Category Archives: Debates

Debates, Genders, Sex, Violence/Conflict

To travel or not to travel to India: Karen Dias

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This is a Guest Post by KAREN DIAS

The most recent ‘Incredible India’ video ad campaign shows a young woman of seemingly European descent traveling alone through India. She is seen drinking coconut water and being friendly with a man, playing chess with holy men, being helped after a fall by two men, cheering at a snake boat race on a boat filled with men, playing Holi surrounded by more men and strolling on what looks like a deserted beach with a male mahout and his elephant. Sadly, the truth is far from what the video depicts for foreign women traveling in India, and most of them will try their best to not find themselves alone in situations like the ones shown in the video.  Stories of foreign women being verbally and sexually harassed are not new in this country and being accompanied by male friends or relatives is almost never a deterrent. Continue reading To travel or not to travel to India: Karen Dias →

Debates, Empire/ Imperialism

Iran-U.S. ties in the wake of Rouhani’s election: Maroosha Muzaffar

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This is a guest post by MAROOSHA MUZAFFAR

After eight years of Mahmoud Ahmedinejad’s presidency, Iran elected to power the reformist leader Hassan Rouhani, 64, in elections held in June this year. On Sunday, August 4, he was sworn in as the President of Iran in a ceremony attended by dignitaries from at least 52 countries. Rouhani now holds a job that in the current political landscape of Iran entails, well, a lot of hard work. And his diplomatic skills that so many have already sung paeans to, will now be put to test.  Continue reading Iran-U.S. ties in the wake of Rouhani’s election: Maroosha Muzaffar →

Culture, Debates, Language

भाषा का सवाल और फ़िल्मी सदी का पैग़ाम

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हलाँकि फ़िल्म हिन्दी में बन रही है, लेकिन (ओंकारा के) सेट पर कम-से-कम पाँच भाषाएँ इस्तेमाल हो रही हैं। निर्देशन के लिए अंग्रेज़ी, और हिन्दी चल रही है। संवाद सारे हिन्दी की एक बोली में हैं। पैसे लगानेवाले गुजराती में बातें करते हैं, सेट के कर्मचारी मराठी बोलते हैं, जबकि तमाम चुटकुले पंजाबी के हैं।

– स्टीफ़ेन ऑल्टर, फ़ैन्टेसीज़ ऑफ़ अ बॉलीवुड लव थीफ़

 पिछले सौ साल के तथाकथित ‘हिंदी सिनेमा’ में इस्तेमाल होनेवाली भाषा पर सोचते हुए फ़ौरन तो यह कहना पड़ता है कि बदलाव इसकी एक सनातन-सी प्रवृत्ति है, इसलिए कोई एक भाषायी विशेषण इसके तमाम चरणों पर चस्पाँ नहीं होता है। आजकल ‘बॉलीवुड’ का इस्तेमाल आम हो चला है, गोकि इसके सर्वकालिक प्रयोग के औचित्य पर मुख़ालिफ़त की आवाज़ें विद्वानों के आलेखों और फ़िल्मकारों की उक्तियों में अक्सरहाँ पढ़ी-सुनी जा सकती हैं।[1] ग़ौर से देखा जाए तो बंबई फ़िल्म उद्योग के लिए ‘बॉलीवुड’ शब्द की लोकप्रियता और सिने-शब्दावली में ‘हिंगलिश’ की प्रचुरता एक ही दौर के उत्पाद हैं, और यह महज़ संयोग नहीं है। हालाँकि सिने-इतिहास में हमें शुरुआती दौर से ही अंग्रेज़ी के अल्फ़ाज़, मिसाल के तौर पर तीस और चालीस के दशक तक बड़ी मात्रा में प्रयुक्त दुभाषी फ़िल्मी नामों में, मिलते रहे हैं। लेकिन होता ये है कि एक दौर की लोकप्रिय या विजयी शब्दावली पूरे इतिहास पर लागू कर दी जाती है, जिससे एक महत्वपूर्ण ऐतिहासिक प्रक्रिया, और उसके भाषायी अवशेष, इतिहास के कूड़ेदान में चले जाते हैं। मसलन अब एक स्थानवाची शब्द लें: एक शहर का बंबई से मुंबई बनना एक हालिया और औपचारिक/सरकारी सच है, एक हद तक सामाजिक भी, वैसे ही जैसे कि हम जिसे ‘बंबई फ़िल्म उद्योग’ कहते आए हैं, वह भी एक ऐतिहासिक तथ्य रहा है, लेकिन हमें इस बात की भी अनदेखी नहीं करनी चाहिए कि आज़ादी से पहले, बंबई के सर्वप्रमुख केन्द्र के तौर पर स्थापित होने से पहले, पुणे, कलकत्ता, लाहौर, मद्रास और कुछ हद तक दिल्ली भी सिने-उत्पादन के केन्द्र रह चुके थे।

