Who put the shariat in Kashmiriyat

Kashmir is breathtaking, The Kafirs are choked to death. The brewing unrest in Kashmir has not stopped the people from applying for government vacancies. This time it was Indian police services. In position for 700 police jobs, over 67,000 applications were registered. This comes right after the martyrdom of Lt. Ummer Fayaz who was kidnapped from an unsuspecting marriage ceremony of a relative.

A similar attack took place in Hyderpora when some unidentified militants attacked Jammu and Kashmir police constables after the routine namaz outside the mosque. Sajjad Ahmed succumbed to the injuries and paid a price of his duty. Another constable Shabbir Ahmed was shot outside his residence at Bogdun in Kulgam

As I continue to recount the deaths of servicemen, I'm reading the tragic news of 6 officers being killed by heavily armed terrorists in an ambush in Anantnag, South Kashmir. Sub-inspector Feroz Dar with his unit of 5 officers laid down their lives today. The rising attacks on the ground is a sign that the government is failing to take effective measures. Apart from shutting down the internet to clamp down on the organised mobs, there's lack of concrete action in the political spectrum. A public apology from Dangal actress Zaira Wasim to draws attention the beleaguered youth. The government has not been able to take the youth into confidence. A military drill is not the only solution in Kashmir.

Concealing the ambitions of the aspirational youth of Kashmir under motif of skewed religious protocols, the separatist forces have impinged the youth by alienating them for their own personal endeavours. This domineering identity of Sunni Kashmiri being under threat has alarmed the war circles of Jihad. Islamic terrorists who dictate Kashmiriyat to rest of India stop talking about the composite culture of Kashmir when all they truly stand for is Shariat. Kashmiriyat and Shariat can't go hand in hand. Kashmiri separatist dictate sharia in the name of kashmiriyat. A hijacked identity will never allow a free thought to spawn. If the government doesn't undertake a long-term strategy, the youth will naturally slip towards the streaming paraphernalia of Islamic state.

Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar E Taiba are actively recruiting people to wage jihad until the Islamic republic is established in an independent Kashmir. It has come at the cost of threats to the Hurriyat leaders who are engaging with the New Delhi spectrum to hold talks of political resolution in Kashmir. The guns can be pointed towards any direction. Zakir Musa, a leading terrorist after breaking away from Hizbul warned separatists to distance themselves from the democratic parties or to face repercussions.

Jihadi leader Musa released an audio in which he called for unity among militant and separatist forces. He categorically stated that he's ready to stand beside anyone who believes in Shariat or Shahadat (Islamic rule or martyrdom) As long as the government will not cover ground to destablize the hate spewing sepratist establishments.

Meanwhile, the 40,000 Rohingya Muslims who had settled illegally in Jammu are still a task for the government. The immigrants are living off the expenses of government in a state where the face of exile is not new. The imbalance in the religious demograhic can easily flare up a new storm in the state. On top of it, the plight of Kashmiri Pandits is turning into a political hyperbole into the noisy news channels of the media. The demand for a separate homeland lies dusted in the compounds of the home ministry. The only way to restore peace in Kashmir is to resettle the Kashmiri Pandit community back in the valley. The government has slept on a volatile Kashmir, leaving the army to do its job without backing them up with a solid plan.

After 27 years, there's still no justice for Kashmiri Pandits. The mass murder Bitta Karate who admitted killing Kashmiri pandits roams free. The systematic disintegration of kashmiriyat that kashmiri pandits upheld has casted a shadow on disbelief in the hearts of Indians that can't be retraced by the bellowing elitests of New Delhi. The justice awaits.

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Lalleshwari: Life of Lal Ded and her vakh poetry

A cursory glance through the pages of Kashmir history reveals that this "Paradise of the world" has not produced only great kings like Lalitaditya ad Zain-Ul-Abidin, famous for their spirit of toleration and humanism, but also great saints and ascetics like Lalleshwari, Shah Hamandan, Sheikh Nur-ud-Din (popularly known as Nund Rishi), Roopa Bhawani and Jaman Ded. Lalleshwari, however, was the most leading of all saints and ascetics.

Long smeary hair and bare bodied, her appearance were fierce as a Bhairavi. She had discarded the social conventions and codes of behaviour to discover the truth through her spiritual quest. Every Kashmiri is proud of Lalleshwari for it was she who, centuries ago preached religious toleration by recognising only one god for all, Hindus whether Hindus or Muslims.

She said- 

"Shiva is all-pervading (Present in each particle); never differentiate between a Hindu and Musalman. If you are shrewd and intelligent, know thy own self; therein lies your acquaintance with god."

Her principles of religious toleration won her equal reverence Hindus and Muslims. Through generations, Hindus called her Lalleshwari and Muslims 'Lal arifa' More popularly she was known as Lal Ded (Mother Lalla)

Lalleshwari was born in 1335 A.D in a Kashmiri Pandit Family. In those days Sultan Aalu-ud-Din was the king of Kashmir. Her parents lived at Pandranthan (the ancient Purandaishthan), four miles south-east of Srinagar. She received her early education at home from the family priest, Sidh Sri Kanth. It was this family priest who, noting Lalla's spiritual advancement from her very childhood initiated her into the mysteries of Shaiva sampradaya. Gradually, it is said, she surpassed him also in spiritual advancement.

Lalleshwari was married at an early age, as was the custom in those days. She was married at Pampore (the ancient Padampore) and her husband, being of a different temperament could not easily reconcile himself to the religious leanings of his young wife. So a rift developed between the husband and the wife. The rift became all the more serious day by day due to the ill-treatment of her step-mother-in-law. Lalla bore this ill-treatment quite patiently. Lalla, was, however, loved much by her father-in-law. At her in-law's place, Lalla was named as Padmavati. Her mother-in-law always used to scold her however, her father-in-law was ignorant of this.

It is said that her mother-in-law, would every morning and evening, place a round heavy stone in her plate and spread over it a handful of boiled rice to give the impression that the plate was full of boiled rice, though actually, it contained very little, Lal ded would eat the little rice, wash the stone and the plate and return both to her mother-in-law. Padmavati bore this ill-treatment for twelve years and never complained about it to anyone, nor even to her husband. This fact came to the knowledge of her father -in-law when an incident took place. One day her father-in -law arranged a feast at his house. That very morning, when he chanced to pass by the stream where Lalla and other women of the neighbourhood were talking while filling their pots with water, he heard the women enquiring of Lalla, "Lalla, your father-in-law has invited many people today to the feast. You will, therefore, have a nice dish in the evening." Lalla's reply to them gave a surprise to her father-in-law. She told them: "hund maritan kinah kath noshi nalvat tsalih nah zanh" (Whether they kill a big or a small sheep, it is all the same for the daughter-in-law, who is used to the round heavy stone)

Her father-in-law to ascertain the truth of Lalla's remarks, snatched the plate from Lalla's hand when she was having her evening meals. He found the stone there, fell at Lalla's feet in reverence and apologised to her for how she had suffered. This, however, increased the cruelties of her mother-in-law. At last, Lalla renounced her home and led a secluded life. She roamed from place to place in search of truth and sang songs of divine love and glory. Her preachings and sayings are known as vakhs which both Hindus and Muslims committed to memory. Like Mira, she sang for Shiva. The only difference between the two would be that Mira was devoted to the saguna or god with attributes, Lalleshwari, on the other hand, was for the nirguna brahman.

