Culture, Debates, Government

The Egg Debate – Missing the Bean in the Room? Dr Arun R, Ashraf Mohammed and Sejal Parikh

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Guest Post by Dr ARUN R, ASHRAF MOHAMMED, SEJAL PARIKH

The Madhya Pradesh government’s recent decision to continue avoiding eggs in children’s mid-day meal schemes sparked off heated debates in newspapers, social media and the television. There are several facets to the inclusion of eggs in mid-day meal schemes. This article examines those, and sheds light on facts and perspectives ignored by most parties involved in these debates.

Opponents of the government decision have rightly pointed out the resistance to certain food options for the midday meals scheme in schools is largely due to caste oppression and class privilege. In India, diet has indeed been used, historically and now, as a tool in oppressing dis-privileged caste and minority-religion groups. These groups comprise a huge chunk of India’s impoverished people who must get all the government support possible for meeting their dietary and other needs. Interestingly, governments which oppose eggs on the basis that they are not vegetarian do not have any problem with dairy, when dairy also involves the killing of spent cows and male calves (apart from the forced impregnation of cows every year). While we must acknowledge and oppose these forms of bigotry steadfastly, the way we do it should be such that we don’t uphold one good cause at the expense of another. Continue reading The Egg Debate – Missing the Bean in the Room? Dr Arun R, Ashraf Mohammed and Sejal Parikh →

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Language, Law, Violence/Conflict

All That Remains for Us to Consider in the Wake of the Death of Yakub Memon

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Yakub Menon was murdered yesterday morning. Apparently it was his birthday. When his brother Suleman and his cousin Usman met him on Wednesday afternoon his words to them, as reported in today’s Indian Express, were – “Agar woh mujhey mere bhai ke gunahon ke liye sazaa de rahe hain, toh mujhe kabool hai. Par agar unko lagta hai ki mein gunehgaar hoon aur sazaa de rahe hain, toh yeh galat hai. Main bekasoor hoon.” (If they are punishing me for the sins of my brother, then I accept this verdict. But if they are punishing me because they think I am guilty, then it is wrong. I am innocent.)

Continue reading All That Remains for Us to Consider in the Wake of the Death of Yakub Memon →

Culture, Debates, Feminism, Genders, Identities

Tough Girls in a Rough Game: Normalizing public discussion of ‘She things’ in Bangladesh — Nazia Hussein

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Guest post by NAZIA HUSSEIN

On 28- 29 May, 2015 the play titled It’s a She Thing was first staged in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Inspired by Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologues, eleven young Bangladeshi women decided to develop a local adaptation with their own accounts of sexual, aesthetic, psychological and emotional experiences of being a woman. Many of the stories were written by the performers themselves while some were taken from Naripokkho, a nationwide women’s advocacy organization. Continue reading Tough Girls in a Rough Game: Normalizing public discussion of ‘She things’ in Bangladesh — Nazia Hussein →

Bad ideas

Goodbye Dr Abdul ‘Strangelove’ Kalam: Satya Sagar

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GUEST POST by SATYA SAGAR

They say one should not speak ill of the dead. And yet I propose to do precisely that about Dr Abdul Kalam, the `Austere, Hardworking, Diligent’ and now recently departed ‘Missile Man’.

I am willing to break convention on this occasion for several reasons.

The first one is a very simple and practical one. I have always found it very safe to speak ill of the dead. For, not only do dead men ‘tell no tales’, they also ‘pull no triggers’. And since neither me nor Dr Kalam (as far as I know) have ever believed in ghosts I doubt he is coming back to haunt my house anytime soon.

Secondly, I find it difficult to subscribe to the popular media fiction that Dr Kalam rose from a modest background to the highest positions in the country merely through dint of learning, commitment and a burning passion for great achievements in his heart. While there are many good, sincere, hard-working scientists in the variousinstitutions Dr Kalam was part of,mostof themwill not rise to any big administrative or political positions as only afew know howto play the game of ‘patriotism’ to promote their own careers. Continue reading Goodbye Dr Abdul ‘Strangelove’ Kalam: Satya Sagar →

Culture, Debates, Government, Identities, Politics, Right watch

Teesta, Yakub and Hijab – The Triple Tests of Nationalism: Saif Mahmood

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Guest post by SAIF MAHMOOD

If you are Indian but not a supporter of the present Government, on social media your loyalty to your country will be tested on the following touchstones :

  1. Have you said anything against the CBI’s palpably malicious agenda against Teesta Setalvad or even hinted that, even if the CBI’s allegations are taken on their face value, she is entitled to anticipatory bail ?
  2. Do you think that the decision to hang Yakub Memon deserves one last re-look ?
  3. Have you criticised the manner in which female Muslim and Christian PMT aspirants were told to take off their hijabs and scarfs if they wished to take the test and / or the intemperate language in which the Supreme Court refused to interfere in the matter?

