Justice Done: No Muslim got elected as MP from Uttar Pradesh

In December 2013, I visited Muzaffarnagar as part of winter relief activities organized by a NGO. I spent time at relief camps and got an opportunity to interact with people, both the victims of the riots and the general Muslim population. The most depressing aspect of the whole visit was, lack of apathy & absolute cold-bloodedness of Muslim MPs & MLAs of Uttar Pradesh, who didn’t contribute anything to the relief activities. Instead, many of them chose to visit foreign countries when the women and children were dying due to severe cold. If any of them Muslim MP or MLA had chosen to raise funds for the victims, within a week, none of the victims would have stayed in open air camps.

It was the sheer arrogance & betrayal of the elected Muslim representatives that caused more deaths of Muslims than in the riots of itself. As per the official reports, more than 70 children lost their lives due to severe cold. On the ground, people mentioned that, over 100 children, women and senior citizens passed away fighting the winter cold in refugee camps.

Five months later, the Muslims of Uttar Pradesh has spoken out. Not a single Muslim MP from Uttar Pradesh has got elected in 2014 National Elections. Uttar Pradesh has around 20% Muslim population and it was expected that, out of 80 MP seats, at least 5 seats would be won by Muslims.

I recollect having this conversation with a Maulana at Meerut. I asked him, what’s the reason, why all the Muslim MPs & MLAs have distanced themselves from helping the people. He mentioned something very funny but profound. He said, ‘elections se pehle, yeh log ghulaam-e-Rasool bolte hain, elections ke baad, ghulaam-e-mayawati ya ghulaam-e-mulayam ho jate hain” (before elections, they call themselves slaves of Prophet (ﷺ) but after elections they become slaves of Mayawati or Mulayam). So, from the results, it has become apparent that, Uttar Pradesh Muslims neither want the slaves of Mayawati nor the slaves of Mulayam.

Another interesting point from this election results is that, BJP which has won over 280 seats, doesn’t have even a single Muslim candidate who has won the seat. So, the whole government doesn’t have even a single Muslim MP.

Justic Katju’s letter

Recently, in an enlightening speech, Justice Markandey Katju mentioned that, ‘90% of the Indians are idiots’ as an honest feedback. However, as usual, some people mistook his words of wisdom and sent legal notice to him. In Justice Markandey Kajtu was a Muslim, people would have labeled him anti-national. I say this, because, once in a seminar, I spoke about the status of science in India and criticized the current standard of science in India… after the seminar… a lady walked up to me and started labeling me as antinational. Anyhow, some idiots can’t take feedback. Below is the letter written by Justice Kajtu to the people that have sent him legal notice.

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Dear Tanaya and Aditya,

I have received your email, and am giving my reply, but before doing so in detail I wish to make some preliminary remarks:

1. I have been misquoted in the press reports, but it is true that I have said that 90% Indians (not all) are fools. My intention in saying so was not to hurt anyone but to awaken people to the realities, that is, the widespread casteism, communalism, superstitions, and other backward traits in the mindset of a large section of our people which is blocking our progress and keeping us poor.
2. The figure 90% is not a mathematical figure, it simply means that in my opinion a large proportion of Indians (and again I repeat, not all) are fools.
3. I never named you, nor any community, caste, or sect, and I never said that you are in the category of 90%. Hence I do not see how you are defamed.
4. I made this comment not to humiliate or harm anyone but because I love the Indian people, they are my people, and I wish them to prosper and have decent lives, which is only possible if the Indian masses develop the scientific outlook and scientific temper and give up casteism, communalism, superstitions and other mental attitudes which a large part (not all) of them presently suffer from. I wish to see India in the front ranks of the advanced industrialized nations of the world, with our people having a high standard of living, instead of suffering from the present evils of massive poverty, unemployment, price rise, corruption, farmer's suicides, child malnutrition, absence of health care and good education, casteism etc. So you see I made that statement not to harm the Indian people, whom I love, but to benefit them. The truth is sometimes bitter, but sometimes bitter medicine has to be given to an ailing person.

Having said this, I may proceed to give a more elaborate explanation.
I wish to first of all clarify that I do not regard Indians as inherently stupid or foolish. It is only at present that large parts of our people are foolish. But there was a time when we were leading the whole world in science and technology, and India was perhaps the most prosperous country in the world. It is now that we are having bad times, but we had a glorious past and shall have a glorious future too, but for that we have to get rid of casteism, communalism, superstitions and other backward traits in the mentality of a large part of our people (because of which I call them fools).
India's Past

With the aid of science we had built mighty civilizations thousands of years ago when most people in Europe( except in Greece and Rome) were living in forests. We had made outstanding scientific discoveries e.g. decimal system in mathematics, plastic surgery in medicine, etc (see in this connection my article 'Sanskrit as a Language of Science on my blog justickatju.blogspot.in and on the website kgfindia.com). However, we subsequently took to the unscientific path of superstitions and empty rituals, which has led us to disaster. The way out of the present morass is to go back again to the path shown by our scientific ancestors, the path of Aryabhatta and Brahmagupta, Sushrut and Charak, Panini and Patanjali, Ramanujan and Raman.
It is not necessary to mention here all the great achievements of our ancestors, but I may just mention a few.

1. The decimal system in mathematics was the most remarkable and revolutionary invention in the past, and it was created by Indians. To understand its significance, one must know that the ancient Romans, who built a great civilization (The civilization of Caesar and Augustus), felt very uncomfortable with numbers above 1000. This was because they expressed their numbers in alphabets, I standing for 1, V for 5, X for 10, L for 50, C for 100, D for 500, and M for 1000. There was no single alphabet expressing a number above 1000. Hence to write 2000 an ancient Roman had to write MM, to write 3000 he had to write MMM, and to write 1 million he had to write M one thousand times, which would drive him crazy.
   On the other hand, our ancestors discovered the number 0, and hence to write 1 million they had simply to put 6 zeros after 1.
2. Plastic surgery was invented by Sushrut 2000 years ago, whereas Europeans invented it only about 100 or 200 years back.
3. The English alphabets are all arranged haphazardly, there is no reason why D is followed by E, or E by F, or F by G, etc. On the other hand Panini in the first 14 sutras of his Ashtadhyayi arranged the alphabets in Sanskrit scientifically. Thus , the first sequence of 5 consonants (the  ka varga i.e. ka, kha, ga, gha, na ) are all sounds which emanate from the throat, the second sequence from the middle of the tongue, the third from the roof of the mouth, the fourth from the tip of the tongue, and the fifth from the lips. The second and fourth consonants in each sequence are aspirants in which the sound 'ha' is combined with the previous consonant e.g. ka+ha =kha.
4. 5000 years ago in the Indus Valley Civilization the system of town planning was created with straight streets, covered drains, water and sewage system, etc.

Before the coming of the British India was a prosperous country. Its share in world trade in 1700 was about 30%, which fell to 2% by the end of British rule and is still not more than 3%.

