Years after the Muria and the Koya were displaced from Dantewada by the atrocities of the Salwa Judum and the Maoists, their houses would be destroyed repeatedly by the Forest Department who calls them 'encroachers'. The IDPs would also fight with the local koya tribes over resources. Yet the Forest Department simply blames the adivasis for forest loss in Khammam, without even asking how much land all the Koyas and the Murias lost in the last 100 years in Khammam - massive land alienation studied by the late civil servant Girglani. The latest settlement that was destroyed as an 'encroachment', was only two kilometres away from Badrachalam town centre, which is actually adivasi land.
Around 43 families from the villages of Millampalli, Simalpenta, Raygudem, Darba and Singaram in Dantewada district, lost their makeshift homes for the second time in three months in the Mothe Reserve Forest of Khammam district of Andhra Pradesh on March 26, when the forest department, mandated to protect the forests, evicted them using force. A large number of families are internally displaced persons who’ve escaped the Salwa Judum-Maoist conflict of Dantewada and have lived in Khammam as informal labour.
Most originated from Millampalli, that was burnt down by the Salwa Judum in 2006 and Maoists have killed at least three people — Sodi Dola, Komaram Muthaiya and Madkam Jogaiya in the past 10 years. Another resident of Millampalli, Dusaru Sodi, used to be a member of the Maoist Sangam but would eventually become a special police officer who witnesses from Tadmentla and Morpalli alleged was present during the burnings of the villages or Tadmetla, Morpalli and Timmapuram in March 2011 by security forces. His name again reappeared in testimonies by rape victims, submitted to the National Commission of Women and the Supreme Court by anthropologist Nandini Sundar.
Madvi Samaiya and Madvi Muthaiya from the village of Raygudem were also killed by the Maoists. In Simalpenta, the Sarpanch’s brother Kurra Anda was killed by the Maoists in 2006.In Singaram, an alleged encounter that took place on January 9, 2009, where 19 adivasis were killed by security forces as alleged Maoists.
In Khammam, most of the IDPs/migrants have worked as informal labour during the mircchi cutting season, earning around Rs100/day and live off their savings in the summer season when there is no work, and little access to water to a majority of the settlements. The Muria from Chhattisgarh, or the Gotti Koya as they are known in Andhra along with Koyas from Chhattisgarh, have been in a struggle to appropriate the reserve forest land of Khammam for podu cultivation, often leading the forest department to evict them, aware that the entire forest cover is turning into a ‘honeycomb,’ as described by the DFO Shafiullah, who pointed out to satellite imagery of a pockmarked forest in Khammam, back in 2010...
http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/column_the-unending-struggle-of-bastar-adivasis_1684183
With Photos:
http://moonchasing.wordpress.com/2012/05/04/the-unending-struggle-to-exist-for-bastars-adivasis/
Showing posts with label current affairs - India. Show all posts
Showing posts with label current affairs - India. Show all posts
Saturday, 5 May 2012
Friday, 4 May 2012
In Kashmir, some hot potatoes, by Praveen Swami
This is evidence that the secessionist constituency is diminishing. The problem, though, is this: this generation is also disconnected, as never before, from the political system. Two decades of violence strangled democratic politics. New Delhi is now delivering the coup de grace. Little empirical work has been done on the issue, but there is plenty of anecdotal evidence that young people in search of agency are turning away from organised politics to diverse forms of religious pietism, consumerism, or nihilist street violence.
Kashmir's jihadist movement was, at its core, a form of anti-politics that arose from a crisis just like this. In the 1970s and 1980s, pressures on small farmers — and growing hold of a new class of contractors and urban élites on the National Conference — created a reservoir of discontent among its traditional constituency. The party increasingly turned to religious chauvinism to hold on to its following. The Muslim United Front, representing the urban petty bourgeoisie and the rural orchard-owning elite, did so too. Islam, for the classes which backed the MUF, was an instrument to legitimise the protest of a threatened social order against a modernity which held out the prospect of obliterating it...
New Delhi's policy establishment still imagines it is dealing with a Kashmir that disappeared two decades or more ago: an illusion sustained by the fact that so many key actors are the children of the men who made the deals that propped up the State's dysfunctional political order. Its key instruments remain cajoling and co-optation - and, when it fails, outright bribery. Meaningful political dialogue, least of all the new language of transparency, rights and empowerment Mr. Ahmad represented, simply isn't on the agenda. Prime Minister Singh's government won the war in Jammu and Kashmir, inflicting a decisive defeat on the insurgency. His government's actions suggest it is now doing its best to lose the peace. http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article3342926.ece?homepage=true
See also: The Unhappiness factory of Kashmir by Sualeh Keen
http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.in/2012/05/unhappiness-factory-of-kashmir.html
Kashmir - a fragile peace?
http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.in/2012/04/kashmir-fragile-peace.html
And: Who are the real enemies of ‘happy’ Kashmir?
http://www.firstpost.com/india/who-are-the-real-enemies-of-happy-kashmir-285182.html
Kashmir's jihadist movement was, at its core, a form of anti-politics that arose from a crisis just like this. In the 1970s and 1980s, pressures on small farmers — and growing hold of a new class of contractors and urban élites on the National Conference — created a reservoir of discontent among its traditional constituency. The party increasingly turned to religious chauvinism to hold on to its following. The Muslim United Front, representing the urban petty bourgeoisie and the rural orchard-owning elite, did so too. Islam, for the classes which backed the MUF, was an instrument to legitimise the protest of a threatened social order against a modernity which held out the prospect of obliterating it...
New Delhi's policy establishment still imagines it is dealing with a Kashmir that disappeared two decades or more ago: an illusion sustained by the fact that so many key actors are the children of the men who made the deals that propped up the State's dysfunctional political order. Its key instruments remain cajoling and co-optation - and, when it fails, outright bribery. Meaningful political dialogue, least of all the new language of transparency, rights and empowerment Mr. Ahmad represented, simply isn't on the agenda. Prime Minister Singh's government won the war in Jammu and Kashmir, inflicting a decisive defeat on the insurgency. His government's actions suggest it is now doing its best to lose the peace. http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article3342926.ece?homepage=true
See also: The Unhappiness factory of Kashmir by Sualeh Keen
http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.in/2012/05/unhappiness-factory-of-kashmir.html
Kashmir - a fragile peace?
http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.in/2012/04/kashmir-fragile-peace.html
And: Who are the real enemies of ‘happy’ Kashmir?
http://www.firstpost.com/india/who-are-the-real-enemies-of-happy-kashmir-285182.html
FACT FINDING TEAM TO KASHMIR by , , ,
Since June this year (2010), the Kashmir valley has been torn by mass protests which have been met with overwhelming force by Indian security forces. Curfews and closures have been frequent, often shading into each other. No less than 111 deaths have been registered, of which a large number have been of students and youth in the age group of 8 to 25 years. There have besides, been hundreds of cases of injuries, of both protesters and those who just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. An independent fact-finding team went to the Kashmir valley at the end of October to go into the totality of the situation, principally to inquire into the causes for the unconscionably large number of deaths that have occurred in the current phase of mass agitation. The team comprised of academic Bela Bhatia, advocate Vrinda Grover, journalist Sukumar Muralidharan and activist Ravi Hemadri of The Other Media, a Delhi based campaign and advocacy organisation, at whose initiative the effort was organised. Each member of the team spent varying lengths of time in the valley, but in total, roughly about twenty-five person days were put in the fact-finding exercise. In groups or individually, the team met the families of almost 40 persons who had been killed since the beginning of the civil unrest. Several individuals who had suffered serious injuries were also met. The team worked out of the state capital of Srinagar, and visited villages and towns in five of the Kashmir valley’s ten districts: Baramulla in the north (Sopore and Baramulla tehsils); Anantnag (Bijbehara and Anantnag tehsils) and Pulwama (Pulwama tehsil) in the south; Badgam in the west (Chadura and Badgam tehsils) and Srinagar itself. Separate sessions were held with journalists and media practitioners, university teachers and students, doctors, lawyers and activists besides officials in the police headquarters and the civil administration. The findings of the team are being released in a series of short reports beginning with following two sections. Forthcoming reports will deal with various facets of the situation that civilians in the Kashmir valley face in a season of unabated turmoil. http://www.sacw.net/article1689.html
Tuesday, 1 May 2012
Bicycle bombs to Bollywood - immigration and identity
Kaushik Barua: ULFA brought a number of valid concerns into the national debate.. But they also lined up rows of non-Assamese speaking villagers and shot them in cold blood. They sent bicycles with bombs into markets every week, almost like a routine, for well over a decade. They would blow up a market, kill people while they were walking their dogs, invade New Year parties and slaughter guests..
My first act of vandalism was also my last. I painted four two-foot letters across a row of cars. ULFA. It was an act that I would refer to later to understand a lot of the people I see around me now. I was seven years old in the late 1980s and my hometown Guwahati in the state Assam, in the northeast corner of India, was awash with support for the banned insurgent outfit, ULFA: the ambitiously named United Liberation Front of Assam. We saw them as the Robin Hoods of our times: the ones who stood up for a minority ethnicity, the Assamese, against the monolith of the Indian state. They protested the step-sisterly treatment meted out by the Centre who took our tea and our oil and left us with barely anything: tea estates rolling across the hills and not a single decent job for any Assamese.
However there was another crucial strand to the resurgence of Assamese identity. This was not an identity built solely on opposition, but also on exclusion. Therefore, Assamese-speaking people were okay, the non-Assamese speaking tribes in the state had uncertain status, and the enemy in the region was clearly picked out: the Bangladeshi infiltrators. These were the mostly low-income refugees from across the border. The myth of a Bangladeshi invasion of Assam was built into Assamese victimhood. An uncaring centre looked away as we were being taken over by starving economic migrants from the south. A surprisingly articulate slogan was also attributed to them: “We took East Pakistan by partition, Bangladesh by revolution, now we’ll take Assam by migration”. Under these four letters, I had also painted “Bangladeshis, get out”.
So the marginalised in the Indian context, the Assamese, were also the oppressors of the further marginalised on our own territory. This other-ing of the Bangladeshi was built on the myths that all discrimination is built on. They had the long beards, unlike Assamese Muslims. They wore those ridiculous wraps, their lungis. They could not speak Assamese. In fact they couldn’t even speak Bengali like the true Bengalis, our Indian version. They stayed in dirty slums and reproduced like animals. They could have been the aliens from District 9; an alien species suddenly right in our faces.
The ULFA brought a number of valid concerns into the national debate. Issues of developing the north-east, improving infrastructure, agricultural productivity, institutions of higher education for the region were finally being discussed. The ULFA stayed in the woods or camped for months in the jungles of Burma; everyone had a cousin or a friend of a cousin who knew their commanders. They died valiant deaths in a shower of bullets when the police and army—which committed unspeakable atrocities under the guise of counter-terrorism—found their camps.
But they also lined up rows of non-Assamese speaking villagers and shot them in cold blood. They sent bicycles with bombs into markets every week, almost like a routine, for well over a decade. They would blow up a market, kill people while they were walking their dogs, invade New Year parties and slaughter guests in kneeling rows. The army would pick up any teenager, or group of teenagers, they could find. For most of the 1990s, teenage boys couldn’t meet in groups of more than three in the open, or they might be picked up as suspected insurgents. In most towns, all you could do in the evenings was play chess.
Among all this chaos, we didn’t forget the original enemy: the Bangladeshi (India had receded in public imagination as enemy number one, except the Indian state represented by repressive security forces). We even had a separate word for them,Mian, which didn’t apply to other Muslims or often to the Bangladeshi Hindus. I went to Delhi, like all my friends who had the grades and could afford university. About five years after I had first moved away, though visits back home were frequent through the year, I spent some time in a new rural settlement testing a poverty assessment questionnaire. I knew the young kids were all Bangladeshi settlers: there are ways of telling differences that could potentially make us all racists. But now, they were all dressed like I would have been as a child, they had adopted the same rituals, they spoke Assamese with the comfort of a native speaker, using metaphors and cultural references of the region more often than I would. I asked them where they were from, since I had to fill out the columns on my form. They all said Assam. And it was true...
Now my wife and I are settled in Rome. Most of the low-income street vendors are Bangladeshi. We often talk to them. Assamese and Bengali are similar languages and we can understand each other perfectly. We often get discounts or special offers in the grocery stores. Our entire supply of Bollywood movies is from a Bangladeshi store where the manager is more up-to-date on the latest movies than we are... People in Europe are quivering at the thought of being invaded by the north African and Asian hordes. The ones with the beards and the tall-minaret mosques. Meanwhile in Italy, some legislators are trying to restrict access to medical care for unregistered immigrants.
http://www.opendemocracy.net/openindia/kaushik-barua/bicycle-bombs-to-bollywood-immigration-and-identity
Monday, 30 April 2012
The State of India's Forest Rights Act
The Asian Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Network (AITPN) shares its latest report The State of the Forest Rights Act. This is a comprehensive study on the flawed implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.
It is available at http://www.aitpn.org/Reports/Forest_Rights_Act_2012.pdf
As of 31 January 2012, a total of 31,68,478 claims have been received and 27,24,162 claims (85.98%) have been disposed off. Out of the total claims disposed off, 12,51,490 titles (45.94%) were distributed and 14,72,672 claims (54%) were rejected. In terms of rejection rate, Uttarakhand is on the top with 100% followed by Himachal Pradesh (99.62%), Bihar (98.12%), Karnataka (95.66%), Uttar Pradesh (80.48%), West Bengal (73.12%), Maharashtra (67.91%), Madhya Pradesh (63.32%), Chhattisgarh (55.86%), Jharkhand (53.13%), Assam (50.94%), Rajasthan (49.85%), Andhra Pradesh (47.76%), Gujarat (30.95%), Orissa (30.75%), Kerala (16.95%), and Tripura (15.07%). The rejection rate of as many as 11 states is above 50 per cent.
The claims are being rejected on frivolous grounds. The Forest Rights Committees have not been constituted at the Gram Sabha level in several states as provided in the Act while the forest officials have been obstructing the process of verification and decision making at various level. The claimants are denied proper hearing of their cases and opportunity to file appeal against the rejections. In an overwhelming number of cases, the rejections are not being communicated to the claimants.
The Community Forest Rights (CFRs) are not being recognized and in many States even the forms are not supplied. The claims under the FRA are not being recognised in the protected areas such as National Parks and Wildlife sanctuaries. The Other Traditional Forest Dwellers are being denied rights under the FRA. Even in cases where land titles are issued, they are vaguely worded and
often without clear maps or demarcation of any boundary, area etc. In many cases, more than one person/family has been granted title over the same plot of land.
