Tushar Mangl's Blog, page 39

History of Ancient India Upto 1000 A.D. LPU Question Paper

Course Code:DHIS 101Time Allowed: 3 Hours                                                                                     Max. Marks:80

1. This paper contains 10 questions divided in two parts on 1 page.
2. Part A is compulsory.
3. In Part B (Questions 2 to 10), attempt any 6 questions out of 9. Attempt all parts of the selected question.
4. The Marks assigned to each question are shown at the end of each question in square brackets.
5. Answer all questions in serial order.
6. The student is required to attempt the question paper in English, Hindi or Punjabi medium.

Part A   (2x10) marks
Q1. a) Write a short note on "Arthashastra".b) Who was Chandragupta Maurya?c) Who was Arya Bhatt?d) Who is known as Napoleon of India and why?e) Write any four principles of Buddhism.f) Define Shaivism.g) Write a short note on development of science during Gupta's period.h) Write a short note on Great Bath.i) Briefly discuss the position of women in ancient India.j) Write a short note on religious life of later Vedic period.
                                                                       Part B                    (6x10) marks Q2. Discuss in detail about various principles and philosphies of Jainism.Q3. Gupta's period is known as golden age of Indian history. How? Justify.Q4. Discuss in detail about battle of Kalinga and its impact over Ashoka.Q5. Chanakya has a very special place in history of ancient India. Do you agree with it? Justify your answer with suitable arguements.Q6. Define Mahajanpads. Discuss in detail about their political administration.Q7. Describe in detail about social and economic life during later Vedic age.Q8. Who were Aryams? Discuss various theories related to their origin.Q9. Write a detailed note on socio-religious life during Indus Valley Civilization.Q10. Describe in detail about various sources to understand history of ancient India.

Life and making of Gandhi LPU Question paper

Course Code:DHIS 104Time Allowed: 3 Hours                                                                                     Max. Marks:80

1. This paper contains 10 questions divided in two parts on 1 page.
2. Part A is compulsory.
3. In Part B (Questions 2 to 10), attempt any 6 questions out of 9. Attempt all parts of the selected question.
4. The Marks assigned to each question are shown at the end of each question in square brackets.
5. Answer all questions in serial order.
6. The student is required to attempt the question paper in English, Hindi or Punjabi medium.

Part A   (2x10) marks
Q-1a) Define "Satyagraha".b) What do you know about "Rowlatt Act"?c) Briefly discuss about Mahatma Gandhi's views to empower women.d) What do you know about "Untouchability"? e) Write a short note on "Champaran Satyagraha".f) What do you know about "Communal Awards"?g)Define term "swadeshi".h) Write any two causes for Mahatma Gandhi to start Civil Disobedience Movement.i) Briefly discuss Mahatma Gandhi's views on "Social Justice".j)When and where was Mahatma Gandhi born?
Part B        (6x10) marks
Q-2 "Mahatma Gandhi is well known for his struggle against racial discrimination in South Africa". Critically evaluate this statement with suitable arguments.Q-3 -  Discuss in detail about early life of Mahatma Gandhi.Q-4 Write a short note on the following.Mahatma Gandhi's views on Minorities.              (5)Mahatma Gandhi's views on Trusteeship              (5)Q-5 Discuss in detail about social thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi.Q-6 Describe in detail about impact of western thinkers over the mind of Mahatma Gandhi.Q-7 "Quit India movement was very important movement in the life of Mahatma Gandhi".Q-8 Discuss in detail about causes and events of Non Cooperation movement.Q-9Write a short note on the following :-Kheda Satyagraha         (5)Ahemdabad Mill Strike      (5)Q-10 "Mahatma Gandhi in his life tried to understand the philosphies and impacts of Buddhism and Jainism over Indian Society". Evaluate this statement.

POLITICAL THEORY LPU Question paper

Course Code:DPOL101Time Allowed: 3 Hours                                                                                     Max. Marks:80

1. This paper contains 10 questions divided in two parts on 1 page.
2. Part A is compulsory.
3. In Part B (Questions 2 to 10), attempt any 6 questions out of 9. Attempt all parts of the selected question.
4. The Marks assigned to each question are shown at the end of each question in square brackets.
5. Answer all questions in serial order.
6. The student is required to attempt the question paper in English, Hindi or Punjabi medium.

