Just because reservation has been in place for a 100 years doesn't mean it's needed anymore. The point of a caste based reservation was to ensure progress of the SC ST etc.
The debate is regarding whether reservation should still be continued on the basis of caste, or should be for economically backward people, who probably have the merit but cannot afford continuing studies, or who perhaps deserve, and are more in need of the job.
Though overpopulation is a big problem today, ethically it's wrong to sterilize people for the same. It'd be like promoting the Norms of eugenetics. Who'd get to decide whom to sterilize and whom not to? Overpopulation can be controlled by family planning and other contraception methods. But forcefully sterilizing people for the sake of population control is not justified.
I'm a female and I support feminism whole heartedly. But it's true that nowadays the word 'feminism' is used much too liberally without so much of a second thought. I feel that feminism is very important in today's society, but only when the term is being used appropriately.
God's existence cannot be understood by just staring at the sky and looking for him. In the words of swami vivekananda, -
" He is everywhere, the pure and formless
One, the Almighty and the All-merciful.
"Thou art our father, Thou art our
mother, Thou art our beloved friend, Thou
art the source of all strength; give us
strength. Thou art He that beareth the
burdens of the universe; help me bear the
little burden of this life." Thus sang the
Rishis of the Vedas. And how to worship
Him? Through love. 'He is to be
worshipped as the one beloved, dearer
than everything in this and the next life' ".
God can be perceived as a presence. He needn't necessarily be in the forms we see in photographs but he does exist, just as someone who created us, and someone who's taking care of the universe every moment.
the indian education system is not at all effective. though it is trye that the cbse is trying it more objective and knowledge centric, the hard truth remains that many children in india are still studying in the state boards. moreover, the effectiveness of cbse plans is only till high school, but higher education in india is only about mugging up. I being an MBBS student know exactly how hard it is to mug so many things up, but the point is no one remembers them after the exams. So the question is, what is the point of mugging these up if they're not going to be of any help in the long run? The Indian education system needs to be more effective as not only is it a big waste of time and labor for today's youth, it is also a major reason for tge growing mental stress amongst the students.
man being a bundle of emotions doesn't mean they will sit all day smothering over anything...and for the record, Albert Einstein was a very emotional man..as we all know he once cut two holes in his door for his cat and its kitten, just to facilitate their movement...
inequality is impossible to solve...equality is utopian... there is only one simple explanation-the rich get richer,and the poor-poorer.. equality shall mean no discrimination, equal resources and facilities... i don"t know bout other countries,but in india,it is a far way to go...in other words,unachievable...
yes,i agree that indian youngsters definitely should enter politics...those who are governing our country,are promoting discrimination in the first place... all the government jobs in india have a maximum age limit of 62 years... but only none for the MLA s and MPs ... why should that be? why should there be any difference at all? moreover,at the age of 80,how well can anyone govern a country anyways? spontaneous decisions shall come only from the mind of youngsters... the process of passing laws shall also fasten...
i do believe that dictatorship might be the way to India's development... India,as a democracy is corrupt,unjust, and incapable of looking after all the individual citizens... some of the reasons are weak law enforcement... and also the seat of the ministry running inside the family... a dictatorship would at least mean abolition of these...
i do believe that dictatorship might be the way to India's development... India,as a democracy is corrupt,unjust, and incapable of looking after all the individual citizens... some of the reasons are weak law enforcement... and also the seat of the ministry running inside the family... a dictatorship would at least mean abolition of these...
i strongly dispute that Albert Einstein was not a bundle f emotion... for the record, einstein was a violinist.. a music lover...and which music lover is not emotional... where does music come from,but emotion?
and as of hitler, his emotions were purely negative,greed of power, but emotions all the same...
I totally agree... marriage shouldn't be about the money, the property... As soon as these are involved, it becomes more than about two people... Things are worsened by the families, especially in countries like India.. Demanding materials and dowry from the bride's house... As soon as government no longer has a say in this, conditions might improve...
well...even if today's youth is given the right to vote, i don't think that we should vote... I guess that applies specifically to the youth of India...given our political condition and corrupt political leaders... Why should we be compensated by being given to choose from bad, worse and worst?...??
