vol. 71 no. 23 avoidable distraction - wordpress.com · 2018-10-04 · for the achievement of...

Established 1946Pages 16

1Price : Rupees Five

Vol. 71 No. 23July 3, 2016

Editor :G. G. Parikh

Managing Editor : Guddi

D-15, Ganesh Prasad,Naushir Bharucha Marg,

Mumbai - 400 007.

Email : [email protected]

Quality of journalismKuldip Nayar

Negotiating withundeclared Emergency

Pushkar Raj

Ecological protectionand justice

Bharat Dogra

M.M. Thomas and EmergencyVarughese George

The idea of India - IIIrfan Habib

BJP/RSS iconwas a collaborator

Shamsul Islam

On 21 June, International YogaDay was celebrated with muchfanfare utilizing the popularity ofYoga which already existedworldwide before the present BJPgovernment came to power. ThePrime Minister may have justconsolidated the self-motivatedseparate efforts and has been able tomarket it as of uniquely Indianorigin. The United Nations has alsoacknowledged it by agreeing todedicate June 21 for this cause sincethe last year. It definitely holds agreat symbolic value. Its mainattraction is its offer of mental andphysical well being, which areincreasingly becoming scarce in themodern society globally. Otherwiseit is like any other stream ofspiritualism which offer solace at anindividual level. But what is theachievement beyond that? How iscelebrating Yoga internationallygoing to solve any of ourinternational or national problems?Does it even have a collective value?Most people take it up for purelyindividual health reasons.

India's Permanent Mission to theUN organised an event titled, 'Yoga

Avoidable distractionSandeep Pandey

for the achievement of SustainableDevelopment Goals' this time. SDGswere adopted by UN GeneralAssembly on 19 July 2014 as adesirable set of 17 goals which thecountries around the world wouldlike to achieve by 2030. These goalsmainly include ending of povertyand hunger, achievement of foodsecurity, promotion of sustainableagriculture, ensuring healthy lives,ensuring inclusive and equitablequality education, achievement ofgender equality, ensuringavailability of water and sanitationfor all, promoting inclusive andsustainable economic development,ensuring work for all, reducinginequality, ensuring sustainableproduction and consumption,combating climate change,conserving oceans and forests andproviding access to justice for all. Itis not clear how Yoga is going toachieve this ambitious set of agenda.From among the above set ofobjectives it has a direct role in'ensuring healthy lives' only and thattoo only for a very restricted sectionof population as we'll shortly see.The danger is Yoga can give us asense of complacency. Most of the

2 JANATA, July 3, 2016

abovementioned problems requireserious policy making exercisebased on concrete research followedby strong political will forimplementation of right kind ofpolicies and programmes. In spite ofbest of our efforts we're going to fallruefully short of the declared goalsby the time 2030 arrives. Creatingconfusion that Yoga has any role insolving these problems will only bean avoidable distraction. This is atypically Narendra Modiprogramme - high on publicity, lowin content.

90 percent of Indians andsignificant population around theworld which is engaged in hardlabour to earn its living doesn't needYoga nor will you see them in anyof the high profile collectiveorganisation of Yoga sessions or anyof the paid or unpaid Yoga classes.It is only the educated class, and only10 percent of Indian students makeit to college level education beyondtheir schooling, which constitutesthe middle class still dominated byupper caste, which willingly orunwillingly becomes part of theruling elite, who have been cut offfrom physical labour because of thenature of education that s(he) hasreceived, who need Yoga to keepthemselves fit. Most of the peoplebelonging to this category havesedentary jobs or jobs involvinglittle physical work. Or their natureof job is too mundane. Thereforethey need to take time out to engagein physical activity or an activitywhich can be mentally refreshing.Some of them play some sports ordo jogging in the morning orevening. Some prefer cycling orswimming. With increasing prices offossil fuels now more bicycles can

When l was studying in ajournalism school abroad, l was toldby my professor that a news storyshould be like a skirt: long enoughto cover the subject and short enoughto be attractive. Over the years, thestory has assumed the shape ofpontification and inevitably padded.

When senior journalists arekicking the bucket, the question thatstares at us is what kind ofjournalism will be there in future. Ofcourse this is not confined to India.All countries, whether in the Westor the East – barring the totalitarianregimes – are asking the samequestion: which is the Lashmanrekha that journalists should notcross? Or should there be anyLakshman rekha at all?

Individuals are increasinglyposing the question why journalistsare prying into their private affairs.Journalists in turn defend themselveson the grounds that if they were notto probe, the skeletons would notcome out of the closet. Thegovernment has a standard reply:some things cannot be disclosed inthe public interest. In this way evenbig scandals are covered up.

I recall that when l wrote againstthe supersession of three SupremeCourt judges, Hegde, Grover andShalat, l was criticized by the thenprime minister, Indira Gandhi, whoargued that journalism did not meanpreaching about the "commitment"of judges. She did not elaborate whatthat "commitment" was. I can

Between The Lines

Quality of journalismKuldip Nayar

understand the judges havingcommitment to the Constitution, butnot to a person however high he orshe might be.

What Indira Gandhi wasdemanding from the judges was acommitment to follow her way ofthinking. That is the reason sheappointed Justice Ray, a junior judgein the Supreme Court, as the ChiefJustice, ignoring the seniority ofthree others. She did not show eventhe courtesy of informing thembeforehand. They heard the news onAll India Radio.

This kind of politicalmanipulation runs contrary to thetransparency that a democraticsystem cherishes. Indeed thestructure of democracy stands on thepillars of both the division andlimitation of power. For example,the army does not interfere in theaffairs of government because it is aforce under the civil administration.Some countries like Pakistan havegone under because the military,although it has recently gone backto the barracks, is still very muchthere. The same is true ofBangladesh, although in that countrysome journalists do dare to criticizethe armed forces.

Democracy expects all its wingsto function independently but still ina way that sovereignty stays with thepeople. It is another matter thatrulers themselves becomeauthoritarian and behave like theworst of the Mughal emperors.(Continued on Page 4)

JANATA, July 3, 2016 3

Those who ensure that democracyfunctions in the interests of thepeople are the judges who even havepower to go into thepronouncements of the legislature.The debate about whether thejudiciary is supreme or the executiveis an ongoing discussion.

If there is criticism of what judgesdo, or even the manner in which thelegislature functions, that comesfrom journalists. It is the duty ofjournalists to do so. If they are afraidof carrying out what is expectedfrom them, it is unfortunate for thesystem. I have experienced howduring the Emergency, whichcompleted forty-one years this weekon June, 26, the entire Press cavedin. Initially, there were protests anda large number of journalists –including editors – assembled at thePress Club in Delhi to pass aresolution that Press censorship, anintegral part of the Emergency, wasnot acceptable to them. Yet, as dayswent by, fear gripped them and theybecame part of the system, evenaccepting the orders of MrsGandhis’s son, Sanjay Gandhi, anextra-constitutional authority.

I recall that as a member of thePress Council of India, I went to itsthen chairman, Justice Iyer, to urgehim to summon a meeting of thePress Council, an apex body. I didnot know by then that fear had alsomade him subservient. He told methere was no use of summoning ameeting of the Press Councilbecause there would be no publicityabout its proceedings. My argumentwas that if there were no proteststhen many years later, when thearchives would be opened of thisshameful chapter, there wouldn’t beany record about any protest by thePress Council, the journalists. After

Last month, Hyderabad policeregistered a case against Prof.Kancha Ilaiah for writing an articlein a Telugu daily, entitled ‘Is Godnot a democrat’? The articlequestioned inequality in society anddiscussed concept of god. For doingso the professor was reproached forinsulting sentiments of a communityand charged for promoting enmitybetween different religious groupsunder section 153 (A) and 295 (A)of Indian Penal Code.

This is an example of hundredsof incidents that take place indifferent parts of the countryrevealing absurdity to which a lawin India could be interpreted andapplied to target an individual orcivil society organization (CSO)holding a dissimilar view on anissue or advocating a differentnarrative of history and society.

Last week, Prof. MaheshChandra Guru of Mysore Universitywas charged for insulting PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, HumanResource Development MinisterSmriti Irani and god Rama on twodifferent occasions. The professorwas arrested when he appearedbefore a Mysore district court in thesecond case when his bailapplication was rejected and he wassent to jail (Hindustan Times, 21June, 2016).

Though the previousgovernments have not been admirersof civil liberties in any ways, thepresent administration seems to have

Negotiating withundeclared Emergency

Pushkar Raj

a condescending view of them.According to a US based democracyadvocacy group, Freedom House’s2015 report, after the 2014 elections,at least 18 people were arrested andquestioned for anti-Modi posts ononline forums such as Twitter andFacebook.

Arundhati Roy has rightly saidthat one is unable to say things thatDr. Ambedkar could say in 1936 asone risks being put into jail (Jantaka reporter, 31 May 2016). It isapparent that there is an atmosphereof fear, where journalists, writers,artists, intellectuals feel defenselessand dispensable leading to engagingin what Human Rights Watch terms‘self-censorship’ (Human RightsWatch Report release pressstatement, 24May, 2016).

At the same time, the governmentis not secretive about its resolve tosuffocate and persecute theCSOs that oppose its ideology,policies or actions. The suspensionand cancelation of license ofSabrang Trust and LawyersCollective to receive foreign fundingis in line with the series of actionsagainst those CSOs that thegovernment considers opposed to it.Earlier, organizations like INSAF,People’s Watch and Green Peacehave also experienced similaractions based on deliberatemisinterpretation of vague termssuch as ‘political activity’ and‘public interest’ under the ForeignContributions (Regulation) Act,2010.(Continued on Page 7)


It is ironic that while the PrimeMinister goes around the worldsoliciting foreign funding forcountry’s economic development,his home ministry ensures that selectcivil society organizations areprevented from receiving foreignfunding which is critical to assistingmillions of Indians in pursuing theirlegal, cultural and socialdevelopment. Besides, as the UNrepertoire on human rights noted thatthe ability to access foreign fundingis vital to human rights work and isan integral part of the right tofreedom of association (The Wire,17 June 2016).

Apart from a direct attack onindividuals and organizations, amore sinister ‘hunt’ (social)movement of conformity bycoercion is in operation under thebroad banner of Hindutava withscores of its regional organizationalvarieties mushrooming in thecountry. The Hindu rightorganizations are using what thepeace activist Scilla Elworthydescribes political and physicalviolence to intimidate and emotionaland mental violence toundermine. One of suchorganizations have allegedly killedwriters and intellectuals such as DrDabholkar, Dr Panasare and ProfKalburgi for holding views onreligion that displeased certainHindu fanatics (The Indian Express,22 June 2016).

The present administration hasforced withdrawal of some historybooks (Wendy Doniger’s, TheHindus: An Alternative History) andis busy rewriting history in otherparts where it can (ChristopheJaffrelot, The Indian Express,7 June2016). Meanwhile a process is on tosaffronise education as indicated by

the union minister of education’sveiled statement that saffronisationof education would take place as (if)it is good for the country (The IndianExpress, 20 June, 2016). It is ablinkered understanding ofcontemporary history and politics astalibanisation and islamisation ofeducation in Afghanistan andPakistan has not done any good tothose countries.

The challenge before the civilsociety today is to confront thissaffron mindset replacing secular

values embedded in Indian history,culture and constitution. This mightbe easier when there are alliancesacross movements and groups andsharing of experiences ofconstructive and non-violentmethods to assert democratic rightsby engaging and organizing peoplethrough education. In the words ofinvestigative journalist Will Potter,like sunlight education is anactivist’s best weapon. (Will Potter,Ted.com).

Email: [email protected]

be seen on road. Even thegovernment is promoting cycletracks.

Mahatma Gandhi used to spin aCharkha. While the important reasonwas the 'Swadeshi' ideology butanother reason might have been toassociate oneself with productionactivity in at least one of the threeareas of primary economy - food,clothing, shelter - which fulfill basicneeds of human being. MahatmaGandhi's idea of education was toinvolve learning some usefulproduction activity too along withreading, writing and mathematics.However, this idea could not becomepart of our education system and weadopted an essentially British modelwhich was meant only to producepeople who could help run theadministrative system of thegovernment. It is not surprising thatCivil Services remains such anactive proposal for educated youth,especially in north India, whereas avery small number of students go forhigher education and researchcareers.

People who have figured outsome method of keeping themselvesphysically engaged will not feel theneed of doing Yoga. It is only a verysmall section of our and internationalsociety which doesn't do anything tokeep themselves physically fit whoneed to do Yoga. Its importance mustnot be overemphasized and its rolemust not be exaggerated. People willdo it voluntarily and at an individuallevel.

The PM and the government havemore pressing problems to worryabout, like price rise, rather than bepart of some kind of internationaljamboree with only a symbolicvalue. The timing of announcementof opening up of civil aviation anddefence sectors for 100 percentForeign Direct Investment, on theeve of Yoga day, also raises certaindoubts about government'sintention. This move is definitely notin national interest and it is quitepossible that the time was so chosenthat any criticism would be drownedin the mood of jubilation on Yogaday.

[email protected]

(Continued from Page 2)


The most critical question of ourtimes is that our world, our planet ison the brink of a survival crisis - anunprecedented situation in thehistory of earth when human madefactors threaten the life creatingconditions on earth. All importantdecisions have to be taken againstthe background of thisoverwhelming reality.

If this appears like anexaggeration then consider thisstatement released by as many as1575 of the world’s mostdistinguished scientists way back in1992: "We the undersigned, seniormembers of world’s scientificcommunity, hereby warn allhumanity of what lies ahead. A greatchange in our stewardship of theEarth and the life on it is required ifvast human misery is to be avoidedand our global home on this planetis not to be irretrievably mutilated."

This statement signed by morethan half of all living scientists whowere awarded the noble prize furtherwarned against "the irreversible lossof species, which by 2100 may reachone-third of all species now living."

The reason for quoting this verysignificant 24-year old statement isthat the evidence of somethingapproaching a survival crisis wasavailable as early as 1990 or so. Bythis time enough evidence of theseriousness of climate change wasavailable and it was also clear thatany efforts for doing away withnuclear weapons were not

Ecological protection and justicecannot be postponed any longer

Bharat Dogra

succeeding. Around the same timean MIT study titled’ ImperilledPlanet’ by Edward Goldsmith andothers stated, "we are now disruptingthe very processes that keep the Eartha fit place for higher forms of life."

However such warnings—andthere were quite a few of these—were ignored and instead of urgentunited action to tackle the emergingcrisis the world got embroiled insuch monumental follies as theinvasion of Iraq. In fact followingthe accumulation of enoughevidence regarding the emergence ofa survival threat at least a quarter ofa century has passed which can becalled the wasted years as no actionscoming even close to tackling theserious threats were taken. In fact insome contexts the situation wasallowed to go from extremely badto even worse. According to UNdata, annual global carbon dioxideemissions from fuel combustiongrew by about 38 per cent between1990 and 2009, with the rate ofgrowth faster after 2000 than in the1990s.

The result of the inaction andfollies of these wasted years is thatthe crisis has worsened during thelast 25 years or so. In its recent reportGlobal Outlook 5 the United NationsEnvironment Programme warnedthat urgent changes are needed " toavoid exceeding critical thresholdsbeyond which abrupt and generallyirreversible changes to the lifesupport functions of the planet couldoccur."

Several senior scientists havebeen concentrating on this work ofcritical importance at the StockholmResilience Centre (SRC). Accordingto Johan Rockstrom, director ofSRC, the human pressure on theEarth System has reached a scalewhere abrupt global environmentaldisaster can no longer be excluded".

The scientists at SRC firstidentified the Earth Systemprocesses and potential biophysicalthresholds, which, if crossed, couldgenerate unacceptableenvironmental change for humanity.They then proposed the boundariesthat should be respected in order toreduce the risk of crossing thesethresholds. The nine boundariesidentified were: climate change,stratospheric ozone, land usechange, freshwater use, biologicaldiversity, ocean acidification,nitrogen and phosphorus inputs tothe biosphere and oceans, aerosolloading and chemical pollution. Thestudy suggests that "three of theseboundaries (climate change,biological diversity and nitrogeninput to the biosphere) may alreadyhave been transgressed". In addition,it emphasizes that "the boundariesare strongly connected — crossingone boundary may seriously threatenthe ability to stay within safe levelsof the others."

There is enough evidenceregarding the emergence of a veryserious environmental crisis whichcan be called a survival crisis. Theworld leadership has mounds of


evidence available to it regarding thereality of the emergence of such avery serious crisis and yet nothingvery effective has been done aboutit. The general tendency has been tocarry on with a business as usualapproach. Of course very bigconferences on issues like climatechange and some internationalagreements have been reached butthe total impact of all such efforts isstill far from achieving success inchecking this fast drift towardsdisaster.

This is not to say that solutionsare not available. To make a verypromising beginning worldleadership can work overtime tominimise the possibility of war andto reduce the production of weaponby perhaps as much as 80 per centor so.

The wider challenge is to link therequired reduction in greenhouse gasemissions with the fulfillment ofbasic needs of all people. Workingout this equation in all its details willreveal how curbing all wastefulconsumption and production is notjust desirable but even unavoidablein the new situation. Hence a muchstronger case emerges for reducinginequalities in a big way.

The overall need emerging verystrongly now is for a newdevelopment paradigm based on abalanced combination ofenvironment protection, justice andpeace. The need for such a basicchange in the development paradigmhas always been there but it wasnever so pressing as it is now in thetimes of climate change and asurvival crisis.

A few days ago, the Times ofIndia reported that the Modi regimeis all set to repeal 1966 law,reiterated subsequently in 1975 and1980, requiring those joininggovernment service, to declare thatthey are not affiliated toeither Rashtriya SwayamsevakSangh (RSS) or Jamaat-e-Islami.

This design or model,implemented already in BJP-runstates like Gujarat, Chhattisgarh andMadhya Pradesh subvertsgovernance at the very basic level,affecting the neutrality of the civilservices.

An RSS-ridden civil servicecannot work, that is implement, asecular constitution.

The parliamentary system isbased on a professional, politicallyneutral civil service. The RSS isembarked on a major exercise tosubvert the present constitutionalorder.

The news report in The Times ofIndia also stated that the departmentof personnel and training now plansto hold consultations with the homeministry on the need to do away withthis "unreasonable and absurd"norm, with a senior governmentfunctionary pointing out how RSShad always maintained that "it is acultural and non-politicalorganisation". This will be part ofthe government's drive to repealdefunct and archaic laws. "Thepresent government has not issuedthis circular (on debarring RSSmembers from taking upgovernment jobs). It does not expectanybody joining government service

On RSS

to declare whether or not he/she is amember of RSS," minister of stateJitendra Singh told TOI lastThursday, June 9.

This present move, it is reported,to withdraw the standing orderissued in 1966 after Indira Gandhiassumed office as PM, and reiteratedin 1980 and 1975, when RSS wasbanned comes after reports that acentral government department hadcited it to ask new recruits in Goa todeclare they didn't belong to RSS.According to the 1966 order, anyonewho holds membership of RSS orJamaat-e-Islami would not qualifyfor any central government job.However, the order was not followedstrictly and these facts came to lightrecently with the Goa episode. PrimeMinister Narendra Modi and homeminister Rajnath Singh and otherUnion ministers have always takenpride in their primary allegiance toRSS.

It may be reassuring for some tohear that Narendra Modi, a RSSpracharaks (full-timepropagandists), first and foremost,recently said in his much-laudedspeech to the US Congress that "theIndian Constitution is a holy book".Though he occupies a primeConstitutional position at present,his grooming was in an organisation,the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS) that views the IndianConstitution with ambivalence atbest and antipathy at worst.

Rejecting the modern foundationof Bharat as laid down in Article 1of the Indian Constitution, one of thefoundational documents of theSangh, Bunch of Thoughts by M S


Golwalkar (at Page 119), rejects anddebunks ‘the absurdity of theconcept of territorial nationalism’. Golwalkar says, "They (we presumeby this the RSS means the Leadersin the Constituent Assembly) forgotthat here was already a full-fledgedancient nation of the Hindus and thevarious communities which wereliving in the country were here eitheras guests, the Jews and Paris, or asinvaders, the Muslim and Christians.They never faced the question howall such heterogeneous groups couldbe called as children of the soilmerely because, by an accident, theyhappened to reside in a commonterritory under the rule of a commonenemy. "

The RSS is also unashamed aboutits aim :

"....We have been sufficientlyfooled uptil now by their exhortationthat we Hindus, who are having agreat philosophy of humanbrotherhood, catholicity of spirit andso on, should not narrow ourselvesby the talk of Hindu Nationalism andall such 'communal', 'medieval' and'reactionary' ideas! We must be ableto see through the game and revertto the truth of our nationalism as anancient fact and the Hindus being thenational society of Bharat, so clearlyrestated by our revered founderwhen he decided the word'Rashtriya' for our organisation. Wemust once again stand up in our trueand full stature and boldly assert thatwe shall elevate the Hindu NationalLife in Bharat to the peak of gloryand honour, which has been itsbirthright since hoary time. (Page127, Bunch of Thoughts, MSGolwalkar)

Importantly, on April 27, 1948,Vallabhbhai Patel, India’s first homeminister, in a letter to Prime

Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, said: "Ineed hardly emphasise that anefficient, disciplined and contentedservice … is a sine qua non of soundadministration under a democraticregime even more than under anauthoritarian rule. The service mustbe above party and we should ensurethat political consider-ations eitherin its recruitment or in its disciplineand control, are reduced to theminimum, if not eliminatedaltogether."An RSS-ridden civilservice cannot work a secularconstitution. For, "it is perfectlypossible to pervert the constitution,

without changing its form, bymerely changing the form of theadministration and to [sic] make itinconsistent and opposed to the spiritof the constitution".

Given the overt moves to severelyaffect the neutrality of the civilservice, a Platform forConstitutional Rights has beenlaunched. We invite one and all tobecome part of the campaign.

–Ravi Nair, Tapan Bose,Dr Sunilam, Teesta Setalvad

[email protected]

hearing me, he reluctantly conveneda meeting of local Press Councilmembers. To my horror I saw in thewhite paper issued after the liftingof the Emergency that he had writtento the then information minister,V.C. Shukla, explaining how he(Justice Iyer) was able to stall theeffort by Kuldip Nayar to convene ameeting of the Press Council.

The same question about theindependence of journalists comesbefore us again and again in differentsituations. And I find thatincreasingly we, the journalists, arefailing in the standards required fromus. None of this has been helped bythe new digital technology thatpromotes very short stories or soundbites. In fact things have deterioratedto such an extent today that newscolumns can be bought. It is an opensecret that several stories are nothingmore than paid news. Some leadingnewspapers feel no shame in sellingthe space to whoever wants to buyit. For them it is purely a questionof revenue.

How low have we sunk from the

heights that we once enjoyed? Therewas a time when we were able tobring before the public such scandalsas the Mundhra insurance scamduring the time of Finance MinisterT.T. Krishnachari. Jawaharlal Nehru,then the prime minister, forced himto resign from the cabinet. But evenwhen I subsequently met TTK, hedid not seem to realize the harm hehad done to the polity.

India is oblivious to the privationsof individuals. In contrast the UKmedia has in the past been preparedto take up the cudgels on behalf ofinnocent victims from differentwalks of life. For example,the Sunday Times, for which I wasa stringer, is still remembered withaffection and gratitude for the workit did on behalf of those parentswhose children were bornhandicapped because of theThalidomide drug prescribed to thepatient. Public pressure eventuallyforced the drug manufacturingcompany to pay out the neededcompensation. Can we emulatethose examples today when our veryintegrity as journalists is beingquestioned, not to speak of the highstandards we once followed?



When M. M. Thomas returnedfrom Geneva after completing histerm as central committee chairmanof WCC, national Emergency hadbeen in existence in India. Thenational committee of PeoplesUnion for Civil Liberties chaired byV. M. Tharkunde invited M. M. tobe the chairman of the Kerala stateunit of PUCL. The formerparliamentarian P. Visambharan wasits secretary. M. M. also tookinitiative in forming the DetenuesFamily Distress Relief Fund to helpthe families of political prisoners.The committee used to meet at theLegislators’ hostel at Trivandrum inthe presence of EMSNamboothiripad. Rev. M. J. Josephwas its Secretary. M. M. was alsocareful in organizing a number ofcivil liberties groups in and aroundTiruvalla, his hometown. It includedClergy for Human Rights led byRev. V. T. Kurian and Rev. A. P.Jacob. The Students for HumanRights was led by this writer andYesudas Athyal. A women’smovement had already beenworking there to mobilise villagewomen under the dynamicleadership of Annamma Joseph. Agroup of knowledge workersincluding M. P. Joseph, George M.Philip, Mammen Varkey, John M.Itty, V. C. John, K. M. Thomas andRoy Nellicala helped in themobilisation of resources againstEmergency and Ravi and Chandranhelped in the distribution ofliterature. M. M. along with freedomfighter C. Narayana Pillai andGandhian M. P. Manmadhan starteda journey from Trivandrum speakingagainst Emergency in crowded halls

without amplifier for police refusedto allow it. The government did notdare to arrest these elder statesmenfearing the national repercussions itmight have created.

