Debates, Identities, Politics, Right watch

Scramble for Muslim Votes as Owaisi Jumps into Bihar Polls: Abhay Kumar

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Guest post by ABHAY KUMAR

Ever since Asaduddin Owaisi, president of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (henceforth MIM), addressed a well-attended public meeting in Kishanganj  on August 17, speculation about his party contesting election in Bihar has been rife. Three weeks after the rally, Owaisi, eventually, decided that he would field candidates in Muslim-dominated Seemanchal region of Kishanganj, Araria, Purnia and Katihar. “MIM will put up candidates in Bihar’s Seemanchal region, which is not only backward but also has a lot of problems. There has to be over all development,” Owaisi told media, giving the leaders of anti-Hindutva Grand Alliance jitters.

Contrary to Owaisi’s latest move, some political observers had held the view that given the weak organisational structure of the MIM in Bihar and late entry in the state, Owaisi was unlikely to jump into assembly election. For example, senior journalist and political commentator, Khurshid Hashmi said that if Owaisi had been serious about Bihar election, he would have launched his campaign much earlier as he did in UP. Continue reading Scramble for Muslim Votes as Owaisi Jumps into Bihar Polls: Abhay Kumar →

Capitalism, Feminism, Genders, Government, Identities

The Woman Worker Re-emerges – Lessons from Munnar

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For once, the praise of the mainstream media in Kerala does not sound like empty hyperbole or sickening sycophancy. More than six thousand women workers were on strike in the Kannan Devan tea estates of Munnar in defiance of their trade union leaders, seeking higher wages — and equal wages with men workers who are paid more though their work is lighter — and alleging that the trade union leaders were pocketing benefits due to them. The workers receive very low wages and live under truly despicable conditions not far removed from colonial conditions despite the fact that the Kannan Devan Plantations in now technically under the workers who own sixty per cent of the shares. The blather about losses in the tea industry conceals the enormous control over land that the Tatas hold for a trivial sum paid to the government. It also deflects attention from the serious charges of encroachment made against the Tatas, which our political class has not pursued much. Continue reading The Woman Worker Re-emerges – Lessons from Munnar →

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Law, Right watch

पेटलावद विस्फोट – मौतों पर बजती तालियाँ : जसबीर चावला

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Guest Post by Jasveer Chawla

Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who visited the blast site at Petlawad near Jhabua this morning, faced protests from angry residents               (Photo courtesy : http://www.odishanewsinsight.com)

मध्यप्रदेश के झाबुआ जिले के पेटलावद क़स्बे में बस स्टेंड के पास भीड भरे स्थान पर रहवासी और व्यवसायिक क्षेत्र के एक मकान में अवैध रूप से रखे विस्फोटक जिलेटिन के भंडार में शनिवार विस्फोट हो गया. विस्फोट से ९० लोगों की मौत हो गई और दर्जनों घायल हैं जिनमें से कई की हालत गंभीर है,जिन्हे इंदौर,दाहोद अादि जगह भेजा गया.

मुख्यमंत्री श्री शिवराज सिंह चौहान ने रविवार को घटनास्थल का दौरा किया और सार्वजनिक रूप से घोषणा की कि सरकार हायकोर्ट के किसी जज से इसकी न्यायिक जाँच करवायेगी.दोषियों को दंडित किया जायेगा. मृतकों के परिजनों को १० लाख रुपये और घायलों के इलाज का सारा खर्च सरकार करेगी और पीड़ित परिवारों के रोजगार पर भी सरकार ध्यान देगी.

✔️ ‘व्यापमं’ प्रदेश के मुख्यमंत्री जब ये घोषणायें कर रहे थे तो उनके पास खड़े उनके दल के लोग उनकी ‘भामाशाही’ घोषणाओं पर बार बार तालियाँ बजा कर स्वागत कर रहे थे.सामने दुखी और पीड़ितों का विरोध करता हुजूम था.