                                                                      Part A   (2x10) marksQ.1 Attempt all the questions"
a) Write down any two characterstics of political theory.
b) What are different kinds of power according to Max Weber?
c) Define State.
d) Define Sovereignty according to Bodin.
e) What is the difference between Negative and Positive Liberty?
f) What do you mean by Equality?
g) What is the meaning of Social Justice?
h) What do you understand by Justice?
i) What do you mean my Welfare State?
j) Define Democracy.

Part B        (6x10) marksQ.2 Define Political Theory. What are its uses?
Q3.What is Power? Discuss its various kinds.
Q4. Critically analyze the Social Contract theory of state.
Q5.What are features of Pluralistic Theory of Sovereignty?
Q-6 What do you mean by liberty and discuss its Types?
Q-7 Discuss various dimensions of equality.
Q8. Discuss Rawls Theory of Justice in detail.
Q9. Discuss the relationship between Market Economy and Welfare State.
Q10. What are C.B. Macpherson views on Democracy?
 

Drowned in half a glass of Acid

This is the story of Harpreet Kaur. A girl from a small town in Punjab who probably had a lot of dreams like all young people have.
7th of December, 2013 was supposed to be a big day for the 22 year old. She was getting married. But at around 9 in the morning when she was being readied for the big moment at an upmarket beauty salon in Ludhiana, a boy masked with a handkerchief barged into the salon and spilled acid on her. Before running away he dropped a note which spoke about a love affair that never materialized.

Everyone naturally thought that it was a jilted lover who did it. People have known to commit worse things for love. But not the mother of the victim. She suspected a woman relative from the groom's side. Indeed it happened to be true. The woman was the groom's brother's divorced wife who out of spite wanted to ruin the wedding. So what does she do? She cooks up this conspiracy along with her paramour and some hired goons to throw acid on the young girl so as to prevent the marriage. To divert attention the letter with a mention of love affair was planted. Such devious planning was carried out by Amritpal Kaur, just because her life didn't pan out as happily she wanted it to be.

The Punjab Police was quick in its action, solving the case within no time. They also took it to themselves to transfer the girl, undergoing treatment at the hospital to the National Burns Center at Mumbai so that the girl could have better medical care.

Despite all efforts the girl died 20 days later on 27th of December, 2013. Sepsis led to failure of organs and subsequent death. Dr. Sunil Keswani told some media people some days before her death and I quote
 "For the last five days, she has suffering from early sepsis and all her organs are malfunctioning. During my more than two decades of practice, I haven't seen a patient of acid attack whose wounds are this deep. She has the most extensive acid burns. We wanted to carry out more surgeries on her but her health did not allow us to do so. Though she is stable, her condition is critical as well. As of now there are 50-50 chances of her survival and she has been on ventilator for the last four days."

But why do I tell you this story? Don't people die all the time in our country. Tragic ends by acid, sexual assaults, and what not. It is as if our society has become immune to the savagery that is going all around.

I say the girl never died of sepsis or organ failure or acid attack. Do you know what question she had in the hospital while being cured? All she asked was for Honey. The guy with whom she was supposed to spend her life with. Poof, he disappeared. For the beautiful girl he wanted to marry would never be beautiful again anyway. The girl kept asking about him and he never went to meet her. She was victimized for spite on his family and his family and he conveniently slipped away from the whole tragic scene. Probably because his mother would be looking for another beautiful bride for her son. Now that the earlier one had acid all over her face. I don't say he should have acted like a filmy hero and married off the girl there and then.
I say is this what woman are to us? A thing of beauty for one. A thing to get back to a family to other.
Is this how we are objectifying women in our new progressive societies?
Shouldn't the boy have just out of courtesy lend a hand of moral support to the victim. Or helped her family bear the financial and medical burden in this unforeseen tragedy.

In this case the police did its job. The govt would too probably help out. We Indians who thrash out our governments everyday will have no favorite punching job this time. But the society itself. We have to ask ourselves where are we headed to. Is this the country we wish to build and preserve for our future generations?

