Activities of IOS Chapters

ALIGARH CHAPTER

Sir Syed’s Birth Anniversary

To pay tribute to Sir Syed Ahmad Khan on his birth anniversary, a lecture on “Economic Thoughts of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and his Development Schemes” was organized by the Institute of Objective Studies, Aligarh Chapter on 16th October, 2003 with Professor S.M. Waseem, former Dean & Head, Department of Commerce, A.M.U., Aligarh, being the guest speaker. The lecture was well attended. A good number of students, dignitaries and faculty members from A.M.U., Aligarh and the Aligarh College of Engg. & Management were present on the occasion.

Quoting from the writings and speeches of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, Prof. Waseem stressed that though not an Economist, Sir Syed continued to stress at the economic development of Hindustan. To achieve this end, he emphasized on education that is in accordance with the urges of the time. Thus, Sir Syed is found speaking on professional education. Likewise, he touched upon trade, self employment, multi-nationals and earning of forex also. He said that Sir Syed advised the Britishers to leave export of indigenous bones and leather etc. in the hands of Indians themselves. Explaining the advantages of foreign trade, Sir Syed said that minerals should be exported to earn forex. This will pave the way for economic development. Urging the MAO College students to take to employment, he said that those who have studied upto B.A. level should engage themselves in civilized trade because it will not be possible for the government to provide jobs for the increasing number of the educated ones. He suggested to form Mohammadan-Hindu Trading Organisation and to open its office in London, Edinburg, and Peiking etc.

Sir Syed was specially concerned with Hindustan’s agricultural development. He studied the financial requirements of the cultivators and also their problems and opined that the Sahukars and Mahajans were exploiting the cultivators and it was due to the high rate of interest charged by them that they were suffering. They charged lower rate of interest from the influential people. He, therefore, suggested as far back as in 1879 that banks including the Land Development Bank be set up to help develop Indian agriculture. It will be interesting to note that such a bank was set up in India first at Madras in 1929 Prof. Waseem said that development of agriculture was dear to Sir Syed. He, therefore, wrote to the Governor of the Province to set up an Agriculture College to educate and train people in modern and scientific agriculture. This will add to productivity and output as also the revenue of the State, Sir Syed opined. As the British administrators rejected his scheme, it made him unhappy. Prof. Waseem said that if the then Raj had agreed to Sir Syed’s suggestion, Indian agriculture would not have been as backward and languishing as it was in 1947 which free India inherited from the British. Sir Syed likewise suggested formation of companies for mechanical methods of irrigation. Sir Syed studied the Panchayats and their functioning. He found that their decisions depended on the will of big landlords. The poor and the landless used to go back weeping and sobbing to their huts after the Panchayat ended. He also wrote on famines and offered practical suggestions to fight it out including the maintenance of cattle wealth by banks and the launching of a Welfare Fund. Prof. Waseem emphasized that as Sir Syed truly loved Hindustan, he urged people to work for its development which becomes possible only through hard work, cooperation and sans hatred and enmity. The need is to propagate the teachings of Sir Syed by organizing lectures, seminars and translating his works in different national and international languages.

Status of Woman in Islam

The Aligarh chapter organized a Sham-e-Muzakarah in which an awardee of the IOS scholarship, Ms. Tazeem Iram Kirmani presented a paper on the status of woman in Islam. She said that Islam is a religion which provides a pattern to its adherents on how to lead their lives as Muslims. It also delineates the responsibilities and rights of individual human being.

She said that the Quran specifies two types of right and responsibilities for Muslims. First are the rights and responsibilities which have to do with the worship of Allah, such as Namaz, Ramzaan, Zakaat and Haj. The other rights pertain to what human beings are enjoined to do for others. These are identified as essential, namely, to peacefully co-exist with others, to help one another, to be just, merciful, and help those against whom injustice is being perpetrated. These rights are equal to men and women. It is stated again and again in the Quran, that both women and men have their own respective rights and responsibilities. It is specially enjoined that women capabilities should not be suppressed only because they are female. The Prophet, by reference to the Quranic teachings by his own words and by his practice, taught society how to treat women as equals. He tried to make the men understand that women have rights, she said.

Islam is the religion of equality and declares that all human beings, the rich and the poor, the worker and the employer, the ruler and the ruled, the men and the women are equal. Islam does not regard woman in any way inferior to man. It makes both of them equal partners in the business of life. They are two wheels of the same carriage and the carriage can’t move forward without either, she said.