The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Rules, 2007 actually overrules the Act to deny rights to the beneficiaries. In clear violation of the FRA, under Rule 14(3) of the Forest Rights Rule 2007 the Sub-Divisional Level Committee has been
empowered to reject the claims without any explanation.
The Ministry of Environment & Forests and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs which have jointly constituted the National Committee on the FRA have undermined the National Committee. On 3 August 2010, Kanti Lal Bhuria, then Union Minister of Tribal Affairs, raised objections to the
functioning of the National Committee on the FRA. Further, in October 2010, Jairam Ramesh, then Union Minister of Environment and Forests in a letter to the Chairperson of the National Committee expressed unhappiness over the suspension of a Divisional Forest Officer by the Uttar Pradesh
government after an investigation by senior officials vindicated the findings of irregularities as pointed out in the report of the National Committee on FRA.
The Action Taken Report on the Tenth Report, “Implementation of Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 - Rules Made Thereunder” of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment has been placed before the Parliament on 22.12.2011. Though the Ministry of Tribal Affairs claimed that out of the 23 recommendations, 12 have been accepted by the Government, in reality the recommendations were only forwarded to the State Governments. AITPN recommended, among others, that the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes be provided with adequate financial and human resources to examine the complaints pertaining to the claims under the Forest Rights Act.
AITPN has Special Consultative Status with the UN ECOSOC
C-3-441 (Top Floor), Janakpuri, New Delhi-110058, India
Phone: + 91-11-25503624, 45511307; Fax: + 91-11-25503624
Website: www.aitpn.org; Email: aitpn@aitpn.org
http://www.aitpn.org/Reports/Forest_Rights_Act_2012.pdf
It is available at http://www.aitpn.org/Reports/Forest_Rights_Act_2012.pdf
As of 31 January 2012, a total of 31,68,478 claims have been received and 27,24,162 claims (85.98%) have been disposed off. Out of the total claims disposed off, 12,51,490 titles (45.94%) were distributed and 14,72,672 claims (54%) were rejected. In terms of rejection rate, Uttarakhand is on the top with 100% followed by Himachal Pradesh (99.62%), Bihar (98.12%), Karnataka (95.66%), Uttar Pradesh (80.48%), West Bengal (73.12%), Maharashtra (67.91%), Madhya Pradesh (63.32%), Chhattisgarh (55.86%), Jharkhand (53.13%), Assam (50.94%), Rajasthan (49.85%), Andhra Pradesh (47.76%), Gujarat (30.95%), Orissa (30.75%), Kerala (16.95%), and Tripura (15.07%). The rejection rate of as many as 11 states is above 50 per cent.
The claims are being rejected on frivolous grounds. The Forest Rights Committees have not been constituted at the Gram Sabha level in several states as provided in the Act while the forest officials have been obstructing the process of verification and decision making at various level. The claimants are denied proper hearing of their cases and opportunity to file appeal against the rejections. In an overwhelming number of cases, the rejections are not being communicated to the claimants.
The Community Forest Rights (CFRs) are not being recognized and in many States even the forms are not supplied. The claims under the FRA are not being recognised in the protected areas such as National Parks and Wildlife sanctuaries. The Other Traditional Forest Dwellers are being denied rights under the FRA. Even in cases where land titles are issued, they are vaguely worded and
often without clear maps or demarcation of any boundary, area etc. In many cases, more than one person/family has been granted title over the same plot of land.
The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Rules, 2007 actually overrules the Act to deny rights to the beneficiaries. In clear violation of the FRA, under Rule 14(3) of the Forest Rights Rule 2007 the Sub-Divisional Level Committee has been
empowered to reject the claims without any explanation.
The Ministry of Environment & Forests and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs which have jointly constituted the National Committee on the FRA have undermined the National Committee. On 3 August 2010, Kanti Lal Bhuria, then Union Minister of Tribal Affairs, raised objections to the
functioning of the National Committee on the FRA. Further, in October 2010, Jairam Ramesh, then Union Minister of Environment and Forests in a letter to the Chairperson of the National Committee expressed unhappiness over the suspension of a Divisional Forest Officer by the Uttar Pradesh
government after an investigation by senior officials vindicated the findings of irregularities as pointed out in the report of the National Committee on FRA.
The Action Taken Report on the Tenth Report, “Implementation of Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 - Rules Made Thereunder” of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment has been placed before the Parliament on 22.12.2011. Though the Ministry of Tribal Affairs claimed that out of the 23 recommendations, 12 have been accepted by the Government, in reality the recommendations were only forwarded to the State Governments. AITPN recommended, among others, that the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes be provided with adequate financial and human resources to examine the complaints pertaining to the claims under the Forest Rights Act.
AITPN has Special Consultative Status with the UN ECOSOC
C-3-441 (Top Floor), Janakpuri, New Delhi-110058, India
Phone: + 91-11-25503624, 45511307; Fax: + 91-11-25503624
Website: www.aitpn.org; Email: aitpn@aitpn.org
http://www.aitpn.org/Reports/Forest_Rights_Act_2012.pdf
Kashmir: a fragile peace?
Peace is designed to be fragile in Kashmir. Any moment, at the slightest provocation, its youth will be nudged by those who stand to gain from strife to erupt against the Indian Army, or militants may choose to stir things up to bolster the lucrative business of terrorism. But it is hard not to see that this is an extraordinary period of peace. A few days ago, Syed Salahuddin, chief of terrorist organisation Hizbul Mujahideen, confirmed something, which Kashmiris say is common knowledge—that he has withdrawn all his men from Kashmir. According to Jammu and Kashmir’s tourism minister, in 2011 more tourists visited the Valley than in recent memory. It is believed that the figure was over a million. This winter, almost all hotels in Gulmarg, a skiing destination an hour from Srinagar, were fully booked. Zahoor, who is from Srinagar and works in Gulmarg in the winters as a skiing instructor, and who taught me how to ski, says he is enjoying the peace and hordes of Indian tourists and his newfound ability to earn a decent living. Also, in Kashmir, the political stakes in ensuring that the Indian Army does not violate human rights are so high that Kashmiris today have little to complain.
On the streets of Srinagar and in the villages around, regular people, who are not writers or journalists or intellectuals, have come to hate Pakistan for what it has done to the Valley in the name of freedom. Also, what Pakistan has become, politically and economically, has ensured that accession to that country is not part of popular sentiment here anymore. In fact, there is even relief in Kashmir that historical circumstances saved the Valley from being a part of Pakistan. And what India has become, politically and economically, has made it more endearing than the Kashmiri elite wants to admit in public. But freedom from India remains a fervent wish for many, which means that an independent sovereign Kashmir stranded between India and Pakistan is the only option left. Kashmir’s elite, especially those who live in Kashmir, believe that a sovereign Kashmir is an impractical idea and to continue the status quo with the newly prosperous and somewhat secular India is the best way forward. “But we can’t say it, you know, we can’t say it publicly without a lot of our brothers from Dubai and America abusing us,” says one of the prominent journalists of Kashmir in an informal chat with me in the lobby of a hotel in Srinagar.
Is it obscene to search for happiness in Kashmir, is it obscene for a writer from the south of India to wander around Kashmir interviewing people who will tell him that they want to get on with their lives despite the presence of the Indian Army? What is the stake of an outsider in Kashmir? The fact is that Kashmir, too, has occupied India. Kashmir is the reason why India is one of the worst victims of terrorism. All Indians have a stake in Kashmir’s state of mind...
http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/nation/sorry-kashmir-is-happy#.T5U3AP_jWAI.twitter
See also: In Kashmir, some hot potatoes, by Praveen Swami
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article3342926.ece?homepage=true
New Delhi's policy establishment still imagines it is dealing with a Kashmir that disappeared two decades or more ago: an illusion sustained by the fact that so many key actors are the children of the men who made the deals that propped up the State's dysfunctional political order. Its key instruments remain cajoling and co-optation - and, when it fails, outright bribery. Meaningful political dialogue, least of all the new language of transparency, rights and empowerment Mr. Ahmad represented, simply isn't on the agenda. Prime Minister Singh's government won the war in Jammu and Kashmir, inflicting a decisive defeat on the insurgency. His government's actions suggest it is now doing its best to lose the peace.
And: Who are the real enemies of a happy Kashmir?
http://www.firstpost.com/india/who-are-the-real-enemies-of-happy-kashmir-285182.html
On the streets of Srinagar and in the villages around, regular people, who are not writers or journalists or intellectuals, have come to hate Pakistan for what it has done to the Valley in the name of freedom. Also, what Pakistan has become, politically and economically, has ensured that accession to that country is not part of popular sentiment here anymore. In fact, there is even relief in Kashmir that historical circumstances saved the Valley from being a part of Pakistan. And what India has become, politically and economically, has made it more endearing than the Kashmiri elite wants to admit in public. But freedom from India remains a fervent wish for many, which means that an independent sovereign Kashmir stranded between India and Pakistan is the only option left. Kashmir’s elite, especially those who live in Kashmir, believe that a sovereign Kashmir is an impractical idea and to continue the status quo with the newly prosperous and somewhat secular India is the best way forward. “But we can’t say it, you know, we can’t say it publicly without a lot of our brothers from Dubai and America abusing us,” says one of the prominent journalists of Kashmir in an informal chat with me in the lobby of a hotel in Srinagar.
Is it obscene to search for happiness in Kashmir, is it obscene for a writer from the south of India to wander around Kashmir interviewing people who will tell him that they want to get on with their lives despite the presence of the Indian Army? What is the stake of an outsider in Kashmir? The fact is that Kashmir, too, has occupied India. Kashmir is the reason why India is one of the worst victims of terrorism. All Indians have a stake in Kashmir’s state of mind...
http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/nation/sorry-kashmir-is-happy#.T5U3AP_jWAI.twitter
See also: In Kashmir, some hot potatoes, by Praveen Swami
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article3342926.ece?homepage=true
New Delhi's policy establishment still imagines it is dealing with a Kashmir that disappeared two decades or more ago: an illusion sustained by the fact that so many key actors are the children of the men who made the deals that propped up the State's dysfunctional political order. Its key instruments remain cajoling and co-optation - and, when it fails, outright bribery. Meaningful political dialogue, least of all the new language of transparency, rights and empowerment Mr. Ahmad represented, simply isn't on the agenda. Prime Minister Singh's government won the war in Jammu and Kashmir, inflicting a decisive defeat on the insurgency. His government's actions suggest it is now doing its best to lose the peace.
And: Who are the real enemies of a happy Kashmir?
http://www.firstpost.com/india/who-are-the-real-enemies-of-happy-kashmir-285182.html
Reports from an independent human rights investigation in Kashmir
Book(s) Reviewed: India's Broken Promise
Behind the Beautiful Forevers, by Katherine Boo
The Beautiful and the Damned, by Siddhartha Deb
India's political and business elites have long harbored a desire for their country to become a great power. They cheered when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh finalized a nuclear deal with the United States in 2008. Indian elites saw the deal, which gave India access to nuclear technology despite its refusal to give up its nuclear weapons or sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, as a recognition of its growing influence and power. And Indian elites were also encouraged when U.S. President Barack Obama announced, during a 2010 visit to India, that the United States would support India's quest to gain permanent membership on the United Nations Security Council, which would put the country on an equal footing with its longtime rival, China. In recent years, such sentiments have also spread to large segments of the Indian middle class, which, owing to the country's remarkable economic growth in the past two decades, now numbers around 300 million. Nearly nine out of ten Indians say their country already is or will eventually be one of the most powerful nations in the world, an October 2010 Pew Global Attitudes survey revealed.
Symbols of India's newfound wealth and power abound. Last year, 55 Indians graced Forbes' list of the world's billionaires, up from 23 in 2006. In 2008, the Indian automobile company Tata Motors acquired Jaguar and Land Rover; last year, Harvard Business School broke ground on Tata Hall, a new academic center made possible by a gift of $50 million from the company's chair, Ratan Tata. And in 2009, a company run by the Indian billionaire Anil Ambani, a telecommunications and Bollywood baron, acquired a 50 percent stake in Steven Spielberg's production company, DreamWorks. Gaudy, gargantuan shopping malls proliferate in India's cities, and BMWs compete with auto-rickshaws on crowded Indian roads. Tom Cruise, eyeing the enormous Indian movie market, cast Anil Kapoor, a veteran Bollywood star, in the most recent Mission: Impossible sequel and spent a few weeks in the country to promote the film. "Now they are coming to us," one Indian tabloid gloated.
But even as Indian elites confidently predict their country's inevitable rise, it is not difficult to detect a distinct unease about the future, a fear that the promise of India's international ascendance might prove hollow. This anxiety stems from the tense duality that defines contemporary India, an influential democracy with a booming economy that is also home to more poor people than any other country in the world...
Of course, staggering poverty and crippling inequality at home do not necessarily prevent countries from trying to project their power abroad. When India won its independence, in 1947, it was even poorer than it is today. Yet Jawaharlal Nehru, the country's founding prime minister, sought to raise India's international profile, providing significant political support to independence movements in British colonies in Africa and Asia and helping found the Non-Aligned Movement. Throughout the Cold War, Indian leaders sought to use their country's victory over British colonialism to inspire other subject peoples in their own struggles for self-determination -- and, in the process, to gain more global influence than otherwise might have been possible for an impoverished country. In this way, India's Cold War-era foreign policies, although primarily concerned with national interests, contained an element of idealism, and the country's growing international profile during those early decades of independence served as a powerful symbol of freedom and autonomy in the Third World.
Over time, however, India has exchanged idealism for realism, as the country's leaders have gradually abandoned an anticolonial distrust of hegemony and embraced great-power ambitions of their own. Thus, although India has made admirable progress in many areas, it is unclear whether an ever-growing Indian role in global affairs symbolizes anything more than the country's expanding definition of its self-interest. It is therefore hard to avoid feeling a sense of ambivalence when considering the prospect of India's ascent, especially when one scrutinizes the poverty, corruption, and inequality that suffuse Indian life today -- as do two recent, revealing books: Behind the Beautiful Forevers, by Katherine Boo, and The Beautiful and the Damned, by Siddhartha Deb...
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/137530/basharat-peer/indias-broken-promise?cid=soc-facebook-at-review-india_s_broken_promise-043012
The Beautiful and the Damned, by Siddhartha Deb
India's political and business elites have long harbored a desire for their country to become a great power. They cheered when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh finalized a nuclear deal with the United States in 2008. Indian elites saw the deal, which gave India access to nuclear technology despite its refusal to give up its nuclear weapons or sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, as a recognition of its growing influence and power. And Indian elites were also encouraged when U.S. President Barack Obama announced, during a 2010 visit to India, that the United States would support India's quest to gain permanent membership on the United Nations Security Council, which would put the country on an equal footing with its longtime rival, China. In recent years, such sentiments have also spread to large segments of the Indian middle class, which, owing to the country's remarkable economic growth in the past two decades, now numbers around 300 million. Nearly nine out of ten Indians say their country already is or will eventually be one of the most powerful nations in the world, an October 2010 Pew Global Attitudes survey revealed.
