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How long must the Govt. of India and Govt. of Maharashtra sleep on above activities in the name of cultural beliefs, tradition and blind faith? If we accept that 30% India citizens are mostly illiterate and another 30% not adequately informed about such 'sci-fi and magic' due to lack of meaningful education, then is it not the bounden duty of the GoI / GoM through their regulators, to protect citizens from the questionable predictions and usefulness of these various practices and their promoters, as a first step?
Today some 140 (out of about 220) million households in India have TV, with many channels receiving broadcasts 24x7, pandering to these above activities and even holding 'educational talks shows' on the possibilities, need and usefulness of such activities with glowing examples of their success, all without any word of caution or modern scientific base. The growing cable-satellite-TV also has many TV 'soap episodes’ with such activities in their programs, propounding these as important traditions, again without any word of caution or question. Internet enabled computers can easily access auction and online sale websites promoting magical solutions (http://www.astrospiritualonline.com/ is one example). Living in the ignorant past is dangerous for a vast nation such as
Similar activities of some health promoters / doctors, advertisers, financial advisers, legal advisers have organizations and statutes to regulate their functioning. Token cases of doctors, advertisers, financial or legal chicanery have been penalized time and again by regulatory bodies such as: MCI, ASCI, SEBI, IRDA, BCI, etc. Considering every science or advertising to be ‘in a sense a fantasy' is not quite right. Science is expressed in modern practice as a set of 'predictable, reproducible and consistent probabilities' (arrived at after rigorous examination and constantly updated on basis of new observation or evidence) and a world without advertisement is a world without any information. Even these have regulatory bodies that have acted to proscribe the more blatant promotions. Comparing these 'fantasy activities' with 'weather predictions' is I feel a bit too much; the former are going on without any 'reality check' for many hundreds of years while the latter is a developing science and fairly predictive in many countries. [Doubtless, political parties and their manifestos 'need regulation', but even that will come about as and when the citizens decide to 'participate' in our democracy and put aside their divisive activities or simply vote them out of power. The ECI is doing its bit here]. Unfortunately, no such regulation exists for the tainted activities and their promoters, which are regularly described as scientific; even without their predictable, reproducible and consistent probabilities.
I accept that in historic times, due to lack of meaningful information, measuring sciences and technology, humans were forced to rely on what ever means were then available. Cultural belief systems were set up to make predictive claims. These activities then took a fringe-scientific garb without the rigorous application of ‘verifiable modern scientific principles’. Such is not the position today with current technology, communications and information. In fact religion, modern science and medicine grew out of the ancient practice of observation - hypothesis - refinement - theory; but practitioners of these tainted activities while relying on ‘ancient science’ fail to adopt ‘modern science’ methodology. Therein lies the problems for society today, these activities like the vestigial human tail continue to worry the citizens.
That we create an atmosphere of ‘acceptance’ towards them, since they are going to exist along with us, is something I have no difficulty in rejecting. For example, consider another social evil: adulteration and spurious products. Again, compare the misery of ‘horoscope matching’ with the maturity of medical compatibility tests. There are many traditions and practices which are NOT going to meet these ‘acceptance’ criteria. Examples: sati, caste-ism, widow marriage, skin color discrimination, honor killings, human sacrifice, etc. These are stringently banned by law and no kind of 'acceptance that they can exist simultaneously' is today allowed. In the recent past, such practices too were looked on with some tolerance till one fine day ... bang; they were declared illegal and are severely punished. Soft peddling did not help then ... and will not help now. Look at the case of 'drunken driving' which was tolerated till just a couple of years ago; yet now draws public ridicule and very stringent punishment. The country can wait no longer; episodic citizen attacks on purveyors of such activities (babas and tantriks being exposed, beaten or killed) may soon be the order of the day. The urban-police too do not want 'situations' as they call it, and routinely lock up charlatans on a simple complaint.
In the case of the subject sci-fi activities, resistance from the ignorant and 'rent seekers' is no reason to back peddle because they together constitute a major misguidance to society. The fear of resistance (arising out of social hostility and ridicule) for such activities cannot be the general guideline for governance of a nation. The fact that resistance would be coming from the practitioners of the tainted activities is hardly to be a surprise, however again the Govt. of the day, has its bounden duty (Indian Constitution, Schedule-7, Concurrent List, Sr.No. 25 & 26 and Article: 51 A-h), to deliver for the 'general good' of its citizens. That it is failing time and again is the cause of pain for Activists in this great nation of ours and the main reason for the overload of RTI, PIL and Peoples’ Candidates. The job of the Activists, the Courts, Media and Leaders of all shades, is to build up public opinion to support stringent regulation.
It is a given that our regulatory bodies are not yet very strong on outcome, however this should not be a reason not to have any. The absence of regulation in one should not preclude it in any other; let the concerned Activists take it up and they will have the support of other like minded people. The intention is not and should not be to 'target any individual or group'. The fact is that even in our 'slow reform' nation, there is a responsive 'national grievance cell' (http://pgportal.gov.in/), where in one can lodge complaints and eventually get a response and correction.
In matters of faith which is not quantifiable as in case of subject activities, containment and downsizing is the bounden duty of any Government. The private belief or episodic individual practice on these activities (which do not misguide or harm society), must not be ridiculed by reasonable persons. While banning is not practical or sensible, a 'warning and cautionary message' as on cigarette packets and food packages (for additives) might be a good beginning to instill some circumspection in those who promote and proclaim the benefits of these activities without any restraint. Again, this must be the first step in a series of metered steps and sustained publicity, leading to severe restrictions, as in school books, tutoring and much more for adults. Professional ethics and modern scientific principals should be encouraged. Regulators at district level must include all stake holders including citizen group representatives.
I am pleased to note that SEBI has already put out a 'public warning' in a widely read 'national business daily' in this regard. Similarly, a major financial advisory website too has a rudimentary warning. A popular
By Praful Vora, Mumbai. Email: jnm.movement@gmail.com Fri. 26th Feb 2010.
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