The recently announced Rajiv Awaas Yojana (RAY) has brought back an old ghost to debates on how to allow the urban poor a foothold into the city and the possibility of upward mobility. The central policy initiative of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation is the most significant contemporary attempt to address urban poverty through providing housing to the urban poor. The “slum-free city” is back. Now more than ever, then, it is time to ask: what is a “slum-free city”?
Two Years On: No War but No Peace for Women still facing the Consequences of the War – CMTPC
Statement by COALITION OF MUSLIMS AND TAMILS FOR PEACE AND COEXISTENCE
The coalition of Muslims and Tamils is a Sri Lanka based organization-comprising Muslim and Tamil identified persons who as a general principle are committed to pluralism and social justice in all its forms. Specifically, we are committed to the peaceful coexistence of Muslims and Tamils in the country, particularly in the north and east, and to a just and equitable solution to the ethnic conflict.
We can be contacted at: ctmpc_srilanka@yahoo.com
We have changed our blog site and the new address will be up soon!
Old blogsite: http://www.ctmpc.blogspot.com/
Two Years On: No War but no peace for women still facing the consequences of the war
Women in the north and the east of Sri Lanka have undergone severe hardships during the war, including the loss of loved ones, family’s support structures, livelihoods, houses and also a loss of life and dignity. While there have been numerous changes announced by the Government the situation for women on ground, however, has continued to be challenging. It is sad since the end of the brutal war women’s lives have not seen a dramatic transformation over the last two years and they have continued to face the basic challenges of safety, shelter and basic facilities. It in this light that we wish to put forward a few issues that these women have been facing within the broader context of life in the north and east for the communities living there. We have chosen to highlight these issues because of their gravity, the State’s involvement in the same and the inability of women to seek justice in such cases owing to the lack of an effective civilian administration, security threats and the lack of a concrete remedy within the local legal system. While we write of the issues relating to women, they raise broader concerns impacting the families and communities. The incidents and the report cover only the Northern and Eastern Province of Sri Lanka. Continue reading Two Years On: No War but No Peace for Women still facing the Consequences of the War – CMTPC
Solidarity letter to anti-POSCO movement from Korean jail: Sung-Hee Choi
Madhumita Dutta has sent us this powerful letter in solidarity with the people of Jagatsinghpur opposing the POSCO project, written by a South Korean activist SUNG-HEE CHOI, in prison for opposing a naval base.
Dear residents in Jagatsinghpur,
I am a woman and activist living in South Korea, the country of the POSCO you oppose. I am currently being jailed in the Jeju prison, under the charge of ‘interruption of business’, because of my resistance against the enforcement of the naval base construction in the Jeju Island located in the south of South Korea. As of today, July 3, I met 46th day since my arrest and 44th day since my being restrained.
I accidently happened to see two of your struggle photos and a photo in the Korean Times, June 13, 2011 had a caption underneath it:
‘Anti POSCO action in India: A village sprays water to relieve children lying with other villages along the entry point to prevent policemen and officials from entering their area at Jagatsinghpur district, about 140 kilometers(87 miles) east of eastern Bhubareshwary India, Saturday. The villagers have been protesting against turning their farmland into an industrial developed area for a $12 billion steal plant of South Korean conglomerate POSCO (AP-Yonhap).’
Continue reading Solidarity letter to anti-POSCO movement from Korean jail: Sung-Hee Choi
Don’t let Mumbai blasts investigations fall victim to prejudice and shortcuts: JTSA
Statement by Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association
JTSA offers its heartfelt sympathies to the bereaved and the injured in the Mumbai serial blasts. We sincerely hope that the perpetrators of this mindless violence will be brought to justice swiftly. There are early indicators though that this investigation will be marred by prejudiced investigating agencies. There are news items appearing in various media outlets which cite the interrogation report of Md. Salman, a supposed operative of the Indian Mujahideen (IM) to establish that Mumbai was on IM’s sights.
Already we see that, though the Home Ministry has restrained from holding any group culpable, the investigation is being gently pushed in one direction. But even if one leaves aside for a moment the criticism that investigators react in stereotypical ways, their compass needle invariably pointing towards Azamgarh, there are serious issues arising out of this reliance on Salman’s interrogation report for getting to the bottom of the Mumbai serial blasts conspiracy.
