It took a year for these parties to say that they are against the Centre’s decision. 

The statement was issued so suddenly that it had surprised everyone. The representatives were so much afraid of the detention and that is why they kept the meeting so secretive that the Central Government didn’t get any information about what was going to come. The detention of these leaders has brought them together to stand against the center’s decision.

Giving an immediate reply to the Gupkar declaration 2.0 the Chief Secretary of J&K had said that not even a single soul cried over the detention of political leaders. He had further said that the end of detention doesn’t mean that the central government has ended their campaign of ending the ill-activities done by the political leaders of J&K. 

It is for the first time in the history of J&K that the leaders of various political parties who have different ideologies have stood together against government. Many people are confused that the parties are together to make an alliance for the elections. The declaration has put the 6 parties in a clash with the BJP. The National Conference has already been opposed by the people of the party and people of J&K. The Gupkar Declaration has not only received criticism from BJP and its representatives but also from Ghulam Nabi Fai who runs the separatist ecosystems from Srinagar to America. 

The Gupkar Declaration has given an opportunity to the central government to make things right in Kashmir. The central government has to think about whether to shift the interest to an electron region which sends a few representatives to the Parliament or to address the national security conundrum. Till now BJP has not come up with an appropriate argument against the declaration. Only BJP’s former General Secretary Ram Madhav has responded to the declaration. Another BJP leader termed the declaration as Anti-national, misleading, and dishonest.

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The erstwhile state would have remained without delimitation until 2031 had the central government not decided to make a fresh delimitation for the UT. The fresh delimitation was necessary because of the changes in the UT and inclusion of many new people including West Pakistani refugees as the residents of the UT. Earlier West Pakistani refugees could vote in the Parliamentary polls but not in assembly elections.

Back in 2008 when the fourth delimitation was carried out there were few states that were left out and Jammu-Kashmir was one of them. The argument that was put forward in this regard was the separate constitution of J&K has set-up its own delimitation commission. The National delimitation commission can’t look into it.

But since the separate constitution has now been removed, the national delimitation can look into the matter. But it is not necessary to conduct delimitation just before the census and that too when the Coronavirus has spread in the country.

The central government is fully prepared to hold fresh delimitation in J&K but the question that arises is why the center is in a hurry to conduct the exercise in J&K because there are hardly any efforts made to conduct delimitation in other states that were left out.  Every person’s vote is equal and important in all the parliamentary constituencies in the country and all the assembly constituencies within the states so the delimitation process with ready laid exceptions should be conducted in other states as well.

Currently, the average size of the electorate in the assembly constituencies in the Kashmir region is 81,778 voters while in the Jammu region the number is 91,593. The necessity to carry out the delimitation process in UT is to remove the uneven size of the constituency in terms of the size of the electorate which takes place due to the uneven rise of population in different regions of J&K.

The population of urban cities grows faster as people from villages move into the cities for employment. The delimitation commission redraws the boundaries of the constituencies in such a way that at the time of delimitation all the assembly constituencies are of more or less equal size. 

In recent years, the population growth in the Jammu region has grown at a much faster pace as compared to the Kashmir region by looking at the pattern of migration. The fresh delimitation is expected to change the number of assembly seats in both regions.

Out of 87 assembly constituencies in J&K, 46 are in the Kashmir region, 37 in the Jammu region, and only 4 constituencies within the Ladakh region. At present, the Jammu region has 10,000 more voters than the Kashmir region. So increasing the share of seats in the Jammu region would be an advantage to Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP).

This increase in the share of votes will give BJP an upper hand to form its government independently. Also, this delimitation will cast a good impression on people that the center has conducted free and fair elections as people of Jammu always demand equal assembly seats in J&K. 

The BJP has the maximum vote share in Jammu and when the boundaries of assembly constituencies would be defined with fresh principles of equal voters across all the assembly constituencies the seat share in Jammu will increase while in Kashmir the seat share will decrease.

This increase in the seat share will likely help the BJP to form their government in the Union Territory of J&K with the majority. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, BJP won three seats in Jammu with a polling percentage of 46.4% which was the highest ever percentage in the history of elections.

