Funny story from the Constituent Assembly Debates:

Shibban Lal Saxena, during the debate on the wording of the Preamble, proposed the following amendment: “In the name of god the Almighty, under whose inspiration and guidance…”

Interestingly, adding “god” to the Preamble was opposed in the Assembly.

Thanu Pillai argued against the compulsion implicit in the amendment by saying that “a man has a right to believe in god or not”. He seemed to be equating the rights of atheists with those of believers.

Purnima Banerji said: “I appeal to Mr Kamath [who had originally proposed adding god] not to put us to the embarrassment of having to vote upon god.” In other words, do not bring god into this.

Rohini Kumar Chaudhuri wanted “In the name of god” to be changed to “In the name of goddess” because, as he said, he “belongs to Kamrup where Goddess Kamakhya is worshipped”.

All these proposals were rejected, and nobody got offended.

UPSC launches ‘My UPSC Interview’ portal to mark its centenary year.

The portal has been created to document and preserve the personal experiences of officers who appeared for the UPSC Personality Test.

Through this initiative, UPSC seeks to celebrate a century of nation-building by chronicling personal journeys that reflect perseverance, integrity, and dedication, qualities central to the ethos of India’s civil services.

https://share.google/nHztHfE26h6Cy7W0n

Its been 1 year since the passing away of Ratan Tata (1937-2024).
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All the major Indian leaders from 1850s to 1920 wanted Indian freedom along with rapid and massive industrialisation. Both moderate and extremists had similar economic vision India.

In the 1930s emerged a new leftist generation of Nehru and Bose which also wanted India's rapid industrialisation.

Beech me 20-25 saal Gandhian phase aayi thi. Which took us in a different direction of village cottage crafts.

But that phase was merely a brief interruption. It was never given policy-level importance. Nehru, Bose, Vishweswariya, Saha, Mahalnobis, Bhatnagar, Mathai etc brought us back to the original dream of industrialisation set by pre-Gandhian leaders.

Tatas have subserved that dream for over 6 generations now. Tatas have helped build the India that was dreamt originally by Dadabhai Naoroji.

Desh ka Namak
Desh ka Tata

- Nikhil

There is this term called as sinicization of religions in China.

Western media, out of its own politics, keeps harping the issue of Sinkiang Muslims in China. But its a much larger topic than that. See this short video.

https://youtu.be/u5bYVoYlRYE

In case of India, our idea is unity is diversity. We have not focussed on promoting Indian elements within Islam and Christianity more and deligitimizing/discouraging external connections.

I think more than preferences, such policies are shaped by the force of historical weight. The choice is not ours.

So far, our policy has worked with some strengths and some weaknesses. So far, the Chinese policy also has worked with some strengths and some weaknesses.

I don't see a clear winner here.

- Nikhil

Today we celebrated Mental Health Day.

Central government's model guidelines for coaching institutes make it mandatory for us to provide professional mental health services to the aspirants. These are totally ignored by most institutes.

LevelUp IAS is the first one who took it seriously. Back in early 2024, we started offering professional mental health services to all aspirants.

It has been more than 1.5 years of our journey now. And its extremely rewarding.

It is done through various topical workshops (sleep cycle, memory enhancement, concentration, screen time, anxiety etc.), one-to-one counselling sessions with mental health professionals, movie screening and mental health campaigns.

It is free, it is for all aspirants.

Here is the video summary. Do watch it...
https://youtu.be/XGPKKrEyA-A

Follow us here for regular updates. Do join us:
https://www.tg-me.com/rebtwithsonali

Nikhil

Important article written by UPSC chairperson Dr. Ajay Kumar.

This article is about governance and policies. He also discusses the role of private sector in various critical sectors.

Important for Essay, GS 2 governance, and Ethics.

Hahaha. This is so funny.

Pollution is not only air pollution but also sound pollution.

Real green firecracker should mean not only without hazardous pollution but also totally silent at the same time. Just colourful light in sky, without any noise whatsoever. Like what we see in many western countries. A beautiful colourful sky with various patterns...

But I don't think that is what is under consideration here. The focus of media, court and govt is only on air pollution. People still want to make loud noise. It will end up disturbing elderly people, infants, ill people, hospitals, students... as well as animals and birds.

