The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

EDITORIALS

Dealing with drought

IT is typical of the style of functioning of the Indian bureaucracy that while the kisan is reeling under the effects of a failed monsoon, the officials are busy quibbling whether it has caused drought or near-drought conditions in rain-starved parts of the country. It is such straitjacket approach which had prevented the government from putting in place a disaster management plan while the going was good. During the years when the monsoon was bountiful, nobody thought up a worst-case scenario that it could fail one of these years, as it had done many times in the previous decades. Everyone was so complacent that if at all any attempt was made at preparedness, it was by way of taking anti-flood measures. It is another matter that in earlier years, such steps always proved insufficient when the floods actually came. Drought is a possibility that perhaps never crossed their mind. The misery caused by it has been compounded because it was just not accounted for. Traditional methods of water conservation were neglected. Baolis, ponds and wells etc lie unused in villages. And modern methods of water harvesting were never applied. That is not the end of the tragic story. While on the one hand, ground water is exceptionally low, on the other there is not enough power to draw it out either. In short, we have done everything to compound our misery.

It is by sheer chance that the country has an adequate stock of foodgrains. Godowns are overflowing not because of any foresight but because of the failure of the distribution system. Even now, it is doubtful if suitable arrangements would be made to rush grains to every corner of the country where these are needed. Even the quality of the grains which have been stored in unhygienic conditions is suspect. Farmers in any case will be in dire straits because their crops have all but failed. The nation as a whole will suffer greatly because the expected economic recovery will remain a pipedream. The after-effects of the failed monsoon will be felt for several years to come. Politicians have ditched the country equally badly. What they have not done in the past cannot be done at this stage. The only way they can make some amends is by rising above petty politics at least now. Various states must not only share the river waters without bickering, but should also provide uninterrupted power supply to the farmers, even if that necessitates imposing cuts on the industrial sector. The public distribution system needs to come good for once, while the Centre should be liberal in distributing money from the Calamity Relief Fund and the National Calamity Contingency Fund. This relief should be given on the basis of actual need and not on the basis of the capacity of particular Chief Ministers to twist the arm of the Central Government.

Leaderless Congress

PITY the Congress. It has Chief Ministers in 14 states. Yet, the party does not have enough leaders of stature for manning its state units. Of course, the high command itself is responsible for this unhappy development. The rot set in when Indira Gandhi gave up the practice of letting the state units elect their own office-bearers. Self-respecting Congressmen left the party and the high command’s Delhi-centric approach discouraged the growth of fresh talent at the state level. Take the recent appointment of the presidents of the Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh units of the Congress. The appointment of Mr H. S. Hanspal as president of the Punjab unit of the party was decided by Delhi. Those who know Mr Hanspal are willing to vouch for his personal integrity but not his ability to rejuvenate the party at the district and village levels. The Congressmen never hesitate to demonstrate in full public view their ability to pull down their own government because of a conflict of interest between the state unit chief and the leader of the legislature party. After Capt Amarinder Singh’s appointment as Chief Minister, his rivals in the party reminded the high command of the rule that disallows the same person to hold two posts. They wanted someone who could trip the former Maharaja of Patiala to replace him as the head of the state unit. However, better sense seems to have prevailed and the high command wisely decided that the post should go to someone who enjoyed the confidence of the Chief Minister and not his detractors.

In the case of Haryana the central leadership had no choice but to pull out the veteran of many an epic political battle from his sulk chamber and give him the daunting task of reviving the party in a state where people seem to have developed a soft corner for the late Devi Lal and his politically sharp son Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala. His talent was being wasted by giving him the routine assignment of leader of the Congress Legislature Party in the Haryana assembly. The high command showed maturity by asking Mr Bhajan Lal and Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda to swap positions. The most interesting change has been made in Gujarat. With Chief Minister Narendra Modi having paved the way for fresh assembly elections the Congress indicated that it was prepared to fight fire with fire. For this purpose the high command could not have found a better leader than the redoubtable Mr Shankersinh Vaghela. Mr Vaghela knows the Sangh Parivar as well as he knows himself. As a former RSS worker he knows the weak spots of the Bharatiya Janata Party and other outfits of the Sangh Parivar better than the quintessential Congressman, who most often doesn’t even know his mind. In the case of UP the central leadership seems to have given up. Pray, who is this Mr Munna who has been given the politically most challenging task of reviving the Congress in UP? The state needs a leader of the stature of Mrs Sonia Gandhi. The only thing that he has going in his favour is the moribund state of the Congress. The party doesn’t have much to lose if the Munna magic fails to work.

