Shepherding the shepherds with SMS
Posted in Agriculture, Cooperatives on 06/23/2010 03:51 pm by Hemant SinghSource: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/shepherding-the-shepherds-with-sms/636015/
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Press the menu button, then go to inbox; with the centre key you can scroll up and down. Then you select the message you want to read and open it by clicking the left button,” explains Dada Padu Kachre, a shepherd in Maharashtra’s Phaltan district as he teaches other shepherds to read text messages on his mobile phone.
The message in Marathi says: ‘Take your sheep for vaccination’. Sent by Anthra, a Pune-based organisation that works for the betterment of the pastoral community in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, the messages, sent twice a month, give important tips to ensure sound health of their livestock while they are on the move. Over 170 dhangars — a nomadic tribe — in Maharashtra benefit from the alerts.
“The content in the message is restricted to preventive measures and medication for diseases that commonly afflict sheep and goats. The dhangar community has to deal with common ailments like cold, cough, injuries and fever plaguing their livestock while on the move. Through these messages, we teach them how to make and use simple, herbal medicines to treat their animals,” says Nitya Ghotge, founder-member, Anthra.
The messages, which were first sent in 2006, are composed taking into consideration the season, the epidemics doing the rounds and most importantly, government policies and facilities for vaccination of livestock. “Many, though not all, shepherds have mobile phones. This is what helps us reach out to them. For some reason, many of these people are reluctant to approach the government. Through these messages, we tell them in advance about the vaccinations available for seasonal epidemic,” adds Ghotge.
The Anthra team consists of four veterinary doctors and animal health volunteers from the dhangar community. With an average of 100 sheep per dhangar, the facility directly benefits some 17,000 sheep. “Given the fact that the dhangars live in groups, each dhangar propagates the message to five others. Our data shows that over one lakh sheep and goats across the state are benefited because of the remedies we suggest through the messages,” adds Sachin Hagawane, member, Anthra.
So instead of seeking out mantriks who prescribe long drawn-out rituals for the health of their herds, the shepherds now wait for these messages. Jeevan Dnyaneshwar Kolpe, who travels 60 km every year to reach Aabhepuri village near Panchgani with his 75 sheep, says, “We note down these messages in a diary for future reference. Earlier, for the smallest of illnesses, such as ulcers in the mouth or injuries, we would look for a mantrik, but today we know that a mixture of ghee and turmeric works magic for both these ailments. The farms and the fields we live in have become our resources as nature offers all the medicines.”
Being on the move is not easy. And one of the challenges the shepherds face is charging their mobile phones. Anthra has provided them compact solar chargers-cum-lamps that not only recharge their mobile phone batteries in two hours but double as lanterns. With a number of other activities conducted throughout the year to boost the culture of these tribes, Ghotge says Anthra is a bridge between the government and the pastoral tribes. “We want to work for them, but we don’t want them to become dependent on us. For us, what is really valuable is one dhangar like Kachre who educates others, making the tribe self-dependent,” says Ghotge.
Kashmiri Pandits celebrate Kheer Bhawani festival
Posted in Indian Civilization, Kashmir, Politics on 06/23/2010 03:49 pm by Hemant SinghSource: http://www.hindu.com/2010/06/20/stories/2010062054932200.htm
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TULMULLA (JAMMU AND KASHMIR): As thousands of migrant Kashmiri Pandits arrived to pay obeisance at the Mata Kheer Bhawani Temple here, there were emotional scenes as the pilgrims were reunited with their Muslim neighbours, prompting Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to call it the real “Kashmiriyat” which needed to be restored.
The local Muslims offered cold drinks and water to the devotees who arrived from different parts of country that they migrated to in 1990.
“We are happy to see them [Kashmiri Pandits] as we had no chance to live with them like our parents or grandparents,” said 21-year-old Khurshid Ahmad, who was among those offering drinks to them. “We are proud of this cultural ethos but unfortunately the link was broken due to militancy,” he said, adding: “Kashmir is incomplete without them.”
This was for the first time that nearly 50,000 devotees flooded the temple at Tulmulla in Ganderbal.
The Pandits met not only their Muslim neighbours but also their co-religionists after a gap of 20 years.
Sushma and Bimla, who were neighbours in South Kashmir’s Tral area, had one such reunion. They now live in different places as migrants.
