No letup in communal mischief
Dr Mohammad Manzoor Alam
After a whole year of anti-Muslim slander campaign and sporadic violence against Muslims (to a lesser degree, against Christians as well),...
New constitution in two months: Nepal Deputy PM
By Prashant Sood
Kathmandu : Nepal's Deputy Prime Minister Bamdev Gautam has expressed confidence that a new constitution will be promulgated in the country in...
A Portrait of the Indian as a Young Dalit Girl: Part 3 – Meeting...
(Editor’s note: This was first published on Yahoo.com as a single piece. We are reproducing the long form report in parts for TwoCircles.net readers.)
You...
India has 906 IPS posts lying vacant, UP tops the chart
By Mohit Dubey
Lucknow : A day after the Civil Services examination results were announced and the country got some new raring-to-go IPS...
India has 906 IPS posts lying vacant, UP tops the chart
By Mohit Dubey
Lucknow: A day after the Civil Services examination results were announced and the country got some new raring-to-go IPS (Indian Police Service)...
How rural India gained 86 mn illiterate people
New Delhi : About 86 million more rural Indians have been counted as illiterate than the 2011 census data found.
This is revealed by...
बिखरते कश्मीर से निकलती दीबा फरहत की कामयाबी की दास्तां
शरीक़ अंसर,
संघ लोकसेवा आयोग (यूपीएससी) द्वारा आयोजित सिविल सेवा परीक्षा में इस बार भी लड़कियों ने अपनी प्रतिभा का लोहा मनवाया है. इस बार...
A Portrait of the Indian as a Young Dalit Girl: Part 2 – Sister,...
(Editor’s note: This was first published on Yahoo.com as a single piece. We are reproducing the long form report in parts for TwoCircles.net readers.)
You...
Some practical steps for boosting Muslims in Civil Services
By Aabid Ali Haider for TwoCircles.net
On Saturday, July 4th, 2015, the UPSC had declared the much awaited results of the prestigious Civil Services Examination,...
Tops cops were discouraged from acting against 1984 rioters: book
New Delhi: Top police officers who undertook rare deterrent action against the killings on the streets of Delhi following the assassination of then prime...
Sumptuous dates from the world over in Delhi markets
By Ruwa Shah
New Delhi: This Ramzan, replenish your Iftar delicacies with dates from almost all the countries around the globe.
In the holy month of...
Charleston bloodshed: Dodging the real questions?
It is truly appalling to see that a tragedy so conspicuously painted in racial terms reduced and represented as a show of hostility against...
‘Minorities, Dalits & Adivasis affected acutely due to urban poverty and informal settlements’
By TCN News,
London: Minorities and indigenous peoples have been among the last to benefit from the rapid growth of Asia’s cities, according to Minority...
90 percent of Hindi voters sealed Indira Gandhi’s fate
By Praveen Chakravarty
New Delhi: “If the majority rule were to apply, the crow should be our national bird, not the peacock”. A quote attributed...
Contain the IS epidemic
The attackers look at it as jihad and are misled to believe that killing others by killing themselves they become martyrs (shuhda). There is...
How relevant are madrassas today?
The madrassas around the world were known as fountainheads of religious learning and guardians of tradition and had an increasingly important role in bringing...
From scavenging to doctoral dreams: An inspiring journey of Sunil Yadav
“Even if 100 people from my community of scavengers exit from this inhumane occupation and move towards a dignified life, I will feel my...
Why has Muslim Personal Law Board failed the Indian Muslims?
“When All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) deviated from its chosen path and intruded in other areas, why did it not take up...
Professional housewives!!
By Dr Kouser Fathima
The term may surprise many but trust me professional housewives or PH are a reality. To start with, PH are qualified...
LGBT community unclear about my project: Monica Dogra
By Siddharth Jha
New Delhi : After facing criticism on social media for asking fans to crowdfund Rs.50 lakhs for her art project...
‘Brick kilns turn hazardous for Kashmiris, violate environmental laws’
By Shamshad Ali
Srinagar: With most brick kilns in the Kashmir Valley not implementing the measures specified for minimizing pollution levels, the areas where...
Inspired village headman now focuses on nomadic tribes
By Priyanka
New Delhi : Sunil Jaglan, a Haryana village headman whose online drive for the girl child went viral on Twitter after...
Asma Nama: To earn or not to earn? Should a Da’ee be financially independent?
By Dr Asma Anjum Khan
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was persistent in doing one thing prominentlythroughout those 23 years of his Prophethood. He preached, propagated...
SelfieWithDaughter: Can India save 23 million girls?
By Prachi Salve
New Delhi: India’s child sex-ratio (below six years) is now the worst in 70 years, possibly the worst ever. The latest decline...
A day of Ramadan in Mominpura, Nagpur
Photos by Nivedita Khandekar
Nagpur: Mominpura in Nagpur is the place to be during Ramadan. People from across the city and at times,...
Can Greece make history again?
By Jaspal Singh
The Greek government has declared a referendum for people of Greece to vote on the concessions that the consortium of banks headed...