Such an unempatheric and anti social discourse. That too in the name of religion and celebration. When will we be civilized?

- Nikhil

When Lord Ram returned to Ayodhya after twelve years of exile, having vanquished Ravana and rescued Sita, the entire city erupted in joy. It was a moment of boundless celebration — the first Diwali.

However, there were no firecrackers in ancient India, for gunpowder had not yet been invented. The people of Ayodhya celebrated by lighting diyas and sharing sweets, filling the city with warmth and light.

Firecrackers came much later, after the invention of gunpowder. It reached India only in the medieval period — not in the age of the Ramayana.

Had such noisy and polluting fireworks existed then, perhaps even the monkeys, eagles, bears, and squirrels who helped Lord Ram would have been terrified. Surely, Lord Ram himself would never have permitted anything that disturbed the peace of nature.

Wouldn't you agree?

- Nikhil

This is how they informed her about the Nobel Peace Prize 2025. What an incredible moment to witness.

Alert

HOT500 2.0 batch for 2026 starting tomorrow.

The sacred Relics of the Buddha enshrined in the National Museum, New Delhi will travel to Russia’s Kalmykia Republic for an exposition, accompanied by a high-level delegation of 11- senior Indian monks who will Bless the local devotees.

https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2177324

Is Gandhiji still significant? UPSC likes to ask questions on Gandhiji almost every year.

Here is the answer by the recent Nobel Peace laureate Maria Machado. Gandhi is still significant. See the image.

Incidentally, Mahatma Gandhi, one of the most iconic figures of non-violence in the 20th century, was widely considered a deserving recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. Gandhi was nominated several times (1937, 38, 39, 47, 48) but was never awarded the prize.

Do you know why the greatest Peace advocate of the 20th century didnt get the greatest Peace Prize of the 20th century?

The suicide of an IPS officer has justifiably caused a storm.

What is noteworthy is that people are discussing caste angle everywhere. Which is definitely a major dimension and should not be denied.

But no one is discussing the other part of the story which is also important. Its the strained mental health of bureaucrats. Scientifically, suicide is always connected to mental health.

At larger level, mental health is a major issue faced by a lot of bureaucrats.

And yet, there is still hush hush about it. People need to speak up. We need to speak up. Until we recognize its existence, we cannot respond to it in a supportive way.

- Nikhil

https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/y-puran-kumar-suicide-dalit-atrocities-in-bureaucracy-cji-gavai-10300770/lite/

Now the book has reached Fareed Zakaria show.

https://www.indiatoday.in/amp/india/story/world-forgot-how-ancient-india-shaped-it-william-dalrymple-tells-fareed-zakaria-2802693-2025-10-14

Deobandi is very powerful. One can choose to see it the way one wants.

Deobandi movement was created post suppression of 1857 to go back to pure Islam. It opposed the modernist/westernizing trend of Aligarh movement.

While Aligarh movement ultimately led to the creation of Pakistan, deobandis had consistently opposed the partition of India in 1947. They opposed Jinnah and supported Akhand Bharat, yes. But why? Because they considered this entire country is supposed to be the country of Muslims also, and they should not be confined to one corner of the subcontinent.

Nonetheless, India was still partitioned. Consequently, a lot deobandi madrasas were left in Pakistan. And then came Taliban movement. This Taliban movement was the outcome of students from the Deobandi madrasas in Pakistan and Afghanistan in 1980s.

Cut to 2025. Recently, the Taliban minister visited the Deobandis during his India visit. Its very much like visiting his alma mater.

https://www.newindianexpress.com/amp/story/web-only/2025/Oct/13/muttaqis-deoband-visit-and-the-soft-power-lesson-it-holds-for-india

There was a time when Indian colleges offered very modern affordable education to third world leaders/their families. Our universities used to be the alma maters of many state leaders from Nepal/Bhutan and Myanmnar to many countries from Africa. That was our soft power. It was in 1950s-70s. And it did help our diplomacy during that phase.

That era is long gone. We dont prefer to send our own children to our colleges anymore. And then this Deobandi alma mater news has come up.

Is it a soft power we should be proud of? I am not so sure.

- Nikhil