Exclusive - India's green car plan prioritises electric vehicles over hybrids

FILE PHOTO: Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan poses with Hyundai's 'i 10 electric' car at India's Auto Expo in New Delhi January 6, 2010. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi/File Photo--FILE PHOTO: The badge of a Mahindra e2o electric car is seen in London, Britain, April 15, 2016. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth/File Photo

FILE PHOTO: The 2018 Camry XSE is introduced during the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., January 9, 2017. REUTERS/Mark Blinch/File photo--FILE PHOTO: Pawan Goenka (C), president of Mahindra's automotive and farm equipment sectors, stands next to Mahindra's concept electric sports car 'Halo' after its unveiling during the Indian Auto Expo in Greater Noida, on the outskirts of New Delhi, India, February 6, 2014. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi/File photo

By Aditi Shah | NEW DELHI-Sun May 7, 2017

India's most influential government think-tank has recommended lowering taxes and interest rates for loans on electric vehicles, while capping sales of conventional cars, signalling a dramatic shift in policy in one of the world's fastest growing auto markets.

A draft of the 90-page blueprint, seen by Reuters, also suggests the government opens a battery plant by the end of 2018 and uses tax revenues from the sale of petrol and diesel vehicles to set up charging stations for electric vehicles.

The recommendations in a draft report by Niti Aayog, the planning body headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, are aimed at electrifying all vehicles in the country by 2032 and will likely shape a new mobility policy, said government and industry sources.

The report's focus solely on electric vehicles marks a shift away from the current policy that incentivises both hybrid vehicles - which combine fossil fuel and electric power - and electric cars, and is worrying some automakers.

"India's potential to create a new mobility paradigm that is shared, electric and connected could have a significant impact domestically and globally," said a draft version of the report, titled Transformative Mobility Solutions for India, which will be made public this week.

India's plan to leapfrog hybrid technology comes after China announced aggressive measures last year to push sales of plug-in vehicles including subsidies, research funding and rules designed to discourage fossil-fuel cars in big cities.

It would also mark a radical response by India as it looks to cut its oil import bill to half by 2030 and reduce emissions as part of its commitment to the Paris climate treaty.

Officials acknowledge the blueprint faces challenges. High battery costs would push up car prices and a lack of charging stations and other infrastructure means car makers, who have been consulted on the proposals ahead of publication, would hesitate to make the necessary investment in the technology.

"If we accelerate electric vehicle growth it will be a disruption for the auto sector and would require investment, but if we're not able to adapt quickly we risk being net importers of batteries," said a government source involved in the plans. "There has been resistance from car makers."

India's top-selling carmaker Maruti Suzuki has invested in so-called mild-hybrid technology, which makes less use of electric power than full hybrids, while Toyota Motor Corp sells its luxury hybrid Camry sedan in the country.

Mahindra & Mahindra is the only manufacturer of electric vehicles in India.

SHIFT IN POLICY

India, in 2015, launched a scheme called Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles under which it offered incentives for clean fuel technology cars to boost their sales to up to 7 million vehicles by 2020.

Despite incentives as high as 140,000 rupees ($2,175) on some cars the scheme has made little progress, with the sales of electric and hybrid cars making up only a fraction of the 3 million passenger vehicles sold in India in 2016.

The scheme, which expired on March 31, has now been extended by six months while future policy is worked out, two government officials said. Lack of clarity on policy risks delaying investment in the auto sector, one official added.

The new Niti Aayog report, co-produced with U.S. consultancy Rocky Mountain Institute, outlines a 15-year plan, broken into three phases starting in 2017.

"Limit registration of conventional vehicles through public lotteries and complement that with preferential registration for electric vehicles, similar to that in China," the report said, in one of its most radical proposals.

To kick-start the shift, the report suggests bulk procurement of electric vehicles, building standardised, swappable batteries for two- and three-wheelers to bring down their cost and having favourable tariff structures for charging cars.

"Prioritise battery and charging infrastructure development," the report states, while setting a 2018 goal for setting up a 250 megawatt per hour battery plant with an aim to reach one gigawatt of production by 2020.