Apart from that...today's youth mainly concentrates upon figuring out their own lives...which is the best that can happen i guess... If everyone is right in their own place...then everything has to be alright at the end of the day...
By Hook or By Crook - How Democrats Plan to win in 2010 and 2012
Between 2 and 4 million Americans were unable to vote in the last election because of problems with their registration. And that's just people who tried to vote; in 2006, there were more than 65 million who were eligible to vote, but weren't even registered. That's a third of potential voters. [snip]
As with too much else in America, the divide between the registered and the unregistered isn't neutral. The think tank Demos estimates that while 80 percent of citizens in households making $100,000 or more a year are registered to vote, only 60 percent of those making less than $25,000 a year can say the same. (May 22, 2009, The Nation)
And so the chatter begins for "universal voter registration", whether you want to register to vote or not, the government will register you anyway. And if you don't vote, will the government, a/k/a Democrats step in and vote for you???
The plan, as I understand it, is to use existing welfare rolls, state unemployment rolls, property tax rolls, driver licenses rolls, and who know what other lists. Next the Democrats will attempt to get amnesty for illegal aliens, get them covered under the government health care (if and when it passes), and they will be registered to vote.
The methods the Obama administration will use are: “universal” voter registration, an amnesty bill to allow “illegal” aliens to vote in U.S. elections, community ”activism” funded by stimulus and jobs bills, the SOS program funded by billionaire George Soros to help elect liberal Secretaries of State, and rigging the computerized voting apparatus. [snip]
Would twelve to 45 million illegal aliens be enough to sway an election? The “slush” funds could pay the $500 fee for all of them, plus a network of community activists to encourage all the new “Americans” to vote Democratic. [snip]
There is also the out-and-out “rigging” of the voting process, for which the groundwork is being laid by the Obama administration. James Simpson, formerly of the Office and Management and Budget, has followed the latest moves:
“… Obama has gotten four sympathetic “technical advisors” appointed to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. One of these, Edwin Smith, VP of Dominion Voting Systems, has been called a “scammer” by the Brad Blog, known for its expertise on e-voting machines. (Patriots for America, hat tip Marcus Wilder)
Read the entire Patriots for America and the American Thinker article, quoted below, for details.
From a video tip on Twitter featuring John Fund on some potential legislation coming soon to Congress.
Michelle Malkin had a report on the topic back in November. John Stossel was also on this while still with ABC. (Riehl World View)
Fund describes the proposal as follows:
In January, Chuck Schumer and Barney Frank will propose universal voter registration. What is universal voter registration? It means all of the state laws on elections will be overridden by a federal mandate. The feds will tell the states: 'take everyone on every list of welfare that you have, take everyone on every list of unemployed you have, take everyone on every list of property owners, take everyone on every list of driver's license holders and register them to vote regardless of whether they want to be ...'
Fund anticipates that Congress will attempt to ram this legislation through, as with the health care bill. What a surprise! Fund covers the vote issue at greater length in his book, How the Obama Administration Threatens to Undermine Our Elections.
[snip]
It is not surprising that the Democrats are now choosing to push this new initiative, for universal voter registration will be Motor Voter on turbochargers. And who better to sign it into law than the president from ACORN? (American Thinker)
Scary stuff folks. Prior to the 2008 elections and prior to the first year of the Obama Administration, I would probably have written off stuff like this as conspiracy. I'm not so sure any more and I'm not surprised at anything that happens under Barack Obama.
Proving whether something is true or not is called apologetics. This word is derived from the Greek word “apologia,” which means “to defend.” The entire Clarifying Christianity site is filled with apologetics—proofs and explanations for many Christian-related issues. The focus of this page is the proof supporting the accuracy of the Bible. After all, if the Bible is not true or if it is filled with errors, Christianity would only be a “blind faith”—something people believe without any evidence to support it.
