Property frauds are majorly done in the form of mortgage frauds. Mortgage frauds in India are very common now. It is to a degree where it’s started to become a problem. Committing a mortgage fraud in India is very simple. Let’s first understand what is a mortgage? So, a mortgage is a loan approved by a bank for housing purposes. A mortgage loan is very common in India . A lot of people apply for mortgage loans. Because it’s so prevalent, there are a lot of mortgage frauds that have been taking place over the past few years.
A man named Rajiv rathee forged property documents to mortgage the same property with six different banks cheating them of a whopping 7 crore. One of the major reasons for the regular occurrence of mortgage fraud is an equitable mortgage. An equitable mortgage is a simple way of getting a mortgage loan. But one of the major drawbacks of an equitable mortgage is that it doesn’t have any public records. So any charges that are mentioned in the equitable mortgage cannot be seen by the public or the bank, unlike a registered mortgage.
Equitable mortgage is a major issue and should be looked into and rectified as soon as possible. Overvaluation of the property also leads to mortgage fraud. It is very simple to present an overvalued sum of the property to get a higher amount of loans. The banks should take measures to cross-check the valuation of the property. There are legal remedies in place to ensure that the bank recovers from the loss because of fraud. But there should be proper measures in place so that the fraud doesn’t happen in the first place.
The first thing that a bank can do is educate its staff. The staff should be able to understand the red flags of mortgage fraud so that they can identify them when they see one. The lender should always check the identity of the person. He should make sure all his identity documents match and are original. The lender should make sure to take the consent of all the joint holders of a property. The lender should cross-check every document and important details. A bank should be able to identify if a property is overvalued to commit fraud. These are some of the ways by which a bank can ensure that a mortgage fraud doesn’t happen.
Introduction: One of the significant global threats to our health and food safety is air pollution. Air contamination kills around 3.7 million individuals all throughout the world and makes sufficient harm to crops. It is mainly caused by smoke and other harmful gases, fundamentally oxides of carbon, nitrogen, and furthermore sulphur. It is the presence of a substance in the environment that can make hurt human health and furthermore other living creatures on this planet. The sources for air pollution can be divided into two significant categories:
•Anthropogenic (human-made sources): are for the most part identified with the consumption of fuel. This may likewise incorporate little sources other than ignition like exhaust of paint, hair splash, and different solvents. Military assets, for example, atomic weapons additionally go under this kind of contamination.
•Natural sources: This might incorporate normal causes, for example, volcanic ejections and woodland fires likewise dust from huge spaces of land with little vegetation.
Ambient air pollution: An expected 4.2 million deaths each year are ascribed to ambient air pollution because of stroke, coronary illness, cellular breakdown in the lungs, and persistent respiratory infections. Around 91% of the total population lives in regions where air quality levels surpass WHO guidelines. While both developed and agricultural nations are influenced by fine particulate matter, low-and middle pay nations bear the biggest weight, with the best conceivable cost in the WHO West Pacific and South-East Asia regions. With investments in cleaner transportation, energy-proficient lodging, power generation, industry, and further developed municipal waste administration can altogether decrease ambient air pollution.
Household air pollution: Household air pollution is caused by the burning of household fuels, which causes indoor air contamination and adds to open air contamination. In 2016, 3.8 million deaths were reported because of indoor air pollution. Therefore, this risk factor is perhaps the main natural supporters of chronic weakness. The significance of household air pollution as a public health threat shifts extraordinarily relying upon the degree of advancement: in low-and centre pay nations, it is answerable for essentially 10% of death rates; around the world, it is liable for 7.7% of mortality.
● Contaminant emitting from power plants, refineries, and petrochemical plants, just as chemical and fertiliser industry, Industrial plants, lastly government incineration.
● Domestic cleaning exercises, cleaners, printing shops, and service stations are instances of indoor sources.
● Automobiles, vehicles, railroads, aviation routes, and different sorts of vehicles are instances of versatile sources.
● Finally, as mentioned earlier, normal sources incorporate actual fiascos like forest fires, volcanic erosion, dust storms, and agricultural burning.
Environment and health impacts of air pollution: Various contaminations are significant supporters of human sickness. Particulate Matter, particles with shifting yet tiny measurements, enter the respiratory system through breathing causing cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, fertility and central nervous system dysfunction, and cancer. Despite the fact that ozone protects against ultraviolet radiation, it is unsafe at ground level, influencing the respiratory and cardiovascular systems.
Air pollution: A development issue
Effects on the economic development: In 2015, WHO estimated that the financial expense of unexpected passing and disability from air contamination in Europe is near USD 1.6 trillion. Air contamination influences the economy from various perspectives. It reduces individuals’ capacity to work and kills trillions of individuals consistently. Besides, it obliterates government properties like monuments which will influence the economy by decreasing the tourist destinations.
Effects on food Production: Food creation contributes recognizably to air contamination and the other way around. Air contamination impacts the dirt and lessens its capacity to the creation of good yields and as trade in agricultural products grows it increases the air contamination discharged from producer nations. This outcomes in an irregularity causing expanding pollution emission from producer countries rather than importing countries.
Measures are taken to eradicate air pollution:
By the government:
● Action Plans for Improvement of Air Quality: Under the central sector of control of pollution, (NCAP) ‘national clean air program’ was launched to address the country’s increasing air pollution problem.
● The government even informed a detailed action plan in the year 2018 for the prevention and control of air pollution in Delhi and the national capital region.
● In 2018, a graded response action plan was notified for again the prevention, control, and eradication of pollution in the national capital region. Which was divided into 4 main categories: moderate to poor, very poor, severe, and emergency.
To spread awareness:
● The SAMEER app, which provides public access to air quality information as well as the ability to file complaints about air pollution-causing activities, has been launched.
● The government also encourages people to spread awareness among the people and grow more trees, save water, electricity, maintenance vehicle for less smoke emission.
● Since 2019, central pollution control board teams have been placed to provide field feedback in Delhi and the national capital region.
How can we reduce air pollution?
● Conservation of energy.
● Look for the ‘energy star’ label while buying products.
● Using public transportation and carpooling can also help.
● Avoid using hair spray and other solvents.
● Avoid using an air conditioner.
● Recycle and reuse.
● Afforestation.
● Environment safe paints should be used more often.
● Mulch or compost leaves and yard waste do not burn it.
The Vidarbha region of Maharashtra primarily consists of four major cities. Nagpur being the largest has a huge rural population which is deprived of stable sources of income and is riddled with social problems including alcoholism. The primary contributor to the alcoholism problem is the male population. Inadvertently, the women of the household have to take up the responsibility of earning the bread. In regions lacking educational infrastructure, women have to not only overcome sexism, misogyny and toxic masculinity to earn, but they also have to battle the unavailability of jobs and the unwillingness of employers to employ women just to keep the food on the table. Out of the 48 lakh unemployed people in Maharashtra, the Vidarbha region contributes 6 lakh of them. Although an older report, according to the 2013-14 Report on District Level Estimates for the state of Maharashtra, Nagpur reported 27% unemployment in urban areas and a staggering 55.3% in rural areas. As mentioned earlier, this was a relatively old statistic. However, going through the Covid-19 pandemic hasn’t done any good in the rural employment sector.
Taking the dire unemployment situation into consideration as well as considering the rising issue of alcoholism amongst the general male population in the region, it has also given rise to domestic violence, marital rape and sexual assault under influence. The Covid-19 pandemic and the Lockdown made this situation a lot worse as unemployment was peaking and the availability of alcoholic beverages was very low. Upon gathering statistics from an NGO called Aroha working for the development of rural women, it was found that domestic violence cases simply multiplied by 2.3 times during the first lockdown (March – July 2020). This is an extremely dire situation and it is continually worsening with the increase in economic disparity and water shortages reaching an all-time high. This is the time when the need to empower women to gain financial stability and independence is the most. The NGO Aroha has taken this as their mission and has been working towards training women in making handicraft items and selling them on an international market through powerful marketing and product development via their brand Rangers.
Rangers is a traditional eco-friendly, high-quality handicrafts store based in Nagpur which sells purses, handbags, lamp shades etc which are made by women from rural areas and all the profit is evenly divided between all women involved, contributing to their financial independence.
Aroha starts by enrolling women who are in dire need of financial assistance. They start by providing them with training in handcrafting, Warli art, stitching, embroidery and block printing. Then, once the women graduate with enough skills, they’re hired by Rangaresha which provides them with employment, stable income as well as incentives for them to work. Aroha is financially supported by Larsen & Toubro Ltd. Since 2004, Aroha steadfastly remained focused on the promotion of livelihoods, capacity-building initiatives and extending training support as well as surfacing as a resource agency for all of the above for the benefit of other allied agencies. With time self-help group formation activities were also undertaken. In the past 17 years, Aroha has helped 1739 women overcome poverty and has made them
capable of standing up for themselves and fighting back against years of oppression. Although the actual statistical data about profits and actual gross income from handicrafts remains unknown and the organisation didn’t provide that information, it is undeniable that the organisation and their vision had been successful in their initiative and continue to empower women to date.
