• From the editor’s desk
• GOVERNMENT-CENTRAL
• GOVERNMENT-STATE
• Congress Staring at Defeat in General Election, 2009
Prem Shankar Jha
• Karnataka: the BJP Victory in Perspective
Parvathi Menon & V. Sridhar
• Congress must Reinvent itself as the only All India National Party
Equitably Representing All Social Groups & Sub-Groups
Shahabuddin’s Letter to A.K.Antony,Chairman, AICC Committee on Revival 18 June, 2008
• Muslim Indians Lack Role Models
M. J. Akbar, Eminent Journalist & Author
• Equality is a Right, not Favour for Muslims
M. J. Akbar, Eminent Journalist & Author
• Journey from Deoband—Towards Reaffirmation of Secular Order
Harish Khare, Editor, The Hindu
• Opening Protected Mosques for Namaz
PC Vinoj Kumar
• US Scholar Donald E. Smith’s Views
Extracts from ‘India as a Secular State’
• Difficulties in Inclusion of Dalit Converts
Subodh Ghildiyal
• Categorisation- A Rational Solution for Inter-Group Disparities
P.S. Krishnan, Retired Secretary, Ministry of Welfare
• A Debate on Choice for Kashmiris: Secession, Autonomy and Freedom
FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK
Needed Reinterpretation of Riba and Changes in Banking & Investment Laws
State of Global Economy
In a global economy which is not based on Islamic principles or operates in an exclusively Islamic environment, no enterprise, industrial or commercial, whether engaged in manufacturing goods or providing services or marketing products, can be truly Islamic in an orthodox sense. Even national companies cannot operate in a vacuum because they interact with each other as borrowers or lenders or as suppliers or distributors, and engage in transactions which are invariably based on interest. Thus, in reality, the universally interest-based economy today leaves very limited space for interest-free enterprises or transactions. Muslim states and individuals both thus operate in an economy which is based on the interest system. They are not in a position, economically or politically or even professionally, to restructure the global economy on the basis of freedom from interest.
Muslims believe that economic history as much as political history is but a manifestation of the divine will. But bound by the moral and ethical principles of Islam, they have to find a viable way to participate in the global and national economy with a good conscience, just as they are subject to other natural phenomena.
In the final analysis, the institution of interest so pervades our personal lives that a pious Muslim consumer cannot avoid a product or a service in daily use, which does not have a hidden element of interest in its cost. He can hardly breathe but in such an economic environment, far less engage in interest-free financial transactions, official or personal. Government revenues include element of interest on investments and loans and payments of interest on all liabilities, payments of arrears and borrowings. Thus, revenues used to aid institutions, including religious seminaries, have an element of interest. All Muslim employees earn their emoluments from an interest-based economy and their Provident Funds when they retire are calculated on the basis of compound interest.
Pious Muslims no doubt have the option of isolating themselves from the world and inhabiting like frogs wells of loneliness of their own creation, or plunging into the economic mainstream moving with the current under well- defined restraints. This is the choice of the Muslim as individuals, as well as a community, whether he manages a Madrasa or a Masjid or works for the government or private sector or runs an industry or a shop. An individual may or may not be conscious, but there is no escape for him from inbuilt interest in receipts and payments and sometimes even in capital formation. Even so-called ‘Islamic’ credit societies levy additional charges for service indirectly and opaquely. It has been noted that some Muslim investors in India (the few who have the money) invest in equities or in equity mutual funds which they deem to be Halal. But they forget that all equities or all mutual fund units they purchase finally feed the capital market, which is based on interest and the dividends they receive, are equally interest tainted.
Nearly all Muslim countries have therefore woven the institution of interest in their economic system and laws. Many capital-surplus Muslim countries keep their reserves in foreign banks or in government bonds of friendly countries, which pay interest.
Muslim Economic Behaviour in India
Muslim Indians have inherited a tradition of avoiding contact with the banking system as far as possible because it is based on interest. Thus they have deprived themselves of the far-reaching benefits of a developing economy which is based on credit flow on interest. On the other hand, many Muslim individuals and families have ruined themselves by borrowing from non-formal cutthroat lenders at usurious rates, leasing their property as guarantee. They cannot depend on friends and relatives to meet their needs through Qarz-e-Hasna, because the latter are not prepared to accept a loss in the purchasing value of the amount they loan due to inflation which is another inescapable feature of the modern economy, which cuts into the value or the purchasing power of all money. Some Muslim depositors do not draw interest from the banks when it accrues to them. Some draw it but do not put it to any gainful use but simply give it away in charity (without seeking reward from Allah). The total estimated loss of the Muslim community in India every year runs into billions of rupees. However, unfathomable cumulative resources in the hands of the common Muslims, which remain unutilized or are spent recklessly or accumulated with constant fall in their value needs to be tapped.
Shift in terms of Economic Debate and Discussion
Over the years, the course of professional and academic discussion on the viability of constructing an interest-free economy has shifted from interest- free banking to Shariat-compliant investment. Banking serves the common man as an essential service to secure his meagre savings for the rainy day or for his retirement and old age or at least to race against inflation. But the common Muslim hesitates to avail of banking services.
What is therefore essential is an authoritative clarification on the question of bank or personal interest. On the other hand, the common man is a stranger to stock exchanges and unfamiliar with the mechanics of investment in business stocks. In any case, stock exchanges and brokers are available only in the big cities and for a very small population.
Islamic economists and academicians have long endeavoured and applied their mind to enlarge the permissible space for securing saving or to rationalize or even circumvent the bank interest in vogue. They have evolved phrases like participatory economy, ethical economy or socially responsible economy. But all of them operate within the framework of the capitalist economy; thus do not eliminate the element of interest.
Of late they have isolated an economic sector, which has been designated as Shariah-compliant and is therefore open to Muslims, qua Muslim, for patronage and participation. They have been following the lead given by Dow Jones Islamic Market Index (DJIMI), which has been followed by a number of mega banks with the idea of attracting Islamic/Arab capital to invest in selected stocks with comfort. Applying a self-serving definition, they have found 60% of the stocks in the Indian stock market are Shariah-compliant, as against 57% in Malaysia, 31% in Pakistan and 60% in Bahrain. It has been estimated that both the principal stock exchanges in India i.e., NSE and BSE list a substantial number of companies which meet the definition. The Parsoli Islamic Equity Index claims that 41 out of 100 top companies fall in this category. India is still far from operationalsing a market or business segment based on Islamic concepts. This exercise is basically concerned with sale and purchase of stocks.
Flaws in Defining Shariah-compliance
The essence of the term ‘Shariah-compliance’ can be summarized for the common man cutting through economic jargon in the following terms;
1.The core activity of the company should be Islamic. It should therefore engage in manufacturing or selling a product or providing a service which is Halal according to Shariah. The trouble is that the definition does not rule out companies with side or supplementary business, which may not be related to Halal products/services.
2.At least 33% of its average capitalization should be interest free
3.At least 33% of its business transaction in terms of the average receivables and payables over a period of time should be interest free.
There are several variations on the theme but the essential point is that apart from supplementary or side economic activities, which may not be Halal, capital as well as receipts and payments are admittedly tainted by interest. Irrespective of whether it is less than 1% or 33% or more, they cannot be strictly defined as ‘Shariah-compliant’. From this point of view, there is hardly any truly Shariah-compliant company in India or abroad. The bald claim that the ‘Shariah-compliant companies’ are Islamic vehicles for business investment is, to say the least, deceptive and misguide the community.
Motivation to Attract Arab-Muslim Capital
The motive behind this exercise in deliberate deception is understandable in the context of endlessly repeated assertion from all public platforms that time has come for massive flow of Arab/Islamic capital to India. Since India has emerged as one of the biggest, if not the biggest destination for foreign capital, looking for a safe harbour and a buoyant market, it is today indeed a preferred destination for all. Whether the surplus floating capital in the Gulf, private or institutional, shall be attracted towards India because of the existence of the duly certified Shariah-compliant stocks is a moot point. No statistics on short or long inflow to such stocks are available. I feel that the hardheaded investor who has the West and the USA open to him shall not respond in a substantive manner. However, a contingency may arise which may compel an investor in the Gulf to look for alternative investment market, such as when gradual slow-down in the Western economy and rising tension in the relation between the Muslim world and the West reach critical limits.
Even now between the emergent economies of India and China, India has some advantages because of historic relations, geographical proximity and cultural familiarity.
No doubt, from a national point of view the Muslim Indians should in any case welcome Arab/ Islamic capital to India. It is possible that as a sign of welcome Indian financial authorities may also make some cosmetic changes in the rules and regulations and even spread a red carpet. But they are not likely to introduce any basic change in the structure and working of the capital market.
Marginal Benefits for Muslim Indians
From the Muslim point of view, what is important is also to examine whether the flow of Arab/Islamic capital will make any difference to the economic status of the Muslim Indians in terms of employment and business opportunities. Indian market continues to be controlled by the private sector in which the Muslim do not count. No such benefit will reach the community unless the foreign partner pushes them to locate the industrial units in Muslim concentration areas, which are under-developed and deprived or to appoint Muslim distributors. Indeed, when one hears murmurs of possible reservation in the private sector, only the OBCs, the SCs and STs are identified as desirable beneficiaries and the Muslim community is left out.
Will the label of Shariat-compliance make such companies more attractive for the Muslim elite in India? This is doubtful. Over the years, many Muslim enterprises basically medium and small financial companies have tried to attract dormant or idle Muslim capital in India by presenting themselves as interest-free commercial operations but their claims have not stood the test of time and the camouflage that they adopted have worn thin and were eventually discarded. Also the capital they collected from the common people was invested in interest-bearing business. So, the Muslim Indian is not likely to benefit from the effort to mop available Islamic capital under the slogan of Sharia-compliance, although, following on the heels of financial markets, even major mutual funds like the UTI and the SBI have floated Islamic Mutual Funds to attract investors in the Gulf though their services are not yet available in India for potential Muslim investors.
Muslims, as a community, are under-represented both in the number of bank accounts they hold as well as in the per account advances their accounts receive as loan. The Muslims have not fully participated even in primary credit societies or cooperative banks or in special schemes crafted by the government for the backward classes, even at micro-credit level.
The painful fact is that Muslim share in the totality of the financial system has been marginal and very low in proportion to their population. This is partly because of their under-representation in govt. jobs including such massive public sector or institutional giants as the Railways or the Armed Force. Their earnings which would have been of the order of hundreds of thousand crores would have generated massive savings, looking for channels of gainful investment or deposit.
Crux is understanding of Modern Interest as Riba
The real crux of the problem is in the Muslim understanding of all interest as ‘Riba’ and therefore as haram.
Reinterpretation of Riba
Over the years, our theologians, economists and social thinkers had tried to reinterpret the terms Riba or Al Riba used in the Holy Quran. The pioneering work was authored by Allama Iqbal Ahmad Khan Sohail under the title ‘Haqeeqat-ur-Riba in 1936, with a preface by another well-known scholar Maulana Tufail Ahmad. His basic thesis is that the term Riba does not apply to all forms of increase when a loan is repaid but only to particular forms, in a barter economy, with non- standard money prevalent at the time of the Holy Prophet in the Hejaz. The term Riba applies when the lender exploits the distress or misfortune of the borrower and imposes heavy penalties when it is not repaid when due. Since 1936, not much research has been done on the subject of distinction between Riba and interest. Some theologians have however issued fatwas in favour of bank deposits and even insurance but the debate was lost in controversy on the status of the Indian state in Shariat, whether Dar-ul-Harb or Dar-ul-Aman, and whether interest is permissible in transactions with non-Muslims.
