In order to educate the masses and control religion-based hatred and hate speeches, a public interest litigation (PIL) has been moved in Delhi High Court to seek some direction from the Central Government and the State Government for the inclusion of a chapter on "Dharma and Religion" in the syllabus and curriculum of the primary and secondary schools, according to ANI.
The plea further seeks to educate people to properly differentiate between the terminologies of Religion and Dharma and the latter not to be understood as a synonym for religion in official documents like birth certificates, Aadhaar card, School certificate, ration card, driving licence, domicile certificate, death certificate and bank account and the like.
What does the petition seek?
Moved by Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay who is a practising lawyer and Delhi BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) leader stated through the petition that Dharma is non-divisive, non-exclusive and non-conclusive, and is a quest for understanding the cosmic order of the universe and consciousness order at a personal level.
As per the petition, he further viewed Dharma as offering limitless freedom of choice of methods, whereas, this tolerance and plurality does not find space in the concept of religion, plea further added.
It also states that when talking about religion, people follow someone or someone's path. On the other hand, Dharma is a work of wisdom. Hence, both of them cannot be equated and the knowledge of it has been deemed necessary by him, as per ANI reports.