This report is an excerpt of an interview project that i completed for one of my practical classes. I had to interview people working in NGO working for marital rapes analyze the interview.In this project i’ve interviewed Dr. Chitra Awasthi, the founder of RIT foundation that in collaboration with many NGOs to promote gender equality in India.
NATURE OF REPORT
In order to gain insight on the prevalence of marital rape in India and to promote gender and social equality in the country, the students of Mass communication and journalism were instructed to interview an NFPO (RIT Foundation) within the field of awareness through Media
There were no stipulations about the medium used or the questions to be asked. Students were permitted to select their own respondent owing to their comfort as well as good knowledge of the field. The report is directed to citizens of the country and people across nations. The report aims to start a conversation on this topic, to give women under martial rape the courage to raise their voice and to pressurize the law-makers to criminalize such acts.
MARITAL RAPE
The act of sexual intercourse with one’s spouse without the consent of the partner is known as marital rape. Whether the perpetrator is a stranger or a spouse, it is one of the most horrific acts a man can conduct against a woman. Though marital rape is the most common and repugnant form of masochism in Indian society, it is hidden behind the iron curtain of marriage. 83% of married women i.e. nearly one in every 3 women have been subjected to physical, sexual and emotional violence from their spouse. Almost 31% of married women between the ages 15 and 49 have suffered from sexual abuse cite their current husband as the perpetrator.
Any undesired sexual actions by a spouse or ex-spouse conducted without consent and/or against a person’s will, achieved by force, threat of force, intimidation, or when a person is unable to consent, are classified as marital rape. Intercourse, anal or oral sex, forced sexual conduct with other people, and other sexual practices that the victim finds degrading, humiliating, painful, or unwelcome are examples of these sexual actions.
Rape is a crime that occurs when a woman refuses to provide her consent. It’s crucial to remember that lack of consent doesn’t always have to take the form of the word ‘no.’ It’s reasonable to assume given the circumstances. If a woman consents to sexual intercourse within a marriage because of the threat of harm to her children or herself, the woman loses her right to stay in the house or get maintenance, it is not valid consent. It is still rape.
THE CURRENT SITUATION AND STATISTICS
140 of the world’s 195 countries have already made marital rape a criminal offence. The United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Australia, and Russia are among the countries on the list.
However, 55 countries, including India, China, and Singapore, are countries where it is still OK to rape your wife.
The concept of marital rape has not been recognized until today. We’ve been lobbying for a law to make it a crime, but first we need to gather statistics on rape in marriage.
And according to the latest National Health and Family Survey (NFHS-4) for 2015-16, 5.4% women have experienced marital rape, under this category. But while the data on marital rape in India exists, marital rape as a crime “does not exist”.
And yet 5.4% of married Indian women say they have experienced marital rape. 4.4% of them say they have experienced marital rape in just the last 12 months before this survey. The figure recorded by NFHS-3 for 2005-6 was 9.5%.
But while the data on marital rape in India exists, marital rape as a crime “does not exist”.
The data also includes entries for “forced her to perform any sexual actions that she did not want to” and “forced her to perform any sexual acts that she did not want to with threats or in any other way.” Overall, 2.5% and 3.6% of married Indian women answered affirmatively to these categories as well. That brings the number of married women who have been subjected to what would be called rape or sexual violence if the perpetrator had not been their husband to 11.5 percent.
Despite the historical misconception that rape by one’s partner is a minor occurrence that causes little damage, research shows that marital rape has serious and long-term implications for women. Injuries to private organs, lacerations, discomfort, bruising, torn muscles, tiredness, and vomiting are some of the physical repercussions of marital rape. In addition to broken bones, black eyes, bloody noses, and knife wounds, women who have been assaulted and raped by their husbands may experience other physical consequences such as broken bones, black eyes, bloody noses, and knife wounds as a result of the sexual violence. Miscarriages, stillbirths, bladder infections, infertility, and the risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases like HIV are all gynecological repercussions of marital rape.
Women who have been raped by their partners are likely to experience significant psychological repercussions. Anxiety, shock, acute dread, despair, suicidal ideation, and post-traumatic stress disorder are some of the short-term symptoms of marital rape. Disordered eating, sleep issues, depression, difficulties forming trusting relationships, and increased negative thoughts about themselves are all common long-term impacts. The psychological consequences are likely to linger for a long time. For years after the abuse, some marital rape survivors describe flashbacks, sexual dysfunction, and emotional pain.
OTHER COUNTRIES’ LEGAL STATUS
In the United States, experts estimate that 10% to 14% of married women are raped throughout their marriage. Researchers discovered that marital rape accounted for almost 25% of all rapes when they looked at the frequency of different types of rape. Given the popularity of marital rape, social scientists, practitioners, the criminal justice system, and society as a whole have paid little attention to the issue. In fact, it wasn’t until the 1970s that society began to recognize the possibility of rape in marriage. Until recently, the usual rule was that a husband could not be convicted of raping his wife because he has an implicit right to sexual intercourse with his wife under the marital contract.
Resistance restrictions are still in place in the majority of American states. There are no exemptions for husbands from rape prosecution in seventeen states and the District of Columbia. There are still certain exemptions for husbands from rape prosecution in thirty-three states. In several of these thirty-three states, a husband is excused from prosecution when his wife is most vulnerable (e.g., she is mentally or physically disabled, unconscious, asleep, etc.) and legally unable to consent. The majority of States have certain spousal exemptions, indicating that rape in marriage is still considered a lesser offence than other types of rape.
When we look at the laws of various countries, we can find that most of them punish rape both within and outside of marriage.
In Australia, for example, if a person has achieved the age of 16, he or she can petition to a judge or magistrate for an order permitting them to marry.
By 1991, however, the marital rape exception had been repealed in every state in Australia.
In New Zealand, a person under the age of 20 but over the age of 16 can only marry with the approval of their parents. For women, the age of sexual consent is similarly 16 years. The New Zealand Crimes Act of 1961 makes no provision for marital rape. In 1985, the marital rape exemption was repealed. In the United Kingdom, a marriage between two people under the age of 16 is void. In 1991, the marital rape exemption was completely repealed.
A marriage between two people under the age of 16 is void in the United Kingdom. In 1991, the marital rape exemption was completely repealed. In Egypt, the age of majority is 21 years old for all legal reasons except marriage. The legal age for consent is 18, and intercourse with a female under the age of 18 is considered rape under the penal code.
Various states in the United States have different laws. In the United States, the marital rape exception has been repealed in 50 states. In Indonesia, the age of majority, as well as the age at which girls and boys can marry, is 16 for girls and 19 for boys. A girl’s legal age for giving valid consent to a sexual act is also established at 16 years. Any marriage that occurs before the age of majority is null and invalid.
LEGAL POSITION IN INDIA
In India, marital rape is legal but not de facto. While in other nations, the legislative has either criminalized marital rape or the judiciary has actively participated in recognizing it as a crime, the judiciary in India appears to be working at cross-purposes. The Supreme Court ruled in Bodhisattwa Gautam v. Subhra Chakraborty that rape is a crime against basic human rights and a breach of the victim’s most prized fundamental right, the right to life, which is contained in Article 21 of the Constitution. However, it contradicts this declaration by failing to recognize marital rape. Though there have been some advancements in Indian domestic violence legislation, they have mostly been limited to physical rather than sexual abuse.
This established the notion that a woman does not have the right to refuse sex with her spouse once they are married. This gives husbands sexual access to their spouses, which is in clear violation of human rights principles and gives husbands permission to rape their women. The rape legislation only applies to two types of married women: those under the age of 15 and those who are separated from their spouses. While rape of a girl under the age of 12 may result in a sentence of ten years or more in jail, rape of a girl under the age of 15 results in a lower punishment if the rapist is married to the victim. When Section 376-A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, was added in 1983, it made some headway toward criminalizing domestic abuse against the wife.
The Law Commission’s proposed definition of sexual assault, which is wide, complete, and acceptable, could be used in place of the existing term of rape in Section 375 IPC, according to the report. The Task Force, like the Law Commission, stopped short of suggesting that marital rape be included in the new definition. Currently, India’s legal framework is severely inadequate in terms of safeguarding women’s bodily integrity and sexual autonomy.
ABOUT THE FOUNDATION
The RIT Foundation is a non-profit organizationcreated in 2009 by Dr. Chitra Awasthi, an educationist, writer, and philanthropist. The RIT Foundation is collaborating with a number of non-governmental organizations in India to promote social and gender equality.
