Bashar Assad regime auctions off land of displaced Syrians
Divine-Knowledge by “Satvik-Gun” and greed by “ “Rajash-Gun” are caused, and futil-mental exercise, addiction and lack of divine-knowledge are caused by “ Tamsh-Gun”. (Bhagwat-Gita: 14/17)
Under the influence of “Satvik-Gun” human attend divine-conscious, he is able to distinguish between good-deed and ill-deed and with divine-conscious perform good-deed and result of which is sustainable.
“Rajash-Gun” cause greed, the deed of greedy human by misappropriation, accumulation through malpractices etc., bond human with meterialistic world and push him into rebirth thus it is painful.
“Tamsh-Gun” cause futil mental exercise, addiction and lack of divine-knowledge. When these three are germinate in mind human perform deed against the divine-conscious. Here it is explain that “Tamsh-Gun” produces lack of divine-knowledge, the stanza 08 of this chapter 14 state lack of divine-knowledge cause “Tamsh-Gun” which denote that “Tamsh-Gun” cause lack of divine-knowledge and also lack of divine-knowledge cause “Tamsh-Gun”, both are interlink.
Human face favorable and unfavorable situation and according to the performed deeds he attend rebirth or heavenly world. The counscious of “Gun” is cause of nature of deed, which is also main reason for rebirth ( Bhagwat-Gita: 13/21). “Gun” is the main reason behind the conscious and deed.
Human whose sole aim is realisation of element of Divine, he doesnot exist in nature like ordinary human, he is beyond Satvik-Rajash-Tamsh Gun, live in soul-consciousnes.
Divine-God has explain the affect of the contemporary “Gun” after death in 14-15 stanzas, now in next stanza he is going to explain after death affect of Satvik-Rajash-Tamsh Gun of whole life of human.
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Bashar Assad regime auctions off land of displaced Syrians
BY DAILY SABAH WITH AFP
ANKARA POLITICS
JAN 06, 2021 3:08 PM GMT+3
Syrians forced from their homes by their country's brutal, decadelong war are now shocked to discover that their family farms have been taken over by loyalists and cronies of the Bashar Assad regime.
Rights groups and legal experts say local authorities in parts of northwestern Syria recaptured by regime forces have staged auctions to effectively "confiscate" fertile land and punish opponents.
One refugee, 30-year-old Salman, said he always knew it would be difficult to return to the family plot in Idlib he abandoned during an offensive a year ago by Assad's forces.
But whatever hopes he still had to return one day were all but crushed when he learned the rights to cultivate the land had been sold off to a complete stranger.
"What right does someone have to come and take it?" the refugee, who asked to use a pseudonym, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) by phone from Greece where he illegally moved a few months ago.
Salman said he used to plant lentils, barley and black cumin on the 37 acres (15 hectares) of land he owns with his brothers, earning up to $12,000 each harvest.
He discovered through a post on social media that the rights to the land were being auctioned off.
"We were shocked," he told AFP. "This land was left to us by our ancestors and we want to pass it down to our children."
Several other Syrians displaced from southern Idlib and adjacent Hama and Aleppo provinces told AFP that they too have had their plots expropriated.
In October, the regime-affiliated Farmers' Union said that it was auctioning off the right to use and cultivate plots owned by Syrians "who don't reside in government-controlled areas."
The union said the original deed-holders were "indebted" to Syria's Agricultural Cooperative Bank (ACB), which offers loans to farmers – including those who are now finding it impossible to settle dues from outside regime-controlled territory.
The landowners who spoke to AFP all denied having outstanding payments.
"It's just an excuse," Salman said.
Other auctions are being organized by regime-linked local security committees, without any mention of outstanding debts, said opposition watchdog group The Day After and war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Grappling with a deep economic crisis compounded by Western sanctions, Damascus is looking to make use of fertile land to boost agricultural production.
For years, the Assad regime has ignored the needs and safety of the Syrian people, only eyeing further gains of territory and crushing the opposition. With this aim, the regime has for years bombed vital facilities like schools, hospitals and residential areas, causing the displacement of almost half of the country’s population while adopting policies to make their lives more difficult.
Rights groups, including Amnesty International, have condemned the land expropriations in former opposition strongholds.
"The land auctions exploit displacement for economic benefit," said Diana Semaan, Amnesty's Syria researcher.
Authorities, she said, are "seizing lands illegally and in violation of international law."
'It's a facade'
In November, an Aleppo security committee said it was taking bids for plots in reconquered villages, according to documents obtained by The Day After activist group and the Observatory.
Amir, a displaced 38-year-old from Aleppo, said he was informed less than two months ago by his former neighbor that authorities were taking offers for his 20 acres of land there.
Amir asked the neighbor to bid on his behalf, but he declined.
"Someone who has relatives with intelligence services in the area" won the bid, said Amir, a father of five who now makes less than $2 a day picking olives in Idlib.
According to judge Anwar Mejni, a member of a United Nations committee tasked with overseeing the drafting of a new Syria constitution, the land auctions are "a kind of punishment."
"The auctions may not transfer ownership of the land, but they violate the rights" of original owners to access and cultivate them," he said.
Another issue, said Mejni, is that "there is no legal framework" governing the auctions.
Even if the ACB indeed organized them to settle debts, he said, this "should be done under the supervision of the judiciary."
Another farmer, Abu Adel, abandoned his village in Hama back in 2012 as battles raged nearby but continued to visit his plot until regime forces seized his area last year.
The 54-year-old hired people to tend to it while he is away, but in July an "affiliate" of a local security committee won rights to use it in an auction.
They "are all part of the same clique," Abu Adel said. "It's a facade."