There are several stories of Lalla's spiritual powers told in almost all Kashmiri households. One such is narrated here: It is said that once she went to a temple where her Guru was worshipping an idol. The local pandit asked her the reason for her coming to the temple. She said she wanted to answer the call of nature in that covered place. The local priest was taken aback at this and took her to the place outside the temple meant for that purpose. She removed some earth and the same idol which was in the temple was there. The guru then took her to another place where the same idol was found. The priest was very much embarrassed but Lalla told him:

"An idol is a mound of stone and so is a temple.
Top above and bottom beneath are one.
Whom will you offer worship,
O unintelligent Pandit (scholarly but not, a realised soul)?
cause a communion of mind and vital air (by breath-control and self-restraint)."

 Some of the sayings (vakhs) of Lalleshwari, as translated from the original Kashmiri into English by Shri Shambhu Nath Bhatt 'Haleem' and Shri Janki Nath Bhan published in Kashur Gazette are reproduced in Not just an opinion for the benefit of readers.

"Which direction I came from or which way I came by,
to which direction I have to go I do not know at all.
Well; if I get right guidance,
that alone will stand me in a good stead.
How can one rely on empty breath alone?
(breath-control alone will do nothing unless right initation and grace of the supreme are there)"

In search of him high and low, I, Lalla, was tired
and spend out. My efforts were beyond my capacity.
While my eyes were set at my ai (him),
I found the doors of his abode bolted.
This roused my quest all the more
and deepened my yearning,
and with single-minded devotion.
I pursued for his darshan.

I burnt away all the impurites of mind
and crushed my desires and passion
I came to acquire my name Lalla
(attained self-realisation) only when I,
in self-denial and self-abnegation,
dedicated myself to him.

There are some whose wives are like shady chinar trees.
They (you) go near and feel comforted with the shade.
There are some whose wives are like bitches at the door;
they (you) go out and are anapped at by them.
There are some whose wives create confusion and complication for them.
Yet there are some whose wives are of a mixed temprament and behave as the need arises;
like sun and shade they stand by them.

Kashmir had a great influx of inspired thinkers, saints and poets who contributed to the heritage of the land that helped to flourish the literature to its peak in the valley. Lal ded is one such poetess who has inspired generations of seekers with her mystic musings. While people know about Kabir Das and his sayings which notably bears semblance of Lalleshwari. People may not be aware of the Shaiva scholar due to geographical reasons but it makes for an interesting read to learn about the life of Lalleshwari. Be sure to read more of vakh poetry and tell us what you think about the beautiful gem of Kashmir whose verses still ring a bell in Kashmiri homes.

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The resounding glory of Dharmic renaissance

"We're all humans treat us as equals" cried a voice, terrified by the onslaught of his fellowmen, who had been captured by exalted officers working for the feudal lords of the land. The societies collapsed around the world. The redux of post-modern societies merged into a systematic complicity that led to chaotic disorder. However, this was different. Disconcerted, the people of the ransacked town of Sukma had gathered at night to share the plight and well-being of the community. The absence of the captured ones had the whole fraternity gripped in fear. The socially empowered feudal forces had evolved beyond a strength of the potential repair. This night of common truth had united the lost tribe.

Encircled around a fire. They sat down with subdued prudence. It was an occasion of geometric strength that the wild forest had never seen. There were echoing groans of wild animals in dampen atmosphere. The agony brought tears to the eyes of women who cradled their babies in arms; trying to hold still in the times of arrival. This union of grief had brought upon an eerie epiphany. The distance between the concessional society and an extinct civilisation is just one step.

The young men had briskly stepped out to check the fleet of search teams who were trying to apprehend the common folk on charges of treason. The night was long and chilly. The winds sparked the burned logs into a spring of fireworks. The times of arrival were shifting. The red beaming morsel travelled with an ecstatic semblance (vinyasa) etched onto an old rug near a shrine of a local deity. Sphooff! The fire crackled with a plume of liberating smoke.

"It's the rise of Dharma" a celestial announcement conjured the last strife of fire. Besieged by the fire and bolted by akashvani, the men went closer to the shrine. Bowing down into the cramped space, they paid obeisance to kula devi and took off the rug to find colossal swords with sharp blades. Arise and win or wither and perish. No other paths exist.

It can pierce through your senses and lenses to align you to the truth you may not want to hear. The synchronicity of Dharma. When you sink to its depth, it sets detour blazing through the lokas, However, these domains of magnificence lay reserved to the ones who can endure and match the immensity of eternal order. and  To inherit the truth is to carry it forward. A malingerer would be charred by harbingers of injustice. The sword of dharma shall prevail to harbour peace.

The sun shines every day.
What is there to this dearth?
The absence of a myriad liege
that can match the copious humility and strength
to wipe faces of remorse with brilliance
personification of compassion
the one who is the essence of the world.
The one dwelling in sweetness,
providing richness
and nutrition to beings,
who could overlook the copious might
If only you knew Narayana
What is there to this dearth?
where the upholder of Dharma is unrecalled.

Swadharma 

They have forgotten the words of ancestors. We are not looking for a place of togetherness or comfort but absolute bliss that can knock us out of our limited roles. The doors of fortune are open to those who dare to walk through it. Better a brief spell of courage than a long life of despair.

One person has learned to disagree; other has not. It is the point of friction that calls for immediate repair. Ask people if there's an end to human suffering. They would look back at you with disdain of trying to imagine the world without war. Ignorant to the nature of Dharma.

The silent forest was brought back to life. The men moved through the jungle with a ceremonious sound of the conch shell. It seemed like even animals had given up on their natural instincts and witness the spectacle. "Ahimsa, parmo dharma" "Seva parmo dharma" " and millennials, who have only sought brahman to infinite lengths; never fought because of the tradition of plurality. The societies would adapt different models of adherence but to be rooted in the knowledge of self is the only way to realise one's Swadharma. If the friction of social forces is not meted out with peace then the war becomes inevitable.

The circumstances might be different, the nature of war may vary from place to place. It is as silly as a child's play which could be overlooked but when the play turns from a foolish squabble to intermittent rage it leads to degradation of human values. It's time to accept the duty. The battle men recounted their prayers and veered off. The Swaraj is only available to the ones who taste the sweetness of freedom, seek nothing else.

Core teachings. 

Dharmo rakshati rakshitaha  धर्मो रक्षति रक्षित: । 

Speculation of verity falters curious ones into the dungeons of mendacity. Only the one with courage can cross the ocean not the one who speculates the ocean from the shore. Dharma empowers the seekers into action. This is how the men waged into the forest without tinkering off to other means of accord which would result in slavery or death at worse.

Duty is an obligation you owe to yourself, to those who stand beside you, and to those who stand behind you. The men eliminated down the guards of feudal lords with the swords quenching the blood of power hungry maniacs. The local authorities beaten into submission were forced to leave. It was then the land was reclaimed by the original inhabitants of the soil. It was a moment of huge celebration. The captured people who were tormented in extreme conditions were released.