In 2015, they filed a petition – RIT Foundation v. Union of India writ petition c no. 284 of 2015 seeking to criminalize marital rape. It will be coming up before the Delhi High Court for final hearing early next year.
“The first step to breaking the silence is having the tool to validate,” Chitra Awasthi says. The last refuge of male dominance is the control of women’s sexuality and bodies. It will take time to smash it. However, as a society, we must begin a dialogue and put pressure on lawmakers to act.”
Respondent’s Background
Dr. Chitra Awasthi is the president and founder of RIT Foundation. She has been working as an educationist with children and young adults for the past 36 years now. She is well-known in academics for her psychological insights and comprehensive understanding of holistic living solutions. With a postgraduate degree, a university topper, in sociology from Kanpur University, she has authored a wide range of books on sociology and allied subjects. Her major interest, however, has always been in religion and spiritualism. She has translated, edited, and produced secret treasures from English, Sanskrit, and Hindi, and she is an eager student of spiritual literature in the Indian tradition. Rit International is her first foray into the corporate world. She does, however, wish to help share the same knowledge to children who are less privileged, so that they can benefit from high-quality education and knowledge.
Infidelity can be better defined as any act that violates an open or explicit agreement
between two people, thereby damaging the relationship. It usually means having an
emotional or intimate relationship other than your partner.
Deception is one of the most devastating and destructive things that can happen in a
person’s life. It can lead to emotional distress, anxiety, depression, increased risky
behaviours and cause real physical pain.
All infidelity violates the supposed or implied marital union, whether that be emotionally or
physically.
Relationships in which more than two people are involved are known as Polyamory
relationships. In non-monogamous behavioural relationships, partners can practice flipping
or polyamory (having multiple romantic relationships at the same time). These programs
promote honest communication and consent between all members and is not an example of
infidelity.
Now, how does Infidelity affect society?
Disloyalty to a person is like a storm. When it floods you, you and everyone else are thrown into many different places. When parents are in trouble so are their children. When a house burns down, children and adults are left homeless. The same can be said of infidelity. Confusion, fear, uncertainty, anger, tears, withdrawal, suspicion, frustration, fighting affects everyone in the family and especially children who are naturally more sensitive and rely on their parents for emotional and physical stability and security.
For young adults, infidelity can wreak havoc on trust, and infidelity can have devastating effects on a person’s mental and physical health. The condition is associated with depression, anxiety and unhealthy coping strategies such as poor diet and substance abuse. Some mental health professionals believe that there may be a similarity to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Types of Infidelity
• Physical Infidelity: Physical or sexual contact outside of relationships. There may or may not be an emotional attachment between partners.
• Emotional Infidelity: Emotional attachment or intimacy with another person. Emotional affairs can do as much damage, if not more, to a relationship as a physical affair.
• Cyber Infidelity:
social media has made it easier for people to engage in online
messages, chats, forums, or groups with sexual content. Cyber infidelity also
includes viewing erotic stimuli, such as porn.
• Object Infidelity:
Excessive love or interest outside of relationships can lead to
what is known as materialism. This is a situation where one partner is too focused on
something like their job or their phone, causing disruption in the relationship.
Credits – neil webb
Data And Facts
Statistics report that anywhere from 40-60 percent of adults in committed relationships commit acts of infidelity and despite popular opinion, there is no significant difference in these percentages between men and women. Not only has dishonesty in the workplace become increasingly common but it has also become easier to deal with dishonesty on the Internet and social networking sites.
Cricket has shifted completely in the last 10 years. T20 cricket gives the game such a high economic drive that every other format lives in the shadow of it. With that said, people have constantly raised their voices and have made efforts to keep test cricket alive. We’ve seen some great test matches in the last 3 years. One of the biggest problems the game faces right now is scheduling. There’s so much cricket being played all over the world. The majority of it is franchise cricket. Franchise cricket brings the majority of the money to the game and every player wants to be a part of it because of how economically convenient it is. Now, these tournaments take a big window out of the calendar. That leaves very little time for international bilateral series.
South Africa cancelled the one-day international tour to Australia to make sure that all top South African Players are available for CSA’s newly announced T20 franchise league. It seems clear which way the game is heading. Although, we cannot solely blame CSA for choosing franchise cricket over international cricket. If they didn’t make that decision, they could’ve almost been on the verge of being broke. They require investment to kick off their new league and that could’ve only been possible if the investors were sure that the international South African players will be available for the league from the start. Opting out from the Australia series means South Africa might not qualify for the world cup directly and will have to go to the qualifiers first. That’d indeed be something to keep an eye on.
One great issue is the imbalance in international cricket. There are only 3 cricket boards that can sustain their cricket on their own. India, Australia and England. Everyone else is dependent on each other. For example- if India tours West Indies for a test series, West Indies will make so much money that they won’t have to play cricket for the whole year because of how bad their economic situation is. Boards other than the strong 3 find it difficult to ask their players to play for their country rather than their franchises because they cannot offer the kind of money these Franchises do.
Credits- wikipedia
Cricket has reached a tipping point now. With more games being played than ever before. Players retire from a particular format because they cannot see a way to play all formats and sustain. Franchise cricket taking a huge chunk of time out of the calendar. All these things have made a lot of administrators reach to a conclusion. They’ve planned to reduce the number of bilateral series. Especially ODIs. The future for ODI looks rather bleak. Test cricket is not going anywhere and the same goes for the Revolutionary T20 form. ODI format finds itself in a tough position because it seems irrelevant in today’s age. The quality of cricket is not the same anymore. It feels like an extended version of T20 cricket. The most prominent ODIs that we’ll see in the future will be the World Cup. Cricket has truly changed.
Imagine waking up to see a day where you are denied using the cafeteria of the college or denied using the vending machine in the office because of your race or your caste, it would probably be the most horrible day of your life. To make sure that these things never happen to you, a lot of people fought and gave their lives to make sure that the future society is egalitarian. Fundamental rights ensure that you have the liberty to do what you want to do, how you want to do it and where you want to do it. You have the right to equality in a consumer market, in your workplace and in the social places you visit. You have the freedom of speech to voice your opinion wherever you feel it’s needed. Without fundamental rights, everything will be in a state of chaos
These are the basic rights that help the human being reach his maximum intellect and intelligence. Our rights ensure that we are governed by a law which respects our human rights. It ensures that the government stays well within their limits and cannot compromise the dignity of any human being whatsoever. We as human beings need a certain environment to achieve our intelligence and find ourselves. Fundamental Rights tries to ensure that we get that environment. The highlights of the preamble are justice, liberty, fraternity and republic. Your rights allow you to fight for your justice, it allows you to be liberal, it allows you to form your fraternity which makes you feel welcome and the republic ensures that the power is always within the people.
Credits- topper guide
Dr B R Ambedkar and a lot of other people saw a dream in which every Indian citizen should be equal before the law. When we look back at the colonial period, Our society was segregated into different parts because there was no sense of unity among people. This led to isolation from each other. This environment led us to disarray. To make sure a healthy relationship between the state and the people, fundamental rights play a huge part as it ensures freedom of speech which leads to better communication. Fundamental rights also ensure that society is always progressive because it promotes growth and stimulation. Our constitution is designed in such a way that it supports flexibility but that does not put our fundamental rights in threat in any way. It is the backbone of our country or any country.
What is citizenship journalism? It is more or less a medium through which rural people can communicate and share the ongoing problems in their state. One such example is cgnet Swara. Cgnet Swara started in 2004 as a website which acted as a middleman between the people and the news. Using the site is simple. All you need to do is call a number and tell them your problem and they’ll report it. A lot of times these stories have broken up like wildfire.
Ndtv once reported a piece of news that was reported by cgnet Swara first. The wonderful thing about this is illiterate people can also tell the news from the ground in a very convenient way. This is revolutionary. Keeping in mind that most of the people only speak their tribal language, it becomes hard for them to understand English or Hindi. But the problem with citizen journalism is that its structure is not very professional. Most of the time the calls might not result in anything because they are just opinions.
This is one of the reasons journalists are sceptical about this. Sometimes the mainstream media has used information from cgnet Swara and didn’t credit them. This makes the relationship worse. One of the officials from cgnet Swara said “Their relationship has become more antagonistic … It is very unfortunate, that local media see us as a competitor—which we cannot be and never intended to be. Every platform has its problems and strengths. We understand the structural problems of mainstream media and we want to fill in the gaps.” The initial goal of citizen journalism was to bridge the gap between the alienated theories that mainstream media provides us as entertainment. This is why the big conglomerates don’t like the idea of citizen journalism. Although it’s unprofessional, it represents the voices of the people in the rawest way possible. Since the narrative in India is controlled by a handful of people, they’ll always try to not let citizenship journalism grow. Going forward, one of the major challenges for citizen journalism is building a structure and improving fact-checking.
