Ahmadiyyas find place as Islam sect in census | The Indian Express

2016/08/05 Leave a comment

Significant:

The Ahmadiyyas, one of the most persecuted sects in the Muslim community, have finally managed find a place in India as a sect of Islam in the 2011 census. With a large section of Muslim clerics deeming the community to be heretics, successive governments in previous years had refrained from including them as a sect of Islam in the census report. This happened despite successive High Court judgments upholding their legal status as Muslims.

The community, which was recently lauded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for its “religious tolerance and universal brotherhood”, has found its name included in the “Details of Sects/Religions clubbed under specific religious community” data released by the government last week. In earlier census reports, only Sunnis, Shias, Bohras and Agakhanis were identified as sects of Islam.

Conservative estimates of the community’s population in India, which originated in Qadiyan in Punjab, is pegged at 1 lakh. “It is a welcome move by the government,” said Mahmood Ahmed, former president of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat, Mumbai.

The sect’s origins lie in Qadian in Punjab. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad founded the movement in 1889. Rejecting orthodox Muslim beliefs, he preached that he was the promised messiah with the divinely inspired task of bringing God’s teaching into harmony with the present-day world. He said he was the messiah whose advent was awaited by Muslims, Christians and Jews alike, as well as the incarnation of Krishna.
Since its inception, the sect has been opposed by hardline Muslim clerics. This opposition culminated in a constitutional amendment in 1974 in Pakistan, declaring the Ahmadiyyas to be non-Muslims in the eyes of law. Soon after, there was widespread violence and persecution against the community in Pakistan.

Source: Ahmadiyyas find place as Islam sect in census | The Indian Express

Filed under Religion Tagged with ,

India’s Extremists Turn on Left-Wing College Kids – The Daily Beast

2016/02/23 Leave a comment

Hindu extremism:

Change is inevitable. Change is constant. The world is changing, and so is India. But ever since The Donald Trump of India, aka Narendra Modi, and his militant right-wing Hindutva Party came to power, India is fast becoming a nightmare for its women and minorities, its Dalits and Harijans, its LGBT community, and yes, all lovers of good medium-rare steaks and juicy burgers.

There are scholars who will argue that the self-proclaimed “benign land of gentle chants and a thousand ‘Namaste’” has always been excessively hostile and extremely violent to the non-conforming.  History shows that India’s ruling elite more or less eradicated its Buddhist population (Indian folk lore often claims that they merely tricked the Buddhists into converting). Nonetheless, the division of the former Indus Valley Civilization, the formation of modern India, was on a pledge of plurality and on secular values. The Indian National Flag is tricolored, emphasizing its inclusiveness of all peoples and faiths. Therefore the accelerated return to the unbearable intolerance of alternative views and liberal values is disturbing.

For Kanhaiya Kumar, the student body president at Jawaharlal Nehru University, February 9, 2016 started perhaps like any other. But later that day he made a fatal mistake, in a speech at a protest rally at JNU—India’s Berkeley—wherein he criticized Modi and the Hindutva party, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Three days after his speech, Kanhaiya was arrested on charges of sedition. While being escorted by the police to the court, he was attacked and beaten up twice, according to Indian media—initially by a mob of lawyers, and then again a second time by a ‘man in dark glasses’ when he was being kept in a room at the court before the hearing. Later, Kumar was refused bail.

I understand that some might wonder how a person, under the watchful eye of the media and heavy police escort, can get beaten up on court premises. Well, please keep in mind that this is India; strange things always occur at Indian courts. On Dec 6, 1992, the Hindutva thugs demolished the Babri Mosque in the town of Ayodhya, on grounds that it stood on the exact spot where an Indian God, Ram, was born. The Supreme Court, while acknowledging the lack of evidence that the mosque stood on the spot where Ram was born—and while also acknowledging that there were multiple other locations in the town of Ayodhya with superior claims, let alone multiple other towns in India that had better claims as Ram’s birthplace than Ayodhya—still ruled in favor of the Hindutva position. Given the state of Indian courts, the two back-to-back beatings that Kanhaiya received is just par for the course. To an outsider this might appear bizarre, but to people in India, this is simply expected.

