Indian Minister announces sops for muslims...

[PeaceForAll]

Mayawati announces slew of schemes for Muslims
Monday, 13 October , 2008, 21:51
Last Updated: Monday, 13 October , 2008, 21:58


Mayawati Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Monday sought a ban on political parties whose "sole intention is to create communal disturbances" even as she said the Muslim community could resort to armed struggle if it was continued to be viewed with suspicion.

Without naming any party, Mayawati said: "Such political outfits must be banned with immediate effect as their sole intention is to cause riots and communal clashes."

She was speaking here at an all-India convention to discuss problems faces by Muslims.

Wooing the minority community ahead of the Lok Sabha elections due early next year, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader said: "Though only a handful of persons involved in terror activities are Muslims, the entire community across the nation is being looked at with suspicion. This has led to a strong resentment amongst the Muslims."

If this situation continues, Muslims will revolt against political outfits, especially the Congress party, as Sikhs had after the assassination of prime minister Indira Gandhi, she said.


Mayawati accused the Congress-led Central Government of not taking concrete measures to combat terrorism in the aftermath of a series of bombings in major cities in recent months.

"The foremost challenge before the Central Government is to strengthen the country's intelligence system. Moreover, it also needs to ensure all intelligence units of the states work in tandem with the national intelligence system," said Mayawati.

"I wrote a letter in this regard to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on October 10."

She blamed the Congress for the educational, social and economical backwardness of Muslims.

"After independence, the Congress has ruled the country for nearly 48 years. During this long span, it never implemented any of the welfare schemes it announced for Muslims or other minority communities," she alleged.

Mayawati announced a slew of schemes aiming to promote education among the youth of the minority.

"An Arabic-Persian university will be set up in Lucknow. Several primary schools, junior high-schools and government secondary schools will be established in Muslim-dominated areas," Mayawati announced at her Bahujan Samaj Party's (BSP) national convention here.

The meet was organised to discuss problems faced by the Muslim community.

For the upcoming university, the government had earmarked Rs 10 crore while for the schools Rs 135 crore had been sanctioned, she said.

For raising the educational standards of Muslims, Mayawati announced that her government would give financial grants to 100 more madrassas in the state.

She announced the Kanshiram self-employment scheme to create job opportunities for youths of minority communities.

A coaching institute to help youths of minority communities in preparing for the civil services and other competitive examinations would also be set up, she said.

"The government will spend nearly Rs 4 crore on the forthcoming coaching institute," said Mayawati.

For promoting the Urdu language, the Chief Minister announced a hike in the financial grant to the Uttar Pradesh Urdu Academy. "The grant will be doubled from Rs 1.5 crore to Rs.3 crore," said Mayawati.

She said a separate Unani Board would be set up at a cost of Rs 3 crore to revive the traditional medical science.

The state government would also recruit more Urdu teachers in Muslim-dominated areas, she said.


I do not know if madrassas will help in Muslim brothers get into competetive jobs in india. any info on this from my frnds from India in this forum??

 

[su-47]

good move by Mayawati. The following quote is especially true.

"Though only a handful of persons involved in terror activities are Muslims, the entire community across the nation is being looked at with suspicion. This has led to a strong resentment amongst the Muslims."

The problem is that when bomb blasts are caused islamic extremists, islam itself is blamed( this problem is not isolated to india alone, but the world over). this gives rise to hindu extremism, who see this as their card to lure hindu youth into fighting muslims. this will lead into a circle of violence if its not curbed in time.

I do not know if madrassas will help in Muslim brothers get into competetive jobs in india. any info on this from my frnds from India in this forum??

In India, as far as i know, the teaching standards of madrassas are very poor. they dont equip the average child with sufficient knowledge to cope in the real world. lets face it, to know one's religion is good and everything, but if you devote too much time to learning it and less time learning how to get forward in life, you are going to suffer. and this is what happens to muslim youth. they receive sub-standard education and fall behind in life.

what i say is purely from personal experience, not based on any articles. when i was in standard 5, two muslim boys (twins) transferred to my school (Bharatiya Vidhya Bhavan) from a madrassa. their level of education was that of a standard 2 kid. they didnt know english, and had a hard time coping with the english syllabus. even their general knowledge and basic communicative skills were well below par. however, after 2 terms and some special coaching, they managed to cope.

also, something i noticed is that muslims schooled in madrassas often tend to be less integrated into society, and often more fanatic than those schooled in public and private schools. sorry if i am offending anyone, but this is something i have noticed, and something i heard some people, including musims, mention. dunno to what extent this is true.

i think the solution to better integration and education of muslims lie in restructuring madrassas, focusing more on latest syllabus and on career advice, interactive skills etc. basically a child going to a madrassa should be in no way disadvantaged to a child going to a regular school.

 

[PeaceForAll]

Su-47, I have to agree with you. The standard of education imparted in a typical madrassa is below par. In fact, its way below par. may be there should be a board of education of sorts for the madrassas to keep revising the syllabus ever so often to keep abreast with the current education.

And since madrassas are only for muslims and to muslims by muslims, once the pupils are out of it, they find it a bit difficult to cope with other cultures.

We should find ways in improving the madrassa culture without actually banishing them.