Rajni Bakshi writes: The importance of George Soros’s Open Society – for India and the world   https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/george-soros-indian-democracy-modi-remarks-open-society-8454825/  Rajni Bakshi February 19, 2023
George Soros’ personal history is itself proof that the most serious contest of our time is not between the 'right' and the 'left' or capitalism and communism. It was between open and closed societies
 Soros did not stop at seeing repressive communist regimes as enemies of an open society. By the mid-1990s, Soros began speaking out against what he called “market fundamentalism”. He reformulated his understanding of open society when he realised that excessive individualism and lack of social cohesion are as dangerous as excessive state control. While Popper had limited himself to critiquing communism, Soros used his knowledge as a leading market player to bust myths about the “free market”.

Market fundamentalism, he argued, is a mindset which reduces virtually all human interactions to transactional, contract-based relationships that must be valued in terms of a single common denominator — money.

Many other voices, both in the West and East, helped to puncture “market fundamentalism”. They argued that when free market ideology is treated as an ultimate truth this destroys social good and eventually undermines an open society by insisting that “There Are No Alternatives”, commonly known as the TINA effect.

This is why, in India today, the division between “left” and “right” is unhelpful to grasp what is most urgently at stake.

open society is hanging by a thread. In India, this is a strong thread because, until recently, living with differences came naturally to us. And, however distracted we may be by the controversy of the day, old mental habits cannot evaporate so easily. We know that reality is made up of competing, sometimes contradictory, yet co-existing truths. Open society lives on as long as this is the anchor for a large enough number of people and they dare to speak out.

For full speech of Soros: https://www.georgesoros.com/2023/02/16/remarks-delivered-at-the-2023-munich-security-conference/

Agriculture: शेतीचे धार्मिकीकरण म्हणजे भिकेचे डोहाळे! By वसंत भोसले February 4, 2023   https://www.lokmat.com/editorial/the-religiousization-of-agriculture-is-a-beggars-rope-a384-c301/ https://www.lokmat.com/editorial/the-religiousization-of-agriculture-is-a-beggars-rope-a384-c301/

वास्तविक भारतीय कृषी क्षेत्रात इतकी विविधता आहे की, एखादे पीक पुरेसे आले नाही, त्याचे उत्पादन कमी झाले तरी त्याला पर्याय असतो. भरड धान्याचे असंख्य प्रकार आहेत. या धान्यांच्या उत्पादनवाढीसाठी सरकारकडे कोणतीही योजना नाही. त्यांच्या चांगल्या बियाणासाठी पुरेसे संशोधन नाही. भरड धान्याला ‘श्री धान्य’ म्हटल्याने उत्पादन वाढत नसते. ते धान्य भरडून खायचे असते म्हणून त्याला भरड धान्य म्हणतात. श्री या शब्दाचा अर्थ काय? श्रीधान्य असे नाव दिल्याने त्या धान्याच्या नैसर्गिक गुणधर्मालाच छेद दिला जातो. शेतीलाही धार्मिक आयाम देण्याचे प्रयत्न होत आहेत. Google translate: In fact, Indian agriculture is so diverse that even if a crop does not produce enough, its yield is reduced, there is an alternative. There are numerous types of whole grains. The government has no plan to increase the production of these grains. There is not enough research for their good seed. Calling coarse grains 'Sri Dhanya' does not increase production. It is called coarse grain because it is eaten full of grain. What does the word Sri mean? By giving the name Shreedhanya, the natural properties of that grain are violated. Efforts are being made to give religious dimension to agriculture as well.

