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Showing posts from 2018

COMMON SENSE IS ALSO AN IDEOLOGICAL CONSTRUCTION

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Mukesh Devrari Slavoj Zizek uses an amazing example to clarify this fact. I find that example convincing as it proves how we draw inferences and prepare our conclusions. As you all are aware. Human beings have flown for the first time in 1903, when Wright brother created their first aircraft and within the next seventy years, mankind landed on Moon. If that is a marker of our progress then hopefully human beings are going to travel to other planets soon and it is also a matter of time before our species will be exploring the far away corners of the universe. Will you doubt our ability to achieve these remarkable scientific feats? In Germany, surgeons are performing more and more complicated surgeries every year. Heart transplantation and liver transplantation are examples of such complex surgeries. Now Germans are trying to divide human penis into two parts so that men could have more fun by having sex with two women at a time. Do you doubt in our ability to achieve this fe

CAN WE LEARN FROM TRUMP’S AMERICA FIRST POLICY AND FIGHT US MONOPOLIES?

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Mukesh Devrari  India must learn from Donald Trump. He is a true patriot who talks straight. His straight talking uncovers the western sophistication and ideology. West has only one ideology. It is the national interest. Over the last few decades, this national interest turned into white men’s interest. The US treated itself as a large entity representing the interests of Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Japan and South Korea were late entrants in the club. Trump has simply declared the US will abide by the rule-based world order if the existing rules fulfil US interest. If the rules established by the US a few decades back are not compatible with contemporary US national interest, then it has no interest in abiding by those rules. Earlier US regimes were no different, but they were more sophisticated and resorted to manipulative tactics after taking its allies into confidence. On a trade dispute with China, the US has declared that if trade balance was not corrected

IF YOU ARE POOR, NO ONE LIKES YOU: VIEW ON GUJARAT EXODUS

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Mukesh Devrari Migrants workers were attacked in Gujarat. People were angry as one toddler was raped and assaulted by a migrant worker. No doubt people are angry and looking at the incident as an assault on native Gujarati population. This incident provided an opportunity for the disgruntled local population to vent out their anger.  Irrespective of the amount of genuine anger and pain felt by the local population, it is wrong to attack innocent migrant workers from the Hindi belt who have moved to the slightly industrialized states like Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Gujarat in hordes, for the someone else’s crime. It is the responsibility of the state government to ensure that the mob must not attack the migrant workers who moved to Gujarat to earn their living out of necessity, not out of desire.   No individual wants to move to other places by leaving behind family and near and dear ones. Migration to particular areas can be interpreted as a human quest for better to

CONTINUATION OF WESTERN HEGEMONY, INDIA WITHOUT AN E-RETAILER

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Mukesh Devrari  Western powers exploited third world countries by occupying them. British Empire was an economic project, not a racial one. It ensured that the UK becomes the richest nation on earth. Slowly all nation-states demanded independence. To maintain their economic supremacy western powers needed unbridled access to markets in third world countries. Without this access, the west cannot keep its economic supremacy intact.  Western powers created a propaganda structure. They invented the economic order.  They created a set of rules and declared them universally applicable and essential for the progress of all nations on earth. West encouraged third world countries to adopt liberal market policies. It preached by practising it. Free market doctrine claimed that western nations are open to all kinds of investment from around the globe. They claimed that there is no discrimination in the west. Whether a company interested in doing business in the west is Africa

HATE SPEECH AND MEDIA, BETTER NOT TO CROSS A THIN LINE

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Mukesh Devrari It is difficult to draw an exact line between free and hate speech. The Absence of hate speech is also marked by political correctness. It is a difficult ethical problem to solve, but this question needs an urgent answer. Hate speech can be divided into three categories in terms of its impact and scope. First is regional hate speech, second is national hate speech and third is international hate speech. The most dangerous aspect of hate speech is its ability to entice fellow citizens to indulge in violence against the targeted group. It also puts pressure on elected governments to take adverse actions against a particular group or consider their genuine aspirations as an abuse of democratic structure available to all citizens. It makes perfect sense to view the instances of hate speech internationally as a threat to global peace. US President Donald Trump called Syrian President Basher-al-Asad an animal in one of its tweet. It is important to understand that

WHY CAN’T AMU REMOVE THE PORTRAIT OF JINNAH?

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Mukesh Devrari Jinnah is a controversial man. He is controversial because he used controversial ideas to advance controversial and communal interests of the Muslim community in India at the cost of multiculturalism and secular fabric of the nation. It is madness to claim that people of two religions cannot stay together in a British style parliamentary democracy. Jinnah claimed that Muslim minority consisting of tens of million did not trust the intent of leadership of religious majority.  Keeping religion at the centre of identity above everything else for political goals proved dangerous of South Asia. Not only Indians lost a strategic part of their country to Islamists of northern India, but it also paved the seeds of trouble in the future.  Many left-leaning scholars in Pakistan today feel that even if the creation of Pakistan did not have politically correct reasons, it still has a rightful claim to exist as a normal nation without sticking to any ideology. It is not

LIBRARY IS GETTING BETTER IN DOON UNIVERSITY

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The library is the most important place in the entire university. It shapes the character of a university and also of the students. Doon University has a small library with high ambitions. There is an immense pressure on the library to expand itself as departments and students are increasing in the university. The library has to provide innovative and creative solutions to ensure that students and faculty members get most out of it. Mr Ashish Kumar, In-Charge, Doon University Library talked to Mukesh Devrari, Assistant Professor, School of Media and Communication Studies for Campus Bytes and shared several of his initiatives for the proper functioning and efficiency of the library. Are you getting enough resources to fulfil requirements of ever increasing students and departments? We are lucky enough that the University Administration understand the importance of a good library and resources it requires, but sometimes they also have their limitations. It is a f

SHOULD INDIA OPT FOR BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE?

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Sino-India relationship is considered as one of the most important relationships of the 21 st century in Asia. It has the potential to bring mutual prosperity and progress to one-third of humanity on the planet. Over the last seven decades, India and China have clashed over many issues, yet both the nations have succeeded in maintaining peace and tranquillity on the line of actual control (LAC), which is a de facto international borders. Mukesh Devrari, Assistant Professor, School of Media and Communication interviewed Professor Ravindra Sharma, Department of Chinese Languages, who has authored two books on China. He is currently working on his fourth book mapping Sino India relations in Xi-Modi Era. What are the implications of BRI? Was it a a correct decision on the part of India to oppose ‘BRI' and in particular CPEC. How do you see these emerging dynamics? It was a very unwise decision on the part of India to outrightly reject the participation of Belt and Road In