08 Friday Jan 2016
Posted in Uncategorized
Communist chiefs long shunned yoga because of links to religion but are now promoting the practice in election fight with Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalists
Source: India’s communists embrace yoga – but ‘Om’ is still a chant too far – Telegraph
08 Friday Jan 2016
Posted in Uncategorized
In the span of one month, Sivagiri, the shrine of social reformer Srinarayana Guru in Kerala, has played host to politicians of all hues, all at loggerheads with each other.
Source: Communist Sitaram Yechury star speaker at religious meet – Times of India
08 Friday Jan 2016
Posted in History, INTERNATIONAL NEWS, Left politics
Marta Semelová, one of the most outspoken members of the communist party, enjoyed her moment of triumph in court on Wednesday, smirking at her critics in the packed courtroom, many of whom were ordered out after calling out “shame” and otherwise protesting against the ruling. Semelová, who said in an interview on Czech Television that the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia had in reality been “international assistance” and who cast doubt over whether Milada Horáková’s confession in the 1950s show trial had been enforced, told Czech Television shortly after the verdict that she had expected no less.
“I stand fully by my words. I think this court case against me was completely absurd.”
Although Semelová presented the case as an attack against freedom of speech, the judge made it quite clear that the law left him no other option but to dismiss the case. The complaint against Semelová was filed by lawyer and politician Michal Kincl, who said that the Communist MPs words had offended him as a citizen and raised fears of a possible return to power of a criminal regime. He asked for a written apology and that Semelová publicly withdraw her words.
The judge said that although he wholeheartedly disagreed with the statements made by the MP, they could not be qualified as having damaged Kincl’s interests or infringed on his rights. He ended his speech by saying that the public could make its own conclusions on Semelová’s opinions.
“It is good that the defendant says these things out aloud so that we know what her views are and that she thereby reminds us of the times the return of which the complainant fears.”
Michal Kincl appealed the verdict almost immediately although he told journalists he understood the judge’s reasoning. He said he valued the fact that Judge Freibert had openly stated that he disagreed with Semelová’s views and had made it clear that the verdict should not be regarded as her moral victory.
This was also the line taken by commentators and legal experts who commented on the ruling in the media. Filip Melzer, an expert on civil law, told Czech Radio no other outcome could have been expected since by her words the Communist Party MP had neither damaged Mr. Kincl’s interests, nor his reputation.
An earlier complaint filed against Semelová in 2014 by the NGO ProtiAlt, which said that her comments propagated hatred and intolerance, was shelved by the police on the grounds that the statements did not qualify as a crime.
08 Friday Jan 2016
Posted in CPI(M), Current Affairs, INDIA, Left politics, NATIONAL NEWS
Sitaram Yechury
The CPI(M)’s Plenum on Organization, as mandated by the 21st Congress, convened and completed its work “by the end of 2015”. It is a creditable achievement that the CPI(M) could successfully implement this mandate within a short period of eight months.
Party Central Committee had decided on a fairly comprehensive and elaborate procedure and time table for the conduct of the Plenum. A detailed questionnaire was prepared by the Party Centre to gather extensive information from the state committees regarding the current state of affairs of the Party organisation and the details of its functioning. The replies sent by the state committees were examined and on that basis, both the Draft Report and Draft Resolution on Organization were prepared. The intensity of the preparatory work can be understood by the fact that during the period since the Party Congress and the convening of the Plenum, the Polit Bureau met separately four times and the Central Committee three times in the run-up to the Plenum.
The deliberations of the Plenum began from the late afternoon of December 27th after the conclusion of a gigantic rally in Kolkata Brigade Parade Grounds. Even the bourgeois media had to concede that this was the largest ever rally held at the Brigade in the recent past. The composition of the people who converged at the rally, braving all attacks and blockading attempts by the Trinamul Congress, nailed the lie of our class enemies and the bourgeois media that youth are not being attracted towards the CPI(M). Youth from all over the state of West Bengal enthusiastically participated in this rally.
For a Communist party, the importance of the Party organisation can never be understated. It is the Party’s principal weapon in carrying the Party’s understanding and its political line to the vast mass of the Indian people. Without a well-oiled and efficient Party organisation, the Party cannot develop deep links with the Indian people and champion their interests.
