Gandhi and Partition
I question the claim about Wendy Doniger's status as a Hindu scholar, though I'll grant her the right to an opinion ("Wendy Doniger: Partition may have been averted had Gandhi been less reverential toward cows"). However, tripe like her assertion about Partition makes even an otherwise secular-leaning, non-religious person like me get angry. Just because Mahatma Gandhi opposed cow slaughter, why does Muhammad Ali Jinnah get a free pass for splitting up the country, leading to untold suffering, millions of deaths, and more than 65 years of hell for all the residents of the subcontinent?
Let's call a spade a spade and acknowledge that Jinnah did what he did because the Musim League could not accept living in a democratic country with equal rights for all. It takes guts to accept that a constitutional republic will be fair in the end, and an acknowledgement that everyone is equal. – Ravi Subrahmanyan
It is a pity that a mediocre "scholar" of Hinduism is still being revered and extolled by even Hindus in India and abroad. For Doniger to say that it was Mahatma Gandhi's over attachment to the cow that was a major factor in the partitioning of India epitomises Doniger's ignorance about the history of India's freedom movement and the ecological reasons for the sacred treatment of cows by the Hindus in India. – Chandy
***
Wendy Doniger may be the most renowned authority on Hinduism (your words, not mine), but she is hardly a historian. Claiming that the 1857 mutiny (the first war of Independence) increased Muslim influence is ludicrous. Till the mutiny, the Mughals, were at least nominally the rulers of India. If anything, Muslim influence diminished after the 1857 mutiny. – Meherban Irani
***
A typically colonial and ignorant Western perspective on India and Hinduism. Some passages in this article are plain stupid. This historian or whatever you call her is best ignored; so should the people who publish her. – Suraj
***
Wendy Doniger is a genius. The way she describes a subject and conveys the truth is excellent. The opponents of her research on Hindus cannot debate and simply agitate. – SM Ali
***
It's funny that a "renowned scholar of Hinduism" should make a statement such as "everyone eats beef except Brahmins". If she really made that statement, it just proves that she really doesn't know much about Hinduism as practised today. – Vishweshwar Naik
***
I think most intelligent people know that the Partition was more complicated than cows. Please don't treat your readers so disrespectfully by publishing such an article. – Vimi Yahoo
***
Wendy Doniger talks about people eating a cow after it was bitten by a snake. Does she have documented proof? Talk is cheap and she denigrates Indians while making money writing about Hinduism. – Dr R Nathan
Debating definitions
Rajnath Singh said that secularism is misunderstood, but he should elaborate on what he and the Bharatiya Janata Party understand the word to mean ("Centre says word ‘secular’ was not in original Preamble, Congress warns of ‘grave consequences’ if Constitution is reviewed").
The dictionary meaning of secularism is clear enough; it cannot be open to ideological interpretations. So why is the BJP talking about the Preamble? Does the word secularism stick out like a thorn in their sides?
Rules and laws of social and cultural behaviour are not only in books and printed word, but in the common sense and practical behaviour of people. The literal or given meaning of the word is not the issue, for we all know that secularism must help people live peacefully. Secularism must enrich our lives. – Vijay Shankar
Soldiers' salaries
It's all an eyewash ("Two charts show how much Indian soldiers are paid vs their Britain and US counterparts"). A captain in the Indian army makes about $1,200 a month, whereas an officer of the same rank in the US army makes about $9,000 per month.
As compared to IAS and other civil services, the edge is only the beginning for a couple of years as the promotion rate is much higher in civil services. Also, the promotion system in the army is highly pyramidal, owing to which very few officers reach higher ranks. In comparison, civil service officers get promoted much faster and have much better promotion avenues.
These studies and graphs are based on biased facts and take advantage of the lack of knowledge of these topics in the civil world. Media houses are projecting incorrect information without any research. – Shantanu Sinha
Film censorship
It is sad that politicians have authority in such matters ("How India’s new censor board has taken the fun out of going to the movies"). There should be a proper selection process for appointing suitable persons to the boards of all such institutions. It cannot be the prerogative of any individual to nominate anyone at their whim and fancy.
