2016 July | The Companionthecompanion.in/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/The-Companion.pdf · hisham ul...

2016 July | The Companion2

2016 July | The Companion 3

09/Perseveranceamidst arduousShagufta Balur

10/students’ strugglecondemns the act ofuoh adminSyed azharuddin

12/orlando: another roundof blame it on muslim dr. Javed Jamil

14/my dream tOuSif mehdi

15/muslim Women in Public sPhere: readingPatriarchy in the lightof Qur’anic JusticenaziSh huSSain

06

does the ‘nation’Want to knoW: diverse muslimimaginationshisham ul Wahab

in this issue.July 2016 / Vol 29 : Issue 14 The Companion

Editor : farukh shaikhAssistant Editor : kashif mansoorEditorial Board :mujahidul islamnusrat balurreehan. l. khandr talhaZayan asifnihal kidiyoorsharique ansarrashid masoodasma manhammusaddiq mubeenasad shahazharuddin Pilakodanusama hameed

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18/god used beautifulmathematics to createthe Worldammar Bin ayaz

20/caPsiZing boats:is the mediadesensitiZing us?Samiha SiddiQua

24/hoW does one become a Politician inuttar Pradesh?SharJeel

27/Pendency in indian courtsgaurav ShuKla

30/ramZan: the month to disciPline yourselfmOhammed mOBeen ahmed


Editorial

Kashif Mansoor(assistant editor)

Observe Castelessand Classless ramzan

There are plethora of commentar-ies and exegesis on the benefits and blessings of the holy month of Ramzan. Countless narrations are there to speak of the rewards you gain in the hereaf-ter. Islamic sources abound in charting out a full-fledged monthly action plan in as how to keep fasts, how to get in-volved in extra acts of worship over and above the obligatory ones in days and nights and how to complete the recita-tion of Quran at least once this month. With no doubt at all, even in the slight-est minuscule fractions, Ramzan is the month of Quran, the month of revela-tion. But what misses out in most of the discourses and discussions is the very essential understanding of the deep and genuine essence of Ramzan, deliberations on the meaning of Quran and its message and how its message can be translated to the spatial com-plexities of the contemporary socie-ties which coexist together, meaning and purpose of spirituality, reflections on the supposedly derived outcomes from fasting and their interactions with the sociology of life and of course re-juvenating and reaffirming our relation-ship/ties with the Creator.

Ramzan is not merely a month of abstaining oneself from food and wa-ter consumption and other permissible desires (which are of course incontest-able for the human existence and pro-creation) from sunrise to sunset. It is also not a month to keep hanging out on unending Iftaar parties. Nor should it be considered as a substitute for gyming and physical fitness. Like many other epistemologies, our perceptions and understanding about fasting and Ramzan are narrowly-construed, paro-chial and merely confined to the frenzy

He is has done M.A Economics from University of Hyderabad. He is currently pursuing M.Phil Economics from Centre for Development Studies(JNU) in Trivan-drum, Kerala. His research interests span across development economics, econom-ic thoughts and gender discourse.

hysteria of individual rewards. There is no denying that observing fasts and spending the month of Ramzan ena-bles you to earn multifold points/re-wards but the output, the outcome and the responses both at the individual and collective levels which are desira-ble are somewhere under-emphasized and often de-Islamized. There is a need to bring out the philosophy of Ramzan from the closets of religionized minds.

It is a month of thanking the Al-mighty Allah for bestowing the entire mankind with the jewels of Holy book Quran. The month of Revelation makes a clarion call for resisting/confronting


“ The act of fast-ing ought to make us feel the deprivation and desti-tution certain sections of population are subjected to and then exhort us to put in place a sustainable system so as to bring grin and cheers on the faces of our brethren.

the systems, whether social, politi-cal, economic or cultural, and whether traditional/ancient or modern/post-modern, which were/are monopolized on ignorance, superstitions, black or white magic, distorted rationality, doc-tored truth, fabricated lies, subjuga-tion of people, abuse of governance, inequitable ordering of international relations, authoritarian power equa-tions, injustice, corruption, and men-dacity and struggling/striving at the same time to bring about a system- a system of life dealing with the self and the other, encompassing all its forms and not being limited by the fixed nar-rowness of territorial borders- which should be based on knowledge, the as-it-is truth, justice, democracy with proportional representation, de-na-tionalized concept of global patriotism, mutually-reinforcing just global order, absolute freedom but with its relativity respected, human rights and equitable economic opportunities.

The very fundamental purpose of fasting is to develop the power/con-sciousness of resistances; resistances against the self, instincts and blind/wild passions which are detrimental to cleansing our inner chaos, conflicts and ambiguities, and resistances against falsehood/bad of others. To resist the wrong, immoral and the unethical and imbibe the right and be able to achieve peace with the self and the other is what we need to derive from fasting. Fasting must transform us into caring, loving and forgiving. It must burn all our ego, selfishness, screed, snobbery and despondency. Ramzan is a train-ing period of spiritual rejuvenation and material reformation and disciplining. The act of reformation has to do with constantly educating oneself about the directions, the path and choices which ought to be made to follow the good and the right, and engaging criti-cally in intellectual refinement. Knowl-edge must be explored and sought and sometimes we need to revert back to the old traditions of knowledge to re-mind ourselves of what we may have lost and forgotten. This is a continu-ous process/struggle of intellectual resistances. Spirituality must produce a sound heart which beats regularly to

push us towards the truth and the right and makes us a just-loving creature. Indeed, the people of knowledge and those who follow the truth can’t be the same as the people of ignorance and those who deny the truth.

In its insightful implications, it says to the observing folks, “de-institution-alize all the shackles of slavery”; slav-ery from man-made institutions which cast men into binaries of Western and Eastern, White and Black, Touchables and Untouchables, Brahmans and Dal-its, Shia and Sunni, Ajlaf and Ashraf, Sayyid/Pathan/Sheikh/Khan and Ju-laha/Ansari/Nai/Teli and many other innumerable nomenclatures which are perpetuated on affiliations to regions ethnicity, castes and occupations. In the name of such binaries, the people are gravely exploited and harassed by the hegemonic centers of power which happen to control the human beings and direct their attitudes and behav-ior to strengthen their own positions. These binaries/centers distort the nat-ural attractions with which the humans have been created to heed towards only one center; the centre of the Su-preme Almighty who is the one and the only one centre of our entire spiritual and intellectual resistances, the direc-tion of our physical, mental and emo-tional struggles and the only attendant of our political activism against the cor-rupt regimes.

Ramzan being observed at the same time the world over has this mes-sage that all the people of this globe

are free and belong to the One who is transcendent and their dignity can’t be shaped by insane practices of dis-crimination, casteism and racism. The societies can’t be class-based. The divides that exist between the rich and the poor, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, and the VIPs and the ordi-nary must never be acceptable if the fasting guys are sincere and honest in Ramzan spirits. These differences are born out of inequitable sharing of economic resources/spaces, monopo-lized political positions, cronyism and shitty nepotism. In its spirits, Ramzan seeks to encourage us to actually work for reducing instances of inequity by not only spending in charity over and above what we can survive on, and giv-ing full weight and measure in all our dealings but also speaking in favor of justice and fairness, no matter if words are against the nearest of our kin, to uproot the hierarchies of privileges and positions among classes and between gender too. One month course of such resistances should induce us to enjoin the doing of what is good/right and forbid the doing of what is bad/wrong, and speaking up bravely and fearlessly against casteist politics and class con-flicts. The act of fasting ought to make us feel the deprivation and destitution certain sections of population are sub-jected to and then exhort us to put in place a sustainable system so as to bring grin and cheers on the faces of our brethren.

It is a month on the quest for mean-ing, meaning for life and its purpose, meaning for our relationship with the Creator and relationship with our fel-lows; men and women alike, meaning for our intentions and our responses to each stimuli. In my understanding of its philosophy, Ramzan and its jewel Quran keeps asking me constantly to take certain vows; vow to be free from internal inconsistencies, vow to invoke ideals of peace and humanity, vow to spread happiness and love the people. Let us celebrate the remaining days of Ramzan spreading its philosophy, mes-sage and its capacity of what it seeks to mould us into. Stay blessed!! Resist caste and class!! Share your vows too.


The overwhelming debates over na-tionalism and its various perspectives in Jawaharlal Nehru University(JNU) brought forth many key concerns and issues of our understanding of na-tion and nation-state. These debates came to existence in the aftermath of Kashmir solidarity program organized at Sabarmati Dhaba on 9th February 2016. While the culmination of various protests related with later controver-sies yet to know, continues crackdown over students and prolonged legal for-malities made the academic sphere in standstill. Youth Forum for Discus-

covEr story

He is a research fellow at Centre for West Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

hishaM Ul Wahab

dOes the ‘natiOn’ want tO knOw: diverse muslim imaginatiOns

sions and Welfare Activities (YFDA) is a Muslim students’ group in JNU actively engages with the entire protest pro-grams and calls for inclusive social and political actions in the campus. They have made vibrant achievements in the campus activism by rising unheard is-sues of concerns of the oppressed and marginalized communities including Muslims, Dalits, Adivasis and Bahujan. The Oppressed Unity March on 6th De-cember 2015 organized by YFDA, Birsa Phule Ambedkar Students Association (BAPSA), United Dalit Students Forum


(UDSF), Students Islamic Organisation (SIO), Jarkhand Tribal Students As-sociation (JTSA), Pasmanda Students Forum and United OBC Forum made a huge impact on the existing discours-es of activism. During recent debates YFDA have raised an issue of concern mostly forgotten by the protest leader-ship of JNU to address properly. YFDA have come up with a pamphlet soon after by emphasizing the diverse Mus-lim imaginations of nationalism and its various manifestations.