Revolutionary Party with a Mass Line
The successful conclusion of this Plenum began the process of revitalizing the Party organisation and the reinvigorating the rank and file to move forward in a faster manner to achieve our objectives. The 21st Party Congress adopted the Political Resolution, reviewed its political-tactical line and laid down the P-TL for the coming three years, restoring the primacy of building the Left and democratic front. This Plenum on Organization, therefore, focused on strengthening and streamlining our Party organizational capacities to fulfill these objectives.
This re-doubling of the CPI(M)’s resolve to meet the current challenges can only be carried forward by unleashing mightier people’s struggles. This means directly that we should enlarge the independent strength of our Party in a big way. This needs to be done in conformity with our adopted political-tactical line that reiterates the need for changing the correlation of class forces among the Indian people in favour of the Left and Democratic Front (LDF). This LDF has to be strong enough to present to the Indian people a class alternative based on an alternative set of policies instead of leaving the people at the mercy of choosing between one bourgeois party/formation or the other. The LDF, by changing the correlation of class forces among the Indian people, will be the precursor to the forging of the unity of the People’s Democratic Front, under whose leadership the Indian revolution will advance through the People’s Democratic Revolution to Socialism.
Thus, the Plenum reiterated the character of the CPI(M) as a revolutionary party based on the tenets of Marxism-Leninism while its line at this current conjuncture is to strengthen the links with the Indian people. i.e., a revolutionary party with a mass line.
Strengthen Organisational Capacities
These revolutionary objectives cannot be accomplished unless we vastly develop the Party’s organizational capacities. There, however, are very formidable challenges. The crisis globally and in our country and society continues to deepen rapidly. Wisdom of an old saying informs us that “in every crisis situation, there is an opportunity”. At the Plenum, the CPI(M) decided to seize such opportunities to advance.
The CPI(M) is best placed to advance as the political party of the working class rallying the support of all the exploited classes of our people in a situation of the world capitalist crisis which shows that no amount of reforms under capitalism can liberate people from intensifying exploitation. This can be done only through the political alternative of Socialism. Further, the CPI(M) has an alternative policy framework, for India, which will enable our people to realise their inherent potential and create a better India on that basis. This alternative offers the Indian youth a vision for a better future by marshalling our country’s resources to provide our youth with quality education, good health and sustainable employment, as opposed to the current policies that enormously widen economic inequalities. The CPI(M) remains the consistent political force that advocates and struggles for the unity of our multi-religious, multi-lingual, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic population against all efforts at disrupting such unity by sharpening communal polarisation and thwarting the RSS/BJP designs to impose their project of a rabidly intolerant fascistic ‘Hindu Rashtra’. Simultaneously, the CPI(M) consistently fights against terrorism and fundamentalism of all hues. Majority communalism and minority fundamentalism feed and strengthen each other. The CPI(M) intensifies movements to abolish caste based untouchability, along with all expressions of discrimination and social oppression of all varieties. In a morass of fast degenerating political morality, the CPI(M) stands out as an example combating corruption and moral degradation in public life.
This record of the CPI(M) provides us the opportunity to build upon this further to achieve the objectives of galvanizing the Party organisation.
Concrete Analysis of Concrete Conditions
The CPI(M) has consistently advocated the Leninist dictum: “concrete analysis of concrete conditions is the living essence of dialectics”. In pursuance of this, the CPI(M) established three study groups to study the concrete changes that have occurred during the last two decades of neo-liberalism. On the basis of the findings of these study groups, the Plenum decided to strengthen class and mass struggles by: forging a broad front of agricultural workers, poor peasants, middle peasants, rural workers in the non-farm sections, artisans and other sections of the rural poor against the landlord-rural rich nexus; organising workers in key and strategic industries; organising contract workers in both the organized and unorganized sectors; establishing area-based organisations in coordination between trade unions, youth, women etc.; organising the urban poor in the bastis/local areas; establishing occupation based neighbourhood-mohallah-basti committees; strengthening work amongst the middle classes particularly ideological work by the establishment of various fora like citizens forums, platforms to promote cultural activities/actions; scientific temper and others related to their life and work; and strengthening work in residential associations, pensioners associations and professional bodies.
Implementing a Proper Cadre Policy
A Communist Party is always built from the top. Hence, to accomplish the strengthening of our organisation, the Plenum underlined that these efforts must begin by strengthening the Party Centre and proceeding towards improving the quality of the Party at all levels. Amongst many other measures to achieve this, the Plenum highlighted the need for implementing a proper cadre policy by identifying and promoting younger comrades and ensuring the entrusting of tasks on the basis of a collective assessment of concerned committees; nurturing such cadre as Party wholetimers – symbols of ideological conviction and sacrifice in the struggles for a revolutionary transformation – and strictly ensuring a proper wage structure for the Party wholetimers and maintaining regularity of payment.
