Madrid Mayor’s soothing slogan against post Brussels rightwing hysteria
By Saeed Naqvi
If “terrorize” and “polarize” is the name of the game, the message from the Brussels terror attack has been transmitted to Madrid...
India has unprecedented opportunity to lead by ‘Good Climate Governance’
By Rajendra Shende,
The inconvenient truth is not that global warming is undeniably unequivocal but that we are unable to address it with the required urgency. And the convenient truth is not that India is entering a demographic dividend period and has a demagogue prime minister, but that India is yet to draw a road map to leverage these rewards and gains to deal with the climate change.
Who will inherit Sharad Pawar’s legacy?
By Quaid Najmi,
Mumbai: This Lok Sabha election may well be an opportunity for Sharad Pawar, who once harboured prime ministerial ambitions, to bequeath...
What explains the Muslim debacle in Assam elections?
By Kaleem Kawaja for Twocircles.net
Assam has the second-highest percent (34) of Muslim population in India. Forty nine of its 126 Assembly constituencies...
Interest-free microfinance: Best tool for poverty eradication
By Abdul Aziz V. K for TwoCircles.net,
The interest-free microfinance can be defined as provision of financial services to those people who are denied access to the financial market; opens new perspectives, and empowers people who can pursue projects with their own resources, and who lack assistance, subsidies and dependence. Besides, it provides financial services to those, who are traditionally non bankable, mainly because they lack guarantees against a loss risk.
SC’s main opinion on Presidential Reference: Highlights
A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court Thursday held, in response to a Presidential Reference, that auction was not the only method of allocating...
Modi must re-engage, shape historic changes in West Asia
By Saeed Naqvi,
"Jup raha hai aaj maala ek Hindu ki, Arab Barhaman zaade mein shaan e dilbari, aisi tau ho Hikmat e Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru ki, kasam Mar mitey Islam jispey kafiri aisi to ho." (Arabs are chanting the name of a Hindu, Just look at the heart winning prince among Brahmins, Behold the statesmanship of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, World of Islam lies at the feet of this non believer, free of sins.)
Tools for Divisive Politics: Hate Speech and Patriarchy
Love Jihad propaganda spurs hate, not dialogue
By Ram Puniyani,
After the last general elections where Narendra Modi and his party won a majority overwhelmingly, the BJP has not been doing so well in subsequent by-elections. The Lalu-Nitish experiment is one model, but whether it will be replicated in different parts of the country is a million-vote question. The BJP appears to resort to the basic tools of divisive politics. On one hand Yogi Adityanath, with his venomous ‘hate speeches’ has come up as BJP’s major player; on the other the word of mouth propaganda of ‘love jihad’ is being spread like wildfire.
Should the media not applaud Kejriwal’s anti corruption plank?
By Saeed Naqvi
It is true that every anti corruption movement in recent history has decisively shifted the centre of gravity of Indian politics...
The Burqa controversy
By Asghar Ali Engineer,
The recent utterances of French President Sarkozy that Burqa will be banned in France and that wearing veil is not religion but torture and punishment for women, have caused great stir among Muslims and lot is being written in the media on this subject. As it is expected most Muslims, men and women have come out in support of wearing veil and are defending it in various ways theological as well as non-theological.
Will Modi’s win in Gujarat threaten India as a democratic and secular nation?
By Ghulam Muhammed
Today, this question will be on the minds of majority of people of India and even weighing heavily with international community. Can an emerging economic power like India should be available to a fascist political movement that may wreck the peace of the world?
Modi's election victory should be analyzed through three dominant undercurrents: It pits the state of Gujarat against the Central Government. It pits Hindus against the Muslims. It pits lawlessness against the Laws of the land.
बीस साल के लड़के का सत्याग्रह
सिद्धांत मोहन, TwoCircles.net
वाराणसी: दिन भर पीठ पर एक बैकपैक टांगे, पुराने मैले कपड़े पहने, एक साइकिल के सहारे बनारस के मंडलीय अस्पतालों के चक्कर...
ईशनिंदा, मुसलमानों की ज़िम्मेदारियां और विश्व समुदाय
वसीम अकरम त्यागी
पेरिस में मोहम्मद पैगम्बर ए इस्लाम वाले ‘अध्यापक’ की हत्या कर दी गई। इस अध्यापक ने क्लास के दौरान पैगंम्बर ए इस्लाम...
Modi & Erdogan: Parallel lives?
By Amulya Ganguli,
The writer Amitav Ghosh has noted "striking" parallels between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "In both...
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.
