To be a Muslim in India today

TO BE A MUSLIM IN INDIA TODAY

Harsh Mander in The Hindu (via bookforum):

"In so many ways, I feel reduced to a second class citizen in my own country, only because of my Muslim identity. I fear we are losing every day the India we love.”

These words, with small variations, echoed in many diverse voices from far corners of the country. In a national meet on the status of Muslims in India today, organised by Anhad in Delhi from October 3 to 5, 2009, many individuals and representatives of organisations gathered from several parts of India. They spoke of negotiating life, relationships, work and the State as members of the largest religious minority in India. The predominant mood in these intense deliberations, which continued late into the evenings, was of sadness and disappointment, and of growing despair. Muslim citizens shared their mounting disillusionment with all institutions of governance, and more so with the police and judiciary, as well as with political parties and to some extent the media, and of a sense of fear that never goes away.

There is, on the one hand, the constant dread of being profiled as a terrorist, or of a loved one being so profiled, with the attendant fears of illegal and prolonged detention, denial of bail, torture, unfair and biased investigation and trial, and extra-judicial killings. There is, on the other hand, the lived experience of day-to-day discrimination, in education, employment, housing and public services, which entrap the community in hopeless conditions of poverty and want. This is fostered in situations of pervasive communal prejudice in all institutions of the State, especially the police, civil administration and judiciary; and also the political leadership of almost all parties; large segments of the print and visual media; and the middle classes, and the systematic manufacture of hate and divide by communal organisations.

From 3QD

Rising C-section rates in India

The Hindu
describes the rise of Caesarean rates in India.

Obstetricians say the reason for rising caesarean deliveries has more to do with lifestyle change and delayed marriage, than medical reasons. "The chances of women who get married late delivering naturally are less because the pelvic bones and cartilage find it difficult to support the passage of babies," says Dr. Nirmala.

As far as the lifestyle change goes, doctors say women no longer work the way they used to. "Girls, soon after puberty, are discouraged from playing and that has a telling effect on their later days. At homes too girls, unlike yesteryears, hardly assist their mothers in cooking, nor do they sit on the ground to do some domestic work," points out Dr. Nirmala, who says sitting on the ground is important because it helps the pelvis widen.

At the Government Hospital doctors perceive an urban-rural divide. "Rural women who work more on the fields and at homes with fewer gadgets give birth the natural way," says an obstetrician who adds that another reason for increasing caesarean cases relates to women who come to GH for second delivery.