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The commitment to reason and evidence that Narendra Dabholkar promoted throughout his life has not just lived on but grown after his assassination in 2013. Dabholkar had founded the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti in 1989 to encourage the growth of a scientific outlook among the masses and work to eradicate superstitions Continue reading It was a dreary weekend afternoon when I went to watch the screening of Anand Patwardhans four-hour-long documentary,Reason(Vivekin Hindi). The expectation from Patwardhans movies is always that facts will be narrated in a way that finally meanders into hope. His depictions whether inRam ke NaamorWar and Peace are rooted in reality and people-centric, Continue reading On the streets of India andPakistan,a frightening message is being sent out: that courts must not rush in where politicians fear to tread. In matters of faith, courts must simply sit on their hands and pray for divine intervention to resolve the petition before them. The public and political responses to Supreme Court Continue reading Jayant Murthy says YES There was much angst early this month about the disgraceful remarks that have been over the last few years at the Indian Science Congress (ISC) meetings, to the point where even the organisers felt the need to take a stand. This is unfortunate because the ISC has Continue reading Why is it that everything is upside down, and all that happens in the name of religion is divisive, oppressive and morally repugnant? What can I do my friends, if I do not know? I am neither Christian nor Jew, nor Muslim nor Hindu. What can I do? My place is Continue reading Religion as the highest part of humanity was a reiteration of a very ancient idea: the notion that politics cannot bring human flourishing and cant capture the full extent of a person. Contemporary Western liberals often assume that theological and political worldviews are competing discourses. Religion, when it enters the political Continue reading Atish Dabholkar physicist and head of high energy physics and cosmology division at Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy, said a national anti-superstition law is desirable, but it was important to have public action too. Speaking on Science and Superstition, at the Ramanujan Auditorium of The Institute of Continue reading As the worlds first professor of complementary medicine, Dr. Edzard Ernst set out to apply rigorous scientific standards of evidence to find out which alternative medicine treatments worked and which didnt. After 25 years of research and a torrent of published studies, he had determined that most of them didnt. A lot of Continue reading RSS has been critiqued for long for its divisive and fascist ideology. Its role in spreading hatred, communal violence, killings arson and loot, blasts has been pointed out by critics. However, the attempt of RSS to project itself as a cultural and nationalist organization working for the welfare of majority community, nation and Continue reading The recent announcement about the proposed establishment of the Bharatiya Shiksha Board in order to revitalise and teach Vedic education has had its usual share of supporters and sceptics. This initiative is considered as a step towards getting students to learn about Vedic culture, as well as the canonical texts and practices of Continue reading On The Award Of D.Litt To Sudha Mani Aka Mata Amritananda Mayi
Dear Mr Vice Chancellor, Greetings from an alumnus of the university who got his Post graduation in biochemistry from the faculty of medicine of this university in 1976. Though you may think this a Continue reading If a lie is repeated often, it is said, people will eventually believe it. It is also said that people with simple thinking more readily believe bigger lies. Small lies, interspersed here and there, in speeches, lectures, sermons, media bytes, news reports, columns, research papers, can coalesce into a big lie. If the Continue reading |