South Asia Citizens Web

King Canute’s attempt to command the waves seems less demanding than the threats of the Delhi High Court to Google, Facebook and others to pre censor objectionable material and eliminate them from circulation.

Former President Dr. Abdul Kalam has written to the Prime Minister that 1,000 MW power from the first Koodankulam plant and the unspent amount of Rs. 16,000 crore from the 11th Plan may be given to Tamil Nadu along with his previously announced 200 crore PURA incentives in order to make the people accept the Koodankulam nuclear power project. The people of Tamil Nadu should understand the truths behind this bribery scheme and rally around our demand for scrapping the Koodankulam nuclear power project.

The fear of offending someone will always be there. Dalits are justifiably hurt by the Rg Vedas or the epics and the Puranas as they endorse caste and untouchability. The point is whether we should make texts disappear from syllabi or whether we open up as much as we can and teach students to study them as responsible and interested future scholars who learn to interpret, endorse, agree or disagree through informed reading?

Ultimately, books and authors do not have the power to damage our society. But we do. Each time we ban a book or blacklist an author, we betray the principles that our society is founded on. And slowly but surely, we take power away from the people and hand it over to the bullies.