Bad ideas

The Iron Lady of Jharkhand: Mahtab Alam on Dayamani Barla

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Guest post by MAHTAB ALAM

The journalist turned anti-displacement, tribal, woman activist from Jharkhand Dayamani Barla, better known as the Iron lady of Jharkhand amongst people’s movements and activists, or simply as Dayamani Di was granted bail by a local court in Ranchi on Thursday afternoon. She was sent to Jail on Tuesday in fourteen days judicial custody, after she surrendered before the court in a matter of 25 April 2006. Six years ago, she was charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including Section 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapons), for participating in a protest demonstration, which blocked the road, demanding job cards for rural laborers under the celebrated National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). She had availed bail at that time from the concerned police station and the matter was almost closed one. Continue reading The Iron Lady of Jharkhand: Mahtab Alam on Dayamani Barla →

Centre watch, Government, Identities, Law

Kazmi Solidarity Committee welcomes SC order to grant bail to Syed Kazmi

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This release comes from the KAZMI SOLIDARITY COMMITTEE

The Kazmi Solidarity Committee welcomes the Supreme Court order granting bail to Syed Mohammad Ahmad Kazmi after seven months in custody on charges of involvement in the bomb attack on an Israeli diplomatic vehicle.

The committee deplores the obstructive attitude of the prosecution and the Special Cell of the Delhi Police, which have been perversely attempting to keep Mr. Kazmi in prison despite their inability to file a chargesheet within the extended time granted under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. Not only did the prosecution seek an extension of 90 days after the mandated period of judicial custody was over, it also used its inefficiency as an alibi, pleading that it needed more time to send out letters rogatory seeking international judicial assistance. While Mr. Kazmi was in custody, the Special Cell left no stone unturned in orchestrating a media trial to establish his guilt, planting malicious stories of his “confession” (while disavowing responsibility for these in court hearings).

Continue reading Kazmi Solidarity Committee welcomes SC order to grant bail to Syed Kazmi →

Bad ideas, Government, Law

A statement on the arrest of 13 political activists in Tamil Nadu

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Tamil Nadu has always had a very high handed police, infamous for extrajudicial killings, torture and arbitrary arrest of political dissidents of all hues. In recent times, thanks to the popular Koodankulam agitation the authoritarian ways of the state police seems to have acquired a ‘nuclear’ edge.

On 6 October 2012, as 13 senior members of the Peoples Democratic Republic Party met at a school in Kundrathur near Chennai city they were all arrested by the ‘Q Branch’, as the local intelligence bureau is called in Tamil Nadu. The arrested members and supporters of the party have been since remanded to judicial custody in Vellore central prison and a case under section Cr. L.A 17 (1) registered against them. Continue reading A statement on the arrest of 13 political activists in Tamil Nadu →

Bad ideas

Dronacharyas All

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Caste Discrimination in Higher Education

 

For Bhalchandra Mungekar, ex-vice chancellor of Bombay University and ex-member of the Planning Commission, the exercise of looking into allegations of caste discrimination faced by scheduled caste students at Vardhman Medical College, Delhi, has been extremely disturbing. As the single-member committee appointed by the National Scheduled Caste Commission, it was important that he examine every aspect of the case and ensure that the guilty were brought to book.

Dr Mungekar discovered to his dismay that not only were the 35 scheduled caste students failed repeatedly in one particular subject – physiology – but the authorities had not even bothered to meet them to look into their complaints. He had to resort to RTI to seek information and approach the high court to ensure their rights as equal students. As his report puts it, the faculty of the said department ‘resorted to caste-based discrimination and neglected the duties assigned to them, not by omission but by commission’. Even other administrative people, including the head of the institution, had not seen fit to intervene. Not only did the students lose years because of this apathy, shockingly, the same authorities were guilty of showing leniency towards general category students. While they had no qualms about barring scheduled caste students from taking their examinations due to lack of attendance, four students from the general category, who were detained for inadequate attendance, were allowed to take the examination.

Dr Mungekar, who has finally submitted his report, has put forward wide-ranging recommendations. Apart from asking the authorities to pay compensation of Rs 10 lakh to students Manish and others who had moved court — underlining the fact that ‘the mental trauma that they were/are made to undergo is not measurable in terms of money’ — he has demanded that legal action under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 be taken against former Principal V K Sharma and his then colleagues Professor Shoma Das, head of the physiology department, Principal Jayshree Bhattacharjee and Raj Kapoor, professor of physiology, and a liaison officer. Continue reading Dronacharyas All →

Debates, Media politics, Movements, Politics

The (Ir)resistible Rise of Arvind Kejriwal – Enter The ‘Outsider’

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The tide is clearly turning. You know this when former critics and lampooners start talking of him as a ‘game changer’; you know this when weather-cocks turn away from the corridors of power where once they had been ensconced. You know this when rats start deserting the sinking ship.