“I am here after a gap of 19 years. We migrated in 1991,” said Bushan Lal, originally from Anantnag and now settled in Delhi.
“I prayed for the smooth return of Kashmiri Pandits to their homeland. I hope the Goddess will fulfil my prayer,” he said.
There are many like Mr. Lal who long to return to their homes, but some are sceptical. “I do not think it is possible for all to return,” said Shamboo Nath, adding that it was not possible to settle in clusters and without mingling with Muslims. “It is better to be where we are if we have to live separately here.”
Some blamed the then government for the exodus.
“The government at that time did not play positive role; so did the successive ones. Our plight would not have been so bad,” said another Pandit migrant.
“I was half of my age when I visited this temple last. At this juncture, I feel I am 20. I feel I am reborn.”
The arrival of Mr. Abdullah and his wife Payal added more colour to the occasion. “I am so happy to see you here. This is what is called the real ‘Kashmiriyat,’” the Chief Minister said addressing the devotees inside the temple.
Speaking to journalists later, Mr. Abdullah blamed vested interests for damaging “Kashmiriyat” and appealed to the Pandits to play a positive role in restoring it.
“Some vested interests were always on a mission to damage the ‘Kashmiriyat.’ This created a vacuum which needs to be filled, for which the Kashmiri Pandits need to play a positive role,” he said.
“A multi-pronged strategy is in place to facilitate the smooth return of Pandits settled outside the valley. They left because their security was snatched. They started feeling insecure. Now we are trying to restore the sense of security to the Kashmiri Pandits,” he added.
On the rehabilitation process, Mr. Abdullah said: “We are also thinking about their economic rehabilitation. Recently, 2,000 posts were filled under the Prime Minister’s Reconstruction Plan. More posts are being created.”
There’s a full moon over India and Gandhi lives again…
Posted in Indian Civilization, Politics, Religion, Spirituality on 06/23/2010 03:48 pm by Hemant SinghSource: http://www.thehindu.com/op/2010/06/20/stories/2010062050041800.htm
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There has been a lot of discussion in the media about Gandhian methods and their efficacy. There have also been references to Gandhiji’s fads and quirks — especially his ideas about sex and continence.
I was attending a workshop in Kuala Lumpur. It was ostensibly about how to run a business and earn more money. The programme was interspersed with music and short experiential exercises. At one such session, the trainer played the famous American singer John Denver’s song ‘It’s About Time’, which began with the lines “There’s a full moon over India and Gandhi lives again/ Who’s to say you have to lose for someone else to win?”
The inspiration behind this song was Denver’s visit to India in the 1980s to pay respects to his spiritual guru Swami Muktananda as also his chance encounter with the members of the film fraternity who were on board and were going to Delhi to launch the film ‘Gandhi’. As the plane neared Delhi, Denver looked out of the window and saw the full moon in its pristine glory shining over India. The song writer in Denver was overwhelmed that nature conspired to make him empathise with the humanity at large through the prodding of a great soul, Gandhiji.
The powerful words of the song, coupled with Denver’s mellifluous singing, cast a spell on the participants who had gathered from different corners of the world. Joining hands and forming a circle of 500-plus, they sang in unison — “Who’s to say you have to lose for someone else to win?”
Gandhiji taught us this truth in so many ways. He was the master of non-violent communication that led to win-win situations. He was against class war because it had the seeds of violence in it and the potential for hate on the part of those who lose. He suggested that the rich act as trustees of their wealth and see to it that the last man gets a decent life before enjoying what they have in excess. Though a lawyer, he did not support litigation. Rather, he promoted out-of-court amicable settlements. He propagated ‘heart unity’ to solve the communal question.
The communal divide was sought to be closed by understanding each other’s religion better and accommodating one another. The crux of his campaign against untouchability was directed towards the heart of those who practised the evil because even if one is convinced that one is doing the wrong, it takes a long time to emotionally accept that and change one’s behaviour.
Gandhiji ruled out violence because it denigrated the practitioner; it was irreversible and, therefore, not to be practised by fallible human beings; because once practised, its threshold would increase with every successive attempt; also, it overlooked the fact that every human being is capable of love. Besides, violence did not lead to the resolution of conflicts because it always led to a win-lose situation — “For the first is just the last one when you play a deadly game. It is about time we find out it is all of us or none” (Denver).