Continue reading भाषा का सवाल और फ़िल्मी सदी का पैग़ाम →

Culture, Debates, Everyday Life, Images, Law, Sex, Technology

The Public Secret of Savita Bhabhi: Jyoti Singh

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This is a  guest post by JYOTI SINGH

In May 2013, makers of the erotic comic strip came out with the Savita Bhabhi movie, where apart from Savita Bhabhi doing what she is best at, she also helps the two nerds, who mistakenly teleport her into their Orwellian India of 2070, take their revenge upon the notorious I&B Minister who bans all online porn but engages in all offline porn. With this, Savita Bhabhi was back in our ever-so-fickle public memory after 4 years of ban, but yet not quite. Her resurfacing was not as resounding as her going away. One could ascribe this to the spoken language of the movie being Hindi instead of English, which is the original language of the strip and also the official language of all modern day revolutions of the middle class on social media. Perhaps they misjudged the ‘maximum reach’ bit, which rendered her an orphan. Nevertheless, that aside, why isn’t Savita Bhabhi missed enough anyway?

Continue reading The Public Secret of Savita Bhabhi: Jyoti Singh →

Capitalism, Debates, Government, Politics, Theory

Decolonization of the Mind

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Our modernity is incomplete, our secularism impure, our democracy immature, our development  arrested and our capitalism retarded: ask anyone trained in the social sciences, economics in particular, about what ails India today and you can be sure of getting one or all of these answers. And you can go on adding to the list of more and more things ‘we’ lack. We did not have ‘history’, we do not have social sciences – and of course, we do not have theory/ philosophy.

Everything, in other words, is about our ‘backwardness’ and our need to catch up with the West. And seen through the lens of social science, most of the world looks like this – living ‘inauthentic’ lives, always ever in the ‘waiting room of history’, to steal historian Dipesh Chakrabarty’s suggestive phrase.

In the world view of our state elites, this is actually a form of what one could call, paraphrasing Sigmund Freud, ‘Capital-Envy’. The ‘realization’ that ‘we do not have it’ can be a source of serious anxieties. That is what lies behind the current frenzied desire to ‘catch up’ with the West. And generations of feminist scholarship has challenged this unquestioned Freudian  assumption that the penis is the norm and not to have it, is Lack. Perhaps women do not want it? Freud never conceived of this as possible. Indeed in today’s world, there are many men who claim that they feel they are women trapped inside male bodies. Generations of scholarship has made us realize that the aura of that grand universal theory actually rested on the fact that it did not just describe the sexes; it produced the sexual norm itself.

The vision that propels our political elites and their parallel numbers who write in the media today, is something like that fantasy of Freud. The anxiety produced by this awareness of the ‘primordial Lack’, is what drives them today towards what has been the most violent phase of development in our entire history. Violent uprooting of populations from their land, often at gunpoint, coupled with the most ruthless plunder of our common resources by unscrupulous corporations – all this and more has been going on with the state elites looking on ‘benignly’. For they seem to know something ordinary mortals do not – that all this is but the necessary price to pay for becoming ‘modern’ like them. Continue reading Decolonization of the Mind →

Bad ideas, Debates, Empire/ Imperialism, Excavation, Frontiers, Identities, Mirror Worlds, Movements