Continue reading Don’t let Mumbai blasts investigations fall victim to prejudice and shortcuts: JTSA
‘Ask Brazil, South Africa and India to help stop the bloodshed in Syria’
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL wants you to sign the statement below
It has been over four months since the beginning of largely peaceful protests in Syria calling for political reform and for the Syrian President to step down. The Syrian authorities’ response to their people’s demands has so far been brutal to say the least. Continue reading ‘Ask Brazil, South Africa and India to help stop the bloodshed in Syria’
Indian and Pakistani Citizens Condemn Serial Blasts in Mumbai
We the citizens of India and Pakistan strongly condemn the inhuman and dastardly serial blasts in Mumbai on 13 July 2011 in which 21 innocent people were killed and over 140 injured. We offer our heartfelt condolences and sympathies to the bereaved families and pray for quick and complete recovery of all those injured. It is clear that these blasts are a well orchestrated heinous conspiracy to derail the resumption of the dialogue and peace process between India and Pakistan that was stalled following the terrorist attack in Mumbai in 2008. Continue reading Indian and Pakistani Citizens Condemn Serial Blasts in Mumbai
Martyrs’ Days: Memorializing 13 July 1931 in Kashmir: Mridu Rai
Guest post by Mridu Rai
It is widely believed that the Kashmir conflict has its roots in the Partition of India in August 1947. This view perpetuates the understanding of the conflict as one between India and Pakistan. However, recognising that the roots of the conflict lie in an earlier history – indeed, that there was a history before August 1947 – changes our understanding of the ‘intractable’ conflict in Kashmir. This guest post by MRIDU RAI, author of the book, Hindu Rulers, Muslim Subjects: Islam, Rights and the History of Kashmir (2004), discusses the salience of the events in Srinagar on this day, exactly 80 years ago.
Continue reading Martyrs’ Days: Memorializing 13 July 1931 in Kashmir: Mridu Rai
Can Kingly Mortals Donate to the Gods?
Our fair but humble town of Thiruvananthapuram has been in a tizzy since it was discovered that our benign presiding deity, Lord Sree Padmanabha, had been resting on a huge treasure-trove, so fantastic that no one has been able to stop talking of it since then. This seems to have changed drastically the way we have perceived our past — or rather, the historical amnesia which we have been suffering from has been drastically accelerated. In the decades after independence, very few people, except the upper caste retainers of the Travancore royal family and the accolytes of the regime, thought that rajabharanam was a good thing. There were stories about the days immediately following the accession of Travancore to India, of how people gathered outside the Padmanabhaswamy temple, and when the Travancore Maharajah, Chithira Tirunal Balarama Varma arrived there for his daily visit, reminded him of their equality with him as citizens of India, addressing him personally and intimately … ‘Hey, Balaa’! That seems to have gone for a toss and we are back to His Golden Majesty, Ponnutampuran, though such a tampuran has no place in our political system. Continue reading Can Kingly Mortals Donate to the Gods?
The Lord’s riches are not the Lord’s riches
Giving a historical background of why the Sree Ananta Padmanabha Swamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram came to have these riches, Malavika Velayanikal writes in DNA:
True, the bags of gold coins, diamonds, precious stones, 18-feet-long gold necklaces, jewellery weighing many kilograms, and solid-gold statues of gods and goddesses landed in the vault via the king. But in reality, the temple treasury was nourished by the sweat and blood of the masses as well.
One of the main sources of the royal income was taxes. They were incredibly high for the lower castes, with marriages, childbirth and even death being taxed. Country boats, ploughs, carts, umbrellas, headscarves, why, even a moustache, were taxed. Mothers were allowed to breastfeed their newborns only after they paid the ‘mulakaram’ (breast-tax) to the local lord, who would then grant permission. [Must read]
But you won’t hear this said too often because, as Appu Esthose Suresh reports in Mint:
“If the government makes any move, then the believers will protest and BJP will support the people,” he (a temple staff member) was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
It is precisely the fear of antagonizing a section of the Hindus that is forcing the state government to be cautious.
