Discrimination in the private sphere may or may not be morally and ethically excusable. But state-imposed policies that discriminate for or against particular segments of the population is unambiguously wrong, immoral and barbaric. Regardless of whether the discrimination is legally sanctioned or not, it is morally odious in principle and is pernicious in its effect on society. State sanctioned and state imposed discrimination among citizens on any criterion is bad in general but it becomes absolutely unacceptable when the criterion applied is religion.
What deserves unconditional denouncement and unreserved condemnation is when a self-professed secular state discriminates on a religious basis. No state in modern times can claim to be civilized while blatantly committing the crime of discriminating against segments of its population based on religion. The Indian State should be roundly criticized for breaking a universally recognized norm in this regard.
In any multi-ethnic, multi-religion society, it is an absolute necessity that the state be blind to the professed religion of citizens. All policies must be equally applicable to all people, regardless of religion or ethnicity. Violating that normative principle necessarily leads to mutual hatred and resentment among the various communities, which does immense damage to the social fabric. It’s a cost that cannot be justified by any imagined benefit.
State discrimination is morally odious in principle because it violates a basic principle observed by all civilized societies — that all individuals are of equal moral value and deserving of equal respect. When the state denies the equality of every individual, it commits a moral crime that should not be tolerated in any functioning modern state. In this regard, the Indian State stands indicted and found guilty. It discriminates on the basis of religion. Here is an example of state-imposed religious discrimination.
PM Modi Minority Scholarship Scheme 2019. Modi announced scholarships for 5 crore (50 million) in the next 5 years to students of minority communities for pre matric, post matric and professional & technical courses. [Article in NDTV.com June 11, 2019.]
Since the funding is from general tax revenues, it is clear that the majority (read Hindus) is funding the scholarships for which members of the majority community are not eligible. However, if a Hindu student were to convert to the minority (read Muslim) religion, then he or she becomes immediately eligible.
This means that essentially the Indian government, using money extracted from non-Muslims, is inducing people to convert to Islam by bribing people with scholarships. On the margin, some non-Muslims will convert. It would be understandable if this kind of scheme were implemented by the governments of Pakistan or Saudi Arabia or any other state that has clearly declared itself an Islamic state. But what justifies this blatant discrimination by the government of India, a “secular” state?
The government of India must stop religious discrimination:
- End all policies that discriminate among citizens on the basis of religion.
- End government control of Hindu religious institutions.
- End government control of Hindus educational institutions.
Life is a Random Draw 
So many such trains have left the station that the station is quite empty now. A listing of all that’s wrong with India will exceed the number of viral particles in the cosmos. Fix open defecation? Illiteracy? Innumeracy? Starvation? Pollution? Criminals in politics and administration? Rent seeking in governance? Religious discrimination? Lynching for eating cows? Dysfunction on the MEA Web site?
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What a disgrace.
The minority scholarship is not some fringe and low budget program. It has an allocation nearly 5x of OBC and SC/ST scholarships combined.
But as if that is not enough PM Modi who has attacked Manmohan Singh for saying “minorities have first right on resources” has very faithfully implemented Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi’s agenda with greater zeal and efficiency.
Note that, the minority scholarship is not for all minorities. It is only for 6 minorities and the money MUST be allocated by their population ratio. So of the few 100 crores Muslims get the most of the money where as Jain and Parasi people don’t get very much by design.
India’s current ruling party is full of human garbage.
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Why single out religion.
Aren’t there so many government funded programs and opportunities for “backward” classes through reservation? Those too are funded by the taxes taken from non-backward class people.
Analyzed carefully, I feel most taxes will end up being discriminatory to at least one class of people.
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Why single out religion? Because one can change one’s religion. One cannot change the color of one’s skin, the ethnic background (I cannot convert to be a Chinese if being Chinese gives me goodies), one cannot decide to be a SC/ST, etc.
Do you understand why discriminating on the basis of religion is bad?
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You are confusing several issues here.
Taxes by nature are unfair. It is a redistribution mechanism. Everyone pays some taxes but does not necessarily benefit proportionately. Money spent on running courts (a legitimate function of government) will only benefit those who go to court or benefit from its existence. Money spent on police will benefit only the victims of crime or who are at risk of being victims.
You might live your entire life in a different country, pay taxes in a different country and it is unfair. The post is not complaining about that nature of taxes.
Discrimination baked into laws is bad. But religious discrimination is particularly evil.
Imagine a government program that says a company run by bald man is exempt from all taxes and regulations. What do you think will happen ? There will be a rush of men to use laser to go bald so they can earn a lot of money. Such bald men will get more marriage proposals, they will be wealthier and soon the government ‘subsidy’ for being bald will ensure most of the men in country will be bald.
This sort of subsidy for being “bald” is pretty evil because it makes hairy men go bald in order to benefit from the subsidy.
Compare this to say reservation to an SC/ST group. It is a subsidy for a tribal person. Can a Brahmin become a tribal overnight ? No. They can’t.
Discrimination based on immutable factors is bad but discrimination based on “random” mutable factors is pure evil because it forces people to mutate.
Discrimination against General category is basically a signal that General category is too fragmented to unite and ask for reservations.
Discrimination against Hindus is basically a signal that they should convert to some other religion.
I can’t make it more simpler than that.
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