India: Trouble Punjab - faith healers & religious miracle makers, babas, bapus, pastors regardless of brands, playing with fire

 The Tribune

Preaching disharmony

 Rajesh Ramachandran

And how can man die better/ Than facing fearful odds/ For the ashes of his fathers/ And the temples of his Gods. — Thomas Babington Macaulay

No Indian community has lived and thrived and died by this credo more than the Punjabis, particularly the proud Sikhs. And this very community is now anxious about its belief system being challenged. When its love for the land, its lush crops and its rivers got tested, it did not hesitate to bring down to the knees the mighty Union Government. It has an awesome community spirit that the RSS and the BJP haven’t learnt yet; this spirit, in turn, gets translated into votes against the politics of Hindu supremacy. Treat them with respect, honour the distinctive community, cherish the character — and there will be no greater citizenry or warriors for the Indian nation.

Proselytisation is an uncivilised exercise as all religions are pre-modern — then what is there to choose one religion over another?

Now, unfortunately, the Punjab peasantry and the intellectuals are equally appalled by the attack of a new locust of Biblical proportions — the menace of the mean missionary. A national magazine put the issue on its cover; it is getting widely condemned in the public discourse; yet The Tribune, as the conscience-keeper of Punjab, hesitated to go all out in its condemnation, lest it should trigger the emotionally charged majority community to target a minority group. But we would be erring in our duty if we dithered any further.

Proselytisation, by its very definition, is an uncivilised exercise. All religions are pre-modern, all clergies are (with honourable exceptions) corrupt, all rituals are mumbo-jumbo — then what is there to choose one over another? Why should a Christian priest go to a Punjab village and tell the peasants that Christianity is better than Sikhism? Can there be a greater cultural affront than a stranger telling someone: ‘You do not die for the ashes of your fathers and the temples of your gods, but for mine’? That is precisely why Macaulay’s ditty is the best touchstone to prove the hollowness of Churchillian oratory.

Indian Christianity is essentially colonial, however much Kerala’s Syrian Christian community tries to claim otherwise because even its liturgy was made intelligible only after Colonel John Munro, the East India Company’s Resident for Travancore and Cochin, and the Diwan of Travancore — a complete oddity, which helped conversions in Kerala — set up a seminary in 1815. All varieties of churches — protestant and Catholic — were established during the colonial period and they flourished with colonial patronage.

Now, with the established churches finding their riches within the native congregations and parishes, the overflowing foreign funds have found their way to unscrupulous faith healers peddling miracles and cures for cancer. They use the caste fault lines in Punjab to lure the weakest within the society with the promise of a better life, here and in the hereafter. Well, the love for the Scheduled Castes (SCs) lasts only until the church acquires a certain number of elite members.

In this context, it’s worth noting that the victim in the most ghastly ‘honour’ killing in recent times in Kerala was an SC boy, who had eloped with an ‘upper caste’ girl. Both were Christian. The Tamil Nadu churches are known to practise horrible casteism — there are allegations they have separate entrances and burial grounds for SCs. And instead of destroying this caste system, community leaders want Christian SC quotas, which will perpetuate untouchability within the churches. No wonder, then, that despite being a most trusted ally of the British and a member of the Viceroy’s Executive Council, Dr BR Ambedkar refused to convert to Christianity and instead chose Buddhism to mock Hindus and their gods.

The more disturbing aspect of proselytisation in Punjab is the funnelling of laundered money into the interior villages. Investigators of the income tax department claim to have unearthed huge stashes of cash from three self-styled pastors during their searches of the properties of Bajinder Singh, Harpreet Deol and Avtar Singh early this week. One of them was accused of murder and rape — not surprising in a state where a bishop stood trial for the rape of a nun. There is a potential Asaram in every clergyman. Worse, religion has become the easiest means to amass wealth, launder money, control the masses and create hysteria.

 

In Punjab’s case, the AAP government does not have to wait for the IT department’s long-winding processes to come to a logical conclusion. It can book many of these Bible-thumping crooks for cheating under various sections of the IPC. Can there be any greater attempt at dishonesty than faith healing, a more cruel way to cheat a terminally ill patient than to tell her that your Gurus will not cure you but Jesus Christ will? There is no need for a law against conversion in the case of these cheats; the existing laws would suffice. Else, let the courts say that it is legal to fool people in the name of miracles.

The derision that has so far been reserved solely for babas and bapus needs to be freely extended to all miracle workers and healers, regardless of their denomination — bishops and pastors included. For, the false equivalence of Christianity with modernity lies exposed every time a rapist or a murderer claims to cure cancer by touching the head of a patient, calling out to his god. Also, questions need to be asked about the old and new colonial forces sending money to Indian villages to build churches to tell the people that their gurus are false. Punjab, unfortunately, has to bear the brunt of all covert and overt actions to destabilise the country, and when the ‘roaring business’ of faith healing and miracles offers unseen prosperity in the countryside, the authorities must sit up and take note.

A small spark can lead to an unprecedented conflagration in Punjab. The land of the revered Gurus deserves better. As anyone who treads this hallowed land of the noble souls who personified the attributes of piety, charity and valour should do, I too offer my humble salutations: Waheguru ji ka Khalsa, Waheguru ji ki fateh!

Yes Forbidding Muslim women from contesting elections or visiting mosques is bad, doesnt matter if a BJP spokesperson is saying this

Forbidding Muslim women from contesting elections or visiting mosques goes against Quran and Constitution

Muslims must rely on their own conscience, instead of ceding their powers to a regressive clergy or political parties whose raison d’être is a hatred of PM Modi. The truth must be spoken and articulated from within the community.

Written by Shazia Ilmi
Indian Express, December 22, 2022

https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/muslim-women-elections-mosques-quran-indian-constitution-8337768/

 

Act of weaving in religious discourses with science is a clever ploy to appeal to the urbane middle class | Gautam Benegal

Daily O, 03-02-2018

Gautam Benegal

  @gautambenegal

The comments of Jaggi Vasudev warning people not to eat during lunar eclipse, delivered a few years ago in a faint American accent (or what passes for it), had the social media abuzz recently with a great deal of support coming from people one would least expect. [ . . . ]

https://www.dailyo.in/politics/sadhguru-jaggi-vasudev-eating-food-lunar-eclipse-rss-hindutva-mohan-bhagwat-vhp/story/1/22172.html

India: A Hundred and forty thousand (1.4 lakh) students in 2,000 schools to take RSS science exam

Indian Express

1.4 lakh students in 2,000 schools to take RSS science exam
The syllabus for the exam has been designed by Vijnana Bharti, which has distributed two booklets on the subject as study material to students.

Written by Ashutosh Bhardwaj | New Delhi | Updated: November 13, 2016 5:52 am

*“Astronomy and metaphysics are described in the Rig Veda”

*“The concept of the atom can be traced to Vedic times”

*“Paramanu (beyond atom) was considered to be the smallest particle, which cannot be divided further. Nuclear energy is produced by splitting the same”

*Sushruta is the “father of surgery”. He described over 300 surgical procedures… including a method of stitching intestines by using “ant-heads as stitching material”.

These are pointers from a ‘study material’ issued by Vijnana Bharti, the science and technology wing of the RSS, for an exam the outfit is conducting in over 2,000 government and private schools across the country on November 20. Around 1.4 lakh students from Classes 6 to11 will take the three-hour exam on ‘Indian contribution to science’ and the ‘Life of former President APJ Abdul Kalam’.

The syllabus for the exam has been designed by Vijnana Bharti, which has distributed two booklets on the subject as study material to students. Prominent schools such as DPS, Kendriya Vidyalayas, Navodaya Vidyalayas and Amity International Schools have told their teachers to hold special classes for the students.

While schools admit that never before has any private institution been able to bring together so many top schools for an exam, they do not mind the fact that an outside authority has determined the syllabus and will also evaluate the answer-sheets. In fact, many of them said the study material was “extremely good”.

A Jayakumar, Vijnana Bharti Secretary General and a veteran pracharak, said the twin objectives of this exam were to make students aware about “India’s achievements in the world of science” and draw them “towards science”. “We have got massive attention and appreciation across the country for this exam. We are not merely a country that invented zero, but much more than that,” he said, emphasising that there was “no financial support from the government” for the exam. He said they opted for Kalam because he is an “inspirational figure”.

Vijnana Bharti, which calls itself a “science movement with Swadeshi spirit”, has some prominent names in its Governing Council, including top scientists such as Anil Kakodkar and G Madhavan Nair.

Ghaziabad’s Amity International School’s Academic coordinator Ekta Soni said they “have received the study material prepared by them (Vijnan Bharti).” “I have held a meeting with students on how to go about this exam. Science teachers are setting aside one period a week for the preparation of this exam. The study material is of very good quality,” she said. Sixty-nine students of her school are taking the exam.

Kalpna Shukla, school coordinator of Ghaziabad’s Navjeevan Model School, where 200 students are taking the exam, said, “We are taking extra classes for the morning” and believe that “this exam will help our students.”

