Dowry System – Long Way to Go

6 A.M in the morning, during the summer season in the year 1993, a boy came running and told Kunti that Nijala (her elder daughter) was found dead. She rushed to the spot with the villagers only to meet the blood laden corpse of her dear daughter and that too close to a machine at her daughter’s in laws house. Her head was banged by a huge wheel that was connected with a belt. This might be an accident but it is certainly not, what the villagers believe. She was brutally murdered by her in laws for the dowry.

Same sorrowful morning visited Kunti once again in 2004 summers when Kunti’s youngest daughter, Pinky, who was just 14 years old, was brutally rapped by Nijala’s brother in law. Kunti was not ready to keep mum this time. She wanted justice by punishing the criminal. She lodged a complaint against him. For this courage she paid a price and on 23rd July 2005, she was viciously flailed by the criminal and some local bullies. She was bashed up thrice by them.

The legal trial started in the early month of the year 2006 and after 24 dates court called victim to testify, this shows laid-back attitude of the Judiciary.

Like Kunti many other women faced domestic violence after their marriage. An Advocate of High Court Shruti said that according to the survey of Government of India the percentage of domestic violence is 62.4% but she believes the actual percentage is around 80%.

On the occasion of Rakhshabandhan, Mahila Jagriti Kendra (MJK) organised a program in which every individual tied rakhi to everyone just to show that every individual of the society or every soul of the nature needs security. On the particular day many victims of dowry system participated.

Unfortunately Kunti is not alone in the crowd. Rubi Devi’s in laws demanded for a bike just before the last rites of the marriage that was not fulfilled at the same time. Her in laws demanded for one and a half lakh rupees and asked Rubi to ask their parents to replace a gold chain of 10 grams from 30 grams. On one occasion she was asked to cook food and her in laws leaked the gas cylinder before hand. The smell of methane saved her when she refused to cook food. She was brutally thrashed up by her mother in law and sister in law.

According to Pramila Kumari, who is Helpline project manager in Patna, they receive 40 to 50 calls per day related to domestic violence, rape, sexual harassment, and dowry. She further said that they receive an average of 28 registered cases out of which 20 cases are related to dowry.
Pramila with some social activists is working against domestic violence also councils the in laws of the victim. If they find no way out to compromise they legally try to separate the bride and the groom.

Rita Kumari, after three years of her marriage, divorced her husband on 24th April, 2007. Her parents paid 75000 rupees in the name of tilak and gifted complete furniture and jewelleries of gold. Still her in laws demanded for more one lakh rupees that was not possible to fulfil by the grooms father. She was bashed up by her brother in laws and mother in laws.

It is seen that in the Hindi speaking states particularly Bihar and UP Dowry system is practised in a larger scale. The amount of money varies from few thousands to some millions. It varies on the basis of Caste and designation or profession of the groom. Upper caste demands for higher dowry than the lower caste.

While interviewing the victims, Advocate Shruti mentioned about Protection of Women From Domestic Violence Act 2005 under which women is given certain rights like right to residence, right to accommodation and maintenance, right to the services and assistance of the Protection Officer and Service Providers. She also has the right to simultaneously file her own complaint under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code. If a husband violates any of the above rights of the aggrieved woman, it will be deemed a punishable offence. Charges under Section 498A can be framed by the magistrate, in addition to the charges under this Act. Further the offences are cognisable and non-bailable. Punishment for violation of the rights mentioned above could extend to one year's imprisonment and/or a maximum fine of Rs 20,000.

Shobha Prasad was a wife of a lecturer in a renowned college of Patna, whose monthly income is 30,000 rupees. He got married to his student and had already got one daughter who is pursuing MSc in Science College. She is fighting for her rights that come under Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005.

Shruti further said that very few of the police department knows about this Act and sometimes harass the victim by asking odd questions.

According to many social activists and intellectuals dowry system can be scaled down by educating the fairer sex. However, this opinion do not fits with the situation. Rubi is tortured mostly by her youngest sister in law who is pursuing MSc at B.N.College in Patna.

According to Neelu, a social activist, education can lower down the rate of dowry system but very negligible. She further said Dowry System cannot be eliminated at once and therefore it is important to change the mindset of the people. It can be stopped if groom refuses to take dowry or bride refuses to marry if her in laws demands for dowry.

The amount also varies with the education an IITian or IAS officer gets 30 lacks rupees, MBBS gets 15 lack rupees, Defence/Army/Navy gets around 5 lack rupees.
According to an article published on 11 December 2005 in Times of India (Hyderabad), rate of dowry goes to Rs 3 crore for a Software professional whose annual salary is $100,000 and settled in USA. It further states “As expected, it's the propertied classes — Kammas, Reddys, Kapus — that are blazing the dowry trail. A Kamma 'boy', well-settled in the US, is available for not a lakh less than Rs 50 lakh, with some of them going for up to Rs 20 crore.”

The above article clearly shows that groom and bride are highly educated still they take or give dowry. However, rich people don’t face much problem in paying the amount to the groom’s family. Only lower middle class and lower class finds it difficult to manage a big amount to marry their daughters. And these people are 70% of the population of India.

In few decades it can be seen that bride’s parent have to give dowry inorder to maintain their dignity in the society. Society measures the quality of the Son in law’s family by the amount of dowry paid by the bride’s father.

With time it is seen Dowry System is modernised. The structure and nature of Dowry has established a strong spider web from which it will take long time for the society to come out. Dowry is one of the modes for the groom to become rich in very short span of time.

Bihar State Information Commission: One year after

Patna, (BiharTimes): Perhaps the citizens of Bihar are, in some respect, more aware about Right To Information (RTI) Act than the Public Information Officers (PIOs) and the State Information Commissioners. Sounds astonishing nevertheless seems to be true, at least in the case of Bihar.

Dr Prabhakar Sinha, a professor in B R A Bihar University, Muzaffarpur asked for information that was 20 years old. Upon this one of the commissioners expressed his helplessness. However, the Act does not mention that the RTI cannot provide 20 years old information.

Bihar State Information Commission completed its one year on August 25, 2007. It was formed as an independent organ. However, the experiences of the applicants say something else. Experts complain that not a single act of the Commission shows that it is unprejudiced. From the very formation of the Commission to the hearing of the cases it often took stand in the favour of the government officials than the applicants.

Article 15 (5) states that the State Information Commissioner shall be persons of eminence in public life with wide knowledge and experience in law, science and technology, social service, management, journalism, mass media or administration and governance. However, Bihar Information Commission has three members, one Patna high court judge as chief Information Commissioner and the other two are IAS officers. It is said that the commissioners having administrative background often defend PIOs and do not impose penalty as punishment on them.

According to the official site of Bihar State Information Commission, the Commission has received 1600 cases till August 20, 2007 out of which 315 cases are yet to be disposed of. The first appeal was made on November 26, 2006 that is exactly three months and one day after the formation of the Commission.

In the press conference called up by RTI Campaign Bihar Gorelal Manishi, RTI activist, said that functioning of the Commission was not up to the expectation of people. He further said that one of the commissioners had yelled at him once. According to him Commission is not public friendly. Activist like Sarfaraz often assist people in the Commission's court. He noticed that commissioners with administrative background are rude to common people.

According to the RTI Act Information Commissions alone have the power to recommend disciplinary action and impose monetary penalties of Rs 250 per day and the total amount shall not exceed Rs 25,000 if officials are found to provide incorrect, incomplete or misleading or distorted information which was subject of the request or if they obstructed in any manner in furnishing the information.