Plato was born in Athens, Greece, around 429 B.C. He was expected to become a politician by his family but he chose not to for two reasons and took the road of philosophy and mathematics. The first reason was the Peloponnesian War where he found out that some of his relatives were part of a dictatorship and were removed for corruption. The second reason was the death of Socrates who was the biggest influence in Plato’s life. Socrates was executed by the new Athenian government. Plato started writing and became a philosopher. He studied under Pythagoras in Sicily. After returning from there, he founded The Academy, a place where he and other people discussed philosophy and mathematics to come to better conclusions.
Plato’s allegory of the cave proves the power of reasoning over the senses. Personal human experiences will not amount to the truth. Proper philosophical reasoning is the only way to find the truth. To understand his allegory of the cave, you first need to understand his theory of forms. So Plato states that reality exists on two specific levels. First is the visible world which has sight and sound. Second is the intelligible world which gives the visible world its being. For example, when a person sees an ugly face he’s quickly able to identify its ugliness of it. Because in his mind he has an idea of ugly that allows him to point out ugly. He was able to spot the ugliness because he has an abstract idea of what ugliness is. The current state of that ugly face might change in the future because everything keeps changing in the visible world but the form of beauty, ugly etc is eternal and never changes. This is the theory of forms.
Credits- Amelia
Coming onto the theory of caves, The allegory of caves was a conversation between Socrates and Plato’s brother, Glaucon. Socrates asks Glaucon to imagine a world where illusion is believed to be reality. To prove his point further, he asks him to imagine a scenario where there’s a cave and 3 people are locked up inside the cave since their birth. Their necks and legs are chained and cannot escape from the cave. They can only see what is in front of them. Behind and above the prisoners is a fire, and between the fire and prisoners, there is a low wall from where people walk with objects in their heads. Now, these prisoners can only see the shadow of the object and therefore they believe the shadow to be the real form of the object. Because the prisoners have never been exposed to real objects, they start to believe that the real form of that object looks like a shadow. If a shadow of a hammer were to appear, they’d believe the shadow of the hammer to be the real hammer. They are not saying that it’s a shadow because in their reality no shadows exist. They think it’s an actual hammer. One of the prisoners will eventually be able to understand the nature of this illusionary world and would be able to guess what shadow will come next. This will lead to him being praised by the other 2 prisoners.
Suppose, one of the prisoners is set free. He escapes the cave and gets to see the world. He gets angry and frustrated after seeing the real world because he believes the cave illusion to be his reality. When his reality is disproved, he becomes angry, sad and frustrated because he is now forced to believe something else and step out of his comfort zone. Eventually, he’ll be able to make sense of what he has seen and accept that the cave illusion was not his reality. He has now accepted that his past was based on a lie and that is not the way he should perceive things going ahead because he has now found out that it was all an illusion. He goes back to the cave to tell the other prisoners about the real world. When he tells them whatever he has witnessed, they don’t believe him and threaten to kill him if he tries to free them. They are so comfortable in their fake reality that they don’t even want to make the effort of exploring a new possibility because that might lead them out of their comfort zone and face chaos. People mistake what is in front of them as reality and choose to live in ignorance. And when parts of the truth start to emerge in front of their eyes, they get frightened. Because that threatens their ignorant reality. However, a person who pays attention to these flashes of truth and is open to the idea of exploration will always have a better understanding of the world around him. Always aim for reasoning rather than simply believing what seems easy to believe.
Credits- steemit
*I was influenced to write this article after coming across the book Philosophy 101 by Paul Kleinman*
Greek philosophers in the 5th and 6th centuries started to question the world around them. They thought that greek mythology was too vague, and irrational and did not ask the right questions. They were in search of a more rational approach to the truths of life. They questioned where everything came from, what everything was, the role of mathematics and the existence of plurality in nature. They believed that not everything in the world is the same and some materials don’t stay in their present state forever. That’s why they laid the principles of change which they called archê.
The term “pre-Socratic” meaning before Socrates was coined and popularised by Hermann Diels. Socrates was alive at the same time when some of the pre-socratic philosophers existed so this term doesn’t necessarily mean philosophers before the birth of Socrates. It just means a different take from Socrates’ philosophical work. Pre-socratic philosophers produced texts. No texts have survived fully. These philosophies are based on the texts that could be gathered and quoted from the later historian which was usually biased.
There were some different schools of thought during this era. Some of them were The Milesian school, The Pythagorean school, The Eleatic school and The Atomist school. The Milesian school consisted of three important philosophers. Thales was the first. Thales claimed that a single element was water. Thales determined that water could go through changes of state like evaporation and condensation. He also knew that it was responsible for moisture. The second philosopher was Anaximander. Anaximander claimed that the single element was an undefined, unlimited and indefinite substance, known as Apeiron. The thing that separates Hot and Cold, solid and liquid is the Apeiron. His philosophy is similar to the Chinese philosophy of yin-yang. The third and last philosopher from The Milesian school was Anaximenes. He believed the single element to be air. According to him, the air is everywhere and can transform into something else. For example water, objects, clouds etc.
Anaximenes. (credits- stratis)
The Pythagorean school was formed by philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras believed that every answer to life can be found through mathematical calculations. Every rationale of life is derived from mathematics. He had a very cult-like following. His students were very true to his rules and ways of life. They’d often follow his exact instructions. His students believed that his studies were the prophecies of God.
The Eleatic school was based in the colophon. It had four main philosophers. The first one was Xenophanes. He did not believe that gods were anthropomorphic or had human characteristics in other words. He believed that there was only one god and he didn’t have a physical form but he can See, Hear, Think and control the world with his thoughts. The second philosopher was Parmenides. He believed that individual experiences don’t amount to the real truth. Truth can only be found through reason and not senses. His foundations hugely influenced Plato and the whole of western philosophy. The school of Elea started using reason to find the truth because of him. The third philosopher is Zeno. He was Parmenides’s most famous student and probably his lover too. He spent most of his life creating arguments that defended parmenides’ ideas. His most famous Argument is about pluralism. The notion that many things exist as opposed to one, will lead to more absurd conclusions. He believed plurality was an illusion. His work was later disproved but was hugely influential. The last one is the melissus of Samos. His philosophy was that what it differs from what it seems. According to him it never really is what it seems.
*I was influenced to write this article after coming across the book philosophy 101 written by Paul Kleiman*
Stoicism is a philosophy founded by the Zeno of Citium in Athens in the early 3rd century BC. According to this school of philosophy, there are two factors. The internal world and the external world. The internal world contains emotions, reactions, behaviour and all the things that a human being controls. The external world is wealth, status, validation etc. Stoicism describes wealth as neither good nor bad. Although a human being should always live a life of modesty and should not pay much attention to the external world. We do not control what happens in the external control but we do control our actions and our reaction toward the external world. We should build such a mindset where the external world doesn’t have an overwhelming effect on us.
In today’s generation, everyone’s life is a busy one. No one has the time to be free and reconnect with themselves. This makes us lose touch with ourselves. This is how the world moves. We are controlled by the external narrative and are always chasing some illusionary goal that we think will give us all the joy and happiness needed in life. We’re all chasing one thing or the other. But stoicism has always said that no material thing in the external world can attain happiness. You always have to look within. Bureaucracy makes us a slave to the external world and we do not break the pattern until we are dead.
Credits- words of wisdom
Stoicism teaches us to take control of our lives. It tells us not to be controlled by the greed of wealth and status. It encourages us to find ourselves. You can inculcate stoicism in your life by getting across some of the stoic readings. Marcus Aurelius was a believer In stoicism. He was probably the richest man when he existed. He was still believed to live a modest life and people around him worshipped his virtue. One has to grasp an understanding of the world he lives in and more importantly they have to grasp an understanding of themselves. Stoicism encourages independence in thinking. It makes us see what really exists.
Personally, stoicism gave me an understanding of what the external world is. I came across it when I was 16 years old. I was very materialistic as a kid. I used to seek joy in buying all the gadgets that I wanted. There were times when I used to feel hollow but I never really knew what it was and why do I feel that? Stoicism made me understand that void. The void had been created due to the lack of real value in my life. I realised it and started studying stoicism. With time, my understanding of the world got better. Sometimes it makes me laugh how unconcerned I was. We all get lost in our lives sometimes. The games that we make for ourselves can sometimes trap us. But a true human being will always find a way to see through the fake and embrace reality.
Blonde was released in 2016. The album has completed 6 years since its release. An album’s success is divided into 2 parts. The first one is the quality of the lyrics and the story of it. The second and a really important one is sound production. Sound production means the quality of sound. When you listen to any of the blonde’s track, you’ll realise how well produced the sound is. Every beat is so clean and soothing to the ears. Sound production makes a huge difference in the overall quality of the album. For example, Donda’s sound production was not very well done and lets the album down in a lot of ways. Blonde’s production was probably the best of this decade. The transition in the song “Nights” is so sick and is the highlight of the amazing sound production.
