I am not surprised that some student from the National Institute of Design (NID) posed as a journalist to enter the court premises and later attacked former Haryana DGP S P S Rathore.The case of Ruchika’s molester has been covered rather strangely in the media, especially the emphasis on his smile/sneer. This student really behaved like some stupid hack. Utsav Sharma will be hailed for his self-righteous anger over the light sentence meted out to Rathore. The guy did not know Ruchika, he would not take a knife out to slash fellow students in ragging cases or some punk throwing acid on the face of a girl who has jilted him. To be a hero, you need a prominent villain.
This is an old case, and its sudden shooting into prominence reveals how we make use of certain examples for our own benefit. Rathore should be given the stiffest punishment without being given so much media coverage.
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There will be another round of discussions about the West Bengal government and its reservations for Muslim OBCs. I have been against reservations based on religion because they result in ghettoisation. Besides, Muslim caste structure is different and based primarily on economic backwardness. What caste did the villagers of Nandigram belong to?
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Amitabh Bachchan read out his father Harivansh Rai Bachchan’s poems. Zia Mohiuddin from Pakistan read out the works of Faiz Ahmed Faiz. This was part of the Shaman ka Chacha* TOI thing.Was there a need to posit Hindi against Urdu? Urdu is an Indian language, and an official one. It would have been nicer if we had two Urdu writers from both sides being feted. Ghalib is ours. So are several others.
And pardon my saying so. Even with my limited knowledge, Harivanshrai is no comparison to Faiz. If we wanted Hindi, then we have ‘Dinkar’, Maithili Sharan Gupt.
It would have made great sense to promote ‘other’ aspects of culture, like, say, a Tamil or Malayali poet and someone writing in Saraiki or Pushto from the other side.
And has anyone noticed that women are hardly represented in any of the 'series'? Will they be lumped into one intellectual zenana, a harem to discuss wimmin's vermin issues?
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*Play on 'Aman ki Asha'
FV wrote:"Besides, Muslim caste structure is different and based primarily on economic backwardness. What caste did the villagers of Nandigram belong to?"
ReplyDeleteIt is easier to play politics with religion and caste rather than look at the people behind the politics...they are not people, they are only a "vote bank" to be used for elections and discarded afterwards.
The task of determining the poverty level of an Indian ignoring his/her religion and caste and gender is not very difficult, and will result in real equality of opportunity for all Indians, but that's too easy and does not help in Politicking under the guise of "helping the impoverished castes and the downtrodden muslims".
All of them are a "vote bank" for some party or another, ensuring none of them ever get to see a better life, other than the politician and his clan/tribe...welcome to Incredible India in the 21st century.
Al:
ReplyDeleteWhile I accept that every section becomes a vote bank, there is always the real issue of empowering people who are held back due to their birth. That is the reason I do not endorse it on religious grounds. I am a proponent of reservations for the SCs and OBCs. They genuinely need that push. If the reserved quota is misused, and it is, then you cannot blame them. We have not yet reached a stage where we can talk about merit. Not when our lordly politicians, even form the high caste, manage t get top berths due to their birth.
FV wrote:
ReplyDelete"Not when our lordly politicians, even form the high caste, manage t get top berths due to their birth."
It is worse than that. There is this politician called Anbumani Ramadoss, who comes from a very rich and highly parochial community that claims to be oppressed and backward. This community owns a good chunk of Tamilnadu literally, and this Ramadoss (who was featured in a post of yours 2006 it seems :-)) has trashed the AIIMS to the ground and demoralized the entire hospital.
In addition, Ramadoss's achievements include copying the text from Monsanto's GM food brochure word-for-word into the "Indian Govt. proposal for Bt. Brinjal". I am pretty sure someone from Monsanto gave the Ramadosses a good retirement package sans employing them.
And last week, after the Telengana hullaballoo, the Ramadosses have decided to step in and demand that Tamilnadu be broken into two, so that the Ramadosses can lord over one half.
You interact with these people, and you know they are just common criminals with a criminal mindset, wearing suits and pretending to be doctors....except if one tries speaking the truth about them within earshot of the party-owned thugs (who are usually undercover), it may be a good idea to make funeral arrangements for oneself before trying such stunts.
What about the economic backwardness of muslims and that they dont get enough opportunities?
ReplyDeletekb wrote:
ReplyDelete"What about the economic backwardness of muslims and that they dont get enough opportunities?"
The first problem with that statement is that no one at or below the lower-middle class gets opportunities. There is a general dearth of opportunities that is directly correlated to poverty more than other indicators.
There is also a bigger correlation to education level of parents, who make sure that the children get competitive. So the question is: how does one break the cycle of ignorance in any generation, and ignorance and poverty are also correlated.
The poorer you are, the more likely that there will be pressure to contribute to the family earnings sooner, or to become independent, both of which results in lack of education, and a subsequent lack of opportunities.
Politicians play nicely with numbers by dividing the public into buckets and then allow the different groups to fight it out for the small pie....while no one notices that the pie is not getting any larger because politicians and bureaucracy have a vested interest in keeping the pie small.
All of this religion-based quota will end up doing is pit the average muslim against the average hindu, while the politicians make money and wield influence from their respective groups.
The leadership of politicial groups with a religious agenda, both hindu and muslim of various shades, has proven itself short-sighted and self-serving over and over again.
Unless the average person gets smart about what to demand in terms of good governance, and not just go around carrying posters that read "Down with X for Onion prices".
Correction:
ReplyDelete"Unless the average person...."
should be "Things are not going to change unless the average person...."
KB:
ReplyDeleteI know that economic backwardness can also result in social backwardness. My fear lies in using Muslims as a religious+caste+backward+reserved category without any visible signs of the caste structure within the Indian Muslim group.
Al:
In your response to KB, you said:
The poorer you are, the more likely that there will be pressure to contribute to the family earnings sooner, or to become independent, both of which results in lack of education, and a subsequent lack of opportunities.
Education levels are important in certain sectors. If you are poor, you do not dream about those; you settle for unskilled labour. The problem is that even when there is an earnest desire to get educated and further prospects, there are social barriers.
Incidentally, there are quite a few corporate biggies who claim with pride that they made it big with zilch education...so, are we aiming for street-smartness as a model? Just thinking aloud.
"Incidentally, there are quite a few corporate biggies who claim with pride that they made it big with zilch education...so, are we aiming for street-smartness as a model?"
ReplyDeleteFV, Not sure how you came to that conclusion. Formal education of large groups of people is a must. But I also believe that competent people exist in all groups and the goal of any policy making in education must be to create a system that naturally selects such competent people. India has a severe shortage of competent human resources in many areas.
It is not a good idea to combine politics with creating policy to create equal opportunities for all groups. However, groups where no person in the entire family has ever been educated will lack several crucial concepts and thought processes that a clan of educated people will have. It is for this reason I would agree with an earlier remark you make about disadvantaged classes of people, though I disagree with the solution followed in India because I am pretty sure it is going to cause more harm than good in the long-term.
The correct way to do this is to train the whole family that is sending kids to school for the first time, and assist the parents in making correct decisions at the right time, and assist them in understanding how they may have to put up with a hard life so that their children can help improve their lot. This meanders in social case worker territory, and social sciences is a complete crock, IMO. And I will stop with that inflammatory statement :-)