9 Myths about CAA (CITIZENSHIP AMENDMENT ACT, 2019)

1.Does the CAA affect any Indian citizen?

No, it has absolutely nothing to do with any Indian citizen in any way. The Indian citizens enjoy fundamental rights conferred on them by the Constitution of India of-India). No statute, including the CAA, can abridge or take them away. There has been a misinformation campaign. The CAA does not affect any Indian citizens, including Muslim citizens.

2.Who does the CAA apply to?

It is relevant only for Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi and Christian foreigners, who have migrated from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan into India up to 31.12.2014, on account of persecution faced by them due to their religion. It does not apply to any other foreigners, including Muslims migrating to India from any country, including these three countries.

3.How does it benefit Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi and Christian foreigners hailing from these three countries?

If their travel documents like passport and visa are not in order or are not available, they can apply for Indian citizenship if they were persecuted back home. The CAA creates this legal right for such migrants. Secondly, they get a faster route for Indian citizenship through the Naturalisation Mode. The minimum residency requirement in India would be only 1+5 years instead of 1+11 years as applicable for all other categories of foreigners.

4.Does this mean that Muslims from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan can never get Indian citizenship?

No, the present legal process of acquiring Indian citizenship by any foreigner of any category through Naturalization (Section 6 of the Citizenship Act) or through Registration (Section 5 of the Act) stays operational. The CAA does not amend or alter it in any manner whatsoever. Hundreds of Muslims migrating from these three countries have been granted Indian citizenship during the last few years. If found eligible, all such future migrants shall also get Indian citizenship, irrespective of their numbers or religion. In 2014, after the settlement of Indo-Bangladesh boundary issues, 14,864 Bangladeshi citizens were given Indian Citizenship when their enclaves were incorporated into the territory of India. Thousands of these foreigners were Muslims.

5.Will illegal Muslim immigrants from these three countries be deported under the CAA?

No, the CAA has absolutely nothing to do with the deportation of any foreigner from India. The deportation process of any foreigner irrespective of his religion or country is implemented as per the mandate of the Foreigners Act, 1946 and/or The Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920. These two laws govern entry, stay movement within India and exit from India of all foreigners irrespective of their religion or country. Therefore, the usual deportation process would apply to any illegal foreigner staying in India. It is a well-considered judicial process that is based on a proper inquiry by the local police or administrative authorities to detect an illegal foreigner. It is ensured that such an illegal foreigner has been issued a proper travel document by the embassy of his country so that he can be duly received by officials of his country when he is deported.

In Assam, the process of deportation happens only after the determination of such a person as a “foreigner” under The Foreigners Act, 1946. Then he becomes liable for deportation. Therefore, there is nothing automatic, mechanical or discriminatory in this exercise. The state governments and their district-level authorities enjoy the power of Central Govt. under Section 3 of the Foreigners Act and Section 5 of The Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 to detect, detain & deport any illegal foreigner.

5.Can Hindus facing persecution on grounds of religion in countries other than these 3 countries apply under the CAA?

No, they will have to apply through the usual process to get Indian Citizenship just like any other foreigner for either registration or naturalization as a citizen of India. They would get no preference under The Citizenship Act, 1955, even after the CAA.

6.Does the CAA also cover other forms of persecution – on grounds of race, gender, membership of a political or social group, language, ethnicity etc.?

No, the CAA is a very focused law that deals specifically with foreigners of six minority community groups hailing from three neighboring countries that have their distinct state religion. Any foreigner persecuted abroad on any account may apply for registration or naturalization as a citizen of India like any other foreigner if he fulfills the minimum qualifications laid down in The Citizenship Act, 1955.

7.The CAA will gradually exclude Indian Muslims from the citizenship of India?

The CAA does not apply to any Indian citizen at all. All Indian citizens enjoy the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution of India. CAA is not meant to deprive any Indian citizen of his citizenship. Rather it is a special law to enable certain foreigners facing a particular situation in three neighboring countries to get Indian citizenship.

8.CAA will be followed by NRC and all migrants except Muslims will be given citizenship and Muslims will be sent to detention camps?

The CAA has nothing to do with NRC. The legal provisions regarding NRC have been part of The Citizenship Act, 1955 since December 2004. Also, there are specific statutory rules of 2003 to operationalize these legal provisions. They govern the process of registration of Indian citizens and the issuance of national identity cards to them. These legal provisions have been on the statute books since the last 15-16 years. The CAA has not altered them in any way whatsoever.