Veer Bhogya Vasundhara वीर भोग्य वसुंधरा

The brave shall inherit the lands. This is what happens when the men of honour and ethics trample down an oppressive state to regain harmony. A moment of reckoning for all. To inherit tomorrow, fight today. To win today, claim tomorrow. Only the brave hearts who realise their Swadharma can attain fulfilment. Cowardice claims a thousand defeats; courage gains a thousand victories. The men on both sides may perish but only the latter will conquer. To follow the codes and study the game is the tapasya (penance) of righteous men and for that, they shall be revel in the assembly of heroes.

This is how the Dharma serves as a foundation of our heritage that is the source of our longevity.

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India against aadhar - Draft your MP

Inadequate laws, insecure network infrastructure, errors in authentication. This is not what your government wants you to acknowledge about the much-coveted project of Nandan Nilekani. A 12 digit number issued by Unique identification authority of India (UIDAI) is what government desperately needs to enforce order into the system that is depilated at the expense of multiple fake accounts. The question is are they actually able to achieve that with Aadhar or is it just another farce at play.

In an attempt to put up a face of robust and state of the art digital system for disposal of services that ensures cost-savings, denying services to the citizens who are not enrolled in an evasive set up of aadhar is one way to compromising individuals rights. Cancelling eligible beneficiaries and calling is savings is outrageous. Bursting this bubble of a greater good by putting the civil liberties at risk is highly derisive. Aadhar fall shorts on multiple fronts of privacy and security. data can be stolen and misused in a multitude of ways and a victim whose identity gets compromised can't file a complaint against the UIDAI with a looming threat of mass surveillance.

Rhe significant amount of powers that lies with UIDAI is terrifying. It holds the power to wipe the details of aadhar card holder which ultimately means depriving the citizens of any services. Already, we are seeing huge numbers of people facing problems in biometric authentication. The government should take these points into consideration before rolling out One ID for everything could very well mean a strong government for a weak nation. We definitely don't want it for us.

How do I act against aadhar?

Taking forward the voice of citizens, we at Not just an opinion asked our law friends to help us prepare a disposition that outlines the concerns of citizens regarding the violations of the orders of Apex court by the government and how it can distress the democratic set up of India by it's ever expanding list of services. It's time to draft your member parliaments to work. Draft your MP and please inform your friends to do the same so the campaign of #IndiaAgainstAadhar can gain further momentum.

1) Go to nocorruption.in

2) Select your state (Example- Delhi, Mumbai)

3) Select your constituency

4) Click on the profile of your Member Parliament.

5) Find the email address and forward this your representative. Make yourself heard. Copy paste the original draft and edit the document with your name in the end. Participating in democracy isn't bad after all.

────────────────────────────────────────

Dear Sir/Madam,

Subject: Mandatory Use of UID-Aadhaar in Violation of Orders of the Supreme Court and Lacunae in Aadhaar (Enrolment and Update) Regulations, 2016. 

We write to about the Aadhaar (Enrolment and Update) Regulations, 2016 [hereinafter, Aadhaar Regulations] that have currently been laid before each House of Parliament in pursuance of Section 55 of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 (hereinafter the Aadhaar Act), and seek to draw your attention to the lack of substantive and procedural safeguards against exclusion of citizens through the use of Aadhaar.

At the outset, we express our profound sense of alarm at the manner in which Aadhaar has been made

mandatory, in clear disregard of Orders of the Supreme Court, for access to various entitlements,

subsidies, services, legal compliance, etc.

We are constrained to point out that the Supreme Court has repeatedly emphasised that the Aadhaar number “is purely voluntary and it cannot be made mandatory till the matter is finally decided by the Court one way or the other“. It must also be noted that the Supreme Court has, through its order dated 14-09-2016, persisted with the prohibition on the mandatory use of Aadhaar even after the passage of the Aadhaar Act. As such, an insistence of mandatory submission of Aadhaar Number for an ever-expanding list of services and activities constitutes an unconscionable breach of the rule of law as well as contempt of the Supreme Court of India.

Even as such mandatory use of Aadhaar constitutes a violation of Supreme Court order, it also reinforces

the need for a robust, accessible, and accountable procedural mechanism for preventing misuse of Aadhaar number and protecting citizens from denial of services due to linkage with Aadhaar. However, the procedures envisaged by the Aadhaar Regulations fail to conform to the elementary principle of fairness, access and natural justices that have been recognised as an integral part of Art. 14 of the Constitution.

We draw your attention to the following aspects in particular: Deactivation without pre-decisional hearing

Regulations 29 to 32 of the Aadhaar Regulations provide for deactivation of Aadhaar number. In view of the linkage between Aadhaar number and basic services, including basic services recognised as part of the Right to Life under Article 21 of the Constitution, strict procedures with rigorous safeguard constitute an imperative. Yet, Regulation 29 fails to provide for a pre-decisional hearing to the number-holder as a mandatory requirement. The Regulation uses the phrase “deactivation may require field inquiry”, suggesting that UIDAI has the discretion to dispense with an inquiry.

Further, clause (2) of the Regulation suggests that UIDAI may ask another agency to carry out the inquiry and submit a report. The regulation, however, makes no mention of the selection process of this agency, the qualifications of the persons carrying out such inquiry or the procedure the agency must follow.

Another cause of concern is that clause (3) of Regulation also fails to provide any guidance on the officers within the UIDAI that would be authorised to carry out such deactivation or what procedure they would follow prior to deactivating the Aadhaar number.

Inadequacy of Grievance Redressal

Regulation 30 of the Aadhaar Regulations require an aggrieved number-holder to pursue a complaint through the “grievance redressal mechanism” set up under Regulation 32. Regulation 32 states that the UIDAI “shall set up a contact centre to act as a central point of contact for resolution of queries and grievances of residents, accessible a to residents through a toll-free number(s) and/ or e-mail.” However, the Regulations contain no indication about the powers of the contact centre or the procedures it shall follow. In view of the critical impact of any deactivation of Aadhaar number and consequent denial of services, grievance redressal mechanism must be prompt, effective and accessible.

But in the absence of both substantive and procedural norms, the mechanism envisaged under Regulation 32 is in danger of being nothing more than a charade. Further, the mechanism also fails the principle of access given its reliance on phones and emails. Such a mechanism would serve to exclude those without phones or internets who even at this moment, constitute a sizable section of our citizenry. Admittedly, clause (3) of Regulation 32 allows residents to “raise grievances by visiting the regional offices of the Authority or through any other officers or channels as may be specified by the Authority.” But with regional offices currently existing in mere 8 states, this option may also prove to be an illusory rope.

Levying and collecting Fees

The Aadhar (Enrolment and Update) (First Amendment) Regulations 2017 have authorised Registrars, Enrolling Agencies and other Service Providers to collect a fee from the residents for the services provided by them. Imposition of fees would constitute a dual burden on citizens and residents. Not only are people being compelled to sign up for Aadhaar, they shall also be charged a fee for such enrolment. Indeed, it seems a cruel joke being played at the cost of people of India.

