Showing posts with label Madurai. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Madurai. Show all posts

RMF Summary: Week of September 26 - October 2, 2011

September 26
Communal violence and Target Bill.
Sri. Ram Jethmalani on the divisive Communal violence and Target Bill. http://expressbuzz.com/opinion/op-ed/a-divisive-communal-bill/317543.html Hari Om K P...

September 26
Whats cooking in Tamil Nadu
Aravindan Neelakandan posts:
A lot of things are happening in Tamil Nadu. Its like being in the eye of a storm and seeing every one take it as a breeze even as they are getting destroyed by it.

1. Church could organize coastal people; launch an agitation and stop a nuclear power project in South Tamil Nadu. It is not the pros and cons of Nuclear power that I am talking about but the clout of the Church in organizing people's
protest and making government bow down in such a vital matter.

2. Police firing on an agitating Dalit crowd which killed six Dalits. My Dalit friend said that the police behaved in a high-handed manner and that the entire event was video-graphed by Madurai Theological Seminary (mentioned in 'Breaking India') The Dalits were agitating for the release of their arrested leader. His name? John Pandiyan.

Like the proverbial frog in the cauldron enjoying the warming water we are discussing abstract things regarding Varna and Jati and Kula. But the ground reality is a veritable exploding volcano. We have little time left - if left at all. May we not end up as museum pieces or worse refugees in World Vision camps."

A. Neelakandan responds to a followup:
"//without discussing abstract things like true perspective of Varna, Jati and Kula, it is not possible to eradicate caste distinctions. Practical follows theory//

I fully agree with your statement. In fact Arya Samaj has been at the forefront of fighting for harmonizing / eliminating these divisive faultlines. In fact they were the first to use the word 'Dalit' with the sense of emancipating and empowering the suppressed sections of the society in an environment highly
negative. Researching the histories of most of the neglected Dalit leaders in Tamil Nadu I was surprised to find that at least two of them were directly influenced by Arya Samaj. Lessons need to be learned how this vibrant movement was dissipated after independence.

Atrocities on Dalits are a fact. And the surprising truth is many of those who really fight for Dalit empowerment are deeply Hindu minded. But invariably those who come out in media light as Dalit saviors are missionary projected-manipulated leaders. But no worthwhile effort has been made by Hindu organizations to talk with these ground level Hindu Dalit leaders - share their experiences and challenges; understand their perspectives and evolve a bottoms-up Indic vision social justice rooted in Vedanta. A Vedantic vision for
the liberation of Dalits as well as a Vedantic mission for the validation of broken native cultures all over the globe (broken by Abrahamic theological imperialism) is the need of the hour. The crucial importance of 'Being Different' comes here as a major theoretical tool for this task"

ShreeVinekar adds:
".. I was stunned to hear a program by an Oklahoma based musicologist on NPR. The program is ostensibly about music but definitely by open admission a "liberation" movement for the Dalits in Tamil Nadu who are depicted as not being allowed to play their music (drums) for the religious ceremonies of the "upper caste" and thus depriving them of income. The program "This is Music" is touting a documentary film about the atrocities the Dalits in India are facing in Tamil Nadu. The spokesperson boldly announces that the word or the epithet "dalit" was invented and first used by no one other than "Babasaheb Ambedkar." This program is heard by millions of Americans who are urged to  donate for this cause of political activism on behalf of the Dalits in Tamilnadu. No Indian who is social justice promoter has started asking for donations to liberate the Native Americans from their reservations or liberate the African Americans from their ghettos in America..."


September 26

Dharma as Protective Umbrella validating theo-diversity
Aravindan Neelakandan posts:
" Seeing dharma as an umbrella against theo-imperialism tribes in Borneo actually teach us a valuable lesson: the real significant role Dharma can play in protecting theo-diversity

September 26
Dalit = Black trade fair in Mumbai...
Karigar posts: 
" See last line of below news item. The tacit equation of Dalit =  Black being reinforced...

Ratan Tata to attend first dalit trade fair
NEW DELHI: In a first, the three-day trade fair to be organized by dalit entrepreneurs and businessmen in December will be attended by Ratan Tata. "We had sent an invitation to Ratan Tata and he has confirmed that he will attend our conclave and exhibition," said Milind Kamble, chairman of Dalit India Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The event, beginning December 16, will be held at Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai. DICCI, whose mission statement calls for "fighting caste with capital", will showcase about half-a-dozen dalits who started as small entrepreneurs but now are running companies with multinational operations.

... The event will host more than 200 dalit companies involved in hardcore manufacturing, construction, trading, health, hospitality and the knowledge industry.