Baby-friendly Kerala

KERALA has been declared the world’s first “baby-friendly state” by the World Health Organisation and the United Nations International Children’s Fund. The distinction has been conferred on the state, which already boasts of being the number one in total literacy and health care in the country, on the basis of certain socio-economic indicators for quality life. A country or a state can be declared baby-friendly if more than 80 per cent of its maternity hospitals have features like a written breast-feeding policy, proper staff training and creation of a breast-feeding-friendly attitude in parents. A WHO-UNICEF team, which had evaluated Kerala’s maternity hospitals and found them to be the “best baby-friendly hospitals” in the world, liberally showered praise on the state: “Kerala’s high level of literacy, good health care system, gender quality and the state’s high regard for the children’s rights were the excellent qualities that contributed to granting it the baby-friendly status”. While the international honour for the state is a matter of pride and jubilation for all Indians, it is also an occasion for self-introspection by the other states and the Union Territories as to where they stand in meeting the education and health needs of the people in general and the children in particular. Why can’t Kerala’s success story be replicated in the other states?

The reasons for the rest of India not being able to emulate the achievement of a small and not-so-rich-state like Kerala are obvious. The foremost is the lack of vision and awareness on the part of the politico-bureaucratic leadership in the other states. What a few far-sighted individuals have achieved in Kerala has not inspired those in power elsewhere. They have other priorities. Also missing is serious non-governmental effort aimed at eradicating illiteracy and disease. In rural India, primary health care facilities are either woefully inadequate or non-existent. The plight of government-run hospitals is sickening. That helps quacks to flourish and exploit people. The cost of quality treatment in private clinics, hospitals and nursing homes in cities is prohibitive. Leave aside poorer states like Bihar, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and UP, where lack of resources coupled with lack of political will deny the people an easy access to education and health care, states like Punjab and Haryana, which excel in terms of per capita income, have seldom made serious efforts at achieving hundred per cent literacy and a disease-free society. Instead of being baby-friendly, Punjabis have earned the notoriety for being female baby-killers. Although education is necessary for improving the quality of life, in urban India where the literacy rate is comparatively better, not many educated couples realise the benefits of breast-feeding and babies are turned away to the bottle as soon as possible. Children of working parents growing up in creches and returning from school to a locked-up home are denied their rights to parental care and affection. Over all, just as parents neglect the emotional and physical needs of babies, the state governments fail to provide adequately for the educational and health needs of the people, particularly those in the lower strata of society and living away from cities. There is a clear lesson to learn from Kerala.

OPINION

Growing madarsa menace
Factors behind their popularity
V.N. Datta

OF late the madarsas in India and Pakistan have become a focus of serious attention and controversy. About two months ago the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, had warned that he was going to take drastic administrative measures for curbing the activities of madarsas on the eastern border of the state that were promoting religious fundamentalism. But a strong pressure on him from his own political party desisted him from taking any such action on the ground that a measure of this kind would hurt the susceptibilities of Muslims, and lose their electorate support for the Communist Party.

The Federal Government of Pakistan under the direction of President Pervez Musharraf promulgated the Madrassas Ordinance on June 7, 2002, providing the Islamic education with general education in madarsas. According to the ordinance all the madarsas will have to be registered, and only the registered madarsas will be eligible to receive financial donation or any of the benefits from the Federal or Provincial Governments. Some of the madarsas have been giving military training and encouraging religiously fanatical tendencies. The object of the Ordinance is to curb such activities which are inimical to the interests of the state. Further, the Ordinance makes it incumbent on the madarsas to incorporate in their syllabi modern subjects such as English, science, mathematics and Urdu so that the students, if they desire, could take up professional education.

Three questions are important. First, the genesis of madarsas, second, the type of education imparted in them, and third the consequences that flow from their performance. The word madarsa is derived from Dars meaning teaching, and thus madarsa is an institution where students are taught and given lessons. Originally, the madarsa system of education was formulated in the 11th century Baghdad, the capital of Iraq under the patronage of Nizam ul Malk Tusi. In these schools logic, astronomy, mathematics and state affairs were taught but with the passage of time these institutions could not keep pace with the changing times.