In view of these lacunae, we believe that Aadhaar Regulations fail to act as a strong bulwark against the exclusion of people due to the linkage of Aadhaar and other services. Therefore, we write to you and call upon you to exercise your responsibility as Members of Parliament and request you to endeavour to modify or annul the Aadhaar Regulations under Section 55 of the Aadhaar Act before the Regulations become final.

Thanking you

(Enter your name)

Yours sincerely,

Not just an opinion

Saurabh Bhatt is a Law Teacher, works on Labour Law and Law & Impoverishment. He can be found at saurbhatt@outlook.com for appreciation and support.

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Aadhar: State machinery for mass surveillance

If the machine of the government is of such nature that it requires you to be an agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law.
- Henry David Thoreau

Denial of treatment in government hospitals or no food for children enrolled in mid-day meal schemes, all the necessary means of survival could be denied. This is the reality of today. The government is clamping down heavily on rights of citizens, and there's a growing threat to civil liberties. If you want to build a toilet in your home with the assistance of Swacch Bharat scheme you need aadhar, if you are availing medical aid from Government or issuing a driver's license, then you must enrol for aadhar. From filing Income tax to issuing PAN card we need aadhar. By the time, you'll finish reading this post, the government would probably have linked couple more public services with aadhar. A system which was supposed to be purely voluntary for citizens is now turning into a quotidian exercise. India against aadhar is the movement against the total subservience to government.

If you do not have allegiance to your government, then the government is ready to take it from you. Aadhar was introduced as a public welfare scheme to distribute benefits of state subsidies to the different sections of society and to reduce fraud. Ignoring issues of privacy and security implications it has on one-sixth of humanity, the government is clear contempt of court has blatantly violated orders of the supreme court.

The government has trivialised the issue of privacy and security of billion Indians by subversion of democracy. Inducing fear and panic among citizens by underplaying the flawed system of aadhar and not issuing direct orders, it has let the heated stream of questions cool off. The game gets murkier here.

A realm of government supremacy.

The introduction of finance bill (backdoor bill) saw the most dangerous face of government. Notoriously proliferating multiple bills as money bills. Beating down the code of parliamentary affairs. A backdoor entry for aadhar into the finance bill.  To the government that can give you anything holds the power of taking away with the same speed. The government is not taking the healthy spoons of criticism too well. We need to feed the government with the right amount of critique to make sure we are heard. It becomes imperative to discuss further aspects of money bills that are packaged with aadhar to systematically add to the power of state machinery.

Anonymous political funding - Electoral bonds

Removing the cap on political funding is one of the benign efforts of the government to make the political funding clean and transparent. Now there is no limit as to how much one can donate to political parties. The government further introduced electoral bonds that allow the donors to be anonymous. It is issued by banks once the payment is processed through cheque or digital transaction. Previously, the donations below 20,000 INR was permissible without disclosure of information, but now this has come down to 2,000 with a push of cashless India. Playing a balancing act with this, Finance Minister has not been able to bring a good change in the corrupt system of political funding. With electoral bonds, the identity of donors is recorded by the banks, but it is not disclosed to the public which makes these steps redundant. 

Merger of tribunals - Reducing the power of judiciary

In another episode of finance bill, centre subsumed 8 tribunals into existing ones to purportedly bring uniformity in the judicial system. More tribunals can be similarly be amended without parliamentary approval. The government will have the power of appointment, removal and terms of service of members of 17 tribunals. With the lack of specialisation and overburdening the judicial processes government has severely damaged the pillars of democracy by virtually destroying the prominence of tribunals in the country.

Unprecedented power to taxmen - Political oppression

The section 132 of the Income Tax Act proposes to give authority to the tax official not to disclose the reason for suspicion that may lead to the investigation and seizure on any tax paying individual, to any authority including the tribunals, with retrospective effect. With zero accountability, the taxpayers can terrorise the taxpayers with scrutiny. It can very well be used as a manoeuvre for political oppression.

Right to privacy

Interestingly, BJP had initially raised questions over the introduction of aadhar when it was first introduced by Congress in 2010.

On Aadhaar, neither the Team that I met nor PM could answer my Qs on security threat it can pose. There is no vision, only political gimmick

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 8, 2014

Lok Sabha dismissed all the five amendments moved by Rajya Sabha. Finance Minister Arun Jaitely has rebuked opposition for raising the concerns of security without substantially acknowledging the work government is doing.

In recent findings, the government has itself admitted that aadhar data has been leaked online. Exposing the flaws in the system. It is not difficult to get aadhar data online. With Google dork query, it is easy to get access to personal information of thousands of aadhar card holders. A Google dork is a search string that indexes the data deep within websites that are not publicly available. It takes a simple search of Google dork to get access. In another series of shocking incidents, Economic times also reported a possible snooping of CIA into aadhar system through private entity MongoDB funded by CIA.

Miffed at the press for participating in policy making Mr Arun Jaitley said: "Somebody will write an editorial, citing a problem for every solution we offer."

Unfortunately, that's how democracy works. When you put the personal information of billion people at stake which is at the risk of fraud or theft. That somebody must definitely speak up.

Surgical strike on civil liberties 

Let us understand this through a simple analogy. Download a new application on your Google Android smartphone. It notifies and seeks permission to access the system tools and controls like storage, network communication and location on your smartphone.

Here the government is google, android is UIDAI, and your smartphone is your aadhar number.
Now when we avail different services linked with aadhar, we give our sensitive information logs like time, location and services availed to UIDAI. It would be a cakewalk to keep track of users activities. In this case, the government can control the citizens likes botnets.

We have a right to accept or deny these simply deleting the application from our phone to safeguard our privacy, but these commands of free choice are banished by our government that is severely pushing the use of aadhar in the name of reformative measures. A company like WhatsApp or Instagram may argue that it provides free services, so they make up for it by selling the data to other businesses. However, once a government follows the same footsteps it's different ball game. If the government can't work in the interest of people, then such government should be no longer needed.

Transparency for the State. Privacy for the citizens

Depending upon corrupt and visionless bureaucracy for policy making is not going to make things better for citizens. The government must realise its mistakes and understand that aadhar is ill-conceived. It should engage with civil societies to formulate an improved course of action for establishing a universal ID rather than bullying its way through causing inconvenience and misuse of power. People must control their own data. not the government, Not UIDAI, not private companies. It is Not the case with aadhar, a central repository of billion Indians is a dangerous idea.

E-KYC 

Expansion of aadhar in business services is even more worrying. An ecosystem that can enable tracking, profiling and tagging. The third party that offers services can collate the data of individuals Know your customer is When the aadhar will be rolled into private services through seeding. The advent of big data has made it possible to analyse the patterns of user behaviour and tendencies. One may argue, that it would be beneficial in providing better services to the customer but it maximises the potential of damage and corporations privately lobbying for the government.

Linking aadhar with every service would invite trouble. The government is updated of what people are using, buying, spending, eating, travelling and resistance against such a regime would get harder by the day.

