Bad ideas, Debates, Identities

“Caste census will increase incidence of Japanese encephalitis”: Sociologist

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Just four years ago, during “Mandal II”, everyone opposing the extension of OBC reservations to central educational institutions were saying we don’t even know how many OBCs there are. Now, when there is a proposal to count the OBCs, these voices are not to be heard. Just like “Mandal II”, a new term, “caste census” has been invented, as if the census already does not count the Scheduled Castes. The term “caste census” is used repeatedly in a way that suggests that a secular, progressive pro-development exercise is being sullied, polluted, by this monster of caste because of those uncouth cow belt politicians. Chee chee!

Obfuscation and intellectual dishonesty are in order. So, a lot of bullshit is being written about “caste census” to prevent us from knowing just how many of us are OBCs, to prevent the Other Backward Classes from entering the privileged spaces of the upper castes. This one takes the cake: Continue reading “Caste census will increase incidence of Japanese encephalitis”: Sociologist →

Capitalism, Countryside, Debates, Ecology/Environment, Media politics

The Desertification of Punjab and the Liability of Opinion Makers

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In August last year, we had drawn attention to a piece by Indian Express editor Shekhar Gupta on the remarkable edit page piece he had penned on what he claimed was the ‘absence of drought’, in the Green Revolution region and provided his ‘explanation’ of why it had been possible. It had been possible, Gupta had opined, because all the great things had been accomplished in decades when the most retrograde environmental and jholawala movements in the history of mankind had not yet arrived on the scene. And with no evidence whatsoever and with nothing but his blind ideological faith, Gupta had even misled his readers that ‘underground aquifers were being constantly recharged’. This when just a few days ago, NASA satellite pictures had shown the extent of groundwater depletion in this region. Continue reading The Desertification of Punjab and the Liability of Opinion Makers →

Bad ideas, Culture, Everyday Life

SMS booklets – guidelines for messaging addicts: Rafay Mahmood

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SMS Books[Sent to us by S. Akbar Zaidi, this article by RAFAY MAHMOOD was first published in The News of Pakistan. We are reproducing the this brilliantly funny report of the complete absence of boundaries between different forms (sms, print, internet) and the eclectic urge to take and assemble, to crack jokes, to create poetry – all in the service of the joy of life.]

“Tum Bijli, Pani or Train ko Rote ho Faraz / Is Mulk Mae Tau Toofan Bhi Time Per Nahin Aata”… This message was circulated all over the city when cyclone Phet  proved to be an anti-climax for Karachiites by arriving late and then changing course before it hit the city’s coast. The brains behind this poetic gem is ‘Faraz’, who baptizes every new cell phone with one of his socially relevant yet romantic poetic masterpieces. He is a legend, the undisputed king created by messages being forwarded on cell phones.

The Short Messaging Service (SMS) plays a key role in our lives today and the SMS culture has not only redefined the identity of people like Faraz but has also spawned the creation of an SMS book industry. Continue reading SMS booklets – guidelines for messaging addicts: Rafay Mahmood →

Debates, Government, Law, Violence/Conflict

Social Profiling – Indian Style

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“The Muslim is not wanted in the armed forces because he is always suspect – whether we want to admit it or not, most Indians consider Muslims a fifth column for Pakistan” [Vengeance! India after the assassination of Indira Gandhi (New Delhi, Norton, 1985), pp. 1995-96]
-George Fernandes

Amnesty International  defines racial profiling as the targeting of individuals and groups by law enforcement officials, even partially, on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, or religion, except when there is trustworthy information, relevant to the locality and timeframe, that links persons belonging to one of the aforementioned groups to an identified criminal incident or scheme.

I

Is racial/social profiling practised in India? Continue reading Social Profiling – Indian Style →

Debates, Empire/ Imperialism, Frontiers, Identities, Politics, Violence/Conflict

Mohamad Junaid: What Does the Chatham House Poll in Kashmir Tell Us?

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Guest post by MOHAMAD JUNAID

The Chatham House poll conducted in the autumn of 2009 in Jammu, Ladakh, Kashmir and Azad Kashmir has revealed an interesting pattern of opinions held across these regions on issues ranging from the perception of major problems people face to effective solutions to the Kashmir issue and the best means to achieve them. Robert Bradnock, under whose supervision the poll was conducted, however presented the results somewhat shoddily leading to confusion over the real import of the opinion poll. This confusion has prompted media in India and Pakistan to portray the polls selectively or in a self-serving manner, largely reflecting their nationalist stances on the Kashmir question. The poll, in reality, points to some interesting developments in Kashmir and indicates a way toward an eventual, mutually agreeable solution.

