Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Muslims have largest share of young, but also die early

Subodh Varma

Census Shows Drop In U-20s In All Communities

Muslims in India have the highest share of children and teenagers among all religions, at 47%, compared to 40% for Hindus, according to Census 2011 data released on Tuesday . If all communities are taken together, around 41% of the country's population is below 20 years old and 9% above 60 years, leaving 50% in the intervening 20-59 age group.Overall, life cycles of different religious communities in India have shown common trends of declining proportion of children and increasing shares of elderly while also showing marked differences in average life span.
The share of the young population has declined since the previous Census in 2001 when it was 45% for the whole country , 44% for Hin dus, 52% for Muslims and 35% for Jains. This is a reflection of across-the-board declines in fertility rates -number of children born -leading to a slowing down of the respective population growth rates. The decline is the least for Hindus and highest for Buddhists and Christians, at seven percentage points, followed by Sikhs and Jains at six percentage points.
At the other end of the life cycle, the proportion of elderly has risen across all communities as life spans have generally increased. The elderly , 60 years and above, make up about nine percent of the country's population.
Across religious communities, there is considerable variation in the share of the elderly population, which can be directly linked to economic status and access to healthcare. In the Muslim community, just 6.4% of the population is over 60 years, almost 50% lower than the national average. In 2001, this share was 5.8%, indicating only a marginal increase. Among Jains, and Sikhs, the share of elderly is 12%, over 30% more than the national average. These shares are more also because the younger generation's numbers are less. The Hindu community is close to all national averages because they make up nearly 80% of the country's population.
Age-wise population shares reveal another important aspect of the lives of people dependency . Both chil dren and the elderly are dependent on the able and adult population. Overall, the young dependency ratio -number of children aged up to 15 dependent on every 1,000 members of the working age population -has declined from 621 in 2001 to 510 in 2011.This is a direct consequence of declining number of children.
At the other end of life, the old dependency ratio has increased from 131 in 2001 to 142 in 2011, in accord with the growing elderly population.
If we add up both young and old, in 2001, 752 people were dependent on every 1,000 persons in the working age population of 15 to 59 years. Compared to that, in 2011, this ratio has come down to 652. Across religious communities, Muslims have the highest total dependency ratio of 748 compared to the lowest ratio for Jains which is just 498. For Hindus, the ratio is 640. All these ratios have declined since 2001.

Source: Times of India, 13-01-2016

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

The Catch-22 of nationalism

Christmas, hopes for high-level peace talks between India and Pakistan were higher than they had been in years. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a surprise visit to his Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz Sharif, and the two shared a very public and symbolic hug. Now, just two weeks later, the optimism is mostly gone. After terrorists from Pakistan attacked an Indian air base, killing seven Indian security personnel, Modi told Sharif that talks wouldn’t go forward unless Pakistan took action against the terrorists. It seems altogether likely the talks won’t happen at all.

On the surface, nothing is more predictable than the suspension of impending peace talks between traditional enemies after a terrorist attack intended to produce exactly that suspension.

But this latest instance raises an interesting question about the pattern: Why does the terrorists’ technique work? After all, everybody knows that the point of the attack is to derail peace. So, why don’t the public and politicians alike simply discount the effect of the attacks, rather than giving in to their irredentist logic?

In this case, at least, the answer has to do with what you might call the Catch-22 of nationalism.

Modi is a right-of-centre Hindu nationalist. His credentials as a nationalist are exactly what allowed him to visit and embrace Sharif in the first place. His predecessor, left-of-centre prime minister Manmohan Singh, would have loved to have serious peace talks with Pakistan. But, among other factors, he was prevented by Modi and his party, which criticized him from the right as too weak to negotiate effectively with Pakistan.

Modi in contrast could count on the fact that the opposition wouldn’t be able to criticize him from the left for reaching out to Sharif. To this extent, nationalist credentials are a blessing for a peacemaking leader.

The catch is that the same nationalist credentials that let a right-of-centre leader like Modi attempt peace talks also require him to respond when his country is attacked by terrorists.

To make matters worse, the defence seems to have been bungled. Reports suggest that Indian authorities were informed of the impending attack on the Pathankot air base by an Indian superintendent of police, who had been abducted and then freed by the terrorists.

Yet, notwithstanding the notice, the Indian military lost men to the terrorists. And it took several days to track down and kill all the terrorists. The embarrassment of the weak response further fuelled Modi’s need to show strength in response—by delaying or suspending the peace talks.

To be clear, India’s national security wasn’t seriously harmed by the attack, perpetrated by lightly armed terrorists against a defended military base. Its sole purpose was to interfere with the peace talks.

But that fact, even if widely understood, doesn’t matter to a constituency that votes based on national pride. It’s no less insulting, embarrassing and infuriating to be attacked by terrorists if their intent is nakedly to oppose peace.

So what, if anything, can be done to avoid the nationalist Catch-22? The only long-term answer would be for nationalist politicians to educate their constituents to see the terrorist attacks as a sign of their opponents’ weakness. Pakistani terrorists clearly fear the consequences to themselves and their country of peace talks with India. If nationalist Indian voters understood that, perhaps they would allow their leaders to go on negotiating.