Here you can read the pamphlet published on 02 June 2016:

Does the Nation want to know: Di-verse Muslim ImagiNations

The ongoing protest programs in the campuses uphold various realms of resistance and struggle for social justice to confront emerging waves of state and university level oppressive propagandas. Even while the united struggle of students and teachers has seen successful outcomes, we must acknowledge the shortcomings in dealing with the important multifacet-ed struggle for social justice. The fight for freedom of expression and social justice must go hand in hand with the just participation of everyone. The ris-ing political manifestations of the op-pressed sections of our society, chalk-ing out spaces of activism off the larger reality of deep-rooted marginalization and discrimination have started ques-tioning the deafening silence of the indifferent liberalism of this country. The questions of subaltern discourses have now entered the mainstream with an enthusiastic vigor, in which the age-old institutions of hegemony and domi-nance have started to crumble. It is the prime need of our time that these var-ied political and social expressions of the oppressed of India be formulated into a united front, with active involve-ments of all sections of people.

One of the most creative engage-ments by the Jawaharlal Nehru Univer-sity Teachers Association (JNUTA) and Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) in the recent #Stand-WithJNU movement have been the se-ries of public lectures organized at the

Freedom Square, Ad block. The lecture series on Nationalism and Azaadi, while challenging the narrow, jingoistic inter-pretation of nationalism that branded JNU as the hub of anti-nationals, also brought forth multiple imaginations of the nation and the many meanings of Azaadi. While the Muslim responses to the question of nationalism have been one of the most contentious issues in making and remaking the image of a ‘Nationalist’ and ‘Anti-nationalist’ in post-colonial India, critical engage-ment with them has been missing in the lectures that were designed to critically reflect upon the multiple im-aginations of the citizens and intellec-

tuals to the question of nationalism. The absence of a head-on engagement with crucial questions affecting India’s most vulnerable minority community in the current socio-political scenario only strengthens constructed simple binaries – Muslim identity as the mere antithetical conception of Hindutva – thereby sustaining and reinforcing the dominant prejudices and stereotypes regarding Muslims.

Nearly 70 years after Independ-ence, Muslims still bear the brunt of the unfinished business of Partition: as the significant ‘other’ of Hindu Na-tionalism, as the perpetual subversion of the nation-state, as insufficiently ‘secularised’ for the mantle of progres-sivism, as unfit for self-representation and self-rule, as not ‘Indian’ enough. Demands for Muslim political parties conjure lurking images of violent ex-tremism and Islamic fundamentalism as the parallel of saffron terror. This is a gross misunderstanding and flattening of ‘identity politics’- defined herein as a political struggle which seeks eman-cipation from vulnerability and discrim-ination faced by people on account of their (religious) identity. Clearly, the rubric of ‘class politics’ has failed to achieve this emancipation, primarily because it is led by upper-caste van-guards, whose social location does not allow them to imagine the precarious life and materialized experience of de-monized identities. The ‘Muslim ques-tion’ is milked by opponents of Hindut-va in a classic case of doublespeak: (a) bemoan the victimization of Muslims (b) assert that Muslims should not or-ganize into Muslim parties because of

“ The questions of subaltern discourses have now entered the main-stream with an enthusi-astic vigor, in which the age-old institutions of he-gemony and dominance have started to crumble. It is the prime need of our time that these varied po-litical and social expres-sions of the oppressed of India be formulated into a united front, with active involvements of all sec-tions of people.


the Jihadi bogeyman.

A close look at history will reveal that there is no singular Muslim ‘ques-tion’ or ImagiNation. It varies from the idea of composite nationalism of Hus-sain Ahmad Madani and Abul Kalam Azad (the so-called nationalist Mus-lim without any parallel !!!) to the de-mand of separate Muslim homeland propounded by Jinnah and the Muslim League since 1940s. Both envisaged a Madina in living-together and sepa-ration respectively, and at the same time challenged the majoritarian ten-dencies of mainstream nationalism. In response to the Ashraf Muslims’ dominance in the Muslim political and associational life and among its ben-eficiaries, the Ajlaf Muslims (lower bi-radaris) charted out their own agenda for a more equitable social order and allied with Congress in some regions. There were sections who believed that British benevolence was better than the Babu dominance for the emancipa-tion of Muslims, which led to the estab-lishment of Aligarh Muslim University, while there were other sections of Mus-lims who strongly advocated anti-colo-nial Indian nationalism and who were behind the establishment of Jamia Mil-lia Islamia University. Local resistances

firmly grounded in the Islamic Political terminologies of Dalim and Madloom (The oppressed and oppressor) indis-criminately opposed both Swadeshi and Videshi oppressors throughout the peasant resistances in Malabar and Bengal, which were often indigestible to the ‘nationalist’. The mainstream na-tionalists by virtue of their social origin (of being Hindus) became by default the real and secular Indians, and is-sued the certificate of Indianness and secularism to the Muslims by adding the “honorary” prefix of “Nationalist” to those Muslims who allied with them unquestioningly. Pan-Islamic thoughts that deeply influenced generations

“ Pan-Islamic thoughts that deeply in-fluenced generations of Muslim leadership in the late 19th and early 20th century including Azad and Ali Brothers strength-ened the united resistance to colonialism in India.

of Muslim leadership in the late 19th and early 20th century including Azad and Ali Brothers strengthened the united resistance to colonialism in In-dia. However the spatial imagination of sections of Muslim intelligentsia often challenged the idea of Nation and their engagements blurred the boundaries of Empire too.

The politics of the un-speakabilty of Muslim engagements and bracket-ing these multiplicities into simple bi-naries are quite unacceptable. In the immediate aftermath of independence and partition the prominent opinion of the country including the “Nationalist Muslims” was that of rejecting (and suppressing) the right of Muslims to engage in democratic politics by rep-resenting the socio-political and eco-nomic issues of the community. Even after six decades of independence and in the face of blatant discrimination and injustice towards Muslims in eve-ryday social, political and economic life, the old collective consciousness of indifference is quite resounding. In the context of selective amnesia of Muslim questions, it is time to say – speak with us and not for us; stop the secular gaze of suspicion on Muslim bodies.


An awful day filled with tears,

Ravaging my peace and happiness;

My heart grieved in pain,

As I stood in vain!

Prolonged hours of the day and sleepless nights,

Wondering if, the lot will ever be all right;

It was too real to be a nightmare,

Beyond the limits my heart could bear!

Days passed and time ceased,

With hardship comes ease;

All the persistence rewarded,

With felicity loaded!

ExprEssions

She is an Advocate practicing in Bangalore. Apart from daily chores in legal work, she is equally passionate about writing poem and short stories.

shagUfta balUr

PerseveranCe amidst arduOusThere comes a savior indeed,

For a lifeless soul in need;

All that lost was restored gradually,

Leaving me ponder, if am blessed truly!

Every trial has a purpose untold,

Testing one’s endurance and threshold;

Perseverance, you are worth the wait,

Your reward none can anticipate!

The poet shares her thoughts on how she firmly stood facing all adversities calling out her strength and courage.

2016 June | The Companion 9


Various Student Organizations, NGO’s, Faculties and other civic bod-ies throughout the nation condemns the Suspension of Prof. K.Y Ratnam & Dr.Tathagata Sengupta.

At the forefront Joint Action Commit-tee for Social Justice (UoH) condemns the atrocious and outrageous decision taken by the institutional murderer Prof Appa Rao Podile-led University of Hy-derabad for suspending a senior Dalit Professor K.Y Ratnam and Dr.Tathagata Sengupta in the pretext of their illegal arrest on 22nd March, 2016. The Dalit

campus voicE

He is an Asst.Prof, Dept of ECE and State University organiser of SIO Andhra Pradesh Zone

syed azharUddin

students’ struggle COndemnsthe aCt Of uoh admin

research scholars Rohith, Prashanth, Vijay, Seshiah and Dr.Sunkanna were ostracized and subjected to social boy-cott by the same Executive Council that took the decision of suspension on 6th June, 2016 and issued the suspension orders to our teachers on 13th June, 2016.

Prof Appa Rao Podile, after three months, is citing “a Government Rule” to justify his decision of suspending the two teachers. It is such an irony that a culprit booked under non-bail-able charges is scot free and exercis-


ing his power as Vice-Chancellor with complete impunity provided by the BJP-led MHRD and Central Government to take arbitrary decisions against students and teachers protesting for # JusticeforRohith.

