#19 YOGA...."A nonreligious practice"

21st June, we all know this day as a longest day in the northern hemisphere, will now be celebrated as the International Yoga Day (IYD). Yes! India will lead 191 nations to mark the 1st 'International Yoga Day' on June 21, 2015. The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), on 11th Dec, 2014 declared 21st June as the International Yoga Day. The resolution was proposed by Hon'ble PM Narendra Modi and More than 177 countries  have supported this move. There were several initiative taken to declare the IYD, but the historic visit of PM to USA made it possible. It had the "highest number of co-sponsors ever for any UNGA Resolution of such kind".

Yoga is an ancient art of development for the body, mind, and spirit will lead us to a sense of peace and well-being, and also a feeling of being at one with their environment. The yoga makes the body strong and flexible, it also improves the functioning of our organs like the respiratory, circulatory, digestive, and hormonal systems. Yoga brings about emotional stability and clarity of mind. This is simple definition. It's origin dates back to ancient Vedic sculptures. Various methods and practices were mentioned in so many ancient literature of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism. And the way Namaz is performed by Muslims has also contains some steps similar to Yoga. In 19th century, Yoga moved to west and in Europe and became the global practice to keep body and mind fit.  The whole world practices yoga as a form of exercise and not an religious ritual.

On one hand people around the globe, across the continent, creed, caste and religion, perform yoga, on the other hand we Indians who gave precious yoga to the world, entangled it  in the web of religion. With the govt. decision to mark the IYD, some minority groups are starting to oppose it. Government had asked schools to devise programs to celebrate the day which is not acceptable to some minorities group. Yoga includes Surya Namaskar which is against the Muslim faith. Amid opposition govt. decided not to include Surya Namaskar despite Yoga has nothing to do with the religion. Additionally, the Prime Minister will lead 35,000 people participating in events on the Rajpath on June 21 in a bid to enter Guinness book of world records. Opposition party Indian National Congress made fun of the mega event, which, in my opinion, is very immature response. Central government clarified that participation in the International Yoga Day events will be voluntary,which is welcoming decision. Despite of this, some political leaders and parties putting all their efforts to politicize the event and and giving it a communal color.

The fact is 47 of 177 nations supported Yoga resolution were Muslim-majority countries including Algeria, Bangladesh, Iran, Iraq, Syria, United Arab Emirates and Indonesia. This fact itself is an answer to those who are leaving no stone unturned to spreading religious hatred. But the truth is if they think about it without any touch of politics, they will understand without any effort. Opposing Yoga, which is performed by various nations and people belonging to various religion, is illogical. The world is suffering from various diseases, hatred and terrorism. And Yoga is key to unite the whole world, to spread awareness of healthy lifestyle and to be fit. Everyone should perform yoga and accept it because it is not religious ritual but a form of meditation and exercise.

#18 "War leads to.....?

War leads to ........? Destruction? Poverty? Extinction? But if I say war leads to development, then I think you would disagree with me until you read the my article.


“All war is murder, robbery, trickery, and no nation ever escaped losses of men, prosperity and virility. War knows no victor” - David Starr Jordan

‘War’ - Hardly anyone would disagree that the word itself gives off a gross negative feeling, for it reminds us of brutality of humanity, massive casualties,destruction and the gruesome consequences that follow. If we try to think about what would have started humans to take lives of other human beings, the credit would go the instinct of survival; that is to say that if a human perceives other human as a threat to him, be it for food, shelter, land, offspring, mate, etc., the survival mode would program him to fight off the other. But in modern world where there is no more scarcity of means of survival, why can’t we live in peace? Till around 18th century too, the reasons to fight were simpler and were mainly to establish supremacy over the other. The ideological and political differences made them use of forceful intervention in others life. But in 21st century, the reasons for war have diversified even more- ranging from strategic reasons to national security, increasing economical capabilities and to become super power. The more the country will be strategically strong, more they will be dominating and will have a better say in the global affairs. The aim to be supreme among all is still the same. But as the saying goes, every coin has two sides; that is every negative thing also has something positive coming out of it. How the events of war changed the world, how it made human life more conformable and safe... How war and military events lead the world from path of total destruction towards development...

