Humans and humanity at a crossroads, reading Huxley’s brave new world in light of harari’s homo deus

We don't know where humanity is going. It's challenging to keep up with the rapid advancements in science and technology. In real life, both true and fictional 'truths' play important roles. Huxley's utopian/dystopian novel Brave New World (BNW) depicts a possible future for humanity through his description of a society organized and controlled through the use of science. A contemporary history book, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow (HD), also discusses the potential of humanity facing extinction in the future. This discussion employs HD to shed light on BNW, using Marxist and New Historicist arguments. Its goals are to analyze the irony in the works, the threat to invention and creativity, oligarchy and hedonism, the name allusions in the works, and the future prospect of engeneered homo sapiens as eternal working classes. The research discovered that both books are based on humanism, but humans are not treated as they should, that the lower castes in BNW cannot become innovative and creative because they are engineered, that the small oligarchy (the Alphas) maintains its power by providing pleasures for the lower castes so as to forget that they are being controlled.

A Critique of Sanskritization from Dalit/Caste-Subaltern Perspective

Students and social scientists concerned with caste studies will agree to a socio-cultural phenomenon called Sanskritization among people of caste communities that are not recognized as belonging to castes primarily affiliated to either of the three varnas of Brahman, Kshatriya and Vaishya. What is Sanskritization? Following M. N. Srinivas, who put forward the concept of Sanskritization in Religion and Society among the Coorges of South India (1952) to explain upward social movement (?) among Hindu tribal groups or ‘lower’ caste groups imitating and gradually incorporating ‘upper’ caste people’s social, cultural behaviour, rituals, customs, and religious practices, there exist an array of works deliberating upon this collective behavioural instance called Sanskritization (Beteille, 1969; Gould, 1961; Patwardhan, 1973; Sachchidananda, 1977; Lynch, 1974). These studies have generally accepted Sanskritization as an effective tool for cultural integration between different caste groups by ensuring movements of people across caste barriers; in other words, Sanskritization spells a common idiom of social mobility (Beteille, 1969, p. 116). This paper does not support the view that Sanskritization has been an effective socio-cultural instrument in moving towards a society that does not swear by caste-principles. Rather, Sanskritization, a concrete social fact among the ‘lower’ castes people, seems to obliquely prove the productive logic of caste through the imitation of the Brahmin. Following Gramsci’s conceptualisation of the necessity of a subaltern initiative in any counter-hegemony project, the paper further argues that Sanskritization is regressive to the extent that it is antithetical to any such subaltern political initiative against caste.

Humans and humanity at a crossroads, reading Huxley’s brave new world in light of harari’s homo deus

We don't know where humanity is going. It's challenging to keep up with the rapid advancements in science and technology. In real life, both true and fictional 'truths' play important roles. Huxley's utopian/dystopian novel Brave New World (BNW) depicts a possible future for humanity through his description of a society organized and controlled through the use of science. A contemporary history book, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow (HD), also discusses the potential of humanity facing extinction in the future. This discussion employs HD to shed light on BNW, using Marxist and New Historicist arguments. Its goals are to analyze the irony in the works, the threat to invention and creativity, oligarchy and hedonism, the name allusions in the works, and the future prospect of engeneered homo sapiens as eternal working classes. The research discovered that both books are based on humanism, but humans are not treated as they should, that the lower castes in BNW cannot become innovative and creative because they are engineered, that the small oligarchy (the Alphas) maintains its power by providing pleasures for the lower castes so as to forget that they are being controlled.

Shilpakar Mahasabha in Colonial Uttarakhand: Subjective Representation of Collective Self

The caste system in India got transformed as a consequence of the policies of the British Raj. The introduction of the census under the colonial government, among other things, made the most direct impact because for the first time the castes have been enumerated with great details. As a result, castes immediately not only organized themselves but also formed caste associations in order to get their status recorded in the way they thought was honourable to them. Caste associations emerged over the period to pressurize the colonial administration to improve their rank in the census. This process was especially prevalent among the lower castes in different parts of India. Shilpakar Mahashaba was a case in point in Uttarakhand. Shilpakar Mahasabha claimed new advantages from the state like reservations (quotas) in educational institutions and in the civil service. Subsequently, they also became mutual aid structures. Shilpakar Mahasabha founded schools and hostels for the children of Shilpakars and led a sort of co-operative movement. Some have argued that caste associations acted like a collective enterprise with economic, social and political objectives for their caste.

