Monthly Archives: October 2014

Bad ideas, Culture

The old Gods haven’t fled: Sankar Radhakrishnan

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Guest Post by SANKAR RADHAKRISHNAN

On a morning not long ago, chaya cup in hand, I was getting my regular Kafila fix, when I paused mid-click. What caught my eye was a headline with ‘Gods, Own and Country’ in it. Now that combination of words could only mean one thing — a piece on Kerala. It helped though that right below the headline was a picture of a Kathakali artist in sthree vesham or female makeup.

So I dived right into the essay on Thiruvananthapuram by Professor Mohan Rao. The first couple of lines had me grinning with delight for he wrote of his “four wonderful days” in the city, one that’s been my home for much of the past three decades.

I was so pleased by this that I skimmed the next few lines. Only to be stopped in my tracks, almost spilling some scalding chaya on myself in the process, by the Professor’s declaration that “… Ganesha is not a deity widely worshipped in Kerala.”

Now I’m no expert in Hinduism, but I do know that my extended, and very Malayali, family used to perform a ‘Ganapathy homam’ on a number of specific occasions; before moving into a new house, for instance. And this has been going on for decades. I also remember that both my grandmothers had an image of Ganapathy in their personal pooja spaces. Just to make sure that I hadn’t got my wires crossed, I checked with a couple of Malayali Hindu friends who confirmed that Ganapathy and Ganapathy homams were an integral part of their families’ religious landscape too.  Continue reading The old Gods haven’t fled: Sankar Radhakrishnan →

Debates, Empire/ Imperialism, Everyday Life, Language, Mirror Worlds, Movements, Violence/Conflict

I am a Muslim, an Atheist, an Anarchist: Salmaan Mohammed

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Guest Post by Salmaan Mohammed

[ Salmaan Mohammed, a twenty five year old philosophy student was arrested in Thiruvananthapuram on 19 August 2014 for sedition, and for allegedly dishonouring the national flag and national anthem. The complaint against him originated as a response to his refusing to stand while the national anthem was played in a cinema during a screening. Salman is currently out on bail, but still faces the prospect of a life term in prison if he is found guilty of sedition by the judicial process. We at Kafila have been in touch with Salman and he has recently sent us a translation of an audio interview he did after coming out of prison on bail so that the world outside Kerala (and those who do not read or speak Malayalam) can understand what he has been thinking.]

Continue reading I am a Muslim, an Atheist, an Anarchist: Salmaan Mohammed →

Countryside, Debates, Government, Politics, Right watch

Open Letter to the Prime Minister – Stop the Dilution of MGNREGA

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We are publishing below an Open Letter written by concerned citizens to the Prime Minister opposing the dilution of MNREGA

Dear Prime Minister,

We are very disturbed by impending moves of this government to undermine the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and the support it provides to crores of vulnerable rural families. We write this letter to seek your immediate assurance that these retrograde, anti-poor and anti-labour measures will be withdrawn, and that every attempt will be made by your government to implement the MGNREGA in its true spirit.

Based on recent public statements from Shri Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Rural Development, and other available information, we learn that the Central Government has initiated the following changes under MGNREGA:

  • Restriction of NREGA to tribal/backward districts of the country through an amendment to the Act.
  • Reduction of the minimum labour-material ratio from the current level of 60:40 to 51:49.
  •  Severely restricting the MGNREGA through a budget squeeze. There have been unprecedented communications by the Central Government to States capping MGNREGA expenditure for the rest of the financial year, undermining the fundamental principle of demand-driven employment.

These changes are inimical to the spirit of the Act and compromise its basic objectives. They will only benefit the contractor class and other middlemen, and severely undermine the employment generating potential of the MGNREGA. The changes are also being undertaken without any public consultation. The MGNREGA was passed unanimously by all parties and all members of Parliament. We fundamentally object to this critical social legislation being undermined through casual use of executive powers and even a parliamentary majority.

The illegal and unwarranted budget squeeze has led to widespread reports of employment rationing and acute delays in wage payments. Even as MGNREGA workers are struggling to be paid for work already done, the Central Government is sending the message that money is going to be further rationed.

