Letters

A collection of some of my letters published in the national daily The Hindu.

Farm Loan Waiver

Sir,

It doesn’t seem to be good practice to pit the ‘honest taxpayer’ and the farmers against each other. The farmer too is an integral part of the society and he has every right to start his financials on a clean slate. That the farm loan waivers coincides with the World Development Report warning that the sector must be placed at the centre of the development agenda in developing countries is indeed heartening. It should also however be borne in mind that according to the expert group study findings of the central government, indebtedness is not the root cause of farmers suicides. It’s a collective effect of spiraling costs, infrastructural bottlenecks and institutional vacuum. Apart from waiving off loans, more need to be spend on farmers’ health insurance, rural infrastructure development and better implementation of relief packages. Moreover, the farmers must be encouraged to inculcate among them, a positive repayment culture.

Yours Truly, Thamim Muhamed Ashraf.

On Islamophobes

Sir,

The editorial “who needs Islamaphobes” beyond doubt proves that much of all the damage to Islam is from its “staunch” followers and is a pertinent reminder to the  champions of  archaic interpretation of Islamic Jurisprudence, to understand the sharia better and implement it as envisioned by Prophet Muhammad. That these so called “custodians” of the religion has not only made practicing the religion difficult but also has warded off much of the scholarly interest in Islam, possibly due to the fear of handling the misplacedfatwas.

Islam, as a religion has always been modern in its outlook and gave the right of inheritance and divorce to women since its inception whereas the western world had to wait till the 18 ^th century for claiming such rights. But, thanks to the fanatics and their unbridled fervour for prehistoric ways, Islam has the most dismal human rights record in the recent past.

Unlike most religious figures, the life and times of the Prophet is recorded minutely, thanks to the relatively recent origin of Islam. The animal love of the Prophet, as rightly pointed out in the editorial, is quite evident in an instance in which he cuts off his shawl into two halves, so that he can carry off one half of it without disturbing his cat’s slumber on it.

Its imperative and one sincerely wishes so, that these hard-liners at-least once in their lifetime sit down and try to go through the teachings of the Prophet, the man whom Michael H Hart, the eminent American historian ranked as the most influential person in human history, much ahead of other greats like Sir Isaac Newton, Jesus Christ and Sri Buddha.

Yours Truly, Thamim Muhamed Ashraf.

 

Love and Lust

Sir,

The article “Relationships: Mistaking love for lust” (OP-ED July 15, 2010) comes as cold milk over boiling water for many distressed couples. When faced with difficulties in a married relation, taking the easier way out, by looking “out there” appears to be a convenient alternative, but it doesn’t permanently solve the underlying problem. The article gives precise direction for couples whose relationships have gone astray by encouraging ‘fight’ instead of ‘flight’ and has greater utility in this part of the world, where the social stigma associated with therapy prevents people from openly seeking professional help. While tackling the question of attitude change couples should keep in mind that self-efficacy or the belief that one can do it is the master-key to positive attitude change.

Yours Truly, Thamim Muhamed Ashraf. 

 

Closed Emotions

Sir,

The article “Closed emotions” (Open Page, March 9) makes interesting reading. It rightly points to the psychological nurturance need in all of us. Any association we develop with fellow human beings is to gratify this need. Unfortunately, the younger generation finds a world around it that places a premium on achievement over anything else. In such a world, the desire to do more than one can do is high and the race is on where position and money are prioritised. Blog sites and social networking sites are nothing but an effort by individuals to achieve the cathartic release of emotional pains.

Yours Truly, Thamim Muhamed Ashraf.

Humour and Heresy

Sir,

Mr.Thampu’s efforts to pass off Mr.Tharoor’s remarks as good humour looks more like an endorsement of the minister’s alleged stephanian elitism than an honest appreciation of humour in governance. His contention that people should learn to laugh at themselves may work in a relatively homgeneous society but in a country like ours that is more diverse than the entire europe, its hard to expect the sensitivites to match up . A seasoned politician who’s worked with the masses would be careful enough not to make such a random remark  that’s capable of snowballing into an issue of this proportion. The former UN under-secretary general need to tweak his political instincts to make sure that he doesnt look like a misfit in the political arena.

As much as its true that the entire issue has been blown out of proportion, one cannot ignore the fact that there is a difference between Mr.Tharoor  ‘ tweeting’ in his personal capacity and as a people’s representative. Through his brilliant play of words, he claims he was referring more to the airlines that herds people as cattle. It falls short of common logic and lexicon of class definitions. A person is referred to as “middle class” because he belongs to that class. Not because someone else put him in there. The same logic can be applied to Mr.Tharoor’s use of cattle class. If the support for the minister on the social networking site is taken as an indicator for the lack of resentment about his remarks, I believe it’s a grossly misplaced notion, as its nothing but a generation’s sub-conscious admiration for a net-savvy politician, unheard of before in political circles.

Yours Truly, Thamim Muhamed Ashraf.