Category Archives: Politics

Debates, Everyday Life, Government, Politics, Technology, Theory

Data, and its relationship with Accountability and Transparency

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Cross-posted from http://accountabilityindia.blogspot.com/2009/10/on-data-and-relationship-with.html

Notions of transparency and accountability have been evolving since late 1980s. It was advocated that people must be given information about budgets, especially details of heads where money was allocated and how it was spent. This would aid in enforcing transparency, accountability and participation. In the late 1990s, as cities developed, pressure on urban infrastructure increased and municipalities became unable to respond to people’s expectations owing to a variety of reasons. The prevalent view was that municipalities and local politicians are inefficient. Elected representatives were criticized for being corrupt and favouring their vote-banks by distributing city resources to them. It was also believed that use of discretionary powers perpetuates corruption. Contemporary accountability-transparency paradigm is aimed at making transparent to the public how and why discretion is exercised in different circumstances. This (presumably) will curb discretion as much as possible and tighten decision-making.

Publishing data in public domains as a way to enforce and enhance transparency and accountability has gained greater momentum in the current decade owing to the Right to Information (RTI) Act through which various kinds of information can be acquired. In this post, I am interested in exploring the concept of data to understand how accountability and transparency are reified by using data as a primary tool. With the help of examples, I will put forward the contention that what is presented as data is in fact produced through multiple histories and contexts. Organizing /interpreting data without an understanding of some of these histories can only enforce existing stereotypes and/or lead to oversight. Continue reading Data, and its relationship with Accountability and Transparency →

Debates, Left watch, Politics, Violence/Conflict

हिंसा की राजनीति बनाम जनांदोलन

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राजकीय हिंसा  के अन्यायपूर्ण होने को लेकर जिनके मन में कोई  शंका नहीं है, वे माओवादी या ‘जनता’की हिंसा के प्रश्न पर हिचकिचा जाते हैं.ऐसा इसलिए नहीं होता कि वे बेईमान हैं, बल्कि इस वजह से कि हिंसा को वैध राजनीतिक तरीका मानने को लेकर  चली आ रही बहस अभी ख़त्म नहीं हुई है. यह अलग बात है कि भगत सिंह जैसे बौद्धिक क्रांतिकारी पिछली सदी के पूर्वार्ध में ही यह समझ गए थे  कि  जन आंदोलनों  का कोई  विकल्प नहीं है. जनता की गोलबंदी,न कि हथियारबंद दस्तों के ज़रिये गुर्रिल्ला युद्ध,यह समझ भगत सिंह की बन रही थी.क्रांतिकारी कार्यक्रम का मसौदा में उन्होंने लिखा, “बम का रास्ता १९०५ से चला आ रहा है और क्रान्तिकारी भारत पर यह एक दर्दनाक टिप्पणी है….आतंकवाद हमारे समाज में क्रांतिकारी चिंतन के पकड़ के अभाव की अभिव्यक्ति है या एक पछतावा.इसी तरह यह अपनी असफलता का स्वीकार भी है. शुरू-शुरू में इसका कुछ लाभ था.इसने राजनीति को आमूल बदल दिया. नवयुवक बुद्धिजीवियों की सोच को चमकाया,आत्मत्याग की भावना को ज्वलंत रूप दिया और दुनिया व अपने दुश्मनों के सामने अपने आन्दोलन की सच्चाई को ज़ाहिर करने का अवसर मिला. लेकिन यह स्वयं में पर्याप्त नहीं है. सभी देशों में इसका इतिहास असफलता का इतिहास है…. . इसकी पराजय के बीज  इसके भीतर ही हैं.” इस उद्धरण से यह न समझ लिया जाए कि  भगत सिंह ने इस रास्ते से अपने आप को एकदम काट लिया था,पर यह साफ़ है कि वे बड़ी शिद्दत से यह महसूस करने लगे थे कि बिना सामूहिक कार्रवाई के  सफलता प्राप्त करना संभव नहीं.भगत सिंह के ये वाक्य मानीखेज और दिलचस्प है:”विशेषतः निराशा के समय आतंकवादी तरीका हमारे प्रचार-प्रसार में सहायक हो सकता है,लेकिन यह पटाखेबाजी के सिवाय कुछ है नहीं.”वे स्पष्टता से लिखते है, “क्रांतिकारी को निरर्थक आतंकवादी कार्रवाईयो और व्यतिगत आत्मबलिदान के दूषित चक्र में न डाला जाए. सभी के लिए उत्साहवर्द्धक आदर्श,उद्देश्य के लिए जीना -और वह भी लाभदायक तरीके से योग्य रूप में जीना – होना चाहिए.”
Continue reading हिंसा की राजनीति बनाम जनांदोलन →