Bobby Jindal to comply with same-sex marriage ruling
By Arun Kumar
Washington: Louisiana's Indian-American Governor Bobby Jindal is still not reconciled with the US Supreme Court's ruling to recognize same-sex marriage, but for...
Few people understand Sufi music: Piyarelal of Wadali Brothers
By Ankit Sinha
New Delhi : The spiritual and devotional path of Sufi music has enchanted humankind for centuries but nowadays the genre is...
The untold story behind ‘political Iftaar parties’
By Tanvir Salim
Ramadan is here, and there will be a mad rush to organize Iftaar parties in New Delhi. Most likely Prime Minister Narendra...
82 percent of roads along China border unfinished
By Abheet Singh Sethi
New Delhi: In 2006-07, India approved the construction of 73 strategic roads along the Sino-Indian border, but 82 percent of these...
Dilemma of giving: Charity enablers guide social responsibility in India
New Delhi : A fashion designer in an export house, Neelam Taragi, was one day reading an article about the plight of the girl...
Rebuttal to NIA’s counter claim over PP Salian’s allegations of going ‘soft’ in Malegaon...
By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
Mumbai: The genuineness of National Investigation Agency (NIA) in probing and prosecuting Hindu extremists in various blasts is now under public...
Indo-Pak designers to share stage at ‘Shaan-e-Pakistan’
By Ruwa Shah
New Delhi: Huma Nassr, widely known as the first Pakistani entrepreneur in India, is set to launch a Shaan-e-Pakistan event at the...
A day’s rain and Kashmiris raise their hands heavenward
By Sheikh Qayoom
Srinagar: If a single day's rain can trigger floods in Kashmir, it carries only one message - that the state government has...
A year of intimidations of minorities and their defenders
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat,
The BJP government led by Narendra Modi at the Centre has completed one year and rightly it is time to evaluate...
Madras HC asking rapists to settle matter ‘unethical’: Legal experts
By Amiya Kumar Kushwaha
New Delhi: Terming the recently delivered order of the Madras High Court that directed the rapist to mediate with the victim...
Kashmir: Tourists’ paradise is also the paradise for non-local beggars
By Bilal Bashir Bhat
Srinagar: With the ongoing peak tourist season in Kashmir and the sacred month of Ramadan, a number of non-local beggars...
Yoga as part of the matrix which links India
By Saeed Naqvi
Ayurveda entered our lives as tiny, plastic vials of Amritdhara, three drops in a teaspoon of sugar, the panacea for all stomach...
English teachers in Punjab flunk English test
By Vishal Gulati
Chandigarh: English school teachers in Punjab have flunked the English language test.
From tenses to spellings, every thing they wrote was wrong, resulting...
How a death in UP can influence polls in Bihar
By Amulya Ganguli
For the present, the Akhilesh Yadav government in Uttar Pradesh has bought peace with the family of the slain journalist, Jagendra Singh,...
Zakat is a tool to empower life!
The objective of Zakat is to transform the beneficiary of today into benefactors of tomorrow.
By Aamir Edresy
The importance of Zakat can be very well...
पत्रकारों की हत्या में मक़सूर होता लोकतंत्र
मोहम्मद आसिफ़ इकबाल
सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने उत्तर प्रदेश के पत्रकार जोगेन्द्र सिंह को जिंदा जलाकर मार डालने के मामले में केंद्र सरकार और राज्य सरकार...
‘Majority of middle-class Indians prefer branded products’
By Nivedita
New Delhi: There is a clear shift of design sensibilities and an eye for detail in Indian consumers, especially the middle-class regarding home...
For the Love of Urdu: Running free Urdu classes
"Even when Qamar Hayat retired in 2003 as a teacher from the Nagpur Municipal Urdu School, the Urdu class continues to be free of...
Yoga is ok, yoga politics is not!!
By Dr Mohammad Manzoor Alam
On its own, yoga is like other systems of exercise that promote physical, mental and emotional well-being. Despite its origins...
Hijabi rebels in India
By Kousar Fathima
Purdah is not new to Indian Muslims, it has always been a part of Muslim society but with passage of time and...
Modi hasn’t shown signs of dictatorship: Journalist Coomi Kapoor
By Preetha Nair
New Delhi : Prime Minister Narendra Modi hasn't shown any signs of dictatorship nor is there any chance of an emergency being...
Lalit Modi case: BJP rallies around Vasundhara Raje
By Brajendra Nath Singh ,
New Delhi: Amid mounting pressure for resignation of Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje over her help to former IPL chief...
एक और बंटवारे की राह पर खड़ा है भारत
जावेद अनीस,
सआदत हसन मंटो ने अपनी मशहूर रचना ‘टोबा टेक सिंह’ में एक दिमागी अस्पताल का ज़िक्र करते हुए बताया था कि सन् 47...
Marital rape is unacceptable: Maneka Gandhi
By Preetha Nair
New Delhi, June 24 (IANS) Marital rape is condemnable as is violence against women in any form, said Union Minister for Women...
96 percent of Swachh Bharat money in J&K unspent
Sofi Ahsan
New Delhi, June 24 (IANS/IndiaSpend) Sanitation in Jammu & Kashmir is among the worst in India, with more than 54 percent of more...
