South Asia Citizens Web

... It is therefore imperative that we in India all the more cherish and celebrate plurality, whether of faiths or cultures or assertion of absence of faith in god or religion.

Published in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa last year, a biology textbook declares that "The theory of evolution, as proposed by Charles Darwin in the 19th century, is one of the most unbelievable and irrational claims in history". Ridiculing the notion that complex life evolved from simpler forms, it claims this violates common sense and is just as "baseless" as assuming that when two rickshaws collide "a motor car was evolved".

The recent violent attacks on a Hindu temple in Bangladesh’s Netrokona district, and previous assaults on temples and homes in October in Brahmanbaria are a troubling illustration of Bangladesh’s struggle to protect two of its fundamental values: secularism and pluralism.

Populism can hurt the poor even as it gives rousing voice to their dissatisfactions.