To give a philosophical andtheological basis of his activismagainst national Emergency M. M.wrote regularly deploringEmergency in the weekly Guardian,despite the press censorship, fromJuly 1975 to February 1977, fromthe very first month of declarationof Emergency till its relaxation.When the Guardian weekly wasproscribed by the censors, M. M.started a regular cyclostylednewsletter and distributed it. Iremember a policeman from the stateintelligence to have been to M.M.’shouse every week to collect a copyof it! These writings were latercompiled by George Mathew andpublished as a book titled, ‘Responseto Tyranny’. The Head of the MarThoma Church, metropolitanYuhanon Mar Thoma, who wasclose to M. M. had written a letterto Indira Gandhi requesting her tolift the Emergency and free thepolitical prisoners, and anauthenticated copy of this letter washanded over to M.M. bymetropolitan. The CSI youthmovement also in its annual generalmeeting held at Changanacherryaffirmed its solidarity with thecampaign to restore civil libertiestaking a cue from M. M.

After the lifting of Emergency inMarch 1977, general elections weredeclared to the Lok Sabha. E. M. S.Namboodiripad came to Tiruvalla

M.M. Thomas and EmergencyVarughese George

and urged M. M. to contest fromMavelikara Parliamentaryconstituency, for M. M. had by thenbecome a symbol of resistance toauthoritarianism. M. M. politelyrefused. He continued hisinvolvement with the civil libertiesmovement. By then PUCL wasreorganized and M. M. was re-elected as President of the state unit.The naxalites had then assassinateda landlo0rd, Madathil Mathai inWayanadu. Since then policeexcesses were reported on CPI(ML)activists in Wayandu and a factfinding team including M.M, M.J,V.G,K.M.T and VincentPanikulanghara visited the area andpolice stations. Police excesses wereexposed in a press conference to theutter embarrassment of the then leftfront government in Kerala. Thatwas M. M. He was true to his causeand had the courage of conviction.

Madhu DandavateBy

B. VivekanandanPrice: Rs. 20/-

Janata TrustD-15, Ganesh Prasad,

Naushir Bharucha Marg,Grant Road (W),Mumbai 400 007.


They were mostly poor. Unlikethe Non-Cooperation Movement of1921, Civil-Disobediencemovement was the movementlargely of the poor and that was thenew thing. Once the movement tookthis form it became increasinglydifficult for British rule to continue.I want here to bring to your attentionsomething which appeared in theDawn, the Muslim League organfrom pre-1947 days which comesout daily from Karachi. There wasan article abstracted from it in thatarticle, the writer said that "we havea problem in Pakistan our movementfor Pakistan as a nation has nomartyr, no hero. Because it neveropposed the British rulers, it onlyopposed our fellow subjects (theHindus). What shall we look to"?Indeed those went to prison againstBritish rule in what becamePakistan, they were KhudaiKhidmatgars, Congressmen of thePunjab, nationalists of Sindh, andnot the Pakistan leaders. Pakistan is,however, not alone in this problem.It shares it with those who are nowin power in India. The HinduMahasabha, and the RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sangh (RSS) have thesame psychological problem. TheRSS was founded in 1925 and if youask them what did you do for twentytwo years [till 1947]? Why didn’tyou join the National Movement andgo to the prison? Why don’t you dosomething against the British if youare such great patriots? You ask theHindu Mahasabha the samequestion. Savarkar in the Andamansgave an apology thus washing away

The idea of India - IIIrfan Habib

his whole patriotic past saying hewill not oppose British government.He never did so, he only opposedMuslims, propounding a two-nationtheory even before Mohammad AliJinnah. What is RSS doing now? Itis looking for other figures likeBhagat Singh to count among itsheroes! What Bhagat Singh has todo with the RSS, the man who in thenight before execution wrote Why Iam An Atheist, the man who said thatif there can be any leader from theCongress he supports, it is JawaharLal Nehru. The man who wrote thatHindu communalism is worse thanany other opponent of the NationalMovement, how can he be yourhero! As for Vallabh Bhai Patel, donot you know that he always saidthat he was a close follower ofMahatma Gandhi? Another hero—they claim—is Subhash ChandraBose. Did Subash Chandra Boseever say that there should be HinduRashtra? He even made Iqbal’spoem "Sare Jahan Se AchchhaHindostan Hamara" the NationalAnthem of the Indian NationalArmy. He made Urdu and Hindiofficial languages of Azad HindFauj.

Look at the name–Azad HindFauj! He said—Jai Hind, he neversaid Hindu Rashtra! RSS men neversay ‘Jai Hind’, nor ‘InquilabZindabad’, the slogan Bhagat Singhused to employ. Before 1947, I waspresent at many Congress meetingsand I remember that the meetingsalways started with the audienceshouting—Inquilab Zindabad in

homage to Bhagat Singh. So, it iswrong when our newspapers say thatBhagat Singh had been forgotten bythe Congress or that Subhash Boseonce praised the RSS. Seriousbiographies of Subhash ChandraBose show that he never had anydealings with the RSS. RSS heroeslike Shyama Prasad Mukherjee orDeen Dayal Upadhyay did nothingagainst British rule. Why are youexhibiting the latter’s photographsin the JawaharLal Nehru Museum?What did he do in the nationalmovement? Where was he?Nowhere! Shayama PrasadMukherjee was a minister in Bengalalong with the Muslim League at thetime of the Quit India movement(1942). He remained a minister. Henever lifted his finger against Britishrule but only against Muslims. Sothe Hindutva forces can claim nohero in the National Movement.Their entire theory and entire beliefsare totally opposed to those of theNational Movement. Who in theNational Movement ever said"Hindi, Hindu, Hindustan"? None,It was only Hindu Mahasabha! Whoin the National Movement said"Hindu Raj Amar Rahe"? None, Itwas only RSS! So, you had thoseslogans, then you say that youactually opposed the Britishgovernment! Or is it that you reallysupported the British governmentbecause you tried to divide theNational Movement, you tried toseparate the Hindus and Muslimsand so weaken the NationalMovement. You always raised theissue of communalism! The RSS


men have not changed, they are thesame! People say why does not thePrime Minister Modi issue astatement [on Akhlaq’s lynching]? Isay: what is the use that would bealways hypocritical, so let himremain silent about Dadri!

I now turn to two things. Fight forSecular India and Fight forProsperous India. These are the twoobjects for people of the nation.Since you are students of AligarhMuslim University, I want you toremember August 1947. Aligarh hadbeen described as the fortress of theMuslim League. We had insultedAbul Kalam Azad when he passedthrough the Aligarh railway station.What was to be our fate now? Thefirst thing was that Nehru sent theKumaon Regiment to protect theAligarh Muslim University. Butcould it protect the whole district,when the whole of what is nowHaryana was in flames?

In Tappal, there was a massacreof Muslims. Muslim corpses werecoming, to the morgue in ourneighborhood from somewhere. Allthe time the Kumaon Regiment wastrying to protect the city and theuniversity with huge flares by whichthey could see a crowd at a distanceat night. Any time the crowd couldcome. Only one man seemed tostand forth to prevent the destructionof this University and massacres ofMuslims in western Uttar Pradesh,and that was Mahatma Gandhi. Hewas insulted when he went toMuslim refugee camps at JamaMasjid and he was insulted when hewent to Hindu refugee camps! Dayin and day out, he suffered insults.He went to Panipat trying to protectMuslims. On 13th January 1948, hewent on fast. And what were the

demands of the fast? One was thatMuslims must be protected andthose people who had been leadingmobs against Muslims must sign thatthey would not do such thing again.And there were names of RSS andHindu Mahasabha leaders in his list.And Muslims should be allowed ashave not gone to Pakistan to returnto their homes so that refugees fromPakistan were being asked to vacatefor Muslims. This was the firstdemand and you can see what a hugedemand it was in the circumstances.The second demand was that Rs.fifty five crores, an immense amountat that time, should be paid toPakistan because Pakistan officialshad not received salaries for a monthand India had withheld that pledgedamount. Can you imagine a mangoing against his own governmentin favour of a foreign government?And when he was asked, he said Iam as much an Indian as I amPakistani. I belong to both countries!When the fast began on 13 Januaryall through Delhi the slogan was‘Gandhi Murdabad’. There was aprocession marching with suchslogans towards Gandhi Ji’s prayermeetings. But on the third day of thefast JawaharLal Nehru addressed ameeting of ten thousand people infront of the Red Fort. I always askwho called that meeting? Did Patelcall that meeting? Did RajendraPrasad call it? Who had the courageto call it and face the crowd? Andyet by the time Nehru had spokenthe crowd was with him. And thenwithin two further days there was aprocession of a hundred thousandpeople in Delhi. Peasants of Aligarh,peasants of Meerut, peasants alsofrom Muzaffar Nagar—perhapsfathers and grandfathers of some ofthose who participated the riotsrecently— were in that procession

along with sweeper unions,tongawalas and factory workers.

Thereafter crowds surrounded thehouses of Hindu Mahasabha andRSS leaders forcing them to agreeto sign pledges and bringing thempractically by force to Gandhi Ji’ssite of fast until all of them had sosubmitted. And when Gandhi Jiended his fast, and the governmentpaid fifty five crores of rupees toPakistan, violence was over, almostsimultaneously in both countries.So, you are not speaking of anordinary man when you speak ofGandhi. We are speaking of a manof immense courage who didn’t carefor his personal status or dignity forthe larger cause. He was alwayswalking barefoot in total dirt amongthe homeless victims but he neverminded it. He would go again andagain to both Hindu and Muslimrefugee camps for giving hismessage that Hindu and Muslimsshould be brothers and sisters. So, ithas been such people who havemade us a nation. Things didn’t fallof themselves from the heavens.What happened after independence,I would not go into in great detailsbut shortly one must remember –toa Muslim audience it may not soundvery great, but for India, it was animmense thing that the Hindu Codewas legislated in 1955-56. Hinduwomen had no right to inheritance,they have now. They had now equalrights except in very few matters. Itrepresented a total overthrow ofDharma Shastra and not through acoup but through a general election.The Congress went into that electionsaying that women should haveequal rights with men. Jan Sanghand Ram Rajya Parishad stood upfor the Dharmashastra, and surelyneed to be asked today, why did you


oppose the Hindu Code bill in1950s? Don’t you think men andwomen should have equal rights?But they were totally rejected by theelectorate—Jan Sangh, the pre-cursor of the BJP as well as HinduMahasabha and Ram RajyaParishad. So, India became ademocracy, it changed civil lawswhere men and women, at least 80percent of population, were madeequal though unfortunatelyunfavorable social customs, likedowry, continue. Andsimultaneously came the agrarianreforms. Millions of peasantsthroughout India got land. UP oncehad of the most radical ZamindariAbolition Acts besides Kashmir butevery state had such Acts. Finallycame the ceilings legislations of1960s and the construction of theIndian public sector. The basis ofnew India, with all its weaknessesthat still remain, was thus laid in the1950s and 1960s. It’s all the nation’sgift! Well, the real thing is how thepoor have fared? They haven’t faredvery well.

If you read an essay by UtsaPatnaik, The Republic of Hunger,you will see that until 1989 the percapita calorie intake continuouslyincreased. Even in years of droughtthis was maintained by FoodCorporation’s operations, subsidiesand so on. Do you know what hashappened after 1991? Calorie intakeper capita declined! By 2003, itreached the level that it was underBritish rule. When Mr. Modi and Co.speak of capital inflow, or go tovarious countries where, they cangive away billion dollars, as inMongolia, they are only supportingthe corporations. The RSS andHindu Mahasabha, very much likeMuslim League, never had an

Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee(1901-1953) is a prominentHindutva icon for the RSS/BJPbrigade. It was he who, on the adviceof M.S. Golwalkar, the second chiefof RSS and its most prominentideologue, founded the BharatiyaJana Sangh (BJS), precursor ofpresent BJP, in 1951 and became thefirst president of the political arm ofthe RSS. He died in Srinagar, Jammuand Kashmir, on 23 June 1953, whenhe was under arrest. His death ismourned every year as ‘End Article370 Day’ and ‘Save Kashmir Day’.

The Hindutva brigade is fond ofdeclaring Dr. Mookerjee as greatnationalist and patriot who laiddown his life for the unity of thenation. Modi described him as "astatesman, thinker and a patriot whodevoted his life towardsstrengthening nationalintegration".The Hindutva rhetoricabout patriotism of Dr. Mookerjeeneeds to be cross-checked with thecontemporary documents availableeven in RSS and Hindu Mahasabhaarchives.Perusal of these documentsclearly shows that the claim that DrSyama Prasad Mookerjee was a‘selfless patriot’ and a great patriotright from his birth is a white lie. DrMookerjee never-never participatedin the anti-colonial freedom struggle.If patriotism means being part of thefreedom struggle and makingsacrifices, Dr Mookerjee not onlykept aloof from it but also betrayedit by collaborating with the Britishrulers and the Muslim League inorder to crush and communally

BJP/RSS icon was a collaborator ofBritish rulers and Muslim League

Shamsul Islam

polarize the anti-British liberationmovement.

In pre-Independence times he wasa prominent leader of the HinduMahasabha, which was led by V.D.Savarkar. When in 1942 Congressgave a call to the British rulers toleave India immediately bylaunching Quit India Movement, therulers responded to this massmovement by unleashing a reign ofterror. Congress was banned, itsprovincial governments weredismissed, whole of India was turnedinto a jail and thousands died in therepression unleashed by armedforces of the British and nativerulers. The crime of many of thosewho were killed was that they werecarrying a Tricolour. Hindunationalist organizations namely,Hindu Mahasabha and RSS withMuslim nationalist organization,Muslim League not only boycottedQuit India Movement but alsodecided to support the Britishgovernment in its repressivecampaign.

The Hindu Mahasabha president‘Veer’ Savarkar chronicled thisganging up of Hindu Mahasabhawith the Muslim League in hispresidential speech to the 24thsession of the Hindu Mahasabha atKanpur in 1942 in the followingwords:

"In practical politics also theMahasabha knows that we mustadvance through reasonablecompromises. Witness the fact that(Continued on Page 15)


only recently in Sind, the Sind-Hindu-Sabha on invitation had takenthe responsibility of joining handswith the League itself in runningcoalition Government. The case ofBengal is well known. WildLeaguers whom even the Congresswith all its submissiveness could notplacate grew quite reasonablycompromising and sociable as soonas they came in contact with theHindu Mahasabha and the CoalitionGovernment, under the premiershipof Mr. Fazlul Huq and the able leadof our esteemed Mahasabha leaderDr Syama Prasad Mookerji,functioned successfully for a year orso to the benefit of both thecommunities."[i]

Later this coalition arrangementwas extended to NWFP also.

Following the Hindu Mahasabhadirective to co-operate with theBritish, the Hindutva icon, Dr.Mookerjee assured the Britishmasters through a letter dated July26, 1942. Shockingly, it read:

"Let me now refer to the situationthat may be created in the provinceas a result of any widespreadmovement launched by theCongress. Anybody, who during thewar, plans to stir up mass feeling,resulting internal disturbances orinsecurity, must be resisted by anyGovernment that may function forthe time being" [ii]

His letter to Bengal governor thatthe Fazlul Haq led BengalGovernment, along with its alliancepartner Hindu Mahasabha (Mookerjee being Deputy CM inthis ministry) made concretesuggestions for crushing the QIM.He wrote:

"The question is how to combatthis movement(Quit India) inBengal? The administration of theprovince should be carried on insuch a manner that in spite of thebest efforts of the Congress, thismovement will fail to take root inthe province. It should be possiblefor us, especially responsibleMinisters, to be able to tell the publicthat the freedom for which theCongress has started the movement,already belongs to therepresentatives of the people. Insome spheres it might be limitedduring the emergency. Indian haveto trust the British, not for the sakefor Britain, not for any advantagethat the British might gain, but forthe maintenance of the defense andfreedom of the province itself. You,as Governor, will function as theconstitutional head of the provinceand will be guided entirely on theadvice of your Minister.[iii]

A prominent historian R.C.Majumdarwho is also regarded as a‘Hindu’ historian by the Hindutvabrigade commenting on this letterwrote:

"Shyam Prasad ended the letterwith a discussion of the massmovement organised by theCongress. He expressed theapprehension that the movementwould create internal disorder andwill endanger internal securityduring the war by exciting popularfeeling and he opined that anygovernment in power has to suppressit, but that according to him couldnot be done only by persecution….In that letter he mentioned item wisethe steps to be taken for dealing withthe situation…"[iv]

The Hindu Mahasabha decisionto betray Quit India Movement

resonated with the RSS also. MSGolwalkar, the then chief of RSSadmitted:

"In 1942 also there was a strongsentiment in the hearts of many. Atthat time too the routine work ofSangh continued. Sangh vowed notto do anything directly. However,upheaval (uthal-puthal) in the mindsof Sangh volunteers continued.Sangh is an organization of inactivepersons, their talks are useless, notonly outsiders but also many of ourvolunteers did talk like this. Theywere greatly disgusted too."[v]

Nowhere in pre-Partition RSSliterature have we found referencesto any work which RSS might havedone ‘indirectly’ for Quit IndiaMovement.

In a more shocking development,the Hindu Mahasabha of DrMookerjee decided to help theBritish rulers in World War II. It wasthe time when Subhash ChandraBose, known as Netaji, wasorganizing the INA (Azad HindFauj) in a military campaign to forcethe British out. The extent to whichthe Hindu Mahasabha was willingto help the British masters is clearfrom the following directive issuedby Savarkar as President of theMahasabha:

"So far as India’s defence isconcerned, Hindudom must allyunhesitatingly, in a spirit ofresponsive co-operation, with thewar effort of the Indian governmentin so far as it is consistent with theHindu interests, by joining the Army,Navy and the Aerial forces in aslarge a number as possible and bysecuring an entry into all ordnance,ammunition and war craftfactories…. Again it must be noted


that Japan’s entry into the war hasexposed us directly and immediatelyto the attack by Britain’s enemies.Consequently, whether we like it ornot, we shall have to defend our ownhearth and home against the ravagesof the war and this can only be doneby intensifying the government’swar effort to defend India. HinduMahasabhaites must, therefore,rouse Hindus especially in theprovinces of Bengal and Assam aseffectively as possible to enter themilitary forces of all arms withoutlosing a single minute." [vi]

Despite all these shocking factsbeing available in the Hindutvaarchives, the Hindutva brigadecontinues to falsify history. TheHindutva juggernaut is in full steamdemolishing the great, heroic andselfless sacrifices of thousands ofIndian who laid down their lives forthe freedom of India against thecolonial masters and their stoogeslike Princes and Muslim League.The Hindutva gang is trying toreplace the braves and heroes of anti-colonial history with stooges andcollaborators. It makes one fact veryclear that BJP/RSS do not have asingle person to be presented asfreedom fighter. However, it isterribly sad that those who lovemartyrs of the great anti-colonialstruggle and respect gloriousliberation struggle are not there toencircle places in protest where theHindutva denigrates the real martyrsand freedom fighters and attemptsto establish collaborators as patriots.

[email protected]

References:

[i] VD Savarkar, SamagraSavarkar Wangmaya(Collected Works of Savarkar),

A study camp for the activists ofthe Socialist Party(India) was heldat Azad Bhavan, Parvari, Goa on24th and 25th Jun 2016. 72 fromMaharashtra, 4 from Goa and 10from Kerala attended There were 26women. Age-wise breakup was:below 30 yrs—24, between 30 and60—50, above 60 yrs-22.

After Vinayak Naik, president ofGoa state unit, welcomed thegathering, Baban D’Souza, seniorleader inaugurated by lighting alamp. Bharat Latkar and BabaNadaf, RSD activists led twoinspiring chorus songs, one of theconveners recalled long associationof the socialists with Goa.

As news of the Brexit came in themorning, a short discussion was heldon it. It was pointed out thatformation of European Union (EU),after the end of the second world war,was welcomed by many countries.It was recalled that it was theimperialist rivalry of a few Europeancountries like Britain and France onthe one hand and Germany and Italyon the other that forced the people ofmany countries to face great loss oflife and dislocation of normal livesof the millions. As all those countries, 28 in all, came under one umbrella,the world heaved a sigh of reliefhoping that no more war would bethrust on them. Ordinary people canlead their life well only if there ispeace. Formation of EU waswelcomed with the expectation thatone currency would come to beaccepted by all countries sooner orlater. All those hopes were dashedby the Brexit.

In the first session collectivereading of the Policy Statement of

Goa camp

the Socialist Party(India) with everyparticipant having its copy in hand,was conducted by Prof. NutanMalavi (Wardha) and SantoshThakur (Tara). Many questions wereasked and discussed threadbare.

In the second session, discussionon gender equality was initiated byKamal Parulekar, president of thestatewide organization ofAnganwadi sevikas. She said that in1991, there were only 917 female to1000 male. After the first WorldWomen’s Conference at Beijing in1975, mass awakening campaignwas conducted on the issue as aresult of which the ratio improvedto 992:1000 in 2011. A woman nevercooks to satisfy her likes and dislikesbut does so for others. Girls’education is generally neglectedbecause people feel that only sonwill look after them in old age. Dueto spread of education and womengetting gainful employment,daughters are increasinglyshouldering that responsibility. Sopeople should stop discriminating asbetween sons and daughters. Womenshould be treated on equality basisin all walks of life. Anita Nawale ofAsu, explained the problems andhardships faced by single womenlike widows, deserted and spinstersand gave information about themovement carried by those women.Prod. Benzir Tamboli (Pune)discussed problems of Muslimwomen and narrated hownationwide movement is beingcarried on for abolition of oral talaqfor which first morcha wasorganized by the great reformerHamid Dalwai long back in 1967.Yashodhara Potanwar gaveinformation about gender equalitymovement in Vidarbha.(Continued on Page 15)


In the next session, Prof.Shamsuddin Tamboli, president ofthe Muslim Satyashodhak Mandal,discussed how fundamentalism ofthe Hindus and Muslims aremutually encouraged by each other.Communal riots were started underthe British Rule and are increasinglyindulged into by the Hindu fanaticswhile a handful of Muslim youthsare resorting to terrorist activities.Sober elements in both thecommunities should join hands tonegate the atmosphere of mutualsuspicion and hatred and concentrateon promoting programs for thebetterment of all the countrymen.The Prophet had specifically statedthat his commands that there is onlyone Allah and the believers shouldpray for him are mandatory. Inregard to worldly matters, decisionsbe arrived at by mutual discussionand dictates of the conscience. ShriTamboli informed that MuslimSatyashodhak Mandal has startedorganizing blood donation camps toobserve Eid.

Next, Dr. T.S. Patil (Kolahapur)who has done his Ph.D. on thehistory of Socialist Party inMaharashtra (1934 to 1977),focused on main achievements likeparticipation in freedom struggle,struggles of peasants and workers inmany industrial centres. In the realmof ideology, socialists emphasizedthe importance of avoiding violenceand carry on mass movementspeacefully and uphold sanctity offundamental rights of the citizensand how the socialists participatedin Sanyukta Maharashtra movementand anti-Emergency struggle 1975to 1977. In Parliament, theperformance of socialist MPs likeNath Pai, Madhu Limaye,S.M.Joshi., N.G. Goray, MadhuDandavate and George Fernandesused to be quite effective. Konkan

Railway is a standing tribute to thesocialists’ exemplary work. SocialistMLAs had also raised manyimportant issues related to thecommon people. Pannalal Suranaadded that socialists should feelproud about the fact that the Indianpolity accepted (1) use of regionallanguages in the administration of allthe States, (2) appointment ofMandal Commission for the OBCsand implementation of itsrecommendations and (3) need forabolition of caste system along withpursuit of economic rights of thetoiling masses.