India against Aadhar (IAA) 

Disobedience to a regime that relies on massive data mining can take many forms, from aggressively encrypting personal information to leaking government secrets, but all will require conviction and courage. A journalist was arrested for pointing out vulnerabilities in the aadhar system. The Finance Minister is quick to retort to the editorials that question the government's way of working, but, he has no definite solution to provide to the citizens.

It is time we raise our voice against aadhar. It should either be worked out well before it can become a part of law and order system. There are no proper redressal systems to deal with identity theft. Adopting a trail and error approach to such an important matter is foolish.

#IndiaAgainstAadhar is a digital movement to enlighten the people about the security implications of aadhar.
In our series of next post on aadhar, we are going to enforce our ideas of fixing loopholes and establishing safeguards to ensure a safe system that keeps the data safe and encrypted from both state and non-state actors.

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Aadhaar: Privacy and Security Implications for One-Sixth of Humanity

Introduction

Aadhaar, a populist brand name for a 12-digit Unique Identification Number issued by Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), is the world's largest ID scheme. It is a biometrics-based Identification System which collects Iris scans, fingerprints of all ten fingers, and a photograph of the person. It also collects information such as name, gender, date of birth, the address of the individual, and optionally mobile and email address. This information is used to identify any individual uniquely.  This article will raise points on Aadhaar's security and privacy implications for 1/6th of world's population currently enrolled into its database.

Privacy Concern

There are many troublesome features, provisions, mandates and directives in Aadhar which make privacy of any citizen a myth. Furthermore, any non-compliance primarily results in either discrimination to non-holders or their criminalization (more details below, keep reading).

Aadhaar stores your most private data, your biometric signatures from Iris and all fingerprints, coupled with name, gender, date of birth, photograph and address, in a centralized database. This central repository itself is the biggest privacy concern. UIDAI defends this on the ground that many government agencies already have this on citizens. No, they do not. None of them have all of your biometric information. Aadhar is the first one in India with such level of biometric data collected from people.

In fact, UIDAI was legally incorporated only in March 2016 vide the Aadhaar Act (Targeted Delivery of financial and other subsidies, benefits and services) 2016. Before that, it only functioned as an "attached office of Planning Commission." Planning Commission has no legal mandate to collect any biometric data from Indian citizens, let alone, foreign residents. Moreover, it has no mandate for any identification scheme. By the time UIDAI started existing legally in 2016, it had already collected biometric data of ~600 million population. That too, without any oversight and being answerable to anyone.

Privacy of an individual is still an alien concept in India. Probably that is why Indian Privacy Laws are non-existent. Let's take an example of Goa Court ruling in 2013. The court asked UIDAI to hand over all data of all persons in Goa to CBI. Mind you, this is raw, unencrypted data, not an API to search through all citizen's data in Goa, but complete raw data! There you go, all your privacy assertions bit the dust.

"The Government" is a very vague, headless entity and very conveniently used to forever pass the buck around. Ideally, It consists of judiciary, legislative and executive, with the intention of appropriate checks-and-balances at all levels. However, practically, as just demonstrated in the last paragraph, it has all kinds of loopholes in every nook and corner to achieve the intentions of legislative. Let's take some examples in the case of Aadhaar:

UIDAI was established by an "executive order" in 2009. Not a legal, answerable entity till 2016

UIDAI was legally set up in 2016 vide Aadhaar Act 2016. Also, It was introduced as a Money Bill (why and how on earth?). The only plausible reason seems to be able to bypass Rajya Sabha as it has limited powers in Money Bills. (The Rajya Sabha may not amend money bills but can recommend amendments.)

Judiciary, again a part of Government has repeatedly (at least in 3 instances from Supreme Court itself) asserted in the past, that Aadhaar is "voluntary and not mandatory" and that "no person should suffer for not getting Aadhaar" as the government cannot deny a service to a resident if s/he does not possess Aadhaar. People are increasingly being forced to get Aadhaar, latest news being that Aadhaar would now be compulsory for filing income tax returns. So, if a person wants to diligently perform his/her duties as a responsible citizen by paying taxes, but doesn't want to have Aadhaar, now s/he cannot pay taxes anymore. It is a direct attack on the civil liberty. S/he is now a criminal in view of Government, and Income Tax Department can very well initiate actions against this person.

UIDAI claims Aadhaar has "has no linkage to any other systems such as PAN, Passport, Driver's License" but we now have news of Aadhaar being mandatory for filing Tax Returns. 

Alas, Under the Aadhaar Act 2016, the Unique Identification Authority of India can now file a First Information Report (FIR) against any citizen who questions its security.

Right to be Forgotten

While there is no "Right to be Forgotten" in India as in Europe, Aadhaar is fundamentally against this privacy provision. Once your data is in the database, there is no way you can get your data deleted from Aadhaar's database. To be fair, UIDAI does give an option to "lock" your biometric details, so that no 3rd party can use it for authenticating your Aadhaar number via UIDAI's authentication gateway. However, your data is still present in the database. Once saved in UIDAI's database, there is no way you can get your data removed. 

Mass Surveillance 

UIDAI argues that Aadhaar just provides a "yes/no" answer* to an authentication request and hence can't be used for any meaningful monitoring. However, when connected to all kinds of services, Aadhaar starts becoming a viable tool for mass surveillance. Every aspect of your life such as your financial transactions, your travel tickets, your telephone calls (yeah, just yesterday DoT issued a notification to all telecom companies to compulsorily re-verify every user with their Aadhaar IDs), your residence, etc.  would now be connected by with one single entity and that is Aadhaar. It is not a technologically impossible task to use Aadhaar for mass surveillance. This kind of capability already exists with governments in some countries, as demonstrated by Snowden Leaks on NSA and recent WikiLeaks release on CIA. Yeah, it is technologically feasible to implement mass surveillance once you have Aadhaar mapped to every service of any kind which is used by the population.

While the current Government can be assumed to have good intentions in mind for Aadhaar, this can never be guaranteed by any future Government. As previously mentioned too, under Aadhaar Act 2016, UIDAI can file a FIR against any citizen who questions its security. This intimidating threat does not bode well for either Government or UIDAI. 

It is as simple as this: Never trust the Government**. So never believe that it will keep your data safe. After Aadhaar Act 2016, UIDAI can now also provide your details to authentication requester instead of just "yes/no" answer. UIDAI will not provide your "core biometric" details, in any case. Neither trust any private entity either.

Data Security Risk

The first rule of Cyber Security researchers is: All systems have vulnerabilities.

Alternatively, all systems can be hacked. It is acknowledged by UIDAI itself which says "One can never say never in any security systems." 

Security of a system is only as strong as its weakest link. All of UIDAI's hardware (network infrastructure, biometric sensors, servers, and processing platforms) and software are procured from third party companies. 

Hardware can be backdoored. Recent Wikileaks on CIA has shown CIA exploiting vulnerabilities on Cisco hardware.

The software has their 0-day vulnerabilities. No one can guarantee their software to be free of any vulnerabilities. 

UIDAI routinely advertises "2048-bit encryption which will take billions of years to crack". Point is:

Encryption can be broken though it is very tough to do so. This is different from cracking it by brute-force. Although there is no publicly available information on 2048-bit RSA being broken yet, we can never be sure.

