In Delhi, the RSS launched Ekta Abhiyan in the same year as an outreach to non-Sikh Hindus to counter the deep psychological divide the Congress was creating. Various programmes were launched, including seminar and cultural events, highlighting the sacrifices and contributions of Sikh gurus to nation-building and protection of Dharma.

Traumatic 1984

The year proved to be the most testing and traumatic in the history of India and for the Sikhs. An emboldened Bhindranwale had taken over Sri Harmandir Sahib. Indira Gandhi who had nurtured him and turned mostly a blind eye to Khalistani terrorists periodically massacring Punjabis both non-Sikh Hindus and Hindus, now decided to send the army into Harmandir Sahib or the Golden Temple. Operation Blue Star became a humiliating trauma to the Sikhs an eternal wound.

The year 1984 also saw parallel activities by the RSS.

In 1984, the Punjab Kalyan Forum organised a conference Punjab Today. General J S Aruora, the liberator of Bangladesh, openly declared in the conference that Khalistan was futile fantasy. Dr Mann Singh, another prominent Sikh and a retired principal of Amritsar medical college, denounced the separation between Sikhs and Hindus and stated categorically that the Sikhs were a part of the Hindu community and their duty was to protect India.

These initiatives posed a challenge to the core Khalistan-separatist ideology and terrorists and the divisive manoeuvring of Nehruvian dynast politics. The RSS also launched Punjab Peedit Sahayata Samiti which worked in terrorism-hit rural Punjab.

It distributed relief measures to the families of terror victims. They helped them with their livelihoods and sponsored the education of the children of the affected families. In the cities of Amritsar, Ferozepur, Batala etc, swayamsevaks donated 109 bottles of blood to 300 people wounded by Pakistan-sponsored Khalistan terrorists. They also provided the hospitals taking care of terror victims Rs 70,000 worth life-saving medicines.

All these steps naturally made RSS the target.

After Operation Blue Star, the RSS got involved in a series of activities to alleviate the pain experienced by the nation on account of the action on the Golden Temple.

Akhil Bharatiya Karyakari Mandal of the RSS while expressing its deep anguish at the sad course of events making the Army action inevitable in Punjab to flush out the terrorists from the Golden Temple Complex identified with clinical precision, "the low-level political rivalry indulged in by the ruling Congress (l) and the Akali Dal and factional fighting within both the parties" for the spiralling down of the situation into murderous events.

Expressing great distress to all our countrymen, more so to the devout Sikhs the RSS exhorted all our countrymen in general and Swayamsevaks in particular to come forward to restore the pristine glory of our Darbar Sahib through all possible means including Kar Seva''.

That year, for the sanghs Guru Puja programmes in most places, the prominent Sikhs even if they had differences with the RSS were invited. Kushwant Singh, the wel- known RSS baiter, was invited to preside over the Guru Puja at Chennai, where Singh to his credit declared that none could doubt the patriotic fervour of the RSS . In Delhi, the veteran Sikh scholar Padma Sri Dr Attar Singh presided over the Guru Puja of the RSS. He said:

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Punjab Of The 1980s: Nehruvian Laboratory Versus Healing Hindutva - Swarajya

Sukhbir Badal addressing a press conference at Chandigarh after core committee meeting

CHANDIGARH, PunjabThe Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) today stated that BJP-led centre government is repeating Congress blunders of divide and rule by dividing Sikhs and Hindus in Punjab and asked its former ally to shun this exercise. Akali Dal also repeatedly placed national unity above everything in the resolution passed during its core committee meeting held on Thursday.

Do not repeat Congress blunders of divide and rule. Do nothing that weakens national unity or disturbs the peace and communal harmony for which Punjabis, especially the SAD, have made supreme sacrifices, says a Resolution of the Core Committee of the party.

The resolutionexpressed deep concern and anxiety over ominous signs of a deep conspiracy to divide Hindus and Sikhs and farmers and traders.

This is an anti-national conspiracy and the SAD will fight against it with all the resources at its disposal. Farmers agitation is a peoples movement which is a totally peaceful, democratic and secular movement. This was visible in the all-round support to the Bharat Bandh lent by every section of society, said the party.

The party urged the Government of India not to take any reckless or repressive steps that might deepen festering emotional wounds in the farmers minds and weaken the sacred cause of peace and communal harmony in India.

The meeting was presided over by SAD president Sukhbir Badal. Giving details of the meeting to the media, Harcharan Bains, Principal Advisor to Badal said that the SAD will observe the centenary of the party as Sangharsh Samarpan Divas for Sarbat da Bhala, with a focus on Kisan interests and justice for them.

He said, The SADwill fully safeguard peace and communal harmony in Punjab and the rest of the country at all costs and will exposeand defeatevery conspiracy against these ideals. The party is convinced that no progress in the countryis possible without Peace, communal harmony and national unity, said Bains, adding thatunfortunatelysome people are not happy over this prevailing peace and harmony.

Asking the government not to be stubborn or stand on prestige against the annadata of the country, the SAD resolution asked If the government is willing to change every clause of the old Acts, then why is it standing on prestige to revoke them After all, if you are conceding all demands of the farmers, why not put it all in the new Act and end the debate once and for all?