Suddenly, everybody is talking favourably about the man from the ‘outside’ who is refusing to respect any of the established protocols of protest and politics. More startling perhaps, is the fact that in the past two days we have had senior journalists and political analysts suddenly telling us that they had known all along that there was a ‘post 1980 contract’, a secret code of silence, that never would the dynasty be attacked – indeed never would any apsiring dynasty be attacked. Everybody knew, says Dipankar Gupta in the Times of India, that the issue came up one and a half years ago – and we all do know that. Robert Vadra’s doings had already  been known. A senior BJP leader is even reported to have told a senior journalist that his party had indeed been in possession of the very same documents that Arvind Kejriwal brandished at his press conference. But, this leader went to say, “after an intense discussion, the leadership decided not to rake up the issue in Parliament even after submitting a motion in each House asking for a discussion.” Everybody knew – the parties, their leaders, the media persons, political analysts. And yet, nobody spoke out. All of them colluded, in other words, in suppressing the issue. Politicians kept silent for an understandable reason – aspiring dynasties that they are, after all. But the others? Mediapersons? Any guesses?

As someone who has been trying to understand Indian politics over the decades, I have often wondered at what I have referred to as the ‘implosion of the political’ – that is to say, the destruction of politics in the formal political domain. What is called a noora kushti in Hindustani, had come to mark our parliamentary-political grammar. Farcical walk-outs after equally farcical fire-spouting rhetorical speeches in parliament, and a happy bonhomie away from the glare of the media – that was what our politics had been reduced to.

Continue reading The (Ir)resistible Rise of Arvind Kejriwal – Enter The ‘Outsider’ →

Bad ideas, Capitalism, Countryside, Ecology/Environment, Empire/ Imperialism, Media politics

An open letter to the jury of The Economic Times Awards for Global Excellence: G. Ananthapadmanabhan

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This open letter has been put out by G. ANANTHAPADMANABHAN of Amnesty International (India)

Dear Mr Deepak Parekh, Mr Kumara Mangalam Birla, Mr K V Kamath, Mr Kris Gopalakrishnan, Mr A M Naik, Ms Chanda Kocchar and Mr Cyril Shroff,

We at Amnesty International India are deeply disappointed by your decision to give the Economic Times Business Leader of the Year 2012 award to Mr Anil Agarwal, Chairman of Vedanta plc.

The Business Leader award is given to individuals who have demonstrated “a strategic direction for success, and pursued a vision”. But Vedanta, in its efforts to have a bauxite mine opened at the Niyamgiri hills in Orissa and expand an aluminium refinery near Lanjigarh, has demonstrated an utter lack of both leadership and vision. What it has shown instead is a brazen disregard for Indian law and an utter lack of respect for the rights of local communities. Continue reading An open letter to the jury of The Economic Times Awards for Global Excellence: G. Ananthapadmanabhan →

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

To Build A Bridge in Kashmir: A fable by Abhijit Dutta

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Guest post by ABHIJIT DUTTA

Once upon a time, a young politician – young enough to have a ‘baba’ appended to his name – came to Kashmir to build a bridge in Srinagar. Now as anyone who knows Srinagar knows, the city is filled with bridges. Some are famous, like Gawkadal, some are pretty, like Zero Bridge, and some are simply without charm, like the Abdullah Bridge that goes from fountain square to Rajbagh. There are several others too, each with their own unique character, their own unique relation to the Jhelum.

When he was told about the many bridges in Srinagar, the politician shouted, “I want to build a bridge.”

