‘He wants to kill us’ – Gazans fear for the worst as Trump severes aid to Palestinian refugees

January 19, 2018

The Trump administration informed the United Nations yesterday it would cut aid for Palestinian refugees by more than half, withholding $65 million in funds. The announcement was made by an official with the State Department who said “It is time other countries, some of them quite wealthy, step in and do their part to advance regional security and stability.”

Palestinian refugees pick up aid from a United Nations depot in the Gaza Strip. (Photo: Mohammed Asad)

For Halima Abu Hendi, 40, a Palestinian living in the Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, Trump’s steep cut could mean that her pantry will be empty next month. Halima survives off of food assistance from by the United Nations Refugee Works Agency (UNRWA) that comes in the form of parcels she picks up from a distribution center every 90 days. At the moment, her stock is already running low, with under a pound of chickpeas, sugar, and rice, and nearly out of milk powder to feed her husband and herself, and their seven children.

“We rely on chickpea to prepare Falafel for the three daily meals, and could replace it with sweetened noodles or canned tuna,” Halima said, explaining the UNRWA staples fill up 90 percent of her family’s diet.

Halima and her husband Abdul Baset Abu Hendi, 44, were both born in Jabalia camp.

Halima Abu Hendi. (Photo: Mohammed Asad)

Abdul Baset Abu Hendi. (Photo: Mohammed Asad)

Palestinian children sit on steps in Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. (Photo: Mohammed Asad)

Last year the U.S. contributed $368 million to UNRWA, of which over $100 million went to services in Syria. The move to cut aid takes place amid enormous pressure on Palestinian leaders to accept the U.S.’s recent recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and to continue discussing the prospects of a U.S. brokered peace deal.

UNRWA provides services to 5.3 million Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. The refugees in Gaza live in eight UNRWA run camps, constitute 70 percent of the local population of nearly 2 million.

Yet in recent weeks UNRWA has become under review by the Trump administration as it eyes options to pressure the Palestinian leadership to work with the U.S. envoy for Middle East peace.

“[W]e pay the Palestinians HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect,” President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter while most of the Middle East was sleeping two weeks ago. “With the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace,” he added, “why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?”

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu followed suit last week. He told his cabinet, “UNRWA is an organization that perpetuates the Palestinian refugee problem,” and “It also perpetuates the narrative of the right of return, as it were, in order to eliminate the State of Israel; therefore, UNRWA needs to pass from the world.”

Back in Jabalia, Abdul Baset, does not expect he can make up the coming food shortages. Although he is a tailor, Abdul Baset says he has not sewed for months. Gaza’s economy is depressed and unemployment is a staggering 42 percent, the highest in the world.

“I use my UN ID card to receive canned tuna, frying oil, flour… .The aroma of sweetened noodles and fried falafel. Refilling the pantry is a festive moment for my family,” he told Mondoweiss days before the Trump administration made the announcement to hold the UN funds. At that time, the couple said most of their updates on the flow of UN goods came from casual conversations, which had turned worrisome in recent days.

“We do not know anything. Concern is endless and the feeling has taken control over this camp. It is in our daily conversations with neighbors who meet each day and night by our front doors,” Halima said

Aside from food aid, many Palestinians relay entirely on UNRWA’s health services. The UN runs nearly 200 health clinics for Palestinian refugees. UNRWA provides services for more than nine million patients visits at health care facilities in the region.

Mariam Oraif. (Photo: Mohammed Asad)

In Western Gaza City, Mariam Oraif, 74, waits at an UNRWA’s health center to pick up her insulin and get weekly treatment. Aside from diabetes she has high blood pressure. Mariam was not aware of the then impending cuts to UNRWA. When asked what she will do if this clinic is no longer able to provide her with medication, Mariam said of Trump, “He wants to kill us.”

“I can barely buy a 5 Shekel ($1.4) Paracetamol tablets. What should I do if I am forced to buy these free drugs from a pharmacy? Are you kidding me? I’m talking about $80, I never had such cash in my wallet,” she continued.

Wijdan Dahman, 28, was in the same clinic. Her infant was getting the Polio vaccine. She too was surprised to learn of the coming U.S. funding cut.

“Is this two-month-old infant politically involved?” Wijdan asked, “Do they want a disabled or sick generation, is it not enough to be a refugee in camps?, why should such baby pay the price for this foolish policy?”

Wijdan Dahman (R) carries her baby into a United Nations medical clinic in the Gaza Strip. (Photo: Mohammed Asad)

Sufian al-Wadiya. (Photo: Mohammed Asad)

Near the parking leading to the clinic, Sufian al-Wadiya, 38, a municipal employee, said “Stopping UNRWA’s services is more dangerous than launching a war jets and tanks.”

If Trump reduces aid to Palestinian refugees, Sufian said “it would be a war against patients and schoolchildren who will turn into thieves.”

More than 500,000 Palestinian children are enrolled in 700 UNRWA schools across the region.

Nadia Abu Ta’ima, a teacher at an UNRWA school in Gaza, and student Hanan. (Photo: Mohammed Asad)

In front of the UNRWA headquarters in Gaza, teacher Nadia Abu Ta’ima and her pupil, Hanan, 9, protested ahead of the Trump administration’s announcement. Nadia was among dozens of educators demanding pay increases.

Hanan carried a banner: “Miss Nadia must get a fixed-term contract.”

“Can you imagine the feeling of being a teacher who instructs around 50 pupils in one classroom and you might get a call one day that you no longer will come into school anymore?” Nadia said.

Hanan chimed in, “I do not understand why they might want fire miss Nadia. Is UNRWA bankrupted? My friends and I can collect money to pay our teacher.”

UNRWA was established in 1949 to provide aid in the wake of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, which left hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced in the Middle East. UNRWA was initially intended to be a temporary agency, but it has continued to provide support for Palestinian refugees for the better part of 60 years.

Living through the horrors of genocide: humanitarian workers in Rwanda

January 19, 2018

They are on the frontlines of any major conflict or disaster – but how much is known about the daily experiences of humanitarian workers in these extreme situations? In their new book, Génocide et crimes de masse. L’expérience rwandaise de MSF (“Humanitarian Aid, Genocide and Mass Killings: Médecins sans frontières, the Rwandan experience, 1982-97”), Marc Le Pape and Jean-Hervé Bradol set out to answer some of these questions. The book is also informed by Bradol’s experience of working for Médecins Sans Frontières in Rwanda during the genocide. Here, they discuss their findings.

