Capitalism, Centre watch, Debates, Politics

Updates from Koodankulam

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Via NITYANAND JAYARAMAN

Koodankulam: Curb on Free Speech

Video Interviews with  eminent legal scholar Dr. Usha Ramanathan and Adv. R. Vaigai, a senior lawyer from the Madras High Court.

Since March 19, 2012, when Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa announced that work on the controversial Koodankulam nuclear plant could be resumed, and even before that actually, the protesting villagers have been at the receiving end of a vicious state led campaign to paint their non-violent struggle as a violent one, and to crush their campaign into silence by using harsh sections of the Indian Penal Code. More than 7000 cases of “sedition” and “waging war against the Government of India” have been filed just in the Koodankulam police station just between September and December 2011. These are part of 107 cases filed against 55,795 people during the same period. That is probably more than in any other police station in India. Certain sections of the media too have played the role of a willing partner in propagating the State’s propaganda. In pursuing this counter-campaign against its own people, the State Government has placed itself above the law of the land and pursued an openly anti-democratic agenda.

See interviews in two parts at at 

1. chaikadai.wordpress.com

2. chaikadai.wordpress.com

PRESS RELEASE

Cases against K-protestors a parody of law: Fact Finding Team

18 April, 2012. CHENNAI – A fact-finding team headed by senior journalist Sam Rajappa confirmed that the Government had indeed restricted movement of essential goods and people in the days following the Chief Minister’s March 19th declaration announcing her support to the nuclear plant. The report, which was released at a press conference in Chennai, noted that the spirit of opposition to the nuclear power plant was very high, and warned that arresting the leaders could lead to a serious law and order problem in the region.

Continue reading Updates from Koodankulam →

Bad ideas, Everyday Life, Identities, Violence/Conflict

Of Shared Spaces and Experiences in Gujarat: Ayesha Khan

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This is a guest post by Ayesha Khan

The other day, my brother dug out an old DD animation film on unity in diversity – Ek Titli, Anek Titli… We replayed it umpteen times in a fit of summer nostalgia, until we got all the lines correct. We  ignored the political subtext.  But only until it rebounded starkly on us, with the wails of  a baby that had newly come in to the family. The little one foisted on us the first ponderous responsibility – finding him a name.

The family brief for me, aunt to a six day old nephew, and equally to childhood pal Vandana, who is soon-to-be aunt to a niece in US,  was to think up  names resonating a core Indian-ness, the Muslimness, the TamBram-ness (in Vandana’s case), with a universal appeal and encapsulating  everything that is pious, lucky and great.

Continue reading Of Shared Spaces and Experiences in Gujarat: Ayesha Khan →

Frontiers, Identities, Mirror Worlds, Violence/Conflict

A meeting with Deepak Perwani

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At the Lifestyle Pakistan trade exhibition that concluded in Delhi on Sunday, one stall stands out from a distance for just its name – Deepak Perwani, one of Pakistan’s most famous fashion designers. This was the first of its kind exposure for Perwani outside the Indian fashion circuit, of which he has long been a friend and fellow traveller. The humble Perwani, though, has long been used to facing Indian surprise. “People keep asking me, ‘Oh you guys didn’t migrate?’, ‘How are you treated there?’ and so on. The questions show a lack of awareness.” Pakistani Hindus do not exist in the Indian imagination, but Perwani is part of Karachi’s flourishing Hindu community, which is small but visible and influential even today. One lakh of Karachi’s 1.3 crore population is Hindu.

Continue reading A meeting with Deepak Perwani →

Debates, Frontiers, Movements, Politics, Violence/Conflict

On the India hand in Nepal

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In an interview with this writer for The Hindu newspaper last week, Maoist chairman Prachanda explained the sudden decision to send the Nepal Army to the cantonments, revealed the possible meeting points on constitutional issues, said that he would have no objection to an NC-led government promulgating the constitution, and declared his personal ambition of wanting “5-10 years” to “implement his vision”. But the bit that has drawn the most attention here in Kathmandu is his public acknowledgment of India’s role in Nepal’s political transformation—from the 12-point agreement, to the CA elections, to the declaration of republic and the progress in the peace process.