The undersigned demand that your Government immediately revoke the above decisions and renounce any dilution of MGNREGA. We urge you to ensure that MGNREGA employment remains a legal right of every rural household across the country and that there is no dilution of any MGNREGA entitlements. The MGNREGA budget should be based on work demand, keeping with the spirit of the act, without any discretionary cuts. Continue reading Open Letter to the Prime Minister – Stop the Dilution of MGNREGA →

Capitalism, Government, Right watch

‘Nirmal Gujarat’ – Chronicle of ‘Swachh Bharat’ foretold? Rohit Prajapati

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ROHIT PRAJAPATI, indomitable Vadodara-based activist, invites Narendra Modi to read 2 reports:

‘Report of the Task Force on Waste to Energy (In the context of Integrated MSW Management)’ and

‘Comprehensive Environmental Pollution Index’ (CEPI) Report of 2009, 2011 & 2013 of CPCB’.

These reports reveal the hollowness of Modi’s political sloganeering.

Mr. Modi launched the “Swachh Bharat Mission” on 2 October 2014 and in his message on his website, he says, “A clean India is the best tribute we can pay to Bapu when we celebrate his 150th birth anniversary in 2019. […] Today, I appeal to everyone, particularly political and religious leadership, mayors, sarpanchs and captains of industry to plan and wholeheartedly engage in the task of cleaning your homes, work places, villages, cities and surroundings.”[1]

I want to remind Mr. Modi that earlier as the  Chief Minister of Gujarat,  Mr. Narendra Modi had also launched a similar campaign ‘Nirmal Gujarat – 2007’[2] and made tall claims during that campaign. But reality is best seen in Ahmedabad at illegal solid waste dumping site, the ‘Gyaspur-Pirana Dumping Site’ – a Waste Mountain near Sabarmati River adjacent to the main road.

Mr. Modi should know the basic facts as revealed in the ‘Report of the Task Force on Waste to Energy’ dated 12 May 2014 by the Planning Commission of India. This report states “As per CPCB report 2012 – 13 municipal areas in the country generate 1,33,760 metric tonnes per day of MSW, of which only 91,152 TPD waste is collected and 25,884 TPD treated.”[3]

Continue reading ‘Nirmal Gujarat’ – Chronicle of ‘Swachh Bharat’ foretold? Rohit Prajapati →

Education, Sex, Violence/Conflict

Letter to the Chancellor of Jadavpur University: Concerned Citizens and Academics

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To
Sri Keshari Nath Tripathi, Governor, West Bengal.
Dear Shri Tripathi,
We, the undersigned academics and concerned citizens, are writing to you with grave concern, about the situation in Jadavpur University, as you are also the Chancellor of the University.We have read in newspapers, seen on television, or read through social media posts, enough to understand that the following serious problems occurred.

First, in late August, a young woman, a student of Jadavpur University, brought in a charge of sexual harassment against some hostel students. This was handled extremely badly by the Vice Chancellor of Jadavpur University, who seems to have advised her to stay at home, and to have rebuffed attempts by the victim and her friends to get speedy justice.

Bad ideas, Culture, Everyday Life

Can Caste Be Swept Away? New Socialist Initiative

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Statement by New Socialist Initiative, Delhi State Chapter
It is cleaning season in India. Country’s prime minister has gone to town with a broom. He started the campaign to clean India by sweeping a dalit neighburhood of erstwhile untouchables, seemingly breaking many caste barriers. There are very few public defenders of caste system nowadays. Upper caste men and women, whose ancestors only three generations ago fought tooth and nail to not yield even an inch of their caste privileges, now cry and organise under the slogan of Equality, once affirmative action for lower castes in educational institutions and government jobs has begun to have some traction. Is now not an opportune time to sweep away the garbage of caste into the dustbin of history?
Reality is too complex for this simple hope. If caste appears to be disregarded, or flouted, in some domains, its prejudices and violence are flourishing in others. The day country’s news channels were busy showing the prime minister sweeping a dalit basti in the heart of the capital, a young woman of Madurai in Tamil Nadu was burnt alive by her family for marrying a dalit. She could have been from anywhere in the country, from Haryana in the North to Maharashtra in the West, or Bihar in the East, to have met a similar fate; if not murder, certainly social ostracism. In all villages, where majority of Indians live, habitation areas are divided along caste lines; upper castes occupying the most secure central areas with easiest access to public utilities like road, school, and panchayat ghar; and dalits on the outskirts. In cities too, where caste markers are less visible, caste networks are the most potent resource the poor fall back upon while searching for job and habitation.

