Naresh Kumar Vaid, Director , Vaids ICS

 Despite being a serious student of Anthropology for almost 50 years, the question makes me uneasy. I must admit that I have not been able to pinpoint what Anthropology is not. That could have made my job easy. Here I start with some historical facts. 1.       When Aristotle defined man as a “featherless biped walker” did he know he was defining the limits of Anthropology? 2.       In Class 9 th or 10 th I had read a poem starting with the couplet: “Know then thyself, presume not God to scan; The proper study of mankind is man”. Doesn’t Alexander Pope, the poet, sound an Anthropologist? 3.         Again, the same year, we had a poem by Tennyson on Crimean War, The Charge of the Light Brigade which most of us   must have read; I remember a few lines: “Canons to right of them Cannons to left of them Cannons in front of them ………… Into the mouth of hell Rode the six hundred” N...

 There are always some people in our lives who deeply impact us. Academically, I consider three Indian Anthropologists whom I really admire (other than my own teachers), namely Prof. D. N. Majumdar, Prof. L. P. Vidyarthi and Prof. VKS. At personal level it was just one, Vinay Bhai. On Dec. 23, 2020 when I was thinking about Raymond Dart, who on this day in 1924, had discovered Taung Baby, that changed our Knowledge about human evolution forever, I received a phone call from Prof. Ashok Pradhan of Raipur who, in a chocking voice, informed me about Vinay Bhai leaving for his heavenly abode. There are many things about Vinay Bhai I may not be knowing (as our physical interaction had plenty of pauses in-between due to our different professional trajectories) but there are some I am probably the only witness. I rarely remember days, months and years of events, but a day I profoundly remember, I.e. Dec. 18, 1976, the day I joined Prof. Tiwari in Department of Anthropology at DU for...

Tribes, more often than not, are in the news mainly for the crimes committed against them. Most of us just glance through the news as if they are aliens to us. Unless we are particular about it, most of us even don’t know who amongst us are tribals; or whether tribes exist at all. The exhaustive definition of ‘tribe’ given in ‘merriam-webster.com reads as: Definition of tribe 1a: a social group comprising numerous families, clans, or generations together with slaves, dependents, or adopted strangers b: a political division of the Roman people originally representing one of the three original tribes of ancient Rome c: PHYLE 2: a group of persons having a common character, occupation, or interest 3: a category of taxonomic classification ranking below a subfamily also: a natural group irrespective of taxonomic rank The synonyms of ‘tribe’ are: blood clan, family, folks, house, kin, kindred, kin(s)folk, line, lineage, people, race, stock. In that sense any social group with a particular c...

Back after a long time because many important issues must be dealt with. Here I begin. Constitution: Long time ago I came to the conclusion that the Constitution has been betrayed every now and then. As regards Lockdown, who empowered the Central Government? Law and Order is a State Subject and the Centre can not enforce it unless an Emergency is declared. Second, every student of polity knows that before taking such a step all other necessary steps must be taken, most important being civil supplies. Third, right to life enshrined in the Constitution was totally ignored resulting in loss of life and employment. There was no proper planning and management strategy to enforce Lockdown and none in the government could visualize the consequences of doing it in haste or none had the guts to pinpoint them to the powers. Yet, all people in ruling dispensation as well as most of the so-called national media has lauded lockdown as timely. Is it? The present government and the political parties ...

Dear Readers! For me the Caption of this article is misleading (though, in the beginning you may not agree). The fact is that results of Anthropology in the last decade (except for one year) have been constantly good — more than 10%. However, after IAS 1996 it is for the first time that three in top then have Anthropology as their Optional. [In IAS 1996 three of our students  — Nilesh (7th), Manish (8th) and Piyush (9th) held this record]. Therefore, it is a special occasion for me but I may be disjointed,  as I have to say a lot on different aspects. I “I love anthropology because I’m insatiably curious. Anthropology uniquely spans the arts, humanities, social science and natural sciences, and touches all fields of human endeavor or inquiry. Human origins? Uh huh. Human rights? Certainly. Ontology and the nature of being? Got it. Genome sequencing? Check. Poetics and aesthetics? You bet. Cross-cultural psychology? Please. Climate change? Down cold. Migration and displa...