As a part of effective cadre building, the Plenum emphasized the need of holding regular Party schools and preparing a central syllabus, along with a list of essential reading for self-study and vastly improving the reach and quality of Party papers and publications and making special efforts to upgrade their form and content.
Intensify Struggles against Social Oppression
Underlining the CPI(M) understanding that the issues of economic exploitation and social oppression are the `two feet’ upon which stands the advance of class struggles in India, the Plenum highlighted the need for strengthening the Party organizational capabilities to intensify struggles against gender oppression, discrimination against the dalits, tribals, disabled and religious minorities, by the Party as a whole. The CPI(M) must advance by walking and then running on these `two feet’.
Combating Communalism
The Plenum underlined the need to strengthen organizational capabilities to combat the current ideological offensive of the communal forces by undertaking various measures like: mobilising litterateurs, scientists, historians, cultural personalities and other sections of intellectuals; taking initiatives at the pre-school and school level by involving teachers and social organisations paying special attention to organise social and cultural activities to propagate scientific temper and secular values; evolving special activities to combat the penetration of communal influence amongst the exploited classes, dalits and adivasis; setting up of broad-based cultural platforms for propagation of progressive and secular values and cultural productions. The trade unions and other mass organisations should also organize cultural and social activities in their localities. Organising social service activities like health centres, educational coaching centres, reading rooms, relief work and so on are essential along with the urgent need to strengthen popular science and literary movements.
Urgent Essential Tasks
Building the capabilities of the Party organisation requires that the CPI(M) must undertake measures to strengthen our links with the Indian people in order to unleash mightier people’s struggles. This needs, first and foremost, the implementation of the mass line of the Party to ensure the deepening of live links with the people. This means, apart from strengthening the local Party units to unleash a large variety of local struggles, we must focus on advancing the agrarian revolution, the axis of the democratic revolution, by forging unity in struggles of all rural exploited sections of people thereby strengthening efforts to develop the worker-peasant alliance.
The immediate focus must be on forging class and mass struggles on economic and social issues to widen the Party’s influence and to rally the Left and democratic forces; adopting a mass line and establish live links with the people; streamlining the organisation to build a revolutionary Party with quality membership of high quality; making special efforts to attract youth to the Party; and waging the ideological struggle against communalism, neo-liberalism and reactionary ideologies.
The Plenum decided that the decisions contained in the adopted documents – Resolution and the Report – must be implemented in a time-bound fashion beginning from the Party Polit Bureau and Central Committee. As some states will soon be going in for assembly elections, the Plenum decided that all state committees, in accordance with their concrete conditions, must concretize time-bound implementation plans and review them in a year’s time.
The Plenum concluded by calling upon the entire Party, the rank and file, its sympathizers and well-wishers to rally together to implement these decisions with an urgent resolve. This is the only way that the CPI(M) can advance towards discharging its responsibility of ensuring a revolutionary social transformation in our country.
Forward towards a stronger CPI(M) with an all India mass base!
Forward towards a revolutionary Party with a Mass Line!
08 Friday Jan 2016
Posted in Communalism, CPI(M), Current Affairs, History, INDIA, Left politics, RELIGION, Religious Intolarence
Sitaram Yechury
[This text is based on the speech delivered by Sitaram Yechury, General Secretary of CPI(M) at the valedictory function of the 83rd Sivagiri Pilgrimage Celebrations on January 1, 2016 at Kerala.]
It is, indeed, an honour to be here at Sivagiri. My heartfelt thanks for being invited to share some thoughts with all of you in the concluding session of the 83rd Sivagiri Pilgrimage celebrations. It is, indeed, a very new and an appropriate way to begin the new year. A Happy New Year to all of you.
I belong to a generation that grew up on the values propagated by Srinarayana Guru – `the oneness of humanity’, with no social barriers on the grounds of caste, religion, region etc. The slogan of `one caste, one religion, one god’ is an elevated expression of humanism which recognizes the value of a human being as being supreme. A value that recognizes all human beings as being equal, irrespective of all social divisions. This universality of oneness of humanity, in a sense, crystallizes the finest elements of rational thought and philosophy that emerged in the course of the advance of human civilization in these lands. As “different rivers flow through different courses to merge in the ocean”, so do different human beings through the practice of individual beliefs and faith eventually merge with humanity as a whole. This is humanism of the highest variety.