In the final session, Shri Suranaspoke on capitalism, globalizationand Socialism. He observed that asthe capitalists are interested only inmaximizing their profits, theyexploit both the labourers and theconsumers at large. They causeheavy pollution of air and waterthereby enhancing the menace ofglobal warming. Establishment ofWorld Trade Organisation usheredin the globalisation which asks forfree flow of capital and goods fromrich countries to the poor ones butdebars that of labour from the poorto the rich countries. It is a fact thatglobalization process has achievedonly jobless growth therebyaggravating unemployment problemin many countries besides enhancinginequality as between classes as alsobetween nations. Insistence of WTOon a particular kind of Patent Act,increased prices of seeds andinsecticides, and declining prices ofagricultural produce like cotton dueto throwing open the markets of theunderdeveloped countries to theimports from the advanced oneswere responsible for large numbersuicides by the farmers. The richcountries refuse to lower the ratesof subsidy which they pay to theirfarmers but force the poor countries

not to increase subsidy to localfarmers. The large corporates aretrying to grab natural resources likeland, water, forests and minerals bydenying the traditional commonsrights of the local communities.

Shri Surana asserted that theSocialist Party is totally opposed tocapitalism and globalization. Itasserts that the American model ofdevelopment must be discarded andindigenous one, with primaryobjective of full employment beevolved. Primacy must be accordedto agriculture, dairy, fishery andforestry which can generateemployment at a much faster pacebesides producing goods that canupgrade standard of living of thecommon people. Consumers’ goodsbe produced through diffused smallscale industries. Capital goods beproduced only in public sector units.No foreign capital be allowed inDefence production, insurance, andbanking. India can finance itsdevelopment projects because itsrate of saving is 34 per cent whichis quite good .We should strive tobe self-reliant.

In the last session devoted toorganizational matters, it wasdecided to undertake the followingprograms to be completed by 30November, 2016: Enrolment of10,000 party members; Organisingstudy camp one each in Marathwadaand Vidarbha: Organising debates onElctoral Reforms in 44 colleges; Todispel the sense of insecurityamongst the fellow-brethenbelonging to minority communitiesand strengthen the bonds ofsolidarity organize Hindu-MuslimBhaichara Meets at 34 places.

–Kamalakar SubhadarHasan Desai


economic programme. The poormean nothing to them; only the richfund-givers are important.Therefore, in order to rule they mustcontinue to raise the communalissues, which is the only way inwhich they can continue to get votes.They are not the first to do so, theNazis did it by raising the racialquestion in Germany. Golwalkar, theRSS guru, actually praised Hitler forhis policy towards the Jews sayingthat same policy should be resortedto in India against Muslims. So, tokeep up the anti-Muslim fervor isnow the RSS watchword. No

opposition to religious fanaticismi.e. Hindutva can be tolerated. Evenan ordinary history text book whichsays that the Rigveda was compiledin 1500 BC—and by implication notin 8000 BC—is unacceptable.Therefore, what is happeningtoday—the murders of Dabholkar,Pansare, and Kalburgi—is part of apre-determined pattern: by threatsthey want to silence people. TheCongress didn’t much care whoserved in the ICHR, ICSSR,JawaharLal Nehru Museum but RSScares! Everywhere they are fillingplaces with fanatics. Everywherethey are giving a totally wrong

picture of Indian history and ofIndian Constitution. Therefore, onthe shoulders of the educated peoplein India or those who can answerthem in print, on paper, in speech, agreat responsibility rests today. Amassacre of Muslims is not just anattack on Muslim community, it isan attack on India and large numberof people are realizing it. Readnewspapers, the realization is amplythere on their pages every day. Thisis the time for us to forget our smallgrouses and grievances and stand upagainst the conspiracy of the BJPand RSS against the very "Idea ofIndia".

(Continued from )

Hindu Mahasabha, Poona,1963, p. 479-480

[ii] Mookherjee, Shyama Prasad,Leaves from a Dairy. OxfordUniversity Press.p. 179.

[iii] Cited in A G. Noorani, TheRSS and the BJP: A Divisionof Labour. LeftWord Books.pp. 56–57.

[iv] RC Majumdar, History ofModern Bengal. vol. 2, G.Bharadwaj& Co, Calcutta, p. 350.

[v] Shri Guruji Samagra Darshan (collected works of Golwalkarin Hindi), volume IV, BhartiyaVichar Sadhna, Nagpur, nd, p40.

[vi] V.D. Savarkar, SamagraSavarkar Wangmaya: HinduRashtra Darshan, vol. 6,Maharashtra PrantikHindusabha, Poona, 1963, p.460.

–countercurrents


By allowing a 100 percentforeign direct investment in manykey sectors, including thedefence, the BJP government atthe center has put the borders ofthe country in danger. Accordingto this decision, the responsibilityof the security of the country’sborders has been snatched awayfrom the Indian government andthe forces and given to theAmerican-NATO network. Noweven the defence sector hasbecome the profit-makingbusiness of the national andinternational corporate houses.With this decision of thegovernment, the truth ofswadeshi ideology of the RSS hascompletely unravelled in frontof the people of the country. Onthe one hand, RSS breaks theinternal intergrity and strength ofthe nation through communal

Country’s borders in jeopardy

discord and on the other, it hasdecided to break the securitysystem around the country’sborders. Decision has proved thatthe RSS, who was not concernedfor the independence of thecountry during the freedomstruggle, does not care for it eventoday.

The Socialist Party believesthat our consitutional pledge is tomake the nation independent andself-reliant and not the ‘thebiggest open economy for theforeign direct investment in theworld’ to be looted by thecorporate houses.

The Socialist Party calls for acountrywide resistance on thisserious matter.

–Abhijit VaidyaGeneral Secretary Socialist Party (India)

R.N.I. NO. 1855/1957 16 JANATA, July 3, 2016Postal Registration No. MCW/275/2015-2017

License to Post without prepayment WPP License No. MR/Tech/WPP-210/West/2016Published on Sunday, July 3, 2016 & Posted on Wednesday July. 6, 2016 at Mumbai Patrika Channel, Mumbai GPO-1

Printed and Published by G.G. Parikh on behalf of Janata Trust. Printed at Mouj Printing Bureau, Khatau Wadi, Girgaum,Mumbai-400 004 and published at D-15, Ganesh Prasad, Naushir Bharucha Marg (Sleater Road), Mumbai - 400 007.

An infrastructure company established since 1924

REGD. OFFICE :

New Excelsior Building, (3rd Floor),A.K. Nayak Marg, Fort, Mumbai 400001.Tel. : 022 2205 1231 Fax : 022-2205 1232

Office : Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai & New Delhi



Vol. 71 No. 24July 10, 2016




Mumbai - 400 007.


The killing of dozens of peopleby terrorists at Dhaka is not anaberration, but the product of acommitted mind that has beenbrainwashed by fanaticism. PrimeMinister Sheikh Hasina is quite rightwhen she says that this is not Islam,yet the Muslims all over mustintrospect why their co-religionistsare striking all over and at regularintervals. Dhaka’s InformationMinister Hasanul Haq has blamedPakistan for the attack. This maywell be true, but there has to beevidence. Otherwise, the criticismwill be considered a part of inimicalattitude by Dhaka towardsIslamabad.

First in Paris, then Brussels andnow Dhaka, the message is alwaysthe same. Non-believers have nospace if they do not accept Islam asthe one religion nearest to God. True,this mocks at ideologies likesecularism and democracy. But if thediscipline of Islam is to be accepted,there is no place for dissent. Themadrassas all over the world teachthe tenets of Islam and make youremember the Koran by heart. But

Bloodbath at Dhaka

Kuldip Nayar

there is little place for science ortechnology.

India is probably the only countrywhich has compulsorily introducedscience in madrassas. But themullahs and maulvis are not happywith this and wherever they can—in remote parts of the country—theydo away with teaching in science.Of course, there are exceptions likeformer President Abdul Kalam andPakistan’s A.Q. Khan. Theyrepresent the brilliant mind behindthe finished product they broughtbefore the wider world. But theweapon they are able to anvil canbe lethal and destructive.

I recall when I interviewed theBihar-born Dr A.Q. Khan he warnedme that “if you ever drive us to thewall,” as was the case when EastPakistan seceded, “we will use theBomb straight away.” In fact, I haveheard some people saying inPakistan that they would use theBomb first and destroy India. But Iargued with Khan that “you mightdestroy Northern India but thatwould also be the end of Pakistan.

Is UP turning Right ?Varughese George

Indo-Pak War 1971—Field Marshal Manekshaw

Rajindar Sachar

The meaning of BrexitJeffrey D. Sachs

Saving crony capitalists fromRaghuram Rajan

M. K. Venu

Castes in India B. R. Ambedkar


India would still be able to rebuildthe country with the resourcesavailable in the south.”

It is strange that A.Q. Khanremains a hero in Pakistan, althoughhe has sold the nuclear knowhow atan exorbitant price to countries fromNorth Korea to Iran. It is afrightening scenario, but thanks toKhan, a dirty nuclear Bomb is apossibility anywhere in the Islamicworld. Imagine also some terroristsgetting hold of the Bomb. They canhold the world to ransom.

What happened at Dhaka wasindiscriminate killing at the poshGulshan restaurant in an exclusivepart of the city earmarked fordiplomats. Suppose those sameterrorists had at their disposal a dirtyBomb? What could have been theconsequences? Instead of a fewdozen casualties the numbers ofthose killed would have been inhundreds of thousands andstretching across the border.

This should make thegovernments in South Asiaconscious of the fact that terrorismis not now confined to distant placesin Syria and Yemen. ISIS is alreadypresent and it claims to have localsupport. To build a dirty Bomb it isnot necessary to hijack finishednuclear weapons. All that is requiredis access to any civil nuclearfacilities, either power reactors likeKanupp in Karachi or researchcentres at Trombay near Mumbai.There cannot be any foolproof banon the procurement of key strategicmaterials needed for the Bomb.

Countries in South Asia have tocome together on this specific issueand devise suitable steps so that thisregion doesn’t become a hunting

ground for nuclear adventure. Thiswill also involve a concerted driveagainst the fundamentalists. Forexample, persons like Hyderabad-based Owaisi who are trying to winheadlines by taking a stand which ispalpably wrong but probablyacceptable in the eyes of fanatics.

I wish the media wouldn’t givehim the publicity he is gettingbecause his eyes are fixed on thespace he gets in the media. But thenit is also understandable the mediacannot ignore the provocativestatements he makes. If we look backat the subcontinent’s history theseeds of separation were sown bytwo Lahore-based newspapers,Zimidar representing the Muslims,and Pratap, the Hindus. They incitedboth communities and made Hindusand Muslims feel they belonged totwo separate nations.

I recall that the feeling of beingdifferent came to be cultivated atLaw College, Lahore, where l wasstudying. The common kitcheneventually was divided into Hindukitchen and Muslim kitchen, justlike they started selling Hindu paaniand Muslim paani at the railwaystation. Fortunately, most studentswere not affected by this. At the LawCollege dining room Muslimstudents would get food from theirkitchen, Hindu students would inturn get food from their kitchen. Butwe all sat and ate together.

I feel that even though we did notbother about the separation of thekitchen, yet it gave birth to the ideaof division and this ultimately ledto partition of the subcontinent. Butwe never imagined that there wouldbe forced migration of populations.We who decided to stay in Sialkotcity, now part of Pakistan, thought

that we would be in a minority, justas Muslims would be in India. Butboth will be living peacefully. Thisdid not happen because thebureaucracy on both sides was alsodivided on the basis of religion.

We in Sialkot experienced howthe Muslim police connived at thelooting and killing of non-Muslimsbecause similar was the case in EastPunjab. In the process we killed onemillion people of each other’scommunities. Till today there is noaccountability and I personally thinkthat non-Muslims in India shouldoffer an apology to the Muslims onthe other side, just as they should dothe same to us.

This may not make amends forthe horrors, but at least it mightbegin a new chapter of healing. Theterrorists who are the product ofthose terrible times may then becondemned by the peoplethemselves and they would not beable to get the backing they need.Then the happening in Dhaka willbe recalled with horror andhumiliation.

Janata SubscriptionAnnual Rs. : 260/-Three Years : 750/-

Demand Draft / Chequeon

Mumbai Bankin favour of

JANATA TRUSTD-15, Ganesh Prasad,

Naushir Bharucha Marg,Mumbai 400 007


The Uttar Pradsh politics sincemid-sixties was dominated by theLohiaite discourse of caste as classand consolidated further by theMandal issue of 1990s. Thebackward classes and Dalits usedcaste as a means of politicalmobilization and seized power inUP which had once been a citadelof Congress politics. Themajoritarian communal party, BJPemerged as a major contender in UPpolitics in the aftermath of Mandirpolitics marginalizing the GrandOld Party, Congress and in themidst of splits among the socialists.The split among the secular votesand the search for good governancehelped BJP to secure a landslidevictory in UP in the Lok Sabhaelections of 2014.

The Samajvadi Party that largelyrepresented the socialists in UP hadsuffered fatal backlash in the 2014Lok Sabha elections. The nature ofthe Samajvadi Party has beenchanging for sometime as thepresent author noted in an article inMainstream as early as March20,2010. It said, ‘the entry of corporatecaptains and Bollywood stars asparliamentarians on behalf ofSamajvadi Party caused revulsion inthe party…The party’s taking sideswith Reliance brothers’ dispute withthe oil ministry was not to its corespirit, though the cadres silentlyendured it with discipline anddignity…Mulayam Singh alsocannot be absolved of the shift inparty’s ideological orientation. He

Is UP turning Right ?Varughese George

was a mute witness of the transitionof the socialist party to a party ofBombay socialites”.1

After the exit of Amar Singh whowas mainly responsible for the driftof the party along the corporatelines Mulayam Singh steered clearthe party and brought it to its oldmoorings. There had been muchcriticism in the socialist groupsabout the dithering of the party’scommitment to socialist principles.Surendra Mohan called themainstream socialists a thousandsuns away from Lohia. In theensuing year that celebrated Lohia’sbirth centenary Mulayamaddressing many meetingreconnected SP’s legacy to Lohia.The people elected Samajvadi partyin the Legislative Assemblyelections of 2012 and gave it aresounding victory. The party got206 seats in the 400 hundred strongHouse and Mulayam’s son Akhileshbecame the Chief Minister.

That might be a generationalchange. But the Muzafarnagar riotsturned everything upside down. Afact team of civil society activistsincluding Nivedita Menon, HarshaMander and Kamal Chitra Chenoywho visited Muzafarnagar reportedsuch: ‘ the state government wasunable to contain the violence afterit broke out… the police was absentwith not a single incident beingreported by the villagers of policeintervention to either arrest leadersmaking provocative statements or to

help those being attacked by themobs. There is not a single shred ofevidence to prove that police actedagainst the mobs that freelyattacked and killed their neighboursand looted and burnt homes’.2

In spite of the inept handling ofthe communal riot, the Muslimcommunity stood solidly behind theSamajvadi Party in the 2014 LokSabha elections. They were stillloyal to Mulayam Singh who stoodwith courage of conviction at thetime of Babri masjid. Though itwon only five seats it was able tosecure 22 percent votes and themain reason was Muslim supporteven while Yadav support showeda decline.3

But the party’s debacle inelectoral terms was devastating. Thebrilliant victory by BJP has beeninterpreted from many angles, butthe most extensive and excellentstudy seemed to be that of Prof.A.K. Varma published in EPW aspart of NES of CSDS on 27September 2014. Prof. Varmaattributes many factors that helpedthe unprecedented BJP vicoryincluding peoples urge fortranscendence from caste to goodgovernance, clinical organization ofelection campaign, Modi’s decisionto contest from Varanasi, Amitshah’s deft and dexterous handlingof election machinery, thoroughsupport of RSS in the campaignsand Modi’s rapport with the people

(Continued on Page 5)


further told General that when hecomes for breakfast, he should comein Army uniform. Naturally, Generalfelt surprised and asked whether hehad heard rightly that she wantedhim to come in the uniform at thebreakfast because it was naturally avery strange suggestion. Mrs.Gandhi was straightforward and toldhim “yes, she wanted him to comefor breakfast but in uniform. So,General Manekshaw went forbreakfast in full uniform and soonthey were joined by Kissinger.

At that meeting Indira Gandhiwas persistent in asking Kissinger toplead with Nixon that he should tryto restrain Pakistan for what wasbeing done in East Pakistan becausethe conditions there were becomingintolerable and it was almostbecoming impossible for India toremain silent. Kissinger however,went on prevaricating and would notreally give a straight answer. Ratherhe tried to underplay the situation.Mrs. Gandhi, however, still insisted,but to no avail. Kissinger would notgive any assurance that Nixon woulddo something about it.

Obviously rattled, Mrs. Gandhisaid if that was the position she mayhave to do something herself whichshe was reluctant to do. At thisKissinger again expressed hisinability on his and Nixon’s behalfto do anything and asked her ratherironically as to what she intended todo. At that time she stood up and

Indo-Pak War 1971—Field Marshal Manekshaw

Rajindar Sachar

pointing towards General (who wasin full military uniform) toldKissinger that if USA Government,USA President cannot control thesituation then I am going to ask him(meaning the General) to do thesame.

There was stunning silence for aminute and the sharp message wasconveyed to Kissinger in a very starkmanner. As a matter of fact, Generalwas himself surprised and suddenlyunderstood the purpose as to why hehad been asked to come in uniformrather than in civilian clothes atapparently, a harmless function ofbreakfast. Obviously, Nixon andKissinger had their egos deflated andwere not going to forgive Mrs.Gandhi for such an attitude.

It is to the credit of GeneralManekshaw that as a strategist heopposed immediate attack andwaited to make full preparations tillDecember, 1971.

Mrs. Gandhi had no other coursebut to create world opinion in favorof India. She requested J.P., thesocialist and legendary hero offreedom struggle, to go on worldtour to explain India’s case, whichthe patriot that he was he willinglyundertook. But still the matters weregetting worse, yet India could notdirectly intervene. Refugees werecontinuing to pour in from EastBengal. Sidharth Shankar Ray wasin charge of borders. On one of the

Some inside facts of Indo-Pakwar of 1971 are not so well knownin public. Broadly, one knows ofAnti-India slant of President Nixonbut recently some declassifieddocuments throw a fresh andinteresting light on this crucial war.

The hostile aggressive standtaken by Nixon was sought to bejustified by the false premise thatIndira Gandhi was, right from thebeginning, determined to attack EastPakistah. This however was a lie andNixon above all the people knewthat on the other hand she tried herbest to avoid confrontation withPakistan. As a matter of fact IndiraGandhi tried her best to persuadeNixon to intervene at an early stageto help her do so.

In July 1971 Kissinger had a stopover in India on his secret visit toChina. At that time mass fleeingform East Pakistan and terror byPakistan army were creating havocin West Bengal and rest of thecountry. Mrs. Gandhi, wasobviously under a big strain. Shetherefore invited Kissinger for aprivate breakfast to be able todiscuss the matter urgently.

However, on the evening before,Indira Gandhi telephoned GeneralManekshaw, our Army Chief andtold him that she would like him tocome and meet her at breakfast nextmorning. She did not disclose as towho her other guests were. She


usual visits by Mrs. Gandhi to borderwhere a public meeting was beingheld to reassure the public that thematter was being looked afterproperly. On this visit to WestBengal she told Ray that after publicmeeting she would go back to Delhi,and Ray should stay for some daysin Calcutta and come later.

At the public meeting while Mrs.Gandhi was addressing, one of heraides handed her a small paper – sheread it and put it in her pocket andcontinued as usual with her speech.After the meeting ended when goingto the airport she told Ray that heshould come along with her to Delhi.Ray was a little surprised at thissudden change of his programme.But her followers did not askquestions of Indira Gandhi – therewas implicit compliance. After about15 minutes of flight onward to DelhiMrs. Gandhi leaned back in her seat,a bit relaxed, took out paper givento her at public meeting and told Raywho was sitting next to her, here isthe information “Pakistan hasattacked”. At first blush it wouldseem strange that Mrs. Gandhishould seem relaxed on knowingabout Pak attack. But there wasobvious logic – India was reelingunder refugee’s influx and yet itdared not attack East Bengal,because then the world opinionwould call it the aggressor. Anexcuse was necessary and Pakistanhad now conveniently provided it.Of course, let us be objective: waron East Bengal front was all weighedin favor of India – as General Aroratold me, though to start with somehard knocks were taken it wassmooth march – the wholepopulation of East Bengal wasagainst Pakistan.

The movements of Pak army wereleaked in detail by Mukti Bahni andtheir volunteers to Indian armywhose task was made smooth(though no doubt India lost quite afew thousand of armed forces). Tomake matters still easier Indian airforce had no opposition andbombard General Niazi’s officialbangalow. As one of the Air Chiefstold me “you can’t imagine thepanic, the utter helplessness at beingbombarded from above by enemyplanes, knowing fully well that youcan’t even send one plane to stopthem. It was inevitable that Niazisurrendered without much delay.

Again General Manekshawshowed grace and gentlemanly

temperament that even when100,000 Pakistan soldiers were inthe custody of India, he did not boastbut publically said ‘Pakistanisoldiers fought well’ – that showsgrace and self-confidence even invictory.

I, must however, caution againstusing this unfortunate Indo-Pakhistory as a glorious victory. Weshould, rather feel sorrow at thisunfortunate aspect of history andrather work whole-heartedly for afuture Indo-Pak friendship andharmony. In this alone, lies thefuture prosperity of both ourcountries.

[email protected]

with his rallies and speeches.Though I am in conformity to Prof.Varma in finer details mentionedabove I totally disagree with hisanalysis in the core aspects. Themost important factor seems to bethat there was no credible nationalalternative to BJP. The Congresswas in shambles. The non-Congressnon-BJP parties spoke about only apost-poll alliance. They were notwilling to come to a joint platformand every one contested on theirown. These parties secured morepercentage of votes than BJP. TheBJP’s vote share was 42.3 while SPgot 22.2 per cent, BSP 19.6 percent, RLD 0.9 per cent andCongress 7 per cent. The secularvotes were divided and BJP couldromp home with 71 Lok Sabhaseats. Its alliance with Apna Dalwas a brilliant masterstroke, as Prof.

Varma says, since through this theupper caste dominated BJP made alink with the most backward castes.Thus while BJP consolidated itsbase, the secular parties letthemselves disintegrated bydisunity. Mayavati seemed to havehelped transfer of votes to BJP byher low profile campaign in theconstituencies where her partycontested, with the ultimate aim ofcornering SP to a tight spot.Though BSP contested in all 80seats and secured one fifth of totalvotes polled, it could not win asingle seat. That not a singleMuslim candidate won this timefrom Uttar Pradesh proves a point:Is UP turning towards Right?

1 Mainstream 20 March 20102 Centre for Policy Analysis3 EPW 27 SeptemberUP turning

Right 2014



The Brexit vote was a tripleprotest: against surging immigration,City of London bankers, andEuropean Union institutions, in thatorder. It will have majorconsequences. Donald Trump’scampaign for the US presidency willreceive a huge boost, as will otheranti-immigrant populist politicians.Moreover, leaving the EU willwound the British economy, andcould well push Scotland to leave theUnited Kingdom – to say nothing ofBrexit’s ramifications for the futureof European integration.

Brexit is thus a watershed eventthat signals the need for a new kindof globalization, one that could befar superior to the status quo thatwas rejected at the British polls.

At its core, Brexit reflects apervasive phenomenon in the high-income world: rising support forpopulist parties campaigning for aclampdown on immigration.Roughly half the population inEurope and the United States,generally working-class voters,believes that immigration is out ofcontrol, posing a threat to publicorder and cultural norms.

In the middle of the Brexitcampaign in May, it was reportedthat the UK had net immigration of333,000 persons in 2015, more thantriple the government’s previouslyannounced target of 100,000. Thatnews came on top of the Syrianrefugee crisis, terrorist attacks bySyrian migrants and disaffectedchildren of earlier immigrants, andhighly publicized reports of assaults

on women and girls by migrants inGermany and elsewhere.

In the US, Trump backerssimilarly rail against the country’sestimated 11 million undocumentedresidents, mainly Hispanic, whooverwhelmingly live peaceful andproductive lives, but without propervisas or work permits. For manyTrump supporters, the crucial factabout the recent attack in Orlando isthat the perpetrator was the son ofMuslim immigrants fromAfghanistan and acted in the nameof anti-American sentiment (thoughcommitting mass murder with semi-automatic weapons is, alas, all tooAmerican).