Mumbai riots of 1992-93: Letting sleeping dogs lie
By Amulya Ganguli, IANS
The latest controversy over the virtual non-implementation of the B.N. Srikrishna Commission's report on the horrific Mumbai riots of 1992-93 has again exposed the cynicism of Indian political parties.
While the Congress-led government in Maharashtra is under pressure to reopen the riot cases, the Shiv Sena has reiterated the familiar rightwing view, which is shared by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), that any such step will be counterproductive as it will exacerbate the existing communal Hindu-Muslim divide.
Journalism in India: In all seriousness
By Sameera,
The nation watched in horror as the son-in-law of a political party, high on arrogance and drunk on power, brutally attacked a reporter with words so vicious they made the hair on virtuous necks stand up - "Are you serious? Are you nuts?"
The Tablighi Jamaat in Mewat – Part 3
By Yoginder Sikand, TwoCircles.net,
The Tablighi Jamaat in Mewat series
Early Success
Dr. Faheem Baig and Jaffarabad residents: Still waiting to be heard
By Mahmood Asim, TwoCircles.net
Dr. Baig in his clinic
Jaffarabad, Delhi: “I expressed my agitation in front of Prime Minister and I was let go without...
India’s interest in Latin America must go beyond World Cup
By Dave Ramaswamy, IANS,
There is an important reason why enthusiasm for South America should persist beyond the World Cup: The Mercosur countries of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay are global agriculture superpowers as well. They are already shipping their surpluses worldwide and, as farm outsourcing hubs, have the potential to meet India's food needs in the coming decades.
Maulana Jauhar’s inheritors
Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar died on January 4, 1931 in London while attending first Round Table Conference; he was buried in Jerusalem as he...
Nawab of Chhatari (1888-1981)
By Naved Masood for TwoCircles.net,
Nawab Hafiz Sir Ahmad Said[[i]]Khan
Can Gates of ijtihad be closed?
By Asghar Ali Engineer,
After the fatwa from Deoband (some of the Deobandis deny that fatwa was ever issued) that Muslim women cannot work with strangers from amongst the men and that in that case her earnings will be haram (prohibited) to her family, a debate is raging on the need for ijtihad (creative reinterpretation of law) and it is often suggested that gates of ijtihad were closed after sack of Baghdad in 1258 and that these gates be reopened.
When nature cries
By Zohra Javed for TwoCircles.net,
When everyone had given up any little hope for rain, it sure has played havoc in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. And also in some parts of Goa and Maharashtra. There is an irony in this whole situation: the areas that have been hit by devastating flood were declared drought-hit some time back.
And in this situation there is a cruel tragedy also: whatever was left of the crops (under a drought) has now been washed away by the fury of the rains.
The threat is not saffronisation, but the trajectory of modernity
By Jenny Rowena for TwoCircles.net,
Safforning Kerala: : Part 5
Ramabai Nagar: 17 Years, 11 deaths, 26 injured and Justice is still awaiting
By Yogesh Maitreya, Daisy Katta,
“That firing was something as if it was firing of India and Pakistan war” said Bhante Kashyap, reminiscently, one of the eye witnesses of Ramabai Nagar homicide of 1997, in the heartland locality of Mumbai, Ghatkopar East. Another narrator and also an eye witness of this arrogantly brutal massacre of Dalits in Ramabai Nagar, has depicted how thirteen years old boy had been shot dead by police’s bullet hitting his skull and splintered it in two pieces. Few more eye witnesses as well as victims, after seventeen years of the incidence have gathered courage to come up on the stage, provided by ‘Ramabai Nagar Hatyakand Sangharsh Samitee’ at their arranged conference at Ramabai Nagar, on the seventeenth anniversary of this incidence.
The Muslim factor in 2014 Lok Sabha Polls
By Syed Ali Mujtaba,
It is high time to call off the bluff of Muslim vote bank in Indian politics. The Dalits like to vote the party that favors them, so are the Hindu caste groups, and even their Jatis are doing the same. Everyone wants to seek affiliation with the nearest similar identities and try to influence the electoral process. It’s the rule of the game of ballot box democracy and there is nothing unusual about it. In fact such designs are encouraged by the political parties who give tickets to the candidates that have significant electoral base.
Swachh Bharat urban toilet plan 76 percent behind schedule
By Prachi Salve
Of a target of 2.5 million household toilets in urban areas by March 2016, 24 percent (0.6 million) have been constructed.
Of a...
