Monthly Archives: June 2011

Capitalism, Everyday Life, Metropolis

A Free Man

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Mohammed Ashraf is short and stubby, with a narrow but muscular chest and small, broad hands balanced on strong, flexible wrists. But Ashraf does not grudge the throw of the dice that has made him a safediwallah with a mazdoor’s body. A small man’s body can do things that a slenderchamak-challo cannot even contemplate.

A small man carries the ground close to him wherever he goes, even as he hangs along the side of a building three storeys high. The memory of the ground that allows him to crawl into crevices, perch on narrow ledges and balance on wobbly parapets. A short man knows the limits of his body, the extent of his reach, the exact position of his centre of balance. Unlike the tall man, he holds no illusions regarding his abilities or his dimensions; he will never overreach, overextend or overbalance.

A Free Man, my first book, should be in stores this July. Read the rest of the excerpt

Everyday Life, Government, Law, Metropolis, Movements, Politics, Technology

Mediation, Middle Grounds and Meddling – The Medley of Middlemen

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[Dedicated to Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay on account of “receiving ends”]

Couple of weeks ago, I was attempting to rent out the apartment that my mother and I own in an urban sprawl in South Bangalore. Among others, a broker – referring to himself as a ‘property consultant’ – approached me with a client. I met the client and conducted some negotiations. Eventually, however, I rented the apartment to persons who had approached me before the broker and his client saw our place. I politely refused the broker’s client. The broker contacted me soon thereafter and began issuing threats for not renting the place to his client. He threatened that it would be dangerous for me to spoil my business with him. Initially, I was also nervous and upset because I was unsure if the broker had an office in the neighbourhood and whether he was powerful enough to spread false rumours about our property which could potentially devalue the property and/or spoil my relations with the new tenants who had just come in. He then came to the apartment complex where the flat is situated and created a small ruckus. Finally, failing on all counts, he threatened to lodge a false police complaint against me for allegedly taking a deposit from his client without issuing a receipt. The broker’s threats turned out to be empty and damp squib as him. He never showed up after that dramatic afternoon of back-and-forth(s). Continue reading Mediation, Middle Grounds and Meddling – The Medley of Middlemen →

Bad ideas, Culture, Everyday Life, Government, Identities, Images, Metropolis

Seeking the Apadhasanchaarini/ The Malayalee Flâneuse

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So, the moral police has struck again. The papers in Kerala have been full of news about how a young IT sector employee, Thasni Banu, was confronted by a group of goons while she was being dropped to work at night by a male friend, insulted, slapped several times, and warned that they will not allow Kerala to “become Bangalore”. She did not take it mildly and complained to the police, who rolled their eyes, hummed, and hawed, and as to be expected, went slower than usual. One of the goons who was apprehended was let off. The papers have indeed taken the issue very seriously — and so have the state government, which suspended the policeman who handled the affair shoddily. Continue reading Seeking the Apadhasanchaarini/ The Malayalee Flâneuse →

Government

Whether Assam Is Turning Into a Police State ? : Asks Delhi Action Committee

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 Appeal by Delhi Action Committee Against Guwahati Police Killings on 22 nd June 2011

On 22nd June 2011, at around noon, the Assam police opened fire, killing four, on a demonstration led by Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) –  a peasant organization of Assam. The protesters were demanding a halt to a massive ongoing eviction drive  for more than a week around the hills in the city of Guwahati.  Different tribal communities and labouring poor of the city have been living on these hills for over many decades and many of them are clearly entitled to pieces of land based on the ‘Forest Regulation (Rights) Act’ and other provisions of law. KMSS has been demanding a thorough survey to be undertaken by concerned Government agencies, of not just hills but of the entire city and ‘notify’ all lands according to law, and also hold mass consultations and public hearings before any evictions is undertaken by the State agencies. Continue reading Whether Assam Is Turning Into a Police State ? : Asks Delhi Action Committee →

Debates, Identities, Mirror Worlds

‘Can someone be a Brahmin and not be acting as a Brahmin?’

