The Lalit Blog

Imambara, Lucknow aka Asfi Imambara, the imambara built by Asaf. Imam_bara refers to the ‘House of the Imam’. Imam: literally, the head of the ummah, the Muslim community. The Imambara at Lucknow was commissioned by Asaf ud daula, the Nawab of Awadh at a time when Awadh was facing  famine conditions. When another imambara was constructed in the neighbourhood a few years later, the Asfi Imambara came to be called the ‘Bada’ Imambara. Bada referring to ‘big’. The other building came to be known as the ‘chhota’ imambara, chhota referring to ‘smaller’.  Building this grand structure created much needed employment for a people who were facing difficulty because their crops had failed. Paid labour ensured some money in their hands which could be used to buy food and other essentials. Construction started in 1784 and the building was finally put into use in 1791.  The Bada Imambara  is a marvel of civil engineering. Built on very deep foundations, it is a building that uses no wood or iron in

Courtesy India History page on fb Nehruvian socialism was known for emasculating all entrepreneurship in India. As a result, the handful of monied families of India at the time of independence continued to dominate the economy for the next five decades.  No new entrepreneurship was allowed. No new schools or colleges were allowed on the excuse of allowing only the best. Indians were even disallowed contact with the outside world. An Indian travelling abroad could only take $20. Anything more, it was argued, would deplete the treasury of Nehruvian India.  India, which had the largest manufacturing base in all of Asia and Africa, quickly became a basket case. Its huge agricultural classes were reduced to penury, unable to feed even themselves.  Those decades were the lost decades. All the gains instituted by India’s  contact with Britain  were lost, as also all the spirit that Indians possessed. Instead, Indians began to spend an inordinate amount of energy in breast beating and blaming

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  Lalit Shastri Lalit Shastri The demand for a caste-based census of the Hindu population in India has garnered significant attention and debate. This move by the Congress party and its allies has raised a crucial question: why restrict the caste census to Hindu communities alone? The intricate web of caste divisions extends beyond Hinduism, permeating other religions in the subcontinent as well. Therefore, it is imperative to contemplate a comprehensive caste census that encompasses all religious groups, including Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists and also atheists. This article delves into the history and complexity of the caste system in South Asia more particularly in India, its presence in various religious communities, and why a holistic approach to the caste census is necessary. The Pervasive Caste System  To understand the need for an inclusive caste census, one must recognize that the caste system is deeply entrenched in the social fabric of the Asian sub-contin