Symbols of India's newfound wealth and power abound. Last year, 55 Indians graced Forbes' list of the world's billionaires, up from 23 in 2006. In 2008, the Indian automobile company Tata Motors acquired Jaguar and Land Rover; last year, Harvard Business School broke ground on Tata Hall, a new academic center made possible by a gift of $50 million from the company's chair, Ratan Tata. And in 2009, a company run by the Indian billionaire Anil Ambani, a telecommunications and Bollywood baron, acquired a 50 percent stake in Steven Spielberg's production company, DreamWorks. Gaudy, gargantuan shopping malls proliferate in India's cities, and BMWs compete with auto-rickshaws on crowded Indian roads. Tom Cruise, eyeing the enormous Indian movie market, cast Anil Kapoor, a veteran Bollywood star, in the most recent Mission: Impossible sequel and spent a few weeks in the country to promote the film. "Now they are coming to us," one Indian tabloid gloated.
But even as Indian elites confidently predict their country's inevitable rise, it is not difficult to detect a distinct unease about the future, a fear that the promise of India's international ascendance might prove hollow. This anxiety stems from the tense duality that defines contemporary India, an influential democracy with a booming economy that is also home to more poor people than any other country in the world...
Of course, staggering poverty and crippling inequality at home do not necessarily prevent countries from trying to project their power abroad. When India won its independence, in 1947, it was even poorer than it is today. Yet Jawaharlal Nehru, the country's founding prime minister, sought to raise India's international profile, providing significant political support to independence movements in British colonies in Africa and Asia and helping found the Non-Aligned Movement. Throughout the Cold War, Indian leaders sought to use their country's victory over British colonialism to inspire other subject peoples in their own struggles for self-determination -- and, in the process, to gain more global influence than otherwise might have been possible for an impoverished country. In this way, India's Cold War-era foreign policies, although primarily concerned with national interests, contained an element of idealism, and the country's growing international profile during those early decades of independence served as a powerful symbol of freedom and autonomy in the Third World.
Over time, however, India has exchanged idealism for realism, as the country's leaders have gradually abandoned an anticolonial distrust of hegemony and embraced great-power ambitions of their own. Thus, although India has made admirable progress in many areas, it is unclear whether an ever-growing Indian role in global affairs symbolizes anything more than the country's expanding definition of its self-interest. It is therefore hard to avoid feeling a sense of ambivalence when considering the prospect of India's ascent, especially when one scrutinizes the poverty, corruption, and inequality that suffuse Indian life today -- as do two recent, revealing books: Behind the Beautiful Forevers, by Katherine Boo, and The Beautiful and the Damned, by Siddhartha Deb...
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/137530/basharat-peer/indias-broken-promise?cid=soc-facebook-at-review-india_s_broken_promise-043012
Labour Day : An Appeal from Jan Sansad
Our Labour ! Our Strength ! Workers Power Zindabaad !
Labour Day : An Appeal from Jan Sansad
Dear Friends,
Zindabaad !
Every year the May Day is celebrated by millions of workers around the world commemorating the the hard earned workers rights after years of struggles. It is a celebration but also a time to remember the victories, defeats and challenges infront of the workers movement even as we move ahead. Workers of the world unite ! The slogan has assumed much importance and the meaning of work and labour has also gone through significant changes over years. Today nearly 93% of the workers are in the unprotected and unorganised sector who are still having to fight for their basic rights : social security, job security, pension, health and education facilities, eight hour working day, mandatory leaves, fair wages, minimum wages, right to unionise and others.
A hard fought right to form independent unions by the workers is under threat and so are other rights in the era of global capital pushing for maximum exploitation of labour and complete privatisation and contractualisation of work in neo liberal reforms era. Millions of agricultural workers, NREGA workers, construction workers, fish workers, forest workers, hawkers, and many other non-traditionally recognised forms of workers remain outside the social security net and face problems with the authorities in forming their own unions across the country. In the same way millions of workers working in manufacturing sector face the same problem most recent being Maruti factory in Gurgaon, Rockman and Satyam in Dehradun and elsewhere.
Various studies, surveys and reports have accepted the fact that this group of workers contributes more than 60% to the GDP. From road construction crews to domestic help, they work long hours for less than the minimum wage, receive no compensation for work-related injuries; and they receive no social security. About 44% of all unorganised urban workers are construction workers but they have no social security or job security, most of them migrants who stream in from remote villages where agriculture can no longer support their growing numbers. It is unfortunate that even though nearly 60% of the population is engaged in the agriculture, fishery and forestry but their total contribution to the GDP has come down to nearly 16%, indicating worst agrarian crisis fuelling large scale farmers suicide and migration.
These issues and others were discussed at Rashtriya Jan Sansad held in New Delhi (March 19 – 23), attended by nearly 7,500 people from 20 States over five days. Member's of People Parliament agreed that time has to demand rights and justice for the working class people who are running the economy today but remain unprotected and unorganised. Some of the significant resolutions from the discussions on the subject are following :
The honest producers of this country – workers, artisans, fisher folks, hawkers, and others in unprotected and unorganised sectors continue to be oppressed and often victimised. The 93% of workers who have been denied social security pensions should be given protection equivalent to the organised and secured sectors. There should be access to food, water, shelter etc. to everyone equitably. Every service, every resource or development benefits should be equitably distributed.
The Provisions for pension must be extended to the 93% workers in the informal and unorganised sector workers, the current provisions are not at all adequate. The inequality in various pension schemes in different states must be removed.
There should be an end to inequality in the country. The politicians are working only for the interests of a handful of people, not for the interests of the masses. There shouldn’t be a difference of more than 1:10 in the income of the people and a ameeri rekha should be determined. Tax should be levied on property and assets, not on small productions or incomes.
Right to Unionise is a fundamental right and it must be respected irrespective of the sector, work, etc. All forms of forced labour must be stopped effectively. There is need of comprehensive social protection for all unorganised sector workers and fair wages must be given to them.
The minimum wages must be raised to a living wage level and it must be ensured that these are remitted on time. Minimum wages should be as such that the whole family is provided for by the income of one. The below poverty line families list should be enumerated by the members of the gram sabha or the electorate of the urban areas.
There must be provisions for Rain Basera (shelter homes) for daily wagers and migrant workers. The migrant workers in cities who have faced eviction must be duly rehabilitated.
Under NREGA, work must be provided throughout the year. Corruption must be stopped in NREGA and different pension schemes must be introduced.
The ambiguities and contradictions in central and state labour laws must be removed. The labourers must be adequately represented in the labour boards.
The use of machines in PMGSY must be stopped and manual labour be implemented so that the employment can be provided to workers and their skills can also be upgraded.
There is a need for changes in the hawkers policy and provisions must be made for them to be allotted shops and given rehabilitation as per requirement.
The domestic workers must be brought under the sexual harassment act and be provided protection and security under various acts.
Many other issues were discussed during the Jan Sansad which will take forward the struggle for the development with justice and equity. The programmes emerging from the Jan Sansad will be carried forward in coming days by the movements and community groups in their regions and areas through struggles, moblisations and advocacy.
On this Mazdoor Diwas on May 1st our constituent groups organise to demand the rights, dignity and security for the 93% of the working force of this country and pave the way forward for a most just and humane society. We hope you all will join us in taking forward the struggle for a life and livelihood of dignity for millions of working class people of the country.
In Solidarity: Medha patkar, Prafulla Samantara (Orissa), Sandeep Pandey (Uttar Pradesh), Dr. Sunilam (Madhya Pradesh), Gautam Bandopadhyay (Chattisgarh), Suhas Kolhekar, Vilas Bhongade, Subhash Lomate, Sumit Wajale (Maharashtra), Shaktiman Ghosh (National Hawker Federation), P Chennaiah, Ramakrishna Raju (Andhra Pradesh), Gabriele Dietrich (Tamilnadu), Vimal Bhai (Uttarakhand), Rakesh Rafique, Manish Gupta, Rupesh Verma (Western Uttar Pradesh), Prof. Ajit Jha, Rajendra Ravi, Bhupendra Singh Rawat, Vijayan M J, Madhuresh Kumar (Delhi), Gurwant Singh (Punjab), Anand Mazgaonkar (Gujarat), Mahender Yadav (Patna, Bihar), Nizam Ansari (Bokaro, Jharkhand), Geo Jose (Kerala) and others
(Jan Sansad Coordinating Committee)
हमारी मेहनत ! हमारी शक्ति ! मजदूर एकता जिंदाबाद !
मजदूर दिवस के दिन जन संसद का एक आह्वाहन
प्रिय साथियों
जिंदाबाद !
हर साल दुनिया के लाखों करोड़ों मजदूर १ मई को मजदूर दिवस मनाते हैं | यह दिन सिर्फ जीत का जश्न मनाने का दिन नहीं, बल्कि जीत के साथ साथ हार एवं आज के समय में मजदूरों के सामने मौजूद चुनौतियों के बारे में सोचने का भी समय है | दुनिया के मजदूर एक हो! आज के दौर में इस नारे का महत्व और बढ़ गया है | आज देश में ९३ प्रतिशत मजदूर असंगठित एवं असुरक्षित वर्ग में हैं जो कि अपने बुनियादी हकों के लिए जबरदस्त संघर्ष कर रहे हैं - सामाजिक सुरक्षा, पेंसन, शिक्षा, स्वस्थ्य, आठ घंटे की समयसीमा, नौकरी के निश्चितता, नियमित छुट्टियाँ, मजदूर संघ बनाने का अधिकार, उचित मजदूरी और अन्य तमाम मुद्दे |
आज के समय में एक तरफ मजदूर निष्पक्ष मजदूर संघ बनाने के अधिकार को लेकर लड़ रहा है जहाँ उसके लिए खतरे के सिवाए कुछ नहीं है, वहीं दूसरी तरफ नव उदारवाद के दौर में वैश्विक पूंजी के आने के साथ निजीकरण एवं ठेकेदारी प्रथा बढती जा रही है | करोड़ों कि संख्या में खेतिहर मजदूर, वन श्रमजीवी, मत्स्यजीवी, नरेगा के मजदूर, खादानों में काम करने वाले मजदूर, निर्माण मजदूर, हाकर्स एवं इस तरह के तमाम गैर - परंपरागत श्रमिक सामाजिक सुरक्षा से वंचित हैं एवं देश भर में अपने संघ बनाने को लेकर सरकार से लड़ रहे हैं | उत्पादन के कामो में लगे मजदूर, चाहे वो गुडगाँव के मारुती में काम करने वाला मजदूर हो, देहरादून के सत्यम या रॉकमान का हो या कहीं और का, उसी तरह के परेशानियों को झेल रहा है |
तमाम सर्वे एवं शोध ने इस बात को साबित किया है कि जीडीपी (सकल घरेलु उत्पाद) का कूल ६० प्रतिशत इस तबके के मजदूरों कि मजदूरी के योगदान से आता है | निर्माण के क्षेत्र से लेकर घरेलू कामगारों तक यह मजदूर ८ घंटे से ज्यादा काम करते हैं जिसके एवज में उनको पूरा मजदूरी भी नहीं मिलती और न हि सामाजिक सुरक्षा | ४४ प्रतिशत से ज्यादा असंगठित / असुरक्षित शहरी मजदूर निर्माण के क्षेत्र में लगे हुए हैं जिनको न कि कोई सामाजिक सुरक्षा मिलती है और न ही काम की सुरक्षा, अधिकांशतः ये मजदूर गांव में खेती और उचित रोजगार न होने के चलते शहरों में आते हैं | यह बहुत शर्म कि बात है कि, ६० प्रतिशत से ज्यादा आबादी खेती, मत्स्य पालन जैसे कामों में लगा है लेकिन इनका सकल घरेलु उत्पाद में योगदान घट कर सिर्फ १६ प्रतिशत रह गया है और यह आंकड़े खेती में हो रहे घाटे एवं उससे हो रहे पलायन एवं आत्महत्या को दर्शाते हैं |
मार्च १९ से २३ को नयी दिल्ली में हुए राष्ट्रीय जन संसद में ५ दिनों में करीबन ७५०० लोग २० राज्यों से शामिल हुए वहाँ इन सवालों के ऊपर गहराई से चर्चा हुई | राष्ट्रीय जन संसद में आये हुए जन सांसदों ने महसूस किया कि अब वक्त आ गया है कि अर्थ व्यवस्था को चलने वाले असुरक्षित / असंगठित मजदूरों के आवाज़ को एवं उनके मांगों को आगे बढ़ाया जाये| जन संसद में पारित कुछ प्रमुख सुझाव इस प्रकार से हैं-
हमारे देश के सच्चे उत्पादक, सच्चे कुशल कारीगर, सही निर्माणकर्ता आजतक वंचित है, शोषित पीड़ित है | जिन ९३% श्रमिको को सामाजिक सुरक्षा पेंशन से वंचित रखा गया है. उन्हें संगठित – सुरक्षित क्षेत्र के श्रमिकों के बराबर सुरक्षा दी जाये | रोजी, रोटी, कपडा, मकान, हर किसी को प्राप्त हो | हर सेवा का, हर संसाधन या विकास के लाभ जैसे पानी, उर्जा का समान बटवारा हो |
जिन ९३% श्रमिको को सामाजिक सुरक्षा पेंशन से वंचित रखा गया है. उन्हें संगठित – सुरक्षित क्षेत्र के श्रमिकों के बराबर सुरक्षा दी जाये क्यूँ कि अभी के समय में जिन सुविधायों को दिया गया है वो बिलकुल हि न के बराबर है |
देश में गैरबराबरी कि हद हो चुकी है, उसे खत्म किया जाये, राजनेता खुद और मुट्ठी भर लोगों के उपभोग के पक्ष में है, न की सबकी जरूरत पूर्ति के | आय में किसी भी कीमत पर १:१० से अधिक का फर्क न रहे, देश में 'अमीरी रेखा' सुनिश्चित करने की आज जरुरत है | अधिकांश कर संग्रह (टैक्स) सम्पत्ति पर हो, न की छोटे – बड़े उत्पादन या आय से |
संघ बनाने के अधिकार बुनियादी अधिकारों में से है उस अधिकार को हर एक तबके के मजदूरों के लिए लागू करना चाहिए |
हर तरह के बंधुआ मजदूरी को खतम करना चाहिए | सभी मजदूरों को सामाजिक सुरक्षा कानून के तहत सुरक्षा प्रदान किया जाये एवं सभी को न्यूनतम मजदूरी दिया जाये | (न्यूनतम) मजदूरी इतनी हो कि पूरे परिवार का पालन पोषण एक के रोजगार से मिले | गरीबी रेखा के नीचे के परिवारों की सूचि ग्रामसभा तय करे और शहर में वार्डसभा तय करे |
दिहाड़ी मजदूरों के लिए एवं बाहर से आये हुए मजदूरों के लिए रेन बसेरा का प्रावधान रखा जाये एवं जब शहरों में मजदूरों के बस्तियों को विस्थापित किया जाता है तो उनका सही जगह में पुनर्वसन किया जाये |
नरेगा कानून के अंदर पुरे साल काम देने का प्रावधान हो | एवं नरेगा में चल रहे भ्रष्टाचार को तुरंत खतम किया जाये |
केंद्र एवं राज्य सरकारों के बीच श्रम कानूनों के भेद को मिटाया जाये एवं सभी मजदूरों को श्रम बोर्ड में उचित स्थान मिले |
हाकर्स के लिए कानूनों में बदलाव कि ज़रूरत है | सभी हाकर्स का सही पुनर्वसन किया जाये |
घरेलू कामगारों को लैंगिक / दैहिक उत्पीडन कानून के अंतर्गत लाया जाये | उनको कानून के अंतर्गत सुरक्षा प्रदान किया जाये |
जन संसद में पारित सभी प्रस्ताव संघर्षों को आगे ले जाने के राह में कारगर साबित होंगे जो कि एक समता एवं न्यायपूर्ण समाज का गठन करेंगे | जन संसद में उभरे सभी मुद्दे संघर्षों के कार्यक्रमों के ज़रिये आगे बढ़ेंगे |
इस १ मई, मजदूर दिवस के दिन हम सभी संघर्षों / आंदोलनों के साथियों को आग्रह करते हैं कि वह इन ९३ प्रतिशत मजदूरों के मुद्दों को आगे बढ़ाये एवं एक समतामूलक समाज के निर्माण में अपना योगदान करे | आप भी जुडिये हमारे इस संघर्ष में !