Terrorism, communal violence and police
By Asghar Ali Engineer,
The role of police in democratic society is very different from that of police in colonial society. However, it is 61 years now that India became independent and there is no change in the role of police a wee bit. Today our police have become even more colonial in its attitude. The British colonial rulers had enacted the police an act in 1861 to use the police for suppression of people's movement and to terrorize colonized people. Our police too is terrorizing innocent people fighting for their rights.
Indian Opposition Leaders Question Ban on PFI: They demand the Modi govt to present...
Ubair ul Hameed | TwoCircles.net
A large number of political leaders from the Opposition parties have unanimously questioned the Indian government's decision to ban the...
Demonetisation proved a bigger pain than accident
By Mohit Dubey
Lucknow : Medical emergencies are never welcome. In times of demonetisation, it is a painful double whammy.
Some 10 days ago when a...
Do not punish us for choosing a career in academics
By Abu Saleh for Twocircles.net
Ever since the Narendra Modi government has taken charge, the students of this country have been in great trouble. It’s...
इज़राइल से दोस्ती ठीक, मगर फ़िलिस्तीन को न भूलें…
संतोष कुमार झा
पश्चिम एशिया में बसा इज़राइल से केन्द्र में मोदी सरकार के आने के बाद भारत के आपसी संबंध प्रगाढ़ हुए हैं....
Why this ‘sarkari’ fetish for Turkish towels?
By Arvind Padmanabhan ,
It is a striking feature at Indian government offices and followed rather unfailingly by a minister down to the gazetted officer....
Kind gestures not brute force is the way for policemen on the frontline of...
By Dr Nadeem Jilani
As a doctor myself, reports of attacks on doctors from various places are profoundly disturbing and we must condemn such incidents...
Parliament query shows Work Population Ratio lowest among Muslims
By TCN Staff Reporter
Delhi: Work population ratio, which is an indicator used to analyse the employment situation in the country, continues to remain the...
Tales from India – sex, kidney and more
By Syed Ali Mujtaba, TwoCircles.net
During the World War II days British Prime Minister Winston Churchill used to begin his speech on the radio saying – Ladies and Gentleman lend me your ears … The same call is needed for some disturbing news that has come out from the different parts of the country very recently.
Inculcating morality among Generation Next, Pharos Educational Foundation
A Year-long Series on Education, Sponsored by The Aligarh Forum : - A Mirror on our Efforts, our Successes & our Shortcomings ; Stories...
Democratic revolution in Pakistan and it’s consequences for South Asia
Vitthal Umap: A versatile folk artist who will be remembered for his enthusiasm
By Shiva Thorat, Twocircles.net
‘Rasik Maybapa tula bhetav jata jata ani evadhach sangav gata gata maj maran yav majh gan marananhi eikav’ (Audience...
Call to the Community to Oppose “Central Madrasa Board” and Save Madrasas
By Syed Shahabuddin,
Winds of change: A step forward
A Year-long Series on Education, Sponsored by The Aligarh Forum : - A Mirror on our Efforts, our Successes & our Shortcomings ; Stories...
Delhi varsity polls: It’s between ABVP-AAP youth wings
By Ashish Mishra
New Delhi: This year the high-profile Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) election - which routinely defaces the capital’s walls and public utilities...
Mangalore pub attack: Lessons India’s civil society must heed
By C. Uday Bhaskar, IANS,
The violent attack on a group of women in a Mangalore pub (Jan 24) by activists of the self-styled Sri Ram Sene who could not countenance such innocent revelry is to be condemned in the most unambiguous terms. Ostensibly carried out to protect the ''morals'' of society and the ''honour'' of the women involved, the invocation of Hindu religion to justify the mob violence that included beating up the women and sexually molesting them is an act that ironically sullied the 'very idea' of India on the eve of the Republic Day celebrations on Jan 26.
Why the Supreme Court’s idea of out-of-court settlement in Ayodhya is not practical
By Muddassir Ahmad Qasmi for Twocircles.net
The demolition of the Babri Masjid was not merely a communal insurgency which claimed hundreds of innocent Muslim lives...
Mumbai violence: lumpenisation of Indian politics
By Amulya Ganguli, IANS
The anti-north Indian violence by a small parochial outfit in Mumbai and elsewhere in Maharashtra shows that while India has grown economically, the politicians remain petty-minded charlatans.
Otherwise, it is not possible to explain how a cosmopolitan 300-year-old metropolis, which is known as the country's financial centre and the home of its entertainment industry, can fall prey to the kind of sectarianism associated with a backward village.
The Last Prophet as the Feminist
By Asma Anjum Khan,
Prophet Mohammad p.b.u.h and a feminist? I can see a few eye brows raised, several harsh glances thrown and some hands lifted.
Cool down, please.