If the answer to any of the above questions is in the affirmative, you have just failed the loyalty test; and failed you have, irrespective of the reasons that you may have for your answers. Continue reading Teesta, Yakub and Hijab – The Triple Tests of Nationalism: Saif Mahmood →

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Debates

याकूब मेमन को फांसी – न्याय के लबादे में अन्याय ?

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Sify.com cartoon on Yakub Memon hanging by Satish Acharya

(courtesy : sify.com cartoon by satish acharya)

‘क्या आतंकवाद से जुड़े मामलों में अदालतें एवं अधिकारी भारतीय समाज की रक्तपिपासा की भावना से सामंजस्य दिखाने की कोशिश करते है ? आतंकवाद से जुड़े लोग, फिर भले ही वह उपरोक्त अपराध को अंजाम देने में हाशिये पर रहते आए हों, उन्हें दोषी करार देकर सूली पर चढ़ाया जाता है ?’

वरिष्ठ पत्रकार मनोज जोशी ने याकूब मेमन को फांसी देने के निर्णय को प्रश्नांकित करते हुए यह बात पिछले दिनों लिखी। /देखें http://www.thewire.in व्हाय याकूब मेमन शुड नाट बी हैंग्ड, 17.7.2015/ गौरतलब है कि 1993 में मंुबई में हुए बम धमाके के एक आरोपी याकूब मेमन की प्रस्तावित फांसी के प्रति असहमति प्रगट करने में महज जनतांत्रिक अधिकारों के लिए समर्पित लोग एवं संगठन ही आगे नहीं आए हैं बल्कि सिविल सोसायटी के अन्य लोग मसलन पत्रकार, लेखक, अभिनेता आदि भी आगे आए हैं। Continue reading याकूब मेमन को फांसी – न्याय के लबादे में अन्याय ? →

Law, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

The courts of this country are on trial, not Teesta: Indira Jaising

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INDIRA JAISING writes in The Times of India

The hounding of Teesta Setalvad is timed to coincide with the publicly articulated urge of the Prime Minister to get a “clean chit” from the courts in relation to the ongoing cases in Gujarat, which Teesta has been doggedly pursuing. She is the victim of the pursuit for justice.

We are being asked to roll back the clock, consign the 2002 Gujarat carnage to the dustbin of history and replace Teesta Setalvad as the villain, who hounded the then chief minister…Can the collective amnesia on the Gujarat riots, and the view that we must move on be legitimized?

All this could possibly happen if Zakia Jafri and Teesta Setalvad, who are doing everything constitutionally and legally possibe to hold the head of the then government accountable, are checkmated, preferably gagged, and put into jail.

Read the rest of this damning indictment of the Indian justice system here.

Bad ideas, Right watch

Animal rights or Hindutva Wrongs? Sriranjini R

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Guest Post by SRIRANJINI R

Finally it has happened. ‘Debeefing Kerala’ has arrived. That’s not what the leader of Hindu Makkal Katchi said, though. He said that he’s out to defend animal rights. Really? Then, do animal rights in India help to protect all animals or only specific animals?

These were the questions that popped into my mind when I saw the news of Hindu rightwing activists physically preventing the export of beef from Tamil Nadu to Kerala (The Hindu, Trivandrum edition, July 21, 2015).  The trucks carrying the cattle for slaughter to Kerala, are being stopped by the Hindu Makkal Katchi and the Hanuman Sena on the Tamil Nadu border and taken to a Goshala near Coimbatore, where these animals are supposedly being taken care of. But according to the traders, the cattle are being mistreated in the Goshalas. If this is true, it is not only the traders who are in big trouble, it is also the cattle that probably prefer quick and painless deaths rather than life as pawns of the Hindutvavaadis in the Goshalas!

And all this is happening because the leader of Hindu Makkal Katchi, Arjun Sampath, claims that almost 50 heads of cattle are being stuffed into a truck during transportation, such that they are not able to drink water or even move. The Hindutvavaadis are out to stop this. This is where the animal rights card is being played. Even if we consider all these as violations of animal rights, then the question arises: why does the Hindu zealot have no mercy for other animals apart from cattle? Elephants, chickens, goats – these animals also go through terrible things humans do to them. Don’t they deserve animal rights?

