HOME | ABOUT US | Speaker | Americans Together | Videos | www.CenterforPluralism.com | Please note that the blog posts include my own articles plus selected articles critical to India's cohesive functioning. My articles are exclusively published at www.TheGhouseDiary.com You can send an email to: MikeGhouseforIndia@gmail.com


Monday, February 17, 2014

Rajiv Malhotra counters Wendy Doniger's book on Hinduism

RAJIV - REDIFF INTERVIEW AND YOUR ARTICLE ( Below)

The best way to combat anything in life is to produce a better product. Rajiv Malhotra has done that, I am glad to read both sides of the issues – that’s what ups us to see things rationally. I watched the Video, it is good as well. Indeed, some of the references made were not there either.

This was done to Quran as well in 1142 AD – the Europeans deliberately mistranslated the Quran – to paint it in bad light. It was to cause Christian subjects to hate Islam and Muslims. All the European and American scholars of Islam base their knowledge on that mistranslated book. Unfortunately, even a Muslim has mistranslated it to do the opposite.
All of this is being picked up in the last ten years, I have done quite a lot of work on it and more needs to be done to undo the damage done.

We will be launching “Journal of Pluralism” to set a few things right, we will publish both sides of the issue, if there is a controversy.

However, the ban on the Hindu book by Wendy Doniger and Satanic Verse by Salman Rushdie are wrong. The right thing to do is publish a counter book – as is done by Rajiv Malhotra.

The real issue is freedom of press. No matter how bad and ugly it is, freedom is the right way to guard all in the end. I have opposed any censorship of freedom of expression. If we introduce discretion, then it will create more problems.
Thank you
mike
Mike Ghouse
(214) 325-1916 text/talk
...............................................................................................................................
Mike Ghouse is a speaker, thinker and a writer on pluralism
, politics, peace, Islam, Israel, India, interfaith, and cohesion at work place. He is committed to building a Cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day at www.TheGhousediary.com. He believes in Standing up for others and a book with the same title is coming up. Mike has a strong presence on national and local TV, Radio and Print Media. He is a frequent guest on Sean Hannity show on Fox TV, and a commentator on national radio networks, he contributes weekly to the Texas Faith Column at Dallas Morning News; fortnightly at Huffington post; and several other periodicals across the world. His personal site www.MikeGhouse.net indexes all his work through many links. 

Interview on Penguin's controversial book withdrawal



Most of you know of the recent media controversy over Penguin's decision to withdraw Wendy Doniger's book, "The Hindus". Almost daily there have been extensive TV and major print media discusions in India. In the USA, NPR, CNN, New York Times, New Yorker and various other media majors have featured this story in a big way.

Rediff recently interviewed me because I was the one who first started this debate around the year 2000 in a series of articles. (Article-1. Article-2)

Soon after my initial articles, Wendy Doniger's own University of Chicago Magazine interviewed me and did a large and balanced coverage. It was their leading story. (Read)

The debate quickly ignited the Indian diaspora and the American academy for a few years, with numerous mobilizations and accusations from both sides. This fight was one of the defining moments in the awakening of Hindu thinkers about the way their discourse was controlled and distorted by others. The academic study of Hinduism has not been the same since.

The drama quickly intensified. With the help of her hordes of powerfully placed students, Doniger fought back furiously. She arranged a front page article in the Washington Post and another feature article in the New York Times. Unlike the magazine of her university, these were PR jobs tilted in her favor.

The theater widened across the academic and litarary circles of Europe, North America and India. More players join in on both sides.

Martha Nussbaum, the prominent feminist and University of Chicago colleague of Doniger, wrote a scathing book against Hindus with a whole chapter dedicated to me - without bothering to interview me even though that was suggested to her. She and Doniger have consistently ignored my requets for a live debate in public.

In response to what I felt was a one-sided portrayal of the events, I compiled a new book, titled, Invading the Sacred: An Analysis of Hinduism Studies in America", and it was published in 2007. Its launch video gives a good idea of our side of the story. (Video) And so does its web site.

