Medieval HistoryThere were mainly twosuperpowers in the 15th century A.D. which were involved inthe expansion of their influence in the world. During that period, the Muslimswere at the helm of Asia and the parts of Africa and Europe whereas theChristians were ruling Europe and exploring Africa. Since time immemorial, Godhas bestowed India with the riches of the land. It is called the golden birddue to the vast varieties of resources it consists of. The Europeans longed forspreading their influence in the east but could not dare to go through the landas the Muslims were already dominant in those regions. Thus the realization tosubjugate Asia became achievable for the Europeans when Vasco da Gama set sailfrom Portuguese and discovered the sea route to India through the south ofAfrican continent in 1497. With the discovery of this alternative route, theonset of Europeans began to India from the beginning of the 16th century.On the other hand, thefirst Mughal ruler Babar, who was the descendant of Genghis Khan, was alsovying for the control of India. He came from central Asia and defeated Lodhidynasty in the battle of Panipat in 1526 thereby becoming the ruler of India.The reason why Babar came first in establishing his empire here is that heentered India from the north with the intention to dominate with 20,000 strongarmies equipped with modern warfare whereas Da Gama reached Calicut which is inthe south with less than 200 men via sea with the intention to explore andtrade. Then slowly and steadily the Europeans began to develop and grow theirarea of influence in the disguise of trade with India. Gradually, after seeingthe resources they started growing their presence in the region. The infightingbegan amongst the European nations such as the Portuguese, Dutch, French,Spanish and British for establishing their supremacy over the land andbusiness. Although the British entered the scene fairly late in contrast withtheir neighboring nations, after the long power struggle the British came outvictorious in grabbing the major portion of India and pushing other nations tothe sidelines. Then step-by-step they de-established the Mughal Empire fromIndia. By the time the British gained complete dominance in the mid-19thcentury, the Mughal dynasty had already fulfilled its quota of ruling Indiafor more than 300 years. After the death of the sixth ruler Aurangzeb in 1707, thedynasty kept crumbling for the next 150 years. Now the time had arrived forIndia to be ruled by more effective government as the Mughal dynasty wasrendered spineless for many decades. By 1850s, it became so weak that Britishwere able to dethrone them by crushing the small uprising. The year 1857 was aturnaround period for the dormant Indian society. This period is marked by thetransfer of authority from Mughals to the British. The last Mughal king,Bahadur Shah Zafar, grew so powerless that he used to get monthly pension fromthe British to run his palace. Suspecting his role in the uprising, the Britishhad sent him to the isolated island where he breathed his last in exile. Althoughthe British had started ruling the Indian territories in bits and pieces from alot earlier, the entire India went into the control of the Queen Victoria ofEngland, also known as the Empress of India, in 1857. This period is rememberedfor the first attempt for independence against the growing British Empire whichwas initiated by the revolting Indian battalion consisting of Muslims andHindus of the British army. The uprising was later on joined by the thousandsof civilians who were also suffering at the hands of the British for a longtime.Causesof RevoltThere was no congruencybetween the British and the Indians: their blood, religion, customs andtraditions were widely separated. Also, signs of love and alliance were barelyvisible. As a result, people did not expect favourable manners from theBritish. Around the mid-17th century, Aurangzeb had given the permitto the Europeans to establish their entity in India. So the British establishedtheir company by the name of British East India Company for the purpose of executingbusiness. Initially their purview of business revolved around buying silk,spices and other produce. But in a steady manner, they started to involvethemselves in the politics of the ruling government by raising their own army.The British applied the following method for entering the realm of governancewhich eventually became the cause of the revolt:Theystarted by trading in precious resources like cotton, silk, indigo, salt, tea,opium, spices and other produce. It thus helped them to become economicallysound.Afterestablishing their foot in the business, they started to put their nose betweenthe geo-politics of the region where they started collecting land revenues.Withthe money they earned they began to recruit Indians in their army to fight warsand thus making their position strong against the existing dynasties.Theyestablished the factories for manufacturing arms and ammunition to furtherstrengthen their position.Withthe growing might they started to impose their own laws such as Doctrine ofLapse where a childless king cannot adopt an heir to the throne. Hence leavingthe empire vulnerable for annexation by them.Theystarted to apply the strategy of Divide and Rule where they put the Hindusagainst the Muslims and thus facilitating in growing the hatred among eachother and causing disunity. Hence rendering the masses weak internally. Theyfunded Christian priests and missionaries to propagate their religion to theIndians for getting them converted.The Indian rebellion occurred as aresult of the accumulation of factors overtime rather than any single event. Itwas fed by resentment born of bitter policies, including invasive British-stylesocial reforms, harsh land taxes, onerous treatment of some rich landowners andprinces.The issue whichtriggered the final clashes was the controversially made greased cartridgesadministered to the Indian sepoys employed under the British army. The rumourhas it that the grease in the cartridges was being made from the fat of porkand cow which conflicted with both