Category: Enough said

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What really happens inside a madrassa?

We speak to Dr Shabistan Gaffar, Chairperson on Girls’ Education, National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions, on education for Muslims.
by Humra Quraishi

shabistan-gaffarMost people wonder what really goes on inside a madrassa – what is taught there? Are these places really recruiting grounds for impressionable young minds to take to terror? I decided to put the question to Dr Shabistan Gaffar (in pic on left), Chairperson, Committee on Girls Education (National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India.

Are there madrassas for girls, too? How are you upgrading them towards mainstream education? Are you also trying to introduce vocational training schemes to benefit many more from the economically challenged backgrounds?

Yes, there are madrassas for girls, too. There are two specific schemes for the development of all madrassas, whether for boys or for girls: the Scheme for Promotion of Quality Education in Madrassas (SPQEM) and Institutions for Development of Madrassas and Minority Institutions (IDMI). Here it is important to add that there are only a few institutions for girls imparting them madrassa-based education beyond the Maktab Level. Some of these institutions also provide education in modern subjects and girls can switch over to modern education after elementary education.

Vocational skill is what the educationally backward minorities need the most for retention. It is important for girls of educationally backward minorities to acquire some skill simultaneously, or on cessation of their education, to learn something which could help them in adding to the family income.

Comment on the slants by vested political interests on the very concept of madrassa education, linking it to fundamentalism and terrorism.

Those comments are political in nature and also arise because of communication gaps. All that I can say is that those who comment along these lines are either ill-informed or are not interested in knowing the reality. The reality is that the madrassas have always, and even today, play a very significant in educating hundreds of our children. They impart education that is both traditional and modern.

There is this grim reality, too: there are several within the Muslim community who are challenging Muslim women’s rights, such as the move to ban women worshippers from the sanctums of Sufi shrines, etc.

Our Commission is trying to reach out in trying to bring about awareness, and we are trying to do so through the teachings of the Prophet and the Quran where great emphasis is laid on girls’ education and on the fact that there should be no discrimination between girls’ education. They ought to be encouraged to take up different, challenging vocations. Let me also point out that already there is a change in the existing attitude, and this holds especially true in the South of the country, where these prejudices and narrow outlook do not exist.

The Justice Sachchar Committee had painted a rather dismal picture of the Muslim community lagging behind in education. What steps is the NCMEI taking to get more Muslims in education?

The National Commission for Minority Education institution (NCMEI) has been set up under an act of Parliament to safeguard the educational rights of the minority enshrined an article 30(1) of the Constitution, instilling confidence in minorities in general and Muslims in particular. The Commission has generated awareness among the Muslim community about the importance of quality education, as a result of which 1,04,75,000 children of the Muslim community were enrolled in primary school in 2009-2010. Out of this, 49 per cent were girl children.

One of the major breakthroughs came with the Commission persuading the Muslim community of Murshidabad (West Bengal) for establishment of schools. 621 primary schools were established in that region alone. To achieve the objective of women empowerment through women’s education, the NCMEI constituted a committee for girls’ education in 2007.

It is said that the Muslim community’s educational backwardness in the country is linked to vote bank politics and lack of political will. Your comment? 

Yes, till date, suitable educational institutions are not available to all sections of the Muslim community to participate in higher education. There are less numbers and a lower percentage of Muslims going in for higher education and, perhaps, that could be one reason that are not able to participate in the political sphere.

(Pictures courtesy www.signindia.org, www.robinwyatt.org)

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On the occasion of Women’s Day

A Spanish tradition, a bold photo exhibition and a doctor who took to Sufism…women continue to fascinate in many ways.
Humra Quraishiby Humra Quraishi

Today is International Women’s Day, and naturally, everyone’s talking about women and the realities they face in today’s times. But there are some positive signs of women being celebrated the way they deserve, and sometimes in the most unexpected ways.

Last week, at the opening of Italian artist Simona Bocchi’s exhibition, I was introduced to the cultural manager of New Delhi’s Instituto Cervantes. When he gave me his visiting card, I was somewhat intrigued by his name on it. He explained, “My name is Jesus Clavero Rodriguez. In our Spanish tradition, we put the father’s and also the mother’s name along with our first name. Jesus is my name and Clavero is my father’s name. My mother’s name is Rodriquez.”

