Food for Thought

These are a few interesting paragraphs from books I read recently:

On Why Atheism is not parasitic on religion - Julian Baggini in 'A very short introduction to Atheism'

In Scotland there is a deep lake called as Loch Ness. 

Many people in Scotland - almost certainly the majority - believe that the lake is like other lochs in the country. Their beliefs about the lake are what we might call normal. But that is not to say they do not have any particular beliefs!

Its just that the beliefs they have are so ordinary that they do not require elucidation. They believe that the lake is a natural phenomenon of a certain size, that certain fish live in it and so on.

However some people believe that the loch contains a strange creature, known as the Loch Ness Monster. Many claim to have seen it, although no firm evidence of its existence has ever been presented. So far our story is a simple face. Now imagine how the story could develop.

The number of believers in the monsters starts to grow. Soon a word is coined to describe them: They are part-mockingly called 'Nessies' (Many names of religions started as mocking nicknames).

However the number of nessies continues to increase and the name ceases to be a joke. 

Despite the fact that the evidence for the monsters existence is still lacking, soon being a 'nessie' is the norm and it is the people previously thought of a normal who are in minority. They soon get their own name, 'Anessies' - those who don't believe in the monster.

Is it true that the views of anessies are parasitic on those of the nessies? That can't be true, because the Anessies beliefs pre-date those of the Nessies. The key point is not of chronology, however. The key is that Anessies would believe exactly the same as they do now even if Nessies never existed. What the rise of nessies did was give a name to a set of beliefs that had always existed but which was considered so unexceptional that it required no special label.

The moral of the story should be clear. Atheists subscribe to a certain world view that includes numerous beliefs about the world and what is in it. Theists say there is something else that also exists - God.

If theists did not exist, atheists still would, but perhaps there would be no special name for them.

I also want to stress that the atheist is not a crude denier of all that is not physical, if by 'physical' we mean a physical substance. Atheists too believe in minds, beauty, emotions, moral values - in short a full gamut of phenomena that gives richness to human life. 

On developing and developed nations - Narayana Murthy

CK Prahalad once told me, 'Being a developed country is just a mindset.' I entirely agree with him. In fact, when I went to France in the early seventies, the mindset was the first difference I noticed between a developed nation and a developing one. 

In France everybody acted as if it was their job to discuss, debate and quickly act on improving public facilities.

In India we discuss, debate and behave as if the improvement of any public facility is not our task and consequently, we do not act at all. We have to change this mindset to one of identifying with all public causes, and act quickly to resolve any problems in the public domain.

On Minorities - Narayana Murthy

It will be foolhardy not to enthuse our minority populations towards participating in India's well being, given the fact that they form about 15 to 20 percent of our population. 

There are thousands of examples of high achievers from each Indian minority community. Dr.Abdul Kalam, M.K Pataudi, Ratan Tata, George Fernandes, and Dilip Kumar are only a few of them.

In fact we are all minorities in India given that our country is so vast and diverse. For example, I am a Kannada speaking man - a minority, a Brahmin - minority, educated - a minority, well to do - a minority and English speaking - a minority.

Hence we should collectively focus on commonality rather than dig deeper into divisive factors based on caste, race, class or economic status.

On doing the right thing - Arun Maira

The pedestrian traffic light at the busy mall crossing in Gurgaon is red. Yet people are rushing across, even as cars drive by. He is the only one standing, waiting for the light to turn green. Some look at him and laugh. They wonder why he won't go with the crowd. He is different. People who have the will to do the right thing in awkward circumstances are exceptional. 

It's easy to go with the flow. To do the 'done' thing. To do what is convenient; even to break a rule because everybody is doing it. However, to pause, and to ask what is the right thing to do in the situation, and then to do it: that is the seed of greatness.

On the power to change lives - giveindia.org

A wise man who was traveling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream. The next day he met another traveller who was hungry, the wise man opened his bag to share his food. The hungry traveller saw the precious stone and asked the man to give it to him. He did so without hesitation. The traveller left rejoicing his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime.

But a few days later, he came back to return the stone to the wise man.

“I have been thinking,” he said, “I know how valuable the stone is, but I give it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious. Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone.”

Defining secularism, and a brief introduction

What is Secularism?