He tellingly conveys Gandhiji’s thoughts when he croons —“There’s a man who is my brother, I just don’t know his name/ But I know his home and family because we know we feel the same/ And it hurts me when he is hungry and when his children cry/ I too am a father, and the little one is mine.” When Gandhiji felt sad over the London bombings during the Second World War he was echoing these very sentiments. It is ‘about time’ we recognised the truth of Gandhiji’s words and act on them.
Songs from a classroom. Or is it a thana?
Posted in Good Samaritans on 02/28/2010 10:00 am by rahuldewanSource: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/songs-from-a-classroom.-or-is-it-a-thana/585283/0
We are working on finding out the contact details of Inspector Surender Kumar, our Good Samaritan, to help raise funds for this wonderful initiative. Please stay tuned on this article, if you would like to help him out.
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The lilting rhythms and throaty choruses of the Manganiyar folk music break the morning air at the Ramsar police station in Barmer, 25 km from the border. Here, more than 200 children practise Manganiyar music, a famed but dying folk art, in the police station that for four years has doubled as a music and elementary education school for children in the region.
Saroof Khan, all of 10, has been attending the ‘Apna School’ since 2008. “My father was a Manganiyar musician, but he travelled a lot and had no time to teach me his music. So I never learnt. Now that I have been learning it for two years, I can appreciate my father’s talent and our tradition better,” says Khan.
The Manganiyar community, traditionally from Barmer, Jaisalmer and other parts of western Rajasthan, has used its music to bridge religious and caste barriers in the state. Muslims by birth, the Manganiyars are called upon to compose and sing songs on different occasions—a wedding, a birth in the family or a festival. Their music, which describes the life of the people of their land, has a touch of Sufism. Over the years, their music has gone global with names like Rukma Devi and Talab Khan travelling across the world showcasing their art.
But back here in Barmer, the artisans say though their music was appreciated, it didn’t do much for their lives once the show and the applause wound up.
“Despite our musical talents and the concerts abroad, we never managed to make a decent living. But now, this school in Ramsar is a godsend for all of us,” says Sakhi Khan, Rukma Devi’s son.
The story of the school began four years ago with a police inspector, Surender Kumar, who had an ear for music and experience in community policing. While on deputation with the UN peacekeeping mission to Bosnia, he says he learned about community policing while dealing with Serbians and Albanians. “On my return, I was posted to Ramsar and decided to emulate that model here,” he says.
Kumar began by rounding up a few children from the village and decided to use the police station as a music school, which is now run on donations from Kumar and celebrated dancer-choreographer Mallika Sarabhai.
Manganiyar teachers were never a problem in Ramsar but Kumar wanted the school to offer more than music. “There are several experienced teachers who could teach the children music, but I soon realised that the children had no elementary and academic education,” says Kumar.
And so, the police station-turned music school became a regular school. Kumar then set out to find a teacher. “We got a teacher from Ramsar to teach children the state syllabus. Now, we have four such teachers,” says Kumar, who now heads the Mahila Thana in Jodhpur.
Shakhar Khan, a Manganiyar who is in charge of ‘Apna School’, is one of the educated few in Ramsar. He believes the school has changed Ramsar. “We are a poor community and the government schools were far away and we could not afford to send our children there,” says Khan.
The classes are held for two hours in the morning and two in the evening—lean hours for the policemen. After Apna School set a precedent and the community realised the value of education, more children wanted to join the school. So another, much smaller, Apna School was set up in Ramsar. “But a majority of the students study in the police station. Now we have 310 students, four music teachers and four regular teachers,” says Khan.
However, Sakhi Khan, Rukma Devi’s son, says Apna School’s very popularity will possibly be its undoing. “It began as an elementary and music school for children from poor families. But news has spread and more and more students join every year. We just do not have the funds to handle them all,” says Khan.
So while Kumar and Sarabhai fund four teachers, including Shakhar Khan, they need at least three more. “We have hired another teacher and I forgo my salary to pay him. However, the number of students increases every year and now it is time for the annual exams and the students find it hard to cope with just four teachers,” says Shakhar Khan.
He says he has been looking for donors in Barmer city, but with little success. “We have come so far and we want to continue this, but it is difficult. Kumarji cannot possibly fund everything,” Khan says.