The Dangerous Experiment with the Aam Aadmi Party

In the year 2011, a movement was launched for a jan lokpal by activist Anna Hazare. We all know about it. Many of us especially born in the late 80s or early 90s were quite fascinated by the sheer energy of the movement. Our parents might have had seen another high voltage movement by Jai Prakash Narayan in the 70s but for us, this was our very first large social movement. Add the high density exposure of social as well as television and it was all very good.

We have read about the JP movement and it was already clear that even though the two movements could not be compared but they both were similar in the sense, they both caught the anger of the people against the governments of their times and channelized it into their movements. Hence, it was clear that like in JP era, here also, politicians would be produced. A large part of the present leadership in India from Nitish Kumar to Arun Jaitley is a product of the JP movement. From the Anna movement came Arvind Kejriwal a former IRS officer and a Magasasey Award winner. He started his own party called Aam Aadmi Party, of which I am very cynical about. Here are a few reasons I would like to share
First, social work should begin at home. Whether we like it or not, Tax departments in India are plagued densely by corruption. Be it the excise or income tax or customs at the airports, a large part of Indian population would know about the serious corruption there. Then why did Arvind Kejriwal quit his post at the Income Tax office to fight corruption elsewhere, when he could have made a huge difference in the IT department itself as a senior official. Look at how Ashok Khemka is holding on. Former CAG Vinod Rai withstood govt pressures when he exposed corruption in the govt. departments. Then why Arvind should have had to quit his job to search for corruption elsewhere? Today of course he claims he never wanted to join politics and always wanted to work in the social space. Is the Indian Revenue Service not a medium of social space? Or is it that it didn't give him enough name and fame?
Secondly, I can't understand his basis for forming a party. We want a lokpal bill. So we will one day form majority in Delhi Vidhan Sabha than in Rajya Sabha than in Lok Sabha or whichever happens first and then we will pass the lokpal bill that we like. This seems to be the attitude of the party. I mean, is a lokpal answer to all my problems? Sure corruption is a huge issue, but is it not due to systems in place? In India we have created systems in such a manner that breeds discretionary powers to select people and hence encourage corruption. Also how much time would be needed to attain all these majorities for according to Aam Aadmi Party no other political party is good enough.
Which brings me to my next very important point. Last time I researched and its been time, I might be wrong, there are thousand yes, thousand plus political parties in India. Here comes one Mr. Kejriwal who says no political party is good enough for him and he will give us a new party. I mean, I totally respect one's opinion if one is anti or pro BJP or Congress. Many people support regional or other smaller parties and it is their choice.  But to say that out of all those thousands of parties registered with the Election Commission of India, none of them is good enough or to say all are bad is very weird according to me. 
Politics in a democracy is not imported from abroad. Even a foreign national like Mrs. Sonia Gandhi Indianizes herself, immerses herself in the public and tries to win their hearts with issues that she thinks is dear to them. Today the leadership in the two mainstream parties maybe not in the best of their health, but where is that leadership coming from? It is coming from within the society. A Narendra Modi is declared the PM candidate by the BJP citing lot of public support he is receiving. Nothing is coming from outer space. If the two parties are performing bad, it is a reflection of the society as much as its leaders. To stand up on a dais and misguide people that you are the only torch bearer of honest politics is smart politics but not an honest one.
This is the reason why I am writing this today. For today as I had suspected the Aam Aadmi Party has misguided the public into a hung assembly like situation in Delhi. A situation has come up where an Independent MLA on TV was asking the BJP leadership for a deputy CM's post in a manner so brazen that it was shocking for even me, who has read and studied Indian politics in great length. So now we have yet another Samajwadi Party or a Bahujan Samaj Party with a strong personality cult of a singular leader who is pushing his own agenda for political gains. To his credit Arvind Kejriwal does appear to have the personality of a regional party Supremo with his now newly conquered turf. 
The rise of Arvind's party is exciting for all us who missed the JP movement and subsequently never saw the rise of the regional parties that sprang up upon its consequence. Like the splinter Janata Dals and Samaj Parties. Each one promising social change and ideals of their iconic leaders. TV news anchors are time and again reminding us of how intelligent and well aware the people of Delhi are. Now as they face the possibility of hung assembly and wastage of campaign money of hundreds of crores (which of course can be always collected by people again) not to mention the risk of huge loss of public money as election expenses, perhaps Delhi's citizens would remind the country of the 90's era of small parties, unstable governments and borderline majorities. How much those experiments benefited the people is too well known for me to write here.

