Vijay Netke

You need to believe me if I tell that the people of Indus Valley Civilization used toilets 5000 years ago in India. Now, what will you do if you get to see a man urinating on the rampart of ‘Red Fort’ in Delhi?   Even better, how will you feel when you see a person defecating on railway lines among fast moving local trains in Mumbai?   Today, we live in a country which is for all practical purpose worlds’ largest “Open Air Toilet”. As a child I got to read a story of D.M Mirasdar in which a urban person is amused to see everybody in village going ‘to fetch milk’ in the morning.   This act of ‘fetching milk’ continues unabated to this day as about 70% of rural Indians don't use toilets. Sanitation is inextricably related to Caste system/Untouchability, Position of women, Health, Education and Environment.    Untouchability is perpetuated by manual scavenging and other unclean occupations. Recently I got to watch Marathi movie called ‘Fandry’, it...

Imagine Shivaji Maharaj riding on horse with his soldiers. And, now imagine Mahatma Gandhi picking up fistful of salt to break the salt act. I am sure for most of you first image will be 'Colorful' and later will 'Black and White', that is the impact school textbooks studied in our childhood have on us..!! We in Maharasht ra are being taught Medieval History as history of Shivaji. All other events and persons are defined with reference to him. Ask any Maharashtrian boy studying in say, 9th standard "Who were the Mughals?" and he would say "Enemies of Shivaji" that is he will define Mughals with reference to Shivaji. Without realizing that Mughals have been there since 1526 that is 100 years before the birth of Shivaji. Similarly ask "Who was Ramdas?" in present Maharashtra answer will depend 'Caste' of the boy but he will surely define Ramdas in terms of and with reference to Shivaji. So, what is the issue involv...

I don't want you to interfere with my right to be what I want to be. I want to lead happy, dignified life irrespective of my caste, sex, region, religion, place of birth or any combination of them. I want myself to be judged not on my caste or color of my skin but on content of my character. I don't want be regarded as foreigner just because I am a Christian or a Jew. Bei ng a Mizo, Naga, Santhal, Bhil, Gond or any other tribal I don't like when your eyes suggest that I am sort of less human. I want to be treated as equal with full dignity. I want a say in making of this Nation. I don't want some people at top to define my nationhood once and for all because I believe India is not something that has crystallized in distinct past, its happening even today. Being is Becoming.. I want to move forward. I don't want my country to be stagnated, filthy and stenching. As female I don't think you have anything to do with kind of clothes I wear, ne...

Atalji is perhaps the greatest orator of post independence India. He in one of famous speech said: "Bhagwan Ram ka naam hame bhautik dharatal se uthakar adhyatma ki choti tak pahuchata hai.." (Name of Lord Ram takes us from bottom of material world to the peak of spirituality.) The beauty of India is many minds blossom like flower with name of Lord Ram irrespective ... of their faiths. But, that is not the point. Point is the underlying assumption that material world is something 'low' and spirituality the 'peak'. It is much contested assumption at least in India, thanks to the openness of this country. With advent of Britishers in India and they being our rulers our self esteem was deeply hurt. They had defeated us in material progress especially after Industrial Revolution. So, we carved out a space for ourselves by saying: 'They may be great in material things but we are spiritually great' with it started two separate domains of ...

1).Hinduism is religion whereas Hindutva is political ideology. 2).Hinduism aim at spiritual improvement and Moksha, whereas Hindutva is concerned with capturing political power..!! 3).Hinduism is based on love; Hindutva has strong presence of suspicion towards other religion especially those religions which originated outside India…!! 4).Hinduism is ancient whereas, Hindutva ideology originated in 20th century with V.D Sawarkar writing book called “Hindutva” in 1923. 5).Hinduism is pluralistic and it recognizes diversity (e.g. “Ekam sad vipra bahuda vadanti” i.e. Truth is one knowledgeable people call it by different names), whereas Hindutva believes in Cultural Monism and tries to impose its reductionist version of Hinduism on not only others but on Hindus themselves without recognizing internal diversity of Hinduism..!! 6). Hinduism believe in Universalism( e.g. Vasudhayva Kutumbakam or Avaghe vishva chi maze ghar); Hindutva is reductionist ideology and trie...