The album has some of the most diverse tracks. Ivy is a melodic soft indie lost love song whereas solo (reprised) is a fast and very catchy beat with a really good flow. Futura free is 10 mins long and continuously progresses its flow. There are abrupt audio clips filled in this album and that is a signature of frank ocean. Self-control starts in a very poppy fashion and translates into a coming of age song quick. Be yourself is a voice note from frank’s mom telling him not to get addicted to alcohol, drugs or marijuana because it will make him stupid, lazy and unconcerned. She also speaks about the importance of being yourself. Frank always finds a way to make his album feel more personal and intimate as he did with channel orange. After her mother’s voice note, he talks about rolling a solo for himself right in the next track. The album feels like a very honest and a true deep dive into frank’s life.
Credits- miranda devis
I think this is the reason people relate to it so much. I listen to some of the tracks every day like Self Control, Nights, Good Guy and Futura Free. Good guy is a cute lofi track where he is talking about a girl jasmine and reminiscing about how the relationship actually had more substance than he thought it had. Soon after good guy, Nights kicks and boy it kicks in so well. Everything about that song is perfect. The Pacing, Lyrics and the Transition. Apple Music in its description of blonde writes “an album we’ll be talking about for years to come” and here we are after 6 years of talking about it.
In the song solo, frank is talking about how he was very loud in public once and the police turned them down and suddenly very abruptly he says “I forgot to tell you how much I vibe with you” this feels so abrupt but so personal at the same time. It’s like you’re talking to someone about something and suddenly you tell them something totally different. Frank does it so beautifully. Another instance of his lyrical genius is spotted in the song self-control. He’s having some poolside conversation with a girl about her summer and this translates into something more. He says “ cause I made you use your self-control and you made me lose my self-control “ this is just brilliant writing. In the end, Blond is a very catchy, a very poppy but at the same time a very deep and personal album. Catch it if you still haven’t somehow.
I sat with my friend clive to know more about his culture. He told me how he was brought up to be a Christian and what were his values. He used to go to church every morning. Then we discussed if he has ever faced discrimination due to his religion. He didn’t feel that he has experienced discrimination. I also asked my Muslim friends if they’ve had any such experiences. They also felt the same way.
All of the people that I interviewed are from a well-to-do backgrounds. This makes me come to my next observation. Are people discriminated against because of their religion or because they belong from a not so well to do background? If you see in our society, Muslim or Christian people who have money don’t have to go through the religious stigma that other people go through. For example, a poor Muslim might have to go through a lot of discrimination as compared to a well-to-do Muslim. In today’s world if you are rich then you’re a powerful man.
Credits- gettyimages
I also had the opportunity of meeting a Muslim boy who was not very well-to-do. He told me that in his school, people were always given an opportunity before him. He was the last boy to be considered for every activity and he feels it’s because of his religion. I am not trying to make a stupid assumption but I feel this has some truth to it. In today’s world, if you belong to the higher class of society, you are likely to not go through any hardships due to your religion. Although, that is not completely true because there have been a lot of events where people were either kicked out or denied to take property at a certain place.
This activity led me to discover a lot of insights into the religious stigma that exists around me. I’d encourage everyone to go and ask people from vulnerable backgrounds about their lives. It serves two purposes. They get to share their sorrows and you become more informed about the situation of the matter.
Taoism is an ancient Chinese philosophy. This philosophy was supposedly written by Lao Tzu during 500 B.C.E. We don’t know if Lao Tzu existed. We have no living proof of his presence. Taoism is a philosophy that is based on non-doing. Not getting in your way. Respecting the natural flow of this universe. For example, if the force of the river is on the right side then you’d be a fool to swim towards the left side. Taoism is about going with the force of life or with the TAO. Tao is not a god but it’s us all, every living being is a part of the tao.
One of the key things about Taoism is yin & yang. It talks about the balancing force of this universe. Action and non-action, dark and light, hot and cold. Every example has meaning because their opposites exist. There is no action without non-action or no light without dark. This teaches us to accept all things for what they are. Taoism finds power in the natural truths of life. It promotes harmony. When we accept the natural form of this universe, we become one and attain harmony. The tao can’t be explained or held. It can only be felt by letting go.
“Look, but you can’t see it.
Listen, but you can’t hear it.
Reach out, but you can’t touch it.
Invisible,inaudible,intangible.
Elusive.
The one, the tao”.
• Lao Tzu.
What does getting in your way mean? We often second guess our instincts and in some situations that is necessary. Taoism is all about making things simpler rather than complex. Living in the now, acknowledging everything but still detached from it. Creating your own “way”. Inculcating meditation in your life is one way to do it. I can’t stress how much meditation helps in finding yourself. Taoist meditation is a little different from the normal one. It’s more about communicating with your own body.
Like stoicism, Taoism believes in a modest approach to life. If I were to give a personal example, my mind automatically dived toward the future and I wouldn’t even know that it did. It was an automatic reaction that kept happening. But since I’ve come across Taoism, this situation has gotten much better. It has made me more accepting of my habits and given me a “way” to deal with them. You can’t change everything about who you are, you can accept it and get better at dealing with it. Taoism helped me do that. The teachings of Lao Tzu make you go into a state of Nirvana. That state can’t be explained because it is something beyond words. The tao cannot be held or explained. It can only be felt.
What is Tao? It is just this. It cannot be rendered into speech. If you insist on an explanation, This means exactly this.
Micro learning is a form of short-term learning. Micro learning means learning small bits of information at a time that is simple to process. Over the last few years, everyone’s attention span is on a constant decline. In times like these, micro learning is a very efficient way of training people. It has its own pros and cons. It is very time efficient. It’s budget-friendly. It also keeps the learner hooked. But one of the biggest issues with this is that you can’t make people learn complex problems or concepts through this concept. Micro learning is a concept of an oversimplification to reduce the time and effort required to train. It may not be very useful when you aim to teach people complex concepts. In today’s world, we are surrounded by micro learning. Let’s take the internet, for example, a lot of people refer to different creators and sources for their consumption of information. They provide them with a total overview of a particular matter. This overview is rather oversimplified.
People seek political, local and lifestyle news in a simplified way. Short-duration content like reels and shorts or a ted talk are living examples of micro learning. Micro learning is a very good way to teach people small skills that are a means to a different end. For example, teaching someone how to operate a device or how to follow protocols. But it may not be very useful for teaching complex skills like writing, speaking and photography. Micro learning is the new way that people have preferred to learn about things that are relevant to them. If you can give them exactly what they need then it’s also not a very bad career choice. You must have come across many YouTube creators that simplify complex news and provide it to their viewers. That is a form of microlearning. It is a very popular and very effective way of grasping people’s attention.
I went into the Osho centre expecting a breath of fresh air and a new perspective on life. I had reached my saturation point and was seeking something meaningful. I learned a meditation technique there which changed my life forever. So the process, is that you have to lay down and breathe slower than you usually do. After doing that, you focus on your left leg and try to breathe through it. You move your attention towards the right leg and do the same. That’ll make your legs very light and peaceful. After doing this, you move all your attention to your navel centre which is the centre of your body and breath through it. If you do this correctly then that’ll give you immense harmony and peace. It feels as if all the negative vibrations are leaving your body. After this, you move your focus to your heart and breathe through it. And then from the face. In the end, you try to feel your whole body and try to breathe through your whole body. After this, you reflect on your meditation and take 3 deep breaths.
I’ve been practising this meditation for the last 2 months and it has made me comfortable with myself. I am now more accepting than ever, more confident than ever. It gave me a roadmap to working towards myself. Meditation makes you interact with yourself. When you do that consistently, you become more sure of who you are and what you want in life. I feel if you have clarity in life, everything automatically falls into place. Meditation definitely helped me do that.
I also met people from different walks of life in the centre. Middle-aged people, old people and young people doing completely different things. But doing things at their own pace and getting better at dealing with it every day. I came across a man whose name is Aditya. He is a middle-aged man in his 30s. He is not married and lives alone. In India, more often than not you expect a man in his 30s to be married cause that’s what society dictates. But he was completely free and detached from the social bounds we have. He was an artist working as a freelancer for the last 10 years. His energy was just different from the normal crowd. It was so refreshing to meet someone like that.
I always wanted to inculcate meditation in my life but I never had the discipline to do it until I started going to this centre. Meditation is so helpful for any human being because it makes you more conscious about yourself and when you are self-aware, you tend to make better decisions that affect you and you are aware of your flaws and you respect them. You find a way to deal with your vulnerabilities. I’d encourage my fellow members to go and seek out a spiritual experience free from the bounds of bureaucracy. This experience was personally so therapeutic for me and encouraged me to think in different ways and change my brain pattern towards life. It made me conquer my fear. And the only way to conquer fear is to accept it. I’d leave it at that.
