South Asia Citizens Web

Who’s listening? The problems of minority groups are not being addressed. LET’S start with a mild teaser: it is one of India’s oldest and most high-profile minority welfare bodies; costs the public exchequer — that is you and me — more than Rs 70 million a year to run it; is flaunted as a symbol of Indian state’s commitment to protecting minority interests ; and yet its public image is zilch, making it a butt of jokes and prompting calls for it to be scrapped. Name the institution. Here’s a clue: it is variously referred to as a “toothless tiger”, a “white elephant”, and a “sarkari puppet”. Some call it the “National Commission for Tokenism”.

Some University notices, press reports and comments

The news of removal of Pundit Nehru’s name from the [text]books of Rajasthan is a matter serious of concern and condemnation. Pundit Nehru was not only a very important leader of the struggle for India’s Independence but was also one of the major contributors of policies in Independent India.

After Sixty-six Years of Independence, New Politicians but Same Old Issues in Kashmir . . . The Kashmir imbroglio has worsened partly out of disillusionment that was generated by perceiving the hollowness of Indian secularism, partly out of the ignominy that Kashmiris felt in being tied to a government and a polity that is getting increasingly religionized, and partly out of the shallow Pakistani propaganda of Jihad. The insurgency in Kashmir grew into a low intensity warfare made lethal by the firepower of two nation-states.

Revised Class VIII Social Science book silent on Godse; Class VII book calls Maharana Pratap great, not Akbar