Continue reading Animal rights or Hindutva Wrongs? Sriranjini R →

Bad ideas

तीस्ता हमारे खून की प्यासी नहीं

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तीस्ता के जेल जाने के मायने हैं भारत की आत्मा को कैद करना.यह कोई काव्योक्ति नहीं है.आत्मा कोई भौतिक यथार्थ नहीं है.वह है सत्य को पहचानने और उसके अनुसार काम करने का साहस अर्जित करने की हमारी आकांक्षा का एक दूसरा नाम. वह हमें अपनी सांसारिक क्षुद्रताओं को पहचानने और उनसे सीमित हो जाने पर लज्जित हो पाने की क्षमता है.आत्मा क्या है,यह आपको तब मालूम होगा जब आप सी बी आई के अधिकारियों से अकेले में बात करें और तीस्ता के साथ इस संस्था के व्यवहार पर उनकी प्रतिक्रिया सुनें.वे जो कर रहे हैं,उसकी अनैतिकता का उन्हें पूरा अहसास है.वे जानते हैं कि वे अपनी आत्मा को कुचल कर ही तीस्ता के साथ वह कर सकते हैं,जो अभी वे कर रहे हैं. Continue reading तीस्ता हमारे खून की प्यासी नहीं →

Culture, Debates, Government, Media politics

मालेगांव से मोदासा : क्या हिन्दुत्व आतंकवाद के मामलों में जांच एजेंसिया अपना रूख बदल रही हैं ?

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(Photo Courtesy : Indian Express)

अपनी सख्त छवि के लिए जानी जाती मुंबई की मशहूर पब्लिक प्रॉसिक्यूटर सुश्री रोहिणी सालियान पिछले दिनों देश के अन्दर सूर्खियांे में आयी। कारण बना मीडिया में इन ख़बरों का आना कि किस तरह राष्ट्रीय जांच एजेंसी / एनआईए – नेशनल इन्वेस्टिगेटिंग एजेंसी/ जिसका निर्माण 2008 में वर्ष 2008 के मालेगांव बम धमाके के बाद हुआ, उसकी तरफ से उन पर दबाव पड रहा है कि वह मालेगांव बम धमाके में चुस्ती न बरतें। इस मसले पर चर्चा चल ही रही थी कि समाचार मिला कि अजमेर बम धमाके /2007/ में एक के एक कई गवाह अपने बयान से मुकर चुके हैं और एनआईए द्वारा मध्यप्रदेश के संघ के प्रचारक सुनिल जोशी की हत्या के मामले को अचानक फिर मध्यप्रदेश पुलिस को लौटा दिया जा रहा है। और अब समाचार यह मिला है कि उसी राष्ट्रीय जांच एजेंसी अर्थात नेशनल इन्वेस्टिगेशन एजेंसी ने ‘अधूरे सबूतों’ की बात करते हुए मोदासा बम धमाका मामले में अपनी फाइल बन्द करने का निर्णय लिया है।

यह पूछा जाना समीचीन होगा कि क्या भाजपा के केन्द्र में सत्तारोहण के बाद हिन्दुत्व आतंक की परिघटना एवं उससे जुड़े मामलों में शामिल लोगों को क्लीन चिट देने की तैयारी चल रही है ? दिलचस्प है कि इस बदली हुई परिस्थिति को लेकर संकेत एक केन्द्रीय काबिना मंत्राी के हालिया बयान से भी मिलता है जिसमें उन्होंने ‘हिन्दू आतंक की किसी सम्भावना को सिरेसे खारिज किया था’ और यह इस हकीकत के बावजूद कि राष्ट्रीय जांच एजेंसी कमसे कम 16 ऐसे उच्च स्तरीय मामलों की जांच में मुब्तिला रही है, जिसमें हिन्दुत्व आतंकवादियों की स्पष्ट संलिप्तता दिखती है और हिन्दुत्व संगठनों के आकाओं पर से सन्देह की सुई अभी भी हटी नहीं है।

