HOW TO ATTRACT FOREIGN INVESTORS TO INDIA

India became independent in 1947; it is now 2023. Why in so many years nothing has been done to allow the IAS, IPS and all other officers, who take oaths in the name of the Indian constitution to work as per the vision of the visionary Sardar Patel? All parties are responsible for the mess. The level of corruption shall have to be reduced to a very low level. The law and order shall have to be maintained all throughout the year.

Can the British Prime Minister wrongly influence any Civil servant? Let us introduce the same system here. The IAS, IPS and all other officers are treated as trusted slaves by both the Central Govt. as well as by the state governments. This shall have to be stopped immediately.

Communal shall shall have to be increased to a very high level. Inter-religious marriages (Without changing religions of the brides and the grooms) shall have to be encouraged. All Indians shall be encouraged to say – “Jay Shri Ram”, “God is Great”, “Allah Hu Akbar”, Jay Marang Buru” etc....

I have written several blogs on these subjects . These can be viewed at – www.sibkumaradhikari.blogspot.com on “How to reduce the level of corruption in India” . Please read the original blog + one addendum.

On “How to increase harmony among various religious groups in India”. Please read the original blog + one addenda.

SEBI and CBI shall have to be made constitutional authorities. In both these cases, the CJI shall play an important role. These authorities shall come down heavily on corrupt persons/organizations without any interference.

Indian justice delivery system is very time consuming; it is hampering the growth of India. I know the British Judicial System is quite quick. Why can’t we introduce the same system in India? How are the British Judges selected? The Bar and the Bench shall decide the maximum number of adjournments per case. The judgements shall have to be written in plain English without any ambiguity. The Supreme Court shall have to remember that it has been created by the Indian Constitution. If anybody feels hurt, I apologise.

National Judicial Appointments Commission is a crying need. The appointments of Judges shall have to be totally transparent. This will enhance the prestige of our Judges and strengthen the foundation of our democratic system.

The vacancies of all Judges in India shall have to be filled in. The above steps will accelerate the Justice Delivery System and this will attract foreign investors to India. Then, Indian economy will become very strong, foreign exchange reserve will become very high and India will prosper.

JAI HIND

“How to increase harmony amongst different religious groups in India”.

Our honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi participated in the foundation laying ceremony of Ram Temple at Ayodhya; I support this. But he ought to have also participated in the foundation laying ceremony of the new mosque being constructed on the outskirts of Ayodhya. The whole world is striffen with religious disturbances. Had our Prime Minister attended the foundation laying ceremony of the mosque, that would have sent the right signal to all the different religious communities in the world. I very much hope our Prime Minister will attend the inauguration ceremony of the mosque

. I apologise to our Prime Minister and his admirers for criticising him. Honourable Prime Minister - You are the Prime Minister of all Indians and not just a section of the community.

The word minority usually identifies the Muslims in India; this is totally wrong. There are more than 20 crore Muslims in India; They are the second largest community in India. Kashmir Valley is a Muslim majority valley. The Hindus and the Sikhs residing in in the Kashmir Valley for generations have been brutally murdered and driven out of the Valley. There have been only mild protests against this brutal act. Had the Muslims been totally driven out of a Hindu majority state, the whole of world, including the Hindu intelligentsia in India would have burst into protests.

I am against the appeasement of any religious community.

Hijab Issue:

This problem cropped up in Karnataka towards the end of 2021. The Muslim girls in Karnataka have been going to schools and colleges wearing the school and college uniforms for years without any problem. Some Muslim obscurantists instigated the girls to wear hijabs to schools and colleges, thereby creating this totally unnecessary problem. (Wearing of hijabs is not mandatory as per the Holy Koran).

The Hindu obsurantists retaliated by banning the Muslim traders from the premises of the Hindu temples and asking the Hindus not to buy “Halal” meat.

I condemn all the acts by the Hindu and the Muslim obscurantists. I also condemn all acts by all religious obscurantists all over the world. Power hungry politicians of all political parties create communal disturbances to garner votes.

There are no Hindu, Christian and Muslim dogs in the world; So, why should there be Hindu, Christian and Muslim human beings in the world? Has any religion been able to save mankind against the COVID-19 pandemic? All religions are full of myths. The religious obscurantists believe in these myths and have been creating bloodsheedings since the inception of these religions. All religions try to stymie the growth of free thinking. Let us all unite as proud members of mankind and march forward.

