Religion

Romila Thapar and Others Stand By A.R. Rahman and Against Fatwa

A group of scholars, activists and media persons – including historian Romila Thapar, theatre artist M.K. Raina and economist C.P. Chandrasekhar – have expressed solidarity with music composer A.R. Rahman. A fatwa has been issued by the Raza Academy against Rahman for composing music for the Iranian film ‘Muhammad: Messenger of God’. The group expressed its faith in Constitutional freedoms and hoped that no more such diktats would follow. The full text of their statement follows:

We welcome and whole-heartedly support the statement of musician A.R. Rahman where he speaks about his decision to compose music for the Iranian film ‘Muhammad: Messenger of God’. He has thoughtfully struck the right note as he has answered questions raised (completely out of line) by the Raza Academy, about why he chose to compose songs for the film.

We strongly disapprove of the diktat or ‘fatwa’ issued by the Raza Academy, to curb A.R. Rahman’s creative pursuit. Rahman, is one of India and the world’s finest composers, whose repertoire has spanned a whole range and one who is proud to call himself a Muslim. When organisations like Raza Academy, try to curb an artiste’s freedom and conscious choice for creative expression, using religion as an excuse, it has serious and damaging implications for India.

Rahman has underlined that we are “indeed fortunate and blessed to live in a country like India where religious freedom is practiced and where the aim of all communities is to live in peace and harmony sans confusion and violence.”

We stand by A.R. Rahman as he restates the basic principles of our Constitution and join him in the hope that India will continue to stand by the essence of our Constitutional freedoms, “sans confusion and violence” in these difficult times. We hope that no fatwas, diktats or even bullets, will be allowed to be directed against those who dare to speak the truth, paint a picture or compose a tune.

Romila Thapar, Irfan Habib, Gulammohammed Sheikh, Vivan Sundaram, Geeta Kapur, Nilima Sheikh, Ram Rahman, M.K.Raina, Madangopal Singh, Sohail Hashmi, Parthiv Shah, D.N.Jha, Prabhat Patnaik, C.P.Chandrasekhar, Jayati Ghosh, B.P.Sahu, Vidya Shah, Indira Chandrasekhar, Sashi Kumar, Utsa Patnaik, Amar Farooqui, Arjun Dev, Mihir Bhattacharya, Anees Azmi, Anil Bhatti, Badri Raina.

Arrest of 14-Year-Old Student for Making a Clock: the Fruits of Sustained Fearmongering and Anti-Muslim Animus

You can’t have a government that has spent decades waging war against predominantly Muslim countries and then act surprised when a Muslim 14-year-old triggers persecution because he makes a clock for school.

Reprinted with permission from The Intercept

There are sprawling industries and self-proclaimed career “terrorism experts” in the U.S. that profit greatly by deliberately exaggerating the threat of Terrorism and keeping Americans in a state of abject fear of “radical Islam.” There are all sorts of polemicists who build their public platforms by demonising Muslims and scoffing at concerns over “Islamophobia,” with the most toxic ones insisting that such a thing does not even exist, even as the mere presence of mosques is opposed across the country, or even as they are physically attacked.

The U.S. government just formally renewed the “State of Emergency” it declared in the aftermath of 9/11 for the 14th time since that attack occurred, ensuring that the country remains in a state of permanent, endless war, subjected to powers that are still classified as “extraordinary” even though they have become entirely normalised. As a result of all of this, a minority group of close to 3 million people is routinely targeted with bigotry and legal persecution in the Home of the Free, while fear and hysteria reign supreme in the Land of the Brave.

What happened in Irving, Texas, yesterday to a 14-year-old Muslim high school freshman is far from the worst instance, but it is highly illustrative of the rotted fruit of this sustained climate of cultivated fear and demonisation. The Dallas Morning News reports that “Ahmed Mohamed — who makes his own radios and repairs his own go-kart — hoped to impress his teachers when he brought a homemade clock to MacArthur High,” but “instead, the school phoned police.”

Despite insisting that he made the clock to impress his engineering teacher, consistent with his long-time interest in “inventing stuff,” Ahmed was arrested by the police and led out of school with his hands cuffed behind him. When he was brought into the room to be questioned by the four police officers who had been dispatched to the school, one of them — who had never previously seen him — said: “Yup. That’s who I thought it was.” As a result, he “felt suddenly conscious of his brown skin and his name — one of the most common in the Muslim religion.”

On Twitter, Anil Dash published a photo, provided by the boy’s family, taken as he was led out in cuffs. Note that he’s wearing a NASA shirt:

Credit: Anil Dash/Twitter

There’s absolutely no evidence that this was anything more than a clock, nor any indication of any kind that the talented and inventive freshman built it as anything other than a school project. But even now, “police say they may yet charge him with making a hoax bomb — though they acknowledge he told everyone who would listen that it’s a clock.” According to the BBC, “police spokesman James McLellan said that, throughout the interview, Ahmed had maintained that he built only a clock, but said the boy was unable to give a ‘broader explanation’ as to what it would be used for.”

The Dallas Morning News let Ahmed speak for himself by posting a video of him recounting what happened. Behold the Terrorist Mastermind:

The behavior here is nothing short of demented. And it’s easy to mock, which in turn has the effect of belittling it and casting it as some sort of bizarre aberration. But it’s not that. It’s the opposite of aberrational. It’s the natural, inevitable byproduct of the culture of fear and demonization that has festered and been continuously inflamed for many years. The circumstances that led to this are systemic and cultural, not aberrational.

The mayor of Irving, Beth Van Duyne, became a beloved national heroto America’s anti-Muslim fanatics when, last February, she seized on a fraudulent online chain letter, which claimed that area imams had created a special court based on sharia law. In response, Mayor Van Duyne posted a Facebook rant in which she vowed to “fight with every fiber of my being” the nonexistent “sharia court.” One anti-Muslim website gushed that Irving “is being called ‘ground zero’ in the battle to prevent Islamic law from gaining a foothold, no matter how small, in the U.S. legal system” and hailed her as “the mayor who stood up to the Muslim Brotherhood.”

