000-tobecategorised

Pradip Saha's latest book 'The Learning Trap – How Byju’s Took Indian Edtech for a Ride' is an uncommon investigative treatise into India's education system.

https://thewire.in/books/charting-the-rise-and-fall-of-byjus-and-educational-ecosystem-in-india 

Saha charts the rise of a charismatic teacher to a status where he (and his family, who held controlling roles in the company) were clearly out of their depth, especially in financial matters. By the end, there seems little doubt that there is rampant denial and fraud, alongside the financial heartbreak of so many families and young men and women. The scepticism of these families toward education technology will likely never be allayed. 

Saha quotes many heart-breaking stories of how low-income families (such as even auto rickshaw drivers) were exploited – some were denied refunds, and a lack of understanding of online subscriptions caused many families to bleed money, and end up in debt traps.

by Nikhil Govind

18/01/2024

The Meat of the Matter: How to Fight Casteism and Communalism https://www.theindiaforum.in/society/meat-matter-how-fight-casteism-and-communalism Anjor Bhaskar December 19, 2023
The celebration of non-vegetarianism is often a counter to the idea of supremacy and purity associated with vegetarianism. When in 2017, the union government effectively prohibited the sale of cattle for slaughter, it was met with resistance. Several states refused to implement the rules. ‘Beef festivals’ were organised to protest against the ban and the violence against Dalits and Muslims. The scholar Balamurali Natrajan notes how, these festivals were “framed popularly as an assertion of Dalit ‘cultural rights’ and identity, with beef represented as the cultural food of Dalits”. Unsurprisingly, the festivals have faced severe opposition.

Is species-ism (establishing the superiority of humans over other species) the only way to fight casteism and communalism?  We do know that animals who are raised for meat or dairy are kept in highly inhumane conditions. 

As Yamini Narayanan points out in her recent book Mother Cow, Mother India:Multi-species Politics of Dairying in India “the hyper-politicization of beef in cow protection discourses and practices obscures that the heavily state-subsidized dairy sector, India’s primary bovine industry, itself requires the slaughter of cows, buffaloes, sheep and other animals used for milk production. To acknowledge the role of milk in cow slaughter, however, places the Indian state in a fraught position.”

Restrictions on meat, including on beef, will impact the protein intake of the poor. Bans on sale and consumption are not coupled with measures to supply other sources of protein. This is no surprise, because prohibitions on meat does not come from a sense of animal welfare or animal protection but from a place of superiority and corresponding contempt for the marginalised.

Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati tells Karan Thapar in an interview that he wasn't invited for the consecration, but even if he had been invited, he would not have attended the event. https://thewire.in/video/watch-its-divided-not-united-india-shankaracharya-of-jyotish-peeth-on-ayodhya-ram-temple 

Swami Avimukteshwaranand made clear that he is not anti-Modi but accepted that the building of the Ram temple as well as the propaganda surrounding the Prana Pratishtha have politicised the temple. He said he completely agreed with comments made by the Shankaracharya of Puri and reported by The Hindu on January 14 where the Shankaracharya said: “Politicians have their limits and they have responsibility under the Constitution. There are rules and restrictions in the religious and spiritual domain and these rules should be followed. Interfering in every area by politicians is insanity…overstepping these rules for propagating one’s name is an act of rebellion against God.”

by Karan Thapar

16/01/2024