Articles

By Mohammed Tariq Azim for TwoCircles.net The National Education Day (November 11) is observed every year to commemorate the birth anniversary of Maulana Abul...

By Shobha Shukla,

By Kaleem Kawaja,

Music continued to flourish in medieval India in spite of the acquisition of political power by the Turks, Afghans and Mughals. It was patronized and thrived at the imperial courts of Delhi and Agra and at the centers of provincial kingdoms like the Sharqui kingdom of Jaunpur, the Khilji kingdom of Malwa and the Bahmani kingdom of Bijapur and Golcunda.

Series on Mewat – Part 3 By Yoginder Sikand, TwoCircles.net, Because the Tablighi Jamaat, today the world's largest Islamic movement, had its roots in Mewat, many Meos identify themselves with it--even if, for many, this may be only nominal. The founder of the Tablighi Jamaat, Maulana Muhammad Ilyas, is credited with having founded a number of maktabs and madrasas in Mewat in the 1920s. Today, there are several hundred such Islamic schools across the region.

By TCN Staff Reporter, New Delhi: A march as part of the ongoing nationwide campaign against communal terror with the slogan “On Your Feet,...

This is first part of a two-part Travelogue. Read here Part Two Sultanpur Lodhi: the site where Guru Nanak attained enlightenment By Jaspal Singh, It has been an amazing day. For years I have been planning to go to Sultanpur Lodhi, where Guru Nanak lived for 15 years and where, as the legend goes, he achieved enlightenment and felt the need to travel and inform himself, learn and teach.

By RIA Novosty political commentator Pyotr Goncharov Moscow : The presidential elections will take place in Pakistan as scheduled - on October 6. The only possible forecast is Pervez Musharraf's re-election. In the last moment Musharraf took two decisions to guarantee his victory in the elections. First, he named his successor as supreme commander. Second, the government dismissed all accusations against the former prime minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto, who leads the influential Pakistani People's Party (PPP). No doubt, this decision was sanctioned by Musharraf.

सिद्धांत मोहन, TwoCircles.net चार राज्यों और एक केन्द्रशासित प्रदेश में चुनाव के नतीजे सामने आ चुके हैं. असम में भाजपा ने जीत दर्ज की है....

By Dr Mohammad Manzoor Alam, Thanks to India’s strong democratic tradition, even Narendra Modi came to power after a regular vote. This tradition requires that new legislators and governments are allowed a fairly long grace period before their performance is evaluated. This is why no legislator is interrupted in his or her maiden speech in assembly or the Parliament.

By Soroor Ahmed, TwoCircles.net,

by Ayub Khan for TwoCircles.net Chicago, IL: Speakers at the largest continental Islamic conference here emphasized compassion and mercy as the hallmark of the faith and urged American Muslims to play a leading role in promoting these noble values. The theme for the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA)'s convention was 'Nurturing Compassionate Communities.' Held at the familiar Rosemont Convention Center, near Chicago, from July 2-5, 2010 it attracted thousands of Muslims from across the country.

By Amit Kumar, TwoCircles.net Patna: Savita Ali remembers the time when she was in school, in a village called Naraina, district Panipat. She had just...

Mumbai : Veteran actress and social activist Shabana Azmi has urged the public to come in "large numbers" to pay tribute to the December...

By TCN News लखनऊ : रिहाई मंच ने आरोप लगाया है कि प्रदेश की सपा सरकार और भाजपा राम मंदिर के नाम पर फिर से...

By Abdul Kalam Azad,

New Delhi : India is a tolerant country with a few intolerant people and it is time to focus not just on Hindu fundamentalists...

By Kul Bhushan, IANS, Cricket-loving Indians across the globe are ecstatic about the latest and greatest tournament under the Indian Premier League (IPL). This humongous extravaganza combines the glamour of Bollywood with the fanatic following of cricket among Indians across the world. The Twenty20 matches are as long as a Bollywood film and - hopefully - just as exciting. No wonder it has been dubbed as "Cricketainment".