That led to support for a bill introduced in the Texas State Legislature banning the use of foreign law, which its sponsor made clear was targeted at least in part at these “sharia courts.” The Irving City Council went out of its way to enact a resolution supporting the state bill. It was enacted in June. One of the City Council members who opposed the bill — William “Bill” Mahone, who “denounced the vote and urged Irving to ’embrace the Muslims’” — then lost his seat in the city election “by a wide margin.” I’ve spoken to Muslim groups in Irving and there is a small but thriving community there, which in turn has produced intense anti-Muslim animus.

Just like Ahmed’s arrest, Irving is representative of the U.S. broadly, not aberrational. The U.S. just a few years ago went into a shameful fit of mass hysteria over a proposed Islamic community center near Ground Zero — as though Muslims generally were guilty of that attack — but since then, in obscurity, ordinary mosques have faced all sorts of opposition from their mere existence, or once they do exist, physical menacing and violence. A 2014 Pew Poll found that Americans feel more negatively toward Muslims than any other religious group in the country.

There are all sorts of obvious, extreme harms that come from being a nation at permanent war. Your country ends up killing huge numbers of innocent people all over the world. Vast resources are drained away from individuals and programs of social good into the pockets of weapons manufacturers. Core freedoms are inexorably and inevitably eroded — seized — in its name. The groups being targeted are marginalised and demonised in order to maximise fear levels and tolerance for violence.

But perhaps the worst of all harms is how endless war degrades the culture and populace of the country that perpetrates it. You can’t have a government that has spent decades waging various forms of war against predominantly Muslim countries — bombing seven of them in the last six years alone — and then act surprised when a Muslim 14-year-old triggers vindictive fear and persecution because he makes a clock for school. That’s no more surprising than watching carrots sprout after you plant carrot seeds in fertile ground and then carefully water them. It’s natural and inevitable, not surprising or at all difficult to understand.

Reprinted with permission from The Intercept

The Reason Why I Will Never Go For Hajj

On one side, there are 2 million displaced Syrian refugees in great distress and on the other, more than 2 million Muslims, totally disconnected from the tragedy, spending their life savings to indulge in a 1400-year-old ritual.

On one side, there are 2 million displaced Syrian refugees in great distress and on the other, more than 2 million Muslims, totally disconnected from the tragedy, spending their life savings to indulge in a 1400-year-old ritual

Syrian refugees walk along Budaorsi Street on their way out of Budapest. Credit: Freedom House/Flickr CC 2.0

Fa ayna tadh haboon – It is very difficult to understand the depth of emotion behind these words in the Quran when god asks us with so much of love and compassion, “Where are you going?”

The concern with which we are asked about the path we have taken, if heard and understood correctly, could so easily bring us back to the right path. Unfortunately the people of this world, especially the Muslims have gone deaf. Today with the same worry and tremendous anguish in my heart, I am compelled to ask everyone “Where are you going?” “Why have you turned a blind eye towards the sufferings of your fellow human beings?”

On one side, there are 2 million displaced Syrian refugees including children, in great distress all across the Gulf and the European nations, crying for help, and on the other side, more than 2 million Muslims, totally disconnected from the tragedy, spending all their life savings to indulge in a 1400-year-old ritual called Hajj, which adds billions of dollars yearly to the already over flowing treasures of the Saudi king.

The same money, if donated by the people for the cause of Syrian refugees, could solve all their problems. And the Saudi government – which has housed more than 25 million pilgrims in the past 10 years – could lend a helping hand in giving temporary asylum to a major proportion of the most needy refugees by diverting the same manpower and wealth used to host the pilgrims. There are 100,000 air conditioned tents standing in the city of Mina in Saudi Arabia, with a holding capacity of about 2 million people – which, coincidentally, equals the exact number of refugees displaced from Syria. These tents are used for just 5 days in a year to house the Hajj pilgrims and they stand empty for the rest of the year, totally unused.

The Muslim world specifically and humanity in general is losing its moral compass. By believing in a god when we are divorced from the struggles of our own brothers and sisters, we have done nothing but shift the burden of responsibility from ourselves on to a higher power. When will we start to realise that no higher power will come to lift the fallen ,and take it upon ourselves to do more than just pray for the ones in desperate need? Isn’t it high time already, especially for the people in Muslim world who take pride in quoting the Quran on universal brotherhood and oneness among Muslims, which I must say, ironically, is only displayed during the five days of Hajj?

Being brought up in a conservative Muslim household, there is only one verse from the Bible in my memory, and it has always been “Love Thy Neighbour”. I can quote hundreds of similar verses from the Quran urging us to help the needy, whereas only a few (around nine) come to mind when I think about the importance of the pilgrimage called Hajj.

Isn’t it our duty to prioritise our spending and give Syrian refugees a higher place in our grocery list of virtues which we think we can buy by spending a couple of weeks at a place called sacred in scriptures as old as the last virtuous man that lived? And to the Muslims who aim to get a higher place in the eyes of god, I would suggest donating – for this Hajj they are on will get them virtues worth one Hajj, but they could get virtues good for a thousand Hajjs if they donate the same money they had kept aside for this pilgrimage. And if they think this I am wrong in saying this, I would suggest they go and read their Quran right.

Yes, I am a devout Muslim, but I will never go for Hajj. I think there are a thousand more causes in the world for which that money and time can be used, and I, being a man of the 21st century, would not be able to justify giving my hard-earned money to a country which did nothing for the Syrian refugees in dire need.

“Fa Firroo Ilallaah – Not there, come over here, come towards the path that is right, that is free of sin” —Holy Quran

It is about time we got our priorities right.

Akif Kichloo is a doctor and poet

The Muslim Law Board’s Decision on Triple Talaq is Irrational and Wrong

The Board has given its approval to a practice considered abhorrent and illegal by the Quran

(Photo by Anaxila)

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board’s (AIMPLB) incorrigible obstinacy on the issue of instant triple talaq was on display yet again when, last week, it rejected suggestions to outlaw the abhorrent practice. The board’s spokesperson Abdur Rahim Qureshi was quoted as justifying the irrevocably binding nature of triple talaq despite its categorisation as “a crime” in the Quran and hadees. Not surprisingly, Qureshi did not bother to explain the reasoning behind the shocking legitimisation of an act considered illegal by the Quran and Prophet Muhammed, the original exponent of the scripture. Perhaps he expects Muslims to perpetually endure such incredible syllogistic fallacies that have come to define AIMPLB’s attitude towards Islamic law.