Source: India’s Extremists Turn on Left-Wing College Kids – The Daily Beast

Filed under Multiculturalism, Religion Tagged with , ,

India trip provides lessons learned, all around: Cohn

2016/02/05 Leave a comment

Good piece abound the visit by Premier Wynne’s visit to Amritsar’s Golden Temple, the spiritual centre of Sikhdom, and the controversy it provoked:

As for Wynne, her visit to the Golden Temple proved anti-climactic. Despite the media speculation, she received the traditional gift of a siropa robe of honour — though the deed was done, diplomatically, in the basement (as opposed to the sanctum sanctorum, minimizing any awkwardness for the temple’s current leadership, who remained publicly coy on precisely how and by whom the honour was bestowed).

Lest anyone be too judgmental of the public coyness of Golden Temple officials — and their subsequent circumlocutions about Wynne’s circumambulations — one must concede that homophobia is nothing new, whether in the West or the East. Coincidentally, India’s Supreme Court is now revisiting antiquated laws on homosexuality inherited (and imported) from British colonial rule. Canada phased out discrimination against gay marriage only in 2005, and American states are just now catching up.

The lesson for politicians making the pilgrimage to Punjab is that it can sometimes be a delicate dance. You may walk into trouble, as Wynne nearly did, or you may wrong-foot yourself, as Brown might have (until his recent circumspection on sexual orientation).

Good for Wynne for standing her ground, without trampling on local sensitivities. Good for Brown for belatedly standing up against homophobia, after previously stooping to the level of local homophobes and gay-baiters who hyperbolized the sex-ed update.

Lessons learned, one hopes, all around.

Source: India trip provides lessons learned, all around: Cohn | Toronto Star

Filed under Multiculturalism Tagged with , , , ,

India, France and Secularism – The New York Times

2015/10/30 Leave a comment

Interesting comparison between Indian and French secularism by Sylvie Kauffmann:

Hindu fundamentalists have a more radical view of beef consumption and the slaughtering of cows. Some states, like Maharashtra, have banned the sale of beef, and calls for a national beef ban are growing. The fact that Muslims and Christians are traditional beef eaters is not an obstacle. The B.J.P.’s Tarun Vijay, expressing a more stringent interpretation of secularism on the opinion website Daily 0, sees “beef eating as a challenge to India, its public display as an act of bravado,” adding, “It is a political act that has nothing to do with culinary practice or religion.”

In both countries Muslim minorities complain about discrimination — and with reason. But while many French Muslims, who make up about 7.5 percent of the population, feel targeted by “laïcité,” Indian Muslims see secularism as their best protection. One important difference is that radicalization is an almost nonexistent phenomenon in Indian Islam, while it is a dangerous (but limited) trend among European Muslims. Only 30 Indian citizens are known to have joined the Islamic State so far, out of 176 million Muslims; in France, the number of home-grown jihadists is close to 2,000, out of 4 to 5 million. So while in France, fundamentalism comes from the Muslim minority, in India it comes from the Hindu majority.

India has been home to Muslims since the 8th century; Mughals ruled most of India and Pakistan 400 years ago. In contrast, Islam’s implantation in Europe is only a few decades old; France’s law on laïcité predates their arrival. Today, as minorities, Muslims feel vulnerable. In France, the January terrorist attacks against Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket deepened the malaise, as many Muslims stayed away from the #JeSuisCharlie movement. When 4 million French people took to the streets in support of freedom of expression right after the attacks, they assumed that French Muslims would make a point to be part of this show of unity. Only a small number did. For many of those who did not show up, laïcité has gone too far. Allowing cartoonists to make fun of religious figures, including their Prophet, may be a French tradition; it is not their idea of secularism.

In India, the threat against secularism goes even deeper, down to the values dear to its founding fathers, Gandhi and Nehru. “This is an India which is crying out for a Mahatma who puts compassion and tolerance above all else,” wrote the well-known journalist Rajdeep Sardesai after the recent attacks. An India that could rally behind #JeSuisIkhlaq.