The schools said they were in constant touch with Vijnana Bharti and have been coordinated with them for the exam. It took three months of planning, Jayakumar said, to bring everyone together.

After Vijnana Bharti evaluates the answersheets, successful candidates will appear for the state-level and then for the national-level exam. The final winners will receive awards from the President of India.

The booklets have chapters on ancient Indian scientists such as Aryabhatta, Varahamihira, Brahmagupta, Lalla and Sripati. Brahmgupta, the booklet notes, “calculated the instantaneous motion of a planet, gave correct equations for parallax and computation of eclipses”, and also “introduced the Indian concept of mathematics-based astronomy into the Arab world”.

A chapter on Ayurvedic treatment lists various kinds of oil massages, including Abhyangam, which is “very useful in treating obesity and diabetic gangrene”. While a chapter lists the achievements of the Indian Space Research Organisation, another on modern scientists has profiles of Vikram Sarabhai, Verghese Kurien, MS Swaminathan, Anil Kakodkar, Sam Pitroda and Sabeer Bhatia.

Mitali Saran: Uma Bharti and the divine water isotopes

Business Standard - October 31, 2015

Confluence of colours
Mitali Saran: Uma Bharti and the divine water isotopes
Scientists are going to use water isotopes tracer technology to see if the Ganga can in any way be connected to Mansarovar

Mitali Saran October 31, 2015 Last Updated at 00:09 IST

If you're upset, Mr Prime Minister, don't bottle it up Bringing India to book I'll have the holy cow, medium-rare If you want to be in a relationship, do it before you turn 40 Shooting for the moon

Did you imagine, o people of India, that the key to creating jobs, improving infrastructure, and lifting people out of poverty, would be to discuss cows until they come home? Now half the country is traumatised by the thought of cow-murder, and the other half is posting ‘Selfie With Beef’ to their Facebook profiles. Did you imagine, fellow citizens, that you would suddenly know this many authors, artists, academics and artistes, even though they aren’t helping to fix banking or sort out labour laws?

But that’s just the media, slavishly anti-Modi (#Presstitutes) even though it was quite recently slavishly pro-Modi (#FreedomOfExpression). Luckily, the country and its institutions carry on. Among other things, we retain the rigorous scientific temper to which we constitutionally aspire, according to our anti-Hindu Nehruvian western import of a constitution (#WakeUpHindus).
ADVERTISING


The minister for water resources, river development & Ganga rejuvenation, Uma Bharti, has put scientists at the National Institute of Hydrology (NIH) in Roorkee on the job of figuring out where the river Ganga originates. We almost certainly know that the Ganga originates at Gaumukh, near Gangotri, if only because the NIH has an observatory nearby studying the river. There’s a ‘cow’ in ‘Gaumukh’. It all seems like a win. However, the minister thirsts to know if the river can be connected to the sacred lake Mansarovar in Tibet.

Mythology says that the great ascetic, Shiva, who lives there, broke Ganga’s furious descent to earth by catching her in his hair, and thus saved the earth from her raging floods. He held her in his matted locks, tamed her, and made her release her waters into seven streams, and if that’s not an ancient, proud Indian sex scene, I don’t know what is. In fact, I think there’s an exciting publishing opportunity in collating all the ancient proud Indian sex scenes from the scriptures and epics into a nicely designed little paperback series titled Spills & Boons, or Fills & Spoons or something.

At any rate, the minister isn’t going to take mythology’s word for it like some unscientific yob. Like all Taureans, she’s very determined. So the scientists are going to use water isotopes tracer technology to see if the Ganga can in any way be connected, via drifting molecules or whatever, to Mansarovar. Would proving this connection not give mythology the fillip it needs to create jobs, improve infrastructure, and lift people out of poverty? One of NIH’s experts acknowledged, with magnificent restraint, that: “The new task is a challenging one as we are heading into a completely different direction.”

I have no idea what water isotopes tracer technology is. I think maybe it’s when scientists assemble in a lab equipped with cutting-edge dart boards and beer, and sit around playing cards and telling sociologist jokes for the duration of a reasonable science experiment, before releasing a statement saying, “Our results show that this has been a total hoot, and we would now like to apply for government funding to investigate the turning radius of Kartikeya’s peacock if it had to get away from Brahma’s pillar of fire at speed. Your turn to deal.”

I will say, though, that Uma Bharti’s is not the stupidest scientific experiment I’ve heard of. That would have to be the experiment that showed that rats cannot differentiate between Dutch and Japanese sentences when a video is played backwards to them.

But I’m nitpicking. The truth is that I’ve always had a big thing for Shiva. He’s romantic perfection — passionate, powerful, unavailable, good dancer. It’s straight out of Thrills & Moon. I’m actually okay with the government throwing money at him; I’ll just pretend that I’m tucking it into his loincloth.

Mitali Saran is a Delhi-based writer mitali.saran@gmail.com

Press statement by Distinguished Scientists on climate of intolerance & ways in which science and reason are being eroded in India

Press Statement by Distinguished Scientists

October 18, 2015

The scientific community is deeply concerned with the climate of intolerance, and the ways in which science and reason are being eroded in the country.

It is the same climate of intolerance, and rejection of reason that has led to the lynching in Dadri of Mohammad Akhlaq Saifi and the assassinations of Prof. Kalburgi, Dr Narendra Dabholkar and Shri Govind Pansare. All three fought against superstition and obscurantism to build a scientific temper in our society. Prof. Kalburgi was a renowned scholar and an authority on the Vachana literature associated with the 12th-century reformer Basava, who opposed institutionalised religion, caste and gender discrimination. Similarly, Dr Dabholkar and Shri Pansare promoted scientific temper through their fight against superstition and blind faith.

The Indian Constitution in Article 51 A (h) demands, as a part of the fundamental duties of the citizens, that we ‘…develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform’. Unfortunately, what we are witnessing instead is the active promotion of irrational and sectarian thought by important functionaries of the government.

The Indian civilization is a truly plural one. We have always had many practices and communities that have allowed space for each other; we celebrate the festivals and anniversaries of all faiths. This unity and peace has now been disturbed by a rash of bigoted acts, attacks on minorities and Dalits, which show no signs of abating.

The writers have shown the way with their protests. We scientists now join our voices to theirs, to assert that the Indian people will not accept such attacks on reason, science and our plural culture. We reject the destructive narrow view of India that seeks to dictate what people will wear, think, eat and who they will love.

We appeal to all other sections of society to raise their voice against the assault on reason and scientific temper we are witnessing in India today.

(The views expressed in the statement are individual and do not reflect views of the institution a signatory is affiliated to.)


