Miffed's Scribblings

Introduced by the United Nations General Assembly, World Press Freedom Day is annually celebrated on May 3rd every year. This day celebrates the importance of freedom of the press and raises awareness for the same. The agenda of this day is to remind the government to respect and uphold the right to freedom of expression which is represented under Article 19 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In the year 1991, an African journalist devised a principle that is universally called the Windhoek Declaration. It is a statement of press freedom that includes the flexibility of a press release. This principle states that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic media, especially published material should be considered a right to be exercised freely. This declaration is a call for the government to strengthen press freedom and ensure the safety of the journalist during their work hours. World Press Freedom Day was announced of...

Schoolbooks mentioned something called barter as the most primal form of transaction, before the invention of currency. This is something that I generally do not get to see nowadays if I exclude the answers exchanged with the people sitting beside me in certain exams. I am sure it is true for most other people too. That is exactly why I have been trying to visit Jonbeel Mela. But one or the other way my efforts go in vain. I’ve always heard my elder brother preaching about Joonbeel, and how it reflected the way of life people are accustomed to. How the economic ways are different and unique from that of us. To be frank it was my brother and his photographs taken at Joonbeel that made me more attracted towards it. For the uninitiated, Jonbeel Mela in Assam is a yearly fair where people from different ethnic groups gather and exchange goods without using any money, just like their ancestors used to do. The exact year of start is probably not known but it is a tradition that has been ca...

"Ye PUBG wala hai kya?" Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked a mother who raised concerns about her son being too involved in online games during the "Pariksha pe Charcha 2.0" event on Tuesday, 29th of January 2019. The ground reality is that online, multi-player games have taken over the millennials big time in India, sending the earlier individual mobile games like Candy Crush, Temple Run, Clash of Clans, etc. into oblivion. Youngsters in smaller towns and cities can now be seen playing two such battlefield Internet games- PlayersUnknown Battleground (PUBG) and Fortnite- as smartphone penetration increases in leap and bound (there are nearly 430 million smartphone users in India now). These "survival of the fittest" games where mobile users fight each other in real-time using virtual warfare techniques, have eclipsed single-player mobile games, say industry experts. According to a report by the Mobile Marketing Association(MMA) and Kantar IMRB in a...

She is at once amongst the most known and most mysterious of American cultural figures. Emily Dickinson was a constant summons to me to think about language and its preciousness. And not only its preciousness but its power. For many years one of the most fascinating mysteries of American literature has been the personal life of Emily Dickinson. The first time when I read Emily, I was astonished with the kind of lifestyle she had. The themes in her poetry were something beyond its reach to her readers back then. The major poets of her day wrote epics, long pieces that tell a story. While these poets looked outward writing about history and culture, Dickinson wrote lyrics, and poems about the inner life of thoughts and feelings. Her themes and messages were considered too dark and gloomy at first but as of today, she is one of the most read and researched poets in the world. I always wanted to write something about Dickinson. During my college days, I hardly gave a thought to it and ...

WHAT IS THE CITIZENSHIP BILL? The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, is an attempt to amend India’s citizenship law to ease the process of obtaining Indian citizenship. However, in its present form, the Bill would make undocumented migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians, eligible for citizenship. The Third Schedule of the Citizenship Act provides for conditions to obtain citizenship by naturalisation. Two relevant points in this regard are that it does not apply to illegal immigrants, and to obtain citizenship one has to have resided in India for 12 years consecutively. The proposed amendment would reduce this time to six years. The Bill presumes that all persons who belong to the mentioned religions and come from the specified countries are persecuted minorities. Considering that atheists too have come under attack in the list of countries, one could wonder why atheists are not included. The problem with...

“Joy always follows on the heels of pain. If a person escapes a mindset that current events represent an ongoing tragedy, they will encounter and comprehend all the beauty that surrounds them. We find bliss by living alertly and unequivocally accepting whatever is occurring in the present moment. If a person realizes that the present moment is all that matters, they will gain an inner stillness and appreciate the beauty and joy of each day.” ― Kilroy J. Oldster The only requirement for eternal bliss is the desire to attain it. Bliss is an essential part of what we know as spiritual enlightenment—bliss is the state of total peace, contentment, and joy that is experienced when we are one with the Universe, or our chosen Higher Power. It is a state of total transcendence where all the ebbing and flowing of life moves around the blissful individual, never impairing their divine state. We’ve come to know that enlightenment does not always mean feeling great, but bliss can coexist even with ...

Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God can bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. Corinthians 9:6-8 Christmas is popularly known as a season of celebration and rejoicing. It truly is however it gains more meaning when the season is added with more of giving and sharing. This season is all about giving and that should not just stop with your family and friends. It is important to spread the joy of the holiday season to others. The holidays are always a time of year when people from all walks of life take time to celebrate each other, their children, and better days to come.   The Christmas holiday is about people’s thoughts and hearts surrendering to the season of giving.   Sharing w...