The Indian budget every year has always been an eagerly awaited event. For many decades, the best minds in economics, finance, tax, business and industry throng the media house to analyze the provisions shared by the Financial Minister.
Sometimes major events completely disconnected may be data points for the plans of the different powers around the world. The challenge is to discern what purpose they serve? More critically, what are we moving towards?
When the US Ambassador threatened India's "Strategic Autonomy" policy over India's friendship with Russia - much more than meets the eye was at stake. Let us unpack how the Ukraine war has fundamentally changed the US and the world. And why are we here anyway?
A new structure of the Drishtikone newsletter. Bengal is preparing for Genocide. Twitter Vs GoI is really a fight for Sovereignty. What is Svara in Indian Music?
“When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” ― Arthur Conan Doyle, The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes
For the past more than one year, we have shared some detailed research-oriented stories every day. That was a very intense schedule which meant a lot of pressure on my personal life. It is not sustainable unless there are vast resources available. So, we will change course after this break.
We did a lot of thinking about where we wanted to go in terms of this newsletter. It does address a very important need but it is not fully sustainable in its present state. So some lines of thinking were:
Make it paid: Given most of our readers are from India, the current platform does not allow payments from India if we go the subscription route. So we will have to choose another. The two good ones are
(i) WordPress with a plugin - this is not fully developed in terms of where we want things to be.
(ii) Ghost.org - the hosted version, because dealing with the technical challenges will take time away if it was self-hosted (do-able but time-consuming). The hosted version is quite expensive monthly.
We are not ready to go in either direction, yet.
Reduce the load: Even though the stories and the research is rewarding, in our conversations, we saw that so many highly intense and detailed stories every day were not really being digested fully. It was just way too many.
Also, since we focused on only one story, we missed out of many other, very important stories.
So, here is what we have decided.
The Drishtikone newsletter will have two components:
The Daily Newsletter will have the following components:
Our aim is to cover as much ground as we can with relevant information without foregoing the quality of the content.
Weekly Detailed Story will come out on Friday evening at India Time. That will afford time and space for readers to go through the story in detail and appreciate it.
At some point, when we can, we will make that detailed story a paid subscription.
Another route that we can explore is - sponsorship. If some business people or patrons would like to sponsor the newsletter so the expenses of moving to another platform can be met.
In the end, we all are as good as the power of information that others have around us. Please do share this newsletter with people on a daily basis and request them to subscribe.
What do you think of this direction? Please let us know?
The mayhem against those who have supported BJP is unprecedented. Unfortunately, despite the anguish, all the Governor of West Bengal is doing is crying on social media and not pushing for a President’s rule. There is no rule left now in the state.
Meanwhile, over 11,000 have been rendered homeless in Bengal by the goons of TMC.
And, these attacks are not just being perpetrated by the killing of the BJP workers or rendering SC and ST homeless, but also a concerted effort to boycott those who stood by BJP.
Remember, "Judenboykott" or Jewish Boycott was the first concerted action undertaken by the Nazis before the genocide was unleashed.
It was started on a certain date and that started the actions against Jews.
The "Jewish boycott" ("Judenboykott") was the first coordinated action undertaken by the Nazi regime against Germany’s Jews. It took place on Saturday, April 1, 1933. That day, Germans were not supposed to shop at stores and businesses that the Nazis identified as Jewish. They were also not supposed to visit the offices of Jewish doctors and lawyers. (Source)
What is happening in Bengal is a preparation for a complete genocide of the Hindus.
Last Tuesday, Twitter deleted a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria. On June 4th, the Nigerian Government indefinitely suspended the operations of Twitter.
In India also there is a fight between Twitter and the Government of India. After Twitter’s defiance and the Government’s insistence on the social media company playing by the rules - specifically the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 - the battle is now on to its next level.
The Social media companies and the advocates of Colonialism 2.0 are making this into a “Freedom of Expression” issue. It is not. It is a question of sovereignty. It is about representation. Who represents and makes decisions on behalf of Indian citizens.
The simple answer in any democracy is - People’s Elected Representatives.
When foreign companies come in and using their corporate power hope to make those decisions. Then it is just a redux of East India Company style colonialism.
Let us not forget that it is not a fight between Twitter versus Government (or even a party). It is a fight between Colonialism Vs Freedom. Freedom from slavery and colonial rule are what the Government of India is fighting for. It has absolutely nothing to do with expression or speech.
Indian art music is rooted in Sāma Veda (SV). In SV svar is central. Svar, according to Nāradiya Shikshā (which gives the rules of singing SV) is the voice and the vowel. So, as they together carry music, even what they carry is termed svara. It must, however, be noted that svar is also the distance between the Sun and the Earth which is known as antariksha as given by ancient Vedic etymologist Yāskachārya. Now, the mūlādhāra chakra is also comparable with Earth, while the Brahmarāndhra (Sahasrāra Chakra) is comparable with Sun. So, the distance between the mūlādhāra and Brahmarāndhra can also be referred to as svara or antariksha. One cannot miss the luminescence angle of the energy which flows in this ‘svara’. So, if your Idā and Pingalā are not blocked (identifiable by the easy flow of breath from both nostrils - left and right, respectively), then it is assumed that your Sushumnā is clear, which means that the Kundalini energy can flow unhindered up and down the ‘svara’. It is my insight that the energy takes different colors during this movement depending on which level of svara it is passing through. Since there are seven chakra-s the seven colors correspond to seven musical svara-s. We see, how svara is a word for different, but inter-related concepts. In Rg Veda, svara is the Sun itself - self-luminous. Taking a cue from this, 8th Century musicologist Mātanga wrote in his Brihaddeshi that svara can be broken up as sva+rajari = self+ luminous. So, in the end, we see that svara has its own light. Figuratively, it throws light on various aspects of Kundalini. The discussion shows the integrity of Veda and Tantra. This is how each concept of Indian art music can inaugurate true interdisciplinary studies.
Dr. Subroto Roy is a Sāma & Dhrupad singer, academic, and a journalist
Every place has its own rules. Its ways enable one to live with nature. Even though technical progress has led man to overpower nature, still in areas where things are harsh - like Siberia - not respecting nature can land you in trouble.
This is a very insightful movie on the rules that one live by in Siberia.
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The I.N.D.I.A alliance has clearly expressed its election plank - annihilation of Sanatan Dharma or Hinduism. In order to dismantle the Modi government. It is not an electoral battle anymore but a civilizational battle now.
Richard Cloward and Frances Fox Piven wrote about disruptive militant protests in 1966. Movements like Occupy, Woke protests were its offsprings. Even in India, anti-Modi government protests bear its imprint. An analysis.
'The Vaccine War' is a beautiful story of very complex times. Vivek Agnihotri has weaved together a masterpiece dealing with a subject very few would have touched. The pandemic and the triumph of India.
Chandrayaan-3 landing on South side of moon was not just the triumph of scientists at ISRO today but a tradition and history of science that looks at exploration as a spiritual path. It is a story of a battle against all odds and challenges!
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