मोदासा, जो उन दिनों गुजरात के सांबरकांठा जिले का हिस्सा था और अब उसे अलग जिला बनाया गया है, वहां सितम्बर 2009 में रमज़ान के महिने में मुस्लिम बहुल सुका बाज़ार इलाके में बम विस्फोट हुआ था, जिसमें एक किशोर की मौत हुई थी और कई घायल हुए थे। गौरतलब है कि यह ऐसा बम विस्फोट रहा है, जिसकी बहुत कम छानबीन की गयी है। अब जबकि आधिकारिक तौर पर उसकी फाईल बन्द करने का निर्णय लिया जा चुका है, तब यह देखना मौजूं होगा कि राष्ट्रीय जांच एजेंसी ने इस काण्ड की अपनी अंतरिम जांच में क्या पाया था और किस तरह तत्कालीन ग्रहमंत्राी जनाब पी चिदम्बरम ने यह ऐलान किया था कि उन्होंने 2008 के उपरोक्त बम विस्फोट के मामले में अहम सुराग हासिल किए हैं। वे सभी जिन्होंने करीब से इस मामले को देखा है, बता सकते हैं कि किस तरह एनआईए का यह निर्णय न समझ में आने लायक और अनाकलनीय है। Continue reading मालेगांव से मोदासा : क्या हिन्दुत्व आतंकवाद के मामलों में जांच एजेंसिया अपना रूख बदल रही हैं ? →

Government, Law, Media politics, Right watch

Gujarat State Crime Branch Claims and the Reality Behind the Charges Against Teesta Setalvad

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[In the light of a concerted campaign against Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand and their organizations Citizens for Justice and Peace and Sabrang Trust, launched by the Gujarat government and parroted by the media at large, we are reproducing a note prepared by Teesta and Javed, along with the details regarding their statement on finances (which were prepared over four months ago in February 2015 and which are also submitted before the Supreme Court). There seems a veritable media trial on with the versions of CJP and Sabrang Trust virtually blacked out, except for a few honourable exceptions. ]

A NOTE ON CITIZENS FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE; SABRANG TRUST

Concerning the allegations of embezzlement of funds by Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand by the Gujarat police, presented below are some facts:

CITIZENS FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE:

Primary Activity: Legal Aid to victims of mass crimes (communalism, terrorism)

  • Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) was formed in April 2002 by 11 prominent, law-abiding Mumbaikars, each one of whom had been individually and collectively engaged in building peace and seeking justice in the aftermath of the 1992-93 communal violence in Mumbai. Noted playwright, late Vijay Tendulkar was the founding President of CJP and remained at that post till his sad demise in May 2008.
  • Bearing in mind that the victims of the 1984 communal carnages in Delhi and in Mumbai in 1992-93 had been denied justice, the founding members of CJP resolved to focus their efforts in legal intervention in the courts to ensure Rule of Law and impartial policing.
  • The very first activity of CJP was to set-up a Citizens Tribunal headed by the late Justice VR Krishna Iyer, former justice of the Supreme Court of India. Other members of the Tribunal included former judge of the Supreme Court of India, Justice P. B. Sawant and former judge of the Bombay High Court, Justice Hosbet Suresh.

Continue reading Gujarat State Crime Branch Claims and the Reality Behind the Charges Against Teesta Setalvad →

Bad ideas

Resolution of Feminist Economists on EU conditions on Greece

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Signed by over 135 delegates at 24th Annual Conference of International Association for Feminist Economics as  a personal expression of concern.

We are shocked that the EU institutions and European leaders are imposing on the people of Greece a further program of austerity that will severely undermine the living conditions of women and men and plunge them into a deep crisis of deprivation. This hits Greek women particularly hard as they will have to provide the safety net of last resort through intensified work of taking care of their families, friends and communities.

As feminist economists, as well as many other economists, have stressed over many years, the debt burden is unsustainable, this fact has recently even been acknowledged by the IMF. Thus, the hardship imposed on Greek people will not resolve the problem of its indebtedness, but it will rather worsen the great depression. Continue reading Resolution of Feminist Economists on EU conditions on Greece →

Bad ideas, Culture, Debates, Identities

हेडगेवार का पथ: मिथक और यथार्थ

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‘आधुनिक भारत के निर्माता: डाक्टर केशव बलिराम हेडगेवार’ के बहाने चन्द बातें

(Photo : Courtesy – http://www.flickr.com)

राष्ट्रीय स्वयंसेवक संघ के आनुषंगिक संगठन भाजपा के केन्द्र में तथा कई राज्यों में सत्तारोहण के बाद शिक्षा जगत उनके खास निशाने पर रहा है। विभिन्न अकादमिक संस्थानों में अपने विचारों के अनुकूल लोगों की महत्वपूर्ण पदों पर नियुक्ति करने से लेकर, स्वतंत्रामना अकादमिशियनों पर नकेल डालने के प्रयासों से लेकर, पाठयक्रमों में बदलावों तक इसे कई तरीकों से अंजाम दिया जा रहा है। पिछले दिनों केन्द्रीय मानव संसाधन मंत्राी सुश्री इराणी ने संघ से सम्बधित शैक्षिक संगठनोें से प्रस्तावित नयी शिक्षा नीति के मसविदे के बारे में बात की, जिसका प्रारूप नवम्बर में रखे जाने की योजना है। इसके अलावा विभिन्न संस्थानों और विश्वविद्यालयों में खाली हुए या होने वाले पदों पर नियुक्तियों के मसलों पर भी बात हुई।