Dr Alladi Sitaram Visiting Professor, Chennai Mathematical Institute; Professor Emeritus, Indian Statistical Institute, Bengaluru
Dr Ashoke Sen, Padma Bhushan, Fellow of Royal Society (FRS), Distinguished Professor, Harish-Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad
Dr Ashok Jain, Former Director, National Institute of Science Technology and Development Studies (NISTADS), New Delhi
Dr A Gopalakrishnan, Former Chairman, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, Government of India
Dr D Balasubramanian, Padma Shri Research Director, LV Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, & former Director Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad
Dr Madabusi Raghunathan, Padma Bhushan, Fellow of Royal Society (FRS), Professor, National Centre for Mathematics, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai
Dr PM Bhargava, Padma Bhushan, Former Director, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad (one of the original signatories to the 1981 Scientific Temper Statement)
Dr P Balaram, Padma Bhushan, Former Director, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru
Dr Satyajit Mayor, Foreign Associate, US National Science Academy, Director, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru
Dr Spenta Wadia, Emeritus Professor and Founding Director, International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru
Dr AP Balachandran, Joel Dorman Steele Professor of Physics (Emeritus), Physics Department, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, USA.
Dr Abhishek Dhar, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru
Dr Alak K Ray, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai
Dr Alok Laddha, Chennai Mathematics Institute, Bangalore
Dr Amit Sengupta, National Convenor, Peoples Health Movement
Dr Anna George, National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi
Dr Arnab Bhattacharya, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai
Dr Arvind, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali
Dr Ashvin Vishvanath, University of California-Berkeley, USA
Dr Avinash Dhar, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru
Dr B Ravindran, Institute for Life Sciences, Bhubaneswar
Dr BLS Prakasa Rao, CR Rao Advanced Institute of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science, Hyderabad
Dr B Ananthanarayan, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru
Dr B Rajeev, Indian Statistical Institute, Bangalore
Dr B Ekbal, Former Vice Chancellor, Kerala University
Dr B Sury, Indian Statistical Institute, Bengaluru
Dr Chandrasekhar Khare, Fellow of Royal Society, Professor of Mathematics, University of California-Los Angeles, USA, and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Mr D Raghunandan, Director, Centre of Technology and Development, New Delhi
Dr DP Sen Gupta, Visiting Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru
Dr Debashis Ghoshal, School of Physical Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
Dr Dhruv Raina, Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Dr Dilip Ahuja, Profesor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru
Dr Dinesh Abrol, Institute of Studies in Industrial. Development, New Delhi
Dr Dipendra Prasad, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai
Dr Firoza Sutaria, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru
Dr Gadadhar Misra, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru
Dr Gautam Mandal, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai
Dr Hema Murthy, Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai
Dr Joseph Samuel, Raman Research Institute, Bengaluru
Dr Justin David, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru
Dr Kapil Paranjape, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali
Dr LS Shashidhara, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune
Dr Leena ChandranWadia, Observer Research Foundation, Mumbai
Dr MG Narasimhan, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru
Dr MRN Murthy, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru
Dr MVN Murthy, Professor Emeritus, The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai
Dr Madan Rao, Raman Research Institute and NCBS-TIFR, Bengaluru
Dr Mangal C Mahato, Department of Physics, North East Hill University, Shillong
Dr Nilmani Mathur, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai
Dr P Ajith, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru
Dr Pallab Basu, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru
Dr Partha P Majumder, National Institute of Biomedical Genomics, Kalyani
Dr Parthib Basu, Department of Zoology, Calcutta University, Kolkata
Mr Prabir Purkayastha, Chairperson, Knowledge Commons, New Delhi
Dr Prajit K Basu, Centre for Neural and Cognitive Sciences, University of Hyderabad
Dr Prajval Shastri, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru
Dr Pramathanath Sastry, Chennai Mathematical Institute, Chennai
Dr Pravabati Chinganbam, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru
Dr Probal Choudhuri, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata
Dr Purushottam Kulkarni, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai
Dr R Ramanujam, Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai
Dr R Shankar, Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai
Dr Rahul Roy, Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi
Dr Rajat Tandon, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Hyderabad
Dr Rajesh Gopakumar, Director, International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru
Dr Rama Govindarajan, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Hyderabad
Dr Ranjini Bandyopadhyay, Raman Research Institute, Bengaluru
Dr Ravinder Banyal, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru
Dr Riddhi Shah, School of Physical Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
Dr Ronnie Sebastian, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune
Dr Rukmini Dey, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru
Dr S Chakrabarti, Department of Chemistry, Calcutta University, Kolkata
Dr S Ranganathan, National Institute of Advanced Studies Bengaluru
Dr Sabyasachi Chatterjee, Formerly Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru; and President All India Peoples Science Network
Dr Sachindeo Vaidya, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru
Dr Samriddhi Sankar Ray, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru
Dr Sandeep Krishna, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru
Dr Sanjib Sabhapandit, Raman Research Institute, Bengaluru
Dr Santanu Datta, Chief Scientific Officer, BUGWORKS Inc., Bengaluru
Dr Satyajit Rath, National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi
Dr Saumen Datta, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai
Dr Shamsher Singh, Indian Statistical Institute, Bengaluru
Dr Sharada Srinivasan, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru
Dr Shiraz Naval Minwalla, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai
Dr Shrikrishna, G Dani Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai
Dr Shyamala Mani, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru
Dr Siva Athreya, Indian Statistical Institute, Bengaluru
Dr Sorab N Dalal, Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and
Education in Cancer, Navi Mumbai
Dr Sriram Ramaswamy, Director, TIFR Centre for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Hyderabad
Dr Subhro Bhattacharjee, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research,
Begaluru
Dr Sumati Surya, Raman Research Institute, Bengaluru
Dr Sumathi Rao, Harish-Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad.
Dr Sunil Mukhi, Indian Institute of Science Education and
Research, Pune
Dr Suresh Govindarajan, Dept of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology,
Chennai.
Dr Suvrat Raju, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research,
Bengaluru
Dr T Jayaraman, School of Habitat Studies, Tata Institute of Social
Sciences, Mumbai
Dr TR Govindarajan, Chennai Mathematical Institute, Chennai
Ms Tejal Kanitkar, Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai
Dr Tiju Thomas, Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai
Dr Todadri Senthil, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA
Dr Vani VC, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru
Dr Venkatesh Athreya, Adjunct Professor, Asian College of Journalism, Chennai; formerly President All India Peoples
Science Network
Dr Vidita Vaidya, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai
Dr Vijay Kumar, Krisnamurthy, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru
Dr Vineeta Bal, National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi
Dr Vishal Vasan, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Dr Vivek Borkar, Institute Chair Professor, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai

India's three scientific academies have for the first time spoken out about growing irrationality and intolerance

The Telegraph - 28 October 2015

'Sad', science stands up to be counted

G.S. Mudur

New Delhi, Oct. 27: India's three scientific academies have for the first time spoken out about growing irrationality and intolerance in the country, contributing to a crescendo of concerns that have until now emerged largely from the community of humanities.

An inter-academy panel on ethics in science has said the Constitution demands allegiance to scientific temper that, the council said, encompasses rationality, rights and responsibility in equal measure.

"We note with sadness and growing anxiety several statements and actions that run counter to this constitutional requirement of every citizen," the five-member panel said in a statement.

Also called the "Committee of Elders", the panel represents three bodies: the Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi, the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore, and the National Academy of Sciences, Allahabad. The country's most accomplished, influential and respected scientists are fellows of the three academies.

The panel, quoting Rabindranath Tagore's poem, Where the mind is without fear, has issued an appeal to "all sections of Indian society" to raise their voice against acts of irrationality and intolerance.

Many scientists view the panel's move, coming amid a chorus of similar concerns expressed by sections of writers and members of the Sahitya Akademi, as significant because the scientific academies have rarely articulated positions over social issues.

"What has been happening is extremely disturbing - the killings of rationalists, the spread of unfounded rumours," said Indira Nath, a panel member and a senior immunologist, formerly with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.

"Our statement is not intended to be against any political party or against any government, it is intended to remind everyone that it is important to adopt a scientific temper and engage in rational thinking," Nath told The Telegraph.

In another initiative, several senior scientists, some of whom are fellows of the academies, have circulated among themselves a draft statement to protest against the "climate of intolerance" and the erosion of science and reason in the country.

The draft, shared with this newspaper, condemns the lynching of Mohammed Akhlaque in Dadri and the murders of rationalists M.M. Kalburgi, Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare. It describes the incidents as signals of "rejection of reason".

The draft, prepared by the scientists but not released yet, says: "We scientists now join our voices (with those of writers and others) to assert that the Indian people will not accept such attacks on reason, science, and our plural culture. We reject the destructive narrow view of India that seeks to dictate what people will wear, think, eat, and who they will love."

The draft has described Indian civilisation as truly plural. "We have always had many practices and communities that have allowed space for each other, we celebrate the festivals and anniversaries of all faiths. This unity and peace has now been disturbed by a rash of bigoted acts that show no signs of abating," it said.

A member of the three-academy panel said the decision to issue a statement stemmed from discussions among the members. "We're all very concerned about what is going on," Mamannamana Vijayan, a molecular biophysicist at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, said. "We felt this has to be done, we have to say what we feel."

The three scientific academies have over the past decade collaborated on issues primarily related to science and education. Six years ago, an inter-academy panel had proposed the introduction of flexible, four-year college undergraduate courses to allow students to choose from a bouquet of subjects. But senior scientists do not recall the three academies - even through an inter-academy panel - uniting to articulate an issue connected to societal thinking.

The academies had remained silent in 2001 when the University Grants Commission - the National Democratic Alliance was in power at the Centre then - proposed the introduction of astrology as an undergraduate course in Indian universities.

Pushpa Bhargava, a senior biologist and former director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, had filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the UGC's proposal on astrology. "But I did it alone, although some scientists had similar concerns, the academies did not speak out," Bhargava said today.

Dorairajan Balasubramanian, the chair of the inter-academy panel on ethics and a biologist, said: "We've selected Tagore's poem because it beautifully captures the essence of scientific temper."

Members of the scientific community have also launched an online petition articulating similar concerns. "A highly polarised community is like a nuclear bomb close to criticality. It can explode any time and drive the nation to utter chaos," the petition already signed by over 130 scientists has said.

India: Aryans were indigenous, Mahabharata, Ramayana historical texts, say references at exhibition

Aryans were indigenous, Mahabharata, Ramayana historical texts, say references at exhibition
The Institute of Scientific Research on Vedas on Thursday launched the ‘Unique Exhibition on Cultural Continuity from Rigveda to Robotics’ at the Akademi

Written by Aranya Shankar
New Delhi
Updated: Sep 18, 2015

Mahesh Sharma, Krishna Gopal and Sonal Mansingh at the exhibition in New Delhi on Thursday. (Source: Express photo by Amit Mehra)

An exhibition going on at the Lalit Kala Akademi provides “astronomical references and scientific evidences” which dismiss the Aryan invasion theory and argue that the Mahabharata and Ramayana are historical texts, not mythological epics.

The Institute of Scientific Research on Vedas (I-SERVE) on Thursday launched the ‘Unique Exhibition on Cultural Continuity from Rigveda to Robotics’ at the Akademi, in the presence of Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma, RSS joint general secretary Krishna Gopal and classical dancer Sonal Mansingh, who were the chief guests.