Guilty Until Proven Guilty

The journey to understand technological and digital policing requires a re-engagement with the most basic and widely used technology – paper-based registers for preventive policing. In the name of preventive policing, people from ex-untouchable castes, indigenous populations, and immigrants (in the city) are put under surveillance and recorded in registers. In the process, they earn criminal records for petty crimes, but also for no crimes at all. The registers enable a very ‘visible’ surveillance, where the ‘suspects’ are watched, followed and asked to come for mandatory attendance at the stations. Keeping in mind the segregated nature of the urban landscapes of cities in India, this is only possible for people who belong to certain strata of society and who do not have the privilege of escaping the prying eyes of the police. Researchers have argued that this form of policing is anti-poor or anti-marginalised. However, in this article, I argue that this form of preventive policing is better understood as being anti-caste. I demonstrate how police manuals, including guidelines for police record keeping and surveillance practices, reproduce and imitate the caste based social structure of India by using legacy practices from some still operational and some defunct laws. The paper-based registers maintain an illusion of objectivity – while the police can simply claim to be obeying the manuals. However, by enabling the recording of only those able to be visibly surveilled, those arrested for petty crimes, or those unable to escape the criminal justice system because of lack of money or social support or both, the paper-based registers become a vehicle of policing caste. By marking those thus recorded as habitual offenders, these registers propagate the caste-based understanding that defines crime as an inherent/hereditary trait of the lower castes. Prediction becomes nothing more than a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Caste-Based Inequality in Fruit and Vegetables Consumption in India

Objective: Fruit and vegetable (F&V) consumption is of central importance to many diet-related health outcomes. In India, caste is a major basis of socioeconomic inequality. Recent analysis shows that more disadvantaged “lower” castes consume less F&V than the rest. This article explores whether this consumption gap arises due to differential distribution of drivers of consumption such as income and education across castes, or whether behavioral differences or discrimination may be at play. Design: The Oaxaca-Blinder regression decomposition is applied to explain the gap in F&V consumption between “upper” castes and “lower” castes, using data from the 68th (2011-2012) round of the National Sample Survey Organization household survey. Results: Differences in the distribution of F&V drivers account for all of the 50 grams/person/day consumption gap between upper and lower castes. In particular, much of the gap is explained by income differential across castes. Conclusions: In the long run, India’s positive discrimination policies in education and employment that seek to equalize income across castes are also likely to help close the F&V consumption gap, leading to health benefits. In the medium run, interventions acting to boost lower caste income, such as cash transfers targeting lower castes, may be effective.

Reinterpreting the Relationship between the Caste System and Marxism

In India, sixty years ago it was irrefutable that the structure of the caste system paralleled the Marxist view of class organization, in terms of the lower castes' lack of vertical mobility, dependence on hereditary division of labour, and deficiency of capital and land. In fact, since its emergence in 1964, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) has maintained that it would be in the best interest of lower caste individuals to support a Marxist agenda to launch nationwide class struggle to free themselves from the shackles of the caste system. It is also true that, in the 1970s, 85% percent of lower caste individuals made up the bottom 35% of India’s financial ladder, leading to the quotidian Marxian argument that the lower castes can be equated to the proletariat of Western Society. While these arguments might have some truth to them, this essay will explore why India, over the last sixty years, has endured too great of a reformation in terms of the caste system to simply be equated to the Marxist class organization. The disparity between the negativism of the CPI(M) and the current extent of oppression of the lower caste is shown, through the exploration of logical incorencies on the part of the CPI(M) and the lower caste perception of the policies directed at them by both left and right-wing political parties. Furthermore, it is established why the notion of an entire Marxist class revolution no longer has political appeal amongst the lower caste: the reservations and affirmative action on the part of the current administration. Yet it is still conceded that, although used in an orthogonally different manner, the Marxist framework can, to a certain extent, still be applied to current organization of the caste system in India.