Since long there has been a perception among Indians that Secularism means accommodation of all religions or freedom to practice any religious activity. This was something I found contradictory to what I read on a major European website.  So a few weeks before I joined college, I was surfing the net, in search of a definition of Secularism. What I found out was this: A website said ‘Secularism is the state of being separate from religion’. The next one said Secularism is ‘A doctrine that rejects religion and religious considerations’. A dictionary defines Secularism as ‘State not connected with religious or spiritual matters.’  These definitions were quite the opposite of what is believed to be secularism in India; this is the reason why I choose to read more about Secularism and what it actually meant.

I started out with two basic questions:

  

      Why are there two different views on what Secularism is?

      

      Have Indians failed to understand the meaning of Secularism or have we conveniently changed the definition of Secularism to suit our politics?

I shall talk about these questions in the next article, while in this one I shall talk something about the different models of Secularism that exist today.

According to Rajeev Bhargava in some sense it is evident that The European understanding of Secularism is different from what can be called as the Indian form of Secularism.

According to the European i.e the main stream western Secularism, [1]Religion should not intrude into secular/worldly affairs, usually reflected in the desire to separate the Church from the State. The essence of Western secularism lies in the stress its lays on the private and public space. Religion should strictly remain in the private space.

Rajeev Bhargava further says that the dominant self-understanding of Western secularism is that it’s a universal doctrine requiring the strict separation of church/religion and the state for the sake of individualistically conceived moral or ethical values.

Similar is the America model of mutual exclusion. Neither the state nor the religion is meant to interfere in the domain of the other. This model ensures that that the state has neither a positive relationship nor negative one. For example there would be no granting of aid to religious institutions or state interference in religious activities. The idealized French model is based on separation that is one sided. The state and religion are separate but the state retains the power to interfere in religion.

Some kind of interference is expected and acceptable but where the state should draw the line is debatable. A positive engagement to promote freedom and equality is needed. To understand this, the concept of 'principled distance' is very important according to which the state engages positively/negatively in religion while maintaining a principled distance from all religions.
   

[2]Several western scholars claim that by enjoining believers to leave behind religious convictions when they step into public life, secularism shows hostility to believers, inhibits diversity and homogenizes the public domain.

Such a flaw prevents from flourishing, a pluralist political culture and also fails to accommodate reasonable community related demands since Secularism derives most of its principles from individualism and cherishes growth of individuals, rather than communities. 

The situation demands that we look at various models and variants of Secularism. Does the Indian model of Secularism offer any solutions?

Secularism deserves a special place in Indian polity.  Salman Rushdie rightly said, “Secularism in India, is not just a point of view, it is a question of survival”  

State in independent India is officially secular as it is not allied with any particular religion, yet in practice it does not separate itself from religion but tries to give a picture of itself as a neutral country by publicly recognizing all religions and their major social practices.

While ideally Indian Secularism celebrates the cultural and religious diversity, it also insures that the State’s interference in Religion is not excess. For instance although Indian Secularism treats all religions equally, it does provide Haj subsidies to Muslim pilgrims. Thus the State in independent India is officially secular as it is not allied with any particular religion, yet in practice it does not separate itself from religion but tries to give a picture of itself as a neutral country by publicly recognizing all religions and their major social practices.

[3]The most important is the fact that Indian model of Secularism is committed to a different model of moral reasoning and opens up the possibility of different societies working out their own secularisms. 

Ideally this model deserves appreciation but in reality, it appears to be skewed. There is a threat to Secularism in India and [4] ’the external threat to Secularism in India is a symptom of a deeper internal crisis, and that the conceptual and normative structure of secularism is itself terribly flawed.

Problems arising due to separate personal laws for religious groups, the intervention of state in religious institutions and practices and issues like reservation question the practicality of the model Indian secular state.

Religious political movements have emerged in every part of the world that challenge the existence of Secular states and their underlying ideology. Rajeev Bhargava believes that secularism was severly jolted with the establishment of the first modern theocracy in 1979 in Iran. There is also a view that the [5]target of Saffron Terror is not the Muslim community, but secular nationalism. 

Thus, we need to keep evolving newer and more acceptable principles in Secularism which is able to deal with such opposition.  Rajeev Bhargava suggests that rather than getting stuck on models developed by Europeans in some point in History, the West should look for better theoretical self-understanding. While concluding one of his article, he also suggests that West could also learn about Secularism from the original Indian variant that respects all religions but recognizes the need, at-least sometimes, for democratic state intervention in morally dubious religious practices.


