Onam Celebration 2k17

Debate Session at Lakeview

Ethical aspects of organ donation and transplantation

Ethical aspects of the organ donation and transplantation

This Presentation is my humble attempt to know, understand and study about the Ethical aspects of the organ donation and transplantation. As a lover of wisdom, this attempt is to make more clarity regarding the various aspects of organ donation. I wish may this humble presentation will give more clarity for you and me regarding ethical Value of organ donation and transplantation.
Introduction
Saving the life is an important value. This is certainly an act of charity.  In all the transplantation of major organs between individuals of the same specious a part of one person is useful for the survival of another.
For the better understanding of the ethical aspects of the organ donation chapters are divided like Ethical value of organ donation and transplantation as the first chapter, Religious perspectives of organ donation as the second chapter and Gifts of the body : organ donation as the third.
Chapter: I Ethical value of organ donation and transplantation
The important focus of this chapter is to bring out the ethical values of the organ donation through socio analytic over view of the present practice which deals with facts, ethical concerns, consent of the donor and recipient, Legal issues in Commercialization, The moral force of consent, Arguments against paid organ donation, Advantages and benefits of organ donation
Facts about organ donation These are some of the facts about the organ donation, A national computer system and strict standards are in place to ensure ethical and fair distribution of organs. Organs are matched by blood and tissue typing, organ size, medical urgency, waiting time and geographic location. Organs and tissues that can be donated include: heart, kidneys, lungs, pancreas, liver, intestines, corneas, and skin, tendons, bone, and heart valves Organ donation is consistent with the beliefs of most major religions. If you are sick or injured and admitted to the hospital, the number one priority is to save your life. Organ donation can only be considered after brain death has been declared by a physician. Donors are needed for all races and ethnic groups. Transplant success rates increase when organs are matched between members of the same ethnic background.
Ethical concern of the organ donation When the individual being evaluated for living donation lacks the capacity to make such a decision, he or she can not strictly speaking, be a donor that is one who competently decides to donate. Such an individual can only be a source of the organs.
The consent of the donor and recipient The patient’s consent is considered to be free and informed and there should not be any pressure from any one became it is needed to be stale that the donor has given his consent freely and with full knowledge of the consequences. Only informed concert has been recognized as a valid form of consent in Indian law. If donor’s decisions are not autonomous or self determined this leads to treating a person with ort respect.
The moral force of consent Principle of double effect claims that there should not be an evil intention behind the act. The moral ingredients of a situation can influence the donor to make the decision consciously.
Legal issues in Commercialization of human organs Organ donation has a  social  aspect  in the sense that it can lead to the commercialization  of human organ Commercialization of human organ is  one of the main issues related to the organ donation and transplantation. The human body is becoming a commodity for prohibited trade. General medical ethics recommend that organ transplant should be altruistic and not for financial gain
Arguments against paid organ donation Rich people exploit the poor. There for poor person are always sellers and the rich person are always Byers. Medical programme is done with an eye on profit there is chance for deception, exploitation and corruption; thus, one becomes blind to the ethical values of the medical profession, rather them selling the organs, denotation should be a gift of love.
Advantages and benefits of organ donation Recipient has Bodily advantages donor has the Spiritual benefit and satisfaction
Chapter II Religious perspectives of organ donation
In this chapter, Religious Perspectives of Organ Donation. We come across different religious arguments on the ground of charity. The summery of the arguments will clarify that organ donation is accepted by all religions. But there is also some opposition like Confucianism.
All major religions either accept organ donation or accept the right of individual members to make their own decision. Research into the position of various religious groups reveals
Most religions are in favor of organ donation as acts of charity and as a means of saving a life. Janis, who regard compassion to be a main principle of their faith, donate organs pro-actively some impose certain restrictions. Muslims require that the donor have provided written consent in advance. Orthodox Judaism considers it obligatory if it will save a life, as long as the donor is considered dead as defined by Jewish law, which is a matter of debate among different rabbis. A few groups disfavor organ transplantation or donation;, these include Shinto[4] and those who follow the folk customs of the Romani.
Chapter III Gifts of the body : organ donation
In this chapter  I  mainly follow on the importance and relevant  of the organ donation from the stand point that organ as the gift of the body; by donating an organ we share the real life.. A national organ donation transplantation act passed by congress in 1984, established a national registry and donor-recipient matching system while also prohibiting the sale of organs for transplant.
Organ donation in India
India has fairly well developed corneal donation programme. Most of the transplants done in India are living related transplants. To limit organ commerce and promote donation after brain death the government enacted a law called the transplantation of human organ act in 1994 that brought about a significant change in the organ donation and transplantation in India. Problem of organ shortage in India is that the awareness of organ donation is very less, but the need of the organ is very much higher. Donating organs is a great deed as donating life to other. It is estimated that in India every year over 1,75,000 people are diagnosed to have kidney failure and would be needing a transplantation. Due to non availability of organs only about 5,500 kidney transplants are done. The same thing happens for eye and other organ donation as well
Conclusion
Organ transplant is a safe procedure that gives new hope and new life to thousands of people. When dealing with this issue this is a discussion of Life and death, where a decision is made on who lives, who dies and why. This issue is also regarding real people who are suffering, and decisions made based on good ethics and proper understanding of social and religious aspects will facilitate and make the process less painful. Both the community and physicians should therefore approach organ Transplant positively and objectively, organs carried by the individuals are the gift they received and by sharing or donating an organ there happens the sharing of life. so treat ethical, social and religious issues as negotiable perspectives and not barriers to organ transplant
By Thomas John