The party said, The deep-rooted conspiracy is being hatched to paint the movement of the patriotic farmers in communal and separatist colours. The movement is not only peaceful and democratic but also totally secular and nationalist and patriotic. The sons of a large number of the agitators are right now defending the borders of the country against China and Pakistan. They come from families that have shed blood in the defense of the country in all the wars including 1948, 1965, 1971, the Kargil war, and now in Galwan in Ladakh. Only a few days ago, the young son of the farmers from Taran Taran sacrificed his life fighting the Pakistani attempts at the intrusion on the LoC in Kashmir.

The party which remained in alliance with the saffron party for 28 years without any gap, alleged that the Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh is playing a traitorous role to weaken the movement in secret alliance with the Government of India. He kept holding secret meetings with those in power at the center and his only input has been to try and cause divisions. Strangely, the CM of a predominantly agricultural state has no word of advice for the center as Captain telling the farmers only to be responsible, it said.

Continued here:

BJP repeating Congress blunders of dividing Sikhs and Hindus in Punjab: Akali Dal - Sikh24 News & Updates

India is still in the middle of a pandemic, every day we read of more deaths, people who were attacked by the virus are going to live with neurotic disorders/kidney/ heart/liver maladies, the bottomless trough of deprivation into which the sudden lockdown drove millions of migrant workers has neither been recognised nor dealt with, lakhs of farmers agitate for access to minimum subsistence, and India is in the middle of economic decline. Yet huge sums of money are going to be spent on the spatial remaking of history, from temples to Parliament.

The scale and the costs of the project of spatial reordering are enormous. The mind boggles. Emerald green, verdant lawns, impressive broad avenues, the sweep of architectural magnificence that extends from the national museum to Janpath via the archives, and above all our beloved and majestic Parliament will either be demolished or replaced. A major part of our history is going to be demolished and replaced.

The new structures and spaces will bear no history and embody no collective memory. They will not speak to us of battles lost by the colonial power and won by the freedom struggle, of citizens demonstrations and protest movements against government policies, of political fasts, of celebrations, of family picnics and memories of romantic meetings on the lawns of the Central Vista. They will symbolise only the overweening desire for personal glory of a ruling class that wants us to forget our democratic past, howsoever flawed the past might have been.

The irony of history is that most ruling classes, intoxicated by power, forget that this phase will pass. Shelleys evocative poem Ozymandias, which most of us learnt by heart in school, tells a story of the pathetic remains of a statue of a former king. Upon the pedestal of the statue was carved: My name is Ozymandias King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! Years down the line nothing remains of the boastful king. Round the decay/Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare/The lone and level sands stretch far away. But people in power seldom think, so hallucinogenic is absolute power. All they want to do is to imprint history with their names. For this, they write a new history for a new country in new spatial forms. They want to obliterate other histories that might tell a different story of men and women who secured and exercised power.

What we remember

Can there be a new history that replaces an old one? History is not a leather shoe that has grown old and needs to be replaced. History is a vibrant battlefield of ideas and memories that persist into the indefinite future. Some memories overlap and some clash. We remember all, for history is plural. When we remember our post-independence history, what is it that we remember? At the midnight hour which heralded the advent of independence, Jawaharlal Nehru gave his tryst with destinys speech in the central hall of the Constituent Assembly, now Parliament. The address delivered in his usual elegant style and incomparable language is one of the most famous speeches in the world. His words exuded a sense of excitement and hope as he welcomed Indias independence for which generations had aspired and fought for.

Also read: When the Supreme Courts Vista of the Law is Clouded By Great Expectations

But Nehru was also painfully aware that independence had come to us bathed in blood. Partition was the price that India had to pay for freedom. The dark underbelly of independence was the violence that erupted even before the tricolour replaced the flag of the Empire. And Pandit Nehru was there, in the killing fields of Punjab and Delhi, persuading people to desist from violence, assuring Muslims of their safety, and appealing to Muslims who had left for Pakistan to come back. The deadly spiral of violence eluded the grasp of the interim Prime Minister of independent India, but he was there among his own people.

On the night of August 25 in a small town of Sheikhupura near Lahore which had a population of 10,000 Muslims and ten 10,000 Sikhs and Hindus, a massive battle exploded between communities. Twenty-four hours later several thousand people, mainly Sikh and Hindu, had been murdered in a frenzy of stabbing, shooting, beating and burning. Parts of the town were on fire. No attempt was made to quell the violence. A journalist wrote that Sikhs were afraid to go to the hospital and preferred to shelter in the Gurudwara without basic facilities.

The sight was appalling, hands and feet of men and women had been cut off and their forearms were reduced to black putrescent fly-covered stumps. Babies and children had been cut and slashed. When Nehru visited a few days later he found himself sick with horror at the sight; the stink of blood and burnt flesh was inescapable. He wrote to Mountbatten in deep depression, I suppose I am not directly responsible for what is taking place in the PunjabBut in any event I cannot and do not wish to shed responsibility for my people. If I cannot discharge the responsibility effectively then I begin to doubt whether I have any business to be where I am.

Jawaharlal Nehru addresses the midnight session of the Constituent Assembly of India in New Delhi on August 15, 1947. Photo: Wikimedia commons

This was Nehru, a man who was alive to the needs of his people, who celebrated with them but also mourned with them. Above all he mourned for himself as a leader who could not control the designs of a malevolent fate that was tearing at the seams of a newly independent Republic. How can we forget this man who never failed to recognise his own flaws; a man who refused to tom-tom his achievements? Only a Nehru could have said to a political cartoonist, Shankar, dont spare me. Today political cartoonists are jailed for simple tongue-in-cheek comments. History tells us that there are a few leaders who simply cannot be marginalised either historically or spatially. Nor can they be appropriated. Nehru is one of them.