Even if implementation and viability of Secularism is debatable, even if people disagree with the principles of Secularism, the common responsibility to ensure the greater good for human kind should be shared by one and all, irrespective of our individual religious views and notions of 'how an ideal state should be'. 

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[1] ‘Should Europe learn from Indian Secularism?’ – Article by Rajeev Bhargava

[2] Political Secularism – Rajeev Bhargava

[3] 6th feature of Indian Secularism in Rajeev Bhargava’s book ‘What is political theory and why we need it?’

[4] Political Secularism – Rajeev Bhargava

[5] ‘Saffron terror: Splinter or Symptom’ – Juli Gittinger in EPW
[6] The Contest Of Indian Secularism - Erja Marjut Hanninen, University of Helsinki, Master's Thesis

Save Our Cities

 Save Our Cities

We neglect our cities at our own peril. For, in neglecting them, we neglect the nation. –John F. Kennedy

I believe the key to unlocking India’s vast economic potential, and creating rapid, sustainable economic growth lies in our cities. –Narayan Murthy

City: Mumbai

Known as Bombay till 1996

A Conurbation –Network of Urban communities

Mumbai port handles 50% of India’s total foreign trade and generates 40% of India’s GNP

Mumbai has India’s largest and World’s third largest stock exchange.

Mumbai also is the home of the world’s largest motion picture industry.

As Mumbai is one of the five cities that are included in the Centre sponsored ‘Mega City Scheme’ launched in accordance with the Eighth 5 year plan by the Government of India. The nodal agency for implementation of this scheme is the ‘Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).

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Every other day our dumb witted politicians are debating who empowered or built Mumbai, who made it what it is today. What is Mumbai today? Mumbai is like a chewing gum, till it’s juicy everyone wants to suck on it and after they are done they are going to spit it out.

While Tokyo, New York, Hong Kong and scores of cities are already working towards becoming a sustainable city, Mumbai is seeing a rise in number of Lodhas and Kalpatarus. If more jobs, more towers and more moolah is development then what is deforestation? What is destruction of Mangroves along the Mumbai coast? What is increasing concentration of pollutants? What is pressure on infrastructure? When was the last time you saw a bird other than pigeons, crows or sparrows? Noise pollution is another increasing problem. Small hills have been dug out for soil and construction.

This is development? Have we ever heard anyone talking about food security and community food collection? 

Highest revenue producer it is, also the highest loser in terms of its health.

Wonder when our politicians will stop bragging about the development of Mumbai which looks minuscule from many angles and understand that growth and development at the cost of tomorrow is a very bad idea.

A Railway Station in Singapore. We want World Class facilities in Mumbai too. The question is will we manage to keep it clean and efficient. Will we pick that piece of plastic or scold the co-passenger who spits outside the window? 

Where does Mumbai stand?

We are nowhere. If you want to feel good about Mumbai, then you should visit Bangladesh. Even if you visit Sri Lanka or some African cities, you return here and feel disappointed.-Hafeez Contractor

The Shivaji Park ground in Mumbai. Sachin Tendulkar practiced here. I took this photograph after a religious ceremony. We Indians love to litter. 

The quality of life in Mumbai has also worsened and the decline is quite steep. Slums have proliferated and congestion, pollution and water problems have sky-rocketed. The situation is likely to worsen over the next decade with an expected population increase of over 2 million.

All this is most unfortunate considering that Mumbai is Maharashtra’s and India’s growth engine and contributes about 40,000 crore in taxes to Maharashtra and Centre annually. Compared to that sum, what Mumbai gets in return from the State and Centre is a grossly inadequate Rs.1000 crore of capital expenditure every year.-  McKinsey Report on Mumbai

Most of Mumbai’s population lives in slums and shanties which are almost always illegal. Even the normal non-slum areas lack the most basic amenities and essentials. Any disruption in the services and transport of food and other important commodities even for a short time will have very adverse consequences.

The sheer numbers of structures create a lot of problem for activities related to law enforcement, cleanliness, disaster management and transportation. Rather than creating large megacities, small sustainable cities and townships will go a long way in solving the Urban housing problem.

