goanet-digest Wednesday, May 15 2002 Volume 01 : Number 3967
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In this issue:
[Goanet] Decision to save dog proves costly for this driver.
[Goanet] Secularism and appeasement
[Goanet] Regarding GOA NEWS
[Goanet] Photo exhibition in Goa... and they killed him again
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Date: Wed, 15 May 2002 13:50:33 +0530
From: Goa Desc <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Goanet] Decision to save dog proves costly for this driver.
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Documented by Goa Desc Documentation Service
& circulated by Goa Civic & Consumer Action Network
(GOA CAN)<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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Decision to save dog proves costly for this driver.
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A jeep driver's decision to save the life of an animal proved costly,
as he collided with a stationary car near Teen Building, here this afternoon.
Porvorim police said the Trax, driven by Paul Vashul, a native of Manipur
but residing at Calangute, was proceeding from Panjim to Mapusa
when the driver noticed a dog crossing the road.
In a bid to save the animal, the driver slammed the brakes
but lost control of the vehicle, which rammed
into a stationary Santro car (GA-01-R-1276).
The car was severely damaged in the mishap.
Police has registered a complaint against Vashul
and Hawaldar K V Sawant is investigating the case.
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HERALD 13/5/02 page 3
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GOA DESC RESOURCE CENTRE
Documentation + Education + Solidarity
11 Liberty Apts., Feira Alta, Mapusa, Goa 403 507
Tel: 252660 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Working On Issues Of Development & Democracy
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Date: Wed, 15 May 2002 12:57:17 +0400
From: "Sunila Muzawar" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Goanet] Secularism and appeasement
Interesting article !
www.rediff.com
Secularism and appeasement
by Amberish K Diwanji
A complaint often made is that secularism in India is flawed at best and
minority appeasement at worst. Granted Indian secularism is not perfect. But
just as we cannot have true secularism through minority appeasement, we
cannot have it through minority bashing or majority appeasement either. The
need of the hour is for better secularism. So what is it that makes for
better secularism and appeases no particular religious section of society?
The tragic fact is that in India today, its laws do appease different
sections in different ways. So if Muslims are 'appeased' through personal
laws that allow them four wives in complete disregard of women's
emancipation and liberty, Hindus too have contrived to ensure that various
laws in the country appease Hindu sentiments, and perhaps the best, and most
controversial, example is the law that bans the slaughter of cows, but not
of other bovine creatures.
One of the single biggest grouse is the existence of different personal
civil laws for Hindus, Muslims, Christians, and Parsis in India. It has been
pointed out how in the United States or other Western country, the law is
common for all, regardless of race, creed, or faith. And has been rightly
pointed out, in no major country in the world do such personal laws exist
which means that before law, all men and women are not equal.
The founders of our Constitution agreed to personal laws to give various
communities time to evolve so that the particular community's social
practice comes close to the law of the land. For instance, there were some
Hindu tribes where a man had conjugal rights over his sister-in-law since
she was considered married to the family! The idea was to give such
communities time to change rather than force change on them.
But it is also a fact that communities rarely change unless there is some
external pressure. The best reforms in Hindu society came during the
turbulent years from 1850s to 1950s, till about when some Hindu laws were
codified in 1956. Since then, Hindu society and laws have stopped reforming,
and the reason is the lack of external pressure. Similarly, expecting other
religious communities in India to reform could imply an eternal wait.
Tragically, the existence of the personal laws is seen as a source of
identity today, and any move to abolish or amend them is bound to raise a
hue and cry, mostly by the terribly bigoted so-called leaders of the
Muslims, the Syed Shahabuddins and the Imam Bukharis. Yet, there is no doubt
that India, like other liberal, secular societies, must have a uniform civil
code that is secular, liberal, equal (especially between the sexes),
promotes fraternity, and ensures justice for all. That is the foundation of
a modern nation. It is not just a case of Muslim man being allowed four
wives but the fact that a Muslim woman lacks the right, like her Hindu
counterpart, to not share her husband with another woman. The law is more
anti-Muslim woman that pro-Muslim man and the fact that many Islamic
republics too do not practice it clearly shows that this particular law is
outdated.
