CHARVAKA DESK
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Atheists and Agnostics of Pakistan
Atheists and Agnostics of Pakistan have recently started a website to, we quote from their website, “promote secular causes and the separation of religion and state. We advocate the rights of women and minorities, as well as secular humanist values and free speech. PAA is about rational thought, compassion, science, freedom and education. Above all,…
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Science versus Miracles – Download
Premanand’s popular book, “Science versus Miracles”, has not been available for some time now. Since Premanand himself was the distributor of the books he published and since he did not make any specific arrangement to print and distribute the books he brought out under Indian Skeptic logo, after his death there was nobody to carry…
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Materialism in India: A Synoptic View
Ramkrishna Bhattacharya 0. Many, if not most, people nowadays go straight to the internet rather than look up a book to know something about anything under the sun. There are hundreds, if not thousands of files on the Cārvāka/Lokāyata system of philosophy there. Regrettably, many of them, though well-intentioned, are ill-informed and highly misleading. I…
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Dr. Swamy, Friends and Limits of Freedom of Expression
Ram Puniyani It is not a very easy task to decide as to where the freedom of expression ends and Hate speech begins. A lot of perception about this depends on one’s convictions about the underlying ideologies which are being talked about. At another level how democratic space is subverted for anti democratic agenda is…
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Terror has political Goals: Religion should be for Humanism
Ram Puniyani After being attacked by the bombs of the terrorists (13/7, 2011), we are facing the barrage from the ideologues of Hate and divisiveness. Many a ideologues of religious nationalism have come out with outpourings associating religion, Islam and so Muslims with terrorism and the need to confront this attack of terror by uniting…
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Rationalist Association of India – Kerala State Conference
At Kollam On 14 th and 15 th August, 2011 Venue: Chaarvaaka Puri (Public Library Hall, Quilon) Sunday, 14-08-2011 10.00 am: INAUGURAL SESSION Welcome: Mr. Thengamam Balakrishnan, Ex-MLA Presiding: Mr. Abdul Ali:K.K. (President, State Unit, RAI) Mr. Sreeni Pattathaanam ( Gen. Secretary, State Unit, RAI) will introduce General outlines and themes of the conference. Other…
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United Colors of Fundamentalisms
Terror Attack Hits Norway Ram Puniyani India hardly recovered from the ghastly terror attack of 13th July, 2011 Mumbai that terrorism struck in Norway. In Norway on 22nd July, Friday, around 3.20 PM in the afternoon the high-rise, where Prime Minister’s office is located in central Oslo, was targeted resulting in blowing out windows and facades of…
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Why I Am A Rationalist
The Rational Habit Of Mind Is A Rare One Bertrand Russell Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) I am, in this age when there are a great many appeals to unreason, an unrepentant Rationalist. I have been a Rationalist ever since I can remember, and I do not propose to cease to be so whatever appeals to unreason…
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Saffronisation of Karnataka
Narendra Nayak It is a tragedy that while the developed world is talking of a society based on human values, we the people of Karnataka have to go back to religious texts for our value systems. In the past few years after the Bharathiya janatha party formed their first government in the South they have…
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Indian State and the Art of Fabricating False Cases
Convention on July 30, 2011 in Bangalore Two spectres are haunting the civil society in India – the spectres of communalism and globalisation. As a part this invasion on people, minorities are attacked as it happened in Gujarat or Kandhamal and many other places in the recent past. Multinationals, the World Bank, ADB, IMF and…
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Terror visits Mumbai yet Again
Ram Puniyani The three blasts in Mumbai on 13th July 2011 not only killed nearly 20 innocent people but shook the city yet again. The previous attack on Mumbai 26/11 2008 was horrific enough to have killed over 200 people. The tragedy was followed by the great resilience of Mumbai citizens to rehabilitate the victims…
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Treasure of Faith
Hoards of Wealth in Padmnabh Temple Ram Puniyani It seems that in this profane world, the ‘Holy’ seem to be most monetarily wealthy. Recently the material goods of the men of God have come to be known more openly than before. Bhagwan Satya Sai of Putthaparthy, not only had over 40000+ crores of wealth; some…
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Islam is a Religion of Peace?