The genocide memorial in Kigali. Humanitarian workers in Rwanda had to deal daily with the horrors of war. Trocaire/Flickr, CC BY-ND

You investigated humanitarian operations in the Great Lakes region between 1990 and 1997. This was a period of extreme violence against Rwandophone populations. You specifically looked at the records of Doctors Without Borders in Paris. What did you hope to learn?
Marc Le Pape: The actual day-to-day work of humanitarian teams in situations of extreme violence is generally little known and understood. That’s why our investigations focussed on messages from the field, while most studies are far more concerned about getting the macro-political or macro-humanitarian picture. Taking a “micro” perspective meant we could observe the long-term evolution of operations: how, and with whom, did teams need to negotiate to launch and maintain operations?

So we looked at how these teams got information and communicated with political and military authorities, various local authorities, UN agencies in the Great Lakes region, local and international NGOs, religious leaders and people at emergency sites, in medical facilities and camps.
We also looked at the relationship between the field of operations, national capitals and the various Doctors Without Borders head offices. We tracked field accounts transmitted up the chain of command, how the organisation’s head offices reacted to the stories of violence, intimidation and prohibitions, and the way these were then framed and talked about publicly.

For example we examined all the documents, from internal alerts to public statements, demonstrating the gradual realisation of humanitarian workers in Rwanda in 1994 that they were witnessing the systematic, organised extermination of the Tutsi people.

Did humanitarian workers witness extreme violence?
Jean‑Hervé Bradol: It’s shocking to see, from 1994 onwards, the extent to which humanitarian workers became regular eyewitnesses to violence, murder and large-scale massacres. It is generally rare for humanitarian workers to witness these kinds of events. They typically work at a distance from mass killing sites and the perpetrators remain largely anonymous. This was not the case in Rwanda.

The situation in April 1994 was extreme and basically unprecedented, at least for Doctors Without Borders. Humanitarian workers where present when the decision was made as to who would die and who would be spared. Some Rwandan staff members were among the victims. Others were complicit, or even participated in these crimes.

Can you give a few examples of the violent situations Doctors Without Borders workers witnessed and what kind of lessons were learned – or not?
Jean‑Hervé Bradol: In April 1994 I was working in Kigali. In the first few days following the assassination of former president Juvénal Habyarimana, we braced ourselves for a massive eruption of violence. We thought there would be reprisals against the Tutsi, but never imagined that the order would be to “kill them all”.

Our team quickly realised that, at least in Kigali, the extermination of the Tutsi did not arise from chaos; instead, it was organised. Others also rapidly grasped the situation, in particular the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross delegation. It was awful. We knew the army was providing arms to the militia groups manning the road blocks. This made it extremely dangerous to evacuate wounded Tutsi adults to the Red Cross hospital: when they were caught, they were executed.

Later, Doctors Without Borders workers also witnessed first-hand the horror of the prisons in Rwanda. Between September 1994 and May 1995, they worked in Gitarama, where 3,000 prisoners were incarcerated in a complex built for 400 detainees. Some 800 prisoners died during this period. These people were arrested based solely on hearsay. We were their doctors, so we could not escape the realities of the new regime’s policy and the crimes committed by the former rebels.

Among other shocking crimes committed by the new authorities was the Kibeho massacre in April 1995. The new Rwandan (formerly rebel) army killed several thousand people in an internally displaced persons refugee camp in front of a Doctors Without Borders medical team. People convinced themselves that one mass crime, the Tutsi genocide, could hide other mass crimes committed by the new government.

As a sociologist, did you learn things that you had not realised were important to aid NGOs?
Marc Le Pape: I learnt the extraordinary importance of counting populations: the numbers of people in camps and on the run, of victims and of people being treated.

Conducting frequent counts is of course crucial for humanitarian organisations, especially when they need to know how many supplies to bring to the field. In the case of emergency NGOs, counts are also politically important to back up first-hand accounts, ensure that the murders they have witnessed are documented, and oppose competing statements that claim to be based on figures.

This interview is published as part of the work of the “Violence and exiting violence” platform (Foundation Maison des sciences de l’homme), of which The Conversation France is a partner. It was translated from the French by Alice Heathwood for Fast for Word.

Marc Le Pape, sociologue (Institut des mondes africains), École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) and Jean-Hervé Bradol, Médecin, Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme (FMSH) – USPC

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Bangladesh: What are madrasa students actually learning?

January 19, 2018

The fourth part of a six-part series which takes an in-depth look inside Bangladesh’s madrasa education system

What are madrasa students actually learning?

Photo: Mahmud Hossain Opu/Dhaka Tribune

The main goal of the two major types of madrasa education in Bangladesh – Qawmi and Alia – is to make the students proficient in Islamic history, religion, heritage, culture, language and customs.

In the Qawmi madrasa education system, which has the larger number of students in the country, the sole focus is learning about the religion. As a result, they do not develop any critical thinking skills and are unable to enrol further into highly specialized subjects such as medicine, science and engineering for masters degree.

The Alia madrasa education system was introduced to produce skilled graduates by providing a unified education with religious knowledge. In 1987, humanities and science were introduced in their curriculum.

At the graduate and post-graduate levels, Alia madrasa students are taught specialized subjects such as Arabic literature, Hadith and the Quran.

What is in the Qawmi syllabus?

The Qawmi madrasa education system has six levels. The pre-primary level is called Maktab Hefzul Quran where children learn to recite and memorize the Quran.

The second level, Ebtedayee, is primary schooling where children are taught to read and write in Arabic, Urdu and Persian. They are also taught Bangla, English and mathematics briefly.

After 10 years of learning, the students sit for the Mutawassitah (SSC) examination and then the HSC level exams.

The students who complete these two stages learn about the Quran and read accompanying explanations such as the Hadith, Islamic law, Islamic philosophy and Islamic history.

They also read Arabic, Persian and Urdu classics, according to “Political Economy of Madrassa Education in Bangladesh: Genesis, Growth, and Impact,” a research work by Abul Barkat.

A small number of students from those madrasas study until the honours and masters level.