Such humanism has a strong resonance with the Communist philosophy and worldview. The overriding concern of Marxism is humanism. In fact, Karl Marx had once said, “Nothing human is alien to me”. It is the pursuit of the simple question of what constitutes the real freedom of a human being and his consequent liberation, Marx proceeded to reject the Hegelian idea of the revolution of the mind as articulated by Feuerbach, during his time, to come to a conclusion of seminal importance. This was: consciousness of a human being is determined by the social conditions and not vice a versa. “It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but on the contrary their social being that determines their consciousness”.
Marxism’s focus on changing the concrete conditions of material existence, as the basic pre-requisite for human liberation, emerges from this understanding and hence Marx’s own scientific study on the real living conditions of the people and his consequent dissection of capitalism.
It, indeed, sounds as a strange paradox that a practitioner of Marxism, a Communist foot soldier, a confirmed atheist has been invited to be here as a part of these pilgrimage celebrations. A great deal of controversy has always existed regarding the Marxist understanding of religion. The popular perception is the normally out of context quotation that “religion is the opium of the people”. In fact, deliberately, the passage in which this statement finds place is never quoted in the full. Marx had stated :”Religious distress is at the same time the expression of real distress and the protest against real distress. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of the heartless world, just as it is the spirit of the spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people”.
Religion, is the opium in the sense that it is as potent as opium in transporting human beings to an illusory world. For a human being who is oppressed, religion provides the escape for relief, it provides a “heart in a heartless world, a spirit in a spiritless situation.” This is the strength and power of religion. It is like opium that the people are fed, to lull themselves into submission, robbing them of their inherent potential to change the real world, and hence, remain in conditions which appear outside of both their comprehension and control.
Marxism does not attack religion per se. It’s attack is on the conditions that give rise to the conditions that perpetuate the hold of religion on the people. The point is to change the real world; to transform the comforts of an illusory world into concrete reality. Therefore, as a Communist, we can assure you that the CPI(M) will be the foremost upholder of every individual’s right to his/her choice of their faith and their right to maintain their beliefs and propagate them. We will defend, till the last breath, this right of the individual choice and protect the faith of every individual. It, therefore, necessarily follows that we shall also protect everybody against any attempt to interfere into the rights of individual liberty of faith by any body of thought or action. This is precisely what the communal forces attempt to do today. The CPI(M)’s opposition to communalism is, hence, integral to both its philosophy and practice.
This growth of rabid communal polarization that we see around us today runs completely in contradiction with the body of thought and action that the Guru has bequeathed to us. This rich legacy and the philosophical activities that the Guru undertook had heralded a movement for social renaissance in Kerala. Remember, Swami Vivekananda had once described the Kerala society as a `mad house’ of casteism. The Guru, through his philosophy of oneness of humanity, spread the indomitable values of equality and humanism. Kerala was a society where caste prejudices went beyond even the obnoxious practice of untouchability. In Kerala, there was the practice of unseability. Comrade EMS Namboodiripad used to tell us that in his childhood, it was not unusual to see some `unfortunate’ human beings carrying a bell around their neck whose sound would warn the upper castes, to take a different path!
It was the social renaissance heralded by the Guru, amongst others, that has transformed this society into one with the most progressive values in the country today. In the process, Kerala society has achieved such advances in its human development indices that it matches and, in some cases, outstrips the standards existing in the developed capitalist countries today. In the field of literacy, education, gender equality and other social parameters, Kerala proudly stands at the top on the rest of India.
The Guru used spirituality as a propelling force for upward social mobility of the people. In this process, he developed a unique combination of materialism and spiritualism, propagating The Buddha’s preachings of the control over the Body, Word, Mind, Food and Deed. The consecration of the Shiva Lingam in 1888 – the Aruvippuram Prathishta – remains a landmark that has gone way beyond being a symbolic gesture.
Yet another resonance with Marxist philosophy is the Guru’s emphasis on “freedom through education, strength through organisation, economic independence through industry”. In a sense, this brings me to the point of urging all of you to explore further a thought: Spiritualism is not to be confined within the boundaries of religion or religiosity. Of course, there is religious spiritualism which could also be call Theistic spiritualism. On the other hand, there is also an Atheistic spiritualism. Here, spiritualism is understood as the elevation of human consciousness to the levels of refined humanism. Such elevation of human consciousness can be achieved as much by a materialist philosophy as it can be through a Theistic theology. (This is a tautological term, but I am using it only to emphasise the point.)