A boy raised in a conservative Muslim family in America. What do you expect? Innocence right? Maybe you are right. It’s a normal night. Nasir wants to go to a party he was invited to but a friend who he was supposed to go with cancelled the plan last minute. He takes his father’s taxi without asking him, he really wants to go to the party. On the way to the party, he comes across some customers who ask him to drop them at a destination but he informs them he’s off duty, he gets into a little spat but they get out of the taxi eventually. After that, a girl comes and asks him to drop her at a beach. He doesn’t say no to the girl. Although, they do argue but he takes her nevertheless. On the way, he buys her a beer. They both sit down across a river and talk about their respective lives. Nasir likes her carefree nature because no one was as frank with him as Andrea was. They both go to her place to spend the rest of the night. Andrea traps Nasir into taking some drugs and eventually they sleep together.
Sounds like a night well spent right? The next day he wakes up and finds the girl dead!!!! Stabbed 22 times in her body. Nasir panics. He gathers his things and runs away and obviously so. He gets caught eventually which is also a long story but I‘d avoid telling that. Nasir eventually lands in jail and he encounters some crazy people. He’s very scared initially as anyone will be. According to me the jail part of the story is the best because it changed Nasir completely.
Even though he didn’t kill the girl but in the end, you are not quite sure if he deserves to be out of jail because the people around him Transform him completely. He is addicted now, he threatens people and does all the things a criminal would do. But one thing that the story makes you believe is that he didn’t kill the girl(which I am not quite sure of). Almost every subplot of the film leaves you with something to think about. His lawyer is a lonely person and fights his loneliness throughout the series. The friends he makes in jail are all the products of their surroundings. His parents are in self-doubt. And there’s courtroom drama which we all love. The show is so well layered and so well nuanced. It makes you think about a lot of things. It gives you the exposure to explore different human beings (their greys especially).
There are 2 kinds of cinema. One is which gives you a message and there’s another kind which makes you think about things. The highest quality of cinema is the one which makes you question your existence and your surroundings and that’s what the night of is. One thing which the show makes clear is human beings are a product of their surroundings as claimed by Kafka. Nasir was an innocent boy until he landed in jail where he met criminals who turned him into a criminal. It also makes you wonder that you really have very little to no control over your life. One day you are with a nice girl and the next day you are in jail.
I’d like to end this by saying that the night of at any moment doesn’t let you feel that whatever is happening is not real, they don’t use cliche filmmaking techniques. It has a very unique quality to it which makes you think about every character. There are films which make you feel very excited but when you leave the theatre you don’t even think of those films and then there are films which bore you and make you doze off but you can’t keep these films out of your mind because it constantly makes you think and those are the films worth watching. I don’t rate films because I think it’s unfair to rate someone’s vision and hard work but I can tell you that you’ll not be disappointed watching this beautiful show on Hotstar.
The world we live in today continues to grow more anxious and ignorant of their surroundings. Information is indeed a boon for humankind but there’s only so much data we can process in a day. The problem is that we have an abundance of data available which is harming us in ways we can’t imagine. To reduce our tension we seek help from pharmaceutical industries but are they worthy of our trust? No. Then, what is our substitute? Or rather I should say what’s better for us? A possible answer can be psychedelic substances. In the recent past, there have been a lot of studies and experiments in the psychedelic environment which have been successful. These substances can help human beings fight depression, anxiety issues and different brain disorders. And this is just one of the realms of possibilities that psychedelics are capable of.
I will be discussing two case studies carried out by robin Carhart-harris who is a neuroscientist at imperial college. The first study revolves around the story of a man called kirk rutter who was in grief after his mother’s demise followed by a break-up and a car accident. Such events can disturb any human being. Kirk was in depression. He couldn’t think of anything but negative thoughts. He felt guilty, disturbed and sad. He called his condition “an automatic circuit” as he lost control over his thoughts. He had been on a lot of different medications but nothing helped him. Finally, he decided to participate in a study conducted by Carhart-harris. Rutter was taken into a room where the researchers studied his brain activity through magnetic resonance imaging [MRI]. Then harris explained to him about the drugs which he’ll receive and told him he’ll neutralize the hallucinogen if he couldn’t handle it. Then the two practised a technique which’ll help him calm down if he becomes overwhelmed. Rutter burst into tears while doing that. The next day he came back and was handed two pills by a researcher containing a synthetic form of psilocybin [psychedelic substance]. He lay on a bed and put on his headphones and an eye mask. The process began, the first hallucinations that he saw were some Sanskrit words and then he went on to reflect on his grief. He took his eye mask off and noticed that harris had an eye in the centre of his face[of course he’s hallucinating] and harris joked “I might be looking very different to you” they both laughed. Rutter talked about his resentment and discussed his life with harris like he never did before. The next day he returned for the second dose which was stronger. The trip was followed by an integration session where he would discuss his experience.
Rutter went on record to say “ This process made me look at grief differently. It was a realization that it wasn’t helping. Letting go was not a betrayal”. Rutter was depressed for more than 6 years before this study. He was convinced that this experience changed his life for the better. He feared sometimes will the automatic circuit return? But he has some control over it now. 5 years later, his depression has not returned.
The second study carried out by harris included 12 people who were clinically depressed for more than 17.8 years on average. I am stressing over the term “clinically depressed”. They were also given the psychoactive substance available in magic mushrooms called psilocybin. No other medication could help this lad. One week after the oral dose all the patients experienced improvements in their symptoms. After 3 months, 5 of them were in complete remission. Harris said, “this is remarkable in the context of currently available treatments”. These researchers do not claim psilocybin to be the last resort to cure depression. They just claim that this can be done. After all, they were able to cure clinically depressed patients which no other legal medication could do.
The major argument that concerns psychedelics right now is the legalization of the substance. The science community believes that it should be legalized because it can help a lot of people fight their condition. If it becomes legal we can regulate the product and we can also create a safer environment whenever anyone consumes it. Researchers have enough evidence about its therapeutic potential and if this movement is promoted by authorities then it’ll be a huge boon for humanity. Legalization of anything increases the consumer’s safety as it’s labelled and safe for consumption. There are no major arguments against it but some scientists do believe that open consumption of psychedelics can lead to chaos but they have not considered the fact that if it gets legal it’ll be regulated. The scientists have virtually no funding to continue their research on these substances and also the public perception of these substances is very vague and false. Scientists argue that the awareness around this should be increased.
The public perception of these substances is the real problem. People put these drugs in the same category as crack and cocaine which is a very dangerous simplification. Although the majority of people are unaware of these substances but false interpretation dampers the image of the product. Psychedelics are referred to as “party drugs” but they are much more than that. The people who are aware of it are very limited and are unable to successfully communicate about it. Psychedelics needs to step out of its ivory tower and try to spread its importance where people don’t know anything about it. There are some communities in places like Haiti and amazon forest that celebrate the psychedelic culture and fully embrace it. But they are very small in number.
Before 1968, LSD and Psylocibin were legal. There were a lot of reasons for it getting banned. One of the reasons was the irresponsible behaviour of the civilians. People used it without really knowing about the substance. Your environment plays a big role when you are under the influence of psychedelics. If your environment is appropriate then your trip can be very soothing but if it’s not then it can result in psychosis. Some people ended up murdering someone. Although the biggest reason was the tyranny of the US government. Countries that had a well established psychoactive and pharmaceutical industry would’ve suffered huge losses if psychedelics expanded. The USA was one of them. The USA introduced a new classified system called scheduling. Under this system, drugs marked under schedule 1 are dangerous and offer no therapeutic value and the drugs marked under schedule 5 are safe and have some therapeutic value. LSD and Psylocibin were marked under schedule 1 even though enough evidence concluded that these substances have promising therapeutic potential. There was a conference organized between countries that had strong pharmaceutical markets and countries that we’re struggling to establish a pharmaceutical market. You can guess who won. psychedelics became illegal in most parts of the world. President Nixon’s assistant to the president John Ehrlichman went on record to say and I quote “The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. Do you understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course, we did.” And after that, the criminalization has never stopped.
My opinion on this is every person who can experience these substances should do it. I am saying this because I’ve had some personal experiences with LSD. I have consumed LSD a couple of times and I can say without a doubt that It was the most profound experience of my life. What it does is it makes you reflect on your vulnerabilities. It doesn’t matter if you like it or not. You question your rights and wrongs and your worldview. We all are insecure about ourselves but we never take out the time to reflect and introspect. Lsd made me do that. It made me more aware of my surroundings, it made me more empathetic towards people so I can see things from their perspective. And most importantly, it made me resolve the conflicts within me. I had created an elite class system within me that I was hardly aware of. I used to judge and see people through this class system. During my trip, I realised that and immediately made a promise to myself that I will resolve this. That’s why I chose this topic. I was personally affected and I thought I can explain to people what a wonderful thing psychedelics can be. Like me, a lot of people find it hard to deal with their conflicts and I genuinely feel LSD can help them. If there’s such an efficient and wonderful medicine available to us, why don’t we use it for our benefit? There’s a reason we have a DMT receptor in our brain.