However, in one year the number of those fined is almost negligible. In one of the cases the Commission directed a BPL applicant to pay a sum of Rs 45,000 for the information that he asked for. This notwithstanding, Article 7(5) which clearly states that applicants who are below the poverty line do not have to pay any fee under RTI Act. This shows lack of awareness about the Act in the Commission, the activists say.

The Commission has overlooked these cases and are often accused of adopting a laid-back approach. They have imposed fine on PIOs but not more than Rs 2,000 and Rs 5,000.

When the case gets prolonged poor people have to undergo a lot of physical and mental harassment and financial crunch as well. The activists felt that Commission must order the guilty PIOs of related department to pay them compensation about which there is mention in the Act. Not a single such example can be cited in this regard in the last one year.
Thus the record of one year suggests that the Commission has a long way to go.

Another effort in leveling the fairer sex

18th August Patna: One day seminar held at IIBM premises here in the city on Technical and Vocational Education for Women Empowerment. Students of IIBM, more specifically girls, were informed about the applications of technical and vocational courses.

On the visit of Alka Lamba, vice chairperson of NIPCID (National Institute of Public and Child Development), in Bihar, Dr Zakir Hussain Institute took privilege to invite her in the seminar as a chief speaker. She is also former President of Delhi University and National President of youth Congress (NSUI).

Old Boys association and girl students of IIBM welcomed Alka Lamba by giving her statue of Gol Ghar. “To empower women, education is very essential. Therefore, it is required to develop the technical and vocational courses to empower women” said U.K. Singh, founder and director of Zakir Hussain Institute.

In Bihar, First full time diploma program for computer science and its application exclusively for women were started at Zakir Husssain Institute. “Zakir Hussain Institute has played vital role in educating women of Bihar, thereby we are looking forward to expand its reach to the rural areas as well” said Dr C.V. Nayak.

Alka Lamba started her speech by giving tribute to Dashrat Manjhi who died of cancer on Friday evening. Further on she said “Literacy rate of women in Bihar is pathetic so it is our responsibility to educate rural women of Bihar”. She encouraged students to make a vision like Rajiv Gandhi and Dr. Abul Kalam. While recalling her days of student’s politics she said “When I was elected as President of DU, Bihari students gave me excellent support and therefore I am highly obliged to Biharis and so it is my time to return their favour by giving my service in Bihar”

Lamba founded somewhat contradictory. While she was praising the achievements of Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams, yet at the same time she urged students to stay back in India and to contribute to the development of the country.

Prof Trivedi ended the seminar by saying “Hopefully in the coming 5 years the students of Zakir Hussain will expand the reach of technical and vocational education in rural areas”.

Flag-hoisting ceremony held in Patna

Patna, Aug 15: Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar, unrolled the Tricolour Flag at the heart of Gandhi Maidan on the Independence Day celebration. CM hoisted the flag at 9 am followed by a parade of the administration on the Parade Ground.


However, the ceremony was welcomed by the drizzling and soon after the hoisting ceremony it rained heavily. The Audience was prepared and used their umbrella to save themselves from the rain. Those who have nothing over their head didn’t mind the rain and enjoyed the ceremony.


The CM’s speech received a huge applause though the voice was not clear at the Public Gallery. After the speech the floats ceremony started.


The first float revived the scenario of 1857, which have Kunwar Singh’s statue along with characters like Mangal Pandey, Britishers and other revolutionaries. Another float of Information and communication department showed Pir Ali’s Huge Painting and his binding shop.


Two floats had huge picture of Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams respectively but the irony of the picture is that both the pictures had American flag in their background. Some floats narrate the advantages of industrialization such as machine to make leaf plates. Social Welfare department made a float which had educated handicapped children on the float. One of the floats had dummy of Sudha products that was a mere advertisement.


Other floats showed Pollution control machines, BIADA, advantages of mother’s milk, public literacy campaign, complete purification campaign, BREDA, National health rural mission, State aids control, Bihar shiksha pariojana parishand, and vaccination of domestic animals.


However, the Independence Day was virtually washed off in other parts of the city due to heavy rainfall and water logging. In the present day this is the major problem that the state is facing. Many schools and institutions cancelled the flag hoisting program. As compared to the last year very few people played patriotic songs in every area.

Spider Web

“Your neighbour is a bullshit and you wanna kill him? You wanna be rich? You need power? You wanna be loved? Sex or BDSM, pin-up ******? Destroy all your ****** enemies? One of seven capital sins? Nobody on Orkut is your friend? Tell me what you want and sign for your soul. I am your best friend...Your wish: ...Your name: ... [Inferno Customer Relationship Management] Our jingle is "Ready to serve our customers!" ” says a community named ‘Ask the Devil’ owned by Daniele Medri on Orkut. Search ‘Happy slapping’ on YouTube and you can find numbers of videos that encourage violence and bullying amongst teenagers, who were filming fights on their mobile phones. These two are just a few of the instances that openly accost and encourage violence on social networking sites. This is a simple observation of the exhausting social and human values wherein a public platform is being misused to serve vested interests by a particular section of the society operating numbers of communities and videos related to hatred, sex, devil and so on.

The concept of social networking websites emerged in 1995. The first social networking website was Classmates.com. Other sites followed, including Freindster, MySpace, Facebook, Orkut, Hi5, and so on. Gradually the social networking sites became very popular among teens. The concept of online social networking came forth by west, emerged in USA and outspread the whole world. As per the demographic data available on net portal, USA has the largest number of users of such websites. However the users in India have increased massively. Orkut was born in 2004 and was introduced in India in February 2006. India is the third largest user of Orkut preceded by Brazil and USA at the second spot. The massive numbers of children as its user, it is a tough job for their guardian to prevent their children from using such sites. “I was shifted to India just because I was addicted to Hi5 and my daddy does not want me to use that site” says a young school girl who was earlier studying in UAE and now studying in India. That girl was hooked on Hi5, an online social networking site, and used to flirt with the guys on Hi5.

A community named ‘Hatred’ owned by Sameer Khan says “Hate me, your hatred feeds me. Cause, hatred is what I live for and death is what wish for! CLan Members !!.hatred. GaRRy. (leader) .hatred. Jhonny (Capt.) .hatred. Traitor .hatred. Dark .hatred. Ba-sain a.K.a Lft. KyLe .hatred. Dead a.K.a WoLf .” It has 85 members and the members of this community like to be despised. Another community named ‘ We hate pakistan’ owned by Dhruv Gupta says “ALL D PATRIOTIC INDIANS R MOST WELCOME SHOW UR ANGER N RAGE AGAINST WAT HAS BEEN DONE BY THEM TO OUR COUNTRY. KYUNKI BAAP, BAAP HI REHTA HAI NOTE: its not about hating pakistani people & their country...its about hating all those elements & ppl which are against India... JAI HIND”. This community has 1,418 members and the thread of this community encourage anti Pakistan feelings. These are mere two examples of hatred on Orkut. Due to easy accessibility and various hate groups Orkut is facing controversies. Several hate communities focused on racism, Nazism, and white supremacy has been deleted due to guideline violation. However the number of these communities and profiles has not stopped growing because they can be very easily created and it is hard for Orkut to check them. Anti-religion, anti-national, and anti-ethnic hate groups have also been spotted.

According to Wikipedia Encyclopedia “In 2005, various cases of racism were denounced to police and reported in the Brazilian media. In 2006, a judicial measure was opened by the Brazil federal justice denouncing a 20-year-old student accused of racism against Black people and spreading defamatory content on Orkut. Brazilian Federal Justice subpoenaed Google on March 2006 to explain the crimes that had occurred in Orkut.”