An obsession with the ancient

We have to learn from history, otherwise we will fall into the same traps as our forebears. Consider the focus on ancient India by the ruling dispensation. It has been stressed repeatedly that new structures of power will form the link between ancient and contemporary India. The thesis of the glories of ancient India holds proponents of the Hindu right in thrall. They do not recognise that they subscribe to a version of Indian history that has been manufactured by the colonialist.

British colonialism was unlike any other form of rule previously experienced by Indians. Pre-modern rulers taxed non-believers, even converted individuals to the religion of the group that was in power, but they seldom tried to regulate the personal lives of their subjects the way modern states seek to do. British colonialism, as a proto-modern state, set out to control not only the political and economic destiny of Indians, but also the way they thought about themselves, the way in which they interpreted their history and the present, and how they conceived of the future. They had a host of intellectuals to aid them in this task.

The idea that India is spiritual and child-like compared to the modern materialist West was first put forth by German Romantics in the 18th century. The 19th-century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Fredrik Hegel inherited from the German Romantics an attraction for the Orient. But he set out to demolish their assumptions. Accepting that chronologically, philosophy religion and art took root in the Orient that is in Persia, China, Egypt and India, he suggested that India has remained stationary and fixed. Stagnant was not the word he used, but this was the implication of his argument.

Also read: The Invisible Ghosts Who Walk Will Haunt India for Years to Come

After explorers, missionaries, traders and commercial companies conquered India, and as the exotic became the known, he suggested, it was clear that India had nothing to offer the world. Indias tradition is a matter of the past; it never reached the level of philosophy and science. That is genuinely and uniquely European achievement, which culminated in 19th century Germany, with presumably Hegel as its most distinguished spokesman.

Hegels opinion on Indian philosophy was shaped by two factors, his response to the Indologists he drew upon, and his profound ignorance about the great debates that accompanied the consolidation of the four sacred texts that constitute the Vedas. Philosophies, such as Carvaka, Samkhya, Buddhism and Jainism repudiated the moral authority of the Vedas. The Bhakti movement challenged Brahmanical authority. And Buddhist philosophers such as Nagarjuna in the second century C.E., gave to the world a sophisticated and rational philosophy.

A portrait of Hegel by Jakob Schlesinger.

But European Indologists/Orientalists isolated an abstract, metaphysical, and an upper-caste Hinduism from the welter of lived practices, and from struggles around caste discrimination. Purely on the basis of texts of ancient India, Hegel concluded that though India was the birthplace of philosophy, once philosophy left its shores and migrated to Greece, torpor followed. India has no philosophy. Hegel knew well that philosophy is the soul of any society; deny a country philosophy and you deny it history. For him the history of India is nothing but the pre-history of Europe. The necessary fate of Asiatic Empires is to be subjected to Europeans.

Though Hegel continued to be fascinated with Indian society till the end of his life, he was contemptuously dismissive of the India of his day. His thesis on the decline that followed ancient India legitimised the colonial project. India had to be saved from its own propensity towards collapse. It also motivated the attempts of Indian intellectuals and nationalists to return to a once glorious past. The culture of ancient India was the touchstone against which nationalists measured and evaluated their own country. The shadows of German Romantics and of Hegel who acclaimed a Golden Age of Hinduism and consequent regression, hover over us till today.

In retrospect, it is surprising that Indian intellectuals joined the Orientalist acclaim of a rich and sophisticated Vedic tradition without acknowledging its adverse impact upon society: the consolidation of Brahmanical superiority. Nor did they recognise the great debates in philosophy or the struggles against power. The textual tradition provided an anchor for the recovery of the collective self in the freedom struggle, but the self was deeply fractured.

Blunting the critical edges

The philosopher J.N. Mohanty tells us that the Vedas that developed around two thousand years B.C.E cover an entire range of subjects, but above all they represent an exemplary spirit of enquiry into the one being or ekam sat that underlies the diversity of empirical phenomenon, and into the origin of all things. The lesson in wisdom was challenged both by supporters and opponents of the philosophy. Within the school of Vedanta endless debates took place on the nature of the self. Outside the school critical traditions challenged the dominant themes of the Vedas.

Towards the end of the Upanisadic period was born Gautama the founder of Buddhism (560 BCE). The emergence of Buddhism was politically significant because the philosophy mounted a strong challenge to the superiority of the Brahmanical class, to ritualism, and to the caste system that had banished its own people to the margins of society. Indian intellectuals proceeded to appropriate Buddhism. Vivekananda in his famous address at the Parliament of Religions in Chicago suggested that Buddhism had completed the highly metaphysical task of the Vedanta. In a short period of time the Buddha came to be seen as the eighth avatar of Hinduism. The critical edge of Buddhism that provides an alternative to the high tradition had been blunted, somewhat alarmingly.

Also read: If We Really Want a New Parliament Building, it Should Reflect the Spirit of Democracy

The marginalisation of critical and rational philosophical schools both by the Indologists and the nationalists gives us cause for considerable thought. If a rational, materialistic, empiricist and sceptical philosophical school such as Carvaka had been given prominence in the forging of a Hindu tradition, perhaps India would have escaped being slotted into the spiritual versus materialist dichotomy. We have to accept that the stereotyping of Indian society as exotic and other-worldly based on the obsession with ancient India has not helped us forge an equitable future. India with all its material inequities, communalism, patriarchy and casteism has been slotted into a spiritual pigeonhole.