Then, there is always a hue and cry about the fact that the Government of
India subsidies the Haj pilgrims, a practice no one has thought fit to
abolish. The money spent on subsidizing the Haj is needed far more
desperately to educate poor boys and girls, including many Muslims who, in
the absence of schools, turn to madrasas. Similarly, why should a Hindu
undivided family get tax benefit but not a non-Hindu undivided family? It is
not the duty of the State to subsidise religious programs or exempt united
families from taxes.
Yet, a secular society does not end with abolishing the different personal
laws but by bringing about civil laws that benefit the individuals, not a
section of society. And much as certain Muslim laws and practices need
reform, let Hindus not absolve themselves of all blame. For instance, during
some religious festivals, often areas or cities in India simply shut down.
Roads are taken over for processions, loudspeakers blare late into the
evening and civic and working life is badly affected. The fact that India is
a poor country that cannot afford to lose working days is no one's
consideration, least of all the government that simply does not have the
will to fight communal forces of varying denominations.
For instance, in Mumbai, during Ganesh Chaturthi and a month later, during
Navratri, citizens are subject to blaring loudspeakers set up in every nook
and corner. There is very little religion here, and a lot of commercial
considerations. Though there are laws governing the use of loudspeakers,
they are rarely applied for fear of 'offending religious sentiments.'
India needs laws that ensure that religious festivals or practices do not
disturb or restrict the common man in any way. Religious processions must be
kept extremely short and on specific routes that cause minimum hindrance and
do not force a city to shut down. Namaz cannot be reason to stop traffic on
Friday afternoons. Loud speakers need to be banned or severely limited,
especially on the decibel count, including the loudspeakers atop mosques.
The muezzin's call is a throwback to the days of yore when watches did not
exist, today with watches so ubiquitous, any pious Muslim would know when to
go to the mosque and hardly needs summons from a loudspeaker.
Secularism means to live and let live, and when there is a conflict, to back
liberty and the individual. It is not secularism when one community forces
another to abide by its belief systems.
The tragedy with the call to stop minority appeasement is few have cared for
the many laws that appease the majority in India, the Hindus. India also has
laws that, for the sake of the Hindus, impose restrictions on non-Hindus in
India. Such laws have no place in a democratic and liberal India. To raise
an extremely contentious issue, why are so many Hindus hell bent on ensuring
that cow slaughter is banned? Are Hindu sentiments that revere the cow
superior to that of non-Hindus, or even those Hindus who eat beef? After
all, if Hindus can demand that their religious sentiments be respected, why
can't the Muslims ask that their religious sentiments be respected by
allowing them a distinct personal law based on the Sharia? And just as some
aspects of the Sharia may appear outdated, so does the reverence for the cow
today.
India has the world's largest bovine population. Hindu piety has not ensured
these cows a decent life -- they are left to die because the owners have no
use for them, and Hindu farmers along the borders are known to sell them
across to the neighboring countries. There are hundreds of thousands of
sterile, useless cattle; religious sentiments means that while they are free
to roam the streets and chomp up vegetables that could feed hundreds of
thousands of hungry Indians. Such cows lead a pitiable existence, yet there
is no question of controlling their numbers, all because of 'religious
sentiments.' This amounts to majority appeasement but no one seems to have
raised this point.
There is no doubt that India's secularism has its flaws and needs remedial
action. And it is time to make the necessary changes. Asking the religious
leaders to reform their religious practice and bring it at par with a modern
worldview is akin to asking the Pope to support abortion: it will not
happen. It is the duty of the State to intervene on the side of the
individual, not on the side of the community. The tragedy is India does not
have any political party that can actually take on the communal forces: if
one seeks to appease Muslims, the other seeks to appease the Hindus. No one
cares to appease the Indians.