India's Present
Today there is no doubt that India is a poor country. While there are some pockets of affluence, about 80% of our people are afflicted with poverty, unemployment and other evils, and one major cause of this is the mental backwardness of a large part of our people.
(though there are also brilliant people like the Indian scientists and engineers in Silicon Valley)  Consider the following:

1. When most of our people go to vote they cast their votes on the basis of caste or religion, not the merit of the candidate. What else is the meaning of vote banks? And this is exploited by some unscrupulous politicians who know how to manipulate and manage these vote banks. That is why many persons with criminal backgrounds get elected.
2. 'Honour' killings are common in many parts of the country. This is a barbaric practice, and shows how backward many of us still are.
3. Dowry deaths are common in India, and as a former Judge I can tell you that our courts have a large number of cases of young married women who are murdered in a barbaric manner by their in laws for not getting dowry e.g. by pouring petrol on them and setting them on fire.
4. Scheduled castes are still often treated inhumanly, and an example is the recent attack on dalits in Dharmapuri district in Tamil Nadu.
5. Female foeticide is common in many parts of India. Often when a male child is born the relatives are happy and distribute sweets, but when a female child is born often relatives get dejected. This is also a sign of backwardness among many of us.
6. Communalism, which was almost non-existent in 1857, is widespread in our society today. Muslims often face discrimination in getting jobs, houses on rent, etc, as the Justice Sachar Committee report has highlighted.  Muslims are often falsely implicated in bomb blasts and they have to spend years in jail though ultimately found innocent.As I mentioned, upto 1857 communalism was almost non-existent in India. There were no doubt differences between Hindu and Muslims, but there was no enmity between them. In the Mutiny of 1857 Hindus and Muslims jointly fought against the British. After crushing the Mutiny the British decided that the only way to control India was divide and rule.Consequently, the policy came from London to create hatred between Hindus and Muslims. The British Collector used to secretly call the Panditji and gave him money to speak against the Muslims, and similarly he gave money to the Maulvi Saheb to speak against Hindus. All communal riots began after 1857. The communal award in the Minto-Morley 'Reforms' of 1909 introduced separate electorates for Hindus and Muslims. Year after year, decade after decade, the communal poison was injected by the British into our body politic, and even after 1947 there are elements which continue this (see online 'History in the Service of Imperialism' and my article 'What is India' on my blog justicekatju.blogspot.in)Certain agent provocateurs take advantage of our backwardness to incite communal riots, and unfortunately many people fall prey to these evil designs and get emotionally carried away by communal propaganda and fight with each other.
7. Superstition is rampant in India. Most people believe in astrology, which is pure superstition and humbug. And it is not just the illiterates who believe in it, it is also most of the so called educated people in India. Many Ministers and Judges prefer to take oath of office at the 'auspicious' time.A few years back it was announced that Lord Ganesh is drinking milk, and there was a rush of people to offer milk to Ganesh. Earlier, a 'miracle' chapati was circulating.
8. A large section of the media, taking advantage of the backwardness of a large section of our people, dishes out lives of filmstars, cricket, etc as if these are the real issues before the people, when the real issues are socio-economic.
   

As I said above, when I called most people(not all)  fools I did not wish to harm them, rather it was just the contrary. I want India to become a prosperous country, but this is possible only when the mindset of a large number of people changes, and their minds are rid of casteism, communalism, superstitions, and other backward ideas and they become scientific and modern.
By being modern I do not mean wearing a nice suit or a beautiful sari or skirt. By being modern I mean developing a modern mind, which means a rational mind, a scientific mind, and a questioning mind. As already stated above, at one time we led the whole world in science and technology, but today we are undoubtedly far behind the West and even China. How did this happen? Why were we left behind, why did we not have an Industrial Revolution like Europe? This is known as 'Needham's Question' or 'Needham's Grand Question', named after Prof. Joseph Needham of Cambridge University (1900-1995). It is high time Indians try to answer this question, instead of trying to evade the reality of the backwardness of most of us.

The worst thing in life is poverty, and 80% of our people are poor, which is largely because of the mental backwardness of most (not all) of us. To abolish poverty we need to spread the scientific outlook to every nook and corner of our country. It is only then that India will shine. And until that happens the vast majority of our people will continue to be taken for a ride.

Justice Markandey Katju
10.12.2012

State of Education and Teaching in Indian Universities

An excellent article written by Krishna Kumar, Professor of Education at Delhi University and a former Director of NCERT, published in THE HINDU news paper.

------------ Universities, ours and theirs --------------

As long as we discourage young talent, encourage an obsolete examination system and remain indifferent to research, we will continue to lag behind the West

There are four critical differences between universities of the western world and ours. The first is that they do all they can, when they recruit young faculty, to make way for excellence. We do everything to block its entry. We start discouraging talent early, but a few bright youngsters manage to come up despite our best efforts. They are the ones who face the greatest resistance from our institutions at the time of selection for vacancies. The norms and standards that western institutions apply for selecting young faculty focus on individualised assessment of potential. Senior people and administrators who make decisions make sure that the aspirants are assessed on the basis of what they have published, the quality of research they have done, and how passionate they seem about the pursuit of knowledge and teaching.

Mechanical criteria

In our case, the initial criteria applied are purely mechanical. Any hint of trans-disciplinary interest means that the candidate loses the chance to be interviewed. And those who somehow escape this fate are ultimately sized up at the time of interview in terms of the lobbies they might belong to. Someone rare enough to be independent of personal as well as intellectual lobbies is the first to be eliminated. In the semi-final act of short listing, those lacking support from the dominant lobbies get weeded out. Then, in the ultimate moment, hard bargaining takes place and the institution’s future gets sealed. If there is someone with an unusual background or achievement, you can depend on the selection committee to find a technical ground to reject him or her. The only way he or she might get appointed is if a determined Vice-Chancellor forces the person in. Democratic procedures and correctness have become incompatible with respect for quality. Our universities feel comfortable with the labyrinth of eligibility norms that the University Grants Commission has nurtured with relentless energy to issue circulars over the decades. Selection committees debate over the finest of technicalities to justify the selection of the average, allowing anyone with sheen to get stuck and lost in the maze of criteria.

The second major difference between our universities and the western ones relates to the concept of teaching. We calculate teaching in terms of periods taken. The Radhakrishnan Commission had bemoaned the fact that our colleges work like higher secondary schools. More than six decades after the commission gave its report, life in our undergraduate colleges is just the same. The UGC demands 18 periods of teaching per week from an assistant professor. “Isn’t that reasonable?,” one might ask. Of course, it is, if you ignore what the word “teaching” means. The practice of calculating teachers’ daily work by counting the number of periods they stand beside the blackboard exposes the hollowness of our system and the concept of education. It also shows how little we have progressed since colonial days when accountability was tied to crude measures. How far Britain has moved away from the procedures it introduced in India long ago became apparent to me a year ago when I was invited to serve on a course evaluation committee in a British institute. After examining the course content, the recommended readings and the description of each lecture session taken through the year, the committee met groups of students from the previous three years. We also read the detailed feedback each student is required to give at the end of each course.

Our discussion with students and — separately — with their teachers was frank and detailed. We learnt how students assessed their teachers in terms of preparedness for each class, personal interest in the subject, the pedagogic strategies used to arouse interest, and not just regularity — which was, in fact, taken for granted. In India, we worry about attendance records to keep the student under pressure to attend classes that may be altogether devoid of intellectual stimulation. Despite attendance norms being stringent, there are classes without much attendance. There are also numerous cases of attendance without classes. An obsolete system of examination helps teachers who miss classes and make no effort to relate to students. There are many who take the number of periods required, but their classes have no soul or spark.