The Indian film industry can and should take this seriously and take steps for redress.They have enough economic clout to make politicians listen to their genuine grievances. – Vijay Modi
Addressing the diaspora
Your thinking that Indians are not loyal to their country of residence us completely wrong ("Modi rocked Wembley. Would India allow the Bangladeshi leader to do a similar show in Delhi?"). The Prime Minister never asked NRIs to return to the country. All he asked them to was to support India by investing or lending their skills. I don't see anything wrong in that request
Secondly, I am sure that if the Bangladeshi prime minister wanted to hold a meeting with the diaspora in India, it would be allowed. Do you really think that the Pakistani prime minister would have received approval from the UK and US to hold the kind of event that Narendra Modi addressed? – Gourav
Wrong use of technology
The article is well researched and excellently written ("JAM in Jharkhand: 'Apply lemon juice, flour, Boroplus on fingers and pass biometrics test'"). However, there is one point that the writer and most other journalists, activists and legal luminaries have missed.
JAM and other such initiatives will fail not because of lack of infrastructure, but simply because it is the wrong way to to use technology to fix social ills, whose causes are to be found elsewhere.
The biggest mistake that those who propound technology fixes and those who critique them make is the assumption that the technology will work for these applications if only the infrastructure is improved.
The danger of this argument is that the proponents will say, "Of course, we know that technology has to be made better. We will do so. It can't be done overnight."
The question is not about infrastructure or what will work, but identifying the problem that they are trying to solve. – Mathew
Fighting intolerance with culture
In some ways, the "freedoms" that Safdar Hashmir fought for have been stymied by his party's changing characterisation of the rival party, whose goons killed him ("How to fight intolerance with culture: A Palestinian-Indian theatre production shows the way"). Some days it is an ally here, on other days it is a foe there.
The Palestinian fight never wavered like this. It was against Zionists and their imperialist allies, and it remains so come what may.They could be wrong, we could be right or vice-versa. Moreover, in India, the partisans who do believe in the armed struggle, just as some radical sections of Palestinians do, are shunned as adventurists by their senior peers.
Thus, while the political anchor of progressive culture remains in the doldrums, it is heartwarming that the cultural guerrillas continue to be up for the fight. – Jawed Naqvi
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I question the claim about Wendy Doniger's status as a Hindu scholar, though I'll grant her the right to an opinion ("Wendy Doniger: Partition may have been averted had Gandhi been less reverential toward cows"). However, tripe like her assertion about Partition makes even an otherwise secular-leaning, non-religious person like me get angry. Just because Mahatma Gandhi opposed cow slaughter, why does Muhammad Ali Jinnah get a free pass for splitting up the country, leading to untold suffering, millions of deaths, and more than 65 years of hell for all the residents of the subcontinent?
Let's call a spade a spade and acknowledge that Jinnah did what he did because the Musim League could not accept living in a democratic country with equal rights for all. It takes guts to accept that a constitutional republic will be fair in the end, and an acknowledgement that everyone is equal. – Ravi Subrahmanyan
***
It is a pity that a mediocre "scholar" of Hinduism is still being revered and extolled by even Hindus in India and abroad. For Doniger to say that it was Mahatma Gandhi's over attachment to the cow that was a major factor in the partitioning of India epitomises Doniger's ignorance about the history of India's freedom movement and the ecological reasons for the sacred treatment of cows by the Hindus in India. – Chandy
***
Wendy Doniger may be the most renowned authority on Hinduism (your words, not mine), but she is hardly a historian. Claiming that the 1857 mutiny (the first war of Independence) increased Muslim influence is ludicrous. Till the mutiny, the Mughals, were at least nominally the rulers of India. If anything, Muslim influence diminished after the 1857 mutiny. – Meherban Irani
***
A typically colonial and ignorant Western perspective on India and Hinduism. Some passages in this article are plain stupid. This historian or whatever you call her is best ignored; so should the people who publish her. – Suraj
***
Wendy Doniger is a genius. The way she describes a subject and conveys the truth is excellent. The opponents of her research on Hindus cannot debate and simply agitate. – SM Ali
***
It's funny that a "renowned scholar of Hinduism" should make a statement such as "everyone eats beef except Brahmins". If she really made that statement, it just proves that she really doesn't know much about Hinduism as practised today. – Vishweshwar Naik
***
I think most intelligent people know that the Partition was more complicated than cows. Please don't treat your readers so disrespectfully by publishing such an article. – Vimi Yahoo
***
Wendy Doniger talks about people eating a cow after it was bitten by a snake. Does she have documented proof? Talk is cheap and she denigrates Indians while making money writing about Hinduism. – Dr R Nathan
Debating definitions
Rajnath Singh said that secularism is misunderstood, but he should elaborate on what he and the Bharatiya Janata Party understand the word to mean ("Centre says word ‘secular’ was not in original Preamble, Congress warns of ‘grave consequences’ if Constitution is reviewed").
