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Nirmukta Videos

Perspectives from natural and social sciences and the humanities. Thinkfest 2014 was organised by Nirmukta Chennai Freethinkers and Orinam on 23rd Feb 2014. Panel discussion by Prof.Kalpana Karunakaran, Dr.L.Ramakrishnan, Ravichandran R, Poongulali.B and Shambavi.

Science & Philosophy

  • What’s So Moral About AIDS Anyway?July 5, 20141

    What’s So Moral About AIDS Anyway?

    Well, to answer the question in the title, Dr Harsha Vardhan, India’s new Union Health Minister in the BJP-led government, certainly thinks so. In an interview with The New York Times, Dr Vardhan expressed his reservation about the promotion of condom usage in AIDS awareness and prevention campaigns. He said: The thrust of the AIDS campaign should not only be on the use of condoms…This sends the wrong message that you can have any kind of illicit sexual relationship, but […]

  • Of ‘hate hags’, witch-hunts, and the Orwellian WomanApril 6, 201411

    Of ‘hate hags’, witch-hunts, and the Orwellian Woman

    The term ‘hate hag’, used to describe “women supporters of Narendra Modi” in an Outlook Magazine article recently gained currency, especially on social media. Vrinda Gopinath, who authored the article, clearly referred to three women—Madhu Kishwar, Tavleen Singh, and Sandhya Jain—as ‘Modi’s mausis’ (Modi’s aunts)

  • Play and Prejudice: Inter-caste marriages and Vijay Tendulkar’s KanyadaanMarch 27, 20142

    Play and Prejudice: Inter-caste marriages and Vijay Tendulkar’s Kanyadaan

    Vijay Tendulkar’s 1983 Marathi play Kanyadaan is explosive and disturbing. For this play, Tendulkar, a true giant in the world of Marathi literature and theatre, was awarded with the ‘Saraswati Samman’ and he had a shoe hurled at him at a Dalit conference.

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Pseudoscience & Religion

  • Astrology Flops Again!May 16, 20141

    Astrology Flops Again!

    Press note of our million rupee astrological challenge results: I had made a prediction when we put forward our challenges to astrologers and all those who possess supernatural powers of prediction to forecast the results of the elections of 2014 – I had said whoever may win or lose but astrology will be a flop and I am glad that my prediction has come true again! We had posed twenty questions to them to predict the results including a googly […]

  • Predict Election Results And Win 1 Million Rupees!April 27, 201421

    Predict Election Results And Win 1 Million Rupees!

    We have been inviting all those who claim supernatural powers of prediction to come forward and show their efficiency but forecasting the results for the elections from many decades. The elections of 2014 are the most interesting ones and most important from the point of view of the nation. We would like to test the acumen of these innumerable such claimants from all corners of this country and hence have put forward this offer of one million Indian rupees to […]

  • Schools are not Battlegrounds for Religions!March 8, 20147

    Schools are not Battlegrounds for Religions!

    I received today a communication on Facebook, shrieking that it was unjust for the authorities to consider suspension of a teacher who made students shout ‘Jai Shri Ram’ or Hail Lord Rama! in school. Was it Shri Ram or Jesus Christ that was born in India, it demands angrily. Can I not praise my Lord Rama in my own country, it wails. Does Bharat i.e. India belong to Hindus or to the westerners, it asks mindlessly. How dare they make […]

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Freethought Activism

  • Chennai Pride March – Photo EssayJuly 10, 20146

    Chennai Pride March – Photo Essay

    (This Photo Essay was put together by Soorya Sriram, a member of Chennai Freethinkers) On 29th June 2014, Chennai saw a group of loving, caring and awesome people come together and march for Chennai Pride 2014 .

  • Report on Thinkfest 2014March 13, 20141

    Report on Thinkfest 2014

    (With inputs from Poonguntan Cibi and Manojkiran) Thinkfest is the annual programme organized by Chennai Freethinkers, a regional group of Nirmukta, during which science popularizers, humanists and freethought activists are invited to share their ideas with the general public. Thinkfest 2014 took place on 23rd February 2014.

  • Jamaat-e-Islami Hind’s HomophobiaJanuary 16, 201411

    Jamaat-e-Islami Hind’s Homophobia

    I was walking past Azad Maidan on my way to CST when I saw something that caught my eye. It was, as most things at Azad Maidan are, a protest. But the nature of the protest is what intrigued me: it was a “protest against homosexuality”, organised by Jammat-e-Islami Hind (JIH), which appraised the Supreme Court verdict of December 11th, 2013, which effectively criminalized consensual same-sex between adults under the archaic Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. This wasn’t […]

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Humor & Creative Arts

  • Life in the world of Involuntary behaviorsMay 30, 20143

    Life in the world of Involuntary behaviors

    I tic and twitch and tap and swear, As I get on with my life of care. Non- sense phrases invade my speech, As I get on with the problem to teach. Patients come in and patients walk out, I see fear in their eyes as they see me tic. Interns gaze at me in awe, The new nurse has a frown plastered on her face!

  • Thoughts From A Secular HumanistApril 20, 201228

    Thoughts From A Secular Humanist

    I have no invisible authority I am not mentally enslaved, I am not an unworthy sinner Who is waiting to be saved. My actions are my own Responsibility for which I will take, Credit for the good and penalty for the bad The payment for my deeds only I can make. I’m not the innocent, confused child; ‘Humble’ messengers try to find, I’m a skeptic with adult reasoning Who has left Faith behind. The answers gifted by logic and reason […]

  • A Debate between GenerationsMarch 5, 201228

    A Debate between Generations

    The year is 2032 CE and I have perhaps kicked the bucket much earlier. Ananya, my eight year old grand-daughter currently, has since become a Rocket scientist and she likes to discuss philosophical issues with her grandmother, my wife, whom she calls as “Avva” meaning Grandma in our mother tongue Telugu.

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