Our economists and politicians have consistently over the last decade tried to pressure and persuade the government to make suitable changes in the banking laws and financial regulations with a view to accommodate Shariah-compliant deposits. Our theologians have also been half-heartedly engaged in rationalisation of bank interest or gains from shares and payments for services rendered. The argument about neutralisation of the impact of inflation has also been raised.
Shift in Discussion and Debate
But of late there is an overall shift of economic debate towards Shariah- compliant investments on questionable assumptions which, in my view, has generated long term adverse consequences for the common Muslim by placing the real issue on the back burner and by softening the pressure by the experts & the politicians on the government for creation of interest-free or inflation-free space or on the Ulema for legitimizing bank interest as in most Muslim countries.
Thus, there remains a yawing gap between the Muslim community and the financial system as in the common parlance; institutional deposits continue to be looked at with disdain or horror or at least with a sense of guilt. Indeed, persistent and raging inflation, which eats into the value and purchasing power of the savings and interest is completely lost sight of.
There is a basic institutional difference between Riba and interest. The modern financial system is not based on coercion or oppression but on accommodation and cooperation. The lender (depositor) is in search of a borrower, not vice versa. The bank and the share market (borrower) do not operate arbitrarily but are bound by rules and regulations, which limit profit and which are justiciable.
Another question raised is the ‘certainty’ of gain which makes it haram. But it is normal for any depositor or investor to make a choice among available openings on the basis of his judgment on the records of various banks and companies. He takes a risk with his eyes open and prefers sometimes to invest in gilt-edget stocks with low profit on long term and sometimes opts for a rising stock on short term. The depositor, the investor, has the freedom of choice and faces a danger of uncertainty.
It is possible that new rules are written which could change the fixed rate of interest to a sliding rate depending upon the rate of inflation and introduce the principle of profit sharing between the bank and the depositor. There can be many variations.
Conclusion: Action on both Political and Theological Fronts
Our intellectual quest needs therefore to be revived in right earnest. A battle has to be fought on both fronts, theological and academic. The first front is to probe into the social and economic environment and the financial system prevalent in Arabia at the time of the Holy Prophet, into the nature of Riba then in force and the exact forms prohibited by in the Quran and in the Holy Prophet’s last Haj discourse.
The second front is to exert sustained pressure on the government to rewrite the banking laws to create space for flexible operations, a relationship of mutual benefit between the lender and the investor, on one side, and the bank and the company, on the other.
Our societies objective should be to make the common Muslim feel free to deposit his idle money in banks and to borrow from them when in need or purchase shares of commercial stocks in companies whose core business is Halal.
Since the editor is neither a theologian nor an economist, this editorial does not presume to produce specific solutions; its basic point is to draw attention of Muslim economists, scholars, theologians and politicians as well as the authorities towards the felt need for an appropriate ambiance in the financial system which can at least soften, and if possible, eliminate any conflict of conscience for those who follow the Shariah.
The debate on Islamic economy has been pioneered in India by the Indian Objective Studies (IOS), New Delhi, headed by Dr.Md. Manzoor Alam, and by Dr.Md.Nejatullah Siddiqui, the Islamic economist of world repute. The IOS is the only organised forum which, through its deliberation, may crystallize concrete proposals for possible changes in the banking and financial system as well as interpret the term Riba as in modern economy. If our objective to change the psychology of the Muslim community is fulfilled so that it saves and gainfully invests its savings with a clear conscience, this change will not only uplift the community but also influence the pace of growth of the national economy.
New Delhi
1 Jult, 2008 (Syed Shahabuddin)
A Debate on Choice for Kashmiris: Secession,
Autonomy and Freedom
Prof.A.C.Bose‘ Critique
Through his article captioned “Choice for Kashmiris: Independence, Autonomy and Freedom”, has made, in effect, a verystrong case against the Kashmiri demand for azadi, failing which, Khudmukhtari, by highlighting the obvious advantages of democratizing their polity further and ensuring greater individual liberty within the parameters of the Indian Union. It requires a mature mind to distinguish between national independence and individual freedom and the choice between the two is a fairly old debate.
Sometime, soon after 1820, Raja Rammohan Roy laid stress on the brighter sides of the British and concluded that it is better to be ruled by a progressive foreign power than to be left in the lap of a native despot determined to preserve the old order. That is why India by the end of the 19th century was way ahead of her independent neighbours, like Thailand, Iran, Afghanistan etc., in very many ways-social, economic and cultural. Still that view of the Raja did not make him popular with the main stream of India’s thinkers, writers and public men.
Most Indians felt small before the citizens of these independent countries. Even Tagore has written in his Jeevan Smriti of the awe with which they would hold their old Sikh janitor, who had spent his early years in independent Punjab before 1849. Even Nehru has recorded his mental torture when every one in a group in his student days in England was asked to sing his national anthem. Man is basically tribal and we all re-act more fiercely when our nation, caste or community is publicly abused than when some one abuses us. After all some form of equality is the demand of all, while liberty is the goal of only a few and that too after one has achieved the former, i.e. national independence in the present context. The visible blessings of the British Raj did not persuade us to welcome it.
Similarly, Sheikh Abdullah might have been saved from the prison in 1953 if the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of India had already been extended to J&K. But that incontrovertible truth never persuaded him or his followers to welcome any erosion of the limited independence or autonomy that the Instrument of Accession still allowed them. In short, national independence, equality and dignity are the primary demands of all. Only after these have been achieved that the more mature among them start asking for personal liberty and dignity. The same is true of the Kashmiris, just as it is with the Nepalis, the Mizos, Nagas etc.
Since 1931 the Kashmiris are hearing of and dreaming of azadi, thousands of them have died and suffered for that dream and many more will respond to any call given in the name of that holy cause. But, how many will come out in support of reforms in the legal system or for the effective introduction of the panchayat system? These will not give them the self-respect and emotional satisfaction they seek, . The politically active youth of Kashmir just hate to have their attention diverted or to welcome any thing coming from and hence contaminated by the existing system.
Puri further repeats the view that in 1947, while Jammu sought independence, Kashmiris wanted to join India. True, most NC leaders were behind the bars when independence came to India, but no Kashmiri of any significance is known of have publicly demanded accession to India. Even after their release from jail, at the end of September 1947, Sheikh Abdullah did not plumb for India. He first sent GM Bakshi and GM Sadiq to Lahore to meet Jinnah and to explore the desirability of joining Pakistan. But, Jinnah refused to meet them and the Sheikh could not trust him and visit Pakistan. So, instead, he came to Delhi and was with Nehru when the raiders from Pakistan threatened Srinagar.
The Kashmiris faced with the prospect of losing everything they valued looked around for help. India alone was ready and demanded her price in the form of accession. The Kashmiris threatened more than the Jammuites by the raiders enthusiastically endorsed the Maharaja’s decision to join India. They were happy at being saved by the Indian army from the jaws of sure destruction and at the prospect of preserving the azadi of their dream with three acceptable dents. For them it was a classic case of “Sarvanase samutpanne ardham tyajati Pandava” i.e. faced with the prospect of total loss one gives up even half of what he wants. They wanted the Indian army to throw out the Pak raiders and to withdraw, leaving them as the masters of their land and destiny. They were disappointed when they dug in their heels in the state. The parallel with the scenario in Bangladesh in 1971 is instructive. They wanted independence and not the continued presence of Indians on their soil. We wisely withdrew from Bangaldesh, but not from Kashmir. The rest is history.
Jammuites know very well that given the logic of democracy they would never be able to be the rulers of the state. As Dr.SP Mookherjee once said the problem with Jammu is that they cannot reconcile themselves to the sudden loss of power that followed the transfer of the centre of political gravity from Jammu to Srinagar. So the fact remains that Jammuites, in their heart of hearts, seek separation from Kashmir to be the masters of, at least, their own home, their separate state with their own CM. But, New Delhi is opposed to both. While it is opposed to the demands of the Kashmiris on grounds of alleged national integrity, it is opposed also to Jammu’s demands whom they want to use as a pole to which the wild Kashmiri goat is kept tied to keep it within the four walls of India. For them the domination of New Delhi is far better than that of Srinagar. It is an irony of fate that the Jammuites, who had once created the state of J&K, are now interested in dividing it, while the Kashmiris, who had once resented the deal that created this state, are now keen on both its independence and integrity.
Balraj Puri’s Rejoinder
In his article, issue totally distorted the basic logic of my article when he attributed to me the view that I have made a very strong case against azadi, failing which Khudmukhtiari, by highlighting the obvious advantages of democratizing polity further and ensuring greater individual liberty within the parameters of the Indian Union.
The choice I posed for Kashmiris is independence, autonomy and freedom. The emphasis is on the word ‘and’. By reading it as ‘or’, Bose has distorted my view. And nowhere is there a reference to “the parameters of the Indian Union”.
Again, contrary to Bose’s assertion, I did not discuss, in my article, what was in Sheikh Abdullah’s mind before the tribal raid in 1947 but simply referred to his statement in which he had welcomed the Indian army. Ever since 1947, I have been a vocal champion of autonomy and opponent of its erosion, particularly in post-Nehru era.
A fundamental question that I asked was why could not the state defend its autonomy? I cited two main reasons. One, that autonomy had not been used to give liberty to the people and, indeed continues to be misused by the rulers of the state. Two, that differences between the two main regions of Kashmir and Jammu could not be reconciled.
As democratic avenues of discontent are denied secession becomes a natural outlet. I have given a number of instances in which central institutions are not applicable to the state nor does the state have its own institutions to guarantee liberties in the state. Such a regimented system is a natural breeding ground for discontent and alienation.
If Abdullah could not give freedom to the people when the state had maximum autonomy and a tall and powerful leader that no government at the centre could dare interfere in the affairs of the state. How could lesser mortals, who followed him resist the temptation and misusing whatever autonomy that was left. Why did Abdullah’s government not allow free elections? Why government officers were made office bearers in the ruling National Conference, and district president of the party appointed Deputy Commissioners? Why was the National Conference cadre authorized to arrest opponents and lock them in party offices? Was slogan of independence that the Sheikh eventually opted for a substitute for his authoritarian rule? Answers to all these would require another article but the broad argument here is about the lack of people’s freedom when it had the maximum autonomy it ever had.
As far the other reason for failure to defend autonomy, regional differences, is concerned, according to Bose, Kashmiris want independent while Jammuities want statehood. Supposing this sweeping generalization is correct, what is the way out? Divide the state, more or less on religious lines? What would happen to minorities in both regions? And genuine aspirations of Kashmiri nationalism as against appeal of Muslim solidarity? Would the same formula of religious divide be applicable to Ladakh?
My own solution to this problems was regional autonomy which was accepted by Nehru and Abdullah in 1952 and five tier internal constitutional set up, including regional autonomy and further devolution of power to district, blocks and villages drafted by me and accepted by leaders who came from a very wide spectrum of ideological learnings in the J & K State People’s Convention in 1968. The present centralized system is bound to create tensions and separatist tendencies at all levels as it has.
In regard to the analogy that he draws between Kashmiri struggles and India’s movement for independence, Bose is absolutely ”. Did Nehru not form Civil Liberties Union to enlarge the area of freedom or liberty even under foriegn rule? After all agitations against Rowlatt Act and in Champaran district in Bihar were not at all specifically aimed at independence but against unjust laws. Are not separatist as well as mainstream leaders of Kashmir also fighting against Human Rights violations? When I make a case for making Human Rights institutions of the state more effective or extension of the jurisdiction of institutions like National Human Rights Commission, Bose argues that Azadi is more important than democratic rights. Did not Indian leaders demand representative institutions and participate in elections for Municipalities and Assemblies, without giving up their goal of independence? Why cannot the Kashmiri leaders give us a blueprint of their vision of the system they will implement, after they get independence or autonomy? Can they assure us that they will not impose an authoritarian one person or one party rule over the state? And do justice to diverse ethnic entities of the state as also to individuals?