आपके साथी
मेधा पाटकर, प्रफुल्ल सामंतरे (उड़ीसा), संदीप पाण्डेय (उत्तर प्रदेश), डॉ. सुनीलम (मध्य प्रदेश), गौतम बंदोपाध्याय (छत्तीसगढ़), सुनीति एस आर, सुहास कोल्हेकर, विलास भोंगाडे, सुभाष लोमटे, सुमित वंजाले (महाराष्ट्र), शक्तिमान घोष (राष्ट्रीय हाकर्स फेडरेशन), पी चेन्नैया, रामकृष्ण राजू (आंध्र प्रदेश), गैब्रियल डिएट्रिच (तमिलनाडु), राकेश रफीक, मनीष गुप्ता, रूपेश वर्मा, ऋचा सिंह (उत्तर प्रदेश), विमल भाई (उत्तराखंड), प्रोफ. अजित झा, राजेन्द्र रवि, भूपेन्द्र सिंह रावत, विजयन एम जे, मधुरेश कुमार (दिल्ली), गुरवंत सिंह (पंजाब), आनंद मज्गाव्कर (गुजरात), कामायनी स्वामी, किशोरी दास, सिस्टर डोरोथी, महिंद्र यादव (बिहार), निजाम अंसारी (बोकारो, झारखण्ड), जियो जोस (केरल), और अन्य
राष्ट्रीय जन संसद संयोजन समिति
Labour Day : An Appeal from Jan Sansad
Dear Friends,
Zindabaad !
Every year the May Day is celebrated by millions of workers around the world commemorating the the hard earned workers rights after years of struggles. It is a celebration but also a time to remember the victories, defeats and challenges infront of the workers movement even as we move ahead. Workers of the world unite ! The slogan has assumed much importance and the meaning of work and labour has also gone through significant changes over years. Today nearly 93% of the workers are in the unprotected and unorganised sector who are still having to fight for their basic rights : social security, job security, pension, health and education facilities, eight hour working day, mandatory leaves, fair wages, minimum wages, right to unionise and others.
A hard fought right to form independent unions by the workers is under threat and so are other rights in the era of global capital pushing for maximum exploitation of labour and complete privatisation and contractualisation of work in neo liberal reforms era. Millions of agricultural workers, NREGA workers, construction workers, fish workers, forest workers, hawkers, and many other non-traditionally recognised forms of workers remain outside the social security net and face problems with the authorities in forming their own unions across the country. In the same way millions of workers working in manufacturing sector face the same problem most recent being Maruti factory in Gurgaon, Rockman and Satyam in Dehradun and elsewhere.
Various studies, surveys and reports have accepted the fact that this group of workers contributes more than 60% to the GDP. From road construction crews to domestic help, they work long hours for less than the minimum wage, receive no compensation for work-related injuries; and they receive no social security. About 44% of all unorganised urban workers are construction workers but they have no social security or job security, most of them migrants who stream in from remote villages where agriculture can no longer support their growing numbers. It is unfortunate that even though nearly 60% of the population is engaged in the agriculture, fishery and forestry but their total contribution to the GDP has come down to nearly 16%, indicating worst agrarian crisis fuelling large scale farmers suicide and migration.
These issues and others were discussed at Rashtriya Jan Sansad held in New Delhi (March 19 – 23), attended by nearly 7,500 people from 20 States over five days. Member's of People Parliament agreed that time has to demand rights and justice for the working class people who are running the economy today but remain unprotected and unorganised. Some of the significant resolutions from the discussions on the subject are following :
The honest producers of this country – workers, artisans, fisher folks, hawkers, and others in unprotected and unorganised sectors continue to be oppressed and often victimised. The 93% of workers who have been denied social security pensions should be given protection equivalent to the organised and secured sectors. There should be access to food, water, shelter etc. to everyone equitably. Every service, every resource or development benefits should be equitably distributed.
The Provisions for pension must be extended to the 93% workers in the informal and unorganised sector workers, the current provisions are not at all adequate. The inequality in various pension schemes in different states must be removed.
There should be an end to inequality in the country. The politicians are working only for the interests of a handful of people, not for the interests of the masses. There shouldn’t be a difference of more than 1:10 in the income of the people and a ameeri rekha should be determined. Tax should be levied on property and assets, not on small productions or incomes.
Right to Unionise is a fundamental right and it must be respected irrespective of the sector, work, etc. All forms of forced labour must be stopped effectively. There is need of comprehensive social protection for all unorganised sector workers and fair wages must be given to them.
The minimum wages must be raised to a living wage level and it must be ensured that these are remitted on time. Minimum wages should be as such that the whole family is provided for by the income of one. The below poverty line families list should be enumerated by the members of the gram sabha or the electorate of the urban areas.
There must be provisions for Rain Basera (shelter homes) for daily wagers and migrant workers. The migrant workers in cities who have faced eviction must be duly rehabilitated.
Under NREGA, work must be provided throughout the year. Corruption must be stopped in NREGA and different pension schemes must be introduced.
The ambiguities and contradictions in central and state labour laws must be removed. The labourers must be adequately represented in the labour boards.
The use of machines in PMGSY must be stopped and manual labour be implemented so that the employment can be provided to workers and their skills can also be upgraded.
There is a need for changes in the hawkers policy and provisions must be made for them to be allotted shops and given rehabilitation as per requirement.
The domestic workers must be brought under the sexual harassment act and be provided protection and security under various acts.
Many other issues were discussed during the Jan Sansad which will take forward the struggle for the development with justice and equity. The programmes emerging from the Jan Sansad will be carried forward in coming days by the movements and community groups in their regions and areas through struggles, moblisations and advocacy.
On this Mazdoor Diwas on May 1st our constituent groups organise to demand the rights, dignity and security for the 93% of the working force of this country and pave the way forward for a most just and humane society. We hope you all will join us in taking forward the struggle for a life and livelihood of dignity for millions of working class people of the country.
In Solidarity: Medha patkar, Prafulla Samantara (Orissa), Sandeep Pandey (Uttar Pradesh), Dr. Sunilam (Madhya Pradesh), Gautam Bandopadhyay (Chattisgarh), Suhas Kolhekar, Vilas Bhongade, Subhash Lomate, Sumit Wajale (Maharashtra), Shaktiman Ghosh (National Hawker Federation), P Chennaiah, Ramakrishna Raju (Andhra Pradesh), Gabriele Dietrich (Tamilnadu), Vimal Bhai (Uttarakhand), Rakesh Rafique, Manish Gupta, Rupesh Verma (Western Uttar Pradesh), Prof. Ajit Jha, Rajendra Ravi, Bhupendra Singh Rawat, Vijayan M J, Madhuresh Kumar (Delhi), Gurwant Singh (Punjab), Anand Mazgaonkar (Gujarat), Mahender Yadav (Patna, Bihar), Nizam Ansari (Bokaro, Jharkhand), Geo Jose (Kerala) and others
(Jan Sansad Coordinating Committee)
हमारी मेहनत ! हमारी शक्ति ! मजदूर एकता जिंदाबाद !
मजदूर दिवस के दिन जन संसद का एक आह्वाहन
प्रिय साथियों
जिंदाबाद !
हर साल दुनिया के लाखों करोड़ों मजदूर १ मई को मजदूर दिवस मनाते हैं | यह दिन सिर्फ जीत का जश्न मनाने का दिन नहीं, बल्कि जीत के साथ साथ हार एवं आज के समय में मजदूरों के सामने मौजूद चुनौतियों के बारे में सोचने का भी समय है | दुनिया के मजदूर एक हो! आज के दौर में इस नारे का महत्व और बढ़ गया है | आज देश में ९३ प्रतिशत मजदूर असंगठित एवं असुरक्षित वर्ग में हैं जो कि अपने बुनियादी हकों के लिए जबरदस्त संघर्ष कर रहे हैं - सामाजिक सुरक्षा, पेंसन, शिक्षा, स्वस्थ्य, आठ घंटे की समयसीमा, नौकरी के निश्चितता, नियमित छुट्टियाँ, मजदूर संघ बनाने का अधिकार, उचित मजदूरी और अन्य तमाम मुद्दे |
आज के समय में एक तरफ मजदूर निष्पक्ष मजदूर संघ बनाने के अधिकार को लेकर लड़ रहा है जहाँ उसके लिए खतरे के सिवाए कुछ नहीं है, वहीं दूसरी तरफ नव उदारवाद के दौर में वैश्विक पूंजी के आने के साथ निजीकरण एवं ठेकेदारी प्रथा बढती जा रही है | करोड़ों कि संख्या में खेतिहर मजदूर, वन श्रमजीवी, मत्स्यजीवी, नरेगा के मजदूर, खादानों में काम करने वाले मजदूर, निर्माण मजदूर, हाकर्स एवं इस तरह के तमाम गैर - परंपरागत श्रमिक सामाजिक सुरक्षा से वंचित हैं एवं देश भर में अपने संघ बनाने को लेकर सरकार से लड़ रहे हैं | उत्पादन के कामो में लगे मजदूर, चाहे वो गुडगाँव के मारुती में काम करने वाला मजदूर हो, देहरादून के सत्यम या रॉकमान का हो या कहीं और का, उसी तरह के परेशानियों को झेल रहा है |
तमाम सर्वे एवं शोध ने इस बात को साबित किया है कि जीडीपी (सकल घरेलु उत्पाद) का कूल ६० प्रतिशत इस तबके के मजदूरों कि मजदूरी के योगदान से आता है | निर्माण के क्षेत्र से लेकर घरेलू कामगारों तक यह मजदूर ८ घंटे से ज्यादा काम करते हैं जिसके एवज में उनको पूरा मजदूरी भी नहीं मिलती और न हि सामाजिक सुरक्षा | ४४ प्रतिशत से ज्यादा असंगठित / असुरक्षित शहरी मजदूर निर्माण के क्षेत्र में लगे हुए हैं जिनको न कि कोई सामाजिक सुरक्षा मिलती है और न ही काम की सुरक्षा, अधिकांशतः ये मजदूर गांव में खेती और उचित रोजगार न होने के चलते शहरों में आते हैं | यह बहुत शर्म कि बात है कि, ६० प्रतिशत से ज्यादा आबादी खेती, मत्स्य पालन जैसे कामों में लगा है लेकिन इनका सकल घरेलु उत्पाद में योगदान घट कर सिर्फ १६ प्रतिशत रह गया है और यह आंकड़े खेती में हो रहे घाटे एवं उससे हो रहे पलायन एवं आत्महत्या को दर्शाते हैं |
मार्च १९ से २३ को नयी दिल्ली में हुए राष्ट्रीय जन संसद में ५ दिनों में करीबन ७५०० लोग २० राज्यों से शामिल हुए वहाँ इन सवालों के ऊपर गहराई से चर्चा हुई | राष्ट्रीय जन संसद में आये हुए जन सांसदों ने महसूस किया कि अब वक्त आ गया है कि अर्थ व्यवस्था को चलने वाले असुरक्षित / असंगठित मजदूरों के आवाज़ को एवं उनके मांगों को आगे बढ़ाया जाये| जन संसद में पारित कुछ प्रमुख सुझाव इस प्रकार से हैं-
हमारे देश के सच्चे उत्पादक, सच्चे कुशल कारीगर, सही निर्माणकर्ता आजतक वंचित है, शोषित पीड़ित है | जिन ९३% श्रमिको को सामाजिक सुरक्षा पेंशन से वंचित रखा गया है. उन्हें संगठित – सुरक्षित क्षेत्र के श्रमिकों के बराबर सुरक्षा दी जाये | रोजी, रोटी, कपडा, मकान, हर किसी को प्राप्त हो | हर सेवा का, हर संसाधन या विकास के लाभ जैसे पानी, उर्जा का समान बटवारा हो |
जिन ९३% श्रमिको को सामाजिक सुरक्षा पेंशन से वंचित रखा गया है. उन्हें संगठित – सुरक्षित क्षेत्र के श्रमिकों के बराबर सुरक्षा दी जाये क्यूँ कि अभी के समय में जिन सुविधायों को दिया गया है वो बिलकुल हि न के बराबर है |
देश में गैरबराबरी कि हद हो चुकी है, उसे खत्म किया जाये, राजनेता खुद और मुट्ठी भर लोगों के उपभोग के पक्ष में है, न की सबकी जरूरत पूर्ति के | आय में किसी भी कीमत पर १:१० से अधिक का फर्क न रहे, देश में 'अमीरी रेखा' सुनिश्चित करने की आज जरुरत है | अधिकांश कर संग्रह (टैक्स) सम्पत्ति पर हो, न की छोटे – बड़े उत्पादन या आय से |
संघ बनाने के अधिकार बुनियादी अधिकारों में से है उस अधिकार को हर एक तबके के मजदूरों के लिए लागू करना चाहिए |
हर तरह के बंधुआ मजदूरी को खतम करना चाहिए | सभी मजदूरों को सामाजिक सुरक्षा कानून के तहत सुरक्षा प्रदान किया जाये एवं सभी को न्यूनतम मजदूरी दिया जाये | (न्यूनतम) मजदूरी इतनी हो कि पूरे परिवार का पालन पोषण एक के रोजगार से मिले | गरीबी रेखा के नीचे के परिवारों की सूचि ग्रामसभा तय करे और शहर में वार्डसभा तय करे |
दिहाड़ी मजदूरों के लिए एवं बाहर से आये हुए मजदूरों के लिए रेन बसेरा का प्रावधान रखा जाये एवं जब शहरों में मजदूरों के बस्तियों को विस्थापित किया जाता है तो उनका सही जगह में पुनर्वसन किया जाये |
नरेगा कानून के अंदर पुरे साल काम देने का प्रावधान हो | एवं नरेगा में चल रहे भ्रष्टाचार को तुरंत खतम किया जाये |
केंद्र एवं राज्य सरकारों के बीच श्रम कानूनों के भेद को मिटाया जाये एवं सभी मजदूरों को श्रम बोर्ड में उचित स्थान मिले |
हाकर्स के लिए कानूनों में बदलाव कि ज़रूरत है | सभी हाकर्स का सही पुनर्वसन किया जाये |
घरेलू कामगारों को लैंगिक / दैहिक उत्पीडन कानून के अंतर्गत लाया जाये | उनको कानून के अंतर्गत सुरक्षा प्रदान किया जाये |
जन संसद में पारित सभी प्रस्ताव संघर्षों को आगे ले जाने के राह में कारगर साबित होंगे जो कि एक समता एवं न्यायपूर्ण समाज का गठन करेंगे | जन संसद में उभरे सभी मुद्दे संघर्षों के कार्यक्रमों के ज़रिये आगे बढ़ेंगे |
इस १ मई, मजदूर दिवस के दिन हम सभी संघर्षों / आंदोलनों के साथियों को आग्रह करते हैं कि वह इन ९३ प्रतिशत मजदूरों के मुद्दों को आगे बढ़ाये एवं एक समतामूलक समाज के निर्माण में अपना योगदान करे | आप भी जुडिये हमारे इस संघर्ष में !
