IF WINTER COME CAN SPRING BE FAR BEHIND

These words from P.B. Shelley's poem are not just mere words but emanate a prophetic message which puts a stamp of immortality on this poem. Winter stands for deaths and depressions, trials and tribulations, pangs and throngs, miseries and sufferings, while spring on the other hand stands for pulsating thrill, buoyant spirit, happiness and mirth, rejuvenating life, fragrance and aroma, joy and hope. Anything cannot have an eternal sway, it cannot overrule the basic law of nature of continuous change. Life is full of tears and smiles, sometimes tears predominates. misfortunes and sufferings may loom large. Dark clouds may eclipse the sun of success but for how long?

It happen sometimes that your love doesn't respond and you want to commit suicide, your friend leaves you in the lurch and you fret and fume and doesn't want to survive. One day lying on your bed you may take stock of your life and brood over your misfortunes and consider taking overdose of drugs and embrace the eternal sleep.

But people still continue to live. The messages and preachings of the great minds urge them to carry on. They make him see the dawn of hope in the darkest of clouds. One shouldn't loose heart come what may.

If we just twist the title a bit, if spring comes can winter be far behind. It means that person should never be satisfied with what he has achieved. He should constantly work and make preparations before hand for the onslaught of winter. So man must remember that everything has its days numbered. 

Uniform Civil Code

The founding fathers of our nation conceived of India as a multi religious society where all religions will be free to flourish and where state will have no religion. But sometimes the dreams do not come true. Our secularism has been interpreted in a wrong way. Interpretation that all religions are free to flourish has been taken as my religion will flourish at the cost of other religions. This has created unnecessary confrontations among the followers of different religion. Our shrewd politicians never miss a chance to add fuel to fire and whenever the govt. tries to bring some common civil codes for the entire population they fan communal-ism and try to hammer into the mind of the people that govt. is trying to interfere in their personal lives.

What is the need for uniform civil code? The basic ideology behind the formulation of uniform civil code is to kick out any discrimination based on religion. The followers of different religion go by the dictates of their scriptures and preachings of the respective founders of their religion. Surely, there can't be any meeting point. Personal laws have become the main instruments of exploitation and prevailing evils in the society. Now the pertinent question arises that for how long these religious scriptures, preaching and their traditions could be allowed to nullify the cherished goals of the society and the constitution. 

Article 44 of the constitution states that state shall endeavor to provide uniform civil code for the citizens of the country within the territory of India. And years have passed and still we have failed to evolve uniform civil code. Article 12 states that state shall provide equal protection of all rights and equality before law. But then also certain laws relating to marriage, inheritance, guardianship, divorce and maintenance and property matters are unjust especially to women. The Shah Bano case created ripples throughout the length and breadth of the country. The then chief justice asserted that uniform civil code would remove disparate loyalties to law which have conflicting ideologies. But whenever there was a demand for civil codes an acrimonious discussion and debate starts. Our shrewd politicians and custodians of religion try to undermine this as per their narrow and parochial approach.

Regressive practices are eulogized for perpetuating the bossism of religious leaders and clever politicians. Every religion preaches equality and shun any kind of discrimination. But the mouth pieces of religion present a distorted picture and the gullible public is taken in by their clever moves. And which religion states inequality and gender based discrimination is indispensable for its very existence. But still there is inequality and discrimination against women. Doesn't it belittle the sanctity of the constitution and of our secular setup.

In reality a complete uniformity in civil matters especially in a country of different cultural settings with divergent religious beliefs and different socio-economic standards is well nigh a far fetched idea, a Utopian ideal and a distant dream. But it is possible due to history forces or socio-economic compulsions some change has come in and husband has assumed unbridled rights. Every religion has some capacity for change and a new social order rationale, humane and liberal is coming. 

Change has come in. Women are attracting the attention of the world community. Nobody can live in isolation. Change is imperceptible as the speed of change depends upon the spread of education and raise in the economic standards. In Muslim bureaucracy a tangible change has appeared. Middle classes are saying no to child marriages. Hindu communities must desist from indulging in motivated propaganda as this may create fears and apprehensions in the minds of the Muslims. Religion must become very very personal and it must be restricted to rituals only. State must guarantee equal protection of laws. Broad mindedness is imperative if this dream of uniform civil codes has to be realized. Once realized would consolidate the unity of the country in great measures throughout the length and breadth of the country and guarantee prosperity and progress for all.

Liberty is not a personal affair but a social contract

Dictionary defines liberty as freedom from bondage, activity or physical restraint. It can also be taken as the right to make your own choices and decisions without any constraint from within or without. The literary meaning of liberty has gone into the heads of the people. Even a minor infringement of right causes bloodshed. The champions of liberty denounce all laws as potent threats to their individual liberty. Any constraint or restraint is obnoxious and insulting. They demand absolute sovereignty. Those who clamour for liberty do not know that they are inviting their own ruin. Their attitude is dangerous. But they remain blissfully ignorant of the looming danger. What they vociferously claim is not liberty but license. and this is only possible in the rule of jungle where 'might is right' and 'survival of the fittest' are the basic rule.