Till today Indian society fails to accept the enormity of material inequities, fascinated as it is with the metaphysical spirit. In short, the privileging of a highly metaphysical tradition as the public philosophy of India leads us away from social oppressions and power. It cannot help us to pinpoint power equations, or remedy inequities. It leads to the skewed political priorities of todays politics. Instead of securing to the Indian people their basic rights of freedom of expression and freedom from deprivation, the ruling class would rather concentrate on manufactured spaces that symbolise raw power. This is their conceit. It is bound to disappear. The new Lutyens Delhi ought to read Ozymandias.

Neera Chandhokeis former professor of political science, Delhi University.

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A New Central Vista, and the Political Conceit of the Ruling Classes - The Wire

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At the foundation stone-layingceremonyfor the countrys new Parliament building, PrimeMinister NarendraModi declared that in a vibrant democracy like India, there was room for differences, but not disconnect. This is a welcome acknowledgement of the Argumentative Indian who loves debate, who is curious about the world around them and is open to ideas, no matter where they may come from. This is because India is a truly crossroads culture, its present determined by a long history of engagement with other races and cultures.

This engagement may well have taken place through invasions, migrations, trade or evangelical missions,but these have led to a remarkably diverse and plural society blessed with an innate cosmopolitanism. There is no homogeneity among its people, neither of race nor religion, neither of language nor traditions. It is the shared historical experience, a mutual enrichment of cultures and an affinity born out of a deep attachment to the idea of Indiathat underlieits nationalism. In its most positive and dynamic articulations, this nationalism has been accommodative, not exclusionary. It is infused with a sense of common humanity.

This is the connect that hopefullyPMModiwasreferringto because without this awareness of common humanity, how is a connect possible when we disagree with each other, as we must sometimes? Those who seek identity through exclusion narrow their own space; those who seek uniformity end up in a barren aridity that dries up precisely what is sought to be preserved. For history shows that cultures flourish through mutual enrichment, ideas advance through debate, and what is more dangerous is not questions to which there are no answers, but answers which may not be questioned.

Also read: Farmers protest shows Modis politics is caught between Indias two middle classes

Political democracy has taken root in the Indian soil because the values it seeks to nurture are aligned with Indias own striving as an independent nation, a nation that has found its voice after centuries of whispered yearnings. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the genius of the Indian Constitution. It recognised that unity in a diverse country like India cannot be achieved through suppression of its myriad identities, but in these being transcended and celebrated in a shared sense of common citizenship.

It is only when that citizenship deviates from its basis in individual and inalienable rights that the assertions of narrower caste or community-based identities begin to be seen as the only way to prevent injustice and discrimination. Once this is acquiesced to in one case, how do youillegitimiseit in another? If one particular caste or community insists on a veto over whatever offends its sensitivities as a group, how do you deny this to another group? And there are so many different groups in India. Is this not a recipe for a million mutinies?

There is an expectation that a broader Hindu unity can be built on a Hindu-Muslim binary. But that ignores the fact that a Hindu is also deeply attached to his other identities, for example, as part of a language group, a membership of a caste group, a particular religious sect of the Hindu faith, perhaps a more modern professional group and perhaps as part of a vested economic or business group the list is endless. There is little likelihood ofone-nation one-languagebeing achieved in India. Even a hint that this might be the intent of a government in power triggers dangerous political reactions. To justify the grand Ram temple in Ayodhya, some of its champions argue that if the Christians can have their Vatican, the Muslims their Mecca, why should the Hindus not have their Ayodhya? Is that not limiting the very notion of Hinduism as a faith with no boundaries?

Also read: Saving India needs saving Indian federalism

PMModispoke of the Indian tradition oftalking and listening toeach other as part of our ability to connectas Indians. But this assumes a willingness to appreciate what the other is saying, otherwise this would be a dialogue of the deaf. We hear but we do not listen. And as soon as we begin to attach labels to our interlocutors, we are absolved of the need to listen to what they may be saying. If the protesting farmers are infiltrated by Khalistanis, Maoists andLeft-wing provocateurs, does the government need to listen? If some elements among our Muslim community are suspected of harbouring pro-Pakistan sympathies, should they be allowed to speak? If some writers and social activists are urban Naxals, should they not be prevented from speaking; better still, should they not be incarcerated?

There are any number of labels to choose from to prevent the talking and the listening. Labels preclude connecting. IfPMModireally wishes to celebrate India as a democracy, then he should stop this labelling exercise forthwith. The Minister of Commerce should not see hiddenLeftist hands behind the farmers agitation and thusbelittleit. This disconnects rather than opens the way for understanding what is driving their protests, braving the cold weather andpolice action.

India is too diverse a country to allow a monochromatic frame to be imposed on it. It is a landscape with multiple colours and shades in between. The way forward is to allow this profusion of colours to become even more varied, and more vibrant. Every label used to exclude this or that colour diminishes the whole. Labels prevent sharing and celebrating our diversity. They do not allow us to connect with each other. Let us forswear a government by label.

The author is former Foreign Secretary and Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research. Views are personal.