आपके साथी
मेधा पाटकर, प्रफुल्ल सामंतरे (उड़ीसा), संदीप पाण्डेय (उत्तर प्रदेश), डॉ. सुनीलम (मध्य प्रदेश), गौतम बंदोपाध्याय (छत्तीसगढ़), सुनीति एस आर, सुहास कोल्हेकर, विलास भोंगाडे, सुभाष लोमटे, सुमित वंजाले (महाराष्ट्र), शक्तिमान घोष (राष्ट्रीय हाकर्स फेडरेशन), पी चेन्नैया, रामकृष्ण राजू (आंध्र प्रदेश), गैब्रियल डिएट्रिच (तमिलनाडु), राकेश रफीक, मनीष गुप्ता, रूपेश वर्मा, ऋचा सिंह (उत्तर प्रदेश), विमल भाई (उत्तराखंड), प्रोफ. अजित झा, राजेन्द्र रवि, भूपेन्द्र सिंह रावत, विजयन एम जे, मधुरेश कुमार (दिल्ली), गुरवंत सिंह (पंजाब), आनंद मज्गाव्कर (गुजरात), कामायनी स्वामी, किशोरी दास, सिस्टर डोरोथी, महिंद्र यादव (बिहार), निजाम अंसारी (बोकारो, झारखण्ड), जियो जोस (केरल), और अन्य
राष्ट्रीय जन संसद संयोजन समिति
Sunday, 29 April 2012
Four youths held for desecration of temple
The incident triggered riots in Hyderabad earlier this month.
It was not ‘jihadis,' but four Hindu youths, instigated by two local leaders, who planted the legs of a cow and sprinkled green paint in a temple at Madanappet, sparking communal clashes in the old city three weeks ago, the police have said. The youths have been arrested, and the police have launched a hunt for Niranjan, a wine merchant, and Srinivas, a moneylender, accused of masterminding the desecration. The arrested were Nagaraj, who works as a contract sanitation supervisor in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation; Kiran Kumar, a florist; Ramesh, a hotel worker; and Dayanand Singh, a car driver. All of them hail from Kurmaguda of Madannapet.
The arrested persons did not have any criminal record, but were organising religious programmes in the area. Their aim was to create communal disturbances and turn the situation to their advantage by provoking and uniting the Hindus, the police said on Friday. The absconding persons did not belong to any religious organisation. They used to lead youngsters of the area in celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi and Navaratri. The two believed that by projecting a threat from the rival community, they could unite the Hindus. They anticipated some trouble during Sri Rama Navami and Hanuman Jayanti in the first week of April. “As the events passed off peacefully, they conspired to trigger communal clashes,” the police said.
Investigators said the youths met in a wine shop and finalised their plan on April 7, allegedly at the behest of Niranjan and Srinivas. Being a sanitation worker, Nagaraj knew a place at Chanchalguda, where the burnt legs of animals are dumped. While he collected two severed legs of a cow, another procured a bottle of paint. Past midnight on April 7, they went up to the temple, planted the legs on the wall, inserting them through the iron grill, and sprinkled the paint.
The next morning, as the news spread, the Hindus of the locality gathered in large numbers. When a sniffer dog headed for the main road, a mob followed it and started throwing stones, damaging Muslim property. As the affected persons retaliated, clashes broke out at Madanappet and Saidabad, prompting the police to impose curfew on the areas under the two police stations. The police began their investigation, picking up youngsters involved in cases of property damage. Ramesh was among those held. He came out on bail four days ago. Piecing together the leads, the City Police Commissioner's Task Force teams picked him up again. And he admitted to his offence. On his confession, the other three were nabbed.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/andhra-pradesh/article3364832.ece?homepage=true
It was not ‘jihadis,' but four Hindu youths, instigated by two local leaders, who planted the legs of a cow and sprinkled green paint in a temple at Madanappet, sparking communal clashes in the old city three weeks ago, the police have said. The youths have been arrested, and the police have launched a hunt for Niranjan, a wine merchant, and Srinivas, a moneylender, accused of masterminding the desecration. The arrested were Nagaraj, who works as a contract sanitation supervisor in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation; Kiran Kumar, a florist; Ramesh, a hotel worker; and Dayanand Singh, a car driver. All of them hail from Kurmaguda of Madannapet.
The arrested persons did not have any criminal record, but were organising religious programmes in the area. Their aim was to create communal disturbances and turn the situation to their advantage by provoking and uniting the Hindus, the police said on Friday. The absconding persons did not belong to any religious organisation. They used to lead youngsters of the area in celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi and Navaratri. The two believed that by projecting a threat from the rival community, they could unite the Hindus. They anticipated some trouble during Sri Rama Navami and Hanuman Jayanti in the first week of April. “As the events passed off peacefully, they conspired to trigger communal clashes,” the police said.
Investigators said the youths met in a wine shop and finalised their plan on April 7, allegedly at the behest of Niranjan and Srinivas. Being a sanitation worker, Nagaraj knew a place at Chanchalguda, where the burnt legs of animals are dumped. While he collected two severed legs of a cow, another procured a bottle of paint. Past midnight on April 7, they went up to the temple, planted the legs on the wall, inserting them through the iron grill, and sprinkled the paint.
The next morning, as the news spread, the Hindus of the locality gathered in large numbers. When a sniffer dog headed for the main road, a mob followed it and started throwing stones, damaging Muslim property. As the affected persons retaliated, clashes broke out at Madanappet and Saidabad, prompting the police to impose curfew on the areas under the two police stations. The police began their investigation, picking up youngsters involved in cases of property damage. Ramesh was among those held. He came out on bail four days ago. Piecing together the leads, the City Police Commissioner's Task Force teams picked him up again. And he admitted to his offence. On his confession, the other three were nabbed.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/andhra-pradesh/article3364832.ece?homepage=true
Saturday, 28 April 2012
Jairus Banaji: Fascism, Maoism and the Democratic Left
I’ll start with three meanings of democracy as I see it.
1. Democracy in the sense of the formal framework of a constitutional democracy with the rights to freedom and equality, the right to life and personal liberty, to freedom of religion etc that it guarantees. In the Indian Constitution these are the fundamental rights incorporated in Part 3 of the Constitution, under Articles 14–30.
2. Democracy as a culture of resistance grounded in the constitutional rights given under my first meaning, including the Fifth Schedule protecting adivasi communities in the Scheduled Areas. India today is full of mass struggles and when labour movements are strong we can see what a culture of resistance means.
And 3, democracy as an aspiration for control. One can see the Communist Manifesto as a generalisation of democracy in this third sense (of the mass of workers aspiring to control their own lives, economically, politically and culturally) and as a culmination of democracy in both the previous senses. Thus for communists (in Marx’s sense) the mass element in democracy is crucial, it is what defines democracy in its most complete sense and historical form.
Now contrast this with cultures of resistance and/or struggles for control that are not grounded in democracy in sense 1/. They involve an authoritarian vision of democracy, both in the sense that they set out to overthrow the existing democracy which is seen simply as a mask for the rule of capital or in the sense that they disregard the rights guaranteed by the Constitution on the grounds that no armed struggle can be waged while respecting those rights. In contrast to all of the above, fascism targets democracy in all senses, seeking to overthrow democracy as such without pretensions of replacing it with any more complete form of democracy, as the Maoists claim to do with their notion of a ‘New Democracy’.
What fascism & Maoism share in common is the goal of overthrowing an existing parliamentary democracy, though they seek to do so in very different ways (the right being driven by what Arthur Rosenberg called their ‘hatred of democratic government’). 1 I’ll deal with both a bit later but first let me make another set of distinctions which you may find helpful.
In India we face the paradox of a constitutional democracy that is based on a repressive state apparatus. I call this a paradox because the exercise of repression violates numerous rights guaranteed under the Constitution, so that it generates a contradiction at the heart of the system. By repressive state apparatus I mean (to take the obvious examples) large-scale militarisation of the Indian state; the culture of encounter killings (that is, extra-judicial killings) that is specially rife in certain states like Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh; the shocking impunity that exists for politicians who instigate violence against minorities; and so on. All of these have become endemic features of our democracy.
But how do we understand this paradox?.. On the left the traditional answer has been that this is what ‘bourgeois democracy’ is, there is no contradiction or paradox here, it’s the nature of ‘bourgeois’ democracy to promise more than it can offer. This is an essentialist argument in the sense that it constructs a model of a system and seeks to explain reality by the essential nature of that model. Frankly, I think it’s time to break with this orthodoxy because, to my mind, the expression ‘bourgeois democracy’ is really quite meaningless. I suggest it would be helpful (as we did with the different meanings of democracy) to draw a line between three things that are, especially on the left, often conflated, namely, capitalism, democracy and the state apparatus. As a historian I know at least this much -- that capitalism and democracy are not functionally related, not even historically, but systems in conflict.
Capitalism seeks to limit democracy through its use of the state apparatus. For the democratic left the crucial element of democracy lies in the ability of the masses to shape their lives through the political system, and that in turns requires mass organisations like unions, workers’ councils, and popular committees of the kind we saw in the recent upsurge in Egypt especially. It is this ‘mass’ element in democracy that capital seeks to contain or subvert through its use of the state apparatus. Mass democracy presupposes a strong and well-organised labour movement, as well as a passion for freedom, that is, a culture where people are willing to fight for their rights, and it withers in conditions where capital is able, through the state, to decimate both of these.
With these distinctions, there is nothing particularly paradoxical about a constitutional democracy that survives by requiring some level of repression against its own people. It is not democracy that is at fault but the state apparatus (as an entity distinct from democracy) and the ability of powerful groups to use it to contain both cultures of resistance and aspirations for control, if not actually subvert the Constitution itself. In the case of India, the recent book by Anu and Kamal Chenoy shows brilliantly how the militarisation of the Indian state has been grounded in a drive to hold the union together by force rather than the power of democracy.
This is one sense in which we can speak of the subversion of constitutional democracy, which is often secured behind the mask of laws that legitimate repression. Read more:
http://infochangeindia.org/governance/analysis/fascism-maoism-and-the-democratic-left.html
Also see: Maoist Insurgency - End of the Road for Indian Stalinism?
http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.in/2011/11/maoist-insurgency-in-india-end-of-road.html
1. Democracy in the sense of the formal framework of a constitutional democracy with the rights to freedom and equality, the right to life and personal liberty, to freedom of religion etc that it guarantees. In the Indian Constitution these are the fundamental rights incorporated in Part 3 of the Constitution, under Articles 14–30.
2. Democracy as a culture of resistance grounded in the constitutional rights given under my first meaning, including the Fifth Schedule protecting adivasi communities in the Scheduled Areas. India today is full of mass struggles and when labour movements are strong we can see what a culture of resistance means.
And 3, democracy as an aspiration for control. One can see the Communist Manifesto as a generalisation of democracy in this third sense (of the mass of workers aspiring to control their own lives, economically, politically and culturally) and as a culmination of democracy in both the previous senses. Thus for communists (in Marx’s sense) the mass element in democracy is crucial, it is what defines democracy in its most complete sense and historical form.
Now contrast this with cultures of resistance and/or struggles for control that are not grounded in democracy in sense 1/. They involve an authoritarian vision of democracy, both in the sense that they set out to overthrow the existing democracy which is seen simply as a mask for the rule of capital or in the sense that they disregard the rights guaranteed by the Constitution on the grounds that no armed struggle can be waged while respecting those rights. In contrast to all of the above, fascism targets democracy in all senses, seeking to overthrow democracy as such without pretensions of replacing it with any more complete form of democracy, as the Maoists claim to do with their notion of a ‘New Democracy’.
What fascism & Maoism share in common is the goal of overthrowing an existing parliamentary democracy, though they seek to do so in very different ways (the right being driven by what Arthur Rosenberg called their ‘hatred of democratic government’). 1 I’ll deal with both a bit later but first let me make another set of distinctions which you may find helpful.
In India we face the paradox of a constitutional democracy that is based on a repressive state apparatus. I call this a paradox because the exercise of repression violates numerous rights guaranteed under the Constitution, so that it generates a contradiction at the heart of the system. By repressive state apparatus I mean (to take the obvious examples) large-scale militarisation of the Indian state; the culture of encounter killings (that is, extra-judicial killings) that is specially rife in certain states like Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh; the shocking impunity that exists for politicians who instigate violence against minorities; and so on. All of these have become endemic features of our democracy.
