www.ntv.co.ke The referendum question is yet to be posed, the attorney general is yet to publish the draft constitution; but the YES and NO campaigns have taken shape and an intense debate is already underway. Linus Kaikai hosts the man in the eye of a storm, the newly posted minister for higher education William Samoei Ruto; a politician around whom the campaign against the draft constitution revolves. This is the second part of Inside the Constitution.
Inside the Constitution Pt. 2
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Inside The Constitution Pt. 1
www.ntv.co.ke The referendum question is yet to be posed, the attorney general is yet to publish the draft constitution; but the YES and NO campaigns have taken shape and an intense debate is already underway. Linus Kaikai hosts the man in the eye of a storm, the newly posted minister for higher education William Samoei Ruto; a politician around whom the campaign against the draft constitution revolves. This is the first part of Inside the Constitution.
Differences Between “religion & Deen (islam)”
A comparative study of religion and Deen, should help us understand the vital and fundamental characteristics of each and the differences between the two: “Religion & Deen (Islam)”
? Religion is merely some sort of subjective experience and is concerned only with the so-called private relationship between God and man. Deen is an objective reality and a system of collective life. Every follower of a Religion is satisfied that he has established a communion with the Almighty, and the objective of each individual is his own salvation. The aim of Deen on the other hand is the welfare and progress of all mankind, and the character and constitution of a society indicates whether or not it is founded upon the Divine Law.
? Religion does not afford us any objective. criterion by which we could determine whether or not our actions are producing the desired results. In a social order governed by Deen, the development of a collective and harmonious life correctly indicates whether or not the people are pursuing the right course.
? Religion is hostile to scientific investigation and is an adversary of reason, so that it could flourish unhampered with the aid of a blind faith. Deen helps in the development of human reason and knowledge, allows full freedom to accept or reject on the basis of reason and arguments, and encourages investigation and discovery of all the natural phenomena to illumine the path of human life and its advancement in the light of the Permanent Values.
? Religion follows the susceptibilities and prejudices of men and pampers them. Deen seeks to lead men to a path of life that is in harmony with the realities of life.
? In every age, therefore, Religion sets up new idols and mumbo-jumbos in order to keep the people’s attention away from the real problems of life. But Deen is rational and radical: it breaks all idols, old and new, and is never variable in its principles.
? Religion induces a perpetual sense of fear in the minds of men and seeks to frighten them into conformity; While Deen treats fear as a form of polytheism and seeks to make men courageous, daring and self-reliant.
? Religion prompts men to bow before every seat of authority and prestige, religious as well as temporal. Deen encourages man to walk about with his head erect, and attain self-confidence.
? Religion induces man to flee from struggle of life. But Deen calls upon him to face the realities of life squarely, whatever the hazards.
? Religion treats the world of matter with contempt and calls upon man to renounce it. It promises paradise only in the Hereafter as a reward for the renunciation of the material world. Deen, on the other hand, enjoins the conquest of matter and leads man to immeasurable heights of attainment. It exhorts him to seek well-being and happiness in this world as well as felicity in the life Hereafter.
? Religion encourages belief in fatalism, and this tends to dissuade man from active life and self-development. Deen gives man power to challenge fate, and provides energy for a life of activity and self-development.
? Religion seeks to comfort the weak, the helpless and the oppressed with the belief that the affairs of this world are governed by the Will of God and that its acceptance and resignation helps to endear them to God. This sort of teaching naturally tends to morbidity, and emboldens their religious leaders who profess to interpret the Will of God, so that they indulge in their misdeeds with perfect impunity and persuade the adherents to a complete and quiet submission. Deen, on the other hand, raises the banner of revolt against all forms of tyranny and exploitation. It calls upon the weak and the oppressed to follow the Divine Laws and thereby seek to establish a social order in which all tyrants and oppressors will be forced to accept the dictates of right and justice. In this social order, there is no place for dictators, capitalists or priests. They are all enemies of Deen.
? Religion enjoins religious meditation in the name of worship and thus induces self-deception. Deen exhorts men to assert themselves and struggle perpetually for the establishment of the Divine Social Order, and its betterment when attained. Worship in din really means obedience to the Laws of God.
? Religion frowns and sneers at all things of art and beauty. Deen defies those who forbid the enjoyment of the good and beautiful things of life which God has created for the enjoyment of man.
? Religion denounces everything new and declares all innovation as sin. Deen holds that the needs and demands of human life keep changing with the change in the conditions of life; change and innovation are, therefore, demanded by life itself. Only the Divine Laws are immutable.
It should now be easy for us to see the fundamental difference between Deen and Religion. Islam means saying “Yes” to life; while the response of religion is “No”!