Nationalism in India: Rabindranath Tagore

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From RABINDRANATH TAGORE‘s lectures on Nationalism, 1917

tagore-gandhi

Our real problem in India is not political. It is social. This is a condition not only prevailing in India, but among all nations. I do not believe in an exclusive political interest. Politics in the West have dominated Western ideals, and we in India are trying to imitate you. We have to remember that in Europe, where peoples had their racial unity from the beginning, and where natural resources were insufficient for the inhabitants, the civilization has naturally taken the character of political and commercial aggressiveness. For on the one hand they had no internal complications, and on the other they had to deal with neighbours who were strong and rapacious. To have perfect combination among themselves and a watchful attitude of animosity against others was taken as the solution of their problems. In former days they organized and plundered, in the present age the same spirit continues—and they organize and exploit the whole world. Continue reading Nationalism in India: Rabindranath Tagore →

Capitalism, Debates, Government, Law, Media politics

Reporting Hunger from the Margins: Agrima Bhasin and Ashwin Parulkar

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Guest post by AGRIMA BHASIN and ASHWIN PARULKAR.

The watchdog metaphor obliges the media to step up their role, that of an opinion maker, and stir public opinion on hunger and food security in India

A priest turned beggar, his body starved thin; a family of destitute potters picking up grains soiled in mud; emaciated women forced into sex work; and a man scavenged by dogs and vultures. These were just a few of the scores of starving people journalist Chittaprosad Bhattacharya drew in black and white sketches in his travels through Bengal’s Midnapore district during the Great Bengal Famine of 1943, the last of a spate of famines that plagued colonial India during British rule. Bhattacharya’s portraits of the destitute ’showed’ stories of mass starvation, making visible through withering human flesh a nearly immeasurable tragedy of more than 3 million hunger deaths. Brutal yet compassionate, his graphic chronicles provoked the ire of colonial administrators, prompting officials to burn every copy of his book, Hungry Bengal (1943).

Women turned 'prostitutes
Drawing by Chittaprosad on the 1943 Bengal famine

Despite the censorship of his book, Bhattacharya continued to report on the famine for the Communist Party of India’s weekly newspaper, The People’s War. His sustained efforts to bring the realities of mass hunger to bear on the public conscience in colonial, famine-struck Bengal set a precedent for journalists to use the press as a watchdog that can impel the government to act. Today, his reportage is instructive for those in the profession who particularly cover hunger, poverty and inequality.

In today’s India, home to over 200 million chronically hungry and malnourished people, a significant but small number of dedicated editors, publishers, journalists, photographers and broadcasters are taking strides to highlight the complex nature of inequality in this country. A sporadic renewal of interest on the part of the media to report on hunger and starvation often only occurs in moments of crisis: starvation deaths, children’s deaths, or spoilage of grains in warehouses. Continue reading Reporting Hunger from the Margins: Agrima Bhasin and Ashwin Parulkar →

Debates, Everyday Life, Movements, Politics

Can Happiness and Resistance Go Together? Gowhar Fazili

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Guest Post by Gowhar Fazili

Does resistance necessarily have a direct relationship with suffering and inverse relationship with pleasure and happiness? This is a question that is particularly significant for long drawn resistance movements facing a formidable enemy insensitive to and largely unruffled by the exertions of resistance.  The engagement with occupation often involves violent and non-violent struggle.  Both demand sacrifices that warrant shunning of such mundane pleasures and opportunities taken for granted by the populations reconciled with power.  If the struggle extends over multiple decades, it is bound to generate fatigue and disillusionment especially among those who have not voluntarily committed themselves to the life of endless self abnegation even while they may desire freedom from occupation.   While all people want to be free from the indignity of living under occupation and dominance, human nature puts limits on how far individuals and populations may be willing to stretch themselves in their denial of bodily desires and material pleasures that life has to offer.

Continue reading Can Happiness and Resistance Go Together? Gowhar Fazili →

Bad ideas, Debates, Excavation, Law, Media politics, Violence/Conflict

Terror and the Indian Mujahideen – A Response to Ashish Khetan: Sharib Ali

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Guest Post by Sharib Ali

There is something disquieting in what Ashish Khetan has written and said recently on terror in India (in The Hindu and on Tehelka.tv), and centrally within it, the Indian Mujahideen. More so, because it comes from one of the most credible journalist’s today, who has done some commendable work over the years. A journalist I personally respect. But there are several reasons which compel this response. And yet, this is not just a response, but also an attempt to elucidate the many complex processes within which ‘terror’ is located today, and the way the discourse has transformed, and has implications for a people’s negotiated relationship with their state.