No doubt that there was an extremist fringe in the anti-colonial movement. But the main movement led by Gandhi and Nehru had distinct preference for democracy. During his tour of Europe, Nehru had refused even to meet Italy’s dictator Mussolini. Prof. Bose defies common sense when he asserts that liberty is the goal only of a few. Recent democratic revolution in Pakistan is an eloquent refutation of this assertion.
(Source:J&K Human Rights Prespective)
Categorisation- A Rational Solution for Inter-Group Disparities
P.S. Krishnan, Retired Secretary, Ministry of Welfare
A community that is fairly large numerically will be able to express its feelings in the shape of protests. Communities that do not have numbers nurse their resentment silently. But it adds to the sum total of the discontent in the country. This is a reality that must be faced and it has been sought to be tackled by some State governments ab initio. These are the State governments of Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. They were the most sensitive in this regard right from the beginning. In Karnataka, the Nagan Gowda Committee [1960] specifically mentioned that it was aware that among the backward communities, some were more backward than others. If all these were grouped together, the more backward communities would be adversely affected. The committee came to the conclusion that the list of B.Cs should be divided into “backward” and “more backward” communities. This was the first post-Independence committee in Karnataka and it recommended sub-categorisation of the B.Cs to ensure equality among the backward classes. Karnataka now has five sub-categories within its B.C. list. Andhra Pradesh and Kerala have five and six sub-categories, respectively, within their B.C. lists.
Rajasthan, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradaesh, Orissa, and the entire northern belt, with the exception of Bihar, are yet to try sub-categorisation of the B.C. lists. Virtually all the non-peninsular States and the Centre have undifferentiated B.C. lists. Even the recognition of Backward Classes was belated in the non-peninsular States and at the Centre. If even the awareness of the existence of Backward Classes was so slow to come – the Government of India was ready to recognise them only in 1990 and a number of non-peninsular States and Union Territories did so only after the Mandal case judgment in 1992 – then it is not surprising that the recognition of the subtler aspects of backward class reservation is taking time. So, it was natural that these States and the Centre did not address the important issue of sub-categorisation of B.C. lists all these years.
There have been agitations elsewhere, too, for instance, in Tamil Nadu. Until the late 1980s, there was an undifferentiated B.C. list in Tamil Nadu. The powerful agitation by Vanniars in Tamil Nadu on the plea that they were not getting their due share of reservation led to the bifurcation of the B.C. category in the State – B.Cs and Most Backward Classes [MBC]with 30 per cent and 20 per cent share in the reservation, respectively. Vanniars were included in the MBC category.
Soon after, Andhra Pradesh introduced the sub-category of Backward Classes of Muslims with 4 per cent reservation within the 29 per cent reservation for B.Cs. Tamil Nadu, too, introduced two other sub-categtories, the Backward Classes of Muslims and the Backward Classes of Christians, and gave them 3.5 per cent reservation each within the overall OBC reservation of 50 per cent. These two State governments have wisely responded to the legitimate grievances of certain B.Cs.
In Bihar, right from the beginning, Chief Minister Karpoori Thakur introduced the binary list of B.Cs, in terms of Annexure A and Annexure B. Even though the situations in Tamil Nadu and Bihar are better, the sub-categorisation is not adequate. If there are more sub-categories, the government will be able to cater better to different strata of backwardness.
This issue came up before the Mandal Commission. One of the members, the late L.R. Naik, proposed that the list of Backward Classes recommended by the commission should be in two parts – one, “backward classes” and the other, “depressed backward classes”. The Chairman and the other members, while appreciating Naik’s feelings, and without disagreeing with him, said that the Supreme Court judgment in the Balaji case [Balaji vs State of Mysore, 1963] prohibited such classification. Naik consulted me and showed me his draft minutes of dissent, including his list of depressed backward classes. I helped him polish it. I was aware of his dissent, even before it became part of the report. What he said was largely correct.
In the Balaji case, the Supreme Court was perhaps under the impression that the sub-categorisation recommended by Nagan Gowda was a subterfuge to include as backward some communities that were not really so, and so disapproved of such categorisation. The Supreme Court judgment in the Indra Sawhney case [1992] clarified that it was not unconstitutional to sub-categorise B.Cs on the basis of different levels and degrees of backwardness. But the Centre and most of non-peninsular States have not realised the significance of this clarification and the reversal of the Balaji ruling.
The Government of India appointed an expert committee, in which I was a member, to recommend the criteria to identify the socially advanced persons among the SEBCs [Socially and Economically Backward Classes] to exclude them from B.C. reservation in 1993, as directed by the Supreme Court in the Indra Sawhney judgment, and thereby to facilitate the commencement of the long-delayed B.C. reservation. We were given 15 days to complete this task, and this was done in time.
The fact that an upheaval has not taken place in the past does not mean it will not take place in the future. Some small communities that are not able to get their due share from the B.C. reservation cannot carry out an agitation. But their silent resentment adds to the sum total of discontent and it is harmful to society and its economic growth. Where large communities are affected, and are unable to get their due share, they can start an agitation. My advice to the Central and State governments is, don’t wait for agitations and then mount fire-fighting operations, but understand where the fissures are, fissures that can result in explosions in some places and breed silent grievances in some others. They should use the instrument of categorisation proactively, effectively and fully.
State governments can do this sub-listing on the basis of the recommendations of a body that is totally unconcerned with electoral consequences and is concerned only with social facts and social justice. Categorisation should be done and should be seen to be done objectively and socio-scientifically.
In Maharashtra, the Halaba Koshti community agitated for inclusion in the S.T. list. The State government met this effectively by putting it in a new category, Special Backward Classes, with entitlement to 2 per cent reservation within the OBC quota. There has been no further agitation by that community, and apparently it was satisfied with this remedy as it was exposed to competition with some other communities at the same level of backwardness. The Maharashtra government wisely used this opportunity to create a separate category of denotified tribes and three categories of nomadic tribes, in addition to the Special Backward category, and also “Other Backward Classes”, all of which, even if not specified so, come under the rubric of the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes [SEBCs] under Article 340.
Nomadic communities can be given a quota as part of the rubric of SEBCs. But you must identify nomadic communities scientifically. Even a non-nomadic, a B.C. is entitled to sub-categorisation, based on relative capacity to benefit from reservation.
The Supreme Court, in its judgment in the Indra Sawhney case, which has been cited by the Union Law Ministry in its opinion to sustain its stand, has held that Article 16(4) is exhaustive of reservation for Backward Classes. A nomadic community is also a backward class.
Nomadic communities/tribes and Vimukata Jatis/tribes are also part of the concept of SEBCs. The Supreme Court’s reference to Article16 (4) as not exhaustive of the concept of reservation only permits reservation under Article 16(1) for those who cannot come under the categories of S.C., S.T. or B.C. The Supreme Court has distinguished this type of reservation as horizontal while reservation for S.C., S.T. and B.C. is described as vertical. It is only for the latter that the Supreme Court’s ceiling of 50 per cent applies.
My advice to the Central government and the State governments is to cooperatively undertake the important and delicate task of categorisation of SEBCs in State Lists as well as the Central List. This should be done objectively and socio-scientifically. (Courtesy: Frontline,)
Creamy Layer Review to Needed
to Fill Quota Backlog
Non-fulfillment of OBC quota for the first year of admissions in IITs and IIMs because over 90 per cent of backward students falling in the ambit of creamy layer could be a possible reason for increasing the annual income limit for defining creamy layer in a bid to fill the seats for the backward classes in coming years.
From the admission data emerging from IITs and IIMs, over 90 per cent of the short-listed candidates failed to prove they did not belong to creamy layer.
It meant that of nine per cent seats reserved for OBCs in IITs only 7.5 could be filled.
In the case of IIMs, where only four to six per cent seats were reserved for OBCs, about two per cent could be filled. IIMs had been claiming that 15 per cent seats reserved for SC students remains because not enough SC students are available.
Students from general category fulfill vacant seats meant for reserved category. The data is just an indication of what is in store for the coming years when the number of seats reserved for OBCs will increase.
In National Commission of Backward Classes is of unanimous view that the annual income bar should be raised to Rs 4-5 lakh for defining creamy layer, meaning that OBCs with monthly income of Rs 40,000 would be eligible to get quota benefit.
The Commission is expected to submit its report on re-defining creamy layer by end of June. The government may take an early decision before the next general elections.
(Source: Chetan Chauhan in Hindustan Times, 22 June, 08)
Making a Case for Sub-quotas
Vikas Pathak
Has a small Dalit elite cornered all quota benefits meant for 1,206 Scheduled Castes?
Analysis of data from Haryana , AP only the three states indicates that some relatively advanced communities within the Scheduled Castes disproportionately corner the quota benefits at the cost of other Dalit communities.
The Usha Mehra Commission constituted to examine this phenomenon in Andhra Pradesh found merit in the grievance and recommended sub-quotas to ensure that the weaker communities among the Dalits did not get left out. The commission found the representation of the “advanced” Mala caste in the IAS and the IPS ranges from 76 per cent to 86 per cent against 13 per cent to 23 per cent for the Madiga caste. Numerically, however, the Malas constitute 41 per cent of the state’s SC population against the Madigas’ 49 per cent, showing how quotas have worked to the benefit of the Malas.
Sociologist S.S. Jodhka who studied similar concerns in Punjab found that out of 105 IAS officers from the Scheduled Castes, only three belong to the Balmiki-Mazhabi community that accounts for 42 per cent of the state’s SC population.
“The state should have sub-quotas to identify the more needy groups. Homogeneous quotas can promote identity politics while sub-quotas address the target groups of reservation more comprehensively,” Jodhka told Hindustan Times.
Haryana shows how sub-quotas can benefit more castes than a uniform SC quota. From 1995 to 2003 when Haryana had sub-quotas against 60 people from the “advanced” shoemaker caste who became Class I officers, 50 from other Dalit castes got such jobs. Class II and Class III jobs show a similar trend. These data, however, do not show how individual castes fared in the sub-quota, leaving open the possibility of some “advanced” castes walking away with the benefits here also. In contrast, statistics on Haryana collected by the Gurnam Singh Commission appointed by the state government in 1999 show that under the uniform quota existent till 1990, the shoemaker caste occupied nearly nine out of every 10 jobs at all levels while only 4-6 per cent of the Class II and Class III jobs were with the Balmikis (scavengers). In Haryana which has 37 Scheduled Castes shoemakers constitutes half of the SC population, followed by the Balmikis at 19 per cent.
Many Dalit intellectuals, however, see sub-quotas as a political ploy to divide the movement and say that each sub-category would then lead to charges of further “cornering” by a few castes.
(Source: TheHindustan Times, June 09, 2008)
Congress must Reinvent itself as the only All India National Party
Equitably Representing All Social Groups & Sub-Groups
Shahabuddin’s Letter to A.K.Antony,Chairman, AICC Committee on Revival 18 June, 2008
I am glad that the President of the Congress has appointed you as the head of the Committee for the formulation of a Revival Strategy for the Party in view of the coming general election.
If you permit me, I would like to share some thoughts with you because I feel that the Congress has to be reinvented not only to regain power but also to give a more democratic, secular and socially just orientation to its ideology and strategy.
The Congress is the only all India party and in that sense the only national party. Its history and tradition imply that it should seek to embrace and represent all sections of the people. While other political parties have a very narrow social constituency like Yadavas or Chamars or Brahmins or the working class, the Congress base has to be as wide as the society itself. It has to ensure the representation of all social groups, defined in terms of religion or sect, community or sub-community, caste and sub-caste class and sub-class and build a corresponding structure from the grassroots level representing the full spectrum of social demography from the lowest level to the district, so that all distinct and identifiable and conscious groups or sub-groups feel that there is a space for them in the party and that the Congress is concerned with their welfare as well as it is committed to give them their due share in the benefits of development.
