Capitalism, Debates, Government, Movements, Politics

Chronicle of a Bail Foretold: Saroj Giri

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Guest post by SAROJ GIRI

Till very recently it was not possible to discuss Binayak Sen without referring to the corporate land grab and state repression in Chhattisgarh. Somehow Salwa Judum, the displacement of thousands of adivasis and the Maoist movement would come in the picture. Above all, what would come out is Sen’s work in the specific context of the suffering of the adivasis. Indeed soon after the bail order was granted, it came so naturally for Sen’s beaming wife to state that he will of course go back to resume his work in Chhattisgarh.

Upon his release from Raipur Central Jail on April 18 2011, Sen immediately called for a dialogue between the Maoists and the government and reminded us of so many other political prisoners languishing in the country’s jails. In the video showing Sen being greeted by his supporters after his release he enthusiastically joins in giving slogans saying, ‘Shankar Guha Niyogi Zindabad’. But the supporters soon after break into ‘Binayak Sen Zindabad’. You could immediately see this embarrassed look on his face, totally disapproving this iconisation.

Indeed, Sen seems very far off from celebrating his release as a major victory for democracy or a boost forIndia’s image as a modern democracy and so on. He seems really far off from the dominant discourse which seeks to cleanse the ‘Binayak Sen issue’ of the harsh realities of India’s dirty war, the inequality and the injustice towards the adivasis and their suffering. Continue reading Chronicle of a Bail Foretold: Saroj Giri →

Law, Politics, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

He’s Out on Bail- Time to Think Again: Dilip D’Souza

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Guest post by DILIP D’SOUZA

So you’ve been following the Binayak Sen case. What now? What are the aspects and implications of the case to consider now that he is out on bail?

Here are a few that come to my mind. Your mileage may vary.

*The suspicious things Sen is supposed to have done. For example, you have heard often that Sen visited Narayan Sanyal in jail multiple times. Why, you ask. Whatever the reason, think of this: In 2006, before the first time (and indeed before each subsequent time), he wrote to the Raipur Jail Superintendent asking for permission to visit Sanyal. After this request made its way through the police bureaucracy, senior police officials in Raipur wrote to the same Superintendent saying “Central Jail Raipur mein bandi Narayan Sanyal se bhent karne ke liye Dr. Binayak Sen jaata hai to is karyalay ko koi aapatti nahin hai.” (“This department has no objection if Dr. Binayak Sen goes to meet Narayan Sanyal who is detained in Central
Jail, Raipur.”)

If the police had no objection to the visits “at the time”, why was this later an issue at all? Why have learned commenters made so much of this, hinting at dark things Sen must have been doing? One example,  note how the author of the ‘report’ says “Admittedly, the meetings took place with prior permission from jail officials”, but has let stand the implication that there was something dark going on).

Continue reading He’s Out on Bail- Time to Think Again: Dilip D’Souza →

Everyday Life, Excavation, Frontiers, Identities, Mirror Worlds

Do I look painDoo?

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This post is dedicated to Nadeem F. Paracha.

Photo by 'Life Church Burnley' Flickr: "shoorkot road toba tek sing love this palce.but need much improvement"

[Photo by ‘Life Church Burnley’ on Flickr: “shoorkot road toba tek singh love this place but need much improvement”]

So on Facebook I saw a fellow Punjabi who lives in vilayat has listed his hometown as Toba Tek Singh, Pakistan, which I thought was very cool. Why didn’t I get this idea? Never mind, I thought, like all good ideas this must be stolen. My hometown on Facebook now is also Toba Tek Singh, Pakistan. It was only much after going mad over Manto’s story did I discover that Toba Tek Singh was a real place in west Punjab. Always wondered what its people thought about the story. Continue reading Do I look painDoo? →

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Debates, Government, Law, Politics

Is It Nineteen Eighty Four Already?

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On 9 April 2011, 11 members of the English Department of Delhi University (almost the entire Department) resigned from various (non-statutory) work committees within the Department. They carried on all their other duties, including teaching, regardless. This mass resignation followed repeated requests from them to their Head of Department to call a meeting of the Department Council of the English Department. By resigning (only from the non-statutory committees), the members of the Department were hoping to bring largely symbolic and moral pressure to bear on the Head, to perform his duties!!

