Category Archives: Government

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Government, Law

Ten Reasons Why You Should Sign the Petition at RepealSeditionLaw.in

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  1. Section 124(A) of IPC criminalizes the ‘disaffection’ towards the government by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representations
  2. This 1860 draconian colonial law was created to stifle dissent during colonial rule.
  3. Tilak, Gandhi, Maulana Azad and Annie Besant were convicted under this law
  4. Today, the law is used to suppress legitimate criticisms of the government
  5. Journalists, Human rights activists, political dissenters, public intellectuals, and even farmers and tribals are targetted by this law
  6. The law goes against the inalienable fundamental right to expression enshrined in our Constitution
  7. The law goes against the very nature of democratic process which relies on active consent and dissent/opposition
  8. The law goes against the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which guarantees freedom of speech and expression
  9. All major world democracies have either repealed this law or discontinued prosecutions
  10. The existence of sedition laws in India’s statute books and the resulting criminalization of ‘disaffection’ towards the state is unacceptable in a democratic society.

To sign the petition, go to RepealSeditionLaw.in

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Government, Politics, Violence/Conflict

Protesting the Forced Repatriation of Visiting Sports persons and Others from Sri Lanka

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Previously posted on dbsjeyaraj.com

We the undersigned are aghast and anguished by the recent decision of the government of Tamil Nadu, acting on the Chief Minister’s orders, to send back two sports teams from Sri Lanka that were in Chennai to play matches against local school teams.

Two days after the Chief Minister issued her orders, members of a Tamil nationalist group, Naam Tamizhar Iyakkam protested against a group of pilgrims from Sri Lanka visiting a church near Thanjavur.

There have been similar protests in the past against visiting teams – by members of the Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam. Continue reading Protesting the Forced Repatriation of Visiting Sports persons and Others from Sri Lanka →

Everyday Life, Frontiers, Government, Identities, Mirror Worlds, Violence/Conflict

A Visa for Mahiwaal: Maheep Singh

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Guest post by MAHEEP SINGH

Sufi dervishes join a Sikh Nagar Kirtan parade at the Nankana Saheb shrine near Lahore. Photo credit: S Khalsa

As a child I gave my mother a tough time with all sorts of questions about the world; she would often not have answers. I would ask, for instance, why we couldn’t just go to Nankana Saheb as and when we wanted. Nankana Saheb is the birthplace of Guru Nanak, founder of the Sikh faith. It is in Pakistan, on the outskirts of Lahore.

Sikhism must be the only religion in the world whose official prayers include a plea for visa relaxation. Believe it or not, millions of Sikhs all over the world do that as part of their daily prayer, the Ardas, in which we pray to almighty to grant us free access (“khulle darshan deedaar”) to the birth place of Guru Nanak and other places in present-day Pakistan, considered holy by Sikhs. Continue reading A Visa for Mahiwaal: Maheep Singh →

Everyday Life, Frontiers, Government, Identities, Mirror Worlds, Violence/Conflict

India and Pakistan: Let people meet

This online petition has been put out by AMAN KI ASHA

The people of Pakistan and India, people of Indian and Pakistani origin around the world, and friends of India and Pakistan, are fed up of the visa restrictions that prevent them from visiting families in the other country. There isn’t even a tourist visa protocol between these two biggest neighbours of South Asia. People in the region want the right to travel and to trade, to walk along coastlines and roads that represent their collective past, to seek and spread harmony across a subcontinent not divided by politics and propaganda. In this modern age of interdependence, it is a tragedy that the citizens of India and Pakistan are left peering over a border made indomitable and intimidating. There is little space for the hand of friendship to be extended across this border. This must change.

The governments of India and Pakistan must:  Continue reading India and Pakistan: Let people meet →

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Debates, Ecology/Environment, Government, Law, Movements, Politics

Are We Not Alive: Women’s Voices from Kudankulam

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Guest post by ANITHA. S

As I sit here in my home village of Idinthikara watching the hot sun light up the waves rolling onto the shores, I think of the news that has hit the world today about the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant. All of you must have seen the news that Madras High Court has given the go-ahead for the KKNPP.