The Guru’s philosophy spread far and wide beyond the confines of Kerala. I am told that Mahatma Gandhi came here thrice during our freedom movement. Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore came to meet the Guru in 1922. This surely was a meeting of minds. Tagore had by then penned the Nobel Prize winning immortal lines to awaken India: “Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; Where knowledge is free; Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;”.
The Guru’s teachings and personal example appear to be not merely relevant but more necessary to meet the challenges before us today. On the one hand, the material basis of existence for the vast mass of our people and the country, as a consequence of embracing the neo-liberal policy trajectory by the Indian ruling classes, is deteriorating. Unless material needs are satisfied, the growth of spiritualism leading to social renaissance and, therefore, to cultural renaissance would be simply impossible. The economic policies followed by the current government at the Centre and, to a large extent, by the government in Kerala, only buttress such material regression of our people’s lives. These policies need to be resisted and reversed. This is one focus of CPI(M)’s activities today.
On the other hand, the CPI(M)’s other focus is against the growing communal polarization and the vicious pursuit of consolidating the Hindutva communal vote bank politics which is leading to severe ruptures in our society that can well destroy the unity and integrity of India. Under the present Central government, both these aspects of anti-people economic reforms and communal polarization constitute its singular agenda. In the process, the communal forces even make an attempt to forcibly appropriate the Guru’s philosophy and legacy.
This, simply, cannot be allowed. Such efforts, in particular, have to be defeated in order to carry ourselves to higher levels of social and material existence as envisaged and propagated by the Guru. The efforts to replace the rich Indian history with Hindu theology and the evolution of the syncretic Indian philosophy with a monolithic Hindu theology will have to be resisted and defeated.
I wish the Srinarayana Guru Mutt all success in its efforts to relentlessly continue to propagate the Guru’s philosophy and vision of the `oneness of humanity’ and not permit any effort at hijacking this rich legacy to serve the narrow ends of communal forces.
Thank you once again for giving me this honour of sharing some of my thoughts at this sacred Srinarayana Guru Mutt.
08 Friday Jan 2016
Posted in Uncategorized
RTE “does not cover all students, education at all levels even at the elementary stage”, it has come “sequel of another flopped flagship programme of the former UPA government, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)”
08 Friday Jan 2016
Posted in AP NEWS, Current Affairs, INDIA, NATIONAL NEWS, Others
Tags
చంద్రబాబు చేతిలో మంత్రదండం !
సత్య
ఆంధ్రప్రదేశ్ ముఖ్యమంత్రి చంద్రబాబు నాయుడి చేతిలో మంత్రదండటం వుందా ? భక్తులను కరుణించేందుకు గతంలో పుట్టపర్తి సత్యసాయి బాబా హాంఫట్ అంటూ విభూతి,బంగారు చైనులు తీసి ఇచ్చేవాడని,ఆయన వేలు ముంచటంతో బకెట్లోని నీరు పెట్రోలుగా మారిందని గతంలో చెప్పారు. తిరుపతి జన్మభూమి సభలో అక్కడికక్కడ ఒక విద్యార్ధికి ఒక టాబ్ను చంద్రబాబు బహుకరించారంటే ఆయన కూడా అదే పరంపరకు చెంది వుండాలి.
ఎవరైనా బడి ఎగ్గొడితే మందలించాలి.పిల్లలను బడి ఎగ్గొట్టించి పిల్లలను తీసుకువస్తే టీచర్లను మందలించాలి. కానీ చంద్రబాబు నాయుడు ఏం చేశారు ? వచ్చిన 23 మంది పిల్లల్లో వుపన్యాసం చేసిన విద్యార్ధినికి టాబ్ బహుకరించారు. ఆది ఆయన జేబులోంచి తీశారా, పక్కన వున్న అధికారి చేతిలోది లాక్కొని ఇచ్చారా లేక ముందే చెప్పుకున్నట్లు మంత్రదండంతో సృష్టించారా అన్నది గొర్రెల గోత్రాలు కాపర్లకు ఎరుక అన్నట్లు తెలుగు దేశం మాజీ నాయకురాలు ప్రస్తుతం ఆ జిల్లాకు చెందిన వైసిపి శాసనసభ్యురాలు రోజాను అడగాల్సిందే.