However, Christianity is not a blind faith. It is the only religion that can prove itself, and a main source of that proof is the Bible. Although it is becoming less common, there are still people who tell others that they follow Christianity “because it feels right” (or use wording like that). This is unfortunate, since there is a lot of evidence supporting Christianity. The existence of all that evidence is one reason we started this site. We want people to learn about the solid evidence that supports their faith, and have a place that collected that evidence so they can show it to others.
By the way, if you would like some reference materials that are a little more portable than a computer with an Internet connection, a book we recommend is Know Why You Believe by Paul Little. This book is available in larger bookstores and most Christian bookstores. Also, the Tucson Community Church recorded a seminar called “Knowing The Facts Behind The Faith.” It is available on DVD and VHS video (NTSC format). If you are interested in purchasing a copy, you can get one directly from the church that produces them at the Tucson Community Church website. They also handle international orders.
The Proof of Science
There is a great deal of scientific evidence that supports the Bible. Enough that we have a separate page to discuss this proof alone. If you would like to see our science page, click on this sentence.
The Proof of Prophecy
One of the strongest arguments for the accuracy of the Bible is its 100% accuracy in predicting the future. These future predictions are called “prophecies.” The Old Testament was written between approximately 1450 BC and 430 BC. During that time, many predictions of the future were recorded in the Bible by God’s prophets. Of the events that were to have taken place by now, every one happened just the way they predicted it would. No other “sacred writing” has such perfectly accurate predictions of the future.
One Type—The Messianic Prophecies
Of these prophecies, the most striking examples are the predictions about an “anointed one” (“Messiah” in Hebrew) who was to arrive in the future. About 4 BC, a miraculous event occurred—a boy named Jesus was born to a virgin named Mary. You can read His story in the book of Luke. Starting at age 30, Jesus fulfilled more and more of these prophecies written about the Messiah. His fulfillment of these prophecies was very spectacular: Jesus gave sight to the blind, made the lame walk, cured those who had leprosy, gave the deaf hearing, and raised people from the dead! These miracles and others were done many times in front of thousands of witnesses for three years. About 30 AD, Jesus was crucified (a prophecy) and died (a prophecy). Three days later he rose from the dead (another prophecy), after which He was seen by over 500 witnesses. Since these prophecies were written down at least 400 years before they happened, there is no doubt that the Bible’s writers were inspired supernaturally—by God. To examine these prophecies yourself, click on the link below.
aqua ball The Messianic Prophecies
A Second Type—Fulfilled Prophecy Dealing With Nations
There are many prophecies that can be proven through archaeology, especially prophecy dealing with entire nations. Typically, when God declared judgment on a nation, He would send a prophet to announce to the citizens why He was judging them and what He was going to do to them if they continued their evil behavior. On occasion, God would also tell the citizens how He would reward them if they started doing what was right. The book of Jonah records a case where the Assyrians stopped doing what was evil as a result of Jonah’s short prophecy. This is what God wanted, and God did not punish them as a result of their change of heart. However, most often the people would jeer at God’s prophet and continue their bad behavior—later becoming recipients of the exact punishment that God threatened.
Like other prophecy recorded in the Bible, these predictions support the supernatural inspiration of the Bible. The prophecies recorded in the Bible came true in such a detailed way that they could not have been predicted by chance. Further, archaeologists have evidence that these prophecies were written down many years before they were fulfilled, proving that they were not falsified documents claiming to be prophecies that came true. (The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls stopped the majority of that talk.) Although an entire web site could be filled with this information, we will provide one example—the foretelling of the destruction of Edom and its capital city of Petra.
aqua ball Click here for an example of fulfilled prophecy dealing with nations
The Proof of Textual Evidence
Both the Old and New Testaments are strongly supported by manuscript evidence (the evidence of early hand written copies). The famous Dead Sea Scrolls are one example of the Old Testament evidence. These documents came from the “library” of a settlement founded at Qumran before 150 B.C. and abandoned about 68 A.D. Some of the manuscript copies were made during that period, and some were written earlier (third century BC) and brought to the settlement. Ignoring spelling-oriented (orthographic) changes and similar small differences, the Dead Sea Scrolls match the Hebrew text behind today’s Old Testament, in spite of the passage of over 2,000 years (where one would expect errors to creep in).
