Connotation

The magnificent elephants caves considered as the logo of Maharashtra tourist development corporation shows a 20ft high monolith of the three headed Trimurti represents three aspects of shiva – right half face signifying life , left half face its obverse and the central face shows shiva in deep meditation. These awe inspiring rocks similar to the ones in Ellora are the main focus of this site. Both, the Elephanta caves and the Gateway of India are the two most visited sites in the state of Maharashtra and remain popular till date. The Elephanta caves were declared as the world heritage site by UNESCO way back in 1978. Astonishing yet true, the Archaeological Survey of India and the Maharashtra government have turned a blind eye towards it.

Historical background.

The ancient carvings at Elephanta caves date back to the 5th and 6th centuries. The history of this site is unknown in Hindu and Buddhist. However , archeologists unearthed the rich cultural facets in this small island , the Elephanta island where the caves are located. It was first occupied by the hinyana Buddhists who were willing to build a large Buddhist stupa with the other several small stupas. The dating to 6th century and the sculpture of shiva suggests it might’ve have been built by a Hindu king.

What do historical sites tell us?

• It gives us an insight to our culture.
• Gives us a reason to preserve these sites built ages ago in order to maintain respect.
• Flourishes the country’s tourist places.

Major causes for its sludge and scraps.

1. The tourist boats use old ans polluting Diesel engines. These boats are responsible for dropping of the tourists to the site, passing through the mangrove trees and leaving the environment around it to ruins.
2. The scraps of plastic cling to the mangrove trees, they are found sometimes lying on the stairway whilst passers-by climb ignorantly.
3. The narcissistic individuals so keen on taking selfies with the carvings not realising its importance as a world heritage site declared by the UNESCO , illegally and in a way ill- informed way ruining the rock by hanging,standing and sitting on it.
4. The guards pay minimalistic attention towards the public. The public remains disinterested most of the times in paying attention to rules.
5. Presence of hawkers selling snacks to the tourists travelling by the toy train to reach the caves have set up shacks inside the caves. The locals have a say that these people do not have any other means of living other than this. A question still remains intact…how is the requirement of a toy train near the preserved site necessary

Entangled politics.

The responsibility of the preservation of this site lies with the Maharashtra government and ASI ( Archeological Survey of India). However , a while back it was suggested for another organisation known as INTACH by the ASI to look after the site as the Maharashtra government failed to fulfil its aim to do so.

INTACH’s responsibility was not only to look after the visitors’ from the site but the community in general. The government was unable to control the development of the hawkers’ stalks in the site and it was INTACH’s responsibility to take care of issues like these.

Nevertheless there have conflicts between the government and INTACH. But why? Why is the government reluctant on not acting the INTACH proposal? Probably because they did not want an individual agency to rock their boat.

Incredible India indeed.

It as unimaginable of how individuals irresponsibly bring these beautiful rock carvings to ruins by their erratic look towards them. Those deployed there to look after the errant visitors are of no good as well. There remains a consistent need for us, as laypersons to respect the great precision by which these monuments were built ages ago. We must stop breaking laws which were brought into light to protect and preserve the sites.

https://www.thehindu.com/arshyawadhwaUncategorizedLeave a commentJanuary 5, 2020 3 MinutesEdit”Carvings at Elephanta caves , fading away..”

Innumerable data has been provided to us from the sixteenth and seventeenth century Mughal era, however, to check the veracity of this data we need more data and in all likelihood keep our minds open for its interpretation.

I primarily write this to convey to the readers to not to misinterpret the history based on varied yet little data that we have. One source tells us about mughals being cruel, bigoted and barbaric hordes who ruined india however, another source would tell how mughal rulers established a peaceful co-existence among all religions and how they developed certain policies to ensure the same.

BARBARIC: Why and How?

According to historians, Babur invaded india when he was only fifteen years old with an army of approximately 1500 soldiers. Since Babur was the first ruler of the mughal dynasty, the invasion through which the rule was established eventually may have been one of the reasons for labelling the mughal lineage as barbaric.

Some sources tend to describe their rule as tyrannical and synonymous to that of a holocaust against Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists.

Instances of cruelty by the mughal emperors can be witnessed in paintings, records etc yet again it remains nearly impossible to figure why they did what they did and most importantly how. We may read about the temple constructed by Babur which illustrated hindu skulls or atrocities caused by emperors recorded in the chronicles or simple the plunders, murders and rapes. It is a common habit to relate the past with contemporary interpretations but that comes with its own ambiguities and errors. Hence, to a certain level it is correct to consider the following instances as actual truth events but one must never take the at the face value.

BENEVOLENT: Why and How?