Artificial satellites play a very important role to shape the today's world. Weather satellites help scientists study weather patterns and forecast the weather. Navigation satellites enable operators of aircraft, ships, and land vehicles anywhere on Earth to determine their locations. Satellites enable smooth Internet access, better television and radio signals and what not. There are hardly any fields which are not getting help from advanced space technologies. But all these are the result of a competition that was started between USA and USSR to reach space during cold war which is popularly termed as Space race. When Nazi Germany built ballistic missiles to attack allied forces in World war 2, USA and USSR both acquired this pioneer technology and started building deadly weapons. This space race benefited mankind with the first artificial satellite in the orbit of the Earth and the science which was used to kill people during war was later used in Apollo program which sent a man on the Moon. The GPS service which we use today was originally created for the United States Air Force for helping in navigation.

Stainless steel with which we are very familiar, is used for utensils in our kitchens; is a building material for buildings, bridges; finds its role in built of vehicles, air crafts; even medical instruments are built from steel due to its multiple qualities. The evolution of stainless steel dates back to the time of World War I, when military wanted a better metal to be used in guns, as other metals that were available that time, were not durable enough and were distorted after little use. Harry Brearley invented stainless steel for military purpose, which later became a useful metal to be employed in many ways.

Friend moving to U.S.? No problem, get in touch through Skype on weekends. Moving to a new city? Get information about people, food, exotic places just by ‘facebooking’ any person residing in that city. Need any information? Just ‘Google it’ and obtain answer in just few seconds. Sounds so simple! But it has all become possible with computer networking and the Internet; and the phrases themselves show that how Internet has become an integral part of our world. The Internet has evolved in stages but it’s foundation was laid when US army used it as a tool of war. Initially the network connected only four computers and was used by scientists and experts to share military and secret data. The aim of developing such a system was to establish a communication system which could be an alternative to telephone system and could be used in case of hostile attack. This network was called ARPAnet was created by Advanced Research Projects Agency (a branch of US military).

In war, if the surprise element is on your side; the situation becomes better for you. And thus, if there is some means by which you can protect the sensitive information and still can communicate information to the soldiers in spite of the enemy eavesdropping on you, nothing can’t be better. This technique is termed as Cryptography. In earliest form, the military sent information in letters in such a way that only their soldiers understood and not the enemy. Cryptography plays an extensive role in today's commutation system to protect our data on Internet like passwords, bank and credit card information, etc.

Microwave which can cook food for us has an interesting history of evolution for civilian purpose. The RADAR transmitter used by the USA army during 1940s used to release so much heat in the form of microwaves. Scientists realized that this heat is enough to cook food. And within next 2 years first microwave oven developed.

Well, cargo pants are quite a hit among the public but it also has past related to military purpose. British soldiers began sporting cargo pants in the 1930s. Because it could be used to carry many instruments and other important things in battlefield. Other military too adopted it later on.

The life expectancy has increased now a days because of tremendous development in the field of health care and medicine. Penicillin is the best example of it. It was developed earlier but its usefulness was not considered until the beginning of the Second World War. After the war, the antibiotics became a common part of medicine; which earlier used to cure wounded soldiers, to prevent and curb the infections, which until then was a common cause for the death of soldiers. The technique to store blood and preserved for later use, called Blood banking was rapidly developed during the World War I. Military related events can clearly be seen as triggers to the development of these medical inventions.

During World War I, Fritz Haber and Karl Bosch invented a large scale process to cause the direct combination of Hydrogen and Nitrogen gases to chemically synthesize ammonia, thus providing a replacement of sodium nitrate in the manufacture of explosives. The ammonia was later used for making of fertilizers.

Science has proved itself to be an evil genius during the time of war; but there is no denying that eventually the scientific inventions have proved to be a boon to the humanity. In addition to the above mentioned inventions, jeep, duct tape, drones, air traffic control, parachutes, Aviator sunglasses, ambulance services, safety razors, packed food and super glue are few more examples that were invented as a result of the advancement of military capabilities. All these discoveries are useful for non military purposes as well and are making lives of humans easy and comforting. It is very interesting that although unintentionally, but war and battles benefits people in the long run. The world has changed a lot. The warfare techniques, strategies changed but the counties are continuously preparing for future wars and are continually working for the up-gradations in military. Directly there is no relation between war and development but indirectly the wars, the fear of destruction and preparation of war act as a striving force that force man to keep inventing things. In this way, "war and it’s preparation leads to betterment and development of modern world."