సినిమాల్లో, కధల్లో మాఫియా నాయకుడు ఫలానా రోజున ఫలానా చోట నాకు ఇంత సొమ్ము తెచ్చి ఇవ్వాలని ఆదేశాలు జారీ చేయటం తెలిసిందే. అది కూడా స్వచ్ఛందంగానే అని తెలుసు కదా. అదే మాదిరి నా రాజధాని… నా అమరావతి…. నా ఇటుక పేరుతో ప్రతి విద్యార్ధి, టీచరు తలా పది రూపాయల చొప్పున విధిగా విరాళంగా వసూలు చేసి పంపాలని పాఠశాల విద్యాశాఖ ఆదేశాలు జారీ చేయటంపై ప్రభుత్వం హైకోర్టులో మొట్టికాయలు తిన్నది. బలవంతపు వసూళ్లు చేయటం లేదని, గతంలో ఇచ్చిన వుత్తరువులను సవరిస్తూ ఒక మెమో జారీ చేశామని ప్రభుత్వం హైకోర్టుకు తెలిపింది. ఈ వ్యవహారంపై ప్రభుత్వ పరువు పోవటంతో విరాళాల వసూలుకు ఆదేశాలు ఇచ్చిన అధికారులపై ఆగ్రహించి, చర్య తీసుకోవాలని ముఖ్య మంత్రి ఆదేశించారన్న వార్తలు కూడా పక్కపక్కనే వచ్చాయి. అంటే బాబుగారు మంచోరే మధ్యలో అధికారులే ఆయనకు మచ్చ తెస్తున్నారనే భజనలో భాగం కూడా ఇది కావచ్చు. ఎందుకంటే ఇలాంటి చర్యల వార్తల ప్రకారం నిజంగా ప్రభుత్వాలు చర్యలు తీసుకుంటే ఈ పాటికి ఒక్క అధికారి కూడా మిగిలి వుండేవారు కాదు, అన్నింటికి మించి ఇలాంటి వుత్తరువులు వచ్చి వుండేవి కాదు. ఎందుకంటే వుత్తరువులు ఇవ్వనేల ఆపైన చర్యలకు గురికానేల అని ఏపనీ చేసే వారు కాదు. ఇంత జరిగాక కూడా స్కూలు ఎగ్గొట్టి పలమనేరు నుంచి తిరుపతికి 120 కిలోమీటర్ల దూరం మూడు గంటల పాటు ప్రయాణించి 23 మంది పిల్లలు స్వచ్ఛందంగా పోగుచేసిన 230 రూపాయల విరాళాన్ని జన్మభూమి సభలో అందచేశారు. అంతదూరం ప్రయాణించటానికి వారికి అంతకంటే కొన్ని రెట్లు ఎక్కువ ఖర్చు అయి వుండాలి. వారికి రానుపోను ఛార్జీలు, ఎంతో సమయం వెచ్చించాలి గనుక పిల్లలకు భోజనాల ఖర్చు ఇవన్నీ కలుపుకుంటే రూపాయి విరాళానికి పాతిక రూపాయల ప్రచార ఖర్చు అన్నట్లు ఆ మొత్తాన్ని ఎవరు భరించారు?
పలమనేరులో జన్మభూమి సభ జరుగుతూ వుండి వుంటే పిల్లలు వుత్సాహపడి విరాళం అందచేశారంటే అర్ధం చేసుకోవచ్చు. కనీసం పక్క నియోజకవర్గం కూడా కాదు, జిల్లా కేంద్రమూ కాదు, చిత్తూరు దాటి ప్రయాణించి రావాలి. ఇది టీచర్లు లేదా అధికారపార్టీ కార్యకర్తలు గానీ ముఖ్యమంత్రి మెప్పుకోసం నిర్వహించిన కార్యక్రమం తప్ప మరొకటి కాదు. దీన్ని అవకాశంగా తీసుకొని తాము స్వచ్ఛందంగానే విరాళాలు కోరామని, వత్తిడి చేయలేదని సదుద్దేశ్యంతో ముందుకు పోతుంటే కొందరు తప్పుడు ఆరోపణలు చేస్తున్నారని, కోర్టులకూ వెళ్లారని వాళ్లు ఏ పనీ చేయరనీ ముఖ్య మంత్రి ధ్వజమెత్తారు. ఇతరులు తప్పుడు ఆరోపణలు చేశారని చెప్పిన సిఎం వుత్తరువును సవరించినట్లు కోర్టుకు అడ్వకేట్ జనరల్ ద్వారా విన్నపం చేయించటం ఏమిటి ?