Continue reading Can Caste Be Swept Away? New Socialist Initiative →

Bad ideas, Culture, Ecology/Environment

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan: Too Many Erasures

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The Hindu Social Order is based upon a division of labour which reserves for the Hindus clean and respectable jobs and assigns to the untouchables dirty and mean jobs and thereby clothes the Hindus with dignity and heaps ignominy upon the untouchables.

(The Revolt of the Untouchables, Excerpted from Essays on Untouchables and Untouchability : Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, Writings and Speeches, Vol 5 (Mumbai : Govt of Maharashtra, 1989, 256-58)

1.

The inauguration of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, (Clean India Campaign) with much fanfare, with ministers, bureaucrats and others holding Jhadoos evoked an interesting reaction from a ragpicker Sanjay who lives in Mehrauli with his parents. “These are the same people from whose houses we pick up garbage every day. This is part of our life. We don’t really understand why they are making it such a big deal,” Continue reading Swachh Bharat Abhiyan: Too Many Erasures →

Capitalism, Countryside, Ecology/Environment

Vicious cycle of ‘Development’, Displacement and Death

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Gujarat Oustees jump into Narmada Canal 

Kashinathbhau Mohite, Wang Marathwadi dam affected activist, commits suicide 

7th October, Narmada Dist/ Satara /New Delhi: False promises; snatching away of  rights  and even hope; continued mistreatment and harassment at the hands of police and administration; physical, psychological and emotional exploitation- these are not just sporadic instances but a common pattern of grave injustices seen where people have been displaced in the name of ‘development’.

On 6th October, 12 oustees of Sardar Sarovar Dam from Gadher village in Narmada district of Gujarat, jumped into Narmada canal to awaken the administration to their plight of 22 years. The official claim is that they were ‘rehabilitated’ in 1992, however in reality, they still have not been given alternate land and government job to one family member at the time of acquiring their land, which is clear and outright non-compliance of Narmada Water Dispute Tribunal Award 1979, Rehabilitation policy of Government of Gujarat and orders Hon’ble Supreme Court.  After 22 long years, they still await justice and were left with no other option but to resort to this form of protest. On one hand, the Government of Gujarat has always justified Sardar Sarovar Project and glorified the Narmada Canal as the ‘lifeline of Gujarat’, but  on the other, it turns a complete blind eye to its own people of Gujarat who have been so severely affected by  the displacement caused by this very project. Why this apathy? Whose interests are being served? Continue reading Vicious cycle of ‘Development’, Displacement and Death →

Debates, Feminism, Law

A Response to ‘Uniform Civil Code – the women’s movement perspective’: Rohini Hensman

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Guest Post by ROHINI HENSMAN

Nivedita has done us all a service in kicking off a wider debate on personal laws than the ones which have been taking place within feminist groups. One of the most important points she makes is that we have correctly moved away from the demand for uniformity. Uniform laws need not be either gender-just or secular, which is what we are aiming for; indeed, patriarchal theocracies have extremely uniform family laws! She has also raised several other questions that need to be discussed. I look at some of them here in the hope of taking the debate forward.

Polygamy: Unless polyandry is also allowed, polygyny is not gender-just, and ought ot be opposed. The fact that the vast majority of Muslim women, who are directly affected by the existence of legally sanctioned polygamy, are opposed to it, makes this an obvious move for feminists. To support polygamy on the grounds that it offers more protection to second or third wives sounds like a perverse argument. If we accept it, we should also be demanding that polygamy be made legal in other personal laws! Second or third wives would surely be better protected by being able to sue their fake husbands for fraud and get hefty damages.

Contractualising all intimate relationships: Although legal recognition of stable non-marital relationships would be desirable, contractualising all intimate relationships may not be such a good idea. Continue reading A Response to ‘Uniform Civil Code – the women’s movement perspective’: Rohini Hensman →

Culture, Debates, Everyday Life, Identities, Images, Language, Politics, Right watch

On The Real Tragedy of Secular Modernity: Anand Vivek Taneja

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This is a guest post by ANAND VIVEK TANEJA

anandpost

In the discussion around Aarti Sethi’s essay on Remembering Maqsood Pardesi some very important questions arose. As these questions are directly relevant to my work, but also to the larger concerns of the Kafila community, I decided to dwell on them at some length. As these reflections were written in response to the comments of one particular person, I address him directly in what follows below.