✔️ इस ‘विस्फोट’ से सीधे प्रश्न उठते है.मध्यप्रदेश कोई सीमावर्ती राज्य नहीं है जहाँ कोई आतंकवादी आ गया और मुठभेड़ हुई और मकान में रखे विस्फोटक सुलग उठे ना ऐसी आतंकवादी घटना है जिसमे आतंकवादी बाजार/घर / ट्रेन/बस में बम प्लांट कर देते हैं और रिमोट से या आत्मघाती तरीके से विस्फोट कर देते हैं.ऐसा कुछ नहीं था.

यहां के जैन समुदाय का एक व्यापारी (आतंकवादी की कोई जाति या धर्म नही होता,ऐसा ही लिखते हैं ना ?) जो भाजपा के स्थानीय व्यापारिक प्रकोष्ठ का पदाधिकारी था (अपराधी किसी भी राजनैतिक दल का हो सकता है ?) १० वर्षों से क़स्बे में एवं मध्य व्यवसायिक क्षेत्र में अवैध रूप से किराये के मकान में भारी मात्रा में रखे जिलेटिन डायनामाइट का भंडारण कर रहा था.

इतनें वर्षों तक पुलिस, प्रशासन सोया था जो वहाँ पर इतनी मात्रा में कुएँ /खदानों में वैध/अवैध विस्फोट के लिये जिलेटिन का भंडारण हो रहा था ? Continue reading पेटलावद विस्फोट – मौतों पर बजती तालियाँ : जसबीर चावला →

Culture

Sovereign Imagination – The Art Of Leonard Peltier: Frances Madeson

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September 12 was Native American artist Leonard Peltier’s birthday, his 40th behind the bars of a jail in the USA. FRANCES MADESON pays tribute to him.

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Leonard Peltier is the longest held Native American political prisoner in the U.S. He was wrongfully convicted in the 1975 killing of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Leonard was at Pine Ridge at the request of the traditional elders who witnessed the brutal murders of over sixty Native people in what is termed the “reign of terror.” To date, no one has been charged or brought to trial [for those 60 murders] and yet he has served over 40 years for standing between the line of fire and the Keepers of our Sacred Ways on the very soil that was witness to the massacre at Wounded Knee. The trial for Leonard consisted of numerous documented constitutional violations, intimidation and coercion of government witnesses, falsifying of information, and manufactured evidence. Although the prosecutor admits “we don’t know who killed the agents,” and Mr. Peltier was denied the right to present a defense, he remains in a super-max penitentiary.

The Peltier capture and incarceration story is an important through line in the ongoing narrative of colonization of Native peoples. As much as one might desire to assign him dual hats — a jaunty beret for artist, a feathered warbonnet for AIM (American Indian Movement) freedom fighter — the identities are merged, and not readily separable; donning and doffing haberdashery is a privilege a man in Leonard Peltier’s position does not possess. He has but one vulnerable hatless, head, and it’s been on the chopping block for a very long time.

Read this article here.

Culture, Debates, Identities, Politics

An Attempt to Make Sense of Culture in Islam: Raoof Mir

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Guest post by RAOOF MIR

Purity and corruption has remained one of the recurrent themes in the entire history of Islam. The arrival of Islam in Arabia did not mean a radical departure from the past. Wael B. Hallaq, a noted scholar on Islamic law and Islamic intellectual history establishes through his commendable work that “much of Arabian law continued to occupy a place in the Shari’ah, but not without modification.” Prophet Mohammed, who founded this new faith by introducing new nomos, also let several old customs and institutions to remain unchallenged. Despite his critical attitude toward the local social and moral environment, Prophet Muhammad was very much part of this environment and was deeply rooted in the traditions of Arabia.