Mumbai is the city where wealth and poverty live side by side. It is city where one family live in 27 storey building and it is also city where 62% of the population lives in the slums. It is inescapable even to the untrained eye if one gets to live in a area where RBI, Bombay Stock Exchange, Mantralaya, Vidhan Bhavan, Headquarters of all major ... companies and banks, Nariman point, Bombay High-court, C.S.T and BMC are within a range of walking distance. You can see affluence of Dalal street and Mint Road but to see that you must 'cross' the pavements on which live nearly 30,000 families in Mumbai. Here in front of C.S.T pavement dwellers are mainly from backward districts of Maharashtra. Most of them speak Marathi. 'Paradhis' of Osmanabad live here because they want to secure themselves from wrath of police as they are stigmatized as criminals. One of the person in his late 20's with whom I had a brief interaction was from 'Khatik' ...

1). Fascism is not coherent doctrine. It is bunch of incoherent 'beliefs' and half baked ideas. Therefore Fascist people are unable to think logically and rationally. 2). Fascism takes root in frustrated and 'Spiritually Homeless' people. 3). Fascist are opposed to Democracy and Communism. (History has by no means proved communists as supporters of democracy) 4) Fascism requires 'an object of hate' to unite the people under its banner. e.g Jews were object of hate for Hitler to unite Nordic Germans. He killed 60 lac Jews during 6 years of 2nd world war. The object of hate in fascism can be any thing like Jews, Hindus, Muslims, Hindi language speakers, Bihari, South Indians, western culture or anything else. 5). Fascist people believe in aggressive, expansionist Nationalism. 6). Fascists believe that Individual person is means and nation as end. It expects enormous sacrifices from people for cause of its aggressive nationalism. It puts ...

1). Secularism does not mean separation between religion and State(S is capital), it means giving equal respect to all religions or protecting all religions equally. 2. Secularism does not mean killing religion, it means being 'worldly' that is believing basis of morality is in this world. 3. Secularism does not mean being non- religious neither does it mean opposing those who are non-religious or atheists , it means keeping religion private. 4. Secularism does not mean accepting bad practices of all religions equally e.g. Untouchability, it means respecting all religions equally. 5. Secularism does not mean just formal equality, it means equality by differential treatment. 6. Secularism does not mean 'melting pot model' in which minority melts into majority and eventually loses its identity, it means 'mosaic model' in which every colour/religion has its independent existence. 7. Secularism does not mean eliminating differences, it m...

What is the issue? They arrested two girls from palghar for questioning on facebook the need to close down the Mumbai city after death of Bal Thackreay, They closed a hotel in mumbai for criticising government on footnote of bill recipt, They threatened the relase of Vishwaroopam of Kamal Hasan, They gaged the press during emergency, ... They did not allowed even video address of Salman Rushdie at Jaipur Litearture Festival, They banned 'The satanic verses' of Rushdie. They banned 'Shivaji The Hindu king in Islamic India' of James Laine. They forced M F Husain the extraordinary painter to die in exile, They beaten up the women for celebrating valentine day with male partners in Mangalore, They slapped charges of sedition on Assem Trivedi for his cartoons, They vandalished the shows of 'Ghasiram Kotwal' of Vijay Tendulkar and They forced to close down the band of girls for being UnIslamic in Kashmir.! Now whether these actions were right or ...

Historically speaking 'Maratha' is not a caste. It is a society. 'Marathi Manus' is recent identity when word Maratha became synonymous with a caste. If you get to read Saint Dnyaneshwar of 13th century. He says while explaining the greatness of his language: "Maza Marathachi bolu kavtuke, pari amrutate paija jinke. Aise a ksre rasike melvin" Your eyes should notice the fact that he uses the word 'Maratha' and not 'Marathi'..!! Samarth Ramdas in 17th century says "Maratha tituka melvava,Maharashtra dharm vadvava" here also he uses the word 'Maratha' for everyone living in Maharashtra. If you are still not satisfied, take a look at our National Anthem. Here in 1911, Gurudev Tagore writes: "...Punjab, Sindh(Now Sindhu), Gujarat, Maratha, Dravid, Utkal, Bang..." Clearly, He equates the word Maratha to Maharashtra. I can give hundreds of references of how Lokmanya Tilak was referred to as 'Sed...