- By Prateek and Rusheel

#17 Teasing...Sometimes cross limits

Friends, the species on the Earth, on whom we rely blindly. They are our family, our caretakers and our partners in mischief too. There are many jokes, and teasing that go on between friends and do constitute a crucial part of our relation with them. Not only with friends, but with colleagues, classmates, relatives and in all our social interactions, teasing, playing pranks and funnily joking around is a definitive part. Mostly it is harmless and stress relieving. But it also happens that joke for one person means insult of another. We also see in today’s T.V. shows also, without insulting someone, no joke can be formed. Can’t there be fun without looking down upon some other individual? And it is also not uncommon to see someone taunting against some other person and packing it in wrapper of joke.

It is not too rare to come across a situation, where others do not understand our individuality and make a comment on us, that has power to scar us to our soul...! Certainly, we all would have faced such situation at one time or other. And that moment sometimes takes us by surprise, sometimes hurts us, sometimes makes us angry. Range of emotions come to us at that point. What should be our stand when we face such an incident..? To ignore and continue relationship or take a stand for ourselves..!

Many of us choose to ignore the comment and continue our companionship thereby avoiding any conflict, but the right thing to do would be to take a stand. Each of us has an individuality, which many of us value most; and those who do not, should. And taking a step for protecting our dignity must be our first priority. There are moments in our life when somebody tries to hurt our individuality, whether intentionally or unintentionally. And often, the ones who hurt us are our close ones, so much so that they refuse to acknowledge our independent existence, an individual personality, and moreover our sentiments. At some times, they are the one of the best people in our life, but at other times, they do hurt us.

In my view, the first thing to do to deal with such situation is to not lose our head and restrict ourselves’ from yelling and shouting. Because, if we do this, it might look to others as our weak point, a way to tease us, and that would in-turn enrage us more; and yelling and shouting may even cost us the relationship. It is better to talk through the situation, and keeping a firm point that the comment had hurt us, and that such talk should be avoided in future. The best guardian one can get is oneself. And if we don’t have friends that can respect us, then we should not refrain from cutting out on gatherings with them. There is no companionship at the cost of one’s dignity.

Nobody deserves to get hurt, not even from his close ones and not even jokingly. Many a times joke for one is equivalent to a sword for another. And we should also keep in mind that any of our joke or prank does not hurt anyone else. After all, dignity of each individual is important. Thus if we don’t tolerate some kind of behavior with ourselves, then same should not be done to others. As the saying goes, “Treat others as you want to be treated by them.”


-Rusheel Shukla

#16 Saying No....Isn't Difficult

Hey, can you do this work for me? Yes! You reply….Let’s hang out buddy? Sure let’s go! You reply.

If you are a type of person who is afraid of saying NO, then this article is for you. Why denying somebody’s request with a simple NO is so difficult for someone? People think that if they will let down someone’s request, they will commit the biggest mistake. But facts state that most of the time the former person doesn't even care that we fulfill their request or not. As an example, if one of our friend/acquaintance is asking us to come with him/her and if we don’t want to go, the probability is high that he/she has invited other people too. So even if we do not accept their invitation, they won’t be alone and won’t mind our absence, exactly opposite to what we think. By not turning them down, we actually do nothing good to ourselves. We’re giving away our time (which not many people value), and if we turn out to not liking the company at the place, then God help us.

Why our inability of saying ‘NO’ harms us? If we actually jump to everyone’s request, chances are that we will not be able to find time for ourselves, and priorities of others’ life makes way in our to-do list. And that is not good at all. If we’re a frequent ‘YES’ person, let me rather call us a “Yes Man”, then needless to say that people start taking us for granted. No one likes that.

What if we want to spend some time alone doing something we love, but have to change our plan due to someone else’s request to do a work for them; we’ll surely do that, but may be half-heartedly and will feel guilty for the same at later point. Not to mention that somewhere deep down we’ll spoil our mood as well, as our plan was ruined.