A viable Congress structure can no longer be built on an exclusive foundation- the classical combination of the Brahmin, the Muslim and the SC. It should open its arms to embrace all other groups/sub-groups, which are conscious and identifiable, even if as a group, they are identified with a rival political party. This ideology of Communitarian Nationalism implies that the all groups in the population at any level are involved in decision-making.
Since social demography varies from place to place and level-to-level, the construction of the party units from the local to the national has to be flexible to take into account the demographic variation from one level to another and from one district/constituency to another. Taking the nation as a whole, the overall social break-up is high caste; 15% Hindu OBC, 43%, Religious minorities 19.5%, SC’s 15%, ST’s 7.5%. But within each conglomerate, different sub-groups may be dominant in various constituencies, their identity has to be reorganized and given due weight.
The same consideration must apply, even more rigorously, when the party distributes its tickets for the Assembly or for the Parliament. Congress ticket in any constituency should normally go to a member of the biggest social group therein, provided he/she commands a standing in his/her own group. In case, that group is known to be already committed to a rival political party, the second biggest group should be taken on board. This will finally give rise to a pattern of distribution both at the state and at the national level which would satisfy all major social groups and give them their due in proportion to their population of the state.
In the party organization, at the top it has the Working Committee and the Secretariat plus Election Committee formed on an ad hoc basis. It is suggested that the Working Committee and the Secretariat should have due representation of all social groups as well as of all states and that a Central Parliamentary Board with at least 11 members should be elected by the Working Committee. The distribution of tickets should be finalized only at the level of the Parliamentary Board. There should be separate Election Campaign Committees for each major state, with one non-contesting leader placed in charge of each Lok Sabha constituency and entrusted with the task of directing the election campaign and grinding the candidate.
To sum up, time has come for the Congress to ensure that all social conglomerates like High Castes (including Brahmins), the Intermediate Castes (or the Shudras, now designated as the OBC’s), the Religious Minorities, the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes are all equitably and properly represented in the party structure from the grassroots level to the top as well as in the List of Candidates.
It goes without saying that the groups which feel satisfied with their place in the party machinery and with their share of tickets as well as the quality of their representation will support the Congress through thick and thin, even in constituencies where rival parties field candidates from the same group as the Congress. The principle of social justice adopted by the Congress in selection of its candidate has to be publicized.
The Congress, as the strongest secular force in the country, should take the initiative to invite all secular parties (including SP & BSP) to form a National Secular Alliance and divide the seats on the basis of the percentage of votes in 2004 and the number of seats won by them against the BJP/NDA or lost to it by a small margin. Its own quota may come to about 300. Since Congress will not be contesting all the seats, it has to allocate each sent to the dominant social group/sub-group in the constituency or the next dominant group, or sub-group if the first is inclined towards the BJP/NDA.
A Copy has been sent to Shri M.Veerappa Moily, Chairman, AICC Group on Future Challenges and Opportunity
Difficulties in Inclusion of Dalit Converts
Subodh Ghildiyal
Congress may have played a strong hand on minority welfare in the populist budget, but organising reservations for sections among minorities, which it is keen on, may be difficult.
Ministry of social justice has asked National Commission for Backward Castes for information about Dalit converts to Islam and Christianity, in a step which could spark controversy and create complications for the moves to organise quota for Dalits other than Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists.
It has asked the OBC panel for names of Dalit castes who have converted to Christianity and Islam, as also “the definition” to determine the Scheduled Castes who embraced the two religions.
It has sought to know the authority which certifies a Christian or a Muslim as a Dalit convert.
Not just this, the ministry has also asked the NCBC to provide national population percentage of Dalit converts besides their statewise numbers.
This could defer a decision on extension of quota to Dalit Christians and Muslims by a long time as there is little or no official census data on their population figures. Sources said which caste among the two denominational groups is a Dalit remains unchartered territory in the absence of any official exercise to identify them.
Insiders said there were only unofficial and academic claims on the subject. The reluctance of Christianity and Islam to acknowledge the existence of caste among their followers in India can be another complication.
The ministry of social justice has sought information from NCBC as Christians and Muslims are part of OBC list in states and Centre alike.
The issue got a boost after Rangnath Mishra Commission recommended that SC status be made religion neutral, only to get mired in complications with the National Commission for SCs entering caveats while giving its go-ahead to extension of quota to converts.
In its opinion to the Centre, the Dalit panel said they may be given reservation in proportion to their population but without impacting 15% quota earmarked for SCs while also respecting the Supreme Court’s 50% bar on quota.
This may not be possible as the 50% barrier is set to be breached if quota frontiers are pushed to include minorities, as 49.5% quota is already in operation. Though the recommendations are not binding, government will have to tread cautiously in the face of a strong minority “appeasement” campaign by the BJP.
The issue rocked Rajya Sabha on Monday as proponents of quota for converts charged the government with ignoring the issue. As social justice minister Meira Kumar rebutted the allegation saying that the issue had been referred to NCBC, former CEC and Congress MP M S Gill demanded that Christians and Muslims be given SC status, just as Sikhs had got after a struggle. He asked courts not to stand in the way.
JD(U) MP Sharad Yadav said the 50% ceiling set by the apex court should be done away with. He also mocked the SC judges, saying that they selected themselves and did not know the social reality.
(Source The Times of India, 4 Mar 2008)
SC/ST Privilege for Religious Minorities
Shahabuddin’s Letter to Social Welfare Minister, 29 January 2008
As you are aware, while members of the Scheduled Tribes may profess any religion, at present the SCs are by definition and law limited to those who profess Hinduism and Sikhism or convert to Buddhism. However, the Mishra Commission has recommended that members of the SC who embrace Islam or Christianity should continue to be treated as SC. But this does not cover those Muslims and Christians who claim the status of SC on parity with the Hindu SCs because their families embraced Christianity or Islam generations ago. Though they continued to engage in the same vocations as those who remained Hindus. Indeed they claim that even after change of religion they continued to be subjected to many social disabilities as their Hindu brethren, even though they enjoy some religious concessions like unrestricted admission to places of worship.
I am writing this to draw your attention to the problem that arises when a person is both a member of the religious minority and also a Scheduled Tribe. The question has arisen whether he may simultaneous by avail of benefits under the Government schemes for the uplift of religious minorities, on one hand, and for the uplift of the STs on the other. Or whether he shall be entitled to only one set of schemes that he may opt for. For public recruitment which would by its nature be limited to eligible applicants, a candidate may be given the option of offering himself as a SC / ST or a religious minority. I would request you to let me know whether your Ministry has considered this aspect of the matter.
The same question may arise about elections. The question has far-reaching implications in states of North East. Tripura and other States of tribal concentration like Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra. In the case of SCs it is a very pertinent question in Tamil Nadu.
One approach could be to have common Government schemes for the uplift and development of the religious minorities, the SC and the ST, particularly in the field of education, and for universalisation of benefits on economic basis, subject to proportional distribution at the functional level.
However, these are only tentative thoughts. I would be grateful if you kindly let me know whether the subject is under study in your Ministry.
Equality is a Right, not Favour for Muslims
M. J. Akbar, Eminent Journalist & Author
A potent threat to Indian secularism comes not from its perceived enemies but from a section of the vanguard, the secular fundamentalists: those ideologues who forget that an Indian’s identity as distinct from India’s identity is shaped substantially by his faith.
The Congress that gave us freedom and reshaped India never made this mistake. The three venerable icons of secularism are a Mahatma, a Pandit and a Maulana. Their faith was gentle, culturally harmonious and hence quintessentially Indian. They protected the power of religion from the dangers of religiosity.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was anointed Mahatma during the Khilafat-non-cooperation movement of 1919- 1922, an inspiring instance of Hindu-Muslim unity. Gandhi aborted this awesome upsurge suddenly, after Chauri Chaura, to the bitter disappointment of particularly the Muslims.
Abul Kalam Azad was a genuine Maulana, whose tafseer analysis and interpretation of the Holy Quran commands respect, and whose oratory soared above the high levels of his contemporaries. Among Azad’s early enthusiasms, quickly abandoned, was an organisation called Hizbollah, or Party of Allah.
Nehru’s liberal-democratic worldview was shaped by an European education and Indo-European sensibility. His personal lifestyle preferences were hardlly ‘native’. ‘Pandit’ was a political gesture, shaped by Gandhi, towards a conscious identification with an Indian reality. Indira Gandhi took care to visit the temple of Lord Krishna on his birthday. Their political heirs have lost this subliminal connect with the Indian psyche.
Indian Marxists, still convinced that class is the predominant determinant, are still reeling from the uppercut they received from Bengali Muslims in the recently held panchayat elections. Their grief is mixed with resentment: they gave Muslims protection from riots, and is this the reward? Peace was their sole exchange rate for the Muslim vote. It was a patronising view of secularism.
The CPM has not changed in three decades of power in Bengal, but the Bengali Muslim has. The young Bengali Muslim does not want to be a protected species. He believes he is an equal under the Indian Constitution. Safety of life is his right, not a favour. He wants jobs, education and healthcare, like the Bengali Hindu. And he wants the protection of his faith-identity. The tectonic shift has been led by the change in the Muslim vote.
Here is a paradoxical thought. The most successful Muslim leader of the 20th century, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, was a secular-fundamentalist in his personal life, and a man with a single-point mission in his politics: security for Muslims. Jinnah had open contempt for Gandhi (“That Hindu revivalist!”). Jinnah was privately contemptuous of the Muslim mullahs. He understood only the law, and convinced himself that equality for Muslims could never be achieved in any Constitution acceptable to an united India.
Six decades later, Bengali Muslims are upending that logic. Their politics is born out of the self-confidence of equality. They have the right, as much as a Bengali Hindu, to tell the state that law and order is a duty and not a gift. They insist on stretching security to faith, food, incomes and jobs. The fog of uncertainty in which the fear psychosis of the 1940s flourished has given way to the clarity of a citizen’s rights, and the anger of citizens denied their due. Jinnah, incidentally, was perceptive to say, at one point, that the passions of Indian Muslims were like soda water. He maximised its power before the water went flat.
But the new power of Muslims is stable; it is the power of an equal. Jinnah, it is not widely known, enjoyed going to the races in Bombay. In 1946, just a year before Pakistan was born, he gave a tip to a friend, telling him to bet on a horse called Hindustan, which was giving odds of nearly seven to one. The friend protested: how could Jinnah recommend anything called ‘Hindustan’? “Never mind,” said Jinnah, “it is only a horse.”
Hindustan isshowing the pedigree of a chjampion galloping ahead despite the scepticise. Indian Muslims want to gallop to victory, for Hindutva belongs to them as much as it does to any other Indian community.
(Source: The Times of India,
Journey from Deoband—Towards Reaffirmation of Secular Order
Harish Khare, Editor, The Hindu
The anti-terrorism convention was organised by the Darul Uloom Deoband a conference attended by all major clerics, the conference passed a resolution, noting “Islam sternly condemns all kinds of oppression, violence and terrorism.” It was felt that similar gatherings should be organised across the country to make “joint and constant efforts” to “denounce terrorism.”
The anti-terror resolution has been widely noted and welcomed, in India and abroad.
In the American-compiled post-9/11 bluebook of good and bad guys, Deoband is often cited by some as “the centre of the South Asian Islamism” and by others as the theological cradle of jihadis. That the Darul Uloom Deoband should now feel the need to take the lead in meeting head on the misperceptions is in itself a healthy democratic initiative.