  वास्तविक कृषी क्षेत्रावर आजही ६५ ते ७५ कोटी जनता थेट अवलंबून आहे. भारताच्या दहाव्या कृषी गणनेनुसार एक हेक्टर किंवा त्यापेक्षा कमी क्षेत्र असणाऱ्या शेतकऱ्यांचे प्रमाण ८६.२० टक्के आहे. शेतकऱ्यांची ही संख्या ११ कोटी ७२ लाख भरते. मध्यम शेतकऱ्यांची (१ ते ४ हेक्टर क्षेत्र) संख्या १ कोटी ९७ लाख आहे आणि त्यांचे प्रमाण १३.२० टक्के आहे. केवळ ९ लाख ८० हजार शेतकरी पाच किंवा त्याहून अधिक हेक्टर शेतीक्षेत्र असणारे आहेत. लहान आणि मध्यम शेतकऱ्यांची संख्या मागील कृषी गणनेच्या आकडेवारीनुसार वाढली आहे. म्हणजे तुकडेकरणाची प्रक्रिया अद्याप थांबलेली नाही. याचा दुसरा अर्थ असा होतो की, कृषी क्षेत्रावर अवलंबून असणाऱ्यांची संख्या वेगाने कमी होणे अपेक्षित आहे ते होत नाही. ग्रामीण भागात रोजगाराची संधी कृषी क्षेत्रातच आहे; पण त्या कृषी क्षेत्रातील लोकांचे; पर्यायाने शेतकऱ्यांचे उत्पन्न वाढण्यासाठी कोणतेही उपाय करण्यात आलेले नाहीत.  Actually 65 to 75 crore people are directly dependent on the agricultural sector even today. According to India's 10th Census of Agriculture, the proportion of farmers with one hectare or less is 86.20 percent. This number of farmers is 11 crore 72 lakh. The number of medium farmers (1 to 4 hectares area) is 1 crore 97 lakh and their proportion is 13.20 percent. Only 9 lakh 80 thousand farmers have five or more hectares of agricultural land. The number of small and medium farmers has increased as per previous agriculture census figures. This means that the process of fragmentation has not yet stopped. Another implication is that the number of dependents on agriculture is expected to decrease rapidly, which is not happening. Employment opportunities in rural areas are mainly in agriculture; But those agricultural people; Alternatively, no measures have been taken to increase the income of farmers.

https://www.lokmat.com/editorial/the-religiousization-of-agriculture-is-a-beggars-rope-a384-c301/

Comment. It may be tag line to say natural farming or organic farming should be "Ram Bharose", But can Public Agrilcultural Policy be? Not Ram Bharose, but Decentralisation, Look for the 'Atma' Locally, not corporatised universe

Nor can us use industrial intensification principles - taylorisaiton, external inputs, externalisation of waste etc.  The only way is to diversify rural economy not just on-farm activity like animal husbandry, horticulture but also construction/building of infrastructure through NREGA,  allied services jobs, like decentralised rural based distribution using IT, localised cold storage and credit for it, export.  Today all these are being taken over by large centralised and monopoly like set-ups. 

Budget 2023: Here is what Nirmala Sitharaman said about ‘Shri Anna’ and the International Year of Millets https://www.opindia.com/2023/02/budget-2023-nirmala-sitharaman-said-shri-anna-and-the-international-year-of-millets/
On December 6, last year, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations hosted the opening ceremony for the International Year of Millets 2023 in Rome in Italy. In her budget sppech 2023, the FM emphasised, “Now to make India a global hub for Shri Anna, the Indian Institute of Millets Research in Hyderabad will be supported as the centre of excellence for sharing best practices, research and technologies at the international level.”   The speech itself : youtube 2 mins. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmjCmFL4MbM

  All About Siridhanya Millets-Health Benefits-Best Alternative for Wheat and Rice-Dr Khadar Vali  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcX3SSXfBFM

As Swartz fought for, what we ideally need is government information in the public domain and people’s personal data being secret.

https://thewire.in/tech/aaron-swartz-and-his-legacy-of-internet-activism 

Aaron Swartz died 10 years ago, driven to suicide by prosecutorial overreach of US attorneys trying to convict him for 35 years in jail for downloading scientific journals in bulk at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Swartz was a technology genius, who championed the cause of open knowledge and open internet. He helped create Rich Simple Site and Creative Commons, and was the co-founder of reddit and digital rights organisation Demand Progress. Beyond the technology contributions, Swartz helped liberate tons of information from government databases and create open access libraries and projects.

In Swartz’s words:

“Information is power. But like all power, there are those who want to keep it for themselves. The world’s entire scientific and cultural heritage, published over centuries in books and journals, is increasingly being digitised and locked up by a handful of private corporations. Want to read the papers featuring the most famous results of the sciences? You’ll need to send enormous amounts to publishers like Reed Elsevier.”