Does saying ‘NO’ to anyone makes us a bad person? No, it doesn't. If we are a person who’s always ready to agree upon anyone’s request, at first it might estrange some of our friends, but if they really understand, they’ll come back to terms with us. And slowly, we’ll learn that it’s not so difficult to say ‘NO’ and that too without hurting others or feeling guilty for ourselves. Also, once we've control in our hands, our life’s priorities will have a top place in our list, giving us a good feeling. And that doesn't sound bad, right? Saying ‘NO’ applies to a casual dinner date to office life. In every sphere of life, being able to turn down some requests helps a lot in the long run. Saying “Yes” creates anxiety, stress and depression in extreme cases. Agreeing too often also can lead to overwork and exhaustion. Despite your best efforts, some people will continue to ask even after you've told ‘NO’. This kind of behavior is inappropriate and you shouldn't feel bad. Providing a reasonable explanation of why you're saying ‘NO’ always helps the other person in understanding your decision.

I don’t mean to say that every time, one should ignore others’ request. My point is that we need to prioritize what, when and for whom we can spend our time, making sure that we’re getting the full value of each moment. For example, if any of our friends is in genuine need, then of course one should take care of that first. Again the keyword is ‘priority’. It’s a well-known quote I remember that ‘Give Back to Others by Giving to Yourself First’, so we must give time to ourselves first. To be a “Yes Man” sometimes conveys that we lack our opinion. We must deny the requests made by others, if request will waste your precious time. Learn to say no to requests that don’t meet your needs, and once you do that you’ll find how easy it is. You’ll get more time for yourself, your work and things that are most important to you.

Remember, if you don’t do what you need to do first, you will end up on making a mockery of your priorities…..!!!!


- Rusheel Shukla and Prateek Dixit

#15 "Inflammatory Radcliffe"... In search of Peace and Stability

India and Pakistan, two nations born in a very unique fashion on the basis of religious identity. The countries were born because of insistence of the few political leaders. A nation of the most diverse culture divided into two by paying a huge unrecoverable cost of human life and culture, and giving rise to a hatred for each other rooted deep in the hearts of the citizens of the two countries. India and Pakistan won independence in August 1947 and it was accompanied by the largest mass migration in human history of some 10 million. Both countries got independence in 1947 but civil unrest as well as ethnic and religious discord threatened the stability of Pakistan while Indian politicians ratified a constitution, which led to the first democratic elections in 1951. The roller-coaster of India-Pakistan relations dates from the first day of division. The main reason of conflict is the region of Kashmir. India, Pakistan, and the Kashmiris, each believing they should control the region, are disputing the "ownership" of Kashmir. Three major wars have been fought over this, costing thousands of lives, destruction of the valley and unnecessary militarization. This hatred has also cost both the nations a huge cost socially and economically. If the nations would find a way to coexist peacefully, it would pave a way for them to progress socially, culturally and economically too, as there would be less/no need to incur amount on militarization programs of both the countries and in peace, culture flourishes.

Study the past if you would define the future. - Confucius

But the history taught to the new generations through textbooks and the word of mouth of the previous generation inspires hatred for our twin country. No doubt that the creation of Radcliffe border has always been and will continue to be a reminder of that unfortunate painful division. But at least we can try and present history that would have a neutral perspective to it, not inspiring hatred in the young minds. It is the ultimate truth that there is no way to change the geography or to choose our neighbors, thus it is beneficial for both to live peacefully and cooperate with each other and not encourage hatred in any form.

It is not that citizens of India and Pakistan are completely unaware of the events on the other side of the border. In today’s tech world, specially in a democratic country like ours, there are many means for knowing the other side, like the social media, news channels, etc. And one way of enhancing the understanding of the other nation’s concerns, issues, culture and heritage, of which both nations have much in common, can be to start education exchange programs. Our country already has successful tie-ups with some nations, so why not do the same with our neighbor too. The educational exchange programs will help the new generations to gain and share knowledge, helping in constructive development and both sides will get a chance to understand each others culture which is full of love and innocence. Though India is far ahead from Pakistan in the various fields like science, technology and healthcare, and there is more to give than to gain. But if it in any way helps inspire a peaceful future, then it is a worthy investment. Regarding healthcare situations, I’d like to draw attention to recent cases of polio disease in the Punjab region of Pakistan, and threat that the disease might get grip on this side of border too. It reminds us that eradicating diseases on the other side would not only benefit Pakistan but India too.