It also recommends setting up battery swapping stations by 2018, common manufacturing facilities for components and increasing subsidies on all battery electric vehicles to bring them to cost parity with conventional models by 2025.

Other suggestions in the blueprint include incentivising the use of electric cars as taxis by lowering taxes, interest rates on loans for purchases and electricity tariffs for fleet operators, and lowering duties on makers of such fleet cars.

Puneet Gupta, South Asia manager at consultant IHS Markit, said the government would need to lead the change with generous incentives to achieve its goal.

"This is one of the most radical changes the government is talking about," said Gupta. "All cars being electric is a distant dream."

(Reporting by Aditi Shah; Editing by Euan Rocha and Alex Richardson)

82 Chibok schoolgirls freed in exchange for five Boko Haram leaders

Young women, who were among 276 captured in April 2014, flown to Nigerian capital to meet president while charities call for them to be reunited with families

Some of the freed schoolgirls board a helicopter. Photograph: ICRC/EPA

Ruth Maclean West Africa correspondent and Alice Ross-Sunday 7 May 2017

Months of negotiations involving participants across two continents has resulted in a deal in which 82 Chibok schoolgirls – who were seized from their dormitories in April 2014 and held captive for more than three years by the Islamist group Boko Haram – have been released in exchange for five militant leaders.

But joy at their freedom was quickly followed by concern for their privacy and fears that the thousands of other less high-profile prisoners still held captive by the extremists would be forgotten.

The deal was negotiated by Mustapha Zanna, a barrister who is currently the proprietor of an orphanage in Maiduguri, but who was once the lawyer of the late founder of Boko Haram, Mohammed Yusuf. It also involved the Swiss government and the Red Cross.

Picked up in Red Cross vehicles and given the agency’s branded T-shirts to wear, the young women boarded military helicopters and were flown to the capital, Abuja, to meet the country’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, as anxious families awaited an official list of the names of those released. 

Information was given out gradually: by mid-afternoon, only 20 names had been published.

Buhari, who has not been seen in public for several weeks because of illness, later flew to London for medical checkups. His departure had been delayed so he could meet the Chibok women, according to his office.

It is unclear what will happen to the 82 young women. 21 others who were released after previous negotiations last year are being kept in Abuja, ostensibly for counselling and have not been allowed to go back and live with their families, who live 500 miles away in Chibok.

Over 100 of the former schoolgirls, who are now around 20 years old, remain in Boko Haram’s hands, along with many others, male and female, including very young children. In recent years, many of these have been forced by the militant group to carry bombs to busy areas and explode them, killing themselves and hundreds of other civilians.

The young women released on Sunday were among 276 mostly Christian schoolgirls whose abduction by Boko Haram caused an international outcry in April 2014.

Thousands of other women and girls have also been seized by Boko Haram, but the Chibok girls gained international attention when the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls took off on social media, where it was was promoted by Michelle Obama and other celebrities. The unintended consequence of the girls’ sudden fame was that their value to the militants who held them was multiplied.

Amnesty International said that the former prisoners did not “deserve to be put through a publicity stunt … The government should respect their privacy and ensure that the released girls are reunited with their families and not kept in lengthy detention and security screening which can only add to their suffering and plight,” said Amnesty’s Nigeria director, Osai Ojigho.

“Boko Haram members have executed and tortured thousands of civilians and raped and forced into marriage girls and women. They have been indoctrinated and even forced to fight for Boko Haram. The Nigerian authorities must now do more to ensure the safe return of the thousands of women and girls, as well as men and boys abducted by Boko Haram.”

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) told the Guardian that it had acted as a neutral intermediary and organised the transportation of the girls and young women to freedom. “We were not involved in the negotiations for their release, as negotiations often imply a political process which is contrary to the apolitical-neutral nature of the ICRC’s work,” said a spokeswoman. “Therefore we cannot make comments on the conditions agreed by the parties for their release [or] whether there are more so-called Chibok girls in the hands of the armed opposition.”