Expectedly, ultra-nationalist websites have latched onto this as proof of Prachanda’s “subservience”; right wing stalwarts have the “We told you so” smug look about how they were right all along that this was an external plot. In a different context, there has also been commentary projecting India’s current phase of engagement with the Maoist as somewhat opposed to the Nepali people’s aspirations for peace and democracy.

It would be useful to look at the several issues enmeshed here separately, based on the evidence currently available. Continue reading On the India hand in Nepal →

Centre watch, Debates, Empire/ Imperialism, Frontiers, Government, Movements

A turning point in Nepal

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Manmohan Singh with Prachanda, circa 2008

Prashant Jha interviews the Nepali Maoist leader Prachanda:

All of us reviewed the situation. I presented a document in my party last April stating that the 12-point agreement must be the basis, and we must conclude the peace and the constitution process. India then changed the way it viewed Maoists, and realised it must help the process succeed. It was a realisation that we must revert to the environment of trust that existed during the 12-point pact.

Would it be right to say that Nepal’s peace process and the constitution would not have been possible without Indian support?

Definitely. Saying that the 12-point understanding was signed in Delhi means that there was India’s active support — otherwise it was not possible. CA elections would not have been possible. There could have been problems with the declaration of a republic. Now also, to take peace and the constitution to a logical conclusion, without Indian support, it will be very complex and difficult. [Full interview]

Kanak Mani Dixit critiques such a conclusion of the peace process: Continue reading A turning point in Nepal →

Culture, Identities, Images, Media politics

An Unrecorded Festival – Pictures from Parliament Street: Siddhi Bhandari

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April 14 was Ambedkar’s birth anniversary. There is no single pan-India political icon, certainly not Gandhi, whose birth and death anniversaries are celebrated as public festivals, by the public, in the way the Ambedkar’s is. Some newspapers on 15 April typically had photos of the top leaders of the country paying homage to Ambedkar but that’s about all. When historians turn these pages they will not find, in the first drafts of history, any reports about how people celebrated Ambedkar’s birthday like a festival. They will not find a record of the singing and dancing, of drums and plays, of Dalit housing socities and employees’ unions holding celebrations bang under the nose of the Indian Parliament at Parliament Street as much as in Dalit bastis is villages across India. Such is the public ignorance of this celebration at Parliament Street in Delhi that most Delhites enjoying a free holiday don’t even know about it. Parliament street is where SIDDHI BHANDARI took these photos in 2010.

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Bad ideas

Kudankulam Udpate

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From Nityanand Jayaraman

Dear all:
The state’s propaganda and witch-hunt has taken a fresh and disturbing turn with an engineered FIR filed by the husband of Vijayapathi Panchayat President and his brother Stalin. 

I spoke to V. Pushparayan at 1015 a.m. today. According to media reports, a gang instigated by Pushparayan and Udayakumar, attacked and injured Sahayaraj (President’s husband) and Stalin (Sahayaraj’s brother) at 830 p.m. on 14 April, 2012. The media reports do not even bother to interview the people accused of this alleged crime. The allegation is made into a fact, as if the reporter had observed the attack.

Here’s the version from Idinthakarai:  Continue reading Kudankulam Udpate →

Capitalism, Government, Movements, Politics, Right watch

Workers Struggle in Dehradun

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The following is a statement from Uttarakhand Nav Nirman Mazdoor Sangh and the Inquilabi Mazdoor Sangh received via Shankar Gopalakrishnan

Between 12 and 1 yesterday, 15 April 2012, the Uttarakhand police lathi charged more than 300 workers who have been sitting on a protest in Dehradun for the last ten days. 11 workers who have been on hunger strike (six from April 6th and five who joined them on April 9th) have been forcibly hospitalised in Doon Hospital, where they are resisting attempts to force-feed them. 326 workers have been arrested and detained in various jails in the city.