Government, Law, Politics

Grootboom, Mayawati and Supreme Courts

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Mrs Irene Grootboom lived with her and sister’s family in a shack, about 20 meters square in Wallacedene, an informal settlement without water, electricity, sewage or rubbish collection services in the western Cape Town, South Africa. Most of the residents had been on the waiting list for subsidised housing for years. Mrs Grootboom and a few hundred others decided to take matters into their hands in 1998 and occupied a vacant farm that was privately owned and had been earmarked for low-cost housing. They were evicted through a court order, their new-built homes were bulldozed and their possessions burned. When a High Court judgement granted them government shelter, the government appealed to the Constitutional Court. The Court had to interpret article 26 of the new South African Constitution, Republic of South Africa, which provides that a) ‘everyone has the right to have access to adequate housing’; b) ‘the state must take reasonable legislative and other measures (such as policy and programs) to achieve the progressive realisation of this right’; and c) ‘within its available resources. The court decided to test whether the Cape Metropolitan Council’s housing program was ‘reasonable’.
Continue reading Grootboom, Mayawati and Supreme Courts →

Culture, Identities, Images, Media politics, Politics

A Face Towel in Allahabad, 1984

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(Published with the title, The Actor’s Studio, in Outlook, Volume XLIX, No. 41, October 19, 2009.)

The late prime minister V.P. Singh’s memoir Manzilon se Zyaada Safar has an interesting episode pertaining to Amitabh Bachchan’s political baptism in Allahabad in 1984. The episode is not so much an event as it is an image. An image, which by its very opacity, by its presentation of a mask where we would normally expect to meet a face, continues to exercise a certain strange power. V.P. Singh, who was at that time the president of the UP state Congress party, recalls seeing Bachchan (whom he did not know of, he says, as he did not watch films) for the first time with his face “…covered in a towel”. Ever since I have read this, I can no longer see Amitabh Bachchan, not even retrospectively, without his face-towel on.

Rajiv Gandhi and his close advisors had decided that fielding Bachchan in the Lok Sabha elections for the Allahabad seat was a winning proposition. Bachchan was a friend, an Allahabad lad who had a cathartic place on the national stage and a decisive influence on the hairstyles and angst of millions. Continue reading A Face Towel in Allahabad, 1984 →

Politics

Saluting a Revolutionary: Jinee Lokaneeta

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This guest post was sent to us by JINEE LOKANEETA

On hearing about Balagopal’s passing, so many emotions go through my mind –  perhaps the most selfish thought of them all is that the conversations I have been having with his writings in my own work in the last few years, will never be held in person.

Having known him as long as I can remember being political, my earliest memories of him were of this extremely quiet and intense person who would often come to our house, barely look around, let alone interact much. Those were the early memories where we would often have activists come to our house but I had little realization of what it all meant. Years later, at the founding conference of Progressive Students Union in 1993, I remember meeting Balagopal again (this time knowing what he meant to the left progressive movement yet trying to reconcile that image with my own lack of interaction with him at home). I cheekily asked Balagopal whether he remembered who I was, whether he remembered his comrade’s daughter who he had met over the years mainly in the domestic sphere, I don’t actually remember what he said, but being the truly democratic minded individual, he did acknowledge the moment, laughed and never forgot after that…

Continue reading Saluting a Revolutionary: Jinee Lokaneeta →

Bad ideas, Capitalism, Identities, Media politics, Politics

Violence in Consumerism’s Own Country

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As the stories of the DHRM and those of the successful negotiations with which the Chengara land struggle has ended continue to unfurl in the Malayalee media, contradictory messages about Dalit political struggle continue to reverberate in Kerala. Dalits have been markedly reserved about the outcome of the talks with which the land struggle at Chengara has ended. Laha Gopalan, the leader and chief negotiator, has openly declared that the settlement was a hurried one, and that he agreed to it mainly out of fear of violence, given that the divisions have been created among the landless people at Chengara, whose patience has worn thin. Meanwhile, the DHRM’s violence continues to offer opportunities for potshots at Dalit politics. The Kerala Chief Minister, for instance, issued ‘warnings’ against ‘identity politics’ on Gandhi Jayanti, as if ‘identity politics’ were the same as ‘violence’.