By A. Mirsab, TwoCircles.net, Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has recorded a thumping win in the 16th Lok Sabha election and has crossed over the magic figure of 272 on its own. Narendra Modi is on the way of becoming 14th Prime Minister of India. Finally every political party and leader in the country has acknowledged that there was indeed Modi factor which has overthrown almost all parties except TMC and AIADMK in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu respectively.

By R. Rajagopalan, The war of words between AIADMK leader and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and BJP's prime ministerial hopeful Narendra Modi may impact...

New Delhi : India's request to the UN to include the name of Masood Azhar, leader of the proscribed Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist group,...

By Md Mudassir Alam, The Lok Sabha election of 2009 has led to several interesting outcomes which could change the political scenario of the country. The Congress-led UPA, which was earlier not sure of success, bagged 261 seats. It is really a pleasing prospect for the people of the country that they do not have to witness the cheap ‘bargain politics’ of the regional parties, courtesy the performance of the Congress party that won 205 seats.

By Archana Rao and Sidhartha Dutta New Delhi : In the dead of a cold February night, they grew apprehensive, if not scary, and whispered...

By Aziz A. Mubaraki

From the month of June, we are starting a monthly column called “Equal speak” by disability activist and researcher Mohammed Yousuf. – TwoCircles.net.

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti economic commentator Oleg Mityayev) - At the end of the working week, on Friday November 23, the price of American WTI oil was $96-$97 per barrel. When it reached $99.29 per barrel on November 21, it seemed that this unprecedented psychological barrier - $100 per barrel - would be overcome this week. But operators of oil futures are still capable of surmounting it in the nearest future.

By Amulya Ganguli,

By TCN News,

By John Defterios There is a rich history of trading in Dubai that stretches back to the 1850s. And it is this mindset which is at the heart of the Emirate's business plan for the next quarter century. Take DP World, the trading division of the company, Dubai World. It has forged 23 different deals stretching from China to Djibouti. This allows Dubai Inc. to place a corporate flag in each country, planting the seeds for future relationships and growth.

By Maxwell Pereira, IANS It was a bit queasy to read in a national newspaper about the Noida police "pressurising into surrendering in court" a notorious criminal suspected to be behind last Tuesday's horrendous crimes of killing an ex-airhostess and shooting a former army lieutenant general! In the policing I knew, we did not pressurise or persuade criminals to surrender in court - we just went and arrested them, or at least endeavoured sincerely to arrest.

By Mayank Chhaya Notwithstanding the irresolvable debate whether art imitates life or vice versa, the eerie similarity between the sheer brutal efficiency of the Virginia Tech killer and the remorseless designer violence of the celebrated Korean film "Oldboy" is unsettling.

Islam does not allow enslavement of civilian population By The Milli Gazette Online, Zafarul-Islam Khan, senior Indian Muslim scholar, who is an alumnus of Al-Azhar and Cairo universities and holds a PhD in Islamic Studies from the University of Manchester, said it is a lie to claim that Islam allows enslavement of ordinary men and women of conquered lands.

By Amulya Ganguli, The so-called Janata "Parivar" comprising remnants of the old Janata Dal has been severely jolted in its first trial of strength although...

By Panchendra Kumar Naik for TwoCircles.net India is facing acute political and moral disorders – flared recently by Hardik Patel led agitation for the reservation...

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat, A priest was found to have ‘sacrificed’ his wife to please the God in Indore, a story revisited the gory “tandoori murder” of Naina Sahni by her politician husband Sushil Sharma, who is serving life imprisonment in the jail and wanted to spend time with his mother to perform his ‘sonly’ duties. Girls are being hanged to deaths after being gang raped and political class as a whole speak of controlling time and choices. It is not that we suggest here that all the ills of the country began with the current government but there are certain trends.

