AMU at the Crossroads

It’s really sad that people have to talk about one pretty unknown school in a country of over a Billion. I mean who gives a stuff?

#52 RANJIT

I feel it is extremely difficult to make Muslims, I mean general Muslims, believe that being somewhat modern can be good for them and for the future of their children. This feeling can only be imbibed on them by Muslim Upper Class.

Typically, Muslim Upper Class is divided into two segments--one, those who are Modern and westernised and the second, who are governing their religous institutions i.e. Muslim Clergy. A common Muslim is more near to the clergy than he is to the Modern Muslim.

Now,clergy will be last one to preach modernism because, otherwise it will be digging its own grave. If you force something on common muslims, the clergy will oppose it tooth and nail and no democratic setup would like to get involved in the tussle.

So overall, its a long tunnel with no end at sight at present. It will be only when ,when the leading Muslim Nations particularly Arabia, Iran and Turkey undergo massive reforms.

Zafar-ji,

I really dont know much about this AMU stuff to be able to comment.

But I do have some questions:

(1) Do you know of any muslim organizations providing tuition/training to poor kids
who are completing high school?

(2) Any organizations providing tuition/training for kids to take the JEE or other national
exams?

(3) Any organizations working with young children focussed on science/math/english?

If so, please post their URLs or address here.

- prateek

#41 by ranjit on January 14, 2006 10:31pm PT

Are there any hindus who actually want to attend AMU? For what? Can they get a job afterwards?

---

Rnajit sb.,

Moi.....and a number of my friends from Aligarh who passed out from AMU....some of them are in the US, a couple in Dubai.....they were mainly in Medical or engineering. I think they are all gainfully employed ;)

Regards,

harimou#50

Of course! How could I forget Osmania? Thanks for the correction [but I do not think that it had Muslim or Islamia in its name].

Re:bolta_aina#51

For some reason, muslims all over the world are simply incapable of social reform. We have seen the massive reform in hindu society which happened in the past two centuries from Raja Ram Mohan Roy onwards. This has laid the foundation for hindus to aggressively pursue modernity and enjoy success. Where is such a reform movement among muslims? Where is the push to go for higher education, getting rid of regressive practices like polygamy, triple talaq etc? Instead muslims seem to enjoy moving backwards in time towards the 7th century.

In such circumstances, we cannot sit by and wait for muslims to catch up with the mainstream on their own. It will never happen that way and the consequences will be scary. If France and England are suffering from problems with their muslim population, can you imagine what will happen when India`s economy truly takes off and the hindu/musim dispartities become exponentially huge? Thats why I am in favor of aggressive government action in the education sector to forcibly drag in the muslim community into the 21st century.

#48 RANJIT


A minority community can retreat into a ghetto mindset when it feels that it is not a part of the national mainstream.

Some days back, I engaged a carpenter for reparing of some wood-work in my house. He was a muslim and worked for three-four days. He was a hard-working fellow and never used to create fuss. He used to bring his 8-10 year old son for assistance.

One day I decided to talk to him to what he feels like. I invited him and his son for tea and snacks and just started talking. He told me that he earns Rs.200/- per day and is working for all 30 days in the month. He had six children and ``sab ka guzara ho jata hai jaisey-taisey``

I tested his GK and his knowledge about geography was confined to Arabia, Iran, Iraq only. About Britishers, he knew that they came from Bartania and ruled Hindustan. Where was Britain, he did not know. About India, he had the opinion that Yeh hamara mulk nahi hai. This land belongs to Hindus and he doesnt know how, when and why they have come here? Regarding Pakistan, he was not very enthusiastic only that the muslims there are in majority unlike here,-- musalmaan wehan zyada tadad main hain. So he may be more secure there otherwise it wouldnt make any difference. He did not see a better future for his children only that they will also have to slog him to earn two-flat meals. His children getting good education was out of question. He had better opinion about about Padhey Likhey Hindus than Padhey Likhey Muslims in India. Overall, its was a picture of gloom with no hope for the future.

Now if you look at this man, he first suffers from Isolation from the country and also there is a sense of hopelessness for the future. But he has confidence in Pahdey Likhey Hindus which ,in other words, would mean secular character of the country.

You are correct that the minority community can retreat into ghetto mindset if it feels that it is not a part a not part on national mainstream. If the above person whom I talked is any representative sample, the minority community in India actually feels so.

Ref dost-mittar #28

[Urstruly:
There was only one AMU at the time of the Partition. Now there are at least two others - Jamia Milia University in Delhi and Darul Huda Islamic Academy in Kerala. ]

You know, you Punjabis can`t see south of the Vindhysas for some reason.

Osmania University was established in Hyderabad (Deccan) in 1908 with instruction in Urdu.

Ref ranjit #48

[...As you know muslims have been disadvantaged by the migration of their elite to Pakistan...]

If folks like Mullah32 are the ``Muslim elite`` you are talking about, there is absolutely NO hope for Indian Muslims.

Re:anil#47

While I agree with most of what you are saying, I feel that it is in India`s best interests to take special steps to strongly promote the integration of the muslim community into the education system. As you know muslims have been disadvantaged by the migration of their elite to Pakistan and their relatively backward state in India both economically and socially. A minority community can retreat into a ghetto mindset when it feels that it is not a part of the national mainstream. An example of that is the preference for madrassa education which is more in the comfort zone of muslims, although it delivers nothing to the students.

From a national perspective, having 120 million people in a backward mode is a huge waste of human resources and a handicap towards our goal of economic advancement. If you factor in the potential of jihadi activities propagated by our unfriendly neighbors, you have potentially a very volatile mix that can explode in our faces. In the extreme case, we see such situations developing in Europe where the majority/minority gap is humungous leading to major social unstability.