सूबा राजस्थान – जो केन्द्र में सत्तासीन भाजपा सरकार की कई नीतियों के लिए एक किस्म की प्रयोगशाला की तरह काम करता रहा है, फिर चाहे श्रमिक कानूनों में बदलावों का मामला हो, पंचायतों के चुनावों में खड़े रहने के लिए न्यूनतम शैक्षिक योग्यता तय करने का मामला हो – एक तरह से शिक्षा जगत में आसन्न बदलावों के मामले में भी एक किस्म की ‘मिसाल’ कायम करता दिख रहा है। स्कूलों के रैशनलायजेशन/ यौक्तिकीकरण के नाम पर सतरह हजार सरकारी स्कूलों को आदर्श स्कूल में मिला देने का मामला हो या पूर्ववर्ती अशोक गहलोत सरकार द्वारा कायम हरिदेव जोशी पत्राकारिता विश्वविद्यालय को बन्द करने का निर्णय हो या राजीव गांधी ट्राइबल युनिवर्सिटी को उदयपुर से डुंगरपुर जिले के बनेश्वर धाम जैसे अधिक दुर्गम इलाके में भेजने का मामला हो, उसने इस दिशा में कई कदम बढ़ाए है। अब अपने ताज़े फैसले में उसने संघ के संस्थापक सदस्य केशव बलिराम हेडगेवार की जीवनी को खरीदने की सिफारिश राज्य के कालेज पुस्तकालयों की है। अपने सर्क्युलर में शिक्षा विभाग की तरफ से कहा गया है कि कालेज के पुस्तकालय अकादमिक राकेश सिन्हा द्वारा लिखित ‘आधुनिक भारत के निर्माता: डाक्टर केशव बलिराम हेडगेवार’ नाम से किताब को पुस्तकालय हेतु मंगवा लें।

प्रस्तुत निर्णय की तीखी प्रतिक्रिया हुई है, राज्य सरकार पर आरोप लगा है कि वह शिक्षा के केसरियाकरण को बढ़ावा दे रही है। प्रस्तुत कदम को ‘देश के युवाओं के मनमस्तिष्क पर हिन्दू राष्ट्र की मानसिकता लादने के तौर पर, सामाजिक विभाजन पैदा करने के े कदम के तौर पर’ देखा जा रहा है। यह भी आरोप लगे हैं कि उसका मकसद है युवाओं के मनों को हिन्दू बनाम गैरहिन्दू के आधार पर बांटना, उपरी तौर पर सांस्क्रतिक और धार्मिक तौर पर बहुवचनी दिखना, मगर एक ऐसे समाज को प्रचारित करना जो हिन्दू समाज व्यवस्था से निर्धारित हो।’ Continue reading हेडगेवार का पथ: मिथक और यथार्थ →

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The Value of Fundamental Rights: A Study of the Implications of the Emergency, 40 years on: Vibhav Mariwala

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This is a guest post by Vibhav Mariwala

The 26th of June 2015 marks the 40th Anniversary of the declaration of National Emergency by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The Emergency (1975-1977) was one of the darkest periods in Indian history, a period in which people’s fundamental rights were repeatedly violated. Forty years on, I wanted to see if the youth today knows about the Emergency and what one’s fundamental rights are. But most importantly, I wanted to see if people today have the inclination to resist dictatorial rule if an Emergency-like situation were to occur again. This desire caused me to pursue a project on fundamental rights in India and it has taught me a lot about the Emergency, the implications of curtailing fundamental rights in a country as diverse as India and whether people think that an Emergency can occur and why they think it may/may not happen. Based on the responses I got from the various people I interacted with, I do have a feeling that there may be an Emergency like situation in the foreseeable future. On the other hand, I do have a feeling, that it will be far harder for the government to crack down on the public mainly because the current generation is more aware, better connected and will do anything to ensure that politicians do not exploit their power. This desire caused me to find answers to these fundamental questions.

• How much does youth know about the Emergency?

• How far do individuals in India value their fundamental rights?

• Why was the emergency declared?

• How could it be declared?

• How did it affect the lives of businessmen, journalists and other professions?

• Do people believe it can happen again, and if so why?

• Do people believe that a dictatorial form of government is required in a country like India or not?