By Amulya Ganguli, IANS Narendra Modi's victory has been ascribed to two factors - an unsubtle exploitation of Hindu communal sentiments and an admirable record of economic development. While the first can be described as the standard defining characteristic of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the second reason is new in Indian politics. It is also all the more unusual because the growth has been the result of market-friendly policies, marking a sharp departure from the country's customary, if unrewarding, faith in "socialism".

By रवीश कुमार, राजनीति में जो लोग परिवारवाद में लिंग-आधारित प्रगतिशीलता खोज रहे हैं, उन्हें इस मसले को ठीक से देखना चाहिए. राहुल गांधी के उपाध्यक्ष बनाए जाने पर कई लोगों को लिखते बोलते सुना है कि सोनिया ने भी बेटे पर ही भरोसा किया. बेटी प्रियंका को आगे नहीं बढ़ाया. जैसे प्रियंका गांधी वाकई किसी हाशिये पर रह रही हों. सोनिया गांधी प्रियंका गांधी को ही कांग्रेस अध्यक्ष बनातीं तो क्या परिवारवाद प्रगतिशील हो जाता? लोकतांत्रिक हो जाता? सिंधिया परिवार के नाम पर तो वसुंधरा राजे और ज्योतिरादित्य दोनों हैं. गोपीनाथ मुंडे की दो-दो बेटियां राजनीति में हैं. उसी बीजेपी के टिकट पर जो परिवारवाद को अपनी सुविधा के अनुसार मुद्दा बना देती है मगर इस चतुराई से कि वो सिर्फ गांधी परिवार तक सीमित रहे. महाराष्ट्र चुनाव में एक बेटी को विधायक का टिकट और एक को सांसदी का टिकट देती है. सवाल कांग्रेस को गांधी परिवार से आज़ाद कराने का तो है ही लेकिन क्या इससे कांग्रेस वो कांग्रेस बन जाएगी? क्या हिन्दुस्तान की कोई पार्टी आज़ादी के पहले की कांग्रेस बन सकती है? किस पार्टी में तब की कांग्रेस की तरह नेतृत्व और विचारधारा के स्तर पर इतनी विविधता बची है?

By Fatima Zehra for TwoCircles.net In less than a decade or so, things had changed. Things had changed too much. Relationships no longer means the...

By Amulya Ganguli, IANS, In the film "Dev" Amitabh Bachchan plays the role of an upright police officer who is horrified by the collusion between ruling politicians and a section of the police during a communal outbreak. The film provides a mirror image of the scene in Gujarat at the time of the 2002 riots. While it was being made, Amitabh might not have thought that he would become the state's brand ambassador after a few years.

By Amulya Ganguli, IANS,

By Parmod Kumar, Judicial vacancies will always be a headache in this country as long as senior lawyers are queasy about crossing over from the bar to the bench.

By TCN News, New Delhi: Caritas India in a joint collaboration of Peoples’ Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR) organized a National level interface on...

By K. Subrahmanyam, IANS Pakistan has had a second free and fair election in its history. The first one was in December 1970. That resulted in East Pakistan voting entirely for the Awami League and West Pakistan for a Pakistan People's Party (PPP) majority without a single seat being gained by the Awami League. After the genocide, ethnic cleansing and a war in which India was involved, Pakistan split into two - Bangladesh in the east and Pakistan in the west.

By Ram Puniyani,

By Yogesh Maitreya & Daisy Katta, With the energetic recital of humanitarian songs from “Republican Panther”, a Mumbai based Dalit and Human rights cultural organisation, the meeting to condemn Israeli act of genocide in Palestine has accelerated amidst the wetly evening of 19th July, in Mumbai.

(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...

By A. Faizur Rahman,

MUHAMMED NOUSHAD profiles Justice V Khalid, renowned Supreme Court judge and veteran jurist, a man of integrity and knowledge.

A study exposes crude insensitivity of the state towards implementing the law By Nikhat, So far as spousal violence in Gujarat is concerned, the figure is very disturbing; around 28% ever married women have experienced sexual or physical violence and 34% of such women have sustained serious injuries. The extent of reportability of cases of spousal violence is even more frustrating, only 30% (i.e. 1 in every 3) of such women has sought help to end the violence and 58% of such women have neither sought help nor told anyone about the spousal violence [1].

