Monthly Archives: January 2022

Far from pushing for social and economic equality, the state is fanning systems and principles to strengthen the divide

The latest edition of the World Inequality Report (https://bit.ly/3Fx8vv4 and https://bit.ly/3EvazlY) has confirmed that the world continues to sprint down the path of inequality. Global multimillionaires have captured a disproportionate share of global wealth growth over the past several decades: the top 1% took 38% of all additional wealth accumulated since the mid-1990s, whereas the bottom 50% captured just 2% of it. Indias case is particularly stark. The foreword by Nobel laureate economists, Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, says, India is now among the most unequal countries in the world. This means that the gap between the top 1% and the bottom 50% is widest for India among the major economies in the world. The gap is wider in India than the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Russia and France.

The journey of this inequality over time reveals that socialist-inspired Five Year plans contributed to reducing the share of the top 10% who had 50% of the income under colonial rule, to 35%-40% in the early decades after Independence. However, since the mid-1980s, deregulation and liberalisation policies have led to one of the most extreme increases in income and wealth inequality observed in the world. While the top 1% has majorly profited from economic reforms, growth among low- and middle-income groups has been relatively slow, and poverty has persisted.

In recent years, on the economic front, India, post-2014, seems to have got into a phase of an even greater reliance on big business and privatisation to fix economics and the result has been to beget even more inequality. The latest World Inequality Report firmly concludes that the bottom 50% share has gone down to 13%. India stands out as a poor and very unequal country, with an affluent elite.

But beyond all this, what bears emphasis is the observation by Aunindyo Chakravarty, in The Tribune, about what was happening to the income of the bottom 50% in India since 1951. This grew at the rate of 2.2% per year between 1951 and 1981, but what is telling is that the growth rate remained exactly the same over the past 40 years. This makes it clear that irrespective of the economics or politics at play, the state of the bottom half of India barely changed, with an abysmal rate of income growth. That inequality in terms of the immobility of those at the bottom (at least one half of India) stood, irrespective of the economic policies adopted, is an irrefutable fact. It was because of the social conditions and constraints in India.

Clearly, the very social structure that underpinned India, encouraged and fanned this inequality. Plenty changed after Indias Constitution was adopted. In the Nehruvian years and after that too a bid was made to battle the basic absence of social democracy in India, but it remained confined to States and regions. Therefore, one sees a little more mobility and well-being in States such as Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Parts of Karnataka and Andhra also recorded attempts at smashing social structures that had pushed those at the bottom to a life in perpetual poverty and deprivation, and those attempts showed in better economic prospects. So, beyond these economic policies which have been fanning inequality, it is the ruling party tying faith directly into politics and backing of old social structures far from getting rid of them, strengthening them each day that should set alarm bells ringing. The linkages between our social structures and income inequality and poverty must be faced up to.

Globally, the economic transformation of people and particularly the lessening of inequality has never happened unless socially regressive mores have been challenged. Path-breaking research across 106 countries in 2018 tackled the elephant in the room when researchers from the Universities of Bristol in the U.K. and Tennessee in the U.S. used data from the World Values Survey to get a measure of the importance of religion spanning the entire 20th century (1900 to 2000) and found that secularisation precedes economic development.

Furthermore, the findings show that secularisation only predicts future economic development when it is accompanied by a respect and tolerance for individual rights. That can only happen when beyond sufferance of diversity or tolerance, a society is able to see all shades of humans, of varying castes, creeds, faith, colour, gender and choices as equal. The central aspect of secularisation is delinking of religion from public life. It leads to respect for each citizen irrespective of their faith and for science and rationalism. This is clear from the European experience over centuries or of Asian countries such as China, Vietnam, South Korea and others the old social structures need to be smashed and not resurrected.

The rapid movement of India in the reverse direction of secularisation, with the Union governments now-stated policy to prioritise members of one religion and one language, has severe economic consequences too and the widening income inequality only reflects that. The quick descent into a One size nation, does not fit its many diversities. The avenues available for all kinds of citizens to make a life, informal if not formal, is deeply inhibited by Indias social fabric being torn by the Governments new priorities and policies. Far from pushing for social and economic equality, which can be done by dismantling old shibboleths in which Indias rank social and economic inequalities are anchored, the state is now fanning systems and principles to further them. This fundamentally distorts the hard wiring that had made modern India possible.