I would like to thank all the participants for taking out time from their lives to answer my survey or participate in my interviews. To those who lived through the Emergency, it was very difficult for you all to tell me about your experiences, but thank you for opening up to me. To the youth, thank you for your incredibly penetrative responses to my questions. Without you, this project would not have worked out. I would also like to thank my mentor, Rajni Bakshi, who is the Senior Gandhi Peace Fellow at Gateway House, for supporting me and working with me for the past four months in order to ensure that the project was successful. I went about this project by carrying out a series of interviews of people from different backgrounds – the army, journalism or education. I got very insightful, unique and unexpected responses to the questions that I asked. I also conducted two surveys, one for the youth (those had not lived through the Emergency) and another for those who did live through that time period. Youth surveys/interviews focused more on fundamental rights and the future of Indian Democracy while my adult surveys/interviews focused more on past experiences during the Emergency, the reactions to it and the future of Indian democracy, which was the crux of this project.

Continue reading The Value of Fundamental Rights: A Study of the Implications of the Emergency, 40 years on: Vibhav Mariwala →

Government, Identities, Law, Media politics

Modasa – It is just a Beginning

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How Hindutva Supremacists are rushing to give themselves Clean Chit in terror related cases

(Picture : Courtesy – Indian Express)

Introduction

Whether investigations into Hindutva terror related cases are changing course? A series of apparently unconnected developments definitely strengthen the belief.

Close on the heels of renowned public prosecutor Rohini Salian’s revelations that she is being pressurised to go slow on the Malegaon bomb blast case (2008) and news of no of witnesses turning hostile in the Ajmer bomb blast case (2007) and sudden decision of the NIA to shift the Sunil Joshi murder case back to M.P,  has come the news that the NIA has finally decided to close the Modasa bomb blast case citing ‘insufficient evidence’.

As is being rightly said it is the first concrete indication that with the assumption of power by the BJP investigations into Hindutva terror related cases a shift in emphasis is visible. Perhaps an indication of the changed times is the statement by a senior Minister that there is ‘nothing like Hindu terror in the country’ despite being aware of the fact that the NIA, the premier investigating agency formed after 2008 terror attack in Mumbai to focus on terror related cases, is handling at least a sixteen high profile cases supposedly involving Hindutva terrorists and many of their top bosses are still under scanner.

Bomb blast at Modasa, part of Sabarkantha district then and recently made into a separate district, which witnessed one death and injuries to many, is one of the least explored bomb blast in the country. The following write-up tries to discuss the blast, discusses the prevalent ambience then when bombs were discovered at different places without anyone claiming responsibility for it, the interim findings of the NIA when it took over the particular case during the UPA II regime and the announcement by the then home minister P Chidambaram that the central probe agency has achieved a “breakthrough” in the 2008 Modasa (Gujarat) blast case.

The sudden turnaround by the NIA is baffling and incomprehensible, to say the least. Continue reading Modasa – It is just a Beginning →

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

CBI Mis-reporting on Search: Teesta Setalvad

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We reproduce below the full statement (partially reported in the newspapers) from Teesta Setalvad on the CBI search at her office premises regarding the continuous misreporting that was going on during the search: 

As I write this, the search is still not concluded. It is shocking that while over a dozen members of the CBI are still in our premises conducting the search, Delhi spokesperson is misleading the public and our vast supporters by a series of misinformations and official tweets.

In our view, and we repeat no laws have been broken by us. This is a continuation of the persecution and witchhunt first launched by the Gujarat police in 2014 then under the dispensation that rules Delhi. The CBI has taken the same documents that we had voluntarily on inspection given the MHA (FCRA dept). Over 25,000 pages of documentary evidence has been given to the Gujarat Police. When they could not succeed with the bizarre and desperate attempts to gain custody (February 2015), it was the Gujarat Government Home Department that wrote to the MHA and the current round of the persecutions began.

Its is shameful political vendetta. The Zakia Jafri case begins its final hearings on July 27 2015. The Naroda Patiya appeals (Kodnani and Bajrangi) are being heard in the Gujarat High Court tomorrow. This is nothing but a bid to subvert the cause of public justice and ensure that no justice happens in these cases. Continue reading CBI Mis-reporting on Search: Teesta Setalvad →

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Government

Statement by PADS following CBI raid at Sabrang Communications and homes of editors and publishers

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Statemeny by People’s Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS)

PADS strongly condemns the CBI raids of 14 July 2015 at the premises of social activist Teesta Setalvad, her husband Javed Anand, Gulam Mohammed Peshimam and office of Sabrang Communications and Publishing in Mumbai. These raids are undertaken for purely vindictive reasons given the assurances of complete cooperation and submission of thousands of pages of documents to the CBI. It is by now an open secret that activists working for justice and truth with regard to the pogrom called ‘Gujarat Riots’ have earned the hatred and animosity of the Modi government; which does not hesitate to employ official state power to indulge in a witch-hunt.