The fallout of all this was very significant:
  1. Wendy Doniger lost her clout in the American academy, and being on the defensive, she lost most of the students who earlier thronged at her doorstep for PhDs in Hinduism.
  2. The American academy made numerous changes (still not enough) to become sensitive to Hindus' views concerning Hinduism, or at least these academics become less blatant in their denigration of Hinduism.
  3. The most significant change was that there emerged a new appreciation among Hindus and a new mobilization of their leaders. It became widely accepted that it was a bad idea to outsource the study of our tradition to scholars whose lenses  were programmed with Judeo-Christian and Marxist premises. In fact, no other major world faith is studied by outsiders with the same authority and power as Hinduism is.
A brilliant compilation of these debates and controversies has recently been turned into a web site for those who want to get an good overview. (Read)

Meanwhile, I moved on to many other projects of research and publishing, pretty much forgetting Wendy Doniger as a closed chapter. But the story does not end here.

Some years back, Doniger struck a new alliance to help her make a dramatic comeback: She positioned herself with the Indian Left as their "expert on criticizing Hinduism". Since Indian secularists are uneducated in Sanskrit and only superficially informed about religious studies, Doniger was a useful ally to supply them "masala" which they could use.

In turn, the well-connected Indian secularist/leftist media and writers helped reposition Doniger in India as a great authority on Hinduism. Soon she was winning awards in India, even though back home in USA her own academic colleagues had distanced themselves because she was seen as a tained scholar with a bad reputation.

Then yet another new chapter began. Some Hindus in India decided to contest her relatively recent book. They filed a lawsuit in Delhi alleging that it was biased and insulting to Hindus.

After four years, an out of court settlement was recently reached under which Penguin agreed to withdraw the book from India. But the terms agreed to, do not ban electronic copies or foreign editions from being sold in India. Doniger's massive PR machinery went to work overtime to put the matter into the limelight. The largely ignorant Indian media and its love for sensationalism served her needs. As a result, her book is once againt selling in India even though the Indian edition is withdrawn.

Bottom line: I have mixed feelings about the effectiveness of the litigation and settlement. My own approach had been entirely through a scholarly debate. This takes a lot more hard work, rigor and creativity. Undoubtedly Doniger and her followers had retreated. But now she has made a comeback, ironically using the withdrawal of her book, to position herself as a victim.

The recent interview appearing in Rediff.com is the first time I have spoken on this  development over the past month. I wish to give my 15 years of perspective on this issue.

I hope you will read it with an open mind and form your own views.

Regards,
Rajiv

 





Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Wendy Doniger's book on Hinduism

The Right wing Muslims made such a fuss about Salman Rushdie, most of them did not even read the book Satanic Verses, or even know that it was in English. Now the Right wing Hindus are doing the same; set to destroy the book written by Wendy Doniger on Hinduism.

As I have written before - criticism of Prophet, Quran and Islam will not make them disappear, I will repeat Criticism of Hinduism will not make Hinduism disappear either.

We should stand up for freedom of speech, press and religion. Let everyone eat, drink, breathe, wear or believe whatever the hell they want to believe - but not push others to conform to their beliefs. 

The best chioce would be to write another book, a better book as an alternative to show the other book was wrong.

Mike Ghouse
www.MikeGhouse.net
 


Pulping Doniger Can Put Penguin in Peril
http://kafila.org/2014/02/12/pulping-doniger-can-put-penguin-in-peril-3/

February 12, 2014

tags: Dina Nath Batra, Penguin Books, The Hindus, Wendy Doniger

by Shuddhabrata Sengupta   
.
It was with great anger and sadness that many readers in India heard yesterday of Penguin Books India’s decision to enter into an out-of-court settlement with a group of busy-bodies led by one Dina Nath Batra of the so called ‘Shiksha Bachao Andolan’ (Save Education Movement) – one of the many poisonous heads of the RSS hydra – to recall and pulp all extant copies of Wendy Doniger’s ”The Hindus: An Alternative History” (Penguin India, 2009).

Dina Nath Batra (infamous for leading the campaign that led to the withdrawal of A.K. Ramanujan’s essay on the Ramayana from the Delhi University syllabus) and others, through their advocate, one Monika Arora, had filed a suit in a Saket, New Delhi against Wendy Doniger (whom they address, as ‘You, Noticee’) and Penguin Books on the grounds that Doniger’s book offends their religious sentiments.

