Rahul Gandhi responds to PM Modi’s statement, “Poor is the only caste” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swQsqonsPPQ Nov 14, 2023 Congress leader Rahul Gandhi criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi, questioning his identification as an Other Backward Class (OBC) member while claiming to see only poverty as the prevalent ""caste"" in the nation. During a public rally in Durg, Chhattisgarh, Prime Minister Modi asserted that poverty is the only caste for him, emphasizing his commitment to serving the poor.

Modi also called out the Congress for allegedly abusing the OBC community and questioned the basis for such criticism if he himself identifies as OBC. In response, Rahul Gandhi, speaking in Chhattisgarh on the same day, mocked the Prime Minister's ""poor is the only caste"" statement, questioning why Modi still refers to himself as an OBC if he believes there is no caste and only poverty in the country.

Additionally, Gandhi addressed the use of the term 'vanvasi' by the BJP to refer to tribal communities, stating that it is an insult to them. He argued that the Congress prefers the term 'adivasis' for tribals, emphasizing the significance of the word 'adivasi' as a revolutionary term that recognizes them as the original custodians of the country's water, forests, and land. Gandhi pledged to eradicate the term 'vanvasi' and its implications from the country.

https://www.youtube.com/@arvindguptatoys

Curator Ranjit Hoskote Resigns from German Arts Panel Due to Row Over 2019 Statement Critical of Israel https://thewire.in/the-arts/curator-ranjit-hoskote-resigns-from-documentas-finding-committee-over-anti-semitism-allegations Hoskote’s resignation is the latest in a string of escalating scandals that have followed an anti-BDS resolution passed by the German parliament in 2019, with artists and curators increasingly finding themselves targeted by weaponised accusations of anti-Semitism.

my signature on a petition circulated by the Indian Cultural Forum and dated August 26, 2019, protesting a discussion hosted by the Consulate General of Israel in Mumbai, on “Leaders’ Idea of Nations: Zionism and Hindutva.” The invitation for this event presented a portrait of Theodor Herzl, the founding figure of Zionism, alongside a portrait of V. D. Savarkar, a founding figure of Hindutva.

My reason for signing this petition was because the event clearly posited an equivalence between Herzl and Savarkar, and was intended to develop intellectual respectability for an alliance between Zionism and Hindutva. I found this highly ironic, since Savarkar was known to be an admirer of Hitler and openly expressed his admiration for Nazi ideology and methods, which he proposed as a model for a Hindu-majoritarian India to follow, especially with regard to the treatment of the religious minorities.

No member of the German commentariat who denounced me has asked herself or himself why the Israeli Consulate General thought it appropriate to equate Zionism with Hindutva in the first place.

 Adani Group advisor’s presence on Environment Ministry’s expert committee flags conflict of interest
Janardan Choudhary, an advisor to Adani Green Energy Limited, was also reportedly part of a meeting in October when a project by the company came up for evaluation https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/opposition-parties-slam-government-over-reported-appointment-of-adani-energy-advisor-on-environment-ministrys-committee/article67531668.ece Mr. Choudhary clarified to the Press Trust of India (PTI) that while he had attended the October 17 meeting, he had refrained from participating in the session focusing on AGEL’s Tarali project. The minutes of the meeting, perused by The Hindu, show that he participated in the meeting on October 17 “via video-conferencing” but was absent on October 18. The records, however, do not suggest that he recused himself from the meeting.

.. A senior official in the Ministry, familiar with the procedures around EAC proceedings, told The Hindu on condition of anonymity that having members affiliated to industry in the EAC committees was not out of the ordinary and an accepted practice. This was because their practical experience was “invaluable” in ascertaining the impact of projects. However, all members had to declare their affiliations and recuse themselves from matters that could conflict with their position. Such recusals were expected to be noted in the minutes of the meeting, and this has been an established practice in the past. “It was possibly an oversight but this would require an explanation,” the official noted.

Priyanka C of Shiv Sena said: “If an ethics committee can hold an elected member of parliament guilty for sharing email by calling it a national security and conflict of interest issue, how is a person working as an advisor to a private company, a company that has pending approvals in MoEFs EAC be allowed a seat on the EAC itself?

Modi Has “Killed the Constitution By a 1000 Cuts”, Whilst Many Were Asleep, Others Complicit https://youtu.be/sLRO4qs6Q-Q?t=80 The Wire

One of the foremost scholars of India’s constitution and its democracy says the first Modi government (2014-2019) is guilty of “killing the constitution by a thousand cuts” whilst the second Modi government has taken the process insidiously further in significant ways. Prof. Tarunabh Khaitan adds that many of India’s political parties and institutions have “sleep walked into (Modi’s) authoritarianism” whilst others “are complicit” in Modi’s undermining of democracy. He says many people “didn’t realize it was happening” whilst “huge swathes of constitutional machinery” were aware but let it happen.