Continue reading Terror and the Indian Mujahideen – A Response to Ashish Khetan: Sharib Ali →

Bad ideas, Culture, Debates, Left watch, Politics

आत्ममुग्ध क्रांतिकारिता और वरवर राव : अपूर्वानंद

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हर वर्ष इकतीस जुलाई को दिल्ली में ‘हंस’ पत्रिका की ओर से किसी एक विषय पर एक विचार-गोष्ठी का आयोजन किया जाता रहा है. बातचीत का स्तर जो हो, यह एक मौक़ा होता है तरह-तरह के लेखकों, पाठकों और साहित्यप्रेमियों के एक-दूसरे से मिलने का. कई लोग तो वहीं सालाना मुलाकातें करतें है. मेरी शिकायत हंस के इस कार्यक्रम से वही रही है जो दिल्ली में आमतौर पर होने वाले हिंदी साहित्य से जुड़े अन्य कार्यक्रमों से है: इंतजाम के हर स्तर पर लापरवाही और लद्धड़पन जो निमंत्रण पत्र में अशुद्धियों और असावधानी से लेकर कार्यक्रम स्थल पर  अव्यवस्था, मंच संचालन में अक्षम्य बेतकल्लुफी तक फैल जाता है.प्रायः वक्ता भी बिना तैयारी के आते हैं और जैसे नुक्कड़ भाषण देकर तालियाँ बटोरना चाहते हैं.ऐसे हर कार्यक्रम से एक कसैला स्वाद लेकर आप लौटते हैं. श्रोताओं के समय, उनकी बुद्धि के प्रति यह अनादर परिष्कार के विचार का मानो शत्रु है. मैं हमेशा अपने युवा  छात्र मित्रों को ऐसी जगहों पर देख कर निराशा से भर उठता हूँ : ये सब यहाँ से हमारे बारे में क्या ख्याल लेकर लौटेंगे?

यह भी हिंदी के कार्यक्रमों की विशेषता है कि जितना वे अपने विषय के कारण नहीं उतना आयोजन , आयोजक और प्रतिभागियों के चयन से सम्बद्ध इतर प्रसंगों के कारण चर्चा में बने रहते हैं. चटखारे लायक मसाला अगर उसमें नहीं है तो शायद ही मंच पर हुई ‘उबाऊ’ चर्चा को कोई याद रखे. अक्सर सुना जाता है कि फलां को तो बुलाया ही इसलिए गया था कि  विवाद पैदा हो सके. विवाद अपने आप में उतनी भी नकारात्मक चीज़ नहीं अगर उससे कुछ विचार पैदा हो. लेकिन प्रायः विवाद और कुत्सा में अंतर करना हम भूल जाते हैं. विवाद में फिर  भी मानसिक श्रम लगता है, कुत्सा में मस्तिष्क को  हरकत में आने की जहमत नहीं मोल लेनी पड़ती. Continue reading आत्ममुग्ध क्रांतिकारिता और वरवर राव : अपूर्वानंद →

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Debates, Law, Mirror Worlds, Violence/Conflict

The Batla House Judgement and the Impossibility of Closure

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The word ‘closure’ has a reassuring, comforting resonance, particularly when it comes to matters of death. One achieves closure. It is granted.  Those who are fortunate receive it as recompense for the necessary tasks of grief and mourning. We move on.

On the 25th of July, last week, after Rajender Kumar Shastri, 2nd Addiitional Sessions Judge of the South East (Saket) Court in New Delhi announced in open court that a young man named Shahzad Ahmad of Khalispur village in Uttar Pradesh’s Azamgarh Disttrict was guilty of causing the death of Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma of the Special Cell of the Delhi Police in Flat No. 108, L-18, Batla House, in South Delhi’s Jamia Nagar on the 19th of September, 2008, the word ‘closure’ began to ring out on prime time television.  We were given to believe that the infamous ‘Batla House Encounter’ case had finally achieved closure. That the ‘martyrdom’ and sacrifice of Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma had now been vindicated. That all unseemly controversy could now be put to rest. We were told that it was time to move on.