9.What are the rules for citizenship under CAA?

Appropriate rules under the CAA are being framed. They will operationalize various provisions of the CAA.

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Achievement of PM Modi!

Within a month of Narendra Modi government assuming power, sense of disappointment has taken over the country. The reason behind such disappointment is actually partially a creation of the extremely weakened opposition and to a certain extent expectations of the people who Narendra Modi Government achievemnts think not Narendra Modi but some Harry Potter-magic has happened to Indian democracy. To change the condition of a country of 1.3 billion people is not an overnight trick. In our desperation to shatter our hopes we are failing to recognize the concrete steps that Modi government has taken as soon as it formed government. Here is a list of achievements of Narendra Modi government till now:

• Successfully bringing Indians caught in ‘Iraq Crisis’ home

In recent Iraq crisis ISIS shook not only the Arab world, but the entire world with its inhumane act of keeping civilians captive. Indian nurses working in Iraq got stuck in the middle of a civil war, but here critics started cursing the Modi government for not rescuing Indian nationals from war torn Iraq. The Indian government headed by PM Narendra Modi left no stone unturned to rescue Indians by deploying INS Mysore in Persian Gulf. When the rescue mission was succesfully completed critics credited Kerala government for the rescue operation. What they failed to understand is that neither foreign relations nor Indian defense forces are commanded by any state government in India.That is the prerogative of the central government which is currently under the leadership of Modi.

We may be political opponents, ideological enemies, but during hours of crisis we must act like one big Family that is “India”. Don’t forget that first time ever in the history of India, central government has acted against the enemy to save its citizen unlike “1989 kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed” when central government threatened the JK government with dismissal if the militants were not exchanged for Rubaiya. We can’t blame political opponents for failing to acknowledge the extraordinary successful mission of rescuing India citizens from Iraq, but the bigger concern is the Fourth Pillar of Democracy –Media—media went silent as soon as rescue mission is completed and took no pain in highlighting who really made all the efforts.

• IB report on NGO

Foreign funded NGOs are known for halting development work across the country. Congress government never acted against them because Leftist-NGO nexus supports congress government in its ideological standing of center-of-the-left. Billions of dollars has been donated to Leftist controlled NGO through FCRA act, to destabilize country. On one hand their coterie criticize government for not providing facilities, on other hand they halt development work. As per IB report protests led by foreign funded NGOs against development projects had caused a presumptive loss of 2-3% to India’s GDP. Again political Opponents and NGO-friendly party (with emphasis on NGO party) opted to be silent on IB report. Prominent party AAP who know for its Dharna-ist credentials hits out at IB report, why? Because NGO are under scanner and they need to take permission from MHA before pumping foreign funds in to India. AAP instead to encouraging foreign funded NGOs for generating funds at home lash out at IB report. Again opponents opted to remain silent.

• Process Improvement

In a significant development, central government has decided to improve its taxation process in order to facilitate direct contact with taxpayers. MEA is set to waive second police verification in case of passport renewal. 660 rape crisis centers will be established across the country and named as Nirbhaya centers. Government also planned to setup “Kisan Mandis” in order to fight food inflation. Modi is delivering but opponents are choosing to ignore it.

• Railways

IRCTC performance is up with the launch of a new website and it has started working as per users’ expectation but opponent are again opting to be silent while they await loop-holes and as soon as they will get one they will start cursing everyone who voted for Modi- led BJP. Railways are planning to build high speed trains across the country in order to provide better facilities and speedy journey to passenger but opponent cursing for increase in rail fair.

• Power Crisis

AAP started criticizing Modi for power crisis; ponder upon the fact that AAP leaders are the one who are against Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant or any other power sector development in the country. Though Modi said on record in Parliament that “My government will not be vindictive” and we will work in coordination with each other.

• Reliance Issue

Literally AAP abused Modi over Reliance issue but opted to be silent when Modi government imposed millions of USD fine on Reliance, the same AAP government released Rs. 320 crore to Ambani company. And don’t forget “Bahoot Hi Krantikari” Channel AajTak is also owned by Ambani which appears to be AAPTak Channel most of the times.