“But we don’t need a bridge,” said a man softly to him, wanting not to embarrass this well-meaning man who had come to Kashmir from aafar. In response, the young politician turned around and shouted once again: “I want to build a bridge.” Continue reading To Build A Bridge in Kashmir: A fable by Abhijit Dutta →

Centre watch, Empire/ Imperialism, Excavation, Frontiers, Government, Violence/Conflict

Fifty villages

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This report was released in Srinagar today by THE CITIZENS’ COUNCIL FOR JUSTICE. It is a statistical study of violence in north Kashmir between 1990 and 2011

Centre watch, Frontiers, Government, Law, Violence/Conflict

An appeal to release three Pakistani fishermen imprisoned in India since 1999: Jatin Desai

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Given below is the text of a letter sent yesterday by JATIN DESAI to the Indian foreign secretary

Shri Ranjan Mathai,
Foreign Secretary,
Ministry for External Affairs,
Government of India,
New Delhi -110001

Shri Ranjan Mathai ji,

Greetings from Pakistan-India Peoples’ Forum for Peace & Democracy (PIPFPD).

This is in regarding three Pakistani fishermen arrested in 1999 when their boat was destroyed in a cyclone and they strayed into Indian water. The Indian Coast Guard arrested few Pakistani fishermen including Nawaz Ali Jat, Usman Sachu son of Haji Ibrahim Jat, Zaman Jat son of Haji Jat and Usman Jat son of Ali Mohammad Jat.

Nawaz Ali passed away on September 8 2012 in Civil Hospital, Ahmedabad and his body was sent to Karachi, Pakistan on October 1 2012 by PIA’s Mumbai-Karachi flight. We believe, remaining 3 arrested Pakistani fishermen are in some prison of Gujarat and most probably in Rajkot as Nawaz was taken to Civil Hospital, Ahmedabad from Rajkot Prison. Continue reading An appeal to release three Pakistani fishermen imprisoned in India since 1999: Jatin Desai →

Excavation, Frontiers, Genders, Images, Mirror Worlds, Violence/Conflict

Shabbo Kumari patrols the border

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Photo by Poulomi Basu

The Lens blog at NYTimes.com has a photo essay by Poulomi Basu about women guards of the Indian Border Security Force.

Most of the recruits were from impoverished rural areas. If she could observe them not only in training but with their families as well, she would be able to tell the story of their transformation from villagers into soldiers.

The most haunting image Basu has  is the one above.

One of the most riveting photographs shows a dead man hanging upside down, his legs caught in the high barbed wire fence that India has constructed to demarcate the border. Guards had shot the man as he and others tried to enter Pakistan near Attari, in Punjab State, Ms. Basu said. Continue reading Shabbo Kumari patrols the border →

Bad ideas, Empire/ Imperialism, Frontiers, Mirror Worlds, Violence/Conflict

The intruders were not found in possession of any objectionable material apart from a large cache of fish

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An arrested Indian fisherman sits at a police station in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi on October 1, 2012. Pakistan maritime security agency arrested 33 Indian fishermen and seized five boats for allegedly fishing illegally in Pakistan’s territorial waters. By Asif Hassan/AFP/Getty Images.

The insensitive governments of India and Pakistan are not moved even when one of their citizens dies in the other country, especially if the citizen was a poor fisherman arrested for the crime of inadvertently crossing a maritime boundary.

After 23 days of lying in the morgue of Ahmedabad’s Civil Hospital, the body of 32 year old Nawaz Ali Jat will finally reach Karachi on Monday by a Pakistan International Airlines flight. His family waited 14 years for his return, but they didn’t even get to know when he died of kidney failure on September 8. Continue reading The intruders were not found in possession of any objectionable material apart from a large cache of fish →

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Everyday Life, Law, Right watch

How not to handle online hate speech in India

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The first amendment to the Indian Constitution, passed in 1951, allows the government to impose “reasonable restrictions” on a citizen’s right to freedom of speech and expression, in order to protect “the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence”.

The means to impose these “reasonable restrictions” are described in several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPc). Section 298 of the IPC makes punishable words uttered “with the deliberate intent of wounding religious feelings”; section 504 addresses “intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace”; section 153 makes punishable speech acts that lead or could have led to rioting; section 295A could land you in jail for three years over “deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings”; section 153B permits the punishment of speech acts that question any social, religious or linguistic group’s allegiance to the Constitution of India or that such a group be denied Constitutional rights. Read more…

