11 January 2018

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In Depth PIL Filed against Hindu Prayer in Kendriya Vidyalayas SC issues notice to Govt

In Depth PIL Filed against Hindu Prayer in Kendriya Vidyalayas SC issues notice to Government
The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre on the petition filed by Veenayak Shah, who is represented by advocates Satya Mitra and Pallavi Sharma, that the revised education code of the Kendriya Vidyalayas violate Articles 19 (right to freedom of speech and expression) and Article 28 (1), which prohibits the State from providing any religious instruction in an educational institution run on public funds.

While issuing a notice to Centre, BJP government  the court observes that it was a serious Constitutional issue. The court will decide whether a Hindi prayer sung in over 1,100 Kendriya Vidyalaya schools across country promotes a particular religion and violates the Constitution.

A bench comprising of Justice Rohinton F Nariman and Navin Shah issued notices to the Centre as well as the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sanghatan. “It is a very important constitutional issue,” said Justice Nariman while issuing the notice.

The Supreme court will decide on whether indeed Hindi prayer sung in KVs in the country promote a particular religion and if this violated the Constitution.
The petition questions if an institution funded by the state can propagate any religion.
There are 1,125 Kendriya Vidyalaya’s across the country.

The petition said the common prayer amounted to “religious instruction”. Kendriya Vidyalayas function under the aegis of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD). The Union Minister is the Chairman. The schools, which have been existence for over 50 years, make one of world's largest chain of educational institutions spread over regions with diverse languages, culture and traditions.

The petition pointed to Article 92 of the revised education code, which mandates that “all students irrespective of their faith and belief, have to compulsorily attend the morning assembly and recite the prayer. All the teachers share the collective responsibility of supervising the assembly and making sure that every student folds his/her hands, closes his/her eyes and recites the prayer without fail. Any student failing to do so is punished and humiliated in front of the entire school”.

The petition said it is constitutionally impermissible to impose the prayer on students of other faiths and beliefs.

Students have a fundamental right to pray according to the practices of their religion or not pray at all.

Besides, the practice is an obstacle to fostering a scientific temperament among the students as the “whole idea of God and religious faith is given immense priority and the same is instilled as a thought process among the students”. The practice would encourage students to take refuge in supernatural rather than developing a practical resolve to overcome the hurdles of everyday life, the petition said.

“The prayer is being enforced throughout the country in all Kendra Vidyalayas,” he said. As a result, parents and children of minority communities as well as atheists and others who do not agree with this system of prayer such as agnostics, sceptics and rationalists “would find the imposition of this prayer constitutionally impermissible”

Below are the KV prapers with english meaning

The Sanskrit prayer the petitioner provided read as follows:

“Asato maa sadgamaya, tamaso maa jyotirgamaya, mrytyor maa amritm gamaya, Om shanti, shanti, shanti”

The translation was:

“O Lord, keep me not in the unreality (of the phenomenal world) but in the reality (of the eternal self)

O Lord, keep me not in the darkness (of ignorance), but lead me towards the light (of spiritual knowledge)

O Lord, keep me not in the fear of death, but lead me towards immortality

May there be peace, peace, peace”.

According to the petitioner, the second prayer, which is in Hindi, says:

“Daya kar daan vidya ka hamein parmatma dena.

Daya karna, hamari atma mein, shuddhata dena.

Hamare dhyaan mein aao, Prabhu, aakhon mein bas
jaao....”

The petitioner said the prayer asks God to grant knowledge to the students, which flows “towards us like the Ganges”, to “enter our consciousness, dwell in our vision”, and “deliver our hearts from darkness to light”.

It asks the Creator to teach love, noble deeds and the spirit of sacrifice, and how to die for the country.

This is followed by a third prayer which was also in Sanskrit, the petition said.

The last prayer calls upon God to “protect” and “nourish” both the student and teacher in their quest for knowledge.

Reality views by sm –

Thursday, January 11, 2018

Tags – Morning Prayer Hindu Prayer in Kendriya Vidyalayas

3 comments:

rudraprayaga January 13, 2018  

In this where is Hinduism?, Is knowledge from darkness is Hiduism? Is patriotism Hinduism? Everything in the prayer seems common to all the people.If Sanskrit is the problem, why should we learn English? It is not Indian.Why should India's money be spent for that? I think for the last five and a half decades this is the prayer.Nothing untoward happened.Many shining stars including Rajesh Sharma are the products of those institutions. In that case it is objectionable to use the revenue for students having religious names. The court should dismissed such a case.Every silly matter steals the Court's valuable time when there are lakhs and crores of poor people's cases pending.

rudraprayaga January 13, 2018  

The court should have dismissed the case....