Same message is passed by an online video sharing site named youtube.com. Violent videos are frequently uploaded by the users like happy slapping, fighting girls and so on. Most of the videos are captured by the mobile camera. However some users use flash and assemble the photos to upload it. Both you tube and Orkut is owned by Google and recently Orkut is renovated on its 3rd Birthday. Now user can share videos on Orkut too.

“hey this is hot Indian….single and ready to mingle…the real sex guru and know the real definition fun...i am open for phone sex…so girls don’t think too much jus message me to get my personal no.” says the profile of hunk4u on Hi5. “I m d 1 u were looking for. Ready to do anything if u make me feel like a ****!!! I like it hot n wild n I love to be abused. I love to do all kinky things...n I love to be touched in public. So wat r u waiting for???? Come n get me. I m all urs” reads the profile of a user, Anamika Shinde on Orkut. The social networking websites are often misused by the users. As the number of online networking users increased, there was a rise in the number of fake and clone profiles. Several users want to satisfy their unfulfilled wants through net. There are more than 1000 communities related to sex. Presently these social networking sites have open online sexual transactions which have diverse effect on the psyche of the vulnerable lot.

Several users are advertising them through the gay, lesbian and bisexual communities. They offer services for sexual pleasure at amounts ranging from 2 to 5,000. What they need is contact number; they exchange numbers through private messages. Besides bare images and uncouth language the evil has clutched communities of schools in trying to lure young students into its trap. “I was shocked to know that somebody has created a fake profile of mine that has bare picture, my real contact number and my real address. I don’t use that number anymore” says a young student of Notre Dame Academy in Patna.
The fever of social networking is spreading like an epidemic disease. The child can be infected anytime anywhere where net is available. Nevertheless these social networking sites are blocked in many Islamic countries. As they say, this is due to national security issues, as users have the ability to spread wrong messages rapidly, but the government says ethical laws of Islam do not allow any person to date and match making. However, in UAE this block was later removed in October 2006. Thailand and Brazil are another two countries to block these sites. Brazil blocked only YouTube. The issue raised in Brazil when a Brazilian model and MTV VJ Daniela Cicarelli was captured by a freelance photographer while making love with her boyfriend and later the video was uploaded on YouTube. She sued YouTube and the court gave judgment in her favour and ordered YouTube to be blocked in Brazil until all copies of the video are removed.

Many schools, institutions, offices and public libraries in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia have restricted access to these sites because it has become such a haven for student vicious gossip and malicious comments. This step was subsequently followed by the institutions in India, Pakistan, Turkey and many more. I asked a student of Engineering about from where he accesses these sites very often, he replied in a felicitous manner “I don’t need to go cafe to access Orkut, and I pay 65,000 every year to the institute, so I use the system of my institute”. However, the sites like Orkut are banned in that institution but students some how manage to unblock the sites.

“Though, these sites are meant to stay in touch through messages, scraps, and shouts as mailing have become boring and long. But it is very unfortunate and despicable to see that people use it for pervert purposes. At the initial stage you get enthusiastic but after certain time you start ignoring your friends. I was seriously addicted to Orkut, I left it because of over communication” says a student of Western International university, Rasshad Khan. This is one case and very few people like Rasshad has an ability of self-realization.

“i wanna die ... please help me!!!! hello evry1.... i want 2 commit suicide... please giv me the most difficult way to commit a suicide... i wnt matter if it is difficult.. coz i want to die...” says a user with a profile name waiting for life. “The most difficult way to commit suicide is 'to live a long life'... Go for it... At last, you will die by old age...” replies Amrit in the same thread in the community called Suicide, which has 274 members owned by Luckyless. There are several other communities related to suicide. These communities encourage people to commit suicide and the members discuss about the alternative methods of committing suicide.

The popularity of such sites is increasing very rapidly. According to the Connector Website Model New Implications for Social Change, by Paul DiPerna Brookings Talk August 3, 2006, Facebook (1,250%) and MySpace (350%) tipped, Friendster, Orkut, Tribe.net, and Craigslist may have been on verge of tipping (≥ 200%) and other connectors’ stats may be affected by: relative age or cyclical nature of community.

Table – 1: Pioneering Connector Websites (q2) By Alexa Traffic Rank (November 2005)







Table – 2: User Growth on Connector Websites by Percent Change in Alexa Reach Score Estimates*

* Alexa’s online traffic trend graphs provide data estimates for time period end points.

Evidence of Tipping Points?










From the above two tables it is very clear that the popularity of such sites are increasing day by day. Facebook and MySpace are more popular in west. The growth rate of Facebook is highest and MySpace is at second place. The graphs shown above clearly depict the massive addition of users. In just one year the number of users has increased worldwide. This is just a start and expected to increase more. Banning such sites by the government will serve no real purpose as it is the human tendency to explore ways. It is impossible for the sites owner to keep an eagle watch on such sites. Such sites are very easily accessible. This may emerge as a serious challenge for the government, guardians, and institutions to prevent individuals, children and students from accessing or misusing such sites.


Where is humanity disappearing?

Humanity has seen different social system and managed to survive. With time politics got intermingled with religion. And following the rule of ‘Divide and rule Policy’, recent times witnessed religious conflicts posing a serious threat to humanity.



Poets or composers to create patriotic feelings among the citizens have written national anthems. However, the sentiments of national anthem vary, from prayers for the monarch to references to nationally important battles or revolts (“The Star-Spangled Banner,” United States; “La Marseillaise,” France) to expressions of patriotic feeling (“O Canada”).

The national anthem of England “God Save the Queen” or “Jana Gana Mana” of India, none talks about humanism. From feudalism to socialism from capitalism to communism none of the economy system has succeed in maintaining peace.

Humanity has seen different social systems and has somehow managed to survive. This world has seen a number of wars and oceans tasted blood. Enemy is categorised on various grounds like religion, origin, colour, caste, and creed. But one thing is common in all and that is the human being. Every nation is worried about their identity and the identity of the human loosing its existence.

Secularism replaced religious authorities in many countries and with time major interest of the age has shifted from religion to politics. In present days politics got intermingled with religion.

While turning the pages of history we see the massacre of Jews, communists, socialists and even artists, philosophers and professors by the German Nazi. We witness such incidents even today, In recent times, Muslims in Gujarat were murdered women brutally raped and children killed children on the basis of religion.
However, the history of music shows a contrasting picture. We see that a Hindu singer taking inspiration from a Muslim singer. The famous singer of Indore Sri Gurukulatasvya Maharajji used to practice in front of the statue of a Muslim singer, Ustad Amir Khan. Maharajji was a Brahmin and a priest of a temple. Here religion does not matter.

In India people who play politics on the basis of religion has no interest with the religion. They have their own hidden political motives. They hijack religion and twist and turn the basics of religion to increase the vote bank.

Recently rightist party raised a slogan that those who do not utter “Vande Mataram” are not Indians. Vande Mataram means ‘motherland is above all’ but for Muslims religion comes first and at the same time, Islam says that one who does not respect his motherland is not a perfect Muslim. Then why do some people want to prove themselves Indian by saying Vande Mataram only?

In every age, we see conflicts among people. In the medieval age, many Muslim rulers have destroyed mosques and many Hindus destroyed temples. Ghaznavi once asked approval of Sultan to cross Multan for entering India and the Sultan rejected the approval. Ghaznavi got angry and attacked Multan and in the battle, Ghaznavi collapsed Jama masjid (Mosque) of Multan. Likewise, Maratha Sena attacked Tipu Sultan in Mysore, the war ended with no result and frustrated Marathas collapsed a Hindu temple to make Tipu Sultan aware.