"Our friends in the US are also trying to get Robert Johnson, the first black billionaire, to visit the fair as the guest of honour," Kamble said. "

September 27
Church promises 10,000 rs. to Catholic couples in Kerala on birth of
Check: St Vincent De Paul Forane Church in Kalpetta has promised 10000/- to Catholic couples on the birth of their fifth child. This novel initiative by the...

September 28
Houston Seminar on "Breaking India" - Video Uploaded
http://www.breakingindia.com/houston-video-1/ The Houston program a couple of weeks ago was a great success....


RMF Summary: Week of March 7-14, 2011

March 7
Indian Christian lashes against 'breaking India' activities by Church
This long post has 2 items. PART I is a letter by an IndianChristian activist against the Church's politics of the kind that are breakingIndian communities by...

March 8
Madurai book club
I wish to thank Suri for the superb arrangement for launching the book "Breaking India" in Madurai. This was the major and unique function apart from...

Chennai launch featured in Arsha Vidya Newsletter
Chennai launch of Breaking India is featured in the February issue of the Arsha Vidya newsletter


Comment by Prof Shiva Bajpai
(Professor Emeritus at the California State University of Northridge. Co-author of, "A Historical Atlas of South Asia."
"This is an impressive work based on solid and thorough research on the major theme, Western Interventions in Dravidian and Dalit Faultlines. Your treatment of the subject is both scholarly and exhaustive as well as dispassionate. The book is indeed revelatory  because there is no other authentic account of how the global nexus of anti-India agencies and their Indian agents have undermined the unity of a democratic India ...

Koenraad Elst, the distinguished scholar comments:

Dear listfolk,
 
>Durgavati was born in Chandella clan of the Rajputs from and she was married in a Raj-Gond family. There is a theory that the Raj-Gonds are descendants of Rajputs who intermarried among Gonds. There is another theory that claims that the Chandellas were derived from the Gonds, the marriage of Durgavati is cited in support of this thesis. <

Chandella looks like it is derived from the related tribal ethnonyms Gond/Kond/Kandh. So does, probably, Chandâla. Ptolemy mentions the Kandaloi as an Indian tribe. In Wendy Doniger's Manu Smrti translation, Chandâla is given a literal interpretation, "the 'fierce' untouchables", which may well be how Manu himself understood the term. But that would be folk etymology, overlaid on a purely ethnic term such as Kand/Kandaloi. The name Chandâla is mentioned in the Chandogya Up.,..


March 8
Re: tribe and caste (jati)
It is a question of interest as to when and why Untouchability arose. And the question of the relationship of Jati to Varna. In my article 'Gandhiji was right...

March 8
Madurai disscusion of the book: March 6.
Book Readers' Club at Madurai had arranged for an introductory lecture on 'Breaking India' book at Arvind Eye Hospital auditorium...

March 9
US tops Rs 31,000cr-donation list (2006-09)
[The book has an appendix on this data and examines the activities of the westernn nexus and Indian recipients. The actual sums are much larger.]
SHOCKING! A large portion of this money comes from organizations with vested interests in India, as mentioned in BI (e.g. church-based proselytizing orgs) 31K crores in Rupees at the current (2012) exchange rate is about $6.2 Billion using 2009 exchange rate of 37Rs/$, this comes out to about $8.3 Billion. Of this, about 1/3 or about $2Billion comes from the US alone.

March 9
Ashani Sanket
Another example of an organization meddling in internal Indian affairs. so much for sovereignty.
(original news link was broken. I've googled and updated with live link)

March 9
No quota benefits after conversion: High Court
No quota benefits after conversion...

March 9
Re: Tribe and caaste (jati)
Dear Dr. Elst, Here is the train of thought: Both tribes and Jati were endogamous, but the Jati was linked to the economic unit of the shreni(guild). Jati...

March 10
Re: N.S. Rajaram on BREAKING INDIA by Malhotra and Neelakandan
Distinguished scholar N.S. Rajaram notes:
The Chicago based NEWSGRAM carried my article on the book Breaking India by Rajiv Malhotra and Aravindan Neelkandan. It can be found here.

March 10
Plight of scavenger dalit communities
Vijay Rajiva adds:
Below is a relevant account of the position of the Bhangis. You may kindly read the attached pdf on present Dalit (Scavengers). Here's the dostoc link.