Concept of knowledge

The third critical difference between life in an Indian university and a university in the West arises out of the concept of knowledge embedded in the system. The crude measures our regulatory bodies such as the UGC apply in the name of accountability mask the epistemic sterility of the curriculum, the pedagogic process and examination. In the West, curriculum and pedagogy both follow the teacher’s own research interests. Even smaller universities with limited resources attempt to cultivate a research environment. Topics of research reflect the university’s concern for the social and natural world surrounding it. Research is seen as an inquiry to solve problems as well as to induct the young into a community of inquires. Keeping a record of hours spent on direct teaching becomes irrelevant in such a system, even in the case of undergraduate students. To keep their research interests alive and popular, senior professors engage with young undergraduates who bring fresh questions and perspectives to ongoing inquiries. In India, you stop teaching undergraduate classes as soon as you attain professorial status. Teaching and research are seen as two separate activities. While teaching is perceived as institutional work, research is viewed as a personal agenda for moving forward in one’s career. Not surprisingly, infrastructure and administrative procedures that might facilitate research do not exist. Obstacles do, and the teacher who makes the mistake of initiating a research project has to struggle all the way to its completion and the ritual of report submission to the funding agency. No one among colleagues or in the administration cares to know the findings, let alone their implications. Teaching goes on following the grooves of preset syllabi, like the needle boring into an old gramophone record.

The fourth critical difference lies in the library. In the West, even in the most ordinary universities, the library forms the centre of life, both for teachers and students. Librarians enjoy a high status as their contribution to academic life cuts across academic disciplines. They work closely with teachers and students in the various tasks involved in procurement of books and journals, keeping the library quiet and friendly, and ensuring speedy access. Our case is the opposite. The library exists on the margins of the classroom. In many universities, undergraduate students are not allowed to use the university library. Subscription to journals and magazines has dwindled over the years, and maintenance of past volumes is now seen as an obsolete practice because e-storage is available. We forget that the library is not merely a service; it is also a physical space whose ethos induces the young to learn the meaning of belonging to a community of scholars. Our reading rooms carry an unkempt, hapless look, with clanking ceiling fans and dog-eared books waiting to be removed. Book acquisition has been saturated with petty corruption and a crowd of spurious publishers has thrived on the outskirts of the academia.

Symptomatic

These four critical differences are, of course, symptomatic of deeper problems entrenched in structures that govern higher education in India. Those who perceive all problems in financial terms miss the barren landscape of our campuses. Inadequacy of funds is, of course, worrisome, but it cannot explain the extent to which malice, jealousy and cussedness define the fabric of academic life in our country. There is a vast chasm that separates the Indian academia from society. Let alone the masses, even the urban middle class cares little for what goes on inside classrooms and laboratories.

The citizenry does not see higher education as an intellectual resource. Nor do political leaders. The only commonly understood purpose that the system of higher education serves is to alleviate — and keep under tolerable levels of discomfort — what the British economist, Ronald Dore, has called the ‘Diploma Disease’ in his 1976 classic on education in developing economies. Dore has explained why a country like ours will continue to lag behind the West in knowledge and technique so long as we keep using mark-sheets and certificates to screen the young for further education and employment. His insight that the valid goal of widening the pool of talent is defeated by bureaucratisation of selection continues to be pertinent across the colonised world.

Stuck in Bandh–Can I run over my car over rioters?

Supreme Court of India has declared ‘Bandh’ as unconstitutional in several of its judgments. Here’s an abstract of one such judgment “Held High Court was right in its conclusion that there cannot be any right to call or enforce a `Bandh' which interferes with the exercise of fundamental freedoms of other citizens-Fundamental Rights of the people as a whole cannot be subservient to the claim of Fundamental Right of an individual or only a section of people-Distinction drawn by High Court between a `Bandh' and a call for general strike or `Hartal' is well made out-Held the impugned judgment does not call for any interference. CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal Nos. 7728-29 of 1997.” ‘Rasta-rokos’ or ‘bandhs’ are clear violation of Indian constitution.

According to Article 51A of Indian Constitution, the fundamental duties of Indian citizens include

“It shall be the duty of every citizen of India— (a) to abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the National Flag and the National Anthem;  (b) to cherish and follow the noble ideals which inspired our national struggle for freedom; (c) to uphold and protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India; (d) to defend the country and render national service when called upon to do so; (e) to promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities; to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women; (f) to value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture; (g) to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife, and to have compass ion for living creatures; (h) to develop the scientific temper , humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform; (i) to safeguard public property and to abjure violence;  (j) to strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity so that the nation constantly rises to higher levels of endeavor and achievement. (k) **who is a parent or guardian to provide opportunities for education to his child or, as the case may be, ward between the age of six and fourteen years.

** Ins. by the Constitution (Eighty-sixth Amendment) Act, 2002, s. 4 (which is yet not in force, date to be notified by the government)”

Now, if you read the forth duty, it says “to defend the country and render national service when called upon to do so”. Here, an obvious question is… who would take a call on when to defend the country? Constitution of India, doesn’t explicitly names certain XYZ would be the person who would take this call. I believe, whenever some individual or organization announces ‘bandh’, it is the fundamental duty of Indian citizens to defend the nation by acting against the people who are imposing bandh. This is what our constitution says.

If you are among those who want to abide the constitution of India, then here are the things you can do. Whenever someone declares a bandh, carry a HD camera and record unlawful happenings. You can place the camera at the front glass while driving the vehicle through a Bandh area. In most of the cases, criminals are acquitted because of lack of evidence. Irrespective of whether you have been impacted by the unlawful act, submitting evidence (if you happen to have or witness an act of crime) is duty of responsible citizens. You can hand-over the video to any of the news channels anonymously. Or just upload the video on YouTube.

Also, in cases of emergency… You have the right to self-defend. According to Section 97, you can self-defend you property too. Property includes anything that is movable or immovable, therefore an automobile is an property and if it’s attacked you have right to defend it. If you want to know… to what extent you can do to defend yourself and property, then do read IPC section 100. In case you are wondering… say you are travelling and stuck in a unlawful Bandh… can you run-over your vehicle over the rioters to avoid physical harm? I ran several queries on Judgment Information System (http://judis.nic.in/supremecourt/fsrgqry.aspx Yes, all Supreme Court Judgments are digitalized) to identify whether there has been cases where one has ran over people using a vehicle to self-protect but I haven’t found any. In any case, running over using a vehicle to self-protect is not a good idea unless you have enough evidence to overwhelmingly prove acute death threat in court. If I had a degree in Law, I would have a filed a PIL about this. I believe, citizens should be permitted to run over the rioters for escaping the riot zone.

Following are some of the Indian Penal Code sections that you need to know, in case of emergency.

Indian Penal Code: Section 149: Every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object

“If an offence is committed by any member of an unlawful assembly in prosecution of the common object of that assembly, or such as the members or that assembly knew to be likely to be committed in prosecution of that object, every person who, at the time of the committing of that offence, is a member of the same assembly, is guilty of that offence.”

Indian Penal Code: Section 150: Hiring, or conniving at hiring, of persons to join unlawful assembly

Whoever hires or engages, or employs, or promotes, or connives at the hiring, engagement or employment of any person to join or become a member or any unlawful assembly, shall be punishable as a member of such unlawful assembly, and for any offence which may be committed by any such person as a member of such unlawful assembly in pursuance of such hiring, engagement or employment, in the same manner as if he had been a member of such unlawful assembly, or himself had committed such offence.

