(Current Affairs For SSC Exams) In The News, Dec. 2012 - Muslim in Indian cities

In The News

December 2012

Topic : Muslim in Indian cities

Vice president of India Hamid Ansari released the book “Muslim in Indian cities” on 10 September 2012. The book is edited by Laurent Gayer and Christopher Jafferlot. On the occasion of book release, Vice-President denoted Indian muslim as sui genericthat means unique in characteristics. The book speaks about Muslim life in India. Numbering more than 150 million, Muslims constitute the largest minority in India, yet they suffer the most politically and socioeconomically. The books argue that the quality of Muslim life may lag behind that of Hindus nationally, local and inclusive cultures had resilient in the south and the east. Within India’s cities, however, the challenges Muslims face can be harder to read. As per the book, In the Hindi belt and in the north, Muslims have known less peace, especially in the riot-prone areas of Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Jaipur, and Aligarh, and in the capitals of former Muslim states—Delhi, Hyderabad, Bhopal, and Lucknow. These cities are rife with Muslim ghettos and slums. However, self-segregation has also played a part in forming Muslim enclaves, such as in Delhi and Aligarh, where traditional elites and a new Muslim middle class have regrouped for physical and cultural protection.

Combining firsthand testimony with sound critical analysis, the book follows urban Muslim life in eleven Indian cities, providing uncommon insight into a little-known but highly consequential subject. The book is published by Harper Collins publisher, India. Laurent Gayer is a research fellow at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), currently posted at the Centre de Sciences Humaines (CSH) in New Delhi. He is also research associate at the Centre d’Etudes de l’Inde et de l’Asie du Sud in Paris. Christophe Jaffrelot is research director at CNRS and teaches South Asian politics and history at Sciences Po (Paris), as well as at King’s College, London.

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