Setalvad and Anand set up Sabrang Communications and began publishing Communalism Combat in 1993, and not after 2002. It was this company that published the Justice Srikrishna Commission Report on the Mumbai communal riots of 1992-1993 at a time when the state government would not make it available to the public. The state not only fails in its constitutional duty to protect all citizens from unlawful deprivation of life and liberty under Article 21, but hounds and intimidates all those who seek to uphold human rights and democratic values.

It may also be noted that a senior Public Prosecutor, Rohini Salian, has accused the NIA of showing a bias in favour of certain persons accused of terrorist crimes. None other than the respected Julio Rebeiro, retired Police Commissioner of Punjab, has asked the public to take serious note of what Ms Salian has alleged. Furthermore, a Gujarat special judge, Ms Jyotsna Yagnik, stated in May this year that she has received 22 threats since retirement, on account of her role in convicting those responsible for the Naroda Patiya massacre in 2002. Her security cover was not enhanced, but scaled down. It is also noteworthy that the final hearings in the Zakia Jafri Criminal Revision Application are due to begin on July 27. Mrs Jafri seeks to make top-level politicians, including the then Gujarat chief minister, and top-level policemen, including the present Commissioner of Police, Shivanand Jha, former joint CP, Crime Branch, AK Sharma (now in the CBI ) answerable for criminal and administrative culpability for their role in 2002.

Seen together, in their entirety, the above facts are a cause for grave concern to all Indian citizens. They portend nothing less than an undeclared Emergency. Lovers of democracy should resist the ruthless campaign of intimidation unleashed against Sabrang Communications. PADS demands that the Union Government abandon its hostile and vindictive stance towards human rights defenders and concentrate on upholding the rule of law and providing justice to innocent Indian citizens who have fallen victim to bloodthirsty communal politics.

Email: info-pads@lycos.com
Telephone contact: Srinivas Rao 09393875195

Bad ideas, Culture, Debates, Education, Identities

IMA, NCERT and Existing Inequalities – Issues Around Availability and Accessibility of Health Care: Sarojini N. B. and Deepa V.

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Guest post by SAROJINI N.B. and DEEPA V

[A story appeared on 11 July 2015 in some newspapers about the Indian Medial Association demanding deletions from a class VII NCERT textbook. An immediate response appeared in Kafila to some of the issues raised by IMA.

This post, whose authors Sarojini and Deepa were centrally involved in the writing of the textbook in question, here put certain things in perspective. They present this as an initial clarificatory response to the news report. ]

We are writing regarding an article “Docs oppose ‘negative’ portrayal by NCERT” that appeared in the front page of The Hindu on 11 JUly 2015, Delhi edition by Bindu Shajan Perappadan. The article refers to the chapter “Role of the Government in Health” in the NCERT’s social science textbook on Social and Political Life-II for Class VII students. The article reports that the IMA has written to President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Ministries of Health and Education, pointing to the “objectionable description” of private healthcare services. The IMA has also demanded “immediate remedial action” stating in their letter that the “matter should be taken seriously and the NCERT should be directed to delete or re-write this chapter”.

In 2007, several NCERT text books were developed, including the textbook in question Social and Political Life-II for Class VII, through a consultative and contributory process in which many of us were involved. The process led by NCERT was a progressive attempt at reviewing and developing content on a range of subject areas and issues in the country, in order to generate knowledge that is as contemporary and comprehensive as possible, and encourages critical and analytical thinking on the part of students.  While the issues were complex, authors / contributors as a group attempted to develop chapters that would reflect an understanding that is rooted in social, economic and political realities, while making them interesting and comprehensible for class VII students. The chapters foreground existing inequalities and discuss the issues around availability and accessibility of health care – including some key characteristics of the private and public health sector. Continue reading IMA, NCERT and Existing Inequalities – Issues Around Availability and Accessibility of Health Care: Sarojini N. B. and Deepa V. →

Debates, Politics, Right watch

Hindutva Media – An Online Upheaval: Saif Ahmad Khan

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Guest Post by SAIF AHMAD KHAN

The year 2004 saw the Indian electorate defying the verdict of psephologists by voting out the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party led National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre. The fundamental reason behind the defeat of Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government was the slogan of “India Shining” which was perceived by the voters to be nothing more than a poll gimmick as millions of ordinary Indians were trapped in the vicious cycle of poverty and struggling due to high inflation.