Some of the other issues explored in the exhibition are the “earliest evidence of dentistry at Mehrgarh in 7000 BC”, astronomical charts displaying the lunar eclipse at the time when “Hanumanji met Sitaji in Ashok Vatika” in 5067 BC, a solar eclipse of 3153 BC when the “Pandavas left for 13 years of exile after losing everything in a game of dice” and the identification of “63 predecessors and 59 successors of Ram”.

“Our history is at least 10,000 years old, much before Muslims and Christians arrived.We found that planetary formations mentioned in Ramayana and Mahabharata corresponded to actual formations at the time. We have also studied genealogy which proves that Aryans were indigenous,” said Saroj Bala, director, Delhi Chapter of I-SERVE.

Sonal Mansingh said she got “goosebumps” when she heard about the exhibition. “As a systematic conspiracy, scholars like Wendy Doniger have written about our ancient saints being sex maniacs to belittle us. Yet, we only read the history written by these people”.

Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma said it was important to hold such an exhibition, which was based on “scientific facts”. “The next generation may say that somebody wrote Ramayana and Mahabharata sitting in their bedrooms, so it is necessary to collect scientific basis for their historicity,” he said.

Krishna Gopal said that “Christian scholars” could not imagine history older than 4,000 years and the idea of continuity from Rig Veda till the present times was unimaginable for many. “Even Max Mueller could not go beyond 5,000 BC,” he said.

- See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/aryans-were-indigenous-mahabharata-ramayana-historical-texts-exhibition/

VHP leader links Nepal earthquake to ‘beef eating’

http://thenortheasttoday.com/vhp-leader-links-nepal-earthquake-to-beef-eating/

Space for pseudoscience of the Hindutva variety at the Indian Science Congress reflects all-round saffronisation

EPW, Vol - L No. 6, February 07, 2015

Saffron Science

by Anand Teltumbde

Nationalism is an infantile thing. It is the measles of mankind.

– Albert Einstein

The culture vultures belonging to the Sangh Parivar have long been preying on every kind of lie and falsehood about the history of the subcontinent to establish their supremacist claim. The roots of the current Hindutva project may be traced to the intellectually rich incipient initiatives of the early stalwarts of the so-called Hindu Renaissance in Bengal – from Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Bankim Chandra Chatterjee to Swami Vivekananda – towards Hindu revivalism. But the palpable beginning of this supremacist project can only be traced to the intellectual juvenility of the Chitpawan reconstruction in Maharashtra, provoked mainly by the fall of Peshwai. It was articulated by Bal Gangadhar Tilak (The Arctic Home in the Vedas), Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (Six Glorious Epochs of Indian History), the progenitor of Hindutva, and the likes of Purushottam Nagesh Oak (claiming Taj Mahal as a Shiva temple and a Rajput palace named Tejo Mahalaya, this in his book, Taj Mahal: The True Story). Bordering on lunacy (or idiocy), Oak claimed that not only every medieval structure but also the Kaaba in Mecca as an ancient Hindu monument.

These claims implicitly included Hindu supremacy in the sphere of science and technology, but they were never voiced aloud in specific terms, and in such an august forum as the 102nd Indian Science Congress (ISC), held recently in Mumbai under the aegis of the University of Mumbai. The shrillness of these claims was particularly discomfiting in the wake of a series of Hindutva overtures such as “love jihad”, “ramzade – haramzade”, “Bhagavad Gita as national scripture”, “Madarsas as dens of terror training”, “Godse as a patriot”, etc, that have been played out by the saffron brigade accompanied by the deafening silence of the state.

Comic Claims

The ISC was formed on the lines of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, with the initiative of two British chemists, J L Simonsen and P S MacMahon, to stimulate scientific research in India through an annual meeting of research workers. Right from its first meeting that took place from 15 to 17 January 1914 at the premises of the Asiatic Society, Calcutta, with Asutosh Mukherjee, the then Vice-Chancellor of the Calcutta University, as president, it has been conducted rationally, discussing actual research in the sciences supported by empirical evidence. The ISC has never provided a platform to anyone unrelated to science. Given this convention, it is symptomatic that the ISC in Mumbai, the homeland of Hindutva, has given a platform to Hindutva ideologues to present their bizarre wares before the scientific community. On the second day of the Congress, a symposium on the “Ancient Sciences through Sanskrit” had been scheduled, inviting eight speakers to speak on ancient Indian botany and topics like the “Neuroscience of Yoga”, “Scientific Principles of Ancient Indian Architecture and Civil Engineering”, ancient Indian aviation technology, and ancient Indian surgery.

On ancient Indian aviation technology, one captain Anand Bodas, a retired principal of a pilot training facility, delivered a 30-minute speech based on a paper he co-authored with a lecturer at Mumbai’s Swami Vivekanand International School and Junior College. He claimed that the sages Agastya and Bharadwaja had invented jumbo aeroplanes in the Vedic age, 7,000 years ago. These planes flew not only from country to country but also to other planets; not just forward, but backwards and even sideways. They used various types of metal alloys in their construction and were piloted by men wearing “virus-proof, water-proof, and shock-proof” jackets made of fabric from underwater vegetation.

Bodas exhorted the younger generation to study Bharadwaja’s book Vimana Samhita, make the alloys in India and save foreign exchange. The radar system, called rooparkanrahasya, presented the actual shape of the aeroplane to the observer, instead of the mere blip. He claimed something which nobody on this earth seemed to know, that in 1895, a “full eight years before the Wright Brothers’ first flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, USA”, a Marathi couple, “Shivkar Bapuji Talpade and his wife gave a thrilling demonstration flight on the Chowpatty beach in Mumbai”. It is a different matter that the technical basis of the “Vedic Ion Engine” supposedly used by Talpade was trashed by researches that examined the technological feasibility of such flights (H S Mukunda et al, “A Critical Study of the Work ‘Vymanika Shastra’”, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore) way back in 1974.

Similar fantastic claims were made by other speakers. One ayurvedic physician, a general practitioner in Mumbai, described the advances made by Indian surgeons “thousands of years before the rise of the modern surgery”. Indians had developed 20 types of sharp instruments and 101 blunt ones for surgeries. The former “were so sharp that they could split a human hair”. Another presenter spoke of how “ancient Indian engineers had adequate knowledge of Indian botany and they effectively used it in their construction.”

The “forte” of this symposium was such that most ministers of the Modi government at the conference heightened its significance. For instance, Harsh Vardhan, the Union Minister for Science and Technology, said,

Our scientists discovered the Pythagoras theorem, but we ... gave credit to the Greeks. We all know that we knew ‘beejganit’ much before the Arabs, but selflessly allowed it to be called Algebra.

Such irrational claims by intellectuals of the Sangh Parivar were not unusual but they were now being made in a science forum before the scientific community. The claimants were surely emboldened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who said at the dedication of a hospital of the Ambani Group in Mumbai on 25 October last year that the existence of Ganesha and Karna proved that plastic surgery and genetic science had existed in ancient India.

National Phantasm

Some scientists did publicly protest against the inclusion of such a pseudo-science in the ISC programme. The online petition initiated by an Indian scientist working for the US government agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, was signed by about 1,500 scientists. But there were obviously many in the ISC and outside who condescended.

None asked such simple questions to those comedians as to how and when this ancient treasure trove of knowledge had vanished to leave historical India pitiable on every conceivable count. All people are endowed with the capacity of generating and possessing knowledge which comes about in face of challenges. Indians, because of the rich natural endowment of the country, perhaps did not face as big challenges as others did and hence they did not have to use their capacity to invent/discover things. Moreover, this complacent state was fossilised by the contrivance of the caste system which permanently blocked the majority of people from access to knowledge.

India did contribute to the pool of scientific knowledge in certain branches that were monopolised by the parasitic class of Brahmins who maintained an exclusive dominance over knowledge. For instance, they wove intricate philosophies and developed cognitive constructs and systems which covered astronomy, astrology, mathematics, and alchemy. The zero – largely acknowledged as India’s contribution – necessarily falls in this class. It is in the abstract sphere that India seems to have made a significant contribution but in spheres that interface with labour, she had little contribution to make.

India lagged in science and technology for production as it was cut off from the sphere of formal knowledge. For example, it did not know the arch, the most efficient curve in engineering, which made the superstructure with heavy cross-beaming too heavy for the foundation, eventually to collapse and vanish. It is therefore that India does not have any architectural evidence of her “greatness”, including, of course, the interplanetary aeroplanes and surgical instruments. It perhaps did not know about the stitching of clothes until medieval times.

Fascist Stratagem

All these things, including External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s shocking proposition for making Bhagavad Gita the “national scripture” or Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani’s outrageous move to impose Sanskrit on the school curriculum are actually part of a well thought-out strategy of the Sangh Parivar. This is to transform India into a fascist state as fast as possible. Jingoistic cultural nationalism is a proven vehicle to create a national community required to realise the fascist motto of “one people, one culture, one leader”. Projecting a development focus, promoting super power discourse, posturing with rhetorical bravado, picturing a glorious past, shadow-boxing an enemy, all this with massive inputs of lies and falsehoods, and with a deliberate anti-intellectual stance, are also established characteristics of the fascist modus operandi.

