Pairokar

          There is definitely the huge craze for English language and in the process students have almost neglected their own language i.e. Hindi. I came across quite a large number young students who cannot take correctly the dictation of even two three lines. This has given mushroom rise to the private tuition , which has become a flourishing business in the far and remote areas of villages.              Another depressing  scene which one cannot escape is the flood drinkers and substance users. There is hardly any family left which has not fallen in this trap, so much so, even girls are taking to the bad habits of tobacco chewing. Liquor has become very common  among youngsters cutting across the caste, community or economic strata .            Pomp and show on the occasions of marriage, birth day celebrations  is being shamelessly imitated by the people of rural areas. Villagers do not hesitate in  taking loans or from mortgaging their lands etc; for the sake of organising  t

My recent visit to my native village, which is nearly 35 kms in the west of Azamgarh district of eastern Uttar Pradesh, has brought mixed feelings of sadness and satisfaction both. Sadness in the sense; that the greed for money has surpassed every other thing. There are hardly any qualms or compunctions for dishonesty or unscrupulousness. The element of immorality has gained sanction and legitimacy in the society. A person who is earning money by any means has obtained all respectability in the society. Thus the ill-gotten money has become the sure cleaner of all sins and crimes. There was, however, some satisfaction as well, which I derived during my short trip. It was with regard to spread of education across all sections, be it caste Hindus, or Scheduled Castes. Girls-education has picked up very fast. All parents take special care to educate their children and they never hesitate in extending all possible facilities to their wards for good education. This satisfact

  Mahatma Gandhi's signal contribution to annihilation of untouchability is unprecedented. Frankly speaking, no serious attempt was ever made to root out the inhuman and senseless practice of untouchability before Mahatma Gandhi. It is beyond our comprehension as from when the practice of untouchability started in the Hindu society. It is also a matter of great surprise that how the Hindu society which considers itself to be so tolerant and magnanimous think of perpetuating this sinful, outrageous and atrocious practice of untouchability? The present generation may not even be able to imagine that how horrendous it was in nature and practice only a few decades ago. If we go by the historical books written by reformers, we find the hair-raising and heart-rending saga of the nefarious practice. It is said that untouchables were not allowed to tread or traverse on the paths that was being used by caste Hindus. If at all any untouchable thought of going on that path, he or

By: Parmanand Pandey Division of Hindu society on the lines of Varnas and castes has made it completely hollow. This division, practiced and perpetuated for centuries, has made it so weak that it is unable to withstand any onslaught from outside and that is why myriad of evils and vices have set in this religion. It is highly disturbing and makes one sick as to why all all great thinkers of Hinduism kept aloof from this cancer which has been eating its elan vital for the last many millenniums. In this backdrop the advent of Gautam Buddha came as a whiff of fresh air. He could have expurgated the Hindu society by removing the division along the Varna and caste lines. The only drawback which one could find in teachings of Buddha was that laid excessive emphasis on the non-violence, which proved to be disastrous for the safety, security, unity and integrity of the country. It is all the more perplexing that why even a person of dazzling intelligence like Swami Day

By: Parmanand Pandey Attacks on West Bengal Chief Minister Kumari Mamta Banerjee and State's Finance Minister Amit Mitra on 8 th   April before the gate of the Planning Commission in the high safety zone of New Delhi is not only sad and reprehensible but it also raises some disturbing questions. Firstly; why the goons of the CPI(M) were, at all, allowed to assemble in large number, around 300, outside the gate when prohibitory order under section 144 of the Cr. P.C. always remain in force in the area. Secondly; it happened within the range of 100 metres of the Parliament Street Police Station, which remains fortified round the clock. Thirdly; why did the Delhi police remain so callous as not to foresee the threat to Ms Mamta Banerjee who is an eye sore to the CPM ruffians, who have mastered the art of goondaism and killing their foes and then paint it with some ideological colour. However, the colour they provide to their organised anarchy is well known to the people a

By Parmanand Pandey The Supreme Court of India has delivered a historic judgment which will provide a huge relief to thousands of cancer patients in India. Through this verdict the Court has allowed the suppliers to continue making generic copies of a cancer fighting drug Novartis Glivec. At present it costs more than Rs. one lakh per month but thanks to this judgment is will henceforth cost less than nine thousand rupees. It is a humane and every inch judicious judgment. The Pharmacentical companies, no doubt, do a commendable job of research and development of medicines for life threatening diseases like cancer and HIV. But once they have invented the medicines and recovered the cost of research they forget their benign duties of serving the mankind and continue to indulge into inexorable exploitation by keeping the cost exorbitantly high. In this the companies, which were claiming the patent rights were not credited with any invention but they have doing certain combina

By: Parmanand Pandey  The news of clash between Muslims and Buddhists in Myanmar and Sri Lanka seems to be quite strange because it is alleged that Buddhists are leading the attacks and vandalism. If it is so—it is really condemnable and needs to be curbed with iron hands. It is strange in the sense because Muslims across the world are known for picking up the quarrels and taking advantage of the troubled waters. It is all the more surprising because Buddhists are known for their placid, meek and docile behaviour . It is the culture of tolerance and non-violence that is inculcated among them from the cradle and they carry it to their cremation. Muslims, on the contrary, refuse to gel with any other community. They consider it an onslaught on their religion and refuse to compromise their identity to live with others following the philosophy of co-existence. It may be remembered that many years ago the Kashmiri Hindus had requested the Muslims to observe one day in the year

By Parmanand Pandey Among the many roles that the media has to play is the building of a just and egalitarian society with emphasis to inclusive growth. It has not only to serve as the mirror of society-be it good, bad, ugly or beautiful as is often stated by some people. It has to see that the perpetrators of atrocities on weak and humble do not go scot-free, that the corruption is banished, if not completely at least in good measure, that iniquitous administration of justice and governance and distribution of wealth is got rid of, that the gender bias is removed etc. It may be recalled that the Press played a remarkable role during the freedom struggle. After independence every thing changed radically. Technology rightly got the place of pride. The shape and presentation of the news and views got metamorphosed. Television and Internet appear to be ultimate revolution but it will continue to amaze as this is an on-going process. One gets awestruck with virtually mind-blowing

By: Parmanand Pandey Justice Markanday Katju, most of the times, makes an ass of himself by his totally unconvincing, illogical, partisan and ridiculous statements. Right from the time he has become the Chairman of the Press Council of India he has developed the unquenchable thirst for publicity for right or wrong reasons and that is why he often issues silly statements on almost all subjects under the sun. People are now so fed up with his blabbering that do not hesitate in calling him ‘megalomaniac’ and ‘vagabond’ etc. These epithets, which are attributed to him, are entirely of his own creation. Go to the Bar of the Supreme Court of India and one will come across with many distinguished lawyers, who would vouchsafe that while on the Bench he was not known for the formidable knowledge of law or elegance of the language of the judgments but for his acid and sarcastic comments, which were invariably uncalled for. Many lawyers used to sit in his court rooms, even if they