Across the world, at present, tech companies have taken over control of the information and internet infrastructure. They have co-opted words of internet communities to suit their narratives. In the name of openness and building Digital India, personal information has been commodified. This commodification of information is what Swartz was warning against, how the powerful are taking control of information that should belong to the people. People who understood this fought back against this very idea of gatekeepers of knowledge and information.

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by  Srinivas Kodali

SONG : HILLE LE JHAKJOR DUNIYA at WALK OF HOPE 2015 -16  https://youtu.be/RHCiocHGHvY?t=120 - Manav Ekta Mission Aug 11, 2016

MUSIC OF HOPE, a music concert by the INDIAN OCEAN BAND which took place on the 27th of February 2016, to promote the Walk of Hope - A padayatra led by Sri M from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, which commenced in Jan 2015 and concluded in April 2016, with the purpose of promoting oneness, peace and harmony amongst the people of India

 Walk of Hope: Step by step, humanity brings people together March 19, 2016 https://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/sri-m-walk-of-hope-step-by-step-humanity-brings-people-together/ Sri M’s Walk of Hope began in Kanyakumari on January 12, 2015, the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, and will conclude in Srinagar in May, reaching out to 10 million people en route. 

Sri M's 'Walk of Hope' from Kanyakumari to Kashmir reaches Delhi https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/sri-ms-walk-of-hope-from-kanyakumari-to-kashmir-reaches-delhi/articleshow/51147205.cms 

spreading the message of interfaith harmony, sustainable living, community health, equality, women’s empowerment and education. After having walked more than 5,600 km and having traversed six states, since setting out from India’s southernmost point on January 12, 2015, the walkers have reached Delhi.

https://walkofhope.in/

Gautam Adani's Mega Port Project Stalled As A Fishing Community Protests  https://www.ndtv.com/business/gautam-adanis-mega-port-project-in-trouble-as-a-fishing-community-protests-3545347 
The Adani conglomerate plans to send heavy vehicles to the port on Friday after the court this week said vehicle movement should not be blocked.  November 23, 2022 On the main road to billionaire Gautam Adani's planned Vizhinjam mega port on the southern tip of India, a shelter built by the coastal region's Christian fishing community blocks the entrance, preventing further construction.

Across the street, supporters of the port including members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling party and Hindu groups have set up their own shelters.

 Each day, the protesters and port supporters blare music from loudspeakers and chant slogans. Prakash R describes the situation as a standoff between "people of the sea", who are mostly Christian and make their living from fishing and "people of the land" who are predominantly Hindu.

Comment: 

This article reads more of a religious war than one that has pointed merits and demerits of the Adani Mega Port. This kind of news further polarises citizens rather than bringing them together to protect the landscape  .  There must be one voice against such a project/s. Divided voice may not get desired results. Adani port has already acquired huge land in the surroundings area with the help of both the government. A state wide solidarity and non violent protest should be planned.

The church is now in the forefront of the agitation. But there are other people who have been protesting for years. Coastal erosion has increased significantly since the construction began. Apart from environmental and social issues, the CAG itself has found the project to be economically unviable.
The agreement is a complete sell off to Adani.
Of this 7000+ crore project, Adani will be investing just above 2000 crores(obviously, that will be funded by our banks for him). And Adani will have 100 percent revenue from the project for 15 years. On 16th year, the state will get 1%, on 17th, 2% and so on upto 40th year when the state will get 25%
More importantly, the port will need huge quantities of boulders that will be mined from the Western Ghats.

Scrap Nanar oil refinery project in Konkan coast  https://act.jhatkaa.org/campaigns/scrap-nanar-oil-refinery-project-in-konkan-coast 

The gram panchayats of 14 demarcated villages adopted a resolution together demanding the refinery project to be stalled while localities took to the streets to protest the development project in favor of Konkan coast's environment. The oil refinery project was scrapped in 2019 following vehement opposition from local leaders, farmers, fishermen, environmentalists and residents.

https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/standing-firm-state-govt-to-go-ahead-with-oil-refinery-in-ratnagiri-protesters-served-notices-8241586/  Standing firm: State govt to go ahead with oil refinery in Ratnagiri, protesters served notices..  November 9, 2022. It is going to be the single-most biggest investment project in the state. D Phadnavis, Dy CM 

Six leaders of anti-refinery project movement, namely Satyajit Chavan, Narendra Joshi, Amol Bole, Nitin Jathar, Deepak Joshi and Satish Bane have been served externment notice by Ratnagiri police and they have been asked to present their side in next three days.