Dynastic politics does not go well with democracy: Kuldip Nayar
By Prashant Sood
New Delhi: India is unlikely to see the imposition of another Emergency due to changes made in the Constitution and people being...
Maharashtra needs to get its act together against floods, stampedes
By Arun Bapat,
Will it be flood or a stampede next? Maharashtra can expect more disasters if remedial action is not taken immediately.
Urban flooding which...
Fleeting hours of God’s grace
Dr Mohammad Manzoor Alam
Assalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullah, everybody. We are meeting in the first ashra (10 days) of the holy month of Ramadan. This...
Changing pattern of struggle against land acquisition in India
By Soroor Ahmed, TwoCircles.net,
Until the tribes and other weaker sections of the remote, and mineral-rich rough terrains of east-central India were getting displaced from...
How about apolitical Yoga Day next year?
Now that the brouhaha over International Day of Yoga is over, it is time to think of how a yoga day for all can...
Experimental drug shows promise to treat Alzheimer
New York: An experimental drug has been found to protect Alzheimer's-inflicted mice from memory deterioration, despite a high-glycemic-index (GI) diet meant to boost blood...
On Father’s Day: Letting go
By Andaleeb Wajid
My father died when I was 12. For many years, this was what defined me.
While the tears dried up after the first...
Need to streamline Zakat & Sadaqah administration in the world
By Dr Syed Zafar Mahmood,
Circulation of wealth: Zakat & Sadaqah
Bringing about economic equality through circulation of wealth in the society is one of the...
Yoga Day: Muslims join in, say they feel rejuvenated
Rahul Vaishnav
New Delhi: Like any devout Muslim during the holy month of Ramzan, Irfan Salmani Dehalvi, 42, woke up shortly before dawn, had 'sehari',...
Plant inspired solar cells to revolutionise energy storage
New York A new technology developed by scientists at University of California - Los Angeles (UCLA) can store solar energy for up to several...
Modi leads over 37,000 to mark International Yoga Day
New Delhi: unprecedented demonstration of India's soft power as a record-breaking 37,000 people, including senior officials and diplomats, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi...
Ashiana: Bengaluru’s old age home
By Shaik Zakeer Hussain, TwoCircles.net,
Bengaluru: Abdul Hamid, 78, was a painter by profession. He did painting until recently. That was till the paint brush...
Racial and caste oppression have many similarities
By Rajesh Sampath,
Comparisons can be risky, but not impossible.
Consider for a moment India’s Dalits, or “untouchables,” and African Americans.
Racial inequality in America has its...
For BJP, euphoria of last May seem far away
By Amulya Ganguli
Till the quicksand of indiscretions enveloped Sushma Swaraj and Vasundhara Raje, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had the advantage over its principal...
SIO – BHU और संघ के जुड़ाव पर SIO की सफ़ाई
काशिफ़ अहमद फ़राज़,
SIO और काशी हिन्दू विश्वविद्यालय द्वारा आयोजित सेमिनार के बाबत SIO के एक पूर्व सदस्य सोशल मीडिया में मुख्य मुद्दे से हटकर...
Manipur ambush village lies totally deserted
By David Mayum
Paraolon: More than a fortnight after the fateful separatist ambush on an Indian Army convoy that left 18 soldiers dead, Paraolon looks...
Indian origin scientist to get Russia’s highest tech award
By Hardev Sanotra
St Petersburg: B. Jayant Baliga, a US-based Indian-origin scientist, is being awarded Russia's top technology award in recognition of his work in...
So why’s this Modi worried in Bihar?
By Imran Khan
Patna: BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi - better known these days as SuMo to rhyme with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's NaMo -...
SIO-BHU Conference: Why I don’t need to apologise to SIO and its apologists
By Mahtab Alam
On June 13, I received an email from Thouseef Madikeri, a national secretary of the Students’ Islamic Organization (SIO) of India, with...
‘Haiya alal falaah – come towards Success’
Which success does it mean, the success in the world or hereafter? Why haven’t we realized yet that Allah (SWT) has chosen ‘success’ to...
Government schools will be model for private schools in Kashmir: Education Minister
By Sheikh Qayoom
Srinagar: Political interference in the appointment, posting and transfer of teachers have virtually destroyed the educational system in Jammu and Kashmir, says...
Rejoice, good days are here! Or are they?
By Dr Mohammad Manzoor Alam
Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that achche din aa gaye (good days are here).The PM, in his own opinion...
China’s e-Commerce market is 80 times larger than India’s
By Devanik Saha
New Delhi: Retail e-commerce sales in India are expected to reach $17.5 billion (Rs.105,120 crore) by 2018, from $5.3 billion (Rs 31,800...
US House seeks larger US-India-Israel national security cooperation
By Arun Kumar
Washington: The US House of Representatives has passed a bipartisan amendment to the FY2016 Intelligence Authorization Act calling for expansion of US-India-Israel...
SIO और BHU के बीच लटकती साम्प्रदायिक सौहार्द्र की हक़ीक़त
सिद्धांत मोहन, TwoCircles.net,
वाराणसी: कम्यूनल हार्मोनी यानी साम्प्रदायिक सौहार्द्र पर बात करना या उसे किसी चर्चा का विषय बनाना उतना आसान नहीं, जितना सोचने में...
