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Monday, July 27, 2009

Noted Lawyer, Ram Jethmalani's take on the high court judgement on Homosexuality

The great legal Philosopher and Reformer of the 19th Century Jeremy Bentham produced his greatest work “ The Theory of Legislation” in the first half of the 19th Century. The book propounded the great Principle Of Utility a veritable working Manual for law makers all over the world.

“ THE PUBLIC GOOD ought to be the object of the Legislator, GENERAL UTILITY ought to be the foundation of his reasonings. To know the true good of the community is what constitutes the science of legislation; the art consists in finding the means to realize that good”.

The lesson was simple yet profound. Elaborating this principle he propounded that nature has placed man under the realm of pleasure and pain. To these man owes his ideas, judgments and determination of his life. Evil is pain or the cause of pain. Good is pleasure or productive of pleasure. The criminal law prescribes a series of punishments for different acts and omissions. Every punishment produces pain at least to him on whom it is inflicted. Punishment, therefore, is an evil. Its only justification is that it prevents a greater evil or produces in some other or others or the general public much more pleasure. From these two principles he had no difficulty in formulating the principles on which a rational Penal Code should be constructed.







The High Court of Delhi earlier this month produced a memorable judgment declaring a Section of the Indian Penal Code of 1860 as constitutionally invalid. Lord Macaulay and his fellow Commissioners who framed that Code had presumably not taken Bentham’s teachings seriously, at least when they introduced their notion of Victorian morality into this section and made it part of our criminal law.

Voluntarily having intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal is declared a serious crime for which the punishment may well extend to 10 years and fine or both. As judicially interpreted and noticed by the Delhi High Court sexual activities hit are the following:

1. Intercourse by a man with a woman other than vaginal; such as involving the anus, mouth or any other orifice in the human body;

2. Intercourse with any male involving the anus or any other orifice;

3. Act commonly known as practice of bestiality.

Section 377 by its marginal note classifies all three as ‘unnatural offences’ and the text of the Section stigmatizes the intercourse as carnal and against the order of nature. Macaulay did not know that the fish, iguana lizards, roosters, dogs, cats, horses, rabbits, lions and many other species mount others of the same sex. Even cows in heat are known to mount other cows. Homosexual behaviour is so rampant in non human species that it is difficult to justify the epithet unnatural for this behaviour.





Bentham rightly dismissed these acts as offending good taste. Neither he nor any other rational person would see in these actions any element of producing the evil of pain. Of course my assumption is that intercourse is by free consent and does not involve minors who are incapable of consenting to remain untouched by the Section.

The Delhi High Court judgment is full of learning and references to literature on psychiatry, genetics, religion and Court judgments delivered in other jurisdiction, particularly the United States and Canada. It refers to the report of the British Wolfenden Committee and the Sexual Offences Act, 1967, by which English law de-criminalized homosexuality. It fortifies its conclusions by the 172nd report of the Law Commission which also took the same view: ‘Section 377 in its present form has to go’.

Many years ago, when my friend Soli Sorabjee was the Attorney General he and I both attended a meeting of the faculty and students at Harvard. I distinctly remember both of us having told our audience that the Indian Government is seriously engaged in deliberations and in all probability the law will be substantially amended and brought into conformity with the new enlightened attitudes in which now pervade world of genetics, crimes and criminology.









The Delhi High Court judgment for which I have already paid my respectful compliments to its scholarly Chief Justice and his companion Judge is substantially based upon the citizen’s right to privacy and a life of dignity. The Court correctly concluded that these rights can only be subordinated to some overriding public interest. Counsel for the Union of India could not point out any and the Court rightly rejected his feeble argument that it is a law which in some remote way promotes public health. The submission was in the teeth of the view of the American Psychiatric Association presented to the United States Supreme Court in 2002 in the case of Lawrence v. Texas :

“According to current scientific and professional understanding, however, the core feelings and attractions that form the basis for adult sexual orientation typically emerge between middle childhood and early adolescence. Moreover, these patterns of sexual attraction generally arise without any prior sexual experience.

Thus, homosexuality is not a disease or mental illness that needs to be, or can be, ‘cured’ or ‘altered’, it is just another expression of human sexuality”.