Criminalising the freedom of religion and choices, which is what the Indian compact is based on, by hunting out the diverse, mixed or cosmopolitan as inauthentic has consequences, both social and economic. It was exactly this that B.R. Ambedkar had warned of: In politics we will be recognising the principle of one man one vote and one vote one value. In our social and economic life, we shall, by reason of our social and economic structure, continue to deny the principle of one man one value. How long shall we continue to live this life of contradictions? How long shall we continue to deny equality in our social and economic life?

B.R. Ambedkar had issued a grim warning in 1949 that if we continue to deny social and economic inequality for long, we could blow up the structure of political democracy. We risk much more. There is no destiny of nations foretold. Choices are made and destinies created. By choosing to reverse the idea of modernisation, linking religion firmly into the public sphere, trying to unmake the modernity India had tried to set for itself as an ideal, we may be already setting ourselves on a narrow path which ends in places that scores of nations in the world and several in our neighbourhood have already arrived at, only to their peril and dismay.

Seema Chishti is a journalist-writer based in Delhi

Link:

The cold truth about India's income inequality - The Hindu

Ho, ho, ho. Merrybeginningof Christmas, you low Protestant plebs! In the spirit of the ongoing season, Id like to update this little corner with some thoughts on that touchiest of evergreen third-rail topics: Santa Claus.

Santa Claus has been enjoying some good press recently thanks to Neil DeGrasse Tyson, who made a heavily ratioed Christmas Eve tweet reminding everyone that Santas reindeer would have been vaporized into oblivion long before they could complete a delivery trip around the planetin case we werent aware. Twitter had a romp with this, of course, in the grand Twitter tradition of mercilessly roasting Neil DeGrasse Tyson. Perhaps my favorite was a straight-faced reply thread calmly explaining that Neil is applying an outdated scientific framework to Santas sleigh, which requires a quantum physics analysis. You see, once Santa is observed by a child, the wave function collapses, which is why children can never catch him. The whole thing was delightful.

Still, glorious as it was to enjoy all this fun at Neil DeGrasse Tysons expense, I remain as personally crotchety as Ive always been on the merits of teaching your kids to believe in Santa Claus. Yes, insert grumpy Clint Eastwood GIF here. Im not a fan, guys, sorry to say. This might earn me some boos from certain quarters, which doesnt shock me. It seems that every year, without fail, some would-be Chesterton starts posting about why actually, parents who withhold the Santa Claus Myth from their kids are just being stick-in-the-mud fundie spoil-sports who dont understand the awesome power of Story. Jesus told parables, after all. Why are Christians so hung up about this, when Christians should be the first to throw themselves into an unfettered celebration of creative make-believe?

Recently, I caved and watched the original Miracle on 34th Streetfor the first time, a movie which seems to define the phrase having your cake and eating it too. For anyone who doesnt know the plot, its a charming fable aping the structure of Christs incarnation and rejection, but without anything so grim as a crucifixion to make the analogy complete. As the real Kris Kringle makes his benevolent way around New York, children are thrilled, adults skepticism is tested, and one little girl and her mother learn the true meaning of faith.

The movies adorable heroine, precocious 8-year-old Susie (Natalie Wood), has been thoroughly trained in cold rationalism. Shes That Kid, the one who priggishly spoils the fun for kids who are still in a state of suspended disbelief. And not only does she doubt Santa, she cant even play basic pretend games with her friends. When Kris teaches her how to imitate a monkey, its a revelation for her. All of this, we learn, is transferred jadedness from her mother Doris (Maureen OHara), a divorcee who has learned the hard way not to wait for wishes to come true. In the end, the mothers own faith is sweetly restored by the earnest young lawyer who vindicates Kris in court while falling in love with her. The lawyer also gets the movies famous one-line definition of faith: believing when common sense tells you not to.