• Basic needs

Govt. approved proposal to raise height of Narmada dam so that more water will be available for drinking, irrigation and power generation. Protests had been led by foreign funded NGO to halt the Narmada dam in past.

• Health

In a significant development, the Modi government has decided to make X-Ray, MRI and CT scans free of cost for the poor at government hospitals.

• Environment

The govt. plans to plant 200 crore tress along the entire 1 Lakh Km length of National Highways network across the country. Under this scheme employment will be generated for jobless youth. Government is planning to implement similar scheme under MNREGA along state highways, village and district roads. As expected opponent opt to be silent on the same, rather they are busy thumping their chest over IB reports on NGOs.

• Defense

Defense Ministry approved fast-track road building along the disputed border with China. New posts will be established in strategic position of Indo-China Border. 2 billion USD extension has been given to the Karwar Naval base in the southern state of Karnataka. Government also plans to install a new Radar station in the Andaman and Nicobar islands in the Bay of Bengal to keep an eye on China’s evil designs.

I hope one day the silence will be over and opponents will recognize the efforts of PM Modi. Opponents must remember that Modi said that we will work as a team. In last few days we saw rays of hope in new government, its progressive policies and its commitment towards nation. Responsibility falls on our shoulders now as we have a government in center which is pro-people, we must take new message to everyone. Last time (during Atal Led NDA) we failed to take our message to people which resulted into 10 years of reverse gear in country’s development. Educated Youth should keep in mind that common man don’t understand economics as we understand, so we must educate people across the country that how policies started by Modi government will help in longer run.

10 Importance of Visualization

1. Stress relief benefits : Visualization is a form of relaxation. The simple act of quieting your mind and visualising something  reduces the amount of stress you are constantly bombarded with on a daily basis. So, if you do not visualize for any other reason, I recommend you do it for this one.


2. Joy: Visualizing something that you want to have or want to experience can bring great joy into your life. We may not be in the position right now to do or have what we want, but we can visualize it. This is the next best thing to actually having it or doing it. Our minds don’t know the difference in visualization and actually having or doing a thing, so it will respond in the same way it would if you where actually experiencing that which you are visualizing.


3. No limitations: With visualization there are no limitations. You can be and do anything. You can live in the house of your dreams, drive the car you want, be married to the love of your life and travel to exotic places. Not all of us get this luxury right now, but when we visualize, we have the power to visualize whatever we want without limitations.


4. Improved focus: When you quiet your mind to visualize, you are actually improving your ability to focus. You no longer are bound by the restrictions of your day. The more you visualize, and the better you get at it the better your overall focus becomes.


5. Inspiration: You can gain inspiration and you can become inspired to take action toward your dreams by taking the time to visualize them. We are more likely to believe in and to move forward toward or dreams, if we can actually see them as possible and visualization can do that for us.


6. Self confidence booster: As we visualize and see ourselves having and doing the things we want, we begin to become more confident in ourselves. The more confident we become in ourselves, the more we start to do and be, which in turn, builds even more self confidence.
7. Goal achievement: As we have seen above, visualization can help us to have greater focus, it can inspire us, and it can help build self confidence. With all of this it becomes easier for you to achieve your goals, not to mention you are seeing yourself accomplish these goals in your mind’s eye so your mind starts to believe you can accomplish these goals and starts the process towards those goals.
8. Mood booster: Naturally, if we are becoming more confident, relieving stress and experiencing more joy then our mood is going to increase as well. Any time I finish visualizing, I feel calm, relaxed and extremely happy. I feel like I can do anything. These are the true benefits of visualization.
9. Practice and rehearse: Even on a rainy day you can practice pitching, or running, or swimming all in your mind. It has been proven that visualizing yourself doing something is just as effective as actually doing it and in some cases even more so. Combining creative visualization with actual physical practice can catapult your results.
10. Health benefits of visualization: You can actually visualize yourself getting better. You can visualize your body rebuilding itself, and in turn, your body will begin to respond. The other benefit is that the act of visualizing, no matter what it is your visualizing, reduces stress, relaxes the mind, and increases our overall mood which in turn lowers our blood pressure and allows our body to function at full capacity.

Think The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Is Stupid? You're Wrong.

The Internet is alight with the Ice Bucket Challenge, a silly joke that’s being shared on social media by billionaires. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg dumped a bucket of ice on his head. He was followed by Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who, in a playful video, built a contraption to do the dumping, and Sue Desmond-Hellmann, the drug development guru and chief executive of the Gates Foundation.