The freed captives were expected to be reunited with their families on Sunday, she added.

Lengthy negotiations took place in Switzerland and Sudan, according to Shehu Sani, a Nigerian senator, though he added that the Boko Haram representatives did not attend those in Bern. Sani told the Guardian that it was he who introduced Zanna, the chief negotiator, to the government and came up with a road map for the talks.

Two of the 82 girls were physically injured, Sani said. One had a wrist injury and the other was on crutches.

The office of Buhari initially said the Chibok schoolgirls were freed in exchange for “some Boko Haram suspects held by the authorities”. Later Sani confirmed that they were five commanders, raising questions about why the group would exchange so many high-profile prisoners for a handful of members.

Asked whether the five commanders could strengthen Boko Haram, analyst Ryan Cummings thought not. 

“I doubt it very much. Boko Haram is massively decentralised and is more an umbrella movement than a monolithic movement. Commanders could have a localised impact in areas that they return to but it will have no wider impact,” he said.

Since the Chibok abduction, Boko Haram has splintered into different factions, one of which has pledged allegiance to Islamic State.

Many captives are forced to “marry” militants and initially Abubakar Shekau, the feared leader of one faction, vowed to sell the Chibok girls “in the market”.

An unnamed Nigerian military official with direct knowledge of the rescue operation told Associated Press (AP) the women were found near Banki, a town close to the border with Cameroon. Boko Haram remains active in the area, despite claims by Buhari that the militant group has been crushed and forced from its last forest hideout.

An international taskforce, including specialists from the British and US military, began a hunt for the students but this faced significant obstacles, including a huge search area, difficult terrain and the fact the girls were likely to have been split up shortly after their capture. A retired diplomat told the Sunday Times last year a large group had been spotted months after the abduction but no action was taken, partly because of the difficulty of military action without putting the captives at risk.

But there were signs of their survival, including several of the captives who escaped shortly after their abduction, a girl who was found pregnant, wandering in the forest and videos released by Boko Haram. 

In one video, released in August 2016, a girl told the camera some of her fellow captives had been killed in airstrikes and relayed a message demanding the release of Boko Haram prisoners in exchange for their freedom.

Boko Haram released 21 girls and young women in October 2016 in a similar deal. The Red Cross was also involved in the transfer of those released captives. At the time, it was announced 83 more would be released soon. According to a tally by AP 113 of the Chibok girls remain unaccounted for.

Deconstructing Depression

By Annahl Anbini Hoole –May 4, 2017

Dr. Annahl Anbini Hoole (MD)

Sadness is a normal emotion we all feel reacting to difficult events in our lives. Sadness usually passes with time. Clinical depression, however, is a mood disorder. It is harder to deal with and can interfere with your everyday life. An often taboo subject in our country, it was recently brought into the limelight at WHO Sri Lanka’s and the Ministry of Health, Nutrition, & Indigenous Medicine’s Depression: Let’s Talk – an advocacy campaign commemorating World Health Day 2017. Depression is an illness, stigmatized by fear and ignorance; our cultural stoicism encourages us to either hide these symptoms or socially exclude those who cannot. Understanding depression is important to finding its cure.

WHO says 300 million worldwide suffer from depression with over 800,000 from Sri Lanka – compared to 400,000 in 2006. Although 1 in 8 Sri Lankans suffers from a mental illness, only 40% receive treatment. In 2014 WHO reported Sri Lanka as having the 4^thhighest suicide rate among 172 countries.

Like many Sri Lankans, Americans, and millennials, I grew up thinking “depression” was a fancy term for ingratitude or self-pity. The stigma surrounding mental health disorders leads people to hide their symptoms and refuse treatment. Mental wellness is not only important to each individual but to the whole country. Depression is associated with lower workplace productivity, increased mortality from suicide and other illnesses, and a higher risk for other mental disorders and substance abuse.