Will one resolution be enough to dissolve the Hindu suspicions and allay Muslim apprehensions that trouble the matrix of the majority-minority equation? Certainly not. And the sober and responsible Muslim religious leaders will be making a mistake in assuming that those who benefit from deepening anti-minority sentiments will pack up their hate shop just because a resolution has been passed. It can only be a beginning. The leadership has to ensure that the Muslim community does not allow itself to be lured by its presumed well-wishers or provoked by its baiters away from the eminently sensible course chosen on February 25.
Along with all other stakeholders in a secular order, the Muslim leaders cannot wish away the success the communal forces have had in manufacturing a linkage among Islam, Pakistan, Muslims and terror. This presumed linkage is one of the many unhelpful dividends from the United States’ so-called war on terror. It has seeped into our collective mind.
Societies, nations and communities often find themselves getting sucked, much against their wish, into external quarrels, disputes and arguments. Muslims as also other communities have no immunity from instigation from outside on their attention, affections, fears and resources. And even before 9/11 began making consuming demands on India and its internal cohesion, the Muslim community had found itself taking a call on what was happening in J&K.
The Deoband resolution is perhaps the most explicit statement to suggest that there is no contradiction between global sympathies and national loyalties. The February 25 formulation appeals “to all Muslims to continue, as they always did in the past, their loyalty towards the dear motherland and love and respect towards humanity.”
More significantly, the Deoband clerics appear to be alive to the violent militant making a possible claim on the co-religionists. At their congregation this week, the clerics alerted the community to “fully understand the present alarming situation, the gravity and intensity of the time, and feel the pulse of the present world so that they might not be employed as tools of evil by anti-Islamic or anti-national forces.”
The congregation also voiced its concern at what it perceived was a pattern of harassment of Muslims in the name of fighting terror. This is a fair and legitimate expectation. Harassment on account of religion should be matter of concern not just to the minority community but to all those who believe in civil liberties and human rights.
Yet it needs to be recognised that India no longer has the luxury of pretending that terror does not find takers here. The Mumbai train bomb blasts in 2006 robbed us of this pretence. Terror vendors are now able to find support, shelter, finances and weapons in the “mainland.” The terrorist will have to be dealt with sternly, and it is possible that there will be occasional excesses, incompetence, and perhaps partiality on the part of the policeman. As a rule-of-law-based political system, we have to continuously strive to finesse our instruments and sensitise our security personnel to secure us against the terrorist without creating resentment and alienation. We need to recognise that the fight against terror cannot be won without generating trust and fairness in the governing process.
The problem the Muslims face is mostly political. It boils down to the Muslim vote. Like other minorities the Muslims were deemed, part of the Congress coalition. The party’s rivals portrayed this as politics of vote bank and accused it of practising “appeasement.”
Whatever the voting pattern, for over two decades now the Bharatiya Janata Party and other Hindutva forces have found it electorally expedient to mobilise and consolidate the majority community on an anti-minority plank. And though the Hindutva project ceased to find traction. Once the Babri Masjid was desecrated, the Muslims’ affection, vote and leaders got badly divided and scattered; this division accelerated the process of political fragmentation and aggravated the minorities’ problems.
The Deoband Declaration could mark the beginning of a reaffirmation of the fundamentals of our secular order. Our mindsets would need to be reworked on two counts. First, the polity needs to generate the sufficient moral courage and intellectual rigour to reassert that our republican compact involves a fair deal for the minorities. Those who preside over the Indian state owe it to themselves to make this a real and vibrant commitment, not because it would fetch votes but because we have a constitutional obligation to produce a just and fair political order. Without an honourable and equal place for the minorities, there will be neither justness nor civic peace. Nor national prosperity or national security.
Secondly, the Muslim community will need to move away from the victimhood refrain. The experience of the last two decades should have by now made the community wise on how to use its civic and political rights in its own interests, how to integrate with the mainstream of the political process, and how to demand a share in national prosperity.
The journey from Deoband would be long, exacting but also exhilarating and rewarding.
(Source: The Hindu, 2 March, 2008)
Karnataka: the BJP Victory in Perspective
Parvathi Menon & V. Sridhar
There can be little doubt that the Bharatiya Janata Party has achieved an electoral breakthrough and that its win in the recent elections in Karnataka marks a watershed for the politics of the State and country. After all, its victory is the fulfilment of the party’s long-cherished goal of forming a government on its own strength in a southern State.
However, a closer reading of the results would indicate that the party’s euphoria is misplaced.
In terms of the seats won, the BJP is the clear winner bagging 110 out of the 224 Assembly seats, an increase of 21 from its 2004 tally. The Congress has won 80 seats, 15 more than last time. Significantly, the Janata Dal (Secular) is the only party to lose ground in terms of seats in what was basically a triangular contest. Its tally in 2008 was lower by 30 seats when compared to 2004.
The BJP’s improved performance, it would appear, is largely due to the manner in which vote shares of the three political parties have stacked up in a closely-fought three-way contest. In particular, vote shares across the four broad regional divides show that while the BJP may have won, it is by no means the end of the road for the Congress as well as the JD(S). The analysis has important political implications for each of the three main parties.
Despite its loss, the Congress remains the single biggest political force in the State, while maintaining a marginal lead over the BJP in terms of vote shares across the State. It won 34.60 per cent of the popular vote in Karnataka, a lead of a little less than one percentage point over the BJP. In fact, the Congress’ share of the popular vote has fallen only marginally in 2008 from its level of 35.3 per cent in 2004. In terms of overall vote shares, the BJP has registered significant gains. Its share has increased from 28.3 per cent in 2004 to 33.9 per cent in 2008.
The JD(S) too has not lost its popular base. Its share of votes polled has fallen only marginally — from 20.8 to 19.1 per cent. So, where have the BJP’s gains come from? The table shows that the votes polled by independents and smaller parties have fallen sharply — from 15.64 in 2004 to 12.44 per cent in 2008. In fact, 60 per cent of the gains registered by the BJP in these elections have come at the expense of the smaller parties and independents, while 28 per cent has been wrested from the JD(S).
The disaggregated picture, shows that the Congress has polled more than one-third of the popular vote in each of the four regions in the 2008 elections. In contrast, the BJP’s popular support base suffers from a geographical bias. In particular, its poor performance in the southern districts, barring Bangalore urban agglomeration, highlights this weakness.
As for the JD(S), its support base is concentrated in the southern districts, precisely in the area where the BJP has a relatively weak support base. Its vote share in this region is almost 10 percentage points below not only the Congress but the JD(S) too. In fact, its overall lead in terms of seats won has largely been due to the over 5 percentage point lead over the Congress in Bangalore Urban and in the coastal districts. In the northern districts, the balance is almost even between the Congress and the BJP.
What are the implications of the election figures for the politics of the region? The figures highlight a quirk of the first-past-the-post Indian electoral system. In a closely-fought triangular contest, a small shift in vote-share can often result in a significant change in seats won by parties. This is what has happened in Karnataka, and the BJP reaped the gains.
Secondly, the arithmetic of electoral politics poses the obvious question of an alliance between the two avowedly secular parties, the Congress and the JD(S). Such a coalition in the next Lok Sabha elections would result in the BJP being a distant second rather than the frontrunner that it imagines itself to be.
It is important that the Congress not take the JD(S) for granted in such an arrangement because the JD(S), despite being the weakest of the three main parties, retains almost one-fifth of the popular vote. This may not fetch it many seats if it is on its own. But a coalition with the Congress could dramatically change the political landscape in Karnataka.
(Sourc: The Hindu, 2 June, 2008)
BJP’s New Sense of Purpose
Editorial, The Hindu, 4 June, 2008
In Mr. Advani’s view, Karnataka was a “turning point” comparable in magnitude and importance to what was witnessed in the 1989 general election — when the BJP’s Lok Sabha tally shot up from a mere two to 86. Party leaders flayed the Manmohan Singh government, declared it unfit to continue, and thundered that the National Democratic Alliance was now unstoppable. This is the same party that almost crumbled following its shock defeat in the May 2004 general election. Over the next three years, obstructionist behaviour typical of a bad loser, infighting, and a sense of drift seemed to be the BJP’s hallmark. A recovery seemed improbable, if not impossible, and more so after its humiliating rout in the May 2007 Assembly election in Uttar Pradesh.
BJP’s has within a space of six months, has transformed from a bitterly divided house to a party united by a common mission. Today it is on a winning streak, with successive victories in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, and now Karnataka. More amazingly, with 2009 looming large, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has swallowed its pride with respect to Advani and Narendra Modi. Who would believe today that till recently the two were on the Sangh’s hit list? Yet as always, there are caveats to this seemingly new and shining chapter in BJP’s history. Take the party’s off-again, on-again dalliance with Hindutva. Rajnath Singh’s opening speech suggested that the once pet issues of cultural nationalism, (abrogation of) Article 370, and the uniform civil code were back on the BJP agenda. Advani’s emphasis, however, was on co-opting the BJP’s ideological opponents. If the two conveyed divergent paths, Jaswant Singh added to the confusion by virtually denouncing the formation of a secular government in Nepal and claimed that as a Hindu, he felt diminished by the ouster of the Hindu king. it was proof, if any were needed, that the party was fundamentally illiberal. If the NDA is to expand into a genuinely cohesive alliance the BJP must go beyond tactical shifts and embrace moderation in thought as in action.
Ministry of Minority Affairs
Highlights of the Annual Report for 2007-08
Prime Minister’s New 15 Point Programme:
The first report on the implementation of the programme was considered by the Committee of Secretaries in its meeting on 28th March, 2007, and thereafter, by the Cabinet on 21st June, 2007. The second progress report was considered by the Committee of Secretaries on 22nd January, 2008. the third progress report has also been submitted for consideration by the Committee of Secretaries.
Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities:
The Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities has submitted the 44th Report pertaining to the period July, 2005-June, 2006.
National Commission for Minorities:
Three Annual Reports, along with ATMs, were tabled in Parliament during 2007-08.
National Minorities Development & Finance Corporation:
The authorized share capital of NMDFC has been increased to Rs.750 crores during 2007-08. An outlay of Rs.500 crores has been proposed for the XI Plan. An Amount of Rs.70 crores was provided for 2007-08 to the Corporation. The Corporation has extended financial assistance to 35,609 beneficiaries up to 29.02.08 during the year 2007-08. An Expert Committee was constituted to review the functioning of the National Minorities Development & Finance Corporation (NMDFC) and to suggest measures for restructuring of the corporation. The Committee submitted its report on 13th April,2007. the report is being processed. An assessment study has also been made to ascertain the impact of the schemes of the corporation on the beneficiaries and to judge whether the beneficiaries have actually become self-reliant or not. The report has been received recently and is being examined.
Sachar Committee:
A statement on the follow up action was tabled in both Houses of Parliament on 31st August, 2007.
Mishra Commission :
Submitted its report to Government in May, 2007.
Equal Opportunity Commission :
An Expert Group to study and recommend the structure and functions of an Equal Opportunity Commission was constituted on 31st August, 2007.
Expert Group on Diversity Index :
An Expert Group to recommend an appropriate diversity index to promote diversity, was constituted on 28th Aug, 2007.
Scholarship Schemes:
Three new scholarships schemes for students belonging to the minority communities have been approved during 2007-08 under the merit-cum means scholarship, up to 29 February, 2008, 6,414 scholarships have been sanctioned to States/UTs, of which a little over 42% were for girl students.
Coaching and Allied Scheme:
A revised coaching and allied scheme has also been launched. UP to 29th February, 2008, 31 coaching institutes, in 9 States/UTs, have been sanctioned financial assistance totaling Rs.3.31 crores for coaching of 2582 students/candidates from the minority communities.