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If Modi really sees India as a democracy, then he must stop the labelling exercise - ThePrint

Each and every little thing you say (yes, even just one sentence) during a job interview shapes whether or not a hiring manager thinks you are a strong fit for the job.

And sometimes, it may be tempting to give an answer that felt right at the time, but in hindsight was extremely poor and made you seem weak or average. That's why it's important to remind yourself in advance of what to resist saying.

Here are six responses to avoid if you want to boost your chances of landing an offer, along with tips and examples of what to say instead:

I've heard so many candidates say this in response to questions about their professional strengths or notable characteristics.

It's a wildly overused answer, and if you find yourself saying it, the best case scenario is that your interviewer will ask you to elaborate. Worst case (and likely) scenario? They'll be unimpressed because they've heard it so many times, and move on.

A more appropriate response might be: "I'm not afraid to take the lead on projects, and I can do so with little guidance," followed by an example of a time when you successfully did this.

Don't think that your potential boss will be flattered by this answer; they'll just find it lazy and thoughtless.

And even if they are at an impressive level in their career, they might assume that you envision being where they are just at a different company. This indicates a lack of commitment.

Instead, outline potential ways you see yourself growing at the organization. Start with the position you're interviewing for and highlight some key skills required for the job, and how you can build upon those skills.

This shows that not only do you care about your career advancement, but that you'll also be dedicated to helping the company grow in the long-term.

Never speak badly about a former boss, no matter how bad of an experience you may have had.

When asked about why you left a job, it's okay to admit that it wasn't a right fit. Honestly is a valuable trait, but be careful with how you phrase things.

Instead, you could say that you realized your passion and want to switch career paths. Or maybe you're looking for something more challenging. It's also good to mention at least one thing you learned from your previous job that can help you succeed in the role you're applying for.

If you were fired, explain the situation without taking or assigning blame. Talk about what you could have done differently to change the outcome. This displays self-awareness and an ability to grow from negative experiences.

Nobody is perfect, so this answer is essentially another way of saying, "I'm too weak to admit any weaknesses."

This is a behavioral question that managers take seriously, so have an in-depth response prepared. I always recommend turning to former bosses and co-workers that you trust for feedback.

Send them a list of the top skills required for the position and ask them to rank it based on what they think is your strongest to least strongest.

Ultimately, it comes down to being honest about what you need to work on, giving some examples, and then discussing how you plan to work on those weaknesses.

Believe it or not, I've seen even the most qualified candidates ask this question in various ways (e.g., "What are your company's main goals?" or "What does your company do?").

The hiring manager took the time to read your resume and learn more about your background, so you're expected to do the same and make time to research them.

It's okay to ask them to elaborate on a very specific questions (e.g., "What are your team's monthly goals?"), but going into the interview with little information about the company is insulting and will lead to a poor first impression.

Yes, it's unwise to take any job without knowing what your employee benefits will be. But you should never bring it up early in the interview process, because it will only make the employer question your true intentions.

Remember, the first few interviews are meant to determine whether you should continue to be in the running for the position. So topics involving perks and benefits are irrelevant if you don't even make it past those early rounds.

J.T. O'Donnellis the founder and CEO ofWork It Daily, an online platform dedicated to helping people solve their biggest career problems. She has more than 15 years of experience in hiring, recruiting and career coaching. For career tips, follow her on TikTok@jtodonnell.

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If you say any of these 6 things during the job interview, don't expect to get an offer: Career expert - CNBC

In the 26 years since CASEL introduced the term social and emotional learning, the research and practice of SEL have grown tremendously. Today, educators talk about SEL in many ways and hear about a multitude of strategies for implementation in schools and classrooms.

As the creators of the most widely cited SEL definitions, CASEL now sees a need to clarify whats necessary to achieve the vision of SEL for all educators, adults and young people. Weve updated our definition and framework to pay close attention to how SEL affirms the identities, strengths and experiences of all children, including those who have been marginalized in our education systems. CASEL has continued to highlight the importance of enhancing the social-emotional competence of all young people and adults, while putting additional emphasis on how we can all learn and work together to create caring and just schools and communities.

CASELs Definition of SEL (2020 Update):

Social and emotional learning (SEL) is an integral part of education and human development. SEL is the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions.

SEL advances educational equity and excellence through authentic school-family-community partnerships to establish learning environments and experiences that feature trusting and collaborative relationships, rigorous and meaningful curriculum and instruction, and ongoing evaluation. SEL can help address various forms of inequity and empower young people and adults to co-create thriving schools and contribute to safe, healthy, and just communities.

As we continuously learn and refine our collective understanding of SEL and accelerate the movement across research, practice, and policy, weve highlighted four priorities:

CASEL will be explicit about how SEL can advance educational equity and excellence

We know from research that attention to students holistic learning and development can promote high-quality educational opportunities and outcomes for all children across race, socioeconomic status, gender, sexual orientation and other differences. Importantly, SEL has potential to promote the academic, social and emotional development of all children. SEL can also help adults and students co-create more equitable schools and communities. While SEL alone will not solve the deep-seated inequities in the education system, it can help adults and students build more meaningful relationships and develop knowledge, skills and mindsets to interrupt inequitable policies and practices, create more inclusive learning environments and nurture the interests and assets of all individuals

CASEL will work alongside researchers, educators and policymakers to address issues of identity, agency and belonging that are fundamental to human development

By elevating young peoples perspectives and experiences, SEL affirms who they are as individuals and helps students and adults understand how their unique identities support and shape their learning. By offering opportunities for students to use their voice, examine social problems and work alongside adults to co-create solutions, SEL can help cultivate change agents and leaders who will meaningfully contribute to their communities and the world. By fostering deeper connections and meaningful relationships, SEL can help create a sense of belonging and more inclusive learning environments and communities.