By Abinash Verma, IANS,

By IndScribe Shukat Mahal palace, a unique example of Indo-French structure, built in the reign of Nawab Qudsia Begum nearly 180 years ago, was...

By Arul Louis United Nations: Pakistan launched a thinly veiled criticism of India over the functioning of SAARC as it tried to involve the Organisation...

By Ram Puniyani,

By Salman Sultan, TwoCircles.net Azamgarh: Darul Musannefin Shibli Academy is a 95-year old institution based in Azamgarh. Established by Allama Shibli Nomani, this academy was a unique experiment in housing writers so that they can focus on research and write books that will advance human understanding and knowledge.

Riyadh : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday described an all-women IT centre set up by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) here as the “glory...

Waris Mazhari is the editor of the Delhi-based Urdu monthly Tarjuman Dar ul-Ulum, the official organ of the Old Boys' Association of the Dar ul-Ulum, Deoband. In this interview with Yoginder Sikand, he talks about the much-debated issue of madrasa reforms in India in the context of the recent proposal of the National Minorities' Education Commission for the setting up of a Central Madrasa Board.

By Rehan Ansari, TwoCircles.net

By Ram Puniyani, Beginning with September 2015 we witnessed a flood of ‘returning’ honors by writers, scientists and artists. There are also various statements...

By Frankie Martin, CGNews, While the world looks elsewhere, Somalia is in flames. The nation just topped a list of the world's most unstable countries by Foreign Policy magazine, and the United Nations has declared the humanitarian situation there "worse than Darfur."

Bihar Anjuman is the TwoCircles.net Organization of the Year 2010 By Mohammed Mudassir Alam,

By Vatsal Srivastava, The global economy is still very much in the zero interest rate policy (ZIRP) era with the exception of the US Federal Reserve which is widely expected to raise rates this year. Sixteen of 18 industrialized nations have seen their inflation reading run below expectations as deflationary forces continue to exert pressure on the global economy. After many years, inflation has cooled off to a level where India can aggressively begin an interest rate easing cycle to jumpstart the much talked about cyclical recovery.

By M.R. Madhavan, IANS, The last session of the 15th Lok Sabha brings to an end one of the most disappointing...

By Syed Ali Mujtaba, The story of Chand Mohmmad and Fiza that had hit the headlines recently undoubtedly has lent a romantic color to the otherwise dull Indian political scene. This however has also opened up a debate on complex human relationship that transcends into the domain of conversion and polygamy. Whereas Muslim clerics have called the idea of converting to Islam to get married second time, "a deplorable act" the Hindutva brigade is maintaining a stoke silence in this case.

By Amulya Ganguli, IANS,

Title: Civility against Caste: Dalit Politics and Citizenship in Western India Author: Prof. Suryakant Waghmore Publisher: Sage India Year: January, 2014 Review by: Yogesh Maitreya for TwoCircles.net, Civility is the least discussed discourse in India. In post-constitutional Indian society, the idea of civility has formed a binary: on one hand, ‘civil society’ that has been propagated by media and resources which are dominated and owned by Brahmin-Bania associations and on the other hand, the civility which has been practice by NGOs and political organisations led by Dalits. The latter had started with the core motive of annihilation of caste and, found its genesis in the struggles of Mahatma Fule and Dr. B.R.Ambedkar in Maharashtra. The idea of civility, practiced by Dalit NGOs and political groups, is contrary to the idea of civility which Brahmin-Bania possess and propagate in India, simply because idea of civility practiced by Dalits aims at annihilation of caste; precisely, Dalit civility is the ‘Civility against Caste’.

By Ram Puniyani,

By Harold A. Gould, IANS,

By Narayanan Suresh, IANS, This can happen only in India! Even as the nation continues to celebrate the success of Chandrayaan, the country's first space mission to moon, this is not something one of the seniormost scientists in India, Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra Rao, is particularly thrilled about.