Dear Imtiaz,

In your comments on Aarti’s essay, you say the following things about my work:

The tragedy of secular moderns of India is their fascination with Islam… And it appears secular modern Hindus are too busy analyzing jinns of Delhi, which is really sad!

… what do I do with the knowledge of emerging liberal ideologues working for the empire writing enchanting texts about chattan baba or the jinns?

 

I think that your opening statement is profound. But to understand its true depth, we need to revisit the terms “secular”, and “modern”, as well as our understandings of “Hinduism” and “Islam.” As an entry point into these questions, I will address your (rhetorical) question about what one should, and can do with “enchanting” texts about jinns. Continue reading On The Real Tragedy of Secular Modernity: Anand Vivek Taneja →

Bad ideas, Culture, Identities

Report on Alleged Plan of Cow Slaughter in JJ Colony Bawana: IFTU,PMS,PDSU

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A team comprising of Dr. Mrigank (Delhi Committee, Indian Federation of Trade Unions, IFTU), Poonam Kaushik (Gen. Secy. Pragatisheel Mahila Sangathan, PMS), Rajeev (Convener, Progressive Democratic Students’ Union, PDSU) visited JJ Colony Bawana and made investigations into the reports of alleged planned cow slaughter and intimidation of Muslims.

Bawana JJ Colony is situated opposite CRPF Camp near Bawana City. It has resettled people, displaced from Yamuna Pushta, Saraswati Vihar, Laxmi Nagar etc. its population is about 1.5 lakh and about 70% are Muslims (as we were told). It is under Outer Delhi district of Delhi Police and two Police stations covers the area. Bawana PS covers village and Narela covers JJ Colony. Mr. Udit raj of BJP is MP here, who has not even been seen by the people. We were told by people that CPI (M-L) New Democracy has sent an urgent e-mail to Commissioner of Police, Delhi demanding urgent deployment of forces. Continue reading Report on Alleged Plan of Cow Slaughter in JJ Colony Bawana: IFTU,PMS,PDSU →

Culture, Government, Identities, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

Marginalized Sections Living Under Fear – A Letter to NHRC

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[We are reproducing below a letter to the NHRC Chairperson by Teesta Setalvad, Secretary, Citizens for Justice and Peace, Mumbai]

October 6, 2014
To the Chairperson Mr Balakrishnan, National Human Rights Commission.

Dear Sir,

There are extremely disturbing reports about the climate of abject fear that the poor and marginalised communitoies of JJ Colony, Bawana are living in, following recent incidents. Prominent residents of Delhi have carried out an independent fact finding into allegations of cow slaughter and the systematic intimidation of local Muslims. The team consisting of Dr. Mrigank (Delhi Committee, Indian Federation of Trade Unions, IFTU), Poonam Kaushik (Gen. Secy. Pragatisheel Mahila Sangathan, PMS), Rajeev (Convener, Progressive Democratic Students’ Union, PDSU) visited JJ Colony Bawana.

This report available here.

We urge Sir that the National Human Rights Commission carries out a suo moto inquiry into the incident and especially inquires into the following;-

From the above Report (see below) the observations made are :

1. That the allegations that there is plan of cow slaughter is bogus. There is no possibility of hiding the cows. And no cows were found.

2. That there is intimidation of Muslims and they are living amidst fear. The police protection is not enough.

3. That the organizations like Hindu Krantikari Sena are not spontaneous organizations. It is clears from the fact that among the main organizer was the nephew of BJP MLA. Also total inactivity of BJP MP is a clear indication.