Presentation:

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is defined as experiencing 5 or more of these symptoms continuously for at least 2 weeks:

• Feeling sad or anxious or hopeless;
• Sleep changes –sleeping too much or too little;
• Losing interest or pleasure in hobbies/daily activities ;
• Change in activity –more or less active than usual;
• Feeling guilty or worthless;
• Decreased energy or fatigue;
• Trouble concentrating or remembering, inability to complete activities;
• Appetite or weight changes;
• Thoughts of death or suicide.

If you are experiencing any of the symptoms above, please visit your doctor – diagnosis is best made by a mental health professional. Symptoms may present differently in different people. In women more typical symptoms might be sadness-anxiety with decreased energy; whereas men are more likely to be easily irritable, have difficulty concentrating, and more likely to turn to alcohol/cigarettes/drugs. Females are affected more than males. Elders are less likely to complain of being sad but more likely to feel worthless and complain of body aches/pains. Depression is common in older people, who are at higher risk for suicide. It is most common among25-44 year-olds; incidence decreases with age.

There are different types of depression: MDD, dysthymia (symptoms of depression that last 2 years with episodes of major depression and periods in-between of less severity), perinatal/post-partum-depression (depression associated with child-birth), etc..

Post-partum (meaning after-childbirth) depression affects 1-in-6 women. Along with symptoms above, you may experience feeling overwhelmed/unprepared, inability to bond with your baby, guilt, or feeling irritated/angry/resentful towards your baby or others.

Causes:

Depression is caused by chemical imbalance, but also a combination of genetic, biological, psychological, and environmental factors. Physical/emotional abuse, certain medications, death of a loved one, family history of depression, major life changes/stress (e.g. divorce, moving, losing a job), social isolation, medical conditions, seasonal changes, or substance abuse. Chronic conditions like heart disease, obesity, AIDs, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and cancer contribute.

Read More

Foods You Should Avoid If You Have Gastritis

by CureJoy Editorial-May 6, 2017 

Gastritis is the inflammation of the stomach lining that causes nausea, abdominal pain and bloating, indigestion, and an unsettling burning sensation in your stomach between meals or at night. Gastritis can be sudden or chronic; if you leave it untreated, you may run the risk of developing stomach cancer.

Several factors can trigger gastritis. One of the simplest yet significant steps you can take to counter gastritis is to change your diet. That’s why doctors start treatments by telling you to stop eating certain food items that cause gastritis or aggravate the symptoms. Controlling your diet is sometimes the sole treatment for gastritis; so, it’s important for you to know what foods to avoid when you’re prone to the condition.

8 Foods To Avoid During Gastritis

1. Coffee

Though research hasn’t shown any relationship between the development of gastritis and coffee consumption, most gastritis patients complain of discomfort after consuming coffee. So, doctors advise against coffee consumption during gastritis.

2. Alcoholic Drinks

Excessive alcohol consumption is the most common cause of gastritis.¹ Alcohol contains certain toxins that can irritate your stomach lining, causing inflammation. Continued alcohol consumption while the lining is still inflamed may cause bleeding and lead to other stomach problems such as ulcers.

3. Salty And Spicy Food

While salty and spicy food items don’t cause gastritis, they can worsen the condition if you already have the symptoms. If you suffer from gastritis, avoid pickles, peppers, fries, and junk foods with high salt and spice content.

4. High-Fat Dairy Products

Dairy products in their low-fat or fat-free form are considered safe for consumption if you’re suffering from gastritis. High-fat dairy products like milk cream, on the other hand, can trigger the secretion of gastric juices, which may aggravate symptoms.

5. Vinegar And Food Items Made Using Vinegar

Vinegar has an approximate pH of 2.9, which is considered extremely acidic for the stomach. The acidic properties of vinegar may cause discomfort after consumption and should, therefore, be avoided.

6. Onion, Garlic, And Tomatoes

People troubled by gastritis may experience discomfort after consuming these vegetables. Some people complain of burning pain in their stomach after eating onion and garlic, while others can’t tolerate tomatoes. It’s, therefore, advised that people with gastritis avoid these vegetables.

7. Refined Foods

Refined foods such as sugar, bread, and pasta contain trans fats that may irritate your stomach lining. If you’re suffering from gastritis, it’s recommended that you reduce your consumption of refined food.