Continue reading The Batla House Judgement and the Impossibility of Closure →

Bad ideas, Culture, Debates, Politics, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

आतंकवादी कविता के विरुद्ध युद्ध: अपूर्वानंद

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‘शिक्षा बचाओ आन्दोलन’ ने आतंकवाद के खिलाफ अंतर्राष्ट्रीय युद्ध में नई जीत हासिल की है. वह कालीकट विश्वविद्यालय के स्नातक स्तर की  अंग्रेज़ी की पाठ्यपुस्तक –‘लिटरेचर एंड कंटेम्पररी इश्यूज’ से ‘अल कायदा से जुड़े एक आतंकवादी’ इब्राहिम अल रुबाईश की कविता ‘ओड टू द सी’ को निकलवा देने में सफल रहा है.  आन्दोलन की केरल इकाई के सचिव ने इस कविता को पाठ्यपुस्तक में शामिल करने को ‘गंभीर मामला’ बताते हुए कहा था कि किताब को वापस लेने और विश्वविद्यालय द्वारा माफी माँगने के बाद इसकी जांच होनी चाहिए कि ‘बोर्ड ऑव स्ट्डीज़’ और अकेडमिक काउन्सिल’ में आतंकवादियों के समर्थक कौन हैं जिससे इस तरह की सामग्री के चुनाव के पीछे की साजिश का पर्दाफ़ाश हो सके.

कुलपति ने फौरन अपने डीन प्रोफ़ेसर एम.एम. बशीर को मामले की जांच करने को कहा. उन्होंने कहा कि ऊपर से निर्दोष लगने वाली इस  कविता में रुबाइश ने अत्यंत अर्थगर्भी प्रतीकों का इस्तेमाल किया है जो खतरनाक भी हो सकते हैं.मसलन, उसने ‘फेथलेस’ शब्द का प्रयोग किया है जो अरबी शब्द ‘काफिर’ का अंग्रेज़ी अनुवाद है. फिर जैसा आज का अकादमिक रिवाज है, वे इंटरनेट पर गए और पता किया कि इस कवि  ने अमरीका के खिलाफ जंग का आह्वान भी किया था. भला इसके बाद और सोचने की ज़रूरत ही क्या रह जाती है?पाठ्यपुस्तक के संपादकद्वय में से एक ने लगभग माफी माँगते हुए कहा कि डेढ़ साल पहले इसे संपादित करते वक्त रुबाइश के बारे में ज़्यादा सामग्री ‘ऑनलाइन’ मौजूद न थी. अगर उन्हें कवि के  राजनीतिक रुझान  का जरा भी अंदाज होता तो वे इसे कतई न चुनते. Continue reading आतंकवादी कविता के विरुद्ध युद्ध: अपूर्वानंद →

Bad ideas, Debates, Empire/ Imperialism, Identities, Images, Law

GUANTANAMO II : K Satchidanandan

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This is a guest post by K SATCHIDANANDAN

A poem by Ibrahim al-Rubaish, a Guantanamo Bay prisoner written in the tragic circumstances of illegal incarceration  has given rise to a baseless controversy in Kerala as it was included in a section titled ‘Literature and Contemporary Issues’ of the English  text book for the third semester undergraduates in the University of Calicut. The poem was recommended for inclusion by the Board of Studies chaired by Dr K. Rajagopalan, and rightly so as the section dealt with creative writing based on contemporary issues including the issue of human rights. The poem goes like this: Continue reading GUANTANAMO II : K Satchidanandan →

Bad ideas, Debates, Images, Language, Media politics, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

The BJP’s very own Stalin

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Yashwant  Sinha is a worried man these days. He is apprehensive of his leader Narendra Modi being taken for a ride by the Congress party. He says that the Congress party is laying a trap for him, a trap of the binary of Communalism and Secularism and  fears that his upward looking Narendra Modi might fall in it. So, well  wisher that he is of Narendra Bhai, he wants to alert him: do not get  entangled in the conspiracy of the wily Congress. He appeals to Narendra Modi to stick to people’s issues and not let the political discourse  shift to the terrain of the Secularism  versus Communalism debate. Continue reading The BJP’s very own Stalin →