Joint Action Committee for Social Justice (UoH) repeats what we had de-manded when Prof Appa Rao Podile had returned to campus on the 22nd March that Section 17 of the SC/ST PoA Act be immediately applied because it clearly states that preventive action can be taken in case of an area prone to atrocities against those who have committed an offense under SC/ST PoA Act. Completely violating this section, Appa Rao Podile has been allowed by MHRD and Telangana State to return to the University. The fears is escalat-ed as Appa Rao Podile’s presence on campus can tamper the evidence and created insecurity and distress among the students has been proven true time and again.

Prof.Sreepati Ramudu who re-signed from the post of Head of Center for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclu-sive Policy recently in protest against the appointment of Vipin Srivastava as Pro-Vice Chancellor mentioned in his resignation letter about the con-stant humiliation and oppression that is meted out to the Dalit community in University of Hyderabad. After perse-cuting Dalit students, the fascist Prof Appa Rao Podile and his political mas-ters sitting in Nagpur are now targeting Prof. K.Y Ratnam, the Head of Center for Ambedkar Studies who along with three other Dalit intellectuals gave a befitting reply to RSS against the ap-propriation of Babasaheb Ambedkar’s works by Sangh Parivar.

In 2002, when 10 dalit students were rusticated the then Chief Warden Appa Rao Podile, Prof. K.Y Ratnam reg-istered his protest against the casteist University administration. Even after their release from jail, Prof. K.Y Ratnam and Dr.Tathagata Sengupta continued to raise their voices for #JusticeforRo-hith in different parts of the country. It is no surprise that such a decision tar-geting these teachers has come out at this juncture because Appa Rao Podile

feels threatened by the spirit and com-mitment of the struggling University community.

Post 17th January, Prof Appa Rao Podile fled from campus and after two months, he returned with a massive police force and a well conspired “task list” that chalked out the responsibili-ties for his stooges in University to en-sure his smooth return on 22nd March, 2016 to capture the Vice-Chancellor’s post. On that day, State police and CRPF unleashed its brute force on the protesting students who did not accept an institutional murderer as Vice-Chan-cellor and demanded for his immedi-ate arrest. Instead, when police started thrashing and arresting students, Prof. K.Y Ratnam and Dr. Tathagata Sengup-ta intervened and asked the police to not beat them and demanded that the culprit be booked under SC/ST PoA Act and Abetment of Suicide be arrested immediately. However, the teachers were dragged inside police vans, sub-jected to custodial torture and jail time. On 23rd March, 2016, another dalit re-search scholar Uday Bhanu, member of Joint Action Committee was brutally beaten up by police and threatened for life for cooking food near Velivada. Stu-

dents decided to cook food for them when Prof Appa Rao Podile created rifts between non-teaching staff and struggling students by luring a section of them and imposed a 48 hour ban on food and other basic amenities. This is the politics played by Prof Appa Rao Podile as Vice-Chancellor that we can-not forget.

Few questions that seeks honest answers:

- What took Prof Appa Rao Podile-led Executive Council so long to decide on the suspension of the teachers?

- Why did Appa Rao Podile conduct the Executive Council meeting during the vacation?

- Wasn’t this meeting convened to execute Prof Appa Rao Podile’s agenda of suspending the struggling teachers to create fear among the University community?

It is not coincidental that University has intensified its attacks on #Justice-forRohith struggle during the vacation. As vacation started, the University ad-ministration shut down hostels, confis-cated the tents and desecrated Baba-saheb Ambedkar’s images, quotes and the Preamble of the Constitution that amounts to yet another atrocity as per SC/ST PoA Amendments Act (2015), whitewashed all the walls that carried the memories of our struggle and in the latest attack, suspended our teachers who stood resolutely against the dic-tatorial regime of the institutional mur-derer. The unrest and an atmosphere of fear and intimidation prevailing on campus is generated among students after the return of the primary accused in the institutional murder of Rohith Ve-mula.

Joint Action Committee for Social Justice (UoH) demands that Appa Rao Podile must be arrested immediately to stop further atrocity against dalits on campus. We demand the immediate revocation of suspension of Prof. K.Y Ratnam and Dr. Tathagata Sengupta. We demand the imposition of section 17 of PoA Act to be imposed upon the university. We reiterate that WE WILL NOT STEP BACK UNTIL JUSTICE IS DELIV-ERED TO ROHITH VEMULA.

“ It is not coinci-dental that University has intensified its attacks on #JusticeforRohith struggle during the vacation. As va-cation started, the Univer-sity administration shut down hostels, confiscated the tents and desecrated Babasaheb Ambedkar’s images, quotes and the Preamble of the Constitu-tion that amounts to yet another atrocity as per SC/ST PoA Amendments Act (2015)


Like every act of violence caus-ing death – war, civil war or terrorist related, Orlando attack killing more than 50 persons must be condemned by one and all. The attack is one of the mass shootings that recurrently hap-pen in the United States. In the year 2016 the number of mass shootings crossed 400 mark killing more than 1200 persons. (The term “Mass Shoot-ing” applies when there are 3 or more victims.) But the Orlando attack was special in many ways. The number of the people killed was more than any attack in recent history. The target was a gay club. And the fact which makes it really “special” is that the perpetra-tor was a Muslim. ISIS seems to have scored a propaganda point by claiming that Omar was its man in the States. But all the accounts appearing in the

opEn spacE

He is a medical doctor by profession & a renowned thinker, writer, poet & social activist. He is currently based in Delhi.

dr. Javed JaMil

OrlandO: anOther rOundOf blame it On muslim

press so far seem to suggest that it was an act of frustration by a man with de-ranged mentality. And more than any-thing else, it again raises questions on America’s Gun Policy, which despite increasingly larger number of mass shootings and Obama’s high-pitched campaign against it, continues unal-tered. When the interests of the mar-ket are at stakes, even the President of America cannot do anything.

Like everywhere in democracies, political rivals used the opportunity to advance their own agenda. Barack Obama’s short speech called the Or-lando attack an “act of terror and an act of hate” and “a further reminder of how easy it is for someone to get their hands on a weapon that lets them shoot peo-ple”, The Presidential nominee, Trump whose name has already started shak-


ing the nerves of peace loving people, was quick to take to Twitter after news spread that the assailant in the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, was a child of Afghan immi-grants and had apparently “pledged allegiance” to so-called Islamic State. Trump called for Mr Obama’s resigna-tion for his “refusal to even say the words ‘radical Islam’”.

“If we do not get tough and smart real fast, we are not going to have a country anymore,” he wrote. “Because our leaders are weak, I said this was going to happen – and it is only going to get worse. I am trying to save lives and prevent the next terrorist attack. We can’t afford to be politically correct anymore.”

He went on to assert that Mrs Clin-ton – who supports resettling 65,000 Syrian refugees in the US – wants to “dramatically increase admissions from the Middle East” and that the US has “no way to screen them, pay for them, or prevent the second genera-tion from radicalising”.

While Trump is free to keep ha-ranguing, what he needs to understand is why Muslims all over the world are angry with States. While he fears for the survival of America, he needs to pon-der in his silent hours how America has refused to let Muslim countries survive for several decades. Before counting the American deaths caused by Mus-lims, he needs to count the Muslim deaths caused by America. While the number of American deaths, including 9/11, the number of soldiers killed in the Afghan-Iraq wars and the domestic terrorism do not cross ten thousand mark, more than 5 million innocent Muslims have perished in American attacks on Iraq and Afghanistan. Hun-dreds of thousands would not have died in the civil wars in Libya and Syria if America had not so assiduously inter-vened from behind the scene.

As far as the domestic terrorism in the United States is concerned, it is a non-Muslim monopoly with Muslims responsible only in about 5 percent of deaths. A report says:

“According to this data, there were more Jewish acts of terrorism within

the United States than Islamic (7% vs 6%). These radical Jews committed acts of terrorism in the name of their religion. These were not terrorists who happened to be Jews; rather, they were extremist Jews who committed acts of terrorism based on their religious pas-sions, just like Al-Qaeda and company.

Of the more than 300 American deaths from political violence and mass shootings since 9/11, only 33 have come at the hands of Muslim-Americans, according to the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security. The Muslim-American sus-pects or perpetrators in these or other attempted attacks fit no demographic profile—only 51 of more than 200 are of Arabic ethnicity. In 2012, all but one of the nine Muslim-American ter-rorism plots uncovered was halted in early stages. That one, an attempted

“ Clinton or Trump – whoever succeeds Obama has to ensure total disengagement in Mus-lim lands if they have any desire to promote global peace.

bombing of a Social Security office in Arizona, caused no casualties.

Since 9/11, [Charles Kurzman, Professor of Sociology at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, writing for the Triangle Center on Terrorism and National Security] and his team tallies, 33 Americans have died as a result of terrorism launched by their Muslim neighbors. During that period, 180,000 Americans were murdered for reasons unrelated to terrorism. In just the past year, the mass shootings that have captivated America’s attention killed 66 Americans, “twice as many fatalities as from Muslim-American terrorism in all 11 years since 9/11,” notes Kurzman’s team.

“Until public opinion starts to rec-ognize the scale of the problem has been lower than we feared, my sense is that public officials are not going to change their policies,” Kurzman says. “Counterterrorism policies have in-volved surveillance — not just of Mus-lim-Americans, but of all Americans, and the fear of terrorism has justified intrusions on American privacy and civil liberties all over the internet and other aspects of our lives. I think the implications here are not just for how we treat a religious minority in the U.S., but also how we treat the rights & liber-ties of everyone.”