Before independence, Muslims and Hindus together fought against the British. But immediately after the independence there was a conflict between the Hindus and the Muslims. So we can conclude that the very basics of politics are religion.

Social system of today is under deplorable condition. Humanity is again under attack. A system of hatred has been established in the society. A Hindu hates a Muslim because he is not a Hindu and a Muslim does the same.

But, what is wrong, religion or the people? No! People are not wrong neither the religion. What is wrong is the system, a system where feelings of terror, hatred and insecurity have developed among the people.

Now the question that arises is, do we want a better society? When something happens to someone else we do not care, but when it happens to us we blame the system and the government. But the people create the system. So directly or indirectly, we the people are at fault.

Humanity is targeted every time due to lack of concern or awareness. We know how many fundamental rights are bestowed upon us but we do not know anything about fundamental duties. This again proves lack of responsibility of the people.

With time, people are becoming more insensitive. This is a threat to humanity and this world cannot survive without humanity.

The complexities of adolescent psychology

It is believed that the adolescent stage is the most difficult period of human life. As children get introduced to various aspects of life, they prefer to be in the company of their peer groups and avoid interacting with relatives and parents.



AN INFANT is born with tactile qualities. The process of learning starts with childhood and ends with death. Learning, perception, motivation, judgment, and emotions help in human growth.

A child perceives things and learns with a sense of touch. Early intellectual growth arises first and foremost out of the child’s physical interactions with objects in his environment.
Children do not know to discriminate in objects, even in genders. As they grow, the child develops a sense of gender identity, thinks of himself or herself as a boy or a girl, and begins to relate to others differently according to their gender. They learn how to dress and decide what to wear. For example, a 5-year-old boy will not feel comfortable if he is dressed in frock or any other feminine dress.

Gradually children experience sexual feelings and at the same time learn to respond to their stimuli. With this process of learning they are introduced to a wider stage, adolescence period, when he or she is 12 years old. During the period of adolescence the physical changes, physiological changes, thoughts, behaviour, and social relations transform radically.

Adolescents often decide about their career and think about starting their own families in a few years. For example, adolescents can begin to decide what to buy with their money or who will be their friend. One of the things they start early is to start making their own decisions. Adolescents can spend hours a day dreaming about their future life. They have limited freedom and are weak economically. But they have more time for themselves, love to socialize with people of same age group, and often involve themselves in peer relationships.

Another common characteristic in adolescents is a sense of uniqueness. Searching for a unique identity is one of the problems that adolescents often face. Adolescents often have role models. Every movie star, sports player, stage player, or rock star have mostly adolescents as their fan following. Adolescents often express a desire to be like their chosen role model. In western countries children often have rock musicians as their role model. So adolescents do influence the market too.

According to pop singer Jo Stafford, "Rock and Roll is an economic thing. Today’s nine-to fourteen-year-old group is the first generation with enough money given to them by their parents to buy records in sufficient quantities to influence the market."

In India, we see the majority of adolescents follow movie stars. Adolescents choose their role model and often try to copy their style of living, attitude, hairstyle, clothes and so on. According to India Today majority of boys follow Salman Khan and want to be macho like him and girls want their dream date like Salman Khan.

An adolescent’s psychology is broader and more complex. The major problem with adolescents is group socialism. They opt to spend times with peers than their parents. The adolescent comes to rely heavily on the peer group for emotional support. Adolescents in a peer group are less likely to be depressed or have anxiety.

It is difficult for a depressed adolescent to make friends. Though family does everything within its capacity, peers often influence adolescents about issues like educational aspirations and performance. In most cases there is an overlap between family and peer influences. And this is the reason why most of the adolescents are confused about their decision and often fail to conclude.

During this age the attitude of a child changes towards people in general and parents in particular. He / She shares, talks and keeps relationships formal towards parents and more informal towards members of his or her age, particularly the opposite sex. Adolescence is the period during which the person experiences a rise in sexual feelings. During this time, the person learns to control and direct his sexual urges.

The concept of dating a boy or a girl arises in their mind. This is very natural and very few people can have control over it. An adolescent person enjoys company of a person of opposite sex. Sexual feelings at this age sometimes lead them to the wrong path. When suppressed and desires of adolescents are not satisfied, they find alternatives to satisfy themselves by reading or watching pornographic books and movies etc.

Several movies in the west like American pie, A Short Story About Love (Polish), Eu Tu Mama Tambian (Spanish) and in India movies like Rockford, Ek Choti Si Love Story depict the life, nature, attitude, relationships, and sexual feelings of adolescents.
Sometimes these depressed desires occupying one’s mind and the emotional instability may cause a youth to commit a crime like rape. Therefore, it is very important to understand an adolescent’s psychology and behaviour and seek help if necessary.

A Tribute to Bhagat Singh



September 28th is the birth anniversary of one of the most heroic figures of the Indian freedom movement. Bhagat Singh, an outstanding revolutionary and martyr of the Indian freedom struggle and a great source of inspiration to the revolutionary mindset of the Indian youth.

His Life

On 28th September 1907, Bhagat Singh was born in the Khatkar Kalan village into a family of Sandhu Jats. He was born in the midst of two decisive phases of the Indian National movement – the phase of the Extremisms of Lal-Bal-Pal and the non-violent mass action of Gandhian phase. In 1919, He was just child when Jalianwala Bagh Massacre took place in Punjab. That incident deeply affected the little child. In 1920 when he was 13, he actively participated in Non-Cooperation movement started by Mahatma Gandhi. He showed his enthusiasm by burning his government-school books and any British-imported clothing. But in 1922 Chauri Chaura riot took place that compelled Gandhi to call off this movement and he was disappointed by Gandhi’s decision. One can easily see the hatred of a kid against British administration and love towards his own country.

In 1923, Bhagat Singh joined the National College, Lahore. There he started reading European philosophies of Marx, Lenin, and Mazzini etc. At this age, he was completely dedicated to the cause of national liberation. Nothing illustrates better than his attitude to his marriage. He ran away from Lahore to Kanpur and left behind a note for his father in which he clearly explained him his dedication to the noblest cause and that is freedom of the country. In that note he had also mentioned about his two uncles who had gone that way and they had left two widows and he cannot leave another.

After reaching Kanpur, he worked with Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi where they brought out a weekly newspaper called Pratap. Here Bhatgat Singh met with new people like B.K.Dutt, Shiv Venna, and B.K.Sinha etc. Ajoy Gosh in his book wrote about his first meeting with Bhagat Singh where he perceived Bhagat Singh from his shabby dress as a typical village lad lacking smartness and self-confidence.

In 1924, Bhagat Singh became a member of the Hindustan Republican Association. The main organizer of this association was Chandra Shekhar Azad. Arms revolution was understood as the only way to fight against British imperialism. Therefore, the British government branded revolutionaries as terrorists. Later in 1925, he returned to Lahore and within a year, he along with his workers started a youth organization and named it Naujawan Bharat Sabha. In 1926, Bhagat Singh along with Sohan Singh Josh started a monthly magazine Kirti in Punjab. In 1927-28, he along with the other leaders was first arrested on charges of association with Kakori case. The first thing he did was to change the name of the organization (HRA) into Hidustan Socialist Republican Association.