Now the view for which the Additional Solicitor General canvassed was the view of the Home Ministry with which the Ministry of Health did not agree. To the best of my knowledge it has never happened that in a public hearing before a High Court two departments of the same Government made conflicting and irreconcilable submissions. I hope before the Supreme Court the Government will put its house in order. I can trust the Attorney General to do so.



What further surprises me, is that the most effective 8th Respondent namely the National Aid Control Organization (NACO) did not seek the assistance of Bentham’s powerful argument which any Court should normally consider almost conclusive. Some one should have done it any way.

Unfortunately homosexuality in India as in many other countries attracts intense antipathy which may well be called Homophobia. In popular language it means fear and dislike of homosexuality and of those who practice it. The word, which may have been coined in the 1960s, was used by K. T. Smith in 1971 in an article entitled “Homophobia: A Tentative Personality Profile. In 1972, George Weinberg’s book ‘Society and the Healthy Homosexual’ defined it as “the dread of being in close quarters with homosexuals.” Mark Freedman added to that definition a description of homophobia as an extreme rage and fear reaction to homosexuals.

It must be emphasized that the Delhi Judgment does not recommend homosexuality or even approve of it. I am revolted by it without denying that all males usually in early adolescence go through a phase of it particularly in societies where the free mingling of the two sexes is taboo. In most cases it is not a free preference but a forced choice when better alternatives are scarce. I am sure my revulsion is shared by the two Judges. But we are sensible enough not to compel others to experience the same feeling or at least put on a false mask. It is obnoxious arrogance to claim that my

conduct is natural and others violative of nature. It is pure tyranny to send others to prison because their tastes are not mine. The Constitution of India does not tolerate such tyranny.

No legislator or ruler can tell those who obey his laws “I am one of the elect, and God takes care to enlighten the elect as to what is good and what is evil. He reveals himself to me and speaks by my mouth. All you who are in doubt, come and receive the Oracle of God;” thus wrote Bentham.

A short reference to the history of homosexuality is called for. During the Greco Roman period, there is ample evidence to show that homosexual behavior between men as well as between women was common - and within clear conventional limits – approved. Literature dealing with the customs of Jews and earlier Christians however, does reflect a general aversion to homosexual behavior which was seen as an emblem of decadent paganism – godless, debauched, and heretical. For both Jews and early Christians, the Old Testament story of the destruction of Sodom became the foundation text of ‘homophobia’, even though neither Jews nor early Christians, including Christ himself, unanimously interpreted it as a text condemning homosexual behavior.

During the next thousand years between the fall of Rome and the beginning of the Renaissance the Roman Catholic Church condemned any nonprocreative act between persons of either sex. Pope Gregory IX called sodomites ‘abominable persons- despised by the world and dreaded by the council of heaven’. In the late 13th



Century the first case of a homosexual being burnt at the stake came to be staged. Even Protestantism was as rigorous in its condemnation.

In the 19th Century homophobia turned into hysteria. Lord Macaulay imported it into India. Homophobia is thus a western product which was unknown to sexually free India. The Delhi High Court can take credit through its judgment that India is going back to its enlightened roots. Oscar Wilde and his boy friend Alfred Douglas had already shocked the Victorian Britishers. They initiated the end of Homophobia.

Our earth is a crowded planet and can not sustain more humans. Semitic religions condemn pederasty because it does not add to the population. Malthusian wisdom which I endorse fully is a credit item in the balance sheet of homosexuality.



( RAM JETHMALANI )

Monday, July 20, 2009

SSc,HSc answer sheets cannot be termed as confidential

It's been a hectic few weeks of positive developments in the education field especially where the board exams are concerned. The HRD Minsiter has already set in motion several steps to abolish the CBSE board exams. Schools have begun evolving into better and comprehensive educational zones as a result. It took just a few weeks for the curriculum and modus of education to change in the CBSE schools. Students who were presurrised to do projects beyond their capabilities and give tests and exams at every level have found that the pressure has begun to ease a little. More and more recreational subjects have been introduced and the number of projects to be evaluated on has decreased. Students are already beginning to feel the stress level go down...