Ahmad Parvez is an author of this article. Article Source: http://www.parvez-video.com
Information On Kerala Ipr Academy Veiled
In pursuit of establishing an Intellectual Poperty Academy in Kerala, we pursued the RTI endeavor with a fresh demand for inspectingthe File No. 20311/Nodal(1)/08/Law, which was stated to be under different levels of deliberations. It is an interesting story altogether.
My friend, Mr. Prasanth (Blogger of SECULAR CITIZEN) filed his RTI Request on 29/06/09with the following contents.
“With reference to the Letter No. 10508/Nodal 1/09/Law dated 24.06.2009, I may please be permitted to exercise my right under Section 2(j) of RTI Act to inspect the File No. 20311/Nodal(1)/08/Law for the purpose of taking notes, extracts or certified copies of relevant documents or records (including file notes), that are not exempted from disclosure under Section 8(1) of RTI Act. Please inform me a suitable date on which I can inspect the File.
You may kindly see the decision of State Information Commission in a similiar case
All the papers essentially identified and marked as “CABINET PAPERS” or any CABINET NOTE under Section 8(1)(i) may be withheld from inspection”.
He was expecting an early call from Law Department, inviting him to inspect the file. However PIO of Law Department vide letter No. 11478/Nodal I/09/Law dated 09.07.2009 denied the request stating that his demand for inspection of file could not be considered favorably since the information sought for is not accessible under Section 8(1)(i) of the Act. The Department once again cited the reason that the proposals are under different levels of deliberations. It is an oxymoron that the Government authorities treat RTI Request as a favour being sought. Further PIO failed to provide the reasons for applying Section 8(1)(i) on the ‘whole file content’.
But Mr. Prasanth was not in a mood to give up. He preferred an appeal to the Appellate Authority in Law Department, Govt. of Kerala on 13.07.09 under Section 19(1) of RTI Act, seeking a “speaking order”, either allowing him to access the information requested, or by providing the logic behind applying Section 8(1)(i) by PIO.
It took hardly a fortnight for him to realise that the bureaucracy was not lenient enough to abide by the principles of ‘Freedom of Information’. The reply from the Appellate Authority was very disappointing. Vide Letter No. 12462/Nodal I/09/Law dated 27/07/2009, the Appellate Authority turned down the scope of a “speaking order” positing that the decision of PIO did not suffer from any legal infirmity warranting a speaking order as requested.
It is the second instance at which the Law Department makes the deliberate attempt to conceal the information on the IPR Academy. Earlier, the Appellate Authority had just conceded to provide the information that the IPR Academy details are available at vide File No. 20311/Nodal(1)/08/Law, in an RTI process initiated to avail the following the information.
i) Aims/Mandates of the IPR Academy
ii) Reasons for proposing an IPR Academy (To know whether it is essential for Kerala)
iii) Proposed budget, proposed location and proposed area of the CAMPUS for the IPR Academy
iv) Constitutional details of the proposed IPR Academy including the functions of councils/committees (if any), faculty and Infrastructure.
v) The progress report and the latest status on setting up the IPR Academy.
Mr. Prasanth did not pursue the matter to the State Information Commission then. But he is very determined this time. A judicial process before the Commission is on the cards.
After all, why a “public authority” should “feel offended” when questions are asked to ensure the “accountability” to the “governed”? Is it that the“governed” (the masters in “Democracy”) have no right to question the “governing authority”? How will the “accountability” be ensured otherwise?
I’m of the opinion that this “attitude” of the “bureaucratic” set up would derail the “accountability” of the governmental system and the wisdom of parliamentarians in enacting the RTI Act. Success of RTI Act demands change in attitude of the public authorities.
R.S. Praveen Raj Scientist – IP Management & Technology Transfer National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science & Technology (NIIST), (Formerly RRL, Trivandrum), Industrial Estate P.O., Pappanamcode, Thiruvananthapuram – 695 019.
http://secularcitizen.blogspot.com/2009/12/r-s-praveen-raj.html
Obama on Church and State
Obama explains the importance of church-state separation in a variety of ways. What it comes down to is; In a diverse democratic society, any proposed policy must justify itself via the benefits we ALL see, rather than via arguments that only hold true to people who have one certain religious worldview. It is an honor for me to have cast my first vote as an American citizen, and my very first vote ever, in favor of this guy. Unfortunately, Obama’s presidential take on religion did not quite live up to the promise he showed in 2006: tinyurl.com But even then, I think this video is very neat. “Democracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns into universal, rather than religion-specific, values. It requires that their proposals be subject to argument, and amenable to reason. I may be opposed to abortion for religious reasons, but if I seek to pass a law banning the practice, I cannot simply point to the teachings of my church or evoke God’s will. I have to explain why abortion violates some principle that is accessible to people of all faiths, including those with no faith at all. “Now this is going to be difficult for some who believe in the inerrancy of the Bible, as many evangelicals do. But in a pluralistic democracy, we have no choice. Politics depends on our ability to persuade each other of common aims based on a common reality. It involves the compromise, the art of what’s possible. At some fundamental level, religion does not allow for …
We Should Have a Review of our Constitution
We should have a review of our Constitution.
