( Brief ) Gang – rape in Delhi

The recent gang – rape in Delhi of a girl by six men in a moving bus has caused uproar and protests in the country.

The girl was raped when she along with a male friend boarded a bus while travelling. After raping the girl; the rapists beat up the girl and his male friend. They stripped them of their clothes and left them on the highway in the dark.

The boy and the girl were spotted by some people who were travelling along the highway; who informed the police and the injured were taken for treatment.

This has caused outrage and protest in many cities in India. People have been demanding stricter punishments for rapists. Some have asked for capital punishment and some for castrating the rapists.

Sadly the people in authority feel that life imprisonment would be sufficient to deter rapists in future. But life imprisonment is in the constitution even now; but it does not deter the rapists. They tend to get away after serving some time in custody.

Recently there had been a large number of rapes reported in Haryana;  (many go unreported) ( brief written about rapes in Haryana in the earlier post )

I had written on twitter in January  – February 2012 stating rapes could be a big problem in the future. I had mentioned that capital  punishment for rapes should be introduced.

Guns for women’s  self-defence is another suggestion. City girls are educated but still raped. Education alone does not bring empowerment of women; but along with weapon for self – defence; it does bring empowerment.

I had also suggested to legalize prostitution and issuing identity cards and licence  for prostitutes; with some monthly charge ; thereby bringing revenue to the government ; which can be used fir welfare of these women.

This issuing of licence and legalizing prostitution will discourage  rapes and also discourage forceful human trafficking  and weapons for self-defence with women will deter rapists.

Sadly even such incidents do not open the eye of the government.

(BRIEF) : Rapes in Haryana

(BRIEF)

The recent news about rapes in Haryana has made people take note of one of the crudest crimes against women In India . There have been 21 rapes in one month in this North Indian state.

Haryana is bordered by Punjab and Himachal Pradesh to the north, and by Rajasthan to the west and south. On its eastern border is Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. Haryana also surrounds Delhi on three sides.

The recent rapes there have caught the attention of the govt and people. One of the causes which came to light has been the lack of education. Also the traditional lifestyle especially represented by the ( Khaps); basic level management by villagers has come under criticism which also has been held responsible for inequality against women; atrocities over them and also the rapes that take place in this male dominated society.

The general solutions against rape can be educating women; empowering them; and providing them equal opportunities;  but why have they not been implemented; since India got freedom in 1947 is the thought which needs to be reflected on.

Note:- This reminds one of Phoolan Devi who was gang – raped and who later became a member of the parliament. After her rape when she failed to get Justice, she became a dacoit. Incidentally Phoolan Devi shot her rapists and this was her idea of Justice.

After this she got reformed; gave up dacoity; contested elections and became a Member of Parliament.

Now how does one deal with rapes in today’s time is the question to be answered.

Political scenario in India

INDIRA GANDHI – LIONESS OF INDIA

Indira Gandhi was born on the November 17^th in 1917 in the politically influential Nehru dynasty where she grew up in an intensely political atmosphere. She was the Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms from 1966 to 1977 and for a fourth term from 1980 until her assassination on the October 31^st in 1984. She was India’s first and to date only female prime minister.

Her grandfather, Motilal Nehru, was a prominent Indian nationalist leader. Her father, Jawaharlal Nehru was a pivotal figure in the Indian independence movement and the first Prime Minister of Independent India. Returning to India from Oxford in 1941, she became involved in the Indian Independence movement.

In the 1950s, she served her father unofficially as a personal assistant during his tenure as India’s first Prime Minister. After her father’s death in 1964, she was appointed as a member of the Rajya Sabha and became a member of Lal Bahadur Shastri’s cabinet as Minister of Information and Broadcasting.