With these priorities in mind, our updated framework reflects expanded definitions and examples of five core social and emotional competencies self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision-making. The updated language pays attention to personal and social identities, cultural competency and collective action as part of SEL. It also emphasizes the skills, knowledge and mindsets needed to examine prejudices and biases, evaluate social norms and systemic inequities, and promote community well-being.

CASEL will continue emphasizing how environments, relationships and broader contexts shape learning and development

SEL is most beneficial when school leaders and educators enhance both the competencies of young people and adults and the systems in which those competencies are promoted. Poorly implemented SEL will be less beneficial and actually may harm kids when contexts are ignored. Authentic partnerships among schools, families and communities are critical to creating equitable learning environments, supportive relationships and coordinated practices to truly promote SEL across all the settings where students live and learn.

Our framework continues to underscore the importance of establishing equitable learning environments and coordinating SEL practices across classrooms and schools, with additional emphasis on the essential roles of families and community partners.

CASEL will support schools, districts and states to infuse SEL systemically into curriculum and instruction, out-of-school time, discipline, student support services, professional learning and ongoing assessment for continuous improvement

When SEL is woven into the daily life of school from academic instruction to discipline practices it is more likely to produce the many benefits that research has documented, including the promotion of students skills and attitudes, improved school climate and long-term academic achievement. This requires district and state policies and resources that help adults strengthen their own SEL and professional skills to support and sustain the healthy development of one another and the young people they support.

Given the uncertainties and challenges of todays world, our education systems should prioritize SEL to build healthy relationships, engage students and support adults to contribute to more equitable schools and communities. SEL is not a panacea or silver bullet; there is much more to learn about how best to implement SEL to promote equitable outcomes, and how to sustain high-quality implementation long-term.

At the same time, SEL is grounded by a growing body of research and bolstered by overwhelming demand from principals, teachers, parents and students. Our hope is that SEL will not only improve schools today, but help build a better world tomorrow.

Karen Niemi is president and CEO of CASEL, the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning.

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Niemi: CASEL Is Updating the Most Widely Recognized Definition of Social-Emotional Learning. Here's Why - The 74

Chase Kerby performs during Oklahoma City Ballet's "Ballet Under the Stars" at Scissortail Park on the Love's Travel Stops Stage Friday, October 9, 2020. [Doug Hoke/The Oklahoman Archives]

Oklahoma City singer, songwriter and musician Chase Kerby and his new band Hotel Nights have a new EP, single and music video out, and the latter is a mood for today's Oklahoma snow day.

As previously reported, Kerby first introduced us to his new project back in the summer with the catchy yet bittersweet debut single "Forget the 80's."

"Hotel Nights was an idea that started forming in my head back in 2016. The name came to me after driving through Tulsa late one night on my way back home. I saw people walking into the cheap motel rooms located on the outskirts of town and wondered what their 'hotel night' was like," Kerby explained in an email.

"I started the band because I wanted to separate myself from my musical past and start fresh. So in July of 2019, I scrapped all the songs I'd been working on and started writing all new material. I've had a lot of great experiences through music (national tours with big acts, being on 'The Voice,' etc.), but none of those experiences defined me as an artist or a person. All the songs I was writing were made to be played with a band."

The lineup for Hotel Nights is Kerby on vocals, guitar, piano, synth and percussion; Garrison Brown on lead guitar and trumpet; Dustin Ragland on drums and percussion; John McCall on bass, organ and piano; and Adam Ray on saxophone and various woodwinds.

Hotel Nights' sophomore single "Pains of the Weekenders" features the same yearning, urgent rock sound evident on "Forget the 80's."

"The song 'Pains of the Weekenders' is about finding yourself in a world of chaos and deciding what is best for you. It's about discovering self awareness, facing the toxicity of the familiar, and finding hope in the end," Kerby said.

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OKC musician Chase Kerby's new band Hotel Nights' wintry video for 'Pains of the Weekenders' is a mood on an Oklahoma snow day - Oklahoman.com

Media agencies are trying to move beyond the transactional and into the emotional.

Dentsu-owned global media agency Carat has rebranded around the notion of human and emotional intelligence, supported by a new planning process called design for people.

While Carat used to work in a discipline-focused way, its new planning process aims to meet consumers where they are, based on their emotional needs, in a fragmented media landscape, rather than focusing on short-term ROI.

What clients need from media agencies these days is so much more than media, said Angela Steele, CEO of Carat U.S.A. We needed a new way of working that was much more multidisciplinary.

The new process is designed around T-shaped teams that involve bringing in specialists early in the planning process who continue to work together as scrums throughout, said Sean Healy, Carats global CSO.

We work in a world with increasing specialism, he said. We thought about how we can bring people together who are brilliant at what they do, but can also work on the big picture.

These teams are set up to work quickly and iteratively, pushing out prototypes and optimizing as they go, rather than creating a static plan months in advance. Carat has developed a methodology and a set of questions that teams can apply to different client briefs, depending on the challenge they are trying to solve.

