Can Indian Secularism Tolerate Beef & Pork?

Securalism in India has been considered to be an inclusive one. It is the kind that does not try to kick all the gods upstair so that the citizens could have a godless polity; but  it is rather the kind that attempts to accomodate all the gods into the system. In a premier institution, Jawaharlal Nehru University, a group of students who called themselves The New Materialists plans to organise a beef and pork festival in the campus on the 28th of September. The plan has been opposed by Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal etc., all belonging to the Hindutva camp. 

Hindus do not eat beef -- or are not supposed to eat it. And Muslims are not to eat pork. Yet a large section of the Indian population are neither Hindu nor Muslim. And among this crowd a large number enjoys eating beef and pork. So whose right is being deprived of when such a controversy surfaces: those who find eating such meat offensive or those who are refused permission to eat such meat openly? The issue is not unrelated to the BJP's agenda, on and off though, that it would seek to ban cow killing all over the country. This would mean that no one would be allowed to eat beef. If ever BJP happens to take up such a Bill in the Parliament  I would not be surprised if some politicians from Kashmir or Nagaland or Mizoram or Meghalaya etc say that they would prefer that India splits into pieces than give up beef once and for all! 

As more and more people try to assert their rights, I believe this tension will get louder. One's food habit or one's religious belief is very close to each party. And I don't think hiding the controversy under the political carpet would help Indian democracy. People must debate about how custom and polity must take shape... and debate in a civil way. And in this regard I first want to hear from the defender of the cows and pigs why they think such animals are precious so much so that its worth depriving some people of exercising their age old food habit in public.

How to Process JRF in Delhi University

This is written mainly for those scholars who are new to Delhi University and who may not have many friends who may be able to guide them in processing JRF. I am in the Philosophy Department; and unless one is the Science dept the process may be the same. I faced some hardship in processing the JRF due to ignorance; and so it was after seven months of having registered that I began to enjoy the Fellowship.

Once you get registered for M.Phil/Ph.D, get your ID card made and an SBI Bank account opened, if you don't have one. Then go to the Scholarship Cell with your JRF award letter from the University Grant Commission. The Scholarship Cell is situated in second floor of the the Tagore Hall. (If you don't know Tagore Hall, ask anyone loitering near the Central Library where it is.) The Scholarship Cell would provide you a form to fill and to submit it to them along with certain documents like fee slip, JRF award letter from UGC etc. Once you have filled the form and attached the documents, get yourself a xeroxed copy of each document for future reference. Keep the xeroxed copies with you, and submit to the Scholarship Cell the form and the attached documents. Then wait for few weeks. ( You can also run around to open an SBI Bank account during this time when you wait for the letter from the Scholarship Cell so that you save time.)

After few weeks you are supposed to get a letter from the Asst Registrar of the Scholarship Cell. This 'award letter' will be sent to the HOD of your department and also to the Section Officer of Finance Branch-X, Delhi University. Take this letter of yours to the Finance Branch-X, which is located on the third floor of the New Administrative Block, near the Dean Office. They will then give you a form to be filled, which you would have to write your SBI Bank account number, besides other details. If you stay in a rented room like me, you can get a form from the Book Section, which is located on the ground floor, near the Canteen. Take these two forms and get your Supervisor and HOD signed, wherever they are to sign, and submit it to the Finance Branch-X, along with certain documents which they would tell you. Before you submit these forms, don't forget to take a photocopy of each document for your future reference. 

Once you've submitted these forms, the money would come into your account into two-three weeks time.

Is Taxing the Rich to Give to the Poor Fair?

The libertarians have the idea that the right to liberty is fundamental to each of us and so governments' enforcement of law should be minimal as far as possible. Only in those areas such as maintaining the social contract, protecting private property from theft etc should be within the purview of government's law. It is because of this sense of right to liberty that they believe in a meritocratic idea of social system. Meritocratic sense of social system is the idea that distribution of goods and opportunities in society should be based on merits and individual capability. Government then is not supposed to tax the rich to give to the poor; there should not be SC/ST quota, government also should not legislate moral conviction of the majority and impose it on all the members of the society etc. The notion of freedom of the person thus poses as a key feature for the libertarians.

John Rawls has an argument against this form of idea. He argues that those who are rich and talented are so not solely because of their doings. If Amir Khan is making so much money as an actor, it is because he is born into an era where people have developed technonoly to make and market films. And this technological development is not really his doing; he just happens to be lucky enough to be born in this generation. If Rahul Gandhi is powerful and rich, it is not really his doing; He happened to be born into such a family that is powerful and rich. Amir Khan or Rahul Gandhi cannot claim that their status is solely because of their hard work. Since luck/contingent factor had played a role in their rise, they must not keep the fruit of their status only for themselves. Or for example, if one is born into a slum and therefore she has no access to education for which she is now at the bottom of the social ladder, it is not her doing; she did not choose to be born into such social circumstances. So she cannot really be "blamed" for the condition she got into.  Had all these people been born some 1000 years earlier in some other parts of the world, their situation would have been so different. Therefore, the less fortunate ones need to be 'compensated'.

Some people are more talented than others. Some are born with certain deformity. Considering these factors should everybody start at the same line to run the race of life? If unlucky ones are not compensated, they will forever remain at the lowest rung of the social ladder. Libertarians may reply “well, that's life”.

Envy and jealousy are natural propensity of human nature. Unless checked or rectified, wider social gap can engender stronger jealousy. Since natural resources are not unlimited, if the more talented and so richer and so powerful ones own too much, leaving aside nothing much for the less fortunate ones in the lottery of life, jealousy and anger will take over and social system will crumble. If the social contract is keeping some people at the lowest rung of the social ladder, what incentive is there to prevent them for taking everybody to the state of nature where there is no law and everybody is on his/her own?