I would like the government to invest in massive funding of primary and secondary education for muslims. Government schools can be opened and funded that provide free education to each and every muslim kid and makes it mandatory for them to attend school. These would be in addition to existing government schools with focused funding to pull in muslims students away from madrassahs and acquire secular education. I would also like to see scholarships setup for smart muslim kids from poor families who finish school and are likey to attend college. This will accelerate their integration into the middle class. Vocational training programs can be setup for the others so that they can have employable skills. All in all, we need a concerted focus from the government on education of the muslim community so that they can become a part and parcel of the mainstream. Beyond this, I definitely support a full and fair meritocracy for professional education and employment but these steps will give the muslim community a chance to pull themselves by the bootstraps and participate in the Indian juggernaut.

Religious bias, in symbols, in courses, and among faculty, needs to be removed from college level educations in India in symbol. There can be only zero tolerance for religious bias. Therefore, ``Hindu`` from Banares Hindu University and ``Muslim`` from Aligarh Muslim University should be dropped. Such differentiations are unnecessary in modern India. Bollywood and Cricket team have a fair representation of region and religious communities. No one says Bollywood Hindu Industry, Bollywood Muslim Industry etc. Some people may like Shah Rukh Khan for being a muslim, while most may like him for his acting or other personal reasons. The same goes for the Cricket team too. The days of Hindu Gymkhana and Muslim Gymkhana went long ago with the partition.

No one can say ``Hindu Pani`` or ``Muslim Pani`` today, and get away with it. Likewise Education must be made as one of the fundamental rights granted to of every Indian citizen. This should be enshrined in the constitution of India through a suitable amendment. Education in modern India is as important to live as water is, and is available as easily as the water. This needs to be the message delivered to each Indian citizen.

Transparency comes when hundreds of millions are watching, and have access to media. ``Sa Re Ga Ma Pa`` is an example of a meritocracy in private set up. There may be biases, but converting a bias into blatant discrimination would be difficult in the public glare.

The primary and secondary education initiative are entrusted in the hands of local government and communities. These can be strengthened to reflect improtance of eductation.

The college level education can only promote meritocracy. Anyone who deserves it, and wants it, must not be denied college education. Merit based admission process must be religion blind. The colleges can guarantee admission to top ten percent of the higher secondary graduating class in their neighborhood, and be sensitive to the local social and economic environment. In the absence of, or limited campus housing the colleges tend to serve the local communities. Regional and national level colleges need to have different charter.

The higher secondary schools can cater to local communities special needs, as they are community based. In case, a community makes their higher secondary schools courses overly out of main stream, then they must be held accountable if their students cannot get into regional and national level colleges. All local, regional and national level colleges, like IITs, should be positioned as center of excellence in the neighborhood, region, or at national level. The schools which feed college education have been balanced and take care of the special social and economic needs to the local communities, the college education will cater to local, regional and national needs for growth, and not religion. A community can have a religious seminary to cater local needs, but that is another subject altogether.

Anil Kapuria

Dear Farzana -- why don`t you get an article on Indo-Pak (Hindutva vs Jihadi) cricket for these gentlemen to play somewhere else -- instead of playing on this AMU campus......:)

#42 Mr. Raqnjit singh...... you have some point. I made my daughters to go for earl education. One studied maths, one mechanical engg and youngest made better she got in civil engg and became engineer. She went to usa and got assitantship ( for good marks and helping teacher in correcting exams home work etc), she used to get unbelievable money ($7000/per year ie 420,000 Rupees/ year). She married foreigner in America but I have forgiven her.

It very disturbing and sad the indian cricket team got lucky break. I think better will be to take one extra day to play and complete game as lots of people have paid money to see ``express running wild and taking care of wild indians like american cowboys``. Only good thing is time will be saved and wasteful holiday of victory will not be celebrated as national holiday. It looks childish when supreme leadership give holiday when we win aginst India, how it helps for Battle of Kashmir is question. Second test will be good as outraged IRP team will take on india and little antic of Dravid and virender will be put to end. Watch Pindi Express is raging hot and fast touching 0ver 100 mph, both can not play good at that speed. Problem is pitch no good, its batters dream, need to put lots of grass and IRPian bowlers can make magic. We need fast pitches to help P.Express. This useless match and Indians have escaped due to nature`s help.

Re:ahmedmadani

You wrote.``Education is overemphasized in India they should look more in business in making money. May be its has become prerequisite to get husband or wife in India, Pathetic situation I guess. There are no jobs and people are fighting to waste their youthful years.``

Madaniji, now you have said something that is both against hinduism and islam. Hindus believe in ``Vidvan Sarvasyapujyate`` i.e. a scholar is respected by everyone. Islam says go to China to get knowledge. Aapne to bilkul jahilon wali baat kah di ki education is not important - your own daughter is studying engineering.

Also, there are huge number of jobs in India. In fact, more jobs than qualified candidates to fill them. If there were good relations with Pakistan, some of your unemployed could find work in India. Khair, jaise aap logon ki marzi!!

Nature is giving disadvantage to Pakistan. Yesterday as Pindi express was getting in action to demolish India visibility made problem and India got chance to escape onslaught of raging bowling and express had started hitting record speeds. To day same visibility reduced play stopped. Is this conspiracy ( bribing by indians?) when Pakistanis in less lightb were whipping Harbhagan, Kumble, Agarkar, Ganguli, pathan , tendulkor, yuvraj ( oh they whipped all) they never complained to stop match. But indians just want to avoid play complain of less light. Again they are getting good chance as at 132 no loss, Dravid and Sehwag can take nap and get ready to bat, is this just ? Its not but just now nature is against us and trying to save India.
Mr. Shridhar,Ms.Sandhu you comments are not appreciated by me at all. I do not read them sorry.