The movie is emphatic that this is the real take-home message, even as an actual evidential case mounts for Kriss authenticity. A Lewisian trilemma could be applied, as Kris seems manifestly not to be a bad man in either sense of the word. Meanwhile, Susie suspects something is up when he takes a small Dutch girl on his knee and begins fluently chatting in her native tongue. Yet, curiously, the precise extent of Kriss powers is left in soft focus. We never see him perform a concrete miracle, although its hinted at the very end that he might have teleported from one place to another. His method of supplying gifts repeatedly seems to consist of giving the right parent the right store tip in the nick of time. Before the conclusion, Susies budding faith is momentarily shattered when Kris is unable to make the Cape Cod of her dreams materialize immediately. He tells her that he is sorry, that he tried his best but he just couldnt make it happen. Her mother tries to buoy her up by repeating that she has to keep believing anyway. You mean its like if at first you dont succeed, try, try again, Susie replies bitterly. I thought so.

This importantly blurs together two very different conceptions of faith. There is faith as defined in the tagline, meaning belief beyond evidence, beyond common sense. But then there is the kind of faith C. S. Lewis defines, while explicitly rejecting this definition. Faith isnotabout believing beyond what the evidence warrants. Rather, it is about holding on to what you know to be true in spite of shifting moods. That is a very different kind of thing. But for Susie, in her moment of disappointment, they are inextricably bound up together. Yet a couple scenes later, she can be found sitting forlornly on the couch, repeating under her breath, I believe, I believe, its silly but I believe.

In the end, Kris once again performs a non-miraculous nudge by giving young Fred the directions to Susies dream house, where Fred promises to buy it and proposes to Doris on the spot. In thinking back over these accumulated nudges, I was reminded of the way Michael Ruse frames Christs miracle of the loaves and fishesthat most likely the true miracle was not that Jesus literally multiplied the food, which would be the crudest form of jiggery-pokery, but that he inspired the crowds to bring out and share what they had with each other. In the same way, the makers of the film seem to want to avoid directly ascribing miraculous power to Kris, emphasizing that human love and brotherhood is the real reason for the season. Kris Kringle is a Christ figure, but only according to a watered-down modernist vision of ChristChrist by way of Tbingen. Let people have Christ, it seems to whisper, just as we let the children have Santa. Are they really so different?

This is the sort of subliminal cultural messaging that makes Christian parents uneasy with the Santa myth. Theyre not wrong to feel that discomfort. The messaging is unmistakably there. And C. S. Lewis isnt quite the ally some seem to think he is in making their case to the contrary.

Of course, theres more than one way to let the children have Santa. One can allow the fable to filter naturally to them by osmosis. One can make a game of it when theyre still too little to ask precocious questions. And, contra the strawman of rigid repressed Susie, one can nurture a childs imagination in all sorts of ways that dont involve elaborately blurring the distinction between fable and reality. But in the end, fables are meant to be held lightly, as no more than what they are. And faith, as the writer of Hebrews has it, should be presented not as a closing of the mind, but as the substance of things hoped for with good reason, from that place where heart and mind unite. It may not be a faith that is always easy to maintain, as Lewis well knows and recognizes. God may choose not to grant prayer, not to make wishes come true. But it is precisely because Christ and Kris Kringle are notone and the same that we are made able, even in these most painful moments, to keep saying, I believe. I believe. Its not silly, and I believe.

More here:

Will the Real Santa Claus Please Stand Up? - Patheos

A lot of noise is being made over criticism of MK Gandhi after Kalicharan Maharajs recent speech at the Raipur Dharma Sansad. The Chhattisgarh government headed by Congress Bhupesh Baghel has now arrested Kalicharan and many people are asking an important question. Is MK Gandhi beyond criticism? Why are some political leaders so touchy and indignant about Gandhi being criticised?

Author and scientist Dr Anand Ranganathan today shared some statements written by Dr BR Ambedkar wherein he had criticised MK Gandhi and his style of politics in a not so subtle manner.

