Islamic Terrorism and Indian Muslims
Muslims the world over celebrated Eid a couple of days back. It was heartening to see that the Indian ones were quite subdued in their celebrations and that Imams of leading mosques around the country spoke against what is being done in the name of their religion.
India has the largest number of Muslims in any country after Indonesia; yes, even more than Pakistan, the supposed homeland of the Muslims. Indian Muslims are really unique. In any other country, except China, a number of 130 odd million would make them the majority, in India they constitute the minority.
Indian Muslims are also in a position to counter the extremist ideology that forms the foundation of the Islamic terrorism. For quite sometime there has been search for an ideology to counter the extremist one being preached by the Taliban and its likes. The more tolerant, sectarian-violence free Indian Muslim way might just be the answer that we have been looking for.
Of Chief Ministers
I had been following the news about Congress victory in the Rajasthan Assembly elections. It didn't come as a surprise as in the recent past the trend has been to oust the incumbent whenever the opportunity arises. Three days have passed and still there's no consensus on the Chief-Ministerial candidate. Ex-CM Ashok Geholt, the person who led the victorious campaign is the firm favourite. Though he is being opposed by the likes of Sheesh Raam Ola, on the grounds that Gehlot ain't a Jaat. Well now, I don't have any problems as to whether a Jaat becomes the CM or a non-Jaat becomes the CM. The only thing that I got problems with is that the Congress is considering to appoint a Jaat as a deputy CM. Pray tell me, why as the tax payer should I fund the cost of this political gimmick? As if we don't have too many ministers already! The 15% limit that has been put on the size of the Cabinet is being seriously abused. It's high time we brought some structure to our executive.
Another thing which I find ridiculous is Sheesh Raam Ola contesting for the CMship. An 82 year old guy as a first time CM? For Christ's sake, gimme a break! If 60 is deemed old enough for our public servants, shouldn't there be an age bar on the politicians as well? Hon'ble Supreme Court, are we listening?
Civil Services
I had been going through the structure of the Civil Services examination and was surprised by the choice of the optional subjects available. While 23 options to choose from for one optional may sound enough, even a slightly closer look would reveal that they are grossly inadequate. For starters, Computer Science graduates like yours truly are on a disadvantage before we even start the process. Reason: Computer Science is not one of the electives. And neither is EC or IT for that matter. Apparently we don't exist.
Somebody called IAS as the mother of all exams. And indeed it is so. For unlike JEE or CAT, where genius might suffice, IAS examination pattern ensures that you need to have the capacity to carry encyclopedic knowledge in your head if you have to have even the slightest chance of succeding. While it could have been a must-have quality in the earlier days, I don't see any relevance of it now, when all the information is just a click away and when you can generate n number of simulation scenarios as per your requirements. Oh sorry, I forgot, how are the powers to be supposed to know that. After all how can we expect them to know of the internet, when they haven't even heard of Computer Engineers.
2 comments:
1.)[i]The more tolerant, sectarian-violence free Indian Muslim way might just be the answer that we have been looking for[/i]
Kindly explain.
As of now, I disagree. Indian Mumslims maybe "comparatively" tolerant becos the country India itself has throughout the history taught the world "universal tolerance and acceptance" but you CANNOT merge that with "Islam". Muslims, if you analyse even the rituals like beheading goats on Id, you will know that they develop "violent streak" in them from their very childhood.
Prophet Mohmmd was a vegetarian. Quran and Hadith wer written 200 yrs after his death by his followers who wer majorly refugees. They modified his teachings for their self benefits. Moreover the writers of Quran said that they themselves cannot understand completely wat they hav written. They hav laws which cannot be changed. Example divorce and marriage laws- even in India Muslims are allowed to disobey the constitution if thr Quran is not parallel with it (which is defintely so).
The ideology which can reform any religion or system or cult is simply that you state the TRUTH to them. The above is part of the truth. And how do you do this? It's not by writing articles or speeches but by setting examples. How and where we set examples is what we have to figure out.
As of Taliban, a lil bit history will tell u they wer born out of America's thirst for a proxy war against Russia. It was America who supported their misinterpretation of religion so that they cud become means of an indirect victory over Russia. This is one "truth" too.
2.)CM- Rajasthan part- well said. I hav to agree.
3.)IAS part- Definitely. "Change" and continual reformation is very important. But ever wondered that all of these- including JEE and CAT- test your aptitude for a certain pattern of questions. (THATS the whole point why there are coaching instis)
Throughout the school and maybe even college we are taught FACTS. I wish we wer taught the "analysis" too, "the inward intuition". Except Maths, I see it nowhere. For that matter not even literature and philosophy etc- I hav never seen them come to any definite conclusion. And THAT is where our education system sucks.
Everyone maynot be a good artist but a good artist may come from anywhere.
@anon
1.)"The more tolerant, sectarian-violence free Indian Muslim way might just be the answer that we have been looking for"
To explain this, I would begin where you left of, ie at Taliban. While wat u have stated is indeed true, the ideology of Taliban is based upon the Deobandi school of thought. More recently it came to be influenced by the Wahhabism, an Islamic point of view mainly confined to the Arabian peninsula. The resultant was an extremely strict, anti-modern ideology that most jihadis including Osama bin laden based their rhetoric upon.
The tolerant Indian Muslim ideology can serve as an alternate to the above mentioned school of thought, showing the Muslim youth across the world that the taliban way is not the only way to successfully practice Islam.
And i don't agree with you that we can't merge 'India' and 'Islam' together in the context of Indian Muslims. Just read the term again, it says 'Indian Muslim'.. :)
3.) I agree that each of these examinations try to test our aptitude to different sort of problems, to assess whether we have the requisite skill-set or not... am just wondering wat that skill-set is in case of IAS..
and yeah.. thanks for stoppin by.. :)
based upon ur comment, i wud recommend http://kathniya.blogspot.com .. a couple of friends of mine have started this blog, you may like to stop by..
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