After the sudden demise of Shastri, Indira was made the Prime Minister. Gandhi soon showed an ability to win elections and outmanoeuvre opponents through populism. She introduced more left-wing economic policies and promoted agricultural productivity. A crushing victory in the 1971 war with Pakistan was followed by a period of instability that led her to impose a state of emergency in 1975; she paid for the authoritarian excesses of the period with three years in opposition. Returned to office in 1980, she became increasingly involved in an escalating conflict with separatists in Punjab that eventually led to her assassination by her own bodyguards in 1984.

In her years in continental Europe and the UK, she met Feroz Gandhi, a Congress activist, and eventually married him on 16 March 1942. A son, Rajiv was born in 1944, and another, Sanjay in 1946. When Mrs. Gandhi became Prime Minister in 1966, there was no unity in the Congress. In 1969 after a lot of disagreements, the Indian National Congress split. Gandhi’s government faced major problems after her tremendous mandate of 1971. The internal structure of the Congress party had withered following its numerous splits, leaving it entirely dependent on her leadership for its election fortunes.

Gandhi had already been accused of tendencies towards authoritarianism. On June 12, 1975 the High Court of Allahabad declared Gandhi’s election invalid on grounds of alleged malpractices in an election petition filed by Raj Narain (who had repeatedly contested her Parliamentary constituency of Rae Bareli without success). The court thus ordered her to be removed from her seat in Parliament and blamed the running in elections for six years because of this. Gandhi advised President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed to declare a state of emergency, claiming that the strikes and rallies were creating a state of ‘internal disturbance’. Ahmed was a longtime political ally, and it is a strong convention in India that the president acts on the advice of the prime minister. Accordingly, Ahmed declared a State of Emergency caused by internal disorder, based on the provisions of Article 352 of the Constitution, on June 26, 1975. The prime minister’s emergency rule lasted nineteen months.

Gandhi’s later years were bedeviled with problems in Punjab. In June 1984, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale’s separatist Sikh militant group took up positions within the precincts of the Golden Temple, Sikhism’s holiest shrine. Despite the presence of thousands of civilians in the Golden Temple complex at the time Gandhi ordered the Army into the shrine in an attempt to clear it of the militants. Accounts differ in the number of military and civilian casualties. Government estimates include four officers, seventy-nine soldiers, and 492 militants; other accounts are much higher, perhaps 500 or more troops and 3,000 others, including many pilgrims caught in the crossfire. While the exact figures related to civilian casualties are disputed, the timing and method of the attack remain controversial. After 36 hours of fierce fighting between militant Sikhs and the soldiers, the 72- acre temple complex was strewn with bodies.

Indira Gandhi had numerous bodyguards, two of whom were Satwant Singh and Beant Singh, both Sikhs. On October 31, 1984 they assassinated Indira Gandhi with machine guns in the garden of the Prime Minister’s Residence at No. 1, Safdarjung Road in New Delhi. As she was walking to be interviewed by the British actor Peter Ustinov filming a documentary for Irish television, she passed a wicket gate, guarded by Satwant and Beant. They then opened fire with machine guns, after which one shot himself and the other was arrested by her other bodyguards. She was taken to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, where doctors operated on her and reportedly removed 31 bullets from her body. She was cremated on November 3, near Raj Ghat and the place was called Shakti Sthal. After her death, sectarian unrest engulfed New Delhi and several other cities in India, including Kanpur, Asansol and Indore, leading to the death of thousands of Sikhs and leaving many homeless. At that time many Gurudwaras were burnt.Gandhi’s friend and biographer Pupul Jayakar would later reveal Indira’s tension, and her premonition about what might happen in the wake of Operation Blue Star. Even Giani Zail Singh who was handpicked by Gandhi to be the President of India could not contain the terror of the Punjab fanatics.

Thus the Daughter of India sacrificed her life to maintain the strength of the country and she will always be remembered as the lioness who did not succumb to any pressures.

WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY

“There is a sufficiency in the world for man’s need but not for man’s greed.” This quote by Mohandas K. Gandhi explains the reason why the environment we live in has been becoming a foe to us rather than a friend. It is because we, for our selfish and greedy requirements have exploited the nature and the environment and did not care to restore it. To highlight the need to preserve the environment, World Environment Day (WED) is celebrated every year for positive environmental action.WED activities take place all year round but climax on 5 June every year.