JAI SHRI RAM, GOD IS GREAT, ALLAH HU AKBAR, WAHE GURU.

“Non believers have every right to live dignified lives”.

P.S. Hindi-Hindu-Hindustani:
This is a very wrong slogan. All citizens of India are Indians and Hindustanis irrespective of their mother tongues and religions. India has many languages; So, why should Hindi-Hindu-Hindustani slogan be raised? Tamil is as old as Sanskrit; On the hindsight, it might be even older than Sanskrit! Tamil is a vibrant language; Whereas Sanskrit is hardly spoken in India. The government must try to unify India, cutting across all barriers - religions, languages and provincial.....

India was divided by power hungry politicians through a genocide; both Jinnah Ji and Netaji were mainly responsible for it. As a result of the division of India, the religious minorities in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh are being held as hostages. The religious minorities in Pakistan and Bangladesh are gradually decreasing and in future they may get totally wiped out/driven out. The religious minorities in India except the Parsees are increasing in numbers.

Kashmir Problem:

It was created by a blunder committed by the first Prime Minister of India. Before, during and after partition, when communal infernos were raging all over India (India, Pakistan and East Pakistan), the Hindus and the Muslims lived peacefully side by side in Kashmir Valley.

This peaceful co-existence continued upto 1980’s. Towards the end of 1980’s, things started changing and all Hindus and Sikh Kashmiris were driven out of Kashmir Valley and since then the Kashmir Valley and some parts of Jammu & Kashmir have been burning.

Muslim terrorists, mostly of Pakistani antecedents and some locals have been killing Indian security forces, inclusive of Muslims and local police personnel, all Valley Muslims regularly. Kashmiri civilians are also getting killed.

This phenomenon will continue till Pakistan realises the futility of the proxy war. If Pakistan becomes a good neighbour of India, Pakistan stands to benefit more than India. May this “benefit” dawn in the minds of Pakistani politicians and generals by the grace of merciful Allah!

Mmany Kashmir Valley leaders tactically support terrorism to keep their vote banks intact. The people of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh must realise that they have the same blood in their veins.

National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Citizen Amendment Act (CAA):

These things trace their origins to the partition of India. Border fencings were erected between India and West Pakistan; butthere were no fencings between India and East Pakistan. These are the legacies of the Congress govt. at the centre as well as the Congress Govts. In the Eastern and North Eastern states. For decades, vote hunters, particularly in Assam and West Bengal encouraged infiltrations to increase their vote banks. And now, it has become a gigantic human problem.

This problem of infiltration, if not rectified in quick time, has the propensity to shake the very foundation of the already bifurcated India. The vote hunting politicians are playing “ducks & drakes”with the lives of the hapless people forced to leave Pakistan and Bangladesh. If these vote hunters do not take a holistic approach to solve these problems, then India may get totally disintegrated with disastrous consequences in terms of the sub-continental stability

Maqbool Fida Hossain:

The great painter was driven out of India by Hindu obscurantists, RSS and BJP. Taslima Nasreen, a Bengali litterateur (Banglades) was driven out of Kolkata and subsequently out of India by Muslim obscurantists, CPM, Congress and Trinamool Congress. Not a single political party in India is secular and all are against expressions of opinions which are not to their likings.

There were about 180 crore Muslims in the world in 2020; out of this only one person has so far been awarded the Nobel Prize in a Science subject. There were about 110 crore Hindus in the world in 2020; out of these only four persons have so far awarded the Nobel Prize in Science subjects.

Do these dismal figures not cross the mindset of the power hungry politicians of the subcontinent?

There are no Hindu, Muslim or Christian dogs; but there are Hindu, Muslim and Christian human beings and they are fighting and killing in the name of the same creator. Does this absurdity not strike our minds? Have different religions been able to save mankind from COVID -19 pandemic?

If the whole world becomes populated only by the Hindus, Muslims or Christians, will peace prevail in the world?

I was born in a Hindu family; but it was not my choice. I could have been born in a Muslim, a Christian or any other religious family. Similarl, a Muslim or a Christian could have been born in any other religious family.

I am a Hindu, but I consider myself to be a Muslim, a Christian etc... at the same time. All persons must have this mentality.