The only problem with this informational solution is that it assumes nationalists really want peace in the first place. Sometimes they do—but often nationalists fear and loath their historic enemies, and are prepared to abandon their own leaders if they go too far down the road to peace. When that happens, they deserve the unending war that results.

Source: http://epaper.livemint.com/epaper/viewer.aspx

Swamiji and Yoga

M N KUNDU

All problems, according to Swami Vivekananda, can be solved by imparting right education. Problems cannot be solved on racial, religious, national or narrow grounds but have to cover the whole of humanity .Holistic education will generate compassion for all sentient beings as extension of self and also awaken aspiration for the highest wisdom. The common error in all ethical systems has been the failure of teaching the means by which man could refrain from doing evil under instinctive compulsion. The solution: controlling our nature through the path of yoga.With this end in view, Swamiji thought of a universal way acceptable to all: yoga. To the worker, it is a union between man and whole of humanity , to the mystic, between his higher and lower selves, to the lover, a union between himself and God of love, to the philosopher, it is a union of all existence.
Swamiji asserted that each soul is potentially divine with omnipotence and omniscience, awaiting manifestation. We can realise the same through selfless service, assimilation of wisdom through deeper introspection, devotion to the Almighty or some special psychophysical practice.
To Swamiji, selfless service was a unique path for Self-realisation. Liberation is a matter of expansion of the self spread over the entire universe. The essential divinity and, thereby , unity of all creatures has to be realised through unconditional love for all, wise detachment and extension of self through serving humanity beyond the dogmas and sectarian faith.

Mythology Vs Science

Creating a better climate for research and innovation is a must for India's development

Vice-President Hamid Ansari has highlighted the dearth of scientific temper in the country . His comments come just as the 2016 Indian Science Congress has drawn many laments on the state of Indian science. In fact, for the last two years presentations on topics such as the invention of airships in ancient India have created a disappointing, disturbing image. In a damning indictment, Nobel laureate Venkatraman Ramakrishnan has described the congress as a circus where very little science is discussed.While it can be argued that the congress should be open to diverse streams, such openness can't come at the cost of a genuine scientific ethos. As Ansari has observed, intolerance towards attempts to separate belief from scientifically verified facts leads to the occult being dubbed as scientific. Plus, there's empirical evidence to sug gest that the roots of Indian science are worryingly weak. The country is yet to achieve its goal of spending at least 2% of GDP on scientific research. Around 59% of secondary schools don't have an integrated science laboratory . And according to 2013 figures Indians filed only 17 patents per million population compared to 4,451 in tiny South Korea.
These metrics stand at odds with government policies like Make in India. As pointed out by Nobel winning physicist David Gross, attempts at manufacturing high-end products in India won't yield the desired benefits unless backed by sustained investment in basic science right from school level to higher education. That not a single Indian institute of higher learning figures in the top 100 ranking of world universities is a poor comment on the quality of education and research in the country . An even greater tragedy is that most Indian students today consider the sciences only as academic streams to high-paying corporate careers. Overall, the science pedagogy is poor and the scientific temper diluted.
The state of Indian science is actually a direct reflection of India's general education woes. Lack of meritocracy in educational institutions shows up in poor research. Focus on producing degree holders kills innovation. Against this backdrop, a framework for audit of scientific departments as suggested by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is just the first step. What's required next is an overhaul of science education to create an environment that encourages research and innovation. Only then can Indian scientists meaningfully contribute towards the development goals of the country .

Source: Times of India, 12-01-2015

Assam's Minority Report

Sanjoy Hazarika

As the state readies for polls, it would be dangerous to abuse the highly emotive `Bangladeshi' card

