2493

Levels of digital literacy, allowing them to set up services and payment cycles by seeking
out help from other individuals at a singular point in time. Having said this, recent
regulations around e mandates have resulted in industry unease and an element of
regulatory uncertainty. In August 2019, the RBI had issued a new framework for processing
e mandates on recurring online transactions, encompassing cards and wallets, but
subsequently, in January 2020, these were extended to cover UPI transactions as well.
Earlier this year, while the RBI announced an extension of the deadline for adhering to new
guidelines one mandate transactions to 30th September, there have been concerns put forth
about unpreparedness to meet these guidelines in time. The new guidelines require the use
of Additional Factor Authentication AFA during registration, modification, and revocation of e
mandates. Additional requirements include the need for an online facility for cardholders to
withdraw any e mandate at any point in time, audit trail related requirements, and for banks
to send pre debit notifications with an option for customers to opt out of that mandate. As
has been underlined earlier, e mandates have helped drive forward a positive shift in the
digital economy by enhancing transactions between businesses and consumers. The new
guidelines proposed by the RBI have not emerged from a vacuum and have been developed
to address security concerns faced by consumers while utilising recurring online payments.
These regulations aim to integrate banks, customers, and merchants onto a common
platform, improving data security and integrating consent mechanisms. However, it is
important for the RBI to keep in mind the need to make this integration seamless for
consumers, as well as to improve the ease of doing business for merchants and banks. In
recent times, the RBI has steadily taken decisions working towards enhancing the user
experience by making the payment ecosystem more seamless and red

2492

Nurtured by meditation. When you come closer to the Self, your action becomes powerful in
the world and right action in the world brings you closer to the Self. The year that is going by
has taught us many lessons; what we should be doing and what we should not be doing.
Every pain that we went through brought us some depth, and all the joy and pleasure gave
us a new vision of life and hope for the future. The year gone by saw plenty of rainy days.
This New Year let there be sunshine both in our lives and in society. Let us all have a
determination to create a violence free, stress free society. Let us resolve to be unshakable
within and move towards a better world. Time changes people but there are people who
change the time. May you be one of them? Happy New Year. The digital payments sector in
India has undergone exponential progress over the past few years. Driven by the Indian
government aim for a Digital India the sector has grown by over 55% in the last five years,
according to the RBI. Policy moves such as demonetisation, as well as the unique scenario
created by the Covid 19 pandemic, have sped up this transition, along with growing foreign
direct investment and the strong underlying framework of UPI. Online businesses,
consumers, and banking institutions are increasingly relying on digital payments due to their
convenience, reliability, and money tracking capabilities. In 2020, the transaction volume
share in India stood at 15.6 percent and 22.9 percent for instant payments and other
electronic payments respectively. The future looks optimistic for the sector. It is predicted
that by 2022, the Indian digital payments industry will reach $700 billion in terms of the
valuation of transactions, and more than 80 percent of the urban population will adopt
digital payments as part of their daily lives. The role of e mandates in this growth must not
be underplayed. E mandates act as a standing instruction provided to issuing banks and
financial service providers
2491

Supreme Court must decriminalise what is termed as candalising the court. This provision
does sit well in a democracy. In my view schizophrenic is too strong a word. I mean there is
no anomaly in the view of citizens. Different citizens have different views; obviously, as part
of democracy, depending on context of policies announced by the government in power,
which is as it should be in a popular democracy. It not that there is one issue on which the
same person differs on two points. So it not schizophrenic. In India, democracy is very
strong. And there will be difference of views. That what democracy is about. So as 2021
chugs off, is there a light at the end of the muddle No, but hope springs eternal even in the
human beast. So here what we should junk carry forward? Spoiler alert: plus CA change
always includes a minus of expectations. A New Year is the time when a lot of people
stumble upon the realization, Oh! Another year has gone by! For a few seconds or minutes,
we wonder about the current of time that flows by and then again get busy or lost in the
world outside. The funny thing is that this happens nearly every year. If we go deeper into
these moments of wonder, we realize that there is an aspect of us that is a witness to all the
events of time. This witness inside us is unchanging and it is from here that we observe all
the change that time brings. All the events in life until this moment appear like a dream.
Wisdom is becoming aware of this dream like nature of life even as it is unfolding now.
Knowing this brings tremendous strength from within and you do not get shaken by events
and circumstances. At the same time, events have their own place in life. We need to learn
from them and keep moving. Many days were you in zinnias how many days were you
struggling, being caught in Maya Turn back and remember the entire year. Do not run away
from anything. Do not reject anything. At the same time, let your attention be on the self.
This is a delicate balance