Let us not brag about being a Hindu, a Muslim or a Christian etc....Let us all brag about being human beings, once and for all.

Mankind has progressed from cave age to internet age and progressing further at a tremendous pace; but the religious belief systems are mired in the myths dating back to the early age of mankind. These primitive religious ideas have created permanent destructive divisions in mankind. How silly and absurd these divisions are!

Human beings appeared on the earth thousands of years ago. Were those human beings Hindus, Muslims or Christians?

JAI SRI RAM, GOD IS GREAT, ALLAH HU AKBAR, WAHE GURU.

1. The slogan Hindi-Hindu-Hindustani is absolutely wrong. Tamil is as old as Sanskrit. It is a very vibrant language. Whereas Sanskrit is hardly spoken in India these days. So why should Tamilians and other language speaking Indians subscribe to the above slogan?

We must try to unite all Indians cutting across religious, linguistic, provincial and all other barriers.

2. All must remember that divisions of mankind along religious lines are totally artificial; these silly and artificial divisions have caused shedding of human blood in the past, continues to cause blood sheds in the present times and will continue to cause blood sheds in the future as well, if these divisions exist.

3. In Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal Madrassa, every morning the Gayatri Mantra is recited first, which is followed by the Kalma. This very good practice shall have to be the new benchmark for a “Resurgent Bharat” of our dreams.

JAI HIND.
Author: Sib Kumar Adhikari, B-14/174, Kalyani, Nadia, West Bengal-741235. Mob - +91-9477472629.

How to reduce the level of corruption in India

1. All political parties give tickets to candidates having criminal backgrounds, despite all of them highlighting good and corruption-free governance in their election manifestos. The irony is that the top leadership of almost all political parties may intend to deliver at least some semblance of good governance, if only to not alienate their target electorate and so be able to win the next elections. However, the criminal candidates do not care about alienating the electorate, as after every election, they freely switch to the winning party. Due to the vagaries of the India political system where elections are being continually held in some part of the country or the other, the top leaders of the political parties need enormous amounts of unaccounted money and muscle power to contest elections. So, even if they want, they are unable to shake off the wantonly criminal elements in their respective parties. So, in a way, the criminal candidates among the political parties exploit their top leadership. Unfortunately, this is how the Indian political system has been criminalized.
2.United States of America attained independence in July, 1776; but American women were given voting rights bin 1920. The power od the monarch in Britain started getting controlled since Magna Carta in 1215; this was the beginning of democratic movements in Britain; but the British women were given conditional voting rights in 1918; the conditions included minimum value of property holding and minimum educational qualification. The British women achieved unconditional voting rights in 1928.
3.India attained independence in August 1947; but the Indian women were given unconditional voting rights from the beginning.
4.State funding of elections may not be there in any country; but that does not mean India can’t set precedence in this respect. State funding of elections will reduce the level of corruption in India and help her to develop at a faster rate.

Decriminalization of Politics:
5.In India we follow the British parliamentary system of governance. No political party in Britain gives tickets to candidates having criminal backgrounds. But in India, all political parties give tickets to candidates having criminal antecedents; this practice must stop immediately.

Expenses in 2019 Lok Sabha Elections:
6.The maximum election expense to be incurred by a candidate as set by the Election Commission of India was Rs.75 Lakhs. I understand that the winning candidate in a rural constituency spent around Rs. 4 Crores; the expenses incurred by the winning candidates in urban and semi urban constituencies must have been much higher. This fact must be known to all the concerned authorities. But, on the hindsight, our honourable MPs are forced to submit unreal expenditure expenses to confirm to the maximum expenditure limits. Why is this hypocrisy? Our honourable MPs will be forced to recoup these huge staggering expenses by other means. This silly system forces our honourable MPs to start their innings by adopting un-straightforward means. I do not have any intention to malign our honourable MPs. If our honourable MPs and others feel hurt, I apologise to them. State funding of elections will stop this bad practice and cleanse our political system and lead to the further development of Bharat.

Author: Sib Kumar Adhikari, B-14/174, Kalyani, Nadia, West Bengal-741235. Mob - +91-9477472629.

How to increase communal harmony

A translation of a poem by the great Bengali poet Kazi Nazrul Islam. Thought provoking and relevant.