Environmental protection is a practice of protecting the environment, on individual, organizational or governmental level, for the benefit of the natural environment and (or) humans. Due to the ever increasing population especially in the third word countries and technology, both in the developing and the developed countries, the biophysical environment is being degraded, sometimes permanently. This has been recognized and governments have begun placing restraints on activities that caused environmental degradation. The activities performed on WED are focussed to this end.

One of the primary causes of environmental degradation could be attributed to the rapid growth of population, which adversely affects the natural resources and environment. The rising population and the environmental deterioration face the challenge of sustainable development. In some regions the rise of the population is very high compared to the resources available while in some regions the resources are in excess and plenty. The existence or the absence of favourable natural resources can facilitate or retard the process of socio-economic development.  

Population growth and economic development are contributing to many serious environmental calamities in the world and India is no exception to this.  These include heavy pressure on land degradation, forests, habitat destruction and loss of biodiversity. Changing consumption pattern has led to rising demand for energy. The final outcomes of this are air pollution, global warming, climate change, water scarcity and water pollution, soil exhaustion and erosion, deforestation,  and air pollution afflicts many areas.

Air pollution is caused from the emissions from vehicles and industries. Land pollution can be due to pesticides and fertilizers as well as corrosion. The recent calamities in the world i.e. unprecedented rains and floods, melting of ice glaciers, snow and hurricanes can be attributed to the effects of global warming. The indiscriminate use of wood as a source for energy and the rapidly disappearing forests due to construction activities have also been responsible for environmental degradation.

Another cause of worry is that it is estimated that the country’s population will increase to about 1.26 billion by the year 2016. The projected population indicates that India will be the first most populous country in the world and China will be ranking second in the year 2050.India having 18% of the world’s population on 2.4% of world’s total area has greatly increased the pressure on its natural resources.

The harmful effect of environmental degradation can be seen on the animal kingdom as well. Zoos are becoming facsimiles, or perhaps caricatures, of how animals once were in their natural habitat.  If the right policies toward nature were pursued, we would need no zoos at all. Migration of birds has also been affected. Now is this not man’s responsibility to undo the wrong that he has done to mother earth. To put in the words of John Drinkwater, “When you defile the pleasant streams; and the wild bird’s abiding place; you massacre a million dreams; and cast your spittle in God’s face.”

To preserve the face of mother earth, due to the constant efforts of the governments and people worldwide, attention has now been brought toward  the preservation of nature and the environment around us. Understanding the gravity of the environmental issues as in the words of Albert Einstein, “We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive,” academic institutions now offer courses such as environmental studies, environmental management and environmental engineering that study the history and methods of environmental protection. Protection of the environment is needed from various human activities. Waste, pollution, loss of biodiversity, introduction of invasive species, release of genetically modified organisms and toxics are some of the issues relating to environmental protection.

With the goal of environmental protection; WED celebrations began in 1972 and have grown to become one of the main vehicles through which the UN stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and encourages political attention and action.

Through WED, the UN Environment Programme is able to personalize environmental issues and enable everyone to realize not only their responsibility, but also their power to become agents for change in support of sustainable and equitable development.

On this day a call for action needs to be given. People can organize  neighbourhood clean-up programmes , and get their community to do the same, walk to work, start a recycling drive, spread the importance of solar energy, the possibilities are endless. Many villages have taken to the use of solar energy, thereby saving other energy resources and containing pollution. In fact Indian solar loan programme has helped many rural household for their energy needs. One can become a part in the celebrations on this day by  organising activities like 1) Arts and crafts exhibitions/ film Festivals 2) Organising Ceremonies with Celebrities 3) Organising Competitions, concerts and demonstrations to involve the children and the youth 3) Distribution of Information kits and conducting online and Social media activities 4) Using Media  to create awareness.