2490

Congress Rest 85 core, AIADMK Rest 57 core, Left Rest 45 core. Free mask distribution at
rallies will hardly impact the huge coffers of political parties. Governments have other crucial
jobs. Only 12 lakh tests were conducted nationally on December 29, against an average of
11 lakh daily tests in early December. This, when Omicron is surging. The Centre suggestion
of dual RT PCR testing on samples first with the regular kit, which if positive, should be
followed with an S gene drop testing kit will help better gauge the Omicron spread and also
conserve the currently scarce S gene drop test kits. But are states following through on this,
that the question. India Omicron number of around 1,000 is most probably a huge
undercount, limited by our ability to do genomic sequencing. So, dual RT PCR is vital.
Alongside detected Covid cases, tracking and publishing hospitalisation data must start
immediately. Hospitalisation data like ICU bed occupancy in the early days of a wave will
help make informed decisions on potential stress points for the healthcare system. It will
also avoid unnecessarily disruptive curbs on livelihoods and economic activities, should
Omicron not cause overrunning of health systems. India can afford a government failure like
we saw during the second wave. A healthy relationship between the judiciary and media,
two of the four pillars of democracy, is logically necessary for the health of democracy. But
what precisely does health mean in this context speaking at a journalism awards function
Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, who incidentally started his professional career as a
journalist, expressed worry about how news and views are being mixed together into a
dangerous cocktail today, as also about the recent trend to sermonise about judgments, and
villainise judges. The separation of news and views is actually an essential guardrail for
newspapers, so we could agree more on this. But on the second point, we urge the judiciary
to be less prickly abo
2489

More often as kidney donors than fathers or husbands. This evident gender inequality is
likely due to social, educational, and psychological factors. Women are lesser educated than
males in this country and therefore tend to be more financially dependent on men.
Concluding, CKD is a problem of epidemic proportions in India. There is an increasing
diabetes burden, hypertension, and growing elderly population which will expand the CKD
subgroup even further. Managing this patient population of CKD even with better
organization of RRT will be difficult. It will require a lot of data and professional lobbying with
various policymakers, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare MOHFW, and the
Government of India. There is an annual World Kidney Day campaign which allows us to
assess where we are today with kidney health across the globe. The 2021 was declared as
the year of Living Well with Kidney Disease. It was celebrated on 11th March 2021. It aims to
increase education and awareness about effective symptom management and patient
empowerment, with the goal of encouraging life participation. Patients with kidney disease
including dialysis and post transplantation as well as their care partners should also feel
supported, especially during pandemics and other challenging periods, by the concerted
efforts of kidney care communities. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Or rather, in
keeping with these politically correct times, gender neutral entities. Welcome to this
inaugural meeting of OMG. As you are all aware, 2021 is coming to its conclusion with the
Coronavirus springing another surprise on the global community by producing yet another
variant of it self, said to be several times more transmissible than all the earlier variants put
together, and earmarking 2021 to go down in history books as the Year of the Bug. The
steep daily growth rate of Covid cases in many metro cities all but points to a building third
wave. Curbs are being imposed. But citizens are increasing

2488

Registry, the exact incidence of CKD in India is not clear, but studies estimate that the
number of new patients diagnosed with End Stage Kidney Disease ESKD requiring dialysis or
transplantation is over 100,000 per year. Inequality in the access to health care between
urban and rural populations, poverty, and undulation probably underestimates the actual
burden of kidney diseases in our country. Causes in India Diabetes and Hypertension are the
most common causes of kidney disease in India in both men and women. There is some
difference in gender predisposition to renal disease. Females are more susceptible to certain
autoimmune diseases which affect the kidneys like Systemic Lupus Erythematous, urinary
tract infections. A newer entity Cod CKD unknown has recently been introduced which is
found in hot climates, under hydration and tropical regions underlying the importance of
adequate water intake. Tropical diseases like malaria, diarrhea, snake bites, poisonings also
are commoner in India predisposing to acute kidney injury. Complications of kidney disease
Chronic kidney disease can negatively impact the general wellbeing. Patients often
demonstrate symptoms of lethargy, pain, depression, cognitive impairment, lack of sleep
and appetite. They may complain of decrease urine output, swelling of the body, decrease in
sexual arousal and infertility. There will have a fall in their hemoglobin levels, abnormalities
in the calcium, phosphorous and uric acid parameters. Pregnancy in a CKD patient carries a
high risk of neonatal and maternal morbidity and mortality, decrease in fetal weight,
prematurity, low birth weight, fetal distress and also increases the chances of CKD in the
offspring. Heart problems like heart failure, arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death are a
significant problem in CKD patients as well as neurological complications like strokes and
peripheral neuropathy. Diagnosis of renal failure is based on serum creatinine and
electrolyte levels, urine examinat
2487