Qawmi madrasas have recently made some minor changes to their syllabus, but they are not sufficient. Their scholars should make more changes to the syllabus to be significantly updated.”
Jahirul Islam, assistant professor, Arabic department, DU

In the past, degrees conferred by the Qawmi system lacked accreditation or official recognition. However, the government recently moved to recognize the Qawmi degrees after most of these madrasas were brought under the privately-run Befaqul Madarisil Arabia Bangladesh education board.

Even then, they are mostly given a religion-based education; in their Dawra-e-Hadith (post-graduate) level, the highest level of education in the Qawmi system, the students are only taught elaborately on the Hadith.

In the two-year degree, which has been given the same status as general education’s masters degree, the students learn Sahih al-Bukhari, a collection of Hadith compiled by Imam Muhammad al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, a collection of Hadith compiled by Imam Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj al-Naysaburi, and some other Hadiths.

Analyzing the syllabus, it was found that although the whole education system – other than the Quran and Hadith in various stages beginning from the primary level – contains subjects such as language, mathematics, science, economics, political science, history and philosophy, these topics are only taught on surface level to give the students just a minimum idea.

However, political science, philosophy and history are taught from a religious angle. On some levels, science education is absent and other non-religion subjects are vastly neglected.

As an example, the syllabus, formulated by the Befaqul Madarisil Arabia Bangladesh from preschool to Class VIII, does not have science studies. Almost all of the books taught in these classes, which are formulated by the board, are based on the Quran and the Arabic language.

Apart from Arabic, Bangla, mathematics and English, the students are also taught Urdu in Class II. The Urdu book named “Urdu ka Qaida,” which is meant to teach the students Urdu alphabets, is published by Anjuman-i-Himayat-i-Islam of Lahore, Pakistan.

In Class II, the students are taught on primary ideas of geography and sociology and the main focus is on Diniyat and Tajbid, Islamic Fiqh and Tahzeeb.

Bangla and English grammar have been added to the Class III syllabus along with other subjects. There, Urdu is taught from another book from the same Pakistan publisher. Apart from this, Persian has been added at Class V.

In this education system, the history of Bangladesh is absent in Classes VI, VII and VIII syllabuses. While the syllabus of preschool, Class I and Class II has no history lessons, Class III has a 50-mark course on history, and Classes IV and V also have one book each for 50-mark final exam on history.
In Class VI, from where lower secondary level starts, students are taught “Tareekh Ul Islam,” a 251-page book on Islamic history written in Urdu by Shaykh Muhammad Mian.

In Class VII, students are taught “Seerat Khatim Ul Ambiya” by Mufti Muhammad Shafi, also in Urdu. In Class VIII, students are taught “Tareekh Millat Part 1 – Khilafat-e-Rashida” which is based on Indian Islamic movements.

In the two-year secondary education level, the history of Bangladesh is also absent. The syllabus does not have the history of the Sub-continent, but includes the history of Khilafat-e-Banu Umayya, Khilafat-e-Abbasiya (Abbasid Caliphate).

In Class 10, they are taught the history of Khilafat Usmania, Fatimid Caliphate and Khilafat-e-Banu Umayya.

At the higher secondary level, students are taught about the Indian Sub-continent’s history for 100 marks in Class XI. In honours second year, they are taught about Deoband movement, history, tradition and their contribution.

Jahirul Islam, assistant professor of Arabic department in Dhaka University, said the syllabus of Qwami madrasas is formulated by themselves. The authorities of the madrasas or their education board do not take suggestions from the government or educationists. This education is not sufficient to cope with the world and daily life.

“They have recently made some minor changes, but they are not sufficient. Their scholars should make more changes to the syllabus to be significantly updated,” he added.

What do students learn in Alia madrasa?

Analyzing the syllabus of Alia madrasa education system, it was found that at the general department, students are taught Islamic studies, social sciences and arts. It includes the Quran, Arabic, Islamic history, and information and communications technology (ICT).

At the science department, they are taught Islamic studies and physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology and ICT. The Mujabbid section teaches Tajbid along with other general subjects.

The science and social science students have to learn four courses on the Quran, Hadith, Islamic laws and Arabic along with the sciences and social science subjects.

The science department have students all the way up to higher secondary level, and at Dakhil and Alim levels, it does not have business studies.

The students have to pass five stages in the 16-year education period from Ebtedayee to Kamil, which is equivalent to Class I to masters in the general education system.

At the Ebtedayee (primary) level, teachers emphasize reading and memorizing the Quran. The other subjects are fundamentals of Islam, Arabic, Bangla, mathematics, history, geography and general science.

At the Dakhil (secondary) level, students are still made to learn the reading and memorizing of the Quran along with the explanations of Quranic verses. At this stage, students are also taught on Islamic philosophy, Islamic law and theories, their usages and Arabic.

At the Alim level, which is equivalent to the higher secondary education, students can choose either the sciences or the arts. In both the streams, students are taught the Quran and Hadith, Islamic law, Sharia law, succession law and the history of Islam.

In the arts department, they learn about Arabic and Persian language, while in the science department, they are taught physics, chemistry and other subjects.

At the Fazil (honours) level, students are taught in the arts and science subjects separately. In the Kamil (masters) level, the students are taught only religion. They get a specialized education on Hadith, Tafsir, Islamic law and Arabic literature.

“Till 2008, the Madrasa Education Board formulated syllabus and conducted the Fazil and Kamil degrees exams. Since 2009, the Islamic University in Kushtia took over from them,” said Prof AKM Saif Ullah, chairman of Bangladesh Madrsasa Education Board in Dhaka. “Later in 2015, the responsibilities went to the Arabic University.”

He claimed that the Alia madrasa system is modern and subjects such as science and IT has been included.

Jahirul Islam, assistant professor of the Arabic department in Dhaka University, however, thinks there is still scope to modernize the Alia system.

This article was first published on Dhaka Tribune

The Muslim of the Quran is simply anyone who submits to God (by whatever name), and does good deeds

January 19, 2018

The Quran is a universal religion with a message for all the people:

(21:107) We sent thee not, but as a Mercy for all the people.(12:104, 38:87, 68:52, 81:27) “This is no less than a Message to (all) the Worlds.

While the revelation has a context and the Book can be best described as experiential learning, the general principles that can be easily derived are applicable to all people irrespective of their faith. The Quran provides comprehensive guidance on waging war in the cause of Allah.