the religions—Islam and Hinduism. Above all,the sepoys had to first bite off the cartridge from their mouth before loadingup it in the rifle. This caused the massive dissent in the army as the Indianssuspected that it was the strategy of British to make Indians impure and thusripping them off their religion.Aftermathof RevoltIn the world it isusually seen that when one nation becomes a puppet of another powerful nation,then every aspect of the former nation becomes enslaved. The freedom to liveaccording to their will is snatched away. They are constantly put under thelens of their prying eyes wherein for doing something they need to takepermission first. After the revolt, thesocio-political situation deteriorated drastically. British started takingrevenge with a vengeance against Indians, Muslims in particular, because theythought that since they have dethroned the Muslim emperor, so they must be solelyresponsible for the mutiny. Upon this analogy, the British started takingbrutal measures against them. Thousands of villagers were slaughtered with thebayonets. They sent the noblemen to the gallows. The women of the noblefamilies were being molested by the British army. Looting and plundering ofproperties became rampant. There was no law and order to which the people couldadhere. Many villages and localities were destroyed. Millions of people had nowater, food and money to survive. The British had put the martial law at placefor several months. The Muslims were debarred from the city and only those wereallowed inside who were issued the permit by the officers. The Delhi, which wasfamous for its hustle and bustle, had turned into a ghost town. The environmentfelt like a wilderness surrounded by the anarchy all over the place. The levelof horror was that the mouths of dead Hindus were stuffed with beef and thebodies of Muslims were wrapped with skin of swine. Thousands of women threwthemselves in wells from fear.All this was beingwitnessed by forty-year-old Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, who was working as thesubordinate judge under the British government. Since he was in his prime oflife, he could not sit idle and decided to massively revamp the society. As agovernment servant, he did his utmost to carry out relief works for thecountrymen. He cleared the cases of the innocent people who were wrongly sentencedto imprisonment for participating in the revolt. He solved the legal disputesamong the people for various issues. He organised the famine relief centre tofeed the poor. Many shelter homes were opened to provide for rest and securityto the vulnerable. Several doctors to look after the sick and injured peoplewere arranged by him. Also, he was instrumental in saving the lives of twentyEuropean residents from the attacks of mutineers by putting his life at stakes.He served the people from other community as well with same kindness and never differentiatesbetween their caste and creed.Visionof Sir Syed Ahmad KhanSir Syed had a dream ofbringing back the past glory of Muslims. He was born and raised at the timewhen the golden age of the Muslims was at its death bed. Since it is well knownthat change is constant, that means, the circumstances of the world arechanging at every passing hour, but the Muslims fell prey to the staticthoughts and learning passed on by their ancestors since the advent of Islam.They relied heavily on the ancient learnings and customs. With these customstheir thinking became rigid and superstitious. They used to get on loggerheadswith each other on trivial issues pertaining to baseless acts of worship,thereby creating enmity and discord even among the smallest segments of thesociety.  On the other hand, Europe wascoming out of the shackles of the teachings of Christianity by pondering overthe subject of universe. Their people became curious about the findings of theworking of universe. They discovered new laws on which they starting inventingmachines, drugs, infrastructure and other luxuries to make the life easy forthe mankind. They got so ahead in their endeavours to study new subjects thatthey started to serve and govern the rest of the mankind with the knowledgethey gained out of it. This was the reason through which Europe went ahead inthe areas of innovations. Maximum scientists are found in this continent whochanged the course of history in their favour by applying those scientificinventions. The invented electricity, railways, cure for terminal disease,modern warfare, radio communications and several other utilities to make theworld a global village.Hence, Sir Syed had a vision of seeinghis community to achieve the excellence in both the genres—religion and science.He believed that the condition of his community can be improved by inducingthem to get education in both theology and science according to therequirements of age. He claimed that the teachings of Islam through ProphetMuhammad (SAW) and the Book i.e., Quran is perfectly ideal for the age. It isbelieved so because the Quran gave many scientific hints around 1400 years backabout what the scientists are discovering now. For instance, revolving eartharound the sun, barriers between the seas, human embryo in a form of leech whosucks blood inside the womb, discovery of the body of pharaoh, existence of twosexes of living beings whether it be plant or animal, formation of the universewith a big bang and many more such clues exist in the holy book.Sir Syed had a dream inwhich his people possess in their right hand the knowledge of religion and intheir left hand the knowledge of science. Islam was at its peak in the field ofscientific discovery from 8th to 12th century. Althoughthe Christian considered that period as the dark ages due to the oppressiveauthoritarian rule of their popes and priests who used to put constrain on theintellectual minds for discovering anything new, it proved to be the Islamicgolden period.  