Clinton or Trump – whoever suc-ceeds Obama has to ensure total dis-engagement in Muslim lands if they have any desire to promote global peace. America needs to learn that the reactions to its violent pushes of its he-gemonic policies may become more se-vere with the passage of time if it does not change course. They need to learn that “terrorism” forms only a tiny seg-ment of the total violence, and almost always it has its roots in the wars by the mighty against the weak. Like any vio-lence, terrorism cannot be condoned but we have to learn to condemn all forms of violence in proportion to their magnitude. Mere condemnation of “terrorism” and acceptance of wars and exported civil wars will only com-pound the violence and no one will re-main entirely free of its impact.


When I sleep in the lap of aspiration

play in my dream world

suddenly it makes me worry.

I see a golden bird sitting on a tree, called India.

where will be the colourful flower

where will be the greenness of crops

from those of the melodies of birds

which dreamed Gandhi, Singh, Ali, Bose and Azad

that dream comes in my sleep

ExprEssions

He is pursuing graduation from Al-Jamia Al-Islamiya, Shanthapuram , Kerala. He is the native of West Bengal. His interest lies in writing poems and discussing ideas about India and saffronization capsizing it.

toUsif Mehdi

my dream

Where boys can precede childhood easily

where girls can undertake beautiful journey with-out any hesitation.

But in the morning breaks by shilling instead of birds melody

And I see the India

Changing in to safronisation.

And that upsets me about India haunted by Au-thoritarian.


Islam mandates justice and equal-ity of men and women. However; Indi-an Muslim women find themselves in need to protest for equal rights, along-side women of different faiths; against patriarchal norms, demanding their right to worship and religion.

Don’t all believers get equal access to mosque? No, not all believers get ac-cess and space in Masjid. A discrimi-natory practice going on with women for ages has now become a collective conscience among people, and the idea of a woman entering mosque to pray seems ridiculous to many.

dElibEration

She is a completed her Post Gradua-tion in Mass Communication and Journal-ism from EFLU, Hyderabad. Hailing from Ranchi, She writes as a freelancer and often engaged in reading, photography and jotting down of random thoughts.

nazish hUssain

muslim wOmen in PubliC sPhere: reading PatriarChy in the light

Of Qur’aniC JustiCe

While growing up in hometown Ranchi, I too believed that women don’t go to mosque as I never saw any woman going there. Masjids by com-mon understanding were male spaces, so ‘no entry’ was accepted as a norm. The idea of ‘exclusive male spaces’ was further reinforced when being chided away from Eidgah during Eid prayers, as female kids were not supposed to be there. It was only later, I came to know that contrary to what is practiced, women can certainly go to Masjids as there is no Islamic prohibition.


Prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him) said: “Do not prevent your women from entering the mosque of Allah” as being narrated by Abdullah ibn Umar, who was the close compan-ion of the Prophet Muhammed(peace be upon him).

Salah and Woman space in Masjid

Is masjid only a male space? Where should female believer go?

Daily obligatory prayer known as Salah which is one of the pillars of Islam and foremost duty of every be-liever whose importance and signifi-cance is stressed upon many times in Holy Quran. “Maintain with care the (obligatory) prayers and (in particular) the middle prayer and stand before Al-lah, devoutly obedient”. [Holy Quran 2:238]

Observing Salah is so impera-tive that believers are not exempted of this obligation even during unu-sual or war like condition. While in our society,when away from home at salah time, the male members attend Masjids while female counterparts are compelled to skip the daily obligatory prayers altogether owing to ‘no female entry’ norm in most of the Masjids. The managing committee of masjids doesn’t care to address the genuine need by allotting space and accommo-dating women. The reasons asserted is ‘lack of space’, while in reality, usually there is plenty of space in Masjid which are often empty for all daily prayers. In Islamic tradition woman’s prayer inside house is considered better. But when praying at home is more stressed upon the obligation of daily prayers it does not do justice to women. Do women have to choose between staying home or skipping prayers, Is this even prac-tical? Owing to these factors, women are impelled to neglect their religious duty. Shouldn’t they have equal access and space for same responsibility of observing five daily prayers on time in Masjid?

A petition on behalf of Muslim women has been filed with Supreme Court that appeals to end discrimi-nation against Muslim women in all Masjids in country. While this issue of

allotting space to women in Masjids is agreed upon by many scholars and they are accommodated for prayers in some Masjids in their separate spaces. But acquiring a rightful place inside Masjid does not put end to discrimina-tory practices. At many instances lis-tening to the accounts of the allotted space to women expose the negligence toward them again.

Segregating and discriminating

Segregation of women from male spaces, the spaces which enjoy the facilities; pushes women into negli-gence. Women end up getting fewer spaces with inferior provisions. The justification comes as the ‘needs’ of men and women are different. Valida-tions of such logic do great harm to women. It hinders their growth, expe-riences, mobility, equal participation, and makes them stagnant in their ‘pri-vate sphere’ (secluded confinements) where their voices are allowed to reach only to fellow women. We rarely see women in decision making roles or in the managing committee that defines the ‘need’ ‘space’ and ‘provisions’ of men and women both.

Discrimination owing to segrega-tion is evident on many occasions. It is not always they get to participate in so-cio-religious programs. Women having allotted space and facilities only when there are some left after attending to the male members. One such com-

munity program I attended in a female section, was a small segregated space with no chairs, barricaded with tents, we watched the program on a small screen projector. On inquiring about the double standards with women, a local Masjid imam said “I had to press for projector and screen in women section, even that wasn’t considered necessary by the managing committee earlier.”

Women are shut out of Masjids. They don’t get to attend Jamaah (con-gregational) prayers. No organized space for Taraweeh(special night salah) in Ramzan. There are no con-gregational Eid prayers for them. How many times women are accommodated for community programs?

In ‘Deen aur Dastoor bachao’ (Save Religion and Constitution) conference organized by All India Muslim Personal Law Board in Ranchi, which was at-tended by Muslims from all over the state, had no women presence. Noth-ing extraordinary about it, this is usual!

There is rarely any attempt made to change the condition, the status quo is maintained as the change is deemed unnecessary because these things are institutionalized as ‘not obligatory for women’.

How do you expect women to grow and realize their potential when their public and political participation is frowned upon? They are not included, heard, discussed with and are denied existence to even have a say in public discourse and are held at the mercy of their male counterparts. Women are expected to live their social and com-munity lives vicariously. Such expecta-tions are grounded on the idea of fe-male bodies to be a source and origin of Fitnah.

Fitnah(chaos) and female bodies

Female body is presented as the source of Fitnah which must be kept out of public (male) spaces and gazes.

As one of the citation in support of such argument goes is of Shafi Fiqh, taken from the book ‘Reliance of the Traveler’ written by Shihabudhin Al Misri, in the context of women prayer

“ Prophet Mu-hammed (peace be upon him) said: “Do not pre-vent your women from entering the mosque of Allah” as being narrated by Abdullah ibn Umar, who was the close com-panion of the Prophet Muhammed(peace be upon him).


in Masjid,- “It is better for a woman to pray at home than at the mosque”. It is offensive for the young and attractive woman to come and pray at mosque, though not offensive for women who are not young or attractive when this is unlikely to cause temptation. “If temp-tation is feared but not certain to occur her going becomes offensive.”

A female body becomes a source of ‘Temptation’ the origin of Fitnah which can lead men astray. Portraying women as the source and cause of temptation justifies shutting them out as preven-tive measure against eventual sin and puts the blame on them for evil in so-ciety. Thus, completely omitting the equal responsibility of men, in main-taining chastity, purity and order in society.

Islamic injunction puts equal re-sponsibility on both sexes to guard their modesty and maintain mutual respect of each other. The Quran man-dates both men and women to guard their own modesty have mutual respect for each other and conduct themselves at public spaces.

“Say to the believing Men that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that will make for greater purity for them; and Allah is well ac-quainted with all that they do. And say to the believing Women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; and that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what must ordinarily appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands…”(Holy Quran 24:30-31).

Women and men are equal in their worth before Allah. Both are termed as believers, friends of each other, guard-ians and protectors assisting each other.

“Believing men and believing women are allies of one another. They enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong. And establish prayer and give zakaat and obey Allah and his messen-ger. Those – Allah will have mercy upon them.” [Holy Quran 9:71].

But how often are women believers

are not granted to them. Their needs are not acknowledged and addressed properly. Their convenience does not seem to matter.

Rationalizing ‘no entry’, putting ‘conditions’ on women, perpetuating the fear of ‘Fitnah’ through females presence instead of encouraging wom-en to pray, make more impediments which create a hostile environment for a woman to even approach Masjid committee for their needs. Skipping prayers and accepting the status quo becomes easy instead.

While Masjids are pivot to Muslim societies, then is it not incumbent on us to set standards of Islamic equality and mutual respect through Masjids?. Giving women their rights and treat-ing with par will inculcate respect for women and their rights in a patriarchal society with discriminatory mindset.

