Ban The Burqa?

French President Nicolas Sarkozy intention to rid France of facial coverings worn by Muslim women was realized on Tuesday when the French Senate voted to outlaw all such veils in public spaces. The vote is regarded as eliminating a threat to France’s secular values and another step towards integrating Europe’s largest Muslim population.

Source: frontpagemag.com, September 17, 2010

Hesse, a state run by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats, on Wednesday became the first German region to ban Muslim face veils for public sector workers. Hesse Interior Minister Boris Rhein announced it was “not acceptable as public sector workers are obligated to have neutral religious and political views”. A poll last year showed 61 percent of Germans favoured a burqa ban.

Source: www.blogs.reuters.com, February 3, 2011

Freedom of lifestyle choices is the basic tenet of democracy. The symbolism of the burqa, whether it represents subservience or anything else, is philosophical mulling! If Muslim women want to wear burqas, it is their prerogative and it is as okay as women’s prerogative to wear strapless evening gowns to ball-parties the name of fashion. And in any case, if someone chooses to be subservient, then that is a choice too!

Having said that, let me put forth that I am in favour of banning the burqua for all the right reasons. There is the issue of security. The burqua must be banned because it conceals the identity of the person wearing it. Who knows, who is behind that burqua, a ‘subservient, harmless, god-fearing Muslim woman’ or a ‘cold-blooded, indoctrinated terrorist hiding a bomb’. Hence, covering your body from head to toe is okay, but you must show your face for identification. Also billowing garments must be banned as they can conceal objects of destruction.

Security is an overriding concern for all nations, far more important than any single religious practice. Infact, there must be some common international code for conduct in public places and all nations must implement it, regardless of how many religions this code of conduct offends.

© Sujata Khanna. All rights reserved.

Positive Thinking

“Sweet are the uses of adversity, which, like a toad, though ugly and venomous, wears yet a precious jewel in its head.” WilliamShakespeare.

When adversity strikes, we tend to be cowed down by the overwhelming circumstances. It is during these tough times that the tough get going. And mental toughness is about accepting reality, analysing facts, realising achievable changes and above all, it is about keeping a sustained positive attitude towards life.

Here’s a story. 

A young boy and his father were climbing a mountain. The walk was long and arduous, and the boy was tired and complaining.

Suddenly, the boy fell, hurt himself and screamed: "Aaahhhhh!!!"

To his surprise, he heard a voice repeating, somewhere in the mountain: "Aaahhhhh!!!"

Curious, he yelled: "Who are you?"

He received the answer: "Who are you?"

Angered at the response, he screamed: "Coward!"

He received the response: "Coward!"

The son looked to his father and asked: "What's going on?"
The father smiled and said: "My son, pay attention."

And the father he screamed to the mountain: "I admire you!"

The voice answered: "I admire you!"

Again the man screamed: "You are a champion!"

The voice answered: "You are a champion!"

The boy was surprised, but did not understand.

Then the father explained: "People call this ECHO, but really this is LIFE. It's a reflection of you! It gives you back everything you say or do. If you give hatred, life will give you hatred back. If you want more love in the world, create more love in your heart. ”

How true it is that this relationship applies to everything, in all aspects of life. For example, in your day-to-day working life, if you want more competence in your team, you have to first improve your own competence. Your success or failure in achieving the desired results will simply reflect your actions.

The power of positive thinking is enormous. You thoughts influence how you react with your environment. If you think negatively, you will act negatively and the environmental response will be negative. This will further reinforce your negative thinking, and over a period of time you will be engulfed in the spiral of negativity and failure. Positive thinking will make you act positive, and the probability of positive results will be higher. One positive result got, you will be acting towards achieving more such results. This is an upward spiral that will lift you heights of success.

If basis of success is attitude, it calls for each one of us to introspect upon our attitude towards life.

© Sujata Khanna. All rights reserved.

'Unworthy' Deemed Universities

The Human Resource Development Ministry has sent final notices to the 44 deemed universities that were found “unworthy” of the tag by P.N. Tandon review panel. Centre has asked all these universities to give a satisfactory explanation on the deficiencies pointed out by the review panel. Many of these universities have inadequate infrastructure and faculty and do not qualify for the deemed university status. This is the last chance for these institutes to retain their 'deemed university' status.

Source: www.indiaeducationreview.com, January 28, 2011

A very welcome step from the HRD Ministry!

The strength of a nation is its youth. Quality of education cannot be compromised if India has to make an impact on the global power map. We need good technologists, economists, businessmen, thinkers and policy makers to take the country to a leadership position in the world.

Strong and fair regulating bodies are necessary to ensure smooth functioning of all national development sectors. The eduction sector comprises of government and private run institutions. Both should be under the scanner. Regulating bodies must take a physical audit of all the institutions rather than be satisfied with data provided by them.

Any university has to get approval from the UGC before starting its operations. The fact that 44 deemed Universities have been served notices is an eye-opener on the manner in which they would have got approval to conduct their business and issue degrees. In India, most deemed universities are started by private trusts constituted by politicians. An investigation needs to be carried out on the approval committee that gave a go ahead to each of these universities. This will sent a strong message to future experts on the committee that they should not be working under political or other pressures.

India will reap the benefits of good governance in its education sector in the long run. The key to it is stringent criteria, regular audits and appropriate action. Let us hope that the HRD ministry is now able to take action in a reasonable time frame, without letting dubious institutions slip out of any loopholes!

© Sujata Khanna. All rights reserved.