As per aforementioned views, it does not mean that people do not enjoy liberty. In many ways they are they are their own masters. They can eat and drink what they want and how they want to do it. Nobody pokes their dirty nose in it. He can be an atheist or worship any God. He can send his children to the school of his choice. He can go for the court marriage or do the same with great pomp and show. Thus, in many ways he is the master of his own sweet will. 

But this liberty comes with some understanding. You are free to follow any religion, but you should not interfere in other's religion. He must respect the freedom of the others, if he want others to respect his. If he will challenge others liberty then his own liberty will get endangered. The freedom of one individual has to be curtailed or circumscribed to accommodate the liberty of others. This arrangement is all together essential, as liberty is not a personal choice but a social contract. So as to say this, i am allowed to listen to the music, condition that i keep the volume low so that it does not become the nuisance for others.

Laws are made to facilitate liberty, they do not mar it. They are not iron fetters but fetters of flowers. Traffic rules do not deny a person to drive his car but they facilitate a smooth flow of traffic. Man is a social animal, he can't live without society. All men are interdependent. Invisible chords of social contract work together to regularize life. Liberty is a social contract. It is a kind of understanding. This contract is not in the written form. It is engraved on the hearts of the members of the society

Indiscipline in India

Discipline denotes voluntary, enthusiastic and unflinching submission and obedience of commands and instructions even if they do not satiate the demands of reason. Though very difficult, is indispensable for great achievements. A soldier follows the command of his superior and enters the mouth of the cannon without questioning or doubting his superior, this is discipline. Even if we know that  certain commands are in bad taste, still we are obliged to follow them. The idea to shift chaff from the grain is valid till we are not the part of the group or organization. And once you are a part of the group, you have to follow any command wily-nily. There is no room for criticism, backbiting and bickering. In a school, a classroom of in-disciplined students look like a fish market, a hundred disciplined soldiers are better than a mob of ten thousand. In a mob, everyone is a leader, boss and commander, none is a follower. If a player subordinates his personal interests to his team, then team though novice may bring the house down and come out with flying colors. 

Indiscipline among the students is on the rise. In examinations, students resort to cheating and feel puffed up with pride. Strict teachers are threatened to dire consequences. They drive at reckless speed and flout all rules and regulations. If any person ask them to behave properly, they call him bad names. For our generation standing in the queue is insulting and unpleasant.

Indiscipline in India is all pervading. A person who shirks work, who does not do his assigned duty, who remains on french leave and whiles away his time in gossips when he should be on his chair listening to the grievances of the people; who allows substandard products to be used by the contractors for a handful bucks; who makes tall promises and not follow them; who spread rumours and fans fanaticism, prescribes only those medicines for which he has pocketed a fat sum of money; who does not nurse but always curse the invalids, who gives half-baked knowledge to his pupils, who indulges in favoritism and nepotism to accommodate his relations and thus devour the due rights of suitable aspirants; who authorizes purchase of substandard goods and thus disparages the image of his motherland; who sells his own conscience and tell secret to his foes; who allows sensational news to decorate the front pages of his dailies; who frequently bunks classes to restraunts, cinema halls and clubs and thus dances away his time, energy and money in the smoke of drugs; who hides his shortcomings saying that it happens everywhere, the list is endless. This canker of indiscipline is eating into the very vitals of our society and rendering it sapless.

It is easy to blame others for indiscipline but when we shake our own conscience, we find that we are the culprits. We blame politicians for inculcating discipline among the students, curse elders as there is a big chasm between their thoughts and actions, we attach a tag displaying derogatory remarks to tarnish the image of this or that man, we blame cinema for corrupting the society morally and ethically, we curse western influences for all our ill wills- to a certain extent it is true, but the long list of defaulters has also our name in it.

Discipline is the basis of all universe, it is one of the basic requirements of the civilized society. It helps to fight external invasion and maintain national unity

Hi friends my name is Anshul Goyal. Currently i am doing my undergraduate course in B-tech from NSIT (Netaji Subhash Institute of technology). Though my stream is Electronics, i don't find any particular interest in core electronics. I aspire to become a good manager in some good organisation and contribute something to the society. And i realize to become one i need to develop good communication and writing skills. For the same reason i intend to start this blog where i can put articles on varied topics like based on society, politics ,economics and about India and the outside world. And you guys can also help me in this process my commenting on the same and help me identify my weak areas or correct where i am wrong about something. So this is my first venture out in this world of micro-blogging. Let's hope everything goes fine.

Thanks for reading this.... :-)