Showing posts with label Current Affairs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Current Affairs. Show all posts
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Welcome to the Nuclear Family
Yesterday was a day of monumental importance to India. India has received a full waiver from the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a cabal of elitist nations which decide who can and cannot use Nuclear Technology.I am no nuclear tech. expert and am hence not going to delve into the viability of nuclear technology in satisfying India's ravenous hunger for power.
Neither am I a political strategist who can look into the fallout of this deal with respect to geo-strategy. But there are two things that stand out that even a layman like me can notice.
Firstly, this act pretty much completes the aligning of India with the U.S and the West in terms of international geopolitics. At this moment it is impossible or at least very difficult to talk about the long term implications of this move i.e. whether it is of net positive or negative consequence to the ambitions of India. However what can without doubt be said is the fact that India has set itself on a course which is a marked shift in its political strategy thus far.
Secondly, it is our Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's moment in international history. Mr. Singh had almost two decades back led a then very unpopulist movement called 'economic liberalization' and that has turned out well of India (at least thus far). I hope that he has made the right choices this time too. I have to say that I am really impressed by the personal conviction with which he has led this campaign. Conviction and the balls to take up unpopular but much needed decisions are qualities that are as rare in India as the fuel grade Uranium and Plutonium that we so desperately seek.
Kudos Mr. Singh. Here's to you!
Thursday, November 29, 2007
The Minority Report
After a long day at the office, all I wanted was to get home and relax and watch a movie... "My Fat Greek Wedding" to be precise, but one glimpse at what was going on CNN-IBN's "Face The Nation" and I knew that I simply had to write about it.
The topic under debate on the channel was the recent protests and treatment of the ethnic Indian minority. I for one am an Indian, born a Hindu and most certainly a Tamil. So it goes without saying that I have an opinion about what is going on in Malaysia. However, I will refrain from writing my two cents about the actual happenings because in order to do so, one has to collect more data than just random news clippings in order to provide a disinterested view of the situation.
What really caught my eye during the debate was the name of the organization leading the protests... The Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf).
I couldn't but notice the irony in the name. Think about it... a group of ethnic Indian Tamils (at least the majority of the ethnic Indians in Malaysia are Tamils) identify themselves as Hindus. This comes at a time when a sizable chunk of their native brethren consider themselves as being a group of distinctive non-Hindus with some going to the extent of terming Hinduism as a whole being a plot to oppress Tamils. What is even more ironic is that the rise of anti-Hinduism in Tamil Nadu over the last one century pretty much coincides chronologically with the rise of Hindu identity among ethnic Indian/Tamils in Malaysia.
This jarring contradiction of people of the same origin choosing and opposing the same idea raises questions in my mind. What is the religious identity of Tamils? More importantly, what is the religious identity of any minority group?
A closer look reveals that this is something that can be determined only in the context of the situation that makes the group a minority or to be more politically incorrect, it is the majority which determines the religious identity of the minority.
There are two ways in which the religious identity of the minority gets defined.
(i) It is seen as a way to distinguish the minority from the majority.
(ii) It serves as form of rebellion against the majority.
The religious leanings of Malaysian ethnic Tamils and the converse behavior of many Tamilians here in India serves as an example of the former. In case of the Malaysian Tamils, since the line between majority and minority has already been drawn, religion is seen as a rallying point because religion indirectly represents culture which in turn indirectly represents ethnic divide.
The same theory can be applied to Indian Tamils as well, with their non-Hindu identity seen as representing something distinctly different from the North Indians.
Strong examples of religious identity being a weapon of rebellion can be seen in the slow tilt of African-Americans towards Islam as well as the mass conversions of Dalits to Buddhism.In these cases the minority-majority have had the same religious affiliations (at least in the recent past) and hence see the move away from the majority's religion as a way of asserting themselves.
You may agree with me or you may not agree with me, but you are more than welcome to leave your comments on this post. Before you do so, please remember that this is not a rant against any religion. All I have done here is provide my own observations about sociological behavior of groups of lesser numbers in a multicultural/multi ethnic society.
The topic under debate on the channel was the recent protests and treatment of the ethnic Indian minority. I for one am an Indian, born a Hindu and most certainly a Tamil. So it goes without saying that I have an opinion about what is going on in Malaysia. However, I will refrain from writing my two cents about the actual happenings because in order to do so, one has to collect more data than just random news clippings in order to provide a disinterested view of the situation.
What really caught my eye during the debate was the name of the organization leading the protests... The Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf).
I couldn't but notice the irony in the name. Think about it... a group of ethnic Indian Tamils (at least the majority of the ethnic Indians in Malaysia are Tamils) identify themselves as Hindus. This comes at a time when a sizable chunk of their native brethren consider themselves as being a group of distinctive non-Hindus with some going to the extent of terming Hinduism as a whole being a plot to oppress Tamils. What is even more ironic is that the rise of anti-Hinduism in Tamil Nadu over the last one century pretty much coincides chronologically with the rise of Hindu identity among ethnic Indian/Tamils in Malaysia.
This jarring contradiction of people of the same origin choosing and opposing the same idea raises questions in my mind. What is the religious identity of Tamils? More importantly, what is the religious identity of any minority group?
A closer look reveals that this is something that can be determined only in the context of the situation that makes the group a minority or to be more politically incorrect, it is the majority which determines the religious identity of the minority.
There are two ways in which the religious identity of the minority gets defined.
(i) It is seen as a way to distinguish the minority from the majority.
(ii) It serves as form of rebellion against the majority.
The religious leanings of Malaysian ethnic Tamils and the converse behavior of many Tamilians here in India serves as an example of the former. In case of the Malaysian Tamils, since the line between majority and minority has already been drawn, religion is seen as a rallying point because religion indirectly represents culture which in turn indirectly represents ethnic divide.
