Caste system poses threat to Indian society, says Kannada writer

TNN
May 1, 2019

Mysuru, May 1: Perpetuation of the caste system posed a grave threat to the ethos of India, warned acclaimed Kannada writer Moodnakudu Chinnaswamy here on Tuesday.

Chinnaswamy, participating in a seminar on ‘Ideologies of BR Ambedkar’ organised by the Kuvempu Institute of Kannada Studies, University of Mysore at the BM Shri Auditorium, recalled Ambedkar’s tireless crusade against caste in India, juxtaposing the vision of the architect of India’s Constitution with the importance caste was being accorded in the country today. “India is steeped in caste. Those belonging to the upper castes cling to their communities since it gives them the right to dictate the culture of India. It is those belonging to Dalit communities who should disown their respective castes, and work towards establishing a society without it. Ambedkar said that democracy would not survive on the basis of caste, and showed us the path of The Buddha,” Chinnaswamy said.

The author decried the miserable position that Dalits found themselves in even after seven decades of Independence. “In Ambedkar’s day, Dalits were treated in a manner that was inhuman. It is sad that this culture is still prevalent in today’s society. We are living in a society wherein individuals are not being respected. AMbedkar exhorted citizens to unitedly pull the chariot of equality, but is sad to see the ruling party in New Delhi trying to establish a society entrenched in Brahminical principles, and Dalits and the backward classes are supporting this endeavour. Majority of the country’s wealth rests with around 41% of the upper castes, whereas those belonging to Scheduled Castes/ Scheduled Tribes (SC/STs), who constitute 27% of the Indian population, own just 11% of the nation’s assets. Reservation has not helped them,” added Chinnaswamy.

‘Democracy in India a farce’

Chinnaswamy opined that the existing multi-party system in India had put imperiled democracy in the country. Dubbing democracy as practiced in India a ‘farce’, the author added, “There should be some criteria for candidates to contest the polls. Today, an 80-year-old can contest elections, and can help his grandsons enter the fray at the same time. Ambedkar had warned the country about the danger of unconstitutional methods, describing them as components of Grammar of Anarchy, which is what we are contending with today. Intellectuals are forced to stay silent. On social media platforms, they are reviled. Independent organisations too are silent in India today.”

UoM vice-chancellor Prof G Hemantha Kumar, who inaugurated the seminar, exhorted students and research scholars to imbibe Ambedkar’s principles.

Prof NM Talavar, Nanjaiah Honganuru and Vijayalakshmi Karikal were among those who attended the seminar.

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Agencies
July 25,2020

In a study conducted in 117 countries, researchers have found that the world is experiencing the most dramatic reduction in the seismic noise (the hum of vibrations in the planet's crust) in recorded history due to global COVID-19 lockdowns.

Measured by instruments called seismometers, seismic noise is caused by vibrations within the Earth, which travel like waves and the waves can be triggered by earthquakes, volcanoes, and bombs - but also by daily human activity like travel and industry.

This quiet period was likely caused by the total global effect of social distancing measures, closure of services and industry, and drops in tourism and travel, the study published in the journal Science, reported.

The new research, led by the Royal Observatory of Belgium and five other institutions around the world including Imperial College London (ICL), showed that the dampening of 'seismic noise' caused by humans was more pronounced in more densely populated areas.

"Our study uniquely highlights just how much human activities impact the solid Earth, and could let us see more clearly than ever what differentiates human and natural noise," said study co-author Stephen Hicks from ICL in the UK.

For the findings, the research team looked at seismic data from a global network of 268 seismic stations in 117 countries and found significant noise reductions compared to before any lockdown at 185 of those stations.

Researchers tracked the 'wave' of quietening between March and May as worldwide lockdown measures took hold.

The largest drops in vibrations were seen in the most densely populated areas, like Singapore and New York City, but drops were also seen in remote areas like Germany's the Black Forest and Rundu in Namibia.

Citizen-owned seismometers, which tend to measure more localised noise, noted large drops around universities and schools around Cornwall, UK and Boston, US - a drop in noise 20 per cent larger than seen during school holidays.

The findings showed that countries like Barbados, where lockdown coincided with the tourist season, saw a 50 per cent decrease in noise.

"The changes have also given us the opportunity to listen in to the Earth's natural vibrations without the distortions of human input," the study authors wrote.

Earlier in April, a study published in the journal Nature, reported at least a 30 per cent reduction in that amount of ambient human noise since lockdown began in Belgium.

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Agencies
May 30,2020

The GST Council is unlikely to make major changes in the indirect tax structure at its next meeting slated mid June.

A top government source said that the Centre is not in favour of increasing tax rates on any goods or service as it could further impact consumption and demand that is already suppressed due the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown.

It was widely expected that the GST Council could consider raising tax rates and cess on certain non-essential items to boost revenue for states and the Centre. Several states have reportedly taken an over 80-90 per cent hit in GST collections in April, the official data for which has not yet been released by the Centre.

"The need of the hour is to boost consumption and improve demand. By categorising items into essential and non-essential and then raising taxes on non-essential is not what Centre favours. But, the issue on rates and relief will be decided by the GST Council that is meeting next month," the finance ministry official source quoted above said.

The GST Council is chaired by the Union finance minister and thus the views of the Centre play out strongly in the council meetings.

However, the Council will also have to balance the expectations of the states whose revenues have nosedived after the coronavirus outbreak and wide scale disruption to businesses while they have still not been paid GST compensation since the December-January period.

To the question of wider scale job losses in the period of lockdown as businesses get widely impacted, the official said that the Finance Ministry has asked the labour ministry to collect data on job losses during Covid-19 and is constantly engaging with the ministry to oversee job losses and salary cuts.

On restrictions put on Chinese investment in India, the official clarified that no decision had yet been taken to restrict China through the Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI) route.

Asked about monetising government debt, the official said that the issue would be looked at when we reach a stage. It has not come to that stage yet.

In the government's over Rs 20 lakh crore economic package, the official defended its structure while suggesting that comparisons with the economic packages of other countries should not be drawn as India's needs were different from others.

"We have gone in more reforms that is needed to give strength to the economy. This is required more in our country," the official source said.

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News Network
March 18,2020

San Francisco, Mar 18: Facebook said a bug in its anti-spam system temporarily blocked the publication of links to news stories about the coronavirus. Guy Rosen, Facebook's vice president of integrity, said on Twitter Tuesday that the company was working on a fix for the problem.

Users complained that links to news stories about school closings and other information related to the virus outbreak were blocked by the company's automated system.

Later on Tuesday, Rosen tweeted that Facebook had restored all the incorrectly deleted posts, which also covered topics beyond the coronavirus.

Rosen said the problems were unrelated to any changes in Facebook's content-moderator workforce. The company reportedly sent its human moderators home this week because of the coronavirus outbreak.

A representative for Facebook did not immediately respond to questions on the status of Facebook's content moderators, many of whom do not work directly for the company and are not always able to work from home.

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