You know something is seriously wrong with a workplace when members of Department have to bring pressure to bear on a Head to perform his or her regular, statutory duties. You should really smell a rat when it’s not the minions and juniors but the bosses at the highest levels that are bending and twisting rules to their advantage; publicly ignoring long-standing statutes and conventions; inventing new ones almost overnight; and practising selective amnesia about procedures.

Continue reading Is It Nineteen Eighty Four Already? →

Centre watch, Government

The UGC’s dictates: Pratiksha Baxi

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Guest post by Pratiksha Baxi

The UGC’s new regime of qualifications, evaluation and supervision of teachers employed in universities makes fascinating reading for those who are entertained by the sublime ludicrousness of those with the power to shape our everyday lives in the academia.

The new regime betrays a lack of understanding of the basic enterprise of what academics do. The new regime is too voluminous to be read with lucidity at once. However it is not too difficult to understand immediately that the new regime, ushered in with the new pay hike, has imposed adverse conditions of employment. This is specially true for assistant professors who now are eligible for associate professorship only after 12 years of serving the University (instead of 5 years as earlier). The doctrine of reasonable and legitimate expectations  stands fully violated by the UGC, as assistant professors at the time of employment would not have expected the imposition of these adverse conditions.

The UGC has ignored the fact that the revision of pay scales cannot enforce a contract – signed or otherwise – on any faculty to adhere to the new rules since such a contract can only be constituted as un-free and therefore, not valid. In other words, better pay which was ostensibly ushered in to meet the rising cost of living cannot be conditional to the UGC’s homogenising and uncreative vision of how to enhance evaluation of teachers’ performance and determine promotions.

Continue reading The UGC’s dictates: Pratiksha Baxi →

Bad ideas, Empire/ Imperialism, Government, Law, Mirror Worlds, Violence/Conflict

Free Dr Khaleel Chishty: Amna Chishty

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Update: A hopeful note from Kavita Srivastava

An appeal by AMNA CHISHTY

16th April 2011

My father is almost 80 years old. He received his PhD from University of Edinburgh, Scotland in 1968 in Public Health Virology. He had an illustrious career as a professor and head of department of virology and microbiology at Karachi University. In the late 80’s he retired from his last job as the Director of Public Health at King Abdul Aziz Airport in Jeddah Saudi Arabia. He is a principled man who is well‐read, well bred and well traveled. He worked hard to raise a family of six children – one son (oldest, with engineering diploma), five daughters (one is a doctor, one is a Pharmacologist, two are graduates and myself an MBA in marketing). He educated us and built a house for us in Karachi and supported his younger brother in India as well. After retirement he wanted to live in that house in Karachi and enjoy his retirement with his family and his grandchildren.

The following events led to his current plight: In 1992 my father went to Ajmer to visit his ailing mother at his brother’s house near Dargah Sharif.  Continue reading Free Dr Khaleel Chishty: Amna Chishty →

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

Chidambaram khush hua: Mahtab Alam

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Guest post by MAHTAB ALAM

On Friday morning, when I started for the Supreme Court to attend the bail hearing of Dr. Binayak Sen, like many of our friends and comrades I was not sure of whether he would be granted bail. I was afraid that the case would be adjourned once again, as many of us who are regular visitors of courts expect, aware of the delaying tactics of government counsels, and the history of tareekh par tareekh. Kavita Srivastava, who has been following the case closely and campaigning tirelessly for Binayak’s release along with others, put the spirit back in me. It couldn’t get any worse, she said.

Fortunately, it turned out to be a good Friday. I was happy, as were my friends and comrades. We wanted to scream out of joy and happiness but we restrained ourselves for we were in the court premises and could be booked for ‘contempt of the Court’. Naturally, it was one of the happiest moments our life. Binayak and Ilinia a source of inspiration for hundreds of students and youth like me. I am happy for Binayak, for his family, especially for his mother, for ordinary (read extra-ordinary) people of Chattisgarh and for thousands of his supporters and justice loving people. Continue reading Chidambaram khush hua: Mahtab Alam →

Debates, Media politics, Movements, Politics, Scams

Anna At Nehru Place?!: Aditya Sarkar

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Guest post by ADITYA SARKAR

On the afternoon of 25 March, Nehru Place felt different. The rectangular maze of shops and offices wore its usual air of busy activity, but instead of being concentrated around a million acts of individualized consumption as it normally is, the energy humming through the place circulated around a public spectacle. Visitors, bystanders, and low-paid office and shop employees clustered in the central square, and on the balconies of the first floor, their gazes fixed on a street play taking place right outside the central Bajaj office. About twenty young men and women, all dressed in black, raised fists, shouted slogans, and mocked the usual suspects – MNCs, netas, and plutocrats, in the name of the aam aadmi. Shop after shop emptied out. Hundreds of people watched, many applauding loudly. The specific target of this public campaign, though, seemed opaque to most, as the publicity leaflets circulated rather more sluggishly than the sentiments evoked by the performers.