“ But how often are women believers as-sisted for dispensing their duties? Women don’t get to have equal claim in op-portunities. Most of their rights are not granted to them. Their needs are not acknowledged and ad-dressed properly. Their convenience does not seem to matter.

assisted for dispensing their duties? Women don’t get to have equal claim in opportunities. Most of their rights


Looking at the way mathematics is taught in our schools and colleges, it seems mathematics is something that has no pertinence and connection to the real world. When we learn Algebra, Calculus or for that matter any other branch of mathematics we think this is just relevant inside the classroom and the sole purpose of learning these things is to pass the semester-end or year-end examinations. But is it justi-fied? Paul Dirac says, God has used beautiful mathematics in creating this world. Do you believe him? This state-ment seems erroneous if we look at

dElibEration

He is a senior software developer cur-rently working for WIPRO TECHNOLOGIES. Currently he resides in New Delhi and has completed B.Tech in Computer Science from PESIT, Bangalore. He also teaches mathematics for IIT, JEE, CAT, GMAT in his spare time. He discovered his love for mathematics in 6th grade and is a firm believer that Mathematics can be fun if handled and learnt in the right manner.

aMMar bin ayaz

gOd used beautiful mathematiCs tO Create the wOrld

the way mathematics is being taught in most of the schools and colleges of our country. But it appears to be true if we learn mathematics the way it deserves to be learnt and understood.

Mathematics is not something that is meant to be learnt only by a selected few. Nor is it as considered at least in my schooling days, a parameter to judge one’s intelligence. In my opin-ion mathematics is as basic as reading if learnt the right way. I also feel that mathematics is more arts than science and it should be taken outside our


classrooms and notebooks and as Paul says should be used to understand our universe in a better and beautiful way. Through this article I would like to ex-plain through an example one of the many ways in which mathematics can be learnt and understood.

Fibonacci is one of the most fa-mous names in mathematics. This would come as a surprise to Leon-ardo Pisano, the mathematician we now know by that name. When I was taught Fibonacci series I was told that it is a series consisting of numbers 0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13 … where the next number is generated by adding the previous two numbers. But if we try to learn how this series came into exist-ence and how is it relevant or visible in real world then that would be more interesting. Don’t you think so?

A brief History

Leonardo Pisano wrote a book called “Liber Abaci” (which means “the book of Calculations”), and it was one of the first western books which described the eventual replacement of Roman numerals. And centuries later, when scholars were studying the hand-written copies of “Liber Abaci”, they misinterpreted part of the title “filius bonacci” meaning “son of bonaccio” as his surname, and Fibonacci was born. Enough with history now let’s get back to the topic of how the “Fibonac-ci” series came into existence”.

One of the mathematical problems Fibonacci investigated in “Liber Abaci” was how fast rabbits could breed in ideal circumstances. Suppose a new-ly born pair of rabbits, one male and one female is put in a field. Rabbits are able to mate only at the age of one month so that at the end of its second month a female rabbit can produce an-other pair of rabbits. The puzzle that Fibonacci posed was… how many pairs will there be at the end of one year?

- At the end of the first month they mate, but there is still only one pair.

- At the end of the second month the female produces a new pair, so now there are two pair of rabbits.

- At the end of the third month,

the original female produces a second pair, making 3 pairs in all.

- At the end of the fourth month the original female has produced yet an-other pair, the female born two months ago produced her first pair also making 5 pairs in all.

Now imagine there are xn pairs of rabbits after “n” months. The number of pairs in n+1 month will be xn plus the number of new pairs born. But new pairs are born only to pairs at least 1 month old, so there will be xn-1 new pairs so we have

Xn+1 = xn-1 + xn ------------ I

Which is simply the rule for generat-ing Fibonacci numbers.

A better example

The rabbit problem is obviously very contrived, but Fibonacci sequenc-es do occur in real populations. And to support my statement I would like to take the example of Bees.

In a colony of honeybees there is one special female called the queen. The other females are worker bees that unlike the queen bee produce no eggs. The male bees do no work and are called drone bees. The queen’s un-

fertilized eggs produce males. So male bees only have a mother but no father. All the females are produced when the queen has mated with a male and so have two parents. Females generally end up as worker bees but some are fed with a special substance called royal jelly which makes them grow into queens ready to go off to start a new colony when the bees form a swarm and leave their home (a hive) in search of a place to build a new nest. So, fe-male bees have two parents, a male and a female whereas male bees have just one parent, a female.

Lets look at the family tree of a male drone bee.

- He has one parent, a female

- He has 2 grandparents since his mother had two parents, a male and a female.

- He has 3 great grandparents, his grandmother had two parents and his grandfather had only one.

- If we look into the whole sequence we again see Fibonacci series.

Interesting! Isn’t it? Now I suggest you go and lookup for Fibonacci series in spirals and shells and the connec-tion between Golden Ratio of Fibonacci numbers and how plant grows accord-ingly. Find out and marvel at the beau-tiful play of mathematics back stage!

Conclusion

I hope after reading this article you have a better understanding of Fibo-nacci series. I don’t claim that this is the only way to comprehend and learn mathematics there are many other bet-ter ways out there. I just hope we adopt a better and more relevant approach of learning mathematics and then it wouldn’t be something that would elude you and make you nervous. I wish and hope for a world where math-ematics becomes as basic as reading. I would like to leave you with one of the quotes of Einstein.

“Everything should be made as simple as possible but not

Simpler”-------Albert Einstein.

“ One of the mathematical problems Fibonacci investigated in “Liber Abaci” was how fast rabbits could breed in ideal circumstances. Suppose a newly born pair of rabbits, one male and one female is put in a field. Rabbits are able to mate only at the age of one month so that at the end of its second month a female rabbit can produce another pair of rabbits.


If you have signed up for breaking news updates on your phone you have probably seen those pictures released by the Italian navy- capsizing boats sending hundreds of refugees to their death in the vast sea waters. It’s fas-cinating how something so horrifying can be a part of something so mun-dane as gleaning news from the usual sources and amidst all the entertain-ment and newsless headlines pops up ‘ Two refugee boats capsize in 24 hours off Libya coast.’

Ironically, around the same time

dElibEration

saMiha siddiqUa

CaPsizing bOats: is the mediadesensitizing us?

the worst ferry disaster (the Sewol dis-aster) that drowned a 300 plus passen-gers, marked its second anniversary. For some reason, the news coverage of the capsizing boats was not as tear-jerking as that fateful day in 2014 which sent the world reeling for days at a stretch. Emotional, heart wrenching headlines kept ringing in our ears and followed us anywhere we trod to.

It is a painful upsetting sight to see but it no longer touches us as deeply as perhaps the first we saw of refugees adrift on sea. They are men, women

She is a postgraduate student from Hyderabad. Her writings cover a wide range of topics including education and book reviews but she mostly harps on stories with definite overtones of jiggery-pokery. If she is not keying in words, she is probably engrossed in a book, with an unhealthy habit of reading many at a time!’ The column “caught in knots” in print edition is owed to her.


and children clinging onto their par-ents, old people, deliberately taking risky illegal routes, where the wild wa-ters seem to provide a safe haven than those beasts on land.

While the mainstream media chose to look the other way, very few news outlets noted the agony of the refu-gees and presented accurate informa-tion while most preferred to sideline their plight through sterile headlines and chose to highlight the ‘European’ migration crisis and there is absolutely everything wrong about it.

The victims are defined in techni-cal terms as refugees, measured in numbers, estimates, statistics and not lives. The escalating death toll is immediately followed by the ‘middle-east’ crisis in an attempt to contextual-ize the ‘unfortunate’ deaths and erode the fact that the crisis often referred to is a consequence of deliberate mock wars in their homelands by the very ex-perts now having frenzied discussions on the European migration crisis. In a very carefully choreographed display of concern, they choose to downplay the havoc their own dirty hands created in the lands of the now ‘refugees’. It is a sinister move to call it the European

crisis, so the whole world talks about the host countries, hails them as he-roes and sympathizes with them as victims of a catastrophe while the real victims mourn the loss of their lives in the background and their passing goes unnoticed.

We are detached enough to be un-able to comprehend the graveness of their situation. Perhaps that is also why some like Harold Höppner, Sea-Watch founder, who witnessed their despera-tion up close said, “If we do not want to see such pictures we have to stop producing them.” He dubbed the EU’s insufficient response as ‘nothing more than lip service.’ While the countries ‘dispute over sharing the burden’, they forget to remember that most of the refugees are fleeing from countries that are being bombed by the EU and its allies and those with the black flags are merely excuses to defy responsibil-ity. No wonder their attempts to ‘help’ refugees fail to transcend national or international politics. But who are they to talk about safety when they them-selves endorsed and promoted the war on foreign land and turned a Nelson’s eye to the lives of the civilians? The goal should be to end the war which is disrupting normal lives and not the mi-gration but that barely seems to pass their discussion.