Tiger and if you are double lucky, the tiger will come close to your jeep, even kill a harmless
dog and walk away. And then, there are times when the wild cat actually walks out of the
forest. It happened some weeks ago. A few miles outside the park at a popular cafe, a
tigress walked in the dead of the night to reclaim her kill, an antelope. The owner of the
Honk Cafe, a lovely eatery which runs on land owned by Ranthambhore tiger god Fatah
Singh Rather saw the wild cat but was not surprised. She just switched off the lights and
allowed the wildlife wardens to take away the carcass. The bottom line: You never get a
guarantee to see the tigers in a forest. The big cats surface only if they want. It is their
home, their land. While inaugurating a slew of border infrastructure projects, defence
minister Rajah Singh has said that the possibility of any kind of conflict can be ruled out in
the current uncertain environment. Singh was referring to the ongoing LAC standoff with
China that began last year. He is right in his assessment that India should be prepared for
any conflict scenario because the political situation in China will remain sensitive till the
20th Chinese Communist Party CCP Congress next. And given the internal machinations of
the CCP with President Xi Jinxing trying to secure a historic third term, more adverse events
at the India China border cannot be ruled out. While shoring up the country defence
capabilities and border infrastructure is vital, meeting the China challenge it is actually the
China Pakistan challenge given Islamabad belligerence too also requires an all of
government and society approach. And for this it is necessary to ensure that politics does
become a national security liability. With a series of big elections slated for next year, there
is a risk that political and social polarization may return to the fore. This will be dangerous
for the country and allow its enemies to fish in troubled waters. After all, the Chinese threat
is a

2486

Principle, the only function of which is to qualify Uprush. Uprush cannot perform the
tremendous task of giving Priority the form of creation. Priority does not assume the shape
of the creation and it is only Uprush who could take these forms. Hence, the stuff of which
the entire creation is made is Uprush. Priority qualifies Uprush to give Him different forms
and Uprush has to follow the designs of Priority. For example, a potter shapes a lump of clay
according to his designs. The lump of clay is comparable to Uprush and the potter who
provides the force, to Priority. Similarly, Priority gives all these shapes to Uprush according
to Her wish to create this universe. Holiday crowds have turned sleepy Ranthambore into a
cacophonous town. Everyone wants a glimpse of tigers which shot into fame when the then
PM Rajiv Gandhi dropped his bullet proof jacket to have his first holiday after assuming the
office of the Prime Minister. It was in 1986, one of India most talked about holidays. The
Gandhi family stayed with relatives and friends at the Jog Mahan, a magnificent 250 year old
pavilion overlooking a crocodile infested lake. Ranthambhore had two royal visits earlier the
Queen of England in 1961 and the Prince of Netherlands in 1973. Thirty five years later,
veteran wildlife guides still remember the highlight of the Gandhi trip: the PM saw and
photographed a tigress nicknamed Noon hunting down a Samba deer and dragging her kill
away. Gandhi shot many photographs with his new Minolta. The publicity to the visit pushed
the number of visitors to the park. A tiger reserve visited by a PM was high on everyone
agenda. Many even wanted to book the room inhabited by the PM. Now, 35 years later, an
estimated 3500 visit the park every day, causing tremendous strain on the guards and the
animals. There are an estimated 78 tigers but only 40 walk across the 400 so km zone that
is carved out of the 1700 so km forest. Almost 1300 so km is meant for the animals, out of
bound for to
2485

Finally, the growing demand on companies to be socially and environmentally responsible to

win brand loyalty from consumers, especially millennial. As the sun dawns on 2022, will the
dark cloud of Covid, made even darker by Omicron, prove to have an unexpected, but very
welcome, silver lining The universal threat posed by the pandemic that unless everyone is
safe, no one is safe has, or ought to have, broken down barriers of animosity and brought all
of us closer together. Sauna Brahman, Qualified Consciousness, is the cause of the creation
of the universe. In other words, the universe has originated from Brahman. But if Brahman
or Bagman created the universe, a very pertinent question arises about the availability of
the material or stuff from which the universe was made. Sauna Brahman also needs some
material to create the universe just as the potter needs clay to make his pots. A potter
obtains his clay from the earth. So then has Brahman also obtained the material from
someone else The material and its owner from whom Sauna Brahman borrowed it must have
existed even before the Brahman came into being, and that this owner is bigger than Sauna
Brahman has to be admitted. It has already been accepted that Brahman is non causal.
Nothing existed before it. And so the material from which the universe is made could not
have existed before Brahman. material out of which Sauna Brahman made this universe if
nothing existed before or beyond it The universe, which is so visibly existent, could not have
been created out of nothing. The only material available to Sauna Brahman for creation was
its own Self. Hence, it has to be accepted that this creation is only Sauna Brahman
metamorphosed into all that we find in the universe. The entire universe is formed from
Sauna Brahman. It is only this which is manifested as this creation. To say that Brahman is
present in a book means that the book is a separate entity and Brahman occupies that
entity. This gives the impression of two

