Re: for the manifesto

[Ashish Raj <ashish@ee.cornell.edu>]

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Please help make the Manifesto better, or accept it, and propagate it!
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Guys, let us not be obsessed by matters which do not figure anywhere in
the big scheme of things as far as structural reforms go.  I ask, how
does the suggestion below help anything in India that REALLY needs
attention - education, economy or law and order.  To concentrate on sops
for the minority is missing the woods  for the trees.  There are many
things wrong with our system; lets worry about getting the main things
right ffor now.  I see a bit of narrow mindedness here, to be frank. 
What is a few crore Rupees on Haj when we are wasting Rs 45000 crore on
defence?  And its far from obvious what good all that defence money is
doing us (considering the lack of accountability in defence deals)...

The dominant Hindu community should  remember that the minority needs
special attention in a democracy, cos their aspirations may not be
adequately represented in the First-Past-The-Post voting system.  C'mon
folks, have some heart; if Hajj pilgrimage is important for muslims (and
it is), we should be willingto spend a bit to this end.  Remember that
the aspiring Hajjis still have to provide most of the funds for their
travel.  

Its like subsidising farmers for urea/rice/kerosene or pampering govt
workers - not efficient or fair, but serving a socio-economic purpose. 
Since we are discussing a manifesto, lets be focussed, and concentrate
on overhauling the features of our system that are most in need of
repair.  Chasing after "minority appeasement" issues are
counter-productive.  We will worry about them when the rest of our house
is in order.  

Ashish

Dr. Sanjeev Sabhlok wrote:
> 
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> Please help make the Manifesto better, or accept it, and propagate it!
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> Based on some thinking, but still not sure how to summarize it, I propose
> that we add the following to the manifesto:
> 
> (under social reform)
> 
> "While the state will try to preserve and maintain ancient religious sites
> as part of our cultural heritage, all direct subisidization of any on-going
> religious activity would be withdrawn immediately. Instead, religious
> bodies registered under a suitable law and which disclose their accounts
> publicly, including all donations, would be provided income tax exemption.
> Further, no religious place of worship would be permitted to be constructed
> or to continue on public property such as roads."
> 
> please vet.
> 
> SS
> 
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> This is the National Debate on System Reform.       debate@indiapolicy.org
> Rules, Procedures, Archives:            http://www.indiapolicy.org/debate/
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This is the National Debate on System Reform.       debate@indiapolicy.org
Rules, Procedures, Archives:            http://www.indiapolicy.org/debate/
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