Maulana Azad Education Foundation (MAEF):
A sum of Rs. 50 crores was released to the Foundation for the augmentation of its corpus fund during 2007-08. The Organisation Research Group (ORG) Pvt.Ltd.was engaged to conduct an evaluation study on its functioning. It submitted its report in November.
Scheme of Development of Urban Wakf Properties:
The Ministry of Minority Affairs released a total grant-in-aid of Rs 32.48 crores till 29th February, 2008. The Council has so far extended loans of Rs. 30.48 crores to 119 projects.
Education Programmes of Wakf Council:
During the year up to 29 February, 2008, the Council had sanctioned/ disbursed scholarships amounting to Rs. 49.12 lakhs to 614 students.
Rs. 5.20 lakhs as matching grants to state Wakf Boards; Rs. 48.44 lakhs as financial assistance to 14 it is / vocational training centers and Rs. 5 lakhs as fincial assistance to 25 school libraries.
Administration of Dargah Khwaja Saheb Act, 1955:
The Administration, control and management of the Dargah Endowment vests in the Dargah Committee. A new Committee has been constituted on 24 August, 2007
(Source: Annual Report)
In Support of Small States
Shahabuddin’s Letter to Indian Observer, 24 May, 08
This is with reference to the article in the Indian Observer published on 1-15 May, 2008 regarding the possibility of reorganization of the national territory to create more states and union territories in keeping with the rising demand. I have always been in favour of small states for various reasons but I am also aware of the fact that after 1956 the Central government has created more states in an adhoc manner. The result is that we have a large number of mini and micro states in the country. For example, in the northeast, we have apart from Assam six mini states and Pondicherry and Goa have been given the status of states, to give some examples.
If the government does decide to set up the Second State Reorganisation Commission its terms of reference should not only cover the creation of more viable small states by breaking up the large states but also to integration of mini and micro states and union territories in different parts of the country, either to form a larger state/union territory in the region or to merge them with the neighbourng major states on basis of linguistic.
Sometimes, the mini and micro states in the same region and even contiguous to each other vary in language, ethnicity and culture. The Commission should work out a sub-federal system so that each ethnicity/language has a home in the form of autonomous district with full safeguard within a common state.
Apart from population and, therefore, the size of the legislature, economic viability and administrative convenience must also be kept in view so that these small states do not have a large legislative or administrative or judical super-structure which consumes a major part of the revenues and even central grants and loans. In these micro and mini states, tranfer of resources has little impact on development process.
I regard Haryana as a model which has about 10 districts so that a competent and effective minister would know the character and working capacity of his district officers may obtain a status report from all of those officers in one morning.
Muslim Indians Lack Role Models
M. J. Akbar, Eminent Journalist & Author
When and how did the Indian Muslim become an indelible part of the Bollywood underworld. The arc of decline from the misty world of Nawabs in Mere Mehboob to the sentimental glitz of goons in Maqbool is a trajectory of shifting role models among Muslim youth.
Villains change on screen as necessarily as they shift outside the cinema hall. The three stereotype villains of the Fifties all belonged to upper Hindu castes. There was the violent, exploitative Thakur, whether in a classic like the Dilip Kumar-Vyjanthimala Madhumati or a potboiler like the Dharmendra-Jayalalitha Izzat. The scheming Brahmin, Narada, was a constant of mythologicals. The Bania moneylender, epitomised in Mother India , was the worst, leering at women and extracting wealth out of famine. These were not single-dimensional images: there was also the noble, patriotic, generous Thakur syndrome, for instance. Perhaps the most powerful symbol of Sholay was the armless Thakur, turned impotent in the line of duty. Eventually, happy-go-lucky vagrants destroyed the evil Gabbar Singh. By 1976 the saviour had become a variation of the emerging audience. As befits the new corporate age, crime became more professional and sophisticated, and space between smuggling, business and politics narrowed. Gradually, the Muslim became the primary face among the foot soldiers of the underworld.
A role model must merge contemporary compulsions and aspirations. The model for young Muslims in the 1940s was obviously Jinnah. They were oblivious of the traumatic potential of partition, and were charred by the killing hot winds of 1947 and the Fifties. Nehru, rather than Gandhi (who they had rejected), became the new model as he began, gently, to restore their self-confidence and nurture some degree of security. But the security was partial, and Nehru did little to reverse the marginalisation of Muslims from the economy.
The Sixties were the decade of despair. Desperation discovered a strange role model: Haji Mastan. In the disturbed, distraught and fragmented mind of Muslim youth of the Sixties, no one else seemed to be giving Muslims any jobs. Since they had no faith in the white economy, and the white economy seemed to have no faith in them, they turned to the black economy.
What was the alternative? The elite had disappeared on the auction blocks of Lucknow and Hyderabad; the professional middle class of the north had migrated to Pakistan in large numbers.
Muslims felt deeply betrayed by Congress politicians, with their litany of double standards. The anger sharpened during the politics of Babri Masjid: the Congress was responsible for everything, from the opening of the locks in 1948 to laying the foundation stone of the temple in 1989 to indifference while the mosque was destroyed in 1992. The BJP was the perceived enemy, of course, but the BJP could not be accused of betrayal, because it had never been trusted.
In this vacuum, the hysterical mullah, or his counterpart, became the role model of the Seventies and Eighties.
The demolition of Babri in 1992, the riots that followed and the bomb blasts of Mumbai in 1993, were a historical watershed. You cannot be disillusioned if you do not entertain illusions, so there was no rise in bitterness against the Congress; but there was sudden disillusionment with the Muslim purveyors of rabid rhetoric. The role model split after Babri.
The overwhelming sentiment is for a new Sir Sayyid Ahmad, founder of Aligarh Muslim University, who argued that salvation lay in both
English and the English, the emblems of progress and success. This is not a revival of the politics of separation; Indian Muslims know that they are the chief victims of partition.
This is a revival of the culture of modern education. This thrust will not achieve its full potential until the girl child gets an equal place in the Indian Muslim’s quest for modernity. If gender bias is not eliminated, Indian Muslims cannot enter the 20th century, let alone the 21st. The good news is that girls are being educated in far greater numbers than ever before.
But there was another role model lurking in a corner of the consciousness, born out of the belief that those who started riots against Muslims were stopped only because of the 1993 blasts. The anger of the victim justified terrorism. This is a minuscule section, but it exists and has merged its fantasies with the Osama bin Laden phenomenon. This is the wart that could poison the future. It will not be eliminated by arbitrary repression; but it can disappear with the assimilation of the community into economic growth and educational opportunity.
Fifteen years after the watershed moment of 1992, Indian Muslims have reached another crossroads. The overwhelming majority will travel the road towards progress out of sheer common sense. But there is a regressive minority which It needs as never before the leadership of a modern Sir Sayyid. History has offered a role, but there is no one capable of being model.
(Source: The Times of India, 30 ay, 2008)
Nandita Haksar’s ‘Letter to My Readers’
Preface to ‘Framing Geelani & Hanging Afzal: Patriotism in the Time of Terror’
I would like to warn you, dear Reader, that this book is not even about those who attacked our Parliament on December 13, 2001. The reason is that we still do not really know who planned this audacious attack. The Government has refused to place the facts before the people. We do not even know precisely whether there were five men or six who attacked the Parliament on that day.
The police claimed that the real masterminds behind the attack were Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad but they did not even mention LeT in the charge sheet; and produced no evidence in court against the three Jaish-e-Mohammad persons named but about the reactions to the attack. Is it not strange, dear Reader, that we the people should not want to know who actually attacked the Parliament and why. This book is really about us, our country. It is primarily addressed to Indian citizens and to those who live in South Asia. I have written this book because I have been very disturbed by the passions that have been generated by this case. I have been specially distressed to see that for many citizens the love of their country is based on intense hatred of a vast number of fellow citizens. A politics of hatred has turned so many men, women and children communal violent and sadistic. A Tamil Nadu base organization, Federation of Hindu Organizations has called upon President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam with this request: “The sentence should be so amended that his (Afzal’s) right hand and left leg are cut off and on of his eyes is gouged out and he is allowed, in this state of mutilation to freely tour the whole of India and make an exhibit of himself in order that no extremist or terrorist ever emerges in this country again.” This widely circulated statement adds that the Federation is “waiting with hope” for the President to make this recommendation and prove himself, “a great patriot”.
The campaigns for Geelanis acquittal and justice for Afzal brought me face to face with this hate. Sometimes it was angry and vociferous like when Shiv Sena goons burst crackers outside the courtroom in Patiala House, minutes after the Judge had sentenced three men to death, or when they ransacked the office of a senior lawyer when he announced he would defend Geelani. Sometimes the hatred was manifested out in the open like the time when the BJP members burnt Afzal’s effigies, but often the hatred was cold and calculated like the assassin waiting outside my home with a pistol in had not kill Geelani.
The chilling hatred and fear has created an insatiable demand for human life. We do not care how many terrorists are tortured, maimed, beaten and killed by violent brutish policemen or our security forces. We do not care if they violate the laws, procedures and even the Constitution of India as long as we can somehow restore order. We do not want to know who these ‘terrorist’ are and we do not care what happens to them as long as our country remains whole and secure.
Should we not be a little more interested in looking at our policy in Kashmir that has led the Kashmiris to hate us? That is precisely the question that I have raise in this book. I have tried to share with you, dear Reader, what I learnt about the would the Kashmiris inhabit, the terrifying reality of illegal arrests, dark and damp prison cells and barbarity of torture and the pain of a child waiting for his father to be hanged.
I also started asking myself what this so called war against terrorism was all about. Is it not strange that we have a war against something which we cannot define? There is not even an international consensus on the definition of either “terrorism” or “terrorist”. We need to have a closer look at India‘s war against terrorism.
Dear Reader, I want to share with you what I have learnt about kashmiris who have been demonized as “terrorist”. I want you to enter into the world of Kashmiris such as Abdul Rahman Geelani and Mohammed Afzal and I think you will learn not only about their lives but a little more about ours. You will learn about them but you will also learn about yourself as I have learnt about myself, about my own political assumptions and beliefs.
We should ask why the very real fears of some people are made invisible while the fear of terrorist attacks seem to occupy our entire national attention.
I believe that most Indians would be outraged to learn to what extent the state can go to frame an innocent citizen. I am sure my fellow citizens would not want anyone to be hanged without being given opportunity to be heard. I say this with confidence because so many people have expressed their solidarity with our campaigns for Geelani and now for Afzal. And the support has come form all over the country and from so many sections of our society. There was even a top model who wanted to shake my hands when she learnt that I was Geelani’s lawyer!
Dear Reader, I must confess that for the last five years I have been through so many emotions that I feel I have been on a roller coaster ride of emotion: outrage at the injustice being done to Geelani and Afzal; sadness that our country’s most cherished institutions are being destroyed by politics of hatred; and helplessness because people who could have made a difference by effectively intervening are silent. There were times I felt I was living in a republic of dying dreams where no one had any vision for the future.
And then I would invariably meet people who were willing to fight for justice without a thought to their own safety of comfort. I would once again believe in the magic of love, friendship and solidarity. I have written this book in the hope that we understand each other more, hate less and fear nothing.
The book is written in epistolary form as a number of letters addressed to the Prime Minister, and one each to Upendra Baxi, Bipin Chandra, Barkha Dutt, R.O.P. Mehra, Bismillah Geelani, and one to young comrades, as well as one each to a special Little Girl, and for those too young to read letters. The fable servers the purpose of looking at issues related to basic human rights, from differing perspectives, including right to presumption of innocence, fair trial and not being subjected to torture and degrading treatment.