The Principles of war that are derived by considering all the verses on fighting are clear and free from ambiguity. None of the verses make an exception based on the times and circumstances of the Prophetic mission of Muhammad (pbuh). The principles are therefore eternal and based as these are on Divine guidance and inspiration, are common to all the scriptures and may be taken as guidance by all the people whether they follow the religion of Islam or not. The clear, unambiguous principles are:

1. There is no compulsion in religion. Any form of coercion in religion or prevention from following one’s religion peacefully, constitutes persecution.
2. War is mandated to end any kind of oppression against any people. The oppression may be religious persecution or any other form of oppression. The faith of the oppressor and the oppressed is immaterial.
3. Only a ruler with a territory and people under his political authority can wage war. Civil war is not permissible. And only people in the territory ruled by such a ruler can participate in the war effort. People residing in territory under the control of the oppressor, must migrate from that territory first, if they wish to join the war effort against the oppressor.
4. The only justifiable cause for making war is to fight against the oppressors to end oppression. There is no other justifiable cause.
The major battles fought by the Prophet against the people of Mecca were against their persecution of the Prophet and followers of the new faith of Islam. After his people suffered torture, persecution and even killing for 13 years, the Prophet (pbuh) was forced to migrate to Medina. Even then, the Meccans pursued them as is evident by the three major battles fought near Medina with the last battle being the siege of Medina itself. The Muslims eventually prevailed over their enemy. Surah Taubah describes the judgment on the vanquished enemy. The General Principles underlying the judgment on the vanquished religious persecutors are as follows:
1.       Let those vanquished persecutors who fought but never violated their treaties, the freedom to practice their faith and live peacefully, if they agree to become your willing subjects.
2.       To those who were treacherous and fought in violation of their treaties, provide protection if they seek protection. Make them hear the word of God and if they still refuse to accept your religion, escort them to a safe place outside your territory.
3.       Those who were treacherous and fought in violation of their treaty, are allowed 4 months of time in which they are free to migrate to a neighbouring country or accept the victor’s faith. Those who remain defiant at the end of the amnesty period may be killed.
As may be seen, the rules are extremely generous. If it was a fair war without violation of treaty, the vanquished simply must accept the new political authority and become willing subjects and can live peacefully practicing his faith. The treacherous violators of treaties can also save their lives by accepting exile or the victor’s faith. These rules are in no way unfair for a people who had fought to annihilate the religion of their victors.
In any other war where religion is not the issue, it is only treachery of the combatants alone that is punishable by death or exile. The remaining people simply must become willing subjects of the victors or may choose to migrate.

Treaties, Alliances and Relations with Other Nations/People

The Quran is unequivocal in advocating peace treaties and treaties of mutual cooperation with other people irrespective of the faith professed by them even if they are your enemy:

(8:61) But if the enemy incline towards peace, do thou (also) incline towards peace, and trust in Allah: for He is One that heareth and knoweth (all things).

The Prophet had treaties with several of the pagan tribes. The Quran attaches the utmost importance to strict observance of treaties so much so, that even if someone from amongst your own people, commit a crime punishable by death, and then goes over to the people with whom you have a treaty, you cannot touch him. Treaties covering extradition of such people were perhaps not common in those days.

This is a hypothetical situation but if a tribe from among the Mushrikin had said to the Prophet “we do not understand your religion and do not accept it, but we defend your right to practice and preach it, and would like to align ourselves with you in your fight against your persecutors”, the Prophet would have readily entered into a treaty of mutual alliance and cooperation with such people. On being successful against the persecutors, he would have given such an ally a place of honour in the new polity irrespective of whether they accepted Islam. Going by the message of the Quran, such people would have been blessed by Allah with faith in Him, eventually. We can therefore assert the following:

In Islam, the other is the Kafir, but they are not the non-Muslims but the unjust and the oppressors who could be professing any faith including Islam. The cause of Allah, identified from the Quran, is to end all injustice and oppression, and all those who stand up for justice and fight against oppression are from “the community of God” and the Muslims must form an “Ummat-e-Wahida” or a united front with all such people to end injustice and oppression in the world.

The God of Islam is the God of all the people and is not the parochial God of only the Muslims in our theology for Allah says:
“Nay,-whoever submits His whole self to Allah (by whatever name) and is a doer of good,- He will get his reward with his Lord; on such shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve” (2:112).

The Muslim of the Quran, is therefore simply anyone who submits to God (by whatever name), and is a doer of good deeds. There are therefore only two kinds of people – those who stand for justice and against oppression are the friends and helpers of God and the oppressors are the enemies of humanity and of God. This is the Universal Message of the Quran.

Naseer Ahmed is an Engineering graduate from IIT Kanpur and is an independent IT consultant after having served in both the Public and Private sector in responsible positions for over three decades. He is a frequent contributor to NewAgeIslam.com

Courtesy: NewAgeIslam.com

Saheb, Bibi aur Palestine? Bollywood Must Make it Clear if it Stands with Colonialism or with Freedom

January 19, 2018

“Calling for a boycott of Shalom Bollywood is not a political reaction to an innocuous cultural event. The fact is that the Shalom Bollywood event is also a political event. Calling for its boycott is a political reaction to a political event.”

Let me cut short all detours and answer your burning question: no, calling Bollywood to not shoot their films in Israel is not an attack on freedom of speech and expression. I understand this sounds confusing, but what is at stake here? Calling for a boycott of Israeli institutions (and there’s a reason I’ve highlighted that word) is, in fact, standing up for the freedom of millions of Palestinians who either live in Israel occupied Palestine, live as second-class citizens of Israel, or who were forced to leave their homeland and are not allowed to return to it.

Sounds even more confusing? Let me unpack things a bit more. Israel is an apartheid state, and Arab Palestinians do not have the right to move freely in their own homeland, or have the security of living in their own homes — freedoms that we take for granted in other democracies. Which brings me to the question: is Israel even a democracy like India? The right to vote is only one of the fundamental rights assured to Indian citizens. Besides, all Indian citizens have the right to equality, the right to freedom, the right against exploitation, right to freedom of conscience and free profession, and the right of minorities to conserve their culture. Israel has given the native Palestinians, who are the indigenous inhabitants of the land that Israelis have occupied, only the right to vote. Israeli law (Israel does not have a constitution) mandates that the native Arabs must be treated as second class citizens. Palestinians who are Israeli citizens only have the choice to vote governments in power who can further their subjugation.