Here comes his story, though it is possible that you might not have heard it from this angle or were just misinformed, as is often the case.
Sustainable agriculture can be the back-bone of Indian economy
By Amit Dwivedi,
"Who said agriculture is a business of loss. I am saving more than Rs 80,000/- (about USD 1,750) every year and providing bread & butter to my 11 family members who are dependent on me," said Prabhavati Devi, who lives in Sardar Nagar block of Gorakhpur district. She has one and half acres land in which she is producing more than 86 types of crops annually. Prabhavati Devi is doing organic farming, which is a very reliable method of sustainable agriculture resulting in high production at low cost.
Muslim legislator’s bill for ban on trade of cow bones and fat defeated by...
By IndScribe,
It was a major embarassment for the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh Assembly. The lone Muslim legislator, Arif Aqueel of Congress came up with a private bill for ban on trade of bones and fat of the cows.
Is BJP fishing in choppy waters of communally sensitive UP?
By Mohit Dubey,
Lucknow: Is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fishing in choppy waters for electoral gains in Uttar Pradesh? Activities of the saffron leaders...
For BCCI, much hinges on poll outcome
By Veturi Srivatsa,
Indian cricket is heading for heady times. Everyone’s calculations in the Indian cricket board, except the Supreme Court, hinges on the outcome...
India’s first anti-colonialist uprising predates Mangal Pandey’s by 274 years?
By Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
Panaji : Conventional wisdom has it that lowly-ranked sepoy Mangal Pandey became the catalyst for India's first uprising against Western...
यूपी में मजलिस : खेल बिगाड़ रही है या अपना खेल बना रही है...
आसमोहम्मद कैफ़। Twocircles.net
इरफ़ान मंसूरी मुजफ्फरनगर में रहते हैं। 52 साल के है और वो पेशे से दर्जी है। राजनीति में रुचि रखते हैं। पहले...
भूख से लड़ते भारत के बच्चे
फहमिना हुसैन, TwoCircles.net
भारत में कुपोषण की शुरुआत मां के गर्भ से ही हो जाती है. गर्भवती महिलाओं को जीवन भर पौष्टिक भोजन का अभाव...
India should soon replace Australia at the top
By Joseph Hoover, IANS,
There can't be greater joy than convincingly trouncing Australia in Test cricket, a game they have dominated since the 90s. That India has consistently and emphatically challenged the cricket superpowers, at home and away, manifests that Mahender Singh Dhoni's conquering legion has the potential, skills and determination to put Indian cricket on a higher pedestal.
BJP’s Muslim members set off internal debate on Hindutva
By Amulya Ganguli, IANS,
An idea of the seriousness of the crisis faced by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) following its electoral setback can be gauged from the stirrings among its Muslim members.
Normally, they remain very much in the background, so much so that their presence in the party is often derisively described as an example of its tokenism towards the country's multicultural ethos.
In Ahmedabad, thousands of Muslims gather to protest against Justice Pardiwala’s remarks on Polygamy
By Mohammed Kaleem Siddiqui for Twocircles.net
Ahmedabad : Over a hundred thousand Muslims of Gujarat congregated on the occasion of the 17th national...
Indian democracy at the crossroads under current political dispensation
Transcript of Ashghar Ali Memorial lecture
By Ram Puniyani,
I begin this lecture paying tribute to my very dear friend, Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer, with whom I had the rare privilege of working with for close to two decades. Dr. Engineer was a unique scholar-activist, totally committed to the dream and vision of a humane society that honours the values of diversity and where human rights for all are the defining point.
Even five-star audience reserved applause For Kejriwal
By Saeed Naqvi,
Aamir Raza Husain's timely play at the ITC theatre would by itself have made for a satisfactory evening....
Jamia students distribute basic essentials among Delhi’s Rohingya refugees; here is how you can...
By Sharique Usman
The Rohingya Muslims who escaped the ethnic cleansing in Myanmar are living forsaken life as refugees in different host countries as rather...
Maulana Azad: A fighter for intellectual emancipation
On this day in 1888, Maulana Azad was born in Makkah. Azad is now remembered as freedom fighter and India’s first education minister, his...
Delhi on a platter, hot and sweet
By Bushra Alvi for TwoCircles.net,
“Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory.” George S. Patton
Not too many days ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was heard prophesising: Result aaney do, doodh ka doodh, paani ka paani ho jaayega. And that is exactly what happened when the result of the Delhi Assembly election was declared. The milk that had been simmering for long in Delhi, boiled and bubbled until it eliminated all the unwanted elements through its hot vapour…poof! Not even a speck remained.