Over 20,000 known manuscripts document the New Testament text. This makes the New Testament the most reliable document of antiquity (a document written before the printing press). These manuscripts vary in size from a part of a page to an entire Bible (Old and New Testaments). The earliest New Testament manuscripts date from the second century (100-199) AD These manuscript copies were written in different languages by people of different nationalities, cultures, and backgrounds. In spite of all those differences between them, the New Testament texts all agree. (That is, those differences that we do observe between these hand written documents are occasional changes in the spelling of names or isolated cases of missing or changed words. Still, since we have so many copies, it is obvious to anyone but the hardened skeptic can that they all represent the same text.)
Note: Those minor differences that do exist between the Old and New Testament manuscripts are interesting for academic reasons. They are the topic of a future “in depth” Clarifying Christianity page. (It is currently about 10,000 words long and still under construction—stay tuned.)
The Proof of People Living at the Time of Christ
Special proof exists for the New Testament, since Christians were strongly persecuted by both the Jews and the Roman government. If the New Testament writings were false, these two groups would have produced a great deal of evidence to stop the growth of this “sect.” None exists. Further, the New Testament writings (before they were assembled into the “book” we call the New Testament) circulated during the lifetimes of thousands of people who had actually seen Jesus’ miracles and other historic events. No one ever refuted the New Testament writings as “fairy tales.”
The Proof of Historians
Secular history supports the Bible. For example, in The Antiquities of the Jews, book 18, chapter 3, paragraph 3 the famous historian Flavius Josephus writes:
“Now, there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works—a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ; and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him; and the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day.”
In 115 AD, P. Cornelius Tacitus wrote the following passage that refers to Jesus (called “Christus,” which means “The Messiah”) in book 15, chapter 44 of The Annals:
“Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired.”
Festivals of India
Indians love to celebrate, whether it's Diwali, Id, Pongal or Christmas. Every festival has its own special customs and rituals - pujas, lighting lamps, throwing colour, feasting or even fasting. To Festivals
Indian Folk and Classical Dances
Indian culture is as old as the hills and encompasses a wide range of ancient dances. Every region in India has a traditional dance that is an art handed dowm from generation to generation.
To Dances Index
To Folk Tales
Indian Folk and Classical Music
India's classical music, including Folk and Hindustani music, has a history spanning over a period of hundreds of years and, developed over several eras, remains essential to the lives of Indians today as sources of religious inspiration, cultural expression, emotional bonding and entertainment.
Bhajan
Indian Classical Music
Western Classical Music
Introduction to classical Indian music
Origin of Indian Music
Indian Customs and Traditions
India is very rich in its customs and traditions which keeps it people binding together. Take a peek in this section and find out about the various Indian customs and traditions that makes every tradition a festival in itself.
- Hindu House Warming Ceremony
(Griha Pravesh)
- Godh Bharna
- Naamkaran (Naming Ceremony)
- Chhathi Ceremony
- Punjabi Wedding Customs
- The Temple Dancers
- The Pheras
- Touching Feet
- Puja
Religions of India
India is a melting pot of religions. In this country the Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis, Jews and many other religious sects live side by side in relative harmony. Yet it is surprising how many misconceptions abound. To Religions
Prayers of Different Religions
Your child is taught prayers in school. But wouldn't you like to teach the religious prayers that you like? Take a peek in this section and find prayers of different religions and languages. To Prayers Index
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- Making Children aware of Indian Culture
The term culture refers to a state of intellectual development or manners. The social and political forces that influence the growth of a human being is defined as culture.