“This government does not have the courage to go against Hindu sentiments,” said P.R.P. Bhaskar, a political observer. “It will move in a direction which will accommodate the royal palace.”
“The Left Front gained Hindu votes for two reasons. Firstly, its traditional vote base consists of Hindus and a perception that Christian and Muslim votes are moving towards the Congress and its allies had led to a consolidation of Hindu votes. This might help the government change that perception a bit,” he added. [Link]
Hindu appeasement. That’s what will come in the way of a just, fair, pro-people decision about what should be done wit the temple wealth.
And you thought the Valley was unsafe to visit?
That is an advertisement published on the front-page of the Pakistani newspaper Dawn this morning. Two days ago, the paper wrote in an editorial: Continue reading And you thought the Valley was unsafe to visit?
#AgainstIndianCulture
Twitter hash-tag doing the rounds, becoming a meme with thousands of tweets. Small selection for you only:
JKCCS welcomes Supreme Court order for disbanding SPOs
A press release from the JAMMU AND KASHMIR COALITION OF CIVIL SOCIETY
8 JULY 2011: Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), welcomes the recent judgment delivered by the Supreme Court of India in which it has struck down as ‘unconstitutional’ the practice of arming local tribal youth of Chattisgarh as Special Police Officers (SPOs) in order to fight the Maoists. It has asked the Chattisgarh state government to:
· immediately stop using SPOs,
· recall all firearms distributed to them,
· desist from funding the recruitment of any other vigilante groups,
· ensure the filing of FIRs into criminal activities committed by them, and
· offer protection to those who need Continue reading JKCCS welcomes Supreme Court order for disbanding SPOs
Five Long Weekends
Recently a whole lot of noise was made and reams of paper were covered in fine print to make us realize how unique this July 2011 has been. We have been told that this phenomenon of a month having 5 Fridays, 5 Saturdays and 5 Sundays is a rare occurrence. Someone said that this has happened after 823 years and then someone else came along and disputed this figure. Newspapers not normally inclined to accept their mistakes did so with alacrity, and they had good reason to do so it was someone else’s mistake that they were foregrounding.
The 24X7 purveyors of nonsense have as usual gone to town, breaking all kinds of news and inviting all manner of soothsayers, numerologists, tarot-card readers, palmists, astrologists and other purveyors of superstition to respond to the breathless inanities of the perpetually excited anchors about the cataclysmic significance of these five long weekends coalescing at the peak of the Monsoon Season. Continue reading Five Long Weekends
A beacon of light in the heart of darkness: SC holds Salwa Judum unconstitutional
The Supreme Court has held that the use of extra-legal armed forces in Chhattisgarh is unconstitutional. Responding to a PIL filed by Nandini Sundar, Ramachandra Guha and E.A.S. Sharma, the court’s decision turns on the nature of the Salwa Judum and the appointment of special police officers under the Chhattisgarh Police Act. But if it were a judgment that had merely ruled on the technicalities, it would have been a welcome and competent order, but would have missed its moment of constitutional greatness. This judgment attains such greatness by virtue of its deft combination of insightful legal analysis, the articulation of a moral vision of constitutionalism and development and its sharp invocation of rhetoric (in the best sense of the term) and fiction to buttress its arguments.