Kashmir killings trigger panic among ex-militants
By Sheikh Qayoom
Srinagar: Panic stricken former militants and sympathizers of separatists have started migrating out of Kashmir's Sopore town following the killings of former...
Political rhetoric over god and his abode
By Ram Puniyani,
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made it a point to keep visiting temples when visiting other countries. His visit to...
Behind the cycles & burqas of Aligarh Muslim University
By Nayeem Showkat Khan,
“Write a note on Aligarh Muslim University.’ My teacher at the Noor-ul-Islam High School in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district enunciated one...
Case for interest-free banking and finance
As many as 75 countries across the world have adopted the system. The operational term in many cases is not ‘Shariah’ but “interest-free” banking.
By...
A Kashmiri outside Kashmir: Victim of ignorance and prejudice
By Aadil Mir
As a young journalist working in Delhi, I find it always irritating to face the frequent question from people - even strangers...
Yechury hails Nepal parties for accord on statute
By Anil Giri
Kathmandu: CPI-M secretary general Sitaram Yechuri, who played a crucial role in bringing Nepal's radical Maoists to mainstream after 2006, has hailed...
Indian woman with drug-resistant TB sets off scare in US
By Arul Louis
New York:An Indian woman infected with a rare drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis has created a health scare in three US states and...
Communal tension claims a life in Birloka, Nagaur of Rajasthan
SI of Khienwsar police station, along with three policemen and a patwari, have been suspended. Eight people, including five prime suspects have been rounded...
Nepal’s economic growth projected lower at 3.04 percent
By Anil Giri
Kathmandu : Nepal's annual growth will be significantly lowered from over 5 percent to 3.04 percent, according to the Central Bureau of...
The art of preserving manuscripts
By Rana Safvi for TwoCircles.net
Ambreen Shariq Khan has grown up amidst rare books. Her father Abdus Sattar has a collection of rare Urdu and...
Senegal: A secular nation with rich Islamic heritage
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat,
Senegal remains one of the most peaceful nations in the African continent. With a massive 95% Muslim population Senegal was a...
IIT-Madras team aims to reduce leukemia treatment’s side effects
By Shweta Sharma
New Delhi: A team of researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) have devised a technique that uses a new...
Maggi banned but what about oil, eggs, vegetables, pulses
By Abheet Singh Sethi
New Delhi, June 6 (IANS/IndiaSpend) Maggi two-minute noodles is only the latest food item to be found violative of food-safety standards...
Ironies of Shia-Sunni ties
By Soroor Ahmed, TwoCircles.net,
“The Muslim Brotherhood is quintessentially a Sunni entity, but in Yemen, its chairman and secretary general are Zaydis. Thus, all this...
Atali village: Muslims back, not welcome
By Rahul Vaishnavi
Atali (Haryana) : The eerie calm in violence-torn Atali village in Haryana's Ballabhgarh district at the edge of Delhi threatens to explode...
Manufacturing and undermining national icons: RSS Style
By Ram Puniyani
Many a social and political processes related to projection of some icons and undermining of the others have intensified during last few...
Delhi Dispute: Is LG Jung Wrong? Is CM Kejriwal right?
By Kaleem Kawaja
Delhi is not a state like any other state of India. It is union territory. In 1991, the Parliament framed some laws...
An open letter to the Rohingyas: RIP RIP Rohingyas !
A scathing critique of the general Muslim apathy towards issues.
By Dr Asma Anjum Khan for TwoCircles.net,
My Dear Rohingyas,
Heard you are on a cruise these...
Modi’s One Year : Environmental protection still awaits balance
Although the number of actual clearances given on paper for infrastructure projects are not much different compared to the UPA rule, the NDA rule...
Chai @AMU – it is more than drinking tea
By Nayeem Showkat Khan,
“Tod diya ray.” You may surely be used to this line if you have attended or visited Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). Every hour, at least one chai (tea) glass is ‘broken to death’ at some dhaba located somewhere in the vicinity of varsity and dhabawalas keep on repeating the same line.
Characters most familiar: The Indian diaspora in fiction
By Vikas Datta,
Politicians, business magnates, sports stars - the Indian diaspora has done well for itself in its new homes around the world and, on a literary basis, crossed another test of acceptance with their depiction in fiction as regular, non-stereotypical characters. From police inspectors to businessmen to cooks in nearly half a dozen countries across four continents, overseas Indians are increasingly figuring in a range of splendid tales by a number of non-Indian writers.
Will countries ‘walk the talk’ to end the tobacco epidemic?
By Bobby Ramakant, Citizen News Service (CNS),
Despite unprecedented pressure from tobacco industry to delay, dilute or thwart progress on a range of tobacco...
Voters debunk two party systems in Delhi, Greece, Spain, Scotland
By Saeed Naqvi,
The new poster boy of European politics could well be a pony tailed Pablo Iglesias, in a dark blue denim shirt, 40, leader of Spain’s new communist movement, Podemos, which threatens to end the two decade old rule of the right wing Peoples Party. Playing second fiddle to PP in Spain were the socialists. As phenomena, is there a similarity between Iglesias and Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party?