By Saeed Naqvi, Just when the US thought it would mop its brow, having tried hard to tame the West Asian rodeo, the Israeli horse has kicked up dirt. Americans, like everyone else, were waiting for Benjamin Netanyahu to lose the March 17 elections, before proceeding with their script of a nuclear deal with Iran towards some conclusion in the coming weeks.

By Ryan Strom

By Sushma Ramachandran, IANS, Even as uncertainty looms large in India over which party or coalition will run the next national government, what has emerged as a given is continuity in the country's economic policies - but for some sensitive areas like lifting the cap on foreign investment and divestment of stake in state-run enterprises. After six decades of independence, the distinct differentiation in the economic policies among the major political parties with ideologies tilted toward the right, left and the centre has transformed into a fuzzy kind of sameness.

Md. Ali, TwoCircles.net,

By Jasim Mohammad, Emergence of Sir Syed Ahamd Khan on Indian horizon was not an ordinary incident but has proved to be a mile stone in the history of the Indian sub-continent. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan began his life and work when the Mughal empire was on decline and the sun of British empire was rising fast. At that time Indian Muslims were standing on a cross road from where they were not getting any direction or guidance. In this bleak and dark scenario, emerged Sir Syed Ahmad Khan like a shining star.

By Shamim Akhter, Two days back I went through a report in BBC website under the title “India state-run banks ‘turn away Muslims’” regarding denial of access to government banks to Muslims in India. The report reveals the truth of the government banks operating in different parts of the country. The report quotes the National Commission of Minorities as saying that there has been a 100% increase in the number of complaints it has received over the past year from Muslims who say they are being prevented from opening accounts in state-run banks.

अफ़रोज़ आलम साहिल, TwoCircles.net पटना: बिहार के वित्तमंत्री अब्दुल बारी सिद्दीक़ी ने एक ख़ास बातचीत में लालूप्रसाद यादव के बेटे तेजस्वी यादव को...

By Sanjiv Kataria, IANS,

By Daipayan Halder

By Rabbi Naftali Rothenberg

By M. Rajaque Rahman, With the Indian tricolour fluttering everywhere from the Red Fort to the neighbourhood school to the bonnet of a swanky Mercedes...

By Mohammad Sajjad

By Anasudhin Azeez, British Prime Minister David Cameron is heading for a rout in the general elections scheduled in May 2015 over the rumblings in the coalition, problems in the party and the mood of the British electorate.

By TwoCircles editorial team

A year ago, in the month of May, we set on a journey to unknown future. We had budget for six months of minimum operation but were hopeful that somehow we will pull it through. Even then it was an uncertain future, but we just wanted to show that it can be done. Muslims can have their own media and their own voice in the ever increasing din of media.

By Sayema Sahar,

By Mohd Ismail Khan, Twocircles.net, (Third part of the series)

By Bobby Ramakant, On 23 January 2009, the Group of Ministers (GoM) in India will again meet to assuage concerns of tobacco lobby on pictorial warnings, health activists apprehend. This group of ministers (GoM) consists of: Pranab Mukherjee (External Affairs Minister), Kamal Nath (Commerce and Industry Minister), Priyaranjan Dasmunsi (former Information and Broadcasting Minister), S Jaipal Reddy (Urban Development Minister), Dr Anbumani Ramadoss (Health and family welfare Minister), and Oscar Fernandes (labour and employment Minister for state).

अफ़रोज़ आलम साहिल, TwoCircles.net हिन्दू संतों के भीतर से ही सामाजिक सौहार्द और समरसता की आवाज़ें उभर कर सामने आ रही हैं. एक तरफ़ जहां...

By Misbahuddin Mirza

By Kaleem Kawaja, In April 2009 I visited some villages in Faizabad district which is located about 130 km east of Lucknow, on the main highway leading from Lucknow to cities in Eastern U.P. As such it is considered a part of eastern UP where the majority occupation of people is still agriculture, although industrial and commercial activity is now beginning to sprout in the city of Faizabad. Muslims form the majority population in many villages in Faizabad district. But their educational level is very depressed and there are very few good schools in the villages.