Let’s commit ourselves to the preservation of the nature and environment on this World Environment Day and believe, as in the words of Brooke Medicine Eagle, “There is hope if people will begin to awaken that spiritual part of themselves, that heartfelt knowledge that we are caretakers of this planet.”

Sikh militancy (1984- 1995) and its coverage in media.

This is a research that I have carried and forward on my blog. This research is about the media coverage that the period of sikh militancy ( 1984 – 1995) in India received. I will update this post as and when I have anything further to write. One should know that the period of Sikh militancy was one of the darkest periods in Indian history, the effects of which are felt till even today in India and abroad. The research is as follows:

                                                                       ABSTRACT

Consequent to the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent war on terror, the historical accounts of religion based terrorism and the causative factors are becoming a subject of interest especially to media and political scholars. With the advancement of technology, influence of media has grown exponentially reifying the media’s strong and cultural impact upon society.

After the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent war on terror now being fought in Asia, it does inspire one to look at things in  more detail, as to why does religion based terrorism occur and what are the factors visible and invisible that go in creating and sustaining it. The war on terror is fought in Asia and Pakistan is one of the important partners of the western forces fighting there. It is to be noted that until 1947 Pakistan was a part of India which was divided on the basis of religion. Thus this study set out to study the media coverage of religious divides in India. Often religious divides in India which is a multi- religious and multi- lingual country lead to violent clashes. Some have taken the form of militant activity as well. Sikh militancy of the eighties and the nineties is one such case.

With the intention to explore how the British media represents religious divides in India, this study made the Sikh militancy a case study. The coverage is analysed in one British Newspaper, namely The Times (London).

The results of the study show that key elements and events of the Sikh militancy received in depth coverage during the period under review (i.e. 1984-1995). They also provide engaging information on the sources which made the news during the period as well as the various contexts in which the news was reported.

CHAPTER – 1 

INTRODUCTION

This research focuses on the coverage of religious divides in India by the British media – making Sikh militancy a case study. Within this context, other elements like media analysis of the political, economic, religious and cultural issues that had been influenced and affected by the Sikh militancy were also reviewed. 

In reference to the works of Foucault, a 20^th century French philosopher, sociologist and historian, Carrette (1999: p33) states that:

” Foucault’s work demonstrates a culture cannot understand itself without first understanding its implicit connection and development within the constructs of religious belief and practice. Contemporary culture is born out of religious traditions and the conditions of our knowledge are therefore embedded in religious discourse. The so-called secular space is itself a hybrid of past religious traditions, and in order to understand contemporary culture Foucault recognised (and was fascinated by) the religious influences upon thought and practice.” 

Chase (2006) states, religious beliefs of a community or society play an important part in influencing its lifestyle. The thinking pattern of a society, the general state or habit of the mind of its inhabitants, their intellectual and moral development, their material and spiritual way of life,  the practice and rituals followed; all of which determine its culture largely depend on its religious beliefs. Thus culture may be more properly understood as a ‘way of life’ (Chase, 2006). Culture based on religious beliefs gives a group or society its distinct identity and in a bid to preserve the same, man has engaged in violent conflicts all through history, which can be called religious fights or divides. 

Background

Punjab is a state which is situated at the border between India and Pakistan. Pakistan is now an ally of the west in its war against terror. Hansen (2002) highlights that the Partition of Punjab which took place at the time when India got its independence in August 1947 from the British,  constituted a humanitarian catastrophe with an estimated death toll of half a million people and around 14 million people  getting displaced. The unprecedented violence after the partition was not a sudden wave of anger and madness that erupted. It was anticipated by the colonial rulers themselves and the communal organizations that had embarked upon assembling and training private armies. The other phase of violence in Punjab was through the eighties and unto the middle of the nineties which covers the period under review for this study. (Khan, 2007) 