‘Aaghaz’: Mission to ‘educate to advance’ for a better life
Over the past more than 10 years, thousands of poor Muslim children have benefited from Aaghaz, many of whom have now got well-placed jobs and are now supporting the education of other poor Muslim children. It’s like completing a circle.
By Kashif-ul-Huda, TwoCircles.net,
On May 5, 2015 Mazhar Farooqui, a journalist working in Dubai, sent a simple, two-line message to a 70-member WhatsApp group called ‘Aaghaz Foundation’.
The magic wand of Mr. Modi
By Shaiq Ali Khan for TwoCircles.net
If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it, and you will even come to believe it...
Modi Sarkar’s One Year
By Irfan Engineer,
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has completed one year in office on May 25th, 2015. His swearing-in ceremony was on May 26, 2014. PM’s achievements remain contested true to his polarising personality. While the PM’s followers exaggerate his achievements as unprecedented, his detractors can only recount the promises that remain undelivered. An honest assessment becomes difficult if not impossible. However, here we are trying to capture some trends and directions of the Central Govt. headed by PM Modi.
India needs to go deeper into Latin America
By Deepak Bhojwani,
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set a crackling diplomatic pace for his government. Barely two months after being sworn in, he was in Brazil in July 2014, where he met 12 Latin American leaders on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit. This triggered a more active engagement with a region benignly ignored by India despite its huge potential.
राजस्थान का नागौर जिला दलितों की कब्रगाह बनता जा रहा है
By भंवर मेघवंशी,
राजस्थान के नागौर में हुए दलितों के जनसंहार पर भंवर मेघवंशी की यह रिपोर्ट इस मुल्क का चेहरा है, जो रोज ब रोज दलित-मुस्लिम-आदिवासी बस्तियों में देखने को मिलता है. भंवर राजस्थान में दलित, आदिवासी और घुमन्तु समुदाय के लिए संघर्षरत है. प्रतिरोध से साभार.
Building an entrepreneurial ecosystem in India
By Amit Kapoor,
The Narendra Modi government completed one year in office on Monday (May 25). One of the centerpieces of why the BJP-led NDA dispensation came to power was is its focus on development and governance.
Governance has largely been on track
(One Year of Modi Government)
By Anuj Puri,
As the Prime Minister Narendra Modi government enters its second year in office on Tuesday, there is...
Afghanistan: Democracy with the flavor of narcotics
By Dr Mohammad Nazrul Bari and Milad Alimoradian,
Afghanistan has been the core of exhaustive research and analysis. This great landlocked country with an excellent ancient history has seen lots of difficult and different situations, especially in the last century; it suffered massively from several external and internal issues such as political, sociological, religious, etc. However, by looking at the internal issues we see that it’s linked to external interventions, which are not proliferating and productive for the country. This simply means that the external elements created the major devastating issues in the country: exploitation in all various forms can be seen as one of the main issues.
Through the people’s lens: Modi’s development model so far
Dr Rahul Pandey, Bobby Ramakant and Dr Sandeep Pandey, Citizen News Service - CNS
Story of Modi’s development model so far: Cutting health and education...
Flights of imagination: An aeronautical engineer as a famous novelist
By Vikas Datta,
Immersed in aerodynamics, material science, structural analysis and the like, an aeronautical engineer would be the last person expected to be a successful and long-lasting novelist. But there was one who started writing for relaxation and eventually ended up with two dozen intricately-plotted but extremely engrossing works stretching from wartime romances to attempts for redemption to dire apocalyptic scenarios - with views on class, gender and race relations most unprecedented for his era.
Assam teen writes novel on ‘Generation Gap’
Tawhid Laskar, 16, is believed to be the youngest writer in Assam and undoubtedly the youngest Muslim debut writer of the region
By Maruf Alom,
Hojai (Assam): Simple, soft spoken, shy in nature but confident in outlook, thin in shape; this is all about a teenager of Hojai – a tiny town of Assam. During my last visit home in March 2015, I met him for the first time.
The itinerant prime minister yet to visit a Muslim country
By Saeed Naqvi,
Measuring a government’s achievements in its first year has to be inherently speculative. But some things can be put down to Narendra Modi’s account with a degree of certainty. He has in his first year as prime minister, never worn a Muslim cap although it is difficult to identify a cap of that denominational description.
People retain hope in Modi, but time’s running out
(One year of Modi government)
By Amulya Ganguli,
No smart cities, no bullet trains, no spike in employment, no visible improvement in infrastructure, continuing logjam over bills in parliament, carping by in-house critics. Even then, few will say that Narendra Modi will lose if the elections are held in the near future.
Does only commemoration of birth anniversary of Sir Syed fulfil the message?
Mere words without action will be “dishonesty”, claims a doctoral student of AMU
By Mumtaz Ahmad Numani,
On October 17, 2014, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) celebrated the 197th birth anniversary of its founder Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. The celebration is always meant to be symbolic to recall and remind ourselves his powerful vision and mission. Can we exactly recall what is it that we commemorate? Most probably yes. It is after all, ‘education’. It is/was the education of political, social, economic and cultural studies to enlighten the citizens, but more than that ‘Muslims’ of the sub-continent.