Though the new converts to Islam entered into a new cosmological order, they at the same time, continued to adhere to the practices of old pagan culture. Since the arrival of Islam many individual reformists or reform movements have intended to reform Islam and decontaminate it from its ‘accretional’ aspects. These reformative endeavours envisaged a Muslim community that is not only socially distinct but also repudiates the pre-existing cosmological order. However, so far, there has been no end to this conflict. This conflict between the formal ideology of reformists (Textual Islam) and functional behaviour of the majority of the Muslims (Lived Islam) continues till today. Continue reading An Attempt to Make Sense of Culture in Islam: Raoof Mir →

Bad ideas, Education, Everyday Life

UGC Guidelines on the Safety and Security of Students in Higher Educational Institutions – Protecting Students or Building Walls ? Sujata Chandra

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Guest Post by Sujata Chandra

The University Grants Commission has issued a set of ‘Guidelines on Safety of Students On and Off Campuses in Higher Educational Institutions‘ in April 2015, which is beginning to be discussed recently by students and faculty in many universities and higher educational institutions (HEI). They begin by discussing the height of walls and kind of barbed wire that are needed to ‘fence’ in higher educational institutions. But the most disturbing thing is the kind of walls and barbed wire they seek to install in the minds of students.

The ‘Guidelines’ feature a number of problematic provisions in the name of assuring a ‘safe and secure learning environment’ for students. These provisions, if implemented, will simply assert the state’s notion of morality and end up transforming students into submissive entities. The vision of ‘students’ in these guidelines is that of infantile beings who require ‘permission’ from authority figures (university administration, law enforcement officials and ‘parents’) at every stage of their life on and off campus.

One of the key provisions relates to the necessity of setting up police stations within university campuses. The presence of police forces within university campuses can only have a ‘chilling effect’ on student life, especially with regard to the quality of political activism and discussion. Universities are meant to be spaces of liberty and autonomy, and the presence of policemen on campus does not bode well for either. One can clearly envisage university authorities asking students to obtain ‘police permission’ to hold meetings, protests, screenings and simple gatherings. Ostensibly, the presence of a police station on campus is supposed to act as a deterrent to sexual harassment and sexual violence. Continue reading UGC Guidelines on the Safety and Security of Students in Higher Educational Institutions – Protecting Students or Building Walls ? Sujata Chandra →

Countryside, Government, Identities

Elections, Politics and Tamil Nationalism: Hopeless Impasse and Strivings of the People

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This article co-written by SWASTHIKA ARULINGAM AND AHILAN KADIRGAMAR was originally published in the September 2015 issue of Samakalam, a Tamil monthly magazine on contemporary affairs. A group of us have been writing a column every month titled ‘Dissent and Debate’. Samakalam is a unique effort to interpret the debates in the national press in Sri Lanka to the Tamil speaking audience and in turn also engage the rest of the country on debates in the North and East through a few articles in English.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has swept the 2015 parliamentary elections in its Tamil constituencies. This victory further consolidates the power of the TNA and particularly the Federal Party (ITAK). However, this is also the weakness of Tamil nationalist politics. Historically, Tamil politics dominated by the Federal Party has done little other than win elections. Politics should be much more, building alliances with other political forces and mobilising society and finding solutions to people’s social, economic and political problems. Tamil nationalist politics neither seems to have the capacity to govern as with the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) nor does it seem to have a vision to recover Tamil society out of the post-war crisis in the North and East. This article addresses the future of Tamil politics given this problematic political trajectory. Continue reading Elections, Politics and Tamil Nationalism: Hopeless Impasse and Strivings of the People →

Culture, Debates, Education

Appeal by the Striking Students of Delhi College of Art – Students of Delhi College of Art and Ambedkar University, Delhi

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Guest Post by Students of Delhi College of Art, with a statement in solidarity by students of  Ambedkar University, Delhi (Department of Visual Arts)