वो  जानवर  का बच्चा  है माँ को ढूंढता माँ बन गयी ग्रास शिकारी का बच्चा  भी बनेगा वो इंसान का बच्चा है माँ को  ढूंढता माँ बन गई  ग्रास शिकारी का बच्चा ज़िंदा रहेगा मौत से बदतर ज़िन्दगी किसी अपाहिज  भिगारी की या बंधुआ, आजीवन या  …… क्योंकि वह आदमी का बच्चा है I have just returned from Jharkhand after visiting Korba and Birhor. I could not express myself in better words   

TRIBALS, by all accounts, belong to the lowest rung of the society in terms of poverty, education and health; but the recent caste survey, some observations have been published in some newspapers (IE : 25-6-15 & HH : 26-6-15) shows a different picture. BUT first, we must know who is poor in India and whether the conclusion is tenable. There is no standard definition of poverty in India. Different committies have given different recommendations. The most amusing is the one given by erstwhile Planning Commission according to which the country has only those many poor as can be catered by the government. But, the most interesting are the figures relied upon by GoI, i.e. Rs. 26/- and Rs. 32/- per day for rural and urban people respectively. HERE, I have a point. Creamy layer for OBCs was initially fixed at Rs. 1.00 lakh annually, that was raised to Rs. 2.5 lakhs and then further to Rs. 6.0 lakhs. 9It is being raised further.) Meanwhile BPL limit has remained the same. It means, th...

THE government is planning to introduce some changes in tax reforms, i.e. those who transact through credit/debit cards will get some tax rebate. Is it the solution to eradicate black money? WHEN the issue is black money, the main issue is money. So, the government should concern with how to control the flow of money, not only to regulate few services. To curtail the flow of money, the first thing the government can introduce is that all transactions over and above Rs. 1000/- must be through plastic money. Poor people dont spend that much on a single transaction, but others do. All those transactions will be reflected in bank statements. THE next thing, the government can abolish currency notes above Rs. 100/-. Most, rather almost all transactions are carried out in these notes. All developed countries have printed notes only in small denominations. THE black money is generated though infrastructure, mainly through property construction/sale/purchase; through inflated/deflated...

JAIPUR literary fest ended last  week with nothing new. But Chetan Bhagat, first in English, then in Hindi (must be translated by someone else) in two news papers advocated the use of Roman language 'if Hindi is to survive. Chetan must be kidding, or he is oblivious of truth. I know, his generation, not only for SMS but otherwise too, is more comfortable with Roman script. It however does not mean his voice need to be heard. I am sorry, at first instance, for being late in responding but I was curious to know the response who matter but I was disappointed. KAMAL Ataturk shifted to Roman script and three generations of Turkish children lost access to their past. Chinese gave a thought to it but finally went against it. They are better off with it. WHY Chetan forgets that Hindi has 52 alphabets while English has only 26. Thus, Hindi is not only more phonetically correct but more scientific too. He must realize that, in English, his name must be exactly written as CETANA BHAGATA....

DELHI is voting today. Voting time will be officially over in a couple of hours, though voting will continue for another couple of hours at many polling booths. Certain trends have clearly emerged, most notable being a clear divide between haves and have-nots. HAVES, expecting great returns, through Mr. Modi's vision (cutting on subsidies, Make in India, Ordinances regarding labour laws and Land Act etc.). For them the slogan is development (following neo-liberal policies. Have-nots harp on basic amenities like electricity water etc. BJP's slogan about eradication of corruption too has not gone well with them because municipalities of Delhi, full of corruption have been under BJP for the last seven years while Delhi, under the direct central rule for the last eight months, has not seen any development. Minorities and slum dwellers have no reason to support BJP. Finally the onus lies on youth that will decide the fate of political parties. AAP seems to have an edge. It's ...