Some notes on MIM Assembly success in Maharashtra with tales of monkey and rabbit
By Pramod Mandade,
One week after the Maharashtra assembly election results I went to my village in Latur district (Marathwada). AIMIM (All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen) won two seats one in Aurangabad and another in Mumbai plus they took considerable votes in many other places.
Biodiversity and Islam
By Dr Mohammad Iqtedar Husain Farooq,
Biological diversity, or the shorter term ‘biodiversity’, means the variety of life forms like human beings, animals of all sorts and plants of different categories in a region or on the globe. Any harm to biodiversity may increase diseases on Earth or in other words less of biodiversity means more of infections.
Know thy World: Communication, transportation and energy
By Dr Mohammad Manzoor Alam,
Assalamu Alaikum Wa Rahamtullah everybody. I am back to you with this column a little earlier than I usually do. The previous piece, ‘Know thy World’ is being completed with this piece. The earlier piece said we have to practise our faith as best as we can here in this world only, for the next life, in the Hereafter, will be a place for harvesting what we have sown here. And to practise Islam in this world, we have to know this world.
State of SEZs is warning for land acquisition
By Prachi Salve ,
New Delhi: There is strong evidence that past acquisitions of land for development have gone awry. That should serve as a...
Why PM Modi is wrong in saying that Indians felt ashamed before 2014?
By M Reyaz, TwoCircles.net,
In 2008 during my final year of BA (Honours), I went to Lahore, Pakistan to participate in an inter-college drama festival. The hospitality of our host at GC University as also general Pakistanis had left us Indians humbled. They went an extra mile in making us feel comfortable. I remember at Anarkali market, how shopkeepers would insist on not taking money once they realized that we are Indians, or generously gave discounts. “Aap Mehman Ho Hamare,” they would often say.
Languages, libraries and legacy of hatred
By Kashif-ul-Huda, TwoCircles.net,
Last Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi handed a beautiful and thoughtful gift to the President of Mongolia Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj. It was a copy of the earliest illustrated Persian work on the history of Mongol tribes. The book called ‘Jame at-Tawarikh’ (Collection of Histories) was authored by Rashiduddin Fazlullah Hamdani [1247-1318CE], who was the Vazir of Mongol king Mahmud Ghazan Khan [Reign 1295-1304].
Assessing one-year’s performance of the Modi Government
(One Year of Modi Government)
By Amit Kapoor,
The Narendra Modi government, which completes a year in office on May 26, had won last year's general elections on the plank of development and its promise to bring in ‘Acche Din’. Here is a performance snapshot of the major initiatives undertaken by the government in various broad areas. These include the economy, foreign engagement, agriculture, infrastructural development, social security schemes, urban development, industrial development, health and environment, education and entrepreneurship and employment.
Safe, Habitable or Smart? India’s 100 Smart Cities must be all three
By Sanjiv Kataria,
Each time there is a mention of Smart Cities in India, I get concerned about the safety of women because there is a surfeit of news stemming from the vulnerability of women in our cities. A few incidents that shook India recently, include:
Chinese Puzzles: Qiu Xialong’s Inspector Chen and his cases
By Vikas Datta,
"When I am satisfied questions of state security are not involved, then you begin," a secret police operative tells homicide investigator Arkady Renko in Martin Cruz Smith's "Gorky Park", stressing order, not justice - the basic objective of policing not only in authoritarian polities, but frequently in free, democratic societies too. It is especially prevalent in a country where economic liberalisation has led to prosperity, and even affluence, but also crime and corruption as governance remains opaque and autocratic. It is in such a setting that Shanghai's Inspector Chen Cao has to work.
Can women take smart decisions?
By Amit Dasgupta,
If you were asked to respond "Yes/No" to the above question, there is every likelihood that, apart from some good humoured jokes about women and decision making, your response would emphatically be in the affirmative. The uncomfortable fact is that you probably believe that women are incapable of making smart decisions.
Clarity needed on resuming India-Pakistan cricket ties
By Veturi Srivatsa,
There has never been or never will be a right time in the foreseeable future for India and Pakistan to play cricket bilaterally. It has always been a political gambit and it is once again, the cacophonic discussions on television channels notwithstanding.
Why the Communists remain a peripheral force in India
By Amulya Ganguli,
Seven years after the deed was done, the new Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary, Sitaram Yechury, has confessed that his party made a mistake by withdrawing support from the Manmohan Singh government on the India-US nuclear deal in 2008.
One Year of Modi Sarkar: Hate Speech Galore
By Ram Puniyani,
The coming to power of Narendra Modi in a way gave an open license to all the affiliates of RSS combine to indulge in open hate speech against the religious minorities. The current agenda behind the hate speech is to consolidate the communal polarisation of the society along lines of religion. The well-known case of MIM’s Akarbar-uddudin Owaisis’ hate speech has been despicable and very rightly Akbarudin Owaisi had to be in jail for some time. The case against him should be pursued and the legal course of action must be followed. At the same time, what about the hate speeches indulged in by the likes of Pravin Togadia, Subramaniam Swami, Giriraj Singh, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, Sadhvi Prachi, Sakshi Mahraraj, Yogi Adityanth, Sanjay Raut and company?
