Editorial

A new academic session is about to dawn yet again. It is time to question ourselves if we, as a community, are willing to review our priorities this time and envision a new future for our youth. If nothing else, at least the economic recession in the West and its rippling effect on the world economy, should have urged the same.

The times we are living in are pleading for a serious scrutiny of our direction. Unfortunately, our choice of academic career is still shaped by the pecuniary rewards and the market value of certain professionals. Evidently, medicine and technology are grabbing the brightest of the youth. Somehow the community is yet to come out of the stereotype choices. With little social commitment, these professionals get headed towards the cool climes of the West or are lured by the sparkle of the cities in the Middle East thereby impoverishing their motherland and depleting the community's ranks of able professionals.

India is witnessing sweeping transformation. The new government taking over in Delhi around the third week of May will be called upon to effect changes in economic policies. Commensurate changes are bound to follow in the field of human resource development. Straws in the wind point to shape of things to come. It is all likely to be an inwardly focused policy whereby nation's genius will be encouraged to stay inwards and involve themselves in nation building and rural development. With immense talent and youth available within the country, the Government is expected to focus on knowledge production. Soaring unemployment will be addressed by providing a new boost to manufacturing industry and the skewed policy of encouraging services (IT or ITES being so) will come for a review. Employment generation is all likely to get priority. Number of universities is set to grow from current 400 odd to 1,200. All stops are being removed from the path. Similarly,
increased funding for research too is on the anvil. India currently produces only 4,000 Ph.Ds against US' 60,000 and China's 23,000. There is a rankling sense of disenchantment among intellectuals over drain of genius towards the West. Concern over patenting of their research output overseas is bound to result in incentives to nurture these talents inland.

Community think tanks must take notice of the incoming changes in policy formulations. Serious lack of economic, social and political leadership among Muslims too is demanding a comprehensive policy on the community plane. Lack of visionary leadership has resulted in baton of leadership being passed onto some ill-informed clerics who know next to nothing about the challenges ahead. Grooming youth in diverse, and socially useful and purposeful disciplines could be the only guarantee against further decline of the community fortunes.

Justice Markandeya Katju was not being fair to Islam when the likened the permission for growing beard by a Muslim student of a Christian School with Talibanisation. Unmistakably, a tinge of harshness has been perceived in the language employed in reports over the ruling emanating from the portals of the Supreme Court.

It will be indeed meaningless to debate the mandatory nature of beard as part of personal attire in Islam. The holy Quran does not mention it, hence nothing to prove that it be followed as a farz (obligation). Sanctions are drawn from the sunnah (practice) of the holy Prophet, peace be upon him, to assert it significance as a symbol. To this extent the judge is very much on a sure ground and his ruling dismissing the special leave petition cannot be faulted.

Viewed purely from the point of law, the Supreme Court would have done well by remaining content with upholding the Christian Convent School’s right to enforce its own dress code. To see in plaintiff’s requests to sport a beard a grand plan to ‘Talibanise’ India, is indeed preposterous and the hon’ble judge seems to have read too much into it. It is not known as to how the remarks that caused so much of cussedness got aired into public inasmuch as to be deemed part of the ruling.
It is difficult to term the ruling ultra vires of secular principles and nature of the state. It is the same secularism that upholds one minority’s right to run and administer its educational institutions as much as it guarantees the right of individuals of another minority to wear an attire in conformity to its religious demands. To ask to be recognized as a minority group with its own values is also to admit the pluralism of values and creeds. It is this aspect that makes the debate about Christians’ right to run their institutions as per their own rules and even allowing Sikhs to sport beard within the very same campuses, irrelevant.

However, it is remarks like ‘Talibanisation’ that have ruffled feathers. Talibanisation is seen as enforcement of a particular brand of social behaviour through coercive means on the society rather than an individual’s assertion of his/her right to follow a lifestyle or adopt or flaunt a symbol. Abomination stems mainly from the use of the harsh words rather than spirit of the judgment that clearly discerns between a minority’s right to enforce a particular code of discipline within its premises and an individual’s demand to behave differently.