In this context, it is worth taking a look at the Quranic injunctions on divorce for a better understanding of marital rights in Islam.

Four steps before the first talaq

As a first step, when there is a marital discord, the Quran advises the husband to talk out the differences (fa’izu hunna) with his wife. If misunderstanding persists, the parties are asked to sexually distance themselves (wahjuru hunna) from each other in the hope that temporary physical separation may encourage them to unite.

And if this procedure too fails, the husband is instructed, as a third step, to once again discuss (wazribu hunna) with his wife the seriousness of the situation and try to bring about reconciliation. In pursuance of wazribu hunna, the husband shall explain to his wife that if they do not resolve their differences soon enough, their dispute will have to be taken beyond the confines of their house which may not be in the interest of both parties. This is because, if the dispute still remains unresolved, as a fourth step, the Quran requires the matter to be placed before two arbiters, one from the family of each spouse, for resolution.

Three talaqs

It is only after the failure of the aforementioned four attempts at reconciliation that the Quran allows the first talaq to be pronounced followed by a waiting period called the iddah. Not more than two divorces can be pronounced within this period, the duration of which are three monthly courses. For women who have attained menopause or suffer from amenorrhea the period of iddah is three months, and in the case of pregnant women it is till the termination of pregnancy.

And if the parties are unable to unite during iddah as envisaged by verse 2:228, the final irrevocable talaq can be pronounced, but only after the expiry of the iddah. Once the final talaq has been invoked the marital bond is severed and the parties cease to be of any relation to each other. However, even after iddah has lapsed, the Quran offers the contending parties a chance to reunite, provided the final talaq has not been pronounced. It says, “When you divorce women and they complete their term (iddah), do not prevent them from marrying their husbands if they mutually agree on equitable terms”. In other words, after the expiry of iddah, as per verses 2:231 & 232, the parties are given the options of remarriage and permanent separation- the separation being the third and the final irrevocable talaq to be pronounced in the presence of two witnesses.

Thus, it can be summarised from the above discussion that after four serious attempts at reconciliation a Muslim husband is permitted to divorce his wife once or twice within the period of iddah to resume conjugal relations without having to undergo the procedure of remarriage. After the expiry of iddah he can either re-contract the marriage on fresh and mutually agreeable terms or irrevocably divorce her by pronouncing the third and the final talaq. It is understood here that the woman cannot be left hanging without either being united with her husband or irrevocably divorced. The parties have to decide one way or the other within a reasonable period of time. This is clearly implied in the verse 2:231 which says “but do not take them back to hurt them or to take undue advantage. If anyone does this he wrongs himself.”

However, to emphasise the sanctity of the marriage tie and the enormity of breaking it for frivolous reasons, the Quran warns that once the parties choose to separate after the expiry of the iddah, they cannot entertain hopes of marrying again unless the wife takes another husband and he divorces her. It is understood here that a divorce may result only if the new husband has serious differences with his wife, and in the rare event of such differences cropping up, he is required to follow the Quranic procedure of divorce as discussed above.

Divorce as practiced in India

Despite the clarity of the Quran on the issue the concept of divorce has been completely misunderstood. As per the prevailing understanding of “shariah” in India, talaq is broadly categorised into talaq al sunnah and talaq al bid’ah. The first form refers to divorce pronounced in accordance with the Quranic procedure as explained by the Prophet, and the second one alludes to a sinful innovation (bid’ah) supposedly justified by the Caliph Umar. In this type of divorce the husband is authorised to repudiate his marriage by saying the word talaq thrice in quick succession in the presence of his wife who then ceases to be his spouse with immediate effect. The Caliph is said to have legalised this innovation to discourage Muslims of his time from resorting to it.

This account may not be authentic for two reasons. First, a hadith in the collection of Abu Dawud states that Caliph Umar himself punished people who uttered three divorces in one go. Second, why would the Caliph legalise the very misogynist practice he was trying to abolish? It would have made sense to issue a decree to the contrary, delegitimising the annulment of marriage on the pronouncement of three divorces in one sitting. What is even more astonishing is, Hanafi jurists consider talaq al bid’ah a grave sin and yet legalise it as the AIMPLB has just done. No theological (or logical) explanation is offered to rationalise this indefensible position.

The legality of instant triple talaq has also led to the abominable circumvention of the Quranic injunction discussed above to overcome its impracticality. To help the victims of this law a pliable person is set up who marries the divorced wife, consummates the marriage overnight and divorces her the next day so that the original husband can remarry her in accordance with 2:230. This outrageousness which an innocent woman is subjected to for the ruthlessness of an un-Islamic and inhuman law is known as halala. Although many ulema have outlawed this disgraceful practice, it still prevails clandestinely in some Muslim societies.

The invalidity of triple talaq is also established from a Prophetic hadees. When informed about a man who gave three divorces at a time the Prophet was so enraged that he said, “Are you playing with the Book of Allah who is Great and Glorious while I am still amongst you?” (Mishkat-ul-Masabih). The reference to the “Book of Allah” in this report is a clear admonition to Muslims not to deviate from the gender-just, egalitarian philosophy of the Quran.

Reforms in Muslim countries

The good news is that several Muslim countries have reformed their laws in an attempt to bring them in conformity with the Quran and authentic teachings of the Prophet. The Moroccan Family Code (Moudawana) of 2004, for instance, puts the husband and wife on an equal footing and states that neither of them, especially the husband, can pronounce divorce unilaterally except under judicial supervision. This, the Code explains, is to control and restrict the abusive arbitrary practices of the husband in exercising repudiation. The Code also contains mechanisms for reconciliation and mediation both through the family and the judge. Additionally, it invalidates irregular pronouncements of divorce by the husband and stipulates that divorce cannot be registered until all vested rights owed to the wife and children have been paid in full by the husband.

Nearer home, Pakistan enacted a similar legislation as far back as 1961 entitled The Muslim Family Laws Ordinance. According to this law any man who wishes to divorce his wife shall, after the pronouncement of talaq in any form whatsoever, give the Chairman of the state appointed Union Council notice in writing of his having done so, with a copy to the wife. Within thirty days of the receipt of notice the Chairman shall constitute an Arbitration Council consisting of himself and a representative of each of the parties for the purpose of bringing about reconciliation between the parties. Contravention of this procedure is punishable with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with fine which may extend to 5000 or both.

