KunalSinghSpeaks

Selected few from Dhammapada

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* Even as rain does not penetrate a well-thatched house, so does lust not penetrate a well-developed mind.

* As a bee without harming the flower, its colours or scent, flies away, collecting only the honey, even so should the sage wander in the village.

* The perfume of flowers blows not against the wind, not does the fragrance of sandalwood, tagara and jasmine, but the fragrance of the virtuous blows against the wind; the virtuous man pervades every direction.

* “Sons have I; wealth have I”: Thus is the fool worried; Verily, he himself is not his own. Whence sons? Whence wealth?

* Not the faults of others, nor what others have done or left undone, but one’s own deeds, done and left undone, should one consider.

* Those, who are ashamed to do shameful things, are rare.

* Good health is the highest gain. Contentment is the greatest wealth. Trustworthy ones are the best kinsmen.

There are various myths about British Raj in India.

(1) British government’s objective was to develop India; thats why they developed good infrastructure like railways and highways.

(2) British government wanted to spread education and knowledge amongst Indians; thats why they opened up so many educational institutes.

(3) British government was here for the social welfare; thats why they opposed social evils prevalent in Hindu Culture.

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To answer them one by one

(1) The infrastructure; mainly railways and highways were built to speed up the movement of British army and to cheapen the transport of goods. First was needed to establish the military supremacy of British. Later was needed to financially exploit the country.

(2) (a) British government did not open up too many educational institutes. To run their operations and administration in India they required some skilled labor. And they opened up only as many institutes as were just sufficient to meet this purpose.

(b) The emphasis of these educational institutes was not to impart true knowledge or not to help in development of one’s skills. The emphasis was to impart a slave mentality and a feeling of submission in Indian minds. So that they can serve the British administration without questioning the morality of the British policies.

(3) British government took an opportunity to divide India on social and religious lines, whenever it was possible. Their interference in the religious affairs of Hindus and Muslims was motivated by the same policy. Social evils and bigotry are to some extent part of every religion .. Britishers never opposed social evils which were prevalent in the Christianity… Indians were exploited, insulted, looted for centuries by racist British officers. How can one buy the idea that Britishers were radical humanists on a global expedition to weed out the social evils. They themselves were evil.

A very good news article … eye opener for the Indian Voters

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Congress has always pursued and is still pursuing a vote bank policy in post-independence India. They do not care about the long term (or even short term) implications of their actions. They do not bother about national interests.

Perhaps, things could have been a little better (only a little) if the Congress party was being run by an Indian; An Indian by ideology at least (if not by origin). Looks like Congress leadership will be more worried if there is any danger to Europe, rather than worrying about any imminent dangers to our own country.

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Irony is that in the post independent era, the Media too gets sold for small or big benefits.

Media had played a great role in “Indian National Movement” and the “Indian Freedom Movement”. That was the time when media houses used to originate for the sake of humanity and used to survive on passion.That was the time when journalists were well educated, patriotic and driven by ideologies.

And this is the time when media houses have drooped down to the lowest levels.

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India needs a patriot with great political wisdom. There is no lack of patriots in our country (or in any country for that matter). What we need is a patriot with political wisdom.

“ If we want to make this great State of Pakistan happy and prosperous we should wholly and solely concentrate on the well-being of the people, and especially of the masses and the poor… you are free- you are free to go to your temples mosques or any other place of worship in this state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion, caste or creed that has nothing to do with the business of the state… in due course of time Hindus will cease to be Hindus and Muslims will cease to Muslims- not in a religious sense for that is the personal faith of an individual- but in a political sense as citizens of one state ”

— Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Address to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, Karachi August 11, 1947

Secularism has been a taboo topic in Pakistan and lot of Pakistanis do not understand its meaning. Because of ILLITERACY and due to the MISREPRESENTATION of secularism by Islamic parties an average Pakistani thinks of it as being a threat to Islam or being a “Religion Less” society.

[FROM WIKIPEDIA]

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Though Pakistan failed miserably to become a secular country, India has taken big strides and effectively demonstrated its “Unity in Diversity”. In our country we have people of different religions but these people only compliment each other. We have people who speak different languages, but this difference only enriches cultural heritage.