Centrality of Lucknow in world’s Shia culture
By Saeed Naqvi,
Last year, addressing a group of foreign policy analysts in New Delhi, the ambassador of Iran to India, Gholamreza Ansari, made an important admission. He admitted that Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini, leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, came from an important family of divines from Kuntoor, in the Awadh region of Uttar Pradesh, not far from Lucknow.
Looking at the world through the eyes of diplomats and other stories
The thoughts and ideas of Indian diplomats who have collectively put in more than 1,150 years in the Indian Foreign Service, understanding the ins and out of wealth creation, a story of a Parsi man and an exciting tale about the battle between man and nature: this is what IANS has to offer to its readers this weekend. Take a look.
1. Book: India and the World: Through the Eyes of Indian Diplomats; Edited by Surendra Kumar; Publisher: Wisdom Tree; Pages: 460; Price: Rs.1,095.
How to conquer those sugar cravings
By Amar Chandel,
What can be almost as strong, if not even stronger than hunger pangs, is sugar craving. One goes almost berserk when it strikes and one is willing to throw all dietary discipline out of the window for the sake of those sweet treats. Take heart. There are a few simple little techniques which can help you tide over those vulnerable moments.
Modi in China: Turning conflict into complementarity
By Tarun Vijay,
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's China visit has come at a time when his government is completing his first year in power and global strategic equations are fast rearranging. At a time when India's economy is gaining strength and global economists are hailing Modi's one year in power as the best India has had economically, Modi walks in China as the most confident and powerful prime minister to have ever visited. And with President Xi Jinping, considered to be a strong leader moulded in Deng Xiaoping's school of thought, a courageous march of togetherness seems more possible than ever.
Beyond borders: India, China must show climate stewardship
By Rajendra Shende,
Hsüan-tsang, a scholarly Chinese monk in Vedic and Buddhism studies, crossed the formidable borders and travelled to India in search of original Buddhist scriptures. Hailing from central China's Henan province, his well-known 7th century travelogue describes India as a 'knowledge country'.
State of religious freedom in India
By Kashif-ul-Huda, TwoCircles.net,
It doesn’t take a US Commission to know that religious freedom is shrinking in India but it does help in throwing a light on this subject. There has been a new wave of anti-conversion laws passed since 2000 that takes away individual’s right to choose a religion – a clear violation of fundamental right guaranteed by the Indian Constitution. The Article 25 of the Constitution gives citizens of India the right to “profess, practice and propagate religion,” all these rights have come into increased attack in the last few years.
Earthquakes and their impact: Building codes must be strictly followed
By Ramesh Singh,
A big earthquake in Assam and in the Himalayan region was expected ever since I was a geophysics student at Banaras Hindu University during 1974-1976. At that time, funding agencies spent money for routine observations of various parameters in the wake of a major earthquake. In the past, a few major earthquakes have occurred in the Himalayan region: the Bihar-Nepal earthquake of In 1988, Uttarkashi in 1991 and Chamoli in 1999. They claimed many lives and many houses collapsed, especially during the Uttarkashi quake. The major damage to buildings occurred because of the poor quality of construction.
Smart-City Challenge: Building on pillars of good governance
By Shrimoyee Bhattacharya and Sujaya Rathi,
The second budget of the Narendra Modi government has been presented. The Smart Cities programme and 500 habitations under the National Urban Rejuvenation Mission (NURM) together have been allocated Rs. 6,000 crore (approximately $1 billion). This is more than one third of the total allocation under the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD).
Embarrassment in Nepal
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat,
The self- respecting people of Nepal need to be congratulated for compelling the jingoist Indian media to ponder over its follies and idiocies in reporting the painful stories of earthquake from Nepal. The thing is that the reportage of TRP hungry TV channels is not new to us when they market our emotions and sentiments as these are the most ‘saleable’ products in our market apart from sex, rape, babas, tantra, cricket, corporate and Bollywood.
Making AMU a healthy and peaceful campus
Peace brings prosperity and peace brought in by AMUSU president Abdullah Azzam was one of the most important factors that helped AMU get the NAAC accreditation. The NAAC team is known to have said on record that AMUSU has helped AMU grow into healthy campus.
By Kashif Ilyas,
Student politics is a necessary and vital part of a healthy campus life. It is not only the breeding ground for future leaders, but also a great educational tool that allows the students to learn and experience many life skills.
Strengthening India’s healthcare system
By Amit Kapoor,
One of the biggest challenges India faces and will continue to face in the forthcoming decades is in the context of healthcare. It would include issues like health accessibility, infant mortality rates, the stunted growth of children because of ill health, maternal health, disease patterns among its adult population as well as the challenges pertaining to its ageing population, among others. It is bound to be further accentuated by processes like urbanization and ever-growing pollution levels.
Drip irrigation could be manna for India’s farmers
By Salim David,
Spending nights at a farm, one can hear the stillness, smell the freshness in the air and marvel at the clear skies. City folk thus romanticise rural life. They feel it is relaxed, slow-paced, with days spent in the midst of natural beauty.
Modi’s visit to China: How long can policy of accommodation continue?