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Over at the excellent India Site, Rahul Pandita asks a thought-provoking question:

As a Brahmin, does it make me less sensitive to the plight of the poor or the marginalised? Why is it such a big deal that I can wear my Janeu, recite my Hanuman Chalisa, and yet go to Bant Singh’s house in Bhurj Jabbar, thirstily gulp down a few glasses of water, and tell his story? Where is the contradiction? [‘A Brahmin Heart’]

And the ever-sharp Kufr has the best answers there can be to that question:

when rahul pandita says he’s a brahmin, he’s making a claim on a lot of indian history. when bant singh rebels against his present, he is also rejecting pandita’s history, his claim on privilege. if pandita doesn’t see that, he shouldn’t have undertaken the trip to bant singh’s home. [why bant singh can’t go to rahul pandita]

Countryside, Debates, Law, Left watch, Movements, Politics, Violence-Conflict

The Singur Act and the Deontological Reaction: Prasanta Chakravarty

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Guest post by PRASANTA CHAKRAVARTY

The remarkable Singur Land Development and Rehabilitation Bill, passed in the West Bengal Assembly on June 14 became an Act on June 20. The Act scrapped the previous Left Front government’s deal with Tata Motors and has provisions to return land to unwilling farmers. Consequently, Singur land was taken over by the State government prompting Tata Motors to legally challenge the whole Act and a judicial battle has ensued between them and the newly elected State government. The State government may continue to return land in right earnest since there is no legal bar to that as of now. One would think that by many standards, this is a landmark bill that challenges and confronts policy consensus in issues of land transfer, models of enclosing and a concomitant notion of development that marks our nation at this point of time.

Reactions to this enactment have been thick and fast—alarmist and cautious to generous and triumphant. Continue reading The Singur Act and the Deontological Reaction: Prasanta Chakravarty →

Centre watch, Government, Law, Violence-Conflict

Akhil Gogoi’s arrest smacks of vindictive attitude: NAPM

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This release comes from the NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF PEOPLE’S MOVEMENTS

Akhil Gogoi’s arrest smacks of vindictive attitude of Assam Govt.

PUNISH THE GUILTY POLICE OFFICIALS FOR BRUTAL MURDER

KMSS leader Akhil Gogoi was arrested by the city police from Guwahati Press Club for fomenting rioting on June 24, 2011. Photo: Ritu Raj Konwar / The Hindu

New Delhi / Guwahati, June 24th : As was expected, Akhil Gogoi, Genereal Secretary along with Mukut, Office Secretary, KMSS have been arrested by the Assam police from the Guwahati Press Club on the charges of arson, rioting and burning of government vehicles. It is ironical that there has been no action taken on Debasish Borah DSP, Dispur and other police officials responsible for day light murder of a nine year old child, Shiv Chauhan (40), and Viren Kolita (62) a rickshaw puller. Is this the rule of law? It is nothing but vindictiveness on part of the Congress Government in Assam against whom KMSS has been actively campaigning and exposing their corruption. Continue reading Akhil Gogoi’s arrest smacks of vindictive attitude: NAPM →

Empire, Frontiers, Government, Movements, Violence-Conflict

Goodbye UN, Hello Sarpanch: Jahangir Rana

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Guest post by JAHANGIR RANA

It has now become an established trend for the Indian political establishment to beat the drums of ‘victory’ after every electoral process in Kashmir. Almost invariably, prior to an election, this establishment maintains that the issue of resolution is not linked to elections in the disputed state. However, as soon as the electoral process is over, the same establishment is out to cash the participation in elections as an implicit approval for the status quo.

In an interview last week, senior Congress politician Mani Shanker Aiyer went as far as claiming that Azadi can be attained through Panchayat, pointing at the recent participation in Panchayat elections. These bombastic claims are now bordering on the absurd. To assume that the twenty-year resistance in Kashmir has been about devolution of power and development at grass roots, Aiyar and his colleagues within the establishment continue to live in denial. Continue reading Goodbye UN, Hello Sarpanch: Jahangir Rana →

Bad ideas, Capitalism, Law, Media politics

Arindam Chaudhuri, Silchar

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When I read The Caravan‘s cover story on Arindam Chaudhuri some months ago, I wondered when he was suing them. And he’s done it! While a court injunction has made The Caravan remove the story from theire wesbite, you can read it thanks to Google cache. No wonder Chaudhuri’s sued Google India as well! Given below is the full text of the press release put out by The Caravan. Unlike when Chaudhuri took on bloggers in 2005, I’m glad it is an organisation with the resources to fight the case and take him head on – not to say that requires some spine as well. After you’re done reading the release below, entertain yourself with all the Arindam jokes on Twitter.  

IIPM’s Rs500-million lawsuit against The Caravan
In response to our February profile of Arindam Chaudhuri, the IIPM has sued The Caravan. Here’s why we’re fighting the suit. Continue reading Arindam Chaudhuri, Silchar →

Bad ideas, Capitalism, Centre watch, Debates, Images, Media politics, Mirror Worlds

“Report the news. It is not news that there are poor people in India.”