The limits of Pakistan-US counter-terror cooperation
By Nasim Zehra
In Pakistan insecurity and concern about a US attack is catching on. The only logical and plausible Pakistani response to such a possibility is for the government to publicly warn the US that all cooperation on anti-terrorism will immediate stop if the US violates international law and attacks Pakistani territory.
Separatism gets competitive in Kashmir valley
By Tarun Vijay, IANS,
It's election time in Jammu and Kashmir and once again the politicians are divided between issues of national integration and separatism to gather votes. It's not electricity or water supply, but security of the people and declarations of equidistance from India and Pakistan that hog the electioneering, speeding up a strange competition in raising secessionist voices.
Mob lynching: let us act now
By Irfan Engineer
Mob lynching has drastically increased in recent years, particularly since the election of the BJP government. There has been fourfold increase in cow...
Muslim MPs spent just 17% of constituency fund in 2009-10
By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,
In another shameful revelation, Muslim Members of Indian Parliament have been found doing very little for the people of their constituencies. The Muslim Members of Lok Sabha, the Lower House of Indian Parliament, spent just 16.86% of the annual central government fund for their constituencies in the year 2009-2010.
Preserve the sanctity of Test cricket
By K. Datta, IANS,
Oh no! Not two of them. As though one Indian Premier League (IPL) was not enough to satiate your year's fill of excitement...Someone had to say it. Who better than Virendra Sehwag? And he put it bluntly. Four months of IPLs a year would see many early retirements from international cricket.
"Players retire karke sirf IPL hi khelenge," the Delhi Daredevils captain is reported to have said. (Players will retire to only play IPL). Not that Sehwag is the first to have expressed such fears, but nobody has made the point so tellingly and with such earthy sarcasm.
Why communalism persists in 21st century India?
By Vishal Arora, IANS
How can we expect the evil of communalism to go away if the commission investigating one of India's worst communal crimes, the demolition of the Babri mosque in 1992, makes civil society wait for more than 14 years -- without much hue and cry.
Congress has a lot at stake in Punjab
By Jaideep Sarin ,
Chandigarh: When Punjab votes Wednesday, the Congress will have its fingers tightly crossed. The party has gambled by fielding its top...
Politics of Sedition under the cloak of National Interest
Syed Ghiasuddin
Zafar-ul-Islam Khan, Chairman of Delhi Minority Commission became the centre of a controversy for his tweet dated 28th April 2020. The tweet thanked...
निज़ामुद्दीन मरकज़ के बहाने सरकार की ख़ामियों पर पर्दा डालने की कोशिश
साजिद अशरफ़
क्या इनका क़ुसूर सिर्फ़ इतना भर है कि इन्होंने लॉकडाउन के उस दिशा निर्देश का पालन किया, जिसमें कहा गया है कि जो...
The farce over prevention of communal violence
By M Reyaz,
As the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government decided to not table the Anti-Communal Violence Bill amidst much din in the Upper...
मुस्लिम विरोधी पूर्वाग्रह से ग्रस्त मीडिया और बेगुनाह मुसलमान
मोहम्मद हुसैन अहमद Twocircles .net के लिए
सोमवार को बॉम्बे हाईकोर्ट ने 20 विदेशी तब्लीगी सदस्यों को रिहा कर दिया। लेकिन मार्च में उनकी गिरफ्तारी...
The myth of Hindu ‘minority’: Debunking right-wing propoganda
By Ram Puniyani for Twocircles.net
The biases and misconceptions about conversions and population growth have been used by communal forces to divide the society. This...
Bush and Ahmadinejad fighting for time
MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Pyotr Goncharov) - Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and U.S. President George W. Bush visited the Middle East almost simultaneously.
Bush went there to whip up support for an anti-Iranian coalition, while ElBaradei was in Tehran for a meeting with Iran's senior officials. The IAEA and Tehran agreed to broaden cooperation and step up efforts to resolve outstanding ambiguities in Iran's nuclear program.
The misery of Diego Garcia’s Cold War exiles
By Shubha Singh
Chagos islanders - exiles from a forgotten Indian Ocean archipelago now used as a US military base - have won an appeal in the British courts that allows them to return to their homeland.
संभल की गिरफ्तारी मोदी सरकार की मुद्दों से ध्यान भटकाने की कोशिश है
By TCN News
‘आतंकवाद को डील करने के मामले देश में सबसे बदनाम एजेंसी दिल्ली की स्पेशल सेल बनकर उभरी है.’ इन बातों का...
