SECULARISM, DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

INSAF Bulletin 55 November 2006
Founding Editor: Daya Varma (1929-2015)
Editors: Vinod Mubayi (New York) and Raza Mir (New Jersey).
Editorial Board: Ram Puniyani and Irfan Engineer (Mumbai); Pervez Hoodbhoy (Islamabad); Dolores Chew (Montreal); Vamsi Vakulabharanam (Amherst); Ajay Bhardwaj (Vancouver).
Circulation/website: Feroz Mehdi (On behalf of Alternatives, Montreal).

Communalism and Economic/Educational “Development” – A Negative Correlation?

Vinod Mubayi

 

It was a common assumption not too long ago that many of the socio-cultural ills afflicting India, among which communalism and communal violence occupy a high rank, would be “solved” through reduction in the levels of poverty and illiteracy. Economic development by reducing poverty would lead to a reduction in the need for child labor which in turn would allow children to stay in school longer. The spread of education it was felt would tend to at least reduce if not remove many of the prejudices and misconceptions prevalent in Indian society regarding people belonging to different religious, ethnic, linguistic and social groups divided by religion, region, caste, and class and thereby create a more integrated and harmonious country. 

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