Encryption can be bypassed! There are many instances where you do not even need to decrypt/break anything. Instead, a coding bug will be happy to give you raw data when exploited correctly.

A compromised Enrolment Station node can bring down the integrity of the complete system. State-actors from some countries may (or already do) possess the capability to carry out elaborate attacks against UIDAI infrastructure. These measures cannot be discounted.

UIDAI's data may also be susceptible to insider attacks. We have no information on the access control protocol followed by them, which brings to my point that we need an Independent Auditor for UIDAI (more on this later).

Biggest security issue with Aadhaar is that it stores all the data as raw data in encrypted form. If they would have, instead, saved the data as a hash using a secure hashing algorithm, then much of the security concerns would have vanished. Need to authenticate anyone? Just match the hashes instead of checking the raw data. These steps are taken all over the world to verify anyone. Even if they would have stored the general data (name, photographs and personal details) in raw form, but the biometrics in hashed form, then also much of the security concerns would have vanished. However, unfortunately, they store the raw biometric data in their database after encrypting it. 

If the data is hacked and an adversary can decrypt it (via indirect attacks), then the game is over. The hacker would have access to personal biometric data of 1/6th of humanity which can be abused in a dangerous manner (especially when Aadhar gets connected to each and every service). It can be used as a cyberwarfare tool.

Storing hashed biometrics in encrypted form would have been a better bet. However, to be fair to UIDAI, a big issue with using hashes for biometrics is you need to normalize your raw biometric data before hashing, else even a slight deviation will result in an entirely different hash value. 

Independent Auditing and Overseeing Authority

We need to have an Independent Auditing and Overseeing Authority with necessary competence in this kind of verification (CAG is insufficient). UIDAI's access control protocol needs to be audited by someone on the lines of Nuclear Command Authority of India, with stringent measures on any lapse. 

UIDAI's hardware, software and overall architecture need to be regularly audited by a team of security researchers, and reports made public to Indian citizens after fixing any issues.

Finally, biometrics should not be stored in raw encrypted form. Since Aadhaar advertises itself as just an authentication provider, it has no business storing raw biometric data. Hashed biometric data would be sufficient for this task.

Finally, UIDAI should be made answerable to the general population and the Auditing and Overseeing Authority, which it currently isn't. It instead threatens to file FIR on any citizen trying to question its security.

Rohit Singh is a technology enthusiast from New Delhi, who loves to spend his time tinkering with custom electronics hardware. He keeps an eye on events in cyber security, with a special interest in hardware security. He is a supporter of strong Data Protection and Privacy Laws in India. He can be reached at myrahmalo@gmail.com

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Healthy spoons of criticism for BJP

BJP has been sweeping polls across the states with a strong mandate. The resounding victory is a clear sign of carefully crafted election campaigns and election management strategy. The success story of BJP goes from massive public rallies, road shows of strength to thousands of whatsapp groups of BJP cadres to mobilise people into voting in favour of BJP. What was largely seen missing in other regional parties.

The level of strength has allowed BJP to go into polls without projecting a face of a regional leader. Domineering the states by unifying the opposition parties and taking them head on, BJP has knocked the doors of federalism in India. A case of strong centre backed with a equally cooperative state government. In believing so, it has ordinarily dismissed the voices on the other side.

Voice of Dissent

In a country as big as India, there are matters that crop in . We switch from one news channel to another to find issues and cases that are swayed away in the political drama. Narendra Modi's government has taken the course of discussion in their own hands. 3 years ago when the country was discussing cricket, Bollywood, political scams and reality TV. A disruptive style of Modi wave caught the attention of the masses by changing the spectacle of new India.

The pace at which Narendra modi government is heading is expansively broad and fast for others to catch up. The course of discussion that revolved around caste identity is now based on e-wallets and payments. The political syllabus has altered dramatically and it has been difficult for the opposition with a lack of vision to pick up substantial points where they can prowl on governance issues.

Quite clearly, the intellectual authority of India has dumbed down with flag bearers of secularism baring opportunities to play guardians of regional communities with little credibility. With more politicians sticking to populist measures of distribution of freebies, there's little to focus on issues of governance. A battered opposition like Congress can only come up with accusations of pinning down Modi for re branding formed schemes introduced under UPA government with new names and fighting over legacy of Mahatma and Sardar Patel.

Going against the popular opinion, how the voice of dissent in India is changing with the rise of BJP's dominion as the single largest political party in India. Empowering the digital democracy with a 5 point critique we are here stand for transparency and free information. It goes out to feed the healthy spoons of criticism to BJP & those who seem to be famished of public opinion

Kiren Rijiju the minister of central government raised his disapproval at questioning authorities.

Democracy is an active form of participation but when the voters are passive in their interests, it is very much possible for the government to harangue the people for exercising their rights. This is what happened when the minister was questioned on Bhopal Jail break case. Instead, of coming up with a sincere and responsible statement he chose to lash out at people who remind the authority of their jobs of maintaining law and order. What happens when the elected ones choose to break the fundamentals of democracy.

Prime Minister's drawing contrast of opposition's voice with Pakistan in times of demonetisation.

PM Narendra Modi may well be a great orator but comparing the opposition with Pakistan was nonparallel for a person holding the office of Prime Minister. Loose statements like this is something we don't expect from the prime minister. This notion is percolated down in the party and echoes through MPs who find silly reasons to create news with similar lines of absurdity. It is time, that the rhetoric is toned down.

Making aadhar mandatory to avail  mid day meals for children

If putting our privacy at risk wasn't enough, the central government had no shame in bullying it's way through schools, making Aadhar mandatory by challenging the right to food of school children. Mid day meal is one of the primary reason why children are enrolled in high numbers mid day meal program covers more than 100 million children across 1.15 million schools. Instead of making our schools more conducive for learning, we are falling back on human resource development. This intrusion of Aadhar in every sphere of life needs to stop before we have to deal with a menace of irresponsible handling of data. On being, confronted for forcing citizens to sign up for aadhar, senior minister Arun Jaitley went to the extend of openly admitting that they are violating the Supreme court's orders in Parliament.

Internet outages

There was more Internet outages in India in 2016 than any other country. It is terrifying, how the government shuts down Internet at the time of insurgency. Annually, 6000 crore rupees are lost due to the outages which costs more than the mars misson of ISRO. A dream of digital India is incomplete, if the government can build the required infrastructure to curb misinformation online instead of clamping down on the rights of netizens by shutting down the Internet completely. Folks at Internet freedom foundation have taken up the cause by launching the campaign of raising awareness about the Internet outages, you can support it by singing the petition at www.keepusonline.in 

Demonetisation 

Reliance Jio & PayTm had the best of demonetisation. It was time for companies to expand well on the gap of banks surging new currency into the system. The long list of beneficiaries cradled the government with goodwill and later had to apologies for using Prime minister's pictures on their full fledged advertisements. It was failure on the part of the government to call for demonetisation without facilitating the required infrastructure that resulted in deaths of more than 100 people.