Dr Ranganathan questioned those who are demanding the arrest of those criticising Gandhi if they would go after Dr Ambedkar too. While sharing an excerpt from an article Dr Ambedkar wrote about Gandhi, he said, What Kalicharan Maharaj has said on Gandhi is nothing compared to what Dr Ambedkar had said on Gandhi, a tiny fraction of which I attach as proof. Dear bhakts of Mahatma Gandhi, let me see if you have the guts to go after Babasaheb. Bloody hypocrites.

The excerpt Ranganathan shared was from the article Is Gandhi A Mahatma? Dr Ambedkar wrote for a Marathi Magazine Chittra. It was published in its Dipavali Special Number, J 938. It is also available on page 66 of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and speeches volume 17 part II available on Ministry of External Affairs website.

In the article, Dr Ambedkar talked about how the politics of Gandhi was hollow and noisy. He said, The politics of Gandhi is hollow and noisy. It is the most dishonest politics in the history of Indian polity. Gandhi was the man responsible for eliminating morality from politics and instead introduced commercialism in Indian politics. Politics has been denuded of its virtue.

In the 1,800+ word article, Dr Ambedkar extensively talked about why he had a problem with Gandhi being referred to as Mahatma. He said he was sick of the question Is Gandhi a Mahatma. Explaining why the question annoyed him, he said, Firstly, I hate all the Mahatmas and firmly believe that they should be done away with. I am of the opinion that their existence is a curse to the nation in which they are born. The reason why I say so is because they try to perpetuate blind faith in place of intelligence and reason. Secondly, I do not know what exactly people understand by the word Mahatma.

Explaining how people were referred to as Mahatma in India at that time and how easy it was to become one, Dr Ambedkar said, It is very easy for anybody to become a Mahatma in India by merely changing his dress. If you are wearing an ordinary dress and leading an ordinary life, even if you perform extraordinary noble deeds, nobody takes any notice of you. But a person who does not behave in normal manner and shows some peculiar trends and abnormalities in his character, he becomes a saint or a Mahatma.

Dr Ambedkar said he was not surprised Gandhi became Mahatma in India because people had the tendency to worship those who discards his clothes, run about naked, grows long hair, abuses people and drinks dirty water from the gutters. He added, people fall at his feet and begin to worship him. In these circumstances if Gandhi becomes Mahatma in India there is nothing surprising. Hinting India was an uncivilised country, Dr Ambedkar said, Had these things been practised in any other civilised country, people would have laughed at him.

Dr Ambedkar expressed his confusion why people fussed over Gandhi over the teachings like Satya and Ahimsa that originally came from Lord Buddha. Nobody except an ignorant fool or congenital idiot would give credit to Gandhi for originality in this matter. There is nothing new in the pronouncement that Truth and Non-violence are necessary for the preservation of human civilisation. There is nothing new that Gandhi has added to the maxim, he said.

He added Gandhi did not provide answers to many questions regarding in what circumstances the world should uphold the noble principle of truth and consider violence a right action. He said Gandhis character leaned more towards cunningness than seriousness or sincerity. He has managed to keep himself in the forefront by means of cunning and inherent shrewdness. A person who has faith in his capacity and character faces the realities of life in a bold and manly manner, Dr Ambedkar added.

Treachery and deceit are the weapons of the weak. Gandhi has always used these weapons, said Dr Ambedkar. He mentioned how during the Round Table Conference, he promised not to raise any objection against the demands to be tabled by the Depressed Classes. However, as soon as they tabled their demands, he objected to the same. I call it a betrayal of the people belonging to the Depressed Classes, Dr Ambedkar said. He added, He went to the Moslems and told them that he would support their 14 demands if they in turn opposed the demands placed by the representatives of the Depressed Classes. Even a scoundrel would not have done this. This is only one instance of Gandhis treachery.

He further added how Gandhi, in order to humiliate Nehru, opposed the proposals made to amend the Nehru Committees Report during an open session of Congress. He said, The corrections which were proposed to be made in the Nehru Committee Report were suggested by Mr Jinnah for the benefit of his community. But, when Gandhi came to know about it, he thought a great deal more had been given to the Moslems by Pandit Motilal Nehru than what he wanted In order to humiliate Pt. Motilal Nehru he vehemently opposed these proposals.