It is because theintellectuals of that period could co-relate the discoveries with the truthrevealed in the Quran. The history bears testimony to the fact that the great Muslimintellectuals became the pioneers of the various fields such as science,mathematics, philosophy, medicine, geography, history, jurisprudence,engineering, etc. Some of them are Avicenna (Medicine), Averroes (Philosophy),Ibn-Battuta (Explorer), Al-Khwarizmi (Mathematics), Al-Farabi, Al-Ghazali,Al-Kindi, Al-Biruni, Ibn-Khaldun and many more.Sir Syed acted as acatalyst that transitioned the Indian subcontinent from the medieval age to themodern era. The occurrences in that period led the Indians from the ancientsuperstitious education to the modern scientific learning. AligarhMovementSir Syed used to remainin gloomy thoughts after experiencing around him so many losses and destructionof his vulnerable community. He used to spend all his time in mulling over howto uplift his degraded community and how to improve its relations with the British.Initially, he kept himself busy in providing a sort of first-aid to thecommunity which is given immediately after the tragic mishap. However, thisimmediate relief could not remove the vices which were deeply ingrained in theroots of the society. Therefore, he started to ponder over the diagnoses of thedisease which was proving to be terminal for the community. In order to treat thecondition, he came to the conclusion that the prescription which must beadministered for permanent removal of disease from the root is to dispenseeducation which is adequate according to the requirements of age. He went insearch for the solution of how to get and deliver such education where themasses become self-sufficient and hence it leads to the advancement of thecountry as a whole. He looked towards the race who was currently ruling theIndia i.e., the British. They were so intellectually, physically and culturallyadvanced that their meagre population was able to govern not only India but the50% of the population of the world. For that he made up his mind to travel toEngland to study their ways and means to prosperity. For this country, it wasfamous that the sun never goes down in their vast empire located from the westto the east on the globe. There are many factors such as education, military,justice etc. which established the supremacy of British. In 1869, Sir Syed tooka leave from the office and mentioned in the application his intention andpurpose of travelling to foreign country which was published in the Gazette ofthe Scientific Society, dated 15th Feb. 1869. It says “I firmlybelieve that in order to make India a prosperous and flourishing country and tostrengthen the efforts of the British Government (and I take pride in servingit) there is no way except to improve and develop interaction between theEuropeans and the Indians.” He encouraged Indians to travel to Europe to seekinspiration with regards to the wealth, strength and wisdom. He believed thatthe British system should be considered by Indians as a model in the trade,agriculture, medical and education fields. He had a desire to share with hiscountrymen what all he perceived and learnt in England.Once he set foot inEngland, he met many nobles and renowned persons. He used to apprise about theconditions existed back home to the lords and dukes. He met several engineersand architects who were involved in the construction of engineering marvelssuch as railways, bridges over big rivers, canals and tunnels in the mountainsthrough which trains pass. He visited Cambridge and Oxford universities tostudy their method of imparting modern education, its infrastructure, style ofbuildings, its research and development programme in the areas of science etc.As written in his biography, he observed closely the virtues of the British,their manners, infrastructure, and their educational setup while being in theirenvironment. He admired the way the British followed their religion withoutbeing disrespectful about others faith and practices. It was their plus pointsthat fascinated Sir Syed while their follies were disregarded by him. Heobserved these noble attributes while holding in mind the plight of hismotherland. His desire was to adopt these virtues precisely as it was beingfollowed in England.  (p.g. 90)He had prepared theblueprint for how he is going to implement the game plan for the progress ofMuslims. He was 53 years old when he came back from a successful England visit.Nobody knew how long he was going to live, so he immediately started to act onhis vision as he wanted to provide a change in his lifetime. There was no onepresent at the time in the community who could undertake massive trouble so heinstantly applied the following measures to fulfil his mission:Hestarted issuing a weekly journal by the name of Tahzeeb-ul-Akhlaq (Refinementof Etiquettes) because the people were indulged in lot of vices. It is supposedthat these ill habits are the by-products of a declining community. So heundertook the task to remove those bad vices as well as awaken the communityabout the benefits of acquiring the western modern education.Nexthe formed the committee for the progress of education among Muslims. Its goalwas to find out the reason why the Muslims keeping away from acquiringeducation. The survey was conducted where they came to know that Muslimsbelieve that learning English is against their religion as they feared that itwould turn them into Christianity. They also believed that the governmentschools do not give proper religious education. So they didn’t let theirchildren to go to any school.Heestablished the Scientific Society where its role was to translate the westernbooks of literature and science in the vernacular language, so that the peopleshall come to know the enlightening works of western authors.Thenhe set up another committee for the purpose of collecting funds for erecting acollege to provide appropriate modern education along with authentic religiouslearning. Its aim was to prepare the students according to the requirement ofage with decent etiquettes.It was the head start of AligarhMovement with the beginning of the above mentioned projects undertaken by himalong with his companions. They embarked on the journey to fulfil the burningdesire to rescue the drowning ship of their community in the