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Children’s Poster Painting Competetion : Rotary Delhi South West
Posted in Literacy Campaign, Vasant Kunj School on 02/02/2010 09:57 pm by Colrama31 Jan 2010
Rotary, Delhi South West, had arranged fora Poster Painting Competition for children Civil Services sports Ground.
Rotary South – West organizes this event every year for motivating the children.
Our Children from Vasant Kunj also participated in the event.
It was a wonderful sight to see hundreds of children from 4 years to 17, in colourful dresses, and cheerful faces, engrossed in painting pictures. Their enthusiasm had to be seen and felt, to be believed.
Rotary DSW deserves all praise for the opportunity they have provided to the children of Delhi. Many of the children were under privileged and for them it was really a lifetime opportunity to be provided with so much care and attention, to meet and mingle with other children on an equal footing.
About 2200 children participated in the painting Competition. Also there were about 1000 teachers, parents & guardians who brought their children with them.
There were Four Age groups & Topics
1. Pride of Delhi, 2. Conservation of Resources3. Social Crime4. Social Responsibilities
Children painted beautiful posters in all age group.
The entries were evaluated by a panel of eminent judges headed by Mr Surya Sadan, Montreal based artist from Canada.
Smt Kiran Walia, Minister of Health & Family Welfare gave away the prizes to winners.
All Children were given the participation certificate. Lunch/Snack, Mineral water/Cold drinks etc were also given to each participant. To entertain & thrilled children there was magic show & Jokers too. There was a stall of Dhyan Foundation educating children & adults on Sanatan Kirya & Miracles of Yog.
Rotary Club’s District Governor Ashish Ghosh Rotary South West President Mr Ved Chandna, Secretary Mr Lalit Vohra, Mr Ranjan Chopra Event Chairman & Mr Pankaj Agarwal Event Co-Chairman , many other Rotarians & their family members actively participated in the program.
Good Samaritans: Delhi Catholic Archdiocese, St. Michael’s School
Posted in Good Samaritans on 01/10/2010 03:37 pm by ColramaMunicipal Corporation of Delhi had in the biting winter cold in a most heartless manner broken up a night shelter occupied by over one hundred homeless poor.
Delhi Catholic Archdiocese, St. Michael’s School, stepped into help the hapless poor.
And not for the first time either.
A School Turns Classrooms Into Night Shelter
Ambika Pandit | TNN
New Delhi: After being severely reprimanded by Delhi High Court, MCD erected a night shelter in a park near the Pusa Road roundabout on Thursday night but its heart didn’t melt. The structure was devoid of all necessities. But the poor people who would have spent the night there on the coldest day of the season found a helping hand stretched towards them.
Delhi Catholic Archdiocese stepped in and opened some classrooms in St. Michael’s School for the night. A statement issued on Friday said: ‘‘In the wake of the recent demolition of the temporary night shelter at the Pusa Road roundabout by MCD, St. Michael’s School on the same road, run by the Delhi Catholic Archdiocese, has decided to help the victims of the demolition.’’
‘‘The school has decided to open its gates to people suffering in this extreme weather without proper facilities given by the MCD,’’ the statement said.
Speaking to Times City on behalf of the Archdiocese, Father Dominic Emmanuel said that after reading about the high court’s intervention and the condition of the people living in the park near the Pusa Road roundabout on Thursday morning in TOI, it was decided to step in.
The school will be providing them with blankets for the night. The homeless will, however, be asked to vacate the classrooms by 6.00 am so that the school can commence its daily routine.
The principal of the school, Father Vincent D’Souza, was asked to write to the MCD and the state government’s education department to inform them of the decision of the school management.
Eight years ago, St Columbus School on Bhai Veer Singh Marg had opened its doors to the underprivileged who suffer in the cold winter nights. The school continues to run that night shelter. ‘‘The church authorities hope that this step of theirs will bring some solace to the sufferings of the poor in the city,’’ said the statement.
Good Samaritans: Bangalore
Posted in Good Samaritans on 12/23/2009 09:11 pm by ColramaTHAT’S THE SPIRIT
She Helps Those Lodged In Jail
Sruthy Susan Ullas | TNN
Bangalore: While others are pondering over how to celebrate Christmas and New Year, Sister Adele Korah is busy contemplating what to gift her 5,000 friends for X-mas, all of them in the Central Prison, Bangalore. Sister Adele Korah works 24 hours for this neglected section of society.