Dr Ambedkar also blamed Gandhi for the hostile relation between Hindus and Muslims. He said, Hindu-Moslem hostility is the result of the deceitful action on the part of Gandhiji. This immensely pained me. There is an old saying which benefits the occasion (Bagal mein chhurri Munh mein Ram) : Gods name on the lips and dagger under the armpit. If such a person can be called a Mahatma, by all means call Gandhi a Mahatma.

He added, The politics of Agarkar and Tilak was based on honesty and truth. It was not hollow and noisy. But the politics of Gandhi is hollow and noisy. It is the most dishonest politics in the history of Indian polity. Gandhi was the man responsible for eliminating morality from politics and instead introduced commercialism in Indian politics. Politics has been denuded of its virtue.

Dr Ambedkar urged Hindus to find a way to get rid of the pernicious saintly idiosyncracies of Gandhiji in Indian public life. He said, If the Hindu India does not realise it today, it will take a long time to retrace its steps. Majority of the Indian population is illiterate, ignorant and uncivilised. This may not be the fault of the people. The privileged few of the society have deliberately kept the masses ignorant and illiterate. As a matter of fact it is impossible to fight against the Mahatma on the strength purely of logic and rationalism.

Dr Ambedkar questioned the saints and mahatmas of that time and equated Gandhi to them. He said they had learned the ways to befool people. He questioned if Hindu would try to change the minds of mahatmas so that they try to serve India rather than themselves.

The rest is here:

Gandhis politics is hollow and noisy, full of treachery and deceit: Read what Dr Ambedkar said about the Mahatma - OpIndia

For us at OpIndia, the year 2021 has been tremendously productive. Its been a year of progress and possibilities. Its been a year in which weve bettered our own performance, leaving many well established and bigger websites behind in terms of traffic while maintaining unwavering support from our readers.

In the face of this devastating pandemic that left us all devoid of the fervour of life, we at OpIndia have attempted to be our readers eyes and ears as they were stuck in the four walls of their abode. Despite our limited resources, we managed to publish many excellent articles, which were extremely well received and appreciated. Alongside, there were some articles from our regular contributors which helped us go viral and made them the most read this year.

Yet another year has come to a close but our journey has just begun. We promise to continue busting propaganda and delivering the harsh truth and we thank you all for keeping us going.

Below is a list of those 30 opinion pieces, some written by our staff members while some by our contributors that were the most read this year. It may be noted that the list is in random order. You can click on the links provided to read the full article.

This article published on August 19, contributed by one of our guest authors, named Vahram Ayvazyan, spoke about the civilizational, cultural, socio-political and economic tiesArmenia and India have shared and how the time was apt for the two countries to collaborate given the ongoing capricious political climate.

In the article by R Sood published on our website on August 12, the author wrote about the looming controversy related to the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), an autonomous organisation of the Government of Indiathat prepares and publishes textbooks used by schools across India. He brought to the fore how NCERT has distorted Indian history by focusing primarily on Modern India i.e, the British and post-independence and Medieval India i.e the Sultanate and Mughal period and conveniently skipping the glorious rich ancient history of India that is Bharat.This article found a place in our 40 most read opinion pieces of 2021.

Tsewang Rigzin, a Fellow at Columbia Population Research Center and Social Policy analysis doctoral candidate at Columbia University, USA, wrote an article for OpIndia where he discussed why India should confer Dalai Lama with the Bharat Ratna award.

The author opined that His Holiness The Dalai Lama of Tibet brought back the Indian tradition of Ahimsa (nonviolence) in the arena of political struggle an idea that changed the world from civil rights movements in the US to the Solidarity movement in Poland and the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa. He wrote how a number of Indian intellectuals and thinkers have opined that the Tibetan spiritual leader deserves the Bharat Ratna for spreading the message of peace and Karuna all his life. This excellent piece was amongst the 40 most read OpIndias articles of 2021.

Author Rajan Laad, who Tweets at@Sir_R_U_L, wrote on July 1, how Indian politics is being impacted by big tech companiesdue to its biases by drawing a parallel between the pattern of behaviour of big tech in the US and India. He explained how the interference of tech giants like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram facilitated the victory of Joe Biden over Donald Trump that too by a slim margin in key states.