The issues that are brought into focus include how Muslims in general and Kashmiri Muslims in particular can be treated as suspects on flimsiest or even no grounds and under political and media pressure may be treated as guilty, even by those who have been his/her friends, colleagues and neighbors as well as by organizations professional, social and political which claim to be secular and progressive. The book exposes how norms of fair trial are being grossly violated by the justice system including by lawyers who are denying those accused of terrorism right to a counsel. -Iqbal A. Ansari.
Insurgency & Declining Faith
Cause Rise in Suicide Rate in Kashmir
Muzamil Jaleel
A study by a state psychiatric hospital has put “declining religious values, lack of religious education and conflict related stress” as the main reasons behind this “alarming” trend.
A noted Kashmiri psychiatrist Dr Arshad Hussain said “I am not referring to the decline in the practice of religion but faith,” he said.
“During the study, I found that despite suffering from chronic suicidal behaviour people abstain from taking the extreme step because Islam strictly prohibits suicide. It is the single biggest reason for most people to hesitate,” said Hussain.
He said suicidal behaviour has become “one of the most common emergencies in medical casualties of Kashmir” and the “second most common cause of unnatural death” after violence.
Hussain said he has sought involvement of religious leaders especially Imams and mosques to initiate a campaign that emphasises on the prohibition of suicide in Islam. “This will help in two ways. Mosques and religious gatherings will make people aware of this disturbing trend in society. Then religious prohibition of suicide will discourage people from taking the extreme step,” he said.
The study, “Muslim suicide - experience from Kashmir valley”, has found that the suicide rate in Kashmir rose from 0.5 per 1 lakh people to 13 per 1 lakh people over the last decade, making it a major health problem. “It has all happened because of the 17 years of conflict that has engulfed every sphere of life in Kashmir,” he said.
The results of Hussain’s study revealed that on an average 3.5 persons with suicidal behaviour report everyday to SMHS causality. “Most of the people who commit suicide are males between the age group of 25 to 34. Most of the attempts are made by women,” Hussain said.
(Source: The Indian Express, 16 June, 2008)
Peace Through Inter-dependence
Kapil Kak former Dy Director, IDSA
Since the mutually agreed ceasefire on the LoC of November 2003, India-Pakistan relations have acquired a measure of sustained stability, four phases of the composite dialogue having been completed on a positive note. Diplomatic forays of key international players like the US, the EU (notably Britain) and China- and to a lesser extent Japan and Russia- have helped bring about this outcome. For the first time since independence, India’s bilateral relations with each of the great powers, including China and to an extent Pakistan have never been as close as these are today. In contrast, there is a distinct confidence deficit between the international community and Pakistan. Its domestic turmoil, crises in Balochistan and Waziristan, and deployment of nearly 80,000 troops on the Afghan border seem to have compelled it to make peace with India even as people on both sides of the border are increasingly demystifying the myth of the ‘other’ and forging closer people-to-people linkages. The rise of Islamic extremism in Pakistan, the army’s unwillingness to abandon its parasitic and predatory political role and that of transnational terrorism as an instant of India-related security policy continue to have the potential to serve as a powerful spoiler in the peace process.
Concurrently, a distinct downward trend in salient parameters of terrorist violence in J&K, combined with cross-LoC CBMs and vastly increased people-to-people linkages, have imparted a fresh dynamism to improved India-Pakistan relations. The leadership on both sides has recognized the need to evolve policy choices and creative initiatives for finding a common President Musharraf’s proposals and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s specific ideas, that seek to end violence, make borders irrelevant and focus on issues of political devolution/autonomy/self-government mark a policy shift that would be acceptable to a vast majority of stakeholders in both India, Pakistan and the two parts of J&K across the LoC. Successes here would doubtless enhance the potential of the peace process to become irreversible. In addition, leveraging the opportunity of rapid economic growth in India and Pakistan for open borders, increased trade and investment and promotion of regional economic integration would pay rich bilateral dividends. Creation of such inter-dependencies would enlarge constituencies of peace, security, stability and prosperity-the real Holy Grail of the ongoing peace process.
(Source: India & Pakistan: Patwhways Ahead)
Opening Protected Mosques for Namaz
PC Vinoj Kumar
JULY 10, 1806: In the first-ever rebellion against the British East India Company, Indian soldiers storm the 16th-century Vellore Fort, killing 200 British officers before their uprising is crushed.
May 9, 2008: thousands of Muslims from a non-political organisation lay siege to the fort, demanding to hold Friday prayers at Nawab Masjid, a historic mosque inside the fort. As expected, the police stop the men, belonging to the 13- year-old Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam (TMMK), from coming into the mosque. A police contingent is stationed at the mosque gates to ensure its large lock stays unbroken.
Muslims in Vellore have long demanded worship at the Nawab Masjid. But the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) says the mosque is a protected monument and claims prayers weren’t being held there when it took over the fort in 1921. “It [the mosque] cannot be opened for performing prayer,” ASI director (Monument) DR Gehlot wrote in September 2005 to Vellore MP Khader Mohideen. “The status quo has to be maintained.” Following the latest agitation, ASI superintending archaeologist repeated the cryptic response.
The Muslims allege that the ASI is being discriminatory. In 1981, a temple and a church inside the 138-acre fort were opened to worshippers after some Hindus forced their entry into the temple and allegedly installed a Siva lingam there. In his book, Vellore Fort and the Temple through the Ages, author AK Seshadri records the event thus: “The staff of ASI could do nothing to prevent the forcible action of the mob, except watch the happenings and complain the incident to the police and the district collector. The district authorities took no action, saying that this is a sensitive religious matter and therefore any preventive action would lead to a law and order problem…”
“There is one set of rules for Muslims and another set for others,” says TMMK president MH Jawahirullah. He alleges that the ASI actually allowed three new temples to be built inside the fort. He also claims the fort now houses as many as 48 government offices that weren’t there when the ASI took over the sprawling premises. who blindly bay for blood.
The Muslims’ demand has fetched support from all the major political parties (barring the BJP, which has little political equity in Tamil Nadu). Surprisingly, some Hindutva parties such as the Hindu Munnani and the Hindu Makkal Katchi, too, have said Muslims should be allowed to pray at the fort’s 18th-century mosque. Vellore MLA C. Gnanasekaran of the Congress also supports the demand. He spoke on the issue in the state Assembly and requested Chief Minister Karunanidhi to pressure the Centre, under whose control the ASI is, to open the mosque to the Muslims. Gnanasekaran said he will approach Union Tourism & Culture Minister Ambika Soni and seek her intervention in the Muslims’ favour.
In April, the 48-member Vellore Municipality adopted a resolution urging the ASI to consider the Muslims’ demand. “All major political parties support the demand,” says Vellore Municipality chairman P. Karthi of the DMK
Church and temple authorities inside the fort, too, back the Muslims. Rev Clive Ponnuraj, presbyter at the St John’s Church, says the Muslims’ right to worship at the mosque is all the more justifiable given that Hindus and Christians are allowed inside the fort. This church belongs to the Church of South India and has about 200 families as members. Sivakumar, a priest in the Jalakanteswarar temple inside the fort, also wants the mosque to be opened: “Everyone has the right to worship their God. That’s what the law of the land says.”
A. Paramasivam, vice president and treasurer of the Jalakanteswarar temple, played an active role in reviving worship at the temple. He recalls the support lent to the Hindus by Muslim League leader, the late Abdus Samad. “There was no worship in the temple for nearly 400 years. He supported our right to revive worship. It is our duty to support the rights of the Muslims now,” he says. Paramasivam and a Christian priest, Rev Baskar, are members of the two-month-old Communal Harmony Association, whose president, Aleem, is head of all the mosques in Vellore. The association has given a memorandum to Karunanidhi on the matter.
THE TMMK, formed in 1995, has earned considerable goodwill for its social work. Though it hasn’t contested any election so far, it supported the DMK in the last Assembly polls in 2006.
GS Iqbal, a leader of the non-political outfit Dravida Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam, feels the TMMK is politicising the issue.
Critics also say that the TMMK is keen to use the issue to build ground support ahead of next year’s Lok Sabha elections, which TMMK Jawahirullah recently said it may choose to contest. With its sizeable population of Muslims, Vellore can be a good ground for the TMMK’s political debut. But Jawahirullah dismisses such charges saying he submitted a petition for opening the mosque to the CM nearly two years ago. “This year we decided we would wait till April 30 to see if our demands were met. If not, we decided to offer prayers at the mosque on May 9, the second Friday of the month.”
For now, the ASI is refusing to budge.
(Source: Tehelka Magazine, June 07, 2008)
The Man behind Bihar’s Turnaround
Varghese K. George, Eminent Journalist on Nitish Kumar
Bringing order to Bihar a state long described as a state of mind for its monumental backwardness, or a basket case or the lead component of the Bimaru line-up, was never going to be easy. But that is Nitish Kumar’s biggest achievement in the first half of his five-year term. “He has put on track the fundamental institutions of state and is using it for the welfare of people,” says Shaibal Gupta, of Asian Development Research Institute, Patna, ADRI.
“Bihar is used to rule by decrees rather than of law. It’s essentially feudal,” Kumar said, unwinding after the gruelling weekly six-hour session in Janata Ke Darbar main CM.
During the previous regime, the state cabinet, the ultimate executive authority of the state barely met once in a month, and that too for only a few minutes. The first thing Kumar did on taking over was to order a structured cabinet meeting every Tuesday.
Simultaneously, Administration processes were simplified: projects costing up to Rs 25 crores, for instance, don’t need cabinet clearance any more. “No file stays here more than a week,” he said, pointing to his clean table.
All that keeps him busy, leaving him no time even to tlelak, watch to movies or TV in his residence. The huge plasma TV is his statement of peace with technology, that’s all. When he walked into that room in November 2005, a Remington typewriter was the most sophisticated piece of technology there.
“Things have changed. Bihar has turned around. During the next half of the government’s tenure these changes will be consolidated,” he says.
“Our government has started 41 new schemes. We have adopted roughly 100 plus innovations in governance,” says Sushil Modi, the chief minister’s trusted deputy. One such scheme is to give a cycle to every girl who goes beyond IX Class.
He believes that the changed self-perception of the Biharis, though intangible, is the fountain of all other changes to come. “People feel safe; kidnapping for ransom, which had become an industry, has stopped. Big contractors who had fled from the state are returning. People increasingly find work. Moreover, they see hope,” he says. The state but a state of mind Bihar is . That’s changing.
Government has played a huge role in the change. “We are disproving the theory that Bihar is ungovernable,” the CM says. “Earlier, teachers and doctors skipped work with impunity. Now, not only that you find doctors, but you also find free medicine at primary health centres,” says Shaibal Gupta.
The CM says, “We appointed more than two lakh teachers. Then quality became an issue and we are now focusing on it. The change is that earlier nothing existed for anyone to complain about quality.” The huge thrust on primary health and education is showing results already — 24 lakh children were out of school when this government took office; now it is reduced to 10 lakhs. Bihar’s human development indices are set to look up. But the state’s public health system does not have a single MRI machine yet.
The Bihar that Nitish took over was in bad shape. The government had not appointed teachers, engineers, policemen and civil officials for years. The Bihar State Public Service Commission had not conducted its exams for seven years in a row. With hundreds of field officials missing, the state did not have the capacity to do anything and even central allocations under different schemes went unutilised. He had to begin by appointing engineers and doctors on contract and even raise a police force comprising retired military personnel.
In the first two years, the state government recruited 3,11,852 people. It is in the process of appointing 2017 junior engineers, the crucial link in all development works.
Having ruled Bihar for 15 years from 1990 to 2005, Lalu Yadav remains an icon — mangoes, crackers and beedis are sold under the Lalu brand name, . He’s charismatic, reckless and has no time for details. In contrast, Kumar is studious, and has an eye for details. “Lalu’s victories came from his good luck. Nitish’s from his hard work,” says JD (U) Rajya Sabha member Shivanand Tiwari.