What Could They Possibly Have Done? A Dissection of School Shootings

Imagine a day, where you wave your loved one goodbye and they walk towards their warm, protective embrace, their school.  An hour later you receive a phone call that the school was the primary target for an armed attack. Imagine your panic, at that second, frantically wondering if you would see them ever again.

‘School shooting’ is a term a used to describe deliberate armed attacks on any educational institution, such as a school or a university. It is a product of the lack of gun control in the United States. From October 2013–2015, America has witnessed 142 shootings. We often find ourselves staring thunderstruck, as children, barely teenagers, at the peak of their ages, killing their fellow classmates and finally themselves.

The high school massacre that occurred on April 20, 1999, shook the foundation of parental trust in Columbine, Colorado. Two high school seniors, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, picked up arms and fired at the school cafeteria killing 12 students, 1 teacher and injuring 21others. Similarly, in Virginia, in their biggest tech Institute, a senior, picked up arms against his college mates injuring 17 and killing 32. These are just incidents out of 142 others that make us enquire, whether school are places where we learn to fight terrorism or where we learn terrorism?

While we often find ways to blame and publicise the names of the shooters, earning them hate from the world, after their death, we don’t question what was it that made these individuals killers. Nobody, by birth, is born a murderer. Our society creates them, with their biased beliefs and unjustified dimensions of success. A few common thing these teens and young adults shared with each other was mental illness that went unnoticed, self-harm that was made fun of and bullying that was ignored. Eric Harris was diagnosed with psychosis, living in a destructive family who indulged in immorality. According to Sue Klebold, Dylan’s mother, she mentioned in her Ted talk that her son had been suffered for almost two years before the shooting. He used to self-harm and hide behind doors. There is a point before any drastic action where people are silently crying for help. They are searching anyone and anything to hold onto. Adults with their perfect standards of living do not try to understand, rather jump to conclusions. We shouldn’t ask why does this happen, but instead, how did this happen. The answers are drastically different. In the mind of a shooter, they want to end their suffering. Suicide drives a person to a point where rational decisions are no longer a part of their conscious mind. They take matters into their own hands, and end all their pain and allows a final satisfaction.