Killing a Constitution with a Thousand Cuts: Executive Aggrandizement and Party-State Fusion in India Law and Ethics of Human Rights https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID3646238_code1023159.pdf 

Read more …

he has been exploring/ researching fundamental questions regarding knowledge creation and aesthetic sense development in the context of colonization of the non-Western world and the subsequent homogenization of knowledge and aesthetic sensibilities.

Living with non-literate indigenous communities has helped him to explore the very biological basis of cognition and aesthetic sense.

Working with children has enabled him to understand how children learn naturally, how aesthetic sense gets awakened autonomously, and how modern schooling alienates modern human beings.

His focus of the present work is to enable the so-called educated to reclaim their natural cognitive system using non-teaching pedagogy developed in the course of offering courses for design and architecture foundation students.

TEXT DISTORTS, DIGITAL DESTROYS, WORLD AWAKENS
http://jinankb.in
http://ekfoundation.in
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC80rT8Zj1EE8TrzD3UreYfQ
http://beingacademy.in
http://rethinkingfoundation.org
https://independent.academia.edu/JinanKodapully

The basic premise of the exploration is based on three things.

1. All living beings are learning and creating knowledge.
2. We are biologically equipped to create knowledge
3. The formation of the neural network depends on the experiences we have.
4. literates learn the WORD; illiterates learn the WORLD
5. Modern education totally disregards the importance of the sense in cognition

Illiterates create IMPLICIT KNOWLEDGE of the real world which is
outside the realm of language and this knowledge can be explicated by
becoming attentive to what is implicitly known (METACOGNITION). This
also doesn't require language as the observation is happening while
the activity is being done. The best example is the way implicit
knowledge of grammar gets embedded by the age of 3/4.

Israelis in fear and denial as society slides towards fascism  https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-war-israelis-fear-and-denial-society-slides-towards-fascism  Meron Rapoport in Tel Aviv, Israel  10 November 2023
Palestinian students, academics, doctors, and dissenting Jewish Israelis are among those caught up in an escalating wave of repression   There are times I seriously wonder what country I am living in. More importantly, I wonder what sort of country it could become the day after this terrible war ends.

What is even more worrying is that much of this is not coming from the top, from a government filled with the extreme right. These 'thought police' purges are being done by the university or hospital authorities themselves.

You can place this current reign of terror in a context of fear and revenge, an understandable if much-exaggerated feeling following the atrocious Hamas attacks after which no Israeli Jew feels safe in their home. ..But will this internal regime of silencing and intimidation evaporate when the war ends? Or are we standing on the doorstep of full-blown repression against Palestinians and Israeli dissidents? ..Is Israel on the cusp of fascism? Unfortunately, I cannot give a comforting answer.

Meta to limit some Facebook comments on Israeli, Palestinian posts https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/meta-limit-some-facebook-comments-israeli-palestinian-posts-2023-10-18/ By Katie Paul and Sheila Dang October 18, 2023  Meta said it will change the default setting for people who can comment on new and public Facebook posts created by users "in the region" to only their friends and followers...The social media company added it will disable the ability to see the first one or two comments on posts while scrolling the Facebook feed...Earlier this week, some users who posted in support for Palestine or Gaza citizens accused Meta of suppressing their content. Meta designates Hamas as a "dangerous organization" and bans content praising the group...

Mondoweiss, a news website that covers Palestinian human rights, said on social media platform X on Oct. 10 that Instagram had twice suspended the profile of its video correspondent. Other Instagram users reported their posts and stories about Palestine were not receiving views.

Meta said it fixed a bug on Instagram that caused re-posted content to not appear correctly in a user's story, which disappears after 24 hours.

MHA extends UAPA ban against eight Meitei extremist organisations https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/mha-extends-ban-on-10-meitei-extremist-organisations-under-uapa-for-another-five-year/article67528452.ece November 13, 2023
The government declared the eight outfits an unlawful association for a period of ten years affective November 13. the Central government is of the opinion that the outfits have been engaging in activities prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India; employing and engaging in armed means to achieve their objectives, attacking and killing the security forces, police and civilians in Manipur; indulging in acts of intimidation, extortion and looting of civilian population for collection of funds; making contacts with sources abroad for influencing public opinion and for securing their assistance by way of arms and training for the purpose of achieving their secessionist objective and maintaining camps in neighbouring countries for the purpose of sanctuaries, training and clandestine procurement of arms and ammunition.