Hinduism is about love, unity, not divisive ideas: Author Mani Rao
By Bhavana Akella
New Delhi : With attacks by fringe Hindu outfits on writers and intellectuals for their views and assaults and murders of...
Kowtowing to the killers: Muslims for murderer Modi?
By Omar Khalidi
The venue was Harvard University’s famed Center for International Affairs, CFIA, which some call made for CIA! The occasion was the 2002 annual meeting of an Islamic Finance Project at Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Pakistani media and terrorism coverage
By Arfa Khanum Sherwani for TwoCircles.net
The enduring terror trail in Pakistan has not just made a commoner’s life miserable but is constantly posing danger to media fraternity as well. While unrelenting terrorist assaults over the years have built up a certain kind of immunity towards terror and the retort of its citizens towards the menace-- uncertainty is the only feature seems certain to them.
Inspiring stories of Sohail Islam and Ahmed Ali show that Indian Army beckons Muslim...
By Ali Ahmed for TwoCircles.net
The President of India Shri Ram Nath Kovind took the salute at the 134th passing out parade at the National...
A response to the article: “Zakir Naik Is Anathema to Secular Democracy, His Communal...
By Ubaid ur Rahman for TwoCircles.net
A fortnight ago, The Wire published an article titled Zakir Naik Is Anathema to Secular Democracy, His Communal Agenda...
Post-budget, Right-Left divide will become wider
By Amulya Ganguli,
Those who had expected the budget proposals to signal a flying start to the currently stalled economic reforms in keeping with Narendra Modi's reputation for decisiveness would be disappointed.
NRIs made a kill during sub-prime downturn
By Kul Bhushan, IANS
NRI investors are sharp. They waste no time in picking up stocks when the prices are down on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) -- and sell them quickly when the prices move up. The short-term investors know the game of making money on the BSE.
Muslim groups finally recognise -‘when silence on Madani issue prevails justice shall not’
By Abdul Basith, TwoCircles.net,
Every fifth candidate in Bengal first phase has criminal cases
New Delhi : As many as 58 of the 296 candidates contesting the first phase of the West Bengal assembly polls have declared that...
Congress-Left alliance inevitable to defeat Mamata: West Bengal Congress leader O P Mishra
By Anurag Dey
Kolkata: With the West Bengal assembly elections around three months away, a majority of state Congress leaders have been harping on...
NRI marriages through Bollywood lens
By Kul Bhushan
"As a realistic depiction of Asian life in Britain, 'Namastey London' made us feel proud as NRIs," said Chaman Lal Chaman, a well-known radio presenter and an Asian cultural leader in London. The Bollywood film deals effectively with the generation gap and the problems of Asian parents and has been popular in Britain because it uses laughter and satire to drive home its points, added Chaman.
Budget will spur sustainable, inclusive growth
By Lt Gen (retd.) S.S. Mehta, IANS
The budget 2008-09 has taken the necessary steps to boost consumer demand and revive manufacturing in the light of emerging global slowdown and inflationary pressures. The strategy to revise upwards the slabs for personal income tax, reduce excise on key items and reduce Cenvat from 16 percent to 14 percent will help bolster flagging consumer demand, and consequently favourably impact the consumer durables segment.
Why Multi-sectoral development programme for minorities moves at a snail’s pace
By Amjad Suri and Mohammed Imteyaz Ahmed for Twocircles.net
The multi-sectoral development programme (MsDP) division of the Ministry of Minority affairs has...
India pitches tourism for South Asian integration
By Saroj Mohanty,
After talks with the Bhutanese leadership, Prime minister Narendra Modi Monday proposed developing a tourism circuit combining India's Northeast region and the Himalayan nation. This came weeks after he conferred with other South Asian leaders and external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj spoke about some "new initiatives" that could be taken to build a new architecture of development cooperation among SAARC countries. One of those, she said, is tourism.
Galloping words: The poetry of horse-riding
By Vikas Datta,
The Ancient Greeks credited Poseidon, the sea deity, with being the creator of horses, drawing a correspondence between the waves from his realm crashing on the shore and the galloping of majestic, spirited steeds. Can we draw a related analogy to equate ideas or, better still, words - the prime medium used to express them - with horses and their different gaits? The resemblance is not far-fetched as it may apparently seem, especially as far as poetry is concerned. A pensive trot, a gentle canter, a spirited gallop and more can be discerned in various examples of verse. And then, various episodes of horse-riding have underlaid some of the most stirring poetry seen in western letters.
Teaching with the technology: solution or sacrifice
By Raashid Nehal and Waquar Ahmad Khan
Robert Frost in his famous poem ‘The Road Not Taken’ symbolizes road as the choice we make in...