Even Algeria, Indonesia, Iran and Tunisia have de-recognised a husband’s right to unilateral divorce by legislating that all divorces must go through a court. It is time AIMPLB too recognised the fact that a Muslim husband is not entitled to pronounce even one talaq without having first exhausted the four reconciliation attempts. The board must immediately outlaw instant triple talaq and delegitimise unilateral divorce proceedings without the intervention of a judicial authority to safeguard the rights of both parties.

The writer is an independent researcher and the founder Secretary-General of Islamic Forum for the Promotion of Moderate Thought.

Get Wired 7/9: OROP in Writing, FMCG Sales Double, Lesbian Comics, and More

Get up to speed on the day’s news.

Rathore says India could neutralise cross border targets

On Sunday, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said that India would explore all possible steps, and even carry out a special or covert operation to neutralise Pakistan-based terrorists like Dawood Ibrahim and Hafeez Sayeed if need be. On Aaj Tak, Rathore was asked about why an operation similar to that conducted in Myanmar couldn’t be conducted to find Dawood or Sayeed. He stated that a covert or special operation could be carried out, but no mention of it would be made prior to it being conducted. He further went on to say that any questions the public may have about such an operation would only be addressed after such an operation. “A covert operation may never be discussed, while a special operation can only be discussed after completion,” he said.

Veterans demand OROP in writing

Narendra Modi’s announcement that premature retirees (PMRs) would be included in the OROP came as positive news, but veterans believe that the earlier exclusion was ‘last minute mischief’ on the part of the government. Veterans have decided to continue their strike till confirmation of the implementation of OROP is received in writing. The government, however, justified the exclusion by suggesting that the measure was taken to prevent a large exodus of soldiers that could have taken place after the implementation. Veterans have said that 46% of ex-servicemen are PMRs and their exclusion would have implied a 50% cut in the budget for OROP. The estimated cut is Rs.4,000 crore from an estimated Rs.8,000-10,000 crore budget.

Sunni group presses for ban of ‘Muhammed: Messenger of God’

A Mumbai-based Sunni group has asked for the ban on the film Muhammed: Messenger of God, directed by Majid Majiddi. A memorandum sent to the Union Home Ministry and the Maharashtra CM by the Raza Academy asks for legal action to be taken against A.R. Rahman (the film’s music director) for hurting the feelings of Indian Muslims. The memorandum also demands action against the filmmaker for portraying Prophet Muhammed in the film, which the group says is blasphemy.

Indian Muslims constitute only 3% of India, Inc.

An analysis by the Economic Times reveals that Muslims constitute a mere 2.67% of directors and executives i.e. 62 out of 2, 324 executives in BSE 500 companies. The Muslim minority doesn’t yet figure on the radar of corporate India. Even the affirmative action framework, which the private sector was prompted to adopt and implement in the last decade, is largely focused on the Dalits, leaving the Muslims as the most underrepresented minority in the Indian jobs market. The employment figures for Muslims in BSE 100 companies is mildly better with 27 out of 587 at directorial and senior executive positions.

I&B Ministry starts study of foreign press coverage for Indian visits

A never-before attempted exercise is being conducted as the I&B Ministry aims to study how foreign media perceives the PM on his overseas visits. The study has so far revealed that 27,639 words were written in 31 articles about Modi’s visit to the US in September. Less than one-third of this amount was written when Manmohan Singh visited the US in 2009, with 7,596 words written in eight articles.

FMCG sales in rural areas doubled in the first half of 2015

The volume of household consumption of FMCG products in rural areas this year grew 5.5% more than the same period a year ago. The rate of growth in urban India was 2.6%, shows data sourced from market research agency IMRB that tracks household consumption across 79,400 homes in both urban and rural India. Analysts say that this hike is due to stress in the rural economy. The reason for this according to Vinay Khamkar of the IMRB is that rural India has reacted faster to deflationary trends seen in prices, so the pickup in consumption this year has been sharp in those areas. “Rural incomes typically are unstable, and react quickly to external stimuli. When inflationary trends persist, an effect is visible in rural consumption. Similarly, deflationary trends also have an equal impact on consumption in rural areas”, he said.

CPCB for changing norms in critically polluted areas

The central pollution watchdog is suggesting a do away with the consideration of factors such as the impact on people and eco-geological features while deciding whether an industrial cluster is critically polluted or not. This move is likely to be welcomed by industries that have been seeking clearances in these areas. The Central Pollution Control Board has cited lack of qualitative data as its reason for doing so. No final decision has been taken yet on the proposals.

Villagers corrected a river’s course in five years

Five years of collective work between villagers across 50 villages in Pratapgarh and Allahabad districts has lead to the Bakulahi river being brought back to its original course. The irrigation department had altered the river’s course to check annual flooding in the area. However, this triggered a water crisis in the region. The villagers’ work was kicked off without any government support. They dug up 15.5 km out of the 18 km route of the river when the Pratapgarh administration chipped in to help out in the remaining part through NREGA.

Dalits lash out against ban on their women entering a temple in Karnataka

A Scheduled Castes community at Sigaranahalli in Holenarsipur taluk is furious after the ‘upper caste’ people of the village imposed a penalty on four Dalit women for entering a temple. The women have refused to pay the penalty saying it’s a violation of basic human rights. Sigaranahalli is about 2 km away from Haradanahalli, the native place of the former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda. A few years ago, the Hassan Zilla Panchayat had built a community hall here. The community hall was recently converted into Vokkaliga Bhavan and restricted the entry of Dalits.

8,000 granted asylum in Germany

Around 8,000 Arab and Asian asylum seekers arrived in Austria and Germany yesterday, following the latest erratic policy turn by Hungary’s government. Travellers predominantly from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, who had been told for days that they could not leave Hungary, were sent on overnight buses that were headed for Austria and Germany. The latest arrivals add to the tens of thousands of migrants who have been coming into Germany each month, the EU’s most populous nation with 81 million residents. The influx has strained emergency accommodation and local bureaucracy, triggered sporadic violence by neo-Nazi extremists, and inspired empathy from many more Germans.