Continue reading Anna At Nehru Place?!: Aditya Sarkar →

Empire/ Imperialism, Everyday Life, Excavation, Identities, Mirror Worlds, Sports, Violence/Conflict

Cricket, Azadi and Pakistan: Mir Laieeq Ishtiyaq

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Guest post by MIR LAIEEQ ISHTIYAQ

As all of India celebrated the well-deserved Indian victory in the cricket world cup finals, the mood in the Kashmir valley was different. Their favourite team was ousted in the semi-final itself. On the eve of the semi-final between India and Pakistan at Mohali, a friend asked on Facebook: “That Kashmiris don’t support the Indian cricket team is well understood, but why is there so much support for Pakistan? Seems INDEPENDENCE IS JUST A MYTH…” There are no simple answers to this question.

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[Pictures taken in Kashmir during the India-Pakistan Mohali semi-final by ISHAN TANKHA for Open magazine.] Continue reading Cricket, Azadi and Pakistan: Mir Laieeq Ishtiyaq →

Everyday Life, Frontiers, Identities, Mirror Worlds

Still Bangali: Reflections on a New Year: Jyoti Rahman

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Guest post by JYOTI RAHMAN

Exactly ten years ago yesterday, upon arriving at a friend’s place, instead of ‘Shubho Nobo Borsho’ (Bangla new year greeting), I was greeted with: ‘Have you heard the news? Call home now. Hope family’s okay!’ Militant jihadis struck the new year’s dawn cultural events in Ramna, the major park at the heart of Dhaka, killing over half a dozen people. Since these events are attended by most of my family in Dhaka, and by most of my friends, we were worried. Frantic phone calls and MSN chats (or did we still do ICQ then, I forget) ensued. Fortunately, the families were safe. But this wouldn’t be the last time such phone calls were made.

Over the following years, militants bombed cinema halls, killed progressive politicians, carried out suicide attacks against judges, and tried to enforce shariah rule in rural northern parts of the country. Things got so bad that when a friend called to tell me about Muhammad Yunus winning the Nobel Peace Prize, upon hearing, ‘Have you heard about Yunus?’, my first reaction was ‘Oh no, another assassination’. Continue reading Still Bangali: Reflections on a New Year: Jyoti Rahman →

Bad ideas, Empire/ Imperialism, Frontiers, Law, Violence/Conflict

Free Murtaza Manzoor

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This release comes from AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

Urgent Action: Child Detained Without Charge or Trial

UA: 115/11 Index: ASA 20/015/2011 India Date: 14 April 2011

Murtaza Manzoor has been held in administrative detention since 8 February by police in Jammu and Kashmir, India. His official birth certificate states that he is only 17 years old.

Murtaza Manzoor was arrested on 21 January by police in Srinagar, the capital of Jammu and Kashmir. He was arrested in relation to a case from June 2010 on allegations of attempted murder, assault and rioting. According to the police, he is an “incorrigible antisocial element” who was leading a protest march that resulted in protestors pelting police with stones. Continue reading Free Murtaza Manzoor →

Bad ideas, Empire/ Imperialism, Law, Media politics, Politics

‘Justice on Trial’ in the Times of Tilism: The Absence of Binayak Sen and the Presence of Anna Hazare on Television in April 2011

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Sometime today, the Supreme Court bench of the honorable Justices H. S. Bedi and C.K. Prasad will hear arguments for and against the petition asking that  Dr. Binayak Sen, currently sentenced to life imprisonment by the Chhattisgarh High Court on charges of sedition and several other sections of the Indian Penal Code,  be given bail. Continue reading ‘Justice on Trial’ in the Times of Tilism: The Absence of Binayak Sen and the Presence of Anna Hazare on Television in April 2011 →

Countryside, Debates, Ecology/Environment, Movements

The Making of an Authority: Anna Hazare in Ralegan Siddhi

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(I am posting a much longer version of my previous article that will also respond to some of the queries and comments. This article is based on my research, field work and interviews in Ralegan Sidhi since 1991.)