In India the madarsa system of education is modelled on Dars-i-Nizamia which was formulated in the times of Emperor Aurangzeb. According to this system, the main focus of studies was on the Quran, the Hadis and fiqah. Other subjects included were arithmetic, Ptolemy’s astronomy and physics. The main object of the madarsa system was to turn out accomplished maulvis who possess the logical finesse of the medieval schoolmen. A product of strict theological scholasticism, this group of maulvis trained to produce religious functionaries in order to serve the needs of society was exclusive and rigid and knew not but a small portion of the world and lacked breadth and sweep of vision. They sought things in words and reproduced religious texts with unquestioning truth and stuck to it in blind faith. Their minds were used to receiving opinions from authority, and usually they set manners over matters.

Besides these madarsas which were set up mainly for religious purpose there were quite a number of government schools, separate Islamic and other secular institutions for Muslim education. Such a fairly comprehensive system of education worked fairly well until 1930s when the Hindu and Muslim relations turned sour and a spirit of separatism began to grow in the Muslim community.

With the growing popularity of the Muslim League and its demand for Pakistan in the 40s of the last century the Muslim students in educational institutions began to drift from the national mainstream and a number of them made it their sacred duty to work fervently for the Muslim League success during the 1946 elections. The partition of the country created more problems for the Muslims than resolved them. They were divided, and those who stayed in India due to the changing political situation began to look gradually to the madarsas for safeguarding their cultural identity.

General Musharraf’s promulgation of the Ordinance in the teeth of opposition indicates that the madarsa system of education is highly injurious to the academic and political interests of Pakistan. In 1947 there were 250 religious seminaries in Pakistan but at present the strength of Deni Madaris students belonging to poor income groups is around one million receiving education in about 35-40 thousand Madaris of which the half of these are in Punjab. The Pakistan government has blacklisted 115 madaris involved in terrorist activities. Due to the impact of the Afghan war which gave Pakistan a deluge of weapons, the madarsas have become a nursery of religious fanaticism and hatred.

According to a survey conducted by Dr Qamardi, Director of Hamdard Education Society, New Delhi, there are 576 madarsas in India of which 38 are for girls. The average salary paid for the teacher is less than Rs 2000. According to this study there is no perceptible change noticeable in modernising the syllabi which still follow strictly the traditional orthodox line. Dr Salamulah of Jamia Millia Islamia in his study of Muslim education has shown that the madarsa education is totally inadequate and normally does not go beyond theological studies focusing on the Quran and modernity is a far cry. Kuldip Kaur of the Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Department, Chandigarh, has come to the same conclusion in her comprehensive book on madarsas by emphasising that the madarsa education is ultraconservative.

Why is there a proliferation of madarsas in the country and why the Muslims are averse to taking to modernity? The majority of the students studying in madarsas come from an economically poor background and cannot afford to join public schools and other institutions. After 1947 the study of Urdu was eliminated from the syllabi in secular institutions. There are 20 million Urdu speaking people in UP but there is not one single Urdu primary school. In 1991 there were 4.3 crore (43.7 million) Urdu speaking people in the country but the facilities provided for studying Urdu were meagre. There are no Urdu media teaching schools in the country except in Chennai.

In the absence of facilities for the study of Urdu in secular schools, the only alternative left for Muslim students to study it is to seek enrolment in madarsas. It is also strongly felt that in madarsas alone the students can be made aware of their rich Islamic religious and cultural tradition of which they are ignorant. The assumption is that the madarsa type of education would act as a moral and intellectual stimulus on the rising generation of students. The basic reason for the growing popularity of madarsas is economic and cultural. In other words, it is the fear of losing their separate cultural identity that draws Muslims to madarsas.

Since the times of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, the spiritual father of Muslim Renaissance in India, there has been a concerted Muslim effort to modernise the traditional educational system but between the intentions and actual accomplishment there has existed a wide gap. Maulana Azad, the first Education Minister after Independence, and himself a profound scholar of Islam, made desperate effort by involving the reputed clerics in improving the education system but in vain.

The general view that now prevails both in India and Pakistan is that the madarsas are the nurseries of religious fanaticism, completely out of touch with the intellectual currents of the world outside, and produce religious bigots degenerated by narrow, obscurantist and fanatical ideology who by using violence perpetrate the most horrendous crimes against humanity.

The avenging force of fact is that we are confronted in the country with the growing threat of religious fanaticism (of course, this is not to deny the threat of Hindu fanaticism), and this challenge has to be met not by pious speeches and resolutions. There is an urgent need for positive action. Time and tides wait for none. Opportunities lost once are lost for ever. Let us face the reality of the situation and meet the challenge.

