Human rights issue in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka and LTTE
There are some media reports to the effect, especially in British and India media channels to the effect that the human rights were violated in Sri Lanka in the name of fighting the LTTE. While there is no justification for inhuman atrocities against the innocent citizens, one should not loose sight of all aspects. According the report available in the internet, the committee appointed by the Secretary General of UN has mentioned there were lapses on both sides that is on the side of LTTE and the Government forces. It has recommended the actions to be taken in respect of the Government forces excess but nothing is mentioned about the LTTE excesses. At least some people may not have forgotten the cold blooded brutal and calculated murder of our Ex Prime Minister the young Rajiv Gandhi while he was addressing an election meeting near Chennai. The LTTE has bombed many cities within Sri Lank itself killing hundreds of innocent civilians. No human rights activists appeared in the scene on those occasions.
UN encouraging internal strife in countries
Does it mean that if any organization/s indulge in anti national activities that should not be suppressed? In the course of fighting against the anti national groups, it is quite possible some excess happens. It should be corrected instead of blowing it out of proportion to paint it as human rights violations. The UN should assist it it can to rehabilitate the Sri Lankan Government in its effort towards the same in such a way that again the situation is not created for the formation of another LTTE or similar organisations and repeat the incidents.
What action on human rights violation by US?
The UN which was so concerned about this incident should have intervened when the USA interfered in the internal affairs of Vietnam. Why it did not bother about the human rights violation of the USA in the Iraq? In order to fight Iraq it promoted Iran and now when Iran is trying to be a force, now the US is trying to interfere by announcing sanctions against Iran and is instigating other nations to follow suit. Besides it is strengthening the Israel to check Iran and create conflict in the region. Why the UN is not bothered about the International hooliganism of USA? When USSR was having control over Afghanistan USA created and nurtured the Taliban and now wants to take action against them. Why UN is keeping quiet? Is it that UN is afraid of the US and its allies sanction against the UN?
Instead of trying to paint Sri Lanka UN should have helped to settle their problem and keep a check on the USA of its interference in other countries.
Medical authorities slam ‘absurd’ homeopathy & My Comment
Deccan Herald dt 31.8.2010
Top Japanese scientists urge,–, health workers to stay clear of the alternative treatment as it grows in popularity.
Medical authorities slam ‘absurd’ homeopathy
TOKYO, AFP: The physician to Japanese Emperor Akihito and top scientists have slammed homeopathy as an “absurd” medicine, urging health workers to stay clear of the alternative treatment as it grows in popularity.
“I cannot help but feel strong bewilderment” over the recent rise in homeopathy’s use as a treatment in Japan, said Ichiro Kanazawa, who chairs the prestigious Science Council of Japan.
“The reason is that it ignores science,” Kanazawa, who is also the medical supervisor for Japan’s Imperial Household I Agency, said in a statement.
The controversy has been fuelled by reports that a two¬ month-old baby girl died last year of a cerebral haemorrhage in Japan after she was given a homeopathic remedy instead of the norma1 treatmentofvitarninK
Homeopathic medicines use materials derived from flora, fauna and minerals, and their preparation includes the heavy dilution of the raw materials, according to the World Health Organization.
“In some cases, the dilution is so high that it is almost impossible to find one molecule of the original raw material,” the WHO said in a February report.
Kanazawa argued that ”because it is only water, of course it has no therapeutic effects, not to mention ‘side effects”‘,
Comment: The above article betrays the anxiety and fear on the part of the Medical Authorities of Japan. They feel that the way in which homeopathy is advancing in the medical field, their system will be in jeopardy. Homeopathy is a recent discovery. The system represented by the “medical authorities” already existed and people were depending on them. If they were satisfactorily discharging their obligation of treatment of the sick and the sick were happy with the treatments they receive, why they should go to any new system? Even then, if the patients were not happy with the homeopathy system, how more and more people go to that system? There will always be a tendency for people to stick to the existing system rather than go to a completely new and strange system, especially in the matter of health. So if the popularity of homeopathy is increasing alarmingly, it is only because of the success rate cost efficiency of the system. Since the homeopathy is making serious inroads in their potential clients they are very much worried about its advancement as their looting and squeezing their clients will be affected.
