शनिवार, 18 अक्तूबर 2014

रविवार, 12 अक्तूबर 2014

PIYAVASANT KI KHOJ | 9789382898412

PIYAVASANT KI KHOJ | 9789382898412

‘पियावसंत की खोज’ आज की एक ज्वलंत समस्या ‘दहेज प्रथा’ पर लिखा गया यथार्थवादी उपन्यास है। इस प्रथा के संदर्भ में यह उपन्यास लिखकर लेखक ने सामयिक धन्यता के क्षण बटोरने का प्रयास न कर तटस्थतावादी दृष्‍टिकोण अपनाया है, किंतु इसका यह अर्थ नहीं कि स्थितियों से उत्पन्न हो रही सामाजिक न्याय-अन्याय की प्रवृत्तियों के प्रति वह निर्लेप रहा है। निर्लेप होता तो इस ज्वलंत प्रश्‍न को स्पर्श ही नहीं करता।
उपन्यास में लेखक का तटस्थतावादी दृष्‍टिकोण प्रारंभ से अंत तक समाजशास्‍‍त्रीय प्रतिनिधि बनकर उभरा है। इसी कारण उसने कन्याओं के अभिभावकों की मनःशिराओं में बह रही दुहरी विचारधारा को विभिन्न चित्रों में रूपायित किया है और उन चिह्नों के व्याज से अपनी औपन्यासिक चिंतनसत्ता को सार्थक बनाने में अपनी पूर्वस्वीकृत समस्त विशिष्‍टताओं के साथ पाठकों के समक्ष प्रस्तुत हुआ है।
इस कृति में जहाँ ढलती हुई उम्र की अविवाहिताओं के प्रति लेखक की वेदना उभरी है, वहीं उसका न्यायाधीश का हृदय भी सजग रहा है कि समर्थ अभिभावक भी कन्याओं के देने के नाम पर बनावटी निढालपन का परिचय देते हैं। अतः दहेज प्रथा पर लिखा गया यह उपन्यास एक फैशन के रूप में नहीं बल्कि तथ्यपरकता का वह शीशा है, जो वादी-प्रतिवादी, दोनों को बेनकाब करता है। आशा है, इसी सामाजिक बोध के साथ यह उपन्यास पढ़ा जाएगा और समादृत होगा।
The Author
Himanshu Shrivastava
हिमांशु श्रीवास्तव हिंदी के उन सौभाग्यशाली लेखकों में से एक हैं, जिन्होंने साहित्यिक राजनीति के दल से अपने को सर्वथा बचाकर रखा और रचनाधर्मिता के क्षेत्र में अनेकशः कीर्तिमान स्थापित किए। उदाहरण के लिए यह निःसंकोच कहा जा सकता है कि इनके एक उपन्यास ‘लोहे के पंख’ के कथन, वर्णन विशद्ता और अनुभव-संसार को हिंदी का कोई अन्य उपन्यासकार अब तक छू नहीं सका; यों प्राणायाम बहुतों ने किए।हिमांशु श्रीवास्तव बिहार के सारण जिलांतर्गत हराजी ग्राम में सन् 1934 में जनमे और सन् 55-56 तक साहित्यिक छल-कपट नहीं, बल्कि अपनी प्रतिभा के कारण सभी धाराओं के समीक्षकों और लेखकों के लिए अविस्मरणीय कथाकार बन गए।अब तक बीस से अधिक उपन्यास, डेढ़ सौ कहानियाँ और तीन नाटक प्रकाशित हो चुके हैं। प्रथम श्रेणी के रेडियो नाटककार के रूप में स्वीकृत-स्थापित। मूर्धन्य समालोचक और साहित्यकार डॉ. रामकुमार वर्मा के शब्दों में—‘‘हिमांशु श्रीवास्तव के उपन्यासों ने हिंदी उपन्यास को गंगा जैसी उदात्तता प्रदान की है।’’

शुक्रवार, 10 अक्तूबर 2014

Self-employed people did not disclose their income truthfully, a court here has said while ordering a man to pay his estranged wife Rs.7,500 per month for the maintenance of his disabled child.
Metropolitan Magistrate Vandana directed the man to pay Rs.7,500 for the maintenance of his son, observing that child’s chronological age is approximately 17 years but his social age is 9- 10 years.
“I find it appropriate to mention here that it is usual tendency of the parties that they do not disclose their income truthfully especially where the parties are self-employed or employed in the unorganized sector,” the magistrate said in the order delivered last week but released Friday.
The court’s ruling came while hearing the woman’s plea seeking interim maintenance from her estranged husband, saying that her savings have finished while taking care of her son and now she wants money to maintain herself and child.
However, the court has refused the woman’s plea seeking maintenance for herself, saying she is well-qualified and capable of maintaining herself and can find a suitable job.
The court observed that woman is a graduate from Delhi University and done certificate course from NIIT and IBM.
“Sitting idle of a person who is educated enough to maintain herself/himself without any reasonable cause cannot be considered a reason for demanding maintenance,” the court said.
“A person who is capable of work, must work.”
The court said: “The educational status and the standard of living of the complainant (wife) seems to be far better than the respondent (husband).”
The petitioner was married to man in November 1995 and they had a child in October 1996.
The woman told court that due to dispute between them, she left the matrimonial house in December 2012 and shifted to Faridabad with their son.
The woman told court that earlier she was financially supporting her husband and given Rs. 4 lakh to him as a capital to start his business. But in 2010, she lost her job.
After that, she started demanding money from her husband for household expenses and treatment of his minor child. Her husband refused her demand on the pretext of not earning well.
However, she claimed that her husband has flourishing business and earning Rs.3 lakh per month and requested court to grant Rs.1.25 lakh as monthly maintenance for her and the child.
However, the man countered his wife’s submission.

