Tarksheel Society Punjab (Rationalist Society) is a rationalist group based in

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

The beginning

Founded in 1984 under the leadership of Megh Raj Mitter & Sarjit Talwar. Tarksheel Society aims to disseminate rationalist ideas and scientific temper among the Indian people in order to eradicate

religious fanaticism Religious fanaticism or religious extremism is a pejorative designation used to indicate uncritical zeal or obsessive enthusiasm that is related to one's own, or one's group's, devotion to a religion – a form of human fanaticism that cou ...

communalism Communalism may refer to: * African communalism, a system of interdependence in rural Africa * Christian communism, form of religious communism based on Christianity * Communalism (Bookchin), a theory of government in which autonomous communities ...

caste system A caste is a fixed social group into which an individual is born within a particular system of social stratification: a caste system. Within such a system, individuals are expected to marry exclusively within the same caste (endogamy), foll ...

untouchability Untouchability is a form of social institution that legitimises and enforces practices that are discriminatory, humiliating, exclusionary and exploitative against people belonging to certain social groups. Although comparable forms of discrimin ...

and superstitions. Affiliated to

Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations The Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations (FIRA) is an umbrella body of 83 (as of 2012) rationalist, atheist, skeptic, secularist and scientist organisations in India. As an apex body of rationalist organisations, it is committed to ...

, Tarksheel Society advocates the separation of religion and education. The society has units in almost all the villages and towns of Punjab. Though mainly confined to the state of Punjab, the Society now operates in the neighboring states of

Haryana Haryana () is a States and union territories of India, state located in the northern part of India. It was carved out after the linguistic reorganisation of Punjab, India, Punjab on 1 November 1966. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with les ...

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; Sanskrit: ''himācāl prādes;'' "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a States and union territories of India, state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen Indian Himalayan ...

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh (; ) is a landlocked States and union territories of India, state in Central India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ninth largest state by area, and with a population of roughly 30 million, the List ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

and

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory since 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered by India as a state from 1952 to 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (prin ...

also. Due to its high South-Asian population, the Society is also active in three major cities in Canada: Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto.

Campaigns

To accomplish its mission, the society organizes public meetings, conferences, study camps, seminars and publishes rationalist literature. The society undertakes campaigns to expose the so-called

miracle A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divi ...

s and charlatanry of godmen who claim

supernatural Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the Scientific law, laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanin ...

powers. Towards this the Society has announced a cash award of rupees five lakh (US$8,000) for anybody who demonstrates supernatural powers or miracles under fraud-proof conditions. The Society has so far published about 50 books in

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabis, Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a ...

and

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

on rationalism and science to inculcate scientific temper among people. In 2004 Tarksheel organized the three-day national conference for Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations.

Periodicals

First book of the society was 'Te Dev Pursh Har Gaye' original author Dr. T. Kapoor was translated in Punjabi by Sarjit Talwar & Meghraj Mitter. The society publishes its own journals in Punjabi and Hindi. ''Tarak Bodh'' (Logical Cognition) and ''Taraksheel'' (Rationalist) are brought out in Punjabi and ''Tarak Jyoti'' (Logical Enlightenment) in Hindi.

References

External links

Website of Tarksheel Society Punjab

Website of Tarksheel Society

Student Awareness Exam Portal of Tarksheel Society Punjab

Telegram of Tarksheel Society
{{Skeptic Organizations Organisations based in Punjab, India Rationalist groups based in India 1984 establishments in Punjab, India Organizations established in 1984 Scientific skepticism organizations