8. Soft Drinks And Other Drinks With Added Sugar

While people say that soft drinks help with gastritis, this is just a myth. Soft drinks contain added sugar that can irritate your sensitive stomach. The same applies to other drinks with added sugar.

Don’t let your condition worsen. If you have gastritis, make sure that you follow the right diet. Avoid self-medication, and consult your doctor to ensure your diet is safe. Eat healthily, and stay healthy!

The Human Rights Council Can’t Handle Sri Lanka

Taylor Dibbert, Contributor-05/05/2017

During the 34th session of the UN Human Rights Council (which ended in late March), a cosponsored resolution on Sri Lanka was passed. The resolution – which deals largely with human rights and transitional justice – is the fifth country-specific Sri Lanka resolution since 2012.

Leading up to, during and after the session a range of commentary has been published on this topic and one thing really stands out. Many have referred to Sri Lanka being “granted”more time to move ahead with its transitional justice process. We have been told that Colombo has been “given” more time or been “allowed” to proceed.

It’s true that the Council will monitor Sri Lanka’s transitional justice process for another two years. However, something truly odd is going on here. Why are people intimating that there was some other (more drastic) option looming during the Council’s 34th session?

The passage of another resolution on Sri Lanka was basically staged theater, a foregone conclusion before the session had begun. More resolute action simply wasn’t on the table.

In a recent Washington Examiner piece, I looked at Sri Lanka’s relationship with the Council in more detail. Here’s a paragraph from the article:

Sri Lanka is making a mockery of the Council. If international actors actually want to keep the pressure on the island nation, they should consider moving beyond nonbinding human-rights resolutions – perhaps by reexamining engagement (diplomatic, military, even economic) at the bilateral level – an admittedly unlikely scenario at present.

Sri Lanka has basically been disregarding Council resolutions for the past five years. The current administration is more than happy to keep this dance at the Geneva-based body going, because it’s ensures that they can – at least for an international audience – remain publicly committed to a lot of reforms that they have virtually no intention of ever implementing.

The inescapable reality is that the international community, particularly the U.S. and its allies, have completely caved. Colombo’s promises have not been met with significant tangible action and the smart money says things won’t look that different in the coming years.

The current state of affairs in Sri Lanka is being manipulated for various reasons: including the desire for a success story, perceived geopolitical exigencies and fundamental misunderstandings about the country.

So, let’s be clear and candid about what’s happening.

Irainativu villagers demand return of land from Sri Lankan Navy

06 May  2017

Residents of Irainativu protested for the 6th day today, demanding the return of their lands from the Sri Lankan navy.

Around 242 families, mostly fisherfolk, were forced out of Irainativu, an islet of Kilinochchi, in 1992.

In the 25 years since, the families have neither been able to access their homes, nor the fishing areas which villagers describe as being optimal for their livelihoods.

The Irainativu villagers are currently protesting on the Iranaimatha Nagar coast of Mulankavil.

The state of the Police and policing the state

2017-05-05

When Maithripala Sirisena announced that he would run for President against Mahinda Rajapaksa, he was flanked on one side by Rajitha Senaratne. Sarath Fonseka is a Field Marshal, is an ex Army Commander and was the candidate that the Opposition fielded against Rajapaksa in 2010. Champika Ranawaka is the General Secretary of the coalition that promoted Yahapalanaya in August 2015. He also represents President Maithripala Sirisena in the Constitutional Council. All three are Cabinet Ministers.   

All three, either in their May Day speeches and post-May Day statements, have directly or indirectly called for ‘crackdown’ on the Opposition. Ranawaka used the classic argument that trade unions cannot be allowed to hold the entire citizenry to ransom. Fonseka and Senaratne didn’t mince their words about calling for the blood of the Rajapaksas. In language quite out of sync with the spirit of good governance that the present Government identifies with and says it wants to establish, Fonseka vowed to hang Mahinda Rajapaksa by his satakaya. Senaratne bragged that any dissenters would have their houses surrounded, that trade unions would be destroyed and also that Fonseka would be given necessary powers to do whatever was necessary.   