I have recovered from my addiction to the opium of religion

I have given up my priesthood

I have destroyed temples, mosques and churches

And I sing the song of universal unity

We are all the same

So why bow to the divisive shrieks from the places of worship?

India China Relations and World Peace

India and China are both cradles of human civilization. These countries have many similarities and have thousands of years of cultural and scientific exchanges. Some of them are mentioned below.

Buddha and Confucious were contemporaries. While Buddha taught Ahimsa (non-violence), Confucious taught upright living. Buddhism went to China from India and from China it spread to Japan and other Southeast Asian countries. 

The Brahmanical system of education in India was similar to the Mandarin system of education in China. These systems were utilized for the governance of their respective countries.

The Indian mathematician Aryabhata was born in 476 A.D. He made seminal contributions to mathematics and astronomy, including concepts of trigonometry, zero (0), pi and about the motions of planets and Earth. Some consider that he postulated the heliocentric model of the solar system, that is the Earth and other planets move around the Sun. Many Chinese scholars visited Aryabhata, some of them translated his books into Chinese.

When Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of unified China, came to power, he ordered that all non-scientific books be burnt. He wanted books on history and culture to be written afresh to prove that the Chinese civilization started during his reign. In order to save earlier books from being burnt many Chinese scholars fled to India with their books.

Ancient India comprised of many kingdoms and these kingdoms were engaged in fighting among themselves to increase their sizes and dominance. The largest size of India was achieved during the British rule.

Ancient China too comprised of many warring kingdoms. The great Chinese Wall was constructed to defend original China from invaders. After many centuries of fighting China acquired its present size. 

India too was ruled by many invaders for centuries and ultimately the whole of India was brought under the British rule. Although the British rulers started building infrastructures in India for their own business interests, most of the Indian wealth was transferred to Britain making India a very poor country.

Likewise, China was also invaded by many invaders over the centuries. Some parts of China were under foreign rules; but fortunately the whole of China as such was never under any foreign rule.

Opium wars in the 19th century
Two wars were fought. The British East India Company wanted to increase selling of opium in China to increase their business. The Chinese naturally resisted. The British East India Company used armed forces consisting of Indians belonging to the British East India Army to brutally crush the Chinese resistance. So, our Chinese friends bear a grudge against India. But our Chinese friends must remember that their resistance was crushed by the British East India Army and not by the Indians themselves or the Indian Army. 
Our Chinese friends ought to remember that about two hundred thousand British Indian Army personnel laid down their lives in the two World Wars and other wars, although these wars, except the Second World War, had no direct bearings on India.

Rabindranath Tagore’s visit to China
Rabindranath Tagore visited China after the First World War. As he was a great humanist, he preached universal brotherhood. As China had bitter experiences with turmoils, Rabindranath was not well received in China. But when Japan attacked China in 1937, Rabindranath severely criticized Japan for this. This showed that Indians supported China in times of duress.

Dr. Dwarkanath Kotnis in China
China was ravaged by internal and external conflicts. So, Chinese leaders requested Indian National Congress leaders to send a medical team to China. At that time, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was the Congress president. He arranged to send a team of five doctors to China. Dr. Dwarkanath Kotnis (Chinese name Ke Dihua) was among them. This medical team attended to wounded soldiers; they also attended to soldiers wounded by the Japanese invasion in 1938. After a few years, four doctors of the medical team returned to India; but Dr. Kotnis settled down in China and died in 1942 while still serving in China as a doctor. To this day, the Chinese gratefully remember Dr. Kotnis and regard him as a hero. Dr. Kotnis is also considered by many as a symbol of friendship and cooperation between India and China. Dr. Kotnis himself had named his only child "Yinhua" combining the Chinese characters "Yin" for India and "Hua" for China. 

Accidental Nuclear War
On September 26, 1983, the Soviet Union’s early warning missile attack system displayed that five ICBM missiles had been launched by the USA against the Soviet Union. The then duty officer Stanislav Petrov reasoned that it could be a false alarm; because the USA could not hope to destroy the Soviet Union by launching only five ICBMs as these might not be able to penetrate the Soviet air defense system. So, he decided to wait before retaliating. Then the early warning system displayed that it was a false warning. The world was thus saved from a nuclear disaster by S. Petrov’s calm thinking and reasoning.
But the dangers of accidental nuclear wars are more potent these days due to these weapons being in the hands of unstable countries .