Culture, Debates, Ecology/Environment, Identities, Politics

Lok Sabha elections, software imperialism and the Urdu language: Anant Maringanti

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Guest post by ANANT MARINGANTI. Kapil Sibal may have unwittingly erased a whole historical geography of pre-windows software development in India. If the Times of India report on the release of Urdu fonts developed by National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language ( NCPUL) last week is accurate,  Sibal said that India developed Urdu Software and fonts and thereby ended a longstanding dependency on Pakistan. This, according to him is beneficial to the 15 crore Urdu language users. There is a  ‘pre-election Muslim wooing’ feel to the story which nicely blends with the  ‘massaging of Indian (read Hindu) nationalist pride’ feel.  The sense of triumph and pride at this historic achievement by Indian programmers would have been justified even if it could be read as symptomatic of the postcolonial condition that Amitav Ghosh captures in his recounting of the breakdown of conversation between himself and the Imam of Lataifa and Nashawy.  Unfortunately however, Urdu language users in India were never dependent on Pakistan for software and fonts.  This can be said in two different senses: first that Indian Urdu language computing originated in Hyderabad almost 25 years ago and has contributed significantly to local cultural economy. Second, to the extent that there has been exchange between India and Pakistan in Urdu language computing, the participants in that exchange have seen it primarily in terms of exchange. Afterall, people cannot help making language tools even if nation states do not pay them much attention.    Continue reading Lok Sabha elections, software imperialism and the Urdu language: Anant Maringanti →

Bad ideas, Debates, Government, Law, Media politics, Violence/Conflict

The media monster of the juvenile offender: Enakshi Ganguly and Anant Asthana

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This is a guest post by ENAKSHI GANGULY and ANANT ASTHANA

July 17 was an important day. Supreme Court announced its judgment refusing to interfere with the Juvenile Justice Act. This was with respect to the eight petitions that were filed in the wake of the alleged involvement of a juvenile in the rape and murder of a 23 year young girl on December 16, 2012. The boy, who was found to be below 18 years, was described by the media as the most heinous of the rapists, a monster and a beast, and even the main accused—and this even before the police had filed the charge –sheets based on statements of the witnesses and evidence gathered. Should there be a fair judicial process that decides the case based on scrutiny of relevant facts or should we let media undertake a trial? Continue reading The media monster of the juvenile offender: Enakshi Ganguly and Anant Asthana →

Debates, Everyday Life, Government, Law, Politics

Katiyabaaz – the grid thief of Kanpur

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Katiyabaaz Loha Singh in a still from the film
Katiyabaaz Loha Singh in a still from the film

By SHIVAM VIJ: A new documentary film, Katiyabaaz, presents a problem that I’ve been struggling with. Although the film is set in Kanpur, it’s a problem that faces many parts of South Asia. The film-makers, Fahad Mustafa and Deepti Kakkar, obstinately refuse to offer possible solutions. With catchy lyrics and music, the film celebrates Kanpur, its people, and this messed-up system. It’s a snapshot of who we are. It’s when you think about the film that it disturbs you.

The film’s anti-hero is a thief — Loha Singh helps a lot of people steal electricity in Kanpur. He connects the illegal wire that is known in north India as katiya. Katiya is the sort of simple solution to life’s problems that South Asians feel very smart about. It’s an example of jugaad, the shortcut to problem solving that’s now integral to pop management theories. Continue reading Katiyabaaz – the grid thief of Kanpur →

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Debates, Government, Law, Violence/Conflict

IB says Headley says it’s too hot…

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…CBI says it’s the humidity.

While the implausibility of David Headley having named Ishrat Jahan as an LeT operative has already been called out, there’s another problem here. How does anyone cross-check IB’s claim considering none of us has access to Headley?

In other words, the IB can make any insinuation and say Headley said it and we’ll have to believe at as truth.

This is apart from the fact that the judicial process in the news is not about whether or not Ishrat Jahan was an LeT terrorist. It’s about whether she was murdered in cold blood by Gujarat police. To that extent the IB does have a point in arguing that it cannot be blamed for how a state government interprets its inputs. Technically, the IB cannot be held responsible for murder by Gujarat police. But does that mean the IB cannot or should not be held accountable for what inputs it sends across?