Kumar and Yadav put together a political constituency comprising backward castes, Dalits and Muslims. They parted in 1993 and after 12 years Kumar unseated Yadav. But Kumar is not yet in a similar position of leadership - he leads a coalition government with the BJP. He wants to win on his own, with the help of his own constituency — an emerging coalition of upper castes, sections of backwards, Dalits and Muslims. The only thing he has copied from Yadav’s style of governance is zero tolerance towards communal tension. “Within half an hour of a tension, the administration will reach the place,” he says.
Survey Report on Bihar Break-through
(1) Bihar has turned the corner 68%
Not so different 14%
Worse 6%
(2) Nitish Kumar is a good CM 46%
Excellent 31%
Average 16%
Poor 7%
(3) Bureaucracy more responsive 49%
Disagree 37%
Worse 5%
(4) Corruption is still rampant 31%
Gone down 38%
No Different 19%
(5) Feel safer than before 38%
Lot safer 33%
As safe/unsafe 21%
More unsafe 5%
(6) Feel govt. hospitals are better 61%
Not so different 30%
Deteriorated 4%
(7) Education system improved a lot 65%
As good or bad as before 28%
Worse 2%
(8) Roads much better now 41%
Just the same 14%
(9) Would vote for him/ JD(U) 32%
Go for the BJP 18%
Stick to RJD 22%
(Source: Hindustan Times, Jun 22, 2008)
US Scholar Donald E. Smith’s Views
Extracts from ‘India as a Secular State’
“One view simply equates Indian culture with Hinduism and Hindu culture …. The Hindu communal political parties are the most vocal exponents of this view”. Although spokesman for the minorities have stressed this view of a composite Indian culture, some of its strongest statements have come from Hindu national leaders. Gandhi refused to narrow his cultural heritage as an Indian. ‘Indian culture’ he wrote ‘is neither Hindu, Islamic nor any other, wholly. It is a fusion of all’.
“Our task is now to evaluate these two opposing views of Indian culture adhered to in present-day India. Hindu culture or composite culture – which view comes closer to the truth? If forced to choose between them, one would immediately select the latter. Indian culture is a complex pattern, a composite culture into which have gone many diverse elements, foreign as well as indigenous. To equate Indian culture with Hindu culture is factually wrong. However, a second statement must follow immediately, namely, that despite the composite nature of Indian culture, Hinduism remains by far the most powerful and pervasive element in that culture. Those who lay great stress on the composite nature of Indian culture frequently minimise this basic fact.
“Caught up in their enthusiasm for the idea of cultural synthesis, and with the best of motives (usually the desire to strengthen communal harmony and national unity), they seem to suggest that the cultural fusion is of a kind which might have resulted from blending together equal quantities of the principal ingredients. This, of course, is simply not the case.
“Hinduism has indeed provided the essential genius of Indian culture, this cannot be denied. Significant cultural synthesis has not taken place everywhere, with the exception of Christianity in the small state of Kerala, there is much less non-Hindu cultural influence in South India than in the North. Thus, while not denying the reality and importance of the composite culture, we must be prepared to deal with an Indian culture largely rooted in Hinduism. Those who equate Indian culture with Hindu culture can produce considerable evidence in support of their position, although that part of empirical Indian culture which they ignore or reject makes their equation factually wrong, the use to which their argument is put is frequently disruptive and anti-national” (pages 378-9).
Advani’s selective quote from this passage which, isolated from the rest, conveys a different thesis altogether.
“The plea that the Deputy Prime Minister and the President were acting as individuals in their private capacities is not adequate justification for such activities, the influence and prestige of high office inevitably becomes associated with whatever they do in public. The failure to distinguish between Indian culture and Hindu religion is illustrated by the large stone image of Vishnu located at the entrance to the headquarters of the Inspector-General of Police in Bangalore”.
“As far as the minorities are concerned, they are already very much disturbed over the tendency to identify the religious culture of the Hindus with the Nation. Few cornerstones of the State or local government buildings are laid without the performance of Sanskritik ritual by Brahmin priests”.
“The state should promote authentic and valuable aspects of Indian culture impartially, irrespective of the religious tradition with which they are associated. The partial repudiation of the Muslim contribution to a composite language is a serious lapse from secularism” (page 402).
(Courtesy: A.G. Noorani) (Source: Frontline, May 9, 2008)
Fears of Uniformity in Plural Society
Ashok Vajpeyi, Noted Writer
No other policy of the state provokes such strong suspicions as the so-called National Culture Policy (NCP). There are two main reasons for this. First, there is a legitimate fear that in a pluralistic ethos shaped by centuries of multiculturalism, multi-linguality and multi-religiosity, a uniform policy could attempt to undermine the diversity of culture. Second, culture is too complex and sensitive an area to be amenable to the high-handed intervention by the state and had better be left to society at large. Both fears are well founded.
The exercise to formulate a National Culture Policy started in 1992 and through a series of discussions, consultations, is now reaching a decisive phase. It is well understood that the NCP does not aim to decide on the direction culture should take in India. While openly acknowledging the plurality of Indian culture and also that no uniform policy could possibly be evolved, the NCP at this stage calls for substantial and unceasing public action for promoting and nurturing plurality. It is wisely aimed at defining, expanding and strengthening that area of culture, which falls in the public domain of state support.
There is a vast institutional framework of institutions, schemes etc which are publicly funded and managed by the state both at the central and provincial levels. This is nothing unusual. The world over, in fact in more than 100 countries, most of them democracies, including UK, US and France, cultural institutions and promotion and support schemes are publicly funded either directly by the governments or through autonomous bodies like the Arts Council (UK), the National Endowment for the Arts (USA). National Culture Policies are in place in most of them. Similarly as of now, the Government of India funds nearly 40 institutions of culture and most of them, though unfortunately not all, enjoy a large degree of autonomy. The big question is in what direction, through what restructuring of management, autonomy and accountability, with what professional and financial-physical resources these institutions should move in the next phase.
The NCP, as is being currently drafted, looks closely at these issues as also at the need of expansion of the institutional framework to take care of new challenges that emerge on the scene in the beginning of the 21st century. Enhanced financial outlays (the current percentage of the Government of India’s spending on culture stands far below even 1 per cent of its total budget), better coordination between various ministries (such as Information and Broadcasting, Human Resource Development and Ministry of External Affairs) which are handling some aspect or the other of culture; deepening elements of culture in education, media etc are some of the other concerns that the NCP hopes to address. The current state of decline and atrophy in many public institutions in engaging major attention and improvements and elasticity in procedures of recruitment, more professionalism are being suggested. The NCP could endeavour to enhance support for them and suggest new dynamism for private-public partnership. Since culture is a state subject as per the Constitution of India, the Government of India would have to constantly persuade the various state governments to similarly identify areas of public support and action, enhance outlays, offer support to public-private partnership, create proper management structures and become vigilant and active custodians of a shared rich heritage and the rich and ever renewing plurality of culture.
The fear that a government ruled by parochial concerns or ideological obsessions could misuse this policy is a genuine but it should not stop us from having a policy in place. Once there is NCP (it could also be placed in the Parliament), it would be difficult for the government of the day to undermine plurality and diversity and to interfere with autonomy of institutions. Such matters would then become a matter of public debate as also open to possible legal intervention.
(Source: The Indian Express, 10 June, 2008)
VIOLENCE & EXTREMISM
Rule of Law
Editorial, The Statesman, 21 June, 2008
The Shiv Sena and its boss, Bal Thackeray, may not tire of stirring the communal cauldron ever so often, but public patience is wearing thin. The latest shenanigan ~ calling for a Hindu bomb and Hindu fidayeen ~ fails to amuse in the least what should ensue is prompt police action. There is enough inflammatory rhetoric in the Saamna editorial to warrant prosecution under a raft of charges, including perhaps waging war against the state, which incitement to terrorism undoubtedly is. Unfortunately, no government in India ~ and no political party or leader, for that matter ~ has the courage to take on such incendiary behaviour when it comes from a powerful person. No doubt, a number of excuses will be trotted out to explain inaction ~ pre-eminent among them will be the totally disingenuous plea that taking action against Thackeray will prompt Shiv Sainiks to unleash mayhem in Maharashtra. That is a poor excuse ~ it amounts to the government virtually abdicating its role of maintaining law and order, one of its principal functions. Nothing, surely, prevents the law-enforcement agencies from resorting to widespread arrests to prevent people from breaking the law. This, of course, will not happen. We have seen in the past the government’s failure to act when a Muslim lawmaker from Uttar Pradesh offered a reward for the beheading of the Danish cartoonist who had supposedly depicted Prophet Muhammad in an insulting manner. Nor did it act when a Hindu organisation announced a similar reward over some imagined insult. Both of these are, to say the least, incitement to murder, punishable, needless to say, under law.
If it were a simple matter of cowardice it would be one thing. But the problem is bigger. No government, party or leader wants to act to uphold the law in cases such as this because they fear something more than a law-and-order situation that they will lose votes of hardline elements. Their perspective is so skewed that they do not see that hardliners are a small minority all communities and that by acting according to its remit no government can fail to attract the support of the majority of right-thinking people.
He Loves to Hate
Editorial, The Times of India, 20 Jun 2008
Bal Thackeray has reminded us again that he is very much around. So is his brand of hate politics. His latest comments in an editorial in the Shiv Sena’s mouthpiece, Saamna, are preposterous. He suggests that Hindu suicide squads should be formed to counter the threat of Islamic terrorism. This is just one of the incendiary statements he has made while commenting on a case where two young men have been arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad for allegedly planting crude bombs in auditoriums in Navi Mumbai and Thane recently.
Thackeray is not pleased that Hindus are, in his view, capable of planting only “low-intensity duds”. He has called for “an equally strong Hindu terrorism movement” to “eliminate Islamic terrorists and protect India as well as the Hindu community”.
The Shiv Sena has, over the years, targeted migrants South Indians, Gujaratis and Biharis to name a few — and Muslims. It made its political fortune by adopting regional chauvinism. Recently, Raj Thackeray and his men target non-Maharashtrians and NCP-backed organisations go on the rampage over perceived slights to Shivaji.
Thackeray’s comments could invite criminal proceedings under Section 153-A of the Indian Penal Code, since it amounts to promoting communal hatred.
BJP and Congress have both condemned his statements, but the administration is unlikely that the administration will take any strong measures.
That’s because moving against Thackeray raises the spectre of violence by his followers. Sadly, the inability of the political and police establishment to take on Thackeray over the years has led to a situation where he can do or say virtually what he likes.
Our society’s ability to tolerate intolerance has also steadily, and sadly, increased. The metropolis that we once held up as a fine example of cosmopolitanism and inclusive public life is fast turning into a cauldron of animosities.
Politicians across the spectrum lack the will and wit to counter divisive politicsiIintolerance religious or parochial chips away at India’s republican and democratic foundations.
Prosecute Hate-mongers
Editorial, Radiance Viewsweekly
The real culprits succeed in going scot-free and innocent Muslims are detained, tortured, humiliated and made to undergo untold sufferings despite the substantial evidence of involvement of Hindutva activists in almost all terror blasts during the last few years.
Recent arrest of six Hindu activists upset Bal Thackeray and as to make provocative, anti-national statements in the editorial of ‘saamna’ wherein he suggested to form “Hindu suicide squads”. In no civilized society can such a call for violence be condoned.
Vote bank politics has made the situation even worse. Government authorities do not take any action against hate-mongers and anti-national elements fearing that the ruling part would lose majority vote bank. If the Government takes stringent action against extremists and fascists, it might lose the votes of a sect of Hindu community. It will win the confidence of peace and justice-mongers.