Indian Penal Code: Section 151: Knowingly joining or continuing in assembly of five or more persons after it has been commanded to disperse

Whoever knowingly joins or continues in any assembly of five or more persons likely to cause a disturbance of the public peace, after such assembly has been lawfully commanded to disperse, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine, or with both.

Section 96. Things done in private defence

Nothing is an offence which is done in the exercise of the right of private defence.

Indian Penal Code: Section 97: Right of private defense of the body and of property

Every person has a right, subject to the restrictions contained in section 99, to defend— First.— His own body, and the body of any other person, against any offence affecting the human body; Secondly.—The property, whether movable or immovable, of himself or of any other person, against any act which is an offence falling under the definition of theft, robbery, mischief or criminal trespass, or which is an attempt to commit theft, rob­bery, mischief or criminal trespass.

Indian Penal Code: Section 99. Act against which there is no right of private defense

There is no right of private defence against an act which does not reasonable cause the apprehension of death or of grievous hurt, if done, or attempted to be done, by a public servant acting in good faith under colour of his office, though that act, may not be strictly justifiable by law. There is no right of private defence against an act which does not reasonable cause the apprehension of death or of grievous hurt, if done, or attempted to be done, by the direction of a public servant acting in good faith under colour of his office, though that direction may not be strictly justifiable by law. There is no right of private defence in cases in which there is time to have recourse to the protection of the public authorities.

Extent to which the right may be exercised: The right to private defence in no case extends to the inflicting of more harm that it is necessary to inflict for the purpose of defence. Explanation 1: A person is not deprived of the right of private defence against an act done, or attempted to be done, by a public servant, as such, unless he knows or has reason to believe, that the person doing the act is such public servant. Explanation 2: A person is not deprived of the right of private defence against an act done, or attempted to be done, by the direction of a public servant, unless he knows, or has reason to believe, that the person doing the act is acting by such direction, or unless such person states the authority under which he acts, or if he has authority in writing, unless he produces such authority, if demanded.

Indian Penal Code: Section 100: When the right of private defense of the body extends to causing death

The right of private defence of the body extends, under the restrictions mentioned in the last preceding section, to the voluntary causing of death or of any other harm to the assailant, if the offence which occasions the exercise of the right be of any of the descriptions hereinafter enumerated, namely:— First.— Such an assault as may reasonably cause the apprehension that death will otherwise be the consequence of such assault; Secondly.—Such an assault as may reasonably cause the apprehen­sion that grievous hurt will otherwise be the consequence of such assault; Thirdly.— An assault with the intention of committing rape; Fourthly.—An assault with the intention of gratifying unnatural lust; Fifthly.— An assault with the intention of kidnapping or abduct­ing; Sixthly.— An assault with the intention of wrongfully confining a person, under circumstances which may reasonably cause him to apprehend that he will be unable to have recourse to the public authorities for his release.

Indian Penal Code: Section 103: When the right of private defence of property extends to causing death

The right of private defence of property extends, under the restrictions mentioned in section 99, to the voluntary causing of death or of any other harm to the wrong-doer, if the offence, the committing of which, or the attempting to commit which, occasions the exercise of the right, be an offence of any of the descriptions hereinafter enumerated, namely:— First.— Robbery; Secondly.—House-breaking by night; Thirdly.— Mischief by fire committed on any building, tent or vessel, which building, tent or vessel is used as a human dwell­ing, or as a place for the custody of property; Fourthly.—Theft, mischief, or house-trespass, under such circum­stances as may reasonably cause apprehension that death or griev­ous hurt will be the consequence, if such right of private de­fence is not exercised.

What does Google think of famous Indians?

I am sure, you might have come across Google Auto-Complete feature. While you type the search keywords, this feature predicts what the keywords could be. According to Google, functionality of this feature is

“As you type, Google's algorithm predicts and displays search queries based on other users' search activities. In addition, if you're signed in to your Google Account and have Web History enabled, you may see search queries from relevant searches that you've done in the past. All of the predicted queries that are shown in the drop-down list have been typed previously by Google users”

Today, I received an email that spoke of interesting results that auto-complete feature gave, when the names of current Indian Politicians are typed. So, I thought of doing a little experiment to verify what are people searching about famous Indians. Note, I am not logged using my Google account during this experiment, hence the results are not impacted by my past searches.

(Btw, I think, the researchers working on social behaviour of people on Internet must take a note of this. I wonder if any research papers are written on this).

Current Politicians:

(Seems like nobody searches the name of Leader of Opposition)

Some freedom fighters:

Some Indian Hindi Movie actors:

 

Some talented Indians:

(This is seriously embarrassing. How come Indians aren’t searching about Ramanujan. When I search Srinivasa Ramanujan, no instant results!)

The Hidden Pain of India

sāre jahāñ se acchā hindostāñ hamārā

ham bulbuleñ haiñ us kī vuh gulsitāñ hamārā

Better than the entire world, is our Hindustan [India],

We are its nightingales, and it (is) our garden abode

According to a legend, Mahatma Gandhi sung this stanza over hundred times to motivate himself when he was imprisoned at Yerawada Jail at Pune in 1930. Such was the effect of those sentences that powered the spirit of Indians to fight against the British. Written in 1904 by lesser known Urdu poet Mohammed Iqbal, the lines of his poem still continue to have a profound impact on the people of India. Content with first two sentences, not many Indians bother to read the complete poem written by poet. While the poem starts with over optimistic lines such as India being better than the entire world, eventually the poet finishes the poem with tragic end. The lines are cryptic and do not address the tragedy directly. The last stanza of the poem had a profound impact on me. Whenever, I read this poem, I wondered about the hidden pain of India referred in it. I shall not go in detail, but let me highlight the last three stanzas of the poem.

yūnān-o-miṣr-o-rumā sab miṭ gaʾe jahāñ se

ab tak magar hai bāqī nām-o-nishāñ hamārā

kuchh bāt hai kih hastī miṭtī nahīñ hamārī

sadiyoñ rahā hai dushman daur-e zamāñ hamārā

iqbāl! koʾī maḥram apnā nahīñ jahāñ meñ

maʿlūm kyā kisī ko dard-e nihāñ hamārā!

Ancient Greece, Egypt, and Rome have all vanished from the world

Our own attributes (name and sign) live on today

Such is our existence that it cannot be erased

Even though, for centuries, the cycle of time has been our enemy.

Iqbal! We (Indians) have no confidant in this world

What does anyone know of our hidden pain?

Being born in India can be the greatest gift or the worst curse, depending on how you are going to spend life. Walking through the streets and markets, there were times when one feels lost in the crowd. Sometimes, when so many people around, it is easy to misinterpret life and lose track of where you are heading. Just like every other country, in India, its culture has its positive and negative effects. Unfortunately, in recent times, the Indian society has picked up more negative effects than positive. The acute lack of development and self-confidence has transformed the society into a self-destructing monster. Majority of the people in India prefer to remain backward, unclean and cultureless. They see developing with time as burden and feel it as a threat to their so called ‘culture’. The sheer magnitude of resistance from people towards understanding change and taking responsibility has continuously pushed the country towards poverty and sickness.