“We have a right to protest. People do not want an oil refinery in this area and we are only voicing their concerns. How can we be served these notices?” asked Chavan.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/mumbai/konkan-locals-protest-against-proposed-mega-oil-refinery-project/article65274842.ece “We came to know that the Maharashtra Chief Minister has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, giving his approval for the new location at Barsu-Solgaon instead of the originally planned Nanar. Our opposition to the project is on a bigger issues concerning the environment and the possible damage this project would do to the Konkan coastline. We will not let the project move forward,” Satyajit Chavan of the Konkan Vinashkari Prakalp Virodhi Samiti said. March 30, 2022

https://india.mongabay.com/2022/11/oil-refinery-sparks-protests-over-livelihood-concerns-in-ratnagiri/   Coming together under the banner of the , an opposition committee, Rajapur taluka’s residents have raised several concerns over the project, one of which they claim is that this is a highly polluting ‘red category’ project which the government claims is ‘green’.

Apart from health-related issues caused by the project, villagers are concerned that the polluting gases can harm the mango cultivation in the region which witnesses (Rs. 22 billion) for the district. They also claim that the project will be a threat to the 30,000-year-old prehistoric geoglyphs, which are art or motifs on stones, gravel, earth and other elements of the landscape.

https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/nanar-refinery-maharashtra

Minimum government? Yes, of course. Minimum and limited to the Prime Minister, the Home Minister, both who had taken the Constitutional oath, plus the PMO and his two brothers in arms who didn’t need to take the oath. The other names that took oath while getting aboard the Government’s cabinet are there, at best, as masquerades or robots. Indeed, it might be a good IQ test for us to name the minsters and their respective ministries, without looking at GK notes or seeking the google guru!

https://countercurrents.org/2022/10/maximum-government-minimum-governance/ 

Maximum governance? Well, yes, in terms of absolute control over the governing institutions, machineries and treasuries.

In April 2019, the Prime Minister stated that the country still doesn’t know the real meaning of minimum government and maximum governance. And as the country awaited the new definition with bated breath – it rapidly emerged that in real-time situation, the terms actually meant “maximum government” and “minimum governance”.

That is exactly what we are facing and experiencing – a maximum government, maximum through exercising total control and practicing minimum governance. One can site any number of examples as evidence and proof but when all institutions that matter and actually execut governance lie shattered, in despair and in virtual chain and fear, what is left to govern? All that the government has to do is to govern the police, the CBI, the ED, and they in turn then execute governance for it. Likewise, simply govern the judiciary, the election commission, the media et.al., not forgetting the foot soldiers, and they do all the governing as per your specific wishes. 

by Biju Negi

24/10/2022

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https://science.thewire.in/society/patriarchy-origins-evolution/ 

• Contrary to common belief, research shows that the patriarchy isn’t some kind of “natural order of things” – it hasn’t always been prevalent and may disappear eventually.
• Hunter-gatherer communities may have been relatively egalitarian, at least compared to some of the regimes since. Female leaders and matriarchal societies have always existed.
• Norms, attitudes and culture have a huge effect on behaviour. They can and do change over time, especially if the underlying ecology or economy changes.
• As men and women both increasingly generate their own wealth, the old patriarchy is finding it harder to control women.

The patriarchy, having been somewhat in retreat in parts of the world, is back in our faces. In Afghanistan, the Taliban once again prowl the streets more concerned with keeping women at home and in strict dress code than with the impending collapse of the country into famine.

And on another continent, parts of the US are legislating to ensure that women can no longer have a legal abortion. In both cases, lurking patriarchal beliefs were allowed to reemerge when political leadership failed. We have an eerie feeling of travelling back through time. But how long has patriarchy dominated our societies?

The status of women has been a long-standing point of interest in anthropology. Contrary to common belief, research shows that the patriarchy isn’t some kind of “natural order of things” – it hasn’t always been prevalent and may in fact disappear eventually. Hunter-gatherer communities may have been relatively egalitarian, at least compared to some of the regimes that followed. And female leaders and matriarchal societies have always existed.

by Ruth Mace

20/10/2022

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