Bangladesh gets first lesbian comic strip

The Boys of Bangladesh, the largest gay rights group in the country, launched the country’s first comic strip about a young lesbian discovering her sexuality. The name of the strip is “Dhee”, which is the Bengali word for intellect and wisdom. Several hundred people attended the launch at the British Council in Dhaka, although entry was carefully scrutinised in case of protests by conservative hardliners. Homosexuality is a crime punishable by a life sentence in Bangladesh.

Spices Board to open signature outlets in foreign markets

In an attempt at broadening its brand-building exercise beyond the nation’s boundaries, Spices Board is opening premium retail outlets in key countries to sell the choicest spices and value-added products under brand names “Spices India” and “Flavourit”. The products will be sold through signature stalls set up in overseas markets in partnership with private investors, Spices Board Chairman A. Jayathilak said. The Board’s first signature stall was opened in Kochi in 2013. More stalls were opened in Delhi in June this year.

Riders Cry Fowl as Delhi Metro Turns Into Veg-Only Zone

Passengers carrying packed raw non-veg items are being turned back from frisking points at Delhi Metro stations by CISF guards – while an RTI query shows there is no such rule.

The Delhi Metro. Source: delhimetro.net

On the eve of Independence Day, just as I reached the Civil Lines Metro Station from my office on Rajpur Road around 5.30 pm, I encountered a curious sight. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) guards at the frisking point were refusing to let through the person standing ahead of me in the queue, because he was carrying raw eggs (in a polythene bag). When the passenger argued, he was asked to take permission from senior CISF officials who were standing near the exit gate.

After he left, I went through frisking, and then proceeded towards the underground platform for catching the next train. But I was bothered by the biased attitude of the guards, and wanted to challenge it. I realised that a document in my laptop would help me do it, and this gave me some confidence.

I went back up the stairs towards the two CISF seniors outside the exit gate, since I had observed that they had refused to allow the person carrying raw eggs to enter. I approached them and asked whether carrying eggs in the Metro was not allowed. One of them responded that if I were carrying such items, then I should come out through the exit gate. When I told him that I wasn’t but was asking about the rules, he asked me not to bother as I was quite educated and knew the rules.

I then took my laptop out and showed both of them the document I had: it was the reply (dated 31 July 2015) by Sharat Sharma, Director (Operations), DMRCL, to my query submitted under the Right to Information Act on food items that are allowed in the Metro.

I insisted on reading the contents to one of the CISF seniors, as the other refused to look at it (though he made occasional comments): “DMRC rules do not restrict carriage of non-vegetarian food items, eatables in Delhi Metro train whether raw or cooked if they are packed properly. There is no specific list of food items allowed inside Delhi metro is available with DMRC … There are no specific stations, where travelling with packed raw non-vegetarian is banned … CISF staff is authorised to comply the instruction. (sic)“

Initially, the CISF men were taken aback. When I insisted that they did not know the rules themselves, they claimed that the rules were different earlier and they did not know about the new rules. One of them even promised to try and get more information about the latest rules.

I said that as a regular officer-goer, I had never witnessed such restrictions at the Civil Lines Metro station before. However, when I said I wanted to make a complaint about them stopping the passenger for carrying eggs, and wanted to know whom to approach, they refused to answer.

I told them that I will be writing about the incident in the papers, and emphasised that they should not harass people because of their own food preferences. In response, they said I was free to to eat whatever I feel like at home. As I left, I found the CISF jawans laughing at my silly intervention.

My first tryst with DMRC

I myself had faced a similar situation earlier, when I was stopped at the gates of the INA Market metro station for carrying packed raw meat. When seen against the backdrop of recent events like the beef ban in Maharashtra and the Madhya Pradesh government refusing to allow eggs in the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme, it prompted me to file an RTI application.

In my application, dated June 9, 2015, I had asked the public information officer (PIO) of DMRC to clarify four issues: 1) A list of all the food items (cooked and uncooked) that are allowed in the Delhi Metro; 2) whether it was illegal for passengers to carry packed raw mutton, chicken or fish (in small quantity for household consumption; 3) Whether there are specific Metro stations where such items are banned; and 4) Whether the CISF personnel posted at Delhi Metro stations stop passenger for carrying these items.

I received a bland reply (dated June 29, 2015) from one PIO named Vikas Kumar, which simply stated: “Details of information sought is not available in any material form”. I filed an appeal with help from Swapna Jha of Common Cause, an organisation working on civic rights, and this time I got a detailed reply from the First Appellate Authority of DMRC, which became a handy document in my encounter with the CISF personnel.

What can DMRC do?

According to the DMRC’s website, both the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi and the Government of India have equal stake in the company. However, the CISF comes under the ambit of the Ministry of Home Affairs. It may be possible that there is lack of coordination between the DMRC and the CISF regarding items that can be allowed inside the Metro, including eatables. However, it cannot be ruled out that the CISF guards on their own are preventing passengers from carrying non-veg food items.

Since DMRC recently conducted a customer satisfaction survey, I hope they take note of this issue and take necessary steps to ensure passengers are not harassed unnecessarily. After all, the Delhi Metro is the lifeline of the NCR. The last thing it should have is a red line for passengers.

Shambhu Ghatak, a researcher on development issues, works with the Inclusive Media for Change project based at the Centre for Study of Developing Societies, Delhi.

What Devadasi Rites Tell Us About the Sexuality of Religion

Who and what are marriage and sex for? Whose practices and which ways of talking to god can count as religion?

Lucinda Ramberg’s first book, Given to the Goddess: South Indian Devadasis and the Sexuality of Religion has just been awarded the 2015 Clifford Geertz Prize in the anthropology of religion and the first Michelle Rosaldo Prize for a first book in feminist anthropology. An extract:

Mahadevi, a Matangi pujari. Credit: Brett Isis Fisher

One day the jogatis took me to the river for a puja. Mahadevi came to our door early in the morning, saying: “Today we are taking the devi to the river – will you come along?” My research assistant Jyoti and I had gone roaming with the jogatis before, traveling from farmhouse to farmhouse for household rites on auspicious occasions such as the birth of a female buffalo calf or the successful drilling of a new bore well. This time, for the festival of the river goddess, we climbed in a flat bed truck trailing a big green tractor. The two traveling devis – Yellamma and Matangi – had been placed in the front of the truck. Along the way, a bumpy ride over the pock marked roads characteristic of this sugar cane-rich and infrastructure-poor district in Northern Karnataka, I asked Mahadevi whose tractor we were traveling in. She pointed to the landlord farmer swaying in the tractor seat next to the driver and explained that he and his wife were without children, despite several years of marriage, so he had decided to sponsor the bringing of the devi to the river.