She further said that Islam gives property rights to girls as well as boys. In surah Al Nisa, the Quran states clearly that in the property of the mother, father and relatives whether it is small or big, girls too have their share.

The share of daughter is determined not by any inferiority inherent in her but in view of her economic opportunities and the place she occupies in the social structure of which she is a part and parcel, she said.

Women have the right to buy and sell property. They are masters of their own property and they are permitted to utilize it as they wish. Whatever they earn by trade and other means they have the right to decide how to spend it, she said.

She remarked that in Islam the first and the most important condition of marriage is that the man and woman should be willing. Hence consent of a girl is a requirement in Muslim Nikaah. At the time of a marriage the couple should firmly resolve to make their marriage a success.

Ms. Tazeem further said that Islam lays great emphasis on the achievement and acquisition of knowledge. This knowledge is both religious as well as temporal. In this matter as in others, Islam does not confine itself to only men, women are equally enjoined. The prophet has stated that women and men should compulsorily acquire knowledge and education, she said.

The fact is that in early Islam women were in the forefront in several fields of endeavor. Bibi Ayesha, daughter of Abu Bakr and wife of the Prophet, is recognized for the sharpness of her intellect, Bibi Fatma, the daughter of the prophet often took part in discussion regarding the education and the caliphate but in the present condition illiteracy among women is due to the fact that they are ignorant of their rights and men being callous choose to keep them ignorant. No nation can march forward towards the goal of development if its women are lagging behind in the area of education, she said.

From the financial point of view women enjoy the same benefits as men and they may, if they feel so, follow any respectable profession as men do. Women took part in national activities, acted as advisers and joined in congregational prayers in the mosque in the time of the Prophet, she said.

She also said that just as the Quran has given the man right to divorce in a similar manner it has given the woman the right to Khula. If the wife feels that the marriage is not fulfilling the covenants of Allah, then by mutual agreement, Khula can be effected. If in order to rid herself of her husband, she forgives a portion or all of her mehr and as a consequence the husband agrees to the talaq there is no harm in her doing so, she said.

She lamented that there is a general stereotype that certain principles and norms of Islam are primarily responsible for backwardness of women. But there is no theoretical and empirical proof for this belief so we can say that Islam does not give unequal status to women but there is a wide gap between the Quranic teachings and our social practices, she remarked.

Seminar on the United Nations

24th of October is observed the world-over as the ‘United Nations Day’, for the world body was instituted on this day. The Aligarh Chapter observed the U.N. Day by organizing a seminar on the ‘Achievements and Failures of the United Nations’.

The proceedings of the seminar were initiated by Mr. Muhibul Haque, who with his usual eloquence, pointed out the rising global trend towards unilateralism. Mr. Haque also paid his respects to Prof. Edward Said who died recently.

The paper on “Peace-Policies of the U.N. and Future Threat-Perception” was presented by Mr. Izhar Ahmad, a student of B.A. (1st Year), English (Honours), AMU. He delved into the role of U.N. in the maintenance of global peace and security in order to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war” and the various policies underlying its actions over the past 58 years in various forms and manifestations. He maintained that during the initial stages, the U.N. was unable to achieve the desired success as “collective security” and “peace enforcement” – these two cornerstones of U.N. peace policy were rendered useless because of the differences among the permanent members of the Security Council. He emphasized that “collective security” and “peace enforcement” were mutually dependent and not mutually exclusive. The differences in the Security Council led to more than 100 vetoes being cast till 1990. Unfortunately, since the creation of the U.N. till 1990, over 20 major conflicts around the world left millions of people dead. However, with the passage of time, the UN invented the concept of ‘peace keeping operations’ which has brought a certain degree of stability to international peace and security. Till 1996, approximately 26 peace-keeping operations have been undertaken where an estimated 5,28,000 military, police and civil personnel served under the U.N. flag. If we cast our eye back to the way the world has changed, specially in the later half of the 20th century decolonisation, break up of the Soviet Union, the emergence of regional power, the rapid spread of sophisticated military technology – it is striking that these developments, all of which could have triggered major wars, passed to a peaceful transition. Mr. Izhar Ahmad showed that on one hand we have spent $ 9 billion for the UN peace-keeping operations till date, but on the other is the Global Defence Expenditure (GDE) which at the end of 1996 stood at $ 1 trillion per year. So we are confronted with a situation where we had spent $ 9 billion over the last 50 years or so, far causes of peace, compared to $ 1 trillion per annum i.e. $ 2 million per minute that we spent for causes of aggression and war. Hence, today this hydra-headed monster of terrorism is spreading its tentacles to every nook and corner of the globe. Since UN’s creation, states have generally sought to deal with broader threats to international peace through containment and deterrence based on the principles of collective security and UN charter (Article 51 to be precise). But some states have started adopting the ‘theory of pre-emptive strikes’, without waiting for agreement in the Security Council. Thus, this theory represents a fundamental challenge to the principles on which, however imperfectly, the world peace has rested for the last 58 years. If this theory gets legitimized, it will set precedents which will result in the proliferation of unilateral and lawless use of force, with or without justification.