Consistent with every other poll on the issue, Chatham House poll has shown again that an overwhelming number of people (74—95 percent) in Kashmir region demand independence. This figure comes as no surprise because the support for independence for Kashmir over accession to Pakistan has been steadily growing over the last 20 years. This feeling is more concretely reflected in the fact that most Kashmiris (more than 90 percent) support withdrawal of Indian troops from Kashmir, while a similar figure (around 80 percent) want Pakistan to withdraw its troops from Azad Kashmir. Along with demilitarization, there is a clear demand for de-weaponization (more than 80 percent) and an end to militant violence (around 90 percent) in the Kashmir region. The Line of Control in its present form is uniformly rejected in both Kashmir and Azad Kashmir. Continue reading Mohamad Junaid: What Does the Chatham House Poll in Kashmir Tell Us? →

Bad ideas, Empire/ Imperialism, Frontiers, Identities, Law

‘The Moral Obligation of Indian Civil and Political Society’: Rekha Chowdhary on Fake Encounters in Kashmir

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Guest post by REKHA CHOWDHARY

With another incident of fake encounters in Kashmir, it is a moment of introspection for the political and civil society of India. For all those who are proud of Indian democracy, it is a moment to reflect as to how this democracy fares for the people in Kashmir. It is important to note that democracy does not remain limited to the electoral choices and the extent and intensity of competition in the formation of government – it also involves the political and civil rights of people. Even when democracy has been restored in Kashmir in its procedural form and is kicking in the form of intensely competitive politics, its substantive effect is missing. The right to life is the minimum that is provided by any democracy, the range of rights however goes much beyond this and involves the basic civil liberties as well. However, the way the hapless innocent persons were cruelly murdered in Nadihal in north Kashmir and declared as militants – it is the denial of the minimum. It is not only the murder of three people, it is also the murder of Indian democracy! Continue reading ‘The Moral Obligation of Indian Civil and Political Society’: Rekha Chowdhary on Fake Encounters in Kashmir →

Countryside, Violence/Conflict

Women become targets; SPOs issue gag orders

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Ever since Mukram hit the news, there has been a sure and steady attempt to cut-off access to the areas surrounding the Chintalnar Camp.

In the meantime, sources who helped me and a reporter from Tehelka access the villages are worried about their safety. SPOs in Chintalnar have reportedly threatened to “take action” against villagers who help the press.

The following is a recent article for The Hindu that has provoked some of the backlash against the press.

A series of shots rang out in the night far beyond the barricaded perimeter of the Central Reserve Police Force camp here in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district. For a few minutes, the sentries on duty returned fire before their guns, and the ones that sounded in the distance, fell silent.

By morning, the adivasi settlements around the camp had emptied, the villagers wary of being caught and questioned by the CRPF’s morning patrol. “Everyone is hiding in the forests,” said a villager from Markaguda, a village about two km from the camp, “I expect we shall be beaten up this morning.”

Countryside, Violence/Conflict

Mukram violence worsens; adivasi girls allege rape

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Two sisters live in a clearing in the forest about 10 km beyond the abandoned houses and empty yards of Mukram village in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district. A third young girl cowers in the courtyard of her aunt’s house in neighbouring Tokanpalli. Between 14 and 18 years of age, Kose, Rame and Hidme (names changed) say they fled their homes in Mukram after they were sexually assaulted by Special Police Officers of the Chhattisgarh Police on May 22 this year.
“We can’t return to Mukram,” said Rame, “If they [the SPOs] find us again, they said they would cut my body into pieces and bury it in cement and no one would ever find it.”
Bad ideas

A Public Service Announcement: Rukavat ke liye Khed Hai

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Dear Readers,

There has been some consternation in the ranks regarding delays in comment moderation. If you do not see your comment up immediately, it is not because Central Committee has suddenly issued gag orders (we knew it!), we are becoming “un-democratic” (tyrants!), “authoritarian” (fascist bastards!), or coy (the dynamite of true revolutionaries is too much for our bourgeois souls). It is simply because all except one administrator are currently out of action.