However, a decade after 2004, one has reason to believe that “India Shining” was a blessing in disguise for the BJP. Traditionally, BJP was an anti-technology party owing to its Swadeshi leanings. When computer technology was being introduced by the Rajiv Gandhi government during the 1980s, the socialist parties opposed the move and argued that mechanization would lead to unemployment. The Sang Parivar echoed similar sentiments.

The general elections held in 2004 brought about a paradigm shift in BJP’s approach towards technology as the saffron party ran India’s first computer-centric, Hollywood-style electoral campaign. The most talked about thing of the 2004 elections was the “Indian Shining” slogan of the incumbent government. Prathap Suthan, National Creative Director of Grey Worldwide, was the man responsible for coning the term. India Shining was originally an initiative of the Central Government which sought to promote the country’s economic achievements and industrial progress on a global scale.

Continue reading Hindutva Media – An Online Upheaval: Saif Ahmad Khan →

Bad ideas, Ecology/Environment, Government, Politics

Who cares about the environment? Some notes on the ecological crisis in India: Shashank Kela

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Guest post by SHASHANK KELA

The past few months have been exceptional, in one respect at least, for the Indian press: a serious structural problem has actually been given the attention it deserves. The Economic Times continues to play a prominent part in discussing air pollution in Delhi – there is no other city in the world where it is so bad. Nor is this all: including Delhi, India now boasts thirteen out of twenty cities with the worst air. More recently, the uproar over supposedly high levels of lead in a brand of junk food led to a (very) few articles on groundwater contamination: after all, the reason why lead and other poisons get into food is because they are present in the soil in which crops grow. Another piece, in the Guardian this time, speculated that the recent Sahelian heat wave in the Deccan might be a symptom of climate change (an “extreme” climate event of the kind likely to become all too common).[1]

These stories are only a tiny fraction of those that could be reported, for we are already in the throes of an unprecedented environmental crisis. Large swathes of our agricultural soils are contaminated or saline. Pesticide residues and heavy metals form part of our food. The air of our major cities is unfit to breathe. Freshwater availability is declining; most rivers, especially in the south, do not flow at all, or only seasonally, since their runoff is impounded in dams and used for irrigation (with very high rates of seepage and evaporation loss). Groundwater tables are falling as a consequence of over extraction and the disappearance of vegetative cover enabling percolation. The pattern of weather is being reset with gaps and lags – the available evidence indicates that the onset of the monsoon is changing and precipitation becoming more uneven. Our offshore seas are denuded of marine life thanks to trawler fishing at ever greater distances. Himalayan glaciers are shrinking with obvious long-term consequences for the hydrology of river systems dependent upon snow-melt. Sudden, destructive floods, exacerbated by embankments and dams, the building over of river valleys and floodplains, have become a regular occurrence. Continue reading Who cares about the environment? Some notes on the ecological crisis in India: Shashank Kela →

Bad ideas

Should we ‘MAKE IN INDIA’ on the backs of our children?: Enakshi Ganguly

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Guest Post  By ENAKSHI GANGULY

(A response to THE CHILD LABOUR (PROHIBITION AND REGULATION) AMENDMENT BILL, 2015) 

The Government of India is presenting before the country an amendment to the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2012. This amendment had been first proposed by the UPA government in 2012.[2] The initial announcement that the law would now ban all forms of labour for children upto the age of 14 years and in hazardous occupations till the age in the 14-18 year age group was welcomed by activists. We felt that at last our plea of over two and a half decades to harmonise the child labour law with the right to education had been finally addressed.

Reading the final print of the law however raises a number of concerns. Frankly, apart from the distinction made in separating the children up to 14 years and 14 -18 years, in their treatment, and increase in penalties on employers, the law is not a huge progress between 1986 and 2015 or for that matter 1938, which was the first time a law child labour was enacted. This, despite the changes in socio-economic status as well as law and policy in the country in this period.

In fact, it is very much in keeping with the arguments offered by the government on social realities,  to continue with the reservation on Article 32 (dealing with child labour)  of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (which India ratified in 1992), with the it arguing “….that it is not practical immediately to prescribe minimum ages for admission to each and every area of employment in India – the Government of India undertakes to take measures to progressively implement the provisions of article 32, particularly paragraph 2 (a), in accordance with its national legislation and relevant international instruments to which it is a State Party”[3] Continue reading Should we ‘MAKE IN INDIA’ on the backs of our children?: Enakshi Ganguly →

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