I recognized in this account the making of a harake in which devotees seek to secure blessings of fertility and prosperity from the devi through acts of propitiation towards her. Devotees make material or bodily offerings such as grain, saris, silver ornaments, pilgrimages, prostrations, renunciations, or ecstatic performances. As persons who are given, or who give themselves to the devi in fulfillment of harake, jogatis themselves take the form of such offerings. Their dedication to the devi is conducted as a rite of marriage to her. This marriage authorizes them to perform rites in her name, such as the one in which we were brought to participate that day at the river Krishna.

Mahadevi and Lakshmibai smiling. Credit: Lucinda Ramberg

A print offering to Yellamma. Credit: Lucinda Ramberg

Pilgrims from all the surrounding villages thronged the riverbank. Oxen carts were pulled alongside big green tractors into the flowing river, where farmers splashed water on the implements of their labor. Having bathed and finished their puja, people sat eating and children brandished their festival trophies: small plastic toys and candy. After overseeing the carrying of the two devis to a clearing in the crowd, Mahadevi conducted their bathing and ornamentation. Then she reached inside the basket into the lap or womb (udi) of the devi and drew out a fresh coconut. Beckoning to the landlord’s wife to follow her, Mahadevi led a small procession, including three musicians playing the instruments of Yellamma, to the water’s edge. There she dipped the coconut in the river, anointed it with scarlet kumkuma, worshipped it with fire (arthi) and placed it in the curved fold of sari silk the woman held outstretched at the level of her abdomen, into her udi.

Writing rites

Kamlabai preparing for puja. Credit: Brett Isis Fisher

Rites of devi propitiation are ubiquitous and everyday in South India. What is noteworthy about this rite, however, is tied to the question of who or what jogatis are. The South Indian women this book is about do not marry men; they marry a goddess. Jogatis are given, or dedicated to Yellamma as children by their parents. All those dedicated to Yellamma wrap saris and embody the devi. That is, whether recognized as boys or girls as children, they become women and are called jogatis although male women are more commonly called jogappas. Jogatis are also called and call themselves devadasis, which is a pan Indian term usually translated as servant or slave of the god. Dedication is their central initiation rite. They become Yellamma’s pujaris, Dalit women who transact in the favor of the goddess outside the walls of her main temple and in sex outside the bounds of conjugal matrimony. Their alliance with the goddess, however, is not recognized as matter of legitimate religion or kinship within the law or by state authorities. Indeed, in the most recent wave of over one hundred years of reform begun in the colonial era, the practice of dedication, as well as all the rites it authorizes jogatis to perform, including the one described above, have been criminalized.

Jogatis are typically defined exclusively through their illicit sexuality. When I began the field research for this book in 2001 I did not expect to encounter devadasis actively performing rites. I was to be surprised otherwise. One day in 2002 at a Yellamma temple in Northern Karnataka I encountered two dedicated women. They were seated on either side of Matangi, for whom they were receiving offerings and giving blessings. “What do they call you?” I asked. “Pujaris” (priests, caretakers), they said, laughing at my ignorance, “What else would they call us? We keep the devi.”

What does it mean to ‘keep the devi’? This question has been answered in different ways. The scene I describe by the river Krishna might be read as (yet another) ethnographic rendering of timeless ritual in the Indian subcontinent, an episode in the story told by the West about the East through an Orientalist lens (Said 1978). Alternatively, it might appear as an account of female religious leadership and ritual balance between cosmic, earthly and human wellbeing in a wider record of universal feminine power and ecological value. From the point of view of Dalit, Christian, and feminist social reformers, the scene by the river displays the degraded position of outcaste women dedicated to a life of superstitious ritual enactments and sexual exploitation.

Mahadevi showing the day’s joga. Credit: Lucinda Ramberg

In this ethnography I offer another way to think about what was unfolding at the river that Spring day in 2003, one I came to by taking the question of who and what jogatis are as an open question best pursued by working closely with those whom come to call themselves jogati. This method foregrounds the terms jogatis themselves use to describe themselves and the world. As I show, these terms often exceed received categories of social scientific knowledge. As persons who are married to a goddess, jogatis conform neither to prevailing Dravidian patterns of kinmaking nor to dominant definitions of marriage as an alliance between two persons of the opposite sex. In short, jogatis exceed received conceptions of kinmaking. This excess is productive in two ways. I bring another interpretation of devadasi lives into view and it demonstrates some of the limits of certain modern forms of knowledge.

Lucinda Ramberg is Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Feminist, Gender & Sexuality Studies at Cornell University. She is currently at work on a project on the sexual politics of Dalit conversion to Buddhism.

The Santhara Issue Requires a Deeper Philosophical Debate

The Jain practice of Santhara cannot be compared to Sati, suicide or right to die

A Jain temple (Photo: Verseguru)

The choice to fast is a conscious and informed one, grounded in the idea that the self continues after it is released from the corporeal form. Coercion has no place in this choice, and any abuse is clearly be covered by the criminal law provisions on intent to injure, harm or murder. Nor is the practice akin to suicide, which amounts to a giving up on life as distinct from those who choose to fast unto death to purify the self before leaving the world. The decision can be reconsidered and the individual is free to resume eating at any time. This is a live practice and integral to a community that understands freedom as freedom from the body as opposed to freedom through the body, a concept that is familiar within non-Semitic traditions.

In 2006, Nikhil Soni, a practicing lawyer in the Rajasthan High Court, brought a legal challenge objecting to this practice, asking the Court to declare it as suicide, prosecutable under section 309 of the Indian Penal Code. In August 2015, the Rajasthan high court upheld the petitioner’s claim holding that the practice involved nothing less than the intentional self-destruction of the human subject that the State was obliged to protect. In this conception the individual corporeal subject is regarded as supreme, and entitled to her fundamental rights including the right to life, under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution. Within the confines of the legal framework, the Jain community was left to claim not only that the right to life must include the right to stop living, but also to assert that the practice was protected by the freedom of religion clauses under Articles 25 and 26 of the Constitution as well as Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In a short order, the Indian Supreme Court subsequently stayed the High Court decision.