If this is understood, there may not be any more surprises about the raw antics of certain constituents of the Sangh Parivar and silence of the so-called saner people within it. The process necessarily involves “othering”, which is served well by these antics. They are meant to communally polarise people so as to consolidate and expand the Parivar’s Hindu constituency. Adivasis and Dalits, a potential threat to the Hindutva project, having been Hinduised and Brahminised, respectively, the other minorities would be terrorised into submission.

The project of speedy saffronisation of all institutions is in full swing. Space to pseudoscience presentation in the ISC is just a gauge to assess it. A minor protest of a thousand odd scientists in an online petition in a country that boasts of the second largest pool of scientists and engineers in the world reveals that the danger of fascism is close upon us.

The space given to pseudoscience of the Hindutva variety at the Indian Science Congress must be viewed as part of the ominous process of all-round saffronisation that is presently underway.

Anand Teltumbde (tanandraj@gmail.com) is a writer and civil rights activist of the Committee for the Protection of Democratic Rights, Maharashtra.

Promoting Prejudice, Poisoning Minds - Parivar’s intrusions into education

by Praful Bidwai

If there’s one thing that the 102nd Indian Science Congress, held in Mumbai, will be remembered for, it’s the outrageous claims made at it about the achievements of science in ancient India, including the assertion that Indians between 7000 and 6000 BC knew how to make airplanes that could undertake “interplanetary travel”, and fly backwards and sideways, as well as forwards!

[. . .]

http://www.sacw.net/article10388.html

India: The two faces of Mr. Modi (Karan Thapar)

The Hindu, Nov 1, 2014


The two faces of Mr. Modi

By Karan Thapar

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assumption that in prehistoric mythological times India had mastered genetic science and plastic surgery is irrational

What do we expect of our prime ministers? This is not a rhetorical question and you’ll soon see why. We expect integrity, commitment, dedication, administrative expertise and, hopefully, a fair modicum of intelligence. But is that all?

As important as all the other qualities, we also expect rationality. We may not always agree with what our prime ministers say or are committed to do but we assume that their thoughts and actions are rational, well-considered and credible. In other words, even if their decisions turn out to be wrong — and that often happens — they won’t offend against common sense.

It is here that I have a bone to pick with Narendra Modi. Speaking at the inauguration of the Sir H.N. Reliance Foundation Hospital and Research Centre last Saturday, he said: “Mahabharat ka kehna hai ki Karn maa ki godh se paida nahi hua tha. Iska matlab yeh hai ki us samaye genetic science mojud tha … Hum Ganeshji ki puja kiya karte hain, koi to plastic surgeon hoga us zamane main, jisne manushye ke sharir par haathi ka sar rakh kar ke plastic surgery ka prarambh kiya hoga.” [It is said in the Mahabharata that Karna was not born from his mother’s womb. This means in the times in which the epic was written genetic science was very much present. We all worship Lord Ganesha; for sure there must have been some plastic surgeon at that time, to fit an elephant’s head on the body of a human being.]

No doubt many Hindus share Mr. Modi’s assumption that in prehistoric mythological times India had mastered genetic science and plastic surgery. As individuals they are free to believe what they want. But for the Prime Minister of India to proclaim this belief as fact — and that too at the inauguration of a hospital — is something else.

Why? This is because it’s not rational to use mythology as the basis for claiming scientific achievements. First, there’s no proof other than the assumption the myth is true and that’s an unwarranted assumption. Second, how do you account for the fact the scientific knowledge and achievements you are boasting of have been lost, if not also long forgotten, and there is no trace of any records to substantiate they ever occurred?

Even worse, Mr. Modi’s views echo those of Dinanath Batra. His books are now part of the curriculum in 42,000 schools across Gujarat and carry messages from Mr. Modi when he was Chief Minister. They claim stem cell research was known in the days of Kunti and the Kauravas, television was invented at the time of the Mahabharata and the motor car existed in the Vedic period. Few would deny this is nonsense. Why wouldn’t you say the same for the claim India mastered genetic science and plastic surgery in prehistoric times?

I have two further points. First, Mr. Modi wants to build smart cities, stresses the need for education and is proud of the successful mission to Mars. He believes in digital India, wants to import bullet trains and ‘Make in India’ state-of-the-art defence weaponry. These are 21st century ambitions. How does all of that sit alongside this belief in unverified mythology? Are they not contradictory?

Second, Greek mythology has centaurs and minotaurs; the Persians have the griffin; the British the unicorn; and fairy tales have mermaids and werewolves. Mr. Modi’s position would also lead us to believe these creatures actually existed. But does anyone believe they did? Surely only in our dreams? Or only whilst we were children?

Ultimately, my problem with the Prime Minister’s comment goes a step further, but it could be the most critical of all. Under Article 51 A (h) of the Constitution it’s the fundamental duty of every citizen to develop a scientific temper. I can’t see how the Prime Minister is doing that by blatantly claiming medical advances on the basis of unverified myths. His views clearly and undeniably contradict this constitutional requirement. In fact, if he thinks about it I feel confident Mr. Modi would not disagree!

These are troubling doubts and for the Prime Minister to be the cause of them is even more worrying. Finally, I’m dismayed this issue has not got greater attention in the media. Nor, to my astonishment, has any Indian scientist refuted the Prime Minister’s claims. Their silence is perplexing. The silence of the media is deeply disturbing. It feels as though it’s been deliberately blanked out by everyone.

(Karan Thapar is a television commentator and anchor of the Headlines Today programme, To The Point)

Obscurantist leader Modi talks Mahabharat genetics, Lord Ganesha surgery and the works

PM Modi takes leaf from Batra book: Mahabharat genetics, Lord Ganesha surgery

Narendra Modi said India had “capabilities” in several fields during ancient times. Narendra Modi said India had “capabilities” in several fields during ancient times.

Express News Service | New Delhi | Posted: October 28, 2014.

Seeming to take a page out of Dina Nath Batra’s book, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has linked medical science to mythology, citing “plastic surgery” and “genetic science” to explain the creation of Lord Ganesh and Karna respectively.

Speaking at a function in Mumbai on Saturday, he said, “Medical science ki duniya mein hum garv kar sakte hain ki hamara desh kisi samay mein kya tha. Mahabharat mein Karna ki katha, hum sab Karna ke vishay mein Mahabharat mein padhte hain. Lekin kabhi humne thoda sa aur sochna shuru karen to dhyaan mein aayega ki Mahabharat ka kehna hai ki Karna maa ki god se paida nahi hua tha. Iska matlab ye hua ki us samay genetic science maujood tha. Tabhi to Karna, maa ki god ke bina, uska janma hua hoga. ( We can feel proud of what our country achieved in medical science at one point of time. We all read about Karna in Mahabharat. If we think a little more, we realise that Mahabharat says Karna was not born from his mother’s womb. This means that genetic science was present at that time. That is why Karna could be born outside his mother’s womb).”

According to the text of the speech posted on the PMO website, he said, “Hum Ganeshji ki pooja karte hain. Koi to plastic surgeon hoga us zamaane mein jisne manushya ke shareer par haathi ka sar rakhkar ke plastic surgery ka prarambh kiya hoga. (We worship Lord Ganesh. There must have been some plastic surgeon at that time who got an elephant’s head on the body of a human being and began the practice of plastic surgery).”

Stressing on the need to improve healthcare facilities, Modi said India had “capabilities” in several fields during ancient times. “There must be many areas in which our ancestors made big contributions. Some of these are well recognised. If we talk about space science, our ancestors had, at some point, displayed great strengths in space science. What people like Aryabhatt had said centuries ago are being recognised by science today. What I mean to say is that we are the country which had these capabilities. We need to regain these,” he said.

In his book, Tejomay Bharat, which was made compulsory reading in Gujarat schools, Batra, convenor of Shiksha Bachao Andolan Samiti, has said, “.America wants to take the credit for invention of stem cell research, but the truth is that India’s Dr Balkrishna Ganpat Matapurkar has already got a patent for regenerating body parts. You would be surprised to know that this research is not new and that Dr Matapurkar was inspired by the Mahabharata. Kunti had a bright son like the sun itself. When Gandhari, who had not been able to conceive for two years, learnt of this, she underwent an abortion. From her womb a huge mass of flesh came out. (Rishi) Dwaipayan Vyas was called. He observed this hard mass of flesh and then he preserved it in a cold tank with specific medicines. He then divided the mass of flesh into 100 parts and kept them separately in 100 tanks full of ghee for two years. After two years, 100 Kauravas were born of it. On reading this, he (Matapurkar) realised that stem cell was not his invention. This was found in India thousands of years ago.”

