India Tomorrow
NEW DELHI—Expressing serious concern over increasing incidents of hate, Jamaat-e-Islami Hin (JIH) has said that the attitude of the government towards hate speech is “disappointing and discriminatory.” The JIH is one of the biggest socio-religious organizations of Indian Muslims.
JIH national vice-president Prof. Mohammad Salim Engineer, addressing media persons here on November 5, pointed out that the incidents of hate speech had not stopped despite severe criticism about hate speech in the country.
He alleged that leaders of the ruling party and their elected representatives were involved in making hate speeches in the national capital itself. The silence of the government on it gave the impression that it was being undertaken under a planned strategy. Experience showed that such events were orchestrated for political gains during elections.
The JIH leader fully endorsed the recent remarks on hate speech made by a Supreme Court bench comprising justices KM Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy. The bench directed the police not to wait for complaints to act against the hate speech. The bench also remarked that any “hesitation to comply with the direction would attract proceedings for contempt of court against the erring officers.”
He said that now the onus was on the government and the police to implement the SC directives and ensure that there was zero tolerance to hate speech.
Prof. Salim appealed to the Election Commission of India to initiate legal action against elected representatives indulging in making hate speeches.
Civil society, he said, must also play its part in monitoring and opposing hate speeches and creating awareness regarding the ill effects of communalism and violence on social unity and communal harmony.
Newly-Released National Curriculum Framework needs to be inclusive
JIH education and media secretary Syed Tanveer Ahmed, speaking on the occasion, said that the Markazi Taleemi Board (MTB) of the JIH planned to submit a detailed recommendation to the Ministry of Education about the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) released recently. He felt that the NCF appeared to be inadequate.
As a part of the New Education Policy 2020, the NCF has been prepared by the Ministry of Education and the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to bring about a paradigm shift in education with a focus on the holistic development of children, emphasis on skilling, vital role of teachers, learning in the mother tongue and cultural rootedness.
An educational expert, Mr. Ahmed welcomed the documents of the NCF but said that the NCF documents needed to be made more “inclusive, socially just and substantially reflective of shared, consensual constitutional values which are truly inclusive of all communities and learners of all backgrounds.”
He said the second concern about the NCF was about the “quality and transparency of the consultative process that preceded the framing of the NCF.”
He said that the NCF 2022 did not follow the precedent of in-depth consultative meetings over multiple rounds.
Mr. Ahmed said that the NCF 2020 spoke extensively of Indian knowledge and Indian values, including examples of visionary educators in Indian history. However, Mr. Ahmed wanted that the NCF must also include a broad range of Indian traditions and educational customs that were truly representative, a concern that was expressed in the NEP 2020 document as well.
