This is a recirculation of an old article written in 2021 , as a reminder who feel SECULARISM a burden. Mohd Shammi's spectacular performance proves that We must keep religion aside and stop looking at everything through the Prism of Religion.

 The way Indians abused Mohd Shami on social media after the defeat against Pakistan is an indicator of the rot that has set in, in our society .

Although its not a recent phenomenon, even the movie Chak de India depicted this, where a muslim hockey player after the loss to Pakistan was harassed by his own neighbors.

So, what happened with Shammi was no different.

In 50s to 90s we were a struggling Nation with very few achievements to show and with the historical rivalry with Pakistan and muslims such behavior was expectable, However, what is disappointing now is that despite being the 5^th largest economy, possessing , 5th largest armed forces, given numerous CEOs to top global companies, becoming the global IT hub, we have become petty minded and still suffer from disgusting levels of inferiority complex.

The other change that has taken place now is courtesy, social media the criticism and harassment of muslim sportsmen is no more localized . We need to realise that this unfair criticism of muslims has far reaching implications.

Read more ...

I drive to my office every day , a journey of almost 50 kms ; to and fro, during which I have to negotiate my way safely through many cross roads. Its real fun negotiating through these roads as they are of great learning value. Thanks to these roads, I have developed some important attributes that have made my Life better ; patience, importance of being cool headed, always keeping a smile on face even when someone has hit his mobike on the bumper behind.

Besides these attributes that i have developed in last 19 years since the time I came out of armed forces, I also had an enlightening experience one day, I realised that the way we move on roads is also a reflection of our culture, our attitudes, our ethics and values, we as a society cherish and uphold. Please keep Religion out of this.

If the analogy - You can tell a man by his shoes , is applied to the traffic, you can easily figure out the culture of the city . Stand near  a cross road and watch how the traffic moves and one can easily figure out the culture; its ethics and values.

Someone very rightly pointed out ; “ The nations that rank as the least corrupt— Finland, Norway, New Zealand, Sweden, and Singapore—are also the safest places in the world to drive.”

Some enlightening experiences that I had during my daily commutation of almost 50 kms through the city traffic are shared below ;

Read more ...

Everyone seems to be discussing the Pew report to justify its own stand, to an extent even some media channels devoted almost an hour discussing it inorder to justify their stand, that Muslims are safe here.

This study was funded by Pew Charities trust and John Templeton foundation . The survey was carried out in India covering all states , interviewing some 30000 people from all parts of India in 17 languages leaving two NE States due to covid situation. The survey was carried out with a purpose to understand the Indians’ view of religion and how it impacts the society etc.

They have carried out such surveys in Africa, USA, Europe, Israel etc.

When we all individually have our own world view , its interesting to learn about others as well. This may also help in breaking some stereotype views that we have about other communities. Lets have a look at the salient aspects of the entire report.

Read more ...

 Niti Ayog today unveiled the SDG(Sustainable Development Goals Index for India) Index. The Index, was developed in collaboration with the United Nations, to measure the progress at the national and sub-national level in the country's journey towards meeting the global goals.This was First launched in December 2018, with an aim to be a primary tool for monitoring progress, evaluate States' performance on social, economic and environmental parameters in the country and simultaneously foster competition among the states by ranking them on the global goals.

The Index tracks the progress of all the States and Union Territories (UTs) on a set of National Indicators, measuring their progress on the outcomes of the interventions and schemes of the Government of India. The SDG India Index is intended to provide a holistic view on the social, economic and environmental status of the country and its States and UTs.

The overall aim is to measure India and its States’ progress towards the SDGs for 2030.

The scoring is from 0-100 implying that any state which is closer to 100 means it is on target and will achieve its goals that have been set on various parameters ; poverty, hunger, sanitation, affordable and clean energy etc will be achieved by 2030.

Once again Kerala retains its top ranks. It is followed by Himachal Pradesh and TN scoring 75 and 74 points respectively, Andhra is third scoring 72 points. Bihar as expected occupies the last position.

Bihar, Jharkhand and Assam were the worst-performing states this year with 52, 56, and 57 points, respectively. UP, MP, Odisha, Bengal, are just round this figure. In the previous Part ; Vicious circle of misgovernance it was mentioned that these above states may have entered a Vicious circle of misgovernance and as a result despite coming to power on the agenda of Growth their Govts have not been able to get the state out of this vicious circle of Misgovernance even after ruling for more than a decade.No wonder, once the cream has migrated, these states Bihar, UP, Rajasthan MP, Bengal, Assam scoring about 50- 60 points are stuck in mediocrity and the elections are still fought on the issues like caste/ religion, freebies/ subsidies etc rather than on Growth and Development.

The score is not only an indicator of misgovernance but may also show that these states are stuck in a vicious circle of Misgovernance.

Read more ...