07 Thursday Jan 2016
Posted in Uncategorized
For decades DuPont operated above the EPA and knowingly concealed the dangers of Teflon exposure
07 Thursday Jan 2016
Posted in Current Affairs, INTERNATIONAL NEWS, USA
Tags
(Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster)“If there’s one thing that you want people to take away from your lectures, your appearances, what would it be?” journalist David Shuster asked professor Cornel West, the scholar, philosopher and activist, in a 2014 interview.
“And that’s not just empty rhetoric,” West continued. “It means that you’re fundamentally committed to the decency and the humanity of each and every person, at least potentially. Each human being has a potential to be decent, has a potential to have integrity, has a potential to be honest. And it means you cut radically against the grain, because we live in an age of monstrous mendacity.”
President Obama and the U.S. government would do well to heed West’s advice.
At news conference Tuesday, Obama announced he’s taking executive action to address gun violence. Tears fell from his eyes as he dramatically spoke of the tragedy, as he lamented that American children are dying.
But what of all the countless other children killed by the U.S. government, overseen by the Obama administration? Do they not get tears too?
Gun violence is a horrific problem in the U.S., and Obama is right; it is not normal. No other country has such an extremely high incidence of gun violence. If there is an element of truth to the myth of American exceptionalism, it is that America is exceptionally violent.
And there is no doubt that Obama’s tears are genuine. It is indeed a horrific tragedy that American children — or anyone else — has to die from senseless gun violence. The president no doubt feels genuine remorse at this deplorable reality.
But genuineness and moral hypocrisy are not mutually exclusive; one can feel genuine sympathy about one form of injustice or oppression while ignoring or even actively carrying out another.
Obama is quite skilled in this area — in the field of what West dubbed “monstrous mendacity.”
Where are the tears for the thousands, even millions of other children slain by America?
Note:This article First Published in salon.com
07 Thursday Jan 2016
Posted in AP NEWS, Current Affairs, NATIONAL NEWS, STATES NEWS
సత్య