When we carried the dead body of democracy and burnt it in the outskirts of our village on Aug15th, 2012, little did we realize that so soon we would witness the real death of democracy. As this last nail is being tightened on our lives, we realize how insignificant has been our voice. But this has only strengthened our vow to be together. Continue reading Are We Not Alive: Women’s Voices from Kudankulam →

Centre watch, Frontiers, Government, Violence/Conflict

On the International Day of the Disappeared: APDP

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This press statement was issued yesterday, 30 August 2012, by the ASSOCIATION OF PARENTS OF DISAPPEARED PERSONS, the Bund Amira Kadal, Srinagar – 190001, Jammu and Kashmir
 
Today on the occasion of the International Day of the Disappeared, the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) organized a seminar on the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances and Institutional Violence and Denial of Justice by India. Various members of the Civil Society addressed the importance of the ratification of the international Convention against Disappearances.
Further, the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) today submitted 507 cases of enforced or involuntary disappearances from Baramulla and Bandipora districts to the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) for conducting investigations. Continue reading On the International Day of the Disappeared: APDP →
Bad ideas, Centre watch, Government, Law

Quietly censors the nanny state: Mishi Choudhary

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Guest post by MISHI CHOUDHARY

New Delhi’s Sanchar Bhawan, which houses the office of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology

The recent curbs on social networking websites in India demonstrate the unpredictability of the legal environment, both for businesses and the citizens. Whether its the Government of India’s (GoI) insistence on getting access to corporate emails and text messages sent via BlackBerry devices, or changing stances on “pre-screening” user generated content, the authorities seem to be doing a tap dance around legal issues. The implementation of rules seems surreptitious as they are bent conveniently in the name of “security”. Continue reading Quietly censors the nanny state: Mishi Choudhary →

Centre watch, Empire/ Imperialism, Frontiers, Government, Media politics, Technology

Borderline madness: Sajan Venniyoor

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Guest post by SAJAN VENNIYOOR

Now that government agencies in India — some half a dozen of them working with the exceptional coordination we have come to expect from government agencies — have blocked Facebook accounts, Twitter feeds and YouTube videos supposedly originating in Pakistan, perhaps we could contemplate other trans-border electronic transgressions committed by our neighbours.

In August 2011, The Times of India reported that Punjab border farmers still tune into Pak FM radio stations. According to villagers on the fringes of Ferozepur, the limited range of India’s “national radio” broadcasts and the absence of any local FM station have made radio services from Pakistan the most popular source of entertainment in border areas.

About the same time last year, the Indian government had become alarmed by the popularity of Nepal’s FM radio channels in Bihar along the Indo-Nepal border. According to various sources, some half a dozen Nepal FM radio stations are broadcasting programmes – “anti-India advertisements and vulgar songs”, according to one outraged newspaper report – into Bihar, especially Madhepura, Supaul, Madhubani, Kishanganj, Araria, Sheohar, Saharsa, Muzaffarpur, and East and West Champaran districts.  Continue reading Borderline madness: Sajan Venniyoor →

Government, Law, Media politics, Right watch, Technology

Full text: The Indian government’s recent orders to Internet Service Providers to block websites, webpages and Twitter accounts

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Joji Thomas Philip has put out these documents in The Economic Times.

18 August:

19 August: Continue reading Full text: The Indian government’s recent orders to Internet Service Providers to block websites, webpages and Twitter accounts →

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Debates, Government, Right watch, Technology, Violence/Conflict

An Analysis of the Latest Round of Internet Censorship in India (Communalism and Rioting Edition): Pranesh Prakash

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Guest post by PRANESH PRAKASH

How many items have been blocked?