Warnings that Brexit would lowerincome levels were either dismissedoutright, wrongly, as merefearmongering, or weighed againstthe Leavers’ greater interest inborder control. A major factor,however, was implicit class warfare.Working-class “Leave” votersreasoned that most or all of theincome losses would in any event beborne by the rich, and especially thedespised bankers of the City ofLondon.

Americans disdain Wall Streetand its greedy and often criminalbehavior at least as much as theBritish working class disdains theCity of London. This, too, suggestsa campaign advantage for Trumpover his opponent in November,Hillary Clinton, whose candidacy isheavily financed by Wall Street.Clinton should take note anddistance herself from Wall Street.

In the UK, these two powerfulpolitical currents – rejection ofimmigration and class warfare –were joined by the widespreadsentiment that EU institutions aredysfunctional. They surely are. Oneneed only cite the last six years ofmismanagement of the Greek crisisby self-serving, shortsightedEuropean politicians. Thecontinuing eurozone turmoil was,understandably, enough to put offmillions of UK voters.

The short-run consequences ofBrexit are already clear: the poundhas plummeted to a 31-year low. Inthe near term, the City of Londonwill face major uncertainties, joblosses, and a collapse of bonuses.Property values in London will cool.The possible longer-run knock-oneffects in Europe – including likelyScottish independence; possibleCatalonian independence; abreakdown of free movement ofpeople in the EU; a surge in anti-immigrant politics (including thepossible election of Trump andFrance’s Marine Le Pen) – areenormous. Other countries mighthold referendums of their own, andsome may choose to leave.

In Europe, the call to punishBritain pour encourager les autres –to warn those contemplating thesame – is already rising. This isEuropean politics at its stupidest(also very much on display vis-à-visGreece). The remaining EU should,instead, reflect on its obviousfailings and fix them. PunishingBritain – by, say, denying it accessto Europe’s single market – wouldonly lead to the continued

The meaning of BrexitJeffrey D. Sachs


Saving crony capitalistsfrom Raghuram Rajan

M. K. Venu

Sometime ago I had asked ahighly reputed economist advisingthe Modi government what hethought of a piquant observationmade by Sanjay Subrahmanyam,one of India’s foremost historians,that the government was more easilyable to accept globally trainedeconomists but not historians orsociologists who mostly reject theculturally fixed views of the Sanghparivar. The foreign trainedeconomist reflected on the matter fora few seconds before responding, “Itis not necessary that we economistsendorse all the policies of thegovernment, whether UPA or NDA.For instance, I strongly feel thegovernment must structurally moveaway from a pro-business policyframework to a genuinely pro-market one where the benefits aremore evenly spread. This is acontinuing problem with the Indianpolicy regime”. Put simply, India’seconomic policies are often tailoredto benefit big business houses in thename of “development andemployment creation.”

The economist in question hadexpressed this opinion to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi too butprobably did not see much changeon the ground. The reason why I amrecounting this story is because it hasa lot to do with the way RBIGovernor Raghuram Rajan haschosen to leave his job even beforehearing from New Delhi about hispossible extension for another twoyears, making it a five year tenure –something that all RBI governorshave got since 1991. Rajancompletes three years at the helm of

the central bank on September 6 andhas expressed his desire to go backto teaching economics at theChicago University. His decisionwill disappoint the global investingcommunity at large as he was seenas a big stabilising influence onmonetary policy and financialmarket functioning in India.

Rajan too has strongly believedthat for sustained growth, India hadto move away from a big business-oriented policy framework to a muchmore broad based, pro-market one.His first public remarks against theentrenched big business camearound end 2014 when he said manybig business houses in India enjoyed“riskless capitalism”; in good timesthey enjoy profits and in bad timesthey are bailed out by the banks.Incidentally, such remarks haddirectly targeted some of the topindebted business groups whosenames were listed by reputedindependent research institutions asdefaulting on loans. Credit SuisseIndia had been regularly putting outthe names of the top ten businessgroups that owed about Rs 7.5 lakhcrore to the banks and nearly 50 percent of this was close to defaultstatus as per private credit ratingagencies.

Rajan had begun to turn the heaton some of these powerful businesshouses, including the controversialEssar Group, Vedanta, Jindal Steel,Anil Ambani-led companies, AdaniGroup, JP Associates, GMR, GVK,Lanco and Bhushan Steel. Many ofthese entities had already got theirloans restructured – a euphemism for

unraveling of the EU.

So what should be done? I wouldsuggest several measures, both toreduce the risks of catastrophicfeedback loops in the short term andto maximize the benefits of reformin the long term.

First, stop the refugee surge byending the Syrian war immediately.This can be accomplished by endingthe CIA-Saudi alliance to overthrowBashar al-Assad, thereby enablingAssad (with Russian and Iranianbacking) to defeat the Islamic Stateand stabilize Syria (with a similarapproach in neighboring Iraq).America’s addiction to regimechange (in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya,and Syria) is the deep cause ofEurope’s refugee crisis. End theaddiction, and the recent refugeescould return home.

Second, stop NATO’s expansionto Ukraine and Georgia. The newCold War with Russia is another US-contrived blunder with plenty ofEuropean naiveté attached. Closingthe door on NATO expansion wouldmake it possible to ease tensions andnormalize relations with Russia,stabilize Ukraine, and restore focuson the European economy and theEuropean project.

Third, don’t punish Britain.Instead, police national and EUborders to stop illegal migrants. Thisis not xenophobia, racism, orfanaticism. It is common sense thatcountries with the world’s mostgenerous social-welfare provisions(Western Europe) must say no tomillions (indeed hundreds ofmillions) of would-be migrants. Thesame is true for the US.

Fourth, restore a sense of fairnessand opportunity for the disaffectedworking class and those whose



postponement of interest andprincipal repayment — during theUPA regimes, especially after theglobal economic slowdowndeepened post 2012. But how longcould the banks postpone receivinginterest and principal back from thecompanies without declaring thembad loans? This problem is still tobe resolved except that PSU bankshave begun to make heavyprovisions against these loans overthe past six months and have shownhuge losses in their books. Rajanalso instructed the banks to tightenthe screws on the big businesshouses that had not repaid interestand principal for a considerableperiod. The banks, which had beenlax for some years, suddenly startedpressuring these groups to sell theirprofitable assets to pay back the debton projects that had not taken off,especially in the infrastructuresectors. So Essar, with a total loanexposure of over Rs 1.15 lakh crore,has been negotiating to sell itsprofitable refinery project to payback its debt in steel and power,while the Anil Ambani group and JPAssociates have sold somebusinesses to pay back their massiveloans

In the past, Essar, politicallyconnected to both national parties,never felt compelled to sell its assetsto pay back loans. In 1999-2000, atthe peak of the downcycle inbusiness after the Asian financialcrises, Essar had nearly defaulted onits debt obligations. But it managedto retain all its assets and ridethrough the downcycle, of coursewith some help from the banks andtheir political masters. This does notseem to be happening now as, underRajan’s supervision, the PSU bankshave been quite emboldened andhave refused to even meet some ofthese promoters to negotiate deals.Modi has supported this upto a point.

But when the pain exceeds a certainlimit, these businesses begin toforcefully encash their IOUs for pastpolitical funding. One has recentlyheard murmurs from seniorministers like Nitin Gadkari that the‘CBI, Central VigilanceCommission and judiciary cannotrun the administration’. Gadkari hasalso said banks will have to be morepragmatic about dealing with badloans. This too is a euphemism foradopting a softer policy on loandefaults by big business houses.When Rajan made a caustic remarkagainst Vijay Mallya’s lavish displayof wealth, some officialventriloquists in New Delhi tried tocounter the RBI governor by sayingpersonal lifestyle should not bedragged into business dealings. Lastfortnight Rajan retorted that personallifestyle must certainly becommented on if the promoter hasgiven personal guarantees againstthe bank loans. The public has aclaim on the promoter’s personalwealth in such situations.

Obviously, Rajan’s attitude hasnot gone down well with the bigbusiness interests, which have run asubterranean campaign against him.Some powerful ideological advisorsof the Sangh parivar have beencarrying out a strong campaignagainst Rajan’s policies for over ayear. The campaign is couchedpolitically correctly as a dire needfor lower interest rates for smallbusinesses but clearly there aremultiple agendas at work. It mustalso be noted that prominentindustrialists running their businesswell with modest debt from bankshave supported Rajan fully andendorsed a second term for him.

Some of the business groups inCredit Suisse’s top indebtedcompanies’ list are also known tohave strong historical links with the

RSS leadership. Rajan may not havefully understood the complex nexusbetween business and politics whenNew Delhi encouraged him tonominally go after the big loandefaulters. The politicians in Delhiare known to run with the hare andhunt with the hounds. Look at theease with which Mallya, declared aproclaimed offender, attended afunction co-sponsored by the IndianHigh Commission in London.

Modi too tries to project himselfas a crusader against cronycapitalism, but the circumstancessurrounding Rajan’s exit shows thatentrenched interests have struckback successfully. In publicperception the Modi governmentappears more and morecompromised now. How else do youexplain no action being taken on theelaborate investigative findings ofthe economic enforcement agencies,which have reported massive over-invoicing of power equipmentimports by the very top businessgroups that are struggling to payback bank loans? By undulyinflating the value of imports, thesecompanies have reportedly divertedexcess bank funds out of the country,and put them away in tax havens inDubai and the British Virgin Islands.This is a classic case of fundsdiversion and qualifies to bedescribed formally as wilful defaultif these companies are unable to payback their bank loans. Will Modiever take action on these reports?With someone like Rajansupervising banks at such a criticaljuncture, the political class mighthave even felt a bit uncomfortableand insecure. So it was best to sendRajan back to Chicago with a thankyou note. Rajan must realise it is notso easy, after all, to rescue capitalismfrom capitalists in real life.

-The Wire


An old controversy resurfacedlately. After the alleged denial ofgovernment jobs to candidateslinked to the RSS, Minister of Statein the PMO, Jitendra Singh, said lastweek that “the central governmenthas not issued any such order(prohibiting government staff fromjoining RSS activities) recently”,and “if any old order exists, wewill review it.” (16 June, 2016) RSSPrachar Pramukh ManmohanVaidya had already stated that,“Banning RSS members fromjoining government service; is unjustand undemocratic. Such bans hardlyaffect RSS work and morale ofswayamsevaks.” (Indian Express 11June 2016)

As such civil servants are bannedfrom participating in the politicalorganizations. RSS calls itselfcultural organization, and that’s whathas been used as a ruse by the stategovernments on couple of occasionsto permit the civil servants in joiningRSS. In Gujarat when thispermission was granted (Jan 2000),the President on receiving theprotests intervened, and the Mr.Vajpayee prevailed upon the stateBJP and got this permission revoked.Later in Madhya Pradesh ChouhanGovernment lifted the ban; therebythe government servants could joinand carry on the RSS workopenly(2006).

The basic premise of Indianconstitution and parliamentarydemocracy is that the civil serviceshould be neutral. Already RSS hasinfiltrated into various wings of the

Should RSS Volunteers be permittedto join government services?

Ram Puniyani

state apparatus by sending its trainedswayamsevaks to work in differentareas of bureaucracy in states as wellas at Center. In addition to theseelements the ‘social common sense’is so doctored that in the times ofviolence a big chunk of police andother state officials aid and abet theviolence against minorities, puttingaside the norms of constitution andeven the civic decency. Thus farmany a reports on the communalcarnage have indicated the role ofRSS and the complicity of policeand other officials in the anti-minority pogroms. Such permissionto the civic service opens the floodgates for the total communalizationof the civil service which is thebackbone of the state apparatus.

What about the argument thatRSS is not a political organization;it is an organization which iscultural, committed to build a Hindunation. This claim itself gives thegame away; building a nation is apolitical process so how can thisorganization claim to be merely acultural one? After seeing the actionsof RSS and its role in the politicalarena, its role in dictating its politicalprogeny, the BJP, any doubt aboutit’s being a cultural organizationvanishes into thin air. RSS is apolitical organization whichoperates through its differentprogeny, some of which claim to benon-political to achieve its politicalgoal.

Initially, it was just training thepolitical volunteers, swayamsevaks,and from 1952 it started floating the

direct political organizations, firstBharatiya Jana Sangh and then BJP(after earlier floating Rashtra SevikaSamiti in 1936 and ABVP in 1948).It acted as controller of Jana Sanghand whosoever disagreed with itspolices was removed from being theoffice bearer, Balraj Madhok, thePresident of Jana Sangh who wasremoved from his post fordisagreeing with RSS line. Manymore examples abound. In 1998 onesaw it dictating the process ofcabinet making, the allotment ofportfolios, like wanting to haveYashwant Sinha as Finance minister,instead of Jaswant Singh. It came outopenly against Lal Krishna Advani,when he stated that Jinnah was asecular.

In one of the affidavits filed,miscellaneous application No 17 of1978, two of its functionaries,Deoras and Rajendra Singh, stated,“The work of RSS is neitherreligious nor charitable, but itsobjects are cultural and patriotic ascontra-distinguished religious orcharitable. It is akin to politicalpurposes, though RSS is not atpresent a political party as much asRSS constitution…bans activeparticipation by the RSS as such, asa policy…Tomorrow the policycould be changed and RSS couldparticipate even in day-to-daypolitical activity as a political partybecause policy is not a permanentor irrevocable thing.”

How do we assess the nature oforganizations, by their own claimsor from the outcome of their


activities? One has to note the claimsof RSS being a cultural organizationis a pure make believe. It operatesin the political arena by remotecontrol, by mechanisms which aredirect as well as indirect. Itsswayamsevaks have been involvedin Gandhi murder, murder of PastorStains, demolition of Babri Masjidand running of political parties. Twonoteworthy incidents are: one, whenthe Jana Sangh component of JanataParty broke away from Janata Partysince their double membership, ofRSS and of Janata Party waschallenged; second, when Vajpayeehimself claimed with pride that hewas first a swayamsevak and thanthe prime minister of India. Recentlyfaced with similar criticism HomeMinister Rajanath Singh said ‘we areRSS’.

Different progenies of RSS havebeen allotted the work in diversesocial arenas to be able to controlthe basic thought process of society,starting from Saraswati ShishuMandir right up to RSS shakhawhere through the bauddhiks theindoctrination into political ideologyis carried on. It does monitor all itsprogeny and coordinates theiractivities through All IndiaPratinidhi Sabha (All IndiaRepresentatives Association) whichmeets regularly to coordinate theiractivities. Its goal is political, itsactions are political and its outcomeis political through and through.

Even without being in power it isable to control the politics throughvarious mechanisms. Currentlythrough the compliant Governmentits agenda runs exponentially faster,the way Gujarat and many otherstates have demonstrated. Now itsagenda is running from bottom to topand top to bottom both ways sincethe BJP is the ruling party at thecentre. With the employees being

openly participating in RSS thedivisive processes will move fasterand running the administration onthe lines of Indian Constitution willbecome all the more difficult.Despite knowing that such aprovision is not legally tenable,many in the seat of power are askingfor government servants be

permitted to be part of RSS and viceversa.

The present opinions beingarticulated by RSS leaders shouldneither be legally permissible nor arein tune with the principles ofConstitution of India.

[email protected]

Lessons from Brexit

The results of the referendum inBritain that signaled the exit of thisleading member from the EuropeanUnion have been extensivelyregretted. In Britain the short andmedium term implications are adecline in the value of the pound andalso a decline in the exports to thebiggest market of the EuropeanUnion. Then there is the very realpossibility of the secession ofScotland and possibly even NorthIreland, regions that voted stronglyfor remaining in the EuropeanUnion.

It has been discussed that thelonger term harm to the entireEuropean Union project can be evenmore serious if the demand is takenup even more strongly by the rightistparties of other nations like France,Holland and Austria that have beengaining strength rapidly. Perhaps thefear voiced by George Soros may becloser to reality than what manypeople believe today. In a muchdiscussed comment he said recently,“All of Europe, including Britain,would suffer from the loss of thecommon market and the loss ofcommon values that the EU wasdesigned to protect. Yet, the EU trulyhas broken down and ceased tosatisfy its citizens’ needs andaspirations. It is heading for adisorderly disintegration that willleave Europe worse off than where

it would have been had the EU notbeen brought into existence.”

Yet the basic idea of the EU ofeliminating the possibilities of warwithin a region and creatingconditions of peace, stability andcooperation which are likely toenhance the possibility of prosperityof all member nations cannot befaulted. However basically sound oreven noble this project was, it wasadministered within the overallframework of inequality based andinequality enhancing globalizationled capitalism. This created severalcontradictions as the EU remainedvery much an important part and apillar of an unjust and unequal globalsystem and never challenged it inany basic way. Hence severalconflicts were bound to appearsooner or later within its stated aimsand the real situation.

Such unions of many nations invarious regions are certainly neededbut these need a wider vision ofjustice, equality, environmentprotection, peace and compassionfor all forms of life. In addition theseefforts should be very conscious ofthe need to think up and evolvealternatives to capitalism andglobalization dominated bymultinational companies.

–Bharat Dogra


[1] Many of us, I dare say, havewitnessed local, national orinternational expositions of materialobjects that make up the sum totalof human civilization. But few canentertain the idea of there being sucha thing as an exposition of humaninstitutions. Exhibition of humaninstitutions is a strange idea; somemight call it the wildest of ideas. Butas students of Ethnology I hope youwill not be hard on this innovation,for it is not so, and to you at least itshould not be strange.

[2] You all have visited, I believe,some historic place like the ruins ofPompeii, and listened with curiosityto the history of the remains as itflowed from the glib tongue of theguide. In my opinion a student ofEthnology, in one sense at least, ismuch like the guide. Like hisprototype, he holds up (perhaps withmore seriousness and desire of self-instruction) the social institutions toview, with all the objectivenesshumanly possible, and inquires intotheir origin and function.

[3] Most of our fellow studentsin this Seminar, which concernsitself with primitive versus modernsociety, have ably acquittedthemselves along these lines bygiving lucid expositions of thevarious institutions, modern orprimitive, in which they areinterested. It is my turn now, thisevening, to entertain you, as best Ican, with a paper on “Castes in

Castes in India: their mechanism, genesis and development

B. R. Ambedkar

The paper by Dr. Ambedkar was presented at an Anthropology Seminar taught by Dr. A. A. Goldenweizer atColumbia University on 9th May 1916 and was first published in Indian Antiquary Vol. XLI (May 1917)

India: Their Mechanism, Genesisand Development.”

[4] I need hardly remind you ofthe complexity of the subject I intendto handle. Subtler minds and ablerpens than mine have been broughtto the task of unravelling themysteries of Caste; butunfortunately it still remains in thedomain of the “unexplained,” not tosay of the “un-understood.” I amquite alive to the complex intricaciesof a hoary institution like Caste, butI am not so pessimistic as to relegateit to the region of the unknowable,for I believe it can be known. Thecaste problem is a vast one, boththeoretically and practically.Practically, it is an institution thatportends tremendous consequences.It is a local problem, but one capableof much wider mischief, for “as longas caste in India does exist, Hinduswill hardly intermarry or have anysocial intercourse with outsiders;and if Hindus migrate to otherregions on earth, Indian caste wouldbecome a world problem.”Theoretically, it has defied a greatmany scholars who have taken uponthemselves, as a labour of love, todig into its origin. Such being thecase, I cannot treat the problem inits entirety. Time, space and acumen,I am afraid, would all fail me, if Iattempted to do otherwise than limitmyself to a phase of it, namely, thegenesis, mechanism and spread ofthe caste system. I will strictlyobserve this rule, and will dwell on

extraneous matters only when it isnecessary to clarify or support apoint in my thesis.

[5] To proceed with the subject.According to well-knownethnologists, the population of Indiais a mixture of Aryans, Dravidians,Mongolians and Scythians. All thesestocks of people came into Indiafrom various directions and withvarious cultures, centuries ago,when they were in a tribal state.They all in turn elbowed their entryinto the country by fighting withtheir predecessors, and after astomachful of it settled down aspeaceful neighbours. Throughconstant contact and mutualintercourse they evolved a commonculture that superseded theirdistinctive cultures. It may begranted that there has not been athorough amalgamation of thevarious stocks that make up thepeoples of India, and to a travellerfrom within the boundaries of Indiathe East presents a marked contrastin physique and even in colour to theWest, as does the South to the North.But amalgamation can never be thesole criterion of homogeneity aspredicated of any people. Ethnicallyall people are heterogeneous. It is theunity of culture that is the basis ofhomogeneity. Taking this forgranted, I venture to say that thereis no country that can rival the IndianPeninsula with respect to the unityof its culture. It has not only ageographic unity, but it has over and


above all a deeper and a much morefundamental unity—the indubitablecultural unity that covers the landfrom end to end. But it is because ofthis homogeneity that Castebecomes a problem so difficult to beexplained. If the Hindu Society werea mere federation of mutuallyexclusive units, the matter would besimple enough. But Caste is aparcelling of an alreadyhomogeneous unit, and theexplanation of the genesis of Casteis the explanation of this process ofparcelling.

[6] Before launching into ourfield of enquiry, it is better to adviseourselves regarding the nature of acaste. I will therefore draw upon afew of the best students of caste fortheir definitions of it:

1) Mr. Senart, a French authority,defines a caste as “a closecorporation, in theory at any raterigorously hereditary: equippedwith a certain traditional andindependent organisation,including a chief and a council,meeting on occasion inassemblies of more or less plenaryauthority and joining together atcertain festivals: bound togetherby common occupations, whichrelate more particularly tomarriage and to food and toquestions of ceremonialpollution, and ruling its membersby the exercise of jurisdiction, theextent of which varies, but whichsucceeds in making the authorityof the community more felt by thesanction of certain penalties and,above all, by final irrevocableexclusion from the group.”

2) Mr. Nesfield defines a caste as “aclass of the community whichdisowns any connection with anyother class and can neither

intermarry nor eat nor drink withany but persons of their owncommunity.”

3) According to Sir H. Risley, “acaste may be defined as acollection of families or groupsof families bearing a commonname which usually denotes or isassociated with specificoccupation, claiming commondescent from a mythical ancestor,human or divine, professing tofollow the same professionalcallings and are regarded by thosewho are competent to give anopinion as forming a singlehomogeneous community.”

4) Dr. Ketkar defines caste as “asocial group having twocharacteristics: (i) membership isconfined to those who are bornof members and includes allpersons so born; (ii) the membersare forbidden by an inexorablesocial law to marry outside thegroup.”

[7] To review these definitions isof great importance for our purpose.It will be noticed that takenindividually the definitions of threeof the writers include too much ortoo little: none is complete or correctby itself and all have missed thecentral point in the mechanism of theCaste system. Their mistake lies intrying to define caste as an isolatedunit by itself, and not as a groupwithin, and with definite relations to,the system of caste as a whole. Yetcollectively all of them arecomplementary to one another, eachone emphasising what has beenobscured in the other. By way ofcriticism, therefore, I will take onlythose points common to all Castesin each of the above definitionswhich are regarded as peculiaritiesof Caste and evaluate them as such.

[8] To start with Mr. Senart. Hedraws attention to the “idea ofpollution” as a characteristic ofCaste. With regard to this point it maybe safely said that it is by no meansa peculiarity of Caste as such. Itusually originates in priestlyceremonialism and is a particularcase of the general belief in purity.Consequently its necessaryconnection with Caste may becompletely denied withoutdamaging the working of Caste. The“idea of pollution” has been attachedto the institution of Caste, onlybecause the Caste that enjoys thehighest rank is the priestly Caste:while we know that priest and purityare old associates. We may thereforeconclude that the “idea of pollution”is a characteristic of Caste only in sofar as Caste has a religious flavour.

[9] Mr. Nesfield in his way dwellson the absence of messing with thoseoutside the Caste as one of itscharacteristics. In spite of thenewness of the point we must saythat Mr. Nesfield has mistaken theeffect for the cause. Caste, being aself-enclosed unit, naturally limitssocial intercourse, includingmessing etc., to members within it.Consequently this absence ofmessing with outsiders is not due topositive prohibition, but is a naturalresult of Caste, i.e. exclusiveness.No doubt this absence of messing,originally due to exclusiveness,acquired the prohibitory character ofa religious injunction, but it may beregarded as a later growth. Sir H.Risley makes no new pointdeserving of special attention.