Mr. Izhar Ahmad asked: ‘what is our aim?’ Is our aim to prevent war or pre-empt apparent threats? In Bush – speak, preemption mean taking action against some assumed catastrophe looming over the political horizon. But preventing war means taking some bold, resolute actions, stopping short of war, to try and remove the probable cause of belligerency. Thus, prevention has a lot more which is preferable to pre-emption. Why should we be choosing between inaction and intervention? Why should we be choosing between two systems of failure when we have a better option – the option of ‘aggressive peace-keeping’ which is an aspect of ‘coercive diplomacy’ rather than simply ‘peace-keeping’, which is an aspect of ‘preventive diplomacy’.

The second paper: “The UN and the Palestine Problem” was presented by Ms. Romana Yasmeen, a student of M.A. in Human Rights, AMU. She focused on the atrocities committed against innocent Palestinians by the Israeli armed forces. She showed how Ariel Sharon, an ex-commander of Israeli army, in connivance with US Government, has perpetrated heinous crimes against humanity by subjecting the Palestinians to an animal-like existence.

The third paper, “The UN and the Iraq Crisis” was presented by Mr. Abdullah Khan, a student of M.A. in Human Rights, AMU. He analysed the present situation in Iraq, as to how the coalition forces invaded Iraq on the false premise of “Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and subsequently transformed Iraq into a quagmire.

The fourth paper, “The UN and Women” was presented by Ms. Lubna Yusuf, who is pursuing her Ph.D. in the Department of Political Science, AMU. She discussed how the UN can further the cause of women’s liberation and gender-equality.

The effort of the students went down well with the audience. The audience also heard the experiences of Prof. Bijli who analysed the role of UN in various forms and manifestations, in an extremely pragmatic way.

PATNA CHAPTER

Lecture on Family Background Factors in Mentally Retarded Children

Dr. M.H. Khan, lecturer at Indian Institute of Health Education and Research, Beur, Patna delivered a lecture on “Family Background Factors in Mentally Retarded Children” Dr. M.A. Quddus, co-ordinator, IOS Patna Chapter, while welcoming the guest speaker and the invitees, highlighted the role of the Institute of Objective Studies, New Delhi in ameliorating the conditions of the people placed in disadvantageous positions in life through study and research of their problems. The topic “Family Background Factors in Mentally Retarded Children” for the discussion shows our concern for the sufferings of the humanity, he said. Dr. M.T. Khan presided over the programme.

Mental retardation is perhaps the greatest single source of human suffering. The child born mentally retarded is not only a tragic human figure in himself living yet not alive but he is the innocent agent of profound and endless suffering to his family and a burden on his society. broken homes, brutal discipline, low socio-economic status and faulty relationship with the parents may contribute to mental retardation.

According to the learned speaker mental retardation refers to significantly sub-average general intellectual functioning resulting in or associated with concurrent impairment in adaptive behaviour and manifested during the development period. There are different methods of classification of mental retardation. They are medical, psychological and educational. The medical classification is based on the causes such as infection and intoxications, trauma/physical agent, metabolism or Nutrition, gross brain disease, unknown pre-natal influence etc. The psychological classification, based on the level of intelligence, includes mild mental retarded, moderate retarded, severe retarded, profound retarded. The educational classification, based on the current level of functioning of the mentally retarded persons, includes educable, trainable and custodial.

The learned speaker pointed out that most of the retarded children are of low economic status. The fathers of such children belong to low income group working as Clerks, unskilled workers, unorganised self-employed persons etc. The speaker made another revelation that birth order may also be a cause for mental retardation in children. On the basis of his research the data revealed that high frequency of mental retardation is found in the first born children and the next higher frequency is found in the second birth. Further shocks in the family such as step relations, neuroticism, division of family property are also very much related to the birth of retarded children.

Further marital adjustment of the parents also have deep impact on the possibility of children becoming retarded. Unhappiness in the family as a result of frequent quarrels even on petty things, false ego, injustice, bad habits of drinking/extra-marital relationship, indebtedness etc. make children retarded in course of time.