వైఎస్ఆర్ కాంగ్రెస్ నేత జగన్ కాంగ్రెస్ నాయకుడు, మాజీ మంత్రి దాసరి నారాయణ రావును కలుసుకున్నారన్నది ఒక వార్త, కర్నూలు జిల్లా నుంచి ఐదుగురు వైసిపి ఎంఎల్ఏలు తెలుగుదేశంలోకి రానున్నారన్నది మరొక వార్త. హైదరాబాద్ గ్రేటర్ మున్సిపల్ కార్పొరేషన్ ఎన్నికల సందర్భంగా ఎవరెటు దూకుతారో తెలియని స్ధితి. అనేక మంది చెవులు కొరుక్కుంటూ చెప్పుకొనేదాని ప్రకారం పెద్ద అవసరం, ప్రయోజనం వుంటే తప్ప వైఎస్ జగన్ తానుగా వెళ్లి ఎవరినీ కలవరు అంటారు. అది ఆయన తండ్రి ఎల్లో మీడియాగా వర్ణించిన ఒక పత్రికాధినేత రామోజీరావు కావచ్చు, మరొకరు కావచ్చు. దాసరి నారాయణరావు వైఎస్ఆర్ కాంగ్రెస్లో చేరతారా లేదా ఆయనకు అంటిన బొగ్గు మసి ఏమౌతుంది అని కొంత మంది జుట్టుపీక్కుంటున్నారు. దానికి అంత సీన్ అవసరం లేదు. ఏదో ఒక మసి కేసులు లేని నాయకుడూ ఒక నాయకుడేనా ఈ రోజుల్లో ! ఎవరెన్ని పార్టీలు మారితే, ఎక్కడ అధికారం వుంటే అక్కడ చేరితే అంత తెలివి గలవాడిగా జనం నీరాజనాలు పడుతున్నారు. అందువలన ఏ నాయకుడు ఏ పార్టీలో అయినా ఏ క్షణంలో అయినా చేరవచ్చు. ఎందుకంటే రేచుక్క పగటి చుక్కల వంటి పాలక పార్టీలకు ఈ రోజుల్లో అధికారం, నీకది-నాకిది ఫార్ములా తప్ప మరొకటి తెలియదు. సమాజం అలాంటి వాటికి అనుమతించిన బలహీనతకు లోనైంది. ఎవరికి వారు తమకూ అలాంటి లాటరీ ఒకటి తగలకపోతుందా వీలైతే ఒక లక్ష కోట్లు సంపాదించకపోతామా( ఆశలకు పిసినారితనం ఎందుకు) అప్పుడు సిద్ధాంతాలు,ఆదర్శాలు అంటే కుదురుతుందా అని అంతర్గతంగా ఆలోచిస్తూ వుండి వుండాలి.తమకు దారి సుగమం కావాలంటే ఆ బాటన పోయిన వారికి మద్దతు ఇవ్వాలి
ఇంతకూ దాసరితో జగన్కు అవసరం ఏమిటి? వచ్చే ఎన్నికలలో కాపు వర్గాన్ని తన మద్దతుదారులుగా మార్చుకోవాలంటే అలాంటి నేతలను దగ్గరకు తీసుకోవాలన్న వ్యూహంతోనే కలిశారన్నది జనవాక్యం. సమాజంలో విపరీతంగా పెరిగిపోయిన అస్తిత్వ భావనల పూర్వరంగంలో ఈ రోజు నాయకులు తాము కుల సామాజిక వర్గ ప్రతినిధులుగా చెప్పుకోవటానికి లేదా ఆ విధంగా జనం ముందుకు రావటానికి సిగ్గుపడక పోగా గర్వంగా చెప్పుకుంటున్నారు. దాన్ని తమ రాజకీయ, ఆర్ధిక బేరసారాలకు వుపయోగిస్తున్నారు. అలాంటి వారికి తెలిసో తెలియకో లేదా వారు కూడా అలాంటి భావనలకు లోనయిగానీ ఎలాంటి విమర్శనాత్మక దృష్టి లేకుండా జనం కూడా మద్దతు ఇస్తున్నారు.
పత్తి రైతులకు గిట్టుబాటు కాదు కదా మద్దతు ధర కూడా రావటం లేదు, ధాన్య రైతులకూ అంతకంటే ఒరిగేదేమీ కనిపించటం లేదు.ఫ్యాక్టరీలలో కనీస వేతనాలూ, పని గంటల వంటి వాటి గురించీ అడగనవసరం లేదు.ఒక్క వామపక్ష పార్టీలకు తప్ప వైఎస్ జగన్ లేదా ఆ పార్టీలోని ఇతర నాయకులకు ఇవేమీ పట్టటం లేదు.అంటే వారి వెన్నుదన్నుగా వున్న మద్దతుదారులు కూడా ఇదేం పని ఎప్పుడూ రాజకీయాలేనా ఒక్కసారన్నా జనం సమస్యలు పట్టించుకోరా ? ఆందోళనలు లేకపోయినా కనీసం ఓదార్పు యాత్రలు జరపరా అని అడిగి వత్తిడి తెస్తున్నట్లు లేదు.
జనం కుల రాజకీయాలను ఆదరిస్తున్నారు కనుక మేం కూడా అదే బాటలో నడుస్తున్నామని నేతలు, నేతలు కుల రాజకీయాలలో మునిగి తేలుతున్నారు గనుక మా కులపోడికి మేం మద్దతు ఇవ్వవద్దా అని జనం. ఈ మురికి కూపం నుంచి బయట పడనంత వరకూ రెడ్డి, కమ్మ, కాపు ఏ కులం వాడికీ గిట్టుబాటు ధరలు రావు, మార్కెట్లో దోపిడీ ఆగదు. వ్యాపారాలు చేసేది, ఈ బలహీనతలను సొమ్ము చేసుకొనేదీ ఆయా కులాల ధనికులే.ఆంధ్రప్రదేశ్లో కుల రాజకీయాలు కొత్త కాదు. 1950 దశకంలో కమ్యూనిస్టుల ప్రాబల్యాన్ని దెబ్బతీసేందుకు ప్రవేశ పెట్టిన ఈ దుష్ట రాజకీయాలు ఈనాడు పెద్దపీట వేసుకున్నాయి. ఎంత కాలమీ దుస్ధితి కొనసాగుతుందో తెలియదు. ప్రతి తరంలో ఒక కుల నాయకుడు లేదా నాయకులు పుట్టుకు వస్తున్నారు. వారు తమ సామాజిక వర్గాన్ని వుద్ధరించివుంటే ఈ పాటికి సోషలిజం వచ్చి వుండేది. పోనీయండి ఎంత కాలం అలా మద్దతు ఇస్తారో అదీ చూద్దాం. కందకు లేని దురద కత్తి పీటకెందుకు ?
vedika 