Battle for reason in Punjab

India has umpteen numbers of gods and religions. But it also has several rationalists’ movements working actively among public in different parts of the country. Though three prominent rationalist intellectuals were murdered in cold blood in recent years and the murderers are yet to be caught, Indian rationalists are continuing their efforts to spread scientific temper courageously and relentlessly.

The NDTV recently broadcast a documentary film on rationalist movement in Punjab lead by Tarksheel Society.

 

battle for reason

Please watch it here.

Pseudo scientific threat to health care

All diseases, their causes and treatment are one. Except for traumatic and environmental conditions, the cause of all diseases is one i.e. accumulation of morbid matter in the body. The treatment of all diseases is elimination of morbid matter from the body.

Acute diseases are self-healing efforts of the body. Hence, they are our friends, not the enemy. Chronic diseases are outcome of wrong treatment and suppression of the acute diseases.
Nature is the greatest healer. The human body itself has the healing power to prevent itself from disease and regain health if unhealthy.
In Nature Cure it is not the disease but the entire body of the patient which is caused and is renewed.

In Nature Cure the suppressed diseases are brought to surface and are removed permanently.
Naturopathy treats all the aspects like physical, mental, social and spiritual at the same time.
Naturopathy treats the body as a whole.
According to Naturopathy, “Food is only the Medicine”, no external medications are used.
Performing prayer according to one’s spiritual faith is an important part of treatment (According to Gandhiji “Rama Nama is the best Natural Treatment.)

 

The above quote is not from a woo woo pseudo science  website. It is from a website of Indian government department for alternative medicine called Ayush. Ayush includes Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Sidha , Homeopathy and Naturopathy.

 

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Killed for trading in cattle

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Two men who went to a nearby market to sell their cattle for slaughter were found hanging on a tree on early hours of this Friday. This happened in the Indian state of Jharkhand, about 60 miles from the state capital of Ranchi.

See the Times of India report:

In an incident reminiscent of the Dadri lynching, two Muslim men herding eight buffaloes on their way to a Friday market were beaten up and hanged to death from a tree by suspected cattle-protection vigilantes in Balumath forests in Latehar district, 100km from the state capital, early on Friday.

The deceased, Muhammad Majloom, 35, and Azad Khan alias Ibrahim, 15, were cattle traders and related to each other. Their bodies were strung up with their hands tied behind their backs and their mouths stuffed with cloth.

“The manner of their hanging showed that the assailants were led by extreme hatred,” said Latehar Superintendent of Police  Anoop Birthary.

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Isolation or assimilation ?

 

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A man, accused by credible witnesses of killing a 5 month old child, has not been arrested yet in India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The delay in arrest is not because of corruption related lethargy of law enforcement agency as many may suspect. The fact is police is waiting for direction from the government.

Why a direction from top bureaucrats necessary in a simple case of murder?

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He found death through his love

dalit

                                                                      

 Let me narrate a real life incident that happened few days ago at a place in India, few miles from my town.

A 22 year old student, Shankar, studying in final year for an Engineering course fell in love with Kausalya, a junior girl student of the same college. They got themselves married about 8 months ago. She took some time off from studies to take a job so that she can support her husband in his last year.

One day they went out shopping and were attacked by a group of unknown assailants with lethal weapons.  He was brutally murdered in broad day light while she escaped with serious injuries.

Why were they attacked and why was he killed?

In India it was a rare, almost blasphemous marriage. He was a Dalit, formerly called untouchable, from a family in the lowermost rung of caste or social hierarchy. She came from a family much above in the caste ladder. As per the custom in Indian society from time immemorial, a person should marry from his or her own caste. Dalits are considered as “sinned” souls and a marital relationship with such a family is unimaginable.

Her family vociferously opposed the marriage. They went to get legal help, but as she was above 18 years, a major as per Indian law,  she was allowed to do as per her wishes.

Though the legal system, under the 65 year old liberal modern looking Indian constitution allowed love to rule, the society, still ruled by thousands of years of Hindu traditions, refused to accept it.

Her father it seems has asked some of his friends to kill his son in law and daughter, so that he can escape the ignominy of having a Dalit son in law and a grandchild with Dalit blood.   The legal system may punish the culprits, but the sad fact is that the casteist Indian society at large will condone their crime.

India might be the most populous democracy in the world , but it still deny basic human rights , not by law but by custom, to large sections of its own population.

Picture courtesy The Indian Express

 

 

Hello there

Hi everyone ,

I am a little overwhelmed at being selected to blog here. Trying to get used to it -:

Let me introduce myself. I am from India. When not blogging  or trying to propagate a rational world view in the Indian society both online and offline , I work as a doctor practicing medicine 8-10 hours a day , 6 days a week in a small town in the south of the country.

My posts here will be mostly about issues faced by freethinkers in India , about its religions, politics, threats to scientific temper and secularism , gender , caste  etc. I may also write about world politics , science , clinical medicine , pseudo science and anything that I find interesting.

Opinions I express here are just drafts , which can be edited and altered if there are strong evidence to back such a change. So I welcome discussions in a civil manner so that all of us can reach a logical , rational , evidence based view points on most issues.

A word about blog title. Many would be wondering what is this Nastik in the title. Nastik means atheist in many of the Indian languages.

So bye for now and HAPPY READING !