Well, what a wonderful tradition! And after Women’s Day ends this year, I hope we consider doing something of the kind.

Last fortnight, I viewed a photo exhibition on the girl child, at the India Habitat Centre. Photographs by the Delhi-based photographer Mansi MidhaMansi Midha (in pic on right), who has been travelling to Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and around the capital city capture some absolutely hard-hitting shots of the girl child. Mansi did this project with support from the National Foundation for India.

She says, “In the midst of hollow claims of development, the reality is that even in this day and age, there is blatant discrimination against the girl child. It begins even before she is born with female foeticide being an ongoing, horrifying reality. Those who are fortunate to survive are treated as a ‘burden’ and face challenges at every stage.

“In a large number of homes, she could be married off as a child if not burdened with home chores. She is used as child labour, toiling in the heat and stench of landfills, working in the fields for long hours, picking rags in city streets or could be stashed away as a domestic servant. We live in a country where 74 per cent of child domestic workers are between the ages of 12 and 16. Though the Constitution of India guarantees free schooling to all children up to 14 years of age, gender disparities are a marked feature of the unequal access to schools.

“With her childhood snatched away, the girl child’s basic right to education is trampled upon. According to the World Bank, in 2010 India had the third highest number of out-of-school girls in the world with more than 3.7 million. 44.5 per cent of girls are married before the age of 18 and among the reams of material on trafficking in India, there is a staggering Government statistic that a girl child goes missing somewhere in the country every eight minutes …”

I think this exhibition ought to travel to lesser-known locales, so that people become aware of realities to ponder over, and not just on Women’s Day.

I recently met a doctor, Dr Jolie Choudhary Sabiri, who one day decided to give up her medical practice and take to Sufism. I couldn’t believe that this attractive 59-year-old doctor from Assam gave up all her worldly comforts and now goes travelling to Sufi dargahs.

She says, “I was born in a Hindu family in Assam and studied in a Christian school, at the Loreto Convent in Shillong. I have now taken to Islam, I call myself a Muslim Sufi. Somehow, as a medical doctor, I felt like a misfit, for I was always inclined towards literature. I was pressurised to pursue the medical profession because my father and grandfather were well-known doctors. I practiced for many years, even served in Bhutan, but about 10 years ago, I gave it up and moved towards Sufism. Now I travel to Sufi dargahs. Maybe one day I will write a book on my travels and on the Sufi tradition.”

But is she any happier today? She says, “I have gone through terrible tragedies in life. Today, though there is loneliness, I am at peace. It is hard financially, as I am living on my savings. Travelling is tough for a single woman, but I’m so drawn to these dargahs that nothing can hold me back.”

One hopes that this doctor-turned-Sufi will write a book. It will be refreshing to read about this woman born in an upper middle class family, give it all up in the search for a higher truth in far flung locales of this land.

Humra Quraishi is a senior political journalist based in Gurgaon. She is the author of Kashmir: The Untold Storyand co-author of Simply Khushwant.

 (Pictures courtesy www.bbc.co.uk. Featured image was one of the photographs on display at Mansi Midha’s exhibition)

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Election winds

Based on the current level of sloganeering and speeches by political parties, the upcoming elections should go exactly as planned.
Humra Quraishiby Humra Quraishi

The upcoming elections will probably move along expected lines, judging from the preparations for it. The so-called leaders of the country are running all over the place giving speeches, all hoping to convert their words into votes.

Funnily enough, when the SP’s Mulayam Singh tried going towards the Aligarh Muslim University to address a seminar there, he was stopped even before he could set foot on the campus; there were strong protests by students and teachers. The seminar was cancelled and Mulayam beat a hasty retreat.

The BJP’s Narendra Modi comes to the national capital this week, at the Habitat Centre, where he will launch two books and brag about what his State is doing for the welfare of women. Women’s Day comes next week, and Modi is not one to let go of an opportunity to boast of his many achievements.