In a welcome change has taken place... the previous stand of the boards -of not entertaining applications by students to see their answer sheets, has been struck down by the Pune Information commissioner(RTI) . The Chief Mr Vjay Kuvalekar has asked the state boards to amend their policy within a stipulated time so that studenst will be allowed to inspect their answer sheets at the earliest. It is definitely a development of great import. The previous stand violated the fundamental rights of a student. This welcome change was brought about by a petition filed by HSc student Abhijit Joshi with the HSc board which the board promptly rejected saying that the answer sheets were confidential documents. But Joshi was not one to give up. He filed an RTI application with the Information Commissioner chief heard both sides and came to the conclusion that answer sheets could not be equated as confidential documents and therefore had to be shown to the student on request.Kuvalekar pointed out that answer sheets were not covered under section 8 of the RTI act. It's is not possible for the viewing of answer sheets to affect the soveriegnty and integrity of India(which can be the only reason for documents being kept secret). I think this move will be welcomed by all aggrieved students and parents who felt their children might have fared better than the marks received from the board. Hopefully the board will come to it's senses and do the needful.


Yet anther development is the Shiv Sena's opposition to the ATKT for students who have failed the board exams. This seems to be a clearly politically motivated move to capture the votes of the naysayers. It must be understood that students have to go through immense trauma when they fail such exams denoted as integral to the future, by society. There is no way that quality of education will be affected by this move. In fact it will only improve the quality when students feel less stressed and more able to inculcate the teachings the education system dishes out as part of it's curriculum. There are so many students getting depressed and attemting suicide because falure in these board exams gets them ostracised from their near and dear ones, they feel alienated and unsupported and their sense of well-being is majorly affected because the people who they have come to depend on make them feel worthless. Are these students lives not precious? Or is it better to sacrifice their lives, hopes and ambitions on the altar of educational quality?????

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Sunday, July 19, 2009

Mark Twain's quote about the educational system



God , first made idiots. This was for practice:)


...and then he made school boards/varsities!





Mark Twain


mark_twainUS humorist, novelist, short story author, & wit (1835 – 1910)

1. A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining, but wants it back the minute it begins to rain.
2. Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more.
3. Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.
4. Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.
5. By trying we can easily learn to endure adversity — another man’s I mean.
6. Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are more pliable.
7. Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please.
8. Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of a joy you must have somebody to divide it with.
9. I am opposed to millionaires, but it would be dangerous to offer me the position.
10. I don’t give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way.
11. I have been through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened.
12. I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.
13. If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.
14. If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything.
15. In Paris they simply stared when I spoke to them in French; I never did succeed in making those idiots understand their language.
16. It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly American criminal class except Congress.
17. It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.
18. It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.
19. It usually takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech.
20. Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.
21. Let us so live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.
22. Most people are bothered by those passages of Scripture they do not understand, but the passages that bother me are those I do understand.
23. The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.
24. The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.
25. The man who doesn’t read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them.
26. The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.
27. There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact.
28. Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer.
29. We have a criminal jury system which is superior to any in the world; and its efficiency is only marred by the difficulty of finding twelve men every day who don’t know anything and can’t read.
30. When people do not respect us we are sharply offended; yet deep down in his private heart no man much respects himself.
31. He had discovered a great law of human action, without knowing it – namely, that in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to obtain.
32. The history of our race, and each individual’s experience, are sown thick with evidence that a truth is not hard to kill and that a lie told well is immortal.
33. It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them.
34. The report of my death was an exaggeration.
35. Good breeding consists of concealing how much we think of ourselves and how little we think of the other person.
36. Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.
37. Training is everything. The peach was once a bitter almond; cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education.
38. A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read.
39. I am not one of those who in expressing opinions confine themselves to facts.

Source: http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Mark_Twain/1

Answer Sheets are not secret documents, RTI chief/ New developments in the educational reforms sector



It's been a hectic few weeks of positive developments in the education field especially where the board exams are concerned. The HRD Minsiter has already set in motion several steps to abolish the CBSE board exams. Schools have begun evolving into better and comprehensive educational zones as a result. It took just a few weeks for the curriculum and modus of education to change in the CBSE schools. Students who were presurrised to do projects beyond their capabilities and give tests and exams at every level have found that the pressure has begun to ease a little. More and more recreational subjects have been introduced and the number of projects to be evaluated on has decreased. Students are already beginning to feel the stress level go down...