According to Khan (2007), Aggarwal & Aggarwal (1992), before India got its independence from the British in the year 1947, the Sikhs wanted a country of their own based on their religious beliefs. In 1946, the Sikhs declared a nation based on the tenets of Sikh religion and called for the creation of a Sikh state called Khalistan. Thereafter they proposed the union of the Sikhs in Pakistan. However the British preferred for the partition of India into two states i.e. India and Pakistan.  While Jawaharlal Nehru (who then became the first Prime Minister of India) set up security for Sikhs in Indian future, the provisional government of Punjab was formed by a coalition of Muslims and Sikhs. However the Sikh massacres of Muslims that followed led to the annulling of the provisional government of Punjab. Sikhs then fled to India en masse and the British imposed partition of the country, which was endorsed on August 15, 1947. 

Jodhka (2001) points out that, Punjab had done quite well economically during the post – independence period. The prosperity that was brought in Punjab by the green revolution during the 1960’s and 1970’s made it the most prosperous state in India  with the highest per capita income in the 1980- 81 period. At the time, it also had one of the lowest proportions of the population living below the poverty line in the country. Not surprisingly, therefore, the rise of a secessionist movement in the state was a puzzle for many. 

Significance and Scope of study

This study was designed to analyse how the British media presented religious divides in India, making Sikh militancy a case study. It tried to analyse the coverage of the highlighted issues from the British point of view, considering the fact that India a multi- religious country is a part of the commonwealth group of countries and was divided after its independence on the basis of religion. 

India a multi- religious, multi- cultural country is situated in South Asia and has the second largest population in the world. The population of India is divided primarily into followers of eight religions. The chief among them are the followers of Hinduism, Islam, Christianity or Sikhism. In recent times however, there have been large scale riots due to the growing divide between people belonging to different communities, resulting in fatal loss of life and property. 

The bomb blasts, shooting and hostage taking which took place in Mumbai in November 2008 sent alarm bells ringing throughout the world. This generated widespread concern as reports had confirmed that the men involved in these incidences came from Pakistan, its neighbouring country. Co-incidentally Pakistan also happens to be a partner of the US in its fight against terrorism. Hence religious divides in India and its implications on the rest of the world is arguably one of the most important issues today. The religious disturbances which occur in India do affect its neighbour Pakistan, which is an ally of the Western forces fighting in Afghanistan. Thus an event in India affects the world politics in general (both in the Muslim and the Christian world).  

Justification

Within this dissertation (i.e. the Literature review section) is an elaborate discussion on how the topic of religious divides in India has been treated in academic circles. Here I posit that the general focus of academic research lay on the Hindu – Muslim communal clashes specifically during the post – independence era and after the demolition of the disputed structure (a mosque) at Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh in 1992. 

Relative to these events, it would appear that the Sikh militancy of the eighties and the nineties which took place between the above two mentioned events and which formed an important part of the political and religious history of India did not get as much in-depth coverage. It was therefore a point of interest as these three major phases of communal events after India got its independence have played an important role in the formation of the domestic and foreign policy of India. This research project will contribute to the body of knowledge and illuminate key issues about the coverage received during the period under review. 

Research Questions

1. What elements of the Sikh Militancy received the most or the least coverage?
2. What was the frequency of the coverage during the years under consideration i.e. between 1984 and 1995?
3. In what context were the reports written and who were they primarily addressed to?
4. What were the primary sources of the news during the Sikh militancy?
5. How did the British media present the effect of the Sikh militancy on the foreign policy and relations of India?
6. How did the British media analyse the effect of factors such as political, religious/ cultural and violence on the Sikh militancy? 

Definition of key terms

The following are frequently used in this dissertation:

1) Sikhs: Five hundred years ago, Guru Nanak founded the Sikh religion in India.  In the centuries that followed, three of Nanak’s nine successors met violent ends, and his people continued to battle hostile regimes.

2) Punjab: A state in India on the border with Pakistan. This state of Punjab was partitioned during the partition of India after the British gave Independence to India. 