But how do we understand this paradox?.. On the left the traditional answer has been that this is what ‘bourgeois democracy’ is, there is no contradiction or paradox here, it’s the nature of ‘bourgeois’ democracy to promise more than it can offer. This is an essentialist argument in the sense that it constructs a model of a system and seeks to explain reality by the essential nature of that model. Frankly, I think it’s time to break with this orthodoxy because, to my mind, the expression ‘bourgeois democracy’ is really quite meaningless. I suggest it would be helpful (as we did with the different meanings of democracy) to draw a line between three things that are, especially on the left, often conflated, namely, capitalism, democracy and the state apparatus. As a historian I know at least this much -- that capitalism and democracy are not functionally related, not even historically, but systems in conflict.
Capitalism seeks to limit democracy through its use of the state apparatus. For the democratic left the crucial element of democracy lies in the ability of the masses to shape their lives through the political system, and that in turns requires mass organisations like unions, workers’ councils, and popular committees of the kind we saw in the recent upsurge in Egypt especially. It is this ‘mass’ element in democracy that capital seeks to contain or subvert through its use of the state apparatus. Mass democracy presupposes a strong and well-organised labour movement, as well as a passion for freedom, that is, a culture where people are willing to fight for their rights, and it withers in conditions where capital is able, through the state, to decimate both of these.
With these distinctions, there is nothing particularly paradoxical about a constitutional democracy that survives by requiring some level of repression against its own people. It is not democracy that is at fault but the state apparatus (as an entity distinct from democracy) and the ability of powerful groups to use it to contain both cultures of resistance and aspirations for control, if not actually subvert the Constitution itself. In the case of India, the recent book by Anu and Kamal Chenoy shows brilliantly how the militarisation of the Indian state has been grounded in a drive to hold the union together by force rather than the power of democracy.
This is one sense in which we can speak of the subversion of constitutional democracy, which is often secured behind the mask of laws that legitimate repression. Read more:
http://infochangeindia.org/governance/analysis/fascism-maoism-and-the-democratic-left.html
Also see: Maoist Insurgency - End of the Road for Indian Stalinism?
http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.in/2011/11/maoist-insurgency-in-india-end-of-road.html
Wednesday, 25 April 2012
Academic research on Rushdie's literary work sabotaged by Deoband Ulema
LUCKNOW April 24: Taking a strong exception to the UGC's decision to award post-doctoral fellowship on Salman Rushdie's writing, Darul Uloom Deoband has demanded "immediate remedial steps to correct the high impropriety". The Islamic seminary is apparently miffed by the topic - "Use of Magic and Realism in the major novels of Rushdie, Amitav Ghosh and Vikram Seth" - chosen by a scholar in the Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut.
"To glorify Rushdie is a an overt act of treachery and a government body like UGC should have used its imagination better. This step raises serious concerns about its style of functioning. Darul Uloom Deoband strongly condemns it," official spokesperson Ashraf Usmani said on Monday."Our stance on Rushdie has been clear. The author of 'The Satanic Verses' has blasphemed against Islam and hurt sentiments of devout Muslims all over the world," Usmani told TOI over phone. "Any attempt to glorify him or his writings would only lead to promotion and build up of his image. He deserves to be shunned. Moreover, 'The Satanic Verses' still carries a ban by Indian government and going by the law, he should be considered blacklisted. Meerut University and the UGC, who are apparently party in the grant of the fellowship, must cancel it with immediate effect," he said..
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-04-24/india/31392019_1_darul-uloom-deoband-salman-rushdie-satanic-verses
Deoband heat 'forces' university to scrap paper on controversial author Salman Rushdie:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2135170/Deoband-heat-forces-university-scrap-paper-controversial-author-Salman-Rushdie.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
Chaudhary Charan Singh University (CCSU) in Meerut has cancelled the post-doctoral fellowship of Prabha Parmar, who was awarded research work on the novels of three authors, including controversial writer Salman Rushdie. Darul Uloom Deoband had opposed any study on Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses, which is banned in the country, though Parmer's ambit of research reportedly did not cover the novel.
But in an official communication dated April 23, 2012, sent to her, Prof. Arun Kumar, department of English, (CCSU), gave another reason for cancelling her fellowship: That she is on maternity leave and is yet to start the research work sanctioned by the UGC this January. 'This has reference to the UGC letter dated January 23, 2012, on the subject of the award for fellowship for the year 2011-2012 (Category OBC) for your topic Use of Magic Realism in the Major Novels of Salman Rushdie, Amitav Ghosh and Vikram Seth in the subject of English. 'You joined the department on February 13, 2012, and on the next day asked for maternity leave for three months till May 13, 2012,' the letter read. 'You have technically not started your research work, which was approved by the UGC on January 23, 2012.'Please be informed that the department of English will not be able to provide any facilities for your fellowship,' it stated.
Not ready to speak on the issue, Parmar merely confirmed the receipt of the letter on Wednesday. But a source close to her said that the department had not raised any objection before some members of the university tried to create a controversy. Ashraf Usmani, chairman of Darul Ifta, fatwa department of Darul Uloom, Deoband, had said on Monday they were preparing to oppose the fellowship. 'The CCSU had allowed a student to do research on a book (The Satanic Verses) which was banned in India. 'This means that the ban on the book is mere eyewash and the government supports a student to read it and do research on it,' he had said. Expressing his satisfaction over the fresh decision, Usmani said: 'They stand corrected. We are happy about it.'
***************************
NB: Over the past four months, the Deoband Ulema has contributed to the climate of intolerance and religious bigotry in India. First by opposing Rushdie's presence at the Jaipur Literature Festival, and now by sabotaging a perfectly legitimate subject for research. In the first instance they succeeded by riding on the backs of various hooligans disguised as 'Muslim leaders', and now by presenting themselves as the self-appointed representatives of 'hurt sentiment' - that tried and tested weapon of communal politicians of all colours. (Witness the hue and cry over AK Ramanujan's Many Ramayanas). They want Rushdies work to be excluded from bona-fide literary research, even if the research does not explicitly take up The Satanic Verses. In Jaipur, there were threats of violence - with talk of 'rivers of blood' etc. The Ulema ought to have condemned such statements in clear and explicit terms, but we did not hear of it. We only heard of their sentiments. After this precedent, the Deoband Ulema can continue dictating our research programmes indefinitely.
By any sensible standard of reasoning, to research something does not imply 'glorification'. If I study various versions of the Ramayana, this does not imply that I'm glorifying this or that version. If I study the bombardment of Hiroshima, this does not mean I approve of atomic warfare. The study of Mein Kampf does not imply an admiration of Adolf Hitler. If I read Golwalkar's or VD Savarkar's writings, it does not follow that I sympathise with the RSS. Studying Pol Pot does not make the researcher a proponent of genocide. The Deoband Ulema should reflect on the damage they are doing to the very basis of academic research by citing 'hurt sentiment' to oppose a legitimate literary research programme.
It's ironic that in India today we can study the ideas of mass murderers, Nazis, fascists, racists, imperialists, communalists etc etc., but Deoband will not let us study Rushdie. Wonderful! I suggest the Ulema examine the compatibility of their religious norms and sentiments with the brutal treatment of Asiya Bibi, a worker and mother of five children, condemned to hang on mere hearsay; and the acquittal of the men who assaulted Mukhtar Mai. The intellectuals of Deoband need to understand that by raising such issues repeatedly, they contribute to the fascist degeneration of the Indian polity - Dilip
See also: Communalism feeds on itself:
http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.in/2012/01/communalism-feeds-on-itself.html
and: The purging of AK Ramanujan's Many Ramayanas:
http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.in/2011/10/delhi-university-and-purging-of.html
"With force I have subdued the brains of the proud" - Epitaph on the tomb of Cardinal Saint Roberto Bellarmino, Cardinal-Inquisitor who ordered Galileo to abandon his ideas on heliocentrism in 1616.
NEWLY POSTED PRESS STATEMENT: "WE CONDEMN THE ATTEMPT OF BODIES LIKE DEOBAND TO ENCROACH ON OUR ACADEMIC SPACE" - 27 April 2012
This is yet another assault on the space of scholarship and free enquiry which represents the essential character of a university. In recent months there have been many instances of academic institutions succumbing to threats issued by religious and sectarian bodies and withdrawing texts and films or modifying syllabi or curricula to please them. The point at issue is not the controversial nature of the text, because freely debating such texts is the very purpose of intellectual inquiry. Rather, the crucial point is the climate of intimidation and the thinly-disguised threat of violence that informs the language of those making such demands. They constantly remind us that their sentiments are inflamed enough to spark off bloodshed. They crush the spirit of inquiry by intimidating those who disagree with them. They assume the fake title of representatives of this or that community to enforce their claims. And our spineless authorities allow them to do this with impunity. This time it is the Deoband ulema who have claimed yet another academic victim.
http://www.sacw.net/article2662.html
"To glorify Rushdie is a an overt act of treachery and a government body like UGC should have used its imagination better. This step raises serious concerns about its style of functioning. Darul Uloom Deoband strongly condemns it," official spokesperson Ashraf Usmani said on Monday."Our stance on Rushdie has been clear. The author of 'The Satanic Verses' has blasphemed against Islam and hurt sentiments of devout Muslims all over the world," Usmani told TOI over phone. "Any attempt to glorify him or his writings would only lead to promotion and build up of his image. He deserves to be shunned. Moreover, 'The Satanic Verses' still carries a ban by Indian government and going by the law, he should be considered blacklisted. Meerut University and the UGC, who are apparently party in the grant of the fellowship, must cancel it with immediate effect," he said..
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-04-24/india/31392019_1_darul-uloom-deoband-salman-rushdie-satanic-verses
Deoband heat 'forces' university to scrap paper on controversial author Salman Rushdie:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2135170/Deoband-heat-forces-university-scrap-paper-controversial-author-Salman-Rushdie.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
Chaudhary Charan Singh University (CCSU) in Meerut has cancelled the post-doctoral fellowship of Prabha Parmar, who was awarded research work on the novels of three authors, including controversial writer Salman Rushdie. Darul Uloom Deoband had opposed any study on Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses, which is banned in the country, though Parmer's ambit of research reportedly did not cover the novel.
But in an official communication dated April 23, 2012, sent to her, Prof. Arun Kumar, department of English, (CCSU), gave another reason for cancelling her fellowship: That she is on maternity leave and is yet to start the research work sanctioned by the UGC this January. 'This has reference to the UGC letter dated January 23, 2012, on the subject of the award for fellowship for the year 2011-2012 (Category OBC) for your topic Use of Magic Realism in the Major Novels of Salman Rushdie, Amitav Ghosh and Vikram Seth in the subject of English. 'You joined the department on February 13, 2012, and on the next day asked for maternity leave for three months till May 13, 2012,' the letter read. 'You have technically not started your research work, which was approved by the UGC on January 23, 2012.'Please be informed that the department of English will not be able to provide any facilities for your fellowship,' it stated.
Not ready to speak on the issue, Parmar merely confirmed the receipt of the letter on Wednesday. But a source close to her said that the department had not raised any objection before some members of the university tried to create a controversy. Ashraf Usmani, chairman of Darul Ifta, fatwa department of Darul Uloom, Deoband, had said on Monday they were preparing to oppose the fellowship. 'The CCSU had allowed a student to do research on a book (The Satanic Verses) which was banned in India. 'This means that the ban on the book is mere eyewash and the government supports a student to read it and do research on it,' he had said. Expressing his satisfaction over the fresh decision, Usmani said: 'They stand corrected. We are happy about it.'
***************************
NB: Over the past four months, the Deoband Ulema has contributed to the climate of intolerance and religious bigotry in India. First by opposing Rushdie's presence at the Jaipur Literature Festival, and now by sabotaging a perfectly legitimate subject for research. In the first instance they succeeded by riding on the backs of various hooligans disguised as 'Muslim leaders', and now by presenting themselves as the self-appointed representatives of 'hurt sentiment' - that tried and tested weapon of communal politicians of all colours. (Witness the hue and cry over AK Ramanujan's Many Ramayanas). They want Rushdies work to be excluded from bona-fide literary research, even if the research does not explicitly take up The Satanic Verses. In Jaipur, there were threats of violence - with talk of 'rivers of blood' etc. The Ulema ought to have condemned such statements in clear and explicit terms, but we did not hear of it. We only heard of their sentiments. After this precedent, the Deoband Ulema can continue dictating our research programmes indefinitely.
By any sensible standard of reasoning, to research something does not imply 'glorification'. If I study various versions of the Ramayana, this does not imply that I'm glorifying this or that version. If I study the bombardment of Hiroshima, this does not mean I approve of atomic warfare. The study of Mein Kampf does not imply an admiration of Adolf Hitler. If I read Golwalkar's or VD Savarkar's writings, it does not follow that I sympathise with the RSS. Studying Pol Pot does not make the researcher a proponent of genocide. The Deoband Ulema should reflect on the damage they are doing to the very basis of academic research by citing 'hurt sentiment' to oppose a legitimate literary research programme.
It's ironic that in India today we can study the ideas of mass murderers, Nazis, fascists, racists, imperialists, communalists etc etc., but Deoband will not let us study Rushdie. Wonderful! I suggest the Ulema examine the compatibility of their religious norms and sentiments with the brutal treatment of Asiya Bibi, a worker and mother of five children, condemned to hang on mere hearsay; and the acquittal of the men who assaulted Mukhtar Mai. The intellectuals of Deoband need to understand that by raising such issues repeatedly, they contribute to the fascist degeneration of the Indian polity - Dilip
See also: Communalism feeds on itself:
http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.in/2012/01/communalism-feeds-on-itself.html
and: The purging of AK Ramanujan's Many Ramayanas:
http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.in/2011/10/delhi-university-and-purging-of.html
"With force I have subdued the brains of the proud" - Epitaph on the tomb of Cardinal Saint Roberto Bellarmino, Cardinal-Inquisitor who ordered Galileo to abandon his ideas on heliocentrism in 1616.
NEWLY POSTED PRESS STATEMENT: "WE CONDEMN THE ATTEMPT OF BODIES LIKE DEOBAND TO ENCROACH ON OUR ACADEMIC SPACE" - 27 April 2012
Resist the Climate of Intimidation in Academics
It is a matter of deep distress that a threat from Darul Uloom Deoband has forced Prabha Parmar , a research scholar at the Chaudhary Charan Singh University to change the topic of her post-doctoral research: Use of magic and realism in the major novels of Salman Rushdie,Amitav Ghosh and Vikram Seth. Taking strong exception to the UGC's decision to award a post-doctoral fellowship to the scholar on a topic that included Rushdie’s writings, Darul Uloom Deoband demanded “immediate remedial steps to correct the high impropriety.” Terming the award an act of ‘glorification’ of Salman Rushdie, the seminary asked for the writer to be blacklisted and for the award to be cancelled with immediate effect. The atmosphere of fear and intimidation created by this statement led Meerut University to cancel the fellowship. Later the scholar withdrew her research proposal.
