Democracy Mechanism

You know the law of gravity and you also know that the rocket science is a different ballgame. You know democracy as a principle but the democracy of order, constitutionalism in operation, is a different ballgame. Most of the probems we perceive, face, or suffer as such require repairs or upgrades of the democracy mechanism but the problem is that the same elements, deficient in skills, who script malwares cry hoarse at the machine's malfunctioning. And the problem ironically afflicts even the developed democracies. We need proper knowledge and skills first.

Niraj Kumar Jha

On Entertainment

The stuffs we use for entertainment exploit our psychological vulnerabilities to the hilt. And in turn, these vitiate our mentality. This is the malady of the times that entertainment overwhelms our being and cognition (socialisation process) and thus we become the prisoners of the vilest of the minds. We mock our lives by caricaturing the make-beliefs and the fakes. The conduct of the US policeman is not a different case. By pressing the neck of the captive with his knee, hands in pocket, he was trying to create an impressive visual. None of the political commentators noted the impact the Bahubali duo made on the political dynamics of India. The entertainment contents need intellectual scrutiny, and intellectualism needs to be vested with intellect.

Niraj Kumar Jha

The Business of Knowing

One who is in know, knows that knowledges are illusive. Thence, when wise persons speak and act, they think of and are watchful of the effects, the counter-effects, and the after-effects of their words, decisions, and actions for long term. Such people are very alert readers of the past and of the contemporary social processes, and when they speak up or take up anything, that is a studied measure. And they are always ready for course –correction and even reversal of any measure. Constant watchfulness is their credo. If one judges, the person rarely finds many of the wise men so designated and more so of their followers fitting this criterion. Over generations, great numbers of human beings have been sacrificed or violated in the name of the wisdom, which turned out to be or remain misconstrued. 

Niraj Kumar Jha

बहुत सारे हैं,

बहुत सारे हैं,
डाल को सही जगह बैठकर काटते हैं.
गिरते हैं,
पूँजीवाद को कारण बताते हैं.

नीरज कुमार झा

World Order: The Covid Fatality

We have now two new landmarks to identify the 20th century: 1918 and 2019, the years of the begining of two great pandemics. The world, which we saw to emerge after the First War, take its form after the Second War, run its course through the Cold War, retire in 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union, finally ended in 2019 with the outbreatk of the Corona Pandemic. Now we are between the end of the old world and the emergence of the new world. Among the early fatalities of the Corona Pandemic is the World Order. 

Niraj Kumar Jha

आइडीआलजी बनाम विचारधारा

सामान्यतः आंग्लभाषा के शब्द आइडीआलजी के लिए हिन्दी में विचारधारा शब्द का प्रयोग किया जाता है. यह नितांत अनुचित है. विचारधारा विचारों का मुक्त प्रवाह है जो भारतीय परम्परा में देखी जा सकती है. आइडीआलजी की अवधारणा के प्रभाव के आधार पर इस शब्द का अनुवाद विचार-भंवर या वैचारिकी-पिंजर हो सकता है, अन्य कदापि नहीं. वास्तव में आइडीआलजी बुद्धि-विरोध की योजना है. यह कुत्सित प्रवृत्ति का विन्यास है जिसका उद्देश्य निष्ठावान और परिश्रमी जनों का दोहन है. इसकी प्रकृति संक्रामक और आनुवंशिक होती है. यह जनमानस के दुर्बल अंशों को लक्ष्य बनाकर उसके सोच को अधीन कर लेती है. यह लोगों के सम्मुख एक लुभावन गल्प प्रस्तुत करती है जिसमें उन्हें अपना उद्धार दिखता है. गल्पों में से कुछ मृत्यु से पूर्व की और कुछ उसके बाद की स्थिति से सम्बंधित होते हैं. जॉर्ज ओरवेल की पुस्तिका इस मानवीय त्रासदी का सटीक चित्रण है. यह विचारवान व्यक्तियों का दायित्व है कि वह भिन्न आइडीआलजी के भंवरजाल को तोड़े. जैसे वायरस को मात्र विज्ञान के बल पर लड़ा जा सकता है वैसे ही विचारधारा का प्रतिकार मात्र वैज्ञानिक सोच के आधार पर किया जा सकता है. यहाँ इस तथ्य को रखना समीचीन है कि विज्ञान के लिए सबसे चुनौती अज्ञान नहीं वरन छद्मविज्ञान है.

नीरज कुमार झा

Democratisation of Discourse

On the social media, most of the people demonstrate their belief of embodying the perfect knowledge and this unnerve many of those who see themselves as having the natural claim or credentials to speak for all and sundry. What appears uncharitable to most of the people is that their worth is not recognised by their fellows. Such a feeling comes from their cognitive makeup, which sees the world as hierarchical, and in a space where there is no force applied to place people, they place themselves at the top of the world in wisdom or sagacity. For instance, in their imagination, many subalterns often think that they could do better than generals. One needs, in fact, to get rid of this hurt sentimentality. The point is to respect others and argue one’s case with humility. Only by doing so, we can enrich public life, benefiting one and all. We must accept, rather welcome, the democratisation of discourse. We must celebrate democracy. We must cheer our fellows. 

Niraj Kumar Jha