Prabhakar reflections

'रामह्रदय' को यदि अध्यात्मरामायण का भी ह्रदय कहा जाय तो अतिशयोक्ति नहीं होगी। अध्यात्मरामायण का श्रीगणेश 'रामह्रदय' से हीं होता है। बालकांड के प्रथम सर्ग का शीर्षक रामह्...

अध्यात्म शब्द को एकदम से सूत्ररूपेण परिभाषित करना वैसे तो कठिन है किन्तु श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता का आश्रय लेकर कुछ कहने की चेष्टा की जा रही है। असल में यह चेष्टा भी स्वयं को स्व...

Today a daily newspaper the Hindustan Times published an article captioned Inter-caste marriage a taboo in caste driven Bihar. The article attributes lesser number (hardly touching a thousand) of Inter-caste marriages during past three years to low publicity, low urbanization and less than actual reporting of these marriages on account of loss of face perceived by parents of the couple thus married. It further pointed out the scheme launched to provide monetary grant to such couples since 1979 failed to gain momentum despite enhancement in the grant to double the original amount of rupees 50000 in the year 2015 by the government. All these suggest that the people in the state still don't support or welcome Inter-caste marriages to say the least.  The reasons apart from those indicated above may be rooted in the culture that people of the state hold dear. They feel their family custom and tradition may stand vitiated by the entry of a bride belonging to the caste other than th...

Today we commemorate the  birth anniversary of a great saint of the soil whose birth or the place thereof is still not known with certainty. Though tradition has it that he was born 500 hundred years ago at well known Kashi but the Saint choiced to breath his last at a non descript place called Maghar. Yes, we refer to Saint Kabir with respect to whom both hindus and muslims alike rever equally for the ways he lived his life. His life served as message for the mankind as a whole. For Kabir religious indulgence by way of observing practices of sorts associated with any religion be they Hindu or Islam was immetarial. In fact his critical remarks with respect to both the religions were scathing. Perhaps this might have led both the communities to believe that this great saint belonged to his faith to the exclusion of the other. Here lies the mistake, a person who is truly religious becomes a rationalist in such a way that he rises above the religious denominations so far as they addre...

14 th. April is the birth anniversary of  Babasaheb. No doubt he was the worthy son of India who suffered great hardship and difficulty in his making as such. Since his early school days he nourished bitter memories of discrimination of sorts. He was made to feel untouchable in course of interaction within and outside school. It can easily be assessed that child Bhimrao grew mature with a feeling that no matter what he may attain by virtue of his merit and talent the outlook of the rest of the Hindu was not going to change because of the age old practice of untouchability in hindu society. At the same time it must be acknowledged that the same hindu society got for him higher education abroad by way of scholarship from erstwhile Baroda State. But for this valuable support he would not have been that Ambedkar the world knows him today. This feeling of his against the irrational hindu practice of untouchability and the like not only continued throughout his academic, professional and...

It is gratifying and satisfying as well that the state government has realized that development as perceived in popular sense of the term unaccompanied with a change of in mindset of the people towards societal issues is hardly enough for its holistic development. Despite a number of legislations to address these issues the progress made so far towards minimizing them much less eradicating them is far from satisfactory. The evils perpetrated by the customary system like dowry is a case  in hand for better appreciation of the matter.            I have not found, despite my best efforts, that this so called system of dowry has any sanction in any Hindu religious scripture. There is not even a slightest reference of Dahej or its english equivalent Dowry in any hindu religious book save mention of Vardakshina which is a sort of offering purely voluntary presents at the time of marriage(not before or after) to the bridegroom after Ka...

By the term constitution we mean how and by what a thing is made up of. So the Constitution of India, as it is easy to infer, relates to integrate such parts into an organic whole as make our political system a living one to govern this country according to the values held dear since time immemorial. This  Document, apart from it being providing details of engagement of the three organs of the State i.e Executive, Legislature and Judiciary, throws light on interaction  of the people with the State in terms of rights and obligations of both towards one another. Thus this Social Document as it has been called so also seeks to strike a balance between the pair of opposites which are important for governance. That is why we see therein provisions related to equality before law balanced by equal protection of law, individual liberty balanced by preventive detention, Fundamental Rights supplemented by Fundamental Duties, State's right to rule qualified by the obligation emanating fr...

The objectives of the criminal justice system that we are enjoined to manage is to ensure a) prevention of crime b) Punishment proportionate to the crime committed c) that no innocent is punished for no fault of his/hers. Whereas the first objective is desired to be pursued through effective policing and maintenance of law & order as they are executive functions of the Civil and Police Administration, the other two objectives are pursued with the assistance of courts. Court is entrusted with the responsibility of dispensing justice on the basis of the results of investigation brought before the court by way of submission of charge sheet by police. On this basis of charge sheet the accused is prosecuted in the court by the State which appoints a number of officers designated as Public Prosecutor(PP), Additional Public Prosecutors(APPs) and Assistant Prosecution Officers(APOs). After the charge sheet is submitted the Court initiates the process of trial on the basis of oral and docum...

Today Indian Judicial System has landed itself in a new situation hitherto not imagined. The members of the Apex Court have, by their conduct, disappointed the masses who hold this institution not only in great esteem but reverence also.  By raising issue out of the house and that too by way of press conference is nothing but tantamount to washing one's dirty linen in public. Needless to say that it has something more to settle personal issues. And this under the garb of compulsion to come before the ultimate sovereign who is ill equipped to devise ways and means towards redressing them. Do they expect from the people of India,  the ultimate sovereign, that the issue they raised must receive the attention in a way that it be made an electoral issue? The judges should always be on guard against themselves and refrain from creating sensation in the media. If any grievance they might have with the Master of Roaster, the same could have been resolved within the house. The issue th...