Image courtesy Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions India

Omar Barghouti, a Palestinian who holds a visa of permanent residency in Israel, and is a co-founder of the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions Movement, says, in an interview:

Palestinian citizens of Israel (the indigenous population that survived the massive ethnic cleansing campaign of 1948 and remained put) have the right to vote, and that is a huge difference from South Africa; however, in every vital domain, they are discriminated against by law. In addition, they are only allowed to vote for a system that enshrines apartheid! Any party that calls for the dismantling Israel’s racist laws, instituting unmitigated equality, and transforming the state into a real democracy as a state of all its citizens, cannot run for the Knesset.

Writer Githa Hariharan, who is a member of the Indian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, says,

To talk of freedom of speech and expression in the case of Israel is like their talk of democracy in Israel. Consider the situation of Palestinians living in their own lands, the occupied territories of Gaza and the West Bank. Not only do they live without freedom of speech, they don’t have freedom of movement to go to work, or school, or hospital; their lives are often at risk, especially if they protest; their own cultural and artistic practice is erased or made as difficult as possible. Then, consider the Palestinians in historic Palestine — those referred to as Israeli Arabs in Israel. They are second class citizens, subject to official policies of discrimination.

I want to share just one small memory with you. In 2013, two of us, a Palestinian poet and I, were to read from our work in Ramallah. The poet, Rafeef Ziadah, was not allowed into Palestine. A Palestinian from the diaspora, a Palestinian refugee may not be allowed to return, even for a visit; but a Jew from anywhere in the world can think of Israel as home. Is this the kind of “freedom” and “democracy” and “culture” we want to associate with?

Now, that doesn’t mean you can’t have an Israeli friend, or that it’s wrong to even talk to them. No, that’s not what we mean. The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement only calls for a boycott of institutions. That is why we must have a problem when two Prime Ministers — Benjamin Netanyahu and Narendra Modi, meet each other as official public heads of their respective states. The Shalom Bollywood event, which is expected to have stars like Amitabh Bachchan and Karan Johar in attendance, too, is organised with the help of the Israeli embassy (which, of course, is an official organ of the Israeli government).

Calling for a boycott of Shalom Bollywood is not a political reaction to an innocuous cultural event. The fact is that the Shalom Bollywood event is also a political event. Calling for its boycott is a political reaction to a political event.

In an article written by Yuval Ben-Ami in 2005, Nissim Ben-Sheetrit, a former Deputy Director General of the Israeli embassy, on being asked about the “status of culture in the new order”, said, “We are seeing culture as a hasbara (propaganda) tool of the first rank, and I do not differentiate between hasbara and culture.”

Israel clearly sees culture as propaganda. They want to show the world that theirs is a modern democracy. Arye Mekel, Deputy Director General for cultural affairs in the Israeli foreign ministry, told the New York Times in March 18, 2009, “We will send well-known novelists and writers overseas, theatre companies, exhibits. This way, you show Israel’s prettier face, so we are not thought of purely in the context of war.”

Images of Netanyahu and Modi spinning Gandhi’s charkha work to demolish Gandhi’s fervent support for Palestine, and his firm opposition to the formation of the Israeli state. It is hasbara (propaganda) of the highest order.

So, Karan Johar might as well invite Netanyahu for coffee on his show and have a “good time”. What Bollywood needs to acknowledge is that even things like the seemingly harmless Shalom Bollywood event, and the simple act of shooting a film in Israel, with the support of Israeli state, helps — to use Mekel’s own phrase— to “…show Israel’s prettier face”. It helps build the “Brand Israel campaign” launched by the government of Israel as early as 2005. Hariharan says,

Shooting Indian films in Israel amounts to “business as usual” with Israel. Business as usual with Israel means breaking ranks with the international community that is working hard to isolate Israel for its apartheid policies. How does this work? We only have to recall how effective a similar boycott of South Africa was in the days when the international community boycotted the country at multiple levels — economic, cultural and sports.

Echoing Hariharan’s sentiment, the documentary filmmaker, Anand Patwardan, said:
As I was growing up, there were two countries my Indian passport did not allow me to visit. One was the racist, apartheid South Africa, and the other was the racist, apartheid Israel. South Africa overthrew its apartheid regime, so India, rightly, relaxed its travel ban. Israel sticks to apartheid by denying Palestinians their basic rights as citizens, and yet, today, the leadership of our country shamelessly embraces Israel. Israel has always used the Holocaust to garner world sympathy.

Today, Modi and Netanyahu shamelessly parade little Moshe in a horrific act of child exploitation. The subtext is clear. This is what Muslim terror has done and we are partners against this terror. But the reality is starkly different. Israel, USA, Saudi Arabia, and their private arms manufacturers and dealers, are the creators and sustainers of Islamic terror, from Al Qaeda to ISIS. Modi plays the same game in India. It is no surprise to see them all in a hugathon.

But we, the thinking citizens of India, declare that we are not their partners in crime. We declare that we stand by Mahatma Gandhi’s position that Israel cannot undo the wrongs of the Holocaust by dispossessing Palestinians. Peace and justice are inseparable.

Bollywood has to make its stand clear. As Indian citizens, who gained independence though a non-violent anti-colonial struggle, will they stand for fellow Palestinians, or will they stand with the colonisers?

Souradeep Roy is part of the editorial collective of the Indian Writers’ Forum.

This article was first published on Indian Cultural Forum

Recalling Rohith: Not backing down under state pressure, youth politics emerging strongly in Maharashtra

January 19, 2018

Two years ago, on January 17, Dalit Research Scholar Rohith Vemula was institutionally murdered by the casteist administrative forces of Hyderabad Central University. This day was celebrated as “Rohith Shahadat Din” across Central and State University campuses throughout India. In Mumbai, Ambedkarite Students in Tata Institute of Social Sciences held programmes in Remembrance of Rohit Vemula while Ambedkarite Students from IIT Bombay distributed pamphlets. However, in many places like Ghatkopar in Mumbai student groups were not able to arrange any programmes in the wake of the ongoing combing operations. It is not the first time that the students have suffered a setback due to state intervention.