Ask an Indian about community service, 9 out of 10 would not even know what it actually means. Here’s an interesting example, most Indians treat ‘India’ equivalent to their ‘mother’ and yet, India would easy top the list of world’s dirtiest nations. The sheer indiscipline among people and lack of true respect towards the nation is the cause for uncleanliness in the country. It won’t take more than few minutes to understand that, Indians are as hypocrites as one can get. Most of them won’t do anything close to what they preach (that includes me too).

So, is that the hidden pain that poet was referring? I don’t know.

One Lakh Crore–What does that mean?

CAG report for 2G spectrum allocation scandal has highlighted that India has lost 1.7 lakh crore due to corruption by Telecom Ministry. By all means, I think, there are more than ten thousand people involved in this scandal. So, just hanging former Telecom Minister A.Raja is not enough. Yet, except for resignation of A.Raja, there has been no action from the government. What is even worse, common man of India isn’t bothered with the scale of this scandal. This is the unfortunate truth of India. To help the common man understand, what this scandal means to India, I am going to describe what 1.7 lakh crore means to us. To make the mathematics simple, I am assuming the scandal is only 1 lakh crore.

If one writes down 1 lakh crore in numbers, it is 1,00,000,00,00,000. That’s ‘1’ followed by twelve zeros.

If Government of India wanted to distribute 1 lakh crore to Indian Citizens, each one of us would have got about ~900 rupees.

With 1 lakh crore, government of India could have provided free primary education for every girl child in India for next three years.

With 1 lakh crore, Government of India could have got every heart patient in India operated.

With 1 lakh crore, Government of India could have got doubled the strength of Indian army.

With 1 lakh crore, Government of India could have increased the security five-fold for all major Indian cities, which reduces the chances of a terrorist attack five times.

With 1 lakh crore, Government of India could have reduced the Tax Rate for every citizen by 10% for one year.

With 1 lakh crore, Government of India could have planted approximately 10 lakh crore trees in India, hence reducing the impact of green-house gases by 300%.

With 1 lakh crore, Government of India could have set-up 10 million clean and hygienic public toilets across India.

With 1 lakh crore, Government of India could have increased the budget by 40 times for R&D in Indian Universities.

With 1 lakh crore, Government of India could have provided purified drinking water for every citizen of India for a period of 5 years.

With 1 lakh crore, Government of India could have provided free electricity to all the farmers in India for a period of 2 years.

I can go on and on… but what’s the point? 1 lakh crore is just the tip of iceberg. Corruption has become an industry in India. And people of India has got so used to corruption… just simply don’t care. But someday, this is going to take us down. I just hope Indians wake up before the country is sold out in pieces by corrupt Indians.

India from ‘US and China’ perspective

India, as of now	Economically Developed India	Economically Backward India
India is one of the largest exporters of raw materials to China and US.	India would be rather supplying furnished goods than raw materials.	Backward economy would create internal conflicts in India affecting the continuous supply of raw materials at lower cost.
India is dependent on US for nuclear fuel supply and technology for civilian energy needs.	India would independently develop nuclear energy facilities to meet its civilian energy needs.	Indian nuclear technology will pose a security threat to surrounding nations.
India provides educated and industrial labour to several US and Chinese companies at low wages.	Educated labour would demand higher wages. Possibility of Global companies being financed and controlled by Indians.	India will not be able to produce educated lab or force.
India is dependent on US and its allies for providing weaponry technology.	India would indigenously develop weapons for its national security.	India will not be able to afford weapons purchase from US.
Number of patents filed by Indians is considerably less compared to US and China. Number of patents, in a way determines the technological advances made by the nation.	With better economy, more funding will be available for research, resulting in drastic increase in patents filed by Indians. Hence, US, China and India would compete for every new technology.	Not applicable.
An average American eats five times more nutritious food than average Indian.	Indians would be eating nutritious food on par with Americans. This would result in global increase in food prices.	With degrading economy, Indians will not be able to produce food for themselves, hence increasing the global food prices by importing food.
US and China are strategically partnering with under-developed countries for exploration of natural resources.	India would join the US and China in exploration of natural resources available in under-developed countries, resulting in more competition for natural resources.	Not applicable.

Does paying TAXES make you more responsible towards nation?

Soon after graduation, I took up my first full time job. A month later, a handsome amount was deposited into my bank account as my first month salary. Few days later, I found that a portion of my salary has been deducted as income tax. I remember, for the first time, I walked on the roads of my city (Hyderabad) with a sense of feeling that, now I have financially contributed to the development of the nation. It wasn’t about how much I have contributed; the feeling was more about being responsible towards development of the nation.

When I heard the news, some screwed up lady politician in India wanted to build her statues with public money, my instant reaction was ‘… whose money you are using for building your pathetic looking statues?’ I guess, almost every tax payer had a similar reaction. There is so much of poverty, illiteracy, unemployment and lack of health care in India, and yet precious tax payers money in being wasted in constructing statues!

I soon realized, it wasn’t just that one particular lady politician. Several other politicians have abused the tax payer’s money in India and it’s a very common thing. It made me wonder, do these politicians care for people’s money? How can people just remain silent when their hard earning money is being wasted?

After a bit of analysis, I found that only 8% of Indians pay taxes, leaving about 92% (~1 billion people) who are either not eligible to pay taxes or found a way to escape taxes. So, we are part of a nation which has about 1 billion people who haven’t contributed even a paisa from their pocket towards the development of the nation. What is even worse, majority of these non-tax payers do not realize from where the government gets money to construct roads, irrigation projects, transport systems, etc. For them, it’s just government money. And when some political leader announces that he/she would give free electricity or gold, they jump to vote in his/her favor.

Clearly, there seems to be a ‘disconnect’ between people who are paying taxes and the people who aren’t. The task before each one of us is, to bring a change in the attitude of people. This task cannot be successfully achieved just via educational campaigns. After giving a lot of thought, I have come to a conclusion that, by making every earning individual pay taxes, automatically we can change the attitude of the nation. Before we look at the proposed actionable plan, let’s first understand, in terms of numbers, how income tax is being collected from earning individuals in India:

Income tax for financial year 2010-11	Rate (%)
Up to 1,60,000 Up to 1,90,000 (for women) Up to 2,40,000 (for resident individual of 65 years or above)	NIL
1,60,001 – 5,00,000	10
5,00,001 – 8,00,000	20
8,00,001 upwards	30

As per the current rules, any individual earning less than Rs.1,60,000 annually need not pay taxes. A small tweaking to the above tax system can dramatically change the attitude of people. Not taxing the individuals who earn less than Rs. 1,60,000 (1,90,000 and 2,40,000 for women and senior citizens respectfully) definitely reduces the burden on low-earning citizens. However, it is also resulting in lack-of-responsibility among majority of people. Keeping this in mind, I propose the following change in the tax system.

Proposed Income tax for future	Rate (%)
Up to 1,60,000 Up to 1,90,000 (for women) Up to 2,40,000 (for resident individual of 65 years or above)	1
1,60,001 – 5,00,000	10
5,00,001 – 8,00,000	20
8,00,001 upwards	30

The new proposed tax structure does one dramatic change. It makes sure that every citizen who is earning should pay tax to the nation. A nominal tax of 1% should be collected from every individual who is earning less than Rs. 1,60,000 (Rs. 1,90,000 and Rs. 2,40,000 for women and senior citizens respectfully). I do understand this is a burden on everyone, especially for the individuals who are struggling to meet their ends. But at the same time, this would be a critical move towards the progress of the nation.