ocean. Generally,the Muslim were unconcerned about their own welfare. They falsely believed thatthe life they were going through was perfectly fine and nothing can be doneabout it. Although they had fallen deeper to the lowest strata of the societybut they felt comfortable in it and no one was willing to go to the edge oftheir comfort zone or to do sacrifice in the name of the Almighty to save theirbrothers from drowning in the whirlpool. So, the founding of college wasperceived to be acting as a saving lifeboat to bail out as much people as itcould.Sir Syed shoulderedmany responsibilities in order to establish his Mohammadan Anglo Oriental College.Among various works, the most difficult task was to collect funds from his owncommunity as there was no concept of collecting funds on a large scale for thesocial benefit of the community. Another problem was that Muslims despisededucation and were reluctant to allow their children to attend schools. Fromthe very beginning they were opposing the idea of any college, so it was a verydifficult job for Sir Syed to collect funds. He undertook upon himself to perform this uphill task to encourage hisown community to shell out some currency. He applied various methods such asprinting and selling books, art and artefacts. He organised penny readingsession in various functions where he read books and sang songs. On hisjourneys, he requested the host to donate money in lieu of giving hospitalityto him. He appealed his dear friends, acquaintance, relatives to contribute.With all these efforts it was believed that he was able to generate more than 5million rupees in his lifetime.Next with that money,he started the construction of buildings at a grand scale which were similar onthe line of Cambridge and Oxford. Although there was a severe shortage of fundswhen he started the construction but he was determined to splurge on to makemonumental buildings. Many people opposed his plan of spending around 6-7 lakhsof rupees as there was no funds for managing other functions such as administrationand education. But he did not budge from his idea because he used to say thatthe buildings will enthuse the coming generations by conveying them that ifsuch humongous task can be done by their ancestors then they can also accomplishanything in their life on this outstanding level. Once witnessing this, Britishalso started taking interest in educating the students and feel honoured insidethose lavish buildings. As the British were appointed as teachers, Sir Syed wasable to realise many of his goals like closing the gap between the British andthe Muslims, imparting of progressive education as well as refinement ofetiquettes.Hindi-Urdu RowAnother definingfeature that contributed to the pavement of Aligarh Muslim University andstrengthened Khan’s vision was the Hindi-Urdu controversy. The conflict betweenthe two languages had existed for several decades. In sixteenth century, theChristians and Muslims were at loggerheads with each other. The British, in particular,wanted to rout the Ottoman empire and their allies namely Mughals from theAsian continent. In those times, India was mostly ruled by Mughals. In order torule India, they had to fight Muslims in majority of the region with the rulerssuch as Bahadur Shah Zafar in north, Siraj-ud-Daula in east and Tipu sultan insouth. At a global level, they were already fighting the Ottomans who weredominating the large part of this world. So for British, Muslims encompassed astheir biggest enemy. So in order to weaken the Muslim unity, they adopted thepolicy of divide and rule wherein they created division amongst the regionalpeople belonging of different caste and creed. In India they createdenmity between Hindus and Muslims. For sowing the seeds of division, they firstlaunched the convent schools in the country for propagating their own versionof perception. The Hindus were the first to get enrolled in those schools forgetting employment in the government services. Hence, Hindus come to be severaldecades ahead than the Muslims in accepting English education as the Muslimsused to fear that by getting English education they would wash their hands offfrom their own religion. The Muslims used to fear that by learning westerneducation, they would form their own sect just like Protestant has arose inChristianity or they would become atheist as most of the western scientist hadbecome. Muslims were also apprehensive of some cultural habits of Christianssuch as eating of pork, drinking of wine, etc. which was prohibited in theirreligion. So they never wanted to emulate Christians by joining their schools.In the convent schools the British propagated their own religion to the non-Christiansand also provided books with the distorted version on the history of Muslimrulers such as Aurangzeb, Tipu Sultan, etc in order to spread animosity. Theyfalsely accused Muslim rulers of destroying Hindu temples, Killing of Brahmins,forced conversion to Islam etc. These issues slowly grew hatred among theHindus. In the late 1860s thecontroversy arose over the Urdu usage in the court or in any other officialinstitution. Hindus wanted to introduce Hindi in the law court. On the otherhand, Sir Syed claimed that Urdu is the only lingua franca i.e., it was bornout of the concoction of Arabic, Persian, Hindi and Sanskrit. At that time,Only the Urdu could be claimed as the language spoken and understood in theentire country. Urdu was the outcome of numerous civilizations living togetherin one place for several eras. But Hindus were obstinate on eliminating it asan official language for the reason that, first, its script was Persian andsecondly, it was developed during Muslim rule. That is why Hindus wanted toeradicate everything which reminded them of Muslims. One could imagine theamount of hatred which was seeded in the minds of Hindus by the British.Likewise, British also favoured the stand of Hindus as they wanted to weakenthe nation from inside-out and hence able to rule India easily. Sir Syed was of theview that Islam is not such a fragile religion that by gaining any worldly wisdomone could not continue in