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Date: Wed, 15 May 2002 12:33:37 +0300
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [Goanet] Regarding GOA NEWS
Hello! Friends, since I'm going on vacation, I would appreciate if you coul=
d=20=
stop forwarding your mail to the above address=2E
Thank you=2E
Regards,
Mickey=2E
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Date: Wed, 15 May 2002 05:09:20 -0600 (MDT)
From: OIB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Goanet] Photo exhibition in Goa... and they killed him again
FORUM FOR COMMUNAL HARMONY
15.05.2002
On 13th April, 2002, the Forum for Communal Harmony had organised a Silent
Protest March and Public Rally in Panjim to protest the communal violence
in Gujarat and ask for stern action against the Gujarat Government, which
had not only failed to take action to stop the violence, but had actively
aided and abetted the rioters and looters. Similar protests have taken
place all over the country. The situation has not improved to date, and the
Central Government has not acted to bring the situation under control.
Worse, the Prime Minister and other senior members of the Government have
actually defended the acts of the Chief Minister of Gujarat, and tried to
justify the violence.
In these times, it is necessary for all citizens of this country to reflect
upon the growing communalisation of our society at the behest of the Sangh
Parivar, and where this trend is leading us. It is essential that ordinary
citizens come together to raise their voice against communalisation of
public life, and drive home to those in power that they will not stand
silently by, while the secular fabric of our nation is torn apart.
The media has done a good job of exposing the real truth behind what is
going on in Gujarata state which the Sangh Parivar has itself described as
being the 'laboratory' of its brand of politics. Despite the efforts of the
media, many citizens remain ignorant of the true situation. Keeping this in
mind, the Forum for Communal Harmony is organising an exhibition of
photographs on Gujarat, along with the screening of some films, in Panjim
and other parts of Goa.
A photo exhibition will be held at T.B. Cunha Hall in Panjim on 16th-17th
April. The programme for the exhibition, which has been prepared by a
15-year old boy (see attached note) is given below. The Forum is open to
suggestions from citizens to hold exhibitions and screenings on this theme
in other parts of Goa.
16th May 2002
4.30 p.m. Inauguration of the exhibition at a public function to be
addressed by Adv. Amrut Kansar, Sahir Raza and others.
5.30 - 7.30 p.m. Exhibition and screening of film: "Hey Ram" by Gopal Menon
17th May 2002
9.00 a.m. - 6.00 p.m. Exhibition
Sd/-
(Ramesh Gaus)
PHOTO EXHIBITION
"...And they killed him again''
Boy captures agony on camera
Trapped in the camera of a 15-year-old school boy, each imprint has a tale
to tell of gore, agony, plunder and medieval barbarism. Clicked by Sahir
Raza, who visited the riot-ravaged areas of Ahmedabad, Gomtipur and
Mahendrapur in Gujarat last week, each of his 76 pictures bear testimony to
the uncontrolled violence that swept through the state.
"If you see my pictures, they look like leaves plucked out of our history
book detailing a foreign invasion on the Indian soil in the medieval ages.
But, the sad part is both the invader and the invaded, the killer and the
killed, the plunderer and the plundered belong to this soil. They are all
my countrymen,'' Sahir told UNI after the inauguration of his three-day
photo exhibition in New Delhi recently.
Aptly named "...And they killed him again'' with a picture of the Father of
the Nation turning his back to his countrymen, the exhibition displayed
charred ruins of houses and religious places, selective demolition of shops
and business centres, petrified victims with a stony silence and speaking
eyes, an empty grave waiting to be filled up - all shot in the areas hit by
over-a month-long communal carnage in Ahmedabad, Gomtipur and Mahendrapur.
The photo exhibition will be open to the public at T.B. Cunha Hall, Panjim,
on 17th May 2002.
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End of goanet-digest V1 #3967
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