India-China War
I cannot imagine a full scale war between China and India. If there is such a full scale war India will be wiped off the globe; but China will also be grievously hurt setting it back by decades of development. Although China is the second largest economy in the world, the standard of living of its average citizens is much lower than the standards of living prevailing in Western Europe. So, how does China gain by indulging in a full scale war with India? It will be totally counterproductive.

Conclusion
As mentioned in the very beginning, India and China have thousands of years of cultural and scientific exchanges. The relations started souring from the middle of 1950s. I think the boundary disputes are temporary aberrations. India and China shall have to solve the boundary disputes through repeated negotiations. China and India, with help of all other major countries and economies, must engage in nuclear disarmament and neutralization of radioactive wastes and try to solve global warming, water and food shortages.

As we know it today, our Earth is the only planet inhabited by human beings. It may also be that our Earth is the only planet in the Universe, or the Multiverses as the case may be, which harbor any form of life at all. As China and India are among the oldest civilizations, it is their joint responsibility, with the help of other major powers, to save our Earth from destruction.
I am very hopeful that in my lifetime the Chinese President will be the Chief Guest at the Indian Republic Day celebration.  

Reservation in India

Initially the Hindu religion did not have any caste system. The caste system appeared over thousands of years primarily when the Hindu religion started losing its momentum. It became very oppressive in the beginning of the second century AD. The revival of the Hindu religion was started by Sant Kabir, Sant Ravi Das, Guru Nanak Dev, Shri Chaitanya and others. This revival was given further impetus by the Bramho Samaj, Prarthana Samaj, Arya Samaj, Rama Krishna Mission, Bharat Sevashram Sangha, ISKCON and others. Despite these attempts to cleanse and revive the Hindu religion, the caste system is still very oppressive even after more than 70 years of independence. The caste system remains a heinous crime.

To alleviate the wretched conditions of the oppressed castes, the great Baba Saheb Ambedkar wanted a system of affirmative action for a limited period. He hoped that during this period the oppressed classes would get uplifted and would merge with the main stream of the society; but, alas, this has not happened.

The present generation of power hungry and shortsighted politicians in India (whose predecessors divided India after a genocide to satisfy their hunger for power) are again busy dividing the society by inventing new castes and sub castes. They are also surreptitiously increasing the percentage of reservation to a level higher than the maximum prescribed by the Supreme Court. Some of these power hungry wolves are even demanding reservations for dalit Muslims and dalit Christians, even those these religions are supposed to be casteless.

These politicians, masquerading as servants of the nation, are even demanding reservations in the private sector. These vote-hunters know that the revenues generated by the private sector run the Nation and are also used to generate the huge amounts of power and pelf enjoyed by them, and that the system of reservation alone cannot earn revenues for the nation. Still they are clamouring for reservations in the private sector to score short term brownie points.

The Parsi and Bohra Communities in India

There are only 70-80 thousand Parsis in India. They are the most miniscule minority community in India. Do they clamor for reservations? They are the most advanced of all the communities in India; because most of them are properly educated. Look at their contributions to the industrial, education and health sectors in India.

The Bohras are the most well off and advanced community among the Muslims in India. They do not clamour for reservations. The Bohras too have significantly contributed to the industrial, commercial and education sectors in India.

Our power hungry politicians must realize that proper education, and not only reservations, will uplift and integrate all sections of the Indian society. Conversely by increasing the scope of reservations without proper diligence, we are stymieing the growth of talent in India.

Should reservations be applicable to the following fields?

1. Children of SC, ST, OBC etc. IAS, IFS, IPS, IRS, senior public and private sector officials, armed forces officers, judges, senior teachers of higher secondary schools, colleges and universities, doctors, chartered and cost accountants, architects etc. have ample access and facilities for good education. So, should such children be covered under the reserved categories? 
2. Teachers build a nation. While it is necessary to recruit teachers from the reserved categories, shouldn’t there also be a high enough bar on their education qualification and acumen so that teachers are able to discharge their teaching duties properly?
3. Judiciary is one of the pillars of our democracy. Judges have to discharge their judicial duties singly at courts lower than that of the High Court. Even in some High Courts, there are single judge benches. Even in division benches, all the judges shall have to be very proficient in judicial matters. Should reservations be applicable to the judiciary?
4. Doctors operate singly from their chambers. If they are not proficient in medicines or surgeries, they may unintentionally endanger the lives of their patients. Should reservations be applicable to medical courses?
5. Should reservations be applicable to institutions engaged in developing cutting edge technologies? 