IT IS less than 10 hours for Delhi to go to polls. The din of campaign has settled down but TV channels have literally made the mockery of whole process by survey reports, interviews of political leaders as also their shows whereby majority seem to inclined towards BJP but....... THE BJP has committed several self goal even when Mr. Modi and Mr. Shah are at the helm. First, they said that they won't project any face for CM's post but would fight with Mr. Modi as their face. Subsequently, they para trooped  Ms. Bedi. Second, they did not bring their Election Manifesto and replaced it with Vision Document (which is no more than a policy guideline, not promises) that did not mention statehood for Delhi. Even in Vision Document they have not specified their goals. DELHI has been under President's rule for the last almost one year, directly under Mr. Modi for the last eight months but they have nothing to show of their achievements/programs/policies positives affecting Delh...

INDIAN History Congress has just ended its annual session but without deliberating on the authenticity of History. Our oral traditions have a lot many historical facts but these have never been researched, forget about debating. I just give one instance. History tells us that Punjab whole heartedly supported British Rule. But there is a saying in Punjabi : ABC Kithe gai si Edward Mar Gia Siape Gai si. To translate : "ABC, Where had you gone?" "Edward is dead, I had gone to mourn." shows how much contempt Punjabis has towards British rule. There are hundreds of folklore throughout the country that, if researched, can change the fate of Indian History. BACK to my previous blog, Ancient Indian History, in its major part, relies on the accounts of Greek travellers that seem fictitious or out of context, or creation of their imagination. These travellers did not know any of the Indian languages and none of them has mentioned any translator accompanying them...

BOTH Atalji and Malaviyaji are close to my heart. I, as a child, used to hear a lot from my father about Atalji. My father was a government servant, so could not be actively involved in politics, but was associated with Vishwa Hindu Parishad, almost till his death. Atalji was in Chandigarh almost 40 years ago and some of the words of his speech still echo in my years : Ek the Nathpei, Ek tha Vajpai . MY father met him last when Atalji was the Foreign Minister. It was a courtesy call. Atalji asked my father the reason for visiting Delhi. Those days I was busy with my research & he had come to see me. Atalji frankly told my father that I should seek Commonwealth scholarship if I wanted; but I had other plans. I, along with my team of Tulsi Sansthan, an NGO with working Head Office in Barot (located almost midway between Allahabad and Varanasi) met Girdhar Malaviyaji, the grandson of Pt. Madan Mohan Malaviyaji, at his palatial house in Allahabad, to invite him to a function to be...

Dear Mr. President I am late in responding as my hard disc got corrupted and it took several days to repair. it. Any way. THE day you were to visit Vrindavan, a number of stories appeared in newspapers. You were advised to use contact lens to avoid monkey menace. Another story showed a couple of monkeys sitting in Hall I in Pragati Maidan, the day Trade Fair was inaugurated. Another story showed many elephants entering a village in Assam and feasting on paddy. Stories do appear of carnivores and snakes entering houses or human habitats posing dangers for inhabitants. All these are of great concern. Are you or your government thinking about doing something? Mr President! Monkeys are primates, so are you; rather you are the primate of the country. All these creatures had been living peacefully in their ecological niches till humans decided to take on their territories for his own selfish wants. Shelterless, they have nowhere to go. ON the same day, some newspapers carried a stor...

I HAVE always been intrigued by issues concerning History. History, or rather historians, are today split into western, leftist, nationalist, subaltern etc. and such divisions among historians rid history of its truths. Chandragupta's was the golden period of Indian history or Akbar's? Aryans came from outside or not? etc. etc. I can write (& shall definitely write on these issues). Presently, I want to mention a basic question on Ancient Indian History : Is Rig Veda the earliest historical text? ALL our historians have been telling us so, because English historians wrote it. We must realise that all the history we are made to read has been written by British historians who deliberately avoided the original references to our history, including oral history. ACCORDING to historians, Vedic texts refer to only those places (including rivers and mountains) about which they knew. The fact is that they mentioned only those that were relevant with respect to those texts and o...