The dictionary meaning of secularism is clear enough; it cannot be open to ideological interpretations. So why is the BJP talking about the Preamble? Does the word secularism stick out like a thorn in their sides?
Rules and laws of social and cultural behaviour are not only in books and printed word, but in the common sense and practical behaviour of people. The literal or given meaning of the word is not the issue, for we all know that secularism must help people live peacefully. Secularism must enrich our lives. – Vijay Shankar
Soldiers' salaries
It's all an eyewash ("Two charts show how much Indian soldiers are paid vs their Britain and US counterparts"). A captain in the Indian army makes about $1,200 a month, whereas an officer of the same rank in the US army makes about $9,000 per month.
As compared to IAS and other civil services, the edge is only the beginning for a couple of years as the promotion rate is much higher in civil services. Also, the promotion system in the army is highly pyramidal, owing to which very few officers reach higher ranks. In comparison, civil service officers get promoted much faster and have much better promotion avenues.
These studies and graphs are based on biased facts and take advantage of the lack of knowledge of these topics in the civil world. Media houses are projecting incorrect information without any research. – Shantanu Sinha
Film censorship
It is sad that politicians have authority in such matters ("How India’s new censor board has taken the fun out of going to the movies"). There should be a proper selection process for appointing suitable persons to the boards of all such institutions. It cannot be the prerogative of any individual to nominate anyone at their whim and fancy.
The Indian film industry can and should take this seriously and take steps for redress.They have enough economic clout to make politicians listen to their genuine grievances. – Vijay Modi
Addressing the diaspora
Your thinking that Indians are not loyal to their country of residence us completely wrong ("Modi rocked Wembley. Would India allow the Bangladeshi leader to do a similar show in Delhi?"). The Prime Minister never asked NRIs to return to the country. All he asked them to was to support India by investing or lending their skills. I don't see anything wrong in that request
Secondly, I am sure that if the Bangladeshi prime minister wanted to hold a meeting with the diaspora in India, it would be allowed. Do you really think that the Pakistani prime minister would have received approval from the UK and US to hold the kind of event that Narendra Modi addressed? – Gourav
Wrong use of technology
The article is well researched and excellently written ("JAM in Jharkhand: 'Apply lemon juice, flour, Boroplus on fingers and pass biometrics test'"). However, there is one point that the writer and most other journalists, activists and legal luminaries have missed.
JAM and other such initiatives will fail not because of lack of infrastructure, but simply because it is the wrong way to to use technology to fix social ills, whose causes are to be found elsewhere.
The biggest mistake that those who propound technology fixes and those who critique them make is the assumption that the technology will work for these applications if only the infrastructure is improved.
The danger of this argument is that the proponents will say, "Of course, we know that technology has to be made better. We will do so. It can't be done overnight."
The question is not about infrastructure or what will work, but identifying the problem that they are trying to solve. – Mathew
Fighting intolerance with culture
In some ways, the "freedoms" that Safdar Hashmir fought for have been stymied by his party's changing characterisation of the rival party, whose goons killed him ("How to fight intolerance with culture: A Palestinian-Indian theatre production shows the way"). Some days it is an ally here, on other days it is a foe there.
The Palestinian fight never wavered like this. It was against Zionists and their imperialist allies, and it remains so come what may.They could be wrong, we could be right or vice-versa. Moreover, in India, the partisans who do believe in the armed struggle, just as some radical sections of Palestinians do, are shunned as adventurists by their senior peers.
Thus, while the political anchor of progressive culture remains in the doldrums, it is heartwarming that the cultural guerrillas continue to be up for the fight. – Jawed Naqvi