My expectations from Mr.Prithviraj Chavan:

·         v  Pass a law regarding Urban Cities declaring them ‘special zones’

·         v  Commercial buildings to compulsorily have Water Harvesting, Solar Heaters, Biogas Plants and other green measures

·         v  Improvement in infrastructure, Mumbai as epicentre of development, areas adjacent should be given importance

·         v  Strict punishments against water and electricity theft

·             Workers which are brought in Mumbai by contractors stay on footpaths and shanties even after the work is complete. This should call for strict action against the contractor.

·         v  The government should buy land and provide sports infrastructure for the youth of Mumbai. Are there more Hookah bars or playgrounds in Mumbai? I think you know the answer.

·         v  Creating World Class Educational Institutes. What’s a world class city without best Educational Institutes?

·         v  Reading/Offering ‘Namaz’ on public roads and immersion of Ganesh idols made from ‘Plaster of Paris’ should be banned. Enjoying religious activities at the cost of environment or disrupting others life should not be allowed.

·         v  Many places in Mumbai are disgusting. It’s not always because BMC neglects it. It’s is filthy because the people love to litter. It’s not just those who live in slums or Railway platforms but also those who travel in a Mercedes. This calls for heavy penalty.

·         v  The only permanent solution to this problem is development of smaller townships. If a talented villager can get decent education, housing in his village, there is a high probability that he will want to stay there and help develop the village. In fact I am sure there are many people who wish to work for their village and the people. Also read ‘The NRI who donated $20 million to native village’  and ‘The teacher who taught village kids through Skype’

I am looking at how the city benefits and becomes more beautiful, and what the future generation gets.

If tomorrow I suggest we make a garden, and to maintain the garden will need a sweeper who will make money for his efforts. Now if we get jealous that the sweeper will make money and therefore refuse to build the garden... that is how the environmentalists are today, to be very frank. This is my view.  

We need more housing for the 16 million people of the city, which will be 22 million by 2020. At present, 55 per cent of Mumbai lives in the slums. But the problem is we don't have infrastructure or the resources to accommodate them all.

 –Hafeez Contractor, renowned architect

While we are talking about sustainable cities it’s necessary to mention the name of Asian Paints. Asian Paints is a leading example, as their Corporate Citizenship program is already implemented and they are able to save and recycle large quantities of water.

Lastly, it is very important to take into confidence the local hard working citizens before implementing the redevelopment. The very idea of creating trouble for locals and welcoming new people when there is no space and capacity to accommodate them is very foolish. The migrant problem is not just limited to language but its a 'real' problem which should be dealt with. There is a limit to the number of people Mumbai can cater to and the limit has already been crossed. A further continuous increase will result in a complete collapse of the city infrastructure. Its easy to talk about how anyone can travel to any part in this country, but the constant increase in the number of people and decreasing quality of life is not only injustice to the locals but also an unnatural development.

It is best to remember the words of geographer David Harvey that ‘cities are endowed with great character and with fascinating, ever changing personalities.’ It is the need of the hour to embrace intelligent, practical and effective policies for urban development and governance to transform our dynamic, fast changing urban centres into truly sustainable engines of growth. -NR Narayan Murthy

Resources:

1)As a city Mumbai ranks no-where – Chat with Hafeez Contractor

2)NR Narayan Murthy –A Better India, A Better World.

3)Transforming Mumbai into a World Class City- Report for Government of India

4)Report on Environment Status of Mumbai Region -MPCB

5)McKinsey Report –Vision Mumbai

This article is also published in The 'Scribido Magazine'  

What are Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)?

(This image for instance, is owned/clicked by me but its not related to the topic. I am using this image on my blog instead of a finding a relevant one on 'google images' because while reading about IPR I realized its really irresponsible to use an image without asking the owner. Its like taking your neighbour's car out for a ride and when asked for an explanation we would say, 'It was right out there!' The same way we copy-paste content from the Internet. I have decided to fix this right. At-least on my blog. I'll remove all images from my blog which are not clicked by me or are not from open source within a month.)




What is Intellectual Property?


Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce. - WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization)


Intellectual property is any innovation, commercial or artistic, or any unique name, symbol, logo or design used commercially. -Stopfakes.gov


Lets simply say, 'An Intellectual Property, is any idea or innovation, which is a outcome of human thinking and intelligence, in any tangible form, which has commercial importance.'
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Intellectual Property and Us


Our cell phone, laptops, textbooks, songs, paintings, books, research papers, software and almost everything around us is product of Human Intelligence and almost every such object can be treated as Intellectual Property.


