Bad ideas, Culture, Debates, Language, Right watch

Sanskrit and Language Politics Then and Now: Muruganandham

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Guest post by MURUGANANDHAM*

When all the arrangements were made by the corporate media and Hinduist forces for ensuring that Modi became the next Prime Minister, the democratic forces and progressive political organizations were still trying hard to make people understand his real agenda of imposing corporate capitalism and Brahminical Hinduism, in a rapidly fascist manner, in the guise of “development”. Middle class voters were lured by the media and believed him to be the harbinger of “development”. After taking over the rule at the center, Modi’s government has taken up the burden of disproving the undue trust placed on it by the unfortunate Indian middle class – through an array of anti-people activities like cutting of the gas subsidy, privatization of the public sector and substantial hike in train-fare, not to mention the red-carpet rolled out to FDI investments in defense and railway sectors. The Modi government has also been quite manipulative, and has tried to distract people’s attention from these vicious schemes, by working out cultural and social programs with attractive sounding slogans.  The imposition of Sanskrit week, Hindi usage for official purposes, Guru Utsav and more recently the Svach Bharat Abhiyan are only some of those programs which rely purely upon empty rhetoric, hardly having any logic or working mechanism. Invoking people’s imagination towards the “national” symbols is a constant resort of the rulers for political mobilization. More often than not in the Indian context, Sanskrit has been used for this political end in order to sustain the eternal hegemony of Brahminical forces. The present politics behind imposing Sanskrit as the symbol of national heritage and culture by the BJP government certainly demands a much broader understanding of the historical role played by Sanskrit and other languages in shaping the societal structure and cultures. The language which was once denied to the people is now promoted to be the language of all Indians. Let’s attempt to unearth this irony of imposing Sanskrit as the language of “ALL” so as to reveal the ridiculousness of these announcements and the urgent need to oppose them. Continue reading Sanskrit and Language Politics Then and Now: Muruganandham →

Debates, Everyday Life, Right watch

Love Jihad and the roots of hate: John Dayal

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JOHN DAYAL writes:

Three parallel strands of India’s cultural history have merged in recent times into a lethal phenomenon that has been termed “Love Jihad”, which has not only obtruded into the personal lives of young men and women of Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Christian religious communities, but has put to grave risk individual security and community peace.

A attitude to Muslims that verges on Islamaphobia, a pathological hatred for conversions to Christianity – both seen as disturbing the demographic equation in India to  overwhelm the Hindu majority take the traditional national culture of feudalism and patriarchy to a new and explosive level. The current crisis in the Middle east and on the borders with Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir provide the trigger, as it were, to the short fuse.

The Indo-Gangetic plans of North India are the main sites of this confrontation but its repercussions have been seen deep in the states of southern India, and the Indian and south Asian diaspora in the United Kingdom and the United states of America.

Political encouragement and patronage to lumpen and criminal moral vigilante groups, administrative and police impunity have led to targetted violence, a wave of hate campaigns, a polarized landscape, and deeply traumatised young couples who have dared, and sometimes married across religious borders. The media has taken sides, the Hindi language newspapers and  television news channels  exhibiting majoritarian bigotry. Civil society has found itself outnumbered.

The church, willy nilly, has found itself dragged into this unsavoury situation. Senior  episcopal and lay leadership of both Catholic and  protestant  denominations have so far not been audible in the defence of what, at the end of the day, are issues of human rights guaranteed under the Indian Constitution  and the Charter of the United Nations.

Read the rest of this article here.