Some philosophical issues

The framing of the issue within a rights framework obscures the deeper philosophical aspects implicated in the debate on Santhara. This includes an understanding of the being that informs the Jain position (as well as other traditions) that does not conceive of liberation as something that is realised through the body and external to oneself. Rather, it is interior and intimate, secured through self-realisation and self-reflection. Freedom within these traditions is understood as liberation from the body not through the body.

This conception of the self stands in contrast to one that informs the suicide provisions of the Indian Penal Code drafted by Lord Macaulay, who was a liberal British politician as well as a devout Christian. The theological basis of the suicide provisions are informed by a Christian view that regards the human body as sacred and suicide as a sin.

A close reading of the high court decision reveals that the judges struggled to contain the deeper philosophical questions about the subject, body, and freedom triggered by the practice within the narrow confines of liberal legality and legal justice. But such a framing presupposes a specific understanding of the human subject that is based on liberal individualism and the idea of the human subject as embodied, corporeal, rational, and a bearer of rights. This very framing of the subject in law disavows any other conception of the subject outside the terms of the liberal rational being. If subjectivity and being are understood in terms that are so polarised and as a conflict between a liberal and non-liberal (though not illiberal) position, then how can law bring about a resolution?

Unlike many western countries, law in postcolonial democratic countries such as India does not govern every aspect of human conduct nor is it thoroughly internalised by the individual. The question then arises as to how order and discipline continue to manifest in a society that is neither saturated nor regulated by law nor subject to the coercive power of unelected or dictatorial regimes? This question becomes compelling when faced with the profound challenge posed by the Santhara vow and the individual who understands her journey in terms of freedom, rather than as a form of criminality and self-inflicted violence.

In the context of law the issue is presented as a conflict of rights, that is, between the right to freedom of religion and the right to life. When posed in this way, Santhara comes to be cast as a ritual or a religious practice, an action, rather than a way of knowing and being. It is framed as a choice to die rather than as a fast unto freedom, expressed in terms such as “she left her body” as opposed to “she died” or that “she is dead.” The practice exemplifies how the subject or self is regarded as continuing to exist and flourish long after it leaves the body, rather than as coming to an end.

This practice cannot be compared to Sati, as some have done, arguing that it is coerced and mainly forced upon women. Not only is the vow made by both men and women in the Jain community, the fast is undertaken by the concerned subject for self-realisation, and not for some dead husband or for the sake of honour, self sacrifice, and all the other hugely problematic reasons given to justify violent acts towards women through the language of familialism and sacrality.

Abuse possible too

This does not rule out the possibility of abuse of Santhara, for example to get rid of family members who are considered a burden, which was the main concern of Nikhil Soni. Such coercive acts would fall squarely within the ambit of the criminal law. Abuse of the practice cannot be equated with the practice and should not forestall consideration of the deeper philosophical arguments that are at stake.

The Santhara vow compels a deeper debate on a host of questions: What constitutes freedom? Do more rights produce more freedom? If not, then what work are rights doing when they are invoked or claimed? What understandings of freedom and subjectivity are marginalised or disavowed through the centring of rights and equation of rights with freedom? The debate on Santhara should be removed from discussions about the right to die, suicide or whether it is an essential religious practice. It needs to be firmly located and addressed within the broader philosophical register about freedom.

The writer is Professor of Law, Jindal Global Law School

What the Census Tells Us About Having Faith in Daughters

It’s high time Hindus and Sikhs learned from their neighbours of other religions how to save millions of “missing women”

Credit: tataimitra/Flickr, CC BY 2.0

The release of the latest census data on religion has whipped up a media storm. The focus has been on the two largest communities − Hindus (79.8%) and Muslims (14.2%). But one significant trend between them seems to have been largely overlooked.

In 1991 and 2001, Muslims and Hindus had virtually similar female-male ratios, with the former consistently at a slight advantage. Sikhs trailed far behind. But in 2011 Muslims have shown a marked improvement.

In a decade, their female-male ratio has leaped from 936 to 951 women for every 1000 Muslim men. But in the same period, the Hindu ratio only rose from 931 to 939. The gender gap between the two communities has widened.

Source: Census 2011, 2001 and 1999, Tables C-1 Population By Religious Community

The overall child sex ratios, released earlier, had already rung alarm bells. In 2011, for every 1000 boys, only 918 girls celebrated their sixth birthday. These abnormally low all-India figures have fallen to their lowest level since independence.

The government has yet to release the latest religion-specific child sex ratios. In 2001, it was 950 for Muslims, which is considered to be more or less ‘normal’. But it was significantly lower for Hindus due to entrenched gender discrimination, especially blatant sex selective abortion.

Source: Census 2001, Tables C-1 Population By Religious Community Drop-in-Article on Census – No.4, Distribution of Population by Religions

So, in all likelihood in this round too, Muslim child sex ratios are expected to be better than Hindus. Perhaps significantly better, despite setbacks in Jammu and Kashmir. But the number of “missing women” among Hindus is likely to be alarming.

Nobel laureate Amartya Sen coined this term “missing women” for the dystopian phenomenon of women dying in unnaturally greater numbers than men in deeply-rooted patriarchal societies. Extreme gender discrimination manifests itself as “son preference” and “daughter aversion”. Sex selective abortions, female infanticide and pervasive neglect of women’s healthcare are symptoms of this morbid prejudice. Infant girls, for example, are more likely to die than boys across every single state in India.

Rich states like Haryana and Punjab fare the worst in child sex ratios, especially due to sex-selective abortions. But, across the border in Pakistan’s Punjab province despite lower female literacy, more girls are born and survive childhood. Religion is an important difference across the two sides of the Punjab border.

Source: India: Census 2011, Bangladesh: Census 2011, Nepal: Census 2011, Sri Lanka: Census 2012, Pakistan: Labour Force Survey 2012-13

Across the majority of Indian states, too, Muslims have overall higher female-male ratios despite lower socio-economic development and literacy. One argument is that in larger Muslim families perhaps there is lesser pressure for sex selection.

But this hypothesis doesn’t ring true. Bangladesh, for example, with a 90% Muslim population has had a historic fall in fertility in the last three decades from 6 to 2.2 children per woman. But it has also simultaneously dramatically improved its child sex ratios – at 972 girls for every 1000 boys in 2011.