Listen to Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Douglas Murray debatIng Zeba Khan and Maajid Nawaz on the subject – “Islam is a religion of peace”. The debate was held on October 6, 2010. Ayaan Hirsi Ali Ayaan Hirsi Ali, author of the memoir Infidel, is an atheist and secular humanist. She rebelled against the oppressive laws…
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Gopal Ganesh Agarkar: Rationalist, Secularist and Social Reformer
Book Review Gopal Ganesh Agarkar: The Secular Rationalist Reformer Dr. Arvind Ganachari Popular Prakashan, Pune (2005) Price: Rs 395, pp 371 Prabhakar Nanawaty (pkn.ans@gmail.com) Gopal Ganesh Agarkar’s (1856-95) ideas mark the apex of the secular rationalist trend during renaissance of nineteenth century Maharashtra. Arvind Ganashari’s book, Gopal Ganesh Agarkar, The Secular Rationalist Reformer, clearly highlights…
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Attack on Kalanathan – Responses
We reproduce the responses we have received from activists from various parts of the country in response to our blog on attack on Kalanathan, Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations http://carvaka4india.blogspot.com/2011/07/kalanathan-attacked.html *** This is terrible and I condemn the rowdies whoever involved in such horrible action. I am asking all humanists and rationalists in Europe and…
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11 July: International Day Against Stoning
Prof Innaiah Narisetti has forwarded the following mail to us: Dear friends 11 July, the International Day against Stoning, will soon be here. Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani As you know Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani is still languishing in prison. The authorities recently mentioned her case saying that no final decision had yet been reached on her stoning…
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Kalanathan Attacked
The house of U Kalanathan, patron of Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations, was attacked by miscreants yesterday (July 3, 2011). It is reported that these miscreants were angered by Kalanathan’s suggestion during a television debate that the treasures (estimated to be more than Rupees 100,000 crores) discovered at Padmanabhaswamy Temple, Thiruvananthapura, Kerala, should be used…
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Sleeping with the Enemy – Ramdas Athawalay allies with Shiv Sena
Ram Puniyani Electoral politics has its own strange logic. While Gopinath Munde, the leader of BJP was hobnobbing with Congress (June 2011), in recent times the leaders from Shiv Sena, Narayan Rane and Sanjay Nirupam have joined Congress in recent years, Ramdas Athawalay, of Republican Party of India, a party claiming to be the party…
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Why I am an Atheist
Bhagat Singh Bhagat Singh (1907-1931) [Bhagat Singh wrote Why I am an Atheist while he was spending days in a condemned cell in 1931. In this pamphlet he discusses and advocates the philosophy of atheism. This pamphlet was a result of some criticism by fellow revolutionaries on his failure to acknowledge religion and God while…
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Prabhat Patnaik on Ramdev Phenomenon
Prabhat Patnaik is a well known economist and a political commentator. In an incisive article written in the latest issue of Frontline (June 19 – July 1, 2011) Professor Patnaik says: Prabhat Patnaik Ramdev project is fundamentally anti-democratic, anti-secular and a disturbing throwback to our pre-modernity. This is because while everybody in a democracy has…
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M.F. Husain: Victim of Intolerance
Ram Puniyani On 9th June 2011, M.F. Husain breathed his last in a London Hospital, and was later buried in the cemetery in London as per his wish that he should be buried at a place of his death. The most celebrated painter of India, a thorough Indian and understanding Hindu culture much more than…
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Atheist Centre Celebrates Saraswathi Gora Birth Centenary, Sept.28-29, Vijayawada
We have received the following mail from Vikas Gora of Atheist Centre, Vijayawada, which is celebrating the Birth Centenary of Ms Saraswathi Gora: Greetings from Atheist Centre, Vijayawada. We cordially invite you to the Birth Centenary of Saraswathi Gora National Conference at Atheist Centre, Vijayawada on September 28-29 this year. It will be held at…