School shootings, however, was the necessary evil to arouse rules on the use of guns, debates about gun control, the rising heap of bullying, mental illness, self-harm and suicidal behaviour. It is high time we took action against these demons. Let’s strengthen people, not drag them through ditches of hopelessness and terror. As adults, empathy can change the true outcome of any action. Sometimes, we seek only for someone to understand, not advice, not judgement or conclusions. School shootings are vivid examples of the socialisation we have within the inner strata of our society. Before thinking about how to end these acts of redemption, think about how to not let them happen again.  “Prevention is always better than rebuilding from the damage.”

-Christina Joshy

Euthanasia

Euthanasia (Mercy killing)

"Mercy killing" is “the act of putting a person or animal to death painlessly or allowing them to die by withholding medical services, usually because of a painful and incurable disease.” Mercy killing is also referred to as "euthanasia."
The Greek word euthanasia translates to “good death,” making it and mercy killing terms that can be comforting in the face of difficult medical situations. When any person, especially a family member or close friend, is experiencing pain, mental degeneration, or other adverse condition, our instinct is to relieve the person in any way possible. Sometimes, this desire to alleviate pain can become so strong in the caregiver or patient that it overrides our deeper impulse to preserve life and survive. 

Euthanasia is categorized in different ways, which include voluntary, non-voluntary, active, passive, assisted and  indirect.
Voluntary euthanasia - It is committed with the willing or autonomous cooperation of the subject. This means that the subject is free from direct or indirect pressure from others.
Non-voluntary euthanasia- It occurs when the patient is unconscious or unable to make a meaningful choice between living and dying and an appropriate person takes that decision for him/her.
This is usually called murder, but it is possible to imagine cases where the killing would count as a favor for the patient.
Indirect euthanasia - This means providing treatments-mainly to reduce the pain,that as a side effect of shortening the patients life. Since the primary intent wasn't to kill, it is morally accepted by some people.
Assisted suicide- This usually refers to cases where the persons who are going to die need help to kill themselves and ask for it. It may be something as simple as getting drugs for the person, and putting those drugs within their reach.
Active euthanasia - It is when death is brought by an act for example taking a high dose of drugs. It is to end a persons life by the use of drugs, either by oneself or by the aid of a physician.
Passive euthanasia- When death is brought by an omission eg: when someone lets the person die, this can be done by withdrawing or withholding treatment.
Withdrawal treatment :For eg switching off a machine that keeps the person alive.
Withholding treatment :For eg not carrying out a surgery that will extend the life of the patient for a short time.

Arguments for euthanasia
1. Euthanasia provides a way to relieve extreme pain.
2. Euthanasia provides a way to relief when a person's quality is low.
3. Euthanasia frees up medical funds to help other people.
4. It is another case of freedom of choice - the right to commit suicide.
5. People should not be forced to stay alive.

Arguments against euthanasia
1. Euthanasia is a rejection of the importance and value of human life.
2. Legalizing euthanasia and assisted suicide leads to suicide contagion.
3. Euthanasia can become a mean of health care cost containment.
4. Euthanasia will become non-voluntary.
5. Euthanasia would not only be for people who are terminally ill.

Euthanasia in today's world
Countries which legalized euthanasia:
-The Netherlands
-Belgium
-Colombia
-Luxembourg
-Germany
-Japan
-Canada & other US states
-Switzerland (only assisted suicide)

Euthanasia is the deliberate advancement of a person's death for the benefit of that person. In most cases euthanasia is carried out because the person asks to die, but there are cases where a person can't make such a request. It can also become non-voluntary as it denies individuals the rights to their own lives. But in real life there would be millions of situations each year where cases would not fall clearly into either category. It all depends on the situation. 

By,
Jubeetta Johnson
1 BA English
213

Is Transliteration Necessary?