The British government created a commission under Sir John Simon to report on current political scenario in India. The Indian political parties opposed the commission and demanded Simon to go back. On 30th October 1928, Lala Lajpat Rai led the protest against the commission in silent non-violent march rather in a peaceful way. But the police responded violently. Lala Lajpat Rai died when Police chief, Scott, beat him brutally. Bhagat Singh determined to take revenge of Lajpat Rai's death. Sukhdev and Rajguru also joined him and ploted a plan to shoot the British official responsible for the killing, Deputy Inspector General Scott. But accidentally he shot down Assistant Superintendent Saunders.

In 1929, Bhagat Singh and B.K.Dutt threw bombs onto the corridors of the assembly and raised the slogan "Inquilab Zindabad!" ("Long Live the Revolution!"). A shower of leaflets followed this. Both of them refused to run away from the scene and then they were arrested. During his trial, Bhagat Singh refused to employ any defence counsel. In the same year, Bhagat Singh wrote a letter to Sukhdev in which he said:

“I can say with all my might that I am immersed in the hopes and doubts that give life a meaning. But when the time comes, I will sacrifice everything. In the true sense this is a true sacrifice…you will recognise soon.”

During the trial for the Assembly bombing, the British came to know of his involvement in the murder of J. P. Saunders. Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev were charged with the murder. Bhagat Singh decided to use the court as a tool to publicize his cause for the independence of India. Later, Bhagat Singh, Sukh Dev and Raj Guru were awarded the death sentence.Despite great popular pressure and numerous appeals by political leaders of India, Bhagat Singh and his fellow comrades were hanged in the early hours of March 23, 1931. At the time of his martyrdom, he was on 23 years old.
(Bhagat Singh in prison)




His Ideologies


During the freedom struggle, revolutionaries had raised their fingers at the ideology and methodology of Gandhi and Congress. They even apprehended that freedom might prove mere transfer of powers from white ones to coloured ones. Bhagat Singh deeply studied European movements, and attracted to anarchism and communism. He expressed his views on almost all problems of Indian Society. In his early life, one can see the influence of anarchist philosophy on his life. He wrote many articles on anarchism and in 1928 Kirti serialized his articles. Bhagat Singh in one of his essays declared, “The people are scared of the word anarchism”. According to him, the ultimate goal of Anarchism is complete independence. When he was in condemned cell in 1931, he released a pamphlet ‘Why Am I an Atheist?’ in which he clearly expressed his views on God and religion. He believed in total eradication of religion, God, state and private property.

Russian revolution influenced him and forced him to study Marx and Lenin. In his pamphlets, one can find the essence of Marx as he described religion as “the opium of the people”. He considers religion and God as the products human ignorance, fear, lack of self-confidence. He acknowledged Bakunin’s God and the State, which severely criticises God. When he got rid of anarchist philosophy then he understood that only socialism could be the solution to the problems. He along with his fellow comrades argued that ‘radical change’ was necessary. Gradually he realised the need of mass mobilisation by the communist party.

Last Days

Bhagat dingh was convicted of sedition and treason and awarded death scentence by the Lahore high court. He was to be hanged till death on 24th March 1931. This news spread like wildfire and all the residents of Lahore started a series of processions and protests. They thronged outside the jail. They wee keen to defeat the jail authorities and set Bhagat singh free. British authorities, fearing an uprising by public, decided to hang the three friends a day ahead of the decided day i.e.24th March.

On 23rd March Bhagat Singh was going towards the hanging rope while singing the famous song from Punjab, which his martyr uncle Udham singh used to sing –
Mera rang de basanti chola…
O! Maiee rang de basanti chola.

He knew that nation is never going to forget him and his sacrifices.


References

Bhagat Singh, ‘Why I am an Atheist’, 1930
Vinod Mishra, ‘Shahidon ke khat’, 1990, Publication Division – Government of India.
Niraja Rao, ‘ Bhatgat Singh and the Revolutionary Movement’, http://www.revolutionarydemocracy.org/
Ajoy Ghosh, ‘Essays on Bhagat Singh and his friends’.



Social Impact of Rock & Roll






“Rock music can change things. I know that it changed our lives.”
~ Bono

I don’t remember where I have read it or heard it but I am certain that in few occasion I have seen the existence of Rock mania in the Society. This may not have been the most perceptive analysis but it draws attention to an important point. The music of a country - a culture, an era - can tell us a great deal about that country - that culture, that era. Musical production and consumption are not accidental. They do not exist bracketed off and isolated from the country - the culture, the era - as a whole. Music is integral.

I have spent my precious two and a half years in a famous University of India though I was not a legal student of that University. There I got chance to meet real Rockers. Like other Teens I was also addicted to rock music. I had accepted Rock as a fashion and followed Punk style uncombed hair, cigarette and torn out jeans. There were few rock bands in the university. Many of them use to smoke marijuana, grass, and tobacco in joints and then they start feeling very happy and it stimulates their mind. Even I believed that someone who is “high” has a positive view on the world and on life.

Rock music is one of the world's most popular and adaptable musical forms. When it originated in the United States in the early 1950's, rock music was known as rock 'n' roll. From the start, it was party music, dance music, and music that appealed to young listeners. It often celebrated the joys of being young, and it occasionally expressed the frustrations of the youth.

Many adults dismissed rock 'n' roll as a passing fad or condemned it as a threat to society. By the mid-1960's, however, rock 'n' roll had earned wide respect as a legitimate art form. The music's popularity spread internationally and among older listeners as well. By the end of the 1960's, the music had moved far from its roots in blues and country music, and it became known simply as rock.

In the 1970's, rock became a bigger business than ever. It not only dominated the music industry, but also influenced everything from film to fashion to politics. As rock music became increasingly accepted, it lost much of the rebelliousness that had originally given it its power.

Since the early 1980's, rock music has continued to defy musical barriers and has drawn much of its strength from international musical influences. Today, rock music is no longer only the music of young Americans. It is music of the world.

The massive popularity and worldwide scope of rock and roll resulted in an unprecedented level of social impact. Far beyond simply a musical style, rock and roll influenced lifestyles, fashion, attitudes, and language in a way few other social developments have equalled. The social impact is so large that rock stars are worshipped worldwide and often performances of several artists in diverse arts and cultures are scaled to and appreciated as being close to that of a "rock star".

Rock as a culture has some darker aspects. Rock is often linked with sex, drugs, suicide, and violence. Today, at almost any "heavy-metal'' rock concert one can hear the audience being exhorted to rape and murder in the name of Satan. Lyrics such as the following are typical:

"We come bursting through your bodiesRape your helpless soulTransform you into a creatureMerciless and coldWe force you to kill your brotherEat his blood and brainShredding flesh and sucking boneTill everyone's insaneWe are pestilent and contaminateThe world Demonic legions prevail""DEMONS" by Rigor Mortis

Any loving parent today would be horrified and shocked to learn that their sons and daughters are eagerly listening to such evil.

Long hair, torn out jeans, long T shirts, satanic necklace, Tattoo, Leather jackets, pierced body and all accessories that normally parents call it indecent are all rock style. Basically rock is all about being rebellious. Rockers want to look tough both physically and mentally. Listeners want to look like their favourite rock star. A cultural war broke out in the mid-1960s in the UK over the rivalry between the "Mods" (who favoured high-fashion, expensive styles) and the "Rockers" (who wore T-shirts and leather); the songs were composed to praise one style and abuse another. Today we can see among teens that majority of them have long hair and wear printed T-shirts of their favourite rock star. Like in India t-shirts of Kurt Coben, Bob Marley, Linkin Park, Eminem etc are very popular among urban teens.