March 10
N.S. Rajaram's press statement
*March 11, 2011* ** Here is an advance copy of the statement being released to the media at 10:00 AM today (March 11).
Here is an advance copy of the statement being released to the media at 10:00 AM today (March 11). The book Breaking India will also be presented at the meet. The opinions given below are my own though I have consulted the book. I take full reponsibility [sic] for it.
 - N.S. Rajaram
March 11, 2011: Statement to the media
Meeting on conversions: Summary of Dr Navaratna Rajaram’s presentation:
1.       Christian churches and their affiliated organizations must be seen as multinational socio-political entities that have no spiritual or even religious content.
2.       Their officials like bishops, archbishops, etc are not spiritual leaders but bureaucrats appointed by their masters like the Vatican, Church of England, etc. They can call themselves His Holiness, but they are no more than appointed representatives of foreign multinational corporations....

March 11
Is there a gene that prevent us from falling apart even as we quarrel
Link.
Just as no Hindi movie can survive without a Comic Relief so no Indian discussion group can survive without some Intellectual Relief...
 
March 12
Dalit Freedom Network
Below is an excerpt from "Breaking India" (pages 220 to 222) pertaining to Dalit
Freedom Network (DFN):
[BEGIN EXCERPT]:
Dalit Freedom Network, based in Colorado, USA, is an example of a West-run organization that professes to champion Indian Dalit emancipation through policy advocacy in the power centers of the USA.

March 13
Re; Tribe and caste (jati)
N. S. Rajaram comments: 
I agree wholeheartedly with Shri Aravindan Neelakandan's view that we should move quickly and resolutely to remove any lingering injustices towards the Dalits. Much has already been done by GOI, individuals, NGOs and the nationalist organisations. More can be done.

We have to do it because it is our Dharma, not because the EU or other busy bodies are trying to tell us what is ethical behaviour...

March 13
Arya
Koenraad Elst comments:
The use of Arya cognates in Hittite and Lycian (Anatolian) in the sense of compatriot, fellow citizen is given in standard textbooks of Indo-European linguistics, such as JP Mallory, and in the On-line Etymological Dictionary http://www.etymonline.com/

The same in Iranian is beyond dispute. Iran <= Airyanam Khshathra. In 2006, Tajikistan hosted the UNESCO-sponsored World Aryan Fair, or so, where Aryan in effect meant Iranian,...

 
Blogger's note (November 2012):
The contributions from noted Indian scholars (aside from the authors of 'Breaking India' themselves) like NS Rajaram, Koenraad Elst, Vijay Rajiva, among others, to the initial  RMF debates are outstanding, and establish a certain level of rigor and burden of proof in the discussions apart from not shying away from naming some of the big problems that confront Hindu society in India, i.e. Dalit emancipation, and made a strong case (both based on Hindu texts as well as empirical evidence) for bringing them back into the Hindu fold, if its not too late ....


RMF Summary: Week of February 28-March 6, 2011

March 1
New video uploaded: Swami Dayananda Saraswati's address at Chennai book launch
This is the link to Swami Dayananda Saraswati's 45 minute talk, which we have edited for YouTube into 2 parts totaling under 30 mins. His insights into the main issues examined by the book is remarkable.

March 2
India's Think Tanks (422) second to US??!!
I just googled Think Tanks India. and a TOI article (below) says India has the second largest number of think tanks in the world after the United States.

March 2
Fw: [saja-disc] J-ETHICS/INDIA: Sunday Times on Paid News in Indian Media
This link is relevant to Rajiv's comments on media persons seeking payment for news. 


March 3
Breaking India Book Introduction at Madurai
ConvenerMadurai Readers'Club 
Flat A,GF,Anmol Bougainvillaea,
106-107 PT Rajan Road,
Madurai 625014


March 4
How to read this book fast
Rajiv Malhotra: The first reaction when someone gets the book [Breaking India] is about its size. It is 660 pages
and that can overwhelm many. So here's advice on how to deal with it in modules.

For a quick read in 2 hours, one should read chapter 1, then read the first few pages of each chapter which give an overview with the help of a flow diagram. The various boxes in the overview diagram are summarized in a para each, right
at the beginning of the chapter. This way one can get through the whole book fast with a good idea on the various themes.

Once you have done this, each chapter is pretty much stand alone and you can jump straight to the ones you like...

March 6
Appendix C of the book: Parallel developments in Africa
It was indeed a wake up call to read the analogy given with Africa in Appendix C of the book. If Joseph Conrad's stories on "the dark continent" weren't enough...

March 6
True significance of 'Paul Harrison' award given to Binayak Sen
I was amused when about 10 years ago, I came across the Dalitstan web-site. Some of the stuff on the web-site was so crude that I thought it was a joke. Now I..