A country’s economy is one of the most important asset and any country is crippled without a strong economic growth. Also, no country in the age of globalism is self-sufficient for all the commodities. Presently, the trade between India and Pakistan is $2.4 Billion and business relations with our neighbour should be encouraged further. Business brings prosperity and development. It is worth considering that if there is a strong and profitable economic dependency between the countries, then each of the neighbour would think twice before taking any action that would have any sort of negative impact on business relations. Trade should not halt because of any frequent tension because ultimately common man suffers.

In peace, culture and prosperity flourishes. But there have been a number of ceasefire violations recently from Pakistani side. The exchange of fire heats up the situation and does severe damages at both side of border, specially to the civilians. The violations should be stopped because this recoils previous efforts and hesitates future efforts between the two of bringing peace and stability. Both countries should respect the ceasefire agreement and try to maintain peace along LoC. There should be DGMO (Director General of Military Operations, local commanders of the area) meetings regularly to maintain ceasefire. Diplomatic relations are key to maintain peace and coordination. But it is very important to empower democratic powers on both sides. People and media should not give unnecessary coverage and attention to radical people and they should be boycotted and strict action should be taken against them.

A very crucial factor in Indo-Pak conflict is the region of Kashmir and the separatist forces acting in the region. An important step needed to curb these forces, in my view, is to develop J&K. When the people of Kashmir will get education, employment, prosperity then they will not be encouraged to indulge in illegal activities and will not support separatists. Similar steps should be taken for other sensitive border areas too. This is also strategically crucial. Govt. must help in building connectivity in the region to ensure convenience to people and the connectivity would also be helpful in discouraging the undesired forces acting there.

After 68 years of division there are few signs of peace and cooperation between India and Pakistan. There are events which give us hope like the time to time release of prisoners from both sides, having cultural events of celebrities in the other country and, telecasting and appreciation of T.V. shows from the other side. People want peace, love, respect, education, better standards of living, and employment not the war, hatred, bloodshed and gunfire exchange. Pakistan must stop giving nourishment to terrorism at their homeland. Terrorists like Dawood Ibrahim and Hafiz Saeed must be taken under trial. They should be punished because they are the enemy of humanity and not of one country only. Pakistan is weak, both in strategic domains and in political and intellectual leadership to maintain equal terms with India, while India had progressed enormously in developing public institutions, educational institutes, in commerce, trade and industrial growth and scientific advancements. India and Pakistan both share common miseries of hunger, natural disasters, flooding, healthcare and so many other problems. It’s time to move from mistrust into a common shared engagement of cooperation and development. I’m sure you will find all this approaches bit unrealistic because of poisonous past. Yes ‘One hand alone cannot make the clap sound’ and Pakistan must understand this. I’m proud to say that India always finds a way and takes initiative to maintain friendly relation with Pakistan but radical elements and haters present at other side of Radcliffe deteriorate the relationship. In the end, I’d like to quote Paulo Coelho, ‘Culture makes people understand each other better. And if they understand each other better in their soul, it is easier to overcome economic and political barriers. But first they have to understand that their neighbor is, in the end, just like them, with the same problems, the same questions.’

-- Prateek Dixit and Rusheel Shukla

#14 Catastrophic Game

You deserve better than tyranny and corruption and torture chambers. You deserve to live as free people. And I assure every citizen of Iraq: ‘your nation will soon be free’....”, stated by George W Bush, the former president of United State during the Iraq war, captured in a documentary titled "Iraq's sectarian war", needless to say that these words are far different from the scenario which resulted henceforth. The U.S. war on Iraq aimed to eliminate weapons of mass destruction and the roots of Al Qaeda, of which former didn't exist at all and the terrorist group spanned the country only after the invasion.The war aimed to make Iraq a model democracy based on law, but US brought them a worst nightmare. The invasion destroyed the social fabric, cultural heritage and economy of Iraq. After the death of Dictator Saddam Hussein, the ambitious plan of US to make Iraq a peaceful country got totally failed. US is accused of creating the men of death, leaving a fertile ground for the rise of Terrorist Organisations and being the root cause of terror in the Middle East. They left Iraq when they were in baleful situation and the vacuum of power so created in Iraq, gave the extremists an opportunity to establish their empire and now the Iraq and Syria are In turmoil due to rise of new terrorist empire called ISIS.

President Barack Obama on 19th Sept 2014 signed a legislation into Law authorizing the U.S. military to arm and train moderate Syrian rebels fighting Islamic State militants in the Middle East. After reading about this decision I felt undulated. Are they committing another mistake? Are they too late to react? Is there no other solution left? So many questions were blowing up my mind.