The two main emperors – BABUR and AURANGZEB, allegedly regarded as the most brutish rulers of their times makes us generalise the the mughal bloodline as bloodthirsty. This generalisation is what makes us prejudiced against certain facets of history and these culminate inside of us during the present times as well. On the flip side of the coin, taking the reign of AKBAR– the greatest mughal ruler known for his military conquests and religious tolerance, we get to know a lot about the peaceful co-existence established in the era among varied religions and beliefs. Akbar is well known for his religious policies, his quest for religious knowledge made him broadminded so much so that he did not believe in imposing any particular religion on his subjects. To take a few examples: Akbar’s pragmatic approach towards cooperation with the Hindus by abolishing jizya establishing matrimonial alliances and freedom of worship, his inclination towards the bhakti movement, his consideration for Hindu sentiments( banning the killing of cows) etc, completely runs contradictory to the holistic definition of mughals as diabolical.

Do we know the truth?

I believe our history is a compendium of magnanimity and till date, to deduce the truth out of the present facts is a very crucial yet strenuous task. Even though there is a barrel of verified data regarding the mughal history, there still exist two sides of the coin while discussing the nature of the former rulers and that still remains discredited. The truth may depend on what we are willing to perceive when we read about history especially. While critical analysis is an incumbent component, in my opinion, a positive outlook shall always prevail.

SOURCES- https://www.bbc.co.uk , https://www.sikhnet.com 

Published by arshyawadhwa

To Today’s generation ,

Well hello , these last few days have been quite exhausting for me and I have not been in a great place . However there is something I have learnt from all this , I introspected myself for hours and I realised what exactly are we living in .

We are a troublesome lot , you know . We are always stuck in one or the other problem . Well yes , it’s maybe because nobody understands us or our philosophy of lives and that contrast in vision causes all these problems . However , it maybe because we are not yet ready to see the world how it is . We confine ourselves in a reality that never existed , we try to live in a make believe world all the time . We do not accept who we are , what we stand for , rather we are all trying to impersonate someone , this phenomenon is generally referred to as identity crisis. We are always pretending , doesn’t matter if it’s to be in love or to be okay with something . Nothing is real anymore , we have mastered the art of choice of words , we always say something and mean something entirely different. Our life is based on the pillars of fame and popularity , we are so greedy for that popularity , that somewhere within we lose ourselves and forget what we stood for or who we were before the world messed with our heads . I ask myself ,” why is it , that everything we do today is to show the world what kind of a human we are? “. I mean it’s funny that our lives literally depend on what other people think . Did we grow up too fast or did we not grow up at all ?.
There are some of who are always trying to fill voids or spaces in other’s lives . What we fail to understand is that we were meant for more than that . All of us deserve to be someones priority , we deserve to be loved unconditionally and we can not settle for less . Filling voids and spaces is a very temporary job , and trust me when I say I know this . Once the job is done , the other person forgets you, and that’s the way of life you can’t be angry or hostile towards them. You not only lose your dignity and confidence, you believe that you are disposable . No , you are not , you are irreplaceable , for someone . Find that one person , who loves you for who you are , because you are perfect . You don’t need to be someone else for being loved . I hope you understood my message , most of it at least . Thank you .

Yours Truly

The Modi government has grandiloquently made grandiose promises but has failed to recognize that the way to the fulfillment of these promises lies with jettisoning the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) which preaches a strictly illiberal approach in a variety of progressive matters; this blog is supposed to be trenchant towards the vitiate exploitation of political sphere of India by the Bhartiya Janta Party(BJP), by employing a rather devious approach to enjoy credence for United Progressive Alliance(UPA) initiated and furthered work.

I recognize I might receive much political opprobrium for this but, in extenuation, I can only say that as the citizens of a country ruled by a thrasonical prime minister we should at least develop an understanding of the mundane strategies employed by the ruling party.

Let me start with the ‘achievements’ that the right has vaingloriously boasted, a simple example of Swacch Bharat Abhiyan would be enough to give you the idea of Modinomics, the program in actuality is the renamed version (perhaps the only thing BJP government is good at) of Nirmala Bharat Abhiyan furthered by the UPA, the stratagem of BJP here is increasing the Publicity expenses by multiple folds to the detriment of the outgoing incentive.

A similar observation could be made about the Jan Dhan Yojna, it as well is a renamed version of a UPA initiated scheme: Direct Benefits Transfer Scheme but, in a new avatar thanks to BJP’s renaming prowess.

It would not be an exaggeration to say the Modinomics in its essence deals with Human Resources as a tool to make the little and even the negative work positively visible and covered with stardust. Perhaps, UPA should learn a thing or two from the BJP’s HR and IT departments as they seem to be kingmaker here.

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On 3rd January, a US drone strike killed one of the most beloved personality of Iran, its own Qasem Soleimani. He was killed in a targeted airstrike carried out by the US army on Popular Mobilization Front’s (PMF) convoy which carried Soleimani and few of his comrades in Baghdad, Iraq.

WHO WAS SOLEIMANI?

Qasem Soleimani was a Major General of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and was also the chief of external operation of the Quds Force for the Guards (the wing responsible for special operations); unlike someone his stature he was a loved personality with an untainted image.

In other words one may say, he was the epitome of a hero for Iran. He had been in charge of conducting the Quds operations in Syrian civil war, bolstering the Assad government, aiding Hezobollahs in Lebanon in 2012, fighting Islamic State (IS) in the regions of Iraq and Afghanistan (at certain instances alongside the US).

