ANTIDOTE

Penury visible in front contrasts mushrooming of high- rise buildings in backdrop in an indian metropolis By Dr. Narendra Kumar Arya 29 January, 2013 Countercurrents.org C apitalism has morbid inclinations for non-symmetrical characterization of the economic life .It has got weird political aesthetic sensibilities which are embedded in the abnormal distribution of the output and results. From the socio-centric point of view, India succumbed to liberalization policies and programs in big way in 1990s ,promising the unprecedented levels of development drives and prosperity to the nation. But the core character of policies which it embraced have never promised elsewhere and nor do here. In the inconsistent contradictory and deceptive face of liberalisation ,the other facial dimension of the capitalism nova, has produced and is underway in making Indian society and economy asymmetrically distorted, as anticipated , given the very illogical logicity of the economic principles it...

By Dr. Narendra Kumar Arya 28 December, 2013 Countercurrents.org W e Indians may claim the title of being the best breed of apes in world, unchallenged; we can copy anything or idea at its best without realizing or internalizing it, at all; and that should not be taken as an exaggerated statement. This attest to almost everything borrowed - modernity, democracy, parliamentarian system, ideas of equality and liberty to culture- industry, university system, Marxism or whatever, you name it we have it. But, we don’t need to mean it, though that might be true for very many other societies and countries as well. What we preach we don’t need people to really believe in, that too. We import, buy, adorn and boast but really don’t need it at its real value. Birth of a Bourgeoisie Complex Indian bourgeoisie is budding at never before rate of growth though its expanding range is limited anyhow it’s getting ‘fatty’, at least. The newest fad that is propelling it, is It’s new found passio...

By Narendra Kumar Arya  15 January, 2013  Countercurrents.org: All Debates on Merit Lead Towards Affirmative Actions:- The bone of content in the whole process of Merit vs. Demerit is provision or implementation of affirmative action programmes and policies  ,  seeking to curtail the sharp inequalities, discrimination and exploitative conditions and monopolistic ownership of resources of society and power structured to suit the interests of a minority elite , abusively hostile to the notion of social possession of society and social justice with judicious participation in all organs of state and society , at large. The deepening participation of people from all sections and strata of society does not weaken or makes institutions incompetent, inefficient and unproductive to use the fashionable lingo imported from and displaying overpowering effect of economics ; rather it makes the diverse ,supplies much needed ‘big genetic pool' of diversified cre...

 By Narendra Kumar Arya  15 January, 2013  Countercurrents.org: Of Merit or Procedures of Coincidences:- As Plato's saying, I have referred, opines too much obsession leads to grand delusion, merit too happens to fall in that characterisation. What we assume as merit is not the merit we encounter generally in our normal life, since individuals at different stages of life are not incapable to alter at their own how it could be attributed to ‘pure merit'; The types of schooling, parentage, education etc most of us receive often come as course of fluke rather than capabilities, potential, talent or worth because world is usually imperfect. To examine this statement we can take an example of examination and selection process of civil services which is a complex process nevertheless this is not fully mechanical, robotic, value-free and utterly objective, to call it so will be a cheap joke; because at every level of testing there is gross subjectivity and human ...

By Narendra Kumar Arya  15 January, 2013  Countercurrents.org: Merit as a Static Notion: There may be little consensus among the supporters of the conception of what really constitutes merit but one thing stands out common in their mind that merit is a static and once-for-ever sort of thing. Either you have it or not. You have it for once and always. This mind-set resembles the attitude and perceptual deformity of status-quoists. The mental morbidities and blindness is almost incurable; more so, if the patient is unwilling to accept the change in circumstances and his inner hiccups. It is widely believed that if a person is un-meritorious in a given sense at a given time one will not and cannot attain traits of merit as expounded by its enthusiasts. This phobia even at the entry level is could be observed. The hardcore merit fanatics don't believe that human being is a dynamically endowed being and his capabilities and mental faculties are easily repairable or up...

By Narendra Kumar Arya 15 January, 2013  Countercurrents.org: Concentration of Merit: The present Indian society exhibits a peculiar phenomenon when we see merit as trait concentrated into certain sections of Indian society which is easily identifiable on caste lines. Elsewhere across other societies globally too; it has got and shows strong links with dominant ethnic identities, In eastern Europe gypsies and Muslims, in USA whites that too, other than Hispanics (the case of newly migrated Chinese, Korean and Indian professionals is different as they are permitted only to immigrate on their high-tech professional qualifications) and African-Americans; in India Dalits, Backward Castes, Muslims and Women specially are said to be lacking merit .Is merit a castiest phenomenon? Is it racial, too? Why merit lands and persists in certain castes, ethnicities, why? It has to have; otherwise, it has to be just mythical. Either merit originates, flourishes or spreads on ethnic g...

By Narendra Kumar Arya 15 January, 2013  Countercurrents.org: Is Merit Propaganda? So Merit in popular domains closely identified with ethnicity and associative intelligence, defined in a recent effort by Lenivson and Sadovnik as “most common definition of meritocracy conceptualizes merit in terms tested competency and ability, and most likely as measured by IQ or standardized achievement tests." 15 Is it just propaganda of the incumbent elite? “Propaganda” has not always been so difficult to define. The English word derives from a Latin term that originally referred to a committee of Cardinals, or Congregation of Propaganda, established by Pope Gregory XV in 1622 to propagate Roman Catholicism. The word was later extended to designate “any association, systematic scheme, or concerted movement for the propagation of a particular doctrine or practice” (  OED  ). But with the professionalization of advertising in the late nineteenth century, and the emerge...

Dissecting The Myths Of Merit And Meritocracy By Narendra Kumar Arya 15 January, 2013 Countercurrents.org: Nature Vs Nurture:- Once a journalist asked eminent behaviour psychologist Prof. Donald Hebb what matter most the nature or the nurture and his wisdom came in reply that it was similar to asking what feature of a rectangle contributed most to its area –length or width  .  8 This binary phrase is credited to Francis Galton, a cousin of Charles Darwin ,led to research in biological domains which were based on his conviction that there was some degree of genetic attributable intelligence running through his family. He also laid down the framework of Eugenics. In this Nature Vs Nurture debate Nature represents human biological system specially emphasising genes and genetics; and nurture to environment and its various forms socio-economic conditions, education, social privileges or deprivations and almost everything outside the body of the individual. But inter...

The Bell ‘Curb': Ethnic Academics The worst episode in history of unravelling the assumed relationship between the nature, nurture and intelligence has been publication of ‘The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life' authored by Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray and published in 1994. 7 This controversial project , by using empirical statistical analysis to defend racial and class objectives demonstrated that African-Americans have comparatively less measured intelligence than their Asian and White peers; low intelligence is related to criminal activities and interestingly the police records in America are highly biased towards non-whites specially African –Americans. Cornel West, an American philosopher, in his famous ‘Race Matters' argued if Blacks are just 9% of American population why 50% prisoners are Blacks in America? And this can be learnt easily by understanding the double meaning embedded in sensational study named The Bell Curve. At...