2484

Outside, Indian music means different things to different people in different regions. Should
aviation players have to sweat over such things when fighting to stay afloat in pandemic
Widespread protests by resident doctors over delayed NEET PG counseling come just when
healthcare defenses need bolstering against a feared Omicron surge. NEET PG exams,
originally slated for January, were postponed to April and later September thanks to Covid.
But intake of a fresh batch got delayed further because neither Go nor the Supreme Court
thought through the impact of their decisions. After the Centre introduced OBC and EWS
reservation in all India quota seats and fixed a Rest 8 lakh creamy layer limit for both
categories, SC took up petitions challenging these policies. Judicial and administrative
proceedings like issuing notices, filing replies and affidavits, and scheduling hearings can be
time consuming because of multiple stakeholders, need for extensive deliberations and built
in sloth in Indian governance. So, on November 25, Go asked for four weeks to revisit the
EWS income criteria. and the matter now listed for January 6. The result is that PG NEET
counseling for fresher is delayed and resident doctors are overburdened. Career, academic
progression and work life balance are real issues for professionals, and our politicians,
bureaucrats and judges should have been more mindful of what their legal tussle was
putting doctors through. The NEET PG fiasco is a classic example of how legal disputes
trigger disruptions elsewhere. Courts need to exercise more circumspection on petitions
they entertain. Issues like income ceiling for EWS OBC categories are policy decisions best
left to governments. SC was conscious of the academic time students were losing but
judicial processes follow their own timeframes to resolution, once admitted. Coming March,
the next NEET PG examinations are due, portending a situation where PG institutes will have
to admit two batches in quick succes
2483

The International Monetary Fund has projected India GDP growth at 9.5 in 2021 and 8.5 in
2022, making it the fastest growing economy in the world. Deepak Parekh of HDFC, doyen of
the private sector, says he is more optimistic than he has been for 50 years. IMF believes
fast growth in 2021 is not a one off recovery from Covid, and India is bouncing back to
miracle growth status after having gone downhill from 8.3 in 2016 17 to 4.2 in 2019 20
before Covid struck. Such optimism has been derided by pessimists like former Chief
Economic Advisor Shankar Zachary, who fears long term growth may be no more than 5. I
am more optimistic but see many challenges that could derail growth. The civil aviation
ministry advisory, inspired by a suggestion from ICCR, that domestic airlines and airports
play Indian music is exactly what the industry did need. Sure, there is nothing wrong with
playing Indian music on flights or at airports. And it is perhaps true that airlines and airports
of other nations often play local origin music. But that not the point. Other nations, at least
those that are democratic and allow private enterprise a free hand to run their business, don
issue advisories to private aviation players on what music they should play. That this is not
an order from the ministry but a request is little comfort. What happens if private airports
and airlines don abide by the request Aviation industry has been hit badly by the pandemic.
At this vulnerable stage, airlines and airports may feel compliance is wiser and that would
set a terrible precedent for freedom of businesses to run their operations. India aviation
industry transformed itself on the back of private entrepreneurship. Private airlines and
airport operators were able to provide far better services precisely because they were given
a free hand. But one alarming consequence of the pandemic has been creeping government
interference authorities are deciding how many flights airlines can operate, price bands and
ca

2482

Deep into your personal sad Hana, you experience a tremendous blast of kundalini shakti,
the life force. Your mind settles down, paving the way for deeper, higher truths to dawn.
Through sat sang, on the one hand, you gratefully celebrate all the gifts from the Divine; on
the other hand, you explore the potentialities of the macrocosm and the microcosm, of the
ocean and the wave, of paramatma and jivatma, existence and you. The optimum
culmination is in sea. All that empowering energy, thankfulness for having received
treasures from life and meticulous understanding of your existence and your own role in it
has to ultimately result in you, the individual soul, becoming paving the way for deeper,
higher truths to dawn. Through sat sang, on the one hand, you gratefully celebrate all the
the instrument for the blossoming of other souls. In short, Eva is wisdom in action. As you
take higher responsibility, your area of influence grows, and you get the opportunity of
expanding the arena of your existence. Higher sea exposes your strengths as well as your
weaknesses. But look at this benevolent design of the consciousness. When your pluses get
exposed, they always grow and get strengthened. And when your limitations get exposed,
they always dissolve, free you and go away. AAP stunning debut in the Chandigarh Municipal
Corporation elections has served notice to Congress and BJP for the upcoming assembly
elections in Punjab next year. AAP won 14 out of 35 seats, relegating BJP to second place
and pushing Congress to third. This was the first election in north India since the BJP
government at the Centre repealed the three farm laws that triggered a yearlong protest by
farmers. While Punjab governing Congress had hoped to benefit from the farmer agitation,
AAP may well spring a surprise in the state polls. However, AAP biggest drawback is that it
does have a strong pan Punjab face. And with some farmer unions taking the political plunge
themselves, the paving the way for dee
2481