I wish someone in the audience would quiz Modi on the blatant gender bias and factual blunders in the text books teaching children in his State. These books in the syllabi are published and printed by his State Government. His own knowledge of basic history is pathetic, to say the least, and now he is doing the unpardonable – relaying factually twisted and wrong information to school children of Gujarat.

His Government is also trying to do what the earlier NDA-led Government at the Center had done, with the then HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi trying to twist the facts pertaining to minority communities. In this context, the text books in the State of Gujarat are trying to omit some important facts. A recent news report carries this vital input: ‘Apart from gender stereotyping, instances of gender bias abound. The chapter on the Supreme Court in the social science textbook does not mention the first woman SC judge Justice M Fathima Beevi…’ 

Meanwhile, the AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal addressed Muslims at the India Islamic Cultural Centre. He spoke of the disasters that communal politics drags along with it, and focussed on communal politicians.

Humra Quraishi is a senior political journalist based in Gurgaon. She is the author of Kashmir: The Untold Story and co-author of Simply Khushwant.

(Pictures courtesy www.blog.sagmart.com) 

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Of blackouts and divided States

What could have been a crucial political debate was blacked out on Lok Sabha TV. We can only wonder why.
Humra Quraishiby Humra Quraishi

It was a crucial moment in the country’s history – a debate preceding a process to carve out a new State in the country. The Lok Sabha TV, which has monopoly rights over the telecast of house proceedings, would have shown the country what transpired during those 90 minutes set aside for the exercise.

And what happened? There was a blackout!

At the end of it all, the expected result still stood – there was to be a partitioning of the erstwhile State of Andhra Pradesh. Yes, the Congress party managed to secure the Lok Sabha’s nod for the creation of Telangana State, albeit amid an unprecedented TV blackout. Lok Sabha TV went mysteriously blank during the crucial 90-minute long debate.

Amidst the fury that citizens expressed over the blackout of the proceedings, also stood the rather apparent support of the BJP in the passage of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill. Or did you not notice this? 

Any such division is like a divorce, causing innumerable fault lines to surface. And what stops others from demanding separate States – Vidarbha has been clamouring for a separate State from Maharashtra for a while now. Even before the actual divisions are announced and marked, we stand to divide people who earlier shared a common geography, as well as a history, as contentious as it may be!

There are too many loopholes in the system, which the top brass of leadership seems to take easy advantage of, but which common citizens like you and I can never hope to touch. It has never been tougher than the present time to fight the establishment, and tougher still is to fight it from outside the system.

You would have to be an Arvind Kejriwal to take to political recourse. I admire Kejriwal’s idea of moving away from Anna Hazare and getting right into the thick of politics. This paved the way not just for his own success, but his ability to attack popular notions and emphasise his opinions. As an apolitical citizen, he couldn’t have moved ahead – he would have been sidetracked for years to come, until at last he would run out of steam…

We’re all still waiting to see what Kejriwal does next, now that he is no longer CM of Delhi.

Humra Quraishi is a senior political journalist based in Gurgaon. She is the author of Kashmir: The Untold Story and co-author of Simply Khushwant.

(Picture courtesy www.livemint.com)

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Letting books be banned

The withdrawal of Wendy Doniger’s book raises one important question – when will freedom of speech truly prevail in India?
Humra Quraishiby Humra Quraishi

Books have been in focus all since last year and even into 2014, but one book is the cynosure of all eyes at the moment – it is Wendy Doniger’s book, The Hindus: An Alternative History.

With the publishers (Penguin India) deciding to take the book off the shelves, it is time to ask ourselves some hard questions. Does anybody have the right to ban or withdraw a book because it offends somebody? Have we really not ‘developed’ yet? Where are the proofs of our so-called civilised thinking? Where are the people that support free speech? Most importantly, why are hardcore fringe elements allowed to sabotage creativity?

It is time that publishers, authors and academics dwell on these aspects at the ongoing World Book Fair, from January 15 to 23 at New Delhi’s Pragati Maidan. They must dwell also on this irony – every second city in this country is hosting a literature festival, yet we are becoming an increasingly intolerant society, and worse, a society that panders to the wishes of a handful of bullies.