his religion. He said that the teachings of Islamprovide the basic platform for the inventions of scientific philosophy. Infact, he said that the more the person discerns, the more he would come closertowards his religion as one would wonder and ponder over the miracles of theworld and the universe This was the reason why the early origination ofscientists were from the Muslim community who took head from the Quran anddiscovered scientific laws. After experiencing therow over the language, Sir Syed had become heart broken. Earlier his approachwas secularistic but afterward he turned towards the goal of uplifting his owncommunity as he watched that Hindus were way ahead in all round prosperityunder the leadership of Raja Ram Mohan Roy and several others whereas Muslimleaders were nowhere near the vicinity. So he took upon himself to steer awaythe ship filled with impoverished Muslims from the deadly storm.TheFoundation of Aligarh Muslim UniversityAligarh Movement became the ultimate consequenceto salvage whatever was left of the downtrodden Muslim community after theannihilation of Mughal empire. One of the initial steps he took was theestablishment of scientific society for the purpose of translating praiseworthyliterary and scientific books of English into Urdu. The objective behind thissociety was to spread awareness among the Muslims about the advancement made bythe Europeans in the fields of various subjects such as astronomy, law, maths,medicine, philosophy, engineering etc. So that it would act as an ignition inlighting the fire of triumph in the community. Eventually, it does becomesuccessful in awakening the curiosity in the minds of the Indians.Sir Syed wanted thatthe relations between the British and the Muslims become cordial. So he thoughtthat if the Muslims become educated and civilised, it will increase the respectand dignity in the eyes of the British and thus both the communities will comecloser. Sir Syed was in awe of Europeans because he could not help but observethe massive advancements done by them in every possible fields. By viewingthis, his next move was to launch an educational institution where the studentscan get the relevant skills required in that age and time. Initially, his ideaof translating the work of western modern intellectuals into the vernacularlanguage proved to be a success in turning the wheel for rousing the youthtowards the benefits of western education but later on he realised that this processwas proving to be very costly and time-consuming. So he encouraged the youth tolearn English so that it would become way easier for them to acquire knowledgeof relevant fields in short span of time. His idea was not to set up avernacular college where Urdu would be its medium of instructions but to foundan institution where they get to develop their command over English and itssubjects. According to him, acquiring education in English was essentialbecause this language was entirely developed for finding lots of material andresearch work on relevant subjects. By keeping all theabove scenario in mind he developed the game plan of establishing a collegewith a boarding house. So that he could provide overall teaching to thestudents from morning to evening which aimed on an inclusive growth of thepupil. His intention was to develop the students on intellectual, cultural andphysical level. In 1876, he resignedfrom the government service and came to Aligarh to put his entire effort in thedirection of the college formation. After his arrival, the speed of the workaccelerated in several areas such as construction of buildings, collection offunds, getting approval from government officials etc. Hence the work for thenational movement shot up.Sir Syed wanted to makehis institute prestigious just like Cambridge and Oxford. So he involvedhimself with a lot of zeal in every aspect of development. He used to bearextreme summer heat and hot winds in overlooking the work of brick layers,stone cutters, masons, plumbers, carpenters, architects etc. He would devisevarious plans in collecting funds and never felt shy of his image in asking formoney either from rich or poor. Once he even organised the lottery where heearned around Rs. 20,000/- despite objections from the Islamic scholars as itis considered sinful in Islamic beliefs. His argument on this issue was that eventhough the people do a lot of unlawful deeds, if one unlawful deed is done forthe benefit of the society, it would not be considered that bad. He was of the viewthat helping the community is in fact helping our own self. In order to achievethis goal, he eventually inaugurated the institution as MohammadanAnglo-Oriental College through the hands of Viceroy Lord Lytton in 1877 withgreat pomp and show.MuslimEducation: Then and NowAfter the revolt of1857, percentage of Muslims in government jobs registered a steep fall. Themost striking decline was, in the state judicial services, in which thepercentage of Muslims fell from 45.9% in 1887 to 24.8% in 1913. Just after the partitionin 1947, according to a survey there were 100 colleges and about 1000 higher secondaryschools under Muslim management as against 1500 colleges and 8000 higher secondaryschools in the country. This is alarming and the community has to accentuateits resources for the establishment of educational institutions at all levelall over the country.In the year 1893, theincrease in the number of Muslim graduates in comparison with Hindu graduatesin the North-West Province and Oudh were impressive. We learnt from the lecturedelivered by Syed Mahmud (son of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan) in 1893 in theEducational Conference at Aligarh that except for North-West Province and Oudh,in every other province of India, till that year the number of Muslim graduateswas so low in comparison to the Hindu graduates that it could not be countedmore than zero. In Bengal, where according to the Census, the Muslim graduatesshould have been 49.5%, it was only 3.4%; in Madras (present day Chennai) itwas 0.9% in place of 6.8%; in Bombay (present day Mumbai) it was 1.2% instead21.5% and in the