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Most of the dictionaries and scholars will tell you that a religion is a faith, a particular system of belief in a god or gods and the activities that are connected with this system. However, it is not so. There are Dharms without any god.

Many of our rites and practices are yet cruel, and many of them are nothing but superstitions. It certainly means that people have a very low idea of religions. The result is before us. We do not have the peace of mind and the happiness, more properly the bliss, that the religions suppose to give us.

Over 2200 people have already lost their lives in floods while millions have become homeless and are suffering post - flood miseries like diseases, hunger and lack of potable water since June this year. It is a phenomena of every year and yet government of India have been almost careless. Needful is yet to be done. The approach in the government is to consider it merely a statistics not a great tragedy.

Manmohan Singh has been taking bold steps for years in the central planning and growth of India. Mulayam Singh Yadav had taken such bold steps for the development of Uttar Pradesh. And now Mayawati has been taking bold steps in scraping the policies of such development and growth that were primarily based on multilevel injustice and exploitation. However, the moot question is, can she succeed in changing the system or would ultimately surrender to the vicious circle.

Getting the history of a nation rewritten is an old practice in the history of many nations of the world. Most of the time the motif behind such exercises is political. However, what is happening in Israel is something different.

Reservation is one of the most useful instruments for our society as scalpel is for patients needing surgery. Its opposition at concept level is wrong unless we find any better tool, but its misuse for narrow political ends is like killing the patient with scalpel even in the operation theater where doctors are supposed to save lives.

Elimination of poverty and hunger has lately been in focus in the Planning Commission and a working paper was also prepared by Arvind Virmani. It is declared in the document itself that the views expressed are of the author and not of the institution in which he works. However, it is noteworthy that this paper has got endorsement by the seal of the government on it and it is now available in the website of the Planning Commission.

The manner in which our Parliamentarians pass various Bills is indicative of the fact that they do not think much on them before their passage in the Houses, what to talk about a careful thinking in comprehensive manner. The Office of Profit Bill in also not an exception.

In the whole month of June 2006 and in the first few days of July 2006, an old advertising policy was in operation. However, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India while announcing the New Advertisement Policy on Tuesday, July 4, 2006 said that it was effective from June 1, 2006. As the proverb goes, morning shows the day, it is anybody's guess as to what is going to happen with this new policy with many loopholes. The tilt is clearly towards DAVP and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

Maladministration is a 'wishing-tree' for those who are at the helm of affairs in public administration in India. There are many products of this tree, one of which is corruption, the amount of which is estimated around Rs 50,000 crore, around 20 percent of the total revenue. This is a well known figure published in government publications including the magazine published by BPRD ( a publication of the Ministry of Home, Government of India). Their self-interest in keeping this tree alive is obvious.