Speaking in detail about the biases of these big social media giants, he suggested how the government through its Digital India and Make in India initiatives should commission local talent to either develop or improve upon Indian platforms and provide alternatives to Facebook, Twitter, Google, YouTube, and WhatsApp.

Another article that found its way to the top 40 of 2021, was that by our regular contributor named Suren. He wrote about how the Dravidian brand of rationalism is about attacking only Hindu beliefs and icons while being careful to never critique the beliefs and practices of any other religion. Giving the example of the renowned hatemonger EV Ramasamy, aka Periyar, the author recorded how in the past, the slightest resistance from the Indian Muslim population was sufficient to make the Dravidian movement capitulate, while the campaign of abuse and calumny against Hinduism has gone on for decades, in spite of widespread protests.

Another article that was amongst the most read articles of 2021 was that written by OpIndias former employee K Bhattacharya, where he discussed the biases of the leftist media. He wrote how time and against such mainstream media has resorted to peddling fake newsin order to peddle the political agenda of their masters. The article throws light on the biases of The International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN). It reveals how IFCN has accredited fact-checkers like Boom Live and Alt News as such leftist outlets ideological orientations are similar to their while denying accreditation to websites like OpIndia and Facthuntdue to nothing more than a disagreement over politics.

In a report titled Suicides among the Clergy of the Catholic Church in India: A disturbing trend, Suren throws light on the emerging issue of suicides of young clergymen and women in India. Chronicling many incidents where the Clergy of the Catholic Church in India have committed suicide, the author discusses the plausible reasons why these priests are forced to take up such harsh steps and why over the years critical issues like this one have been swept under the carpet in the name of secularism.

As tensions mounted between Israel and Palestine, the Muslim community from across the globe had registered their strong protest against Israels retaliatory response. The Palestinian supporters in India had implied that the Indian supporters of Israel were nothing but communal and Islamophobic. In such a situation, this article by an author named Mrityunjay delved into the reasons why an average Hindu showed solidarity with Israel. This article was one of the most read articles of 2021.

This article was published on May 7. Writer Michael Tracey wrote how the CIA, USAs premier foreign intelligence agency, enthusiastically endorsed several key tenets of what has now indisputably become a hegemonic left/liberal ideological and rhetorical construct. This article again garnered a lot of appreciation from our readers, propelling it into the top 40 most popular articles of 2021.

This article written by Suren talks comprehensively about Veda Pathashalas, the traditional Vedic schools in India. From its funding to courses available to the career options to the reforms and suggestions to balance the needs of modern society against demands of Vedic learning, this article is so extensive that it piqued our readers interest and made it to the top 40.

This article was co-authored by @aryasanghi and @Vedic_Revival speaks about the assassination of Mahashay Rajpal, the publisher of the satirical book Rangeela Rasool, which revealed details of Prophet Mohammads marriages and sex life as it is in the Quran and had a surface appearance of a lyrical and laudatory work on Muhammad and his teachings. Explaining how Mahatma Gandhi became instrumental in the killing of Mahashay Rajpal by inciting the Muslims against him, the article also hints at the double standards of the left cabal, who try to portray themselves as proponents of secularism and free speech in India while suppressing dissenting voices.

Towards the end of March this year, President Ram Nath Kovind had given his assent to the National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act, 2021. When the bill was passed by Parliament, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had termed it a sad day for Indian democracy. This article by S Sudhir Kumar delved into the unnecessary media outrage over the Government of NCT of Delhi (Amendment) Act. He explained how the biased media helped Kejriwal, by pinning the blame on Modi for a law bought by the Congress party. This article, which exposed leftist media bias, received a lot of attention from our readers and became one of the top 40 most viewed stories of 2021.

Bombay HC judge Justice Pushpa V Ganediwala had drawn flak for her controversial skin-to-skinorder on sexual assault at the beginning of the year. In his article, OpIndia contributor, Pranav Choudhury, analysed the controversial judgement given by the Bombay HC judge that trivialised the ghastly crime of sexual assault, opining how it is critical for the judiciary to intervene and protect the victims, rather than reading statutes in a way that allows the criminals to get away with their crimes.

The opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh, right-wing activists have long been accusing YS Jagan Reddy, a Christian, that ever since he became the Chief Minister of Andhra, he has spent a huge amount on the Christian community services, with an eye on encouraging conversion activities. Experts have raised their concerns regarding the spree of freebies doled out to the Christian communities by the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led Andhra Pradesh government.The freebies were not only causing a loss of public money but these appeasement schemes are also aimed at encouraging ordinary Andhra citizens to convert. This article by Sai Priya Chodavarapu, speaks about how ramping up of conversions, and their large-scale commercialization began under the Congress government of YSR.

There is a long history of dissonance between the indigenous ethnic Uyghur and Chinese authorities. The Chinese government refuses to categorize Uyghurs as an indigenous population and describe Uyghurs as a regional minority. Dr Burhan Uluyol (Uyghur), the articles author, spoke about Chinas unabashed atrocities against the countrys ethnic minorities, particularly the Uygurs, while also pointing to the stoic silence of other countries, especially Islamic countries, over the issue, which he believes have been bought by China.

Modi bashing has been the favourite sport of the opposition parties, the coterie of leftists and their friendly media ever since the former has taken up the reigns of the country in his hands. In this article published on February 15, 2021, writer S Sudhir Kumar spoke about all those climate activists who have invariably criticised Prime Minister Modi, that too for reasons outside of climate change.

This year, Twitters left bias has been a widely discussed topic. In the run-up to the US elections, Twitter played a significant role in censoring content that was inconvenient to now President-elect Joe Biden. In this article writer, T Waraich discussed how Twitters attempt to equate the Farmers Protest to the Arab Spring was its attempt to delegitimize the Indian Government in the eyes of the Indian people and the rest of the world. The author stated multiple facts to assert that Twitter had fanned an Arab Spring-like situation in India, hoping for it, by not withholding accounts that have either indulged in or fanned an insurrection in India. This article did exceptionally well with our readers safely securing a position in the top 40 most-read articles of 2021.

Carola Rackete, an ANTIFA activist and German woman infamous for captaining and docking a sea vessel with 53 illegal migrants, and her subsequent arrest in Italy, hadexpressedsupport to the farmers protest in India along with an endorsement for infamousHinduphobeRana Ayyub.She had also gone on to recommend following the Twitter account@standwithkashmir, a Twitter account that openly calls for the end of Indian Occupation in Kashmir. This article by T Waraich delved upon the global conspiracy of Kashmiri separatists to fan protests in India.

An article on Hindu Temples by Monidipa Bose Dey, which discussed Vastu Shashtra as a directional science and the various gods associated with it and also discussed the foundation rites and rituals followed while constructing a temple, also received tremendous response from our readers making it one of the most read articles of 2021.

Another article that made it to the top 40 was written by Devanshu Mittal, who detailed how incendiary Punjabi songs reinforced dangerous narratives surrounding the farmers protests. He documented a number of songs that were meticulously exploited to incite secessionism and promote the Khalistani narrative in order to further divide Punjab and India.

With the media playing such a significant part in Indian politics, a number of fact-checkers have sprung up that strive tirelessly to legitimise the ideology they believe in, even if it means falsifying facts. In his article, the author- Abhishek Banerjee talks about such fact-checkers and how they came in super handy for the liberals in the aftermath of the Republic Day violence.

Discussing how the fact-checkers went into overdrive in the aftermath of the R-Day violence in Delhi, the author defined the job of the fact-checker, who, according to him, work tirelessly to dismantle the narrative of the other side, by making people focus on marginal details instead of looking at what actually happened.

The recent spate of temple vandalism incidents in Andhra Pradesh has shocked and scared Hindus across the country. The unjustified, systematic attacks on Hindu temples across the state, which have grown in frequency and severity over the past year, are concerning, to say the least. This article by writer Sai Priya Chodavarupa gave an insight into this concerning issue that has only grown under the YS Jagan governmentin the state.