Thirukkuralil manitha urimaigal - A Study

Thiruvalluvar is proud to know and clearly express the ability of the guaranteed objects of virtue, meaning, pleasure and home required for human society. It is a great honor for him that Thiruvalluvar became famous for singing the flute during his lifetime. He is credited with compiling a wonderful book, Thirukkural, which summarizes the facts he has seen and experienced in his life. The human rights mentioned in Thirukkural are an example of Thiruvalluvar's vision. Human beings discriminate between the superior and the inferior and deprive the lower castes of their rights. This leads to many tribulations. Such victims come together and claim their rights. Thirukkural, which appeared in a period of ups and downs, condemns such differences and insists that all people are equal by birth. The king says that if the people are enslaved and persecuted, his wealth will be destroyed by the tears of the people. Therefore, it is clear that the king must provide the necessary facilities for the people. Human rights law makes it clear that if a person is charged, he should be considered innocent until proven guilty. Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression. Anyone who asks for something should explore its true meaning without accepting it as it is. The eye is important to every living thing in the world. Likewise, it is important to get an eye-like education. Everyone should get the best rich education that will never be destroyed. Seeing the war for hunger, Valluvar snarls at those who subjected them to cruelty. The literature that arose for human development is Thirukkural. Thirukkural acts as a medicine wherever and however a human being is injured. If the world listens to the human rights voice of Ayyan Valluvar, there will be no war and no conflict on this soil.

Research and design of a Farmer Resilience Index in coastal farming communities of Tamil Nadu, India

Climate disasters have a high impact on farming communities in terms of crop loss or reduced income. In the context of disasters, resilience is defined as the capacity to absorb its impacts, bounce back and even improve their previous status. The recent past two disasters namely Cyclone Thane (2011) and the South Indian floods (2015) had caused major crop loss in Cuddalore, India. A Farmer Resilience Index (FRI) has been assessed at the household level using primary data from 93 households (total) in Silambimangalam and Chinnakomatti villages in Cuddalore, with respect to the 2011 and 2015 disasters. The index has 18 parameters and 55 variables under four dimensions, namely, economic, social, technical, and physical. Farmers in both villages have average resilience to precipitation extremes, with FRI of 0.61 and 0.54, respectively. Seventy percent of the total samples are marginal farmers who have the lowest FRI of 0.47 and 4.3% are medium farmers having FRI of 0.83. Marginal farmers are poor and typically belong to lower castes with their farmlands located at lower elevations, which diminish their physical and economic resilience. The outcomes of the index reveal the current adaptive capacities of the farmers and have the potential to support future planning decisions.

Does interviewer gender influence a mother’s response to household surveys about maternal and child health in traditional settings? A qualitative study in Bihar, India

Background Two probability surveys, conducted in the same districts of Bihar, India (Aurangabad and Gopalganj) at approximately the same time in 2016 using identical questionnaires and similar survey methods, produced significantly different responses for 37.2% (58/156) of the indicator comparisons. Interviewers for one survey were men while for the other they were women. Respondents were mothers of children aged 0–59 months living in a traditional rural setting. We examined the influence of interviewer gender on mothers’ survey responses and their implications for interpreting survey results. Methods We used qualitative methods including 10 focus group discussions (FGDs) and 33 in-depth interviews (IDIs) in the same locations as the 2016 surveys. FGD participants were purposefully selected mothers with children 0–59 months, husbands and other in-law family members. IDIs were carried out with frontline health-workers, enumerators and supervisors from the two previous household surveys. Results Findings revealed a preference for female interviewers for household surveys in study districts as they facilitated access to mothers and reduced their discomfort as survey participants. However, this gender preference was related to the survey question. Regardless of age, caste and educational level, most mothers were not permitted to communicate with men (aside from husbands) about female-specific health topics, including birth preparedness, delivery, menstrual cycles, contraception, breastfeeding, sexual behaviour, sexually transmitted disease, and domestic violence. Mothers in higher castes perceived these social restrictions more acutely than mothers in lower castes. There was no systematic direction of the resulting error. Mothers were willing to discuss child health issues with interviewers of either gender. Conclusions Interviewer gender is an important consideration when designing survey protocols for maternal and reproductive health studies and when selecting and training enumerators. Female interviewers are optimal for traditional settings in Bihar as they are more likely to obtain accurate data on sensitive topics and reduce the potential for non-sampling error due to their reduced social distance with maternal respondents.