[ This post compiles communications sent out by students of the College of Art, Delhi, their charter of demands (which include very basic and fundamental demands – and it is indeed a revelation that students have to resort to a strike to get this charter even noticed) and a letter in solidarity (see end of the post) with the College of Art students from Students of the Department of Visual Arts, Ambedkar University, Delhi. We are posting this to continue to bring to attention the condition of students of art, media and film in the country. Kafila has already posted articles on the conditions of the students of the Film & Television Institute of India. This post also needs to be seen in the context of the recent statement by the Minister of Culture, Government of India, about ‘cultural pollution’. Clearly, the rot is within institutions, and has not been caused, as the minister seems to think, by the ‘encroachment of Western culture’. We hope that this series of posts can contribute to a real debate about the state of art, culture and cultural institutions in India and the rest of South Asia. ]

Students of College of Art, New Delhi have been on strike for last thirteen days. The strike had to happen, when the individual voice of art students in the college was ignored and suppressed for years. This bundling up of dissent was inevitable.

Continue reading Appeal by the Striking Students of Delhi College of Art – Students of Delhi College of Art and Ambedkar University, Delhi →

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Culture, Debates, Ecology/Environment, Politics, Right watch, Scams

Old Age Culture Homes and other Cultural Pollutants – Lessons in Toxicity from the Minister of Culture

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The world’s largest ‘cultural’ organization, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (National Volunteer Organization) recently met with the minister responsible for what is probably, in real terms, the world’s smallest ‘culture’ ministry, the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. Under Khaki shorts, size does matter. The big tell the small, what’s what.

Continue reading Old Age Culture Homes and other Cultural Pollutants – Lessons in Toxicity from the Minister of Culture →

Capitalism, Government

Global Investors Meet in Chennai – Bargaining over the Bride: T Venkat

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Guest Post by T VENKAT

The Government of Tamil Nadu organized a Global Investors Meet (September 9-10), on the lines of the now famous ‘Vibrant Gujarat’ model. GIM, as they call it, was touted as intending to attract thousands of crores of investment to Tamil Nadu. The main routes from the airport to the many different venues in Chennai were prepared to receive the corporate celebrities and the political heavy weights. For the past week, workers worked through the night getting the venue, the routes and the hoardings ready for this big day. As I was passing through the venue the day before the event began, watching all the meticulous planning, the overflow of cops and their blaring vehicles, the flood lights and the workers underneath them, the whole exercise seemed surreal.

The City is decked up for the great event. Continue reading Global Investors Meet in Chennai – Bargaining over the Bride: T Venkat →

Bad ideas

Statement on Controversial Amendments to Land Laws by Gujarat Assembly: Jameen Adhikar Aandolan Gujarat

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Jameen Adhikar Aandolan Gujarat (JAAG)

Khet Bhavan, Opp. Cargo Motors, Near Gandhi Ashram, Ahmedabad-380 027

PRESS NOTE

The Gujarat Assembly has, recently, passed some controversial amendments to 4 existing legislations, viz.

§  The Gujarat Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1948

§  The Saurashtra Gharkhed, Tenancy Settlement and Agricultural Lands Ordinance, 1949

§  The Gujarat Tenancy and Agricultural Lands (Vidarbha Region and Kutch Area) Act, 1958

§  The Gujarat Agricultural Lands Ceiling Act, 1960

The thrust of all amendments in these 4 legislations is to make transfer of land to industry and industrialists as easy as possible and at minimum cost to the purchasing industry/industrialist by legalizing any and all (past) illegalities on their part. Not only that, pending legal cases are also to be deemed to have lapsed, bringing into question whether the phrase ‘rule of law’ holds meaning any longer. Moreover, while deciding legality/validity or otherwise of questionable transactions, the government official (Collector/Mamlatdar) have been granted arbitrary powers of the highest degree. The government is also, by law, making it mandatory for itself to ‘rescue’ a rogue industrialist who fails in his/her undertaking to put up an industry and to compensate him/her ‘adequately and appropriately’.

 We hold these amendments to be wholly anti-people and completely unconstitutional. The GoG cannot, any more, claim to be pro-farmer (despite repealing the LARR Bill) or pro-poor, as these amendments expose its anti-farmer mindset. We also maintain that these amendments are not geared to spur ‘development’ at all; they are consciously trying to increase the already unbridgeable economic disparities thus exacerbating social unrest.

