SC status for Dalit Muslims, Dalit Christians favoured

NEW DELHI: A study commissioned by the National Commission for Minorities has suggested extension of reservation to Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians.

Bringing them under the ambit of the constitutional safeguards that are available to other Scheduled Castes would “not only right a wrong” but also remove an “indefensible anomaly in our politico-legal system that can legitimately be construed as discriminatory,” it said.

Titled “Dalits in the Muslim and Christian Communities: A Status Report on Current Social Scientific Knowledge,” the study is based on National Sample Survey Organisation data and other studies on the status of Dalit Muslims and Christians.

The study says that there could be no doubt that Dalit Muslims and Christians are socially known and treated as distinct groups within their own religious communities.

(Source:The Hindu, April 5, 2008. Front Page http://www.hindu.com/2008/04/05/stories/2008040557480100.htm).

Closure of the Urdu daily Qaumi Awaz

Qaumi Awaz, the Urdu daily from Delhi, carried the following notice, announcing its closure:

“NOTICE

The Management of the Associated Journals Limited has decided to temporarily suspend the publication of National Herald and Qaumi Awaz, from 1^st April 2008. Therefore there will be no issue dated 2^nd April, 2008 onward, till further notice.”

To me, it marks the end of the secular era in the Urdu journalism of North India.

(I interviewed Mohan Chiraghi, editor of the newly demised newspaper, almost a year ago on the present journalistic praxis in the Urdu press and on other issues. Text of the interview is available here: http://madrasa.wordpress.com/2007/08/26/urdu-journalism-

indian-muslims-and-issues-in-democracy/ )

Fitna: A Controversial Short Film

Fitna is a 2008 short film by Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders. The film explores Qur’anic motivations for terrorism, Islamic universalism, and Islam in the Netherlands. The film’s title comes from the Arabic word fitna which is used to describe “disagreement and division among people”, or a “test of faith in times of trial”.

On March 27, 2008, Fitna was released to the Internet on the video sharing website Liveleak in Dutch and English versions. The following day, Liveleak removed the film from their servers citing serious threats to their staff. On March 30, Fitna was restored on Liveleak following a security upgrade, but was promptly removed by Wilders promising a second edition without the copyrighted Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons.

(For more information, please visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitna_%28film%29)