It is of course no secret that unions as well as groups have often been used by opposition parties as foot soldiers in their various political campaigns. In this country it is par for the course for the particular opposition to piggyback on any organized political activity that takes on or embarrasses the government in power. On the other hand when a government that swears by principles of good governance opts to quell dissent by means that are illegal or unethical in terms of professed values or else goes to the extent of scripting legislation allowing for such high-handed response, it is at the same time an acknowledgment of failure.   

That failure is being essentially blamed first and foremost on the Ministry of Law and Order. The Police Commission and the Police itself have been put in the dock by these three ministers. Are these bodies incompetent? Are they not independent? These are the questions that are not being asked. If indeed there’s dependence and incompetence, have corrective measures been administered, one can also ask. There is no sign of any such move. It seems that the age-old policy of peopling the Police with friends and family or else political supporters has continued under this regime.   

Perhaps the ministers are frustrated by all this and therefore compelled to consider short-cuts, convinced probably that clean-up would take (too much) time. This, however, raises the question about purported allegiance to the spirit and word of good governance. On the other hand, it raises the spectre of a police state. Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka, despite the title, is not a soldier any longer. He is a politician. He speaks like a politician and one that completely disregards propriety on all counts, from public speech to the business of good governance. Putting such a person in charge of managing dissent (to put it mildly) in the name of the greater good of the overall citizenry smacks of an increasing faith in the extra-judicial.   

The message is dangerous. What we could be looking at is a political formation marked by repressive control of all public life, which history has shown, quickly slips to a situation where there is an arbitrary exercise of power by police and even vigilantes as opposed to the regular administrative and judicial organs of government as per established legal procedures.  

Sections of the ruling coalition have raised their eyebrows about these statements, but the absence of a clear strategy to arrest these voices that seem intent on bringing on anarchy and more importantly a plan to address the various errors that have pushed things to this, is disturbing.   
The ire of the three ministers should be read as frustration, if not fear that things are slipping out of control. The prudent response of the President and the Prime Minister should be to calm them down, sit together and come up with a strategy that is more in line with the political sentiments they expressed in the run up to the January 2015 Presidential Election. This is not the time to listen to ill-tempered and garrulous voices. It is the time to find the voices of reason and heed their advice.   
A police state would be a disaster. Period.  

Farmers take to the streets demanding funds for fertilizer

May 6, 2017 by

An agitation was held at Medirigiriya yesterday (5th) protesting against the failure of the government to pay the ertilizer relief despite 40 days have gone by since the commencement of the paddy cultivation season.

The farmer community engaged in the protest campaign as cultivation compensation was not received for the previous season in which cultivation was not possible due to non availability of water, delaying cultivation this season due to not releasing water in time and not receiving funds given in place of the fertilizer subsidy.

The protest campaign commenced from the center of the Medirigiriya paddy lands and protestors came in a demonstration to the main road and engaged in an agitation. The campaign was concluded when a Director of Agriculture, who arrived at the site, promised to make available money for fertilizer from today.
The campaign was organized by the All Ceylon Farmers’ Federation and its National Organizer Namal Karunaratna and its General Secretary T.B. Sarath were present.

We won't go home without answers - Kilinochchi disappearances protest passes day 75

06 May  2017

Families of the disappeared at the Kilinochchi protest said that they would not go home without knowing where their loved ones are, as their protest reached its 75th day yesterday.

The protestors said that they would continue until the Sri Lankan government and Tamil political leaders stopped ignoring their demands.

“Until we know where our relatives are, we won’t go home,” one mother said. “We will wait on the road, and we may even die on the road, but we will not drop this struggle to find our loved ones.”

Related Articles: 

01 May 2017 : Spotlight on missing surrendees at Kilinochchi May Day rally

28 April 2017 : Kilinochchi disappearance protestors block A9

19 April 2017 : 59 days and Kilinochchi families of the disappeared continue protest

MMDA: The Ulamas Contradict The Quran

By Mirza Ahamat –May 6, 2017

Mirza Ahamat

All Ceylon Jamiyathul Ulema  pronouncements to the Proposed Amendments to the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act, strongly resisted by the  Muslim majority.