In case you’ve been hiding in a Martin and Gully Ice,the reason all these smart people are chilling their brains is not some new health fad but to raise awareness for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the lethal neurodegenerative disorder also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. The original idea was that when the gauntlet was thrown down in the ice bucket challenge, you either need to give $100 to ALS or dump ice water on your head. Most people seem to be opting to both donate and get soaked, posting the videos on social media.

A big Internet meme like this naturally brings out the contrarians. But they’re wrong. The Ice Bucket Challenge is awesome. Here are three reasons why.

#1: It raises money for ALS

One of the first ice-bucket-belittlers was Will Oremus at Slate. Oremus argues, fairly convincingly, that the ice bucket challenge initially had nothing to do with ALS (fair enough, but so what?) and then goes on to say that it seems unlikely that the campaign is actually increasing the amount of money being given to ALS – people are probably posting videos, but not donating.

Oremus wrote:

Yet it’s hard to shake the feeling that, for most of the people posting ice bucket videos of themselves on Facebook, Vine, and Instagram, the charity part remains a postscript. Remember, the way the challenge is set up, the ice-drenching is the alternative to contributing actual money. Some of the people issuing the challenges have tweaked the rules by asking people to contribute $10 even if they do soak themselves. Even so, a lot of the participants are probably spending more money on bagged ice than on ALS research.

As for “raising awareness,” few of the videos I’ve seen contain any substantive information about the disease, why the money is needed, or how it will be used. More than anything else, the ice bucket videos feel like an exercise in raising awareness of one’s own zaniness, altruism, and/or attractiveness in a wet T-shirt.

Very catchy, very catty, Will. But the ALS Association has since said that it has raised $15.6 million as a result of the challenge, nine times what it normally raises in the same time frame. Another ALS charity, PROJECT AlS told the Washington Post that its donations were 50 Times Normal.ALS TD,another ALS charity, says that has raised $580,000 since the beginning of August, 10 times what it normally receives.

#2: It encourages people to donate to charity in general.

So people are donating to ALS. The next argument among naysayers is that charity is a kind of zero sum game, and that money actually might be wasted if people invest based on internet memes. This argument was made most memorably by William McAskill, a moral philosopher, on Quartz.

McAskill wrote:

The key problem is funding cannibalism. That $3 million in donations doesn’t appear out of a vacuum. Because people on average are limited in how much they’re willing to donate to good causes, if someone donates $100 to the ALS Association, he or she will likely donate less to other charities.

This isn’t just speculation. Research from my own non-profit, which raises money for the most effective global poverty charities, has found that, for every $1 we raise, 50¢ would have been donated anyway. Given our fundraising model, which asks for commitments much larger than the amount people typically donate, we have reason to think that this is a lower proportion than is typical for fundraising drives. So, because of the $3 million that the ALS Association has received, I’d bet that much more than $1.5 million has been lost by other charities.

But McAskill’s protest is wrong on its face. First, there is 50% more money being given to charity than there would have been previously among this group of donors. And although McAskill fears that there is money and attention being taken away from other charities, it’s equally likely that the result will be to cause those charities to find their own, effective promotion techniques to compete. This is likely to result in even more money being raised for good causes.

McAskill also worries that if the ALS Association is less than half as effective as other charities at creating positive outcomes from the money, then the money it’s “stealing” from other charities is wasted. But that doesn’t seem to be true. At the very least, CharityNavigator gives the ALS Association a high rating. If we only wanted to invest in surefire charities, we’d never invest in any medical research.

#3: The Ice Bucket Challenge Is Raising Enough Money To Matter

The most galling bit of shade being tossed at the ice bucket challenge is that for all the noise it’s generating, it’s useless. This comes from Ezekiel Emanuel, chairman of Medical Ethics & Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania, on Bloomberg TV. And honestly, Zeke should know better.

He said:

Right. I don’t want to pour ice on this whole thing, but one needs to put this all in context. As an example, social media and viral marketing this is amazing. As an example of transforming biomedical research and Lou Gehrig’s disease one needs to be a bit more hesitant and skeptical. I have some very dear, dear, dear friends who a spouse and father died of ALS. So and it is a horrible way to die and it is a disease in great need of interventions that work.