As of now, the court has neither pronounced a verdict in the matter, nor has the trial been widely reported in the media. We do not even know whether the judge district court has made any pronouncements during the course of the trial. If he or she has indeed passed a prohibitory order, then the thing to do would be to immediately challenge such an order in a higher court. The book has neither been banned, nor censored, nor proscribed by any authority in this country. (And were it to be banned, proscribed or censored, in any manner, it would also amount to a serious blow to the freedom of expression and enquiry, that would need to be rigorously challenged on its own terms, but that, in fact, is not yet the case.)

What we do know is that Dina Nath Batra, represented by advocate Monika Arora, had sent Wendy Doniger, Penguin Books USA and Penguin Books India a legal notice on the 3rd of February, 2010. This legal notice is available on the website of the Shiksha Bachao Andolan and contains the following gems :


That the entire list of the books authored by YOU NOTICEE shows that YOU NOTICEE   concentrate, focus and write on the negative aspects and evil practices prevalent in Hinduism. That the words used by YOU NOTICEE for referring to various Hindu Gods are highly objectionable.

…the approach of YOU NOTICEE has been jaundiced, your approach is that of a woman hungry of sex.

…That YOU NOTICEE at page 667 have denigrated Ramayana too and have stated  that political use of Ramayana is to make India free of Muslims and Christians and any Others. That YOU NOTICEE have further written that:

“Repressive telling of the myth use the mythological moment of Ram-raj [Rama’s reign] as an imagined India that is free of Muslims and Christians and any others, in the hope of restoring India to the Edenic moment of the Ramayana.”

That YOU NOTICEE has hurt the religious feelings of millions of Hindus by declaring that Ramayana is a fiction.

“Placing the Ramayan in its historical contexts demonstrates that it is a work of fiction, created by human authors, who lived at various times……….” (P.662)

This breaches section 295A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

That YOU NOTICEE- the author, the University and the Publisher (Penguin, USA and Penguin, India) should be concerned that they are creating and spreading pornographic and hate literature while defaming the Hindus and Hinduism.

That the University of Chicago should be aware and cautions in allowing an author to spread pornography and hate literature in the University. The author, University and the Publisher alike are accountable to the law as well as to the Society. This book is a disgrace on the academic reputation of the University of Chicago.

That YOU NOTICEEs by the aforesaid book have intended to cause fear and alarm among the Hindus that their religion and religious beliefs are not safe any more and can be trampled with and denigrated, distorted & insulted and hence  you have intended to induce and incite them to commit offences against the State and against Public Tranquility.

The legal notice cherry picks fragments and passages from the book, (all of which are backed by authoritative textual citation by Wendy Doniger) to try and foist as valid its own simple minded and puritanical interpretation of the Hindu canon on those who have read or might yet want to read the book. As someone who has deeply enjoyed reading this book, it does not bother me at all that some imbeciles might have one or several bones to pick with it. What bothers me is that they are using a language of threat to prevent other readers who might want to read the book from accessing it.

Even a cursory reading of the language of this legal notice would demonstrate that it is neither backed by scholarly understanding, nor by common sense, and that all that it stands on is the implicit threat contained in the last extract – that if the author and the publishers do not give in to their disgusting demands, the people that  Shiksha Bachao Andolan defines as ‘Hindus’ will “commit offences against the State and against Public Tranquility”.

In other words, Dina Nath Batra is saying to Doniger and Penguin something that simply amounts to “Withdraw the Book, or else face the consequences of OUR criminal misconduct.” Which definition of the rule of law would ever take such a low threat seriously ?

And yet, Penguin Books has found it fit to (surreptitiously) crawl and obey the purely fascist and criminal diktat of the so called Shiksha Bachao Andolan. Whatever compulsions Penguin Books may offer in defense of its disgusting behavior, there can be no denying the fact that their action is an affront and insult to their readers and constitutes, in itself, a serious assault on the freedom of expression, scholarship and enquiry in this country.