Continue reading Violence in Consumerism’s Own Country →

Countryside, Politics

Some stories are never told

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So what is Maywati in news for? For statues and concrete parks, for being reprimanded by the Supreme Court and for being insecure about Rahul Gandhi trying to woo Dalit voters away from her. And for not garlanding Gandhi.

Did anyone tell you the story of a scheme she came up with, a simple one, nothing as complicated as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Corruption Guarantee Act. A scheme that simply hires sweepers for the village, from the village.

Well, someone just did, and I can’t thank him enough. Here it is.

There are many such stories, but we don’t want to hear them. Let’s just gaze at the Mayawati statue and wonder when it’s coming down.

Government, Law, Left watch, Politics

नक्सलवाद के ख़िलाफ़ अभियान कि नाम पर

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नक्सलवादियों के खिलाफ केंद्र का अभियान शुरू हो गया है. जनमत को अपने इस हिंसक अभियान के पक्ष में करने के लिए केंद्र ने अखबारों में पूरे पृष्ठ के विज्ञापन दिए  जिनमें ‘माओवादियों’ या ‘नक्सलवादियों’ के हाथों मारे गए लोगों की तसवीरें थीं. इनसे शायद यह साबित करने की कोशिश की गयी थी कि माओवादी हत्यारे  हैं, इसलिए उनके विरुद्ध चलने वाले अभियान में अगर राज्य की तरफ से हत्याएं होती हैं तो उन पर ऐतराज नहीं किया जाना चाहिए. इस विज्ञापन के फौरन बाद छतीसगढ़ में राज्य की कारवाई में साथ माओवादियों के मारे जाने का दावा किया गया.  छत्तीसगढ़ के मानवाधिकार कार्यकर्ताओं ने इसके प्रमाण पेश कर दिए कि मारे गए लोग  साधारण आदिवासी थे ,न कि माओवादी,  जैसा पुलिस का दावा था. केन्द्रीय गृहमंत्री ने इसी के आस-पास छत्तीसगढ़  में यह कहा कि माओवादियों के विरुद्ध राजकीय अभियान में मानवाधिकार कार्यकर्ताओं को रास्ते में नहीं आने दिया जाएगा. वे यह कहने की कोशिश कर रहे थे कि माओवादियों के खिलाफ चल रही जंग में मानवाधिकार कार्यकर्ताओं ने अड़ंगा डाला है, अब यह बर्दाश्त नहीं किया जाएगा. इस नए संकल्प पर हंसा भी नहीं जाता. मानवाधिकार कार्यकर्ताओं की अगर इतनी ताकत होती तो बिनायक सेन को दो साल तक जेल में न रहना पड़ता.

छत्तीसगढ़ जैसी जगह में मानवाधिकार की बात करना अपनी जान को जोखिम में डालना है , यह हिमांशु से पूछिए जिनके बीस साल पुराने आश्रम को गैर-कानूनी तरीके से बुलडोजर लगा कर ढाह दिया गया.हिमांशु कोई  माओवादी नहीं हैं, बल्कि वे तो माओवादियों के गुस्से के निशाने पर भी रहे हैं. फिर भी हिमांशु का न्याय-बोध डगमगाया नहीं और उन्होंने छत्तीससगढ़ में पुलिस और सलवा-जुडूम की कार्रवाई के बारे में हमेशा सच बताने की अपनी जिद बनाए रखी. हिमांशु इस धारणा के खिलाफ हैं कि छत्तीसगढ़ में सिर्फ दो पक्ष हैं, एक राज्य का और दूसरा माओवादियों का . वे वहां के आदिवासियों के अपने गावों में रहने , अपने जमीन पर खेती करने के हक की हिफाजत की लडाई में उनके साथ हैं. क्या यह सच नहीं और क्या इस पर बात नहीं की जानी चाहिए कि सलवा जुडूम   के दौरान गाँव  के गाँव जला दिए गए और आदिवासियों को मजबूर किया गया कि वे सरकारी शिविरों में रहें !क्या यह सवाल राज्य से नहीं पूछा जाना चाहिए कि तकरीबन साधे छः सौ गाँवों से विस्थापित कर दिए  गए दो लाख से ऊपर आदिवासी कहाँ लापता हो गए क्योंकि वे शिविरों में तो नहीं हैं! अगर शिविरों में अमानवीय परिस्थियों में रहने को मजबूर पचास हजार आदिवासियों के अलावा बाकी की खोज करें तो क्या इस पर बात न की जाए कि क्या वे बगल के आंध्रप्रदेश में विस्थापितों का जीवन जी रहे हैं और जो वहां नहीं भाग पाए वे छत्तीसगढ़ के जंगलों में छिपे हुए हैं। जंगलों मे छिपे,या बेहतर हो हम कहें कि जंगलों में फंसे आदिवासी क्या माओवादियों की सेना के सदस्य मान लिए गए हैं!
Continue reading नक्सलवाद के ख़िलाफ़ अभियान कि नाम पर →