The book carries a customised message from Modi, as then Gujarat Chief Minister.
- See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/pm-takes-leaf-from-batra-book-mahabharat-genetics-lord-ganesha-surgery/99/

India: BJP’s cow dung gems

http://m.indianexpress.com/news/bjp-s-cow-dung-gems-stops-csec-nradiation/897891/

BJP’s cow dung gems: stops C-sec, n-radiation
Milind Ghatwai : Bhopal | Tue Jan 10 2012, 11:24 hrs

* Only those inside houses coated with cow dung escaped the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy.

* There are only two ways to remain insulated from nuclear radiation, and one of them is application of cow dung.

* Using cow dung can ensure normal delivery instead of C-section.

* Those who drink the milk of jersey cow and buffaloes commit more crime than those who consume only desi cow’s milk.

* Only the cow can save mankind; just touching it can stabilise blood pressure.

These among other gems of wisdom were dished out as the Madhya Pradesh government’s Cow Protection and Conservation Board inaugurated a national workshop, ‘Bharatiya Gauvansh Sanrakshan Va Samvardhan’, Monday. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who inaugurated the workshop, came in for lavish praise and felicitation for his anti-cow slaughter legislation.

“Foreign breeds give only poisoned milk,” insisted Sunil Mansingha of Govigyan Anusandhan Kendra Deolpar, Nagpur. “It contains A1 protein, which causes autism, heart attack.”

“Marne se bachna hai to gai ki sharan mein aana hoga (To escape death, leave yourself at the mercy of the cow),” said BJP Rajya Sabha MP Meghraj Jain, who once suggested that tractors be pulled by bulls.

Shanker Lal, chief of Akhil Bharatiya Gauseva, said only the cow could help India regain its “primacy”, before going on to extolling its dung’s powers to protect against nuclear radiation.

Lal also asserted that 10 grams of cow milk ghee equalled 100 tonnes of oxygen, and that children became more obedient if they had cow’s milk.

Chouhan said the Madhya Pradesh government would strictly implement the new anti-cow slaughter law and designate special officers in districts to monitor its legal aspects. He added that they had wanted a maximum term of 10 years under the law, but had been forced by the Centre to keep it at seven.

With the legislation authorising authorities to raid on mere “suspicion” of an offence, the chief minister asserted: “The accused will have to prove his innocence.”

Animal Husbandry Minister Ajay Vishnoi said every district would set aside Rs 1-2 crore to feed cattle seized during raids.

India: The place is carmmed with “godmen”, quacks hawking dodgy medicines and palmists (The Economist)

From: The Economist
Banyan Blog

Atheism in India
He’s not the son of God
Aug 22nd 2013, 13:23 by A.R. | DELHI

INDIA is so crammed with colourful “godmen”, quacks hawking dodgy medicines and palmists to trace your fate, it is easy to miss the mild-mannered rationalists in the scrum. Extreme followers of Kali, the goddess of power, occasionally still leave a decapitated human sacrifice at one of her temples, provoking a storm of attention and debate. But when a group of unbelievers organised a “hug an atheist day” on June 7th nobody noticed.

It took the murder on August 20th of an anti-superstition campaigner to remind India of the lot of its faithless. Narendra Dabholkar was on a regular morning stroll, in Pune, Maharashtra, when a pair of hitmen parked their motorbike and shot him dead (mourners paid their respects in traditional fashion, pictured above). He had campaigned for 18 years against those who pretend to use, or offer protection from, the arts of black magic or other religious or mystical harassment. He wanted a law to prosecute such con artists and to protect their victims from extortion and bullying.

A local sect and assorted Hindu right-wingers opposed his law, which Maharashtra’s state government finally agreed to enact, in Mr Dabholkar’s memory, on August 21st. He had received death threats before. The chief minister, Prithviraj Chavan, compared the killing of the rationalist to the murder of India’s most revered figure, saying that “just as Gandhi was killed by those who could not digest his thoughts…[Mr Dabholkar] too was eliminated”.

Who did so remains unclear, though the law he advocated must have threatened lucrative activity of various local groups. Indian atheists generally have an easier time than those elsewhere in South Asia. Prominent figures including the first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and the current defence and home ministers, plus the chief minister of Karnataka state, are cheerily irreligious. Buddhists, Jains and many Hindus hold no particular belief in God. Humanist groups abound and the taboo against refusing to express religious belief is falling. A survey in May found 81% of Indians were religious, a fall from 87% in 2005.

Yet powerful groups remain to exploit superstition and religious fear. “Even now we have witch-hunting: people who are branded as witches and either killed or extorted for money”, says Sumitra Padmanabhan, the editor of the Freethinker, a humanist magazine in Kolkata. She lists a baffling range of charlatans in the state of West Bengal: sellers of gemstones with supposedly therapeutic powers, providers of talismans and amulets, purveyors of cosmetics with magical properties.

She argues for a nationwide law along the lines of Mr Dabholkar’s in Maharashtra. Without it, she says, going to the police does little good. Often “they believe in superstition too”. Nor is education a simple cure. Even the most learned Indians will arrange a marriage, or pick a wedding date, only after consulting an astrologer.

(Picture credit: AFP)

Who Killed Dabholkar? by Ram Puniyani

The brutal killing of Dr. Narendra Dabholkar (20th August 2013) is a big jolt to the social movement against blind faith and superstitions. During last few decades the tendency for promotion of rational thought parallel to social change came up as Popular Science movement. In Maharashtra it took shape in the form of a movement, Andh Shraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (Committee for Eradication of Blind faith), where it became a powerful campaign for popular awareness, under the leadership of Dr. Narendra Dabholkar. There were those who were uncomfortable due to Dr. Dabholkar’s work against blind faith and superstitions and so he started getting threats to his life. Before his death he got several threats, one of which said, they will give him the same fate as that of Gandhi. After his killing Sanatan Prabhat, a Hindutva ideology paper, which constantly spew poison against him, commented that ‘one gets what one deserves’.

The practitioners and supporters of blind faith surely know that their art is a hoax, were sure that their blind magic can’t kill the pioneer of a rationalist movement, so they did hire assassins to kill Dabholkar. He was recipient of regular abuses from the Hindutva organization, Hindu Janjagruti Samiti, on their web posted claims that they have exposed anti Hindu conspiracy. In their publications they put across abuses for him in gay abandon, one of which read, ‘Dabholkar’s group” should permanently make their faces black for their misdeeds against Hindu religion.”

As such Dabholakar was not against religion or faith. He strongly condemned the practices of blind faith and superstitions, promoted and practiced by Babas and their ilk, who proactively practiced and propagated retrograde practices. Some of these practices like and Karni, Bhanamati are the ones’ in which magical rites are performed in the name of supernatural power. Some other practices are like offering of ash, talisman, charms etc. for the purpose of exorcism and to drive out evil spirits or ghosts. These Godmen and their types claim to be in possession of supernatural powers and advertise this claim. Many a times they claim to be reincarnation of a particular Saint or God, and this way they cheat the gullible and God-fearing simple folks. They do perform so called black magic and spread fear in society. The act which Dabholkar was campaigning for, which the Government adopted after his assassination, makes such practices as an offence under this act. Just a reminder that when this act was first brought up for discussion BJP-Shiv Sean combine strongly opposed the same. He was critical of these irrational practices, and for this he was labeled to be anti Hindu.

Apart from these upholders of politics in the name of Hindu religion other conservatives were also against the activities carried out by his organization. Faith is a complicated phenomenon, true it is needed by a section of society. Faith in supernatural power, faith in institution built around the names of prophets and individuals operating in the name of some religion or God have to some extent provided an emotional support to many in this cruel World with gross deprivations and inequalities. Recognizing this weakness of humans many a religio-entrepreneurs have systematically converted the faith into blind faith, a series of rituals, acts, which are deliberately used to exploit the gullible.

The battle between these two tendencies is old enough. Reason on one side and faith on the other. Reason believes in questioning the existing beliefs and to keep going beyond the prevalent knowledge. Faith, particularly the one constructed around the ‘institutions of religion’ begins with unquestioning subservience to the prevalent norms, beliefs and rituals. Many individuals who go in to establish their enterprises around these rituals, claim to be having divine powers. Incidentally, most of the founders of religions, the prophets, had questioning mind and they questioned the existing norms, values and practices. It is precisely for this that many of them were tormented and punished by the powers that ruled. The clergy, which built institutions around the names of these prophets or supernatural powers, developed rituals in the names of these prophets. The clergy and their practices were most static. Such tendency promotes status quo not only of knowledge but also of social situations and relations. Clergy promoted the social status quo and so demanded unquestioning loyalty to their interpretation of religion and social norms as dictated by them.

There are many incidents in the history, where those who came up with rational thought were not only killed but sometimes harassed to no end. We know the fate of Charvak in India, who questioned the supernatural authorities of Vedas, he was condemned, and his writings were burnt. In Europe, Copernicus and Galileo’s plight at the hand of clergy is another chapter, while the scientists like Bruno, Servatus who argued that diseases are due to Worldly reasons and not due to the wrath of God, were burnt alive by the machinations of clergy. The idea here was very simple, if people start understanding that the diseases are due to bacteria or other etiological factors, the earlier practices of pleasing God through the clergy for healing will come to a halt and clergy’s social power will decline.