So Obama called on Americans to welcome Syrian refugees and promised to take care of 10,000 of them. If there was a medal for moral hypocrisy in this

“ We are detached enough to be unable to comprehend the grave-ness of their situation. Perhaps that is also why some like Harold Höpp-ner, Sea-Watch founder, who witnessed their des-peration up close said, “If we do not want to see such pictures we have to stop producing them.” He dubbed the EU’s insuffi-cient response as ‘nothing more than lip service.’


world, it would undoubtedly be hurled at him with all due respect by his mil-lions of victims. Around the same time when refugees were being rescued by foreign navies, the media went into overdrive over Obama’s historic trib-ute to the Hiroshima victims against many protests just before his arrival at the memorial. Iraq witnessed multi-ples of that one monstrous event that transcribes world history while none is ever mentioned about the western blood bath in the middle-east.

With Obama in the fray, the sup-posedly European crisis seems even more bigger and threatening, so much that he suggests ‘EU needs U.K.’s leadership on refugee crisis’, that also holds the golden reputation of hosting

the world’s largest arms fairs every two years, and bombs kill and maim just as swords and knives do. Hillary Clinton surpassed his embarrassing moments when she said ‘climate change’ was a ‘contributing factor’ in the refugee crises ‘including the one in Syria’. For someone who earned over $3.5 million in paid addresses to pro-Israel Organi-zations, it is hardly surprising to watch her warped view of cause and effect or that of victims and perpetrators.

It is surprising how we are desen-sitized to the corruption around us. To watch these same leaders tyrannize others who disagree with them through their pawns in the mainstream media is nothing short of breath taking. Prior to his recent visit to Washington, the

Turkish President was labelled as be-coming more ‘aggressive and undemo-cratic’ in his stance on world issues. Erdemair, a fellow at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, Washington, said, “ Heads of state don’t want to be in the same photo with him....but peo-ple have to deal with him.”

Lets also remember, the same President, condemned the freely and democratically elected Egyptian Presi-dent, Morsi’s death penalty, whose supporters boycotted the next sham elections resulting in an embarrassing-ly low turnout of 12%. He called Israel a terrorist state and saluted the brave heroes of Gaza. He lifted the hijab ban in his country, encouraging freedom of religion. He is also known to have given a powerful speech on the 69th session of the UN general assembly held on the 100th anniversary of WWI, and remind-ed the world that ‘the geography of the first world war is still deprived of stabil-ity, peace and prosperity even after a century.’ The world is bigger than five, he said, referring to the permanent members of the UN. He questioned the ineffectiveness of the UN and the silence of the P5 along with others. Just recently, he condemned (and withdrew his ambassador to Bangladesh) the Nizami execution by the Bangladeshi International Crimes Tribunal, which has nothing ‘International’ about it. The media fails to note that it doesn’t even meet the international fair trial standards, and while it does point to the fact that most of its victims are from the opposition party, it blatantly prints reports on the verdict in no dif-ferent ways than the ruling party in the country. What’s more is that when the world had 4 million refugees, 1.5 mil-lion were given refuge in Turkey, that has opened its borders to all those in need. As the host country, it has spent more than 3.5 billion dollars on the Syr-ian refugees with not much help from the EU. So, if the Turkish President lambasts Europe’s indifference to the plight of the refugees, and says that the only humanitarian solution to the crisis is ‘stabilizing Syria and remov-ing the regime of President Bashar al-Assad’, then I would rather believe and support him than any of those with


massive wealth and one-liners as ‘let’s welcome 10,000 refugees’ and ‘ap-prove the largest refugee aide of $70 million.’ If the Heads of State don’t wish to share space with President Er-dogan, let it be known that he’s on an entirely different level from them, his people love him and everybody else in the world who recognize injustice and advocate humanity and know a just leader when they see one.

The Human Rights Watch and the Amnesty International observes rising death toll in the war-stricken areas in millions. The UN urged countries to let in more Syrian refugees. While Ban Ki-moon ‘strongly condemns’ all acts of violence and attacks on civilians, and is usually ‘outraged’ at further more re-cent attacks, I hardly think the world’s leading countries or their so-called experts on war and humanitarianism will lose any sleep over the Secretary-General’s words. Perhaps it’s time the previous League of Nations shared similarities with its successor in being indecisive and fruitless. Its pioneers

who founded it on heroic beliefs and intentions of peace, if they had any, must be spinning in their graves for be-ing called incapable and dismissed on grounds of failing humanity.

Among all the sinister aims of the mainstream media, creating fewer peo-ple with conscience and desensitizing most to injustice seems to be one. Be-ing in the vast majority of those who are safe is enough to quite down and sideline crimes against others. We may sigh or cry for a moment but if it doesn’t directly affect us, It appears to be somebody else’s problem. A prime example would be the chaos in the middle-eastern soil.

Let’s remember, the refugees too lived normal lives until the war broke out. From among them are educated professionals who have left their jobs and homes for safety. Indifference would mean a slow erosion of our hu-manity. We must recognize lives not numbers. Lives just like ours & our dear ones, like those on that ferry disaster that left the world reeling for days.

“ Among all the sinister aims of the main-stream media, creating fewer people with con-science and desensitizing most to injustice seems to be one. Being in the vast majority of those who are safe is enough to quite down and sideline crimes against others. We may sigh or cry for a moment but if it doesn’t directly affect us, It appears to be somebody else’s problem. A prime example would be the chaos in the middle-eastern soil.


Politics in Uttar Pradesh, more or less, is a new swag for the youths who happen to be low in studies. It is, with-out or with any doubt, a happening thing that young minds are injecting and exposing themselves to politics; but merely getting posters and hoard-ings fixed on the city walls cannot help somebody to crave a path in such mi-cro-web knitted, unethical, favoritism based and family oriented politics of Uttar Pradesh. Same is the verge of the politics in every corner of the nation.

Talking and walking, with (to) peo-

ExprEssion

sharJeel

hOw dOes One beCOme aPOlitiCian in uttar Pradesh?

building Of a POlitiCian, imPOlitely with POliteness

ple and places respectively, could en-lighten me with the fact that on a stand-ard, two categories of these young (to be) politicians exists in this most popu-lous state of the country - (a) the ‘low in studies and high in standards’ (to be) politician & (b) the ‘high in studies and average in standard plus excellent in student activism’ (to be) politician. The former category includes the sons (only sons) of businessmen, local poli-tician or a hefty goon and the latter one brings the sons (and daughters as well) of the ‘general middle-class’ families in


the category. The word ‘general mid-dle-class family’, here, is intentionally used only to let my readers know that this middle-class is further divided into two classes, one which is the ‘general middle-class family’ and the other is the ‘creamy middle-class family’. Eve-rybody knows about the former class and this latter class of the middle-class family is the one which has contacts with local politicians, local goons, and local administration and have influ-ence (a little) over the rest of the soci-ety.

One of my classmate, whose father happens to be a local and unsuccess-ful politician, told me yesterday that he was going to get his hoardings fixed on the outskirts of the city this Eid. On my asking reason, “This is the time you’ve to launch yourself into the market. If you want people to know you, you’ve to get these posters and hoardings done. That’s how it works”, he replied.

One thing, on which I like to draw your attention, is on the word ‘market’, used above. A boy in his teens who aims to become a politician used the word ‘market’ for the people. People,

here means- the voters, who shall ex-ercise their votes for these filthy- un-learned kids who are thrown into poli-tics by their parent’s wealth. We need to bypass this mentality, where the

politicians think that merely posters and hoardings, some rallies or yatras and loudspeakers singing their praises would earn them name and fame and votes (of course).

This poster mentality is ruinous not only because it isn’t the one advocating for voters but also because it also lead these poster ‘politicians’ not above a certain set of politicians. These poster ‘politicians’ certainly are affiliated and attached to some or the other political parties, mainly Samajwadi Party or Ba-hujan Samaj Party and then Congress or Bhartiya Janta Party in some cases as here the context of politics is of Uttar Pradesh. Somebody affiliated to some political party at a very naïve stage would certainly be given a chance, if the one is actually a good leader, but in no case shall they be allowed to rise above the supreme authority of the party- however good leader one may be. There are quite a few reasons for this resistance of supremacy. If a per-son, from his very teenage, has solely been relied upon an authority for his political existence and in such a case, later in future the authority shall never like to be challenged by the same per-

“ Recently, on the eve of Bihar’s former Chief Minister Lalu Yadav’s birthday, reporters asked his wife, Mrs Rabdi Devi who also had served as the Chief Minister of the state, about the heir to their po-litical party RJD. The lady, outspoken she is, told the reporters that her daugh-ter has to leave her family after her marriage so defi-nitely her sons would be the next commanders of their party.


son whom it had taught to exist.

Recently, on the eve of Bihar’s for-mer Chief Minister Lalu Yadav’s birth-day, reporters asked his wife, Mrs Rabdi Devi who also had served as the Chief Minister of the state, about the heir to their political party RJD. The lady, outspoken she is, told the report-ers that her daughter (Meesa Yadav) has to leave her family after her mar-riage so definitely her sons (Tejaswi Yadav and Tejpratap Yadav) would be the next commanders of their party. It is obvious that the some of the senior member of the party, certainly, must have been dreaming of being the next heir. But in least case, is some politi-cian going to side-line his family and favoritism for the sake of better leader-ship.