[10] We now pass on to thedefinition of Dr. Ketkar who hasdone much for the elucidation of thesubject. Not only is he a native, buthe has also brought a critical acumenand an open mind to bear on his


study of Caste. His definition meritsconsideration, for he has definedCaste in its relation to a system ofCastes, and has concentrated hisattention only on thosecharacteristics which are absolutelynecessary for the existence of aCaste within a system, rightlyexcluding all others as beingsecondary or derivative in character.With respect to his definition it must,however, be said that in it there is aslight confusion of thought, lucidand clear as otherwise it is. Hespeaks of Prohibition ofIntermarriage and Membership byAutogeny as the two characteristicsof Caste. I submit that these are buttwo aspects of one and the samething, and not two different thingsas Dr. Ketkar supposes them to be.If you prohibit intermarriage theresult is that you limit membershipto those born within the group. Thusthe two are the obverse and thereverse sides of the same medal.

[11] This critical evaluation of thevarious characteristics of Caste leaveno doubt that prohibition, or ratherthe absence of intermarriage—endogamy, to be concise—is the onlyone that can be called the essence ofCaste when rightly understood. Butsome may deny this on abstractanthropological grounds, for thereexist endogamous groups withoutgiving rise to the problem of Caste.In a general way this may be true, asendogamous societies, culturallydifferent, making their abode inlocalities more or less removed, andhaving little to do with each otherare a physical reality. The Negroesand the Whites and the various tribalgroups that go by name of AmericanIndians in the United States may becited as more or less appropriateillustrations in support of this view.But we must not confuse matters, forin India the situation is different. As

pointed out before, the peoples ofIndia form a homogeneous whole.The various races of India occupyingdefinite territories have more or lessfused into one another and do possesscultural unity, which is the onlycriterion of a homogeneouspopulation. Given this homogeneityas a basis, Caste becomes a problemaltogether new in character andwholly absent in the situationconstituted by the mere propinquityof endogamous social or tribalgroups. Caste in India means anartificial chopping off of thepopulation into fixed and definiteunits, each one prevented fromfusing into another through thecustom of endogamy. Thus theconclusion is inevitablethat Endogamy is the onlycharacteristic that is peculiar tocaste, and if we succeed in showinghow endogamy is maintained, weshall practically have proved thegenesis and also the mechanism ofCaste.

[12] It may not be quite easy foryou to anticipate why I regardendogamy as a key to the mysteryof the Caste system. Not to strainyour imagination too much, I willproceed to give you my reasons forit.

[13] It may not also be out ofplace to emphasize at this momentthat no civilized society of todaypresents more survivals of primitivetimes than does the Indian society.Its religion is essentially primitiveand its tribal code, in spite of theadvance of time and civilization,operates in all its pristine vigoureven today. One of these primitivesurvivals, to which I wishparticularly to draw your attention,is the Custom of Exogamy. Theprevalence of exogamy in theprimitive worlds is a fact too well-

known to need any explanation.With the growth of history, however,exogamy has lost its efficacy, andexcepting the nearest blood-kins,there is usually no social barrestricting the field of marriage. Butregarding the peoples of India thelaw of exogamy is a positiveinjunction even today. Indian societystill savours of the clan system, eventhough there are no clans; and thiscan be easily seen from the law ofmatrimony which centres round theprinciple of exogamy, for it is notthat Sapindas (blood-kins) cannotmarry, but a marriage even betweenSagotras (of the same class) isregarded as a sacrilege.

[14] Nothing is therefore moreimportant for you to remember thanthe fact that endogamy is foreign tothe people of India. The variousGotras of India are and have beenexogamous: so are the other groupswith totemic organization. It is noexaggeration to say that with thepeople of India exogamy is a creedand none dare infringe it, so muchso that, in spite of the endogamy ofthe Castes within them, exogamy isstrictly observed and that there aremore rigorous penalties for violatingexogamy than there are for violatingendogamy. You will, therefore,readily see that with exogamy as therule there could be no Caste, forexogamy means fusion. But we havecastes; consequently in the finalanalysis creation of Castes, so far asIndia is concerned, means thesuperposition of endogamy onexogamy. However, in an originallyexogamous population an easyworking out of endogamy (which isequivalent to the creation of Caste)is a grave problem, and it is in theconsideration of the means utilizedfor the preservation of endogamyagainst exogamy that we may hopeto find the solution of our problem.


[15] Thus the superposition ofendogamy on exogamy means thecreation of caste. But this is not aneasy affair. Let us take an imaginarygroup that desires to make itself intoa Caste and analyse what means itwill have to adopt to make itselfendogamous. If a group desires tomake itself endogamous a formalinjunction against intermarriagewith outside groups will be of noavail, especially if prior to theintroduction of endogamy, exogamyhad been the rule in all matrimonialrelations. Again, there is a tendencyin all groups lying in close contactwith one another to assimilate andamalgamate, and thus consolidateinto a homogeneous society. If thistendency is to be stronglycounteracted in the interest of Casteformation, it is absolutely necessaryto circumscribe a circle outsidewhich people should not contractmarriages.

[16] Nevertheless, this encirclingto prevent marriages from withoutcreates problems from within whichare not very easy of solution.Roughly speaking, in a normalgroup the two sexes are more or lessevenly distributed, and generallyspeaking there is an equalitybetween those of the same age. Theequality is, however, never quiterealized in actual societies. At thesame time to the group that isdesirous of making itself into a castethe maintenance of equality betweenthe sexes becomes the ultimate goal,for without it endogamy can nolonger subsist. In other words, ifendogamy is to be preservedconjugal rights from within have tobe provided for, otherwise membersof the group will be driven out ofthe circle to take care of themselvesin any way they can. But in orderthat the conjugal rights be providedfor from within, it is absolutely

necessary to maintain a numericalequality between the marriageableunits of the two sexes within thegroup desirous of making itself intoa Caste. It is only through themaintenance of such an equality thatthe necessary endogamy of thegroup can be kept intact, and a verylarge disparity is sure to break it.

[17] The problem of Caste, then,ultimately resolves itself into one ofrepairing the disparity between themarriageable units of the two sexeswithin it. Left to nature, the muchneeded parity between the units canbe realized only when a couple diessimultaneously. But this is a rarecontingency. The husband may diebefore the wife and create a surpluswoman, who must be disposed of,else through intermarriage she willviolate the endogamy of the group.In like manner the husband maysurvive his wife and be a surplusman, whom the group, while it maysympathise with him for the sadbereavement, has to dispose of, elsehe will marry outside the Caste andwill break the endogamy. Thus boththe surplus man and the surpluswoman constitute a menace to theCaste if not taken care of, for notfinding suitable partners inside theirprescribed circle (and left tothemselves they cannot find any, forif the matter be not regulated therecan only be just enough pairs to goround) very likely they willtransgress the boundary, marryoutside and import offspring that isforeign to the Caste.

[18] Let us see what ourimaginary group is likely to do withthis surplus man and surpluswoman. We will first take up the caseof the surplus woman. She can bedisposed of in two different ways soas to preserve the endogamy of theCaste.

[19] First: burn her on the funeralpyre of her deceased husband andget rid of her. This, however, israther an impracticable way ofsolving the problem of sex disparity.In some cases it may work, in othersit may not. Consequently everysurplus woman cannot thus bedisposed of, because it is an easysolution but a hard realization. Andso the surplus woman (= widow), ifnot disposed of, remains in thegroup: but in her very existence liesa double danger. She may marryoutside the Caste and violateendogamy, or she may marry withinthe Caste and through competitionencroach upon the chances ofmarriage that must be reserved forthe potential brides in the Caste. Sheis therefore a menace in any case,and something must be done to herif she cannot be burned along withher deceased husband.

[20] The second remedy is toenforce widowhood on her for therest of her life. So far as the objectiveresults are concerned, burning is abetter solution than enforcingwidowhood. Burning the widoweliminates all the three evils thata surplus woman is fraught with.Being dead and gone she creates noproblem of remarriage either insideor outside the Caste. But compulsorywidowhood is superior to burningbecause it is more practicable.Besides being comparativelyhumane it also guards against theevils of remarriage as does burning;but it fails to guard the morals of thegroup. No doubt under compulsorywidowhood the woman remains, andjust because she is deprived of hernatural right of being a legitimatewife in future, the incentive toimmoral conduct is increased. Butthis is by no means an insuperabledifficulty. She can be degraded to acondition in which she is no longer


a source of allurement.

[21] The problem of the surplusman (= widower) is much moreimportant and much more difficultthan that of the surplus woman in agroup that desires to make itself intoa Caste. From time immemorial manas compared with woman has hadthe upper hand. He is a dominantfigure in every group and of the twosexes has greater prestige. With thistraditional superiority of man overwoman his wishes have always beenconsulted. Woman, on the otherhand, has been an easy prey to allkinds of iniquitous injunctions,religious, social or economic. Butman as a maker of injunctions ismost often above them all. Suchbeing the case, you cannot accordthe same kind of treatment toa surplus man as you can toa surplus woman in a Caste.

[22] The project of burning himwith his deceased wife is hazardousin two ways: first of all it cannot bedone, simply because he is a man.Secondly, if done, a sturdy soul islost to the Caste. There remain thenonly two solutions which canconveniently dispose of him. I sayconveniently, because he is an assetto the group.

[23] Important as he is to thegroup, endogamy is still moreimportant, and the solution mustassure both these ends. Under thesecircumstances he may be forced or Ishould say induced, after the mannerof the widow, to remain a widowerfor the rest of his life. This solutionis not altogether difficult, for withoutany compulsion some are sodisposed as to enjoy self-imposedcelibacy, or even to take a furtherstep of their own accord andrenounce the world and its joys. But,given human nature as it is, this

solution can hardly be expected tobe realized. On the other hand, as isvery likely to be the case, ifthe surplus man remains in thegroup as an active participator ingroup activities, he is a danger to themorals of the group. Looked at froma different point of view celibacy,though easy in cases where itsucceeds, is not so advantageouseven then to the material prospectsof the Caste. If he observes genuinecelibacy and renounces the world,he would not be a menace to thepreservation of Caste endogamy orCaste morals as he undoubtedlywould be if he remained a secularperson. But as an ascetic celibate heis as good as burned, so far as thematerial wellbeing of his Caste isconcerned. A Caste, in order that itmay be large enough to afford avigorous communal life, must bemaintained at a certain numericalstrength. But to hope for this and toproclaim celibacy is the same astrying to cure atrophy by bleeding.

[24] Imposing celibacy on

the surplus man in the group,therefore, fails both theoretically andpractically. It is in the interest of theCaste to keep him as a Grahastha(one who raises a family), to use aSanskrit technical term. But theproblem is to provide him with awife from within the Caste. At theoutset this is not possible, for theruling ratio in a caste has to be oneman to one woman and none canhave two chances of marriage, forin a Caste thoroughly self-enclosedthere are always just enoughmarriageable women to go round forthe marriageable men. Under thesecircumstances the surplus man canbe provided with a wife only byrecruiting a bride from the ranks ofthose not yet marriageable in orderto tie him down to the group. This iscertainly the best of the possiblesolutions in the case of the surplusman. By this, he is kept within theCaste. By this means numericaldepletion through constant outflowis guarded against, and by this


livelihoods have been underminedby financial crises and theoutsourcing of jobs. This meansfollowing the social-democraticethos of pursuing ample socialspending for health, education,training, apprenticeships, and familysupport, financed by taxing the richand closing tax havens, which aregutting public revenues andexacerbating economic injustice. Italso means finally giving Greecedebt relief, thereby ending the long-running eurozone crisis.

Fifth, focus resources, includingadditional aid, on economicdevelopment, rather than war, inlow-income countries. Uncontrolled

migration from today’s poor andconflict-ridden regions will becomeoverwhelming, regardless ofmigration policies, if climatechange, extreme poverty, and lackof skills and education underminethe development potential of Africa,Central America and the Caribbean,the Middle East, and Central Asia.

All of this underscores the needto shift from a strategy of war to oneof sustainable development,especially by the US and Europe.Walls and fences won’t stop millionsof migrants fleeing violence,extreme poverty, hunger, disease,droughts, floods, and other ills. Onlyglobal cooperation can do that.

TRANSCEND Media Service

(To be Concluded)

R.N.I. NO. 1855/1957 16 JANATA, July 10, 2016Postal Registration No. MCW/275/2015-2017

License to Post without prepayment WPP License No. MR/Tech/WPP-210/West/2016Published on Sunday, July 10, 2016 & Posted on Wednesday July. 13, 2016 at Mumbai Patrika Channel, Mumbai GPO-1



REGD. OFFICE :




Price : Rupees Five

Vol. 71 No. 25July 17, 2016




Mumbai - 400 007.


Enlightenment in educationSandeep Pandey

Castes in IndiaB. R. Ambedkar

Justifying crime,order of the dayValson Thampu

Dr. Zakir Naik’s “Peace TV”

On Kashmir

Looting of public fundsin day light

AS the memory of the massacreat Dhaka recedes, examples ofbravery are coming to the fore. Oneof them is that of Faraaz Hossain.He was on a vacation at Dhakafrom his college in the US where hewas pursuing higher studies. Hespent less time at home but used theopportunity to meet his friends fromforeign climes at Gulshan’s famousSpanish restaurant, the HoleyArtisan Bakery.

When ISIS terrorists struck,Faraaz was having food with hisfriends at the restaurant. The ISISkillers were singling out andseparating Bangladeshis from theothers before using weapon. Theycame to the table where Faraaz wassitting. Then they asked him whetherhe was a Bangladeshi and, when hesaid yes, they pushed him aside beforeasking others about their nationalities.

When all except Faraaz said thatthey were non-Bangladeshis, theyopened fire from the only gun theyhad among them. Faraaz protestedand told them that he was a part ofhis friends’ group and would not liketo be treated separately. Theterrorists then told him that he too

Death be not proud

Kuldip Nayar

would be killed if he did not want tostand aside. Faraaz preferred tostand with and by his foreign friends.And he knew that the price he wouldpay could be his possible death. Theterrorists showed no mercy andkilled all of them.

Today when the massacreat Dhaka is recalled, people talkabout the courage of Faraaz.Probably, this is the onlycompensation for his parents andgrandparents whom I know well. Infact, I have had dinner at theirhouse at Dhaka. They lead a simpleand austere life.

I met Faraaz at his grandparents’house. I recall exchanging notes withhim about America where I had goneto North Western University to earnan MSC in journalism. He was rawin his attitude but steadfast in hisviews, even though he belonged to avery wealthy family. There were noairs about him. He was curious toknow about India, which he said hewould visit at leisure. He wasimpressed by our composite culture,something which he wantedBangladesh to cherish because it toohad a large number of Hindus, nearly


12 million, making Bangladesh thethird largest Hindu state in the worldafter India and Nepal.

I have tried to pick up every detailabout the killings. There is no doubtthat Faraaz sacrificed his life for hisforeign friends who were the realtargets of the terrorists. This doesnot make amends for the brutalkilling, but it does tell a saga ofunbelievable bravery. True, he ismentioned with great respect inevery Bangladeshi home and citedas an example of courage, butdistraught parents and grandparentscan never be consoled. A promisingchild has been lost from their family.

Such examples of self-sacrificeare by no means unique in the East.They are typical of value systems inthe East which do not weighindividuals on the scales of wealth asis the case in the West. MahatmaGandhi is an example. He preferredto be called a naked faqir, as he wascharacterized by the West, ratherthan be known for either wealth orerudition even though he had accessto both.

The West cannot understand orappreciate the non-violent movementof Gandhi. Hundreds of volunteerswent to the sea at Dandi to breakthe law by making salt and theysuffered police lathi charges butnever hit back because of the idealsof their movement.

Faraaz may not have been aGandhi follower but he did representhis spirit and discipline. In India,wherever Faraaz’s name has beenmentioned, people bring in Gandhi’sname. Had Gandhi been living today,I have no doubt that he would havetravelled to victims-stricken Dhaka,

Rita Kanaujia, a widoweddomestic help who lives in a slumin Chembur, Mumbai, desires tohave her son admitted to JuniorKindergarten class at LokmanyaTilak High School in Tilak Nagar.Two of her daughters are alreadystudying in Classes III and IV here.The school wanted her to make apayment of Rs. 19,500, which shewas incapable of after the death ofher husband due to cancer in 2014.She moved the court. Due to court’sintervention the school gave aconcession but still insisted on apayment of Rs. 10,500. Rita agreedto make the payment in installmentsto which the school didn’t agree.Justice V.M. Kanade and M.S.Sonak asked the school not to denythe child education just because ofthe inability of mother to pay theentire sum in one go. JusticeKanade even offered to pay thechild’s fees.

In 2011 the District Collector ofErode in Tamil Nadu, A.Anandhakumar got his daughter A.Gopika admitted to a Tamil mediumpanchayat union school inKumuilankuttai giving instructions tothe headmistress that his daughterwould eat the midday meal servedat school along with other studentsand should not be given anypreferential treatment. The schooltoilet started getting cleaned twiceand extra care was taken to keepthe premises clean. Most importantlythe teachers became punctual. Thisshows what transformation can takeplace if children of seniorgovernment officials start attendinggovernment schools.

Enlightenment in educationSandeep Pandey

While I was on a fast from 6thto 15th June, 2016 at Gandhi Statue,Hazratganj, Lucknow demandingimplementation of Allahabad HighCourt order that children ofeverybody receiving a governmentsalary must attend governmentschools, Ramesh who pulls arickshaw in Lucknow and hails fromVillage Nakki Madhia in Mishrikharea of adjacent Sitapur Districtused to come regularly to expresshis solidarity. He also sat at the fastsite on some days for severalhours. He recently wrote a notesaying that people should considerwho is more important for them - aChief Minister who merely eats withthe poor but doesn’t agree to sendhis children to the same schoolwhere the children of poor study ora person who goes hungry so thatchildren of poor and rich could studytogether? This is the bestcompliment I’ve got related to myrecent movement. Ramesh hasbecome a campaigner for the cause.He has now hung a placard fromhis rickshaw and distributespamphlets demanding commonschool system.

Ramesh is also informing his fellowvillagers about the provision of Rightto Education Act, 2009 which offersadmission to children belonging todisadvantaged groups and weakersections in any nearby school of theirchoice up to 25 per cent strength atthe entry level and subsequently freeeducation from classes I to VIII. Twoof my neighbours, one on either side,have also used this Act to submitapplications on behalf of theirdomestic help.(Continued on Page 5)


61 years old Rajni Saxena is aresident of A-895 Indira Nagar inLucknow. Her domestic help Nagmahas been with her for the last 20years. Nagma was so interested ineducation that with Rajni Saxena’shelp she slowly picked up evenreading English. After gettingmarried to Raju and birth of her firstchild she was worried about gettingMohammed Imran some decenteducation. The husband was leastinterested. Imran was admitted toDabble Academy where his monthlyfees is Rs. 1,250. Considering thatNagma’s monthly income is mereRs. 4,000 one can imagine how shemust have been struggling to makeboth ends meet. Rajni Saxenadecided to use the RTE Act so thatImran could get education in thesame school free of cost upto ClassVIII. She guided Nagma to submither applications for getting herincome and caste certificates madefrom the District Magistrate’s office.With the receipt issued, after Nagmawas made to run four times, RajniSaxena went and personallysubmitted Imran’s application toBasic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA) ofLucknow, Praveen Mani Tripathi, on23 June, 2016. Gurukul Academy, St.Dominic, City Montessori School andDabble Academy have been givenas possible preferences where Imranwould like to study.

Yasmin Mahmud lives in A-885,Indira Nagar. Her 27 years olddomestic help for the last few yearsJamrul Nisha from Baddupur inadjoining Barabanki District isseparated from husband after herfirst child Zulekha Bano was born.Zulekha is now 7 years old andJamrul is worried about hereducation. 66 years old YasminMahmud, who recently lost herhusband, a retired Indian Railwaysofficer, decided to take the initiative

and get Zulekha admitted to someschool in neighbourhood under theRTE Act. She asked her daughter-in-law Tasneem Mahmud, an Imageand Transformation consultant andtrainer of soft skills, to go with Jamruland get her forms submitted forgetting the income and residencecertificates made. Zulekha’s formwas also submitted with the BSA onthe same day, 23 June. Thepreferences of schools mentioned onZulekha’s form include Springdale,City Montessori School, CityInternational and Gurukul Academy.

When the BSA takes a decision,hopefully in favour of children, theywill study in the best of schools intheir neighbourhood.

These are inspiring examples ofseveral happenings from different

parts of country. It is a narration ofchange country in going through inits thinking towards education. Whileon one hand poor have becomeconscious of the importance ofeducation for their children, the elitehave, at last, accepted the fact thatchildren of poor deserve the sameeducation that their children avail of.It is heartening to note how someordinary housewives have startedtaking a proactive stand in gettingchildren of their domestic helpadmitted into good schools so thatchildren of these labourers couldbreak the vicious cycle of povertyand do something more worthwhilewith their lives. It also appears thatJudiciary has an important role if theLegislature or Executive will drag itsfeet on the issue of implementationof Common School System.

[email protected]

We write this in anguish at anotheralarming spiral of violence inKashmir, when a discredited oldplaybook has yet again beendeployed to wreak havoc with civilianlife. Kashmir’s escalating violencefollows a familiar pattern: a killing, afuneral where rage is vented throughslogans and stones, and volleys oflethal gunfire in response. In 2010,this cycle rolled on repeatedlythrough four months, claiming over110 lives, mostly of Kashmiri youth,including a number who were tooyoung to know.

Nothing has been learnt from thatyear of catastrophe. The trigger forthe current surge of unrest inKashmir was the killing on July 8 ofBurhan Wani, a militant of theHizbul Mujahedin. The

circumstances of Wani’s killing areyet to be fully explained. It isnonetheless ironic that it occurredon the very day the Indian SupremeCourt issued a far-reachingjudgment in the context of fakeencounters in the state of Manipur,emphasising the illegality of the useof excessive and retaliatory forceby the army, security forces andpolice. These strictures apply evenin disturbed areas under AFSPA.Kashmir is an arena where theSupreme Court’s observations thatthe rule of law would apply “evenwhen dealing with the enemy”, andthat indeed, whatever thechallenges, “the country’scommitment to the rule of lawremains steadfast”, are breached ona daily basis. vailable accounts ofBurhan Wani’s life in militancy

On Kashmir


indicate that he was as a 16-yearold, embittered and radicalisedduring the 2010 turmoil by thecasual humiliations heaped onordinary Kashmiris by the massdeployments of security personnel.He witnessed repeated violentincursions into his home and theharassment of near relations in whatare called “crackdowns”, interminology that has entered theyouth argot of the valley. The deathof his brother in a police encounter,when he had nothing to do with themilitancy, is believed to have furtherhardened his resolve.

Burhan Wani’s life story shouldbe cautionary warning that theheavy-handed, militaristic Indianapproach to Kashmir, has only ledto a quarter century of siege andgrowing alienation.

Wani’s funeral on July 9 in thesouthern Kashmir town of Tralwitnessed a gathering of several tensof thousands. As protests broke outin this and other locations, securityforces responded with maximumforce. The death toll of thirty in amatter of three days, tells its owngrim story.

Excessive and indiscriminatelethal force continues to be used forpurposes of law enforcement. Thisis in brazen contempt of the U.N.

Basic Principles on the Use ofForce and Firearms by LawEnforcement Officials, which do notallow for departure even inexceptional circumstances such asinternal political instability or publicemergency. Pellet guns, introducedin 2010 for crowd control, purportedlyon the ground that it injures and doesnot kill, have caused permanentinjuries and irreversible loss ofeyesight to at least 92 young men.

The upsurge of civil unrest comesafter a long sequence of intelligencereports that flagged rising discontentat the new political arrangements inJammu and Kashmir. The BJP’sarrival in the portals of power andits determined pursuit of amajoritarian agenda, have much todo with this.

Curiously, the intelligencewarnings have focused on wideningaccess to the internet and socialmedia as a disruptive influence. Thisdiagnosis which focuses on thesymptoms rather than underlyingrealities, has fed directly into theshutdown of internet services inKashmir, the thirteenth suchclosure in three years.

Certain recent observations of theSupreme Court, though made inreference to Manipur, bear repetitionas general principles. Massdeployment of the army and security

forces in aid of civil authoritiesalways is predicated on the premisethat “normalcy would be restoredwithin a reasonable period”. Ifnormalcy is not restored for a“prolonged or indeterminate period”,it would be firm evidence of the“failure” of the civil administrationor of the armed forces, or both.

Whatever the case, an unendingstate of unrest could not “be a figleaf for prolonged, permanent orindefinite deployment of the armedforces as it would mock at ourdemocratic process”.