Bad ideas, Culture, Identities, Law, Media politics, Movements, Politics, Violence/Conflict

More on Murder from Kerala

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These are happy days in which everyone in Kerala wants too settle the land dispute at Chengara. A happy consensus between the Left and the Right seems to be growing there, after the Congress leader of the Opposition, Oommen Chandy, decided to take on Godfathership of the land struggle. The very language of the struggle had changed – interestingly, from ‘we are landless squatters’ to ‘we are settlers’! Now, it is well-known in Kerala that these terms have had different sorts of political associations – ‘squatter’ with the Left, and ‘settler’ with (largely) the Right. Indeed, this was inevitable perhaps, given the fact that the New Left didn’t look very keen on ‘squatters’. However, it is clear that neither dalit or tribal organisations are going to be part of the negotiations towards the final package –today’s newspapers report that prominent tribal and dalit leaders have protested against the state’s reluctance to negotiate with them. It would be very convenient for both the Left and the Right to delegitimize – indeed criminalize – tribal and dalit organizations. And what luck that precisely that boon has been granted to them by the sudden eruption of a ‘lower-caste terrorist group’ (according to the police), the ‘Dalit Human Rights Movement’!

Continue reading More on Murder from Kerala →

Debates, Government, Politics

Teacher-Veacher, Union-Shunion…Kya Bakwaas Hai Yaar?

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(To translate for non-Hindi speakers, “teachers…unions…what nonsense is this, my friend?)

Terrible translation, but you get the gist. Those who have spent any time in Delhi University will immediately recognise the picture I paint now…imagine a long-haired, loose-jeaned youth of about twenty, casually lounging against a wall, sipping a banta (lemon soda) and occasionally scanning the horizon for that pretty girl from his business studies class…his friends will agree, “teacher-veacher union-shunion, kya bakwas hai yaar?” These are serious students lets assume, with dreams of MBAs post-graduation and eight-figure salaries. One of them might then say, “Mittal sir, he is the best, yaar; he never goes on strike, and his notes got us first divisions.”

I mean lets face it; as stereotypes of the teaching profession immortalised on screen we have the hot teacher (Main Hoon Na, and millions of others – usually involves a seemingly prim woman suddenly taking her glasses off, and shaking her bun open in slow motion), the radical teacher who inspires his students to question the system (Dead Poet’s Society), the truly inspiring teacher who turns students’ lives around (To Sir With Love) and the cool teacher, who is the students’ best friend (too many to recount). But the teacher who is an employee, joins a union and goes on strike?? Continue reading Teacher-Veacher, Union-Shunion…Kya Bakwaas Hai Yaar? →

Capitalism, Left watch, Movements, Politics, Violence/Conflict

The End or Future of Capitalism and Ending Obama’s War

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Last night I heard a public conversation between the Marxist Geographer David Harvey and Alexander Cockburn the editor of CounterPunch and columnist with The Nation.  The conversation titled, ‘The End or Future of Capitalism’ was hosted by The Center for Place, Culture & Politics.  Cockburn opened the conversation by speaking about the lack of vision in the Left.  Harvey argued that the capitalist system was facing tremendous stress and that a different path of economic development had to be envisioned.  Harvey continued on the end of capitalism as one needing analysis in terms of how this crisis arose with the problem of accumulation and realization of surplus, and poses the question of what is to be done?  Central to Harvey’s argument is that the mounting stress seen at the centre of the capitalist system in the last three decades is the culmination of the inability to sustain the two and a half percent compounded accumulation that has been a characteristic of global capital over the last couple hundred years.  That the capitalist system is unable to find productive investments for the two and a half percent accumulation rate leading to repetitious and aggravating crises in the unproductive bubbles in financial assets.