Bad ideas, Culture, Everyday Life, Identities, Images, Language, Media politics, Politics, Violence/Conflict

“Haider” – Hamlet in Kashmir: Suhas Munshi

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This is a guest post by SUHAS MUNSHI

The challenge of telling stories of a conflict is its victims. Each, traumatized in their own way, needs their own story. The narrator is bound to fail not only those he didn’t include but those who didn’t see their stories recreated faithfully. Had Basharat Peer set himself the task of faithfully adapting the violence done to Kashmiris he would have had to script a pornographic narrative for the screen. Some of the bile directed at him from Kashmiris comes from a dissatisfaction of not depicting the true extent of the brutality of the Indian army and rendering its casualties adequately pitiful. An opinion piece written on the movie in ‘The Parallel Post’ titled ‘Setting the wrong precedent’ condemns torture scenes in the movie as having actually undermined the actual extent of army atrocity in Kashmir. The piece goes on to say, ‘army excesses wane out by the time movie reaches its climax.’

However, the only service that a story teller from Kashmir could do to art and to humanity is to depict the people living there, especially the victims, as humans; as people, just as they are found anywhere else in the world, and not continue to peddle the cliché of the valley being a dehumanized pastoral paradise. Accusations of betrayal, conceit and condescension are being hurled at Basharat Peer, the writer, when he has got, for the first time ever, the words ‘plebiscite’, ‘half-widows’ and the rousing call of ‘Azadi’ in a script, through a movie, on mainstream cinema. Continue reading “Haider” – Hamlet in Kashmir: Suhas Munshi →

Capitalism, Government, Politics, Right watch

‘Make in India’ – Modi’s War on the Poor

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For some months now, I have been thinking of someone whom I saw on television during the parliamentary election campaign. The place was Benaras and Modi’s candidature from the seat had just been declared. The television journalist was interviewing a group of clearly poor people, taking their reactions on this new, though expected development. This person, fairly drunk in his Modi-elixir – and perhaps also a bit literally drunk – swaggered as he answered, affirming his support for Modi: Modi bhi chaiwala hai, hum bhi chaiwala hain (Modi is also a tea-seller and I am also a tea-seller). His words reflected the success of the remarkable gamble – that of projecting the new poster boy of corporate capital as a humble tea-seller. It was clear how so many of the poor had bought into this campaign.

What reminded me of this person initially, was that very soon after the election results were out, even before the government was formed, ‘team Modi’ announced a series of measures for the development of Benaras, which included the building of 60 flyovers – ‘to ease traffic congestion’. Mainly meant for the benefit of smooth flow of motorized traffic (rikshas, cycles and pedestrians, after all, have little place in the economy of the flyover), this was the beginning of a plan that would transform this holy city. If the experience of building flyovers anywhere in India is any experience, this would additionally mean mass demolition of settlements of the poor, shops and even entire informal markets – including tea shops that have long been part of life of local communities.

Then the government took office. Within a couple of months, the plan for Varanasi’s upgradation started being drawn up more concretely. Not everything in the proposed subsequent plan (end July 2014) seemed objectionable -not the least the idea to work on a possible mono rail, improvement of the bus network, and a Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) like the one in Ahmedabad. Except that this would mean more and more dislocation of the poor and destruction of their livelihoods. We have seen this happen in city after city in India, including in Delhi. Continue reading ‘Make in India’ – Modi’s War on the Poor →

Culture, Debates, Law

Un-owning – Archives in General, Ambedkar in Particular: Rajshree Chandra

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Guest post by RAJSHREE CHANDRA

The immediate motivation for writing this piece has been the passionate and often partisan debate that surrounded the publication of the new, annotated critical edition of B. R. Ambedkar’s work, Annihilation of Caste (AoC) by Navayana Publishing. Sufficient water has flowed under the bridge to soften the various sharp edged stones and so it is perhaps time for some dispassionate perspective on the matter.

There are two kinds of debate that got triggered off by the publication of AoC. One of course relates to the 124 page provocative introduction to AoC written by Arundhati Roy titled ‘The Doctor and the Saint’ – The “Doctor” being Ambedkar and the “Saint” referring to Gandhi. The other relates to questions of ownership of archival material and questions of its fair dissemination. While the former has been hotly, and often intractably, debated by experts, scholars, followers and fans of Gandhi and Ambedkar, it is the latter that has received less attention than it deserves.