US overthrew Saddam’s regime and defeated Al Qaeda but it couldn't destroy them. After 2010, the group resurfaced with full force. Extremists successfully freed a number of prisoners and slowly began rebuilding their strength. And today, ISIS holds considerable part of the territory in both Iraq and Syria. ISIS took advantage of the beleaguered & demoralized Iraqi armed forces who lacked motivation to fight against ISIS in captured areas. ISIS was getting considerable support from the people in those border areas who were oppressed by the former dispensation of Nouri Al Maliki. So many foreign fighters left their homes to join the terror group. The impact of ISIS on the society of Iraq and Syria was phenomenal. Documentary titled “The Islamic State by VICE ” depicting violent acts of ISIS, including sexual violence against women is both shocking and disturbing. Their brutality has crossed every limit of Insanity; and the Iraqi and Syrian society are on the brink of extinction. Terrorism experts say they are better organized and are more dangerous than AL-Qaeda.

The withdrawal of US troops from Iraq in 2011 deteriorated the security situation of the beleaguered nation. Their withdrawal didn't strengthen the government of Iraq. The United States has provided billions of dollars’ worth of military equipment to the Iraqi army, which are now under ISIS regime. The United States had already chosen to sacrifice humanitarian interests to secure its own security concerns by providing financial and military support to the Iraqi regime, but they damaged the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent citizens. The most important event which lead to the rise of ISIS is the civil war in Syria. This is the crucial factor which gave space to ISIS for the establishment of their so called Caliphate. I have expressed my concern over the Syrian civil war in my article titled 'Unrest in Syria Civil War Ongoing'. The unrest in Syria has been ongoing since last 3 years ,but did not came under international attention for a long time, and the neglection includes the period in 2012, when Obama had refused to arm the rebels to fight Assad despite repeated requests from several fronts. And now US has promised to openly arm the moderate Syrian opposition expecting b rebels to use those weapons to fight only ISIS, along with Bashar al-Assad regime.

A Swift Intervention with arms and air strikes might be easy for a great power like US, but achieving the desired political goals is completely a different matter. Interventions & engagements in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq have been long with no concrete results. Another important consideration is that today armed international interventions are likely to be condemned by many of the countries unless they are clearly in self-defense or have been authorized by the UN Security Council.

The events of invasion in the recent history of the world seem to be guided more by the self-interest of the invading country rather than by the stated humanitarian interests. It seems that US tries to get profited by providing weapons to both the warring sides and at same time tries to stay in their good-books; even if it means having devastating effects on the people. Wars do no good for anyone, but are the means of economic expenses while damaging the established structure of the society. It might also be of interest to note that US has taken keen interest in situations of unrest in the countries where it could got benefited by the huge reserves of oil, clearly an economic motivation behind sponsoring the civil wars. It is also worth mentioning that having  control over territory in Iraq would have served the dual purpose of controlling the Iran nuclear program and controlling the business routes passing through Middle East.

U.S. president Obama accepted few months ago and said that “I think Americans have learned that it’s harder to end wars than it is to begin them ”. This statement is very important because it is an acceptance of the big brother of its’ catastrophic acts. It's not acceptable to first create a habitat for fierce terrorist organizations to grow and later to fight against them , that too only when there are some visible interests in the act. The wars can be won with the help of deadly weapons but it’s always the innocent people who suffer. When weapons destroy social fabric and economy of any society, it is inevitable that terrorism will emerge. Iraq is the best example of this situation. The intervening country should help in strengthening the social, economic and political conditions of the invaded country instead of fueling the internal disturbances. The decision of U.S. to arm Syrian rebels, in my view, will prove to be catastrophe for the country and is another deadly game of the USA. All measures the U.S. is taking to suppress the violence are means to destroy the terrorists but not the terrorism.

