Science versus Miracles: Planchette / Ouija Board

B. Premanand Effect: Working of the planchette board. Four persons, one among them is the spirit medium, touch the planchette (ouija board) lightly on four sides and concentrate on the spirit to come and give an answer to the question. Suddenly the planchette starts moving and it gives an answer. Planchette / Ouja Board Props: Planchette Method: While concentrating, the medium assists the volunteers to concentrate and the more intensely the thought-process is directed towards...

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Annihilation of Caste - Revolution and Counter Revolution

Ram Puniyani Dalit activist and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member of parliament in the Lok Sabha, Udit Raj, in his recent article in the Indian Express titled"‘Where is The Indian Lincoln" highlights some pertinent questions and brings forth the issue of the caste related atrocities. But he goes on to hide things which are more crucial to the process of caste annihilation. He is on the dot when he says that atrocities against Dalits are due to a mindset which regards them inferior. While this explains how such acts have been...

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Fascism and the BJP

Subhendu Sarkar It becomes obligatory, at times, to cite an old cliché. The present socio-political scenario in India compels one to remember that history repeats itself and in doing so serves the role of a teacher― it throws a welcome light on the contemporary events and helps negotiate and overcome an otherwise baffling crisis. Indeed, quite a few recent events in India do appear in an altogether new perspective when seen in the context of one of the darkest episodes of modern world history―...

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Kandhamal: Long Wait for Justice

Ram Puniyani Today, nearly a decade later when we are remember with pain the horrific violence of Kandhmal in 2008, many issues related to the state of affairs of communal violence, state of minorities, the state of justice delivery system come to one’s mind.  The incident  Just to recall, Orissa witnessed unprecedented violence against the Christian minority in August 2008. On August 23, 2008, Swami Laxmananand along with his four followers was killed, probably...

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Science versus Miracles: Water Divining with a Y-shaped Twig

B. Premanand When the water-diviner feels the currents psychically, the Y-shaped twig starts moving. The persons who create motivating force through idiomotor response do not have any idea that they are the cause. It is these involuntary muscle movements, which cause the water divining stick to revolve and the planchet to work. Effect: Water divining by a Y-shaped branch of a tree. Props: Y-shaped branch of a tree. Method: With little unconscious pressure on the two branches...

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