The same theory can be applied to Indian Tamils as well, with their non-Hindu identity seen as representing something distinctly different from the North Indians.
Strong examples of religious identity being a weapon of rebellion can be seen in the slow tilt of African-Americans towards Islam as well as the mass conversions of Dalits to Buddhism.In these cases the minority-majority have had the same religious affiliations (at least in the recent past) and hence see the move away from the majority's religion as a way of asserting themselves.
You may agree with me or you may not agree with me, but you are more than welcome to leave your comments on this post. Before you do so, please remember that this is not a rant against any religion. All I have done here is provide my own observations about sociological behavior of groups of lesser numbers in a multicultural/multi ethnic society.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Is Tamil and Tamil Culture in danger?
This is the question that is on the minds of the PMK (Pattali Makkal Katchi) et al who are worried about the future of oldest spoken language in the world, as well as its culture.
For those, new to Tamil Nadu politics, PMK is one of the major political parties in Tamil Nadu with strong presence in both the State Assembly as well as the Lok Sabha.
It is one thing that the beautiful language of Tamil (which is also my mother tongue) has an unbroken history of oral and written literature. Countless invasions and mixing with other races has not affected the central nerve of this language. Nevertheless, I agree with the PMK that Tamil indeed faces the danger of redundancy in a world where English is fast becoming the most dominant language. But the approach of the PMK and many others towards such a threat is far from constructive. Many feel that the only way to counter such threats is to reject their proponents. I have a contrary approach though, that the correct way to tackle the issue would be to encourage the Tamil language and instill a sense of pride for Tamil.
At first glance, it looked like PMK along with a few others was under the same impression as mine, when it launched of the Tamil Ina Maanam Meetpu Iyakkam (Tamil Ethnic Pride Retrieval Movement) . It is one thing that the PMK would not consider me to be a Tamil enough (I am a TamBrahm) to be worthy of an opinon but I support the rejunvenation of Tamil all the same. That was until I came across this article about the launch of the movement.
Dr. Ramadoss, the chief of the PMK seems to have a narrow notion of what constitutes Tamil culture. Here is a feeler...
It is one thing that the beautiful language of Tamil (which is also my mother tongue) has an unbroken history of oral and written literature. Countless invasions and mixing with other races has not affected the central nerve of this language. Nevertheless, I agree with the PMK that Tamil indeed faces the danger of redundancy in a world where English is fast becoming the most dominant language. But the approach of the PMK and many others towards such a threat is far from constructive. Many feel that the only way to counter such threats is to reject their proponents. I have a contrary approach though, that the correct way to tackle the issue would be to encourage the Tamil language and instill a sense of pride for Tamil.
At first glance, it looked like PMK along with a few others was under the same impression as mine, when it launched of the Tamil Ina Maanam Meetpu Iyakkam (Tamil Ethnic Pride Retrieval Movement) . It is one thing that the PMK would not consider me to be a Tamil enough (I am a TamBrahm) to be worthy of an opinon but I support the rejunvenation of Tamil all the same. That was until I came across this article about the launch of the movement.
Dr. Ramadoss, the chief of the PMK seems to have a narrow notion of what constitutes Tamil culture. Here is a feeler...
Party founder S. Ramadoss declared that youngsters should not be seen on
the streets after 8 p.m. "Students and youth seen roaming without a valid reason
should be taken into police custody. If they do it repeatedly, they should be
punished by the judiciary," he said
This may sound as innocuous ranting to some, but there were two other features in the article that really caught my eye. This is the first one...
Call me an alarmist, call me anti-Tamil or what you will, still I can't but compare this to these Black Shirts, despite it sounding far-fetched.
The above may be attributed to my sense of paranoia, but this following quote is what really made me write a post about this issue...
Such a blanket statement really does sound ominous. It gives the party a free hand for misuse and a moral right (as questioning a Tamil Pride movement would be blasphemy) to launch a tirade of action against those it considers as opponents to it, under the false garb of Tamil Nationalism.
I might be just overreacting here (and I truly hope so too), but something does not seem right about this. I sincerely hope that people see that preserving Tamil culture is not about expelling whom they consider "undesirables" but is about making sure that all the good values of Tamil Culture are passed on for generations to come and by actively encouraging the Tamil language and arts so that the uniqueness and richness of this land is savored not just by Tamils but by the entire globe.
The movement's (Tamil Ethnic Pride Retrieval) 300 trained volunteers, called the
Army of Black Shirts, will fan out to different districts and address the
'social problems' concerning youth and women.
Call me an alarmist, call me anti-Tamil or what you will, still I can't but compare this to these Black Shirts, despite it sounding far-fetched.
The above may be attributed to my sense of paranoia, but this following quote is what really made me write a post about this issue...
The next job is to ensure that people from other states do not exploit Tamils.
"We do not mind people coming to Tamil Nadu to earn their living but we will not
allow them to exploit Tamils,"said Selvan (PMK Youth Wing Secretary).
Such a blanket statement really does sound ominous. It gives the party a free hand for misuse and a moral right (as questioning a Tamil Pride movement would be blasphemy) to launch a tirade of action against those it considers as opponents to it, under the false garb of Tamil Nationalism.
I might be just overreacting here (and I truly hope so too), but something does not seem right about this. I sincerely hope that people see that preserving Tamil culture is not about expelling whom they consider "undesirables" but is about making sure that all the good values of Tamil Culture are passed on for generations to come and by actively encouraging the Tamil language and arts so that the uniqueness and richness of this land is savored not just by Tamils but by the entire globe.
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