How to uplift the conditions of the SC, ST, backward and all underprivileged and poor sections of the society

The main cause of backwardness is the lack of proper education, and this is due to the poverty coupled with lack of opportunities in such families. In my village there are Brahmin families whose children are forced to drop out of schools without completing school education, because their parents are poor. So, the children of all poor families, irrespective of castes and religions, shall have to be given free and intensive education and coaching/guidance to enable them to get a proper and wholesome education. Vocational courses have to be popularized. Agricultural and industrial sectors have to be developed to increase employment opportunities.

Our motherland India is, unfortunately, a land of scandals. The first major scandal in independent India was the "Army jeep scandal” and since then major scandals have been taking place regularly. Most defense purchases are scandal ridden. Lootings of public sector banks have been going on for decades. Many scandals may never get unearthed because of the business man-politician-bureaucrat nexus. All political parties maintain their parties and fight elections mostly with black money. So, these parties, although they always preach honesty, are not really interested in reducing corruption in India. Politics is a very lucrative profession in India.

I had suggested some methods on how to reduce the level of corruption in India in my first blog and sent copies to certain constitutional authorities in India. I am sending copies of this blog to the same constitutional authorities hoping to resurrect their consciences.

I am running 81 years and I have no intention of hurting your feelings. If you feel hurt, I apologize to you.

May our motherland India be free from the scourge of the caste system.

India-Pakistan-Bangladesh Relations

The Kashmir Problem: Kashmir is not a problem at all; it is the symptom of a problem. The main problem is the mistrust between the estranged brothers. These brothers were estranged by the division of India by power hungry politicians. If the mistrust between the estranged brothers is solved, then Kashmir will find its own solution.

Indian Sub-continent has developed a mixed culture

The Sanatan Dharma, popularly known as the Hindu religion, naturally developed in the Indian sub-continent and its surrounding countries over thousands of years. The Adivasis of India are still maintaining their own cultures and their cultures are older than Hindu cultures; but a lot of exchanges have taken place. Many outsiders came over long periods of time, conquered some parts, settled down here and got mixed. The Jews also came to India and settled here. The Orthodox Christian missionaries arrived in the southern parts of India within 100 years of resurrection of Christ and started preaching. Islamic preachers came to India many years before Islam came here as a political force in the beginning of the eighth century, and were allowed by Hindu kings to preach. This is how the subcontinent developed a mixed culture over many centuries. 

Khawaja Moinuddin Chishti is revered by both the Hindus and the Muslims in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Kabir had both Hindu and Muslim followers. The Baul singers of Bengal belong to both the Hindus and the Muslims as well.

Many Muslims are experts in “Sastriya Sangeet”. Some of them start their programs by performing “Swaraswati Vandana”. The great monk Swami Vivekananda proclaimed: “India will prosper only when an Indian will have a Muslim brawn, a Hindu head and a Christian heart”. 

The great poet Iqbal sang: “Hindustan is the best country in the world”. The great poet Kazi Nazrul Islam sang: “We the Hindus and the Muslims are two flowers in the same stalk; the Muslims are the eyes of the nation and the Hindus are the soul. As the Sun and the Moon play on the lap of the mother sky, we Hindus and Muslims also play on the lap of mother India; we have the same blood in our veins and we have the same umbilical chord”.

Syed Muztaba Ali was a great Bengali litterateur, a scholar in several classical languages, a widely travelled man and he taught in several foreign and Indian universities. In one of the books he wrote: “The inhabitants of North West Frontier Province and Eastern Afghanistan are the most civilized people in the world”.

The politicians and religious bigots have turned these wonderful places into killing fields.

“Madhuban mein Radhika nache re” was composed by Naushad, the lyricist was Shakeel Badauni, it was sung by Mohammad Rafi and the lips were given by Dilip Kumar (Muhammad Yusuf Khan). What a beautifully woven multi-cultural fabric! But power hungry politicians and religious obscurantists have turned the Indian sub-continent into a killing field.