The Koran also explicitly forbids female infanticide, a practice common in Arabia in the Middle Ages. The Muslim advantage in female-male ratios does seem consistent across South Asia.

In Bangladesh young women are more literate than men. In Pakistan’s Baluchistan, on the other hand, only 23% and in the district of Dera Bugti only 1% of women can read. But in both countries, they are less likely to slay their unborn and newborn daughters.

So, apart from ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ and ‘#SelfieWithDaughters’, perhaps it’s high time Hindus and Sikhs learned from their neighbours of other religions how to save millions of “missing women”

Murder in the Academy: MM Kalburgi’s Dangerous Literary Studies

The context of Kalburgi’s life’s work – and the likely context of his death – is the fraught cultural politics of the Lingayat community in Karnataka.

The context of Kalburgi’s life’s work – and the likely context of his death – is the fraught cultural politics of the Lingayat community in Karnataka

Youth Congress members protest against the killing of former Vice-Chancellor of Hampi University M M Kalburgi who was shot dead at his Kalyanagar residence by unidentfied gunmen in Dharwad on Sunday. Credit: PTI

Bengaluru: The esteemed literary scholar M M Kalburgi was shot dead outside his home in Dharwad today, producing a wave of speculation on the identity and motive of his killers. Kalburgi died in hospital after being shot at close range by two assailants, who arrived at his doorstep at 9 am on Sunday morning.

Gatherings to condole his death, and demand justice for his murder, took place across Karnataka including at the Town Hall in Bengaluru, where outrage over the crime was mixed with ambivalence over who might be behind it.

At the Town Hall, many supporters had turned their suspicion on unspecified right-wing forces, and some were already comparing Kalburgi’s murder with those of the rationalists Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare in Maharashtra. Others present cautioned against jumping to any conclusions.

The context of Kalburgi’s life’s work – and the likely context of his death – is the fraught cultural politics of the Lingayat community in Karnataka. Kalburgi, a former vice-chancellor of Kannada University, was a progressive voice among the Lingayats, the middle-caste group that dominates state politics.

The Lingayats originated as a social movement led by the 12th century philosopher Basava. The founding literature of the movement is in the form of vachana verses, of which Kalburgi, as a scholar of Old Kannada, was a leading authority. As a result, Kalburgi’s work had implications not only for the theology of the Lingayat establishment, but for its enormous political and financial power.

Kalburgi frequently riled the Lingayat orthodoxy, most memorably in 1989, when he completed a study of the vachanas of Neelambika, Basava’s second wife. Kalburgi linked them to a minor myth in which Basava, unable to refuse anything to a supplicant, gave away his second wife to a Jangama sanyasi. According to Kalburgi, Neelambika’s own vachanas suggest that she and Basava did indeed cease their conjugal relationship. Another controversial claim was about the virgin birth of his nephew, Channa Basavanna, who took over the leadership of the movement. Conservative Lingayats were outraged and Kalburgi received death threats; eventually, he was forced to apologise and retract his statements.

File Photo of Former Vice-Chancellor of Hampi University, M M Kalburgi who was shot dead at his Kalyan Nagar residence by unidentified gunmen, in Dharwad on Sunday. Credit: PTI

More recently, Kalburgi has declared that the Lingayats cannot be called Hindus – attracting the hostility of the RSS (the Lingayat vote was crucial to the election of the first BJP government in Karnataka in 2004, and its first chief minister, BS Yeddyurappa, was a Lingayat). In June last year, Kalburgi dismissed the sanctity of religious idols, which brought protestors from the Bajrang Dal and VHP to his doorstep. Kalburgi was placed under police protection.

At the Town Hall, some speakers referred to posts on Facebook and Twitter, posted by activists of the Bajrang Dal right after the news came out, which openly celebrated Kalburgi’s murder.

But according to professor K M Marulsidappa, Kalburgi’s murder is less likely to implicate conventional Hindutva groups, and more likely to involve the fine rivalries and high political stakes within Lingayat caste politics.

Speaking to The Wire, Marulsidappa explained that Kalburgi’s work had touched on sensitive questions that divide mainstream Lingayats from the minor subsect of Virashaivas, who believe that their tradition precedes Basava – and blame him for the degradation of the movement. The Virashaiva community is led by the Jangama priesthood from five seats, the panchapeetha. Kalburgi’s work had provoked intense hostility from Jangamas and extremist factions behind them.

Marulsidappa pointed out that Kalburgi’s murder followed the murder of Linganna Satyampete, a journalist believed to be Kalburgi’s disciple and supporter in the district of Gulbarga (Kalbargi’s surname is derived from the name of the area). Satyampete’s body was found semi-naked in a drain in Gulbarga town on July 26, 2012. He was also a fierce critic of conservative elements in the Lingayat mathas (religious schools), whom he accused of abandoning the true spirit of the vachanas.

The scholar M. Chidananda Murthy, seen as a conservative rival of Kalburgi’s within the community, also spoke at the Town Hall meeting. He said he had often disagreed with Kalburgi but never lost respect for him.

M S Asha, who is currently editing a translation of Kalburgi’s writing, told The Wire that she had spoken to him the previous morning. They chatted about his play on Basava, The Fall of Kalyana, translated by M C Prakash; Kalburgi mentioned a critic’s comment , comparing the play to a verse drama by T S Eliot, Murder in the Cathedral.

He also discussed his next work, which would examine the disappearance of women writers from the Kannada canon between the 12th and 16th centuries, that is, in the period that the vachana tradition was suppressed and the priestly class established its hegemony among Lingayats.

Kalburgi was a key organiser of the Dharwad Sahitya Sambramha, or the Dharward Lit Fest. As an example of his liberal mind, Asha said, he invited the controversial right-wing author Bhyrappa to the festival. “When everyone questioned him, his only answer was – ‘He is a writer too’.”

The overarching concern expressed at the Town Hall in Bengaluru was that a culture of lethal violence might overwhelm the hallowed culture of discussion and questioning in Lingayat society. Indeed, one of the first victims of the temptation to violence was Basava himself – martyred at the end of the celebrated period of social reform, when he was thought to have gone too far by marrying a Brahmin girl to a Dalit boy. One protestor on the Town Hall steps had evidently thought of this: “Yesterday Basavanna”, his sign read, “Today Kalburgi.”