Yogi's Corner

A decade back, a European, CEO of an Indian helicopter company, upon observing Yatris jostling for a helicopter ride to Amarnathji Cave, opined that religion in India was a huge business proposition. Nothing seems to have changed ever since. Even Amarnathji  Shrine Board is seen pandering to the local business wont; treating annual pilgrimage more as a seasonal commercial activity than a sacred duty enjoined upon it by the statute. On being asked how Shrine Board prevents fleecing of Yatris by unscrupulous helicopter and tour operators, a young Babu, probably on his maiden assignment, parried the responsibility to J&K police confirming latent commercial intent. But, then, that is not central to the topic here. Hindu religious assets in the Valley continue to be plundered with impunity. With the advent of Islam in the Valley, and during Islamic rule thereafter, destruction of Hindu temples/Shrines and replacing those with Ibadatgahs (places of worship) of the new faith wa...

Rohingya Muslim refugees have invited worldwide attention for quite some time now. They are widely perceived as world’s most ‘persecuted minority’. Who are Rohingya? In a way it depends on whom you ask- and that itself may be the core to the conflict. To most of the world, Rohingya are Muslim minority in Myanmar; the Buddhist nation in Southeast Asia. But for Myanmar government Rohingya do not exist at all; instead arguing that they are Bengalis who entered the region during the British rule or later as illegal immigrants after Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971.  Myanmar’s security operations against Rohingya Muslims forced the United Nations to dub those as a ‘text book case of ethnic cleansing”. Out of an estimated population of about two million, only 400,000 of them now reside in Myanmar, mostly in Northern part of Rakhine state bordering Bangladesh and India. Rest of the Rohingya population has been driven out of their country and are living as refugees ...