In India as the secularization process, the land reforms plus reduction of the hold of clergy remained incomplete, the power of clergy in social field continued. Indian Constitution talks of promotion of scientific temper and people like Nehru kept promoting the inculcation of this scientific temper. Meanwhile the political tendencies operating in the name of religion, kept opposing scientific, rational thinking and kept uncritically glorifying the ancient past, ancient practices cultivated by the clergy to exploit the gullible society, society in the grip of uncertainty and deprivation.

India did witness the rational movements to promote the scientific temper, but its impact in the society remained marginal. With the rise of communal politics from the decade of 1980, the blind faith took a massive leap with hoards of Babas and acharyas, setting up their religious enterprises, enterprises which probably turned out to be most profitable by any standard. One hopes that the business schools are able to calculate the returns on the investments in such enterprises some day. In addition many such Babas extracted the additional bonus of physical pleasures of another kind, the way currently Asaram Bapu is being accused of and so many of them have had their fill. In a crass manner many of the small and high level players also incorporated magical tricks like producing ash and gold from nowhere as their trademark of divine powers. It is these tricks which were being exposed by Dabholkar’s groups.

The practitioners of blind faith and these hoards of five-seven star babas, get their legitimacy and appreciation from leaders of different hues. While those coming from RSS stable are firmly with them at all the levels, even politicians from other tendencies also personally support and follow these tricksters, Babas, Godmen and their whole tribe. The communalists stand to support them ideologically the way Sanatan Sanstha, while abusing Dabholkar also talked of his work being ‘anti Hindu’! A similar trickster, Benny Hynn did public performances for faith healing, and there is no dearth of the ‘Baba Bangali’ series indulging in such trade.

It took Dabholkar’s sacrifice for Mahrashtra Government to pass and bill against blind faith for which Daholkar was struggling from decades. He had collected data that it is women who are the biggest victims of those practicing black magic. He had been talking of taking on the highly rewarding trade of gems and their magic powers, in due course. Alas, that was not to be! Will other state Governments follow suit and try to bring a control on the flourishing trade of blind faith, black magic and its ilk? Will the progressive social movement take up the cause of the major victims of these abominable practices and take the society forward to the path of rational thought, rational culture and rational politics, away from the trappings of the faith based blindness. While our ‘scientific establishment’ has made giant strides the scientific thinking still lags behind as science is being practiced mostly as an instrument and not as a way of life. That’s how in many of science and technology institutions, on Dussera day, computers are worshipped with flowers and by putting vermillion on the forehead of the monitors! Can sacrifice of Dabholar wake up our policy makers to such a serious lacuna in our teaching and practice of science? We seem to have liked the benefits of technology and have been undermining the scientific way of thought and practice, more so after the politics-nationalism has started wearing the cloak of religion.

India:: Narendra Dabholkar: The relentless rationalist (Kumar Ketkar | Tehelka)

From Tehelka

Narendra Dabholkar: The relentless rationalist
A crusader against fraud godmen and irrational beliefs, Narendra Dabholkar's brutal death has shaken the establishment to the core, much more than his lifelong struggle to eradicate superstitions from society
Kumar Ketkar

August 21, 2013

Narendra Dabholkar was a maverick and yet very sensible. Mavericks generally tend to be indifferent to others, self-centered and haughty, but Narendra redefined these maverick attributes. Nevertheless, there were many contradictions in his personality which cannot be explained logically or psychologically.

He enjoyed confrontation, but sought compromise and reconciliation. Non-violent in his approach, he had a violent death. He believed in dialogue and was sober during arguments, but his opponents were shrill and abusive. He advocated scientific thinking, but was a strict vegetarian (and a teetotaler). He was a socialist, but not a Marxist. He was an extremely disciplined person and any old-style proud Sangh swayamsevak would envy him for that. A medical doctor, he participated in social movements. He was a fellow traveller of the Yuvak Kranti Dal, but never a direct activist. Although he was influenced by the JP movement, he remained outside Janata Party politics.

But what is important to note is that his life as well as his brutal death have completely exposed the hypocrisy and vacuousness of Maharashtra’s claim to be progressive and modern. Indeed, his murder has shaken the establishment to the core, much more than his lifelong struggle to eradicate superstitions from society. For more than forty years, he worked to build the organization Andhashradha Nirmulan Samiti ( Association to Abolish Superstition) and established a network of thousands of activists across Maharashtra – rural and urban. He had collected evidence on how thousands of women were victims of superstition and were exploited by sadhus, babas and self-proclaimed tantriks and mantriks. For him, therefore, it was also a struggle to liberate women from the shackles of vicious traditions, rituals and magic. Not only from the so-called gurus, but also from the male members of their families.

In rural Mahrashtra, humans were sacrificed as offerings for which women and children were burnt and killed. Their overall number may not be too large, but the impact of those practices was surely huge. What alarmed Dabholkar was the fact that politicians from all parties patronised these ‘saints’, advised them on their political fortunes, performed tantra to either help them become a minister or defeat/destroy a rival.

The Congress in Maharashtra proudly says that their politics inherits the values and ideals of Mahatma Phule, Shahu Maharaj and Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar. However, the Congress – and in fact, all parties – know the impact this trio has on rural masses in the state. To get votes from the bahujan of Maharashtra, the Congress uses their names and legacies profusely and says that they want to recreate Maharashtra in their utopian image. [For those not familiar with them, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule was a revolutionary social reformer in the mid-nineteenth century who, with his wife Savitri Phule, started campaigns for women’s education, for the eradication of untouchability, to abolish caste hierarchies, to get rid of superstition and to educate people and teach them English. Though mali (gardener) by caste – in today’s parlance, OBC – he was a profound social thinker and had even dedicated his book to Abraham Lincoln. Mahatma Phule was an inspirational force for Shahu Maharaj, Sayajirao Gaikwad of Baroda and Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar.]

While the Congress used to feel embarrassed by the campaigns run by Narendra Dabholkar as their sham claims would get exposed, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiv Sena felt threatened because they felt that the movement was against Hindu traditions. The militant wings of the Sangh Parivar aggressively organised against Dabholkar’s movement. Not only the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajarang Dal, but also more vicious outfits like Sanatan Sanstha and their ilk. Their publications routinely abused, threatened and spread calumny against Dabholkar’s organisation and volunteers. But to their dismay, Dabholkar’s reach was expanding and gaining strength. The more support he received from the masses, intellectuals and the media, the more shrill and violent became the obscene campaign of the Sanatan outfits. Just a fortnight before he was killed, some of their activists openly said that Dabholkar would meet the same fate as Gandhi. Social media websites were aflame with vulgar abuses and innuendo against Dabholkar – before his death and even after.

I have known Narendra for nearly forty years and I used to attend, participate and campaign for the ideas that he and his organization used to spread. He was extremely disciplined and was fastidious about time-management. He was always meticulous in his work – from organizing demonstrations and performances exposing so-called magic and tantra to preparing legislative drafts. He had colleagues and comrades, not ‘followers’. His discussions with volunteers used to be open sessions. They would relate terrifying tales from their villages – which even the police were not aware of or had often connived in.

Every time he exposed the exploitation of poor villagers, there would be some sadhu or thug sanyasi protected or sponsored by a politician involved. While the BJP and the Sangh Parivar opposed him ideologically and politically, the Congress ‘welcomed’ his campaign publicly, but did nothing to enact laws to stop these atrocities. For nearly two decades, Dabholkar fought for strict laws against inhuman practices in the name of spirituality and Hindu traditions. The Congress and the Rashtravadi Congress promised him legislation against superstitious practices and made him amend the draft he had prepared, but then talked of legislative difficulties and shelved the draft bill. On one hand, they were afraid of losing the so-called ‘traditional Hindu vote’ and on the other, they themselves were superstitious. So they talked of not ‘hurting the sentiments’ of people and procrastinated.

The bill was finally ready, but it was not likely to be passed. So Dabholkar began his meetings with individual members of the House, party leaders, the media and opinion makers. His efforts had an impact and that is what alarmed the Sangh-Sanatan Parivar. His murder was the logical and ideological culmination – conspired, coordinated and executed in the same way Gandhiji was killed. Nathuram Godse belonged to Pune; 65 years later Narendra Dabholkar was assassinated in Pune.

India: 'We condemn the murder of Narendra Dabholkar, rationalist activist, in Pune on August 20.' - Statement by concerned scholars at Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai

From The Hindu

August 24, 2013

On the murder of Narendra Dabholkar

We condemn the murder of Narendra Dabholkar, rationalist activist, in Pune on August 20. While the motive for the murder is not known, he had reportedly received death threats from extremist elements opposed to his campaign against superstition. Other rationalist activists such as Sanal Edamaruku have reported receiving death threats.