4. That there is total communal harmony in JJ Colony and even today they are together. Continue reading Marginalized Sections Living Under Fear – A Letter to NHRC →

Countryside, Culture, Debates, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

Towards a Rational Literacy – Education and Beyond: Shivali Tukdeo

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[Anyone who is familiar with the writings and positions of various Kafila authors will see, we do not subscribe to or share many of the views expressed by Shivali Tukdeo in this essay. Several of us have our own fairly strong critiques of the processes of colonial and post-colonial knowledge formation which condemned a whole host of practices, and the lifeworlds in which they were located, as “andhvishwas”. However there is also a simultaneous extremely interesting history of efforts at the inculcation of a “rational temperament” that used emergent discourses of science and modernity to question traditional hierarchies of caste and so on. Maharashtra is an especially vibrant locale for such experiments and their location within long histories of oppressed caste mobilizations. Recent violent assertions by the Hindu Right on the grounds of “tradition”, as evidenced in the tragic murder of Dr. Dabholkar, further complicate the terrain within which these questions arise. So we are carrying this essay as an offering and opening to what we hope will be a spirited conversation around reason, science and faith of all varieties – andh, kana and trilochan. AS]

This is a guest post by SHIVALI TUKDEO

In what can only be termed as an ultimate irony and deep embarrassment, the Maharashtra police allegedly resorted to relying on planchet tricks of a self-claimed god-man to investigate the brutal murder of Dr. Narendra Dabholkar, a rationalist and organiser of Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (ANS)—Committee against Eradication of Blind Faith[i]. The ‘supernatural intervention’ in this high-profile murder case is painfully damaging, no doubt; however, it is neither an isolated instance nor is it confined to the police department alone. As reportage in the aftermath of the case reveals, police departments routinely subscribe to such practices. Moreover, the widespread practice of offering prayers to Thirupathi before a space launch or the decision to conduct excavation based on a Sadhu’s dream aptly illustrate the powerful hold superstitions have. Such instances also point to the deep and long standing crisis in India’s education. Continue reading Towards a Rational Literacy – Education and Beyond: Shivali Tukdeo →

Capitalism, Debates

Of Dirt and Cleanliness – Swachh Bharat Abhiyan: Nityanand Jayaraman

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Guest post by NITYANAND JAYARAMAN

108544214-defecation_6The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Campaign) is powerful in its simplicity, and problematic for the same reason. The absence of complexity in the presentation of the campaign, and the inherent contradictions between Modi’s consumerist growth agenda and SwachhBharat’s objectives fuels my skepticism and raises many questions: Which parts of India will be cleaned, which not and why not? What will we do with the wastes we remove? Where will we put it?

If cleanliness is to be the result, dirt would have to be the starting point. In a 1966 classic called “Purity and Danger,” anthropologist Mary Douglas points out that “If we can abstract pathogenicity and hygiene from our notion of dirt, we are left with the old definition of dirt as matter out of place. . .It implies two conditions: a set of ordered relations and a contravention of that order.”

Cleanliness is a loaded word particularly in the Indian context with a notion of caste that is fine-tuned around social and physical interpretations of pure and impure, clean and unclean. Cleanliness, in this context, can be achieved by keeping the clean and the unclean separate.  Continue reading Of Dirt and Cleanliness – Swachh Bharat Abhiyan: Nityanand Jayaraman →

Culture, Debates, Identities, Violence/Conflict

On Hasan Suroor’s “Islam and Its Interpretations”: Zeeshan Reshamwala

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Guest post by ZEESHAN RESHAMWALA

Many Interpretations are Still Better Than One

[Hasan Suroor suggests in an op-ed that one of the causes of Islamist violence is the ambiguity of the Quran and the hadith, adding that perhaps it is time to develop an “authorised” version of the Islamic tradition. This article critiques Suroor’s assumption that it is possible to achieve a “pure” interpretation of a text, whether it be from a religious tradition or otherwise. In addition, it argues against Suroor’s tendency to imagine violence as a “medieval” phenomenon, and world-history as a deterministic forward-moving arrow.]

Hasan Suroor suggests that the problem of Islamist fundamentalism and the violence that follows in its wake can be solved by untangling the multiple interpretations of ambiguous Islamic texts. In his op-ed in The Hindu (29 September), “Islam and its Interpretations,”  Suroor points out this apparent paradox: that although on the one hand Muslims cite verses and hadith that provide injunctions against violence, on the other hand a more violent strain of believers (such as the Taliban) are also able to cite Quranic verses and hadith that justify their violence. The problem, he claims, does not lie completely with the manner in which Islamic texts are interpreted, but instead with the fact that the Quran is an extremely ambiguous text, arranged athematically, and whose meaning is often dependent on the context of each individual revelation. More so the hadiths, written down from the sayings of Mohammed, are of variable authenticity. The lack of a single authoritative version of Islamic texts, says Suroor, leaves the tradition “open for fanatics to distort at will.” Continue reading On Hasan Suroor’s “Islam and Its Interpretations”: Zeeshan Reshamwala →

Bad ideas

आगमनी गा न सका!