BLACK money has been an important issue with Sangh but, as ever, BJP has betrayed Sangh (Previously it has been ignoring the concerns of other Sangh affiliates like BMS, BKS, VKA, BBA et al. ) Court's order was clear : give us the names; we will decide the rest (regarding investigation, prosecution etc). It is really unfortunate that Judiciary should step into what has to be done by the government. THE country, by some estimates, generates more than 5.5 lakh crore rupees in black money, a share of which ends up in foreign banks. Again, by some estimates, more than 28 lakh crore rupees have been siphoned out of the country in last more than two decades, i.e. ever since we entered  globalization in 1991. A major part must have returned through tax havens. This has resulted in loss of several hundred lakh crore of rupees in taxes as also in investment. BJP is claiming the credit for Court's directive. It is also thumping its back for constituting SIT. But what has been the o...

THE debate has started one again after Mr. Mohan Bhagvat's assertion that people of Germany are called German, those of England as Angrez etc., therefore people of Hindustan should be called Hindus. I beg to differ. By his logic we should be called Hindustanis. BUT the issue remains. Here won't involve Dr. Radhakrishnan ( Hindu View of Life ) or Supreme Court, who said that Hinduism is a way of life. I would rather prefer to quote Dr. Zakir Niak or Dr. Rahi Masoom Raza, who have/had same views on Hinduism. Dr. Naik, a Pakistan national, holds Ph.D. on Comparative Religions. BY simple logic, followers of Jesus call themselves Christians (after Jesus Christ) and followers of Prophet call themselves Muhammdan  or Muslim ( after Prophet Muhammad). Who gave the name Hindu to Hindus? It were Arabs, who pronounce s as h. They called those living across Sindhu (i.e. Indus) as Hindus. Therefore, Hindu is a geographic entity, not religious. Following Dr. Naik, all of us, living in I...

डर लगता है घर के दरवाज़े और खिड़कियां खोलने में। बाहर हैं मैना, तोते, गोरैया और कबूतर; भीतर पंखे और बिजली। कहीं----------- इसलिए डर  लगता है।

I WAS the first one to raise voice against CSAT  as early as Nov. 2010 in Dec. Issue of Civil Services Chronicle (CSC) December issue, 2010. I had many basic  apprehensions including : 1. Aptitude (as the General Studies Paper II is referred to) can not be judged through multiple choice questions). If aptitude is to be tested then the Interview should be conducted on the pattern of IMA/GDA. 2. The aptitude for civil services can not be based on CAT/MAT which optimise selection for selection for management  jobs. If CSAT Paper (II) is based on pure biology or Earth Sciences, what will be the reaction of proteges of those supporting presenting system? THE CSAT was introduces by the present Chairman of UPSC who is a protege of UPA government. He must have explained what was wrong with previous system before introducing the new one. He had said: (a) THE new system is to reduce the role of coaching. The fact is that many more institutes, previously couching for manag...

THE day before, Srivatsa, the Topper (AIR I) of early nineties wrote in ToI. And today someone named Ms Shailja Chandra (whose name I could not find in the IAS list) in HT have wrote in favour of CSAT on flimsy grounds. Let me explain in some details. First argument given is "why nobody spoke against CSAT in the last four years. I, in my previous blog, have made it clear that I was the first one to speak and write as early as Nov. 2010 in Dec. 2010 issue of CSC. My contentions were simple. CSAT, the name itself is inappropriate as !. aptitude can not be tested through multiple choice questions 2. Decision making making can not be tested by questions asked as decision making depends on time, space and culture. UPSC, in the question paper, makes it non-obligatory to reply to these questions. 3. Interpersonal  qualities, simillarly, on the above bases. UPSC has not asked a single question on this issue so far. 4. Translation is  a major issue, nobody disputes so no comm...