I would like to conclude by saying that with proper regulations psychedelics can help human beings increase their quality of life. I’ve given enough evidence to back my statement. All it needs is some support from the government and some positive word of mouth. Soon, there will be a lot of experiments and trials concerning this.
Virat Kohli has found life to be tough over the last 3 years or so. His form has dipped massively. He’s clearly not the same batter right now as we know him to be. There is nothing wrong with his technique in particular. There are some areas for improvement but that is a natural progression for any batsmen. He recently gave up captaincy of all formats. He also gave up his franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore’s captaincy. There has been a lot going on around him. I’ll try to breakdown his game plan in each format of the game.
Virat’s problem in T20 cricket has been his low striking ability against spin. We’ve often seen him struggling against spin in the middle overs failing to find boundaries and sometimes even struggling to rotate strike which has been his biggest strength for a long time. He tries to compensate for his limitations with spin bowling by being extra aggressive against pace. He has a strike rate of 145 inside the powerplay. Although, it dropped down to 90 in the middle overs during IPL 2021. This year’s IPL was Virat’s most forgettable season of all time. He averaged an abysmal 22.5 per innings with a strike rate of 115. This is very unlike Kohli. He just looked overcooked and completely out of his fluent touch this season.
He hasn’t played a lot of ODI cricket in the last few years and I believe this is the format that will help him get back into form. India plays England today at the oval. There are reports that he might not play today due to a groin strain. But, I hope that he plays today because he should use every opportunity that he has to get back to form. In ODI cricket, there is no added pressure to increase the run rate and the ball also doesn’t do much in the middle overs. Thus, this format is his best chance to get back to form. He can rotate the strike in the middle overs and extend his innings till the death overs to attack as he has done so many times.
Virat Kohli is a true ambassador of test cricket. He is the most successful test captain of India in so many ways. He made India successful in overseas conditions. India developed their best pace attacks in ages during his reign. His test form recently has been a disappointment. I believe, his main problem in test cricket has been a lack of scoring areas. If you look at some of the centuries that have been scored by Indians in test cricket have been attacking innings. They had to take the attacking option at some point in the game. While Virat has shown immense discipline and exemplary technique in the last few years. He played an exceptional innings of 79 runs against South Africa in the last test of the series. His problem has been a lack of scoring phases in his innings. He has to find more scoring options in test cricket. Because with the kind of quality test sides have in their bowling, you can’t just play the waiting game. You have to attack at some point.
Virat Kohli is already a legend. He has achieved everything that he can possibly dream of. Although, for him to get back to form now. He has to play one-day internationals. We all hope to see the best batsmen we’ve possibly ever witnessed get back to form.
2022 like any other year has a lot of interesting projects that have my attention and I am eagerly waiting for a few films. The 1st film that I’ll be talking about is THIS MUCH I KNOW TO BE TRUE. This film is a musical journey of a man who sees himself through the devil. It is directed by Andrew Dominik. Nick cave and warren Williams make music which is influenced by the devil. In the trailer, there is a dialogue which goes like “you have discovered that the veil that separates your ordered life from disarray is very thin”. The trailer has some gritty visuals that immediately make you immersed in nick caves’ world. I am very excited about this project. It is slated to release this July in India.
THIS MUCH I KNOW TO BE TRUE TRAILERNOPE
The second film that I am looking forward to is NOPE by Jordan Peele. Jordan Peele has delivered some excellent films in the past in the form of US(2021) & GET OUT(2017). US is my personal favourite. It is about a family who finds out that there is an exact clone version of themselves who is trying to kill them. The reason they despise the real family is that they’ve been living in the dark for their whole life while they get to live a happy and normal life. The thing that makes them envy the other family so much is that they have their bodies and they have their traits but their souls differ. This is the thing that separates them. It was a very interesting watch and that is why I am looking forward to this film which will come out later this year.
NOPE TRAILER SUCCESSION
The third project is not a film but it’s an HBO series called succession. Succession is probably the best HBO show ever. It’s about a media conglomerate which is owned by the Roy family. It sheds light on the family politics that go behind the scenes and how a media conglomerate works. We get to see how every member of the Roy family has some personal motive and no one can be trusted. Everyone wants to be at the top and they can go to any margin for it. The show also tells its audience how the Roy family handles their public image by constantly changing the narrative for their own good. It’s a kind of show that always moves in tandem with what is happening and has happened in the past. The story is so well connected that you can understand the character development of all the actors in the show. The first 3 seasons are already out so watch it if you haven’t already. Season 4 will most likely be out by this year’s end or the start of 2024.
Ye belongs from Chicago. He was born in 1977, on 8th June. He used to produce beats for other artists before he transformed into a rapper himself. People around him who gave him work thought more of him as a producer rather than a rapper. He used to cook beats for ROCK-A-FELLA RECORDS. People from the Record label accept it today that they did not see Kanye west becoming the rapper he became today. One of the Artists from the record label said “ I knew he was a rapper but I was like stick to the beats kid”. Nobody saw YE coming. When he rapped one of his verses to Pharell Williams, He was quite shocked. Kanye had been trying to get in touch with Pharell for a while but he couldn’t. Pharell was touched by the piece that Kanye did for him. Birth of a jeen-yuhs was taking place.
Kanye has been involved in some questionable moments all his life. But the life he breathes to his music is above all the white noise that he surrounds himself with. Some people can call Kanye’s energy narcissistic and maybe rightly so. But, I believe this is the energy that makes his music alive. His songs are so Kanye that when you listen to them you know it’s Kanye. This energy has given him a different identity that is unique to him and makes him arguably the biggest rapper of his time. His mother’s presence in his life is a big reason for what kanye has achieved today. Donda West died in 2007. He released an album dedicated to his mother in 2021. This shows you how much his mother meant to him. There’s a clip in his documentary where his mother is trying to tell him by how he can come off as rude to people sometimes. I expected Kanye to burst out and say something stupid at that moment but he didn’t. He actually accepted it in a way and you could see in his eyes that there was an actual realisation of his action. Donda had her way with Kanye.
Kanye and Donda.
Ye’s biggest downfall in his career was when he started having problems with his mental health in 2016. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. In his documentary, he said to one of his team members “ man I took pill yesterday just so I can talk to you normally right now”. This can give you some insight into his state. His decision about running for president didn’t help his public image either. People took it as a big joke and questioned his sanity. You could see by the public appearances he made post-2016 that he was indeed troubled. Nobody exactly knows the reason behind it. But there were a lot of things that happened to him in the last 5 years. Fallout with kid Cudi, divorce, the album pushed back and his mental misery. Ye’s life is so layered and grey. No one can deny that he’s a musical genius but at the same time, some of his acts in the public make him look like a foolish man who is still not over his teenage. There are so many tags you can associate him with. That’s what makes him so interesting.
Ye has done a lot of things which he won’t be proud off but one thing that he did absolutely right was his music. He is such a inspirational artist to so many aspiring rappers. He gave Hip-Hop a much needed new life by his presence.
“’Cause now I see women as somethin’ to nurture, Not somethin’ to conquer”
Dadasaheb Phalke’s ‘Raja Harishchandra’ revolutionised an art form which would become a huge influence in almost everyone’s life. Films form public opinion and evoke different emotions. The way of expression in films is very unique. A book has a way of its own and every art form is unique. But a film can exactly deliver the desired message because it is visual and there are a lot of human elements involved.
The evolution of Indian cinema is divided into different phases. The silent era was the first one. Silent films were produced during the 1890s-1920s. The wrestlers (1899) by H.S bhatavdekar is considered the first Indian film ever by an Indian. It was a film documentary. It was about a wrestling match which was held at the hanging gardens in Bombay. Due to the enthusiasm from a lot of different filmmakers, the Indian film industry rose rapidly. Tickets were affordable to the normal audience. Filmmakers started to incorporate daily Indian social life to make the film more interesting and relatable to the audience.
Alam ara highlights the talkies era. Alam ara was released in 1931. It was the first Indian film which had sound. Joymoti by Jyoti Prasad Agrawala was released in 1935. Jyoti Prasad also went to Berlin to learn more about films. The popular culture of music in films began during this era. Studios started to emerge in main cities like Bombay, Madras and Calcutta. Kisna Kanhiya, the first colour film produced in India came out during this era. A film called wrath was banned by the British raj because it depicted Indian freedom fighters as leaders. A film named Sant Tukaram went to the Venice film festival for its depiction of a saint and a poet. A deadly combination indeed. It was judged as one of the three best films of the year. The seeds of Indian masala film were sown during this era. An Indian masala film has everything. Dance, Music, Drama and Action. This type of film brings out huge crowds into theatre today and is one of the spectacles of India in a way. Although, due to the partition a lot of studios moved to Pakistan. Partition became a hot topic to make films.