Fiction, William Gass reminds us is the figure of truth. Law has always produced and promoted legal fictions and the substantive interpretation of law often rests upon on a body of rhetorical figures and scenarios. The imaginative and moral character of legal fiction can often be found wanting, but there are times when the courts produce inspired moral visions that outdo even literature. Although fiction in the manner of its making, is pure philosophy, Gass says that no novelist has created a more dashing hero than the handsome absolute, or conceived more dramatic extrications- the soul’s escape from the body, for instance, or the will’s from cause. Nandini Sundar v. State of Chattisgarh is an excellent example of the ways in which the law can productively use metaphor as legal argument (‘our constitution is not a pact for national suicide’)
There will be time in the near future to examine all the nitty gritties of the judgment, but for now lets celebrate this amazing judgment. I am reproducing some extracts which may be of interest, and highlighting some of the key metaphors that the judges use in describing the state of affairs in Chhattisgarh and India more generally. (Full text available here; .pdf, 58 pages.) Continue reading A beacon of light in the heart of darkness: SC holds Salwa Judum unconstitutional
Mental Health Professionals Criticise Union Health Minister’s Statement on Homosexuality
PRESS STATEMENT: MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS CRITICISE UNION HEALTH MINISTER’S STATEMENT ON HOMOSEXUALITY
6 July 2011: We are a group of highly qualified mental health professionals who are practicing as psychiatrists, clinical psychologists and behavioural psychologists from across the country. We regret the statement made by Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Monday where he called homosexuality a “disease”, as being “unnatural”, and a having “come from western shores”. Scientific evidence shows that homosexuality is a natural variant of human sexuality and is not a mental disorder or disease. Homosexuality as a specific diagnostic category was removed from the World Health Organisation’s ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders published in 1992, and from the American Psychiatric Association’s DSM-IV Guidelines in 1973. Continue reading Mental Health Professionals Criticise Union Health Minister’s Statement on Homosexuality
To Manmohan Singh from a Bangladeshi: Jyoti Rahman
Guest post by JYOTI RAHMAN
In a Q&A session with five newspaper editors recently, India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had this to say about the Indo-Bangladesh relations:
With Bangladesh, we have good relations. Bangladesh government has gone out of its way to help us in apprehending the anti-Indian insurgent groups which were operating from Bangladesh for a long time. And that is why we have been generous in dealing with Bangladesh. We are not a rich country. But we offered it a line of credit of one billion dollars, when Sheikh Hasina came here. We are also looking at ways and means of some further unilateral concessions. We are also looking at ways and means of finding a practical and pragmatic solution to the sharing of Teesta waters. I plan to go there myself. The external affairs minister is planning to go later this week. So, Bangladesh, our relations are quite good. So with Bangladesh, our relations are quite good. But we must reckon that at least 25 per cent of the population of Bangladesh swears by the Jamiat-ul-Islami and they are very anti-Indian, and they are in the clutches, many times, of the ISI. So, a political landscape in Bangladesh can change at any time. We do not know what these terrorist elements, who have a hold on the jamiat-e-islami elements in Bangladesh, can be upto.
There are more errors here than one would have found in the balance sheets of Lehman Brothers. Let me note a few. Continue reading To Manmohan Singh from a Bangladeshi: Jyoti Rahman
Gandhi vs. Gandhi
Guest post by NEERJA DASANI
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s ‘Dilli Darbar’ on Wednesday reaffirmed this government’s unyielding belief in the trickle-down theory. Let a select few be given the pie and eventually they’ll share it byte by byte. One of the hand-picked senior editors at this super-exclusive meeting said Mr. Singh came across as “totally relaxed, confident and jovial” even as they confronted him with ‘very embarrassing questions’.
The life-altering titbits flashed repeatedly on our TV screens. “I am not a lame duck PM” – Arre wah! “I have full support of Sonia Gandhi – What more could we possibly ask for? “This is not a puppet government” – Hear, Hear! “I can come under Lokpal” – Or the Lokpal can come under you, same difference. “Inflation will come under control by March 2012” – No rush, we’ll just quietly wait in a corner, maybe eat a meal or two less, work three jobs, drop out of school…anything for the nation.