The time is long past, if everthere was one, when a solution tothe Kashmir problem could beachieved through force. Continuingrecourse to this option and theprolonged and bloody stalemate thathas ensued, have fuelled a mood ofanger and despair in Kashmir.

–Ravi Nair and others

During the Lok Sabha elections –2014 campaign, Shri Narendra Modi,Prime Minister of India made falsepromises. One of the promises wasthat if his party is voted to power, hewould bring back black money ofIndians deposited in Swiss Banksand he would credit Rs. 15,00,000/-, in bank accounts of every Indian.But after BJP was voted to power,this promise lost its relevance.

I state that the governmentshould make efforts to bring backblack money in Swiss Banks whichwill take some more time, but thePublic Sector Banks which havesanctioned huge amount by way ofloans to the business communityfailed to recover the loans and in that

Looting of public funds in day lightsituation the government shouldmake all out efforts to recover theloan amount from borrowers withoutshowing any mercy to the heartlessbusiness community because it ispublic money.

In this connection, I wish toreproduce below relevant extractsfrom the article published under thetitle “Strategic Disinvestment ofPublic Sector” by BharatJhunjhunwala in the Free PressJournal dated June 4, 2016.

The Vijay Mallya episode broughtto light the deep rot in the PSBs.Mallya has accused the State Bankof India of providing loans eventhough the Bank was aware of the


problems being faced by theKingfisher Airlines. ‘The Bank isequally responsible’, he said. TheSecretary of the All India BankOfficers’ Association has said that“A powerful nexus betweenChairmen of Boards, auditors,Reserve Bank of India and the bankboards is behind the country’s NonPerforming Assets and a willfuldefaulter. He could not be closer totruth.

There is a fundamental differencein the attitude of top management ofPublic Sector and Private SectorBanks. The Chairman of the StateBank of India who granted the loanto Kingfisher Airlines did not lose apaisa from her salary and perks dueto the loan having gone bad. She mayhave even made gains from thegrease money paid by Kingfisher.The income of the toip managementof the PSBs is not necessarily relatedto profits made by the PSBs that hemay be heading.

The PSBs continue to provideloans mainly to big businesses, andnot the poor. Worse, the PSBs aregiving bad loans and losing money.The government is imposing moretaxes on the common man to raisethe money to infuse more capital inthe Bank. The Banks werenationalized to serve the commonman, but the system has turned thepolicy around. Poor are being taxedto support corruption and inefficiencyof the PSBs. This has happenedbecause officials of the PSBs havemuch to gain by making bad loans.

It is difficult to regulate the PublicSector Banks, because the owner andthe regulator coalesce into one. TheSecretary of Finance is both the‘Owner’ of the PSBs as well as theirregulator. This has led to the PSBswild horses without any control.

From the above facts, it is clearthat the government cannot touchbusiness community as interests ofpoliticians are involved. By this waythe public is cheated and looted inday light. This is nothing butcommitting of a national economiccrime. The borrowers andguarantors are not sent to jail. Inshort, it is very easy to win elections

by defeating a particular party, but itis difficult to make India corruptionfree as the PSBs and the businesscommunity do not afraid of lootingpublic funds by way of NPA or badloans. What is expected is to take adrastic action against anti-socialelements actively functioning infinancial institutions. PSBs NPA orbad loans must be treated as sedition.

–R. D. Prabhu

just as he went to Noakhali after thefierce riots between Hindus andMuslims in Calcutta. And he wouldhave lauded a person like Faraaz whoreally represented a figure of nobleideals, decency and self sacrifice.

Just as statues of Bhagat Singhhave been erected all over India,Faraaz should also be rememberedin the entire subcontinent and I amconfident that people would nametheir sons and statues after him, notonly in Bangladesh but also in Indiaand elsewhere.

At least school textbooks shouldhave a chapter on him, not for thepurpose of accelerating the idea ofHindu-Muslim unity, but for makingthe youth feel proud about Faraaz.They should be able to tell the eldersthat a person like Faraaz has givenan example of the true spirit of theyouth, as well as a demonstration ofculture in the East and its valuesystem.

I wonder how his non-Bangladeshi friends are recalling hismemory. They should propagate theexample of Faraaz in their owncountries so that people of differentreligions and race feel proud of howan ordinary young man stood by hiscompanions when he could haveeasily escaped from death.

This has nothing to do with aparticular religion to which youbelong, but represents the core ofevery religion: faith in the peopleto rise above parochialconsiderations and think ofhumanity as a whole.Unfortunately India, instead ofrising above petty parochialappeals and serve as an exampleto the world, has become a preyto the propaganda of the fanaticfringe.

Since the advent of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s regime,the fringe party is trying torepresent the whole. TaslimaNasrin, who was ousted fromBangladesh for having written thestory of oppression of women, hasasked the followers of Islam tointrospect and find out how theyhave strayed from the real contentof the religion. Faraaz would haveapproved such an approach.

Come to think of it, this is the onlyapproach that is cogent, logical andhuman. The fanatic fringe amongHindus, Muslims, Sikhs andChristians should be made to realizethat India is a tolerant country andthose who are trying to disturb theequation among the communities aredisfiguring India and all that it standsfor.



Dr. Zakir Naik’s ‘Peace TV’preaches contempt, if not hatred, forother religions.

We appeal to all peace-lovingIndians in general and Muslims inparticular to expose Zakir Naik’s realagenda and warn Muslim youth tobeware of his toxic theology.

We demand that Zakir Naik andall hate-mongers, irrespective ofreligion, be probed and prosecutedfor promoting enmity betweendifferent religious groups.

Since the July 1 terror attack inDhaka there have been severalreports in the media that securityagencies in India and Bangladeshare probing the possible role of Dr.Zakir Naik in aiding and abettingterrorist acts in Islam’s name.

Whether the televangelist is guiltyof complicity in terrorist activity ornot can only be established throughan unbiased, fair investigation. Butof one thing there can be little doubt.Dr. Naik is no messenger of peace.Far from promoting peace, his‘Peace TV’ promotes contempt, ifnot hatred, for other religions and itsfollowers.

Dr. Naik’s and his benefactors’agenda is simple: To uproot thecenturies-old tolerant, vibranttradition within Islam and replace itwith the rigid, supremacist, intolerant,dry-as-the-desert Saudi-promotedWahhabism/Salafism which is hostilenot only towards other religions buteven towards other Islamic traditionsand schools of thought.

The brand of Islam that Dr Naikpromotes does violence to the clear

Dr. Zakir Naik’s “Peace TV”Quranic command to Muslims not toridicule the beliefs of others. Nearlya millennium ago the message whichthe highly regarded Sufi, Ibn Arabigave to fellow Muslims was this:“Do not praise your own faithexclusively so that you disbelieve allthe rest… God, the Omniscient andthe Omnipresent, cannot be confinedto any one creed”.

Dr Naik’s Islam is contrary to theIslam preached and practiced forcenturies in our subcontinent bynumerous Sufi saints, including BabaFarid, Hazrat Nizamuddin, KhwajaMoinuddin Chisti (‘Gharib Nawaz’).His Wahhabi fulminations are anassault on Islam’s tolerant tradition;seeks to destroy India’s age-oldtradition of unity within diversity, itssyncretic culture (Gunga-Jamunitehzeeb) and shared heritage(saajhi virasat).

The following examples of‘Naikspeak’ speak for themselves.

Contempt for other religions:

- Islam is the “only true religion”,only Muslims have real knowledgein this subject. Therefore, “we”have the right not only to buildmosques across the globe but alsoto prohibit “sinful” religiouspractices, disallow construction ofchurches or temples in Islamiccountries.

- Accepting prasad after GaneshPuja offered by a Hindu is haraam(forbidden, sinful) for a Muslim; sois wishing ‘Merry Christmas’ to aChristian.

- Pig is the only animal where themale indulges in ‘wife-sharing’.

Those who eat pigs behave like pigs.

- In demolishing the historicBamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan,the Taliban were “educatingBuddhists”. Lord Buddha neverapproved of statues.

A frightening flirtation with words:And at a time of global concern overspreading terror in the name of Islam,instead of warning his millions offollowers in unambiguous wordsagainst extremism and terrorism hechooses to flirt with words.

- “Every Muslim should be aterrorist… for anti-social elements”.

- “If he (Osama bin Laden) isfighting the enemies of Islam, I amfor him… If he is terrorising Americathe terrorist, the biggest terrorist, he’sfollowing Islam.”

Misogynist message: Zakir Naiksermonises that women who step outof their homes without being clad ina burqa have only themselves toblame for sexual violence.

Two pretty sisters are walkingdown the road. One is in a miniskirtor shorts, the other is fully coveredin a burqa. Who do you think isasking for trouble?

Islam permits Muslim men tohave sexual relations with theirwives and slaves. But vice versa isnot permitted. [And that’s exactlywhat the ISIS is currently doing].

Death for a Muslim apostate:While Zakir Naik claims the rightof Muslims to propagate Islamthroughout the world, his prescription



[24] Imposing celibacy onthe surplus man in the group,therefore, fails both theoretically andpractically. It is in the interest of theCaste to keep him as a Grahastha(one who raises a family), to use aSanskrit technical term. But theproblem is to provide him with a wifefrom within the Caste. At the outsetthis is not possible, for the ruling ratioin a caste has to be one man to onewoman and none can have twochances of marriage, for in a Castethoroughly self-enclosed there arealways just enough marriageablewomen to go round for themarriageable men. Under thesecircumstances the surplus man canbe provided with a wife only byrecruiting a bride from the ranks ofthose not yet marriageable in orderto tie him down to the group. This iscertainly the best of the possiblesolutions in the case of the surplusman. By this, he is kept within theCaste. By this means numericaldepletion through constant outflowis guarded against, and by thisendogamy and morals are preserved.

[25] It will now be seen that thefour means by which numericaldisparity between the two sexes isconveniently maintained are: (1)burning the widow with herdeceased husband; (2) compulsorywidowhood—a milder form ofburning; (3) imposing celibacy on the

Castes in India: their mechanism, genesis and development -II

B. R. Ambedkar

This paper by Dr. Ambedkar was presented at an anthropology seminar taught by Dr. A.A. Goldenweizer at Columbia University on 9th May 1916 and was first published inIndian Antiquary Vo. XLI (May 1917)

widower; and (4) wedding him to agirl not yet marriageable. Though, asI said above, burning the widow andimposing celibacy on the widowerare of doubtful service to the groupin its endeavour to preserve itsendogamy, all of them operateas means. But means, as forces,when liberated or set in motioncreate an end. What then is the endthat these means create? Theycreate and perpetuate endogamy,while caste and endogamy,according to our analysis of thevarious definitions of caste, are oneand the same thing. Thus theexistence of these means is identicalwith caste and caste involves thesemeans.

[26] This, in my opinion, is thegeneral mechanism of a caste in asystem of castes. Let us now turnfrom these high generalities to thecastes in Hindu Society and inquireinto their mechanism. I need hardlypremise that there are a great manypitfalls in the path of those who tryto unfold the past, and caste in Indiato be sure is a very ancient institution.This is especially true where thereexist no authentic or written recordsor where the people, like the Hindus,are so constituted that to them writinghistory is a folly, for the world is anillusion. But institutions do live,though for a long time they mayremain unrecorded and as often as

not customs and morals are likefossils that tell their own history. Ifthis is true, our task will be amplyrewarded if we scrutinize the solutionthe Hindus arrived at to meet theproblems of the surplusman and surplus woman.

[27] Complex though it be in itsgeneral working the Hindu Society,even to a superficial observer,presents three singular uxorialcustoms, namely:

(i) Sati or the burning of thewidow on the funeral pyre of herdeceased husband.

(ii) Enforced widowhood by whicha widow is not allowed to remarry.

(iii) Girl marriage.

In addition, one also notes a greathankering after Sannyasa(renunciation) on the part of thewidower, but this may in some casesbe due purely to psychic disposition.

[28] So far as I know, no scientificexplanation of the origin of thesecustoms is forthcoming even today.We have plenty of philosophy to tellus why these customs werehonoured, but nothing to tell us thecauses of their origin andexistence. Sati has been honoured(Cf. A. K. Coomaraswamy, “Sati:


A Defence of the Eastern Woman”in the British SociologicalReview, Vol. VI, 1913) because itis a “proof of the perfect unity ofbody and soul” between husband andwife and of “devotion beyond thegrave,” because it embodied theideal of wifehood, which is wellexpressed by Uma when she said,“Devotion to her Lord is woman’shonour, it is her eternal heaven: and0 Maheshvara,” she adds with a mosttouching human cry, “I desire notparadise itself if thou are not satisfiedwith me!” Why compulsorywidowhood is honoured I know not,nor have I yet met with any one whosang in praise of it, though there area great many who adhere to it. Theeulogy in honour of girl marriage isreported by Dr. Ketkar to be asfollows: “A really faithful man orwoman ought not to feel affectionfor a woman or a man other thanthe one with whom he or she isunited. Such purity is compulsory notonly after marriage, but even beforemarriage, for that is the only correctideal of chastity. No maiden couldbe considered pure if she feels lovefor a man other than the one to whomshe might be married. As she doesnot know to whom she is going to bemarried, she must not feel affection,for any man at all before marriage.If she does so, it is a sin. So it isbetter for a girl to know whom shehas to love before any sexualconsciousness has been awakenedin her” (History of Caste in India,1909, pp. 2-33.). Hence girlmarriage.

[29] This high-flown and ingenioussophistry indicates why theseinstitutions were honoured, but doesnot tell us why they were practiced.My own interpretation is that theywere honoured because they werepracticed. Any one slightlyacquainted with the rise of

individualism in the 18th century willappreciate my remark. At all times,it is the movement that is mostimportant; and the philosophies growaround it long afterwards to justify itand give it a moral support. In likemanner I urge that the very fact thatthese customs were so highlyeulogized proves that they neededeulogy for their prevalence.Regarding the question as to whythey arose, I submit that they wereneeded to create the structure ofcaste and the philosophies in honourof them were intended to popularisethem, or to gild the pill, as we mightsay, for they must have been soabominable and shocking to themoral sense of the unsophisticatedthat they needed a great deal ofsweetening. These customs areessentially of the nature of means,though they are represented asideals. But this should not blind usfrom understanding the results thatflow from them. One might safelysay that idealization of means isnecessary and in this particular casewas perhaps motivated to endowthem with greater efficacy. Callinga means an end does no harm,except that it disguises its realcharacter; but it does not deprive itof its real nature, that of a means.You may pass a law that all cats aredogs, just as you can call a meansan end. But you can no more changethe nature of means thereby than youcan turn cats into dogs; consequentlyI am justified in holding that, whetherregarded as ends or asm e a n s , S a t i , e n f o r c e dwidowhood and girl marriage arecustoms that were primarilyintended to solve the problem ofthe surplus man and surpluswoman in a caste and to maintainits endogamy. Strict endogamy couldnot be preserved without thesecustoms, while caste withoutendogamy is a fake.

[30] Having explained themechanism of the creation andpreservation of Caste in India, thefurther question as to its genesisnaturally arises. The question oforigin is always an annoying questionand in the study of Caste it is sadlyneglected; some have connived at it,while others have dodged it. Someare puzzled as to whether there couldbe such a thing as the origin of casteand suggest that “if we cannot controlour fondness for the word ‘origin,’we should better use the plural form,viz. ‘origins of caste.’” As for myselfI do not feel puzzled by the Origin ofCaste in India for, as I haveestablished before, endogamy is theonly characteristic of Caste andwhen I say Origin of Caste Imean The Origin of theMechanism for Endogamy.

[31] The atomistic conception ofindividuals in a Society so greatlypopularised— I was about to sayvulgarised—in political orations is thegreatest humbug. To say thatindividuals make up society is trivial;society is always composed ofclasses. It may be an exaggerationto assert the theory of class-conflict,but the existence of definite classesin a society is a fact. Their basis maydiffer. They may be economic orintellectual or social, but an individualin a society is always a member of aclass. This is a universal fact andearly Hindu society could not havebeen an exception to this rule, and,as a matter of fact, we know it wasnot. If we bear this generalization inmind, our study of the genesis ofcaste would be very much facilitated,for we have only to determinewhat was the class that first madeitself into a caste, for class and caste,so to say, are next door neighbours,and it is only a span that separatesthe two. A Caste is an EnclosedClass.


[32] The study of the origin ofcaste must furnish us with an answerto the question—what is the classthat raised this “enclosure” arounditself? The question may seem tooinquisitorial, but it is pertinent, andan answer to this will serve us toelucidate the mystery of the growthand development of castes all overIndia. Unfortunately a direct answerto this question is not within mypower. I can answer it onlyindirectly. I said just above that thecustoms in question were current inthe Hindu society. To be true to factsit is necessary to qualify thestatement, as it connotes universalityof their prevalence. These customsin all their strictness are obtainableonly in one caste, namely theBrahmins, who occupy the highestplace in the social hierarchy of theHindu society; and as theirprevalence in non-Brahmin castes isderivative, their observance is neitherstrict nor complete. This importantfact can serve as a basis of animportant observation. If theprevalence of these customs in thenon-Brahmin Castes is derivative, ascan be shown very easily, then itneeds no argument to prove whatclass is the father of the institutionof caste. Why the Brahmin classshould have enclosed itself into acaste is a different question, whichmay be left as an employment foranother occasion. But the strictobservance of these customs and thesocial superiority arrogated by thepriestly class in all ancientcivilizations are sufficient to provethat they were the originators of this“unnatural institution” founded andmaintained through these unnaturalmeans.

[33] I now come to the third partof my paper regarding the questionof the growth and spread of thecaste system all over India. The

question I have to answer is: Howdid the institution of caste spreadamong the rest of the non-Brahminpopulation of the country? Thequestion of the spread of the castesall over India has suffered a worsefate than the question of genesis.And the main cause, as it seems tome, is that the two questions ofspread and of origin are notseparated. This is because of thecommon belief among scholars thatthe caste system has either beenimposed upon the docile populationof India by a law-giver as a divinedispensation, or that it has grownaccording to some law of socialgrowth peculiar to the Indian people.

[34] I first propose to handle thelaw-giver of India. Every countryhas its law-giver, who arises as anincarnation (avatar) in times ofemergency to set right a sinninghumanity and give it the laws ofjustice and morality. Manu, the law-giver of India, if he did exist, wascertainly an audacious person. If thestory that he gave the law of castebe credited, then Manu must havebeen a dare-devil fellow and thehumanity that accepted hisdispensation must be a humanityquite different from the one we areacquainted with. It is unimaginablethat the law of caste was given. It ishardly an exaggeration to say thatManu could not have outlived his law,for what is that class that can submitto be degraded to the status of brutesby the pen of a man, and suffer himto raise another class to thepinnacle? Unless he was a tyrantwho held all the population insubjection it cannot be imagined thathe could have been allowed todispense his patronage in this grosslyunjust manner, as may be easily seenby a mere glance at his “Institutes.”I may seem hard on Manu, but I amsure my force is not strong enough

to kill his ghost. He lives like adisembodied spirit and is appealed to,and I am afraid will yet live long.One thing I want to impress uponyou is that Manu did not give the lawof Caste and that he could not doso. Caste existed long before Manu.He was an upholder of it andtherefore philosophised about it, butcertainly he did not and could notordain the present order of HinduSociety. His work ended with thecodification of existing caste rulesand the preaching of Caste Dharma.The spread and growth of the Castesystem is too gigantic a task to beachieved by the power or cunningof an individual or of a class. Similarin argument is the theory that theBrahmins created the Caste. Afterwhat I have said regarding Manu, Ineed hardly say anything more,except to point out that it is incorrectin thought and malicious in intent.The Brahmins may have been guiltyof many things, and I dare say theywere, but the imposing of the castesystem on the non-Brahminpopulation was beyond their mettle.They may have helped the processby their glib philosophy, but theycertainly could not have pushed theirscheme beyond their own confines.To fashion society after one’s ownpattern! How glorious! How hard!One can take pleasure and eulogizeits furtherance; but cannot further itvery far. The vehemence of myattack may seem to be unnecessary;but I can assure you that it is notuncalled for. There is a strong beliefin the mind of orthodox Hindus thatthe Hindu Society was somehowmoulded into the framework of theCaste System and that it is anorganization consciously created bythe Shastras. Not only does thisbelief exist, but it is being justifiedon the ground that it cannot but begood, because it is ordained by theShastras and the Shastras cannot


be wrong. I have urged so much onthe adverse side of this attitude, notbecause the religious sanctity isgrounded on scientific basis, nor tohelp those reformers who arepreaching against it. Preaching didnot make the caste system; neitherwill it unmake it. My aim is to showthe falsity of the attitude that hasexalted religious sanction to theposition of a scientific explanation.

[35] Thus the great man theorydoes not help us very far in solvingthe spread of castes in India. Westernscholars, probably not much given tohero-worship, have attempted otherexplanations. The nuclei, roundwhich have “formed” the variouscastes in India, are, according tothem: (1) occupation; (2) survivalsof tribal organization etc.; (3) the riseof new belief; (4) cross-breeding;and (5) migration.

[36] The question may be askedwhether these nuclei do not exist inother societies and whether they arepeculiar to India. If they are notpeculiar to India, but are common tothe world, why is it that they did not“form” caste on other parts of thisplanet? Is it because those parts areholier than the land of the Vedas, orthat the professors are mistaken? Iam afraid that the latter is the truth.

[37] In spite of the high theoreticvalue claimed by the several authorsfor their respective theories basedon one or other of the above nuclei,one regrets to say that on closeexamination they are nothing morethan filling illustrations—whatMatthew Arnold means by “thegrand name without the grand thingin it.” Such are the various theoriesof caste advanced by Sir Denzillbbetson, Mr. Nesfield, Mr. Senartand Sir H. Risley. To criticise themin a lump would be to say that they

are a disguised form of the PetitioPrincipii of formal logic. Toillustrate: Mr. Nesfield says that “function and function only. . . wasthe foundation upon which the wholesystem of Castes in India was builtup.” But he may rightly be remindedthat he does not very much advanceour thought by making the abovestatement, which practically amountsto saying that castes in India arefunctional or occupational, which isa very poor discovery! We have yetto know from Mr. Nesfield why is itthat an occupational group turnedinto an occupational caste? I wouldvery cheerfully have undertaken thetask of dwelling on the theories ofother ethnologists, had it not been forthe fact that Mr. Nesfield’s is a typicalone.

[38] Without stopping to criticizethose theories that explain the castesystem as a natural phenomenonoccurring in obedience to the law ofdisintegration, as explained byHerbert Spencer in his formula ofevolution; or as natural as “thestructural differentiation within anorganism,” to employ thephraseology of orthodox apologists;or as an early attempt to test the lawsof eugenics—as all belonging to thesame class of fallacy which regardsthe caste system as inevitable, or asbeing consciously imposed inanticipation of these laws on ahelpless and humble population, I willnow lay before you my own view onthe subject.

[39] We shall be well advised torecall at the outset that the Hindusociety, in common with othersocieties, was composed of classesand the earliest known are (1) theBrahmins or the priestly class; (2)the Kshatriya, or the military class;(3) the Vaishya, or the merchantclass; and (4) the Shudra, or the

artisan and menial class. Particularattention has to be paid to the factthat this was essentially a classsystem, in which individuals, whenqualified, could change their class,and therefore classes did changetheir personnel. At some time in thehistory of the Hindus, the priestlyclass socially detached itself from therest of the body of people andthrough a closed-door policy becamea caste by itself. The other classesbeing subject to the law of socialdivision of labour underwentdifferentiation, some into large,others into very minute, groups. TheVaishya and Shudra classes were theoriginal inchoate plasm, whichformed the sources of the numerouscastes of today. As the militaryoccupation does not very easily lenditself to very minute sub-division, theKshatriya class could havedifferentiated into soldiers andadministrators.

[40] This sub-division of a societyis quite natural. But the unnaturalthing about these sub-divisions is thatthey have lost the open-doorcharacter of the class system andhave become self-enclosed unitscalled castes. The question is: werethey compelled to close their doorsand become endogamous, or did theyclose them of their own accord? Isubmit that there is a double line ofanswer: Some closed the door:Others found it closed againstthem. The one is a psychologicalinterpretation and the other ismechanistic, but they arecomplementary and both arenecessary to explain the phenomenaof caste-formation in its entirety.