Against Omicron given that it is working mechanism is unaffected by the many mutations in
the variant spike protein. Plus, the pill has been shown to reduce risk of hospitalisation or
death among adults with mild to moderate Covid by 30%. Merck, which has developed
Molnupiravir, has already shared the license with eight Indian generic drug makers.
Therefore, Go should immediately start stockpiling the drug, and release it both through the
public health system and private channels. Let remember the scary medicine scarcities of
the second Covid wave. It party time in Goa. And the parties are not just those that take
place on beaches, with a lot of singing and dancing, though those are much in evidence as
well, Omicron or no Omicron. Goa is also playing host to parties of the political kind, with
Arvin Kejriwal AAP and Magmata Banerjee TMC establishing their presence in the tiny state
which already has four national parties, BJP, Congress, Shiv Sean and Shared Power NCP,
and eight regional parties. Visualize a soul passing through all the yonis and entering the
Homo sapiens human kingdom, spending dozens of lifetimes, gradually evolving,
experiencing extreme dependence on the illusionary games of tamarisk such, the temporary
attractions of rajas such, and taking the first step into the realm of sativa such in the form of
sad Hana. As the evolution continues, an inevitable stage comes where the soul gets
instinctively interested in satyr sang; it wants to know higher truths, immerses itself in self
exploration, swadhyay. As the soul approaches the extreme top of the pyramid of evolution,
the final frontier is that of sea, service, being useful. Gourde often says that sea is an Iva,
the process of becoming like Him, the Divine, the Almighty. Nature continuously,
incessantly, unconditionally keeps providing everything for everyone, without prejudice,
bias, or expectation of any kind. The sun shines for life to continue, the oceans provide us
with clouds that bring us life

2480

choked and other prominent civil liberty, human rights and charitable groups facing similar
straits. Last year the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010 was further amended, so
that at a time when India needed the nonprofit sector more than ever both its funding and
functioning were put under fresh restraints. Yet, from food to education, oxygen to plasma,
their service remains invaluable in a country where the state is always there for everyone.
Set up as far back as in 1950, Mooch, like Bharat Rant Mother Teresa herself, has had plenty
of critics over the years, even as its work among the sick and poor also won its vast share of
admirers. A key suspicion it confronts today can be seen in the FIR filed against one of
Mooch children homes in Vadodara earlier this month. This followed allegations of religious
conversions. This will be independently debated and litigated. But no matter how politically
volatile such accusations have become, they cannot be the touchstone for funding of
important services, certainly not for axing a global supply chain serving the most needy.
Even when they are not explicitly speaking truth to power, by its very nature the work of
civil society organizations highlights shortfalls of the state. In the best case scenario their
critical commentary feeds a virtuous cycle, improving governance delivery to citizens. It not
about what governments like to hear but what they need to hear. Of course, no, misuse of
funding should not get a free pass. But the nature of misuse must be completely clear.
Adverse inputs or FIRs on allegations of conversion do not really constitute activities
detrimental to national interest. On currently known facts, Mooch should be denied FCRA
renewal. Speed is of the essence in fighting fast transmitting Omicron. The Union health
ministry has finally advised states to adopt a dual testing strategy deploying both standard
and imported S gene drop RT PCR test kits to detect Omicron cases. This should have been
done w
2479