We condemn the attempt of bodies like Deoband to encroach on our academic space. It is time for all Indian academicians and intellectuals who believe in the freedom of thought to firmly defend our right to free enquiry and the pursuit of knowledge. We appeal to Meerut University and the UGC to stand by the scholar and encourage her to pursue her research on a topic of her choice.
1. Aditya Nigam, CSDS
2. Amlan Dasgupta, Jadavpur Unv
3. Aniket Alam, Senior Assistant Editor, Economic and Political Weekly.
4. Anita Cherian
5. Apoorvanand , Professor, DU
6. Arma Ansari, ANHAD
7. Arshad Ajmal, Sahulat, delhi
8. Asha Bhagat
9. Ashok Vajpeyi, poet, writer
10. Biraj Patnaik, Right To Food campaign
11. Dhruva Narayan, Managing Editor, Daanish Books
12. Dilip Simeon
13. Furqan Qamar, VC Central Unv of Himachal Pradesh
14. Gauhar Raza, scientist, poet
15. Gautam Bhan
16. Harsh kapoor
17. Irfan Khalifa, television journalist
18. Ishwar Dost , Asst. Prof., CSSEIP, Goa University.
19. J Devika, Centre for development studies, Trivandrum, Kerala.
20. Jairus Banaji
21. Jamal Kidwai
22. Jyoti Punwani
23. Jyotirmay Sharma
24. Kausar Wizarat
25. Kavita Panjabi, Fellow, Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla
26. Kavita Srivastava, PUCL National Secretary
27. Khairunnisa Pathan, Parwaaj
28. Khurshid Anwar
29. Mahmood Farooqui, Dastango
30. Mahtab Alam, civil rights activist and journalist
31. Manoj Mitta, Journalist
32. Mary E John,
33. Mehtab Alam
34. Moinak Biswas
35. Momin Latif
36. Mukul Sharma, Writer and Researcher
37. Musab Iqbal, Editor, newzfirst.com
38. Naseem Mansuri, Niswan
39. Naseem Shaikh, Niswan
40. Nasiruddin Haider Khan, Journalist
41. Naveen Kishore
42. Nayanjot Lahiri, professor, DU
43. Nilanjana Gupta, Professor of English, Jadavpur University, Kolkata
44. Nirantar, Resource Centre for Gender & Education
45. Nivedita Menon, JNU
46. Noorjahan Ansari, Niswan
47. Noorjahan Diwan, ANHAD
48. omair anas
,cwas/sis jnu
49. Parthasarthi Bahumik, Jadavpur Unv
50. Prof Rama Kant Agnihotri (Rtd., Univ of Delhi)
51. Purwa Bharadwaj
52. Ramchandra Guha
53. Rehana Qureshi, Nyayagrah
54. Rohan D'Souza
55. S.Irfan Habib, historian
56. Satya Shivaramn
57. Satish Deshpande, DSE, DU
58. Semeen Ali
59. Shabnam Hashmi, social activist, Anhad
60. Shakeel Shaikh, Ahmedabad
61. Shamina Diwan, Parwaaj
62. Sharifa Chhipa, Niswan
63. Sheba george, Sahr waru, Gujarat
64. Shivam vij, journalist, delhi
65. Shuddhabrata Sengupta, artist/writer
66. Sohail Hashmi, Writer, Film Makerli
67. Sucheta Bhattacharjee
68. Usman Shaikh, Nyayagrah
69. Waqar Qazi, Social Activist, Anhad, Gujarat
70. Zafar Syed, banker, Mumbai
Tuesday, 24 April 2012
Abduction of Chhatisgarh IAS officer by Maoists: Take a different route
Nandini Sundar, who has been campaigning for peace talks between the government and Maoists since 2005, writes:
Take a different route
Bitterness. When I started receiving calls that Alex Paul Menon, the collector of Sukma, had been kidnapped, that was my over-riding feeling. Bitterness and a cold anger. Menon is one of the best collectors I have met, and doing what he could to make life better for the people of his district, even in the face of an overall counter-insurgency policy designed for the opposite. Though kidnapped by the Maoists, Menon joins the ranks of several other hostages who have paid the price for their efforts to bring about peace.
Take for instance, my co-petitioner in the Supreme Court in the Salwa Judum matter, Kartam Joga, an elected representative who believes in democratic means. He has been held hostage by the Chhattisgarh government since August 2010, in jail on a variety of trumped up charges. Podiyam Panda, the former sarpanch of Chintagufa, who was singlehandedly responsible for getting seven Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) men released in an earlier hostage crisis, and who ensured that through the worst times the school in his village was not blasted and continued to function, is now accused of over a dozen heinous crimes. It is men like Menon, Joga and Panda, who can broker peace at an everyday level, and yet these are precisely the men who are being turned into hostages by ruthless revolutionaries and an equally ruthless security establishment, both of whom see nothing beyond the use of military force.
Maj Gen (retd) GD Bakshi’s plea in the Supreme Court that prisoners should not be released in a hostage crisis because the security forces risked their lives to arrest Maoists is, at best, a very partial truth. In truth, the vast majority of people in the jails of central India arrested as “Maoists” are ordinary adivasis, who have been incarcerated on flimsy grounds and whose families cannot muster the amounts needed to pay lawyers or file for bail. The government and judiciary should take urgent steps to release them, not because of the Maoists, but because it is what the Constitution demands. The Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh, now synonymous with a Maoist front, started off as a legitimate movement for adivasi land rights. Yet, the State’s preferred response was to side with the oppressors and file cases against its leaders.
Manish Kunjam, CPI leader in Sukma and I met Menon in his office in January. I had just come back from Tadmetla, where the CBI was investigating attacks on villages by Special Police Officers (SPOs) in March 2011. While the villagers were incredibly brave in testifying, despite the intimidating presence of security forces, frustration is inevitably building up. People have no hope of legal redress because the State refuses - despite many directions from the Supreme Court - to recognise the crimes that were committed by the security forces and their proxies. Far from disbanding the SPOs after the Supreme Court declared their use unconstitutional in 2011, the Chhattisgarh government has renamed them an “armed auxiliary force’, and given them better guns and more money. Emboldened by this, in February, the SPOs even attacked the CBI team. The superintendent of police who tried to stop them was physically manhandled by his own SPOs.
Manish and I said how, in this kind of context, “development” through the “integrated action plan” (IAP) was beside the point. Moreover, it was doomed to fail in the interior villages, because none of the sarpanches lived in the villages, and the money was being spent on paper. Menon said he was interested in some basic changes - especially agricultural improvement - not because it would win hearts and minds, but simply because it was the right thing to do, and his duty as a collector. He described how, in his first posting in Bijapur, he had slipped away and attended a Maoist meeting incognito, but could no longer do so, because after Vineel Krishna had been kidnapped, the government had issued instructions to all its officers not to travel alone. We agreed that by kidnapping officials, the Maoists are doing the villagers no favour, because there is no one to monitor whether schools are being restored in the villages or anganwadis are functioning, even if the teachers agree to go.
However, it is not as if the top security establishment is keen to restore normalcy — they have been resisting peace talks by killing off Maoist leaders, and for two years, stalling any discussion of a rehabilitation plan for Dantewada in the Supreme Court. The IAP then becomes not only irrelevant, but also appears a form of low intensity counterinsurgency. This, in turn, has hardened the Maoist attitude towards what villagers are allowed to access from government. While schools, handpumps, anganwadis and PDS are allowed, the Maoists do not want the villagers to accept any other funds from government, including compensation, unless it comes with criminal prosecution of Salwa Judum leaders. They argue that this would be tantamount to accepting blood money. The villagers themselves want both the state and the Maoists, since they bring benefits of different kinds: they want National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) but not the police and forest guards.
Where does that leave people like us, who are struggling for justice under the Constitution? The Centre’s first statement is not encouraging, with its offer to send more troops. They can send all the paramilitary forces they want, to die as cannon fodder. There are also plenty of half-starved adivasis waiting to be killed. Perhaps some mediators will come forward, but at best, this will be piecemeal. Rather, since the CRPF claims that the kidnappings are an indication of their success in putting the Maoists on the back foot, such incidents are bound to increase. As against the government’s two pronged strategy of security and development, therefore, I would suggest a three pronged strategy — peace talks, reparations and genuine devolution of control over resources. Only then will our collective bitterness begin to thaw. Under the ice, there is always clear water.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/editorial-views-on/Edits/Take-a-different-route/Article1-845110.aspx
Take a different route
Bitterness. When I started receiving calls that Alex Paul Menon, the collector of Sukma, had been kidnapped, that was my over-riding feeling. Bitterness and a cold anger. Menon is one of the best collectors I have met, and doing what he could to make life better for the people of his district, even in the face of an overall counter-insurgency policy designed for the opposite. Though kidnapped by the Maoists, Menon joins the ranks of several other hostages who have paid the price for their efforts to bring about peace.
Take for instance, my co-petitioner in the Supreme Court in the Salwa Judum matter, Kartam Joga, an elected representative who believes in democratic means. He has been held hostage by the Chhattisgarh government since August 2010, in jail on a variety of trumped up charges. Podiyam Panda, the former sarpanch of Chintagufa, who was singlehandedly responsible for getting seven Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) men released in an earlier hostage crisis, and who ensured that through the worst times the school in his village was not blasted and continued to function, is now accused of over a dozen heinous crimes. It is men like Menon, Joga and Panda, who can broker peace at an everyday level, and yet these are precisely the men who are being turned into hostages by ruthless revolutionaries and an equally ruthless security establishment, both of whom see nothing beyond the use of military force.
Maj Gen (retd) GD Bakshi’s plea in the Supreme Court that prisoners should not be released in a hostage crisis because the security forces risked their lives to arrest Maoists is, at best, a very partial truth. In truth, the vast majority of people in the jails of central India arrested as “Maoists” are ordinary adivasis, who have been incarcerated on flimsy grounds and whose families cannot muster the amounts needed to pay lawyers or file for bail. The government and judiciary should take urgent steps to release them, not because of the Maoists, but because it is what the Constitution demands. The Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh, now synonymous with a Maoist front, started off as a legitimate movement for adivasi land rights. Yet, the State’s preferred response was to side with the oppressors and file cases against its leaders.
Manish Kunjam, CPI leader in Sukma and I met Menon in his office in January. I had just come back from Tadmetla, where the CBI was investigating attacks on villages by Special Police Officers (SPOs) in March 2011. While the villagers were incredibly brave in testifying, despite the intimidating presence of security forces, frustration is inevitably building up. People have no hope of legal redress because the State refuses - despite many directions from the Supreme Court - to recognise the crimes that were committed by the security forces and their proxies. Far from disbanding the SPOs after the Supreme Court declared their use unconstitutional in 2011, the Chhattisgarh government has renamed them an “armed auxiliary force’, and given them better guns and more money. Emboldened by this, in February, the SPOs even attacked the CBI team. The superintendent of police who tried to stop them was physically manhandled by his own SPOs.
Manish and I said how, in this kind of context, “development” through the “integrated action plan” (IAP) was beside the point. Moreover, it was doomed to fail in the interior villages, because none of the sarpanches lived in the villages, and the money was being spent on paper. Menon said he was interested in some basic changes - especially agricultural improvement - not because it would win hearts and minds, but simply because it was the right thing to do, and his duty as a collector. He described how, in his first posting in Bijapur, he had slipped away and attended a Maoist meeting incognito, but could no longer do so, because after Vineel Krishna had been kidnapped, the government had issued instructions to all its officers not to travel alone. We agreed that by kidnapping officials, the Maoists are doing the villagers no favour, because there is no one to monitor whether schools are being restored in the villages or anganwadis are functioning, even if the teachers agree to go.
However, it is not as if the top security establishment is keen to restore normalcy — they have been resisting peace talks by killing off Maoist leaders, and for two years, stalling any discussion of a rehabilitation plan for Dantewada in the Supreme Court. The IAP then becomes not only irrelevant, but also appears a form of low intensity counterinsurgency. This, in turn, has hardened the Maoist attitude towards what villagers are allowed to access from government. While schools, handpumps, anganwadis and PDS are allowed, the Maoists do not want the villagers to accept any other funds from government, including compensation, unless it comes with criminal prosecution of Salwa Judum leaders. They argue that this would be tantamount to accepting blood money. The villagers themselves want both the state and the Maoists, since they bring benefits of different kinds: they want National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) but not the police and forest guards.
Where does that leave people like us, who are struggling for justice under the Constitution? The Centre’s first statement is not encouraging, with its offer to send more troops. They can send all the paramilitary forces they want, to die as cannon fodder. There are also plenty of half-starved adivasis waiting to be killed. Perhaps some mediators will come forward, but at best, this will be piecemeal. Rather, since the CRPF claims that the kidnappings are an indication of their success in putting the Maoists on the back foot, such incidents are bound to increase. As against the government’s two pronged strategy of security and development, therefore, I would suggest a three pronged strategy — peace talks, reparations and genuine devolution of control over resources. Only then will our collective bitterness begin to thaw. Under the ice, there is always clear water.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/editorial-views-on/Edits/Take-a-different-route/Article1-845110.aspx
Monday, 23 April 2012
Nandini Sundar: The Politics of Prizes and Silencing of Adivasi Voice
Last weekend, I attended a wonderful rally by the Adivasi Mahasabha in Raipur – some 10-15 busloads of people came from Dantewada and Bastar alone, while large numbers came from other parts of Chhattisgarh and even other states like Maharashtra, Orissa and West Bengal. The procession was flagged off by Dhurwa dancers while the rear end was brought up by Marias with their large dhols and bison horns. In between were thousands of militant marchers shouting slogans against militarization, demanding peace talks, the release of their arrested leaders, the implementation of the Supreme Court judgement on Salwa Judum, and all their constitutional rights with respect to land, forest and water. These were men and women who had lost everything to arson and loot by Salwa Judum, who had been interned in camps but managed to return home and pick up their ploughs again, who face the daily threat of arrests, beatings and encounters by the security forces, who have to negotiate with the Maoists everytime they wanted to access panchayat funds, who live a life on the razor edge of survival. And yet here they were, laughing, cheering and vowing to fight till the last breath, fight for their constitutional rights and in a constitutional way.
This remarkable struggle has been waged, not just over one weekend, but over years. Indeed, the Salwa Judum leaders themselves credit the CPI with the destruction of their movement – both through mass actions and through legal means.