The empty side of the bed

The loud blaze of horns stirred Ravi up from the deep slumber he was in. 'The same old night mares', he sighed out loud. He turned around to stare at the empty space besides him. "I will get this side of the bed chopped off, soon." He promised himself yet again. The emptiness of the other side of the bed, reminded him of the hollowness of his heart. Emotions stirred up inside him, as he woke up.

Ravi was in no hurry to dress up. He had been thrown out of his job few months ago. The firm where he worked was downsizing and he was one of the first ones to get the pink slip. Jobs were far less today than when he had started three years ago.

He boiled some water, added a tea spoon of sugar and coffee in it and poured it into his mug. His mug. How much his heart longed to share the little things with someone. He had no family, no relations and just a few acquaintances, whom you could call friends.

 He gazed out of the window and gazed at the view outside. Cars and pedestrians crawled around the roads, smoked billowed high from the chimneys. You could neither see the earth nor the sky. Ravi lived at the top floor of a godown owned by a factory owner. The rent was cheap and privacy assured. He once again thought about the feeling, of jumping down the three floors. Will he die? What is he is hospitalized? Will he be able to fund the medical expenses from his meager savings? The questions seemed so many, answers none.

He switched on the TV, the only prominent news being marriage of a son of a cricketer to a daughter of a film star. Almost impulsively, he switched off the TV and threw the remote on the bed. His eyes darted back to the window. Looking, thinking about the life that could have been and what life would never be.

He couldn't find solace anywhere, tried to escape but never could. For the nth time he wondered whether he would be able to find her. How will he know, she is the one? Will his ambitions ever get fulfilled?

And he just sat there, staring the ceiling, suffocating himself with questions that never seemed to be stop. Waiting for the night to come, so that he could stare once more at the empty side of the bed.

My Mishti

The time on the wall clock reads 1 a.m. Outside thunder is clasping in the skies. I look again over the scene in front of me. There is blood all over the floor. Mishti, my Mishti is lying their like a rolled carpet.
Samrishti is not my love. She is my life. We had met over a discussion forum online. It was an environment forum. Mishti, was passionate about the cause and so was I. We discussed and debated issues from Kyoto Protocol to environment damage by hydro electricity to afforestation.

Now, she is dead. Isn't she? Look at the blood all around. I can even see her intestines I think. I have never seen any intestines before.

Time went by and we switched from forum website and talked over the online messenger. Like a military routine, we daily used to log on the messenger at 10 at night and talk well past midnight. What did we talk about? Stuff, you know. How was your day? How was my day? Things bothering us. Little things we might have not talked with anyone but ourselves.  I knew all about her within ten days of meeting her. Her school at the convent school at Jagmundri. Her mother who was a doctor and her strict father who did nothing but drink and activism. I really thought it was cool. Having an activist father I mean. He goes around looking for any cause where they need people to sit on dharnas. Mishti told me, it was a part of his charm. He could make friends anywhere and everywhere. I thought he should have been a politician than. Even told Mishti so. She said I had a good sense of humor. Mishti also had a sister. Elder to her by three years and a huge snob. And I mean huge snob. Once, a guy whistled at Mishti and her sister was walking in front of her. Mishti ran behind the guy but the sister refused to help. Her shoes might get dirty, she later explained. And how she would look running like a mad man in public, she reasoned.

Should I call her? But I don't have a number. Anyway now she is in New York practicing law. Law. I need a lawyer. Should I clean all this blood? I don't even know where her mop is. Wait. She told me once. I know, she told me everything. But won't they know? I watch all those crime soaps on TV and the forensics guys always see blood. They say you really can't wipe out blood. Mishti. Why are her eyes so open?