I stood in line when the floor was open, but much to my disappointment the moderator had brought the conversation to an end before I could ask my question, and so I am going to ask it here.  Both Harvey and Cockburn talked about the urgency of the moment and the need for provocative questions from the Left.  But what is the more urgent question to ask at this moment?  Is it the end or future of capitalism? Or is it the end or future of the American Empire?  The two may well be related and even two sides of the same coin, but the question for me is influenced by the urgency of the situation in our region; the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan.  The relatedness of the two questions also leads me to ask what would be the consequence of the tremendous stress at the centre of the capitalist system on the wars fought at the periphery of Empire?  And in turn, what is the impact of the tremendous stress of the wars on the periphery for the hegemonic centre of the capitalist system?

Continue reading The End or Future of Capitalism and Ending Obama’s War →

Debates, Politics

Divide in higher education in India: Vrijendra

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This guest post has been sent to us by VRIJENDRA, who teaches at a college affiliated to Bombay University

I

Of late, higher education in India has been in the news for many reasons. The new HRD Minister Kapil Sibal has been busy drafting new bills and formulating new policies to give a big push to higher education and to open up the higher education sector to foreign universities and their affiliates. In this scenario, two issues have been the major focus:

(a) The need to improve the enrolment ratio from the present, dismal ratio of about 10 percent – that is, only 10 percent of eligible young students enrol in colleges in India – to about 15/20 per cent in the next decade to catch up with the rest of the world in some ways. (Though the official enrolment ratio in India is about 11 per cent, if we go by how many of these students are really learning anything in reasonably well–equipped colleges, my guess is that the ratio will be down to alarmingly low level of about 5 per cent.)  For example, in the US and Europe, the enrolment ratio is more than 60 percent. Even in China, our favourite competitor these days, the ratio is about 19 percent.

(b) The need to urgently improve the quality of higher education in the country to make it more competitive globally and to emerge ‘global knowledge hub’ in the near future.

However, any meaningful discussion on these two issues has to recognize two alarming features of higher education system in the country.

Continue reading Divide in higher education in India: Vrijendra →

Bad ideas, Debates, Everyday Life, Government, Language, Politics

On Austerity

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In the 1990s, when I first understood economics, austerity was a word that scared me. It represented a paradigm that I associated with the story of Zambia in the late 1980s. Zambia had one of the more functional public health systems in Africa in the late 70s and early 80s. It then became IMF’s test case for user fees in health care and the rest of the story is familiar one of user fees, loss of access and a systemic worsening of care in an already incredibly poor country. “Austerity” was [and is] in economics of a certain tune, not about economy class travel and eliminating excess photocopying. It was about tightening state expenditure, usually to pay off large scale debts. It was part of Structural Adjustment and the attack on “big” African government, part of the shock transitions of Eastern Europe.

In one of its shades, then, austerity is the slow dismantling of the welfare state. It is not the stance — as the UPA would have you believe — that one takes in some notion of deference to the reality of poverty, it is the cause of some of that poverty in the first place. Every time one government or any other calls for “austerity drives” of any kind, the shadow of this austerity still haunts them. The austerity that causes poverty is also rooted within these calls, though more quietly.