Drugs were often a huge part of the rock music lifestyle. Rock music also espoused the use of marijuana. Reggae singer of 70’s Bob Marley popularised the use of marijuana in his famous song “smoke two joints”. Even in many colleges and universities in India one can find students taking joints, marijuana is mostly smoked in a joint. This experiment is now internationally recognised and practised everywhere in the world. Marijuana is very common among youth because they believe taking marijuana affects and stimulates thinking and leads to a philosophic, positive life attitude. It causes an euphoric feeling. The use of marijuana was not the worst; the mass distribution of LSD came next.


(Teen smoking marijuana)


In the 1960s psychedelic music arose; some musicians encouraged and intended listeners of psychedelic music to be under the influence of LSD or other drugs. In 1967 The Beatles had released their first album dedicated to the promotion of psychedelic drugs, Sargeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The album contained a fantasized version of an LSD trip, called "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", or L.S.D. for short. It became a top seller.

One month after the album's release, the Beatles shocked the world by announcing, publicly, that they were regularly taking LSD. Beatle member Paul McCartney, in an interview with Life magazine said, "LSD opened my eyes. We only use one-tenth of our brain." They also publicly called for the legalization of marijuana. It is common for rocker stars to experiment with different kinds of drugs. The popularity and promotion of experimentation with drugs by rock stars may have influenced use of drugs among youth of the period. One can say that the consumption of drugs is increasing with the popularity of rock music.

During the past four decades, rock music lyrics have become increasingly expressed -- particularly with reference to drugs, sex, and violence and even of greater concern, sexual violence. Heavy metal and rap lyrics have elicited the greatest concern, as they compound the environment in which some teenagers increasingly are confronted with pregnancy, drug use, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and other sexually transmitted diseases, injuries, homicide and suicide.

Suicide is a prominent theme in music as a generation cries out having no hope. Today death and suicide are a consistent part of the Rock music lyrics as the artists voice their own despair in living in a fallen world. This prompts people to take others lives as well as their own. Ozzie Osborne became famous many years ago called the “Suicide Solution”:

“Suicide is the only way out ... why don't you kill yourself cause you can't escape the Master Reaper...”

Eric Anderson, a 14-year -old fan committed suicide in response to the song. He told his father that he couldn't cope with the pressure. He then went into his room and took a .22 rifle and killed himself.
For decades, Rock music has been blamed for antisocial or inappropriate behaviour in teens. Ozzy Osborne’s “Suicide Solution,” AC/DC’s “Shoot to Thrill,” and Blue Oyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear the Reaper”, these are few examples that provokes depressed teens to commit suicide.


( Ozzy Osborne’s “Suicide Solution” )

Sometimes rock music encourages violence too. Just read the lyrics of a song by Dead Kennedy and judge yourself –

“I kill children, I love to see them die.
I kill children to make their mothers cry.
I crush them under my car and I love to hear them scream.
I feed them poison candy and spoil their Halloween.
I kill children, I bang their heads in doors.
I kill children, I can hardly wait for yours.”

Some people believe that rock music stimulates casual indiscipline. Contemporary rock music is saturated with elements of cohabitation outside of marriage, infidelity, sadism and masochism, homosexuality, rape and necrophilia. According to Christian point of view rock music often encourages sex with anyone you like. From the late Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing" to Queen's "Body Language" to George Michael's "I Want Your Sex" to Madonna's "Chemical Reaction" to White Snake's "Still of the Night" and to the lyrics of Prince and endless others the theme is the same: promotion of sexual licentiousness.

If I went long just talking about sex, drugs and rock n roll then it doesn’t mean rock music has only darker side. Rock musicians have sometimes attempted to address social issues directly as commentary or as calls to action. In 70’s Reggae singer Bob Marley revolted against American imperialism like his famous song “Buffalo soldiers in the heart of America” .

During the Vietnam War the first rock protest songs were heard, inspired by the songs of folk musicians such as Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan, which ranged from abstract evocations of peace Peter, Paul, and Mary's "If I Had a Hammer" to blunt anti-establishment diatribes Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young's "Ohio". Other musicians, notably John Lennon and Yoko Ono, were vocal in their anti-war sentiment both in their music and in public statements.

Famous rock musicians have adopted causes ranging from the environment (Marvin Gaye's "Mercy Mercy Me (the Ecology)" and the anti-apartheid movement (Peter Gabriel's "Biko"), to violence in Northern Ireland (U2's "Sunday Bloody Sunday") and worldwide economic policy (The Dead Kennedys' "Kill the Poor"). On occasion this involvement would go beyond simple songwriting and take the form of sometimes-spectacular concerts or televised events, often raising money for charity. Recently in 2004 a concert was organised by Linkin Park to raise fund for the victims of Tsunami.

A Journey to the Western Music


Throughout history all cultures have been influenced by music. Before the Baroque era in music there were many forms of western music. Most of this music was monophonic, sung in chant used mostly for religious purposes. During the previous millennia most music was sung in chant form with very little accompaniment, save a harp or a violin. In these times music was a simple art, sung by the people to praise the Lord. Eventually polyphonic music developed, first starting as monophonic chant, and later polyphonic music was created. During this time the music notation system was standardized, originally a modified Greek system; music notation evolved into the notation that is used today. Having the use of music notation set the foundation for Baroque music and for all music after that.


In the late sixteenth century and early seventeenth century the Baroque style of music started in Italy. Italy, where the renaissance started, was able to create a new type of music rich in feeling. In the seventeenth century a famous and a genius composer was born in Salzburg, Austria. His name was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who composed more than six hundred compositions including his famous works that are widely acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music. Mozart is among the most popular classical composers. Mozart once said –
“Music, even in situations of the greatest horror, should never be painful to the ear but should flatter and charm it, and thereby always remain music.”



After Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, a famous German composer and a pianist was born. Beethoven's personal life was troubled. In his late twenties he began to lose his hearing, and yet continued to produce notable masterpieces throughout his life. Beethoven also radically redefined the symphony of Mozart. Both Mozart and Beethoven is milestone in the field of music. Both had a unique style of composing.




Gradually different artist invented different style of composing music. This is popularly known as musical genre. A music genre is a division of music that share a certain style or "basic musical language". Music may also be categorized by non-musical factors such as geographical origin. Categorizing music, especially into finer genres or subgenres, can be difficult for newly emerging styles. But still music can be classified into Classical music and Popular music.




Classical music is a traditional genre of music conforming to an established form and sometimes religious. Works by Franz Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven exemplify this style. Unlike classical music popular music is broad and at its broadest, it refers to all music other than classical music, also known as art music. In the early 19th century, the traditional songs of the common people were referred to as popular songs. By the late 19th century these songs were referred to as folk songs. Popular music originated in the mid 19th century, and is commonly subdivided into genres, and genres into sub genres.



Different genres often appeal to different age groups. Some popular genres are:
Jazz
Rock and Roll
Rock
Rhythm & Blues (R&B)
Reggae




Jazz
It is a kind of music that developed in the southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was developed by West African Blacks. Jazz has been described as "America's Classical Music," and started in saloons throughout the nation. The root of jazz is the blues, the folk music of former enslaved Africans in the U.S. South and their descendants, heavily influenced by West African cultural and musical traditions, that evolved as black musicians migrated to the cities.