For those appearing for exams, she is a tuition teacher helping them out with spoken English. To the sick, she is a nurse, attending to them like a mother caring for her child. She treats them, brings fruits for them and tries getting medicines that the government doesn’t provide.
She runs institutions like Karuna Ashram for the terminally ill so that their last years are peaceful and well cared for. Another area where Sister Adele, a nominee for the Namma Bengaluru awards, concentrates is helping the repented get out of prison.
While a prisoner is serving his/her term, she also makes sure that the person’s family is taken care of. She helps in admitting their children to good schools and sees to it that they don’t suffer. All this with the help of 35 other volunteers.
For Sister Adele, it is all about redemption and reformation. “Even the most hated criminal in the world is precious before the eyes of God. He would have erred in a moment of frustration. But my duty is to free them from the world of unforgiveness, hatred and anger,” she says.
It was after her retirement in 2004 that Sister started serving the prisoners fulltime. Till then she was principal of a teachers’ training institute, where she worked for 35 years. She joined the Sisters of Charity as a nun when she was 20.
“I don’t know much about awards. My greatest joy is to see a human turned away from darkness towards light,” she said. Indeed, hands that serve are holier than the lips that pray for this nun.
SMALL GESTURES SPEAK VOLUMES
Differently Abled Man Assists Motorists On Narrow Stretch
Aarthi R | TNN
Bangalore: In these times of infuriating traffic gridlocks, Salman, 25, is a blessing for late-evening commuters at this busy junction in Benson Town. The way this differently-abled young man does it puts many able-bodied men to shame and surprise.
Though cramped by limb deformities, he’s very active, supporting himself with a stick, wielding a sharp whistle and ensuring there’s no chaos at this narrow junction. Nothing stops him from being there between 6.30 pm and 10 pm, trying to bring some order to the vehicles as they squeeze through the connecting road.
A resident of Jeevanpalli on Tannery Road, Salman has been doing this for almost nine years.
“I’ve seen the traffic grow by leaps and bounds. Initially, it was a bit difficult to handle but now it’s part of my daily life and helps me support my family,’’ he says. Earlier, he worked at a parking lot at the nearby Haj camp.
When he was 11, he lost his hands and a leg while flying a kite from a terrace. He slipped and fell on electricity wires. But that hasn’t deterred him in his chosen work. Some residents have also nominated him for the Namma Bengaluru Awards instituted by ABIDe. He is thrilled: “It feels good. I didn’t realize people would recognize me for this. With the whistle in my mouth, I’ve never felt disabled.’’
His father Sheikh Hyder was a fruit vendor but now laid low by lung infection. Mother Zarina is a homemaker. His younger brother is married and lives elsewhere with his wife. Salman earns anywhere between Rs 150-200 a day to around Rs 3,000 a month or even more. He earns more during Ramzan, but cold December and rainy days are lean. “The traffic police also pay me Rs 10 a day, that’s only if they pass this way,” he says.
The only thing he feels handicapped by is lack of education. He’s never been to school. Initially fluent in Hindi and Urdu, he has now picked up some English and speaks a few words. he also manages to understand many words as he interacts with commuters.
SOME PLANS
“I want to get married. First, I need to get a decent and regular income so I can support a family,” Salman says.
toiblr.reporter@timesgroup.com
IT Park owned by workers
Posted in Cooperatives on 12/20/2009 11:33 am by rahuldewanSource: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/a-new-story-from-militant-labours-own-country-it-park-owned-by-workers/556731/0
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School drop-outs who once crushed stones at granite quarries have now become the directors of a Rs 600-crore info-tech park in Kerala.
Apart from the directors, 943 manual workers are also part-owners of the Uralungal Labour Contract Cyber Park, a 100-per cent subsidiary of the Uralungal Labour Contract Co-operative Society (ULCCS).
The park, spread over 25 acres in Kozhikode, got Special Economic Zone (SEZ) status early this month.
A major construction co-operative venture in north Kerala, ULCCS has executed several showpiece road and bridge projects. Headquartered in Madappally, a village in Kozhikode district, ULCCS was established in 1925 with 14 members to fight poverty and caste oppression, to generate employment for the poor and the backward.
Over the years, the number of permanent members grew to 950-odd, around 10 per cent of them disabled. All members of the society are daily-wagers from Madappally and surrounding areas.