( An armed mob , driven by an ideology , supported by a belief is more dangerous than a professional Military force)

- Prateek Dixit

(Edited by Rusheel Shukla and Debasis Dash)

#13 Selective Humanism

Since almost over a month, I was stopping myself from writing on this issue. But I cannot resist any more to express my concerns on perplexed international perspective. I'm saying this in terms of major international deadly conflicts going on in Middle East and in Ukraine as well. 7 days ago a long-term ceasefire has been agreed upon by Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, ending seven weeks of fighting that has taken lives of 2,200 people. Everyone knows that this is not the end of conflict but a temporal pause. A senior Hamas leader has said that they had carried out the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli civilians in the June. First time anyone from the militant group admitted it and that has helped spark the current war in the Gaza. Anyways I'm not writing to brief about this conflict but my concern is the farce attitude of the world. World powers are highly intrigued, but as other times have shown too, that they just focus on their self-interest only ignoring the harm of the other. The word Humanism is very fairly used to gain interest by siding some very important issues and the causes of them. The double standard attitude and biased reaction of the world on different issues stuck my mind to use this ink-horn term 'Selective humanism'.

Twitter posts, Facebook hash tags, Newspapers and what not? There was only one topic of discussion around the globe that is Israel Gaza war. The protesters, commentators, NGO workers, human rights activists - everyone have just forgot any other issue than Gaza. "Gaza under attack” was used like Israel is the only one responsible for everything. If any terrorist organization kill our people, we too expect same reaction from our govt.; and Israel did the same. I'm not a supporter of Israel but am a person irked by double standard in perspectives. My question is why did everyone forget about Syria when Israel-Gaza conflict started? Actually the world was silent on this issue since last 3 to 4 years. The uprising against Bashar al-Assad has been the biggest and longest story of what used to be known as the "Arab spring". The death toll in Syria in 3 years has reached more than 1, 90,000. We never heard "Save Syria" anywhere. Where were human right watchdogs and why they were not discussing this? But for Caza Protests everywhere, rallies everywhere, UN resolution to end Israel-Gaza fighting; in India demand to discuss this issue in parliament which in my opinion was completely senseless. Why world is silent on other issues. Israelis and their supporters complain about "selective outrage" and it is very true because a new name of terrorism expanding its feet in Middle East ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), is relatively ignored. Islamic terrorists in Iraq are killing children and are involved in human trafficking, thousands of Christians and Kurd were compelled to flee from towns, they bombed the churches and Shi'ite mosques, they mis-held women, and thousands of Yazidis had to escape to a mountain. Lot more can be said about ISIS but it is enough to verify my concern. After Gaza started, media has almost forgot to talk about Ukraine crisis. There were very few protests against kidnapping of hundreds of girls in Nigeria. So many other sensitive issues are still in world those are still covered.

Why other issues are not discussing like Israel and Gaza conflict? Is this because Israel Gaza conflict is conflict of two religious group? Where are protesters, commentators, NGO workers, human rights activists? Why opposition in India not demanding other issues to be discussed in parliament? Why are there no protests? Why the international community not taking serious measures to tackle all other issues? Why Why Why? When we ask this question we get very interesting answers. Some say Israel's retaliation is the violation of International rights but they don't want to know that Hamas is operating from schools, residential areas and even sacred places i.e. Mosques. Is ISIS operating under international laws? Is this acceptable? The number of rockets fired from Gaza are not less in number, the only difference is that Israel is capable to save its citizens. Taking a glance from Indian perspective, we know that Israel supported India in Kargil war against Pakistan. Organizations like Hamas always support the independence of Kashmir. But some political parties and people still oppose Israel. It's ridiculous.

It's a fact that any war in the world takes us years back. The shedding of innocent blood, bombing of buildings, spreading hatred are criminal acts. Those who carry out such acts have deviant beliefs and misleading ideologies and are responsible for the crime. But retaliations also cause severe damage as the bombs do not differentiate between the good and the bad people. I am reminded of the words I read in a book by Ayatollah Ali Khamene’that "Killing of people, in any place and with any kind of weapons, including atomic bombs, long-range missiles, biological or chemical weapons, passenger or war planes, carried out by any organization, country or individuals is condemned". The double standard response of powerful countries and people is unacceptable. Heavy outrage on some and unnoticed attitude toward other issues should be disregarded. Those who talk about humanity at some point and are silent at another point of time should be consistent with their reactions towards the similar chain of events. If it’s actually humanity, how can it discriminate between people suffering from similar if not same problems? I strongly disregard the nature of powerful nations and some people for showing‘selective humanity’as and when they find suitable.


- Prateek Dixit
(Edited by Rusheel Shukla)