Digital Democracy

Thoughtful criticism and close scrutiny of all government officials by the press and the public are an important part of a democratic society - Jimmy Carter

The government is functioning heavily on the big data resources. It has pooled in the information and tends to dictate from it without consultation from the public. Bhopal Jailbreak, calling off the NDTV ban, cancelling the license of 20,000 NGOs were strict measures government took to curb the falsifying atmosphere. Stop the government from sweeping the facts under the rug and critique your government.

Ideally we need better channels for criticism. It would take a serious effort for the voters to go beyond the socially engineered construct of political hyperbole. When all we hear about how much sleep is sacrificed by our Prime minister Narendra Modi, any other person questioning the working Prime minister would be deemed insensitive. The fact that Prime minister is seen skipping along the lines BJP's active campaigner as a poster boy and Prime minister of the country. It is a worrying sign if the lines gets blurred.

Transparency

The information you receive may be immersed with a bias. To ensure we have transparency in information there's Reddit and Quora platforms of content sourcing. It is important to establish more channels of criticism in the times when the presence of government parties have dominated the social media. The information wants to be free. The risk of censorship at the hands of social media giants should not stop the netizens from critiquing the government. Facebook might have censored the post IPS officer D. Roopa criticising BJP MP but the power of internet is too big and far reaching than a social media giant. If BJP appears famished today, we as dutiful citizens of India must make sure we feed the party with healthy spoons of criticism to create a free thought current that celebrates transparency in the system.

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Brown skin white minds: A colonial hangover

Ask a Chinese guy about china's history, he would smile and go great lengths telling you about the rich old tradition of china. Ask an American about USA's past and he will outline the dynamism of the great American dream of American exceptionalism. Ask an Indian similar question and he would find all reasons to evade the question. This is the condition of Indian psyche. It is tormented by the existence of it's own past.

India went through a freedom struggle not just to gain political freedom but to be free from all oppressive forces that didn't allow us to be who we are. Precisely what we lacking today. There is little awareness of how our history goes, only the parts that involve us being trampled over by the Arabic invaders and British are glorified in our academia. A narrow perspective of looking at the ethos and heritage of the country that accommodates  multiple cultures and identities is bereft of our history books.

Some people will be forever under the illusion of freedom. The colonial minds are imprisoned. It has still not managed to escape the abuse of imperialism that derided the colonies to such a menial state that it became awfully difficult for brown slaves to imagine a life other than under the impression of low life jerks. Ever since the colonial mind has bowed down to the supremacy of the powers that was held by elite positions in the administrations during colonialism. Much of our likings and prejudices arises from the colonial perspective of India. When there is so much implosion of ideas of Indian identity after centuries of persecution.

The originality of Indian thought was rekindled with Swadesh Swabhiman and Swaraj was tactfully overridden by cow, caste and curry. The expansion of imperialism in India was strategic. The high ranking Sepoys who were appointed by the white circles of aristocracy. The charm and the influence of western universalism was detrimental in oriental studies of India. The reason of this sense of colonial hangover is because of Deep sense of orientalism has seeped into out social models of infrastructure. education and the legal systems.

A slave carrying his white master on back
for a walk in orchard. 

The Sepoys that worked tirelessly as crutches of British raj to subjugate the Indian soil were rewarded by the white masters into the Anglo Indian community. There were however a few exceptions in the freedom movement. The colonial hangover of Indians has not yet faded off completely, still there's a huge number of white aspiring Indians, who have not yet looked deep into the subject to develop a critical thought of their awe for Goras.

The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are. You trade your reality for a role. You trade your senses for an act. You give up your ability to feel and in exchange put on a mask. There can't be any large scale revolution until there is a personal revolution, on an individual level. It's got to happen inside first.
 – Jim Morrison

West has some really great things to teach us. It is also important to acknowledge and adapt to the wonderful scientific and technological explorations in which west has contributed to the world. Nonetheless, this is happening at the expense of losing the originality of Indian thought. While India, looks up to west for modernisation, China has prudently invested and excelled in establishing its own thought without infiltration from control system of Vatican city or other foreign forces.

Bollywood actors who make money off their Hindi films, find it awfully difficult to speak Hindi otherwise. They don't lag behind in endorsing fairness creams either. The pop culture has only played along with the narrative. The NGOs be it big ones or the ones administered by students organisation purposefully admit themselves to the status quo to play along the with the similar codes of affluence.

Indians can go on talking about Bollywood, Bhanghra and Tandoori chicken but they are not very comfortable with the idea of Indian foundation. A home grown leadership that doesn't let people to adapt to any Western narratives is easier. All the ideologies in the world are fine but if it is not organic to the land where it is required, it can be rooted away as easy as a rotten apple. The deep sense of insecurity has swept the universities of India has corroborated and aligned with the implanted ideologies of Marxism in a bid to overthrow existing system with a sense of political equity. The assaults of Marxism on Indian soil have tenaciously increased. Nevertheless, downplayed in mainstream media. The attack on sovereignty of nation can be curtailed through reformative measures not the violent stone pelting that Indian left usually finds itself inclined with and this how the growing irrelevancy of left liberal propaganda is hounded by the growing populist image of Narendra Modi.

The political landscape of India is jolted by the rise of extensive governance with a nationalistic appeal with the rise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Uttar Pradesh elections saw people rejecting politics of vote bank of caste and voting for BJP's insistence for development. While the political pundits are looking at BJP seizing 2019's elections, Narendra Modi has announced 2022, the 75th anniversary of independence from Britain, as a birth of "New India."

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Generations of mahatma: A Gandhian odessy.

The principles and ideas of Mahatma Gandhi has penetrated through generations and still finds relevance in today's times. He was a firm believer of non violence and truth, never compromised on his morals and stayed true to his ground. However, we see his ideas changing in retrospect to time that he lived. What is the future of Gandhi.

A young boy livid in his teens, ran across the house to find a portrait smeared in dust. In grimy corners of a store room, taking apart the shacks of old books and broken furniture. He made it through with a strict resolve. It was a picture of Mahatma Gandhi. The fervour of emancipation had been laced with fading colours on the edges. The freshly printed finger tips on the sides were anointed as signature to it's revival.

The portrait adorned the wall of the public washroom. It didn't take hours for the people to notice. Perplexed at the stint of hooligans, the urinal was epicentre of outrage by the evening. The local news channels had alarmingly minced its words to curtail the the outrage of viewers. There hasn't been a single great person who hasn't gone through rough opposition. It has only made their impression on history stronger. Words were passed around media channels and press like hot sauce. The political parties at usual were in mud slinging mode.

Ishan had come back home. It was his time to catch up on his afternoon sleep. A sweet afternoon sleep had changed things around.. After the colony men had called a meeting to prepare themselves from encroachment of outsiders, especially media persons who wanted to inquire about the public washroom; that usually finds a a spectacle of Mahatma Gandhi as a part of Swachh Bharat logo, how it had plunged into a full framed photo of him. It was delirious enough to call trouble.

