Influence of Gandhi’s Philosophy of Non-Violence on Maulana Azad

Influence of Gandhi’s Philosophy of Non-Violence on Maulana Azad

Reading Hayat Alvi’s Nonviolent Activism in Islam: Message of Abul Kalam Azad (2021) The 20th century has seen a number of thinkers/ leaders who influenced not only their native people but made an imprint globally as well. In India, too, a number of personalities belonging to various religions/ religious beliefs appeared on the scene and […]

In the light of life’s darkness

In the light of life’s darkness

Be like the moon: cherish your solitude, illumine and overwhelm the darkness of your life It has been a while now since I ceased writing, to myself and to people. It is not that the words are gone or the stories have ended. No, life is still the same. It is my soul and psyche […]

To sustain your existence, adopt sustainable practices

To sustain your existence, adopt sustainable practices

Ninety-seven years after a devastating nuclear apocalypse wipes out almost all life on Earth, thousands of people now live in a space station orbiting Earth, which they call the ‘Ark’. Three generations have been born in space. Still, when life-support systems on the ‘Ark’ begin to fail, one hundred juvenile detainees are sent to Earth […]

Lumpy Skin Disease: Managing the threat

Lumpy Skin Disease: Managing the threat

Just as the country was recovering from corona virus that devastated millions of human lives all across the globe, another virus has emerged. This time the virus is not threatening human beings but the livestock. The deadly virus has been the cause of Lumpy Skin Disease that has created havoc in India and its neighbouring […]

The change in America’s South Asia strategy

The change in America’s South Asia strategy

The turf-war of international world powers, the US on one hand and the Sino-Russian interests on the other, has been ploughing Pakistan into chaos, political anarchy and intractable economic instability over the past several months. The US seemed to have succeeded in taking Islamabad’s control via regime change operation in April this year, frustrating Xi […]

How Sogam (Lolab), and the world, has changed

How Sogam (Lolab), and the world, has changed

Some days back, I was having a casual conversation with my father. He was telling me about our village Sogam and how it looked like some twenty or thirty years ago. Sogam is one of the largest villages in the Lolab valley of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district. My father told me that there was a […]

The Idea of One India, One Entrance Exam

The Idea of One India, One Entrance Exam

The University Grants Commission is in the process of initiating a case study for merging India’s premier undergraduate entrance tests such as JEE, NEET and CUET into a single entity to be administered by the NTA (National Testing Agency). This proposal is going to benefit millions of professional and university college admission seekers and aspirants […]

On the Death of Rayan Suliman and His Fear of Monsters

On the Death of Rayan Suliman and His Fear of Monsters

Children of my Gaza refugee camp were rarely afraid of monsters but of Israeli soldiers. This is all that we talked about before going to bed. Unlike imaginary monsters in the closet or under the bed, Israeli soldiers are real, and they could show up any minute – at the door, on the roof or, […]

Reading Sir Sayyid on Science-Religion Compatibility through the Prism of Tradition-Modernity Balance

Reading Sir Sayyid on Science-Religion Compatibility through the Prism of Tradition-Modernity Balance

Emphasising a ‘rationalist’ approach to Islam and to religious matters, Sir Sayyid believed that there is no contradiction between Word of God (Qur’an) and Work of God (Nature) Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan (1817-1898) was a multi-dimensional personality: a pioneer of Islamic modernism, educational and political activist, theologian, journalist, and the chief organiser of 19th-century Islamic […]

Gulf between youth and politics

Gulf between youth and politics

India, the world’s largest democracy, also has the world’s largest national population of youth. Yet, most young people do not view politics and India’s politicians positively, with adjectives like corrupt, dirty, and complicated used to describe their opinions on Indian politics. Albert O Hirschman, an economist and Nobel laureate, in his book “Exit, Voice, and […]