Source: India, France and Secularism – The New York Times

Filed under Multiculturalism Tagged with , , ,

Steep rise in citizenship to Hindus and Sikhs from Pakistan and Afghanistan under PM Modi-led government

2015/05/22 Leave a comment

Interesting and something little reported outside of India:

At the end of April 2015, the BJP government has approved citizenship for 4,230 Hindus and Sikhs from these two countries who have sought refuse in India, compared with 1,023 granted by the Congress-led UPA-II.

The increase in citizenship grants is in line with BJP’s declared aim of positioning India as a refuge for Hindus fleeing persecution anywhere in the world, much like Israel’s stance towards Jews. In its election manifesto for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had declared India as “a natural home for persecuted Hindus” who “shall be welcome to seek refuge”.

“The numbers of those granted citizenship are miniscule as compared to the country’s population. Government has taken a call resolve the problems being faced by people of Indian origin who in anyway were staying in the country for long,” a home ministry spokesperson said.

Government officials told ET that the number of Hindus from neighbouring Islamic countries getting Indian nationality could see a sharp spike in the months ahead, with the home ministry stepping up efforts to expedite long-term visas and citizenship to those fleeing Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

After the BJP government took charge in Delhi last May, nearly 19,000 migrants have already been given long-term visas in Madhya Pradesh. Some 11,000 persons have been granted visas, which precede citizenship, in Rajasthan, while in case of Gujarat, the figure is around 4,000, said officials familiar with the drive.

Steep rise in citizenship to Hindus and Sikhs from Pakistan and Afghanistan under PM Modi-led government – The Economic Times.

Filed under Citizenship Tagged with , ,

IVF babies born in India testing Canada’s citizenship laws – Hindustan Times

2015/01/10 1 Comment

One of the latest complexities in citizenship:

At least two cases of children conceived artificially and born overseas are challenging Canada’s hereditary citizenship laws, which stipulate that a child must be genetically related to at least one parent to be considered Canadian. The cases involve children who were conceived via in-vitro fertilization (IVF) using sperm and egg from anonymous donors and are therefore not genetically related to either parent.

In one case involving a British Columbia couple, the embryo was implanted in the woman who hoped to become the mother. In another, the embryo was implanted in a surrogate. Both children were born in India.

The BC case became the subject of repeated court challenges after an immigration officer ruled the child, a girl born in 2009, was not eligible for citizenship through descent because she had no genetic relationship to her Punjabi-origin Canadian father, Malkiat Kandola. He was applying to sponsor his wife as a permanent resident when the child, Nanakmeet, was born.

“For the purposes of determining citizenship by birth outside Canada to a Canadian parent (derivative citizenship), Canadian law relies on evidence of a blood connection (or genetic link) between parent and child which can be proven by DNA testing,” the immigration officer explained in a letter to Kandola.

“This principle … has deep historical roots both in Canada and internationally, and it is evident from the legislative history of the [Act] that Parliament has always intended the term ‘parent’ to refer to genetic parents for derivative citizenship purposes.”

IVF babies born in India testing Canada’s citizenship laws – Hindustan Times.

Filed under Citizenship Tagged with ,

Citizenship in India not gender-neutral, Arizona State U professor asserts

2014/11/05 Leave a comment

Interesting article on the long-standing impact of “personal law” and group religious rights in India:

One aspect of Indian democracy that is unfamiliar to most Americans is the concept of personal law, a legacy of British colonial administration. Four religious communities – majority Hindu and minority Muslim, Christian and Parsi – have their own personal laws. Other religious groups, Sikh, Buddhist and Jain, are subsumed under Hindu personal law. No one may opt out of a religious identity, and therefore no one is exempt from personal law. Proponents of personal law claim that it secures religious difference, Behl said.

“Personal law associated with India’s religious communities shapes every aspect of a woman’s life – her status at birth; her capacity to own, inherit and manage property; her freedom to work, marry, divorce and remarry; and her relationship with her children,” she [Natasha Behl] said.

“Personal law effectively suspends Indian women’s most basic rights on behalf of group rights. The issue of personal law divides women on multiple fronts – between their respective religious communities, between civil rights and minority rights, and between gender equality and minority claims for recognition.”