Punjab it was 1.9% instead of 25%. In contrast to all this, inthe districts of North-West Provinces and Oudh, it should have been 11.2% butthat year (1893) it was 17.6%. It makes it clear that in a short time, theMohammadan College made an enormous contribution towards the education ofMuslims.Since 1920 when the MohammadanAnglo-Oriental College got the status of the University, the Aligarh Movementhas seen massive development in its programme. The total number of students in1921 was 969 which shoot up to 6061 just before the Partition. Today, there aremore than 30,000 students on rolls of the Aligarh Muslim University withdifferent new faculties springing up and this shows the overall progress of themovement. But despite that the role and participation of Muslims in themainstream employment sectors of the country is bare minimum. There have been a fewstudies commissioned by the Government of India which throw the light on theplight of Indian Muslims at the beginning of 21st century. One is the studyconducted by Justice Ranganath Mishra Commission on ‘Religious and LinguisticsMinorities in India’ in 2004, which says that ‘65% of Muslim students whoenters primary school level only 3% come out as a Graduate’. The Commissionputs the onus on poverty as one of the factors for the huge drop-out rate amongthe Muslim minorities (Misra, 2004).Another study conducted by Sachar Committee in 2005 highlighted the‘backwardness of Indian Muslims’. An issue presented was that while Muslimsconstitute 14% of the Indian population, they only comprise 2.5% of Indianbureaucracy. This committee concluded that the conditions facing Indian Muslimswas below than that of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes of the country. (Sachar, 2006)Past studies did notsufficiently identify the key stimuli that impact Indian Muslims. In order tofully understand the community, it is important to conduct a study forpinpointing the factors of their downfall and suggesting the correctivemeasures to be taken to improve their conditions.   ConclusionIn conclusion, althoughthe initiation of Aligarh Movement and the establishment of Aligarh MuslimUniversity took place in the nineteenth century, the grounds for them werebeing shaped since several centuries ago. The disharmony among various nations,religions, languages, and the rise and fall of Muslims in particular propelledSir Syed’s vision towards the establishment of an educational institution thatnot only educated them but also strengthened the nation as a whole.

English was introduced into South Asia bythe British. Almost all post –colonial countries in South AsiaEnglish was introduced into South Asia bythe British. Almost all post –colonial countries in South Asia like,Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Nepal long period of economic, linguistic andpolitical domination.In Bangladesh, English plays an important role in everydayactivities, along with Bangla.  Thispaper examines the linguistics impact of English on South Asia, particularly onBangladesh.Like many other Islamic countries, English plays an important rolein the educational systems of Bangladesh. It is used as a second-languagealthough it is spoken only by 3% of the population. Bangladesh suffers fromcontinual poverty and more than half of the population is living under thepoverty line. English plays two important roles in Bangladesh. The medium ofeducation- Bengali or English – distinguishes the well- educated andeconomically advantaged urban dwellers from the undereducated and economicallydistressed rural population. A three-pronged ethnographic method—(a) depth interviews with keypolicy planners; (b) non-participatory classroom observation; and (b)historical document analysis—was used to answer the research questions. What are the relationshipbetween the English and educational equality in Bangladesh?  Results indicated that English is linked with the individualopportunity. Bangladesh takesEnglish as their medium of instruction ineducation not because this country has a huge contribution in the globaleconomy but because English is necessary to survive in Bangladesh. Bangladeshi studentshave a positive attitude toward English, which is regarded as a language ofopportunity and is no longer regarded as a burden of colonialism.  In South Asia, English is generally notviewed as a colonial burden but as an international or neutral language. Englishoffers significant economic opportunity and privileges for its speakers. Thuspublic pressure for English language teaching at an early age is widespread.However, for most children, English language proficiency is quite low becauseof the low quality of English language education. Thus, the present policycontinues to support advantages for groups having access to English education,while contributing to the ongoing educational difficulties facing the rural andurban poor. This paper calls for language planning and policy that emphasizepedagogic equity.

Globalization and English Language Education Policy in BangladeshBangladesh is trying to respond to the needs of globalization and it gives importance to the preservation of the national identity. Bangladesh suffers from continual poverty and more than half of the population is living under the poverty line　and over the half of the population is illiterate. Past research shows that poor students have less chance of completing any given education cycle than more affluent ones. Both Bangla and English play significant roles in the education systems of Bangladesh. But English is one of the major languages of education and employment. Past research shows that learning English contributes to the social and economic inequality. This situation still prevails in Bangladesh. Within a population of 160 million, it is estimated that only 3 percent of Bangladeshi people can speak English, and not all of them with great proficiency. Ninety-eight percent of the total population uses Bengali as their first language. However, Bengali has not acquired the honor that it perhaps deserves. The literacy rate at present is 48.7 percent (1998-BBS). Although in the Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh it is stated that, education should be free and compulsory for all children to such a stage as will be determined by law (Constitution of Bangladesh, Article.17a, P.7) in practice such literacy and education is not to be seen. Many know the alphabet but cannot read books. The vast majority of the population does not know the correct usage of Bengali. Actually, many do not know Bengali in the functional literacy sense. Those who know Bengali need not use it in their socio-economic life. Their social and commercial interaction actually tends to be carried out in English not in Bengali. Thus, Bengali is not properly used either by the very rich or the very poor people in Bangladesh. This is one of the reasons for giving up writing books in Bengali. The Readers are very few. Books are expensive to print and difficult to sell. This problem actually emerges from the deep-seated socio-political and economic problem of Bangladesh . After independence, the status of English became further enhanced in Bangladesh. The medium of instruction in higher education is English. Middle and lower middle class parents tried their best to send their children to the English medium schools. For some parents, for practical reasons, the importance of English is greater than Bengali. Interest in the learning of the English language is not declining but the proficiency of English is declining. As a second language, English is crucially important. However, the most important question is whether the Bangladeshi needs to learn English from the first grade of elementary school. There are many students who learned English from the age of five but they do not understand it. Learning English from grade one does not reveal its importance as an international language but it does express its importance as an element in school education. As reflected from the historical documents, for international communication, English is important. In spite of the fact that English plays an important role for the development of Bangladesh, English is important for economic and financial reasons since work abroad is one very significant way of solving unemployment and earning foreign exchange. However, all the economic rewards still accrue to English rather than Bengali. At present it seems that the English language will function as a most important linguistic vehicle in the development of Bangladesh. English in Bangladesh is a prestigious language and it is also a language of power. It is a marker of economic prosperity and social mobility. English is highly esteemed. This situation is stable; nationalism is now taking second place to economic security and prosperity. Bengali seems to be a hopeful if idealistic symbol of social equality: unlike the elite symbolism of English. Within a certain socioeconomic group, the upper class and sometimes middle class people use English for everyday conversation and interaction. It is considered to be a sign of affectation, of putting one over one’s peers of considering oneself better than they are. English is something which determines how life should be lived in Bangladesh. It is not only a struggle for power but also a struggle for possession between the elite and the rural people. Bengali may possibly take over this role but it seems that it is a long process. The purpose of the research was to find out in what ways Bangladesh responded to the globalization and what role has its language policy played? Bangladeshi people are motivated towards English instrumentally not integratively. This implies that English is not a competitor of Bengali but a complement to Bengali. English has been taught in Bangladesh as a compulsory subject for over 150 years but it was never the medium of instruction. It is now used in Bangladesh in different places. The motivation to learn English especially now among the middle lower middle classes is as high as ever because of the access it gives to jobs abroad: in the Middle East and in other parts of Asia such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and also in Europe such as Britain, America, etc. Not only for work in foreign countries but also for getting jobs inside the country, a knowledge of English is necessary. There is hardly a high range or middle-range job, which cannot be obtained without a knowledge of English. However jobs advertised by certain institutions and organizations, such as international companies, embassies and high commissions, UN organizations, and some local commercial companies, specify requirements for competence in both Bengali and English language. The result shows that in Bangladesh English is not connected with the global capitalism rather it is related with the individual opportunity. Time was not adequate to collect comprehensive historical data and no complete lists of subject-based results of the national exams could be located. Interviews of the policy planner would be needed to fine more reliable results. Purpose of this research is to find out how language policies are linked with national ideologies and with social inequalities and also argues how Bangladesh has competed with the demands of globalization.A two-pronged ethnographic method-(a)depth interviews with the key policy planners, and (b)historical document analysis-will use to answer the following questions:1.

