oppn parties How Blind Faith Makes Even Educated People Forsake Rational Thinking

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  • Supreme Court questions the continuing relevance of two-child norms. The Court observed that falling fertility rates have weakened the population-control rationale behind laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections. It referred the issue to a larger Bench for consideration
  • Supreme Court declines to shift Tirupati laddu case outside Andhra Pradesh. The Court rejected a plea seeking transfer of the trial, despite arguments that political statements by Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister could affect the fairness of proceedings
  • Supreme Court transfers Azam Khan's fresh ED bail plea to Allahabad High Court. The apex court declined to consider the Samajwadi Party leader's bail request in a fresh Enforcement Directorate case and directed that it be listed before a division Bench of the High Court on November 16
  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
  • Gujarat announces 3% dearness allowance hike. The state government announced a three-percentage-point increase in dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali
  • Sensex and Nifty post their strongest single-day gains in months. The Sensex surged 2,008.61 points, or 2.60%, to close at 79,310.01, while the Nifty 50 climbed 576 points, or 2.40%, to 24,536.60. Financial and automobile stocks led the rally, supported by falling crude prices and renewed foreign investor buying
  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
  • Tanvi Patri reaches Youth Olympics badminton final. The 15-year-old defeated Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe in the semi-final, assuring India of a medal and becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach the girls' singles final at the Youth Olympics
  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
  • India beat Japan 4-1 to win a record sixth Asian Champions Trophy. India recovered from an early deficit to defeat Japan in the final at Mohali, extending its record as the tournament's most successful men's team
  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
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How Blind Faith Makes Even Educated People Forsake Rational Thinking

By Linus Garg

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.

 In India, superstition and blind faith score over education and rational thinking most of the times. This was proved once again when a family of three, an orthopedic surgeon, his wife and their physician son committed suicide after being conned out of Rs 5.5 crore by a "rice-pull" gang in Amalapuram in East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh.

The rice-pull con trick is an age-old method in which a person or a group of persons dupe others by claiming to possess magical rice that can attract gold or can double their money. In this case, a gang of four convinced the doctor and his family that they will double what the doctor can give them. The unsuspecting (or foolish?) doctor borrowed Rs 5.5 crore at usurious rates of interest from local money lenders and paid the gang in installments. Once the final payment was made, the gang vanished.

The family, unable to face the creditors who must have realized that the doctor had been conned and must have pressurized them, entered into a suicide pact and ended their lives. The police have arrested one member of the gang and special teams have been formed to apprehend the remaining three.

It is surprising that in this age and time there are educated people who have such deep-rooted beliefs and superstitions and who can be conned in this fashion. People make hundreds of inquiries before investing small amounts in shares or mutual funds but think of nothing before giving such large amounts to complete strangers. More than greed, it is the religious belief and superstition that such powers exist that makes them part with their money.

Unless people inculcate rational thinking, forsake blind faith in rituals and abhor superstition, they will remain easy prey for gangs who feed on their religious beliefs. If money could be doubled by rice pull, the government would not have to worry about fiscal deficit and raid the RBI for a 'measly' sum of Rs 1.76 lakh crore. Narendra Modi would have easily put Rs 15 lakh in the bank account of every Indian (if they needed it, for they could have easily continued to double their money with rice pull and would not have needed government doles) as per his promise and his party would not have to call it a political 'jumla'. The good doctor should have realized that there are no fortune cookies (or rice, in this case) in this world.

 

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