Be the duty of each of us, irrespective of our ideologies, to unite and be inspired to strive
together for the highest, by working selflessly for national good. A counter may be offered
that, during a Hindu conversion ritual, one must mention his gore, and thus, a Hindu lineage
is a must. In reality, it is said, converts to Hindu faith, either mention the gore of their
ancestors, or adopt the gore of their guru, or the person officiating the gear wasp. Most
Indians, including Hindu converts to Islam and Christianity, are said to know the gore of their
ancestors. It is said to be a common observation, that many converted Muslims, Christians
still use it as a part of their name. It is pertinent to mention that, another Siddhi proponent,
Swami Vedananda Tithe, also earned the open praise of Ambedkar. Vedananda authored a
book, Rashtraraksha key Vedic Saehan Vedic Means for National Security, in which he
proposed that India should adopt as its religion, the gospel preached by the Vedas.
Ambedkar, who gave a preface for the book, wrote. I do not know that the book will become
the gospel of new India. But I can say that the book is not merely a wonderful collection of
statements drawn from the religious books of the ancient Aryans, but it brings out in a
striking manner, the vigor of thought and action which prevailed among the ancient Aryans.
What the book shows is that, there is nothing in it of that pessimism among the ancient
Aryans which dominates the modern Hindus. The orthodox groups opposing the home
coming of those, who were converted to Muslim or Christian faith, by force, or through
allurement a century ago, have today been relegated to a fringe & there seems visibly, a
new awakening in the Hindu society in respect of this matter. Nothing is truer in the medical
profession than this Interdependence is a higher value than independence, as Stephen
Covey said. Omicron is spreading faster than any virus in history. Latest reports from the UK
show that patients with

2478

Grand affair and as citizens of India that is Bharat, all of us, of all religions and parties, could
have been proud of it. However, obviously it is not so simple! A narrative has been built by
politicians for some nefarious purposes that somehow, were not a Hindu state. Only the
other day a newspaper report, and that by a teacher of political science, made sarcastic
statements calling it Kasha spectacle, symbolic of the hegemony of a Hindu state; it is wrong
to give out a message that being Indian is coterminous with being Hindu and we should t
mix state authority with Hindu identity; it was wrong on resources being spent on a Hindu
place of worship and on making it more touristy; PM at Kasha showed that he is indeed PM
of a Hindu state; etc. How can we deny the thousands of years of the continuing Bharatiya
Vedic civilization of Santana dharma, and that of the era of Ramayana, Mahabharata,
Buddha, Mohair, Shankar, Vivekananda, etc. just because of a few hundred years of rule by
invaders, be they the Moghul or the British, who massacred our cultural identity and
religions and yet we survive! Does t this make us a nation of Hindus, as we vet been called
by the invaders themselves. A source to know our Ideals PM Indira jig had directed that
Vivekananda Birthday be observed as National Youth Day every year as it was felt that his
philosophy and ideals could be a great source of inspiration for the Indian youth. Similarly,
Nehru had observed: I think that our younger generation will take advantage of this fountain
of wisdom, of sprit and fire that flows through Vivekananda. And Gandhi declared that his
love for India grew a thousand fold thru Vivekananda. That it is only because it is a Hindu
state that the Constitution calls it India that is Bharat! As Vivekananda said at Parliament of
Religions in USA, we, of all nations of the world, have never been a conquering race and
therefore, we live. Political greatness or military power is never the mission of our race. Our
2477

Military power is never the mission of our race. Our mission is to accumulate and spread
spirituality. Historically it was always called Hindu than, land of the Hindus, by the Islamic
world themselves; and is still called by that very name It is only because it is a Hindu state
that the original handwritten Constitution pictorially depicts scenes from the Vedic culture,
Ramayana, Mahabharata, Buddha, et al. It is only because it is a Hindu state that it focuses
attention not on my god and my religion versus your god and your religion, but on Santa
dharma, i.e., universal human values, ethical righteous conduct, and commitment to duties
which are the essentials of all religions whatever may be our religious affiliations It is only
because it is a Hindu state that it accepts all religions as valid ways to search and seek for
the One supreme God which can be worshipped thru various gods, goddesses, deities and
accepts the whole world as our family as enshrined on the Parliament gate. It is only
because it is a Hindu state that it has become a secular state and accepts that minority
religions must have their own schools and teach their religion and their idea of my god alone
is true. It is only because it is a Hindu state that while allowing minorities to teach their
religion in their schools, refrains from teaching its own religious pedantic ideals of Santana
dharma in the mainstream schools, because it is a secular state. It is only because it is a
Hindu state that it still welcomes even those religions who when in power believed it was
their duty to break our temples and our gods; criticize our ways of worship; and even today
do not believe that all Religions sincerely practiced lead to one supreme God. It is only
because it is a Hindu state that it allows even those who continuously criticize us to go
ahead and continues to convert us, by persuasion, bribery or force. Including media is to
present facts from both sides of various religious political ideology so that