By Amulya Ganguli, IANS, The CPI-M's troubles seem to be brimming over. As if its worst-ever electoral performance wasn't enough, the party has now become embroiled in two other critical situations in its putative strongholds of West Bengal and Kerala. The crisis in Lalgarh is a virtual repeat of the earlier one in Nandigram, which earned the party so much disrepute. The reason for its current predicament is the same - the old Marxist penchant for highhandedness when dealing with their opponents.

By Vikas Datta, What attracts us to mythology? Is it the human fascination for tales, particularly those personifying natural phenomenon, or explaining the creation of...

By Ram Puniyani,

By Sir Syed Ahmad Khan

By Sushma Ramachandran, IANS, What lies ahead for the Indian economy in 2009? This is the question looming large in corridors of the country's corporate world, as India Inc hopes the economy will transition from annus horribilis that 2008 was to annus mirabilis, which it hopes the New Year will be. A look at 10 major issues which the country's corporate sector has to contend with in 2009:

फहमिना हुसैन, TwoCircles.net दिल्ली: सड़कों पर भागती जिंदगियां, चिलचिलाती धूप और रोज़ा, इन सब में ज़ेहन कहां कुछ सोचने का मौका देती है. चलते-चलते रिक्शे...

By Shehzad Poonawalla,

By Sushma Ramachandran, IANS, Is India a good place to do business? The answer seems to be it is excellent in some areas and difficult in others. No wonder the Indian economy has risen in one global index of competitiveness and gone down in another on business climate. In times of recession, one can find a bit of cheer in the news that the country has climbed a notch in the competitiveness index compiled by the Davos-based World Economic Forum. But to counter that is the fact that it has fallen in the Doing Business Index of the World Bank and the International Finance Corp.

By Shyamanuja Das, IANS,

By Aslam Khan

By Masood Peshimam for TwoCircles.net, After 14 years of sweat and toil A SIT Court held a mirror to reality by terming the Gularg...

By Dr. Ajmal, In the last article - The Islamic State and the Caliphate of Al Baghdadi – Of Power, Politics & Legality , we had discussed briefly, the origins, politics and also the legality of ISIS. To sum up, ISIS started as an Iraqi Resistance Movement against the Shite Maliki Regime, which, with active support of Saudi and others went on to become a major force. They supported ISIS in order to derive political benefit i.e. to overthrow Maliki and to reduce Qatar’s influence in Middle East, even if it meant strengthening Assad.

Faith's leap into blind Alleys By Ram Puniyani

Recently the BJP ruled Uttarakhand Government (Feb 2008) has announced that it will procure cow's urine, on the pattern similar to the procurement of milk by dairies, refine it and sell it to Ayurvedic pharmacies. Other BJP ruled Governments are also working on similar lines.

By P.A. Mohamed Ameen, The following is my general observation; I can not say how much of it applies to Iran. It is open to debate. I am neither a scholar nor an Alim, I try to approach issue from a layman’s point of view. Generational clash in Muslim world

Kolkata : The Congress' Gyan Singh Sohanpal is the oldest candidate in the West Bengal assembly polls, seeking his 11th term as a legislator...

By Andaleeb Wajid

By Kaleem Kawaja, The golden jubilee observance of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Muslim Majlis Mashawarat on...

New Delhi : Microsoft founder and one of the world's most richest persons Bill Gates on Friday called on union Health Minister J.P. Nadda...

By Amulya Ganguli, IANS,

By Saumya Tewari Female contestants increased across the four states that went to polls recently - but not legislators - and three times as many...

By SayemaSahar, From the Court of Honourable Justice Anant S. Dave (Date: 22/03/2012)

By Dr. Mohammad Manzoor Alam, Recently, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at an ASEAN summit that terrorism had no religion, Indian Muslims heaved a sigh of relief. This line, that “terror has no religion”, is a relatively new Sangh refrain, being mouthed as a policy mantra by all persons affiliated to it.