Politicians of this version are gener-ally more inclined towards power and their own influence over their ‘market’ as to what they say to their region. These politicians don’t have their own opinion about an issue or a thing and are whole and sole relied upon their God-fathers for opinions. Neither is they given a chance to utter their belief

nor are they asked for their opinions in a party meeting. They, eventually, become the dummy of their high-com-mand which is no less than slavery and whose only purpose is to flatter the su-preme for some minimal posts.

The other category of the aspiring (to be) politicians are often found in the educational institutes- mainly Alla-habad University, Aligarh Muslim Uni-versity and Banaras Hindu University. These are the ones who are rational enough to challenge the government for anything and everything of loss. Revolution is what they strive for and is mostly inclined towards left (com-munist party to be precise) which was never in fashion in Uttar Pradesh. The problem with these rational homo-sa-piens is that they get in line with the abovementioned ‘category’ as soon as their college life comes to an end. We have a good amount of examples for the same.

‘Kanhaiya’s involvement with left was maligned with a dark patch as soon as he touched Lalu’s feet’, told a student of Jawaharlal Nehru University though Kanhaiya hails from a different

state.

A week before, I posted a ques-tion on Quora.com. The question was – How does one become politician in India? The most frequent and liked an-wers were some or less like-

4 simple steps, assuming politics is not your family business already

1) Get a celebrity status or gen into a controversy

2) Once you get the basic media coverage, behave like a freak- show ex-cessive anger or demand freedom. You don’t necessarily have to make sense.

3) Whilst in the middle of this limelight, do something stupid so that police puts you in jail.

4) Eventually you’ll get freed and here’s your election ticket buddy.

This answer from Quora sublimes both the aforementioned categories of the politician. Eventually, one had to try to rise on the ladder of politics by working hard on each level and gain-ing political maturity. Association with a political party was to be considered the last step.


‘justice delayed is Justice denied’ is a basic legal principle meaning if the legal system is unable to provide relief to the victim in a timely fashion, it is effectively the same as having no relief at all.

The phrase becomes more perti-nent in the context of Indian legal sys-tem, where the time taken by courts of all levels to deliver their judgments is a source of worry and agony for all. As a matter of fact, the state (constituting central and state governments and de-partments, authorities under them) is

opEn spacE

gaUrav shUKla

PendenCy in indian COurts

He is a second year student of man-agement at IIM-Rohtak. He is a Hockey en-thusiast and has keen interest in Indian Polity.

the largest litigant in India and thus the major sufferer of this plight.

But the recent trends emerging from the Supreme Court provide a sign of relief. For the past few years, the Supreme Court has been disposing off cases at a faster rate, in line with Chief justice T.S. Thakur’s publicly stated ‘top priority’ of reducing judicial pendency.

(table 1)

Of these pending matters, about four-fifths are civil in nature and the rest criminal. Data released by the Law Ministry shows that only 84 criminal


table 1

table 2

and 1,132 civil cases are pending be-fore the apex court for more than 10 years as of 19 February.

Justice T.S. Thakur, after taking over as the CJI, had advised to focus on the Court’s high disposal rates instead of pendency. The Supreme Court has disposed of an increasing number of cases for the past three years - 40,189 in 2013, 45,042 in 2014 and 47,424 in 2015.

A similar trend, but not one which is consistent, is also evident in the total number of cases pending with the 24 High Courts of India.

(table 2)

As of 31 December 2014, about 18% of the cases had been pending for over 10 years or more in the High Courts.

The number of cases pending in the District and Subordinate Courts has been around 2.7 crore for the past two years.

Reasons for Pendency

The reasons for such enormous number of pending litigations are in-creasing number of state and central

legislations, continuation of ordinary civil jurisdiction in some of the high courts, vacancies of judges, appeals against orders of quasi-judicial forums going to high courts, large number of appeals, frequent adjournments, indis-criminate use of writ jurisdiction and lack of adequate arrangement to moni-tor, track and bunch cases for hearing.

Of all these factors, the one that

stands out is the vacancy of judges.

(table 3)

The National Judicial Appointments Commission Act and an accompanying Constitutional Amendment Act came into effect on April 13 2015, but were declared as unconstitutional by the Su-preme Court on October 16 2015.

There was no system in place be-tween that time for appointing judges to the Supreme Court and the High Courts, as the then Chief Justice of India Justice H L Dattu refused to be a part of the NJAC. Even after the col-legium system came back to life, the process for appointment did not start until January this year.

All this while, the vacancies kept piling up and now the situation is so stark that 9 out of 20 posts of High Court Judges lie vacant, with more re-tiring with each passing month.

Accepting that the appointment of more than 400 judges was his ‘biggest task’ the CJI had said that declaring NJAC as constitutional, irrespective of its jurisprudential basis, had made the job of superior judges much more on-erous and difficult.

“ There was no sys-tem in place between that time for appointing judges to the Supreme Court and the High Courts, as the then Chief Justice of India Justice H L Dattu refused to be a part of the NJAC. Even after the collegium system came back to life, the pro-cess for appointment did not start until January this year.


Launching of National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG)

The Supreme Court had in Septem-ber last year launched the public por-tal of the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG), which very conveniently dis-plays the pending cases in the lower courts throughout the country.

The monthly disposal, fresh filing and also the cases filed by senior citi-zen and women in the total pendency is available for the country as a whole and also state and district wise.

The pendency is broken into civil and criminal cases. Not only that, it also classifies them as cases pend-ing for over 10 years, between 5 to 10 years, between 2 to 5 years and less than 2 years. This was an important step in the digitisation of our courts and in making their functioning more transparent.

However, there is a significant lack of uniformity in data maintenance across the courts in various states. This also creates a big hurdle in estimating the real extent of judicial pendency in India and making reasonable com-parisons among the courts. There is no good reason for this state of affairs to continue; the technology to resolve this is now easily and cheaply avail-able.

Tackling the Issue

It is not that the Supreme Court has not paid enough attention to the issue of pendency of cases. The Chief Justices’ Conference held in 2015 had resolved that each High court shall es-tablish an arrears committee to clear the backlog of cases pending for more than five years. In the All India Judge’s

Association case it was decided by the Supreme Court that judge to popula-tion ratio, which is currently 17.72 judges or judicial officers per million population, needs to be raised to 50.

In May 2104, former Chief Justice of India Justice R.M. Lodha proposed to make Indian judiciary work throughout the year (instead of the present system of having long vacations, especially in the higher courts). The proposal how-ever did not meant any increase in the number of working days or working hours of any of the judges but only that the judges will go on vacation at differ-ent times.

The CJI T.S. Thakur had said, “We can become superpower only when ju-diciary is suitably empowered. We can achieve this task (of reducing penden-

cy) with the cooperation of all people associated with the administration of justice.” Recently, he conducted a first-ever study to determine the individual contribution of 13 senior judges, who have been heading two or three-judge benches in the Supreme Court, in re-ducing pendency of cases in the past six months - from July to December 2015.

Earlier, the former CJI, H.L Dattu had constituted four special benches to clear the backlog of cases which dis-posed of 2,000 cases pending for over 5 years in 9 months.

But clearly this is not enough.

Chief Justice of the Madras High Court, Justice A.P. Shah had set up evening courts to look after traffic and police challans, which account for over a third of all cases pending in the lower courts.

Later, as the chairperson of the Law Commission of India, he opined that such cases need to be removed from the regular court system altogether, and rather could be resolved by other mediums and that this should be done with all petty cases involving small criminal cases. This would leave our courts to deal only with serious crimi-nal offences.

Mediums other than courts used for resolving disputes are called as ADR (Alternative Disputes Resolution) and the Supreme Court Judge Justice Kurian Joseph had also stressed on the role of Lok Adalats, mediation and con-ciliation in dispute resolution for easy and timely dispute resolution and for reducing the burden on courts.

table 3

“ However, there is a significant lack of uni-formity in data mainte-nance across the courts in various states. This also creates a big hurdle in es-timating the real extent of judicial pendency in India and making reasonable comparisons among the courts. There is no good reason for this state of af-fairs to continue; the tech-nology to resolve this is now easily and cheaply available.


Fasting in Ramzan ripens in a per-son the real spirit of social belong-ing, of unity and brotherhood, and of equality before Allah. This spirit is the natural product of the fact that when people fast they feel that they are joining the whole Muslim society (which makes up more than one fifth of world’s population) in observing the same duty, in the same manner, at the same time, for the same motives, and for the same end.

No sociologist or historian can say that there has been at any period of

spirituality

MohaMMed Mobeen ahMed

ramzan: the mOnth tOdisCiPline yOurself

history anything comparable to this powerful institution of Islam: Fasting in the month of Ramzan.

“How does the fasting of Muslims in Ramzan differ from the fasting of other faiths?” Fasting in the month of Ramadan is one of the Five Pillars upon which the “house” of Islam is built.

The purpose of the fast is to help develop self-restraint, self-purification, God-consciousness, compassion, the spirit of caring and sharing, the love of humanity and the love of God.

The Islamic Fast, as opposed to


mere starvation or self-denial, is an act of worship and obedience to Allah, thanksgiving, forgiveness, spiritual training, and self-examination. For me, Ramzan is a spiritual and moral sum-moning to re-examine my life’s mis-sion: to be a more thoughtful human being through reflection and introspec-tion and to increase my love for the creator and thus should be for others.