In a welcome change has taken place... the previous stand of the boards -of not entertaining applications by students to see their answer sheets, has been struck down by the Pune Information commissioner(RTI) . The Chief Mr Vjay Kuvalekar has asked the state boards to amend their policy within a stipulated time so that studenst will be allowed to inspect their answer sheets at the earliest. It is definitely a development of great import. The previous stand violated the fundamental rights of a student. This welcome change was brought about by a petition filed by HSc student Abhijit Joshi with the HSc board which the board promptly rejected saying that the answer sheets were confidential documents. But Joshi was not one to give up. He filed an RTI application with the Information Commissioner chief heard both sides and came to the conclusion that answer sheets could not be equated as confidential documents and therefore had to be shown to the student on request.Kuvalekar pointed out that answer sheets were not covered under section 8 of the RTI act. It's is not possible for the viewing of answer sheets to affect the soveriegnty and integrity of India(which can be the only reason for documents being kept secret). I think this move will be welcomed by all aggrieved students and parents who felt their children might have fared better than the marks received from the board. Hopefully the board will come to it's senses and do the needful.


Yet anther development is the Shiv Sena's opposition to the ATKT for students who have failed the board exams. This seems to be a clearly politically motivated move to capture the votes of the naysayers. It must be understood that students have to go through immense trauma when they fail such exams denoted as integral to the future, by society. There is no way that quality of education will be affected by this move. In fact it will only improve the quality when students feel less stressed and more able to inculcate the teachings the education system dishes out as part of it's curriculum. There are so many students getting depressed and attemting suicide because falure in these board exams gets them ostracised from their near and dear ones, they feel alienated and unsupported and their sense of well-being is majorly affected because the people who they have come to depend on make them feel worthless. Are these students lives not precious? Or is it better to sacrifice their lives, hopes and ambitions on the altar of educational quality?????




The emotional and academic pressures of high school and college life, while manageable and even exciting for most students, can be simply overwhelming for others. Such students may not yet have attained the level of maturity necessary to develop adequate coping skills, or they may be struggling with relatively long-standing emotional difficulties that are exacerbated by the transition to having to give board exams and the move to college.

For Faculty , staff and peer group

As a helper, due to your position, status, and visibility on campus, students experiencing emotional distress may turn to you for help. Or, because of your role, you may find yourself confronted by a disturbed or disturbing student who needs assistance. The way in which you respond in these situations could have a significant impact on the student's ability to deal constructively with his or her emotional conflicts.

Consultation

At AASRA we offer consultation services to faculty, staff and others on a full range of student development issues. In your attempt to help a student, you may benefit from input from a counseling professional.


AASRA caregivers can suggest possible approaches to take, intervene directly with students, or provide you with support. Please call our offices at 91-22-27546667 for assistance.

Your Role as Faculty, Administrators, and Staff

Because of your position, students may turn to you frequently to obtain advice and support. Although you are not expected to provide counseling, it is helpful for you to understand the critical role you can play in:

* responding to student problems & concerns.
* identifying signs that indicate a student is in need of help.
* making a referral to student development professionals.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

regarding Reena's comments on the Michael Jackson saga


Well Reena,I disagree with what you have said about MJ. It must be understood that MJ was created by the media... granted he had talent and he had people to show him how best to use it, but without the media he wouldn't have achieved the kind of fame/infamy he eventually did. He begame a large than life character because of the media and as long as it was good press he was willing to lap it up. The minute his transgressions began to show up on the visual space, he began to cry foul. That is not to say that he was guilty or not guilty.He could pay off his accusers because he had the fame which gave him the money to do so. If he was an ordinary/ common man, no one would have cared about what he had done and the newspapers might have just relegated the news to a one-time crime reports insert.take the case of Shiny Ahuja- now if he was just an ordinary army officer's son (with a loving wife and family) who was also doing it with his maid, there might not have been so much attention, irrespective of whether he raped her or not. Notoriety is the price a celebrity pays for his/her desire to hog the limelight. That's the way the cookie crumbles for them and they really can't grumble about it after the fact. If they wanted to live the live of a commoner then they should have stayed away from professions that attract media attention. The world is fair, we make the decisions and sometimes we are unfair to ourselves. People who can' t live blameless lives should either brazen it out or stay away from the limelight!