The court then estimated that the man must be earning an amount of Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 22,000 per month.

Hong Kong Protests: What it means for the Chinese leadership?


Hong Kong is slated to have elections for the post of Chief Executive (CE) in 2017. However, there is a disagreement between sections of the Hong Kong civil society and Beijing on how these elections are to be conducted. In a nutshell, Hong Kong wants a free and fair democratic elections and not be told the list of candidates it can choose from. Beijing wants that it vets the final list of candidates, fearing probably a CE, who would be critical of government policies. Beijing’s desire to manage the political process in Hong Kong stems from the ‘one country two systems’ model whereby it continues to retain its influence. In all likelihood, it appears that the Occupy Central protests demanding the resignation of the present CE CY Leung would not end in a hurry. These popular protests are not only massive, involving between 20,000 and 50,000 people, but also peaceful drawing inspiration from one of the movement leader’s commentary last year highlighting the utility of civil disobedience. In addition, there are also “Global solidarity with Hong Kong” marches planned across Australia and North America. This movement is led by a group of faculty from Hong Kong University and a teenager Joshua Wang Chi-fung, who has become the global face of Occupy Central. Its participants come from university students and the middle class. The pro-Beijing groups such as the Alliance for Peace and Democracy have undertaken initiatives like March for Peace to divert attention away from Occupy Central groups. Hong Kong business community, with their business linkages with the mainland, have stayed away from the movement and even criticised it from time to time for fears of its impact on their business. Therefore, it is crucial to see how Beijing responds to the developments. There are three factors that deserve attention; First, the legitimacy of the leadership, second, Chinese nationalism and third, the regional implications. The recent official policy guidelines such as ‘China Dream’ and the ‘Great Chinese Rejuvenation’ are based on the revival of nationalism and form the principal pitch of Xi Jinping, the Chinese President and Secretary General of the CPC. Among other things, the ‘China Dream’ expresses an economically, militarily stronger and unified China. However, the recent unrest in Hong Kong is perhaps as big a challenge to this dream as the unrest in Xinjiang. Political reforms in China have always been initiated and led from the top. The middle and lower rung leaders take the flak for any failure while maintaining the hallowedness of the top leaders. By challenging the idea of the ‘China Dream’, the protests in Hong Kong is being perceived as a threat to the leadership in Beijing. The ‘China Dream’ and the revival of the Chinese nation are now seen in conjunction with Taiwan’s reunification with the mainland. For President Xi, Occupy Central is undesirable. China’s understanding of the wrongs in history involves foreigners’ conniving with the anti-national elements from within to weaken the country. If the developments in Hong Kong are to be interpreted on this line, it can be used to charge domestic anti-western nationalism in the mainland sending across a message that “China is angry”. There is a pattern of Chinese nationalism whereby outsiders seem to become easy targets if Chinese national identity is seen as being threatened. Beijing has drawn the red line on Hong Kong. The White Paper released in July 2014 says: “It is necessary to stay alert to the attempt of outside forces to use Hong Kong to interfere in China's domestic affairs, and prevent and repel the attempt made by a very small number of people who act in collusion with outside forces to interfere with the implementation of "one country, two systems" in Hong Kong”.1.It will not take much time for mainland to see a foreign hand in the islanders’ pro-democracy movements. China has also already warned not to get close to the Occupy Central in anyway. Such pronouncements are a clear sign that while the news about Occupy Central will be restricted, it will be used selectively to revive anti-western nationalism in China. China had reacted extremely cautiously during the colour revolutions and during the more recent jasmine revolution that rocked the West Asian regimes. Some reports even suggested that mainland websites restricted the unfolding of events in West Asia. The same is the case with Occupy Central as Instagram and South China Morning Post have been blocked. It is important to note that the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has already called these protests “illegal” and reiterated that Hong Kong remains China’s internal affair.2. The critical question is whether such development could lead to a hardened approach by the Chinese leadership. China’s territorial competitions of claims and counterclaims with a large number of its neighbours on land and at sea are linked with its domestic nationalism, in particular, the East China Sea. In this context, it remains to be seen whether the leaders feel threatened and weakened due to Hong Kong protests and western support for these or whether China would respond by hardening its security posture in some of its territorial disputes.

शनिवार, 4 अक्तूबर 2014

DSM-5 Made Easy: The Clinician’s Guide to Diagnosis | Psych Central

In this indispensable book, master diagnostician James Morrison presents the spectrum of diagnoses in DSM-5 in an accessible, engaging, clinically useful format. Demystifying DSM-5 criteria without sacrificing accuracy, the book includes both ICD-10-CM and ICD-9-CM codes for each disorder. It also includes the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) Scale (from DSM-IV-TR), with a clear rationale for its continued use. More than 130 detailed case vignettes illustrate typical patient presentations; down-to-earth discussions of each case demonstrate how to arrive at the diagnosis and rule out other likely possibilities. Providing a wealth of diagnostic pointers, Morrison writes with the wisdom and wit that made his guide to the prior DSM a valued resource for hundreds of thousands of clinicians and students. His website (www.guilford.com/jm) offers additional discussion and resources related to psychiatric diagnosis and DSM-5.