Most of the retarded belong to joint families and these joint families produce a gloomy picture.

The speaker while dwelling upon the suggestions for facing the situation by the unlucky parents having retarded children mentioned that it can’t be absolutely controlled except that such parents/guardians may develop a better understanding of the problems and boldly face it in a scientific manner. According to the learned speaker there are certain tips most useful to the parents of such children. Firstly parents must accept the fact of the presence of the retarded child in their home and instead of cursing fate, they must reconcile themselves to the situation with courage and determination. One must adopt an objective attitude instead of subjective one. Secondly, the parents must realize that the low mental level is inborn and cannot be much improved upon in its inherent capacity though utilising that limited capacity he/she can learn things at his/her own pace. Thirdly mentally retarded children are also human beings though they have low mental levels and surely they crave for love and affection which if denied shall lead to emotional problems such as temper tantrum, restlessness, rage and destructiveness. But there should not be too much affection and love either. Children should not be over protected or too much indulged in. There must be some firmness with sympathy in their training and a consistent rather than capriciously disciplinary attitude. Out of too much pity or compassion they should not be allowed everything nor should their every whim be satisfied. Otherwise they will be more crippled mentally and more difficulties will be created. Many behavioural problems are caused by such wrong handlings, said Dr. Khan.

Fourthly, parents should drop the misnomer that the future child born to them shall also be retarded and therefore they avoid sexual union also. Rather the fact is that mental retardation is not inherited from parents. Every child is the product of chance both with regard to the genetic constitution in the fertilized egg cell and conditions under which it develops in the intrauterine life and later, said the speaker.

Fifthly, if possible the parents should send their retarded children to specialized institutions or asylum for their training and education. They should be more realistic and less sentimental in the matter. The deficient child does not understand the difference between a home and an asylum and so to him it is not much gain in living in the home whereas there is much gain for others in making him live in training centres, he said.

Sixth, the aware parents particularly the mother who stays at home mostly can do a lot in helping the retarded child of special category to learn some good habits to enable him to look after himself.

Seventh, mentally handicapped children will not learn much of abstract things as their mind is so constituted that only concrete things are easily grasped. They are not fit for theoretical academic learning. Their education is to be essentially for vocational purpose. Apart from experience of things around them what they need is more practical skill.

Eighth, for motor control and muscular coordination some physical exercises can be done with skipping roper, wooden ladder, stair cases, balancing poles, crossbars, spring board etc. For allowing free movements within the house there should not be too much furniture as these children are often restless/destructive and may damage costly and decorative things.

Nineth, such children should be taken as often as possible to various places of interest and be encouraged to ask questions about things they see there and thus help to increase their vocabulary, experience and power of observation and reproduction.

CHENNAI CHAPTER

Lecture on Uniform Civil Code

The Chennai Chapter organized a lecture on Uniform Civil Code on Thursday, the 23rd of October 2003 at 6.30 p.m. The programme started with recitation from the Holy Qur’an by Moulana Fayaz Alam Sahib. The lecture was delivered by one of the senior advocates of Madras High Court and former professor of the Madras Law College Janab H.M. Abdul Kalam. The Coordinator welcomed the speaker and the audience.

The lecture was very useful and informative and was followed by a lively discussion and a question and answer session. The speaker explained that the issue of uniform civil code is part of the directive principles of the constitution and cannot be imposed as a law. That is the reason why some sections are calling for the legislation or enacting a law in the parliament so that it becomes a law, which can be enforced.

All religious communities have their own laws which are customary with regard to their personal life, marriages, inheritance etc. and that are based on their religious rites and obligations and they cannot be replaced by a common law. What the Supreme Court judge has done is a suggestion to the government as already done on a number of occasions earlier, but there are practical difficulties in enforcing this.

But as far as the Muslims are concerned, the speaker explained that all that the Muslims have as the personal laws are not mere social customs but these are enjoined in the Holy Qur’an and the Shariah laws are based on these injunctions from Allah and no one has any right to change or modify them. The Shariah laws are compatible for all times to come and whatever may be the needs of the society, they can be regulated based on the Principles laid down in the Holy Qur’an for the benefit of the mankind as a whole, he said.

Moreover, the uniform civil code has not been properly defined and how it can be implemented is a great question in itself. The religious laws are sacred for the respective religions and they cannot be imposed on other religions nor can be replaced by social laws that do not satisfy the religious obligations of these religions. India as a nation of diversity in terms of its many religious communities, upholding secularism, cannot be governed by such laws, which can satisfy only one section of the citizens.