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धूप का कोण बदलने लगा है. और उसमें तीखापन भी बढ़ रहा है. क्वांर जो ठहरा. सूरज को भी अब लौटने की जल्दी रहती है. श्वेत पंखुड़ियों को नारंगी डंठल पर सजाए शिउली की नन्हीं बूंदों से सामने की ज़मीन का टुकड़ा  भरने लगा है. हवा में एक रहस्यमय गंध भरने लगी है. जैसे कोई प्रत्याशा तैर रही हो. कवि से शब्द उधार लूँ तो कह सकता हूँ, अनुभव से जानता हूँ कि यह शारदीय गंध है.

बेटी के मायके आने का मौसम. वर्ष भर की प्रतीक्षा के फलीभूत होने का समय. माँ की व्याकुलता के चरम पर पहुँचने का क्षण. बेटी आएगी तो? उमा, गौरा, पार्वती, माँ किन नामों से पुकारती रही होगी? और पिता हिमालय? कौन सा नाम दुलार का रहा होगा, डाक नाम? क्या माँ का अलग होगा और पिता का अलग?

मेना वार्षिक प्रतीक्षा करते हुए गाती है. गाते हुए रोती है और रोते हुए गाती है. बेटी पगली थी जो रीझ गई उस नंगे-बूचे पर. न घर का ठिकाना न खाने का जुगाड़. आते-जाते नज़र पड़ी और हठ पकड़ ली, रहूँगी तो उसी के साथ, नहीं तो यों ही जीवन गुजार दूँगी. खाना-पीना छोड़ दिया. क्या करते? एक ही बेटी ठहरी. ठान लिया सो ठान लिया. पिता को भी दिल कड़ा करके मानना ही पड़ा. दूल्हे के घर-बार, आगे-पीछे का कुछ पता नहीं. क्या करता है, कौन साथी-संघाती हैं! आखिर बेटी है, इतने दुलार से, जतन से पाला पोसा है, किसी भी ऐरे-गैरे के पल्ले ऐसे कैसे बाँध दें! पर नहीं साहब, बेटी ने मजबूर कर दिया. Continue reading आगमनी गा न सका! →

Bad ideas, Debates, Everyday Life, Frontiers, Government, Identities, Images, Law, Mirror Worlds, Violence/Conflict

Unwrapping the Soldier from the Flag – Kashmir after the Flood: Chirag Thakkar

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Guest Post by Chirag Thakkar

Witnessing a culture of wounds trying to put itself together in times of a grave catastrophe is a difficult pursuit. For the archivist of State violence, the horror with which TRP-hungry television studios build a spectacle that is acutely wedded to a deep-rooted, pungent nationalism around catastrophe and relief in Kashmir, is frustrating. The insensitivity with which the Indian media has rubbed salt in the wounds of a people is appalling. One wonders if ours is a culture of calculated amnesia or of sightless apathy.
There is something very unique about the way in which we relate with the pain of the other. What is unique is the precision with which we reproduce perceptions about the masculine, hardened sons of soil – the security forces – and yet, at the same time, remain unmoved in failing to recognise the state of exception Kashmir has been in. What is also unique is how measured and stingy we are with our sympathy. Continue reading Unwrapping the Soldier from the Flag – Kashmir after the Flood: Chirag Thakkar →

Debates, Feminism, Law

Uniform Civil Code – the women’s movement perspective

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The BJP has once again raised the issue of a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) for all Indian citizens,  posed in a way that presents the BJP as ‘secular’ and pro-women, and opponents as communal or ‘pseudo-secular’ and anti-women. Since Independence, there has been very little change in the contours of the debate in the public domain, both within the BJP as well as among public intellectuals not necessarily aligned with the Hindu Right. The only change that has come about since the 1990s is that the UCC is now also posed as a ‘women’s rights’ issue and not only as a matter of national integrity, which requires the eradication of multiple legal systems. This new equation of ‘women’s rights’ with the UCC is at least partly a result of the interventions by the women’s movement in the debate in the 1990s. However, within BJP (and mainstream) discourse, it is assumed that only minority women need saving, for ‘we Hindus’ have already given ‘our’ women equal rights.