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In the morning today The Independent‘s Asia correspondent, Andrew Buncombe, blogged his disagreement with Arundhati Roy’s statement that foreign journalists in India have been asked not to report bad news. As a foreign journalist in Delhi he had faced no such censorship from his editors or the government here.

Buncombe made his case strongly: Continue reading “Report the news. It is not news that there are poor people in India.” →

Capitalism, Culture, Debates, Everyday Life, Identities, Language, Mirror Worlds

Coke Studio India – the first six songs

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So the unanimous verdict is that Coke Studio India (first aired on the Friday that went by) is no match for Coke Studio Pakistan [Wikipedia]. For some it’s been like an India-Pakistan match – I’ve seen Indian congratulate Pakistanis on Twitter for the ‘Coke Studio victory’ and others ask Indian musicians and singers to listen to Pakistani singers and hang themselves. For most, this was not surprising – Coke Studio Pakistan has showcased some of the best music you’ve heard in recent times and it raised the bar too high for Coke Studio India. There’s also the problem of Bollywoodisation of music in India, of dumbing down, producing music aimed at the marriage market and livening up the moods of those stuck in traffic. A celebrity culture has taken the passion out of music in India – it does not seem to come from deep within. New popular music in India leaves you with the kind of feeling that a mall does. Loud and empty.

Continue reading Coke Studio India – the first six songs →

Culture, Everyday Life, Excavation, Frontiers, Language

लखनऊ और फैज़: अतुल तिवारी

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Guest posy by ATUL TIWARI

(प्रगतिशील लेखन के आंदोलन से जुडे हुए प्रसिद्ध पटकथा लेखक अतुल तिवारी ने यह लेख लाहौर में आयोजित फैज़ शताबदी समारोह में प्रस्तुत किया था और फिर दिल्ली में थिंक इंडिया मैगज़ीन के फैज़ नम्बर की रिलीज के समय होने वाले कार्यक्रम में भी उन्होंने यह लेख प्रस्तुत किया । काफिला के लिए लेखक की अनुमति से प्रकाशित। The English translation is given below the Urdu original. – SH)

“हज़रात!

ये जलसा हमारी अदब की तारीख़ में एक यादगार वाक़या है।  हमारे सम्मेलनों,अंजुमनों में – अब तक, आम तौर पर – ज़ुबान और उसकी अशात अत से बहस की जाती रही है। यहाँ तक कि उर्दू और हिंदी का इब्तेदाई लिटरेचर – जो मौजूद है – उसका मंशा ख़यालात और जज़्बात पर असर डालना नहीं, बल्कि बाज़ ज़ुबान की तामीर था।…लेकिन ज़ुबान ज़रिया है मंजिल नहीं ।

…अदब की बहुत सी तारीफें की गयीं हैं।  लेकिन मेरे ख़याल से इसकी बेहतरीन तारीफ़ “तनक़ीद-ए-हयात” है – चाहे वो मकालों की शक्ल में हो। या अफसानों की। या शेर की। इससे हमारी हयात का तब्सिरा कहना चाहिए। Continue reading लखनऊ और फैज़: अतुल तिवारी →

Bad ideas, Empire, Law, Media politics, Violence-Conflict

The Ice-Cream Flavour Mint’s Editors Don’t Like

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“There are some tropes that refuse to die,” said a “Quick Edit” titled “Of Political Tourists” in Mint on Tuesday, 14 June, “In Jammu and Kashmir, it has to be stone pelters, marauding security men and an ineffective government.” The edit forgot another trope there: the lies and obfuscation that the Delhi media indulges in when it comes to Kashmir. A good example of this is the “Quick Edit” itself, even if it was just 157 words long.

The “Quick Edit” derided human rights work as if it ‘human rights’ is an anti-national and unconstitutional ideology. It supported the Jammu and Kashmir government’s decision to disallow the journalist and human rights activist Gautam Navlakha into the Kashmir Valley. In doing so, it echoed the views of the Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, Omar Abdullah, that activists should be kept away from Kashmir in the summer as they cause political unrest. No wonder that Mr Abdullah recommended the “Quick Edit” on Twitter with a brief comment: “LOL. Short but says it all :-)”.

The edit derisively called activists like Navlakha “political tourists”; would the editors describe the security forces stationed in Kashmir as ‘military tourists’? The edit argued that allowing Navlkaha and activists like him into Kashmir would affect “peace and economic rebuilding,” and said that such people “should be kept away and fed ice cream. There are plenty of flavours in New Delhi.” This suggests that last year’s bloody summer in Kashmir was caused or at least aided by Mr Navlakha and other human rights activists. Perhaps Mint‘s editors were enjoying ice-cream in Delhi and did not want to indulge in conflict tourism. Ignorance, however, should not lead to lies. It is thus pertinent to recall what happened in Kashmir last year.