Empire/ Imperialism, Frontiers, Law, Violence/Conflict

Allow UNWGEID to probe disappearances in Jammu and Kashmir: APDP

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This press release was put ou on 28 September 2011 by the ASSOCIATION OF PARENTS OF DISPLACED PERSONS, The Bund, Amira Kadal, Srinagar – 190001
In Pakistan the judiciary is attempting to provide justice to the family members of those who have been subjected to enforced disappearance. In 2008, the Chief Justice of Pakistan entered into confrontation with the then President of Pakistan for taking a pro-active stance against disappearances. That confrontation ultimately emboldened the judicial system in Pakistan to be more pro-active on human rights issues. This judicial intervention on enforced disappearances has created an atmosphere in Pakistan which has pushed Pakistani government to invite United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (UNWGEID). The UNWGEID recently concluded its first 10 day visit to Pakistan and have begun their investigations on enforced disappearances. Continue reading Allow UNWGEID to probe disappearances in Jammu and Kashmir: APDP →
Bad ideas, Government, Movements, Violence/Conflict

Expired Explosives and Health of Kudankulam: Anoo Bhuyan

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Guest post by ANOO BHUYAN

Anitha spits blood and wipes her lips as she talks to me. A few sentences later, a large blister on her lips begins to glisten with blood again, and she has to spit it out one more time. Hundreds of villagers at Idinthakarai have similar clusters of blisters on their lips. They say that they developed the sores as a reaction to the tear gas that was used during the clash that took place between police and protesters who were protesting the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant. This event occurred on tenth September. Nearly a week later, the sores continue to remain fresh and open, and a scab does not seem to be forming for any of those who were involved in the clash.

Anitha 

 

Continue reading Expired Explosives and Health of Kudankulam: Anoo Bhuyan →

Bad ideas, Government, Law, Metropolis

GPS and receipts will not stop Delhi’s auto-wallahs from overcharging: Simon Harding

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Guest post by SIMON HARDING

Last week, the Delhi High Court gave the go-ahead for the compulsory installation of GPS systems and printers in the capital’s auto-rickshaws by dismissing petitions against the policy from auto unions (download judgement .pdf here). The GPS kits are supposed to allow the Transport Department to track the movement of Delhi’s autos. The printer will provide the passenger with a fare-receipt, which will show the distance travelled and the amount paid. The policy will eliminate over-charging and will provide “secure and transparent travel” to the capital, claims The Hindu.

Sadly, the installation of GPS systems will do little to address the problem of over-charging. On the contrary, it may actually exacerbate it. Continue reading GPS and receipts will not stop Delhi’s auto-wallahs from overcharging: Simon Harding →

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Debates, Government

Evidence, Consensus and Policy: Kaveri Gill on the curious case of changes proposed in India’s public health policy

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Guest post by KAVERI GILL

The world of development is as prone to fashions as any other. In recent times, ‘evidence-based policy’ has become the new gold standard, following hot on the heels of participation and ownership of policy processes and outcomes by academics, activists and civil society groups. This applies within nation states, especially of the global South. India today epitomises such objective and bottom-up democratic largesse in favour of the ‘aam admi’- for largesse it is, make no mistake – with a near constant refrain of the avowed aim of ‘inclusive growth’. And yet, does it really?

Or is politically correct discourse and seemingly open decision-making processes in the social sector sphere merely dangerous fig leaves for seismic and opaque shifts in policy, which have very little to do with evidence and even less to do with broad-based consensus? Rather, they are an outcome of fixed ex-ante views – which may be termed as a distinct partiality to the Chicago School of Economics – about the path to a fictitious endpoint of a mainstream development paradigm, which itself is faith-based. It is not justified by theory or a heterodox reading of the empirical experiences of presently developed countries, let alone latecomer developing nations which are, for various exogenous and endogenous reasons, likely to have different trajectories altogether. I refer here to the hackneyed line about faster growth being pursued as a necessary, if not sufficient, condition for eventual trickle down, no matter that the ‘dur khaima’ of an equitable society is never arrived at! Continue reading Evidence, Consensus and Policy: Kaveri Gill on the curious case of changes proposed in India’s public health policy →

Culture, Government, Identities, Language, Mirror Worlds

हिंदी का संकट: कुलदीप कुमार

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जनसत्ता के 23 सितम्बर, 2012 के अंक में प्रकाशित कुलदीप कुमार के स्तंभ “निनाद” को हम थोड़े संशोधन के साथ छाप रहे हैं.