Urdu is an Indian language

Urdu originated in North India and spread to other places. My senior colleague Mukherjee-da a Bengali Hindu was born and brought up in pre-partition Lahore. His father was a science teacher in a Lahore college. Mukherjee could read, write and speak Bengali with proper Bengali accent. He could also read, write and speak Urdu with proper accent. He told me: “We Bengalis think that Bengali is the sweetest of all the languages in the world; but being a Bengali myself I am of the opinion that Urdu is much sweeter than Bengali”. I was very surprised. 

Ghazal devolved out of Urdu and it is enjoyed in both India and Pakistan. This cultural link shall have to be strengthened. Before partition both the Hindus and the Muslims of North India felt a strong affinity towards Urdu and many Hindus considered Urdu as their mother tongue. But after the blood letting partition, a chasm has developed in this affinity. This chasm can be bridged by increasing the frequency of Ghazal performances by artists of both countries performing both in India and Pakistan.

Terrorism across India Pakistan border

States must not sponsor cross-border terrorism; it backfires and seriously hurts the sponsoring country. It is indeed grievously hurting the sponsoring country. Still the sponsoring is continuing unabated due to narrow shortsighted political strategy.

India, Pakistan and Bangladesh shall have to learn to be good neighbours for their mutual benefits. I very much hope that the younger generations of these countries will take the lead and normalize the relations. Cultural, educational, commercial and industrial cooperation will benefit all of these neighbours.

Floods and draughts in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh

These occur annually in these countries and cause devastations. These can be controlled by connecting rivers in these countries through canals, construction of reservoirs and rain water harvesting. Water is a very scares resource. Joint river commissions compromising experts from these countries ought to conduct joint river surveys during summer, monsoon and winter and devise water sharing mechanisms for their mutual benefits. For sharing the Brahmaputra water, China has to be involved. To achieve this, state sponsored terrorism shall have to be stopped.

Indus river water treaty between India and Pakistan has survived several wars between them. This is a beacon of hope in an otherwise very ominous environment. I very much hope that the younger generations will establish good relations between them for their mutual benefits.

Religious intolerances and obscurantisms in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh

These are very serious problems in these countries. These problems are also seriously affecting the Middle East, parts of Africa, China, Europe and other regions of the world. 

“Dharma” in Sanskrit means the rules that maintain law and order in the society. During the cave age, there were few rules because cave age people did not have evolved social interactions. As the human brain developed in the course of thousands of years, wise persons among them devised certain rules to control individual lives and maintain order in the society. These rules grew into formal religions in course of time. All sane persons know about it. As the formal religions became rigid, they created havocs and led to killings of human beings by fellow human beings all in the name of the Creator. What a heinous crime to commit in the name of the Creator. This heinous crime is still being committed in the modern Internet age. Does it not strike your minds as absolutely nonsense?

The persecutions of religious minorities are still going on in the Indian sub-continent. In one country, the religious minorities have almost been cleansed, even a sect of Muslims have almost been finished. In another, the cleansing is going on. In India, all politicians are vote hunters on religious lines and create communal disharmony. Some parts of China are very much disturbed due to religious obscurantists. I very much hope that the persecutions of religious, linguistic and cultural minorities all over the world will be stopped one day by the younger generations.

Some of my Pakistani friends think that if the Indian part of Kashmir becomes a part of Pakistan, all problems between India and Pakistan will be solved. I think they are wrong and re-dividing the Indian subcontinent based on religious demography will only pander to the religious sectarianism and will further diminish the scope of secular principles in India. There are about 200 million fellow Muslim citizens in India and it risks undermining them if the narrow logic of religious partition is brought forth again.

Why are the Pathans, Balochs and Sindhis agitating in Pakistan? Why was Bangladesh carved out of Pakistan by sacrificing three million lives? Why are Arabs fighting among themselves? If all people in the world become only Muslims or only Christians or only Buddhists or only Hindus, will peace prevail in the world?

It is in Pakistan’s interest that India does not get further disintegrated; because, if India disintegrates, it will create a domino and disintegrate Pakistan too and the Indian subcontinent will become a towering inferno.

If religious obscurantism and cross border terrorism are not stopped, the Indian subcontinent and parts of China may end up in a nuclear disaster. Religious obscurantism may destroy the Human civilization.