On 8 January 2010, Inayath Khan, 16, was returning from a computer coaching in Srinagar and was killed by CRPF personnel who were chasing away protestors. After the bullet hit his thigh, he was hit by a CRPF vehicle and eyewitnesses say, CRPF personnel trampled upon him with their boots and beat him with their gun butts.

On 31 January, a 13-year-old, Wamiq Farooq, was shot in his head by the J&K police with a tear gas shell. He was playing carrom in a room when this happened.

Continue reading The Ice-Cream Flavour Mint’s Editors Don’t Like →

Bad ideas, Politics, Right watch

निनाद: कुलदीप कुमार

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Guest post by KULDEEP KUMAR

जिन लोगों को यह ग़लतफ़हमी थी कि भारतीय जनता पार्टी हिन्दू धर्म और हिन्दुओं की बहुत बड़ी हितैषी है और व्यक्तिगत एवं सार्वजनिक जीवन में शुचिता की हिमायती है, उनकी यह ग़लतफ़हमी अब तो दूर हो जानी चाहिए. उसके शासन वाले राज्य उत्तराखंड में एक संन्यासी गंगा को स्वच्छ किये जाने और अवैध खनन को रोके जाने की मांग को लेकर अनशन करता रहा लेकिन पार्टी और सरकार के कान पर जूँ तक न रेंगी. गंगा का सभी भारतवासियों, विशेष रूप से हिन्दुओं, के लिए भावनात्मक महत्व है. अनशन भी शासन के विरोध में नहीं बल्कि एक सकारात्मक मांग को उठाने के लिए किया गया था. लेकिन स्वामी निगमानंद न तो राज्य सरकार का ध्यान अपनी ओर खींच पाए और न ही मीडिया का. जब उनकी ओर ध्यान गया तब तक बहुत देर हो चुकी थी.पंजाबी सूबे की मांग को लेकर अनशन करने वाले दर्शन सिंह फेरुमान की मृत्यु के बाद शायद यह पहला अवसर है जब किसी ने अनशन के कारण प्राण त्यागे हैं. Continue reading निनाद: कुलदीप कुमार →
Everyday Life, Genders, Government, Identities, Law, Mirror Worlds

Dr Khaleel Chishty will finally be free

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This note comes from KAVITA SRIVASTAVA of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties

An ailing Dr Chishty will soon be with his family

Dr. Khaleel Chishty, the 78 year old a renowned Virologist from Pakistan, will now go home very soon. A process that began on the 20th of April, 2011 will finally conclude at the Rajasthan end two months later precisely on the 20th of June, with the Governor signing the mercy petition that will let him go, once the MEA give their stamp.  Continue reading Dr Khaleel Chishty will finally be free →

Debates, Everyday Life, Government, Identities, Metropolis, Politics

Of Fakes, Duplicates and Originals – the Tale of Ration Cards and the Trail of Transparency in Governance

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On 2nd May 2011, the front page of the Times of India (TOI) beamed and screamed: “Don’t pay a bribe, file an RTI application – Equally Effective in Ensuring Service”. Two doctoral candidates at Yale University’s political science department had conducted field experiments in the bastis in Delhi in the year 2007 regarding poor people’s experiences in making applications for ration cards. The researchers – Leonid V Peisakhin and Paul Pinto – found that persons who paid bribes had their ration cards processed faster. However, those who filed an RTI request to know about the status of their ration card application, were “almost as successful”, the TOI report claimed. (The details of the study and the outcomes can be accessed through Peisakhin and Pinto’s paper “Is transparency an effective anti-corruption strategy? Evidence from a field experiment in India.” The paper was published in 2010 in Regulation and Governance Journal, volume 4, pp 261-280.) The researchers had also put people in two other control groups – one which neither paid a bribe nor followed-up and a second group which had filed their applications along with a letter of recommendation from the local NGO. Both these groups were not as successful as the former two groups in obtaining their ration cards. The researchers’ analyses veered towards two conclusions: first, that the RTI Act serves the poor who are usually denied/deprived of information. Secondly, reforms/laws which give more ‘voice’ to citizens and allow them to scrutinize the functioning of officials and elected representatives are more effective in ensuring transparency and gaining access to public services. Continue reading Of Fakes, Duplicates and Originals – the Tale of Ration Cards and the Trail of Transparency in Governance →

Bad ideas, Culture, Identities, Law

‘Locking up gods within caste’

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This note comes via Malarvizhi Jayanth. Those in support can leave a comment saying so, and add their designations to their names, if they wish.