Anyway, I posted a series of satirical tweets the other day making fun of the use of David Headley to justify the murder of Ishrat Jahan. Here are some of them.

Continue reading IB says Headley says it’s too hot… →

Bad ideas, Capitalism, Debates, Law, Media politics, Sex

‘Ladies Still not Empowered in Kerala?’ Questions Raised by the Solar Scam

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How does one respond critically and effectively when non-politics, non-government, and non-sense, all rolled together, assail the political public? I have been thinking about this recently — surely, this is a question that troubles all those who would wish to keep the focus of public life on politics and power. We witness, in present-day Kerala,politics being reduced to the internal bickerings over power indulged in by the powerful elite interest-groups that constitute the ruling UDF. Or, reduced to ‘sex scandals’ or ‘domestic squabbles’ when gender politics surfaces.  Simultaneously, we are witnessing the era of non-government and the severing of the link between public politics and government. While the bickerings between the coalition partners of the UDF continues unabated, news of infant deaths and severe malnutrition continue to flow from tribal hamlets in Attappady; the problems of mounting waste in both towns and rural areas continues to be criminally neglected; dengue and other dangerous fevers continue to exact daily, rising tolls all over the state. And even as the consequences of widening social inequalities become more and more visible, this government’s discourse of welfare remains pegged insistently on human mercy and charity. It continues to be dismissive of concerns of social justice and power — even as these harrowing tales continue to appear in the press, there is no dearth of advertisement of the goverment’s kaarunyam. And in the midst of all this, the Chief Minister being projected as the exemplar of human goodness and chairty! Or, the UN, ever-interested in ‘innovation’, conferring an award on his Mass Contact Programme at a time when his government has been least innovative or imaginative in solving problems that now stare us in the face. the This of course is the non-sense — the absurdity of it all. Continue reading ‘Ladies Still not Empowered in Kerala?’ Questions Raised by the Solar Scam →

Debates, Law, Media politics, Right watch

Media Campaign and the Ishrat Jahan Case: Faraz Ahmad

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Guest post by FARAZ AHMAD: Even after the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) presented of its charge-sheet in CBI special court in Ahmedabad on July 3 in the infamous Ishrat Jahan encounter case of Gujarat of 2004 charging the Gujarat police, together with the IB of faking the encounter with Ishrat and three others, the media campaign, more particularly of the Times of India to damage CBI’s credibility continued unabated, with Bharti Jain’s lament on behalf of the IB.

However it is obvious that Bharti Jain’s is neither the first nor the last spirited defence of the questionable activities of our security and intelligence officers committing all kinds of crimes under the cover of protecting the nation from supposed external and internal threat. Unmindful of this, the media campaign is so visibly influenced by the BJP, attempting to discredit the CBI investigations and label these as biased before these are examined by the rightful authority, the courts, guided by competent lawyers of both the prosecution as well as Defence. Continue reading Media Campaign and the Ishrat Jahan Case: Faraz Ahmad →

Capitalism, Centre watch, Debates, Ecology/Environment, Government, Politics, Violence/Conflict

The unbearable lightness of drowning in your own myth: Tamer Söyler

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This guest post by TAMER SÖYLER is the third of a three-part series on Istanbul’s Taksim Square protests.

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This is the final segment of a three-part account of the unrest in Turkey. The first part of the commentary discussed the unrest from the perspective of the political life course of Erdoğan. According to the protestors it was the Prime Minister as the key political figure who set the cat among the pigeons. Neither the opponents and nor the supporters of Erdoğan can make sense of Erdoğan’s turn to authoritarianism on the eve of critical election season. There are two possibilities: First, Erdoğan could have lost his emotional equilibrium and started to react to the events carelessly. Since the Prime Minister surrounded himself with advisors and party members who cannot dare to challenge him, he lost his bearings. Second, as an experienced politician Erdoğan must have a political strategy. Even if he is emotional his emotions are closely related to the concrete problems he faces. Continue reading The unbearable lightness of drowning in your own myth: Tamer Söyler →