While we condemn the government, we are also mindful of the fact that the opposition (in this case the INC) has a constitutional duty and people’s mandate to raise its voice whenever it perceives the government to be straying from its pro-people orientation. Sadly, we find the present dispensation to be entirely laidback and lackadaisical in discharging this duty. We condemn the opposition in equal terms in failing to uphold its constitutional duty and in making the voice of the farmer, and the poor heard in the Assembly.

Achyut Yagnik, Anand Mazgaonkar, Ashim Roy, Ashok Shrimali,  Bharat Jhalla, Ghanshyam Shah, Girish Patel, Hiren Gandhi, Indukumar Jani,Krishnakant, Persis Ginwalla,Rajnibhai Dave, Rohit Prajapati,Rohit Shukla,Sagar Rabari, Saroop Dhruv, Sonal Mehta, Swati Desai, Trupti Shah

Culture, Government, Identities, Right watch

Statement Against Prof. Kalburgi’s Murder: Academics for Democracy, Chennai

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The following statement against the murder of Professor Kalburgi was issued by Academics for Democracy, a forum of academics based in Chennai.

As a group of academics and scientists who are involved in various ways towards promotion of democratic values, we wish to condemn the murder of Prof. M. M. Kalburgi, who was shot dead by unidentified gunmen on August 30th , in strongest possible terms.

Prof. Maleshappa Madivalappa is a well known writer in Kannada and a former Vice Chancellor of Hampi university, who  raised his voice against religious malpractices and superstitious ideas on several different occasions. He is an authority on vachana sahitya, whose collection of research articles titled Marga were academically acclaimed. He was awarded the Karnataka Sahitya Academy Award in 2006 for Marga. Continue reading Statement Against Prof. Kalburgi’s Murder: Academics for Democracy, Chennai →

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Culture, Debates, Education, Government, Identities, Images, Language, Media politics, Movements, Politics, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

Muzaffarnagar Baaqi Hai – Critical Readings Online and Offline: Akash Bhattacharya and Arif Hayat Nairang

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These are guest posts by Akash Bhattacharya and Arif Hayat Nairang

The film Muzaffarnagar Baaqi Hai has been in the news recently, and not always for the right reasons, having attracted disruptive and abusive protest at some screenings. Following a day of counter-protest in which the film was screened all over the country, a friend teaching in a Delhi University college suggested screening it in her college, only to be told by the student representative that it would “cause trouble” (“bawwal mach jayega ma’am!!”). She asked what that meant and if he had seen the film, and he simply said, “nahin, bhaiyya logon ne kaha hai ki woh film bahut buri hai” (No, but our elder brothers have said it’s a bad film). 

In an atmosphere where political self-censoring comes as easily to the current generation of students as scouring the net for “blocked content” we present below two readings of the reception of the film, the first ruminating on whether the film addresses the complexities of communal mobilisation adequately; and the second inquiring in the context of social media and particularly Facebook, what constitutes the ‘liking’ of an image or idea. The idea of posting these comments is as much to give space to these arguments as it is to make a larger point that the ‘sickular left’ voices that are presumably behind the film love discussion, critique and disagreement. That to my mind is the way forward, not pre-empting the always-already hurt sentiments of the bhaiyya log whosoever they may be.

Continue reading Muzaffarnagar Baaqi Hai – Critical Readings Online and Offline: Akash Bhattacharya and Arif Hayat Nairang →

Capitalism, Ecology/Environment, Everyday Life, Excavation, Images

‘Cities of Sleep’: Anirban Gupta-Nigam

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Guest post by ANIRBAN GUPTA-NIGAM – A Preview of SHAUNAK SEN’S film ‘Cities of Sleep‘

A few days ago, on its Facebook page, Business Insider India shared a series of images of Bollywood stars who had gone—plainly speaking—from “zeroes to heroes”[1]. The yardstick for what constitutes success is another matter (Mithun Chakraborty, for example, is celebrated because he progressed from being a ‘Naxalite’ to ‘India’s highest tax payer’), but accompanying the post were the following words: ‘Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world’. In another words, dare to dream and you shall become all you want to be.