The people behind most of these creations and inventions have invested their energy, time and money in creating them. The property thus created belongs to the owner and any commercial benefit that can be earned should be enjoyed by the owner/creator.
It may so happen sometime that a thug or a scamster may duplicate the product or steal the idea and make money out of it or simply call it his own! To avoid such act from happening Intellectual Property is protected by different laws and certain rights are given to the creators, which are known as 'Intellectual Property Rights'  


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Different aspects of Intellectual Property Rights


In some way or the other, we are all guilty of copyright violation. Be it the latest movie you downloaded from torrenz.com or songs downloaded for free from websites that do not have the right to distribute it. Using an image we don't own too is a copy right violation. If you don't own it, you can't sell/use it. Just assuming that its not under any copyright because it is on google images or facebook.com is not a smart move. 


Intellectual Property Disputes are not very common in India, though they do exist. Intellectual Property suits come mostly under the Civil Law, thus the burden of proof is not entirely on the appellant. The financial loss incurred by the real creator of the content, the type of work copied, the amount of work copied etc are factors the Court considers before awarding a punishment.


Quoting a paragraph or two, taking notes for academic purpose is allowed, while photocopying an entire book could land you in trouble. Although the basics of IPR are very straight forward, its becomes quite tricky in real life cases.  Usually we assume that if we credit the source of text or image and use it on our blog or website its not a copyright violation. We also copy text from sources and post it on our friend's facebook wall. Both of these could be copyright violations.


Some parts of 'Intellectual Property Law' 
Patents (Example - Cure to Cancer, protects inventions)
Trademarks (Example - PEPSI™, protects goodwill)
Geographical Indicators(Example - Alphonso Mangoes, protect geographical identity)
Copyright (Example - Song lyrics or movie script, protects originality)


Try this quiz when you are bored and find how much this article helped. I scored a 10/10. Go bust your myths.
http://www.squidoo.com/quiz-is-it-plagiarism


Additional Reading on Intellectual Property Rights:
1)More about patent disputes, 'here'. Commonly known as 'patent-wars'. I hear in some cases the only people to benefit from such disputes are the patent lawyers, they make a killing!
2)More on trademark disputes, 'here'
3)Interesting article on Patent Piracy, 'here'

What is a Shadow Cabinet?

A Party is never a shadow cabinet. The party will select a few people from among themselves who will act as members of Shadow Cabinet.

Priceton’s Word-Web Dictionary defines a shadow cabinet as, ‘A group of senior members of the political party that is out of power; these members would probably assume corresponding positions as ministers in the Cabinet, if their party was elected.’

The member of the shadow cabinet is known as a Shadow Minister. In Canada, the term opposition critic is used.

Although just being a shadow minister does not mean that the minister will be given the cabinet position once his party is elected, but it does make him an obvious first choice.

A few parties like the ‘British labour party and the Australian Labour Party elect their shadow ministers in a party room ballot and the leader of opposition distributes the port folios to the shadow ministers. In Canada and United Kingdom, the shadow Cabinet is know as ‘His/Her Majesty’s shadow cabinet.

The two main objectives of having a shadow cabinet:

1) Assuring the public that we have a solution to the current government and the problems caused by it.

2) Our shadow ministers keep an eye on the activities of the incumbent ministers and criticize their actions. Thus, the attack of the opposition is more organized.

This will not happen in India in near future because:

A regional party like say TDP or AIADMK supporting you today, will oppose you in the future. The ‘Pune-pattern’ is an example, where the NCP decided to go with the BJP-Shiv Sena combine and form the Government, while Congress was the opposition. Inconsistent performance of the UPA and a lack of unity among the opposition ensure that none of the small parties are eager to take sides. This creates a head ache, since the largest party has to keep in mind the interests of small parties while making the shadow cabinet. Thus decision taking is avoided and almost all decisions for party posts, party tickets, cabinet berths and other designations are taken in a very short duration and go through a process of heavy lobbying

For more info, try these links:

1)Shadow Cabinet

2)Shadow Cabinet (UK)

3)Shadow Cabinet (Canada)