The women’s movement has developed this debate in complex and multiple directions over the decades, which this essay will briefly outline.

The debate over the UCC in contemporary India is produced by the tension between two notions of rights in the Fundamental Rights (Part III) of the constitution. The bearer of rights is both the individual citizen and the collectivity – the former is the subject of Articles 14 to 24 which ensure the individual’s rights to equality and freedom and the latter of Articles 25 to 30 which protect religious freedom and the educational and cultural rights of minorities [1]. It is from the latter that religious communities derive the right to be governed by their own ‘Personal Laws’. Since these Personal Laws cover matters of marriage, property inheritance and guardianship of children, and since all Personal Laws discriminate against women, the tension in Part III of the constitution can be read as a contradiction between the rights of women as individual citizens and those of religious communities as collective units of a democracy. Continue reading Uniform Civil Code – the women’s movement perspective →

Countryside, Ecology/Environment, Everyday Life

After the Flood: Sabah Hamid

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Guest Post by SABAH HAMID

The pilot announces we’re approaching Srinagar. I have a window seat near the right wing, and I lean forward to look down. I always do this, trying to catch a first glimpse of the city I call home despite having lived away for more than half my lifetime now. Today, for the first time, I’m afraid of what I’ll see. The entire valley was flooded two weeks ago when the river Jhelum and then the Dal Lake spilled over. This is not the first flood to hit Kashmir, but nothing of this magnitude has been experienced in living memory. As we descend, I see a lot of large muddy tracts wherever I look. The elderly gentleman sitting in the aisle seat next to me mutters something, probably a prayer, and I turn to look at him. He shrugs resignedly, and I shrug back.

There are an unusual number of Indian passengers in the plane, and at the baggage carousel I am reminded of this again. It’s odd to have tourists so soon after the floods. I cannot make sense of it. Catching sight of a pair of fashionably dressed young women I wonder if they are the relatives of armed forces personnel stationed in the Valley.  It does not matter. I collect my lone suitcase, shoulder my backpack, and head to the pre-paid taxi counter. My parents live close by, just two kilometres away, and I am hoping to hitch a ride with someone if no taxis are available.

Exactly two Sundays ago though, when my parents, sister and young cousin landed in Srinagar, those two kilometres turned out to be very long indeed. Continue reading After the Flood: Sabah Hamid →

Culture, Debates, Ecology/Environment, Identities, Language

A God by Any Other Name: Sumbul Farah

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Guest Post by SUMBUL FARAH

The move from ‘Khuda Hafiz’ to ‘Allah Hafiz’, which Shireen Azam sees as a move towards Arabisation of subcontinental Islam is problematized by Nandagopal Menon when he questions if ‘Arabised’ Islam is an Islam ‘we do not like’. Menon’s argument provides some important ways of thinking about cultural assimilation, territorially bounded nationalisms and notions of piety central to Islam. However, it misses out on the important point that the project of ‘correcting’ belief is often premised on an exclusivist understanding of religious interpretation.

To emphasize the ‘correct’ usage might well in be accordance with Islamic notions of ‘islah’ and piety but unless we stop and question as to who is it that determines ‘correctness’ we risk aligning ourselves with the hegemonic narratives within Islam. The issue underlying the usage of ‘Khuda’ versus ‘Allah’ is not that the Indian version of Islam is somehow more desirable than an Arabised one owing to some notion of cultural nationalism, which is premised on modern nation-states; it is a questioning of the processes through which traditionally acceptable usages and idioms become marked out as ‘incorrect’ in the light of a hegemonic narrative. Particularly in the context of Islam, there is a tendency to seek a return to a supposedly ‘pure’ version of Islam, which in turn, means privileging the Arabian interpretation of Islamic beliefs and practices. Continue reading A God by Any Other Name: Sumbul Farah →