Following are the advantages of making the tax mandatory

1. It brings a sense of responsibility among every citizen. It would automatically create an environment where people would protect the public property and protest against any wastage of money by government. Currently, this feeling is missing among 92% of the Indians. As long as they are not directly being affected, they don’t care about demanding accountability from government.

2. It will bring a sense of satisfaction among people that they have contributed towards development of the nation. This induces a feeling of demanding accountability from government and elected representatives. For every paisa collected via taxes, the government and elected representatives has to show the corresponding progress to the people. As they have directly paid an amount to the government in form of taxes, it inherently creates a feeling among citizens to ask for accountability and progress.

3. It will change the public service system in India. Public servants believe that they are being paid by Government and since 92% of the people haven’t directly contributed money to the government, they don’t hold public servants accountable. But with mandatory tax system, public servants are directly accountable to the people.

Also, there is one behavioral characteristic of Indians that needs to be changed. Generally, when people in India approach a politician, he/she always goes with folded hands, as if, they are begging for a favor from the politician. We need to change this mentality. A politician is doing a job and as a citizen of India, you have every right to demand. The part of the problem is, because majority of people in India haven’t contributed taxes, when they ask for a particular thing (ex: relief fund) from a politician, they think they are asking for a favor. This mindset would automatically change when there is a mandatory tax system in India. Given that, everyone has financially contributed, people would demand efficient use of funds and approach politicians with self-respect.

I wish to see a lady from a village walking up to Rahul Gandhi and saying ‘…I give a damn about whether you sleep at a hut for a night or not. I want my village to have better drainage systems, zero electricity cuts and proper roads. Can you get it done within a year? If not, you better not visit this place again’. And that courage would only come, when all of us pay taxes to the nation, irrespective of how much we earn.

Reply to Shashi Tharoor on his article on Burma

Recently, Shashi Tharoor wrote an article titled “Burma: India’s Bad Neighbor Policy”. My first reaction after reading the article was, ‘author is so confused’. Probably, Mr. Tharoor is trying to balancing it out between his Government’s views and his own moral values. On one sides, he defends the democratic rights of people and on the other, goes on to justify that India started support military junta for the sake of economic benefits. Mr. Tharoor quotes “India’s government cannot be blamed for deciding that its national interests in Burma are more important than standing up for democracy there”. In my opinion, for a nation that aspires to be a global power, this is a very compromising statement.

Mr. Tharoor also quotes “Any Indian government’s primary obligation is to its own people, and there is little doubt that the economic opportunities provided by Burmese oil and gas are of real benefit to Indians. There is also the strategic imperative of not ceding ground to India’s enemies on its own borders. India confronts an inescapable fact of geopolitics: you can put your ideals on hold, but you cannot change who your neighbors are”.

Basically, it appears that, Mr. Tharoor wants to say, wherever and whenever there are commercial benefits, Indian government should peruse it without caring about nation’s honour, morals and dignity. Let me remind Mr. Tharoor that, economic benefits are often temporary, what stands out in the history are the values of a nation. Often, it’s the values of a nation that determine its relationships with other countries. Also, his justification that Indian government went into business with military junta of Myanmar (Burma) only after Pakistan and China doesn’t make sense. Common, if your enemies do a wrong thing, that doesn’t mean, now you are also eligible to do the wrong thing.

The other day, when president of United States Mr. Barack Obama addressed the Indian Parliament, he rightly pointed out, if India wants to become a global power, it must behave like one. India has been shying away from commenting about human rights violations in Burma and other military ruled regimes, merely for the sake of economic benefits. Isn’t that being selfish? Isn’t that against moral values of India? But then, India has well-educated public representatives like Shashi Tharoor who through the magic of words would justify what India has been doing is the right thing. By the way, at no point I am saying US is actually behaving like a global power, but yes, we can set the right precedence by doing the right thing.

India must not just see itself as a great nation but also as a great civilization. For this to happen, our policy makes should take up challenge of standing to the values of India than merely justifying their acts as commercial ventures.

PS: Given that, Shashi Tharoor is hailed as a hero by majority of audience who follows internet blogs, let me say, I also one among those, who have liked the several works of Mr. Tharoor. But, I am not the kind of person, who would blindly accept what has been told.

Article 334: Reservation of seats and special representation to cease after twenty years

Another article of Indian constitution which I would like to bring forward is Article 334. When the constitution was first introduced on 26^th November 1949, article 334 titled “Reservation of seats and special representation to cease after twenty years” stated

“Notwithstanding anything in the foregoing provisions of this Part, the provisions of this Constitution relating to—

(a) the reservation of seats for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes in the House of the People and in the Legislative Assemblies of the States; and

(b) the representation of the Anglo-Indian community in the House of the People and in the Legislative Assemblies of the States by nomination, shall cease to have effect on the expiration of a period of twenty years from the commencement of this Constitution:

Provided that nothing in this article shall affect any representation in the House of the People or in the Legislative Assembly of a State until the dissolution of the then existing House or Assembly, as the case may be.”

This meant that, reservation of SC/STs in House of the People and in Legislative Assemblies of the states should not be in effect post 1970. However, as per the 23^rd Amendment which happened on 23th January 1970, article 334 of Indian constitution was amended to extend reservation for SC/ST and nomination of Anglo Indian members in Parliament and State Assemblies for another 10 years. This meant that reservations of SC/STs in the House of the People and in Legislative Assemblies of the States is extended till 1980. Basically, when constitution of India was written, the goal was set for twenty years to bring a reform among SC/STs. However, lack of accountability among politicians and creation of vote-bank politics resulted in further 10 year extension of the time-line. The worst was yet to come. On 25^th Janurary 1980, article 334 of Indian constitution was again amended (45^th Amendment) to extend reservation for SC/ST and nomination of Anglo Indian members in Parliament and State Assemblies for another ten years (up to 1990). 10 years later, on 20^th December 1989, article 334 of Indian constitution was once again amended (62^nd Amendment) to extend reservation for SC/ST and nomination of Anglo Indian members in Parliament and State Assemblies for another ten years (up to 2000). Ten years later, on 25^th January 2000, article 334 of Indian constitution was amended (79^th Amendment) for the 4^th time to extend reservation for SC/ST and nomination of Anglo Indian members in Parliament and State Assemblies for another ten years (up to 2010).

So, basically, the concept of reservations of seats for SCs/STs in House of People and Legislative assemblies was meant for twenty years but incapable/unaccountable politicians extended it till sixty years. The most disheartening fact is, the situation of SCs/STs in India still remains as backward as it was during independence. Who is responsible for it? I would say, it’s the people belonging to SCs/STs, especially because they haven’t demanded their elected representatives to develop them. How long can the nation tolerate reservations in the name of caste when people itself want to stick to their backwardness? It appears that, by the end of 2010, the constitution will be once again amended to extend the reservations for SC/STs for another 10 years. This will continue to happen until SCs/STs wake up and demand progress and accountability from their elected representatives. Also, they need to start realizing that, their elected representative need not be from SCs/ST to understand their problems.

I hope sense prevails in India.