The question is important: It does not merely relate to the question of who owns Ambedkar, but in general relates to a wider question of authorship and representation of intellectual heritage. And as I have argued in my earlier posts on Kafila [1], for me the legal question is preceded by a normative concern and a political question, which is this: Should the answer to the question of who speaks for and about Ambedkar be selective? And relatedly, should ideas, works and publications of our thinkers and philosophers be policed and guarded by caretakers and/or representatives deemed to be “authentic” and/or “legal”? But before I come to these questions let me briefly contextualize the publication of AoC, as only a specific instance of his large body of work. Continue reading Un-owning – Archives in General, Ambedkar in Particular: Rajshree Chandra →

Bad ideas

आज्ञाकारिता की संस्कृति

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कुछ वक्त पहले देश के एक बड़े शिक्षा संस्थान की विद्वत् परिषद् ने कोई एक साल पहले पाठ्यक्रम में की गई बड़ी और महत्वाकांक्षी तब्दीली को खारिज करते हुए पुराने पाठ्यक्रम को वापस बहाल करने का फैसला किया. यह वही परिषद् थी जिसने पहले के पाठ्यक्रम की आलोचना को दरकिनार करते हुए पिछला परिवर्तन किया था.उस वक्त इस निर्णय की आलोचना करने वाले अध्यापकों से राजनीतिक और शिक्षा विभाग के अधिकारियों ने प्रश्न किया था: यह निर्णय अत्यंत शिक्षित,अपने ज्ञान-क्षेत्रों में सुपरिचित विद्वानों ने सुचिंतित ढंग से किया क्यों किया जब आप इसे अकादमिक दृष्टि से कमजोर बताते हैं? एक तरह से विश्वविद्यालय के अकादमिक समुदाय ने स्वेच्छा से यह फैसला किया. लेकिन  भिन्न परिस्थिति में इसी निर्णय को इसी परिषद् ने फिर उतने ही निर्द्वन्द्व भाव से कैसे रद्द कर दिया?

अभी दो महीने हुए, देश के प्रधानमंत्री ने शिक्षक दिवस के दिन बच्चों से सीधे बात करने का निर्णय किया. केन्द्रीय मानव संसाधन मंत्री ने स्पष्ट किया कि यह कोई सरकारी फरमान नहीं है, स्वैच्छिक है. लेकिन केंद्रीय माध्यमिक शिक्षा समिति, केंद्रीय विद्यालय संगठन,आदि ने इसे लागू करना अनिवार्य कर दिया. अनेकानेक निजी विद्यालयों ने भी, जो अपने काम-काज में सरकार से आज़ाद हैं,इसे अपने बच्चों के लिए निर्विकल्प कर दिया. Continue reading आज्ञाकारिता की संस्कृति →

Bad ideas, Countryside, Culture, Identities

Rip Van Winkle and Raman Singh Government

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Can an elected Panchayat deprive a section of its own people belonging to a minority community its constitutionally granted right to practise its religion – e.g. organise prayers or engage in religious propaganda and have sermons?

Or can it ever deprive them of their mandatory quota of grain under PDS (public distribution system) which is focused more on persons living below poverty line?

Anyone conversant with rudimentary understanding of law would reply in the negative. It appears that in Chattisgarh they do it differently. In fact, Sirisguda, Kunguda and many other villages in Jagdalpur and adjoining areas in the state are in the news for similar reasons. Continue reading Rip Van Winkle and Raman Singh Government →

Everyday Life, Feminism, Right watch, Sex

‘The Meerut Girl’, desperate Hindutvavaadis and their Jihad against Love

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[With two updates added on October 15, 2014]

The phrase ‘Jihad Against Love’ is Janaki Nair’s in The Hindu – Why Love is a Four Letter Word. I can’t think of a better description of this sick, twisted, violent campaign, in which local Hindutvavaadi thugs ally with families desperate to control their young sons and daughters from – quite simply – falling in love. Families that have no qualms in violently separating their children from relationships outside their caste or religious community, often killing one or both of them. Such murders have come to be dubbed ‘honour killings’ by the English media, but a starker, more revealing term is suggested by Pratiksha Baxi – ‘custodial deaths’. Indeed, the young people killed in such cases are in the custody, much like prisoners, of their own families.