The first reliable account of what Salwa Judum was doing came from a CPI fact-finding in November 2005. It was at an Adivasi Mahasabha rally held in Cherla in June 2007 that villagers broke the silence which had engulfed them since Salwa Judum began and gave written accounts of what had happened to them – accounts which later formed the basis of a writ petition before the Supreme Court by Manish Kunjam, Kartam Joga and Dudhi Joga. Kartam Joga has since been jailed for his efforts, along with several other CPI leaders all of whom have anywhere between 5- 7 heinous cases against them. In the Tadmetla case of April 2010 when 76 CRPF men were killed, for example, there is a fungible and expansive list of accused where anyone inconvenient can be grandfathered in, regardless of how far they were from the actual site or their political persuasion.
Subsequent rallies organized by the CPI have each been historic – one in Jagdalpur in November 2007 which was attended by over a lakh of people, broke the fear of returning home and led to the slow and gradual emptying out of camps. Much public attention has been focused on a few villages where NGOs have worked to resettle IDPs, and important and brave though that was, the much larger scale and quiet impact of the CPI work - as well as the Maoists own efforts at restoration – has gone unremarked. The CPI has also been fighting against Tata and Essar’s plans to displace people for their steel plants. Despite the fact that the CPI cannot compete with the money power of the Congress and BJP and win elections, Manish Kunjam is easily the most popular adivasi leader in the undivided district of Bastar. The CPI is also the only party in a field which includes the Maoists, which is led and peopled entirely by adivasis in the area. This is of no mean significance. Indeed, speaking at the adivasi mahasabha meeting on the 16th, PA Sangma recalled how on a visit to Jagdalpur, he was introduced by the Congress leaders to their local functionaries. In a tribal dominated district, with all seats reserved (Jagdalpur has since been dereserved), not one of them was an adivasi!
So when I read a Tehelka article which describes Soni Sori and Lingaram Kodopi as “the last men left standing in Dantewada district” after Binayak and Himanshu were arrested or evicted, or Shoma Chaudhury’s quote from some unnamed (and obviously ignorant) CRPF commander that “earlier the tribals didn’t have a voice, but these two people changed that”, I had to rub my eyes in disbelief. It is evident to everyone on the ground and outside that Soni and Linga are being framed, but in Chhattisgarh, whether you are a hero or a zero, you have equal chances of being arrested. Some would argue that it is perhaps not surprising that a party like the CPI which has consistently fought against Essar and Tata – which coincidentally are funding a major Tehelka event- is off its radar. But the Tehelka article displays a deeper malaise.
For far too long, the dominant activist mode of engaging with Dantewada has been in the language of ‘sole spokesmanship’ or “saviourism” by “human rights defenders”, who are usually non-adivasis. This is not to belittle their important work in bringing attention to the issue or the very real sacrifices that Binayak Sen and Himanshu Kumar have undergone in being arrested or having their house demolished – but simply to remind readers that were it not for the bravery of the adivasis who tell their stories to fact-finding teams, the media or lawyers and adivasis who guide outsiders to their burnt villages – none of these stories would ever have come out. I have had students in Delhi university refuse to even fill out anonymous teacher evaluation forms for fear that they would be found out and victimized. It is clear that if anyone deserves a prize for defending human rights, it is the very people whose human rights are being violated, but who have refused to take it lying down.
When it comes to the CPI, there are of course, political reasons why their sterling contribution to the ongoing struggle in Chhattisgarh is not recognized... Read more:
http://kafila.org/2011/10/21/the-politics-of-prizes-and-silencing-of-adivasi-voice-nandini-sundar/
See also: Take a Different Route: http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.in/2012/04/abduction-of-chhatisgarh-ias-officer-by.html
and ‘The Government Will Kill Me’ : Will there be justice for Soni Sori, the schoolteacher from Chhattisgarh? http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.in/2012/04/government-will-kill-me-will-there-be.html
This remarkable struggle has been waged, not just over one weekend, but over years. Indeed, the Salwa Judum leaders themselves credit the CPI with the destruction of their movement – both through mass actions and through legal means.
The first reliable account of what Salwa Judum was doing came from a CPI fact-finding in November 2005. It was at an Adivasi Mahasabha rally held in Cherla in June 2007 that villagers broke the silence which had engulfed them since Salwa Judum began and gave written accounts of what had happened to them – accounts which later formed the basis of a writ petition before the Supreme Court by Manish Kunjam, Kartam Joga and Dudhi Joga. Kartam Joga has since been jailed for his efforts, along with several other CPI leaders all of whom have anywhere between 5- 7 heinous cases against them. In the Tadmetla case of April 2010 when 76 CRPF men were killed, for example, there is a fungible and expansive list of accused where anyone inconvenient can be grandfathered in, regardless of how far they were from the actual site or their political persuasion.
Subsequent rallies organized by the CPI have each been historic – one in Jagdalpur in November 2007 which was attended by over a lakh of people, broke the fear of returning home and led to the slow and gradual emptying out of camps. Much public attention has been focused on a few villages where NGOs have worked to resettle IDPs, and important and brave though that was, the much larger scale and quiet impact of the CPI work - as well as the Maoists own efforts at restoration – has gone unremarked. The CPI has also been fighting against Tata and Essar’s plans to displace people for their steel plants. Despite the fact that the CPI cannot compete with the money power of the Congress and BJP and win elections, Manish Kunjam is easily the most popular adivasi leader in the undivided district of Bastar. The CPI is also the only party in a field which includes the Maoists, which is led and peopled entirely by adivasis in the area. This is of no mean significance. Indeed, speaking at the adivasi mahasabha meeting on the 16th, PA Sangma recalled how on a visit to Jagdalpur, he was introduced by the Congress leaders to their local functionaries. In a tribal dominated district, with all seats reserved (Jagdalpur has since been dereserved), not one of them was an adivasi!
So when I read a Tehelka article which describes Soni Sori and Lingaram Kodopi as “the last men left standing in Dantewada district” after Binayak and Himanshu were arrested or evicted, or Shoma Chaudhury’s quote from some unnamed (and obviously ignorant) CRPF commander that “earlier the tribals didn’t have a voice, but these two people changed that”, I had to rub my eyes in disbelief. It is evident to everyone on the ground and outside that Soni and Linga are being framed, but in Chhattisgarh, whether you are a hero or a zero, you have equal chances of being arrested. Some would argue that it is perhaps not surprising that a party like the CPI which has consistently fought against Essar and Tata – which coincidentally are funding a major Tehelka event- is off its radar. But the Tehelka article displays a deeper malaise.
For far too long, the dominant activist mode of engaging with Dantewada has been in the language of ‘sole spokesmanship’ or “saviourism” by “human rights defenders”, who are usually non-adivasis. This is not to belittle their important work in bringing attention to the issue or the very real sacrifices that Binayak Sen and Himanshu Kumar have undergone in being arrested or having their house demolished – but simply to remind readers that were it not for the bravery of the adivasis who tell their stories to fact-finding teams, the media or lawyers and adivasis who guide outsiders to their burnt villages – none of these stories would ever have come out. I have had students in Delhi university refuse to even fill out anonymous teacher evaluation forms for fear that they would be found out and victimized. It is clear that if anyone deserves a prize for defending human rights, it is the very people whose human rights are being violated, but who have refused to take it lying down.
When it comes to the CPI, there are of course, political reasons why their sterling contribution to the ongoing struggle in Chhattisgarh is not recognized... Read more:
http://kafila.org/2011/10/21/the-politics-of-prizes-and-silencing-of-adivasi-voice-nandini-sundar/
See also: Take a Different Route: http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.in/2012/04/abduction-of-chhatisgarh-ias-officer-by.html
and ‘The Government Will Kill Me’ : Will there be justice for Soni Sori, the schoolteacher from Chhattisgarh? http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.in/2012/04/government-will-kill-me-will-there-be.html
Sunday, 22 April 2012
Kandhamal: The Law Must Change its Course (download PDF)
This book critically examines the patterns of impunity as they unfold in Kandhamal. There is today a vibrant debate seeking legal reform to ensure accountability for mass crimes by extending culpability to those who sponsor and profit from the carnage. Rooted in the firm belief that without justice there can be no peace, this book seeks to contribute to the effort to forge new legal tools to alter patterns of continuing injustice and rampant impunity.
PREFACE: It takes approximately five to six hours travel by road to reach Kandhamal from Bhubneshwar, the capital of Orissa. A remote and barely known district of Orissa, it received national and international attention on account of the anti Christian violence of 2007 and again in August 2008. On my first visit to Kandhamal, what struck me was the abject poverty of the majority of its population. The Dalit Christians Panas and the Kandha tribals both counted amongst the poorest and most marginalized citizens. It is a shame that after 60 years of Independence, it is not development, growth and prosperity that have made an impact upon their lives, but hatred and communal prejudice.
In April 2009, I visited the Phulbani fast track courts set up to adjudicate cases related to the Kandhamal anti Christian violence. A senior member of the Phulbani Bar admonished me for doing so, stating that it was ‘outsiders’ like me who were causing trouble. He also suggested I visit the interior Blocks to see for myself that normalcy had returned to Kandhamal. I did as he advised and traveled to a few blocks. I found that almost a year later the Christian community continued to seek refuge in derelict relief camps or lived as outcasts on the fringe of villages. As they tried to cope with loss, they also faced an uncertain future due to a socio-economic boycott against them; and remained fearful of impending attacks. Has the Indian polity come to regard second class citizenship for religious minorities as the normal state of affairs? Has the guarantee of equal citizenship for all regardless of religion, caste, sex etc. inscribed in the Indian Constitution been abandoned in Kandhamal? The photographs appearing in this book were taken during this trip. They bear silent testimony to the real meaning of the ‘normalcy’ and ‘peace’ that supposedly prevails in Kandhamal.
The tragedy of Kandhamal is that the attack on the Christian community did not surprise anyone and further more, that the subsequent failure of the legal system to accord justice to the victim-survivors was predictable. Despite warning signals that concerted communal mobilization was underway for
almost two decades in Orissa, no preventive measures were taken to secure life and property. Perhaps governance was guided by lessons learnt from India’s contemporary history - one of which appears to be that communal killings are expected to pay rich electoral dividends. The failure of the criminal justice system to punish those who planned the killing and destruction in Kandhamal has left a deep sense of injustice and discrimination. The state’s failure to provide adequate reparation to the victim-survivors and their cruel abandonment has deepened this alienation.
The Nellie massacre of 1983; the anti Sikh pogroms of 1984; the Bhagalpur riots of 1989; the anti Muslim violence in Mumbai in 1992; the genocidal attack on the Muslims of Gujarat in 2002; and now the Kandhamal attack on Christians, indicates that mass crimes committed with overt or covert State sanction, pose a grave challenge to the secular, pluralist idea of India.
This book critically examines the pattern of impunity as it continues to unfold in Kandhamal. Civil society in India urgently requires to debate legal reforms on accountability for mass crimes. The claim to ‘civilisation’ by any society is dependent above all, on the degree to which it ensures the dignity of its citizens, and their equality in the eyes of the law. That is why it is essential to extend culpability to those who sponsor and profit from such acts. This publication seeks to contribute to the effort to forge new legal tools to alter this pattern of continuing injustice and rampant impunity. It is rooted in the firm belief that without justice there can be no peace.
Vrinda Grover
Download the book:
http://www.ngo-marg.org/publications/books-articles-reports-and-other-publications
http://www.ngo-marg.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Kandhamal-Book-Final.pdf
Also see: http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.in/2011/12/barefoot-remembering-kandhamal.html
PREFACE: It takes approximately five to six hours travel by road to reach Kandhamal from Bhubneshwar, the capital of Orissa. A remote and barely known district of Orissa, it received national and international attention on account of the anti Christian violence of 2007 and again in August 2008. On my first visit to Kandhamal, what struck me was the abject poverty of the majority of its population. The Dalit Christians Panas and the Kandha tribals both counted amongst the poorest and most marginalized citizens. It is a shame that after 60 years of Independence, it is not development, growth and prosperity that have made an impact upon their lives, but hatred and communal prejudice.
In April 2009, I visited the Phulbani fast track courts set up to adjudicate cases related to the Kandhamal anti Christian violence. A senior member of the Phulbani Bar admonished me for doing so, stating that it was ‘outsiders’ like me who were causing trouble. He also suggested I visit the interior Blocks to see for myself that normalcy had returned to Kandhamal. I did as he advised and traveled to a few blocks. I found that almost a year later the Christian community continued to seek refuge in derelict relief camps or lived as outcasts on the fringe of villages. As they tried to cope with loss, they also faced an uncertain future due to a socio-economic boycott against them; and remained fearful of impending attacks. Has the Indian polity come to regard second class citizenship for religious minorities as the normal state of affairs? Has the guarantee of equal citizenship for all regardless of religion, caste, sex etc. inscribed in the Indian Constitution been abandoned in Kandhamal? The photographs appearing in this book were taken during this trip. They bear silent testimony to the real meaning of the ‘normalcy’ and ‘peace’ that supposedly prevails in Kandhamal.
The tragedy of Kandhamal is that the attack on the Christian community did not surprise anyone and further more, that the subsequent failure of the legal system to accord justice to the victim-survivors was predictable. Despite warning signals that concerted communal mobilization was underway for
almost two decades in Orissa, no preventive measures were taken to secure life and property. Perhaps governance was guided by lessons learnt from India’s contemporary history - one of which appears to be that communal killings are expected to pay rich electoral dividends. The failure of the criminal justice system to punish those who planned the killing and destruction in Kandhamal has left a deep sense of injustice and discrimination. The state’s failure to provide adequate reparation to the victim-survivors and their cruel abandonment has deepened this alienation.
The Nellie massacre of 1983; the anti Sikh pogroms of 1984; the Bhagalpur riots of 1989; the anti Muslim violence in Mumbai in 1992; the genocidal attack on the Muslims of Gujarat in 2002; and now the Kandhamal attack on Christians, indicates that mass crimes committed with overt or covert State sanction, pose a grave challenge to the secular, pluralist idea of India.
This book critically examines the pattern of impunity as it continues to unfold in Kandhamal. Civil society in India urgently requires to debate legal reforms on accountability for mass crimes. The claim to ‘civilisation’ by any society is dependent above all, on the degree to which it ensures the dignity of its citizens, and their equality in the eyes of the law. That is why it is essential to extend culpability to those who sponsor and profit from such acts. This publication seeks to contribute to the effort to forge new legal tools to alter this pattern of continuing injustice and rampant impunity. It is rooted in the firm belief that without justice there can be no peace.
Vrinda Grover
Download the book:
http://www.ngo-marg.org/publications/books-articles-reports-and-other-publications
http://www.ngo-marg.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Kandhamal-Book-Final.pdf
Also see: http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.in/2011/12/barefoot-remembering-kandhamal.html
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