Image: PTI

Student politics in Mumbai has taken a backseat ever since the Maharashtra University Act was passed in 1995. This was enacted in the wake of a student murder during Mumbai University student elections in the 90’s. The implementation of this Act became a watershed moment for student politics in Maharashtra. A clear fallout of such step is visible today, with very few young faces visible today in Maharashtra student politics. Talking about the current situation, Kiran*, a young student of Mumbai University said, “During the 1970s when the Dalit Panther Movement was strong, a generation of those students from the Dalit Bahujan Community had strong idols in front of them like Namdeo Dhasal, Raja Dhale, J V Pawar and others. These are people who rose from the ground and influenced the student movement during those days. Now I don’t find there are any such idols in context of Maharashtra who can really inspire students. There is a need for debate and discussion. Politics is not in isolation, politics is something connected to the economy, the medical facilities, almost every aspect of our life. Only youth can connect with youth, we need someone who can connect with the young people”.

Students like Kiran are of the opinion that although there is a huge willingness amongst students to contribute, there does not seem to be a single political organisation with a long-term sustainable agenda.

Another student activist Dinesh*from Mumbai added, “Brahminical agencies have always been scared of critical consciousness that can harm their hegemony. Students politics in Indian universities have recently witnessed a change in its student’s communities, especially after second Mandal Commission. More Dalit Bahujans with political/ social consciousness in Universities means a threat to Brahminical forces both inside and outside universities. To suppress and mutilate the growth of such consciousness resulting from the Dalit movement, especially Dalit Panthers, has always been a necessity for Brahminical forces in order to keep their oppression alive”.

Even before Panthers, there was an active student movement in the 1950s, when scores of students participated in the Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti. It was a movement demanding a separate Marathi-speaking state of Maharashtra with Bombay as its capital. Many youngsters joined the Samta Sainik Dal (Party of the Fighters for Equality) which was formed by Dr Ambedkar in 1926. Urmila Pawar’s book Amhi hi Itihas Ghadavala ( We Also Made History) painstakingly documented the history of Dalit women’s participation in the Ambedkarite Movement. Till date, it remains a fundamental text of women’s participation in the Ambedkarite Movement.

The government plans of lifting the ban on institutional student politics through the passing of New Maharashtra Public Universities Act is likely to create a new avenue for Dalit-Bahujan student voices in Maharashtra University spaces. In an atmosphere where administrative and state intervention is at its peak, it is important that issues of Dalit-Bahujan students do not get sidelined. Speaking on this scenario, Sourabh Wade, Research Scholar, IIT Bombay, added, “The ban on elections has definitely affected Dalit-Bahujan politics. Firstly, one can say that the crucial phase, whereby issues of identity and representation should have been resolved by now, are being faced even today. Secondly, the alignment of Dalits with the Left-Right binary in politics has limited them from realising their potential that lies in building a larger, autonomous Dalit-Bahujan politics. Thirdly, the repression on Dalits outside the campuses could not be highlighted in a vocal manner and the alignment with the binary limited the politics to sympathy/solidarity, which to me is a very patronising approach to any politics”. Students like Saurabh also feel that a single face in Dalit Bahujan politics is not necessarily mandatory and believes that there should be diverse representation.

The mainstream media is busy covering the student political movement in Delhi and Hyderabad, mainly highlighting the select few premiere institutes. There is a huge movement on ground level which has been away from the limelight. In case of Dharavi in Mumbai, youngsters from the largely-migrant community, mostly from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh and Telangana got together after the tragic suicide of S.Anitha in Tamil Nadu. S. Anitha, a young medical aspirant, committed suicide after the implementation of NEET (National Eligibility Entrance Test) which affected a number of poor students across the country. NEET, which required specialised training in the medical syllabus, was made mandatory with effect from 2017 in Tamil Nadu. This was also made the sole criteria for admission to medical colleges.

Speaking about the initiative in Dharavi, Francis from Jai Bhim Foundation says, “We mainly work on the ideology of Periyar and Ambedkar. We inform young students from our locality about the larger student politics happening in our country, like what happened during Rohith’s Movement or in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) for that matter. We also screen a lot of documentaries. We recently screened Kakkoos by Divya Bharathi, which is based on manual scavenging. Not only that, we lay equal emphasis on documentaries related to science.”. Francis opines that this is a part of the larger consciousness-raising amongst young students. Currently, Dharavi has different organisations like Jai Bhim Foundation, Mumbai Awareness Organisation, Liberation Panthers and also Dravida Kazhagam (Dravidian Organization) which work on various social issues and specifically on caste.

Many students who grew up during the 80’s and the 90’s post the Dalit Panther Movement had a different entry into the larger political realm of Maharashtra. Their involvement began with Dalit Sahitya Chalval ( Dalit Literary Movement). Magazines like Dalit Asmita by Gangadhar Pantawane and Samuchit by Yashwant Manohar raised a lot of critical questions regarding Dalit-Bahujan issues and politics.

Dr Awachar, Professor, Mumbai University recalls, “I grew up in Washim district of Maharashtra during the 90s. This was also a time when Congress was strong and Fascism in terms of extreme right-wing politics was at its peak. During this time, what shaped my political consciousness was the dynamic Dalit Literature movement, which was in full swing. We had great precedents in front of us, like the people who had participated in Samyukta Maharashtra Movement and also the Namantar Movement. The entry of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in the 1990s in Maharashtra also changed the political dynamics in Maharashtra hinterland”.

Dr Awachar points that the rise in the intensity of combing operations across Maharashtra to clamp down on protesters is not a new trend., “There was a similar effect on the students even after the Khairlanji massacre. My contemporaries were jailed for agitating. While I feel that such actions by the state hampered the political aspirations of the youngsters, these were the students who were at the forefront in questioning the state and the system. This rebellion is something which came out as an answer to state injustice and contributed to the Ambedkarite Movement”.

The youth resilience has been given an impetus lately due to the rise in local community consciousness, which is happening mainly among the marginalised localities of Mumbai. Many students who are not looking to align with a particular political outfit and want to work autonomously are keenly following Ambedkar’s footsteps with the call to Educate, Agitate and Organize. Many of these students want to work more keenly towards the aspect of education in their community as they feel this is a basic aspect required to create a larger political consciousness.

Kiran and his group of friends have started their own initiative called Jyoti Savitri Probhodhini which is working towards education. Talking about the initiative he added, “When Mahatma Jyotiba Phule and Savitribai Phule started a school, they only started it with eight girls. Did they imagine that there will be someone like Indira Gandhi or Kalpana Chawla who will benefit from their efforts? All they did was make a sustained effort. This is what is required.”