The “medical authorities” further say that ‘because it is only water, of course it has no therapeutic effects, not to mention side effects….’. If it has no medicine how can it be effective and why patients will go for that medicine.
Another observation is that “In some cases, the dilution is so high that it is almost impossible to find one molecule of the original raw material,” the WHO said in a February report”. Now let us take the case of living things including human beings. A dead body is having everything which a living body has. Still the dead body does not function like a living thing. Why? It is only because the dead body is missing something which the living thing possesses. When that ‘something goes out of the living body, the living body becomes a dead body. That ‘something’ is the life force. Can any instrument or anything can find and define the life force? Still every intelligent person recognizes it. So is the case in homeopathy. Just because we do not understand something, we should not make wild obhervations/charges.
Emergency Rule – My experience 1
Distribution of printed materials against emergency and Indira Gandhi
There was a co-ordination committee of unions consisting of members and sympathizers of C P M. I was an activist of the General Insurance Employees’ Welfare Association, Western Region. This was a unit of the General Insurance wing of the All India Insurance Employees’ Association. In the co-ordination committee there were members from AIIEA, AIBEA, Voltas Employees Union, Hotel Workers Union, Air Corporation Employees’ Association and many such other unions/Associations.
I was to co-ordinate the activities of the GIEA, Western Region. During the Emergency Rule of Indira Gandhi, we were also coordinating the anti emergency Rule. We were circulating any literature of any organizations (Jan Sangh, SSP, RSP, SUCI, HMS and numerous others) though we may be opposing them and treat them as our rivals/enemies in normal circumstances.
Our coordination committee used to meet almost every alternate day. All the available literatures will be distributed to the coordination committee members who are to arrange for the distribution to the employees of the organization they belong to. For example, I am to arrange the distribution in General insurance company offices. The distribution is to be done in such a way that in all the offices of all companies whose members are in the coordination committee on a particular day in the morning before office hours and nobody should know as to who arranged the distribution. If the source of distribution is traced, the person concerned may be arrested. Hence the secrecy. However, by chance if anybody involved in the distribution is caught by police, that person is to own the entire responsibility without exposing others. It was going on smoothly. There was a lot hunger for such literature on the anti emergency as majority of population is against emergency. We had problems on 2 -3 occasions which did not affect other members except the one caught by police.
Eliminate Regional Parties
I believe that for the overall development of the country, everyone should vote only for National Parties. We should see that independents and regional parties loose the security deposits in the elections continuously for 4-5 times so that the regional parties and the independent candidates get eliminated from contesting the elections. The regional parties are created by opportunists who cannot work under any discipline. These parties in turn corrupt the minds of the people of the states and make them opportunists. They foment the parochial/regional feelings of the people and try to come to power in the region or state. By their very nature they cannot function for the common benefit of the nation as such. In Parliament they blackmail/pressurize the national parties, use pressure tactics to get lucrative posts in the cabinet or commissions and get more shares from the Central allocations to their states.
I f we believe in Indianness, we should have only National Political Parties. It may be said that the present 2 National parties are useless. If it is so, the states where the local parties are ruling for a long time, there should have been much advancement of the people of the area comparing to the states ruled by the national parties. Is it really so? On the contrary, many of the states under the regional parties are worse than those under the national parties. Take the case of Orissa, west Bengal, Punjab, North Easter states, Bihar etc. People from Orissa and Bihar, like beggars, have to go and work in faraway places from their states as coolies or unskilled workers for paltry remunerations compared to the local counter parts.
Even assuming that states under national parties are not better in governance, what may be required is to create 1 or 2 more national parties by supporting them.
Sharam Blogs 