LEARNING FOR TODAY

If we had elections for the most popular words used by people , then certainly 'Nepotism' would come out all guns blazing as the front runner for the last few months. Nepotism literally means favoritism i.e when the personal preference overpowers merit in positions of public influence. Today I put forward a general theory based on the writings of Karl Marx , Max Weber and Andre Beteille to explain - 1. Why does nepotism exist? 2.  How does it develop and what are the various stages through which it grows? 3. How nepotism transformed the varna system into a caste system.. 4. Nepotism today and the beginning of a new caste system. Analysis In this blog , I will initially state a theory in abstract and then take the examples of Politics , Bollywood and Professions to substantiate the theory.  The Theory of Nepotism The most visible form of Nepotism can be seen in public life. Also our public life is invariably linked to the economic activities that we participate in. Hence the

Today the world order is characterised by logic and rational thinking. All our decisions are based on our own choice after assessing competing theories given by experts.Even on simplest of issues like what are the most fashionable clothes to what are the best moral values we get numerable choices to choose from based on varying logics.  However , it is interesting to note that even in this world driven by logic , religion has stood like a solid  rock withstanding all attacks from science. Hence, one must wonder that with the arrival of democracies when the intellectuals had written off religion as a thing of the past we see the influence of religion in the most modern societies. In USA , abortion is an issue , in Europe the Pope still has authority while in middle east the 'modern' Israel calls itself a Jewish state. Communism as a political system challenged religion and we all know what happened to USSR. The following blog is based on the writings of Anthony Giddens from UK w

The need for this blog too comes from the conversations that I have had with people around me who seem to have a very negative image of Jawaharlal Nehru. This image is based on several myths that have been propagated over the years as an attack on Congress ( the political party ). While I do not support this Congress , I support the Indian Congress which had the support of Indians from all the spectrum of ideologies pre-independence. That Congress belongs to the nation and not to some dynasts of a certain Prime Minister.  The aim of this blog is not to defend Congress ( the political party ) or Nehru (the first prime Minister). I write this blog to defend the freedom fighter Jawaharlal Nehru and his contribution to the making of India as a nation. Myths addressed- 1. Nehru became the first PM only because he was preferred by Gandhi. 2. Sardar Patel should have been the first PM of India as he was more popular. 3. Partition happened only because Nehru wanted to be the PM , had Jinnah b

The inspiration to write this blog comes from several conversations I have had with people around me who are filled with apprehensions about role of Gandhi in the freedom movement. In the year of his 150th birth anniversary let us  bust some common myths that we all may have come across about the ' father of our nation ' Myths Addressed 1. Non violence is a fallacy , it didn't serve any purpose and was a failed and cowardly strategy to seek independence. 2. Gandhi did not win us independence , it was Bhagat Singh , Subash Bose who won independence for India. Gandhi just took credit for it. 3. Gandhi could have saved Bhagat Singh and prevented his hanging. 4. Gandhi had a shady personal life with other women. Analysis Myth 1: The utility of Non Violence Non Violent approach advocated by Gandhi is often termed as cowardly and begging British for mercy. It is often said that the better approach could have been picking up arms and forcefully evicting the British out of India. L

Karl Marx - " The family is an arrangement to derive unpaid labour out of women " Aristotle - " The male by nature is superior and the female inferior. The male is the ruler and female the subject ". All liberal texts talk about how all humans are the same and deserve to be treated equally. Yet we all are part of a system which systematically oppresses women in ways which today we take for granted. So how does this juggernaut of male chauvinism work? How is our society structurally organised to help contain women and leave them as objects of desirability? Was the system always like this?  How do seemingly gender neutral concepts like technology , productivity , monarchy , militarisation of society etc. contributed in making our society patriarchal. Today we answer this and much more! Questions Addressed 1. If all humans were created equal by God , how did one sex assume superiority over the other? What is the evolution of patriarchy? 2. How do factors such as techno

In the last blog  we discussed Karl Marx and how this person became so polarising that it fuelled a a cold war that lasted half a century. We also discussed what is a ' ruling class ideology ' and how it impacts our thinking on what is right and what is wrong. Today , let's move forward with that theory and analyse - 1. Why did the most significant caste and religious reform movements in India took place only after the arrival of British? 2. Was the Indian freedom struggle a part of a big conspiracy? Analysis Let us begin with a revisit to the concept of ' Ruling class ideology '. The sociologists have continuously wondered that the caste system was akin to slavery for the untouchables.  It gave disproportionately high influence to the brahmins in deciding what is right and what is wrong. They wrote all the major dharmashastra ( rulebook for society in Hinduism ) which gave them privileges based on their birth.  If this was not enough they condemned generations af