Dear All: I stumbled on this article a few weeks back and felt that it deserved wider circulation – especially in the context of the recent discussions and decision by SC on RTE.  I was vaguely aware of the discriminatory nature of Article 30 (which by the way, was the reason behind the Ramkrishna Mission to declare itself a non-Hindu “sect”) but its extent and repercussions shocked me. Below, excerpts from a richly referenced and data-rich critique of this article by Dr Moorthy Muthuswamy…Read on.
*** Excerpts from Religious Apartheid in Modern …

..or something like that. From Banerjee announces sops for Muslims, honorarium for Imams (3rd Apr):
Raising the pitch for next year’s Panchayat elections..Mamata Banerjee..announced pro-minority sops including a monthly honorarium for Imams.
“The government wants to give a monthly honorarium of Rs. 2,500 to Imams of the state which will be paid through the state Wakf Board.
..Banerjee also said “homeless, landless Imams” will now be given the benefits under her pet project “Nijo Bhumi Nijo Griha (Own Land, Own House)“.”There are more than 30,000 Imams in Bengal and a large percentage …

..and why some days I get really angry. Have you ever read something sometime that almost forces you to put pen to paper? Something so outrageous that you drop everything and get yourself on the keyboard to express your anguish and rage? Something so unbelievable that you check and double-check to make sure you have your facts right? It happened to me today – in fact just a few minutes earlier (thanks to Radha-ji for alerting me to this). I don’t know how many of you read this bit of *news* …

A few weeks back, at one of my frequent sessions at Chanakya Institute of Public Leadership, I got the chance to share my thoughts on the proposed Communal Violence Bill with participants in the programme. We had a lively discussion against the backdrop of some slides I had prepared. Unfortunately we could not record the session…Below are the slides…Comments, thoughts welcome.
 
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Communal Violence Bill – Presentation at CIPL, Dec '11
View more presentations from B Shantanu

 
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Related Post: Losing sleep over communal violence and hate propaganda

“I once more appeal to you to forget the past…You have got what you wanted.
You have got a separate state and, remember, you are the people who were responsible for it, and not those who remain in Pakistan
What is it that you want now?

…Now again you tell me and ask me to say for the purpose of securing the affection of the younger brother I must agree to the same thing again, to divide the country again in the divided part.
For God’s sake understand that we have also got some …

Dear All: Following up from the series of “live chats” and calls last year, I would like to start 2012 with a live text chat on:

“The continuing illegal infiltration from Bangladesh and its implication for the demographics of Assam and Paschim Banga”
Time: 8pm IST
Date: 6th Jan ’12 (Friday)
Please do leave a note below (via comments) if you have a specific question or wish me to address a specific point.

 
Illegal Infiltration & Impact on Demographics
The text-based chat will be a relatively free-flowing discussion focused on illegal infiltration from Bangladesh and …

How many of you noticed this piece of “news” from about 2 months ago (emphasis added)?
The Centre is proposing to introduce reservation for Muslims in educational institutions and employment on the lines of Andhra Pradesh government, Union Minister for Law and Justice Salman Khursheed indicated in Hyderabad on Sunday.
Talking to reporters here after participating in a ‘Solidarity Meeting on Palestine’ organised by the Indo-Arab League here, he said: “I don’t know whether it is a Bill. There will be separate reservation. It is not necessary to have another Bill. It …

…a brazen attempt was underway to further divide India – one bit at a time…Read about this and the “twilight zone where inclusive turns into exclusive“, courtesy, this post from RealityCheck’s blog that is worth further dissemination, discussion and debate..Reproduced verbatim below:
*** Independence day adhoc benefit reminder by Reality Check***
Half page ad seen in major papers on the occasion of Independence Day.
Blogged for the record.

Special benefits platform to prevent free agents.
Some points are not clear in the image (trying to get a better quality picture) :

75+ Lakh scholarships awarded till …

Thanks to Jay for the link to this talk by Tarek Fatah. In this 15-odd minutes video, he talks of Islamism, the truth that dares not speaks its name & how it starts with the Jews…
As Jay mentioned in his email, this is
A really thought-provoking analysis of Islamic terrorism by  a Canadian of Indian origin, who also happens to have been born as a Muslim.. A self-proclaimed and critical Marxist.
His honesty and sincerity about the religion of his birth are something that Indian Marxists should try and emulate. What we have …

Yes, I was in digital detox slumber..but the worthies at NAC managed to wake me up.  Below , collated readings on the Communal Violence Bill, proposed by the NAC. Do read and worry.  And add “hate propoganda” and attempts to destroy “secular fabric” of the nation to “scandalous information about high-profile people” and other such things you should worry about if you write a blog or say/write anything in public… The signs are not good..not good at all…
To start off, excerpts from Sh Arun Jaitley’s commentary on why the communal violence …