What were the origins of the pa~nchatantra (PT) of the great brAhmaNa viShNusharman.It is said that he composed to these tales to teach nIti to the errant sons of the king amarashakti of the southern janapada of mahilAropya [meaning city of pretty women].
Just after a lapse over two years of 'desaffronized' and 'detoxified' adventures in school education, the new textbooks are suddenly in focus. Both the print and electronic media are reporting on the proposed contents of some of the books. 'Children must learn contemporary context and historical and political developments of the last six decades' is the conceptual formulation being presented to the country. Therefore, why should the children not read and 'learn' about Babri Masjid, Gujarat riots, 1984 riots, emergency and 'all that" There is already an indication of the shape of the things to come. The class IX social science textbook Democratic Politics? has a collage on Gujarat riots. Below it, is a box write up on National Human Rights Commission. The collage headline is "A rights violation, says Congress". No other Party, not even the CPI (M) finds a place. Its Congress and that is what matters in a "secular" setup! The box description contains the sentence "A large number of cases were filed in the court against those accused of rioting and massacre of nearly 2000 people, mostly Muslims. Human rights organizations and media were saying that the state government was not serious about pursuing these cases or catching the culprits. The Nation has to be ready for new lessons in objectivity and truthfulness in textbook writing. "I am so keen to read how emergency will be described" Will the courage, spirit and the will power shown by George Fernandez find a place Or who was responsible for the total damage to JP's kidney's.
...
The textbook debate in the Rajya Sabha brought out the national concern beyond the Party lines. It is too na?ve an assumption that the debate has ?died without any perceptible effect? (Yogendra Yadav, IE, Aug.30). A review committee has been constituted by MHRD. A new phase of the debate has begun. It was sheer ?vindictive politics. when new textbooks prepared during the period 2001-04 were summarily rejected and thrown out. Till this date, none has informed the country of the much-maligned "saffron" contents of, say, textbooks in science and mathematics, or for that purpose, in political science. How can some one simply justify new books by stating that earlier books were boring Most of these books were not used in classrooms even for one or two years, during which as assessment and evaluation of their suitability and inadequacies could have been made. ...
Deepavali, the festival of lights, is observed as Dark Day even now by their descendants
Rao's friend....
The Christian Church has all along taught that Virgin Mary brought her son Jesus forth through virginal conception. The Bible claims Virgin Mary conceived Jesus in her womb when the Holy Spirit came upon her and not through any man. The notion of virginal conception first appears in the Gospels of Matthew (1:18-25) and Luke (1:26-31). Matthew asserts that Joseph and Virgin Mary had not copulated until she conceived Jesus. Luke asserts that Gabriel announced that the Holy Spirit will come upon Virgin Mary and she will conceive Jesus....