There are a total of 309 specific items (those being URLs, Twitter accounts, img tags, blog posts, blogs, and a handful of websites) that have been blocked. This number is meaningless at one level, given that it doesn’t differentiate between the blocking of an entire website (with dozens or hundreds of web pages) from the blocking of a single webpage. However, given that very few websites have been blocked at the domain-level, that number is still reasonably useful. Continue reading An Analysis of the Latest Round of Internet Censorship in India (Communalism and Rioting Edition): Pranesh Prakash →

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Ecology/Environment, Government

Kashmir civil society express concern over Amarnath construction plans

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The press release below has been jointly issued by a number of eminent citizens and civil society members in Kashmir. Full list of signatories at the end.

Srinagar, 18 August 2012: Civil society groups of Kashmir express their serious concern over the recent Supreme Court directions to the J&K government for undertaking civil engineering works leading to construction of roads and other infrastructure in the environmentally fragile Himalayan habitat around the Amarnath cave shrine in the valley of Kashmir. This move comes even as the committee formed by the Hon’ble court for recommending ways and means to promote safe journey of pilgrims to the cave shrine is yet to submit its report.

At a joint meeting of various civil society groups held on 16 August at Srinagar, the following resolution was adopted: Continue reading Kashmir civil society express concern over Amarnath construction plans →

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Empire/ Imperialism, Frontiers, Government, Identities, Violence/Conflict

Celebrating Tyranny and Victimisation in Kashmir: JKCCS

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This press statement comes from the JAMMU AND KASHMIR COALITION OF CIVIL SOCIETY

Srinagar, 15 August 2012: It is despicable that the police officers responsible for serious human rights violations are receiving awards despite the crimes they have perpetrated. Today’s awards to some of the Jammu and Kashmir Police officers are an act of celebrating tyranny and victimization.

Superintendent of Police, Altaf Ahmad Khan is one of the officers who has been awarded with the President’s Police Medal for Gallantry. Altaf Ahmad Khan is notoriously known for perpetrating human rights violations in the areas where he has served. Continue reading Celebrating Tyranny and Victimisation in Kashmir: JKCCS →

Bad ideas, Capitalism, Countryside, Government

The Nightmare of the Chaavunilam and the Illusions of Well-Meaning Scholars

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Chaavunilam (“Dead Land”)is the title of one of Sarah Joseph’s well-known short-stories in Malayalam. In it she relates a myth of devastation and revival — it describes a scene of terrible devastation through the eyes of the last woman left there, the Mother — who witnesses the terrible violence between her children which leaves the earth shattered, verdure destroyed, and which ends in the death of all the combatants. This is the tale of her immense suffering — she is torn apart by birthing-pains, at the same time as she is devastated by the death of all her children. Continue reading The Nightmare of the Chaavunilam and the Illusions of Well-Meaning Scholars →

Debates, Government, Identities, Politics

MSS Pandian Responds to S K Thorat

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Following the submission of the report by the Committee to Review NCERT Textbooks, we had posted the full text of the Report in Kafila, along with Prof MSS Pandian’s Note of Dissent. The controversy has since continued over the report as well as Pandian’s Note of Dissent, many questioning the very term ‘note of dissent’ on the ground that he had not participated in the proceedings of the Committee. Recently Prof Sukhdeo Thorat, head of the Committee has further put this point of view in print in The Hindu which has been followed by a response by MSS Pandian.

Since we have had a long and lively debate on the matter of the ‘Ambedkar cartoon’ in Kafila and the controversy seems to be continuing now in a different form, we reproduce here the links to the articles by Sukhdeo Thorat and MSS Pandian. In his piece, Sukhdeo Thorat defends the Committee’s work and presents his opinion on Pandian’s non-participation. Pandian responds in his piece raising serious questions about the way the work of the Committee proceeded from its early stages by excluding members. We present the links to these two pieces here so that readers can form their own judgement on the Committee’s work.

Government, Violence/Conflict

“It would have been better if you had given me Death Penalty” : Soni Sori

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Translation of letter in Hindi written by Soni Sori from Raipur Prison on July 28, 2012.