By R.S. Kalha,
The rise of China as a great power is no longer a matter of speculation; it is a given fact. Most nations today seriously consider the Chinese factor when determining policy. The question uppermost in the minds of Indian policy makers is: should we contain or oppose the rise of China, singly or in tandem with others, or should we seek an accommodation? There are no easy answers. No doubt Modi's closest advisors would be grappling with this question on the eve of his first official visit to China as the prime minister of India.
Rajdeep’s Day out at AMU
By Rajdeep Sardesai,
Aligarh Muslim university: the name conjures up images of another age. Like so much else in western UP, AMU too likes to live in its past glory. So I am taken to see the Sir Syed Ahmed Khan hostel, a tribute to the founder of the university. 'He wanted it to be like Oxford. Doesn't it look like an Oxford college from outside?', my guide and the university PRO Rahat Abrar asks me excitedly. Yes, it does, only a rather more grungy-looking Oxford hostel with clothes hanging out to wash and the walls in need of a fresh coat of paint.
Threats and hate campaign force writer Sharmila Seyyid from Sri Lanka to go in...
The writer-activist now lives in self-imposed exile in Chennai
By M Reyaz, TwoCircles.net,
Sri Lankan woman rights activists Sharmila Seyyid and her family are being harassed for years. Facing attacks in Sri Lanka, where she and her sister used to run a school, she now lives in exile in Chennai, in hiding.
It is noteworthy here that Muslims as a minority in Sri Lanka has been facing ethnic violence for years – there was upsurge in 2014 – under Sinhalese Buddhist majority. Seyyid has been very vocal in her works against several conservative practices vis a vis women. She has already published two anthologies of poems and a novel Ummath that critiques rising conservatism in Sri Lanka, besides highlighting the everyday injustices that Tamil-speaking Muslims face there.
Let’s commemorate 1857, search for Rani Jhansi’s stolen insignia
By Saeed Naqvi,
On March 10, 2014, President Pranab Mukherjee had promised a Citizens Group for 1857 that he would obtain from the government details on how India's First War of Independence will be commemorated. A change of government may have delayed the inquiries Rashtrapati Bhavan intended to make.
Meanwhile, another anniversary will have gone unnoticed.
Journalism as literature: The writings of Ryszard Kapuscinski
By Vikas Datta,
Journalism, or especially news reporting, is a rather ephemeral form of literary expression, concerned as it is with bare facts of a developing situation in a terse and concise style. But there are practitioners of the craft whose reportage is no less a work of literature - like this intrepid, peripatetic Polish reporter, whose coverage of Africa (and its messy experience of colonialism's end) and Central America was unparalleled and enduring, and made him a credible contender for the Nobel Literature Prize.
Political crisis in Yemen and proxy war of Saudi Arabia
By Dr.Mohammad Nazrul Bari,
Yemen was among the four Arab countries convulsed by huge protest and demonstrations from February 2011 onwards including Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. In February 2011 after the Arab spring at Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh was forced to leave his office by the Saudi-led Gulf Cooperation Council. Saleh’s power was divided into several groups. Mansoor Ali Hadi, Deputy of Ali Abdullah Saleh, got elected as the new President of Yemen with full support of Saudi Arabia.
Who’s afraid of Rahul Gandhi?
By Amulya Ganguli,
Nothing shows the weakness of the Narendra Modi government more than the fact that it gives the impression of having been spooked by Rahul Gandhi to strive for a pro-poor image.
Hence, the directive to ministers to go around the country after the budget session to counter the perception that the government is anti-farmer.
Know thy World: We must succeed here to succeed in the Hereafter
By Dr Mohammad Manzoor Alam,
I am returning to this column after a long time. I was kept busy by myriad other pressing engagements. As I had said at the time of the beginning of this column, I intend to reach out to the youth with it, particularly Muslim youth. So far the tradition with this column has been that it has been talking about Islam as lived and practised everywhere. I am getting back to it as a warm-up to the holy month of Ramadhan that looms barely a few weeks away. This time we will be talking more about this world than the Hereafter.
Bhakti-Sufi Traditions: Uniting Humanity
By Ram Puniyani,
In contemporary times, religions’ identity is being used as cover for political agenda. Be it the terrorist violence or the sectarian nationalism in various parts of the world, religion is used to mask the underlying politics.
Hurdles slow down AMU Kishanganj construction
By Muhammad Mudassir Alam,
After a long wait of around five years, the construction work of Aligarh Muslim University’s (AMU) Kishanganj Centre has started a couple of weeks ago. The construction work of boundary wall of AMU’s Special Centre at Chakla village is currently in progress but alleged hurdles waged by local suppliers of construction materials such as sand, bricks, concrete etc. somehow have affected the pace of the work.
Modi government’s stepchild
By Dr Mohammad Manzoor Alam,
Narendra Modi government has come to power on a plank of ‘development’, a thriving economy and people’s economic wellbeing. In practice, it has ended up doing just the opposite.
Nobel laureate Amartya Sen says public health and education are the foundations on which development stands. To handle jobs in a vast development enterprise people need different levels of education and training as well as health and fitness to do assigned work efficiently.