Human knowledge has progressed from Cave Age to Internet Age and is progressing further; but religious beliefs are still mired in myths. It is very easy to whip up emotions on religious lines. Power hungry politicians are utilizing these for their hunts for power and the clergy will not allow people to think freely, because they don’t want to lose their stranglehold on society.

Muslims are an integral part of the Indian subcontinent

The Arabs, then idol worshippers, have been coming to India for trading since ancient times. They came as a political force in the beginning of the 8^th century AD; since then Muslims have been coming to India and settled all over India. Hindu Muslim interactions helped to develop a mixed culture.

I consider myself to be a Hindu, a Jew, a Buddhist, a Christian, a Muslim etc. at the same time. 

Although overwhelming majority of soldiers and leaders of the 1857 revolution were Hindus, they declared Bahadur Shah Zajar as the Emperor of India. It is a sad fact that highly qualified though extremely nefarious politicians divided India after a prolonged carnage in 1947 and since then the estranged brothers have been fighting among themselves.

In the Second World War, about 6 million Jews were murdered. They were usually murdered in Concentration Camps by the Nazis. The Nazis were an organized force; so they kept the records of the killings. 

In the Indian subcontinent, mass killings were started by goons in 1946 when India was still under the British rule. During this time, neighbours raped neighbours, neighbours mutilated the limbs before murdering neighbours. It is reported that about half a million people were killed due to partition; but this is very much an underestimated figure. This carnage was usually locally organized; so no records were kept. The casualty was definitely more heavy, because India was more populous than Germany and its surrounding countries. Moreover, in the Second World war it was only the Nazis that exterminated the Jews, whereas during the partition of India, both Hindus and Muslims were engaged in killing one another. This mass killing is the bloodiest blot on human civilization in peace time.

When the Jews were being exterminated, the Second World War was going on; but in India when neighbours started exterminating neighbours, no war was going on; this extermination took place in peace time.

The Nazis transported the Jews to concentration camps and subjected them to firing squads or put them in gas chambers. The bodies of living Jews were not mutilated. But in the Indian subcontinent neighbours chopped off their neighbours’ limbs before murdering them. Such barbarities were not committed by the Nazis. The barbarities committed by the goons before, during and after partition in the Indian subcontinent far exceeded the barbarities committed by the Nazis on the Jews. The barbarities committed by the Nazis are still being remembered by the world with horror; but the barbarities committed in the Indian subcontinent have been forgotten by the world and even by the people of the Indian subcontinent.

In today’s Indian subcontinent, we celebrate the birthdays of the very persons who divided India after a genocide to satisfy their hunger for power. What a queer mentality we have!

My father, a freedom fighter, was firmly of the opinion that the genocide before, during and after partition could have been avoided or minimized had the leaders were not so hungry for power. Whenever I am in a vacant mood and think about the genocide, I seem to hear the cries for help and the wailing of hapless people being butchered, and I feel an excruciating pain in my heart.

Conclusion

1 to 9 and 0 were invented in ancient India. The Arabs learnt these from India and spread these to Europe. Scholars in ancient India conceived that all objects in the Universe were composed of extremely small particles called “Paramanu”. Astronomers in ancient India postulated that the Earth moves round the Sun. So, the Indian subcontinent has a tradition of knowledge and learning. 

Population of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh is now more than 1.6 billion. This vast population’s contribution to modern science is very insignificant. Only five persons originating in this subcontinent have been awarded the Nobel Prizes in Science subjects so far. Out of the five Nobel laureates, only Prof. C. V. Raman was an Indian citizen, two were American citizens, one was a British citizen and the surviving one is an American citizen when they were awarded the Nobel Prizes.

“Veda” means knowledge. In the holy Quran the most repeated word is that of the all Merciful Allah; the second most repeated word is “Ilm” or knowledge.

How many gold medals does this vast population get at each Olympic? Do these facts not cross your minds? You are so engrossed in committing hara-kiri among yourselves that you have no time to think about these hard facts. 

My appeal to the younger generations of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh is please discard the old baggage, discard the myths present in all religions, think yourselves as human beings, come forward to solve all the problems facing India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, so that ordinary people, mostly poor, of this subcontinent can live with dignity and as good neighbours. 

Hail the subcontinent; Hail Mankind!