johnson

Failed HSC and SSC students to be allowed ATKT

This is the best news I've heard since the possible scrapping of board exams even though I am not a student anymore - at least not of the formal education system. It's really been a bouquet of riches unleashed by the HRD ministry and I must sing paeans to Mr Kapil Sibal. He's a brave man no doubt!
There's surely going to be a flurry of opposition from educational institutions and parents.Ever since the exam system was introduced, educational institutions and most parents( I'd not like to paint the liberal ones with the same brush) used it as a lever to motivate. threaten, cajole and force their children into achieving their(parents) own unfulfilled dreams and desires. And at what cost? The rising graph of youth( 15-35age group)suicides speaks for itself. It's been sheer hell for these students who had to strain beyond their god given talents to prove to the world and their relatives that they are capable of doing 'well' in the accepted systemised way! No one bothered to understand that children have different talents and these are the talents that need to be natured by the education system, not ones thrust on them by societal expectations. So the so called 'weak in studies' had to not only join classes for which their parents paid a fortune, they also had to work twice as hard to score a bearable(read pass marks)score. Why this travesty has been going on for years without anyone being the wiser , is anybody's guess. It has a lot to do with corruption, power and sheer lack of will on the part of the ministry and society at large or else the system would have been reformed much earlier.
The Atkt system is bound to cause a great deal of confusion before it settles down and integrates itself into the minds and hearts of the powers that be. kids who have been at the recieving end of the system so far will find it beneficial and kids and parents who have been able to beat the system and achieve sterling results will find themselves cheated of their aims and ambitions. It must be understood that change is never easy, even if it is for the better. Only sustained effort can make change a positive phenomenon. The HRD ministry has it's work cut out for itself to convince the naysayers about the efficacy of this newbie and I am glad that Mr Kapil Sibal is more than likely to be able to face up to the challenge! At least he seems to be up to it...
I for one am all for abolishing all forms of exams at the school level. Children must be given projects to work on and grades must be assigned to them on the basis of the effort they put in. Exams at the school stage are meaningless because they only promoted rote learning, inequality between the haves and the have-nots and also sets up a different sort of class barrier, one that becomes impossible to bridge!
It's ok to have exams at the college level starting from class eleven where students have 35% theory, 50 % objectives and the rest should be for project work evaluation. Knowledge must be promoted and not rote learning. At this level students must be allowed to express themselves in their own words based on their understanding of what they have learnt and the theory marks must be accorded to them accordingly. The system should be such that no one should feel left out. Everyone should have a fair chance of doing well provided they work hard emough. Teachers must be taught practical motivational psychology so that they have a better understanding of their charges. They themselves must be evaluated on their ability to motivate their charges into a better performance and not by the marks that their charges obtain. Any positive change must be praised and rewarded.
The last point I'd like to make is that there should be no age barrier in learning. Every institution must abolish the age specific and enroll anyone willing to earn irrespective of his age, background, qualifications or ability to pay fees. In this way education itself can be demystified and the countless illiterates that dot our country's humanity will find it easier to cme into the system and stay to learn for a longer duration.
These are changes that our system needs badly...what say you???

johnson

Saturday, July 4, 2009

death of a dancer....michael jackson!

I was inspired by a piece written by Martin Huxter.( hes a friend with whom I share cyberspace on another forum)
the piece stung hard and made me think about things that we don't really pause to think and analyze....about judgments that we pass, about how easily we believe things written in print and how our sensibilities bring in hatred into this world.

go to link, read and pls leave your comments....here on this blog...


http://hurlyburly-hurlyburly.blogspot.com/2009/06/farewell-to-michael-jackson-worlds.html

(if this does not hyper link thn do copy paste it in a new tab and read)