This simple, inspiring message is possibly more complex than it first appears to be. It contains within it a contradiction that might well be worth attending to. Specifically, the images implicitly demand that we ask who (or what) is a ‘dreamer’ today.

The famous comedian George Carlin once said that ‘they call it the American dream because you have to be asleep to believe it’. A problem of a similar order is posed by the images in question here. Taken at face value, the mantra ‘every great dream begins with a dreamer’ not only propagates an all too familiar narrative of entrepreneurial success. It also comes with a qualifier—every great dream begins with a dreamer. Which is to say, not all dreams qualify for this honor. Continue reading ‘Cities of Sleep’: Anirban Gupta-Nigam →

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Culture, Debates, Ecology/Environment, Government, Identities, Movements, Politics, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

Hindutva: A Political Theory of Nationhood?: Aman Verma

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Guest post by Aman Verma

It is disheartening to see amongst supporters of Hindutva these days a silent acquiescence and at times even active support for extra-constitutional techniques being adopted by organizations like the RSS and its offshoots towards attaining the goal of Ram Rajya. An assessment is necessary of what would ultimately entail on the social, political and economic fronts if such a policy that envisages a supposedly ‘Hindu’ cultural and linguistic hegemony over cultures and languages represented by minority communities becomes reality. However, being a student of law what disturbs me more is the absence of any socio-political entity or civil society movement rooted in values of democracy that can effectively counter the impact of Hindutva organizations on the Indian social fabric. While the BJP has its RSS, every other political party claiming to be the upholder of secularism lacks its equivalent, or at the very least an effective social protégé.

Further, my personal interactions with supporters of BJP reveals that there is some deep sense of hurt and helplessness, part valid for the sake of argument, but for the most part carefully manufactured by Hindutva propaganda, which manifests itself in questions a friend recently put to me, “What are the other ways in which the Hindus can also claim their rights and send out a message that they have been too tolerant for too long?” and another which sounded like “How else to keep our dignity and identity alive in our land?”. These questions, based upon presumptions like those of “Hindu tolerance” of acts perpetrated by other communities supposedly only against Hindus and, protection of a completely vague concept of “Hindu identity” are clearly an outcome of a campaign strategy that relies upon upping the antics on the romantic-nationalist front.

Continue reading Hindutva: A Political Theory of Nationhood?: Aman Verma →

Left watch, Media politics, Movements

Comrade Chintamani: Faridabad Mazdoor Samachar

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This is a guest post from Faridabad Mazdoor Samachar (FMS), a monthly workers’ newspaper published from Majdoor Library

This appeared in Hindi in August 2015, New Series 326 and has been translated into English  by Pratik Ali and Sheena Jain.

In the early hours of 31st July, Comrade Chintamani passed away.

Saathi Chintamani was born in the village Mustafabad Saraiyya of Kadipur tehsil, Sultanpur district in eastern Uttar Pradesh. He studied till class 12th. Rejected tempting offers for converting to another religion, he joined as an impounding official in the Department of Agriculture, Uttar Pradesh government. While he was on duty once, realizing dues, he thrashed some people for insulting him over his caste. To avoid upper-caste backlash, he left his permanent job and moved to some relatives at Faridabad. After working for a month or two each at Bata, Goodyear, Dabur, Escorts, etc., he became a permanent worker in Gedore Tools. Together with the job, he was active in politics of caste of the Ambedkarite current. Long conversations with Com. Vijay Shankar of neighboring Babripur village strengthened his grip upon the new reality of having become, and of being, a wage-worker.