According to jazz musician Wynton Marsalis:
“Jazz is something Negroes invented, and it said the most profound things -- not only about us and the way we look at things, but about what modern democratic life is really about. It is the nobility of the race put into sound ... jazz has all the elements, from the spare and penetrating to the complex and enveloping. It is the hardest music to play that I know of, and it is the highest rendition of individual emotion in the history of Western music”.




Jazz became world popular when Louis Armstrong, an American trumpeter and vocalist, invented a new style music. He is another Jazz master who is one of the most loved and best known of all jazz musicians. He first achieved fame as a trumpeter, but toward the end of his career he was best known as a vocalist and was one of the most influential jazz singers. Armstrong had many hit records including "Stardust", "What a Wonderful World", "When The Saints Go Marching In", "Dream a Little Dream of Me", "Ain't Misbehavin'", and "Stompin' at the Savoy". "We Have All the Time in the World" featured on the soundtrack of the James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Tony Bennett, a famous jazz singer, once said –
"It's America's classical music ... this becomes our tradition ... the bottom line of any country in the world is what did we contribute to the world? ... We contributed Louis Armstrong"



Some of the famous jazz artists are - Muhal Richard Abrams, Carl Allen, Geri Allen, Wessell Anderson, Tatsu Aoki, Peter Appleyard, Louis Armstrong, The Art Ensemble of Chicago, Albert Ayler etc.




Rock and Roll –




Rock 'n' roll is a genre of popular music, originated in the 1950s. The song is mostly an instrumental piece, with a rhythmic drum and bass line. In the early rock and roll style of the early 1950s, the saxophone was often the lead instrument, replaced by guitar in the late 50's.
Rocking was a term first used by black gospel singers in the American South to mean something related to spiritual rapture. By the 1940s, however, the term was used as a double meaning, seemingly referring to dancing, but with the hidden sub textual meaning of sex; an example of this is Roy Brown’s "Good Rocking Tonight." This type of song was rarely heard by mainstream white audiences.




What should be considered the first rock and roll record? Well this is a debatable question. There are many candidates for the title of the first rock and roll record. In 2004 and 2005, debate was sparked between fans of Elvis as well as many in the music business who claimed "That's All Right Mama" was the first rock and roll song and those who feel the proper claimant should be Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock" — both songs celebrating their 50th anniversaries in those two years.




But the title of "The King of Rock 'n' Roll" or "The King", was given to an American singer and actor Elvis Aron Presley simply known as Elvis. He was the most commercially successful singer of rock and roll. Presley started as a singer of rockabilly, earliest form of rock and roll, but very soon the young Elvis has become an icon of modern American pop culture. He has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1986), the Country Music Hall of Fame (1998), and the Gospel Music Hall of Fame (2001).In 1984 Elvis was given the W.C. Handy Award from the Blues Foundation in Memphis for "keeping the blues alive in his music - rock and roll.” In 1993, Elvis Presley's image appeared on a United States postage stamp as young Elvis.

Some of the most influential Rock n roll artists are –
Elvis Presley, The Beatles, James Brown, Bob Dylan, Buddy Holly, Jimi Hendrix, Ray Charles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd etc.

Rock –

A popular music style developed in the United States and Great Britain in the late 1960s. In 1960s The Beatles were the biggest musical act of the twentieth century, consisting of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr ). “Beatle mania" (term that was used during the 1960s to describe fan frenzy, particularly by young teenaged girls, toward The Beatles) stole the momentum from the blues scene and understood how to turn that music into a mass-media attraction. Rock music as a major business was born. In the wake of Beatlemania other British bands headed to the U.S., notably the Rolling Stones and other acts like The Animals and The Yardbirds. They turned down the Beatles' clean-cut image and presented a darker and more aggressive image.




The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show
(1964)
The Rolling Stones, the Kinks and The Who represent the triad of British rock bands of the mid 1960s that would influence entire generations of rock bands for decades. The Who were composing autobiographical songs of the angry and frustrated urban youth. The Rolling Stones were composing autobiographical songs of the decadent punks of the working class. The Kinks were composing realistic sketches of ordinary life in conservative England. The three together provide a complete picture of the time.



The most influential bands of the second generation were Cream, Led Zeppelin and Bob Dylan. Cream and Led Zeppelin started playing very loud blues. Cream's lengthy solos and Led Zeppelin's fast riffs created the epitome of "hard rock". Bob Dylan was arguably the most influential musician of the era. He led the charge against the establishment with simple songs and poetic lyrics. A generation believed in him and followed his dreams. Music became the expression of youth's ambitions. In the 1980s, popular rock diversified into many subgenres:

Hard rock, glam metal and Instrumental rock

Hard rock is a kind of Rock music. It is symbolised by a heavy use of distorted electric guitar, bass guitar and drums. British rockers like The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, The Who and The Kinks modified rock and roll and created the basis for hard rock by adding to the standard genre harder sounds, heavy guitar riffs, often bombastic drumming and harder vocals.
During the 1970s hard rock spawned a new genre of music, known as heavy metal the pioneers of heavy metal, such as Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, and Queen.

Psychedelic rock

Psychedelic rock is a musical style inspired by or attempting to replicate the mind-altering experience of drugs such as cannabis, psilocybin, mescaline, and especially LSD (Lysergic acid diethylamide). However, an inner core of the psychedelic style of rock that came to public attention in 1967 can be recognized by characteristic features such as average melodies; mystical lyrics often describing dreams, visions, or hallucinations; longer songs and lengthy instrumental solos; and "trippy" electronic effects such as distortion, reverb, and reversed, delayed and/or phased sounds. The album that brought psychedelic rock into pop culture was The Beatles's Revolver.

Progressive rock

Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music which arose in the late 1960s, reached the peak of its popularity in the 1970s. Progressive rock songs have long compositions, sometimes running over 20 minutes, with intricate melodies and harmonies. Progressive rock artists reject the limitations of popular music and aspire to create music for serious listening. The major artists that defined the genre in the 1970s are Jethro Tull, Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Rush, Gentle Giant and King Crimson.

Classic rock


In the mid-1980s, a radio station programming format evolved from the album oriented rock (AOR) format, commonly known as Classic rock. The core albums, artists, and songs most often represented in classic rock radio represent a subset of the albums and artists that were actually popular during the so-called "classic rock era". British hard rock and progressive rock bands make up a central pillar of classic rock artists; significant among these are AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, Cream, and Queen.

Punk Rock and New Age

Punk rock is an anti-establishment rock music movement which began around 1974–1975. The phrase "punk rock" (punk means a beginner or novice) was originally applied to the untutored guitar-and-vocals-based rock and roll of United States bands of the mid-1960s such as The Standells, The Sonics, and The Seeds, bands that now are more often categorized as garage rock. It is represented by The Ramones, The Sex Pistols, The Damned, and The Clash. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, New age born out of the punk rock movement. The genre was fashionable during the 1980s, but became popular again during the 2000s.

Alternative rock

The terms alternative rock and alternative music1 were coined in the early 1980s to describe punk rock-inspired music genres which didn't fit into the mainstream genres of the time. At times it was used as catch-all phrase for rock music from underground artists in the 1980s and rock music in general in the 1990s. More specifically, it is made up mostly of genres that appeared in the 1980s and became popular or well known by the 1990s, such as indie rock, grunge, gothic rock, and college rock. Important bands of the '80s alternative movement included R.E.M., Sonic Youth, The Smiths, Pixies, Husker Du, The Cure, and countless others. In 1990s bands like Nirvana, Guns and Roses, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Linking Park etc joined the stream.