It is the month where the food, sustenance and the earnings of a mus-lim increases and they are blessed,” says the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), a man who was known for his noble humanitarian causes, for social justice, and for being the first to respond to other’s needs, despite the fact that he himself lived a very simple, poverty and humble life.

We should also understand the practicality of the Ramzan Month that we live in a country where every kind of food is available, yet hunger and food uncertainty remain hard realities, resulting for many in the health contra-diction of hunger and obesity — serious issues that deserve more attention.

Food is a blessing, and during Ramzan muslims tend to eat more nutritious foods in smaller quanti-ties — something we should be doing throughout the year because it’s not how much you eat, but what you eat.

It cultivates in us the principle of sincere Love, because when we ob-serve Fasting, we do it out of deep love for Allah. And a person, who loves Al-lah, truly is a person who knows what love is and why everyone on this Earth should be loved and treated justly, for the sake of Allah.

A fasting person empties his stom-ach of all the material things: to fill his soul with peace and blessings, to fill his heart with love and sympathy, to fill his spirit with piety and Faith, to fill his mind with wisdom and resolution.

In the month of Ramzan, many mus-lims try to avoid watching TV, listening to music, and some other leisure activi-ties, which spares them more time and energy to be spent on more productive activities such as academics, intense knowledge exercise, voluntary prayers,

social and humanitarian causes, and a quality time with the family, to name a few.

It is a reminder of our duty to Allah, our purpose and higher values in life, as Allah Himself describes the purpose of fasting as follows, “O you who Be-lieve! Since we know that Fasting is a special duty prescribed by Allah, we learn that any sins may spoil our record of fasting with Allah, so we go through great lengths making sure we are on our best behavior.”

Many people who experience fast-ing in this month, feel the impact that this intense training has on their hab-its, and realize the power of this trans-formative tool designed to make us better human beings- the ultimate goal of any spiritual exercise.

After the month of Ramadan is over, muslims celebrate one of the two most important holidays in the Islamic year: EID-UL-FITR, or the Festival of the Fast Breaking.

In this modern world, Ramzan gives Muslims an opportunity to reflect and free themselves from all kinds of dis-tractions. Practicing Ramadan has become more challenging because of growth and advancement of technol-ogy. Prayer and reflection often take a back seat to give way to modern forms

of entertainment.

Ramzan is all about sacrifice and self-control. Some believe that the faithful should focus on reflection and intense prayer by staying away from all kinds of distracting and tempting elements including technology and media. But many are addicted to tel-evision serials that they cannot miss out any of them though it is Ramzan month. As soon as the fasting is over the fingers move towards switching on television.

In a nutshell, even though the real purpose of the dynamic institution of Fasting is to discipline our soul and moral behavior, and to develop sympa-thy for the less fortunate, it is a multi-functional and a comprehensive tool of change in various spheres of our lives, including: social and economic, intel-lectual and humanitarian, spiritual and physical, private and public, personal and common, inner and outer all in one!

At the end of the day, Ramzan can benefit all people and the society we live in. Despite the physical toll of fast-ing, our hearts and spirits can find comfort in completing a moral exercise that pleases God and benefits human-ity.


Students to get high tech tinkering labs

UGC to introduce Urban Planning courses in Universities.

More than 30,000 Engineering seats to remain vacant in Gujarat.

campus nEws

Students will soon get access to high tech tinkering labs which was long overdue. CBSE(Central Board of Secondary Education ) will provide students with high-tech Atal Tinkering Laboratories.

The Niti Ayog initiative, the innova-tion centre would allow them to shape their ideas into reality by making pro-totypes and testing them out. This is an attempt to groom 10 lakh children as “Neoteric Innovators” across the country”. The lab would be accessible for students of class 6th to 12th.

500 Atal Tinkering Labs would be set up. CBSE has asked application from schools. As part of the mission, schools would be provided grant-in-

UGC has asked the universities to introduce Urban Planning courses at UG and PG level to overcome the acute shortage of urban planners keeping in mind the smart city project.

The central government has laid thrust on smart cities to be developed across the country. One of the key re-quirement is urban planners as UGC feels there is a shortage in this dis-cipline, thus has sent in a directive across all universities to introduce this

After the round of admissions in Gujarat, the officials of the Admission Committee for Pro-fessional Courses (ACPC) said that more than 30,000 engineering seats are expected to re-main vacant. This is a trend which we can see across the country. Last year thousands of en-gineering seats remained empty in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. It is expected that the low enrol-ment will lead to a lower cut-off. The admission body has decided to give admission to those candidates who even haven’t appeared for the entrance exam.

aid for a one-time capital cost of Rs 10 lakh and operational expenses of

subject. Farther towns and cities are emerging as key drivers of economic growth, and thus the need for capacity building in urban administration and urban planning.

The fact is also that municipal bod-ies in India, do not have urban plan-ners, which is a sad state of affair. Thus municipality bodies lack proper plan-ning skills. Adding to that only few in-stitutions in India produce competent planners is also a cause of concern.

Rs 10 lakh for a maximum period of 5 years for setting up the labs.

CoMPiled by nihaal Kidiyoor


Real time telecast of IIT lectures a reality.

Anna University earns 75 crores in 5 years through Revaluation.

campus nEws

Students sitting in every nook and corner of the country will have access to live lecture from 6 IIT’s and other top institution. The Union HRD depart-ment has planned to launch 32 Direct to Home(DTH) channels where students can watch it at home or in their school/college auditoriums. The aim of this project is to ensure high quality educa-tion percolates down to the bottom.

Anna University has robbed Rs 75 crores over a span of 5 years from the pockets of students. This alarming data was revealed after an RTI application was filed. It revealed it has collected 28.82 crores for providing photocop-ies of answer sheets and 46.65 crores for revaluation since 2011. The reply said the amount collected for provid-ing a photocopy of answer sheets has increased from Rs 68.04 lakh in 2011 (April/May) to Rs 7.59 crore in 2015 (April/May). Similarly, the fees collect-ed for revaluation has increased from Rs 2.18 crore in 2011 (April/May) to Rs 4.36 crore in 2015 (April/May).

Students have to pay a fee of Rs 300 for photocopy of answer sheet per subject, and have to pay Rs 400 per

subject for revaluation. Students want the university to provide the copy of an-swer sheets for Rs 2 per page under the

Free Higher Education promised by Assam government.Government of Assam has declared

free education for students with annu-al income below Rs 1 lakh per annum, who want to pursue higher secondary, Degree or Poly-technic diploma this year.

Assam is the first state to make higher education free for poor. There will be absolutely no fees. It will cover 310 government run colleges helping nearly 60000 students.

Government is in talks with Medi-cal and Engineering institutes to come up with similar initiatives.

provisions of the RTI Act, as other uni-versities in the country charge allow.


Arvind Kejriwal inaugurates Students Parliament website.

Seminars on Educational Status of Uttar Pradeshat Allahabad and Meerut

Shri. Arvind Kejriwal (Chief Minis-ter, Delhi) inaugurates Students’ Parlia-ment website www.sioconference.in at his residence. SIO of India is organizing Students Parliament on 23 July, 2016 in Delhi.

Education for Social Transforma-tion: Issues & Dilemmas, Shiksha Pan-chayat: A Seminar on the issues of Ut-tar Pradesh was organized at National Inter College, Meerut on 22nd May 2016. Mr. Ambarish Rai of RTE Forum, Mr. Abdul Qadeer Islahi(student leader from UP), Mr. Thouseef Madikeri ( Cam-pus Secretary, SIO) and Mr. Inamurrah-man (National Coordinator, FMEI) ad-dressed the gathering.

Many important education issues were discussed. The implementation of RTE, the hurdles etc were discussed at length. Privatization of education and its challenges was also a point of discussion. Efforts of SIO, especially through its sustained North Indian Education movement was appreciated and was called for further consolida-tion.

These were the demands

1. Make education easily accessi-ble and reduce the inequality in edu-cation.

system and students

- to provide a platform for students to express their ideas

- concerns and expectations to provide the Government a document expressing the considered view of par-ticipants on a range of issues which they feel is important to the student community.

Students Parliament will discuss on the following topics-

- Education under market driven Neo-Liberal policies

- Political Economy of Education

- Institutionalized Communalisa-tion

For registration students can log on to www.sioconference.in

2. Optimally use the budget alloca-tions.

3. Timely review of the syllabus for better pedagogy to be developed.

4. Discourage the privatization of education and appoint capable teach-ers.

5. Focus on primary education and its problems.

6. To free education from the cor-ruption.

7. Access to education for all sec-tion of people irrespective to the caste,

economic status and religious affilia-tions.

8. Develop primary schooling on the pattern of KVSs.

9. Provide education in mother tongues.

10. Develop the department of Is-lamic studies and Sciences in state level universities.

11. Implement the Allahabad High court rule and prescriptions.

12. Give admissions to the Madra-sas pass outs on the pattern of AMU.

campus nEws

The specific objective of the Stu-dents Parliament is to educate and de-velop an interest in participants about the

- issues pertaining to education

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