In 1977 wage-worker stirrings intensified greatly in Faridabad, and Saathi Chintamani was very active in them. He lent special support to the militant workers of Usha Spinning and Weaving Mill and the Bharatiya Electric Steel Factories. He was among those who left eighty unions to form Majdoor Sangharsh Samiti (Workers’ Struggle Committee). In 1979, many workers were killed in police firing in Faridabad. After internal emergency was lifted in 1977, Com. Vijay Shankar was dismissed from his job for his role in the Delhi Faridabad Textile (DFT) strikes. Wage-workers from Bata, Gedore, Poritts & Spencer, Electricity Board, Handa Steel, East India Cotton Mills, Orient Steel, Leatherite, etc. got together with Com. Vijay Shankar at Azad Nagar jhuggi (shanties) and Mujesar for collective study of Karl Marx’s book, ‘Capital’. Saathi Chintamani was among them.

Continue reading Comrade Chintamani: Faridabad Mazdoor Samachar →

Bad ideas, Ecology/Environment, Government, Metropolis, Movements, Politics, Scams

Cheralam to Keralam to Ketta-idam – A Report on ‘Development’ from Trivandrum, Kerala: Sriranjini R

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This is a guest post by Sriranjini R.

Cheralam Sriranjani

ISIS in Syria, Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, Taliban in Pakistan, Boko Haram in Nigeria, ecological problems, climate change … the list of the world’s ‘security’ problems seems endless. India has its own share of course – the India-Pakistan conflict, India-China problems, Maoism and so on. In Kerala, police have been desperate to find ‘security threats’ of their own. They first tried hunting down a ‘druglord’ whose picture was found on T-shirts of young people suspected of drug use. His name is Bob Marley. Please give the man up if you find him anywhere. Then they tried looking for Maoists. Every state has some, how come we have so few, was their complaint. After going after thin, dark-skinned, bearded fellows, Kiss of Love activists, and sundry others, hoping that one of these will be a Maoist, finally they caught one. And he didn’t look like any threat to most Malayalis.

Continue reading Cheralam to Keralam to Ketta-idam – A Report on ‘Development’ from Trivandrum, Kerala: Sriranjini R →

Debates, Education, Government, Politics

Allahabad High Court Order on Government Schools in U.P: Devanik Saha

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This is a guest post by Devanik Saha

The judiciary in India can be highly unpredictable. Either it is accused of not doing enough to provide justice to victims or it is hailed for giving landmark judgments. In a recent controversial decision, the Allahabad High Court ordered that all children of government servants and elected representatives in Uttar Pradesh should mandatorily send their wards to government schools. It noted that “Only then would they be serious enough to look into the requirements of these schools and ensure that they are run in good condition”.

While the decision has evoked sharp reactions from UP legislators, it has been fiercely debated in the media fraternity, with mixed responses. The wretched condition of government schools (in every state) in India isn’t a hidden fact. While India has achieved impressive rates of school enrolment – the quality of education and learning outcomes – have been extremely dismal.

An analysis by data journalism portal IndiaSpend revealed that Rs 5,86,085 crore has been spent on primary education in the past 10 years and 80% of the expenditure on education is spent on teachers, but the state of affairs continue to be dreary, which has led to the mushrooming of low income private schools. The number of students enrolled in private schools in UP has risen from 32.2% in 2006 to 52.8% in 2014, according to the Annual Survey Education Report (ASER) by Pratham, an education NGO.

Continue reading Allahabad High Court Order on Government Schools in U.P: Devanik Saha →

Ecology/Environment, Violence/Conflict

Lions, Liars and Masters of the Universe: Shrinivas Dharmadhikari

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Guest Post by SHRINIVAS DHARMADHIKARI

Last month’s killing of Cecil, the 13-year-old, rare black-maned lion by American dentist Walter Palmer, was met with global outrage and condemnation. However, this foolish bravado cannot just be treated as another sign of American (or white) exceptionalism (read sickness)  because behind this is a much larger and thriving Trophy Industry.