Her eyes. I saw her picture first two months after I met her online. No, I won't lie. I had searched hard for her Handymeet profile. That's the social networking site where she was a member of. I never was a member of any website. I am a comic book illustrator. I write and design comic books. No, none has been published as yet. No one has seen any of my work. Not even Mishti. She just liked the idea of me being a writer. Still, I think she understood. So, two months later, after we met, she told me she was sending a request. I immediately made an account and soon I was friends with her. At least on Handymeet. Then I saw her picture.

She is not very photogenic. My Mishti. You should see in her flesh. Even now lying immobilized on the floor of the kitchen, she looks so beautiful. Her hair, chocolate brown always combed straight with a hair band on it. "Who wears a hair band these days? Are you a school girl still?" I used to tease her. But she loved her hair bands. Even now she is wearing a hairband. With a bow on it. Beautiful. Her eyes are Scotch Whiskey of the finest blend in the literal sense of the word. Yes, I am saying the truth, you can see them. They are of the same color as the finest Whiskey and oh they were as lethal and toxic as liquor. You see them and you want to swim in them. Such are my Mishti's eyes.

Six years, went by and we had never met. I knew where she lived. She knew where I lived 4.5 miles away from her place. But we never met. She never wanted to. I was too scared to hurt her, so I never pushed. Not every day you meet a person whom you invite in your hearts. She knew all about me. My favorite authors, Tolstoy, Marx, Rand. She spoke of how I would turn Russian reading all those Russian books and drinking so much vodka. She also knew my passion for adventure. To hike mountains and live in tree houses has always been my dream. But you can't share it with everyone. Can you? I guess, there are always a few people in the World with whom you can share your dreams. Yes, dreams not secrets. It is easier to share your secrets than to share your dreams. Your ambitions. These are hard to share. I told her all of them. No I am not telling you mine. Not even hers. Of course I knew hers.

Now, she is dead. Mishti is dead. Her dreams have died with her. I feel as if my dreams have also died with her. How will I survive without her. No, No that is just not possible. All this is my fault. I should not have met her. I really should have listened to her.

One day I called her up. We chat daily on Chipe Messenger but I just felt low as my life was going through bad phase. We had talked a few times over the phone, but our contact was mostly online. That day I was quite sad and called her. Before I could say anything, she said " I am getting engaged. Don't be mad at me. I always wanted to tell you, but didn't. I have a boyfriend. We have been dating for past six years. Now we are getting engaged. I asked him today. Tell me you are not mad, you are happy for me. Right?"
I hung up the phone. Funny things these mobile phones. You just can't slam them. Landlines are good in that sense. I just didn't know what to do? I was not angry. No, never angry.  I was more sad than angry. Disappointed, yes. Enraged no.

Yet, here I am sitting besides my Mishti, whose gut I sliced three hours ago. 10 p.m. sharp. Mishti loved punctuality. Said, it is part of our character. Why did I come to her apartment? We were supposed to meet online. No? First meeting our lives in flesh, and it would be the last one. Why did I do that? Was it because she was going away? Did my fear of losing her, got into my brain? I am a writer, not a killer.

My Mishti. I loved her. I don't know who you are and I don't care who you are. I am just posting this out from Mishti's laptop to this forum, where we first met. Just want to tell my story I suppose before I go meet the fire. Fire is a symbol of passion, of danger and of my death. I hope my sins will be atoned by burning my body alive.  My Mishti,

"I always loved you. So what our flesh couldn't live together. Our souls shall ever be together."

The Mayhem at Uttrakhand this June of 2013

First they feminized rivers.

Then they said, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned"

Then they forgot to connect the obvious dots.

Recently, rains, followed by a cloudburst or two, caused a major havoc at Uttarakhand, a Northern state in India. UK, as I fondly call it, is a beautiful place. It is also a Devbhoomi, a land of many Gods, temples, pilgrimages and also the place where Holy Rivers are at their very best. The rivers mainly being Ganga and Yamuna. It is here in UK, where the Britishers built the hill station of Mussorie. Again, in Rishikesh, another district of UK, many foreigners like Steve Jobs and Rock Bands like Beatles come to seek nirvana or learn Yoga or just to do what tourists do. Technically speaking, each Hindu has to land here for upon cremation, the ashes have to immersed here in Haridwar, another place in UK popular amongst visitors.