That sits at the heart of design thinking, Healy said. The job is never done and you can always improve.

This way of working became particularly valuable after COVID-19 hit and consumer habits began to shift rapidly, Steele added.

Having that ability and approach that allows us to pivot so quickly was crucial, she said.

Carats new process comes as parent company Dentsu is doubling down on the agency as one of six global brands within the network, which it will whittle down from 160. Campaign recently reported that Dentsu is slashing 6,000 jobs in pursuit of this new model.

In an industry thats drowning in data, part of Carats goal with its new approach is to help clients make better sense of information to draw impactful insights.

We're all in favor of analysis and interpretation, and there's probably not enough of that going on right now, Healy said. Part of this process is making sure you have the left and right brain looking at the data and figuring out what the story is.

To demonstrate that, Carat released its first Brand EQ report this fall, which ranked 48 global brands on their emotional intelligence based on a survey of 10,000 consumers in 10 global markets.

The study aimed to understand whether certain brands were seen as more or less human by their customers, and how that affects key metrics using behavioral scientist Daniel Golemans theory of emotional intelligence. The study assessed brands in five key areas: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills.

Carat found that many brands that ranked highest for EQ, including Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Samsung and Netflix, are in the tech sector. While that might be somewhat counterintuitive based on recent tech backlash, it shows that consumers find the most human brands deliver connected experiences.

Facebook and Uber were exceptions in this category, as both scored low on self-regulation and ethics.

We found a big difference between brands that are experience-led, nimble and able to adapt to people's needs, Healy said. Theyre able to meet peoples needs more quickly.

On the flip side, auto and finance brands ranked low on the EQ index, with the exception of Visa and Mastercard, which placed ninth and 20th, respectively. Just 50% of respondents said that brands in these verticals understand them and their needs.

Those are probably two categories that have the most room for improvement when it comes to empathy, Steele said. They tend to be very transactional. [Theyre focused on] deals and price as opposed to having that higher purpose, empathy and understanding of customer needs.

Across the board, brands have a way to go to improve the way they convey empathy and demonstrate their ethics, two of the most important elements of EQ. Just 53% of brands ranked highly in both categories, indicating a broader erosion of consumer trust in institutions.

The biggest takeaway from the report is that EQ really does drive ROI. Brands that ranked high on EQ scores outperformed low-ranking brands by share price by more than 400% over the last 10 years, while the top 20% of high-scoring EQ brands outperformed the major stock indexes by 575%.

Thats particularly important as Gen Z comes of age and begins to wield more influence and purchasing power.

Gen Z weighs more than their wallets, Steele said.

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Why Carat is putting emotional intelligence at the core of media buying - Campaign US

By Express News Service

HYDERABAD:The research says our mind is capable of processing 2,000 thoughts in a minute. It is one of the most active organs in our body. This becomes even more important for us to be able to choose what kind of thoughts we choose to focus on. And the ability to make this choice can be attained only through training our brain and regularly exercising our mind. If we can learn on to keep our mind calm, the brain automatically will work on treating unnecessarily thoughts as unwanted guests.

Mita Vinay, Founder, Bodhsara Wellness Centre has a few ways of strenghtening the mind. Interestingly, practising most mind exercises does not require any props or preparation.It is not mandatory to use lights, essential oils, or mantras to train our mind. Of course, please use props if you enjoy them or if it helps you. However, consistency and determination to practice regularly is the key to achieve the desired results, she says. She suggests a way to strengthen your mind with Mental Calmness Techniquee.

It is a technique from YogaNidra, a practice used effectively for deep relaxation, inner creativity and self-awareness. This is a simple technique to achieve mental calmness from chaos and you can practice it anytime anywhere.All you need is to is find a comfortable place to sit and a few minutes of free time, although or, in a middle of chaos too. Sit comfortably and close your eyes.

Now focus on the sounds around you. Without evaluating the quality or the content of the sound, move from one sound at a time and then let your mind float to another sound you can hear around you. Continue this for a few more second by moving from one sound to the other sound, take a mental count of how many sounds could you hear. Now bring your focus on if you can hear any new sound.

As you concentrate on this exercise, you will realise that most sounds take the form of a background score. Now, as you drift yourself out you will experience calmness and a clear headspace. This technique shifts your minds consciousness to the frontal brain which is used for learning. Start with 30-60 secs of practice and increase to 5 minutes. Daily practice will help rejuvenate the mind.

Cleanse your mind with breathing: Breath or Prana is one of the key elements of our existence. We can use the breathing technics to calm, strengthen and cleanse our minds. These steps can be performed soon after the mental calmness technic above. As you allow the sounds to be as a background score, bring your focus to your breathing. Take a slow and a deep breath and fill your belly with the inhalation, hold your breath for 5 to 10 seconds in the belly and slowly exhale out. Now move the breath to your chest hold it for 5 to 10 seconds and exhale out slowly. The next step is to feel the breath gently rubbing the inside of your throat when inhaling and the same experience when exhaling. The final step is to bring the focus in-between the eyebrow centre as you inhale and exhale. Repeat each step thrice.

Yoga acharya Shivang Chandrasekhar who runs his own yoga studio Yogistaan in Madhapur says that one has to keep changing activities and challenge oneself to be able to nurture the mind well. Just as we push our bodies with workouts and increasing the number of burpees, the leaps or the number of minutes we do the planks, we need to adopt the same challenge technique to the brain.