Summary of Methodology

Content Analysis was the method adopted to carry out the research. Considering the period under review was spread over a period of twelve years, this method was deemed to be most suitable for the research. Though interviews were initially considered as one of the research methods, they were found to be inconvenient as the research period was not only extensive but also the event locations were foreign i.e. based in India. 

Dissertation Structure

Below is a summary of the various chapters in this dissertation:

1. Literature Review: This section provides background information about religion as a shaper and a divider. It then proceeds to synthesize key literature on the relationship between religion, culture and politics. This information then leads us to details about the religions in India and the divides that prevail within them. This is followed by the explanation of the relationship between media and religion and the sources that make the news. The section concludes with the literature review on the media coverage of Sikh militancy.
2. Methodology: To carry out the research, this study has employed Content Analysis as the method as it would be the best suited method for a research which analysis news coverage of events spread over a period of 12 years. For the research this study has selected The Times (London) Publication as it is broadly representative of the elite press in the UK, to analyse how the British media covers the religious divides in India, making Sikh militancy a case study. The chapter on methodology gives a detailed explanation about the method chosen.
3.  Findings and Results: In this section, the results of the findings of the study are presented and discussed. This section is divided into three chapters which tries to answer the above mentioned research questions in the light of the findings and discussions of the SPSS analysis. The three chapters present the findings of the SPSS analysis and a brief textual analysis of sample publications leading to the conclusion and reflection chapter. 
4. Conclusion and Reflection: This chapter concludes the dissertation and also contains a brief reflection on the author’s research experience.
   

****To be continued ****

Build hospital at Ayodhya( Temple – mosque issue)

What needs to be done at the place where the disputed structure at Ayodhya in India stood prior to the demolition. This refers to the Temple – Mosque dispute which has made a mess of the Indian society. The options for the solution are as follows:-

1) Make a temple there.

2) Make a Mosque ( Masjid) there.

3) Make a temple and mosque, side by side.

4) Neither make a temple nor make a mosque . No construction (temporary or permanent) even around the disputed place.

 

I am of the opinion that the fourth option is the best, where neither a temple nor a mosque is built.

BUILD A HOSPITAL AT THE DISPUTED PLACE AT AYODHYA. WORSHIP AT A PLACE  WHICH HAS BEEN RESPONSIBLE FOR SO MUCH SPILLED BLOOD WILL NOT BRING PEACE TO ANYONE, ANYWHERE. HENCE TURNING THE DISPUTED SITE INTO A HOSPITAL WILL BE THE BEST SOLUTION, WHICH WILL BENEFIT THE PEOPLE.

One needs to bear in mind,  that the decision taken in this context will affect not only India, but its immediate neighbours as well ( including Pakistan). It is to be noted that Pakistan is already in the midst of crisis in terms of  facing internal violence. This violence now has every probability of spilling into India,  and the unsolved issue of the disputed structure can be one of the major causes for this . This can have an impact on the western world as well, as far as Europe and the USA and to some extent on Iran.

For those who do not know about the Ayodhya issue , a reading is recommended of  the post on this blog titled ” Will the issue of the disputed structure (temple- mosque) at Ayodhya be ever solved?”

This much for now. Comments are welcome….

Stop outsourcing to India – NOW

The Call Center industry in India is run by a few and for the few. I had some very bad experiences when I felt that some in the industry wanted to control it.

The pounds and dollars that flowed into India benefitted a few, should I say belonging to some particular groups.

My point is that when such Call Centers are a source of such disharmony, then WHY DONT THE WESTERN WORLD STOP OUTSOURCING TO INDIA?

It is to be noted the pounds and dollars if not evenly distributed could also cause ill – feelings toward the  outsourcers as well.

There are other countries that can provide cheaper options than India. Why not outsource there??

More of it later.