Globalization and English Language Education Policy in BangladeshThe emergence of the 20th century nation Bangladesh is, for the Bangladeshi people, one of the glorious hours in the history of nation-building. The vision of Bangladesh naturally encompassed hopes and aspirations for the Bengali language, as seen in the Bengali Language Movement. However, the excitement and passion for the language was short lived. In 1975, the fall of the government changed national life and identity. Bengali also suffered a set back. The status of English re-appeared. Many English medium schools swung back in view at that time and many private schools with foreign tastes and high fees were established. This situation still prevails in Bangladesh. Within a population of 160 million, it is estimated that only 3 percent of Bangladeshi people can speak English, and not all of them with great proficiency. Ninety-eight percent of the total population uses Bengali as their first language. However, Bengali has not acquired the honor that it perhaps deserves. The literacy rate at present is 48.7 percent (1998-BBS). Although in the Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh it is stated that, education should be free and compulsory for all children to such a stage as will be determined by law (Constitution of Bangladesh, Article.17a, P.7) in practice such literacy and education is not to be seen. Many know the alphabet but cannot read books. The vast majority of the population does not know the correct usage of Bengali. Actually, many do not know Bengali in the functional literacy sense. Those who know Bengali need not use it in their socio-economic life. Their social and commercial interaction actually tends to be carried out in English not in Bengali. Thus, Bengali is not properly used either by the very rich or the very poor people in Bangladesh. This is one of the reasons for giving up writing books in Bengali. The Readers are very few. Books are expensive to print and difficult to sell. This problem actually emerges from the deep-seated socio-political and economic problem of Bangladesh . After independence, the status of English became further enhanced in Bangladesh. The medium of instruction in higher education is English. Middle and lower middle class parents tried their best to send their children to the English medium schools. For some parents, for practical reasons, the importance of English is greater than Bengali. Interest in the learning of the English language is not declining but the proficiency of English is declining. As a second language, English is crucially important. However, the most important question is whether the Bangladeshi needs to learn English from the first grade of elementary school. There are many students who learned English from the age of five but they do not understand it. Learning English from grade one does not reveal its importance as an international language but it does express its importance as an element in school education. As reflected from the historical documents, for international communication, English is important. In spite of the fact that English plays an important role for the development of Bangladesh, English is important for economic and financial reasons since work abroad is one very significant way of solving unemployment and earning foreign exchange. However, all the economic rewards still accrue to English rather than Bengali. At present it seems that the English language will function as a most important linguistic vehicle in the development of Bangladesh. English in Bangladesh is a prestigious language and it is also a language of power. It is a marker of economic prosperity and social mobility. English is highly esteemed. This situation is stable; nationalism is now taking second place to economic security and prosperity. Bengali seems to be a hopeful if idealistic symbol of social equality: unlike the elite symbolism of English. Within a certain socioeconomic group, the upper class and sometimes middle class people use English for everyday conversation and interaction. It is considered to be a sign of affectation, of putting one over one’s peers of considering oneself better than they are. English is something which determines how life should be lived in Bangladesh. It is not only a struggle for power but also a struggle for possession between the elite and the rural people. Bengali may possibly take over this role but it seems that it is a long process. The purpose of the research was to find out in what ways Bangladesh responded to the globalization and what role has its language policy played? Bangladeshi people are motivated towards English instrumentally not integratively. This implies that English is not a competitor of Bengali but a complement to Bengali. English has been taught in Bangladesh as a compulsory subject for over 150 years but it was never the medium of instruction. It is now used in Bangladesh in different places. The motivation to learn English especially now among the middle lower middle classes is as high as ever because of the access it gives to jobs abroad: in the Middle East and in other parts of Asia such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and also in Europe such as Britain, America, etc. Not only for work in foreign countries but also for getting jobs inside the country, a knowledge of English is necessary. There is hardly a high range or middle-range job, which cannot be obtained without a knowledge of English. However jobs advertised by certain institutions and organizations, such as international companies, embassies and high commissions, UN organizations, and some local commercial companies, specify requirements for competence in both Bengali and English language. The historical books and documents used in this study proved reliable and helpful. Recent Governmental data such as the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), Bangladesh bureau of Educational Information and Statistics (BANBEIS) were used in this study. The journals and newspapers used in this study are well known and current in Bangladesh. The result shows that in Bangladesh English is not connected with the global capitalism rather it is related with the individual opportunity. Time was not adequate to collect comprehensive historical data and no complete lists of subject-based results of the national exams could be located. Interviews of the policy planner would be needed to fine more reliable results. The findings of the study be might be frustrating to all those people including myself who want a better future for their country and their children. This is the hard reality. Revision of the curriculum, teaching-learning procedures and evaluation systems, needs to start immediately. It is not only the solemn duty of government and policy planners but it is the duty of all contentious members of society.