Indian culture is rich and diverse and as a result unique in its very own way. Our manners, way of communicating with one another, etc are one of the important components of our culture. Even though we have accepted modern means of living, improved our lifestyle, our values and beliefs still remain unchanged. A person can change his way of clothing, way of eating and living but the rich values in a person always remains unchanged because they are deeply rooted within our hearts, mind, body and soul which we receive from our culture.
Indian culture treats guests as god and serves them and takes care of them as if they are a part and parcel of the family itself. Even though we don’t have anything to eat, the guests are never left hungry and are always looked after by the members of the family. Elders and the respect for elders is a major component in Indian culture. Elders are the driving force for any family and hence the love and respect for elders comes from within and is not artificial. An individual takes blessings from his elders by touching their feet. Elders drill and pass on the Indian culture within us as we grow.
“Respect one another” is another lesson that is taught from the books of Indian culture. All people are alike and respecting one another is ones duty. In foreign countries the relation between the boss and the employee is like a master and slave and is purely monetary whereas in Indian culture the relation between the boss and the employee is more like homely relations unlike foreign countries.
Helpful nature is another striking feature in our Indian culture. Right from our early days of childhood we are taught to help one another in need of help and distress. If not monetary then at least in kind or non-monetary ways. Indian culture tells us to multiply and distribute joy and happiness and share sadness and pain. It tells us that by all this we can develop co-operation and better living amongst ourselves and subsequently make this world a better place to live in.
No. Spoiled votes are stupid. All it shows is that the voter doesn't like any of the choices, but that they don't care enough to do anything about it. I understand its an attempt to make a statement, but what good is it really doing? These people are still getting elected, the spoiled voter is just not contributing to the decision. Its like saying, "I don't like the choices, and I am going to pretend to care by going through the trouble of submitting a spoiled vote, but I am not going to actually do anything pro-active, because that would take too much effort."
t is true that no one can accurately predict what the combined effect of all the many environmental impacts of human activity will be, but it is certain that our world is changing and that these changes may not all be to our benefit. It is also true that only a small percentage of the world's population, those living in the developed countries, is responsible for most of the resource use and emissions - figures vary but the average mentioned is a ration of 20/80. This realisation has many implications for society. The environmental impacts described above are the result of very specific patterns of development and consumption. These patterns have been marketed so well across the globe that they have become the standard to which everyone from Anchorage to Zanzibar aspire. However, the amazing standard of living achieved in the developed world, and which inspires the dreams of every poor person on the planet, cannot conceivably be replicated for a world population of 10 billion, given our planetary source and sink limits.
This brings is to the question people have been asking since the Club of Rome published their Limits to Growth in the 1970's. How many people can the Earth support? Well, it all depends on the quality of life we want to have. We can in all probability squeeze 200 billion people onto the planet if we want no nature left, if everyone lived in hundred story blocks of flats and if everyone was prepared to subsist on their own waste products. But who wants to live that way? Leaving some ecologically productive space for nature, Table 1 provides some indication of how many people the planet can support at different levels of consumption.
Standard of living Billions of people
Current USA 2 billion
As above with some environmental restrictions 4 billion
Only US and Europe at current, the rest at Mexico's level 6 billion
Everyone at Mexican level 20 billion
Everyone at African level 40 billion
Table 1: Planetary carrying capacity Source: McCLuney, 1999, Audubon Society
Sustainable development is popularly defined as meeting the needs of the present in such a way that we will be able to meet the needs of the future as well. To do this sustainable development requires the promotion of values that encourage consumption standards that are within the bounds of the ecologically possible and to which all could reasonably aspire.i So far there have been two ways of measuring what that level of consumption will be. The one is by measuring our ecological footprint; the other by seeing what a fair share of the world's resources would be for every one.
Our ecological footprint is the sum of those areas (ecologically productive space) we need to sustain the lifestyle of each person. This would be the area of cropland necessary to produce the food we eat, the area of grazing land for producing animal products; the area of forest to produce wood and paper; the area of sea to produce the fish and seafood we consume; the area of land to accommodate housing and infrastructure; and the area of forest necessary to absorb the CO2 from our energy consumption. Table 2 provides the most recent (1997) footprints for a few countries, as well as the current per capita availability of ecologically productive space. From this we can see that our current per capita ecological footprint is about 35 % larger than what is available - we are not only living off our capital, we are already in environmental debt.