                                              -Arya G
We often use WhatsApp, Facebook and all those stuffs to get connected to the community we live in . We chat using them ,share our images and videos etc. Usually we rely on our mother tongue to convey information. Most often we write the content using English alphabet. This is what we call transliteration. That is writing letters or words using letters of a particular language in a different language.

Transliteration is often misinterpreted as
translation. But in fact ,both of them are two discrete areas. When we express the sense of a piece of writing in another language it becomes a translation. A famous Malayalam poet and ex-MLA Kadammanitta Ramakrishnan had taken inspiration from Samuel Beckett's play "Waiting for Godot"and reproduced it in Malayalam in the name "Godoye Kaathu" .Whereas writing words in a different language is called transliteration. The daily exchanges we have with our friends can be taken as an illustration.

We cannot but look at its advantages. It allows us to communicate with people in a different language without knowing the script. Usually other languages are transliterated into English, which helps us to send messages easily. Moreover, people can easily understand
whatever that is conveyed in the text.

Every coin has two sides. Likewise
transliteration also has negatives that outweigh its positives. Mostly we resort on English to transliterate or transform the Malayalam text. The more we transliterate the more we get detached from our mother tongue. lf we don't know how to write in our own language, then life is worthless. While doing the same we may not stick on to the rules and regulations prescribed by a language. We cannot transcribe (transliterate) the text accurately. Since the script of a language is confined to accommodate sounds of another language. This results in ambiguity.To explain I would like to give an example. Suppose l am asking one of my friends whether he is fine in Malayalam ;"Enna
undu?".There are chances for him to misread the text. Either he would answer "ldliyum Sambarum" or would say
"kuzhappamonnumilla",which means he is fine.Mathematically concluding the probability of my friend saying the right answer is 50. While we chat or post, the content which we share may include emotional aspects also. Since we are sharing it through a non verbal medium , it will not create the impact it should have, on us.

When we ponder over the need of
transliteration for a while, we will deflnitely come to a conclusion. Even though we can pass on information easily we cannot ensure the accuracy of the content. In that sense it is
better to avoid transliteration. I would say, it is better to not use transliteration,  lest you can ensure the accuracy  of the text and make sure it is unambiguous.

Paisachi: A Dead Language

                                                    Paisachi   - Athul Thejus Rajan

                                                                                                 

                     

 Paisachi is an ancient language which flourished during the 5^th Century BCE.  According to some historians and grammarians, this language is much alike Prakrit- the language of the masses during the ancient period.

The etymology of the name suggests that it is spoken by piśācas, "ghouls". In works of Sanskrit poetics such as Daṇḍin’s Kavyadarsha, it is also known by the name of Bhūtabhāṣa, an epithet which can be interpreted either as a "dead language" (i.e. with no surviving speakers), or as "a language spoken by the dead" (i.e. ghouls or ghosts), the former interpretation being more realistic and the latter being the more fanciful.

It is not known to what extent this was a vernacular or an artificial literary language, comparable to Pāli.

There are no extant works in this language today, and the only work attributed to be in Paisaci is the Brihat-katha (The Large Story), a large collection of stories written in the 5th century BC. It is known of through its adaptation in Sanskrit as the Katha-Saritsagara in the 11th century by Somadeva. One of the famous series of stories in this work is the Vikram and Vetaal series.

Paisachi has influenced many modern languages in India.  Words used in Tulu language are much alike Paisachi.

All sources related to Paisachi are inferenced from the work of Gunadya- ‘BrihatKadha’.

Why is Paisachi Relevant?

After Ramayana and Mahabharata, the most renowned Indian epic is the Panchatantra.

Panchatantra is a literary work with pan Indian reputation retaining its relevance even today with an unfailing appeal for the younger generation. There are two traditions of the Panchatantra in Sanskrit. The first one is the ‘Panchatantra’ by Vishnusharma which is available. The second version is by Vasubhaga Bhatta. Both these versions have sprung from the Brihatkatha by Gunadhya written in Paishacha language. The Sanskrit original of Vasubhaga Bhatta is not found. Panchatantra contains a number of stories constructed to teach the art of diplomacy and political administration to three princes of the king Amarashakti.