Please have some sympathy for the lone Kafila elf, and desist from sending us 300 emails a day about Kafila’s sudden pact with the devil. Normal services will resume shortly :)

Capitalism, Countryside, Debates, Movements

Notes on the Jaffna Economy

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One of my friends in a discussion group in Colombo on ‘Democratising State and Society’ put forward the following challenge couple weeks ago.  He said, a year after the end of the war, many of us who had been following the situation of the displaced people in the North, including the lack of freedom of movement and the militarization of the North have done little to engage the oppressive economic conditions of those affected by the war and now being resettled.  That challenge was in the back of my mind as I visited Jaffna for ten days over the last two weeks.  I tried to grasp what one could on a short visit.  The following are very preliminary notes on the Jaffna economy, with a particular emphasis on agriculture and fisheries which ¬- despite technocratic and diasporic dreams of an information economy – continue to determine the economic life of the larger Jaffna population.  These tentative notes I hope will stimulate some interest towards much needed research on the economy of the Jaffna District and the war affected Northern and Eastern Provinces. Continue reading Notes on the Jaffna Economy →

Countryside, Violence/Conflict

Mukram slips into a vortex of violence

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Aimla Rame holds up a picture of her husband Aimla Nanda who disappeared after a police raid in Mukram. Photo: Aman Sethi/ The Hindu

Mukram: Rumours swirling around Mukram suggest that this adivasi village in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district may soon be abandoned. “There is talk of going to Orissa or Andhra [Pradesh],” said a prominent adivasi leader with familial ties to Mukram, “It could happen in as little as a week. Villagers say there is too much pressure from both, the Maoists and the Police.”
A mid-sized village of about 100 houses, Mukram shot to prominence as the site where an ill-fated company from the 62nd Battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) rested on the night of April 5 this year.  At dawn on April 6, the company was ambushed by about 300 armed cadres of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), resulting in the death of 76 security force members.
In a statement released after the attacks, the CPI (Maoist) praised the efforts of Comrade Rukhmati, a Maoist commander and Mukram resident, who was killed in the ambush. On May 11, The Hindu reported the death of Kunjam Suklu, a Mukram resident who, his family members allege, was beaten to death by the CRPF in a fit of retaliatory rage.
Capitalism, Centre watch, Government, Politics, Violence/Conflict

Don’t Treat us Like “Them”!

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How inconsiderate of the Israeli spokesperson to club us, the self proclaimed largest democracy in the world and an atomic super power to boot, with the likes of failed states like Pakistan and with two others (Afghanistan and Iraq) that are currently being taught  the basics of democracy by  the marines of the most powerful  democracy in the world.

How  ungrateful of him,  considering the fact we are buying so many weapons from his country, have signed so many MOUs with her,   befriended her after betraying an entire people, who looked up to us because they thought that being founders and leaders of the Non Aligned movement we will stand with them .

We have done all this and more, in the weak -kneed statement protesting the attack on the freedom flotilla we did not even name the country that had perpetrated the crime

Despite all our most sincere efforts to accommodate them, this is how they treat us

Did the Israeli spokesperson think that we will not complain?

Did he really think that we will not seek to draw the attention of the comity of Nations and of Obama?

We will not be denied our democratic right to raise our voice of protest,

We will, with all the power at our command, appeal to world opinion and to the conscience of Benjamin Netanyahu and the entire Israeli cabinet not to club us with Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq.

We seek to inform Mr Yahu that we have no idea about the nature of his country’s relations with these three, what we do know is that we are friends of Israel. We have tried so hard to prove it to her and to her close ally the US, why does she not trust us. What more does she want from us? Why won’t she tell us?

Someone please help!