We demand that this crime be thoroughly investigated and the perpetrators brought to justice. We also demand that threats of this kind to activists in future are investigated promptly before another tragedy occurs. We ask that those whose religious beliefs are offended by rationalists should express their views in words, and should take the lead in condemning violence from extremist elements in their religion.

Finally, we note that an ordinance on superstitious practices, along the lines of the bill proposed by Dabholkar, has been passed by the Maharashtra cabinet on August 22. We hope that this ordinance, after adequate debate of its provisions, will become law in Maharashtra, and that similar legislation will be pursued in other states — particularly in Tamil Nadu, where the rationalist movement has a long and respected history.

Ramesh Anishetty, A.B. Belliappa, Madhushree Basu, Saikat Chatterjee, T.R. Govindarajan, Nirmalya Kajuri, Romesh Kaul, Ravi Kunjwal, Kamalakshya Mahatab, S.M. Meesum, Gautam Menon, Amritanshu Prasad, R. Ramanujam, P. Sankaran, Bala Sathiapalan, R. Shankar, Rahul Siddharthan, Sitabhra Sinha, K. Srinivas,V.S. Sunder, T. Vinod Kumar.

(The signatories are from The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai. These are their personal views.)

Hindutva Peddlers Want Women Locked Up in Chains a la Saudi Arabia

From: The Times of India

RSS, BJP lock horns over women, marriage
TNN | Jan 7, 2013, 03.49 AM IST

INDORE/BHOPAL: Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh chief Mohanrao Bhagwat kicked up a fresh ruckus saying marriage is a contract between a man and a woman, and lasts as long as woman honours it. He then said for marriage to work, wives must look after household chores.

"Marriage is successful only when wife looks after the household and husband takes care of the earning. This system ensures order in society," Bhagwat said at RSS's 'ekatrikaran' or gathering, late on Saturday. But, as if this wasn't patriarchal enough, out came another gem from 80-year-old Madhya Pradesh minister Babulal Gaur, who said it wasn't appropriate to describe marriage as a contract in India, where husbands for centuries have been revered as 'parmeshwar (god)' by wives.

Implicit in Gaur's criticism of Bhagwat was that a contract can take place only between equals and not between gods and mere mortals. All this coming within days of Bhagwat's remark that rapes take place in west-influenced urban India and not rural Bharat, the latest display of competitive chauvinism within the Sangh parivar is bound to leave even some BJP supporters cringing.

Bhagwat, who was in Indore for a day, said, "The husband and wife are contractually bound under which the husband wants the woman to look after his house in order to take care of her needs and safety. Till the time the wife follows the contract, the husband stays with her. If she violates the contract, he can walk out."

Speaking at another gathering on Sunday, Bhagwat said that the country was plagued by internal and external problems, and that "Hindutva offers solutions to the burning problems. Although everyone was aware of the problems, there was no collective effort to address them." A collective effort without departing from India's age-old tradition is the panacea for all the problems, he said.

Apart from senior BJP leaders Sumitra Mahajan and industries minister Kailash Vijayavargiya, almost a lakh of RSS volunteers and workers were present.

Meanwhile, Gaur explained further, "Traditionally in this country, a woman considered her husband god. That status may have changed in modern times but what is good in our society should be kept that way. A woman gets married to a man thinking it to be a life-long commitment. Marriages in India are considered a bond that goes beyond one life. We call it 'saat jannmo ka bandhan (an attachment for seven lives)."

Business and Politics of Blind Faith

by Ram Puniyani

Sanal Edamaruku, a rationalist is facing the legal trap for abusing others’ faith. (April 2012) At the same time in another event, Nirmal Baba, who is supposed to be having divine powers and who has been flashing his paid programs in over 40 TV channels, advising people on solving their problems with various’ divine’ solutions, is facing case of fraud. Recently a local court has directed the police to register a case against him for allegedly cheating people. Both these cases coming in different religions have a deeper connection. In case of Sanal Edamaruku, he was able to show the root of the water seeping from the feet of Jesus Christ on cross in Mumbai’s Irla area. This water was regarded as divine and many followers were thronging the place to have access to the divine water. Sanal showed that water was from the choked drain and getting pushed up by capillary action. Sanal is facing the wrath of section of the community for hurting their faith.

Nirmala Baba, Nirmaljit Singh Nirula, a failed Businessman had disappeared in 1970 and then later repapered claiming to have divine powers and started building up his enterprise by organizing paid TV shows in which those in the audience were initially paid to ask solutions for their problems and later people in thousands thronged, paid money to enter these TV shows, ‘Nirmal Darbars’ and Baba started dishing out ‘solutions’ while his bank accounts swelled. In few years time the ‘faith-business’ flourished and now Baba is a multimillionaire with good deal of property under his belt.

The large section of followers thronging for the divine water seeping from the feet of Lord Jesus, to explain the source of water came as an insult of their faith. To the multiple people seeking solutions from Nirmal Baba, it was again a matter of faith. The boundaries between faith and blind faith many a times are very blurred. As such faith and reason have been counter-posed in the society. Faith has been ruling the roost in the areas of ‘unknown’ and the future. It has been constructed around the supernatural powers and clergy of different religions or self made Godmen have been the custodian of faith. Many an areas which were in the domain of faith shifted to reason over a period of time like nature of earth, eclipse, diseases etc.

At the same time faith has been used or manipulated for different purposes in society, including for political ones’. Ram Temple movement is the example of such use or abuse of faith. Hiding behind Sharia to continue with certain retrograde social practices is another such example.

The natural phenomenon being interpreted through the angle of faith, Earth is flat, God created life in such and such fashion, is one thing and to create a well planned show to rouse people’s faith and then to make business of it with the help of section of TV, media, unmindful of their social responsibility is another side of the same coin. One concedes that the insecurities of the society have gone up by leaps and bounds and this faith gives a emotional support to many to sustain in the midst of the hardships prevalent all around. Still we do need to bring out the boundaries where the rational thinking, the one our Constitution ordains us to promote, needs to be adhered to sincerely.

In case of Nirmal Baba state has correctly woken up and case has been put up against him. In case of Sanal state and society need to protect him from the trappings of law to uphold reason. The mechanical interpretation of laws ‘hurting the faith’ of others needs to be sanitized for protection of the mandate of Indian Constitution to promote rational thinking and to protect the likes of Sanal.  In case of Nirmal Baba, the media, which has aired the sponsored shows of Baba and built up his fraud, needs to introspect.

The claims that these are matters related to religion are again far away from the truth and have a distorted perception of the complex phenomenon of religion. The core part of any religion is the morality developed by the prophets and society over long period of time. The institutions built around religions and the hyper-emphasis on rituals, sharia is an insertion by the clergy, who has its own vested interests and which has ensured the suppression of rational thought all through. One recalls the battles between Charvak and clergy related to the oldest struggle of reason to come up in social thinking and pull the society out of the clutches of the vested interests of clergy.

In Europe the scientists like Bruno, Servatus, and Galileo suffered immense torture at the hands of powerful mediators of the institutional religions. One must re-emphasize the difference between the teachings of the prophets-religions and emphasis on identity and rituals by institutions of religion and variety of Godmen. Prophets were for radical changes in the society to come out from the evils prevalent in society, they were for change and for justice. The institutions built in their name are there for status quo and for preserving the system where few benefit and most in the society suffer. The rational thinkers, scientists had to face imprisonment or other harassment for discovering things like Earth is round, diseases are not due to wrath of God etc.

The response of the clergy was a severe condemnation of this rational thinking as it would undermine their privileges in the society. While Europe has seen its battle against the blind faith, faith based knowledge; it seems at broader level that we in India are still struggling to come out from the impositions of faith. One can say that even in recent times those who stood for social change and justice like Jotiba Phule, Ambedkar, Periyar Ramaswamy Naicker and Bhagat Singh resorted to rational thought and those for status quo of social relationships took recourse to identity of religion. Their politics took cover under the name of religion and they harped on faith and issues built around identity issues.

The continuation of the mind set of feudal society has got mixed up with the new challenges of globalization and contemporary insecurities faced by the average people. Nirmal Baba may be a crude example from the battery of these Godmen. There are others who are more sophisticated and have a vast reach through diverse mechanisms. Godmen, faith merchants are those who have en-cashed on the insecurities of people by mixing the creation of miracles with faith, mixing spirituality and faith in a variety of ways.   As Meera Nanda, an eminent social scientist, in her book ‘God Market’ has demonstrated this phenomenon has expanded by leaps and bounds in last three decades. The proliferation of Babas of different hues all around has put a brake on the growth and promotion of rational thought and scientific temper. The patronage of high and mighty to these Godmen, or persecution of people like Sanal is a matter of deep concern and is a mirror showing us as to where our society is going in the matters of faith.  

The litmus test of the values of Babas and those putting cases against the likes of Sanal has to be, how much these elements are talking of prevalent social injustices, how much they are promoting the morality inherent in their religions? On this count the God men are tongue tied. It is time we build the conduits to promote rational thinking and confronting the tricks played by the likes of Nirmal Baba and those propagating the existence of miracles out of phenomenon which can be explained by scientific inquiry.