The Pakistan government has made the regulation of madarsas mandatory. It has also taken steps to modernise the system of madarsa education, and for this purpose, the government has earmarked Rs 13 billion, though allocating Rs 200 million in the current budget. The government has made it clear that no foreign students would be admitted in the madarsas directly without a prior clearance from the government and that all foreign funding to the madarsas would be routed through the government.

I think that in India it is the responsibility of the government to allot a generous financial fund to the madarsa and guarantee their autonomy but it must be made incumbent on them to submit their annual reports and account to the government for close scrutiny. The madarsas should no longer remain isolated islands and their windows must remain open to allow them to refreshen the sagging energies sapped by traditional, narrow and routine type of instruction and make the students play their role as equal citizens in the participatory democracy.

The difficulties in enforcing improvements in the quality of Muslim education are greater in India than in Pakistan because the Muslims constitute in India a minority and not a majority as in Pakistan. Therefore, any action taken for quickening the process of modernisation is likely to be suspect in Muslim eyes and condemned outright as an infringement of their legitimate rights which they are entitled to claim as a minority. Therefore whatever action has to be taken must be proceeded with utmost care and deliberation. It must be emphasised that no institutional improvement is possible by imposition from outside; the springs for its working up are to be found from within. The first task is to rally an enlightened Muslim opinion by enlisting wide Muslim support for modernising the madarsas. Further in this task the cooperation of Muslim clerics is needed by emphasising that by modernising the madarsas many of the disadvantages from which the Muslims suffer for their backwardness would be removed.

The Muslim demand for providing adequate facilities for the study of Urdu must receive urgent attention, and immediate steps to be taken to build an infrastructure for it. The canard propagated that Urdu is a foreign language is absurd. The Urdu language is one of the finest symbols of Hindu-Muslim culture. It is unfortunate that this beautiful language nourished and sustained by the joint efforts of Hindus and Muslims has become a victim of petty politics and is allowed to remain a mere relic of the past.

There is a vital need for a radical restructuring of the syllabi in madarsas. Along with the Islamic religious texts, the study of modern subjects like mathematics, sciences, English and vocational courses be made compulsory. Only well-qualified trained teachers should be appointed for the madarsas through properly constituted selection committee aided by experts for difficult disciplines.

No reform in education and more so in the madarsas (which is a sensitive issue) is possible without political will. Little minds facing big issues go ill together. A firm leadership endowed with vision is needed to rid the country of many evils that hamper the progress of the country.

ON RECORD

It is a fight for principles: Shinde
Prashant Sood
Tribune News Service

THE only Dalit MP in the Congress to have won from a general seat, Mr Sushil Kumar Shinde ( 61) had been a minister in Maharashtra for 18 years before he was given organisational responsibilities by the Congress in 1992. Having lost his father at an early age, Mr Shinde started working as a boy-peon at the age of 15 and continued his studies to earn a law degree. He joined the State police as a Sub-inspector in 1965 and resigned in 1971 (after consulting Julio Riberio) to contest the assembly polls. He made his foray in electoral politics in 1974 and was continuously elected to the Maharashtra Assembly five times. Mr Shinde, who now represents Solapur in the Lok Sabha, feels that India’s secular and democratic values provide the poor and the weak a chance to make their cherished contribution to society. He says that the contest for the post of Vice-President is a fight for principles between THE forces espousing fundamentalism and those standing for secularism. Excerpts from an interview:

Q: Why have you accepted the losing proposition of being the Opposition candidate in the election for the office of Vice-President?

In democracy one should not think only in terms of winning and losing. This is a fight for principles.

It is a fight of secularism versus fundamentalism. But I would say that when you enter the fray, when you are on the war ground, you are not there for losing. The Congress did not put up a candidate in the contest for the post of President though the Left did contest the post. Had the NDA put up a candidate acceptable to the Opposition in the case of the office of Vice-President also, there would not have been a contest. The Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister are both men from the cadre (RSS). The post of Vice-President should not go to a person from the Sangh Parivar.

Q: Is it possible for you to garner support from certain sections of the BJP-led NDA? I am getting support from independents and some groups. I have appealed to all MPs the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister to vote for the country’s need. During the past six months, the BJP-led government has taken the country in one direction. I think our Constitution has, very rightly, shown the path of secularism, democracy and fraternity.

Q: What is the one direction you are referring to? Fundamentalism. See what happened in Gujarat.

Q: How do you compare yourself to NDA nominee Bhairon Singh Shekhawat?