Even being unable to win seats in Kashmir the BJP was able to emerge as a dominant player in the politics of J&K while on the other hand, NC won 3 LokSabha seats with a voting percentage of 7.9% and PDP didn’t win even a single that try had in 2014. Only 2.4% of votes have been polled in the favor of PDP.  Also, this decrease of seat share in Kashmir will affect the state parties like PDP and NC dominates the politics of the Kashmir region. 

It has also been learnt that some of the 24 vacant seats from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) may also be brought to Jammu region where most of the PoK refugees are settled. Leaders from the community have been making continuous demand to the central government for past many years to open some of the assembly seats and allow voting on them much on the pattern of voting by migrant Kashmiri Pandits from Jammu on seats in Kashmir.

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Narendra Modi won Indian General Elections in 2014 because of two major reasons: soft-Hindutva element in his politics and people’s perception of him as some sort of “development man” based on the Gujarat model.

Talking about the former, Sikhs couldn’t care less as neither soft-hindutva didn’t “empower” them and nor it antagonized them like Muslims. The only thing soft-hindutva did to Sikhs was ignore them which overall, is not a very pleasant thing as no community in any nation would like to be left out. With the passage of time, unfortunately for BJP, Narendra Modi’s image of “development man” waned as he failed to bring any radical change in the nation.

In 2009 general elections when Modi’s influence was limited to Gujarat, in a general sense, Bharatiya Janata Party (1) and Shiromani Akali Dal (4) bagged 5 out of 13 seats collectively in Punjab. The rest of the seats went to Congress. In 2014 general elections, BJP and SAD’s alliance got around half of the seats with the former getting 2 and the latter winning on 4 seats.

But, this time the rest of the seats were not occupied by Congress but rather by an infant Aam Aadmi Party. Congress won 3 seats, one less than AAP. This could be explained by the fact that in 2014, Modi wave was at its peak.

BJP’s formula of combination of soft Hindutva with development worked. However, it didn’t work in Punjab where the party is still facing hurdled even to stand on its own feet. 

In 2019 general elections, both SAD and BJP got 2 seats each with Congress acquiring 8 seats leaving a single seat for AAP. BJP and SAD got less seats than Congress because of the fact that the people of Punjab felt that the BJP focused more in its Hindutva element and less on the development part which irked Sikhs in Punjab.

According to 2011 census, Hindus constitute about 38.49% of the total population in Punjab and Sikhs 57.69%. Historically, BJP catered to the Hindu mass and SAD Sikh’s population. So, it worked well for their alliance. Generally, BJP would contest on Hindu majority seats like Gurdaspur and Jalandar while SAD would contest on Sikh majority states like Ludhiana and Patiala. This would serve both well.

However, this all started to collapse with the BJP’s growing affection of Hindutva and ignorance of development. Agriculture bills were not the reason but rather the tipping point of the farmer’s aggression which resulted in massive protests. Even though the protest is largely run on the misinformation like removal of APMCs and MSP still the protest got huge success because the Sikhs just needed a reason to come out and revolt. SAD-BJP alliance which mutually benefitted both in the past resulted in the SAD losing its already shrinking support base. Consequently, SAD officially parted its ways from BJP using agriculture bills as an excuse.

For BJP, Hindutva formula works pretty well in the central states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh but it has to ally with a regional party in the corner states of the nation like AIDMK in Tamil Nadu and NPP in Meghalaya to form a majority. However, sometimes the Hindutva spoils the relationship of BJP with its alliances like SAD in Punjab and PDP in Jammu and Kashmir. Overall, it will be interesting to see if BJP manages to maintain the status quo or will it gets into trouble with more of its alliances.

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The reason mentioned in his application for not taking part in Lok Sabha is that he had to go abroad with his mother and the congress party president Sonia Gandhi for a routine checkup. Sonia Gandhi has to postpone her routine checkup earlier at a hospital in America. She is usually accompanied by one of her children whenever she goes for the checkup and this time Rahul Gandhi had chosen to go with her for her. 

But on the very first day of Parliament’s monsoon session, Rahul attacked PM Narendra Modi as India recorded over 92,000 Coronavirus cases in just 24 hours on Twitter. In his tweet, he said ““The Modi government has said we must be self-reliant which means save your own lives as the PM is busy with peacocks.”. Rahul made his tweet referring to a video in which Narendra Modi was seen feeding a peacock.