Continue reading On Austerity →

Capitalism, Law, Politics

Company Secretary to Replace Inspector

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New Delhi: While the Manmohan Singh government’s Left-free second innings is expected to usher in changes to India’s archaic labour laws, the labour ministry is working on a quick-fix solution to help drop the country’s notorious ‘inspector raj’ tag.
If all goes to plan, India Inc would no longer have to deal with labour inspectors turning up at their premises to check compliance with 43 central and myriad state labour legislations. Instead, firms can submit a certificate from a company secretary that validates their compliance with the numerous employment laws.
( The Indian Express, Vikas Dhoot, Posted: Wednesday, Aug 05, 2009 at 0137 hrs IST)

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh led government’s ‘left free second innings’ seems to be taking the battle against ‘archaic labour laws’ full steam ahead. The outgoing Union Labour Secretary, Ms Sudha Pillai, some time back shared with the media about the draft which is being prepared in the labour ministry to this effect.
The proposal, which would be shortly submitted in the form of a cabinet note, seeks to ‘permit company secretaries to file compliance reports for labour laws, just like they give compliance reports for other laws.’ As of now the role of the company secretary is limited to certifying the said firm’s compliance with various statues, which includes the companies act, 1956 and also the listing agreement with stock exchanges and the issue of compliance with labour laws is handled by the labour inspectors.
Continue reading Company Secretary to Replace Inspector →

Left watch, Politics, Theory

And this song is dedicated to Buddhababu

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“CM Buddhadeb back, denies quit rumours”

sar par paaon rakh kar bhaago
sar par paaon rakh kar bhaago
katne waala patta hai
suno ji ye kalkatta hai
hurr..

Government, Law, Politics, Right watch

Magistrate Tamang, a hero: Vasudha Nagaraj

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By VASUDHA NAGARAJ via FeministsIndia List

You can download here the report by Magistrate Tamang.

I cannot resist but recount this account of exemplary courage and commitment of a Magistrate working in the Metropolitan Courts of Ahmedabad. He is none other than Magistrate Tamang who has been in the news for the past few days.

Brief facts: We all know about the encounter of Ishrat Jehan and three others in the outskirts of the city of Ahmedabad which took place in June, 2004. Soon after the encounter there were enquiries by human rights groups which declared that it was a cold blooded killing and not an encounter. To counter the demands the Crime Branch ordered a Magistrate to enquire into the matter. It has been reported that no Magistrate was willing to stick his neck into this issue. Finally on 12 August, 2009 the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) ordered Magistrate Tamang to conduct the inquiry. The latter was supposed to conduct this inquiry under S 176 CrPC. This is the section of law in which a Magistrate is empowered to hold an inquiry into the cause of death whenever a person dies while in police custody or when it is a death in doubtful circumstances. Generally, under this section of law,  Magistrates record dying declarations of women who are dying and lying in the hospitals.

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Genders, Identities, Politics

Ultra Violet:A feminist blog

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I came across this blog a couple of months ago, and have been wanting to bring it to the attention of kafila-readers who may not have visited it yet. Always something interesting and provocative going on there.

Its self-definition:

Ultra Violet is a place for Indian feminists.
It’s a place for sharing stories and views and questions. It’s a place for exploration, opinion and information (not necessarily in the order). It’s a place where we can come together to understand what other feminists around the country–or around the world–are saying…
Ultra Violet does not represent any school, wave, organization, institution or categorization. We do not belong in a box. We do not huddle together in a tank. We do not fly in formation like a flock of geese. We are all free people, approaching feminism from different locations, backgrounds and personalities…

Capitalism, Debates, Empire/ Imperialism, Identities, Law, Movements, Politics, Violence/Conflict

Reading Land and Reform in Pakistan

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A number of activists from the South Asia Solidarity Initiative (SASI) in New York have initiated a reading group on South Asia.  The notes below are the first in a series of commentaries following reading discussions that some members of the reading group hope to post on Kafila.  This is an attempt to broaden the discussions and in the process make it a productive dialogue to understand developments in the region and deepen our solidarity.

Reading Land and Reform in Pakistan

— Svati Shah, Prachi Patankar and Ahilan Kadirgamar

“…any strategy to stem the tide of Taliban-Al Qaida led militancy cannot ignore the issue of land rights…. Any reforms that revalue and formally recognize the local management of common property resources, therefore, will elevate the authority of tribal leaders over religious clerics or TAQ militants.”
Haris Gazdar, ‘The Fourth Round, And Why They Fight On: An Essay on the History of Land and Reform in Pakistan’