The interviews Behl conducted for the “Situated citizenship” article document situations including a disconnect between property and inheritance rights for women, which in theory are legally protected, and the reality in the community. “Practically speaking, girls don’t receive any land from their parents, and they don’t receive any land from their in-laws,” one interviewee told her.

Deep multiculturalism focus on group rights rather than ‘shallow’ multiculturalism focussing on individual rights as in Canada, Australia etc.

Citizenship in India not gender-neutral, ASU professor asserts | ASU News.

Filed under Multiculturalism Tagged with , ,

India: Why archaic citizenship laws must go – The Hindu

2014/09/16 Leave a comment

On some of the apparent inconsistencies between Colonial and present-day India citizenship laws, and a call to repeal the former, particularly as they apply to the Indian diaspora (over 20 million):

Today, persons of Indian origin face problems due to marital disputes with spouses of foreign origin or nationality issues arising out of foreign domiciles. The desirable approach, therefore, would be to create appropriate forums or authorities within the legal system that would address such issues by granting opportunities for hearing and redressal. Accordingly, deportation or removal of a person to a foreign jurisdiction would be an abject surrender to a foreign dominion.

Having resolved to be a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic Republic, we in India are capable and competent of adjudicating our nationality issues to provide redressal for persons of Indian origin. Our post-independence laws provide the solutions which our vibrant judiciary interprets to protect fundamental freedoms guaranteed under the Constitution. Hence, pre-independence laws in conflict with rights today must be revoked.

Why archaic citizenship laws must go – The Hindu.

Filed under Citizenship Tagged with

India: Liberal immigration norms make Canada new destination for techies

2014/07/17 Leave a comment

Nice to see positive messaging for a change:

But Alexander was clear the popular reaction is positive. “We are an immigration country. We have built our success on immigration and we have protected that legacy through the economic crisis of 2008-09. We are still a growth play, whether in the technology and resource sectors or finance.”

For many reasons – English education and skills – Indians score high in the acceptability chart. “We have three countries that are in a league of their own as sources of immigration – China, India and the Philippines.”

In 2013, over 33,000 Indian immigrants came to Canada, Alexander said. Around 60 per cent were economic migrants, rest were families.

Alexander is clear that unlike the US, Canada has had a more positive evolution of its immigration systems. “We have reformed, we have evolved.”

It is far easier to get permanent residence in Canada. Alexander said, “It only requires you to be in Canada for two years out of five. So someone who is global and wants to go back and forth can do that – be a Canadian permanent resident while doing some part of business here in India.”

Liberal immigration norms make Canada new destination for techies – The Economic Times.

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , ,

Foreign workers issue delays trade deals

2014/05/20 Leave a comment

The higher-end of Temporary Foreign Workers. But given that one of the original cases was in relation to foreign IT workers displacing Canadian IT workers at the Royal Bank, not an easy issue for the Government. Particularly given that in contrast to NAFTA and the upcoming CETA, India is a low-cost supplier of IT services:

While discussions have also been delayed in part because of India’s lengthy election cycle, the fact that foreign workers have emerged as a potential stumbling block has implications for other lucrative trade agreements that Canada hopes to realize. It remains to be seen whether the resounding victory by Narendra Modi, a pro-business Hindu nationalist who heads the Bharatiya Janata Party, will help Canada overcome the impasse.

Rentala Chandrashekhar, the president of the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), which represents India’s IT community, recently visited Ottawa to stress the negative impact Canada’s reforms are having on trade and the potential that further changes could make things worse for both economies.

Mr. Chandrashekhar, a former senior public servant with the Indian government, met with Immigration Minister Chris Alexander, senior officials with Employment Minister Jason Kenney’s department and Don Stephenson, the chief trade negotiator for the Canada-India talks.

“Most important is perception, the perception that the Canadian economy is becoming more closed,” Mr. Chandrashekhar told the Globe. “The perception that walls are being put up … [This] is not something that is very conductive to the kind of environment that you need for pushing forward the idea of a freer trade regime.”

Foreign workers issue delays trade deals – The Globe and Mail.

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , , , ,

← Older posts

Newer posts →