Readers also have sentiments, and our sentiments can also be hurt, and we too can mobilize on the basis of the injury we perceive to our consciousness and intelligence. We can do so without threatening to commit crimes. Perhaps it is time we did this with as much passion as our adversaries, who generally tend to be men of faith (of all faiths, as is evident from the fact that the animus of Hindu fundamentalists against Wendy Doniger is no different from the prejudice by Muslim fundamentalists against Salman Rushdie or Taslima Nasreen). But what publishers who kow tow to the demands of fundamentalist goons forget is that for us readers too, there are some things that are sacred. One of the things that is sacred to me, for instance, is the right to read a book, any book, undisturbed by busybodies, particularly those infected by the halitosis of religious zeal. If you do not like a book, or an author, by all means write and publish your own tract against it, and shout as loud as you like from your pulpit, but do not dare to take away from me my right to read what I want to.

I particularly like reading books about religion and sacred traditions. All religions, all traditions. Because, despite being an unbeliever, I find a great deal to recommend in taking religion, religious behavior, religious texts and myth seriously as a source of understanding the nature of our histories, cultures and the fabric of our social life. One of my favorite authors when it comes to books about religion and myth , particularly about the religion and beliefs of some of my ancestors, is the Mircea Eliade Professor of Religion at Chicago University, Wendy Doniger. I have a steadily growing collection of her writing, within which, her magisterial book ‘The Hindus: An Alternative History’ is in some ways the centre-piece. I turn to its more than seven hundred pages often in my effort to understand the world in which I live, and the traditions that I usually resist, sometimes admire for their poetic grandeur and visionary majesty, and that often try to lay claim on me.

I have recently been trying, for instance, to spend some time in trying to understand what appears to be the sudden upsurge of racism in our society. First a racist Minister in Delhi’s AAP government leads an attack on African women, and then we witness what seems to be a cascading series of assaults on young people from the North East in Delhi. Is this a new phenomenon, or does it point to the persistence of something far more disturbing?

In this case, reading Doniger’s “The Hindus: An Alternative History” has been helpful to me in thinking about some of the sources of racial prejudice in our society. (Just as it has been helpful to me in thinking, in completely different ways  and in other contexts, about how the relationship between say, human beings and nature, especially animals, or between the rigor-mortis of rules and the life-breath of contingencies, has been expressed by some of the many Hindu traditions that Doniger cites and encounters with abundant attention and affection.)

But let us return, momentarily to the question of racism, the color line, and aspects of the broad Hindu canon and see whether a book that is rich in detail about things written and thought of hundreds of years ago can still be of contemporary relevance.  Here is an extended quotation (pgs. 286-287) from ‘Dharma in the Mahabharata’ – the 11th Chapter in the roughly 780 page long manuscript of ‘The Hindus” An Alternative History’. Here are Doniger’s own words, which I offer for your consideration as an example of her scholarship, and her method.


The Mahabharata both challenges and justifies the entire class structure. The word for “class” (varna) here begins to draw upon the meaning of “color”. In the course of one of the long discussions of dharma, one sage says to another, “Brahmins are fair (white), Kshatriyas ruddy (red), Vaishyas sallow (yellow) and Shudras dark (black).” The adjectives can denote either skin color or the four primary colours that are symbolically associated with the four classes as well as with the tree qualities of matter plus yellow (saffron? ocher?) for the transcendent fourth of spirit. IN one passage, someone asks a series of questions that show us something of the perceived need, at this time, newly to justify the (mis) treatment of the lower classes:

The Origin of Class Colors

“If different cools distinguish classes among the four classes, how is it that there is a mixture of colors in all classes? Desire, anger, fear, greed, sorrow, worry, hunger and exhaustion affect all of us. How then are the classes distinguished? Sweat, urine, feces, phlegm, mucus and blood flow out of all out bodies. How then are the classes distinguished? And how can you tell one class  from another among all the species (sati) of the countless creatures, moving and still, that have such various colors?” The sage replied: “Actually, there is no difference between the classes; the whole universe is made of brahman. But when the creator emitted it long ago, action/karmas divided it into classes. Those Brahmins who were fond of enjoying pleasures, quick to anger and impetuous in their affections abandoned their own dharmas and became Kshatriyas, with red bodies. Those who took up herding cattle and engaged in plowing, and did not follow their own dharmas, became yellow Vaishyas. And those who were greedy and fond of violence (hinsa) and lies, living on all sorts of activities, fallen from purity, became black Shudras. And that’s how these actions/karmas split off the Brahmans into a different class, for there were never any interruption of their dharma and their sacrificial rituals (12.181.5-14).