Woman’s equality to Man enshrined in the Holy Quran.

To the Proposed Amendments to the Muslim Marriage and Divorce act the pronouncements of the All Ceylon Jamiyathul Ulema (ACJU) that Women are not worthy of being appointed as Qazis and there is no need for review of the marriageable age for women, had sparked off a wave of protests among Women’s organization and the concerned Muslim public in general. ACJU’s contention is that the law is perfect in its present form and so no need for reform. The decision to debar women seeking appointment as Qazis has been based on a Hadeeth that  according to knowledgeable  sources  is not relevant and  does not specifically relate to the suitability  of women’s appointment as Qazis. A very comprehensive study on the subject had been undertaken by eminent Islamic scholars and made presentations through the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) to  the UN conference on Women Beijin 1995. One paper titled the Status of women in Islam by Dr Jamal Badawi and another paper  titled Woman and Family life in Islam, portraying  the status rights and role of the Muslim woman according to basic sources of Islam presented by WAMY. Every aspect on the subject had been dealt meticulously in the presentations  dispelling any doubts and ambiguities surrounding the subject. Some of the features of the presentation are put forward to enlighten the Sri Lanka Muslim community the right perspectives on the issues involved.

Womans equality with man supported in the Holy Quran

Any fair investigations of the teachings of Islam or into the history of Islamic

Civilization will surely find clear evidence with Woman’s equality with man in what we call today as Political rights. This includes right of Election as well as nomination to political offices. It also includes women right  to  participation in public affairs.

Although not mentioned in the Quran one Hadeeths of the Prophet  is interpreted to make a woman ineligible for the position of head of State. The Hadeeth referred is roughly translated “A people will not prosper if they let a woman be their leader”.

This limitation has nothing to do with the dignity of woman or with her rights  It is rather related to natural differences in the biological and psychological make up of men and women.

According to Islam the Head of State is no mere figure head. He leads people in prayer especially on Fridays and festivities. He is continuously engaged in the process of decision making pertaining to the security and the well being of the, people. This demanding position or any other similar one such as the Commander of the Army is generally inconsistent with the psychological and physiological make up of woman in general. It is a medical fact that during the monthly periods and during their pregnancies women undergo various Psychological and physiological changes. Such changes may occur during an emergency situation thus affecting her decision without considering the excessive strain which is produced. Moreover some decisions require  a maximum  of rationality and a minimum of emotionality, a requirement which does not coincide with the instinctive nature of women.

Even in modern times and in most developed countries it is rare to find  a woman in the position of Head of state acting  as more than a figure head, a woman commander of the armed forces even a proportionate number of women representatives  in parliaments or similar bodies. One cannot possibly ascribe this to the backwardness of various nations or to any constitutional limitations on women’s rights. To be in such a position as head of State or as a member of Parliament. It is more  logical to explain the  present situation in terms of the natural and indisputable difference between man and woman, a difference which does not imply supremacy of one over the other. The difference implies rather complementary role of both sexes in life.

Man and woman are physical forms of the same soul

The Quran the final and eternal guide of all mankind makes it very clear that man and woman are two physical forms of the same soul hence no original difference between them.God declares in the very opening verse, aptly entitled chapter An Nissa.

O Mankind ! Be conscious of your Sustainer who has created you out of one living  entity and out of it created its mate and out of the two spread abroad a multitude of men and women. And remain conscious of God, in whose name you demand ( your rights) from one another and of these ties of kinship. Verily God is ever watchful over you! An Nisa  4 1

The divine declaration has spelled an end to the discrimination against women, in that the whole mankind is the offspring of a single human soul and originally everyone man and woman has the same descent and no one is nobler or meaner  by birth. It has made it clear that all human beings man and woman are servants of the True God. Therefore they should worship and serve Him ,Islam thus dismissed the notion that man is more honored for being a man and  a woman is inferior for being a woman.

Read More