By Admiral (retd) Arun Prakash, IANS,

By Amulya Ganguli, IANS, The next round of assembly elections in five states, and also possibly in Jammu and Kashmir, will be of high importance for all the political parties for they will set the tone for next year's general election. Whichever of the two major protagonists - the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) - emerges victorious in most of the states will have the advantage of stitching up the alliance led by it. The loser, on the other hand, may find that some of its allies and would-be allies are drifting away from it.

By Asghar Ali Engineer, The conflict in Kashmir seems to be unending and the way it is being handled by our armed forces, especially the CRPF is further aggravating it. Unfortunately, it is still being addressed primarily as a law and order problem and the aspirations of people and their problems hardly matter. Our armed forces go on violating human rights and they know only to kill. This way instead of solving the problem, we will reduce Kashmir to a vast cemetery. More and more young protestors are dying and death hardly dissuades these young protestors from demonstrating.

Muslims and Dalits must come together on social issues and political understanding will follow, MIM President tells TCN in an Exclusive Interview. Ever...

By Soroor Ahmed, TwoCircles.net, Taking up a broom and asking the people to do the same may bring about some cosmetic changes in the society, but it would not be a lasting solution. When Raja Ram Mohan Roy raised his voice against sati, child marriage and stood for widow re-marriage etc he did so because he has his limitations. He was not in power to enact laws against these social evils and get them strictly implemented.

By Vatsal Srivastava, IANS, Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank (ECB), decided to keep interest rates unchanged at the central bank's monthly monetary...

By Asghar Ali Engineer,

By Anjuman Ara Begum, TwoCircles.net,

By M. Zajam,TwoCircles.net,

By Abdul Kalam Azad, Morigaon, Assam: Nagabanda High School is one of the oldest educational institutes of Morigaon district of Assam. The school is situated near the Nagabanda Bazar, about 15 KMs from the district headquarter. The healthy rural market, the nicely planted trees at Nagabanda Junior College, huge playground with pavilion and the green agricultural fields surrounding the area make it scenic and beautiful. But who knows Nagabanda is carrying a huge amount of pain and agony?

Unheard & Unspoken: Terror stories from Madhya Pradesh: Part 12 (concludes)

MOSCOW. (Military commentator Nikita Petrov for RIA Novosti) - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived in India Tuesday amid rumors that he is to offer the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk as a sweetener if New Delhi buys 65 Boeing Super Hornet fighters. The fighters are Boeing's offering in a fierce competition with European and Russian rivals for a multi-billion deal to supply the Indian Air Force. Other bidders include the Russian MiG-35 Fulcrum F, the French Rafale, the European Eurofighter EF-2000 Typhoon, and the Swedish Grippen.

By Syed Zahid Ahmad,

By Amulya Ganguli The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has spent much of its time in recent weeks telling its members to behave. When party president...

By Joshua M. Z. Stanton Even as a Jew in New York, I know what it is like to be Muslim in France. While studying abroad in the French city of Strasbourg in 2007, I decided to grow a bushy beard. Little did I know that in France only traditional Jewish and Muslim men don anything but the most finely trimmed moustache or goatee. Since I did not wear a yarmulke or other head covering, people who saw me on the street assumed that I was Muslim.

By Nazir Ahmad, To, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi President, Indian National Congress

Deoban series- first part Deoband is on the world map thanks to a famous institution that was established here in 1866. Manzar Bilal of TwoCircles.net, a Darul Uloom’s graduate visited Deoband recently to give us a glimpse of life in this city and its famous madrasa. First part of the seven part series. By Manzar Bilal TwoCircles.net,

Mohammad Sajjad,

By Syed Zahid Ahmad, There is nothing for appeasement of Muslims in the Union Budget 2014-15. Significantly there are just following two small para in 35 pages budget speech.