Author: India Writes Network

Celebrating India’s pluralism: Muslim girl wins Gita contest

- by India Writes Network

It’s a showcase story of India’s vibrant multi-religious pluralistic society. A Muslim girl, studying in the sixth standard at a Mumbai school, has emerged as the winner of an inter school Gita competition – the Gita Champions League – organised by International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). She stood first in the written examination, which had about a hundred questions, leaving behind more than 4,000 other students. The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to felicitate the 12-year-old girl for attaining the first position. The award is expected to send a powerful message across in the state about knowing and respecting all religions in the society, and should have special relevance in India’s largest state that is known for intermittent religious tensions and bouts of communal violence.
Mariyam Asif Siddiqui, a student at the Cosmopolitan High School, Mira Road in Mumbai, underwent a month of preparation to understand deep teachings of religious Hindu poem-text, which encapsulates key tenets of the Hindu philosophy and way of life, with its focus on karma and dharma.

Read More

Flowering feuds: China, Japan start cherry blossom war

- by India Writes Network

As the cherry blossom season starts in East Asia, a perennial debate has been raked up, this time with an added claimant over the birthplace of the popular sakura (cherry) trees. A Chinese industrial group has asserted that it is the Middle Kingdom, not Japan (with which the flower is traditionally associated) or South Korea (which has often claimed that its Jeju Island is the place of origin).
Cherry blossoms have a unique place in the Japanese society, which has guarded its traditions (tea ceremony, flower arrangements, origami) closely in the face of onslaught of Westernization, especially since the US occupation post World War II. The period over which the trees blossom sees a spate of traditional activities and festivities (much like monsoons in India).
Given its revered place in Japan’s cultural system, and acerbic relationship with China on the cultural front, China’s attempt at appropriation of the cherry blossom is often taken as assault on national identity (imagine the backlash from India, if say Pakistan says that yoga has its roots on the other side of the border). Group identities are an integral part of our being in the world, and often intangibles (such as concepts of honor, apology, food), have a potent emotional resonance to rake up political storms. Call it flowering feuds if you like: cherry blossom wars are here to stay.

Read More

Belt and Road Action Plan: Choices for India

- by India Writes Network

In search of economic expansion and to gain strategic depth in the region, China has proposed a revival of the ancient trading route- the ‘Silk Route’- which connected East Asia to Eastern Europe, via Central Asia. While China maintains that its motives are purely commercial gain, others remain wary. India has been uneasy about the heavy investments made by China in South Asian countries, traditionally considered a part of India’s neighbourhood, and the hardliners see the ‘one belt, one road’ initiative as just a velvet coated ploy to further encircle India, as a possible extension of the ‘string of pearls’. In such scenario, there is a need for a nuanced examination of the initiative itself and India’s concerns and options.

‘Belt and Road’ initiative

In a very significant move, the blue print for the ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative was spelt out by Xi Jinping in the recently concluded Bo Ao Forum for Asia, convened in Sanya, Hainan.

Xi JinpingThe concept was first proposed by Mr. Xi in a speech at Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan, in 2013. He said that to “forge closer economic ties, deepen cooperation and expand development” in the Euro-Asia region, there was a need to build an “economic belt” reviving the ancient trading routes, which had historically linked Asia to Europe. He proposed that traffic connectivity and economic integration needed to be promoted to open the strategic regional thoroughfare from the Pacific Ocean to the Baltic Sea, and gradually move toward the set-up of a network of transportation that connects Eastern, Western and Southern Asia.

Read More