Author Saket Suryesh in this article discusses how the western media has always treated brown-skinned nations and their societies with brazen disrespectby discussing a report by New Yorkers published on 15thof January, 2021, where the writer, Bill Mckibben, has used the follies of his own political systems and societal prejudices as an excuse to attack India and Hinduism.

In 2021, American society stands massively divided due to divisive politics followed by both sides of their two-party system perhaps, the most polarized it has been since the American Civil War. While President-elect Biden mouths cliched statements about unity and healing, his own party is undergoing a significant churn as progressives within the party want to move the Democratic Party more and more to the left of the political spectrum. This article by @brakoo analysis this churn.

Throughout 2021, when the opposition parties, especially the Congress, was crying foul at the central government three farm laws, a politicalthunderstormtook place in the state of Chhattisgarh where CM Bhupesh Baghel and ex-CM Dr Raman Singh were atloggerheadson the question of mismanagement in paddy procurement. BJP alleged that Congress had failed to deliver its promise of buying farmers produce at Rs. 2500/- quintal MSP while Congress has blamed BJP for creating confusion. This article by @anandwalu gave an insight into the political crisis over the crop procurement in Congress-run Chhattisgarh.

This article by Nivan helps bust the narrative created by the leftists that India under Modi has been recast as a Hindu Rashtra where non-Hindu communities would face brutal oppression, and be either suppressed or exiled. Though this notion is incorrect, the Left ecosystem has successfully manufactured this narrative in a bid to terrify non-Hindus living in Bharat, polarising them for political gains. This interesting article that busts this propaganda weaved by the leftist ecosystem, has successfully made its way to the top 40 opinion pieces of 2021.

After thearrestof comedian Munawar Faruqui in Indore, Indian liberals were asking their favourite question all over again. Why do Hindus these days have no chill? Why cant they just take a joke? And what about free speech? Read this article by our regular contributor Abhishek Banerjee in which he discussed the double standards of the so-called liberals, that has been out there in the open for decades.

A conference that took place in September this year, with sponsorship from Universities in the United States of America had attracted a lot of attention in India. Thethemeof the conference was Dismantling Global Hindutva and was attended by eminent intellectuals of the Indian liberal camp. Shockingly, the anti-Hindu lobby chose the anniversary of one of the worst ever Islamic terror attacks, which took place in New York on September 11, 2001 to hate on Hindus. Besides, the numerous ridiculous and asinine comments that were made at the conference the timing of the event was something far more ridiculous, as discussed in this article by Priyank.

Sanjay Manyal in his article explained how with the collective efforts of farmers, industry, agricultural scientists, state and central government, the sugar industry has had a turnaround from being a vulnerable Industry to a strong cash flow generating sector in Uttar Pradesh.

The Moplah genocide of Hindus is hardly taught in our history books and the Khilafat movement leading up to it are shamelessly whitewashed. In our history books, we are often told that the Khilafat movement was one where Hindus and Muslims fought together to oust the British.OpIndia has extensively covered the Moplah genocide of Hindus and brought to the fore the harsh truths about the heinous genocides in history, that was started as Malabar Muslims supporting the Caliphate in Turkey under the Khilafat movement and got widespread support from Congress leader, mostprominently, by MK Gandhi. This article by Shyam Sreekumar delves into the topic, which has widely garnered the interest of our readers.

In the early morning of October 10th 2021, frontier corps (FC) Balochistan, killed two Baloch minors and injured another by firing mortar shots in the Hoshab area of Turbat Balochistan. Two of the killed children were identified as Allah Baksh, his sister Sharatoon (Malee) aged 5 and 7 years old and wounded one identified as Muskan. All three kids were playing in the back of their home when FC personnel fired mortar shots, as a result of which two of the three victims were killed and one suffered serious injuries. This article by the President of Baloch National Movement UK Zone, Hakeem Baloch, wrote in detail about the atrocities meted out by the Pakistani forces.

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From Balochistan to US, Armenia, Hindutva, threat of Big Tech and more: Here are the top 30 opinion pieces from 2021 handpicked by Editors - OpIndia