2476

Ubuntu provides one with a strong sense of community to override divisions and heal the
scarred collective psyche, pointed out Tutu. What we are as individuals is the sum of all that
went before us; of all that we experience now and of all that could possibly happen in the
future. A beautiful Ubuntu practice Tutu often related, involves community members sitting
around a person who has committed wrong, and speak of all the good that person has done,
focusing on all his positive qualities, for a few days in a row, in a sort of purification, a
revelatory ritual. The belief is that all of us are good, but we do sometimes make mistakes,
which is really a cry for help. The ritual is intended to help the person reconnect with this
true nature in the belief that unity and affirmation have more power to change behavior
than shame and punishment. The recent inaugural of Kasha Vishwanath corridor was a
grand affair and as citizens of India that is Bharat, all of us, of all religions and parties, could
have been proud of it. However, obviously it is not so simple! A narrative has been built by
politicians for some nefarious purposes that somehow, were not a Hindu state. Only the
other day a newspaper report, and that by a teacher of political science, made sarcastic
statements calling it Kasha spectacle, symbolic of the hegemony of a Hindu state; it is wrong
to give out a message that being Indian is coterminous with being Hindu and we should t
mix state authority with Hindu identity; it was wrong on resources being spent on a Hindu
place of worship and on making it more touristy; PM at Kasha showed that he is indeed PM
of a Hindu state; etc. How can we deny the thousands of years of the continuing Bharatiya
Vedic civilization of Santana dharma, and that of the era of Ramayana, Mahabharata,
Buddha, Mohair, Shankar, Vivekananda, etc. just because of a few hundred years of rule by
invaders, be they the Moghul or the British, who massacred our cultural identity and
religions and
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That food down my throat. It not that I don t eat or that I don t eat too much or that I don t
eat the wrong things, I definitely do, but any consumption of food that leads to pleasure is
accompanied by debilitating guilt, like I just digested away a few hours of my lifespan.
However, when other people do it, I no longer feel that anxiety, and here the thing,
sometimes I can even taste what they are having, the visuals triggering memory centers of
the brain, providing a trickle of dopamine, the best that I can do under the circumstances.
The essence of being human is illustrated beautifully through an Ubuntu proverb in Zulu
culture, and this was often recalled by Nobel peace prize awardee and archbishop, Desmond
Tutu: I am a person through other people. My humanity is tied to yours. He would explain it
as follows: One of the sayings in our country is Ubuntu the essence of being human. Ubuntu
speaks particularly about the fact that you can exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks
about our interconnectedness. We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals,
separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole
world. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity. That is, the butterfly
effect is as true among peoples of the world as it is true in the intricate web of nature,
wherein all beings, animate and inanimate, are closely interconnected. Jacob Mugumbate,
University of Wollongong, and Andrew Nyanguru, University of Zimbabwe, sum up Ubuntu
philosophy as I am because of who we all are. Such an attitude would likely lead us to the
essence of the summon bonus philosophy that denotes the fundamental principle on which
some system of ethics is based, that is, the aim of actions, which, if consistently pursued,
will lead to the best possible life. Mugumbate and Nyanguru published a paper on the place
of Ubuntu philosophy in the study and practice of social work in terms of its impact on
ethical a

2474

Have already been administered it, what is the scientific basis for such a decision? Fighting a
pandemic means using every resource possible. India scientific community has been
underutilized. And government encouragement for independent studies has been virtually
absent. Around 10 days have passed since a so called religious enclave in Hardwar
challenged constitutionally guaranteed religious freedoms as well the rule of law. But, in a
country where UAPA is applied by cops for the most trivial actions and critical posts on
political leaders can lead to arrest, neither has the Uttarakhand police deemed such
outrageous statements fit for arrest, and nor has governing BJP responded. Even Congress
Nehru Gandhi has made anodyne statements. The Dharma Sensed saw participants taking
an oath to fight, die and kill to make this country into Hindu rostra, called for every Hindu to
bear arms to finish off their non Hindus population, and for a Myanmar style safari abhiyaan,
sanitation drive. Some will argue this is a fringe, not worthy of taking seriously. To is the
main point of that the response should be this is a democratic, secular country and
politicians cannot ignore calls for community cleansing by a group claiming to represent the
majority. The other point is that the Sensed chilling rhetoric should be read with reports of
dozens of disturbing incidents across the country. To name just a recent few: regular
obstruction of Friday names in Gurgaon, disrupted Christmas celebrations from Assam to
Karnataka, forcibly shutting a shop that carried the word Say in its name and was run by a
Muslim. One thing common in most such incidents is the apparent unwillingness of police
and many politicians to take these groups on. That inaction encourages these groups. It is
anyone guesses how this may develop, as mobs feel increasingly confident that no lawless
action or even violence will get punished as long as they claim to act for the religion of the
majority. Politicians who say
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As the year draws to an end, one can risk a little speculation about what we can expect from
politics in India in 2022. As its national government crosses the midterm point, BJP will fight
the opposition in seven state elections. Uttar Pradesh, of course, will be the most keenly
watched election. Here, BJP challenge is not so much to defeat a divided opposition but to
maintain the dominance it achieved in 2017. Five years ago, BJP swept the state, winning
77% of the seats in a victory that helped forge its image of electoral invincibility in the Hindi
belt. Since then, BJP has lost more state elections than it has won, and it needs to retain its
hold over the heartland state if it wants to approach the 2024 general election in a strong
position. This election will also be an important stepping stone for UP chief minister prime
ministerial ambitions, raising the stakes further. Two days after the announcement that
beginning January India will embark on a booster vaccine programmer and also extend
coverage to children, details are not yet in the public domain. These points to an area
speedy, systematic research where India can do far better. South Africa quick identification
of Omicron, earlier and similarly excellent efforts by scientists in the UK, the many studies
conducted in the US, Europe and Israel are all examples of government and science
responding to the pandemic and, this is equally important, sharing the findings so that all
concerned can take informed decisions. The basic motivation for such work is always
domestic public health responses are tailored to local contexts. But India, one of the few
countries that have developed its own Covid vaccine, has been a virtual non player in
carrying out local studies on the vaccination drive critical information on domestic jabs may
not be available elsewhere. CMC Vellore ongoing study is one of the few exceptions. The
trial that began a few months ago is studying a mix and match regimen for the first two
doses usi