India’s complication

Had overheard a Sikh & a Muslim argue. Sikh said to Muslim ” Muslims are spreading terror in the world ….You  people are terrorists. ” To this the  Muslim replies “Muslims did not kill Indira & Rajiv Gandhi”….

This is a brief hint of where the present complication comes from …..

will write later in detail about this ; and also a bit about the times when India and Pakistan were formed in 1947 and one saw a large number of killings especially in Lahore ( now in Pakistan) and Amritsar (now in Punjab, India)

This much for now.

Cultural clash or Coming together

One of the topics of discussion that has made news often is the Clash between the two mighty cultures i.e. the Western culture often referred to as the Christian culture and the Muslim (Islamic) culture.

In reference to the works of Foucault, a 20^th century French philosopher, sociologist and historian, Carrette (1999: p33) states that:

“Foucault’s work demonstrates a culture cannot understand itself without first understanding its implicit connection and development within the constructs of religious belief and practice. Contemporary culture is born out of religious traditions and the conditions of our knowledge are therefore embedded in religious discourse. The so-called secular space is itself a hybrid of past religious traditions, and in order to understand contemporary culture Foucault recognised (and was fascinated by) the religious influences upon thought and practice. “

Religious beliefs of a community or society play an important part in influencing its lifestyle. The thinking pattern of a society, the general state or habit of the mind of its inhabitants, their intellectual and moral development, their material and spiritual way of life,  the practice and rituals followed; all of which determine its culture largely depend on its religious beliefs. Thus culture may be more properly understood as a ‘way of life’ (Chase, 2006). Culture based on religious beliefs gives a group or society its distinct identity and in a bid to preserve the same, man has engaged in violent conflicts all through history, which can be called religious fights or divides.

There has been a constant strain between these two cultures i.e. Christian and Islamic in many societies, however there has been a tolerant co- existence between them in some other societies. However recently in Europe there appears to be an underlying current of conflict between these two cultures; and as a result of this, between the two religions. This manifests itself in the two sides taking to extreme positions sometimes.

Britain as I had mentioned in one of my earlier postings on my blog, is one of the countries that has a unique place in the world. However in quite a few cases there appears to be a reluctance of acceptance in the society of marriages between the people of different ethnic origins (white and non – white Asians) of the two cultures here in Britain. The same is reflected in work related matters. This appears to be a departure from the normal practice of faith, cultural and racial integration. This is all the more important considering the fact that Britain is at war in Afghanistan and Iraq which makes it more vulnerable to attacks.

Now if this strain between the two religions and cultures grows or is exploited by someone  ; then we could see an expanding gap between the two cultures. This is detrimental for any society as this restricts growth and change.  So the question is what direction is Britain moving in? Will the two cultures and religion here work together on common grounds or will the differences manifest as economic issues crop up?

 What will be the role of the Church in this?  Will the Church be relevant or be a non- entity in the making of the decisions. As we know the handicap of the church in Britain in dealing with issues like abortion and teenage pregnancies etc. Will the Church do anything substantial in encouraging the marriages between racially, culturally and religiously different individuals? Its role will also decide its relevance in future where the younger generation is distancing itself from the church

“The Islamic culture on one hand  has been emphasizing on the moral and ethical way of life , thus sometimes going to the extreme side of it ; while the Western culture sometimes goes too far in terms of  freedom of lifestyle, growth of an individual and a fuller life.  What is required however is a middle path imbibing the positive factors of both the cultures. “

 The  amalgamation or distancing of the two cultural trends ( Christian and Islamic) apart from their economic position will decide the future of Britain and Europe.  If we look back at history, we find that CULTURAL (which includes social), RELIGIOUS AND ECONOMICAL issues have been the deciding factors which have led to war or peace in different continents, at different times and this is the testing time for Europe. This means it is up to each country to choose between war or peace, growth or stagnation.

The job and employment market will be one of the crucial factor influencing the society in Britain.

I would like to write more in detail especially about Britain, but after a more detailed study and observation. Comments are welcome.