Reserved India

India, as a civilization has had a long history. Like any other civilization, there have been historic wonders and blunders. One grave defect in Indian history is the division of people based on their profession and imposing a hereditary system that forces the offspring to continue his/her father’s profession whether he/she likes it or not. This historic blunder eventually resulted in what we now refer as ‘caste system’. More than 90% of the people in India were considered as ‘lower-caste’ and weren’t given equal human rights, almost all throughout the history. Given the fact that, at no point in the history there has been a notable rebellion against caste system by the people, it would be safe to say, most Indians have got adapted to ‘caste system’. For many of them, their ‘caste’ gives them a sense of identity of being part of a particular community. It was this sense of identity among people based on their caste that posed a threat to India being as a single nation post 1947. If Jinnah can incite a group of people of his faith to fight for a separate nation, why can’t another leader from a particular caste incite the people of his/her caste to demand a separate nation? Such a rebellion can take the nation apart. Though, never expressed, this question lingered the best minds of India while defining the Constitution of India.

As India was on the verge of receiving independence from Britain, majority of the people including future Prime Minister who controlled the power belonged to the elite ‘upper caste’. It became increasingly evident before the people that, independence was only for ‘namesake’, the power still remains with the same class of people, albeit in a different form. The situation was such that, all it needed was one capable leader from ‘lower caste’ to start a civil war that would break the nation into pieces. The fear was evident but was unspoken in open. Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was one such leader, who represented the educated voice of ‘lower caste’ people of India. He openly criticized the ‘way of life’ of people, raised his voice against customs of untouchability and demanded power for ‘Dalits’. Moreover, Dr. Ambedkar was one man who had guts to criticize even Gandhi in public and get away with it. He once quoted ‘Don’t call Gandhi a saint. He is a seasoned politician. When everything else fails, Gandhi will resort to intrigue’. Also, Dr. Ambedkar made his intension clear in his book The Untouchables: A Thesis on the Origins of Untouchability, in which he quotes ‘…the Hindu Civilization is a diabolical contrivance to suppress and enslave humanity. Its proper name would be infamy. What else can be said of a civilization which has produced a mass of people... who are treated as an entity beyond human intercourse and whose mere touch is enough to cause pollution?’.

Top politicians in India were intelligent enough to sense the gravity of the situation. If Dr. Ambedkar was allowed to propagate his agenda, the nation would witness war for the rights of ‘lower-caste people’ and the power would go away from the hands of elite few. How can the elite upper class (caste) remain in power and yet give assurance to lower-class that there is a future ahead of them? Something had to be done before it becomes too late.

Just when the doubts were being raised, Indian National Congress demonstrated its political acumen by making Dr. Ambedkar the Union Law Minister and Chairmen to draft the Indian constitution. The point to be noted here is, Dr. Ambedkar was not the member of Indian National Congress (INC) and had contested elections against INC during 1946 elections. Now, the ball was in the hands of Dr. Ambedkar. He is the one now who is drafting the laws of the nation; he can do all he wants to make the laws in favor of lower-caste people. Had Dr. Ambedkar not accepted the government post and fought for the rights of suppressed classes of people, today, he would have been considered the ‘Nelson Mandela’ of India and probably would have been the first Prime Minister of India with Dalit background. Instead, he accepted the post of Union Law minister and drafted the Indian constitution.

Dr. Ambedkar had several challenges before him. The foremost being, he wanted to abolish the caste system in India however, he soon realized, if caste system is abolished, then he cannot demand for special privileges for ‘lower-caste people’ for the years of discrimination. That’s when he came up with the idea of classification of castes in terms of economic positions. He called the upper-castes as forward castes and lower castes as backward castes. With the new classification, it was easy for him to defend special privileges for backward castes. Dr. Ambedkar took the idea of reservations (the idea of reservations for certain castes existed in some parts of India since 1900) one step further. He drafted the constitution such that it allowed up to 50% of the public jobs and admissions to universities reserved for the people from backward castes. Obviously, Dr. Ambedkar knew the repercussions of ‘reservations’ but for him, it was the safest way he could safeguard the rights of backward classes and project himself in good light. I say this especially because Indian constitution could have easily defined reservations to ‘backward people’ instead of ‘backward caste’, which would have also helped in abolishing ‘caste system’ in India. But Dr. Ambedkar felt, it is easier for him to justify reservations for backward castes than backward people. In all his technical work towards Indian constitution, Dr. Ambedkar failed to realize, the precise reason why he was granted the position of Union Law Minister of India even though he wasn’t from Indian National Congress. In the end, all he did was, solved the thorn for INC. With ‘reservation system’ placed, Dr. Ambedkar made sure that - there is no uprising against the forward classes, who controlled the power.

For last sixty years, no one has dared to remove the concept of reservations in Indian constitution; instead politicians have only strengthened it by using it for political gains. Flaws of ‘reservation system’ have been openly discussed in public forums, internet chats and media. Narayan Murthy, the founder of Infosys and a potential candidate for President of India once remarked ‘We have become, perhaps, the only nation in the world where people fight to be called backward rather than forward’. It sounds all good for Narayan Murthy to give such quotation but no politician or people’s leader in India is dare enough to put forward the unspoken truth before people. It still remains- it is the reservations that have kept our nation as a single entity in last sixty years. Remove the reservations, the nation will break apart.

In such a scenario, what best we can do for the development of nation? The answer is simple. The task is to create a path for development within the framework of reservation system. As politically correct as I may sound, that’s the only way going forward. Also, ‘reservations’ is not the actual problem, the problem is, how long will it continue? I humbly request all those people who aren’t ‘backward’ anymore and yet continue to take advantage of reservations, to think about two things:

(i) No religion discriminates people and it’s the people who are culprits. Now, the time has given opportunity to everyone to follow their religion in proper sense. From the scriptures of Santana Dharma (that’s the actual name of Hinduism, I bet more than 50% people who claimed to be following Hinduism doesn’t know their religion’s actual name). I have read, it clearly states every human being is equal before God. It’s time for the followers to read their scriptures and follow their religion in true sense. And when you truly start following the religion, you will realize that ‘you need not force your children to be of your same caste’. A Hindu can be a true Hindu without being part of any caste.

(ii) Constitution of India grants you the right to choose any religion you want. If you still find yourself suppressed by caste system then you have the right to free yourself from it. You are free to choose any religion that gives you equal human rights or not follow any religion at all.

In the end I want to say, if you are not economically backward, it is ethically wrong to take advantage of reservation system

Righteous Among the Nations: Muslims Who Saved Jews from Holocaust

This story got published in Huffington Post and I couldn’t resist sharing with you all. This is the story of courage, the story of Besa… and more importantly, the story of standing for the right thing. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/01/project-explores-muslims-_n_777257.html)