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Last few months have not been so good. We have seen separatists element trying to divide our country on the name of religion and languages. But, I am hopeful that such troubles are momentary. The people of our great country are intelligent enough to distance themselves from anti-national sentiments and anti-national activites.

Let us take a resolve that we will not loose our way. We will continue to build a strong and united India.

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In my opinion, two major policiess which have contributed to the unity of our nation in post-independence era are “Zamindari Abolition & Land Reforms” and “Reservation for weaker sections”. In some states like Andhra Pradesh where land reforms were not effectively implemented, we can see pockets which are greatly affected by Naxalism. There are similar problem in some other parts of the country because of the marginalization of those regions. I feel that these problems can be easily resolved through political wisdom and political will. All we need is another great leader.

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Contribution of Rajiv Gandhi to our nation is generally underrated (or even completely ignored) . He is the one who shall be (but is never) credited for resolving terrorism in Punjab. It was his strong political will which helped in curbing the terror (which was a brain child of previous governments) in the state. He was also responsible for setting up a trend of “Technological Innovation” in India….. and a lot more

I am just wondering if there is any Hollywood movie on “My Lai Massacre”.

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He exactly knew what was in offing.

This video is unbelievably funny

Raj Thackeray is back again - this time interfering the operations of a private firm.

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Raj is wrong in interfering with Jet’s private affairs. But, we should not forget that what Jet has done is wrong too. They have monopolized a market by forming an alliance with their key competitor. In a capitalistic economy, monopoly is a grave crime. The law-makers of our country have transformed our economy in to a capitalistic one, but  they have forgotten to set any preventive measures against abuse of the capitalistic system. Jet and Kingfisher can not get away with such alliances in an economy like USA. Then why should it happen in our country? If government does not want to interfere, then opposition should. And this is what Raj is doing.

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Whom to side with, when both are wrong? This time I will side with Raj.

As responsible citizens of India, we should learn to understand the difference between “Secularism” and “Appeasement of Religious Minorities”. We need to understand what Congress is trying to achieve by acting soft on Terror. We need to understand what Amar Singh has in mind when he questions the sacrifices of soldiers like M C Sharma.

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The Congress Party has a proven history of involving  in Politics of Religion. The tactics have paid them at times, and also back fired at times. But, whenever Congress Party speaks about secularism they should not forget their acts of 1984.

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All this madness has to stop. And it can only stop when political parties show some will to act hard against Fundamentalists. They should oppose “Fundamentalism by all sections of society”.  But what is being done instead is to “oppose Fundamentalism by one sections and promote fundamentalism by other sections of society”.

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When political parties condemn the attacks on Churches in Orrissa and Gujrat, they should also condemn the activities of organizations like “New Life Church”. Yes, the attacks on churches are shameful in a democracy like India. But so are the activities of some other religious groups in the region.

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When political parties talk about the use of anti-terror laws only against the people of one specific religion. They also need to see that the terror is being propagated only by people of one specific religion. It is true that not every Muslim is a terrorist. But how many can really question the fact that “Almost every terrorist is a Muslim”. Law has to just take its own course and punish the guilty people, irrespective of their religion.

I liked the rationality of this article.

I wonder why the urban class fails to understand this logic. Or is it that they just pretend  …
Say some one wants to acquire the company you work for (or have founded) and gives a proposal. Firstly you will want to have all the rights not to sell your business. Secondly, if you do not like the offered price, you will ask for a better deal.

Now compare this with what has happened in Singur. Either farmers did not want to sell their lands or they wanted a better deal. So, it was up to the two parties (TATAs and the Farmers) to negotiate the deal. But what happened instead is that government helped TATAs to acquire the lands forcibly. And government used the State Machinery to achieve it. And our urban Indian is still adamantly holding to their views, “TATA should be given the land, because it will enable them to manufacture the cheap cars”. So, TATA makes money, Politicians make money, Urban India saves money. Only loosers will be poor farmers. Such collusion of Politicians, Industries and Educated Urban Class is really dangerous for the country.

I hope that the new bill does some good to protect the rights of poor.