Debates, Empire/ Imperialism, Excavation, Identities

Beware Bigotry – Free Speech and the Zapiro Cartoons: Mahmood Mamdani

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Text of talk on receiving an honorary doctorate at the University of Johannesburg, 25 May, 2010

MAHMOOD MAMDANI, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda

This text was sent to us by Sujata Patel

It warms my heart to see these flowing gowns. I congratulate you on work accomplished! For over a millennium, these gowns have been a symbol of high learning from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic. Should anyone ask you where they came from, tell them that the early universities of Europe – Oxford, Cambridge, le Sorbonne – borrowed them from the Islamic madressa of the Middle East. If they should seem incredulous, tell them that the gown did not come by itself: because medieval European scholars borrowed from the madressa much of the curriculum, from Greek philosophy to Iranian astronomy to Arab medicine and Indian mathematics, they had little difficulty in accepting this flowing gown, modeled after the dress of the desert nomad, as the symbol of high learning. Should they still express surprise, ask them to take a second look at the gowns of the ayatollahs in Iran and Iraq and elsewhere and they will see the resemblance. Education has no boundaries. Neither does it have an end. As the Waswahili in East Africa, which is where I come from, say: elimu haina muisho. Continue reading Beware Bigotry – Free Speech and the Zapiro Cartoons: Mahmood Mamdani →

Empire/ Imperialism, Everyday Life, Frontiers, Violence/Conflict

Holy Cow: Jyoti Rahman on Indophobia in Bangladesh

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I am grateful to JYOTI RAHMAN, a Bangladesh-focused blogger, for contributing this guest post

Once upon a time, slaughter of cow was a major political issue in Bengal. There was a clause about it in the Bengal Pact — an agreement which, if implemented, could have avoided partition. And now, six decades after partition, there is a thriving trade in cows from India to Bangladesh. A recent LA Times article reports:

Continue reading Holy Cow: Jyoti Rahman on Indophobia in Bangladesh →

Capitalism, Left watch, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

Thailand – Two Elites and a Proletariat: Satya Sagar

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A guest post by SATYA SAGAR

The two month long street protests in Bangkok by thousands of ‘red shirt’ opponents of the Abhisit Vejajiva government demanding fresh elections and the violence that followed has been described as the worst conflict Thailand has ever faced in its modern history. It left in its wake at least 88 dead, hundreds injured and close to US$2 billion worth of property destroyed, the toll being much worse in all aspects than previous political violence of October 1976 and May 1992.

Much of the loss of life and damage came in mid-May when the army brutally cracked down on the protestors using trained snipers and war weapons to take on street protestors armed mostly with slingshots, burning tyres and Molotov cocktails. Angry, retreating protestors in turn set fire to over two dozen buildings in Bangkok including Central World, the second largest shopping mall in South East Asia.

Continue reading Thailand – Two Elites and a Proletariat: Satya Sagar →

Left watch, Media politics, Violence/Conflict

Humanise First

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There is dismay in some sections that the FIR lodged by the driver of the ill-fated Gyaneshwari Express does not name Maoists as the suspect perpetrators. Within hours of the derailment and death of the passengers, newspapers were already lamenting that the centre did not have guts to take on Maoists. Suggestions have been made that this is an extraordinary situation and vacuous talk of human rights should not be heeded. There is a familiar taunt being hurled at the UPA government for its unmanly response to the biggest threat to the internal security of the country. The principal opposition party, which otherwise very zealously guards the rights of the state and resents any interference by the centre in matters which fall under the state list, even in one of the most extra-ordinary moments of recent history , I am referring to the state sponsored massacre of Muslims in Gujarat , now feels that the nuanced division of the rights and duties of the state and centre is not something which should keep the centre from treating the Maoist threat as a national issue and going for an all out armed intervention against the enemy of the nation.

Continue reading Humanise First →

Language, Media politics, Violence/Conflict

Who claims responsibility for the Headline?

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The Times of India sub-editor who let today’s headline go through should lose his or her job. “Terrorists, not Maoists”, it declared. This before the CPI(Maoist) had claimed responsibility for the derailment of the Gyaneshwari Express. Indeed before there was any clarity regarding how the train was derailed. At least the Hindustan Times, not usually known for its temperance, made some attempt to adhere to journalistic protocol to say “Naxals Blamed”, and not “Naxals did it”. Though it then goes on to say “All fingers point at Maoists, their spokesman denied hand in Bengal Mishap”. Meanwhile the West Bengal police, in other reports, claim that the PCPA have taken responsibility for the derailment, when Chatradhar Mahato has explicitly said the PCPA is not involved. Today the CPIM(Maoist) has also denied any involvement. The Maoists, historically, have not exactly been shy of claiming responsibility for actions they have carried out. Even when, such as with the recently blown up bus in Dantewada, they are likely to be at the receiving end of severe censure. Continue reading Who claims responsibility for the Headline? →

Bad ideas, Capitalism, Images, Politics, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

And Now, Fears of ‘Intellectual Jihad’!