Dalip Singh Wasan, Advocate,
Formerly employment Officer P.E.S. II.
E.Mail. dalipsinghwassan @ Yahoo Co.In.
We must accept that our Constitution had accepted all good items available in Constitutions of other countries and therefore, it is a comperhensive document and shall be guiding us for all the times to come. We have been conducting review and there had been some amendments in this Constitution. Still we need more amendments because uptil now we could not provide that only competent people should come forward in the houses. We could not provide maximum age uptil which they shall be in the houses. It would have been better if people who are more than 70 years age should not be present in the house and we should have abolished all the state level legislative assemblies because one Parliament is enough to represnt us. We are one country and we have got one types of our problems and the situations and conditions are also the same. We have got one nation and when we have a deep look, all the provinces have created so many problems for us. These units have given birth to religious and regional political parties and now these parties are taking more than due place in the centre too. Had there been one Parliament in this country, there were chances that there could have been two to three political parties there were chances that these parties would have taken competent people in them. All and sundary would not have been allowed to enter these two to three parties and there were chances that these parties would have adopted the path of giving us shadow cabinets and we, the people of India would have been given a chance to elect ministers direct. The present system of appointing ministers by the Prime Minister is not healthy because here we are obliged to appoint ministers as their share in the government and merit is no consideration. That is the reason there is no unity in the cabinet and they just work. Since ministers are not appointed on the basis of merits, they are not in a position to hold charge of people working under them. Rather they work under the bureaucracy and in most of the cases orders are passed by the bureaucracy and signed by the ministers. Such government cannot be called a
democracy.
We should think of establishing one Public Service Commission for the whole country and similarly there should be Subordinate Services Selection Board for whole of the country. We should see that the Employment Exchanges are also allowed to function and if candidates appointed through these agencies are found fit their services should be regularised without rooting them thrrough the Subordinate Service Selection Boards. Recruitment to all offices should be made through these agencies and even establishments in private sectors be invited to utilise the services of these organisations. We should not disturb and put into difficulties our unemployed people and they should be tested once and given job as per their performance in the competitive test.
We should abolish all schools and colleges which are estrablished on religious basis and there should be educational institutions as national institutions and none should be allowed to preach his own religion through these institutions. We should limit the religious institutions in the country their numbers be fixed by the state and the state must have an eye on these institution so that they may not be giving birth to fundamentalists who can cause danger to our unity and integrity.
We should have one law for the whole of India so that the people must be in a position to understand law and they also start believing that people of one part are not better placed. Whole of India must be open to all of us and none of the state be allowed to see that people of its own area are getting jobs under the state and people from other states are not allowed to participate in competitions.
We should ensure that each one of us has got proper education, proper training and proper adjustment at work from where each one is carrying adequate income with which he is able to run his family administration. We are more than 100 crore in number and therefore, we need a working force of about 40,00,00,000 and if such an assessment is carried out, we shall be short of workers. There had been some defect in our plannings that we could not develop such a structure in which each one of us should have been at work and none should have been dependant upon others.
We may allow to the people religious libirty, but time has come when we shall have to see that people who are living on charity should not be allowed to increase in number. even to day this number is on higher side and we must try to see that no one is allowed to live on charity alone and everyone should be at work because when a nation has got a large number of people living on charity, more and more people shall be joining this line and thus burdon on working people is increased and this is not a healthy sign. We should have an introspection and must see that this number is decreased.
We should see that people of one religion should not be allowed to concentrate on one place. They must be asked to disperse and locate themselves amongst people of other religions because people of one religion are located at one place, they start demanding something which our Constitution dies notallow. We should have one common civil code in which system of marriage and divorce should be one and similarly we should be having one succession law with us. We should see that the family should be bound to look after the infirm and old people and every child must get proper education and proper training. The nation must look after the child through his or her parents, but none of them should be allowed to go astray.
Till we have one spirit, we shall never become a nation and till we attain the status of a nation all these terrorism and riots shall be hampering our progress and we shall remain a backward country. Therefore, we should see that each one of us must get all these fundamental rightws automatically and is not is compelled to fight for these rights in Courts.
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Notary Public Review Class – New York State
This e-book is a must for anyone who is preparing for the New York State Notary Public examination. We review the key points covered in the State Notary Public Law Booklet and offer a practice exam. By Viktor Bujanow, N.y.s. Notary Public over 25 years.
Notary Public Review Class – New York State
who were the progressives and what are the comparisons and contrasts with the Founders?
with these subjects
1. the grounding of politics (Nature vs history)
2. the meaning of equality
3. the meaning of freedom
4. the source of rights
5. the scope and aim of government
6. the organization of government