(From kracktivist)

Letter in name of Supreme Court Judge  from Raipur Jail

Your Honour ,

Today I am alive , because of your verdict. You gave the order at the right time so that  I could be  medically treated again.  I was very happy during my treatment at AIIMS hospital in New Delhi, but  Your Honour ,  I have to pay for it now. I am being  harassed and tortured here, I request you to have mercy on me . Your Honor I am  suffering mentally .

1. I am made to sit on the Ground  ”Naked”

2. I am suffering from Hunger

Continue reading “It would have been better if you had given me Death Penalty” : Soni Sori →

Government, Identities, Mirror Worlds, Politics, Violence/Conflict

On the ongoing ethnic violence in Assam: A Statement

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The following is the text of a Statement issued in Delhi on 27 July 2012, endorsed by a number of concerned organizations and individuals

We the people from various parts of northeast residing in Delhi, along with concerned individuals, university members, various students’, teachers’, trade union, women’s, civil and human rights organisations from Delhi, strongly condemn the ongoing ethnic conflict with serious communal undertone that has erupted in four districts (Kokrajhar, Dhubri, Chirang and Bongaigaon) of Lower Assam. This has been the most widespread and alarming conflict in the recent history of Assam.

In the last one week we have witnessed the tragedy of nearly 200,000 people belonging to the Bodo and the Muslim communities, being forced to flee from their homes and villages. Currently they stand internally displaced, and are scarred and traumatized. Official figures state that around 41 people have lost their lives so far, while unofficial estimates from the grounds are much higher. More than 400 villages have been torched down until now. Continue reading On the ongoing ethnic violence in Assam: A Statement →

Capitalism, Government, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

Maruti workers produced in district court: Anumeha Yadav

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Guest post by ANUMEHA YADAV

In Manesar 25 July court
In Manesar 25 July court

Satbir, a 28 year old worker, was among four workers from Maruti’s Manesar plant produced by Haryana police at the district court in Gurgaon on Wednesday afternoon. Satbir has multiple fractures in his left leg and was taken to the civil hospital from the court room. “I fell while trying to flee the plant. I was in the morning Shift A; we had stayed back because we heard the union leaders were meeting the management to negotiate the reinstatement of a worker,” he recounts. “The violence began after 7 pm, I don’t know why it started. Gate 1 was closed. I feared that I may get attacked in the rioting and the confusion. I and two of my colleagues tried to jump off the back wall but I fell,” he says. Continue reading Maruti workers produced in district court: Anumeha Yadav →

Capitalism, Government, Movements, Politics, Violence/Conflict

Resisting Caste Violence – Facing Brutal Repression: NTUI on Maruti-Suzuki

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Statement issued by NEW TRADE UNION INITIATIVE on the incidents at Maruti-Suzuki’s Manesar Plant

Dated 19 July, 2012, New Delhi

The present spate of violence at the Manesar plant of Maruti Suzuki as a fallout of a protest by workers against a casteist comment made by a supervisor at a dalit worker reflects the continuing use of ‘caste’ as a method of subordination and oppression reflecting the persistence of deeply rooted primordial structures of society that complement capitalist exploitation. When co-workers protested, the management suspended the abused worker and refused to re-instate him and instead resorted to brutal violence, orchestrated by goons, against the workers and targeting the union leaders.

It is important to note that the Maruti Suzuki management is yet to constitute the Grievance Redressal Committee and the Welfare Committee at its Manesar plant which was agreed upon after the last dispute in October 2011. The present dispute is a well planned instigation by the management to systematically derail the ongoing negotiations on the Charter of Demands submitted by the Maruti Suzuki Workers Union in April 2012 and to discredit the sustained and united struggle of the workers at the Manesar plant. Continue reading Resisting Caste Violence – Facing Brutal Repression: NTUI on Maruti-Suzuki →

Capitalism, Government, Politics, Violence/Conflict

Maruti Suzuki Manesar Workers – Casteist Attack and Repression

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The following is a statement issued by the Maruti Suzuki Workers’ Union (MSWU) on 19 July following violence and repression at the Manesar plant yesterday.