By Tim Townsend
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

ST. LOUIS (RNS) In 2003, Norman Gershman was looking for some of the righteous.
What he found astonished the investment banker-turned-photographer, and led him toward a project now on display in a St. Louis synagogue.
The Righteous Among Nations are gentile rescuers who make up "a small minority who mustered extraordinary courage to uphold human values," according to Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust memorial museum.
They are, the museum says, "the few who helped Jews in the darkest time in their history."
Gershman's story begins during the Holocaust and involves Albanian Muslims -- villagers, peasants and farmers -- who risked their lives and the lives of their families to shelter Jews fleeing Nazi Germany.
Italy invaded Albania in 1939 and occupied the country until the overthrow of Benito Mussolini in 1943. Germany then took over the Albanian occupation. Before the war, Gershman estimates from his research, only about 200 Jews lived in Albania, a country that is about 70 percent Muslim.
During the years of occupation, 10 times as many Jews streamed into Albania to escape persecution from Poland, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Greece and Italy. Gershman says it was the only country in Europe where the Jewish population grew by the end of the war.
Most of the hidden Jews either fled to Israel or back to their native countries after the war. Albania's postwar communist regime made it impossible for the Jews who had been hidden to stay in touch with the Albanian Muslims who had provided shelter.
In 2003, New Jersey native Gershman heard hints of the story and began doing research, eventually traveling to Albania to begin interviewing those Muslims who took part and who were still alive. Gershman said it wasn't just Muslim families who shielded Jews from the Nazis, but also Orthodox and Catholic families.
All of them were motivated by an Albanian code of honor called "besa," a concept that can be translated into "keeping the promise," Gershman says. The Albanian villagers were motivated to risk their lives by the simple concept of helping one's neighbor.
"We chose to focus on the Muslims because, who ever heard of Muslims saving Jews?" Gershman said in a telephone interview from Israel, where he is at work on his next project.
Gershman's research eventually led to an exhibit of his photographs, "Besa: A Code to Live By," which opened recently at Congregation Temple Emanuel, and a book, Besa: Muslims Who Saved Jews in World War II.
The exhibit makes the case that the Muslim Albanian villagers who sheltered Jews from deportation to concentration camps did so from a sense of religious obligation.
"Besa is a cultural idea, but for the Muslims in Albania it was ingrained in their faith as well," Gershman said.
Ahmet Karamustafa, professor of history and religious studies at Washington University, said saving a life is a universally acknowledged Muslim value.
Protecting a life, Karamustafa said, "has always ranked at the very top of moral and legal categories articulated by legal and theological scholars in Islam."
The exhibit has been traveling the world since 2006, opening in Yad Vashem in Israel, the United Nations in New York, and synagogues, mosques, college campuses and Holocaust museums from Turkey to El Paso, Texas.
The exhibit of 30 photographs includes one of Lime Balla, born in 1910, who told Gershman that a group of 17 Jews came from the capital city of Tirana to her village of Gjergi in 1943 during the holy month of Ramadan.
"We divided them amongst the villagers," Balla said, according to Gershman. "We were poor. We had no dining table, but we didn't allow them to pay for food or shelter. We grew vegetables for all to eat. For 15 months, we dressed them as farmers like us. Even the local police knew."
David Sherman, president of Temple Emanuel, said the synagogue "decided it could be an opportunity to educate the public about this piece of history that was a model of dialogue and tolerance."
The synagogue's rabbi, Justin Kerber, said one of the Reform congregation's goals with the exhibit is to combat a common depiction of the modern relationship between Jews and Muslims.
"There's so much coverage about Muslim-Jewish strife and conflict," Kerber said. "It's important to tell people that's not the whole story, and these are examples of Muslim-Jewish respect, tolerance and love. This was a good opportunity for us to be part of that conversation."

Is the nation in a coma?

I found this article is written by Mohan Murti, former director of CII, Europe at Hindu Business line..and thought of sharing with you all here. It’s a good read, I wish the nation wakes up!

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A few days ago I was in a panel discussion on mergers and acquisitions in Frankfurt, Germany, organised by Euroforum and The Handelsblatt, one of the most prestigious newspapers in German-speaking Europe.

The other panellists were senior officials of two of the largest carmakers and two top insurance companies — all German multinationals operating in India.

The panel discussion was moderated by a professor from the esteemed European Business School. The hall had an audience that exceeded a hundred well-known European CEOs. I was the only Indian.

After the panel discussion, the floor was open for questions. That was when my “moment of truth” turned into an hour of shame, embarrassment — when the participants fired questions and made remarks on their experiences with the evil of corruption in India.

The awkwardness and humiliation I went through reminded of The Moment of Truth, the popular Anglo-American game. The more questions I answered truthfully, the more the questions get tougher. Tougher here means more embarrassing.

European disquiet

Questions ranged from “Is your nation in a coma?”, the corruption in judiciary, the possible impeachment of a judge, the 2G scam and to the money parked illegally in tax havens.

It is a fact that the problem of corruption in India has assumed enormous and embarrassing proportions in recent years, although it has been with us for decades. The questions and the debate that followed in the panel discussion was indicative of the European disquiet. At the end of the Q&A session, I surmised Europeans perceive India to be at one of those junctures where tripping over the precipice cannot be ruled out.

Let me substantiate this further with what the European media has to say in recent days.

In a popular prime-time television discussion in Germany, the panellist, a member of the German Parliament quoting a blog said: “If all the scams of the last five years are added up, they are likely to rival and exceed the British colonial loot of India of about a trillion dollars.”

Banana Republic

One German business daily which wrote an editorial on India said: “India is becoming a Banana Republic instead of being an economic superpower. To get the cut motion designated out, assurances are made to political allays. Special treatment is promised at the expense of the people. So, Ms Mayawati who is Chief Minister of the most densely inhabited state, is calmed when an intelligence agency probe is scrapped. The multi-million dollars fodder scam by another former chief minister wielding enormous power is put in cold storage. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh chairs over this kind of unparalleled loot.”

An article in a French newspaper titled “Playing the Game, Indian Style” wrote: “Investigations into the shadowy financial deals of the Indian cricket league have revealed a web of transactions across tax havens like Switzerland, the Virgin Islands, Mauritius and Cyprus.” In the same article, the name of one Hassan Ali of Pune is mentioned as operating with his wife a one-billion-dollar illegal Swiss account with “sanction of the Indian regime”.

A third story narrated in the damaging article is that of the former chief minister of Jharkhand, Madhu Koda, who was reported to have funds in various tax havens that were partly used to buy mines in Liberia. “Unfortunately, the Indian public do not know the status of that enquiry,” the article concluded.

“In the nastiest business scam in Indian records (Satyam) the government adroitly covered up the political aspects of the swindle — predominantly involving real estate,” wrote an Austrian newspaper. “If the Indian Prime Minister knows nothing about these scandals, he is ignorant of ground realities and does not deserve to be Prime Minister. If he does, is he a collaborator in crime?”

The Telegraph of the UK reported the 2G scam saying: “Naturally, India's elephantine legal system will ensure culpability, is delayed.”

Blinded by wealth

This seems true. In the European mind, caricature of a typical Indian encompasses qualities of falsification, telling lies, being fraudulent, dishonest, corrupt, arrogant, boastful, speaking loudly and bothering others in public places or, while travelling, swindling when the slightest of opportunity arises and spreading rumours about others. The list is truly incessant.

My father, who is 81 years old, is utterly frustrated, shocked and disgruntled with whatever is happening and said in a recent discussion that our country's motto should truly be Asatyameva Jayete.

Europeans believe that Indian leaders in politics and business are so blissfully blinded by the new, sometimes ill-gotten, wealth and deceit that they are living in defiance, insolence and denial to comprehend that the day will come, sooner than later, when the have-nots would hit the streets.

In a way, it seems to have already started with the monstrous and grotesque acts of the Maoists. And, when that rot occurs, not one political turncoat will escape being lynched.

The drumbeats for these rebellions are going to get louder and louder as our leaders refuse to listen to the voices of the people. Eventually, it will lead to a revolution that will spill to streets across the whole of India, I fear.

Perhaps we are the architects of our own misfortune. It is our sab chalta hai (everything goes) attitude that has allowed people to mislead us with impunity. No wonder Aesop said. “We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to high office.”