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Hameed Chennamangalur’s recent article in the Mathrubhoomi Weekly (16 May) in Malayalam seems to have set alight a new round of fears about the ‘hidden agenda’ of Muslim extremism . Over the past weeks many friends, mostly left-liberals, have been urging me to take heed of the warning issued by Chennamangalur, a well-known, long-time critic of Muslim identity politics.

The article that has sparked off such worries takes a line that is quite familiar: it accuses the Jamaat-e-Islami in Kerala of pursuing their ‘hidden agenda’ of establishing the dominance of radical Islam through secular means. Chennamangalur argues that the Jamaat has ‘penetrated’ the space of radical activism through its all-male youth organizations such as the Solidarity Youth Movement, and through setting the terms of radical activist debate through its popular weekly magazine, the Madhyamam. Its recent efforts at discussing such ideas as Muslim feminism, and Muslim feminist thinkers such as Amina Wadood and Fatima Mernissi can only be regarded as cover-ups for a strategy through which it seeks to displace the more liberal and plural Muslim League — something he finds worrying in the present context in which the Jamaat is making a bid to enter local governance through contesting the forthcoming panchayat elections in Kerala. He laments that the radical intellectuals in Kerala are becoming mere pawns of this strategy; they do not see, for instance, that despite all the support that the Madhyamam offers dalit intellectuals, it remains biased heavily towards upper-caste Muslims, unlike the Communist Party in Kerala, which, he claims, offered upward mobility and political presence to dalit leaders in its fold. Continue reading And Now, Fears of ‘Intellectual Jihad’! →

Left watch, Violence/Conflict

Death of the Ignorant

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My hand trembles as I write again. To say that it is murder, mass murder and we cannot remain silent when faced with such horror. I do not know who is responsible for this and what caused it. Was it a bomb blast or tempering with the fish plates which derailed the Gyaneshwari Express train near Midnapur in Bengal? Who did it? Was the PCPA involved as claimed by criminally inefficient police of Bengal citing two posters owning the blasts? Or it was not, as claimed by its spokesperson Asit Mahto?  How do we condemn the deaths of ‘innocent civilians’ when we do not know the source of violence? Is it not a possibility that some actors, covertly sponsored by the state did it to further defame theCPI(Moist)? Or could it be the handiwork of the CPI( Marxist) which has an  ability to organize violence in Bengal again to besmirch the revolutionary reputation of the CPI( Maoist) and also to justify a military campaign against them? Continue reading Death of the Ignorant →

Debates, Left watch, Mirror Worlds, Politics

The New ‘Bush’ Doctrine: Nirmalangshu Mukherjee

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Guest post by NIRMALANGSHU MUKHERJEE

A well-known left intellectual in Delhi, belonging to one of the naxalite “splinter groups”–the term is Arundhati Roy’s to distinguish the maoists from everyone else in the naxalite movement–recently advised me that, whatever be the objections to the CPI (Maoist), we must side with them in their struggle against the state. The argument obviously is that the historical choice is binary is character: either you are with the state or against it. And the underlying assumption is that those who are against the state are somehow “with” the people. Since the maoists are (apparently) against the state, they must be viewed as “with” the people, warts and all. In not siding with the maoists then, intellectuals like Apoorvanand and others in the Kafila forum are actually siding with the state, according to the doctrine.
Continue reading The New ‘Bush’ Doctrine: Nirmalangshu Mukherjee →

Bad ideas, Law, Media politics, Violence/Conflict

There’s a khap panchayat next to your house

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So when he khap panchayats of Haryana got Kurukshetra MP Navin Jindal to air their views to the Parliament, as he likes to put it, the story became simpler. Now it was one individual (Jindal) vs. modern India. Now it was an educated babalog neta letting us down. How could you? Now one didn’t have to enagage with the khap panchayats themselves. It could now be given more ai time and column space than when the khap panchayats were getting same-gotra couples killed.

Now, a ‘section’ of the Arya Samaj in Haryana says it won’t allow Arya Samaj temples to be used for marriage of same-gotra couples, or for any marriage without the consent of not only both sets of parents but also the entire village. Outrage is in order, though perhaps “shocker” is not a great word. Continue reading There’s a khap panchayat next to your house →

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