Dr Vinayak, who chaired the position of society head,  had blurted out orders to restore the picture from the washroom back into the colony. It was embarrassing enough. Ishan's grandfather had joined the proceedings and in a glance he knew who it was. The bed time stories had now found expression in vandalism. He drew out a handkerchief out from his pocket, dabbed it on the picture to take off the dust and settled in with the crowd at the meeting. Ishan's father was not present, much like his relationship with his son. He was unavailable. His grandfather pulled a chair and called out commandments.

Gandhi ji has merely exposed his own self-conceit. Gandhi ji was paradoxically a violent pacifist who brought untold calamities on the country in the name of truth and non violence. While Maharana Pratap, Shivaji and Gurugovind Singh ji remain enshrined in our hearts of countrymen together.

The youth whose imagination was celebrated the struggle of Bhagat Singh were seemingly pleasant while hearing about the photograph incident. Youthful, Gurdas who exclaimed a great length after hearing this news. Running through the streets, he reached the Chai shop where he and his friends used got together to discuss political ideologies over cups of Masala Chai of Nikumbh desai who himself participated in core debates. Gurdas having had a cracker of a time, decided to pay for the extra cigarettes. He ran through his pocket to realise he had dropped his wallet in excitement of reaching Chai shop over the news of portrait of Gandhi. Now the Gandhi in pocket was missing.

Let us understand that the civilisation and civility does not necessarily stand for each other. Sabhyata in an Indian term for civilisation which is derivied from the word "Sabhya" that means civil. These sets of social conventions which are swadeshi in nature are unlikely to be adopted through infiltration of western thought. In times of crumbling economies and businesses, civilisations are not left out. Then what would be left of us to make out of a situation that divides a set of people in two. A link of missing mutual respect. To balance out these two sets, a new mechanism is drawn onto a country so multicultural and complex that you can't compresses wishes of majority to appease minorities that bear the fruits of someone else's labour. The composite cultural heritage that binds this country also allows itself  to re frame a new structure of ideas. The problem arises when the same set of constructive equilibrium is not well perceived by the contrarian views. This embarks a nation to stutter and find moral grounds. The system is broken down from generations to generation with imposition of fragments of docile resistance. Successful to the point where words like nationalism sends shudders of discomfort to the left led crippling academia of nation.

Grandfather reached home and called Ishan. A remorseful boy who always overheard discussions of father with grandfather had latched onto a dangerous catapult. Grandfather having realised it, opened up Gandhi to Ishan like he had never seen before. Gandhi had identified tremendous tools like Satyagraha and Swaraj to mobilise large masses. The Sanskrit terms which were loosely translated as insistence on truth and self rule. The movement of freedom was driven on such tools. They are not mere slogans but real instruments of achieving self realisation. It was when Ishan realised Gandhi knew people more than they knew themselves because he was always rooting for the righteousness and truth. He would most certainly be rebuked for his decisions for turning a blind eye to the plight of majority of people. Therefore he shall be respected for ages to come.

The kid was anxious but he committed it as his duty to tell people about what they refused to see. His voice filled with tremendous fervour. The audience was bedazzled. While most people chose to live by the templates, only a few gain an insight of it becomes a tatpurush. If one does not exercise on such methods then living under a template is a foolish jeopardy. Leaving the grey area open to common parlance can create ruckus if it not defined by the uniform laws that underline mutual respect, peace and prosperity. Ishan owned up to it like a true Gandhian.

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Subliminal advertising in India

How often does it happen that while having a conversation you fail to hear a word or a phrase and in a moment before the speaker repeats the statement, you retrace it in seconds before it is repeated. The missing information just seeps right in right before it is conveyed in a clear manner. Our brain works in mysterious ways right?

How does it happen?

The information that is bypassed through the conscious mind remains stored in the subconscious mind. Before the person repeats the statement, the subconscious propels the information back to the conscious mind.

There are two parts of our mind that are work in our wakefulness. 

1. Conscious mind
2. Subconscious mind

Conscious mind holds the keys to reason, logic and analysis. It can think, plan and work well with anything that's given at hand. It coordinates the short term memory. Therefore, it is responsible for our day to day activities to keep functioning we require our conscious brain. Simple tasks like moving fingers to type something on keyboard as well lies within the ability of conscious mind. It performs the task with dazzling amount of speed and adds to our competency.

Read: What's on your mind: Subliminal advertising in India

Subconscious mind is way more powerful but its efficiency lies dormant. It caters to our beliefs, imagination, intuition, involuntary body functions, self-image, habits, emotions and feelings. As our life experiences changes with time, we are put into different circumstances our perspective of life changes with it which makes our subconscious less reliable in spite of being much more powerful than conscious mind. This is why most people fall back to relying solely on their conscious mind.

Subliminal Advertising

Subliminal advertising is notorious form of marketing that has been in use for a long time and it has been made illegal in some countries as well . Most people in India are not aware about the subliminal advertising. It is one of the devious methods in marketing that is used to attract the consumer by practise of triggering response in them by surpassing the conscious faculty of mind. This makes it easier for the brands to infiltrate information, personal choices, habits and trends. I researched some of the big brands that followed the practise of subliminal marketing before in What's on your mind: subliminal advertising in India

Examples of subliminal advertising 

A picture of a computer mouse would look harmless until you would look again and think. From corporate brands to political parties, India has seen a growth in subliminal advertising. Bollywood actors are roped in to perform the acts of debauchery to fit in the propaganda for creating an enticing advertisement that viewers may feel indulgence for. Taking the mask off the subliminal programs we take a loot at the mainstream subliminal streaming on our TV channels.

Bhartiya Janata Party

BJP used subliminal advertising in one of it's government scheme's ad film. In the advertisement commercial a school girl is seen going through the pages of a text book where she runs her hands though the louts symbol which is an electoral symbol of BJP. To shape the public opinion of voters, political parties often use subliminal programming to create desired response from voters. In another such case, BJP was accused of using subliminal marketing where they opted to have lotus as logo for BRICS India summit.

Coca cola

Coca Cola’s famous ad commercial that has Bollywood actor Siddarth Malhotra guzzling down the sugar water while the girl at the store can’t help swooning over him. The advertisement is copy of Korean coca cola commercial. The girl stalks Siddarth Malhotra by a CCTV camera and gets a little too comfortable in a public space and the stimulations takes over. When the guy dripping with sweat returns to the store counter with his shoulders wet, she carefully places the bottle of coca cola around his crotch.

Colgate

In a recent survey, it was found out that Toothpaste brands hold a fickle credibility among the consumers. From seeing ridiculous ads of models dressed as dentists who recommend xyz toothpaste brands for better gums and teeth, we all know how game of marketing runs deep to sell corny waste. Colgate is another brand which roped in Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh to create a arousing magic of subliminal marketing. In the advertisement, we see a peppy Ranveer Singh dancing on top of cars and buses. In a change of a sequence, the girl dancing in front of the actor bends and draws her hand close to Ranveer Singh's crotch and with a swift body movement blows a flying kiss taking a sexual position. This is how objectification is celebrated through mind controlling alternatives of subliminal marketing.

Ranveer Singh doesn't have many endorsements to his name and is fairly new in the ad world but he has made an impact by bagging a few big brands under his name. Bollywood can stoop low for money and dictate ideas of respect to viewers.

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