The role of Social networkingsites in Communal harmonyShahzad Alam Barni (RTI Activist, Aligarh)India is the second largest country of the world in relation to itspopulation and 7th largest country in relation to its area. Socialnetworking sites like Facebook, Orkut, twitter, hi5 etc. have a largenumber of users.According to a news published in Hindustan Times dated February 2,2012, with 43,497,980 users, India has the world's second highestn u m b e r o fF a c e b o o k u s e r snow. It is more thanthe population ofArgentina, Kenya,Canada and almosttwice the Australia'spopulation. In aweek, India hasadded 5,452,980more users to beatI n d o n e s i a(43,057,320) to thesecond place.USA leads the number of FB users with more than 152.5 million users,according to the website checkfacebook.com, a comprehensiveanalytics platform for Facebook. While an overwhelming 72.8% ofIndian FB users are male, more than 48% of users are from the 18-24years age group and more than 27% from the 25-34 age groups.Interestingly, more women use FB in the US (55%) than men (45%)while 24% users are in the 18-24 categories with 23% from the 25-34 agegroups.India has faced a number of communal riots since the very first year ofindependence of India in 1947, when a communal riot in Bengal tookplace in which more than 2,000 people had died and more than 3,000were injured. After that incident of violence there has been a series ofcommunal violence that destroyed the harmony and brotherhood -these include the riots of Moradabad, Meerut, Aligarh, Bhagalpur, andthe masscre of Gujarat apart from many others.There are a number of pages and groups of different interests onFacebook to promote the things through this social networking site.Social media, especially Facebook, have become one of the mostpowerful tools for the promotion of anything at a large level.Hundreds march inJamia Nagar againstillegal arrestingNew Delhi, 26 Feb: Hundreds of peoplesdemonstrated today in Jamia Nagar against illegalarresting, kidnapping and harassing of localresidents by the police.Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR)Delhi secretary, Syed Akhlaq while addressing to theprotest-march said, “Police is for people’s safety notfor terrorizing them and it is their prime duty torespect civil rights while arresting or nabbing anyperson and Supreme Court should take action if itsgiven guidelines are not being followed by any lawenforcement agency.” He added, “People shouldaware and come out to protect their civil rights.”Adv. Feroz Gazi vice president of APCR, Delhi chaptersaid, “No one is allowed to take law into his handeither police or common people and every personhas right to protect himself from illegal detention.”Engineer Saleem, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind PublicRelation secretary said, “APCR has taken right stepon right time to aware people about their civil rights.”About 200 persons including advocates, socialactivists and students marched through Okhla PoliceStation, Jamia Millia Islamia University, Zakir Nagarto Batla House.This march was a part of APCR’s week-long civilrights awareness campaignAkhlak AhmadAssociation for Protection of Civil Rights(APCR)New Delhi-25, Phone # 011-64639388Mob # 9899384358According to a study done on face book regarding communal harmonyand the contribution of social media (with especial reference to theFacebook) has revealed that there are only a few groups and pages thatare related to promote the communal harmony among people. As far asthe pages are concerned, there are only 14 pages of Religious Unity with15,980 likes, 8 pages of Unity in India with 255 likes, only 4 pages ofrespect to all religions with 163 likes and 6 pages of similarities betweentwo or more religions with 168 likes. As far as the groups are concernedthere are 18 groups of religious Unity with 5,392 members, 7 groups ofUnity in India with 274 members, 6 groups of similarities betweenreligions with 421 members.The total number of likes and members of all these pages and groups is22,653 out of the total of 43.5 million users, while at the same time, youwill find 5,579,630 likes of the page named Sachin Tendulkar.10
Uniform and Sweaters providedto all 111 girl students of RAHBAR-e-Banat Madrasa -cum-School; for residential facility, boundary wall needs Rs. 3lakhs, now.The madrasa, which started in a thatched temporaryfacility in 2009, has established a new trend in the regionby providing free uniforms and sweaters to all of itsstudents, starting 2011-12 session. Insha-Allah, thestudents would receive the free uniforms and sweatersevery year. Primary classes started, here, in the year 2009,and classes are being extended as the students moveforward. A campaign was launched in September 2011 toraise funds for uniforms and sweaters.30thAwards Ceremony @RAHBAR Coaching Centre, Patnaon 26thFebruary 2012,at Najam High School, Phulwari Sharif:Chief Guests on the occasion was(a) Prof. (Dr) Mrs.RenuSinha,academician, (b) Janab Syed Rizwan Yusuf Sb, Chairman(Computer), (c) 3. Janab Syed ShakilShamsiSb (KhudaBakshLibrary), and (d) 4.JanabNajumul Hassan Sb, Ret. Manager,Reserve Bank Of India, Patna. Special Invitees includedJanabEnam khan Sb, JanabShahid Amin Sb, Mr.Arun Kumar,Teacher, Mr.Santosh Kumar, Teacher, and JanabNajmul HassanNajmi Sb.Amount received from RAHBAR: Rs. 100,000/=Amount spent: Rs. 77,000/=Amount remaining in RAHBAR-e-Banat account:Rs.23,000/=. This amount will be used for providinganother set of uniform + scarf to all students, insha-Allah.A student of gr. 8 recited surah Asar with translation. Then,welcoming the guests, Najmul Hassan Najmisb talked about hisexperience of running school for 30 years. He also guided thestudents on how to improve in their studies.Then, EnamSb explained the activities of BA with respect tocoaching centres - the number of coaching centers is increasingvery fast. He advised the students to remain target-oriented intheir studies. The gr.10 students are busy with their board exams.EnamSb also welcomed the new honourable guests andintroduced <strong>Bihar</strong> <strong>Anjuman</strong> to them.The chief guest Prof. Mrs RenuSinha was very happy to see numberof girl students. She explained the importance of girls’ education.She cited her own example. She is associated with teaching for avery long time. She said, “You are lucky that BA is supporting youto get some real education. I do not remember any association orgroups who actually work for poor students. Please takeadvantage of this god-gifted opportunity. She promised to visitthe RCC again.Janab Syed Rizwan Yusuf Sb, Chairman, in a very short speech,encouraged the students to acquire computer education which isneeds of day.JanabShakeelShamsiSb also motivated student to do hard work.And, JanabNajmul Hassan sb visited 2nd time in RCC Patna’sawards function and wished to come again and again. He said thathe loved <strong>Bihar</strong> <strong>Anjuman</strong>’s work a lot. Programme ended over Duaof JanabNajmul Hassan NajmiSb’sdua.12