The workers have been on strike for more than three weeks now. They are employees of the Rockman and Satyam Auto plants in Haridwar, both major suppliers of Hero Motors. As in Manesar, Haryana last year, these workers are being paid extremely low wages for more than 12 hours of work a day; when they sought to form a union to demand respect for labour laws, the five leaders of the union were illegally sacked immediately and the others threatened with a similar fate. On March 19th the majority of permanent workers at Rockman came out on strike in protest at this illegal brutality, and on March 22nd they were joined by all the permanent workers at Satyam. Continue reading Workers Struggle in Dehradun →

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Empire/ Imperialism, Frontiers, Law

Why does Ratan Tata have a diplomatic passport?

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Update: Tata Sons has clarified that Mr Ratan Tata does not hold a diplomatic passport. See comments section.

*

Is he an Indian diplomat?

“After all, you have given Ratan Tata a diplomatic passport. He always travels with the red passport,” the American continued.

[…]

The American told him that he had once travelled first class with the industrialist, he had seen Tata’s diplomatic passport and when they both alighted at New York, Tata went to the special immigration enclosure for diplomatic passport-holders .

When S.M. Krishna became external affairs minister in May 2009, one of his earliest discretionary decisions was to issue a diplomatic passport to Tata, recognising his emergence as a global investor and industrialist who has to travel extensively worldwide, some of those trips on behalf of the government or representing his country. [KP Nayar]

And that is not the only shocking thing there. There’s also the revelation that the Maharashtra government allowed an American government group to fly out without security check!

The Indian state is India’s biggest embarrassment.

Centre watch, Frontiers, Law, Violence/Conflict

क्या खलील चिश्ती अपने जीवन में पाकिस्तान वापिस जा पाएंगे?: आशीष महर्षि

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आशीष महर्षि
पी.यू.सी.एल. के सदस्य डॉक्टर खलील चिश्ती को बैल मिलने के बाद उनके साथ
बीस साल बाद भले ही डॉक्टर खलील चिश्ती खुली हवा में सांस ले रहे हों लेकिन उन्हें अभी भी सरकार की दया की दरकार है। उम्र के ८क् बरस गुजार चुके डॉ. खलील अब अपने वतन लौटना चाहते हैं। खलील साहब की जमानत भले ही हो गई हो लेकिन उन्हें और उनके परिवार को इंतजार है संपूर्ण रिहाई का। Continue reading क्या खलील चिश्ती अपने जीवन में पाकिस्तान वापिस जा पाएंगे?: आशीष महर्षि →
Centre watch, Government, Identities, Law

After extracting US apology over Shahrukh Khan, the Indian Government owes several apologies too: JTSA

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This release comes from the JAMIA TEACHERS’ SOLIDARITY ASSOCIATION

15th April 2012

After extracting US apology over Shahrukh Khan, the Indian Government owes several apologies too

The Indian government has rejected the ‘mechanical apology’ being offered by the US for detaining the super star Shahrukh Khan at the airport for 90 minutes too long. The US Deputy Chief of Mission has been summoned, and institutional mechanisms to ensure that there is no repeat of such an incident.

Now, may we ask the hyper active and sensitive Indian government to tender apologies—and genuine apology please, not a mechanical one—for detaining (illegally), incarcerating, torturing—in short, destroying and tearing apart the lives of hundreds of its own citizens in supposedly fighting terror.