If you haven’t had enough of tragic love stories, take a look at Perveez Mody’s book, The Intimate State: Love-Marriage and the Law in Delhi (Routledge, Oxford and New Delhi, 2008) for  heart-breaking accounts of of treachery and betrayal by parents, of their own children who fall in love with the wrong people, and the kinds of physical violence unleashed on rebellious couples by their own families.

The Hindutvavaadi campaign has an able ally in the Christian Right. A report in 2009 in The Times of India said:

‘Love Jihad’, a religious conversion racket which lures gullible girls by feigning love, has brought rivals Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Christian groups in Kerala together.

“Both Hindu and Christian girls are falling prey to the design. So we are cooperating with the VHP on tackling this. We will work together to whatever extent possible,” said K S Samson, an office-bearer of Kochi-based Christian Association for Social Action (CASA), a voluntary Christian association.

Samson said some days ago, CASA got to know about a Hindu family in a Christian parish where a school going girl was the victim. ”We immediately referred it to the VHP,” he said, adding the saffron outfit has helped them in many cases.

Continue reading ‘The Meerut Girl’, desperate Hindutvavaadis and their Jihad against Love →

Debates, Right watch

Challenges to “Islamic State” from within Islam

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This news was not as widely reported in the Indian media, to my knowledge, but on September 24, 204, 120 Islamic scholars wrote an Open Letter to to the “fighters and followers” of the Islamic State, denouncing them as un-Islamic, using the most Islamic of terms.

Lauren Markoe wrote in Huffington Post a report reproduced in NewAge Islam:

Relying heavily on the Quran, the 18-page letter released Wednesday (Sept. 24) picks apart the extremist ideology of the militants who have left a wake of brutal death and destruction in their bid to establish a transnational Islamic state in Iraq and Syria.

Even translated into English, the letter will still sound alien to most Americans, said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council of American-Islamic Relations, who released it in Washington with 10 other American Muslim religious and civil rights leaders.

“The letter is written in Arabic. It is using heavy classical religious texts and classical religious scholars that ISIS has used to mobilize young people to join its forces,” said Awad, using one of the acronyms for the group. “This letter is not meant for a liberal audience.”

Even mainstream Muslims, he said, may find it difficult to understand.

Awad said its aim is to offer a comprehensive Islamic refutation, “point-by-point,” to the philosophy of the Islamic State and the violence it has perpetrated. The letter’s authors include well-known religious and scholarly figures in the Muslim world, including Sheikh Shawqi Allam, the grand mufti of Egypt, and Sheikh Muhammad Ahmad Hussein, the mufti of Jerusalem and All Palestine.

Continue reading Challenges to “Islamic State” from within Islam →

Capitalism, Government

Letter to PM on NREGA from Development Economists

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Dear Prime Minister,

We are writing to express our deep concern about the future of India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA).

The NREGA was enacted in 2005 with unanimous support from all political parties. It is a far-reaching attempt to bring some much-needed economic security to the lives of millions of people who are on the margin of subsistence.

Despite numerous hurdles, the NREGA has achieved significant results. At a relatively small cost (currently 0.3% of India’s GDP), about 50 million households are getting some employment at NREGA worksites every year. A majority of NREGA workers are women, and close to half are Dalits or Adivasis. A large body of research shows that the NREGA has wide-ranging social benefits, including the creation of productive assets. Continue reading Letter to PM on NREGA from Development Economists →

Media politics

हैदर: नैतिक दुविधा का बम्बइया संस्करण

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“एकतरफा,स्त्री विरोधी और अतिसरलीकृत सपाटदिमागी… रूपात्मक और सौन्दर्यात्मक दृष्टि से भी ‘हैदर’ एक लचर और बोरिंग मसाला फिल्म है जो बहुत लंबी खिंचती है.”