दक्षिण अफ्रीका के जोहान्स्बर्ग शहर में विश्व हिन्दी सम्मेलन हो रहा है। पहला सम्मेलन 1975 में नागपुर में हुआ था जिसमें जवाहरलाल नेहरू विश्वविद्यालय की ओर से एक प्रतिनिधिमंडल शामिल हुआ था। मैं उन दिनों विश्वविद्यालय की साहित्य सभा का सचिव था और पंकज सिंह उसके अध्यक्ष थे। कवि मनमोहन भी प्रतिनिधिमंडल में शामिल थे। तब तक इमरजेंसी नहीं लगी थी। अगर मेरी स्मृति धोखा नहीं दे रही तो वह जनवरी का महीना था। देश में जेपी आंदोलन ज़ोरों पर था और प्रधानमंत्री इन्दिरा गांधी ख़ासी अलोकप्रिय हो चुकी थीं। हम इस सम्मेलन को तमाशा समझते थे और उसका विरोध करने ही नागपुर पहुंचे थे। दिल्ली से ही एक बयान साइक्लोस्टाइल कराके ले गए थे। जैसे ही इन्दिरा गांधी ने अपना उदघाटन भाषण देना शुरू किया, हम सबने उठकर विरोध में नारे लगाने शुरू कर दिये और उपस्थित प्रतिनिधियों के बीच विरोध-वक्तव्य की प्रतियाँ बांटने लगे। सुबह-सुबह कुछ प्रतिनिधियों के कमरों में दरवाजे के नीचे से हम अपने बयान की प्रतियाँ खिसका आए थे। जैसा कि होना था, बाद में हमें पुलिस ने धर लिया। Continue reading हिंदी का संकट: कुलदीप कुमार →

Bad ideas, Debates, Identities, Language, Law

A statement against the arrest of Punjabi publishers and editors for publishing the poetry of Babu Rajab Ali

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Names of signatories given at the end; for more details on the campaign, see Whitewashing History

The arrest of two Punjabi publishers and two editors for reprinting old books of poet Babu Rajab Ali which allegedly contained some then used caste names, under the Prevention of Atrocities Against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Act, is a totally thoughtless, callous and ruthless action taken by the Punjab government.

We understand that Mr. Amit Mittar of Tarak Bharti Prakashan and Mr. Ashok Garg of Sangam and editors Mr. Jagjeet Singh Sahoke from Moga and Mr. Swatantar from Samana, were arrested by the police on September 15 at the behest of the Punjab government. This is absolutely against academic freedom. Continue reading A statement against the arrest of Punjabi publishers and editors for publishing the poetry of Babu Rajab Ali →

Culture, Mirror Worlds

Memory: An Act of Forgetting

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“Where Memory Resides”: Bridgette Guerzon Mills

Memory: An Act of Forgetting

Right now, just like that
I let a memory of you
Slip through my sleeve
And drop, plop, on the floor.
It had sniveled
Sniveled long
Long up my sleeve!

Really? How did you do it? 

Nothing!
Continue reading Memory: An Act of Forgetting →

Bad ideas, Culture, Government, Identities, Images, Language, Law, Politics, Right watch, Sex, Violence/Conflict

Stuck Between Gandhi and Cultural Crap: Papilio Buddha Reveals Much

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Sometimes a minor cut on the surface of the skin will do to reveal the rot beneath. This is precisely what the film Papilio Buddha, made by the New York-based Malayalee film-maker Jayan Cherian, which draws broadly upon contemporary caste politics in Kerala, has achieved for us. In fact, its achievement on this count is simply amazing. At a single stroke, it has brought to light several stinking sores above which Malayalees, especially many Malayalee intellectuals who  occasionally don the garb of public intellectuals, strut. Continue reading Stuck Between Gandhi and Cultural Crap: Papilio Buddha Reveals Much →

Everyday Life, Images

The Unsolved Mysteries of the Universe

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What came first? Murgi or man?

The murgi is looking at the camera slyly, or so the camera thinks. Why did the man not bat an eyelid? Surely he could not have missed that a camera-phone came out of a pocket, was tilted horizontally, focused on him and on the murgi on his knee, proceeding to click? The camera was impressed at the discovery of this man and his murgi; they were not posing.

Why is the main wearing a red shirt with maroon pyjamas? Why not a maroon shirt with red pyjamas? Did he place the hen on his knee? If all he wanted to do was to ponder over the unsolved mysteries of the universe why would he want to be disturbed by his murgi? Given the terrain, just how much manoeuvrability does the murgi have? Could the murgi be helping the man meditate? Is the murgi a hypnotic tool?Is the murgi disoriented to be looking at the ground beneath from a precarious vantage point?

Is the murgi soon going to be food? Biryani or qorma?

The camera did not want to ask questions lest the man’s meditation be disturbed. The questions remain.

DISSENT, DEBATE, CREATE