This article is focussed mainly on understanding how exactly the rural environmental works in the journey of Anna Hazare and Ralegan Sidhi are articulated within a coherent ideological framework, to acquire their legitimacy and authority, which are fed by, and fed into, some dominant political cultures of the state. Any political theory and practice, built on this framework, can open the possibilities of a strengthening of the conservative and nationalist forces. Certainly, the ideology of a rural organisation or a movement and its appeal is not based on a single plank. In the case of Anna Hazare and his programme, though the developmental and the environmental works form the core of its ideological structures, it includes other issues as well. At times it provides a different scale of activities to its audience, but eventually reinforces its principal ideological framework. Some understanding of the ideological DNA of the green villagers and the fellow environmental travellers also gives us an idea as to what elements of this endeavour and ideology motivate villagers and environmentalists.

The Historical Context of Maharashtra
Anna Hazare and Ralegan Siddhi are not a new addition to the social history of the Maharashtra state. Indeed, the movement has borrowed many features from the historical evolution of the region, and the political culture of the state, with which it negotiates at different levels. There are many factors at play, though three are of prime importance in the context of this paper: (i) nativism and regionalism in Maharashtrian culture and politics (ii) structure and nature of caste and class and (iii) agrarian economy and local environmentalism.
Continue reading The Making of an Authority: Anna Hazare in Ralegan Siddhi →

Bad ideas, Images, Language, Movements, Politics, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

लोकतंत्र की आत्मसमीक्षा का क्षण

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अण्णा हजारे के ‘नेतृत्व’ मे शुरू हुए भ्रष्टाचार विरोधी आन्दोलन का पहला चरण सफलतापूर्वक समाप्त हो गया है. अनेक लोगों को सरकार को हिला देने का सुख और संतोष इस आंदोलन ने दिया है. हजारे ने खुद यह कहा कि एक बार तो भगत सिंह ने अंग्रेजों को भगाया था, इस बार ‘काले’ अंग्रेजों को भगा दिया गया है. इसे दूसरी आज़ादी की लड़ाई भी कहा जा रहा है. इसके पहले एक और ‘दूसरी आज़ादी’ की लड़ाई लड़ी गई थी लेकिन शायद वह असली नहीं रही होगी तभी तो इसे तीसरी नहीं दूसरी आज़ादी की जंग कहा जा रहा है. यह सोचने का विषय है कि इस देश में हर प्रकार के संघर्ष को अपना औचित्य सिद्ध करने के लिए क्यों खुद को स्वतंत्रता संग्राम के रूप में प्रचारित करना पड़ता  है. कहा जा सकता है कि यह तो भाषा का रूपकात्मक प्रयोग है, इसे आगे खींचने की ज़रूरत नहीं. इस रूपक को गढ़ने  को मजबूर दिमाग जिस ग्रंथि से जूझता है , वह शायद यह है कि हममें से अधिकतर को यह रंज और गम है कि हम 1947 के पहले पैदा नहीं हो सके थे और इस देश को आज़ाद कराने में हमारा कोई हिस्सा नहीं.दूसरे, उस आन्दोलन के अंतिम क्षण के शत्रु रक्त से रंजित न होने के कारण नवीन राष्ट्रीय शिशु के जन्म की वास्तविक अनुभूति से हम वंचित रह गए. इसके कारण हम सबको एक स्तर पर अपना राष्ट्रीय अस्तित्व ही अप्रामाणिक प्रतीत होता है.   हर पीढ़ी को इस कुंठा से मुक्ति के लिए कभी न कभी एक स्वतंत्रता संग्राम की आवश्यकता पड़ती  है. गोरे अंग्रेजों और काले अंग्रेजों को ‘भगाने’ के जिस  विकृत सुख लाभ की आकांक्षा इस तरह के वक्तव्यों में झलक पड़ती है, उसके पीछे छिपी हिंसा को पहचानना भी आसान नहीं होता. क्या यह इसलिए करना होता है कि ऐसे आन्दोलन एक ‘राष्ट्रीय’ कल्पना को उत्तेजित करना चाहते हैं और इस लिए राष्ट्रीय संदर्भों के सहारे अपनी वैधता हासिल करते हैं? जंतर मंतर के अनशन मंच की पृष्ठभूमि में भारत के मानचित्र को आवृत्त किए हुए, बल्कि उसकी सीमा से बाहर राष्ट्रीय ध्वज को लहराते हुए  गौर वर्णा भारत माता की छवि के विह्वल  आह्वान को जो अनसुना करे क्या उसे दुखियारी माता का पुत्र कहलाने का अधिकार रह जाएगा?  क्या उसके उद्धार के लिए, महिषासुर का दलन करने के लिए पुन: अपने अस्त्र-शस्त्र को शाणित न किया जाएगा? Continue reading लोकतंत्र की आत्मसमीक्षा का क्षण →