  1. The government could do well by starting with apologizing to Md. Amir Khan, who has spent half his life in prisons before 17 of the 19 blasts cases in which he was accused, fell apart because there was simply no evidence against him. Could someone please say sorry to him: for a lost childhood, for his grief-crazed mother’s paralysis, for his heartbroken father’s early death, for his broken, crumbling home. Continue reading After extracting US apology over Shahrukh Khan, the Indian Government owes several apologies too: JTSA →
Government, Politics, Violence/Conflict

A State of ‘Encounters’: Madhumita Dutta

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This guest post has been written by MADHUMITA DUTTA, a Chennai-based activist and writer, in conversation with Savukku Shankar, a former employee of the police department and a freelance journalist

“This state has witnessed more than 90 encounters in the last 15 years.  Tamil Nadu is a state of encounters!” laments ‘Savukku’ Shankar. ‘Encounters’, a euphemism for extra-judicial killings, began in the state in the 1980s when the government started cracking down on members of Maoist organisations around Dharmapuri district of Tamil Nadu.

On April 9th of this year, a Division Bench constituted by the Madras High Court was to commence its final hearing on PILs filed by Advocate Puzhalenthi, asking filing of murder charges against policemen involved in the recent ‘encounter’ deaths of five alleged bank robbers in Velachery; and questioning the magisterial enquiry ordered by the government under Cr. P.C. 176 (1A). Said Shankar, “That section applies only to custodial deaths, but this is an encounter killing”. The matter finally got adjourned to 5th of June. It is not uncommon for cases like this to drag on for years in the Courts. A special bench constituted by the court to hear 26 ‘encounter’ cases that took place in Tamil Nadu between 2006 and 2010 is yet to commence its hearings. Continue reading A State of ‘Encounters’: Madhumita Dutta →

Bad ideas

Does your misogyny have enough racism in it? Fairer vaginas for all

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The recent advertisement on television for fairer vaginas has done its bit to engage, enrage and amuse. What more can a little ad do, after all?

Rupa Gulab “shamefully confessed” to not being outraged by the ad, she was so busy rolling on the floor with mirth. In any case, it’s not advisable, she sagely counsels, to look down your nose on fairness cream manufacturers:

“they may notice that your nostrils resemble black holes and cannily invent a specialized fairness cream to lighten them up.”

Lindy West is thrilled:

“Splendid! God, I was just saying the other day that my misogyny didn’t have enough racism in it.”

Continue reading Does your misogyny have enough racism in it? Fairer vaginas for all →

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

India must reciprocate Pakistan by sending back Dr. Chishty and Pakistani fishermen

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This is a statement put out by some of us; names of signatories is given at the end

We, the undersigned, welcome the decision of Pakistan government to release 26 Indian fishermen on humanitarian grounds. They were in Pakistani prison for more than two years for allegedly violating territorial border. The Pakistani gesture came in the background of a meeting, which took place in New Delhi, between the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh & the Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on last Sunday. The poor Indian and Pakistani fishermen find it extremely difficult to recognize other country’s territorial border in the mid-sea.

We appeal to the Government of India to reciprocate Pakistani gesture by sending Dr. Khaleel Chishty and Pakistani fishermen back home. This will be a major confidence building measure. It will help in creating a conducive atmosphere in taking forward peace process. Continue reading India must reciprocate Pakistan by sending back Dr. Chishty and Pakistani fishermen →

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Government, Law

Support the annulment of IT Rules 2011, protect internet freedom in India

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Given below is the text of a petition put out by SFLC.in. You can sign it here. Do urge others to sign it too. Please also consider writing directly to your or any or all Members of Parliament urging them to annul IT Rules 2011. You can read SFLC.in’s very brief primer on the IT Rules here. The web address www.IT2011.in also redirects you to the petition page.

Image credit: Aseem Trivedi / saveyourvoice.in. Please consider making this image your Facebook 'cover' picture or Twitter background image or your blog header till the end of April.

Dear Member of Parliament,

The Constitution of India praovides the citizens of this country the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression subject to reasonable restrictions as laid down in the Constitution itself. Now, with the spread of the Internet and the availability of tools like blogs and social networks we are able to enjoy this freedom to the fullest and have a true participatory democracy.

