Pick up any topic on Gujarat now-a-days. Watch it through the "prism of minority-ism" and see if the color changes favorably. Adjust the brightness and the contrast appropriately to see if you can create a "Muslim victim-hood" picture that is acceptable to the "pseudo-secular" market. Then touch it up at the right places with a brush dipped in the universally available NMBPS (Narendra Modi Bashing Paint Solution). You end up with a perfect painting that is fit to grace the India media. To enhance its valuation, have an expert from the Sonia Congress to critique it, and you attain a breaking news status on a prestigious CNN-IBN channel.
Exclusive: Modi deprives poor Muslims of scholarship Aug 08, 2009
New Delhi: More than 50,000 poor minority students in Gujarat have been reportedly denied central scholarship. This report has once again put Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in a spot. His is the only state government in the country which is not willing to bear 25 per cent share of the central-sponsored pre-matric scholarship scheme for the minorities. The Centre gives around Rs 22 lakh scholarships for poor Muslims students, of which more than Rs 57,000 is earmarked for Gujarat alone. Every child whose parents earn less than Rs 1 lakh per annum is entitled to this scholarship and can get an amount between Rs 800 to Rs 1500. Last year the Gujarat government wrote to the Centre that such schemes based on minority status of a community will not help in the country"s development. This year again, despite of repeated reminders, the state government has not earmarked any money which means the minority students will remain deprived of their due. "This is unconstitutional," says Congress spokesperson, Abhishek Manu Singhvi. This scholarship scheme is a part of Prime Minister"s 15 point programme for minorities and Gujarat is the only state opposing it.
If you take the risk of being branded as a Hindu fundamentalist, you may want to ask the "constitutional expert" the Congress spokesperson, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, as to where does the Indian constitution allow to separate its population into rich and poor or to divide its citizens into Hindus, Muslims, Christians or Sikhs etc. If it does, then why is that there is scholarship only for poor Muslims students? Why didn"t the constitution provide for scholarships for the poor students of Hindus, Christians and others? And if it doesn"t, then why should asking to develop the whole country and its entire citizen be unconstitutional?
But you would be unlikely to get the real answer, that is, since "this scholarship scheme is a part of Prime Minister"s 15 point programme for minorities", it is beyond the constitution.
Now if you were an "intelligent" and "secular" Indian, you would have been made aware of the fact that, according to a latest book "Population of India in the New Millennium: Census 2001?, written by noted researcher and demographer Mahendra K Premi, the literacy rate among Muslims is the lowest in the country from among the different communities.
You would have thought that it is all part of a larger Hindu conspiracy in India to keep Muslims poor and uneducated, despite the best efforts of the Congress Government, who have incidentally ruled India, post independence, for almost 85% of the time. And the CNN-IBN news item above just conveys the message that no body else carries out this Hindutva experiment better than the "Muslim-hater, mastermind of the Gujarat pogrom", Mr Narendra Modi.
You are made to feel guilty of the "secular truth" that the Gujarat government is under the special instruction from its demonic Chief Minister, to vehemently oppose all sorts of educational development of the Muslims in Gujarat, in an effort to marginalize them.
The secular media may have successfully hidden it from you, the following facts:
. The literacy rate among Muslims was better than the majority Hindus in eight states of India.
. Among Muslim males, the literacy rate was high, above 80 %, in five states including Gujarat
. Muslim men had a better literacy rate than their Hindu counterparts in six states including Gujarat.
. In Gujarat, Muslim men fared better than Hindus with an 82.9% literacy level compared to the majority community"s 79.1%.
. The percentage of literate Muslim women was higher than that of the Hindu community in nine states and Gujarat is one of them.
Wait a minute - You must be thinking!
This can"t be true! This must be RSS or VHP propaganda.
Probably came out in some BJP manifesto, trying to lure Muslim vote?
Or else, this must be a dubious study, published in some god-forsaken, shady magazine or newspaper.
Unfortunately, a big NO! None of the above is true.
Here is the news item.
Muslims more literate than Hindus Dec 29, 2006
New Delhi: According to a latest book Population of India in the New Millennium: Census 2001 written by noted researcher and demographer Mahendra K Premi, the literacy rate among Muslims is the lowest in the country from among the different communities but its better than the majority Hindus in eight states. The literacy rate among Muslim males was high - above 80 per cent - in Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Gujarat. With regard to Muslim women, a high literacy rate of about 70 per cent was recorded in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Chattisgarh. The study also says that the Muslim men had the highest literacy rate of 93.7 per cent in Kerala, almost at par with Hindus who had a literacy rate of 93.8 per cent. "In Chattisgarh, the literacy rate of Muslim males was 90.5 per cent, while Hindus lagged behind at 76.8 per cent in the state," the study says. However, in Gujarat, Muslim men fared better than Hindus with an 82.9 per cent literacy level compared to the majority community"s 79.1 per cent literacy rate. Muslim men had a better literacy rate than their Hindu counterparts in six states - Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Tamil Nadu. The percentage of literate Muslim women was higher than that of the Hindu community in nine states - Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu.
And don"t feel embarassed by the source - it is our CNN-IBN again!!!!!!
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