A few facts will make the size and destructive power of this industry clear. Americans traveling to Africa make up more than 60 per cent of the foreign-participated lion trophy hunts carried out each year. This is according to John Jackson, president of the lobbying group Conservation Force. According to another scientist, Eric Jensen, a University of Warwick professor  who studies public engagement in wildlife issues, the Trophy industry caters to the human need for dominance and control of nature and provides in addition a sense of masculinity having hunted a large animal. Continue reading Lions, Liars and Masters of the Universe: Shrinivas Dharmadhikari →

Bad ideas, Culture, Debates, Identities, Politics, Right watch

P.A.D.S. Statement on the killing of Prof MM Kalburgi – a sane voice against communalism and superstition

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People’s Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS)

Murder of another rational voice against communalism and superstition

The respected and loved Kannada scholar and writer MM Kalburgi was murdered by two unidentified men on August 30 at his home in Dharwad. The seventy seven year scholar was actively researching Vachanas literature of early Kannada and literature produced during the Adil Shahi period in Northern Karnataka. He was a source of wisdom for many students and scholars, and his killers gained access posing as students. He was also a vocal critic of religious superstitions and had been targeted by fundamentalists within his own Lingayat community and by Hindutva organisations. He had received many threats and his house had been attacked with stones and bottles. He was given police protection, which was withdrawn only days before his murder.

Professor Kalburgi’s cold-blooded murder has caused widespread shock and dismay in the literary and intellectual circles of Karnataka. Many protests involving ordinary citizens have been held in Bangalore and Dharwad. At least one Hindutva Bajrang dal activist has publicly welcomed the assassination, warned another rationalist of Karnataka, Prof KS Bhagwan of the same fate.

Prof Kalburgi’s killing comes after the murders of two other prominent critics of religious superstitions. Dr Narender Dabholkar was killed in 2013 in Pune. Trade Unionist and Communist Govind Pansare was killed in Kolhapur in February this year. There are uncanny similarities in the modus operandi of all three cases. It is likely that as in the earlier cases, the police will fail to solve Prof Kalburgi’s murder. Continue reading P.A.D.S. Statement on the killing of Prof MM Kalburgi – a sane voice against communalism and superstition →

Bad ideas, Government, Law, Politics

A Consummate Hanging Bares Gaping Holes in Nation State’s Democratic Facade : Sanjay Kumar

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Guest Post by Sanjay Kumar

At 7AM on 30 July, 2015, the Republic of India hanged a man named Yakub Memon. By all means, though without anyone’s planning, the hanging turned out to be the endpoint of a consummate exercise. Three judges of the highest court of the land sat through the night, right up to two hours before the execution to decide on the last petition of the condemned convict. The highest law official of the central government came to put forth arguments against the petition at two thirty in the morning, while some of the most respected and best legal minds of the country argued for it. Even before this post mid night hearing, the case of Mr Memon had been through more than one round of curative and review petitions in the Supreme Court, and mercy petitions with the President of the Republic. Much earlier, in fact more than twenty years ago, the Mumbai police had carried out perhaps the most painstaking, and detailed investigation of independent India into the 12 March, 1993 blasts; cracking the case within two days and filing a 10,000 page charge sheet within eight months. The trial involving 123 accused, 684 witnesses and voluminous material evidence ran for ten years. After Mr Memon’s guilt and conviction were established by the trial court, his appeals had gone on in the Supreme Court for nearly a decade. Two years ago the then Government of India had hanged Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri convicted in the Parliament attack case, without informing his family, and refused to hand his dead body to them. Nothing of that shameful behaviour was repeated this time. What more could the criminal justice system of the country have done in the case of Mr Memon! Yet, his execution has left behind more questions on the institutional biases, and ideological underpinnings of the Indian state, than perhaps any other execution. Continue reading A Consummate Hanging Bares Gaping Holes in Nation State’s Democratic Facade : Sanjay Kumar →

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