[41] I will first take up thepsychological interpretation. Thequestion we have to answer in thisconnection is: Why did these sub-divisions or classes, if you please,


industrial, religious or otherwise,become self-enclosed orendogamous? My answer is becausethe Brahmins were so. Endogamyor the closed-door system was afashion in the Hindu society, and asit had originated from the Brahmincaste it was whole-heartedly imitatedby all the non-Brahmin sub-divisionsor classes, who, in their turn, becameendogamous castes. It is “theinfection of imitation” that caught allthese sub-divisions on their onwardmarch of differentiation and hasturned them into castes. Thepropensity to imitate is a deep-seatedone in the human mind and need notbe deemed an inadequateexplanation for the formation of thevarious castes in India. It is so deep-seated that Walter Bagehot arguesthat, “We must not think of . . .imitation as voluntary, or evenconscious. On the contrary it has itsseat mainly in very obscure parts ofthe mind, whose notions, so far frombeing consciously produced, arehardly felt to exist; so far from beingconceived beforehand, are not evenfelt at the time. The main seat of theimitative part of our nature is ourbelief, and the causes predisposingus to believe this or disinclining us tobelieve that are among the obscurestparts of our nature. But as to theimitative nature of credulity there canbe no doubt” (Physics and Politics,1915, p. 60). This propensity toimitate has been made the subjectof a scientific study by GabrielTarde, who lays down three laws ofimitation. One of his three laws isthat imitation flows from the higherto the lower or, to quote his ownwords, “Given the opportunity, anobility will always and everywhereimitate its leaders, its kings orsovereigns, and the people likewise,given the opportunity, its nobility”(Laws of Imitation, tr. by E. C.Parsons, 2nd edition, p. 217).

Another of Tarde’s laws of imitationis: that the extent or intensity ofimitation varies inversely inproportion to distance, or in his ownwords “The thing that is mostimitated is the most superior one ofthose that are nearest. In fact, theinfluence of the model’s example isefficacious inversely to its distanceas well as directly to its superiority.Distance is understood here in itssociological meaning. Howeverdistant in space a stranger may be,he is close by, from this point of view,if we have numerous and dailyrelations with him and if we haveevery facility to satisfy our desire toimitate him. This law of the imitationof the nearest, of the least distant,explains the gradual and consecutivecharacter of the spread of anexample that has been set by thehigher social ranks” (Ibid., p. 224).

[42] In order to prove my thesis—which really needs no proof—thatsome castes were formed byimitation, the best way, it seems tome, is to find out whether or not thevital conditions for the formation ofcastes by imitation exist in the HinduSociety. The conditions for imitation,according to this standard authorityare: (1) that the source of imitationmust enjoy prestige in the group and(2) that there must be “numerous anddaily relations” among members ofa group. That these conditions werepresent in India there is little reasonto doubt. The Brahmin is a semi-godand very nearly a demi-god. He setsup a mode and moulds the rest. Hisprestige is unquestionable and is thefountain-head of bliss and good. Cansuch a being, idolised by scripturesand venerated by the priest-riddenmultitude, fail to project hispersonality on the supplianthumanity? Why, if the story be true,he is believed to be the very end ofcreation. Such a creature is worthy

of more than mere imitation, but atleast of imitation; and if he lives inan endogamous enclosure, should notthe rest follow his example? Frailhumanity! Be it embodied in a gravephilosopher or a frivolous housemaid,it succumbs. It cannot be otherwise.Imitation is easy and invention isdifficult.

[43] Yet another way ofdemonstrating the play of imitationin the formation of castes is tounderstand the attitude of non-Brahmin classes towards thosecustoms which supported thestructure of caste in its nascent daysuntil, in the course of history, itbecame embedded in the Hindu mindand hangs there to this day withoutany support—for now it needs noprop but belief—like a weed on thesurface of a pond. In a way, but onlyin a way, the status of a. caste in theHindu Society varies directly with theextent of the observance of thecustoms of Sati, enforcedwidowhood, and girl marriage. Butobservance of these customs variesdirectly with the distance (I am usingthe word in the Tardian sense) thatseparates the caste. Those castesthat are nearest to the Brahminshave imitated all the three customsand insist on the strict observancethereof. Those that are less near haveimitated enforced widowhood andgirl marriage; others, a little furtheroff, have only girl marriage; andthose furthest off have imitated onlythe belief in the caste principle. Thisimperfect imitation, I dare say, is duepartly to what Tarde calls “distance”and partly to the barbarous characterof these customs. This phenomenonis a complete illustration of Tarde’slaw and leaves no doubt that thewhole process of caste-formation inIndia is a process of imitation of thehigher by the lower. At this junctureI will turn back to support a former


conclusion of mine, which might haveappeared to you as too sudden orunsupported. I said that the Brahminclass first raised the structure ofcaste by the help of those threecustoms in question. My reason forthat conclusion was that theirexistence in other classes wasderivative. After what I have saidregarding the role of imitation in thespread of these customs among thenon-Brahmin castes, as means or asideals, though the imitators have notbeen aware of it, they exist amongthem as derivatives; and, if they arederived, there must have beenprevalent one original caste that washigh enough to have served as apattern for the rest. But in atheocratic society, who could be thepattern but the servant of God?

[44] This completes the story ofthose that were weak enough toclose their doors. Let us now seehow others were closed in as a resultof being closed out. This I call themechanistic process of the formationof caste. It is mechanistic becauseit is inevitable. That this line ofapproach, as well as thepsychological one, to the explanationof the subject has escaped mypredecessors is entirely due to thefact that they have conceived casteas a unit by itself and not as onewithin a System of Caste. The resultof this oversight or lack of sight hasbeen very detrimental to the properunderstanding of the subject matterand therefore its correct explanation.I will proceed to offer my ownexplanation by making one remarkwhich I will urge you to bearconstantly in mind. It is this :that caste in the singular numberis an unreality. Castes exist onlyin the plural number. There is nosuch thing as a caste: There arealways castes. To illustrate mymeaning: while making themselves

into a caste, the Brahmins, by virtueof this, created non-Brahmin caste;or, to express it in my own way, whileclosing themselves in they closedothers out. I will clear my point bytaking another illustration. Take Indiaas a whole with its variouscommunities designated by thevarious creeds to which they oweallegiance, to wit, the Hindus,Mohammedans, Jews, Christians andParsis. Now, barring the Hindus, therest within themselves are non-castecommunities. But with respect toeach other they are castes. Again, ifthe first four enclose themselves, theParsis are directly closed out, but areindirectly closed in. Symbolically, ifGroup A wants to be endogamous,Group B has to be so by sheer forceof circumstances.

[45] Now apply the same logic tothe Hindu society and you haveanother explanation of the“fissiparous” character of caste, asa consequence of the virtue of self-duplication that is inherent in it. Anyinnovation that seriously antagonisesthe ethical, religious and social codeof the Caste is not likely to betolerated by the Caste, and therecalcitrant members of a Caste arein danger of being thrown out of theCaste, and left to their own fatewithout having the alternative ofbeing admitted into or absorbed byother Castes. Caste rules areinexorable and they do not wait tomake nice distinctions between kindsof offence. Innovation may be ofany kind, but all kinds will suffer thesame penalty. A novel way ofthinking will create a new Caste forthe old ones will not tolerate it. Thenoxious thinker respectfully calledGuru (Prophet) suffers the samefate as the sinners in illegitimatelove. The former creates a caste ofthe nature of a religious sect and thelatter a type of mixed caste. Castes

have no mercy for a sinner who hasthe courage to violate the code. Thepenalty is excommunication and theresult is a new caste. It is notpeculiar Hindu psychology thatinduces the excommunicated to formthemselves into a caste; far from it.On the contrary, very often theyhave been quite willing to be humblemembers of some caste (higher bypreference) if they could be admittedwithin its fold. But castes areenclosed units and it is theirconspiracy with clear consciencethat compels the excommunicated tomake themselves into a caste. Thelogic of this obdurate circumstanceis merciless, and it is in obedience toits force that some unfortunategroups find themselves enclosed,because others in enclosingthemselves have closed them out,with the result that new groups(formed on any basis obnoxious tothe caste rules) by a mechanical laware constantly being converted intocastes to a bewildering multiplicity.Thus is told the second tale in theprocess of Caste formation in India.

[46] Now to summarise the mainpoints of my thesis. In my opinionthere have been several mistakescommitted by the students of Caste,which have misled them in theirinvestigations. European students ofCaste have unduly emphasised therole of colour in the Caste system.Themselves impregnated by colourprejudices, they very readilyimagined it to be the chief factor inthe Caste problem. But nothing canbe farther from the truth, and Dr.Ketkar is correct when he insists that“All the princes whether theybelonged to the so-called Aryan race,or the so-called Dravidian race,were Aryas. Whether a tribe or afamily was racially Aryan orDravidian was a question whichnever troubled the people of India,


until foreign scholars came in andbegan to draw the line. The colourof the skin had long ceased to be amatter of importance” (History ofCaste, p. 82). Again, they havemistaken mere descriptions forexplanation and fought over them asthough they were theories of origin.There are occupational, religious etc.,castes, it is true, but it is by no meansan explanation of the origin of Caste.We have yet to find out whyoccupational groups are castes; butthis question has never even beenraised. Lastly they have taken Castevery lightly as though a breath hadmade it. On the contrary. Caste, asI have explained it, is almostimpossible to be sustained: for thedifficulties that it involves aretremendous. It is true that Casterests on belief, but before beliefcomes to be the foundation of aninstitution, the institution itself needsto be perpetuated and fortified. Mystudy of the Caste problem involvesfour main points: (1) that in spite ofthe composite make-up of the Hindupopulation, there is a deep culturalunity; (2) that caste is a parcellinginto bits of a larger cultural unit; (3)that there was one caste to start with;and (4) that classes have becomeCastes through imitation andexcommunication.

[47] Peculiar interest attaches tothe problem of Caste in India today;as persistent attempts are beingmade to do away with this unnaturalinstitution. Such attempts at reform,however, have aroused a great dealof controversy regarding its origin,as to whether it is due to theconscious command of a SupremeAuthority, or is an unconsciousgrowth in the life of a human societyunder peculiar circumstances. Thosewho hold the latter view will, I hope,find some food for thought in thestandpoint adopted in this paper.

Apart from its practical importancethe subject of Caste is an all-absorbing problem and the interestaroused in me regarding its theoreticfoundations has moved me to putbefore you some of the conclusionswhich seem to me well founded, andthe grounds upon which they maybe supported. I am not, however, sopresumptuous as to think them in anyway final, or anything more than acontribution to a discussion of thesubject. It seems to me that the carhas been shunted on wrong lines, andthe primary object of the paper is toindicate what I regard to be the rightpath of investigation, with a view to

arrive at a serviceable truth. Wemust, however, guard againstapproaching the subject with a bias.Sentiment must be outlawed fromthe domain of science and thingsshould be judged from an objectivestandpoint. For myself I shall find asmuch pleasure in a positivedestruction of my own ideology, asin a rational disagreement on a topic,which, notwithstanding manylearned disquisitions, is likely toremain controversial forever. Toconclude, while I am ambitious toadvance a Theory of Caste, if it canbe shown to be untenable I shall beequally willing to give it up.

for any Muslim who opts of Islamand preaches his new faith is death.His explanation: apostasy is the sameas treason.

The most disturbing thing aboutDr Zakir Naik and his ‘Peace TV’is that his supremacist, exclusionary,divisive message is being lapped upby millions of gullible youngMuslims well-educated in worldlysubjects but with little grounding inIslam and the tolerant traditionswithin it.

The last thing that Indian Muslims –who are already victims of prejudice,discrimination, Islamophobia,recurring communal violence – needare the teachings of Zakir Naik.Instead of promoting communalharmony he and his ‘Peace TV’ havebeen promoting communal discord.

We appeal to all peace-lovingIndians in general and Muslims inparticular to expose Zakir Naik’s realagenda and warn Muslim youth tobeware of his toxic theology.

We demand that Zakir Naik andall other hate-mongers be probed

and prosecuted for promoting enmitybetween different religious groups(Section 153-A of IPC).

Lastly, we appreciate PrimeMinister Modi’s belated statement,“Preachers of hate and violence arethreatening our society.” Whilemaking this statement we hope thatthe prime minister had not only DrZakir Naik in mind but also someministers and MPs of his own partyand the numerous leaders from hissangh parivar.

–Javed Anand and others








It’s true. Nothing afflicts us,except the ghost of our omissions andcommissions. We are tormentedtoday by the demons we let looseyesterday. This is a hoary truth. It isthere in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

It is there in Shakespeare’sMacbeth in which the eponymoushero realises, too late in the day, thatthe evil returns to plague its inventor.It is there in our ancient wisdom thatthe consequences of a person’s evildeeds will plague his stock forgenerations. It is embedded in thedoctrine of karma, with its inexorabletransmission of karmic debt acrossbirths.

All this notwithstanding, wecontinue to pretend that we arevictims of forces external to us. Asflies to wanton boys, wroteAeschylus, we are to the gods; theykill us for their sport. In the languageof the common man, this delusionunderlies the question, “Why me?”

The scariest thing is not thathideous acts of crime that eruptfrom time to time. It is that the moraldiscernment, the sense andsensitivity, to see crime as crime hasall but vanished. Is unleashing largescale communal violence to winelections a crime? We call it strategy.Is corporate greed poisoning millionsof people to slow death a crime?

No, better call it a sliver ofcorporate shrewdness. Is chokingthe spirit of a nation through megascams, a crime? No, it’s “systemfailure.” Such loot is not real, we aretold. It’s only ‘notional.’ Is living

Justifying crime, order of the dayValson Thampu

obscenely wasteful lives in full viewof a starving, impoverished people,a crime and an insult? No, it’s “Indiashining”.

Stealing kidneys fromunsuspecting patients and truckingthe harvest into the megabucks organbazaar. Is it a crime? No, it is only astray lapse in medical ethics. Whenthousands of crores of rupeesdisappear overnight fromnationalised banks, is it crime? No,it is a mystic process of creating“non-performing assets”. In anincomprehensible way, our assets,though non-performing, areincreasing!

Let’s face it. We are infectingevery particle of life with crime.This is done by those who enjoyprestige and public visibility: the‘opinion makers’. What has donemaximum harm to our society inthe recent years are the nationallytelevised news hour programmesin which party spokespersons aregiven an eternity of time andunfettered licence to justifythe unthinkable and theabominable.

No one minds that this has theeffect of socialising, legitimising andvalourising crime. The BJP justifiesits corruption by alleging theCongress to have been equallycorrupt. The Congress returns thecompliment. All other parties too arecorrupt. The message that goes outto the common man is, corruptionand crime are the norm. The provisois that you can enjoy immunity onlyif you are in power.

We must call these partyretainers, ‘social climate-changers.’Like in the environmental climatechange scenario, they are theunscrupulous agents of ‘socialwarming,’ who degrade our human‘environment’.

The alarming rise of crime - andits metastasis through the body-politic - is a function of this humandegradation and ‘social warning.’Our society today is much like thegrisly Uttarakhand forests, lackingjust a spark to go up in flames.

Forest fires kill. They kill thevulnerable. Those who degrade theenvironment and suck the last dropof moral sap from the social trunk,remain secure at a distance; whereasthe Nirbhayas, the Jishas and thethousands in similar segments ofvulnerability, pay with their life.

We shall not make any progress inshackling the wild beast of crime solong as we stay in denial of this reality.Legislation of more draconian lawscannot help or heal our society. It islike trying to eradicate malaria bylegislating that no patient shall betraysymptoms of malaria, like chill andrigor. The thing to do is to prevent theproliferation of mosquitos.

The underprivileged emulate theways of the privileged who seem tobe licensed to get away with murder.Remember, for example, theUttarakhand MLA who broke the legof Shaktiman, with a lathi, snatchedfrom a policeman on duty? Nayakand khalnayak merge into one underthe proscenium of power.


Amitabh Bachchan became “BigB” - a larger than life character - bysplashing on the silver screen withunattached thespian skills, the luridcolours of rebellion, offering vicariousfulfilment to the masses. For theunderling, to rebel is to behave likethe privileged. It is to break one’s

Zanjeer and to overleap the Deewar,as the young Bachchan did.

This could happen, half a centuryago, only in the akhara of art. It isthis that has now changed. And it isscary. Crime has beendemocratised. It is on parole and now

at large in the social jungle. Thissocial equalisation of crime shouldspike a chill through our souls. In allof this, let us not forget that thosewe deprecate today for theirdepravity are not the ones who letthe genie out of the bottle, in the firstplace.

RBI wrongly advises banks tosubmit data of defaulting borrowersto Credit Information Companiesrather than to RBI.

It refers to shocking responsefrom Reserve Bank of India (RBI)revealing that RBI has advisedbanks/financial-institutions to submitdata regarding defaulting borrowersto Credit Information Companies(CICs) and not to RBI fromDecember 2014 onwards.

RBI-step is neither justified norproper. It is significant to note that ithas not so far complied with SupremeCourt verdict dated 16.12.2015 in thematter ‘RBI vs PP Kapoor’ (Civil94 of 2015) where RBI has not sofar made public details of default inloans taken from public sector banksby industrialists, out of the list ofdefaulters, top 100 defaulters, namesof the businessmen, firm name,principal amount, interest amount,date of default and date of availingthe loan etc. RBI is rather duty-bound in larger national and publicinterest for getting information aboutloan-defaulters from banks to makeit public under ‘name and shame’policy to have an effective check onincreasing loan-defaults. Banksshould also be directed to put suchlists on their respective websites.

Considering lots of irregularitiesin mode of having database of loan-seekers, it is highly improper for RBI

RBI's wrong adviseto encourage banks/financial-institutions to evade ‘Right ofPrivacy’ of loan-seekers by sharingtheir details (often incorrect) withCredit Information Companies(CICs) which usually form data-base of loan-seekers on basis ofwrong-doings of Direct SalesAssociates (DSAs) which lodgeloan-applications with too manybanks and NBFCs withoutknowledge of loan-takers, thusadversely affecting credit-ratings ofloan-seekers.

Since credit-rating of any person/body is personal information, CICsshould rather give a royalty to themon income generated by CICs onsharing their information, apart fromproviding copy free-of-cost to credit-rated ones. It will make credit-ratedpersons file corrections if so needed.Union government has also reasonto intervene because even public-sector banks rely on credit-ratingsprovided by CICs, as also advisedby RBI.

–Subhash Chandra Agrawal

After Karpoori Thakur’s successful period as Chief Minister, therewas a ghastly murderous happening at Arawal in 1985. I had retiredby December, 1985 Karpoori Ji asked Tarkunde Ji (PUCL leader) toask me to come to Patna to hold an enquiry. My committee’s othermember was General Sinha, I was so embarrassed when I landed atPatna to find Karpoori Ji personally there. I remonstrated with himthat he has been and now again was my leader and he should nothave come to the aerodrome.

But more important was that before finalizing our report I toldKarpoori Ji that I would like to meet Director General Police and oneor two others high officers to enquire about certain vital factsconcerning the enquiry, and that he may fix my appointment withthose officers and I will go to their office to meet them. But Karpooriconfidently said that they will come to meet me at the guest housewhere I was staying. The next day those officers came the guesthouse – this showed the respect he enjoyed amongst public that theofficers (notwithstanding that there was another government) theirrespect for him was continuing.

–Rajindar Sachar

R.N.I. NO. 1855/1957 16 JANATA, July 17, 2016Postal Registration No. MCW/275/2015-2017.

License to Post without prepayment WPP License No. MH/Tech/WPP-210/West/2016Published on Sunday, July 17, 2016 & Posted on Wedenesday July 20, 2016 at Mumbai Patrika Channel, Mumbai GPO-1


REGD. OFFICE :

New Excelsior Building, (3rd Floor),A. K. Nayak Marg, Fort, Mumbai 400 001.Tel.: 022 2205 1231 Fax : 022-2205 1232



Price : Rupees Five

Vol. 71 No. 26July 24, 2016




Mumbai - 400 007.


Land Reforms Should beIntegral Part of Agricultural

DevelopmentBharat Dogra

Is Superstition Limited toHindus?

K. S. Chalam

A World Gripped by theCancer of Terror

Ram Puniyani

How Exactly Does the IndianMedia Define a Terrorist?

Shoaib Daniyal

Bhumi Adhikar Andolan

There is a vast differencebetween perception and evidence.When Congress vice-president RahulGandhi says that the RSS isresponsible for the assassination ofMahatma Gandhi, he is conveyingthe general perception. In fact, thethen Home Minister Sardar Patelimposed a ban on the RSS which hewithdrew when the organizationgave in writing that it was only acultural outfit. However, theperception has remained till today.The BJP, which is said to be apolitical wing of the RSS, has alwaysdenied the charge. But there is noclinching evidence either with theBJP elements or those opposed toit..

When the party was in power atthe Centre—they ruled for more than50 years—it could have publishedthe intelligence reports or some otherdocuments to suggest that theassassination was the doing of theRSS. Nor did the BJP, when it wasin power, could release anythingwhich would remove the chargeonce and for all.

What Rahul Gandhi has said wasthe perception prevailing throughout

Let’s Await Court’s RulingKuldip Nayar

the country and abroad even today.At that time the RSS elements wereon the defensive and generallypreferred to keep quiet. This onlyconfirmed the perception that theMahatma was killed by NathuramGodse, a fanatic Hindu.

I was working with an Urdunewspaper, Anjaam, then. We wereall sitting at the office when the PTIteleprinter machine’s bell alerted fora flash. We rushed to the machineand the cryptic message was: Gandhishot at! I wasted no time and wentstraight to the Birla House on myscooter. My office was situated nearJamma Masjid and I rode throughDarya Ganj area. The locality wascalm and oblivious to the greattragedy.

There was a wooden gate at BirlaHouse and there was no security tostop any visitor. I went to the raisedplatform where Gandhi’s body,swathed in white khadi, was lying.Lord Mountbatten, the last BritishViceroy, came after I had reachedthe venue. He saluted the body; bothPrime Minister Jawaharlal Nehruand Home Minister Patel, whofollowed him in the queue, were


openly crying. The crowd had startedswelling by then.

The assassin, Godse, who did notescape was stil l there andsurprisingly without any remorse.The Raj Path through which thecartage was carried, with Nehruand Patel sitting on either side, towhat is today called the Rajghat.Ironically, Gandhi who had spreadthe new philosophy of non-violenceto the world was taken for his lastrites in a military vehicle which theMahatma would not have liked.

Rahul Gandhi was not even bornthen. But he had the privilege ofbeing a scion of the family whichgave its all to the national struggle.He has every right to find faultwith the RSS and he is not a thirdparty to the entire episode ofcourage and sacrifice. The entireconspiracy to kill the Mahatma hasbeen placed before the public,though bit by bit. And there is nodoubt that the RSS elements werebehind it.

In a letter addressed to jailorArjun Das at Ambala, where he wasdetained, Godse confessed his handand had argued that the Congressleaders at that time were weakeningthe country, making it an easy preyfor Pakistan. This was a flimsyargument which did not go down wellwith the public when the letter wasultimately released.

The dust of time has coveredmany a footstep and it is verydifficult to find out today who elseat the Nagpur headquarters of theRSS had blessed the heinouscrime. This was probably the firstcrime committed in the name ofideology. Things have, however,

Land Reforms Should be IntegralPart of Agricultural Development

Bharat Dogra

One of the most unfortunateaspects of agricultural policy inrecent times has been that landreforms have been almost entirelyignored and marginalized. Althoughno formal announcement has beenmade to this effect but for allpractical purposes it is clear that thelargely unfinished agenda of landreforms is now being given upalmost entirely. This is highlyregrettable as land reforms are notonly an essential component of anyagricultural development agendabased on justice and equality but inaddition land reforms are alsonecessary for creating conditions inwhich the full productive potential ofthe most hard working sections ofthe peasantry can be properlyrealized.

Summarising the experience ofthe most important component ofland reforms in India a formerdistinguished Secretary of RuralDevelopment in the Government ofIndia S. R. Sankaran wrote,” … theefforts of the central and stategovernments to enact, revise andimplement the ceiling laws, spreadover 35 years, resulted in theredistribution of only 1.25 per centof the operational area.”

This seniormost official of ruraldevelopment then went on to makea comparison with some othercountries which had achievedgoodprogress in agriculture. He wrote,”…the extent of land redistributedwas 43 per cent of agricultural landin China, 37 per cent in Taiwan, 32

per cent in South Korea and 33 percent in Japan.”