My party and the Opposition are backing me. Considering my past and my service to the nation, the voters will judge. Mr Shekhawat has not put any argument. I have been talking of secularism, Constitution and oneness.

Q: After being in active politics for so long, how do you feel contesting for a post which is largely ornamental?

This is also an honour that the entire Opposition has supported me for the cause of fighting fundamentalism. It is not a question of contesting an ornamental or decorative post. This election will certainly prove where the country is going.

Q: You have not been given a senior position in the party for quite some time. Is your candidature some sort of rehabilitation?

I am still a member of the Congress Central Election Committee. I have been a member of the Congress Working Committee for seven years and also a general secretary. I contested from a general seat in Solapur in 1998 and snatched it from the BJP. In 1999, I again won the seat in a triangular contest. I don’t think my candidature is a rehabilitation. My leader has full faith in me.

Q: Are you banking on the conscience vote of some of the constituents of the NDA. Have you approached them?

In fact I have appealed to the MPs to vote according to their conscience. On the day I filed my nomination papers I urged them to vote according to the voice of their inner mind to see that the country is governed according to the path shown by the Constitution. I am meeting the MPs individually. I am also meeting the chiefs of various political parties.

Q: What in your opinion are the main issues in the contest for the post of Vice-President?

It is a constitutional position. Why should the BJP-led NDA put up a candidate of this nature. That is why the contest is taking place. If they had put up a more acceptable candidate, there could have been a consensus. Because of the past affiliations of the NDA candidate, the Opposition felt the need to contest the poll.

Q: Has your belonging to the SC community been an influencing factor in your selection as a candidate?

Though the caste is one with me it is my desire that a man who rises above the caste should be a leader of all. That’s why I decided to contest from a general seat and have been elected twice.

Q: What in your opinion is the main stumbling block in the uplift of the SCs and the STs?

There are many issues. Many have been dealt with by the Congress governments during the last 50 years. Some governments have acted under pressure and not from the heart. We are also not beggars. So far we got the concessions given to the downtrodden but a stage has come when we are ourselves throwing away reservations. There are several problems relating to land, drinking water, education, employment that plague the weaker sections but it is not related to this election.

Q: Do you see the prospect of cross-voting, specially from those belonging to weaker sections in the Vice-Presidential poll?

There are several possibilities. I can get support from unexpected quarters. Their leaders can help me. They have seen my work in Maharashtra and the country.

Q: The Forum of SC\ST MPs had met the Prime Minister during the run-up to the presidential poll.

Members of the SC\ST Forum comprising 126 MPs met Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee before the election process for President began requesting him that one of the top two posts should go to the weaker sections.

Q: Your nomination as a candidate for the Vice-Presidential poll has brought together a divided Opposition. Is it a symbolic fight?

No, it is not a symbolic fight. We are preparing with full force for the electoral battle. The elections would be decisive in indicating the future direction of the polity.

Q: In case you are elected, what will your priorities be?

If I am elected it will give a strong message. It will be a big opportunity to serve the country. The main tasks of the Vice-President is to run the Upper House and serve as a Deputy to the President.

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

God hath preordained five things on his servants; the duration of their life, their actions, their dwelling places, their travels and their portions.

— The Teachings of Mohammed as given in the traditions handed down by al-Bukhari

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Raghunatha embraced all the queens and consoled them saying: “Mother, the world is controlled by the will of God. There is no one to blame”.

— Shri Ramacharitamanasa, Ayodhya Kanda

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On one occasion Mohammed asked a man if he was married, and being answered in the negative, he said, ‘Art thou sound and healthy?’

Upon the man replying that he was, Mohammed said, ‘Then thou art one of the brothers of the devil.’

— Mishkat book

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The best wedding is that upon which the least trouble and expense is bestowed.

The worst of feasts are marriage feasts to which the rich are invited and the poor left out, and he who abandons the acceptation of an invitation, then verily disobeys God and His Prophet.

Matrimonial alliances increase friendship more than anything else.

All young men who have arrived at the age of puberty should marry, for marriage prevents sins. He who cannot marry should fast.

When a Muslim marries he perfects half his religion, and he should practise abstinence for the remaining half.

— Sayings of Mohammed

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All the Bibles can do little good unless wives and husbands undertake to be each other’s saviours or Christs.

It is marriage which is based on spiritual union, which takes no account of the colour of the face or the beauty of countenance or form, but sees the divinity within, that is the only safe and abiding one. That only can bring happiness and joy.

— Swami Ramatirtha