The list goes on and on. Basically you can stay their for months and discover yet new place that would wow you. But  it is a part of India, and Indians form the bulk of its tourist trade. And this mayhem, exposed yet another shameless side of Indians. People were stuck for days before the administration woke up to do something. That also, when the army came into the scene. The chief minister, elected by the people,  was busy in decision making like deciding, whether to go to Switzerland for vacations or not? Given the nature of Indians, and kind of leaders we elect, this was indeed a major decision for the CM to make. A great dilemma indeed.

Then came the news from the survivors. We Indians, if you are listening, always blab about athiti devo bhava. Guest are God. So they got to be treated well? Right? So the wonderful hosts, charged more than 50 bucks for half an hour charging of phone. And the pilgrim (most tourists at this time of the year are pilgrims) will pay for he has to call home. Someone told about overcharging of biscuits, someone had a story of water being sold at exorbitant price. Blogger Pooja, in her post on these floods, writes about how rescue helicopters, were demanding jewellery from pilgrims stuck in the region. A reporter on Aaj Tak I guess was telling the other day about some Sadhus caught with loot that they had got from hapless pilgrims. Reports of molestation, robbery, etc are coming to light every now and then. What a shame.

What does all this say for India as a country? It says a lot. And so does, the fact that most of the destruction could have been avoided by the magic word called common sense. Yes, that thing that we Indians often sell in the open market for a commodity called greed. See, you know this area is a river bed. For hundred of years, the river has been following this route. Now, just to make quick bucks you put up buildings on the river bed. So destruction will happen. River won't take the expressway just because u make it 8 lane or 6  lane. It will follow its route only. If you want to stand in front of it, you got to risk your life.

And then their is the whole thing about building hundreds of dams and power projects at the cost of environment. Just because Nehru got away with violating every environment concern when he built the dams (which still provide most of our electricity) does not mean that you have to slaughter every jungle and every river in the country.

Now to the good news. yes, something good always comes out in a crisis. However bad it might be.  The media won't tell u this, and only an online media thing has reported this news. It is about how the Gujarat CM for three days sat down in Dehradun to save his deer Gujratis. Those who always vote for him and probably, reading how they were saved by him, they will always vote for him. Of course the Congress savvy media, which is more pro Congress than pro India, scoffed at his in their words "politicization of issue." Hence, they showed the Congress President, flagging off relief material as if she is distributing her own wealth. And it is not just Modi. The leaders of the BJP in MP too have been at the forefront, collecting money, mobilizing resources etc. The Akali govt in Punjab too sent off buses and forces to help in relief and get citizens of their state back, safe and sound. Caught off guard, now the UK govt has learned (it is a Congress govt.) something. It is a great lesson, which will be great for Indian politics. They have issued a diktat that all states will help the UK govt and not the pilgrims. Meaning, stop rescuing pilgrims from your state. Be good boys and do as UK govt asks you to do. Oh, but we were discussing good news. One good news is our technology is doing more wonders than plain voyeurism and idle chit chat. Yes, google came out with some amazing tools to make people reach out to their known ones. It was a great idea.

Yeah, the best news is, the ITBP, Army, Air Force, etc people still know how to do their job. And boy are they good at their jobs. They outdid themselves I guess. They have told the people of India, that they are good at more things than just VIP protection. So what, if these Indians have little regard to thier collegues in Kashmir, who are having their heads chopped off just because Indians have gone sissy?
They are harboring no animosity it seems, and doing a perfect job at UK.

 To learn from our mistakes, will be too much to ask for an Indian. We will give up our lives or souls, but never learn from our mistakes.
Here is quote in tribute to Ganga, the holiest of the rivers and all those who died in its bosom, seeking blessings of the divine.

“The embodied soul is eternal in existence, indestructible, and infinite, only the material body is factually perishable, therefore fight O Arjuna.
- Bhagavad Gita