              

ആര്യയുടെ കാവ്യരോദനം

ഉപ്പുമാവെന്നത്  എല്ലാവർക്കും ഇഷ്ടപ്പെട്ട ഒരു ഭക്ഷണമാണെന്നു ഞാൻ കരുതുന്നില്ല. ഒരാളുടെ ജീവിതത്തിലെ ഏറ്റവും പ്രത്യേകത ഏറിയ ദിവസമായ ജന്മദിനത്തിൽ അയാൾക്കു തീരെ താല്പര്യമില്ലാത്ത ഭക്ഷണമായ ഉപ്പുമാവ് വെച്ചാൽ അയാളുടെ പ്രതികരണം എങ്ങനെയായിരിക്കും? സമാന അനുഭവം എനിക്കും ഉണ്ടായിട്ടുണ്ട് . അപ്പോൾ ഞാൻ പ്രതികരിച്ചത് ഇങ്ങനെ.

ഉപ്പുമാവിന്റെ  തേങ്ങൽ
വൈരുദ്ധ്യമെന്തേ  ഈ  സോദരിക്കെന്നോടിത്ര
ഞാനെന്തു പിഴച്ചു  ഇത്രമേൽ  ശാപം  വാങ്ങാൻ

കടുകുും പച്ചമുളകുും പൊട്ടിത്തെറിച്ചു
എന്നെ കെട്ടിപിടിച്ചുകൊണ്ടു കരഞ്ഞു സവാള
തിളച്ച എണ്ണയിൽ  മുങ്ങിക്കുളിക്കുമ്പോൾ
ഞാനാരാഞ്ഞു എന്നെ ഭുജിക്കുകയില്ലേ
അപ്പോളവൾ തന്റെ വലത്തേ ഹസ്തത്താൽ
തള്ളിക്കളയുംവിധം തൻ വിരലുകൾ നീട്ടി


വൈരുദ്ധ്യമെന്തേ  ഈ  സോദരിക്കെനോടിത്ര
ഞാനെന്തു പിഴച്ചു  ഇത്രമേൽ  ശാപം  വാങ്ങാൻ
                                             -ആര്യ .ജി

A Poetic Marvel By Shruthi

ഒരു കൈവിരളിൻ  നീളമാം
ചുരുട്ടിൽ  പതിയിരുന്നു  എന്നന്ത്യം
വര്ണക്കടലാസിലേകനായ് -
ശാന്തനായ്‌
കള്ളനായ്  അവനോ  ഇരുന്നു
അവനോ  എരിഞ്ഞങ്ങടങ്ങിയപ്പോൾ
ഞാനും  ആ  കൂടെ  എരിഞ്ഞു
അവന്റെ  വിഷമുള്ള  ശ്വാസം
ഈ  വിണ്ണിൽ  നിറഞ്ഞപ്പോൾ
ഞാനോ  ആ  കൂടെ  മറഞ്ഞു .

                                                    -  ശ്രുതി   സാറാ  മോസസ്

Farewell to Malavika Pradeep

Hey there,
This is a farewell notice to our retreating family member Malavika. She has been a fantastic edition to our family. Our family has been running like a clock and Malavika was definitely one of the numbers in them. The loss is always significant. Malavika, we would honestly miss you. Some of them, the closest of your friends more than others. But you were a good person. Full of zeal and enthusiasm, trying to find your place in the world. I have always believed that everyone is extraordinary. The more I get to know people, the more I justify that point. And that's the same for you. I respect your desire to be driven by your passions and that you are brave enough to stand up and talk. We are all sad to see you go. But honestly, happy to see that you are moving one step closer to your dream. All the very best! I have heard that memories once made cannot be erased. Hold all of your memories close to your heart. On the behalf of our class, farewell!