So my is that imposing reasonable amount of tax on the rich that may result in giving subsidy to the poor is fair and just; society would be worse off without such taxation.

NB: I find the libertarians idea against moral legislation unsatisfying. Can human moral sentiment take anything that comes about? I think not. If state's legislation of moral conviction is not to be practised one has to allow consensual polygamy. What about suicide or selling of one's organ like kidney or an eye? What about consensual cannibalism? Are you okay about a person giving himself to be eaten by another person? ( This incident really took place in Germany in 2001.) I believe humans are morally hardwired and goal-directed being. Doing away these traits in the name of freedom will make human less human.

Ripple Effect of Bodo-Muslim Conflict in Assam!

Some 77 people have died in the recent Bodo-Muslim conflict in Assam. The Muslims who have died are believed to be illegal migrants from Bangladesh. I have no idea what must be done to address the reason for the conflict once and for all. But I do not want bloodshed to continue. And what is unfortunate is that the conflict seems to be spreading to other parts of the country.

It is important to know that entire North East is not just Assam. There are eight states in the North East ( i.e including Sikkim). The conflict between Bodo-Muslim is confined to Assam alone. What is happening in Burma is again different. There are many indigenous Muslims (around 100,000!) in Manipur, the state I come from. Attacking people from the North East, say the Nagas & Manipuris, as a revenge for the Bodo-Muslim conflict in Assam  or Buddhist- Muslim  conflict in Burma is not a wise thing to do. You cannot attack any person from South India just because, say, there is a conflict between Hindus and Muslims in Kerala or Karnataka.

Won't it be more appropriate to show solidarity with the fellow Muslims by providing the affected people shelter or clothes? That I think would be more in line with the Islamic teaching. Or perhaps helping the Muslims to have better infrastructure there in Bangladesh itself will be more helpful to the Muslims as well as to others. Random attack on North East people or creating a riot like scenario would not help the cause of Islam. It will rather result in creating bad impression of Islam.

21/8/12

The way the NE people fled Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad etc  indicate that they do not really feel fully secure outside of their states. It was not just rumours but real attacks though sporadic have taken place. The Central govt as well as state governments and many local people promised help to the NE people in such they receive threats. Such assurances did not help much. This indicates that the people did not really feel secure. I won't want to criticise the NE people for feeling insecure. I think people should feel sorry for their insecurity rather than criticising them for feeling insecure easily.

But the incident also bring out something very important for India's security. And if India wants to prevent such kind of things in future, connecting NE with the rest of the country better is the key to solving the predicament. For many parents in the NE when their children have gone to study "in India", they have gone out into the unknown part of the world. All this exodus would not have been this way had Nehru not systematically kept NE as buffer zone. If the parents in this region can think about their child going for study like those parents in Punjab who would have sent their child to study in Bangalore, such exodus would not have arisen.  Well, let bygones be bygones. Can the Govt do something more concrete for the NE states now? To proof that it is doing something we want to see that political instability in the region is being sorted out in the region first. And to sort our the political conundrum, I suggest that the political right of each ethnic group/community should be given due recognition/respect. Stop using 'political jugaar' as a quick fix solution. As long as right of a community/ethnic group is undermined, courtesy 'political jugaar', this conundrum will emerge over and over again. 

Interview of Tim Keller

Sophia is Born

On 2nd August, 2012, around 2330 hours Savita woke me up saying she's getting the pain. We just waited for a while to examine if the pain would progress. Few days back we had gone to the hospital thinking the labour pain was there. After a day stay we returned. We experienced similar false alarm with Daniel too. But with Sophia we felt that this was it because Savita said the pain lingered. The test later showed that the pain was real, but it was not progressive one.  And this time we wanted to make sure that the pain was real before we rushed to the hospital. At 0012 hours, on 3rd Aug, we got into the car and headed to the hospital. The road was fairly empty by then and we reached the hospital without any problem. Thank God! Two hours later she was wheeled to the labour room. 

On the 2nd floor of the Wards, I slept on the floor. I had just a sheet to put it on the floor. Even with Daniel, it was the case. For the pillow I put my sandals, and spread the sheet over them; then I put a small bag which contained my dairy, and finally a towel. That was my bed that night. When Daniel was taken to the same hospital almost two years back due to false alarm, I slept on the bare floor. This lesson about where to sleep and what all things are to be taken for the night are somethings that first time fathers need to keep in mind. 

At 7 am when it was time for visitors to go in to meet the patients, one sister called my name. As I reached the door, the doctor said, "your family is now complete. I had the privilege to help in the delivery process of the first child as well. Your wife is fine and so is the child. Go in". "Thank you", I said, and entered the room. There the sister led me to Savita's room. She was there... cheerful in spite of the a very painful moment she's just experienced.

The doctor in the hospital said we could go back home soon. So on 5th we came back home. Few days before the delivery, I had already purchased a tricycle for Daniel. So when Sophia arrived home, she presented the tricycle to Daniel. Daniel was happy to get the gift from the new member of the family. Daniel did not envy Sophia getting attention of his parents. Perhaps this little gift from Sophia at the time of her arrival eased the process. We also take proper precaution to see that Daniel is never neglected. Now Daniel is very happy that Sophia is around. He kissed her and wanted to lie down beside her. We are thankful to God that He has given us two wonderful children. It is also the prayer of the parents that the two siblings will continue to love and support one another till the end.