Indian politics

[jayakris]

Sandhi in Sanskrit seems close to jodna (to unite). Jod is also used in math for summation, it’s also used to say attach, glue, affix etc. but essentially the same root meaning. Surprised you haven’t come across this word, Jay. Even jugaad may have been derived from jod.

Actually there is no samskRtam root "jOd" with that meaning (or other roots that start with "j" which are anyway rather few in samsRtam). in fact I finally figured out that it probably comes from a couple of somewhat rarer samskRtam words -- "yuti" which is an astronomical word for conjunction of stars and "yUdhI" which is like a formed group or flock. "yUdhI karOti" in samskRtam would be "to flock together". "jOdna" in Hindi might have come from a root "yU' sound that refers to join, joining, unifying, unity etc - those other Indo-germanic words also coming from the same proto-Aryan root sound.

[prasen9]

Right, the interesting thing is that in Hindi that root has been diverged to mean two different (but related) things. Has not happened in Bangla. Fascinating.

[Atithee]

Jay, I never said Jod is related to Sanskrit. You asked Wray a close word could be and I suggested Sandhi.

[prasen9]

The Sanskrit root may be Yuj from which yukta comes, which means united, etc. Or jvara. I do not know Sanskrit. So, someone who knows can overrule my conjecture.

[jayakris]

Jay, I never said Jod is related to Sanskrit. You asked Wray a close word could be and I suggested Sandhi.

I was just looking for sanskrit words, as you were also looking at samskritham words. "sandhi" is the more common word in sanskrit for joining, like you said. But that can't be a root for "jOdna" in Hindi, so I was looking for other words.

The Sanskrit root may be Yuj from which yukta comes, which means united, etc. Or jvara. I do not know Sanskrit. So, someone who knows can overrule my conjecture.

That may be the direct root of jOdna! I saw that there were some words that had the base "yu" sound that refers to a concept of joining, with different words with different tints coming out of it.

[srini]

Baffles me India observes a day of national mourning with Flag at half mast etc! Is it all part of the Cr*p that comes with being a member of commonwealth? Expressing condolences is one thing and being in mourning is a different al together isn't it ? Anyone know why India is still obliged to mourn if the Queen or King of looters passes ?after all the looters of piddly island tortured some freedom fighters in Adaman prisons and would have held on to the prized colonial possession longer may be upto 1990s if not for they got busy with gobbling up the major chunk of post WW2 re-construction projects and we still mourn the old hag!! Sorry for being harsh but it's just loathing

[SaniaFan]

What are you saying??? They did so much for India
https://www.opindia.com/2022/09/queen-e ... ing-india/

[prasen9]

Yes, someone should say something. We have a spineless opposition. A brainy one would have used this to pillory the government for doing this. We need a better opposition. And, of course, a better government.

[srini]

Yes, someone should say something. We have a spineless opposition. A brainy one would have used this to pillory the government for doing this. We need a better opposition. And, of course, a better government.

Yes and as you have also pointed out, we need a better opposition too!
I think the problem with the Indian political parties is they don't have any internal democracy. Most of them are family run or single charismatic person leading it. And if the leader dies, such parties struggle to even find a replacement as 2nd in line are never mentored. All ills of democracy like horse-trading, resort politics, communal appeasement etc are much more visible in countries like India. In some developed nations also, some ills like lobbying, corruption exist in huge proportions.

I personally feel democracy is an out-dated form of governance and is no more relevant in the current world order. After all what is democracy ? People send their representatives to legistature to make laws and policies.The whole idea of representation instead of people directly involving themselves in law making is because everyone can't sit in the legislature due to space constraint! But after seeing how many are still working from home in post-covid world why does every citizen need to sit in legislature for law making when we can use technology to create an interface/system for interested citizens to directly involve/contribute in law making? With the kind of technology maturity and proper use of bio metrics it shouldn't be difficult to validate a citizen and involve the citizens in law making. All it needs is to start such a project as pilot while not removing democracy altogether and scale up slowly. One may ask why would citizens be motivated to involve in law/policy making? The same logic behind the open source software...Name and fame and may be rewarding any innovation in policy and decision making by promoting the enterprising citizen to higher rungs in this system ladder can motivate citizens , isn't it? This kind of system is not democracy but can be called some thing like opencracy etc

[prasen9]

Direct democracy has its advantages and disadvantages. For starters, who will write the laws? Laws are very complex. Some running 1500 pages in the U.S. for one bill, etc. And, who will vet it? I could go towards more of a direct democracy but that may increase majoritism. With the current system, there at least is some degree of separation.

[srini]

For starters, who will write the laws? Laws are very complex. Some running 1500 pages in the U.S. for one bill, etc.

You wouldn't believe how many lines of open source code and algorithms are developed and tested by developers for free, all just for name and fame and some self contentment too

[Kumar]

Finally a congress party president election. For almost 40 years, Gandhi Clan has ruled the roost.

List of past presidents.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-ne ... 5-amp.html


The article about the past election! Biggest loss for india was the death of Rajesh Pilot.

https://www.indiatoday.in/news-analysis ... 2022-09-30

I wish the election is free of the family influence, but already there are talks that kharge has the blessing. A very close election will do lot more to revive this party.

[Kumar]

Direct democracy has its advantages and disadvantages. For starters, who will write the laws? Laws are very complex. Some running 1500 pages in the U.S. for one bill, etc. And, who will vet it? I could go towards more of a direct democracy but that may increase majoritism. With the current system, there at least is some degree of separation.

Biggest benefit of democracy is status quo! It ensures that we don’t move backward at a fast rate (slowly sliding back is an acceptable goal for democracy) . Sometimes, i feel that monarchy is not worse. The worst case we wait for the bad king to die and hope that next king will be a decent guy. In today’s democracy, there is no hope that next govt will do anything for u.

[jayakris]

"Slowly sliding back is an acceptable goal for democracy".... Haha, I like that line

[prasen9]

You wouldn't believe how many lines of open source code and algorithms are developed and tested by developers for free, all just for name and fame and some self contentment too

You know and I know that I know that and believe in that. However, I also know that that is nowhere enough to support our software infrastructure. Most large-scale software is developed by companies for profit notwithstanding some major exceptions such as linux, etc. So, we cannot really survive only on open source code.

Direct democracy as a supplement, even a supplement that is often liberally used, is a great idea. But, I do not think we can crowdsource government by direct democracy. Or prevent the tyranny of majorities, etc.