The Manesar factory of Maruti Suzuki

The Maruti Suzuki Workers Union (MSWU) is anguished at the recent developments in Maruti Suzuki plant, IMT Manesar where the management has resorted to anti-worker and anti-Union activities in a pre-planned manner leading to violence and the closure of the factory yesterday.

We have had a long tough struggle with the strong unity of our permanent and contract workers to establish and register our Union last year, and had recently as of April 2012 submitted our Charter of Demands to the management of Maruti Suzuki, and the process of negotiation for wages and other demands was underway. However the management has done its utmost to derail the process since long and is trying to break the back of the spirit of unity of the workers and the legitimacy of the Union.

Continue reading Maruti Suzuki Manesar Workers – Casteist Attack and Repression →

Debates, Government, Movements

Can University Teachers Bend the Sri Lankan State?

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The major strike launched by university teachers in Sri Lanka on July 4th is gaining momentum. Their struggles are proving to be the single most sustained and nationally organised movement in Sri Lanka’s post-war years. This strike follows previous trade union action taken last year where the Heads of Departments of state universities resigned from their positions for several months. With the Government unheeding of their demands, the Federation of University Teachers Associations (FUTA) has reinitiated a full blown strike that is national in character with state universities from all regions of the country participating. Continue reading Can University Teachers Bend the Sri Lankan State? →

Government, Politics, Violence/Conflict

जेल डायरी: अरुण फेरेरा

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Guest post by ARUN FERREIRA

Translated from English by Anil Mishra

नागपुर जेल की उच्च–सुरक्षित परिसीमा में स्थित अंडा बैरक बग़ैर खिड़कियों वाली कोठरियों का एक समूह है। अंडा के प्रवेश–द्वार से दूसरी अधिकतर अन्य कोठरियों में जाने के लिए लोहे के पाँच दरवाज़ों, [और पैदल] एक संकरा गलियारा पार करना होता है। अंडा के भीतर कई अलग अहाते हैं। हरेक अहाते में कुछ कोठरियाँ हैं, और हर पहली कोठरी दूसरी से सावधानीपूर्वक अलगाई गई है। कोठरियों में बहुत कम रोशनी होती है और आप यहाँ कोई पेड़ नहीं देख सकते। आप यहाँ से आसमान तक नहीं देख सकते हैं। मुख्य निगरानी टॉवर के ठीक ऊपर से अहाते में एक बड़ा भारी, ठोस अंडा हवा में लटकता रहता है। लेकिन इसमें (और अन्य अडों में) एक बड़ा फ़र्क़ है। इसे तोड़कर खोलना असंभव है। बल्कि, यह क़ैदियों (के हौसलों) को तोड़ने के लिए बनाया गया है।

 अंडा वो जगह है जहाँ सबसे ज़्यादा बेलगाम क़ैदियों को, अनुशासनात्मक क़ायदों के उल्लंघन करने की सज़ा के लिए क़ैद किया जाता है। नागपुर जेल के अन्य हिस्से इतने ज़्यादा सख़्त नहीं है। अधिकतर क़ैदी पंखे और टीवी वाली बैरकों में रखे जाते हैं। बैरकों में, दिन के पहर काफ़ी इत्मिनान वाले, यहाँ तक कि आरामतलब भी हो सकते हैं। लेकिन अंडा में, कोठरी के दरवाज़े ही हवा के आने जाने का एकमात्र ज़रिया है, और ये भी कुछ ख़ास आरामदायक नहीं, क्योंकि ये किसी खुले प्रांगण में नहीं, एक ढंके–मुंदे गलियारे में खुलता है। Continue reading जेल डायरी: अरुण फेरेरा →