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They say the key to sticking to a resolution is to make it second nature. Here is some advice and a further reading list to help you turn your promises and goals into reality
As we embrace the new year with the hope that it will be better than the last, many of us have also made resolutions we would like to fulfill. For most of us, establishing a series of New Year’s resolutions in which we make promises to ourselves to instill certain changes in our lives means creating new and positive habits. Easier said than done, right?
According to multiple studies in the United States, approximately 80% of resolutions are actually abandoned by the end of February. This year, however, many have had the gift of solitude and quiet time, which hopefully has resulted in more focus on ourselves and acknowledgment of the ways in which we can further enrich our lives. In other words, all of this time spent soul-searching may have actually paved the way to truly accomplish what matters most to us. Regardless, it has given this expat the time to do the research about how best to embark upon creating positive changes and so, here are some of the top tips on how to start a new habit:
Awareness and accountability
The best first step is to gift yourself a journal and actually write down your resolution. Awareness and accountability are necessary elements to even begin making a permanent change. Knowing what it is you want and visualizing yourself excelling in the habit will strongly set you up to achieve your end-goal because you will clearly know what that is. In other words, have the end in sight. Knowing what you want and establishing realistic and practical steps to get it will make the goal tangible and thus achievable. Acknowledging your plans by scheduling it into your day and confiding in loved ones that this plan is here to stay is another way to open up space in your life to make the goal a reality.
WOOPs, I did it again
Delving deeper into the concept of awareness and accountability lies the WOOP strategy, developed by German princess and psychologist Gabriele Oettingen, in which deciphering your “Wish, Outcome, Obstacle and Plan” serves as a self-regulation tool to assist in mastering habits and long-term change. To practice this strategy; get out that journal and identify what you want to achieve then write down what would be a positive aspect of doing so and what could be an obstacle you face. The final step is to establish a plan to overcome the said obstacle, giving you the framework to sustain what you want by successfully facing the challenges that come up along the way.
Know it may not be easy
I once read that happiness can be achieved by doing things you don’t want to do at that moment to reach a goal in the long-term. If so, then, this means that while striving to achieve happiness may not be fun, the outcome certainly is. Creating new habits is not easy, which is why it is a resolution, a challenge, and necessitates a goal, to begin with. Try to stop thinking and feeling and just physically do it. Whatever it is, if you do it consistently, it is nearly guaranteed to become easier, and hence you will better excel at it the more you do it. Have the end in sight for when it gets too difficult to feel motivated and just remember that the happiness generated by this habit will, at least, be waiting for you at the end of the rainbow. Happiness will be a direct result of the effort exerted to reach your goal.
Repetition is key
For a new habit to become a habit one has to actually do it over and over again. The very definition of a habit is that it is a routine or behavior that is repeated regularly and tends to reach a stage of being conducted subconsciously. In essence, the act becomes a fixed way of being through repetition. The question is, when is that magical moment when the chore of developing the habit dissipates? Many studies point to a period of 21 days for a habit to stick. Thus, one can set a personal goal of 21 days after which your goal should have become a habit. According to the 21/90 rule in habit-forming, once you have committed yourself to 21 days to establish a habit, continue on for an additional 90 after which your habit should have then become a permanent lifestyle change.
Start small
According to experts, there are four stages of forming any type of habit, and they always occur in the same order. They are cue, craving, response and reward. The “cue” initiates the behavior in our brain and predicts a reward. The second stage involves the desire for the reward, which is a “craving” and serves as the motivational force driving the habit, which is ultimately a desire to change our internal states. The third stage is the “response” and in essence, refers to the actual habit. This is where habit-forming can get tricky because it depends on your ability to actually do the habit in question. Thus, it is important to start small with achievable goals that will maintain your motivation and allow you to successfully form a new habit. The goal in mind can always be enhanced as time passes and capabilities increase. If one keeps their target accessible, then they can be continuously “rewarded” for their success, which is the fourth stage of habit-forming. The Japanese concept of Kaizen, which means “continuous improvement” and refers to applying small changes that result in major improvements over time, can also serve as a guideline to growing your goal.
Reward yourself
If establishing a new habit is, in fact, the reward, then every time you partake in the habit, you are also being rewarded. Thus, one can enjoy the journey and choose to be happy now, just because you are establishing the habit. The rewards come in a number of ways, and one doesn’t have to wait 21 days to reap them. You can also set goals to achieve with your new habit, such as losing a certain amount of weight or spending a certain amount of time meditating, etc., but you can also plan to reward yourself in a somewhat unrelated way such as going on a retreat or buying a new outfit. The bottom line is that rewards are everything when it comes to creating a new habit; they are what we crave, and achieving them is what satisfies us in the end and makes us happy.
Suggested reading on habit-forming
1. "The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business" by Charles Duhigg
Considered to be the most important piece of literature for understanding how we form habits and how to change them. This bestseller and multiple book-of-the-year winner, released in 2012, details how habits work with scientific and marketing examples and teaches how to acquire the most important habit which is willpower.
2. "Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones" by James Clear
This popular bestseller released in 2018 provides practical guidelines for establishing habits by starting off small. The book also includes a number of relatable stories from successful figures in business, sports, entertainment and medicine, etc.
3. "Tiny Habits: The Small Changes that Change Everything" by BJ Fogg, Ph.D.
Released last year by the director of the Behavior Design Lab at Stanford University, this bestseller offers a new perspective on how emotions come into play when taking the initial steps to change for good.
4. "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen R. Covey
One of the most influential self-help books of all time with 30 million copies sold since its release in 1989, this influential bestseller sets forth a number of ideals to strive toward for success in life.
5. "High Performance Habits: How Extraordinary People Became That Way" by Brendon Burchard
Published in 2017 by a successful performance coach, this book shares the six most important habits to have and how to acquire them.