Debates, Excavation, Mirror Worlds, Politics

Joseph Lelyveld’s “Great Soul” or How to Damn with Faint Praise: Mridu Rai

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Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India by Joseph Lelyveld; Alfred A. Knopf, 425 pp., $28.95

Guest post by MRIDU RAI

Joseph Lelyveld’s book was banned in Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s native state of Gujarat a day after its publication in the United States. On 30 March 2011, the Hindu right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party that rules the state, led by its chief minister Narendra Modi, charged Lelyveld with committing “the most reprehensible act by hurting the sentiments of millions of people and demanded that he tender a public apology”. The provocation for this proscription was the mention in some reviews that Lelyveld had suggested Gandhi was bisexual and racist. At the very least, it is surprising that the first public outcry in India against the review — the book has not yet been released in India — should come from the Hindu Right, the political constituency of Nathuram Godse who assassinated Gandhi on 30 January 1948. This must join the many ironies Lelyveld’s book brings out, not least that of latter-day politicians in India (and South Africa) claiming to be his heirs and yet honouring his teaching, if at all, only in their most diluted and least recognizable versions. As Lelyveld writes in his author’s notes, ‘‘[I]t was hard to see what remained of him beyond his nimbus”. Continue reading Joseph Lelyveld’s “Great Soul” or How to Damn with Faint Praise: Mridu Rai →

Countryside, Debates, Ecology/Environment, Movements, Politics, Scams

The Making of Anna Hazare

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[This piece is based on my extensive field work on Anna Hazare and his movement in Ralegan Sidhi over some years and is also a part of my forthcoming book Green and Saffron: Hindu Nationalism and Indian Environmental Politics. MS]

The anti-corruption movement, spearheaded by Anna Hazare, and the passage of the Lokpal Bill have generated unprecedented interest amongst a wide spectrum of society about the ideas, politics and organisations of civil society in general, and Anna Hazare in particular. Hazare’s anti-corruption crusade merits attention not only for its importance in ensuring a corruption-free society, but also due to its multifaceted nature. Hazare’s politics however has to be seen in a larger framework and in a wider historical context. Howsoever laudable the goals of anti-corruption movement in India today, the movement is not beyond the categories of gender, caste, authority, democracy, nationalism and ultra-nationalism. Far from transcending them, the movement is transforming and being transformed by the implicit deployment of such categories. I wish to place Hazare in the larger context of his environmental journeys, where the elusive but crucial element is one of authority that is exercised due to a large degree of consent and conservatism. Yet, almost all accounts on him, largely celebratory in nature, do not examine the ideology and politics of his works. These are crucial not only to critically assess the present and the future of our anti-corruption movements, but also to interrogate certain brands of civil society activisms and environmentalisms. Continue reading The Making of Anna Hazare →

Centre watch, Empire/ Imperialism, Law, Violence/Conflict

JKCCS demands probe into killings of political workers

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Press release from the JAMMU KASHMIR COALITION OF CIVIL SOCIETY

11th April 2011

Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) is concerned at the spate of killing of civilian political workers belonging to different religious and political parties. So far in this year, five civilian political workers have been killed.

Culture, Debates, Government, Media politics, Movements, Scams

‘Anna Hazare’, Democracy and Politics: A Response to Shuddhabrata Sengupta

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In an earlier post, (hits to which have broken all records on Kafila), Shuddhabrata Sengupta has raised some extremely important points in the context of the media-simulated coverage and celebrations around the ‘Anna Hazare’ movement. I agree with the central argument made by Shuddha – which is about the authoritarian, indeed totalitarian implications of the proposed Jan Lokpal Bill (though, as many commentators to the post have pointed out, the Bill really remains to be drafted and passed in parliament).