After the tweet, Rahul was nowhere to be seen. As Rahul has taken leaves from the Lok Sabha some of the party workers are unhappy with him. They feel that Rahul’s absence during the session and elections in Bihar and West Bengal left the party in lurch. “So, it’s very important that Rahul Gandhi should be present in Parliament as his absence can affect the party during elections” said a leader who did not want to be named.

Rahul Gandhi has always been one of the most aggressive people in Lok Sabha who attacks the central government on various issues including Coronavirus, economy, and China and his party members feel that this is the right time to question the Central Government. Rahul Gandhi has earlier also been accused of not being around when his party needs him the most. Rahul was also neither present during the CAA- NRC protests nor he was present during the Delhi riots. Even though he has been attacking the central government over the India-China issue but he has not attended eleven parliamentary committee meetings on defense. 

While on the other hand supporters of Rahul Gandhi said that he doesn’t have to be around for such small issues as he is always supporting his party from the back. They also said that the Central Government should make this personal reason as a political issue. But on the other hand opposition parties always raised questions and accused him of not being present in the country whenever Prime Minister Narendra Modi makes a visit to foreign countries. The opposition members even raised questions for the Ministry of External Affairs regarding the expenses of PM Modi’s foreign visit. 

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is well known for his foreign visits. Narendra Modi’s foreign visits have greatly contributed in improving India’s relationship with other countries. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, since 2015, Narendra Modi has visited 58 countries, and the expense of these trips was 571.82 crores. In March, a report came according to which the Ministry of External Affairs has spent 446 crore rupees on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign visits.  In 2018, the Ministry of External Affairs said that a sum of 2021 crore rupees has been spent on Narendra Modi’s foreign visit since Twenty fourteen. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi always gives emphasis to the point that India is improving its relations with other countries whenever he undertakes a foreign visit. But his foreign visits have always become a pain in the eyes of the opposition parties. The opposition parties always question the central government whenever PM Narendra Modi goes on a foreign visit. Narendra Modi is gaining popularity not only in India but also in foreign nations, which is a serious issue for the opposition and this is another reason why they always question Modi’s foreign tours. 

Earlier the Trinamool Congress had issued directions to its MPs who are above 65 years of age can skip the session for health reasons. According to the new rules of Parliament, no person is allowed to enter the parliament without the negative report of the Coronavirus test. Till 11 September, around 20 Lok Sabha MPs have been tested positive, out of which 14 have recovered. The new rules are formed to stop the spread of the Coronavirus. Also, no visitor or even staff members are allowed inside the legislative assembly. 

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SAD is a part of NDA where Member Parliament from Bathinda, Harsimrat Kaur Badal who is also the wife of Sukhbir Singh Badal was the Minister of Food Processing Industry before she tendered her resignation on Thursday evening over the three farm bills that were tabled in Parliament.

Sukhbir Singh Badal said in a statement outside Parliament that SAD was ready to make any sacrifice for farmers of Punjab. He hinted towards ending the alliance of SAD with BJP but did not clearly tell as to when that could happen. However SAD could come under severe pressure if it sever its ties with the saffron party in Punjab as it could further embolden Congress in the state.

The political mathematics in Punjab is set by SAD and BJP in such a way that the areas with majority Hindu population are focused by the latter while the ones with majority Sikh population witness SAD candidates. Both the parties do not field candidates against each other in any constituency of Punjab be it Lok Sabha polls or assembly elections.

SAD had initially supported the BJP led central government over the three farm bills including Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill and Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill but relented after the protest by the farmers over the same in Punjab and other parts of the country.

SAD has asked the BJP to not introduce these bills in Parliament but the warnings were not adhered to after which SAD Member Parliament Harsimrat Kaur Badal resigned from the ministry of Food Processing.

The bill allows intra-state and inter-state trade of farmers’ produce outside: (i) the physical premises of market yards run by market committees formed under the state APMC Acts and (ii) other markets notified under the state APMC Acts.  Such trade can be conducted in an ‘outside trade area’, i.e., any place of production, collection, and aggregation of farmers’ produce including: (i) farm gates, (ii) factory premises, (iii) warehouses, (iv) silos, and (v) cold storage.