The implication is that in the beginning, everyone had not only the same general makeup (the Shylock argument: Cut us and we bleed) and the same general dharma of good behavior, but the same sva-dharma, “one’s own dharma,” the particular dharma of each class (and later, each caste), and tha the primeval sva-dharma was the sva-dharma of the Brahmins: maintaining dharma and sacrificial rituals. But then each of the other classes voluntarily took up other activities – the Kshatriyas indulged in pleasure and anger (a contradiction of the earlier statement that we all share these emotions), the Vaishyas in commerce and the Shudras in violent and unclean professions – leaving the Brahmins alone in possession of their original dharma that had been meant for everyone, that had been intended as, in effect, the common (sadharana) dharma.

Krishan’s declaration to Arjuna in the Gita that “it is better to do your own duty poorly than another’s well”, ( echoed in Manu [10.97] ) ignored the fact that Arjuna’s own duty as a warrior would forever doom him to relative inferiority vis-a-vis Brahmins whose sva-dharma just happened to conform with the universal dharma that dictated non-violence. Here is the catch-22 that Manu perpetuates: the hierarchically superior prototype is also the generalizable archetype. Although, in reality, power was largely in the hands of the rulers, the Brahmin imaginary relegated the violent ruler to a place inferior to that of the nonviolent prototype – the Brahmin.

The conversation about the colors thus brings the argument about equality into the open – where it must have been at this time, when various social barriers were being challenged – but the old argument from creation comes to the rescue, and thus the class differences are affirmed in new ways. Now the class system is not created ab initio, by the gods, as in the Vedic “Poem of the Primeveal Man” ; now it results from bad karmic choices of the classes themselves. Its their own damn fault. This is a major transition from authoritative decree to apologia.


The NISHADS

The four classes were the central concern of a broader social agenda that included (by excluding) both Pariahs (even lower than the Shudras) and tribal people, epitomized by the Nishads. A typically cold-blooded disregard for the Nishads is evident in a story told early in the Mahabharata.

The House of Lac

When the Pandavas were still young, and living with their mother, Kunti, their enemies tricked them into staying in a highly combustible house made of lac (a kind of natural resin ) which they intended to burn. Yudhishthira decided that they should put six people in the house, set fire to it, and escape. Kunti held a feast to which she invited a hungry Nishad woman and her five sons. The Nishadas got drunk and remained after the other guests had left; the Pandavas set fire to the house and escaped, and when the townspeople found the charred remains of the innocent Nishada woman and her five sons, they assumed that the Pandavas were dead (1.134-37)

Only the single word “innocent” (“without wrongdoing” [1.137.7] )suggests the slightest sympathy for the murdered Nishadas. They are sacrificial substitutes, whom the author of the text treats as expendable because he regards them as subhuman beings. Perhaps their drunkenness (one of the four addictive vices of lust) is meant to justify their deaths.

I offer this lengthy quotation to the reader’s consideration in order to demonstrate how vital it is to undertake serious critical readings of traditional and faith inspired textual material. While contemporary racism in Indian society may have many reasons and causal factors, it cannot be denied that it ties into traditions that underpin caste, which in turn has a direct relationship with a reading of people’s bodies, of skin color and physiognomies in a ritualized setting. This is why, reading Doniger, and other scholars like her strikes me as a vital necessity. And it is this vital necessity, crucial for healthy discussion and debate in our society that Penguin India has just undermined with its totally unforgivable decision to pulp Doniger’s book.

Perhaps Penguin India believes that by acting as it has done, it has saved its property (material and intellectual) from damage by fascist thugs.  The people who man the legal and corporate benches in large publishing houses are usually idiots. Their decisions are rarely based on actual market research. They do not know the pulse of readers. They only pretend to do so, and they most certainly never read the books that they promote or suppress with their decisions. I know for a fact that they also habitually intimidate the smart people who actually commission books and do the hard work of real publishing.