Livin suggests we try out activities such as painting, especially if you do not have any taste in painting as it gives your brain a new activity to focus on.If you have always listened to Tollywood music in your car, mix and match it with some piano or jazz music just to surprise your mind, he adds.

The rest is here:
Give it some brainvita - The New Indian Express

Bill Parcells used to say that people tell you who they are, so listen.

That's particularly easy with Kyrie Irving, the Brooklyn Nets' mercurial and uber-talented point guard. He hasn't so much told the world who he is as shouted it, over and over, in conflicts with teammates, LeBron James, and would-be head coaches. What a shame the Nets chose not to pay attention.

The latest example of Irving's me-first focus is his bewildering shot at the media. The tale, for Kyrie, is a familiar one: Underperform or fail to deliver, cast blame elsewhere, double down when challenged, and sour the world around you as you go.

In this case, Irving failed to follow his contractual requirement to talk to the NBA press and was fined $25,000. Then Irving released a statement, which included this gem about the NBA media: "I do not talk to Pawns. My attention is worth more."

Sigh.

Let's get this out of the way: No one is asking you to pity the media. That's, as the Godfather once laid out, the business we've chosen. We get it. It's part of the deal, even if Irving's approach was needlessly disrespectful and disparaging of an entire group of people. It would be like saying, for instance, that every single NBA player is an ego-maniacal locker room cancer more concerned with bathing in the limelight than actually doing the hard work of team success - instead of, let's say, labeling just Kyrie that way.

But again: No one cares about the media, and that's fine. I promise you we've heard worse from people much, much more worthy of an opinion most of us actually care about.

The issue here is that, again, Irving is demonstrating -- telling all of us - who he is. And by connection, who he'll be for the Brooklyn Nets. And that's a self-absorbed, locker room killing, chemistry-crushing malignancy. Kyrie's just being Kyrie. Nothing's new here. Just one more example of the guy picking fights that are bad for him and his team.

He's also making a poor decision. Back in the day, you didn't pick fights with people who bought ink by the barrel. The American trend toward disparaging "the media" has undone that some. But I promise you, it's still a bad idea to alienate the New York media. They don't mess around.

But are we really surprised?

Irving, not long ago, welcomed the Steve Nash head-coaching era while talking with Kevin Durant with this beauty: "And I think it's also going to change the way we see coaches. I don't really see us having a head coach. You know what I mean? KD could be a head coach. I could be a head coach."

Sure. I could be a head coach. But I'm not. Kyrie's not either. Nash is one, and a little public respect would have been a nice bare minimum from the Nets' supposed leaders.

Remember, Kyrie is the guy who forced his way out of a defending NBA champion - and away from LeBron James - without an ounce of understanding. He's a vastly more talented version of John Paxson, not the kingmaker and one-man Finals machine he likes to play on podcasts. Yes, you hit a really big shot, but your "greatness" is largely a product in your NBA career of playing with LeBron James.

How do we know? Because Irving went to a Celtics team coming off an Eastern Conference finals and proceeded to offer up the same egotistical, everyone-is-at-fault-but-me garbage he leveled at the NBA media this week. That team did not make a great leap. The only conference finals they made with Irving on the roster came with him injured and off the floor. And that says it all. Talent is great. But failed talent is a cliche for a reason, and Kyrie, minus drafting off LeBron in Cleveland, has epitomized it at every stop of his career.

There's more, but let's offer just one more example. This guy is so needy for attention that, during an NBA Finals featuring the Los Angeles Lakers and that former teammate LeBron James, he decided it was a good idea to throw shade at the King by suggesting LeBron wasn't a big-shot maker Kyrie could trust.

Even a pawn couldn't make this stuff up.

Was it wrong, self-centered, poorly timed and hurtful? Yes, clearly, even before LeBron said as much in a recent interview.

Irving hasn't learned a thing or changed an ounce. That's why his shots at the media matter. Not because we do, but because Irving is still telling us who he is. If you listen, you'll hear a guy who spews disrespect in all directions without an ounce of self-awareness, someone whose flat-earth silliness reflected a deeper need to yank all the attention his way.

Good luck pairing that with Kevin Durant, an uber-talented but often sensitive superstar. Kyrie's the guy you liked to drink beers with in college: Fun dude, until you live together.

A reality of the NBA that isn't sexy, and doesn't fit neatly into our narratives or the joy we get from watching the game, still holds: To win, guys have to like each other -- or at least respect one another. Locker rooms matter, whether it's last year's Clippers (in a bad way) or the Heat (in a Finals-run kind of way).

Kyrie isn't just unlikable. He's constantly and openly disrespectful. To the media, sure, but to LeBron, to Hall of Fame player and new head coach Steve Nash, to Celtics teammates he would routinely talk down to when he was in Boston.

And those were the public facts. Imagine this guy, who hides from the press because he can't answer for his own self-inflicted mistakes, behind the scenes with teammates when things get rough?

Irving has told us who he is, and if you're listening, you can also hear what the future likely sounds like for the Nets: Fascinating, promising, problematic and ultimately wildly unsuccessful.

That's the Kyrie Iriving story, one that's already going strong in Brooklyn.

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Kyrie Irving is once again reminding us who he is, and the Nets need to take notice - CBS Sports