‘Growing sense of betrayal and victimisation leads to illogical protest’
By Mohd. Ismail Khan, TwoCircles.net,
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...
Demonetisation: Do not bank on crass communalism for narrow political gains, Mr...
By Soroor Ahmed, TwoCircles.net
Demonetisation may not have been the best news this year, but nevertheless, this has been a time when all have...
ECB monetary policy announcement can bring back the long due FX volatility
By Vatsal Srivastava,
There are five central bank meetings next week but the European Central Bank's monetary policy announcement will be the most important catalyst for the move in the US Dollar Index and the EUR/USD. In fact, the ECB meeting will even trump the US non-farm payrolls report in terms of its impact on the EUR/USD. Currency Corner does not believe that the ECB is ready to roll out Quantitative Easing just yet, but given recent economic data particularly from Germany, the case for additional stimulus is growing.
A critical exposition of popular Jihad
By Maulvi Chiragh Ali
India’s Home Minister Mr. P. Chidambaram recently blamed Jihad for creating terrorism. This is not the first time that ignorance and prejudice prevailed over scholarship and policy when dealing with Islam or Muslims. In 1885, Chiragh Ali wrote a book A Critical Exposition of Popular Jihad to remove misunderstandings about Jihad. This book will also be instructive to those Muslims who try to masquerade their violence as jihad. This is the complete text of chapter 12 of the book. --- Editor
Ajmer blast verdict vs Saibaba’s trial: Double standards of the Judiciary detrimental to the...
By Riaz Ahamed for Twocircles.net
The special court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) that was hearing the Ajmer Dargah blast case pronounced its judgement...
TRS aims to emerge as sole vanguard of Telangana
By Mohammed Shafeeq
Hyderabad: In Seemandhra the poll campaign is all about who is responsible for division of Andhra Pradesh, while it is the...
India seem to have covered all bases
By Veturi Srivatsa,
Two starred questions to Mahendra Singh Dhoni during the World Cup by the itinerant Indian media have been whether the form of Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja is a matter of concern for him.
The Indian skipper's answer ahead of the game against Bangladesh was as if the two players themselves would provide the journos a fitting reply sooner rather than later. As for Suresh Raina, he has become a stock question and he is showing up as a great finisher, batting first or chasing.
Net neutrality is essential for human survival
By Syed Ali Mujtaba,
The internet’s privatization debate has intensified in India. It is hogging limelight because government is kite flying the idea to privatize the internet and allow the telecom companies to make money on customized services.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi has leveled the charge that Modi government that has come to power with the help of corporate money is now trying to pay them back their money by privatizing the internet.
Proportional electoral system or reservation in legislatures plus Muslim-core party
By Syed Shahabuddin,
In 2004, 38 Muslims were elected to the Lok Sabha; in 2009 the number has gone down to 30, from 6.6% to 5.5% of its strength; Muslim deprivation level of the Muslims has risen from 46% to 55%, as on the basis of 2001 Census Muslim representation should be 72. Deprivation level varies from state to state, from 0% (in J&K and Lakshadweep) to 25% to 80% in the major states of Muslim concentration. It varies from election to election averaging 50%. No other religious minority or the High Castes or the Forward OBC’s are underrepresented as the Muslim Indians are.
Jamia Alumni meet held at UAE
By TCN News,
Dubai: Jamia Millia Islamia Alumni meet is successfully held at UAE which was attended by some of the well-established Alumni from...
What triggered Benazir’s assassination?
By K. Subrahmanyam, IANS
A leading national daily had articles on Benazir Bhutto's assassination under the headline "Chronicle of a death foretold". Both friends and her opponents had warned Benazir about the threats to her life if she returned to Pakistan. Being an exceptionally brave woman and committed to reintroduction of democracy in Pakistan, she accepted the risks and returned home.
Will the Deoband edict restrain jehadis?
By Amulya Ganguli, IANS
Although belated, the condemnation of terrorism by Darul-Uloom Deoband is a major step forward in the war against religious extremism. It can seem odd, however, that it took this widely respected religious seminary based in Uttar Pradesh so long to express its disapproval of the militancy of bigots and mercenaries although this country, and the world, have been battling this menace over a long period.