Country Footprint in hectares
United States of America 10.3 ha
Sweden 5.9 ha
South Africa 3.2 ha
China 1.2 ha
India 0.8 ha
Bangladesh 0.5 ha
World availability 1.7 ha
World average footprint 2.85 ha
Table 2: Ecological Footprint (1997) Source: World Resources Institute
While we have been doing a lot to decrease our energy consumption at an industry level, this has not had much of an impact on the ecological footprint of most countries, as per capita consumption has increased exponentially. At the same time global availability of cropland has been reduced with 25% over two decades and many of the ocean species that were traditionally part of our diet is in danger of extinction.
Most of our predictions regarding sink and source limits work on current consumption levels, with 20% of the global population using 80% of the resources. The picture would look considerably worse if the remaining 80% of world population begin to live at the same standard. It is estimated that if the population of China's per capita consumption of oil was to match that of the USA, China alone would consume 30% more than the possible current total global oil production. The same would hold for other resources. This is why the Fair Shares concept has been developed.
The Fair Shares concept basically looks at the individual's access to resources - both sink and source. This is calculated on a country-by-country basis as a factor of the national population as a percentage of the global population, the amount of product produced, and the sink capacity or emissions produced, and is based on the premise that the total material input into world economy must be halved. It also includes the idea that we have to reduce our resource consumption not because we will run out of resources, but because of the environmental impact of extracting and using those resources. This gives us an idea of what each person's fair share of the world's productive environmental space is. A special report for the European Union has calculated what the Fair shares concept will mean for the EU's access to some of the most commonly used resources. This is illustrated in Table 3.
Resource Per capita share/year % Reduction required in EU
Total primary energy 60 G Ja 50%
Timber 0.56m2 15%
Cement 80 kg 85%
Iron 36 kg 87%
Aluminium 1.2 kg 90%
Copper 0.75 kg 88%
Lead 0.39kg 83%
Built-up land 0.05ha 3.2%
Agricultural land 0.28ha 30%
Table 3: Environmental Space Fair Shares Source: Hille, 1997 Report to European Environmental Agency
The built environment uses most of the resources that will require a radical reduction in consumption. According to this table, the EU will have to reduce its use of aluminium with 90% as each person is only allowed 1.2 kg of the metal - that is about 32 cool drink cans a year. One of the reasons for this is that annually global aluminium production uses as much energy as the whole of Africa. Its extraction also has severe environmental impacts.
Furthermore, the standard of living enjoyed by the developed world had been achieved at the expense of the developing world and was made possible by an economic system that exploited the poor - both individuals and entire nations. The result is the situation we have now where the eight richest people in the world earn more than the 600 million poorest together, with certain individuals earning more than even affluent countries like New Zealand. The per capita income of Sweden, for example, is equal to the combined per capita income of the 23 poorest African countries, that of the USA to the poorest 35 African countries.
While some enjoy unprecedented wealth and luxury, 2.8 billion people are living in extreme poverty, earning less than US$2 a dayii. One in seven people suffers chronic hunger and 45 000 die of starvation every day. This inequity is felt at both a global level, between developed and developing countries, and at a national level where there is great disparities of wealth within countries.
This is not making for a peaceful society. Since the Second World War over 20 million people have died in armed conflict and 31 million people are annually affected by it. These figures do not include crime-related deaths. Of the 2.3 million people reported as killed by conflict from 1991-2000, over three quarters were from countries with a low Human Development Indexiii. At the heart of most of these conflicts lies the issue of who gets to control and benefit from resources, whether agricultural land, minerals, fossil fuels or water. Many countries are already experiencing problems with illegal immigration and an influx of both political and environmental refugees. If the imbalance of wealth and power is not dealt with, this problem will only become worse in the future.