You, as legislators recognised the importance of intermediaries like Google, Facebook, Twitter and Internet Service Providers for e-commerce as well as for free expression, helping us to express ourselves and provided them protection from any legal liability that could arise out of content generated by users. Such a protection provided in the Information Technology Act, 2000 was important for these intermediaries to operate freely without threats of frivolous legal action. Continue reading Support the annulment of IT Rules 2011, protect internet freedom in India →

Capitalism, Centre watch, Government, Mirror Worlds, Violence/Conflict

Eviction of Slum Dwellers and Repression of Anti-Eviction Demonstrators in West Bengal

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[We are publishing below the following report based on materials received courtesy Sanhati, whose members were also arrested in the course of the struggle]

“If Didi could rush to the scene for one Tapashi Mallik, then she could surely hear the voices of 800 poor people and come here to see us” –Residents of Nonadanga slum in Kolkata

It is the same story once again. Cleaning up and beautification of cities in the clamour for urban space for consumption and the luxury of the rich. And as we have seen, it makes little difference whether the government/s are Leftist or Rightist, whether they claim to represent the oppressed poor or not. Thus, on 30th March, 2012 the TMC government forcefully evicted around 300 poor families from the Nonadanga slum area in South 24-Parganas, in the name of ‘development’ and ‘beautification’ of Kolkata. Their shanties were razed to ground by the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority. The homeless slum-dwellers have been staying in an open field and are facing constant police harassment. Despite these harsh conditions, they have refused to depart and are presently on hunger strike. Their demand has to date failed to draw any favourable attention from the government. This neglect comes on the heels of the Planning Commission agreeing to annual Bengal plan around 16 per cent more than last year’s.

Continue reading Eviction of Slum Dwellers and Repression of Anti-Eviction Demonstrators in West Bengal →

Excavation, Government, Language, Law, Violence/Conflict

My name is Mirza Asadullah Beg Khan ‘Ghalib’ and I am not a terrorist!

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Image from http://www.the-south-asian.com

Update: If you’re on Twitter please help make #Ghalib trend @ Twitter India – Tweet his sher’s!

That is what it has come down to. DNA reports that according to Maharashtra police, a Ghalib couplet on a piece of paper is proof the Students Islamic Movement of India is into the business of mass violence:

Of the several affidavits — filed in court asking for the ban on the group to continue — accessed by DNA, one by inspector Shivajirao Tambare of Vijapur Naka, Solapur, cites a Ghalib verse — as part of evidence — to show how dangerous SIMI (Students Islamic Movement of India) is.

Mauje khoon ser se guzer hi kiyon na jay, Aastane yaar se uth jaein kaya! A loosely translated Marathi version in the affidavit concludes that these lines speak of bloodshed and animosity. Continue reading My name is Mirza Asadullah Beg Khan ‘Ghalib’ and I am not a terrorist! →

Frontiers, Law, Mirror Worlds

On the Supreme Court granting bail to Dr Khaleel Chishty: PUCL statement

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Given below is the statement of the PEOPLE’S UNION FOR CIVIL LIBERTIES on the Supreme Court’s decision yesterday to grant bail to Dr Khaleel Chishty. Given below the statement is the full text of the court order

The PUCL is extremely relieved that the SC decided to set free from the Prison 80 year old Dr. Khalil Chishty serving a life sentence in Ajmer Central Jail for a murder case. This is an extremely significant step but not sufficient as bail for Dr. Chishty as seen earlier when the trial was underway for 19 years, was like house arrest. he had to report regularly to the police and could not step out of his house and area. We hope that the next step of sending Dr. Chishty back home happens soon as it would be better for all that we send him back alive, when he can be with those who care for him and love. The PUCL appreciates the wisdom of the Supreme Court for this judgement.
While Judicial remedy would be pursued in the Supreme Court, we would like to remind all that the executive remedy as provided in the Indian Constitution of President and the Governot of a State granting Mercy to an individual at any stage of the judicial process, was stalled by the Governor of Rajasthan, who despite being recommended twice by the Chief Minister of Rajasthan that Dr. Chishty be pardoned, the Governor only let the file gather dust. Continue reading On the Supreme Court granting bail to Dr Khaleel Chishty: PUCL statement →
Capitalism, Movements