General Qassem Soleimani has killed or badly wounded thousands of Americans over an extended period of time, and was plotting to kill many more…but got caught! He was directly and indirectly responsible for the death of millions of people, including the recent large number….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2020

But for the West, he is responsible for exporting Iran’s Islamic revolution, supporting terrorists, subverting pro-Western governments, planning the attack on US embassy in Baghdad and waging Iran’s foreign wars.

REPERCUSSIONS

The announcement of Soleimani’s death had certain repercussions some immediate and some to watch in future, these include-

• Global prices of crude oil increasing by 4% within hours of announcement.
• An obvious no to renegotiation of Iran Nuclear Deal also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which could also result in rise in Iranian nuclear ambitions in place of the desired halt.
• Turmoil in the Gulf region which means more clashes.
• Conflicts in regions like Syria converting into a proxy-war.
• Embargos on trade to and from US in Iran.
• Presence of American diplomats in the region becoming precarious.

WHAT IS TRUMP’S MOTIVE?

Purportedly, Trump is using this to gain some popularity after the stain of impeachment proceedings. This is being done to fix his goodwill before the presedential elections in 2020 as he seeks a second term. In order to achieve this he has actively been adressing the air raid as a move “to stop a war … not to start a war”.

Ironically back in 2011, Donald Trump accused Obama that in order to get re-elected he would start a war with Iran because “he has no ability to negotitate and he is weak and ineffective.” But here we are in 2020 when Trump has to contradict his own prophecy.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR INDIA?

With two of major powers of their respective blocks clashing even a hint at minor alignment towards either could result into India losing the other block, at the ground level each of these countries tremendously affect India in the economic and political sphere at both global and domestic levels.

So, the most practical approach for India would be to intially try and prevent hostilities that could foreseeably result into a war and if things escalate stick to the policy of Non-Alignment to ensure complete protection of its interests.

With Esmail Ghaani succeeding the slain major general, determined vows made by Iranian government, United Nations condenming action by US and the fact that assassination of Soleimani does not eliminate the threat of terrorism in the region; the given agenda becomes the next event to come close to the outbreak of World War 3 after the Cuban missle crisis of 1962.

On 22nd December, during the BJP rally in Ramleela ground Prime Minister Narendra Modi boldly denied existence of any detention centres in the country; which eventually became a centre of criticism from the opposition and media houses.

GROUND REALITY

As it turns out the claims by the prime minister are probably false with the given reports of scornful conditions of detainees at the 6 temporary detention centres functional inside jails at the Goalpara, Kokrajhar, Tezpur, Jorhat, Dibrugarh and Silchar districts of Assam.

Nityanand Rai, the Union minister of state for home affairs, informed the Rajya Sabha in November 2019 that a total of 1043 foreigners were housed in these detention centres in Assam and over 85,000 have been declared illegal immigrants over the years.

These centres were opened under the government of INC’s Tarun Gogoi in 2008-2009 amid the long raised demand of the Assames to deport the illegal Bangladeshi migrants infiltrarting the region and since then these centres have been functional,

Tarun Gogoi government also released a white paper highlighting that over 61,774 have been declared as illegal immigrants in Assam by various tribunals over the 1992-July 2012 time frame.

What is even more depressing than prime minister Modi’s dishonest remark is the nauseating condition of the detention centres, over the past 3 years at least 28 including a new-born have been reported dead.

The centre currently plans to open more detention centres at different locations throughout the country with 11 just in Assam located in Golapara, Barpeta, Dima, Hasao, Kamrup, Karimganj, Lakhimpur, Nagaon, Nalbari, Sivasagar and Sonitpur.

CONUNDRUM

With the death poll rising amid the anti CAA protests all over the country, the central government is determined about setting its record straight with the wanton denial of even the existence of such centres, this depicts lack of credibility that one can now expect. The given situation of detainees in Assam is no different and alarming than that of Uighur muslims in China who too are forced into detention centres as a systematic move of deporting them.

It is baffling to even think of the probable motive behind this outright lie by the prime minister at the gathering organised to declare the BJP agenda for 2020 Delhi elections.

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REMEDY

The plight of these detainees is what raises these questions: if any relief has been made available to them and for how long a percieved ‘foreigner’ can be kept at a detention centre?

A judge bench headed by then chief justice Ranjan Gogoi ruled that a foreign can be allowed a bail if he has stayed in the centre for over 3 years, deposits his biometrics with the authorities, makes a security deposit of 1,00,000 rupees and gets 2 Indian nationals as gaurantees. The last two seem a bit too much for an already tormented ‘foreigner’ who has been a victim of the destitution while at the centre for past few years.

Those removed from the National Register of Citizens(NRC) implemented in Assam can appeal to Foreigners’ Tribunal a quasi-judicial court and will get a time of 120 days to prove their citizenship before the court.

Currently there is no sureity from the centre if the NRC would be implemented nation wide but it is certain under the current paradigm that latter would result into predicatement.