कायदे से दर्शन के युवा अध्येता ऋत्विक अग्रवाल की इस समीक्षा के बाद ‘हैदर’ के बारे में और कुछ  नहीं कहना चाहिए. लेकिन ‘हैदर’ देखकर चुप रहना भी तो ठीक  नहीं.

दिल्ली के पी.वी.आर रिवोली सिनेमा हाल में ‘हैदर’ देखना यंत्रणादायक अनुभव था. हाल में काफी  कम दर्शक थे. ज़्यादातर युवा थे. फिल्म शुरू हुई और कुछ देर आगे बढ़ी कि फुसफुसाहटें तेज़ होने लगीं.फिर वह दृश्य आया जिसमें हैदर का चाचा उसकी माँ के साथ ठिठोली कर रहा है.और किसी हास्यपूर्ण प्रसंग की प्रतीक्षा में बैठी जनता ने हँसना शुरू कर दिया. विशाल भारद्वाज ने सोचा होगा कि वे एक बहुत तनावपूर्ण दृश्य रच रहे हैं जिसमें हैदर में हैमलेट की आत्मा प्रवेश करती है.जनता ने इसमें ‘कॉमिक रिलीफ’ खोज लिया. ध्यान रखिए,फिल्म में अभी कुछ देर पहले इस औरत के पति को फौज उठा ले गई है और उसका घर उड़ा दिया गया है!फिर तो जगह-जगह हँसी का फौवारा फूट पड़ता था. चाहे सलमान खान के दीवाने दो सरकारी मुखबिरों का दृश्य हो या हैदर को प्यार करने वाली अर्शी का कश्मीरी उच्चारण हो! लोग जैसे हंसने के लिए तैयार बैठे थे और कोई मौक़ा हाथ से जाने न देना चाहते थे . मैंने सोचा कि फिल्म आगे चलकर दर्शकों को शर्मिन्दा कर देगी और खामोश भी. लेकिन वह न होना था,न हुआ. आख़िरी हिस्से में जहाँ बर्फ पर कब्र खोदते हुए बूढ़े नाटकीय ढंग से गा रहे हैं, फिर हँसी छूट पड़ी. बिलकुल अंत में जब इखवानियों और इन बूढों के बीच गोली-बारी हो रही है, एक बूढा उसी गीत को गाता है और हाल में हँसी तैरने लगती है. Continue reading हैदर: नैतिक दुविधा का बम्बइया संस्करण →

Bad ideas, Culture

The old Gods haven’t fled: Sankar Radhakrishnan

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Guest Post by SANKAR RADHAKRISHNAN

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Guest Post by Salmaan Mohammed

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

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

Countryside, Debates, Government, Politics, Right watch

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

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

Dear Prime Minister,

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

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

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

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

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

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

Capitalism, Government, Right watch

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Education, Sex, Violence/Conflict

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

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

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

Bad ideas, Culture, Everyday Life

Can Caste Be Swept Away? New Socialist Initiative

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

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

Bad ideas, Culture, Ecology/Environment

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan: Too Many Erasures

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

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

1.

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

Capitalism, Countryside, Ecology/Environment

Vicious cycle of ‘Development’, Displacement and Death

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Gujarat Oustees jump into Narmada Canal 

Kashinathbhau Mohite, Wang Marathwadi dam affected activist, commits suicide 

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

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

Debates, Feminism, Law

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

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Guest Post by ROHINI HENSMAN

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

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

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

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

On The Real Tragedy of Secular Modernity: Anand Vivek Taneja

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This is a guest post by ANAND VIVEK TANEJA

anandpost

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

Dear Imtiaz,

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

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

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

 

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

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