Given the escalation of a multifaceted war in Pakistan, and given our own commitment to a peace with justice in South Asia, we have started reading and discussing issues of importance in Pakistan and South Asia more broadly.  This inquiry is informed by the alarming and rapidly changing situation in Pakistan, and by an interest in interrogating the category ‘South Asia’ itself.  While all are agreed that the term ‘South Asia’ is indispensable, we wonder how ‘South Asia’ could be used to describe more than a region or a set of places outlined by shared borders. We wonder how we can move beyond the limitations of finding historical unity in South Asia primarily through the lens of British colonialism?  We wonder how we could describe the political unities and potential solidarities of ‘South Asia’ in this moment?  We find it particularly helpful to approach these questions by seeing common issues in the region relating to labour, land and the role of the state in societies in South Asia.  At the same time, we want to move away from the received notions of South Asia, whether they be the statist conceptions of SAARC, South Asia as seen by the US State Department or, for that matter, as a region defined by area studies.

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Debates, Politics, Right watch

Saffron Blunderland – Can the Saffrons bounce back?

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The BJP would bounce back in the near future much on the lines of a Shav (dead body) metamorphosing into Lord Shiva.
Mohan Bhagwat, RSS Supremo talking to media in Delhi

There are rare moments in the trajectory of a modern democracy where one is witness to the apparent implosion, albeit in a slow motion, of a political party. Today, the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the principal opposition party in India, which was yearning to reach the citadels of power just a few months back, presents such a spectacle. With two consecutive defeats, in the 2004 and 2009 parliamentary elections, followed by the factional bloodletting which is now reaching its pinnacle, the ‘Party With a Difference’, as it used to describe itself,  presents a pale shadow of its earlier self. It is a sign of the tremendous crisis faced by the party that for the first time in its 29-year old history, the top leadership of its parent organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), recently had to intervene to put the house in order. Apart from newly-appointed RSS supremo Mohan Bhagwat, a number of other senior leaders literally landed in the capital to hold consultations with the top brass of the BJP to find a solution to its seemingly intractable problems. The latest news is that BJP President Rajnath Singh and leader of the opposition L K Advani have been ‘persuaded’ to relinquish their posts. A search is on for possible successors.

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Debates, Left watch, Politics, Violence/Conflict

बेलगाम हिंसा और मानवाधिकार आंदोलन का ज़मीर

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1 सितंबर:31 अगस्त की रात पुरुलिया की अयोध्या पहाडियों में नौदुली गाँव में तीस हथियारबंद लोग घुसे , गांववालों को घर से न निकलने का हुक्म पुकार कर सुनाया, फिर वे लतिका हेम्ब्रम के घर में घुसे  जहां वह अपने पति गोपाल के साथ सोई थी. राइफल के कुन्दों से  लतिका को पीटते हुए उन्होने धमकी दी  कि उसे उन्होंने एक साल पहले ही सी.पी.एम. छोड देने को कहा था पर उसने अब तक यह किया नहीं और अगर वह अभी भई यह नहीं करती तो वे उसे जान से मार डालेंगे.  लतिका स्त्री है, ग्राम पंचायत की प्रमुख है, पर उसकी उसके पति के साथ जम कर पिटाई की गई. हवा में गोलियां दागते हुए वे  दस किलोमीटर दूर एक दूसरे गांव जितिंग्लहर पहुंचे और देबिप्रसाद के घर पहुंचे. देबीप्रसाद के मां-बाप इनके पैरों पर गिर पडे और अपने बेटे के प्राणों की भीख मंगने लगे. पर उसे ठोकर मार कर जगाया गया और छाती में दो गोलियां मारी गईं. देबी प्रसाद की मौत हो गई. देबीप्रसाद सी.पी.एम. का सदस्य था.
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Debates, Government, Media politics, Politics

Jailing Journalists: Pradeep Jeganathan

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This is a guest post by PRADEEP JEGANATHAN from Colombo.

The sentencing of J.S. Tissainayagam is deeply distressing.

While I’m neither a attorney, nor conversant with the details of the evidence presented by the prosecution, nor the text of the judgment delivered — and so can not comment on those areas, it seems clear that this judgment and sentence was only possible given the Prevention of Terrorism Act, of 1979. Two features stand out, given the PTA– the narrow bounds allowed for freedom of expression, on certain themes, and the admissibility of a ‘confession’ as ‘evidence,’ which is not allowable under the penal code. Taken together they make for a curtailing of freedom which is telling. There is an appeal pending, I understand, and there may be a possibility of a pardon, if that process is exhausted to no avail.

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