ULCCS has its own system of enrolling a worker-cum-member. On approaching the society for job, a labourer is first asked to crush stones at the quarries it owns. If the aspirant’s performance is satisfactory, he would be taken in as a member after a year. From the quarry, he would move on to road projects. If his performance is good, he gets promoted—as site supervisor and later as project manager.
M M Surendran, 44, a director of the cyberpark and a Class IX drop-out, joined the ULCCS as a stone-crusher 30 years ago. “After one year at the quarry, I became a permanent member and became a road worker. Later, I became a site leader,” said Surendran, who has been a director of the cooperative for nine years. He said seven other directors of the park have only school education. All members of the society, including the directors, draw daily wages. The directors get 15 per cent more than member workers. Workers retire at 60 with various benefits, said Surendran.
Paleri Rameshan, an ITI certificate holder who joined the society as a site supervisor, is now the president of the ULCCS and the Chairman and Managing Director of the proposed IT Park. “In the future, the society might have to diversify to meet the changing aspirations of the generations to come. For last three years, we have been facing shortage of fresh hands as Kerala youths are least interested in manual work. Hence we logged in to the IT venture as an investment for the next generation,” said Rameshan.
Rameshan said the society used to purchase land adjacent to major project sites to house its mixing plant and other equipment. “Thus, we had bought nearly 15 acres on the outskirts of Kozhikode city as part of the NH bypass work there. After completing the work, the plant site was lying idle. As the society wanted to do something meaningful for the next generation, we thought about an IT park and bought 10 more acres of private land,” said Rameshan. He said the Kerala government had wholeheartedly supported the venture, which would be the first IT park in north Kerala. The profits from the IT venture would also get divided among the members.
To run the proposed IT Park, the labourers’ society has roped in K G Girish Babu, founder CEO of state-owned Info Park in Kochi. “The society is known for its quality work and track record for finishing work on time. Society members have not wasted a single day in its history on labour problems. It is not their educational background, but the directors’ vision that attracted me,” said Girish Babu, who joined the project as its CEO.
The IT Park, expected to give employment for 15,000, would be implemented in three phases. A part of the funds for the project would come from the society’s resources, while the rest would be raised from banks. The project has already advertised for an architect for its green building.
The ULCCS has assets worth Rs 125 crore. Last year, the society executed projects worth Rs 75 crore. The paid-up capital is Rs 4.18 crore, 40 per cent of which comes from the workers and the rest from the government in the form of loans. Ten per cent of the daily wage of a worker is kept apart and converted into a share at the end of the year. Members increase their stake till they retire.
CPI(M) leader and Kozhikode MLA A Pradeepkumar said, “The project would prove that ordinary people can do great things in life. The social ownership of an IT park may be the first in the country. We would see the park-owners constructing it brick by brick.”
“Conditional Charity” : Javed Anand takes on Zakir Naik
Posted in Religion on 12/20/2009 08:19 am by rahuldewanSource: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/a-conditional-charity/543351/
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The disgraceful conduct of a UK-based Muslim charity with the victim-survivors of the 2002 communal carnage in Gujarat could have been ignored as an isolated, if highly deplorable act. Sadly, this is no isolated incident. If anything, it is but the latest manifestation of a malignancy common to many Muslim outfits, in India and internationally.
For those who missed the news in the November 15 edition of this paper, here is the gist. A UK-based NRI charity named Muslim Relief Organisation (MRO) had built a colony in Detral village in Bharuch district to rehabilitate the victim-survivors of Gujarat’s state-sponsored carnage (2002). Even in charity, it seems, conditions apply.
The MRO has now issued an ultimatum to the Muslims it had helped rehabilitate: Shariah-compliant beards are a must. No rubbing shoulders with fellow Muslims in the village mosque, namaaz only in the special (sectarian) mosque we have built. Banish TV sets from your homes, all music is prohibited. Follow the “Shariah rules” or out you go of the homes we built. For you.
It can’t be an easy choice for Detral’s Muslims who, dispossessed by Hindu extremists seven years earlier, now face a second dispossession: by co-believers this time. My salaams to those village folks who at great cost to themselves have chosen freedom over capitulation to mean despots masquerading as custodians of Islam! A Google search doesn’t tell us much about the MRO or its broader ideological affiliation. But it’s easy to see where they are coming from.