For five hours, the body of the 15-year-old girl hung on the barbed wire fence, blood streaking her clothes in the Janua ry chill, her hair hanging down in a macabre flow. She was shot while climbing over from the Indian side in West Bengal to Bangladesh and was going for her own wedding. Her father had managed to get over unscathed but the child, whose name was Felanee did not make it.That was in 2011. That Felanee was Bangladeshi was uncontested but the killing of an unarmed child sparked a furious outcry against shootings of civilians by BSF on the international boundary .As a result of this incident, Indian border patrols were instructed not to fire live ammunition on suspected intruders (mind you, BSF failed to tackle the real infiltrators, those of armed groups who had skipped across for years, creating mayhem, until the Bangladesh government cracked down and handed over Ulfa, NDFB and Manipuri insurgent leaders to India). Nearly 1,000 persons had been killed in a 10 year period or one death every four days.
Those who died included Bangladeshis and Indians, cattle rustlers, petty criminals as well as people who were shot while going about their daily business.Cattle smuggling is a major business along the border; so is human trafficking.Criminal gangs which flourish on either side of the border are unlikely to do so without official connivance.
Illegalinformal migration from Bangladesh into India is substantial but there are other interlocking issues. I will focus on two here. One is the scale of the migration most of the figures i have seen are simply assertions and `analysis' based on assumptions. The other is the impact that such perceptions are having not just in eastern India, especially in Assam and West Bengal, but also across the country , with antipathy growing against Muslims of Bangla origin.
The latter is important especially as Assam is going to the polls in a few months. There appear to be few issues, barring the anti-incumbency factor against the Tarun Gogoi government. That is why one must be extremely careful that the highly emotive `Bangladeshi' card is not used as a weapon of rhetoric.
As far as numbers are concerned, the truth is that decades after the `Bangladeshi' campaign began in the late 1970s, few have been detected and deported despite many promises. Not even the Centre has a clear idea of how many illegal migrants are in India, not just Assam. For years there has been a sense of fatigue on the issue in Assam.
Thus, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi correctly chose statesmanship over local politics by settling the IndoBangladesh land boundary issue, a problem that had been unresolved for decades, he piquantly created a challenge for the Assam unit of his own party which had opposed the deal, claiming it would increase illegal migration.
Such complexity is deepened by sweeping media reports which posit a future where `Bangladeshi Muslims' will be a majority in the state and ignore the fact that it has three major groups of Muslims: Assamese speaking Muslims whose ancestors go back to the 13th century , Muslims of Bangla origin, many of whose ancestors came over 100 years ago, and the post-1971 Bangladeshi Muslims. Indeed, this last point is also conveniently forgotten: those who moved from East Pakistan before 1971are not Bangladeshis.
Also ignored is that there is a high fertility and birth rate among Muslims groups in western Assam where large families are the norm. This is a key factor in demographics especially if one consi ders the fact that Assam has smaller border with Bangladesh than Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram or West Bengal! There is hostility to in-migration in Assam and the northeast. Most migrants as the recent movement from Syria shows seek safe havens. In addition to that, there is greater economic security as Bangladesh's economy has grown to a near middle economy , making risky out-migration less attractive.
The combination of selective facts, selective memory and rhetoric can be a deadly combination as seen in 2012 after incidents in western Assam where both Bodos and Muslims were victims. Hate mongering triggered an exodus of lakhs of workers from the region, from places such as Bengaluru. Few locally there would make the distinction between a Bodo, a Naga, a Sikkimese or a Mizo. The `northeast' is lumped together.
What happened in February 1983 should suffice as adequate warning about the vulnerability of this complex area: Over 36 years ago, Aasu launched a powerful anti-immigrant movement that brought successive state governments to their knees, stalled the economy , shut down educational institutions and markets and even blocked oil transportation; in February 1983, the central government forced an election in the state, in the teeth of opposition from Aasu and other anti-immigrant groups. In the ensuing violence, thousands were killed no one still knows the final toll, but it is said to be well above 3,000 including Muslims of Bengali origin, members of tribal groups, Assamese and other ethnics.
The worst massacre was at Nellie, which i covered as a young reporter, in which nearly 2,000 Muslim men, women and children were killed. The sight of hundreds of corpses, of infants, women, old men, huddled on dry rice fields are images which i can never forget. Those who died were certainly not Bangladeshis and had lived there for generations.Their survivors struggle futilely to get justice for the murdered and maimed.
The writer is director of the Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research, Jamia Millia Islamia

Source: Times of India, 12-01-2015

Kerala becomes 1st state in country to achieve 100% primary education

Vice-President Hamid Ansari will officially declare the 100% primary education status achieved by Kerala here on Wednesday .“Kerala has become the first state in the country to achieve total primary education. This has been achieved through the primary education equivalency drive of the state literacy mission -Athulyam. The equivalency programmes have proved a huge success and the ultimate objective is to achieve total PlusTwo education in the state,“ education minister P K Abdu Rabb said here on Monday .
The declaration will be made at a function at Kerala University Senate Hall. The second phase of Athum was carried out across lyam was carried out across the state as part of the Mission 676 of the government, launched to mark its third anniversary . The programme offers a chance for those who failed to get primary educa tion due to various reasons to achieve the education qualification equivalent to fourth standard.
Those aged 15 to 50 were beneficiaries of the programme and were identified through family registries prepared by anganwadis under the social justice department and also through ward-level surveys carried out by instructors in continuing education programmes.
Around 2.6 lakh candi dates appeared for the 4th standard equivalency examination in June 2015 and 2.2 lakh candidates qualified.The equivalency examination was held in 6,613 centres across the state and those who scored 3075 in English and 2050 in other subjects were declared winners.

Source: Times of India, 12-01-2016

Monday, January 11, 2016

Economic and Political Weekly: Table of Contents

Aahwan Ek Sanskritik Muhim, All India Students Association, All India Students Federation, Ambedkar University Delhi Faculty Association, Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students Association, Bhor, Bhagat Singh Chhatra Ekta Manch, Collective, Communist Party of India, CPIML (Liberation), CPIML (New Democracy), CPIML (New Proletariat), and others

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Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

The Catch-22 of nationalism

Monday, January 11, 2016

Economic and Political Weekly: Table of Contents

Vol. 51, Issue No. 2, 09 Jan, 2016

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