2468

His scotch and continued. You joined Army to fulfil your father dream Is it not unjustifiable to
both Indian Army and you, as a professional soldier I began to judge him, cruelly. ir,
Soldiering was in my DNA. It was my calling. IIT was my accomplishment. It was not my
scene. There a difference between a life lived on accomplishment and a life lived on love,
Col sounded too good to be true. Why would you Sir me, Col We do not know of our seniority
levels, yet. I was somewhat irritated by his splendid story. I would, Sir. I do not have an eye
but I see, he paused to remove his dark glasses. You have the typical soldierly sense of
humour, Col, I did not hear him fully and looked for another cheroot in my pockets. Off the
hilly trails down that army cantonment, the owl hooted and the dog barked. As I let my
cheroot on that chilly night and looked up, I saw a grotesque face with only one eye. It
horrified me. Facing the hail of bullets in the range of those cold cruel mountains of Jammu
and Kashmir, I lost my men and my eye in a military operation. We drubbed the enemy, no
matter what and looking back I feel it was probably fait accompli. Half of everything is luck
the other half; fate. The Sharia Chakra one of the six gallantry awards of India replaced my
eye, I reckon, Col Chris ruminated. I forgot to light my cheroot. Bugger was a ball of fire. It
was a tête à tête of a lifetime. In those rolling hills, patches of forest and a small cantonment
town tucked into folds of hills, meeting Col Chris was serendipity for me. My sojourn seemed
worth every penny. You seldom get to meet such fine men. Men who choose to serve their
motherlands than serving themselves. IIT would have made his life but he gave it all up and
more for the ashes of his fathers and the temples of his gods. Despite his disability and
disfigurement, for me, Col Chris was a prepossessing man. For me, the sentries who smartly
saluted me on my way in were the elves to the Santa called Col Chris Cringle. Th
2467

Uncle, clapping all along. Despite the disappointing Indian team score and the ensuing
tension in the air, the naughty child in me kept fooling around with his friends. As if he was
the manager of Kapil eleven, it irked uncle. He lost his cool and gave me an earful. I left the
telecast midway and went home crying. My father was seated on a cot with his friends
outside our home, listening to the live radio commentary of the same match when he saw
me weeping inconsolably. He did not utter a word after hearing me out. He gently caressed
my hair, hugged me and put me to sleep. The Prudential Cup Cricket Finals of 83 was over
for both of us Col traversed through the time, pulled out his smartphone and showed me this
childhood picture of his. ix months down the line on the Christmas eve of 83, my father
bought home the first colour TV of our village and invited the same portly neighbourhood
uncle of ours to switch it on as a formal inauguration. I was over the moon when my father
held both my hands, looked into my eyes and said You kept mumbling that whole night of
June 25, 83. After that indignation, all you dreamt of was a TV set and I would not have
allowed my son`s dreams to die at the hands of some obnoxious privileged fellow. If you
believe in Santa here`s your Christmas present, Chris. Go, tell the village that you are not an
underdog, Col Chris held back his tears and asked the orderly for a refill of his black dog.
Hmmm. Nicely worded story but is that it That your connect to Underdogs, Christmas,
Cricket and 83, Chris , I chewed on my cheroot. Is it not peculiar, Sir that sword and words
have the same letter and the same effect, if not handled properly Chris was caustic. You
know, Sir that where the story of a team of underdogs end and that also where the story of
an underdog begins. Around a decade later, I was holding my train ticket to join IIT,
Kharagpur, when the postman rang twice. I would not have been sitting with you in this
Defence Officers` Institute