Courtesy: Two Circles

Aadhaar Security: The Emperor Has No Clothes

January 19, 2018

Most people assume that critics of Aadhaar are concerned about citizens’ fundamental right to privacy, or the loss of statutory benefits such as rations due to a faulty Aadhaar system.

Image Courtesy: The Financial Express

Most people assume that critics of Aadhaar are concerned about citizens’ fundamental right to privacy, or the loss of statutory benefits such as rations due to a faulty Aadhaar system. Two recent cases – that reported recently by Tribune and the French security researcher reporting on the novice-level security of the mobile App of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) – bring out a completely different threat, that of identity theft and therefore, the possibility of attacks from criminals on our bank accounts. Or linking our Aadhaar to their mobile numbers or bank accounts that are involved in criminal activities.

This issue is not simply whether the state has a right to force us to link all our economic, or other activities to our Aadhaar number. But while doing so, is it protecting us from the consequence of linking our Aadhaar number to our bank accounts, mobile numbers and other such things? Or is it laying us open to various criminal threats? Threats to our money, or even to our personal security? It is as if the state is forcing us to have combination lock for entry into our houses, then deposit the combination in a specified data bank with no security, thereby making it easy for criminals to obtain the combinations.

The Tribune reporter – as reported by Tribune and not contested by UIDAI – secured access to the entire personal data of nearly a billion Aadhaar holders by paying just Rs. 500 and within 10 minutes. According to the state authorities quoted by Tribune, there are only two people in Punjab that have the necessary security clearance to access the entire Aadhaar database. That this access was being sold for only Rs. 500, and the access provided within 10 minutes, show how seriously the Aadhaar ecosystem has been compromised.

Even UIDAI conceded that only the biometric data held in a central repository is safe. Its press statements repeatedly emphasised that this part of the Aadhaar database has not been compromised. As yet. By implication, everything else is compromised.

A French security researcher, who investigated the security in the mobile app released by UIDAI for use in our smart phones – showed how weak the security of Aadhar bases systems really is. The security expert, who calls himself Eliot Alderson and uses a twitter handle @fs0c131yJan7, showed that the security in the mAadhaar app which can be downloaded from Google Play store – to be used to provide the Aadhaar details to any service provider who uses Aadhaar based verification- was minimal. It uses code snippets widely available on the net, stores the password on the mobile, the so-called random number generator produces the same number every time. Even more embarrassingly, Khosla Labs, a private players which developed this App for UIDAI, does not seem to know how to generate a proper certificate of ownership – it showed Google and not UIDAI as the owner of this app. According to Alderson, they also appear to have lost the ability of updating their app, and are now releasing new apps in the place of the compromised one.

The android app developed by Khosla Labs for UIDAI is officially owned by Google, as per their own certificate!

Then Aadhaar security being weak will create a risk if your mobile is lost or stolen. And yes, if you lose your mobile, you are at risk of your bank account being cleaned before you block the mobile. By itself, this risk is not to the entire community of 1 billion Aadhaar holders. It brings out the security in the Aadhaar ecosystem, as exemplified by this code from Khosla Labs, is extremely poor.

Before we think that Khosla Labs is an exception, and the Aadhaar ecosystem security may be better managed – it would be instructive to know the credentials of Khosla Labs. Its three co-founders held important positions in UIDAI – and Srikanth Nadhamuni, one of its three founders, was UIDAI’s Head of Technology.

We are not discussing conflict of interests here. Nor that Khosla Labs is one of the interveners in the Supreme Court Aadhaar case, arguing on the “immense benefits” to the nation from Aadhaar. We are simply pointing out that if an organisation that includes the former head of tech in UIDAI delivers this quality of software for its mAadhaar, how safe is the rest of the Aadhaar ecosystem?

The original vision of the Aadhaar system is that the Aadhaar number is not our identity, the ID is the biometric information that we carry in our finger tips; or our eyes. It was supposed to be our fingerprints and iris data that would verify us. The problem of using biometrics for verification are numerous: from false positives, identifying wrong persons as valid users, and false negatives to failure to verify legitimate Aadhaar holders. This on top of poor connectivity and frequent lack of electricity in our towns and villages that operate computers, the internet and the biometric devices.
Faced with such problems, the authorities decided that biometric verification would be carried out only for the poor, such as ration card holders. For the vast majority of transactions, it is the Aadhaar “card” that is being used as the ID proof. The problem here is that the entire system was supposed to be built on biometric data as ID proof and not the other card. If the Aadhaar card – a duplicate of which can be printed out by anybody for anybody – is to be used for verification, then the system is in a deep crisis. As the system was never supposed to be built using the UID number as our ID proof, that could explain the poor, or non-existent security of the Aadhaar ecosystem for any data, other than the biometric data.

We haven’t even discussed here the risk that we carry when we link our Aadhaar to our bank accounts and phone numbers. How much protection do we have against misuse and hacking by insiders? As the Airtel case showed , any company that demands an Aadhaar for verification, in this case our phone number, can get our “informed consent” by popping up a 5,000 word document asking us to click “I Agree”. Airtel fraudulently used peoples’ “consent” to open 37.21 lakh Airtel Payment bank accounts, and diverted the gas subsidy payments of the customers to these accounts without their knowledge.

The state mandated Aadhaar has created a leaky eco-system that is now a security nightmare. UIDAI is clearly scrambling to restore some credibility to the Aadhaar system after the double hits of last week. It has proposed a virtual ID scheme that can be used for authentication, as well as facial recognition. The problem is that it is too late to use virtual ID schemes. Our Aadhaar number and details, including our bank account information, is already available in databases that have low, or virtually no security. It is like locking the stable door after the horse has bolted.

Facial recognition is hardly a solution. It has failed with Google software identifying images of people with dark skins as gorillas . And Apple identifying all owners of its latest i-Phones in China as the same individual: all Chinese look alike to Apple’s software !

UIDAI has promised the Indian state and its big capital that it will deliver the data of the country’s citizens for surveillance and business purposes. It will replicate the US National Security Agency equivalent by using our Aadhaar data; provide big data of its citizens to combat Google and Facebook; enable financial transactions to Indian fintech companies and banks. All of this on a very weak and shaky foundation.