Landmarks of India’s freedom struggle in Delhi
By Firoz Bakht Ahmed, IANS,
New Delhi : The Indian capital is full of landmarks - some quaint, some prominent - associated with the struggle for Indian independence. Here are some:
Memories of turbulent times, difficult loyalties: Tan Twan Eng’s Malaysia in war novels
By Vikas Datta,
Among historical events that have left an enduring influence, the Second World War is certainly one that lives up to its name. Its European, African and American components are adequately depicted, but the Asian experience, while not entirely absent, is quite under-represented. And this is despite the early 20th century being quite a tumultuous era for the region - older conflicts (the China-Japan War) segueing into the World War, which in its wake, sparked a spate of decolonisation and freedom struggles, some of them violent. But there are promising voices appearing, such as Malaysian lawyer-turned-author Tan Twan Eng with his first two intricately-crafted, evocative novels of the war and its effects in his ethnically-diverse homeland.
BJP may split if RSS takes charge
By Amulya Ganguli, IANS,
It's never been a secret that the Hindu supremacist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is the friend, philosopher and guide of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The gurudakshina, or tuition fee, which the BJP leaders routinely pay to the head of the umbrella Sangh Parivar, testifies to their master-pupil relationship.
We see plurality of voices against Indian state in Kashmir…this is the beginning of...
By Mohammed Sirajuddeen for TwoCirclces.net
Khurram Parvez was forbidden from boarding his flight to Switzerland at the behest of the orders from Intelligence Bureau even...
Two Deoband alumni, first time in the elected house of India
By M. Burhanuddin Qasmi,
After Maulana Hifzur Rahman Seoharwi and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad both India’s stalwart freedom fighters who represented Muslims in the legislature as members of parliament, mainstream ulama were completely out of the elected house in India for the last 60 years. This time around a fresh but solid beginning is made by two Deoband alumni.
How India wasted three Bharat Ratnas: Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee
By Sharique Anwer for TwoCircles.net,
On March 27, 2015 President of India, Pranab Mukherjee presented Bharat Ratna to former Prime Minister and one of the founding leader of BJP Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
From Right Wing supporters to liberals almost everyone applauded the gesture of the NDA government to confer Atal Bihar Vajpayee with Country’s highest civilian award, Bharat Ratna. Also, I saw many staunch congress supporters tweeting against Bharta Ratna to former PM. Congress supporters attacked NDA government over Bharat Ratna to ABV is like “Foot in the mouth moment” in my opinion, after congress government’s own act of awarding Bharat Ratna to Indira Gandhi and Rajeev Gandhi in the past.
CAT glitch notwithstanding, education needs e-governance
By Sanjiv Kataria, IANS,
Millions of us woke up on Sunday morning with front-page headlines that screamed "Online birth pangs dog CAT", "CAT's e-debacle leaves students foxed", etc. But what was a matter of clever wordplay for newspapers spells uncertainty and unwarranted anxiety for 240,000 IIM aspirants and their parents.
Obama’s coalition: Willing to wound and yet afraid to strike
By Saeed Naqvi,
As soon as President Barack Obama Wednesday announced his intention to lead a Coalition of the Willing to “degrade and destroy” the ISIS, his core coalition partners began to fidget and reach out for the exit door.
Minorities at Cross Roads: Comments on Judicial Pronouncements
By Fali S Nariman,
The elections in April-May, 2014 this year have put a strong majoritarian Government in power at the Centre. I welcome it.
Whilst I welcome a single-party majority government, I also fear it.
I fear it because of past experience with a majoritarian government in the nineteen sixties and nineteen seventies: when the then all-Congress Government had unjustifiably imposed the Internal Emergency of June 1975. And rode rough shod over the liberties of citizens.
Economics of Islamic Banking in India
By Syed Zahid Ahmad,
With silent debates on Islamic Banking in India among Indian Muslims, some of our financial sector players and political leaders, time has come that besides considering the religious, social, political and diplomatic dimensions, we should understand the economics of Islamic banking for Indian economy.
News analysis: Can cabinet reshuffle save Abe’s political fortune?
By Ni Hongmei, Xinhua
·Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday reshuffled his 11-month old cabinet.
·As the ruling party president, Abe also named a whole new leadership of LDP.
·In Monday's shake-up, Nobutaka Machimura, 62, was appointed as foreign minister.
Tokyo : Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday reshuffled his 11-month old cabinet, replacing key ministerial posts including chief cabinet secretary and ministers of defense, foreign affairs and finance with veteran politicians.
Telangana mess: Did Sonia Gandhi blunder?
By Amulya Ganguli, IANS,
For someone who has rarely taken a false step since scripting the Congress' success story over the last five years, Sonia Gandhi's slip-up on Telangana was an uncharacteristic blunder.
The sudden decision to announce the government's approval for dividing Andhra Pradesh was all the more surprising since the Congress president is known to err on the side of caution. Her trademark style of functioning is to listen to everyone before taking a major decision.