R&B

R&B was used to designate upbeat popular music performed by African American artists. It was strongly influenced by jazz and jump music as well as black gospel music. Musicians paid little attention to the distinction between jazz and rhythm and blues, and frequently recorded in both genres. "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On", the first hit by Jerry Lee Lewis was an R&B cover song that made number one on pop, R&B and country and western charts. Other artists who popularized R&B included Professor Longhair, Clarence "Frogman" Henry, Frankie Ford, Irma Thomas, The Neville Brothers, and Dr. John.

Reggae

Reggae is a music genre developed in Jamaica. Reggae may be used in a broad sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, including ska, rocksteady and dub. The term is generally used to distinguish a particular style that originated in the late 1960s. Reggae is founded upon a rhythm style which is characterized by regular chops on the back beat, known as the "skank", played by a rhythm guitarist, and a bass drum hitting on the third beat of each measure, known as "one drop."




One of the main themes of reggae music has been social liberation. This has both political and religious aspects. The music attempts to raise the political consciousness of the audience, like Bob Nesta Marley, a Jamaican singer, guitarist, songwriter, and activist. Much of his

music dealt with the struggles of the impoverished and gave a voice to the oppressed around the world while spreading messages of hope and unity. His songs expressed his experiences of struggles of everyday life in Jamaica in a way that all could relate to, making his music universally loved.

Bob Marley once said


“My music fights against the system that teaches to live and die”.
Repression of many kinds, and especially repression linked with the prohibition of ganja (marijuana), which is considered a sacrament by Rastafarians, is another recurring theme in the music. Bob Marley is a prominent marijuana icon. The pioneers of reggae are Bob Marley, Johnny Clarke, Horace Andy and Barrington Levy etc.
Bob Marley is a prominent marijuana icon.



Reservation Hassle

Essay by Rasshad Khan

Background

The Mandal Commission in India was established in 1979 by the Janata Party government under Prime Minister Morarji Desai with a mandate to "identify the socially or educationally backward." It was headed by Indian parliamentarian B.P. Mandal to consider the question of seat reservations and quotas for people to correct caste discrimination, and used eleven social, economic, and educational indicators to determine "backwardness." In 1980, the commission's report affirmed the affirmative action practice under Indian law whereby members of lower castes (known as Other Backward Classes and Scheduled Castes and Tribes) were given exclusive access to a certain portion of government jobs and slots in public universities, and recommended changes to these quotas, increasing them by 27% to 49.5%. The report, released in 1980, was the source of great controversy, and its implementation in 1990 was the ultimate cause of India's Prime Minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh's resignation.



Under the 1950 Constitution of India, 15% of educational and civil service seats were reserved for "scheduled castes" and 7.5% for "scheduled tribes." The first backward classes commission, headed by Kaka Kalelkar, submitted its report in 1955.

Reports
ð In 1963, the Supreme Court of India ruled that total reservations could not exceed 50%.
The Commission, after a very thorough scientific investigation has with the help of experts from various disciplines worked out 11 indicators to determine social backwardness. These indicators are social, educational and economic, and as the major controversy resolves around the caste criteria allegedly adopted by the commission, it would be relevant to reproduce the actual criteria used by the Commission. The 11 indicators formulated by the commission are:

Social
Castes/classes considered as socially backward by others.
Castes/classes, which mainly depend on manual, labour for their livelihood.
Castes/classes where the percentage of married women below 17 is 25% above the state average in rural areas and 10% in urban areas; and that of married men is 10% and 5% above the state average in rural and urban areas respectively.
Castes/classes where participation of females in work is at least 25% above the state average.



Educational
Castes/classes where the number of children in the age group of 5 to 15 years who never attended school is at least 25% above the state average.
Castes/classes where the rate of student dropout in the age group of 5-15 years is at least 25% above the state average.
Castes/classes amongst whom the proportion of matriculates is at least 25% below the state average



Economic
Castes/classes where the average value of family assets is at least 25% below the state average.
Castes/classes where the number of families living in kachcha houses is at least 25 % above the state average.
Castes/classes where the source of drinking water is beyond half a kilometer for more than 50% of the households.
Castes/classes where the number of the households having taken a consumption loan is at least 25% above the state average.
(Courtesy-PUCL Bulletin)
The commission estimated that 52% of the total population (excluding SCs and STs), belonging to 3,743 different castes and communities was ‘backward’.
Debate

ð Arguments in favour

Supporters of the Mandal Commission argue that national unity should be on the basis of justice for all castes, and that both traditional varnashram and post-independence Congress Raj had worked only to the benefit of Brahmins and other privileged minorities. They also argue that reservations are essential to the uplift and empowerment of people from less privileged castes.
Here it must be kept in mind that, Reservation as we see it today, was not what the dalits of India wanted. The Simon Commission had agreed to the "Separate Electorate" demand of Dr. Ambedkar. Mahatma Gandhi in protest decided to fast unto death because he was of the view, that this will create further divisions between the untouchables and upper cast Hindus.
Later Dr. Ambedkar in the Poona Pact agreed upon reservation.



ð Opposition



Critics of the Mandal Commission argue that it is unfair to accord people special privileges on the basis of caste, even in order to redress traditional caste discrimination. They argue that those that deserve the seat through merit will be at a disadvantage. They reflect on the repercussions of unqualified candidates assuming critical positions in society such as that of Doctors, engineers etc. Other arguments include that securing the separate legal status of OBCs and SC/STs will continue caste differentiation and encourage competition among communities at the expense of national unity. They believe that only a small new group of educated Dalits, Adivasis, and OBCs benefit from reservations, and that such measures do nothing to lift the mass of people out of backwardness and poverty.



Protest

A decade after the commission gave its report, V.P Singh, the Prime Minister at the time, implemented its recommendations in 1989. The criticism was sharp and colleges across the country held massive protests against it. Soon after, Rajiv Goswami, student of Delhi University, self-immolated himself in protest of the government's actions.
His act further sparked a series of self-immolations by other college students and led to a formidable movement against job reservations for Backward Castes in India


Recent News

Human Resources Development Minister Arjun Singh has raised a hornet's nest by proposing an additional 27 per cent seats be reserved for OBC students in higher educational institutions. If implemented, his proposal would take the reservation quota to a total of 49 per cent.

Hundreds of Delhi medical students clashed with police to protest against Centre's proposed 27 per cent reservations for the OBCs in central universities.Emergency services at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital have been affected after resident doctors went on strike.This comes after 200 protesting students were detained. Indian Medical association (IMA) announced a 24 hours long bandh, along with resident doctors and faculty members. This strike fired the whole country. Later Resident doctors at the AIIMS were on a one-day hunger strike to express solidarity with protesting medical students. The medical students were on an indefinite fast in New Delhi.

Amid talks of a balance between equity and excellence, there have been suggestions for implementing the proposal in a way that creates no strife in society, socially marginalized sections are benefited and the interests of all protected. The increase in number of seats may be effective over a period of years keeping in mind the need for strengthening infrastructure.
HRD Minister Arjun Singh told the Lok Sabha that the Government was "not unmindful" of concerns expressed by agitating students against reservations and that it was seriously considering all options that will also satisfy them.



The striking medicos got a boost as students of the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi began a relay hunger strike at their campuses to express solidarity with them.



The Supreme Court directed the protesting medicos to call off their strike forthwith and assured them that the apex court would look into their grievances. Faced with the Supreme Court's strict warning and possible action, anti-reservation medicos and resident doctors in most parts of the country called off their 20-day strike and went back to duty immediately.
Still after the calling off a 20-day-long strike by the medicos the burning debate of reservation is not yet over.