While on the subject of books and publishers, I want to talk of the few people who have had the grit to self-publish their books. One such writer is Rajiv Soni, a chartered accountant-turned-writer. He has written two novels, Seher and Aaliya.

I had to ask Rajiv (in pic on right) about the ways of self-publishing one’s books. This is what he had to say, “When I approached some known publishing houses in 2010 for Seher, my first book, I rajiv sonimet with the following responses: ‘Oh, you’re a chartered accountant – why don’t you write a book on Accounting? Or, ‘Please leave your manuscript with us, we’ll get back to you (and not before three months),’ or ‘You’re a new author so please be ready to take 5 per cent (or even less) and that too, after six months.’

“I’ m so glad all this happened because I decided to go it alone. I built a small team comprising a ‘hard to please’ editor, a hardworking typesetter and a printer with good knowledge of paper GSM and ink types, a creative graphic artist who would understand what I wanted my cover to convey. The important issue then, is distribution. Fortunately I have a database of students whom I have taught over last few years…15,000+ in number. There is then a cascading effect if the book is ‘good’. Word of mouth is important…”

Selling hard copies via the web is an avenue that is also important – Flipkart, Snap Deal, Amazon and others can help with this. And now, with self-publishing possible in the form of Amazon’s Kindle platform (which enables an author to instantly start selling their books on the world’s biggest book marketplace) new authors are coming to realise that they no longer need big publishing houses to get their works out into the world and start making money.

Rajiv adds, “All in all, I’d still be happy to be associated with a reputed publishing house, but if that’s going to be like aspiring to have breakfast on Mars, then I might as well use that energy and thought into writing my next books: Karma in America, sequel to Seher.’

Humra Quraishi is a senior political journalist based in Gurgaon. She is the author of Kashmir: The Untold Story and co-author of Simply Khushwant.

(Pictures courtesy www.lokvani.com, www.newswala.com)

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When LK Advani turned up for a birthday party

Writer, journalist Khushwant Singh recently turned 99, and all his friends, family and surprising acquaintances turned up to wish him.
Humra Quraishiby Humra Quraishi

Our grand old man of Indian literature, Khushwant Singh, turned 99 on February 2. It truly was a day to celebrate. Interestingly, the do lasted only one hour.

As several of Khushwant’s friends reached his apartment at 7 pm sharp, they were more than surprised to see someone from the most unexpected quarters land up at the do as well – BJP’s LK Advani turned up with his Black Cats. That somebody of his stature was arriving at the venue should have been obvious, actually – even before one turned towards Sujan Singh Park, there were ample signs of a VVIP presence. The place seemed overtaken by cops.

Though Advani’s presence that evening caused quite a stir, the other guests in attendance were no less important. Others present that evening were several of Khushwant’s close friends, including publisher Chiki Sarkar, Bubbles Charanjeet Singh, Bhaichand Patel, Dalip and Nandini Mehta, Kaamna Pradad, Harinder Singh, Narayani Ganesh and, oh yes, painter Vrindavan Solanki, who sat sketching Khushwant that evening.

Most of the guests seated themselves in the drawing room, and the guests also included such luminaries as the former Attorney General of India, jurist Soli Sorabjee. Khushwant’s children – Mala and Rahul – and his granddaughter Naina were present all through the evening. In fact, Rahul had come down from Mumbai to be with his dad on his special day.

At 8 pm it was ‘bottoms up’ time – time for us to leave. We all wished Khushwant again and expressed the hope that he continued writing and reciting. It’s remarkable that even at his age, Khushwant can recite all the couplets of Ghalib and Meer and Faiz. His favourite is Ghalib, and keeps several volumes at hand.

As I was leaving, I asked him what he was planning to do for the remainder of the evening. He quipped, “Like all evening, I will sit reading Ghalib. I have kept Ghalib volumes next to my bed and I’ll read his verse for hours…”

Humra Quraishi is a senior political journalist based in Gurgaon. She is the author of Kashmir: The Untold Story and co-author of Simply Khushwant.

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