I have no doubt whatsoever that any demand that simply seeks a law of the sort that has been raised by the movement (even in the proposed form), is completely counterproductive. Indeed, it is naive. Matters like corruption or communalism cannot simply be legislated out of existence through tougher laws. Inevitably, they will lead us up to China type situations where you will end up demanding summary trials and executions. Even in the best of cases, a law and state-dependent mode of addressing such problems, adds to the powers of a corrupt bureaucracy. I also agree with his (and Bobby Kunhu’s) criticisms of some aspects of what they have both chosen to designate as ‘mass hysteria’ of sorts – I certainly do not agree with this description but that need not detain us here. I am  interested in something else here and that has to do with the way the movement has struck a chord among unprecedentedly large numbers of people – mainly middle class people I am sure, but the support for it is not just confined to them. In fact, on the third day of the dharna at Jantar Mantar I received an excited call from a CPM leader who works among the peasants in villages of northern India in the Kisan Sabha, about the response to the movement he had encountered in his constituency. I doubt that this was a support simulated either by the government or by the electronic media. Continue reading ‘Anna Hazare’, Democracy and Politics: A Response to Shuddhabrata Sengupta →

Culture, Debates, Media politics, Movements, Politics, Scams

Of a Few, By a Few, For the Few: Bobby Kunhu

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Guest post by BOBBY KUNHU, carrying the debate on the Anti-corruption movement forward

I am distinctly uncomfortable with predictions – using either scientific or unscientific tools. For me it smacks of charlatanry – from astrology to psephology to stock market speculation. But with the charade that was unleashed for the past few days on news television by the mainstream media and of course at Jantar Mantar and a few other town squares across the “mainstream” Indian political landscape by Anna Hazare’s fast – I did dare to make an attempt – both at prediction and more comfortably with dissent. I foretold the outcome of the fast tableau at an emergency meeting that was convened by some co-travellers at the Salem Citizen’s Forum to debate on whether and how to show solidarity to Anna Hazare…

…Well, it is not just Anna Hazare and his team who won this match comfortably. All actors who joined the show have won the match. Everyone – the “civil society” that sat on fast at Jantar Mantar and other places, the Corporate media, the glamour world, the Government, political establishment of all hues and shades – everyone who bothered to join the game. It was like bathing in the Ganges during the Maha Kumbh – everyone’s sins were washed away. And of course nobody in their right minds regardless of political affiliations or ideologies could take a position “for corruption”!!! A veritable Bush-ian position — either you are with Anna Hazare or you are with corruption. And yes, India Incorporated has won the match and it is time for celebrations!

Read the full post on Countermedia

Centre watch, Empire/ Imperialism, Government, Language, Law, Violence/Conflict

Dastan-e-Sedition Banaam Hakim Sen

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Dastangoi performed by Mahmood Farooqui and Danish Husain as part of Justice on Trial for the Free Binayak Sen Campaign, at the Alliance Francaise de Delhi on 6 April 2011. Video credit: Nicky Chandam.

Bad ideas, Debates, Government, Law, Media politics, Politics

At the Risk of Heresy: Why I am not Celebrating with Anna Hazare

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At the risk of heresy, let me express my profound unease at the crescendo of euphoria surrounding the ‘Anna Hazare + Jan Lokpal Bill’ phenomenon as it has unfolded on Jantar Mantar in New Delhi and across several hysterical TV stations over the last few days.

This time around, I have to say that the print media has acted (upto now) with a degree of restraint that I think is commendable. Partly, this has to do with the different natures of the two media. If you have to write even five hundred words about the Jan Lokpal bill, you run out of platitudes against corruption in the first sentence (and who can speak ‘for’ corruption anyway?) and after that you have to begin thinking about what the bill actually says, and the moment you do that, you cannot but help consider the actual provisions and their implications. On television on the other hand, you never have to speak for more than a sound-byte, (and the anchor can just keep repeating himself or herself, because that is the anchor’s job) and the accumulation of pious vox-pop sound bytes ‘against corruption’ leads to a tsunami of ‘sentiment’ that brooks no dissent. Continue reading At the Risk of Heresy: Why I am not Celebrating with Anna Hazare →

DISSENT, DEBATE, CREATE