For those familiar with failing software projects, there is a now sense of desperation in the UIDAI’s responses: from shooting the messenger – filing FIR against Tribune – to clutching at straws. All the measures it is proposing do not address the fundamental issue of a hugely compromised Aadhaar security system, built with public money, and at a huge cost. Can we now take a hard look at whether the Aadhaar project can actually deliver what it has promised? And scale back the Aadhaar project on which we not only continue to throw more money, after the money we have already invested, and more over create huge risks to our citizens? And perhaps to our economy itself?

Courtesy: Newsclick.in

South Kannada Poisoned with Bajrang Dal’s Campaign against ‘Love jihad’

January 18, 2018

Pamphets that are incendiary are paying havoc in this communally sensitive area

Image Courtesy: Arijit Sen/Hindustan Times

The Hindustan Times reports that the Bajrang Dal’s campaign follows a month’s unease in Karnataka over a spate of murders, many of which polarised opinion amid a rush to claim the slain people were Hindutva activists

Shop keepers, young boys, children avidly read this un-reliable and incendiary material that carried the name of Bajrang Dal, the youth wing of Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP). The pamphlets reportedly state: “Hindu girls, beware… it is not love, but jihad.” Clutching the pamphlet, Surana said, “It has to be true. We have heard about these cases in Kerala.” Splattered across the pamphlet was the image of a woman behind a veil, behind prison bars, blood flowing from her eyes. Alarm and insecurity pervades as ordinary people are made to feel panic at this kind of material. So far no action has been initiated by the police.

Such materials are key for communal polarisation which is part of the ‘outreach initiative’ of the Bajrang Dal’s 15-day campaign against “love jihad”, a term that is seen to have emerged from fringe Hindutva outfits to describe cases of what they portray as coercive marriages between Muslim men and Hindu women. In fact, such campaigns are attacks on free choice and women acting as individuals with liberty. The campaign started on January 3 and the wheels are turning full speed.

The attitude of India’s higher courts feeds into propaganda. “The fact that the Supreme Court ordered an investigation into love jihad (alluding to the marriage of Hadiya Shefin, born Akhila Ashokan, to Shafin Jahan) proves there is a strategy to lure Hindu women and use them for jihad,” said Sharan Pumpwell, Bajrang Dal’s Karnataka secretary. “It’s not that we are against love, even inter-faith. We are only saying women should be careful that they are not used for jihad.”

The Bajrang Dal is feeding on festering communal tensions. The Bajrang Dal’s campaign follows at least a month’s unease in Karnataka over a spate of murders, many of which polarised opinion amid a rush to claim the slain people were Hindutva activists. When the victims were Muslims, similar claims emerged from fringe Muslim bodies.

For instance, after 18-year-old Paresh Mesta’s body was found in a lake in Honnavar in Uttara Kannada district on December 8 last year, BJP leader Shobha Karandlaje alleged the teenager was murdered because he was a Hindu activist. Karandlaje, Lok Sabha MP for Udupi Chikmagalur, also alleged that Mesta’s body was mutilated and set on fire.

In response to a police questionnaire, a doctor who examined Mesta’s body said it was not mutilated or set on fire. Mesta’s father later said his son was not affiliated with any organisation.Suresh Bhat Bakrabail, a member of social activism group Komu Sauharda Vedike (Communal Harmony Forum), believes there is a strategy at play in the aftermath of every killing to give it a ‘jihadi’ tinge. “Mere polarisation against Muslims is no longer working. This is why there is an emphasis on jihadis.”

On the “love jihad” campaign, Bakrabail said it was a departure only of degrees, not kind. “So-called moral policing has been around for years. It is only the term love jihad that is new.”

Muneer Katipalla, president of the state unit of the Democratic Youth Federation of India, said Hindutva organisations had been successful in mobilising lower caste Hindu youth against an affluent section of Muslims in the district. “The two biggest malls in Mangaluru city are owned by Muslims. This affluence, and the alleged ‘stealing’ of Hindu girls, has been a very successful source of mobilisation among youth.”

However the activities of the Popular front of India (PFI) have added fuel to the proverbial fire. According to Katipalla, the rise of fringe Hindutva organisations has meant the proliferation of PFI, an Islamist outfit.

Abdul Razak Kemmar, PFI’s state secretary, dismissed talk of their “covert” acts. He said the problem with “love jihad” was more Muslim women married Hindu men than the other way around. “What do we call that?” Kemmar offered no evidence to support his claim.PFI and the Bajrang Dal leaders insisted they only spread awareness, but members of both organisations are charged in the murders of rivals.

Kemmar said even if PFI members were implicated in acts of violence, these were personal issues and not a conspiracy hatched by the organisation. This was a line Pumpwell also used.While Katipalla, Umar and Bakrabail said common people in Mangaluru yearned for peace, PFI and the Sangh organisations laid the responsibility for ensuring this on each other’s doorstep.
“We too want peace, and it will come. But only after they leave our cows and women alone,” said Pumpwell.

Dakshina Kannada: Constantly on the simmer

Communal polarisation in the district can be traced back to the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, according to Suresh Bhat Bakrabail of Komu Sauharda Vedike
Since then, the district has had three big riots – in 1992, 1999 and 2007
Murders and revenge killings keep the district on the edge
One of the flashpoints was in 2017. On June 21, suspected Hindutva activists murdered Ashraf Kalayi, a leader of Social Democratic Party of India, the political wing of the PFI. Two weeks later, RSS activist Sharath Madivala was stabbed. He succumbed to injuries on July 7. A PFI leader is the prime accused in the Madivala murder case
Moral policing in Mangaluru hit national headlines in 2009 after members of the Sri Rama Sene, a fringe organisation headed by Pramod Muthalik, beat up women for entering a bar
On January 2 this year, three Hindu Jagarana Vedike members were arrested on charges of assaulting two girls, a Hindu and a Christian, who had gone with Muslim male friends to a Mangaluru amusement park.

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Recalling Rohith: Not backing down under state pressure, youth politics emerging strongly in Maharashtra

Aadhaar Security: The Emperor Has No Clothes

Most people assume that critics of Aadhaar are concerned about citizens’ fundamental right to privacy, or the loss of statutory benefits such as rations due to a faulty Aadhaar system.

South Kannada Poisoned with Bajrang Dal’s Campaign against ‘Love jihad’

Pamphets that are incendiary are paying havoc in this communally sensitive area

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