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‘Nepotism’ is as ancient as human race itself and even traces its origins beyond that to as early as Mesozoic era (we know as age of dinosaurs).

One doesn’t have to cudgel his brain in order to fathom that it stems from man’s very inherent trait of protecting or safeguarding our ‘flesh and blood’ and often times further that of our near and dear one’s. 

Recent untimely tragic demise of young and charismatic Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death has reignited the discourse on nepotism and not just the entertainment industry but people outside it have divergent take on it.

A war of words have erupted on world wide web where while a section of keyboard warriors spewing venom against nepotism and its purported proponents in bollywood, there is another section of netizens countering them, citing sizable number of instances where talented actors/artists irrespective of their family background or without a godfather in the industry, not only made a mark but also thriving in the industry. 

We have brilliant actors Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar, Raj Kumar Rao, Ayushman Khurana, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Irrfan Khan, Manoj Bajpai, Pankaj Tripathi, Ranveer Singh, Amit Shad including late actor SSR and list just goes on. 

If we try to dissect meaning of the word nepotism, Hindi translation of the word says ‘Bhai-Bhateejabaad’ and English translation is favouritism and traces its etymology to the word ‘nephewism’.

Beginning from the smallest unit of society, the family, nepotism is omnipresent; be it politics, showbiz, sports, business or for that matter every sphere of life.

If a mother tries every possible weapon in her arsenal to manoeuvre or alter things in order to ensure that her son or daughter shine in a particular field, we wouldn’t possibly want to jump to conclusions dubbing it wrong or right. It’s a grey zone and exists in every fibre of our being albeit in varying degrees.  

If nepotism ever existed in bollywood which we all know that it does, it has got diluted with the passage of time and there could not have been better time for budding talented artists to give a shot and get their work noticed in the world of glamour.

With digital streaming platforms such as Netflix, Prime, Hotstar and MX player among others altering the dynamics of how content was originally created, distributed and viewed/consumed, unarguably there is no dearth of quality work rather abundance of it for the talented artists. 

OTT platforms not only managed to create rich original content but also put spotlight on fresh faces that not only endowed them opportunity to discover their talent but also find voice and expression. Undoubtedly, the power structure or camps that be in bollywood or in politics use money and muscle power to sabotage careers of those not so privileged to have their way with things.

But that again holds true for every sphere of life, even if a sweeper who cleans the street on daily basis quite possibly stand a chance to lose his job if he does not do his work properly or a contractor might as well replace him with another sweeper who is acquainted to him. 

More recent and classic example of a grand old Indian political party that once thrived on nepotism but beleaguered as it is today, dissidents calling for overhauling.     

Harping on nepotism or favouritism especially by an actor who despite being an “outsider” not only got to work in quality films as lead actress but also won national award for her powerful performances, is utterly unfortunate.

Her social media posts may have whetted appetite of many but in the longer-run it would certainly go on to set a bad precedent for budding artists who want to work in the industry. Even star kids have a heavy baggage (often unwanted) of carrying forward the legacy of their parents and there too goes years of preparation to acquire a specific skill or master a particular technique.

Their parents or patrons may thrust them in the industry with that ‘grand launch’ in a heavy budget film with masters of the trade anchoring the project, pulling out all stops to make it a hit. But contemporary Indian audience is way smarter and aware now and unlike previously, wouldn’t consume whatever you serve them.

Given the high stakes and cut-throat competition in the showbiz industry, a star kid has the luxury of being backed-up at the maximum for four to five initial projects thereafter, he or she has to either learn to swim or get drown. And to latter we have several instances to that effect as well.           

Publicity mongers in the industry did not even spare the tragic demise of a great actor and instead feeding off the dead on garb of nepotism that has only exacerbated the situation, leading many to fall prey to a fallacy subsequently. 

Celebs also have moral responsibility towards society and while spreading false propaganda on the name of nepotism may be cathartic to them at personal level but harbouring hate or spreading negative sentiments against the purported ‘privileged lot’ in the showbiz would barely serve any purpose and  tantamount to have an axe to grind.    

Yes, indeed it does exist but wishing nepotism away is just out of the realm of possibility and amid this cacophony of ‘outsider’ versus ‘insider’ battle, harmonious co-existence is the only way forward. 

Views expressed by the writer are personal

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