I am sure the scenario in Penguin is not very different from what I have sketched out here. Some jackass on the legal and/or marketing/finance team that Penguin relies on has probably brokered an out of court settlement (which has no basis in law)  with a sleazy Hindu fundamentalist extortion racket. Consequently, an impeccably wise editorial decision (to publish Doniger in the first place) has had to take a beating. In all probability this has been done in the name of protecting the company’s best interests.

But what if, in effect, by doing this, Penguin India has just effectively made itself vulnerable to the possibility of a really damaging readers rebellion? Would that be in the company’s best interests?

What if I, and the countless others like me who love books, (especially Penguin books) and buy Penguin books, simply decide to no longer offer it our business?

What if, disgusted by Penguin’s decision to patronize mediocre chick-lit, inane self-help books and other banalities, and its disturbing willingness to crawl in front of fascist thugs when it comes to the matter of un-publishing the kind of titles that many of us have hitherto been loyal Penguin readers for, we simply refuse to buy any more Penguin titles, or buy far fewer than we would otherwise?

What if we, readers, persuade first class authors, new writers and scholars to simply no longer take their manuscripts to Penguin and its ancillaries?

What if an effective consumer boycott of Penguin India titles (that spreads virally through social media platforms) makes its business model falter, and ultimately crash ?

What if, instead of gate-crashing Penguin book launches, eager and really passionate readers simply desert and stop attending events organized by Penguin altogether ? What if reviewers began ignoring Penguin titles ? What if they began falling off best seller charts, and began being stocked on bottom shelves, and in the back of book stores ?

All of this could happen just as easily, and over a much longer period, (if even a few highly motivated readers with wide-spread social media influence got really angry) as the imagined harm that would occur if a few thugs were to gather in front of the Penguin India office and shout a few cheap slogans, and maybe smash a couple of windows before they were whisked off by a few police constables for tea and a few hours of detention (for breach of peace) to the Hauz Khas police station. And believe me, the consequences of prolonged (and exponentially scalable) reader and consumer apathy is far more damaging, fiscally speaking, than the possible cost of a few smashed windows.

If those who run Penguin India have not yet lost all their marbles, they can still argue their case against Dina Nath Batra in court, and prevail on the law to act against any attempt to intimidate all those who stand by the freedom of expression, scholarship and enquiry. Actually, it is really easy. All Penguin India needs to do straight away is to cancel their out of court settlement (which, as I have said already, has no legal basis, and is indefensible) and order an immediate reprint of Wendy Doniger’s ’The Hindus: An Alternative History’. If my estimate is correct, (and judging  by the increasing number of attempts to  download the book’s pdf’s) under the present circumstances, it would be an immediate best seller, and the smart people in editorial might still show the idiots in legal and marketing that they actually know what the business end of publishing really means.

Were this to happen, then Penguin India will have rightfully won their place in ‘Publishing: An Alternative History’. if on the other hand, good sense does not ultimately prevail, Penguin India may lose their market share and their claim to history. The choice is theirs. Dina Nath Batra will continue to peddle his hate and idiocy anyway, it is up to Penguin India to decide what it has on offer.

Monday, February 10, 2014

Delhi Government will fall if Lokpal bill is not passed - Kejriwal



Mahatma Gandhi, MLK, Mandela and others... have re-established the fact that when you are committed to serve with no personal gain, you will succeed.

Arvind Kejriwal will succeed, I have faith in his commitment, he has nothing to gain personally, but do good for Indians, the Aam Aadmi. 

The Lokpal bill will be introduced in the Assembly on 13th and will pass on 15th, and it requires 36 votes - with the original congress backing, it should pass. It may be a good idea for a few in BJP to cross the line to vote and let it pass with a super majority.

If it does not, then the Delhi Government will fall. Arvind says he is not in to be the CM or run the Government; he is in for the change and kill the Brhashtachar that has harmed our country and the common man on the street.  

