Sabarimala Temple and Hinduism

Yes, Indian society is chauvinist/patriarchal/misogynist. And this chauvinism/patriarchy/misogyny (CPM) comes from 1000 years of Turkish/Mughal/British feudalism – not from Hinduism. So the traditional bar on females (of age 10-50) at Sabarimala temple had nothing to do with today's Indian society's CPM.

What is Hinduism? It is not a monolithic religion like Islam and Christianity with a uniform set of beliefs and practices. Hinduism is a way of life with a thousand different traditions – each with its own unique set of beliefs and practices. This co-existence of a multitude of different traditions – ie, diversity – is what gives Hinduism (and India) its strength. So the best way to weaken Hinduism (and India) is to erase this diversity by imposing an artificial uniformity in the name of a false equality. And that is exactly what liberals have done. They cleverly portrayed the bar on girls/women at Sabarimala as another instance of Indian society's CPM – and won the battle.

There are about 2 lakh temples in India. All except around 20 of them - ie, 99.99% - allow both men and women. Around 10 temples don't allow men and around 10 don't allow women. This is due to the unique traditions of these 0.01% temples. It has nothing to do with 'equality' or 'inequality'.

Many right-thinking Hindus are trying to defend Sabarimala against the Supreme Court verdict by talking about the entry of women into mosques. This is a wrong approach. If tomorrow Supreme Court orders the entry of women into mosques, then will that make the Sabarimala verdict right? Should Hindus then accept the Sabarimala verdict? Absolutely not. The bar on girls/women aged 10-50 at Sabarimala is based on a logical reason, and should therefore remain - regardless of whether women are allowed into mosques or not. Entry of women into mosques is a separate issue - and must not be connected with Sabarimala in any way whatsoever.

See:
1. A brief explanation of the Sabarimala tradition (5 mins)
2. A detailed explanation of the Sabarimala tradition - 1 (25 mins)
3. A detailed explanation of the Sabarimala tradition - 2 (25 mins)
4. Famous temples where MEN are not allowed

Jobs, Wages and Employment in India

Key features of jobs, wages and employment in India*:
1. Growth creates fewer jobs than it used to.
- A 10% increase in GDP now results in less than 1% increase in employment.
- Unemployment among the youth and higher educated has reached 16%.
2. Wages are rising but they are below the 7th Pay Commission's minimum.
- Wage rates have grown in most sectors at 3% per year or more.
- 82% of male and 92% of female workers earn less than ₹10,000 a month.
3. Replacement of workers by machines has slowed down.
- ₹ 1 crore of fixed capital in organised manufacturing supports 10 jobs.
- Contract workers are nearly 30% of all workers in organised manufacturing.
4. Productivity has increasingly diverged from wages.
- Labour productivity in organised manufacturing increased by 6 times over the past 30 years, but wages increased by only 1.5 times.
5. 'Surplus Labour' industries still dominate as 'new' service economy grows slowly.
- 'Surplus labour' based industries account for more than 50% of service sector employment.
6. Gender disparities are still high but are reducing in some cases.
- Women are 16% of all service sector workers but 60% of domestic workers.
- Women earn 65% of men's earnings.
7. Women's participation in the paid workforce is low but some states perform much better than others.
- While only 20 women are in paid employment for every 100 men in UP, this number is 50 in Tamil Nadu and 70 in the North East.
- Government programs are crucial.
8. Caste disparities are large but government policy is reducing them.
- Scheduled castes are 18.5% of all workers but 46% of leather workers.
- Caste earnings gap is larger than gender earnings gap.
9. Crafts remain big employers and are central to the rural non-farm economy.
- With over 500 officially listed arts and crafts, the sector represents immense cultural value, ecological positives and crores of jobs.

*Source: "State of Working in India 2018" (PDF) by Centre for Sustainable Employment, Azim Premji University.

Law Of Learning

LAW OF LEARNING

Learning happens when we transition from one state to another. And the amount of learning is proportional to the difference between the two states.