Stop Monitoring Religion! – Is the government crazy?

The “Equal Opportunities Commission” needs to have its head examined. The latest loonacy is to get private companies to maintain a “religious inventory” of their staff so that they can ‘monitor’ discrimination based on religion.

It’s so silly I don’t know where to start. What are they going to do with the data? Suppose an organization has too few muslims, are they going to try and implement a quota? Or if there are too many muslims (proportionately speaking), will they accuse the organization of discriminating against hindus? I can already imagine crazy parties like the Shiv Sena swooping down and decimating a small business for employing too many muslims…

And of course, if the ultimate goal is to make religion irrelevant then monitoring it is the last thing you want to do. If the caste system still exists in India today, it is in large part due to the government putting its nose in where it shouldn’t. By highlighting caste, monitoring it and laying down separate rules, the government has ensured that the caste system will never die. And if they start monitoring religion in professional organizations, we can be sure that religion will start to play a bigger role in the workplace.

Image Credit: imNickle

When will the government learn to leave things alone? We don’t need more monitoring, we need less. Just keep an eye out for crimes, and unfair practices and let things sort themselves out. I’m going to quote yet again from the Tao Teh Ching here about how to govern:

The highest type of ruler is one of whose existence the people are barely aware.
Next comes one whom they love and praise.
Next comes one whom they fear.
Next comes one whom they despise and defy.

When you are lacking in faith, Others will be unfaithful to you.
The Sage is self-effacing and scanty of words.
When his task is accomplished and things have been completed,
All the people say, “We ourselves have achieved it!”

Tao Teh Ching – Ch. 17.

Kickass translation from John C. H Wu!

Perhaps the government should learn that things take their own sweet time to change. Contrary to popular opinion these days, Democracy works in India (with a little help from the judiciary). We’re doing just fine. Leave things be and don’t try and force change down people’s throat. It’s not going to work. Lucky the corporates are putting up a good fight against maintaining this sort of dossier. And rightly so. They don’t want to be accused of religious profiling. So here’s hoping this will never be finalized.