I am concerned about Kejriwal and Modi - they are one man operations, without each one of them, neither AAP nor BJP will rise. Congress has a good functional system, if not Rahul there are plenty others. But again, all good things have started small and Kejriwal has a lot more to offer India - a stable society, I wish and hope he can do that in the few months he has left.  Kejriwal would be good if he can focus on developing systems... 

May be Delhi Government should fall, it will give a boost to Kejriwal to go national, but it is not in the interest of either BJP or Congress to fail Delhi.

God bless India.

I will quit if Jan Lokpal is not passed: Arvind Kejriwal to NDTV http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il6wSbiohCg

Mike Ghouse
www.MikeGhouse.net

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Is it Modi's fault or is it the system?

I am disappointed to know that Gujarat has flawed text books - is that the reason Modi is off with his comments on many a things including history. Is it his fault that he is misinformed or is it the school books he grew up with?  We need to check if it is across India or just Gujarat.

 Even here in the United States, the California school text books were flawed about India and many a people have worked on correcting it. The Texas Education board is filled with idiots who do not want evolution taught in schools. In Pakistan the school books have hatred for India. In Israel they actually have a board, but I think you read my story a while back - on the tour bus, the guide was saying things that were completely off, I corrected her and gave a talk and gave information later on in Hotel to fix it - she showed the books she was given - flawed! 

There is a need for a commission to inquire how the school books are written across the world. They are poisoning the future of the kids who study them. It will be a good job for some one to take this up, and I would have loved to do it,  but I am tied up with Pluralism - my life time commitment.

Does Modi need to take lessons in Geography, History, Culture and Hinduism?
Mike Ghouse

Japan nuked US in WWII, says history book for kids in Modi land

Move over Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's famous historical gaffes made in his speeches. Social Science English medium textbook for Standard 8 published by the Gujarat Council of Educational Research and Training (GCERT) is a mine of factual errors.
According to a report published in The Times of India, the textbook, being studied by more than 50,000 children in the English medium schools of Gujarat board, says Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated on October 30, 1948 (not January 30 of that year) and Japan nuked US during World War II (not the vice versa)!
The fact that drives the last nail into this coffin of history teaching is this: the book says after Partition in 1947, a new nation called 'Islamic Islamabad' was born with its capital at Khyber Ghat in the Hindukush mountains.
The news report claims that 124-page textbook has 59 shocking factual errors, not to count more than 100 spelling errors, including names of reformers and revolutionaries and their works.
The report quotes Nitin Pethani , executive president, Gujarat state board of school textbooks, as saying, "I have been told that there are many errors. We are trying to bring out an errors list and publish it on the internet. We cannot recall the books at this stage. But we give an assurance that we will correct the mistakes."


The fact that drives the last nail into this coffin of history teaching is this: the book says after Partition in 1947, a new nation called 'Islamic Islamabad' was born with its capital at Khyber Ghat in the Hindukush mountains.
The news report claims that 124-page textbook has 59 shocking factual errors, not to count more than 100 spelling errors, including names of reformers and revolutionaries and their works.
The report quotes Nitin Pethani , executive president, Gujarat state board of school textbooks, as saying, "I have been told that there are many errors. We are trying to bring out an errors list and publish it on the internet. We cannot recall the books at this stage. But we give an assurance that we will correct the mistakes."

Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/japan-nuked-us-in-wwii-says-history-book-for-kids-in-modi-land/1/342316.html

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Sante Chary and USA Delegation, AAPI meet the Indian President at the Rastrapathi Bhawan in Delhi

Sante Chary, a Healthcare entrepreneur and Hon  advisor to AAPI organized a delegation to meet the Indian President Pranab Mukherjee at the Rastrapathi Bhawan in Delhi.

Several topics were discussed about AAPI, US India Health care and AAPI's 17 free Charitable clinics in India.


Seen at the Picture is Dr. Jayesh Shah President of AAPI, Dr. Ravi Jahagirdhar President Elect of AAPI, Dr. Nandini Tandon  Chairwoman of a Silicon Valley Hospital and others
 

The President also signed the historic US India First day envelope in Solidarity which has 50 live signatures of 6 US Presidents, 8 Indian PM and Presidents since 1997, A Guinness book of world Record initiative.