We call for all those who support democracy and free speech to express solidarity with Thirumavalavan, Meena Kandasamy and Samya.Kathavarayan and Madurai Veeran are among the gods who are acknowledged to be Dalit and are worshipped by many castes. Clearly, in the oral history of the people, the gods have castes and these castes are not determined by who worships them. The twin brothers Ponnar Shankar inhabit the realm between hero and deity. They have been fictionalised, recreated for the silver screen, and are worshipped across communities. Their origin myth remains contested territory – it is variously read as symbolic of the conflict between agriculturists/warriors and hunters, as part of founding tale of the land-owning agriculturist Kongu Vellala Gounder sub-caste and, in a textbook example of how Hindutva functions, have recently been claimed as reincarnations of the Pandavas. Like other deities of the people, they are firmly located in a historical imagination among a society of human beings, and not in a mythos of gods.

In a footnote in Uproot Hindutva: The Fiery Voice of the Liberation Panthers by Thirmavalavan, MeenaKandasamy describes Ponnar Shankar as dalit. M Loganathan, an advocate from Nanje Goundanpudur and Students Wing Convenor of the Kongu Nadu Munnetra Kazhagam (KMK), has been quoted in news reports as saying that there is evidence proving that Ponnar and Shankar are Kongu Vellala Gounders and claiming that depicting them as Dalits will lead to caste tension. Continue reading ‘Locking up gods within caste’ →

Culture, Everyday Life, Identities

Of Mosques and Minars

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The Jama Masjid at Mandu. Photo credit: Himanshu Joshi

I can’t really say when I first heard the Aazan  (the call for prayers given by the Muezzin, five times a day) it must have been in the early 50s when I was a little child and lived in Chabi Ganj, next to the Faseel (City wall) near Kashmiri Gate.

The sound of the Azan would have drifted in from one of the nearby Mosques, there were a few not too far away. The practice of using loudspeakers was not in vogue those days and yet the muezzin’s call for prayers travelled quite some distance, primarily because the horrible ambient sounds that assail our auditory nerves were almost non-existent at the time, in place of this cacophony there used to be other ambient sounds, the rustling of leaves, the chirping of birds and others, that have, it would seem, now been lost forever.  Continue reading Of Mosques and Minars →

Empire, Everyday Life, Excavation, Mirror Worlds

Birds, tea, ghosts and the Indian National Congress: Sumana Roy

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Guest post by SUMANA ROY

A few years ago, I took my students to the cemetery in Darjeeling. I lived in an apartment just above the Happy Valley Tea Estate, from where I saw the prettiest of sunsets, had a colleague point out the ranges of Sandakphu to me quite often, and from whose long narrow balcony I imagined shadows of, as the lingo among Bengalis in Darjeeling went, “Sahib Ghosts”. Apart from the weather, perfect and monstrous in turns, what kept Darjeeling alive to “professors from the plains”, as we were called, was the mythology of “biliti” (“foreign”) ghosts waiting for the appropriate moment to reclaim what they had created – tea-gardens, the schools and colleges, the architecture, the cookies and cakes, the “style”, a word in which we tried to condense the British legacy. We spoke about planchettes, about ghosts we wanted to invite for tea, while history professors debated with political science researchers whether that meeting would be a post-postcolonial one or an anti-postcolonial moment. Continue reading Birds, tea, ghosts and the Indian National Congress: Sumana Roy →

Centre watch, Empire, Everyday Life, Excavation, Frontiers, Violence-Conflict

The Mountains Are Coming Closer

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(This article by me has appeared in the Sunday Guardian, Delhi, and the Friday Times, Lahore.)

The voices that reverberate in your head after a visit to Kashmir leave you numb, making you sadder the more you think about them. You know that it is going to be worse when you visit next year. The mountains that you see faintly from over the bridges on the Jhelum river in downtown Srinagar, a thousand-year-old settlement, you know they are coming closer.

An old man you see on the road wants your attention. No, not here. Let’s get inside a parked car. You wonder what secrets are to be passed on. From inside his pheran he takes out a bundle of papers. Both his sons were picked up from Kathmandu in Nepal in 2000, where they were eking out a living. Had they been militants why would they have … look, look, this paper, certificate of registration of Indian nationals in Nepal? The last he heard of his sons some years ago was that Indian intelligence had detained him in Delhi. He is coming to Delhi next month. Could you help? All he wants to know is what happened to his sons, which prison are they in, could he see them once? Read more…