Satyajit ray with his movie reel
The golden era is dedicated to the genius of Satyajit ray. In the third part of the Apu trilogy, there’s a scene where apu and his friend are just walking beside a railway track. They are chatting about their lives. The talks of APU’s marriage come up among other things. The scene captures the vibe of Calcutta so nonchalantly. It’s just two friends talking to each other. The flow of the scene feels so natural. Satyajit ray’s films teleport you into the Calcutta of the 60s. Satyajit Ray was the master of social realism. Another film is boot polish directed by Prakash Arora. There’s a scene in the film in which Bhola(brother) is telling belt(sister) not to beg for a living. She’s starving and the only way she can feed herself is by begging. But because it goes against his brother’s philosophical ideology, she chooses to resist the temptation. But the poor girl can’t resist her hunger for long and picks up a coin and right after that her brother slaps her. She says while crying “bhook Lagi hai Bhai”. Now his brother has to choose between his honour and duties. He can choose to not pick up the coin and maintain his moral high ground or he can feed her sister. The scene captures this conflict so perfectly. The camera captures the whole environment of the room. This type of film was made during this era. Films based on social realism. Masala films also became very popular during this time. Art films and commercial films started to co-exist.
The FFC’s art film orientation came under criticism for not pushing enough commercial films. The duo of Salim-Javed revitalised commercial cinema. They always came up with gritty action thrillers like zanjeer and deewar. They are considered the greatest screenwriters of all time. Crime action films became very popular during this era. The peak of masala films. Although, this made the audiences used to a very predictable plot. Anyone would be able to anticipate what will happen next because it became so predictable. All-time blockbusters like Sholay came out in 1975. The term Bollywood was also coined during this era.
In the late 1980s, everyone was tired of watching the same old action thrillers. The footfalls became less and less until disco dancers. Disco dancers introduced the concept of disco in India. Disco dancer was the biggest hit of the year even in Russia. It introduced Bappi Lahiri as a music director. Mithun and Bappi Lahiri have given countless hits together. Then came the era of romance. Yash raj Chopra’s DDLJ sums up the decade of the 90s. Shah rukh khan became a sensation through his charming acting in romantic films like Kuch Kuch Hota hai , Dil to Pagal hai etc. He gained massive popularity worldwide. Sadly though, as the concept of Bollywood evolved. It became more about money rather than the art as in any other industry. The moment anything becomes an industry. It loses its beautiful touch. That’s what happened with Bollywood. Filmmakers in Europe or France can dare to think about anything today and make something about it. The problem with us is that we cannot even afford to think anything outside the box. Our bandwidth as an audience is very low. We only like to watch films of certain kinds.
The regional cinema has also grown immensely and in some ways is doing better than the Hindi film industry. The film chain in India today is very strong. Thank you to the Dadasahebs, Satyajit’s and anands of India.
In February 2021, there was a brutal police attack in one of the informal settlements of Kenya called Mathara. A cop shot one of the teenagers, Dominic Kulema, leaving him severely injured. He ran inside a youth centre to save himself. He pleaded to the police for his life with his hands raised. But, the Police forced him out of the building and killed him. This story hardly made it to any news whatsoever. This is part of a normalised pattern that exists in the informal settlements of Kenya. Police kill a lot of young people without any criminal background because they think it is “morally right”.
In 2020, A total number of 167 people were killed or misplaced according to missing voices Kenya (Human rights organisation that tracks extrajudicial killings). Despite well-funded police reforms launched by the government, this brutal practise has not stopped. Some anthropologists are trying to find the grassroots reasons for these activities and it dates back to colonialism. It is also a moral conflict country like Kenya. Police kill young people because they think it is morally right to do.
The foundations of the social division and brutal police system were laid in the first few decades of its existence. In 1899, Great Britain established the settlement as a rail depot between the port of Mombasa and the Nile River. Nairobi was named the capital of Britain’s east Africa protectorate. The European settlers started to capture the better lands of the settlement and left the unhygienic and disease-prone areas for the African workers and localities. They never developed the basic infrastructure that was needed in this settlement.
In 1920, Kenya was declared an official colony, the British also established the Kenyan police force in the same year. African men were required to wear a box around their neck with their name, tribe and employer written on it. These police forces monitored their movement within the city. Administrators had the power to evict or expel African workers which basically means they had the power to kill them.
In the 1950s, The Kenya Land and Freedom Army, comprised of landless Africans gathered and fought for their lost lands, terrorising white settlers. Seeing this, the Administration enlisted a Home Guard, comprised of native Africans working for the colonial government and were fully given the authority to enforce the law and they did that very brutality. It was later formalised as administration police (AP).
A group of African people hired by the colonial government.
This dual system existed even after independence in 1963. In 2019, the AP was absorbed by the Kenya police force. While AP conducted raids, the police force was focused on more day-to-day policing of the affluent areas in Kenya.
Kenya is not the only country that deals with dual law practising. In the united states of America, some people are treated democratically while some minorities are treated harshly.
The day Kulema died, his friend collins witnessed everything and immediately approached the Mathare social justice centre (MSJC), a ray of hope in the doomed land of Kenya. It was co-founded by anthropologist Kimari. MSJC has been trying to track this kind of story for years. They rely upon local community sources like collins. They released their first report of epidemic killings in Nairobi in 2017. Kinnari calls this “ A systematic annihilation of young people “. In February 2021, MSJC reported 14 killings of young people. These brutal police forces also target the families of young people.
They perform female genital mutilation which is just beyond being inhuman.
Organisations like MSJC have made people in Mathara realise their need for basic human rights. It has made people come together and fight for each other. A supporter of MSJC said and I quote “their power vanishes the moment we stop fearing “. Due to the active voice raised by this organisation, the killings have decreased and women are safer now. There is a visible fear in the police’s minds about killing more people. While this is a huge fight, we can already see small changes in place due to the efforts of organisations like these.
Eoin Morgan after scoring a century against Afghanistan in the 2019 world cup
Eoin Morgan has announced his retirement from international cricket. His last appearance in International Cricket was against the Netherlands on June 19th,2022. Morgan was handed over the England captaincy just before the 2015 World Cup. Eoin Morgan changed the way England approached white-ball cricket forever. Under Morgan’s captaincy, England took an all-out aggressive approach on the field. Almost everyone in England’s playing 11 can bat at present. The aggressive longevity in their batting is Morgan’s biggest gift to England.
He led England to a World Cup win in the dramatic final of 2019. He Led England twice in the T20 World Cup. They were the finalists in 2016 and semi-finalists in 2021. Morgan took KKR to the final of IPL from a situation where no one expected them to even qualify for the play-offs. Morgan believed in a more tactical approach towards the game and worked in tandem with Nathan Leamon. This strategy has helped him achieve a lot of accolades. Morgan took his National Side from a position of disarray to ecstasy. We should remember his legacy for the time to come. It’d be interesting to see where Jos Buttler takes England from now.
Jos Buttler after scoring a century for England in one day internationals
Jos Buttler, in his interview with sky sports, explained how the pressure on him is more than ever because of the legacy that Morgan is leaving behind. England has almost won all the bilateral series at home in the last few years. Under Morgan’s captaincy, England won 76 one-day internationals out of 126 matches. And in T20 internationals, they won 42 out of 72 matches with 27 of them being Losses, 2 ties and 1 no result. This is a fantastic record for any captain. Jos Buttler also talked about how some players will be unavailable for white-ball games due to their red ball duty in the coming time.
However, Morgan will continue to play domestic cricket and will skipper his THE100 side London Spirit. We might also see him in next year’s IPL if he finds his lost form back. With all that said, The future of England’s white-ball cricket is in the hands of the Buttler-Mott pair. Their Next assignment is against the Indians which begins with the 1st T20 internationals on the 7th of July. This will be a mouth-watering series as both the sides are top quality and have some of the best players in the world.
England’s red-ball team is also flying high under the leadership of ben stokes. They recently thrashed New Zealand 3-0 on their home soil and won the test against India to level the series. The ‘bazball’ formula has worked wonders for the red ball side as they have chased scores of 250+ 4 consecutive times in the second innings. This is a quite remarkable landmark. Although, it’d be interesting to see if they can sustain this formula going forward on tough pitches. Australia’s best Test Batsman Steve Smith said “ it’s been exciting. I’m just intrigued to see how long it lasts if it’s sustainable, “ Smith told the reporters ahead of the 2nd test between Australia and Sri Lanka. He believes that this formula may not work on a grassy pitches with the likes of Josh Hazlewood , Pat Cummins and Mitchell starc storming in to bowl. Let’s see what destiny holds for these new England Sides.
Ben stokes after the iconic Headingly win in 2019.
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