But hidden deep within all this rhetoric was a misquote of great magnitude, one that reveals a lot about the man at the helm and the dodginess of the boat we are all currently rocking along on. Continue reading Gandhi vs. Gandhi
Counting the Cost: Industrialism, Capitalism, Socialism
Guest Post by SHASHANK KELA
Years ago, after the fall of the Berlin wall and the collapse of communism, a faux philosopher announced the end of history. What he meant was the permanent victory of capitalism and its correlate, liberal democracy. Unfortunately history has an unkind habit of rolling right along, throwing a sucker punch at intervals – remember Gordon (No Boom and Bust) Brown? The triumph of laissez faire capitalism has been celebrated since the ’80s (when the term Reaganomics was coined for redistributive policies that blithely transferred wealth to the rich). Until the crash of 2008-09 set the cat amongst the pigeons; and sent the semi-converted scurrying back to Keynes – and Marx (especially in Germany where the sales of his books suddenly soared). However after a state bailout of unprecedented proportions, that had the satisfactory effect of restoring the position of the wealthy, especially the bankers and financial whiz kids who had caused the crash, the dust settled down. In the industrialized west, discontent seethes beneath the surface, but the dictum that the experts – the bankers, the CEOs, the policymakers (who swap roles seamlessly) – are right still holds. The majority must accept a decline in their standard of living and the prospects, such as they were, of job security so that growth can continue and the minority prosper even more opulently. This, of course, has long been the received wisdom in India, where, ever since the ’80s, full consensus was reached on the fact that the middle-class is the only class that matters – the rest can go hang. Continue reading Counting the Cost: Industrialism, Capitalism, Socialism
Cities and Infrastructure – The Road Widening Saga in Bangalore
This evening, I was sitting in a coffee shop and writing about the sociology of information, how information is mired in relationships and how trust, suspicion and social relations develop in the course of circulation and exchange of information. As I was beginning to disentangle the complex web of legitimacy and regulations surrounding information, a friend called to inform that some activists and citizens had been arrested for protesting against the tree felling and road widening at Sankey Road in the northern part of Bangalore. In the last few days, the conflict regarding road widening and tree felling at Sankey Road got strong coverage in the media because citizens began gathering around the trees and the roads to prevent authorities from felling the trees. Despite this, the authorities went about felling the trees for widening the roads. The activists and protestors were clearly becoming a nuisance for the government officials and institutions who have not been able to execute the works. Hence, today, at some point, some of our activist friends were arrested on the false charges that they had assaulted public officials in their conduct of ‘government’ duty. The charges were filed under section 343 or 353 CrPC which also implied that the arrest was non-bailable. Over the course of the evening, news went about on FaceBook and Twitter about these arrests, and people from in and around Sankey Road were called to silently protest at the Aiyyappa Temple where the trees were being felled for enabling the road widening. The arrested activists and citizens were released from jail and all the charges against them were ‘dropped’ at about 6 PM. The court also granted a stay order on the tree felling around the same time, with further hearings and orders to arrive on Monday. Continue reading Cities and Infrastructure – The Road Widening Saga in Bangalore
Speaking of Synthesis
Ask any first time visitor to Kashmir about their impressions and you will, in all likelihood, be inundated with superlatives about the landscape, the mountains, the greenery, the hospitality, the gardens, the lakes and what not, but there is one thing that both the first timer and the old Kashmir hand rarely talk about and that is the historical monuments of the valley. The mosques, shrines and ancient temples of the valley are rarely mentioned in all this recounting. I am as much guilty of this neglect as all the others that I have met, perhaps more guilty because I have been to Kashmir scores of times.
This piece is an attempt to make amends. The sites are far too many to cover in one article so I have decided to confine myself to a handful of structures and monuments that lie scattered in and around Srinagar. Hopefully there will be more occasions to write about the others soon. Before we commence this sight-seeing tour of Srinagar, let us start with a few words about the history of Srinagar and of Kashmir.
A Free Man
Mohammed Ashraf is short and stubby, with a narrow but muscular chest and small, broad hands balanced on strong, flexible wrists. But Ashraf does not grudge the throw of the dice that has made him a safediwallah with a mazdoor’s body. A small man’s body can do things that a slenderchamak-challo cannot even contemplate.
A small man carries the ground close to him wherever he goes, even as he hangs along the side of a building three storeys high. The memory of the ground that allows him to crawl into crevices, perch on narrow ledges and balance on wobbly parapets. A short man knows the limits of his body, the extent of his reach, the exact position of his centre of balance. Unlike the tall man, he holds no illusions regarding his abilities or his dimensions; he will never overreach, overextend or overbalance.
A Free Man, my first book, should be in stores this July. Read the rest of the excerpt
KAFILA - COLLECTIVE EXPLORATIONS SINCE 2006 