Gurgaon workers – damned if they do, damned if they don’t: Anumeha Yadav

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Guest post by ANUMEHA YADAV

In last three weeks, over a thousand workers went on a rampage on the streets of Gurgaon in two separate incidents.  On March 19,over 2000 workers from Orient Craft, India’s largest apparel-maker and exporter, attacked the office premises pelting stones at it and set 10 vehicles on fire, including a police van. They were reacting to the news that Naseem Ahmed a worker in his 20s in the hosiery unit in Sector 34 had been stabbed in the arm with a pair of scissors by Harinder ‘Lovely’ Singh, alabour contractor at Orient Craft. Continue reading Gurgaon workers – damned if they do, damned if they don’t: Anumeha Yadav →

Centre watch, Culture, Debates, Everyday Life, Excavation, Government, Images, Language, Metropolis

Review: ‘Behind the Beautiful Forevers’ by Katherine Boo

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Guest post by MITU SENGUPTA

In a remarkable book about slumdwellers in Mumbai, Katherine Boo brings to light an India of “profound and juxtaposed inequality” – a country where more than a decade of steady economic growth has delivered shamefully little to the poorest and most vulnerable.  But though indeed a thoroughgoing and perceptive indictment of post-liberalization India, the book fits into a troubling narrative about the roots of India’s poverty and squandered economic potential.

This is a beautifully written book.  Through tight but supple prose, Boo offers an unsettling account of life in Annawadi, a slum near Mumbai’s international airport.  In Boo’s words, this “single, unexceptional slum” sits beside a “sewage lake” so polluted that pigs and dogs resting in its shallows have “bellies stained in blue.” It is hidden by a wall that sports an advertisement for elegant floor tiles (“Beautiful Forevers” – and hence the title).  There are heartrending accounts of rat-filled garbage sheds, impoverished migrants forced to eat rats, a girl covered by worm-filled boils (from rat bites), and a “vibrant teenager,” who kills herself (by drinking rat poison) when she can no longer bear what life has to offer.

Continue reading Review: ‘Behind the Beautiful Forevers’ by Katherine Boo →

Capitalism, Government, Media politics, Mirror Worlds

Mamata’s order that stoked the media war: Independent Observer

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[This is a guest post by an independent journalist journalist and in Kolkata]

How difficult is to make a choice between the Caligula and the powerful senators who plotted against him, purportedly to save Rome from the populist-turned paranoid emperor?
The question comes to one’s mind in view of the ongoing public spat between Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and a powerful section of Bengal media which has virtually likened her to a female (a non-libidinous also) version of Caligula. The row, that now involves pro and anti-Mamata media blocs also, has been triggered by a recent government order asking 2500 plus state-run and aided libraries to subscribe, initially, to eight pro-government newspapers —five Bengali, two Urdu and one Hindi— barring the market leaders in these segments. The circular of the state libraries and mass education department cited the ‘promotion of free-thinking’ as the reason behind favouring the chosen newspapers.

However, the issues involved are neither limited to Mamata’s increasing attempts to browbeat critical media as the aggrieved houses are complaining about nor her well-meaning effort to support ‘small’, resource-starved newspapers against their big brothers as she herself and beneficiaries of her patronage are claiming. A closer scrutiny reveals that there are more to it beyond the binary of Ora–amra (them and us), now part of Bengal’s political and media lexicon after Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s infamous bragging over his government’s brute majority in the state assembly in order to rubbish all opposition to his policies. Continue reading Mamata’s order that stoked the media war: Independent Observer →

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