The Detral ignominy is no isolated incident. Last year, televangelist Dr Zakir Naik’s flush-with-petro-dollars Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) launched a scholarship scheme for Muslim students. That you might think is a good idea. But here again, conditions apply. Before all else, the aspiring candidates must pass the “Islam test”. Since IRF is the screening body, it is reasonable to assume that the would-be grantee must match-up to the sponsor’s brand of an intolerant Islam. So here is free tuition to future aspirants on IRF’s ‘model answers’ to frequently asked questions:
Is it OK for Indian Muslims to sing Vande Mataram?
Model answer: Forget Muslims, even Hindus must follow the Vedas and refrain from such sinful act. (Rigveda, page…, para…, mantra…; the IRF is pretty good at playing the memory game).
Why can’t non-Muslims practice their faith in Saudi Arabia?
Model answer: Simple, stupid! Islam is the only true religion. How can sinful ways of worship be allowed in the land of the only true religion?
Were the Taliban justified in demolishing the Bamiyan Buddhas?
Model answer: But of course! Since there were no Buddhists in Afghanistan and the territory belonged to the Afghans, they were right in destroying their own property. (How did Buddhists disappear from Afghanistan? Don’t act smart!)
Co-education?
Model answer: Un-Islamic.
Burqa for women?
Model answer: It’s a symbol of women’s dignity while their participation in the Olympics, alongside men, symbolises degradation of women.
How to promote peace in the world?
Model answer: Through a 24/7 ‘Peace TV Channel’ and mega-budget ‘International Islamic Peace Conferences’ in Mumbai, London, Tokyo. Message: “My dear Hindu, Christian, Jews and the rest of you, brothers and sisters, Peace be upon you! We are here to prove with reason and logic how ignorant you are, clueless about your own faith and guilty of the greatest sin: idol worship. Convert to Islam for “Global Unity and Peace”.
(No Islam, no peace? At an estimated expenditure of rupees one crore per convert, IRF’s must be the most cost-inefficient model in the conversion business).
The Sachar Committee’s report convincingly establishes the fact of institutionalised discrimination against Muslims in our ‘infidel’ state? But the Muslim Relief Organisation, the IRF and their types do a much better inside job in discriminating: between Muslims (good) and Muslims (bad) in Islam’s name. It’s a discrimination that’s inevitable when faith is converted into a totalitarian ideology.
“There is no compulsion in religion” (“La ikraaha fiddeen”), says the Quran. “Diversity of opinion in my ummah is a blessing from Allah,” said the Prophet. For the despots of Islam, however, not only is Islam the only true religion, “their Islam” is the only “true Islam”. No space for doubt, no question of choice.
For sensible scholars of Islam, the Shariah is only a problem-solving methodology for those who seek to unravel the Divine Intent with the help of the Quran, teachings of Prophet Mohammed (Ahadith and Sunnah), consensual approach (ijma) and critical reasoning (ijtehad). But when a methodology (Marxist or Islamic) is elevated to the status of Law — frozen in time, all fresh approaches outlawed — you cannot but end up with a totalitarian ideology that by its own internal logic must aspire to the establishment of a totalitarian state (Marxist or Islamic).
It may seem like an ugly utopia for you and me. But to the hopelessly indoctrinated, a school in Mumbai, a village of bruised and battered Muslims in Gujarat, the Swat valley in Pakistan, a country named Afghanistan, or any social space big or small will do as a laboratory for the pursuit of their totalitarian fantasy.
Fortunately for the world and for the ummah itself, when given a chance to express themselves, the vast majority of Muslims — Indonesian, Malaysian, Bangladesh, Pakistani — continue to deliver a resounding ‘No’ to the enemies of freedom and choice. But beware of the dangers of the malevolent, modern-day messiahs. Unlike the poor maulvi sahib from a Muslim mohalla, this seemingly sophisticated lot comes draped in suit and tie, speaks fluent English, swears faith in “reason and logic”, quotes from the Vedas and the Bible as comfortably as from the Quran, oozes cash and promotes disharmony and discord in the name of peace. Don’t take them lightly for many among the new generation of otherwise well-educated but theologically ignorant Muslims assume this out-of-date medievalism to mean ‘Modern Islam’.
The writer is co-editor, ‘Communalism Combat’ and general secretary ‘Muslims for Secular Democracy’.