So but there’s a long road to go. And $13 million is very unlikely to be transformative. We need to put this in a much larger context, the National Institutes of Health, which funds a lot of basic research in this country, over $30 billion per year. So $13 million is 0.05 percent of that kind of investment. This is very unlikely to be transformative.

Sure, if you compare it to the entire budget of the National Institutes of Health. But Rob Goldstein, the chief executive of ALS TDI, tells me that the entire amount spent annually on ALS by the feds and charitable organizations like his is $80 million. Against that background, a sum that looks likely to exceed $20 million starts to look significant.

Beyond that, we’ve seen in the world of disease charities that small amounts of money can have a huge impact if they are invested in the right way. To understand why, you have to think like a drug executive. You might believe, for instance, that a drug for ALS is too much of a long-shot to develop. But if a charity defrays all or part of the cost of keeping the project going, it becomes a free bet.

This is exactly how Kalydeco, a cystic fibrosis drug sold by Vertex Pharmaceuticals, was developed using funds from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. There are complaints now that after taking money to develop the drug, Vertex still charges more than $300,000 per patient per year for it, but there is no doubting either Kalydeco’s effectiveness for those with a particular genetic mutation or the effectiveness of funding drug development in this way. The Michael J. Fox Foundation has used similar principles in putting Parkinson’s disease back on the biotech map.

I’d bet that an organization like ALS TDI, which works much like a biotech company, spending all the money it brings in, would be the best way to get bang for your charitable buck. But there’s no reason to doubt that the money could really have an impact, whichever of these organizations people are donating to. And, honestly, I’d think giving money to a program that backs ALS research is a welcome change from disease foundations that devote much of their money to awareness or screening programs that may actually have less of an impact.

I think the people trying to throw cold water on the Ice Bucket Challengesimply need to warm the icy cockles of their own hearts should stop.* It’s great that ALS charities are getting these donations.

Reference,

Forbs

Why its so sacred?

Lord Krishna always wear a peacock feather on his head!

The first reason is the belief that, thepeacock is the only creature in nature that observes complete chastity in life. When he is happy, he dances with his wings and his eyes are filled with tears, Peahen drink these tears & conceives. Peacock does not have, even a tinge of lust in his heart.

The peacock feather contains all the seven colors in it. The entire universe is covered by akasha(ether) which appears blue in day times and black in night. So lord Krishna is identified by both the colors 'Blue' (neela) & 'Black' (shyaama). Krishna paksha in Indian calender means the days that follow after Full-moon day till the New-moon day i.e, the darker phase of 14 days of the moon. Further, he wears the peacock feather which signifies that the entire range of colors (we mortal beings) is in him. In virtue he is colorless but in the day he appears blue, black in the night to our vision and in between make us discuss all this mulch-coloured multi-perceptional views. 

The peacock feather signifies the exuberance of nature. Sri Krishna wears a peacock feather that reminds us of his play with the gopas and gopis of Sri Vrindavana. The male peacock especially has long been a symbol of romantic love, and the rasalila episode of Sri Krishna's life teaches us how this kind of love may be directed to God.

See it once again...its not a pic...

1. Paul Cadden - Pencil on paper

2. Omar Ortiz - Oil on linen

3. Kamalky Laureano - Acrylic on canvas

4. Gregory Thielker - Oil on canvas

5. Lee Price - Oil on linen

6. Ben Weiner - Paintings of paint

7. Ron Mueck - Sculpture and mixed materials

8. Kim Ji-hoon - Pencil

9. Christina K - Drawing on tinted brown paper

10. Ray Hare - Acrylic on canvas

11. Thomas Arvid - Limited edition giclee on canvas

12. Samuel Silva - Ballpoint pen

13. Gottfried Helnwein - Oil and acrylic on canvas

14. Kelvin Okafor - Graphite pencils

15. Robert Longo - Charcoal on mounted paper

16. Diego Fazio - Charcoal pencil

17. Bryan Drury - Oil on wood

Revealing Before-And-After VFX Shots From Your Favorite Movies And TV Series

The Walking Dead

Life of Pi

Game Of Thrones

The Secret In Their Eyes

The Wolf Of Wall Street

Boardwalk Empire

Deadly Honeymoon

The Great Gatsby

Oz, the Great and Powerful

The Avengers

Gravity

The Dark Knight

Alice In Wonderland

The Hobbit

Twilight