Thus it is clear that manycountries which recorded verysignificant increase in agriculturalproduction and productivity had firstimplemented land reforms on asignificant scale and secondly, it isequally clear that the land reformefforts in India have been veryinadequate. It follows that more andstronger efforts in this directionwould have been good not just forjustice but also for increasingproduction and productivity; but thishas been ignored.

Instead it has been propagatedfalsely that when landless poorhave been given land they havenot used it productively. On thecontrary this writer has metseveral beneficiaries of landdistribution efforts who workedvery hard and with great creativityto obtain good harvests even fromthe low quality land they werereluctantly given in some villages.In other villages more powerfullandowners put several obstaclesin their ability to cultivate theallotted land and spread the canardthat these people just don’t wantto work. The more generalexperience has been thatwherever supportive conditionshave been provided including somesupport to improve almostuncultivable land and to providesome protective irrigation newland allottees have given verygood results.(Continued on Page 3)


The International LabourOrganisation estimated in a seriesof studies that equal distribution ofland has the potential of increasingfood output by 10 per cent inPakistan, 28 per cent in Colombiaand 80 per cent in north-easternBrazil. The fact that small farmsare more productive than largefarms has been confirmed by eventhe World Bank for Argentina,Brazil, Thailand and some othercountries. The Food and AgricultureOrganisation of the United Nationssaid more specifically in the contextof India, “Redistribution of only 5%of farmland in India, coupled withimproved access to water, couldreduce rural poverty levels by 30%under what they would be, so thatin Indian conditions land and waterreform would be a key approach. “

Thus several studies confirm thepositive contribution that landreforms can make to bothincreasing farm production andreducing rural poverty. When foodproduction increases on the fieldsof the poorest sections then clearlythere are higher chances ofreducing hunger and malnutritionwhile improving food security.Thechances of organic and eco-friendly agriculture also improvewith land reforms as poorerfarmers keen to use low costmethods and at the same timewilling to contribute more manuallabour make importantimprovements in composting andother related technologies based onmaking more productive use oflocal natural resources.Enthusiastic first generationfarmers who are cultivating theirown land for the first time are likelyto contribute with a lot of vigour torepair and improvement of existingirrigation sources as well to theemergence of new sources near

their fields. The new land allotteescan be the front rank contributorsto a programme of environmentregeneration which also enhancesthe productivity of their newlyacquired land and includes bettersoil and water conservation aswell improved irrigation anddrainage.

In addition more equal landdistribution has the potential ofcreating more stable ruralcommunities compared to a situationwhere a large number of people

remain without any land.Communities based on equality andjustice are inherently moresustainable in the longer termalthough there may be somedisruption for some time which canbe handled with proper governanceskills. Communities based on equalityand justice are also inherently morecapable of working together forprotection of environment,regeneration of pastures and forestsand other important constructivetasks beneficial to the entirecommunity.

changed now because theatmosphere has been politicizedand there are very few voices left,whose credibility is beyondreproach. The RSS is still riding thehigh horse and refusing to joinissue.

The fact that the matter has beengiven to the party spokesman tohandle shows that the Congress isalready making preparations fordiluting its stand. If it does so, theparty would lose the face, more soRahul Gandhi, who is beingprojected to lead the party in thenext Lok Sabha elections. This isa tough case before the SupremeCourt because it is going to bedamned if its verdict goes either infavour of the Congress or the RSS.

What saddens one is that thesecular forces in the country arenot marshalling their strength toface the biggest challenge to theidea of India, democratic and anti-communal. The struggle forindependence was for the ethos ofpluralism and egalitarianism. OnceGandhi was portrayed as a non-violent communist and he did nottake any offence to the comment,although the communists had

described him as a running dog ofimperialism. The communistsshould make amends for theirmistakes and hang the picture theMahatma at their headquarters inKolkata.

My advice to the RSS and BJPis the same. Gandhi is an apostleof the marginalized and thebackward. He represented thenational struggle and India’semancipation from the British.This is the point on which all thepolitical parties meet and theyshould have no hesitation incollectively recognizing the factthat Gandhi rolled up the 150 yearsof foreign rule.

As for the allegations of RahulGandhi, the Supreme Court hastaken note of them. In the wake ofthe court hearing, many skeletonsmay tumble out of the closet. Nowthat the Congress vice-presidenthas refused to apologize—one canonly hope that he will stick to hisstatement—the fat is on fire andthe public may see an ideologicalwarfare in the court itself. RahulGandhi is either made or marred.

[email protected]



Karnataka state is in the newsonce again for all the wrong reasons- this time for differing on theproposed anti-superstition bill.Karnataka is perhaps one of the fewstates in the country, may be a loneregion that has been championing thecause of reason and rationality notonly during the modern period, butalso for the last more than amillennium in this part of the country.The revolt initiated by Basava, atraditional Brahmin, against theinhuman and barbarous practices,particularly in relation to caste andthe solution provided by him againstthe caste prejudices had eventuallyended with him to vanish in oblivionor might have been butchered by thesanatana dharma purveyors.Therefore, one need not be surprisedto learn that the conflict betweenorthodox barbarians and followers ofreason in the present Karnataka inthe episodes of Kalburgi, Dabolkar,Pansare are not new. In fact theintellectual influence of the presentstate of Karnataka was not confinedto its present boundaries, it had awide spectrum of whole of the Southincluding the Deccan (Maharashtra).Therefore, the entire country islooking for a solution to come out ofsuperstitions through the proposedbill, though there are states thatpassed acts against superstition toshow off that they are modern, butencourage myths in practice. DrNarasimhaiah and several others inKarnataka have laid the foundationfor the present bill.

The Siddaramaiah Cabinetdiscussed, “ Karnataka Preventionand Eradication of Human Sacrificesand other Inhuman Evil and Aghori

Is Superstition Limited to Hindus?K. S. Chalam

Practices and Black Magic Bill,2016”, in detail and it seems noconsensus was reached due todifference of opinion on certainpractices. The discussion in thecabinet should have been madepublic to initiate a debate in thecountry on an important nationalissue that involves the prospects ofour ethos and the constitutionalprovision to promote scientifictemper. I am told that there areseveral reasonable individuals evenin the Hindu Parivar who couldsupport this if a public debate isorganised. In fact, the issue is soporous that the debate within thecabinet and in informal circles wasperhaps confined to the practices thatare by tradition related to the lowercastes while the practices of theupper castes, sanskritised sudras, theconverted elite are not touched at all.I think this is the crux of the problemof not being able to arrive at aconsensus on defining what issuperstition?

The Western or occidentalreasoning is different from Orientalorientation. I have come across arecent study on the differencesbetween these two systems ofreasoning in mathematics, the simpleapproach for scientific reasoning, andthe authors classified the twosystems briefly as follows:

Occidental Reasoning

1. 1200 algebra: no formalisation

2. Paradigm of geometry, Equations

3. Aprioristic formulas that hide theprocesses, favouring, with theresult, determinism

4 Reductio ad absurdum in apotential infinite

Oriental Reasoning

1. 200 B.C. algebra: no formalisation

2. Positional system, matrices(system of the rods)

3. Solving equations by means ofalgebraic manipulations with thestrategies: i) making equals, ii)making homogeneous, iii)research for fundamentalalgorithms.

4. Existing infinity of operations

The basic point is that “theaspirations of ancient Greek traditionrepresented by Euclid, whichproposed deducing all mathematicsfrom a single set of indemonstrablebut evident axioms, were not sharedby the Chinese at least until themodern age. In China, as a matterof fact, the goal was not axiomatic-deductive demonstration, butgathering unifying principles from allof mathematics.” Though the articleis related to comparison of Greekand Chinese traditions to representOccidental or Western, and Orientalor Asian, the Chinese example is toa large extent true in the case ofIndia. We had a tradition ofmaterialism not only in the so-calledLokayata or Charvaka schools ofBrahminical thought, but thedoctrines of Ajivikas who were thepre-Jain-Buddhist sects (see A. L.Basham) that had deep roots in thenative Indian epistemology. Thenative Indian episteme was differentfrom the alien or Aryan. In fact the


alien practices were rooted in theSumerian soil and had a directinfluence on the pre-Abrahamic andBrahmic (Vedic) religious pantheonthat carry some remote memories inthe epics. That is why it is said thatChristianity had a hidden Vedantaand Hindu and Islamic faiths had incommon several heretical practices.The Hindu bug on the net in recenttimes produces blogs to show thatIslam and Christianity had derivedtheir theology from Vedas. In a waythey are arriving at the idea ofVasudhaivakutumbakam to justifytheir hegemony. This is fabulous.Then why is it that the practices ofthe lower castes alone are subjectedto scrutiny and the beliefs, traditionsand customs, while old callousdogmas of the elite are eitherrespected or preserved?

Interestingly, very few of themodern rationalist or western(including Christian rationalists) newatheist thinkers including a sectionof the dialectical materialists neverlooked at the literature produced bygreat scholars like D. P.Chattopadhyay, N. N. Bhattachrya,A. L. Basham - to name few.Nevertheless, the literaryinterpretations of D. D. Kosambi didnot enhance our understanding of thecontinuous existence of cults oflower classes. In a way the presenttrend demonstrates the allegedpresence of the kind of discriminationand deceit against the nativetraditions even in the intellectualexercises of modern India. All of uswho are trained in the traditions of“rational man” are guilty ofneglecting this very important andfoundational tradition of India. Now,the debate on the Karnatakasuperstition bill has opened a newvista into the cosmos of life and livingconditions of the poor and thewretched of India.

It is very easy to dismiss the cultpractices of the lower castes as“sigh of the oppressed”. But, theyhave been in existence since muchbefore the emergence of pre-classsociety and are being used asidentity, though the core of it wasappropriated by the Brahminical orSanskritised Hinduism and are beingtreated with respect. Similarly theAbrahamic and Brahmic (Vedic)faiths have several beliefs that arecommon and touted as spiritual aslong as they are practiced by theelite. The Christian missionaries intheir strategy to attract the lowercastes deliberated and found that thelower castes have certain strongbeliefs that should be madeblasphemous and superstitious sothat the space created can be filledwith Jesus (see Henry Whitehead).They have started belittling thetraditional practices of theuntouchables as superstition andpersuaded some of them to convert.The Hindu, Muslim and other alienfaiths have never resisted thetreachery. In fact they are togetherin denouncing the Native Indiantraditions. The practice, it is reportedis still prevalent in Andhra Pradeshand it is alleged that majority of theSCs and some artisans areconverted and the dalit leadershiplament that the masses are notavailable for any social movement,except their leaders. In the Muslimdominated Kerala districts, thebelief/propaganda that vaccines areessentially haram took away the lifeof Mohammad Afzaz(14) who wasnot allowed the administration ofvaccine for diphtheria, is beingreported in the media as victim ofsuperstition today. The so-calledgodless Dravidian movement seemsto be in distress in this respect.

Interestingly, the so-called rationalmissionaries including those

intellectuals who are critical aboutother faiths do not look at thesuperstitions like no. 13, wine asblood of Jesus, faith healing,remarriage, contraceptives, beliefs indevils, Satan, etc.The Muslims doalso believe in the same practices asthat of Christians and have theirsuperstitions about certain numbers,black cat, biting nails, glass breakingas good omen, owl as bad (somemay be typical to India) etc. We mayalso find comparable beliefs amongthe Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs andothers. In fact all the faiths includingBrahminical Hinduism believe inhoroscopes, date of birth, payinghuge money as zakat/donation toplaces of worship, etc. Not allcustoms of the alien faiths areunscrupulous and superstitious;some are institutionalised for thebetterment of the society. The pointis that there are several suchpractices among the lower castesthat were used in the past as normsand practices of a traditional societyat its primitive stage or proto-scientific stage have remained withthem as residuals as the believerswere considered as untouchables.The Pambalas of Telangana is aclassic example: how their attire,living conditions, etc, have remainedthe same from the time of Tantrismtill to date.

The mainstream society neverlooked at the customs of the localswith understanding except smugglingsome that are used for therapeuticpractices in the name of Ayurveda,Yunani, etc. A few years ago therewas huge hue and cry reportedly bythe so-called Brahminical professorsagainst the method used by a lowercaste person called Ramar Pillai inTamil Nadu, who claimed to haveproduced petrol from leaves. As hewas subjected to several elite testswhich he never knew, it was alleged


that the gentleman resorted to allkinds of tricks to prove it and we allhave forgotten about it by now. But,the mainstream scientists havedrawn massive grants to experimentwith Jatropha plant as an alternativesource of petrol. The point here isthat the kind of traditional practicesincluding some of the belief systemsbased on the living conditions of thelower castes were never studiedscientifically and rationally to weedthe grass from grain. Now after theadvent of the ICT and media, we arenow watching in almost all thechannels whether religious or secular,telling us about the rationale behindthe so-called upper caste or elitebeliefs. A separate social class andhuge infrastructure and trillions ofrupees are behind sucharrangements. It does not mean thatwe should use the so-called post-modernist, instrumental rationality tojustify all nonsense. Instrumentalrationality is often seen as a specificform of rationality using reason as atool, focusing on the most efficientor cost-effective means to achievea specific end, but not in itselfreflecting on the value of that end. Horkheimer argues that instrumentalrationality plays a key role in theoppressive industrial cultureof capitalism as it doesn’t botherabout the evil effects or negativeimpact on society. I am not sayinghere that some of those who arecritical about the superstitions aresubjecting the practices of the lowercastes with instrumental rationality,but I feel that we should look at thepractices pragmatically within thesocial and historical background ofIndia. Otherwise, it would amount toanother kind of discrimination anddisgrace meted out to the sociallydisadvantaged, if only the Aghoriand other practices of the lowercastes are critiqued while astrology,palmistry, numerology, etc practiced

by the Brahmin or elite in the placesof worship are touted as rational orcore of the faith. This is simply doublestandard or mockery. (This is only

to open a debate on the topic, thenote is sent despite someinfirmities on references.)

[email protected]

A World Gripped by the Cancer of TerrorRam Puniyani

The current times are verydisturbing as so many innocent livesare being lost and social resourcesbeing destroyed due to the dastardlyphenomenon of terror. To cap it all,this phenomenon has been linked toreligion in the popular perception. Justduring last two weeks (July 2016)we witnessed with horror themassacre of 49 people at the Pulseclub in Orlando, US. This deadlyincident had two interpretations, onethat it is an act of Jihadi terror andtwo it was prompted by a mangripped by homophobia. One of thecommentators pointed out, “It turnsout that he may have been motivatedby both homophobia and Islamicradicalism…Terrorism orhomophobia? The answer is yes.Both.”

In another incident 119 peoplewere killed in Baghdad blast byIslamic State.

In Bangladesh on 1st July 28people were killed. Those who losttheir lives were identified asforeigners. There are some reportsthat the terrorists belonged to JamaatUl Mujahideen and were notaffiliated with Islamic State. Onecommentator points out that ISISand the Al Qaeda are currentlyengaged in a fierce competitionacross our sub-continent aiming tooutdo each other in spreading theirterror tentacles. But the malignant

growth of Islamist extremism inBangladesh can be easily tracedback to the Jamaat-e-Islami (JEB)and its militant student wing, IslamiChhatra Shibir.

What connects these diversedestructive phenomena? At thesurface it seems these are themanifestations of Islamic terrorism,as the phrase has become popularsince 2001 after the 9/11 tragedy. Ifwe go slightly deeper we can discernsome clear strands of very differentunderlying pathologies operating ineach of these. The one in Orlandohas a lot to do with the prevalent gunculture in US. and has woken up thelaw makers to the prevalent normsof possession of the gun. While thismay be most horrific of such cases,similar ones at lesser intensity havebeen occurring in US off and onunrelated to the Islamic terrorism soto say. In case of Baghdad mostly itis the one related to the Islamic State.

As far as the case of Bangladeshterror is concerned this seems to bea continuation of the terrorism whichhas roots in the fundamentaliststreaks in Bangladesh politics. Suchterror acts have been stalkingBangladesh since quite some time,manifested in the murders ofprogressive-secular liberal bloggersand Hindus. This has indigenousorigin to which the present regimehad turned a blind eye and violence


came to the fore in this dastardlyway due to the failure of the stateand society to curb the risingfundamentalist trends in politics.Currently in many countries of SouthAsia the militancy has origins infundamentalism-communalism asseen prominently in Pakistan,Bangladesh and India among others.

In Pakistan fundamentalistdoctrine was given the official statusduring Zia Ul Haq’s regime. To getthe cover for his dictatorialambitions he resorted to alliancewith feudal forces and Mullahs andbrought in the doctrines of MaulanaMaududi (Deoband Islam). This iswhat is referred to as Islamizationof Pakistan. The focus of this wasto push back the civic social normsaround the Sharia as interpreted byMaududi; the focus was to bring infeudal conservative values,suppression of women and of civilliberties. In India the politics in thename of religion manifested more inthe form of communalism,communal violence, where thereligious minorities have been thevictim. The extreme form of thisideology manifested in organizationsupholding Hindutva ideology whichhave been alleged to be responsiblefor the acts of terror in Malegaon,Makka Masjid (Hyderabad), Ajmerand Samjhauta Express. Thecommunal-fundamentalist ideologyis an attempt to restore pre-modern,feudal values of birth basedhierarchy of caste/class and genderin the garb of Sharia law or glorioustraditions of the past, presented asreligion.

Terrorism related to Al Qaeda-Islamic state variety has its roots inthe politics of oil control in which thepolicies of United State has playeda major role. It is the policy of USwhich funded the Madrassas based

in Pakistan and brought in theMaulana Wahab’s version of Islam.Here the major focus is killing theinfidel (kafir) as a part of jihad. Inthis variety the central focus is onviolence against those differing withthe dominant groups. It had a reason;as they wanted to fight communism,Soviet occupation of Afghanistanand so the killing of infidel. If wesee the case of Pakistan one can seethe Islamization of Pakistan duringZia’s regime getting a continuumthrough the Al Qaeda variety takingover later, and Al Qaeda in turn laidthe ideological foundations of IslamicState. Hillary Clinton clarified theUS role very succinctly. There isadequate reference to show that UShas been supporting the terroristgroups in more ways than one.

So two strands of terrorist actionsare creating havoc in contemporarytimes. One has the motive ofrestoring the pre-modern values asseen in the case of Pakistan (inspiredby Maulana Maududi), Bangladesh(similar variety), India (Hindutva) andin Myanmar and Srilanka as well.The latter have used particularinterpretation of Buddhism. Theother has its support system derivedfrom the global politics of oil control.The tragedy is that both thesevarieties draw their foundation andlegitimacy in the name of religion,particularly Islam. Religion has manystreams, like Islam has Sufi as wellas Wahabi tendencies and Hinduismhas Bhakti and Brahmanism. USpicked up Wahabi version for politicalgoals in West Asia, Zia had pickedup Maududi for strengtheningdictatorship, Hindu nationalism-Hindutva has picked up neo-Brahmanism, for its own politicalagenda. Various streams of religiondo prevail as such but becomedominant only when propped up bypolitical forces which can use that

cover to enhance their political goals.Recognizing this may be a major stepin combating terrorism, and make itclear that it is political agendamasquerading as religion.

[email protected]

Chau khamba Raj

Prominent intellectuals andleaders from Delhi and all overPunjab participated in a statelevel function on July 14, onChau-khamba raj, a conceptpropounded by Dr.Rammanmohar Lohia, atHoshiarpur organised under thestewardship of Balwant SinghKhera ,vice president SocialistParty(India).

While addressing the functionprominent sociologist Prof.Anand Kumar said that theconcept of four pillarsgovernance ushering in villagelevel government found itsecho in late Prime MinisterRajiv Gandhi’s 73rd and 74thconstitutional amendments forempowering PR

–B.S. Balli







On July 10, India woke up tostartling pictures of massive crowdsat the funeral of Hizb-ul-Mujahideencommander Burhan Wani in Tral,Kashmir.

The disconnect between Kashmirand the rest of India was capturedby the fact that even as Wani was afigure of mass adulation in the Valley,large sections of the Indian mediahad described him as a “terrorist”as it had reported on his killing byIndian security forces on July 8.

This included the Times of India,Times Now as well as NDTV–evenas the Telegraph, Indian Expressand Business Standard stuck to theplain vanilla “militant”.

How these respectiveorganisations differentiated betweena “terrorist” and a “militant” wasunclear and undefined.

This might seem like hair splittingaround semantics but it’s actually fardeeper than that – even if this is adiscussion that’s not been had inIndia.

“Terrorism” and “terrorist” arewords laden with value judgment,used often by political players as ameans of getting their own messageand viewpoint across. In reality, thereare few definitions of the word“terrorist” accepted across theboard. Indeed, it is for this reasonthat a number of global publicationshave strict guidelines on how to usethe term. In India, however, fewpress outlets seem to have rulesabout the T-word and much of itsuse in the country, it seems, is driven

How Exactly Does the Indian Media Define a Terrorist?Shoaib Daniyal

either by Arnab Goswami-esquejingoism and/or India’s highly troubledrelationship with Kashmir.

History of the word “terrorism”

There are few words in theEnglish-language which have had astumultuous a life as “terrorism”. Infact, the word didn’t even start itslife in English but in French wherethe regime de la terreur was a labeladopted by the new French state toestablish order after the firstuprisings of the French Revolutionin 1789. The first avatar of the word“terrorism” was therefore almostcompletely different from its modernmeaning.

Firstly, it was applied to thefunctioning of a state, whereas todayit is used to almost always describenon-state actors. Even morestrikingly, at the time, it had decidedlypositive connotations. The“terrorism” of the French state waspressed into ideals that many wouldtoday consider the foundations of themodern world: Liberté, égalité andfraternité. Given this connotation, thestate used it as a badge of honourwith revolutionary leader Maximiliende Robespierre proclaiming that,“terror is nothing but justice, prompt,severe and inflexible; it is thereforean emanation of virtue.”

In its more modern form, as atool used by people against thestate, terrorism traces itself to anItalian revolutionary called CarloPisacane who in 1857 theorised the“propaganda of the deed”. Holdingactions, and not ideas, to be thedriving force of human civilisation,

Pisacane was clear that as a tool ofrevolutionary instruction, violencewas a far better teacher forthe masses than a book or aspeech.

The first group to take upPisacane’s ideas were the Russianrevolutionaries, Narodnaya Volya(literally, “people’s will”). Using thedoctrine of the “propaganda of thedeed”, the organisation assassinatedprominent people – including the Tsarhimself in 1881 – in order to spur amass revolt against the Russianmonarchy. Between 1881 and 1914other assassinations inspired byPisacane’s ideas, often undertakenby libertarian anarchists, were KingUmberto I of Italy, King Carlos I ofPortugal and King George I ofGreece.

Note that while the terrorists tilltoday subscribe to the “propagandaof the deed” – using violence as away to shock – they differed starklywith most anarchists of that periodin their goals. Like the FrenchRevolution, the anarchists of the timesubscribed to ideas such asdemocracy or human rights, whichwould generally be viewed aspositive today, and used “terrorism”to combat autocratic regimes.Consequently, “terrorism” wasmostly a value-neutral termdescribing a type of action ratherthan something pejorative. It is in thiscontext that Indian revolutionariessuch as Bhagat Singhare called ”terrorists”. In fact, in its1929 manifesto, Bhagat Singh’sparty the Hindustan SocialistRepublican Association was quiteopen to admitting that “terrorism”


was a part of its policy to pull downthe British Raj.

Civilians in the firing line

Post World War II, revolutionarynationalists such as the IrishRepublican Army, Jewish Zionist,Palestinians and Sri Lankan Tamilswould use techniques similar to theAnarchists but with one crucialdifference -– now mass civiliancausalities were also involved. Thisis, of course, how modern terrorismis defined. This change also madethe word a pejorative one. PostWorld War II, there are few self-described terrorists.

In the modern-age, “terrorism” asa term has famously avoided acommon definition – Saudi Arabiaeven defines atheists as “terrorists”.The US State Department goes bythis: “premeditated, politicallymotivated violence perpetratedagainst noncombatant targets bysubnational groups or clandestineagents”. The academic andterrorism expert Bruce Hoffman hasa five-part test: violence for politicalgoals, aims to influence a broaderaudience, involves an organisedgroup, targets civilians and carriedout by a non-state actor.

No matter the definition,“terrorism” as a term is a highlypejorative one today and used bypolitical players to tar theiropponents. “The decision to callsomeone or label some organisation“terrorist” becomes almostunavoidably subjective, dependinglargely on whether one sympathiseswith or opposes the person/group/cause concerned,” explains BruceHoffman. “If one identifies with thevictim of the violence, for example,then the act is terrorism. If, however,one identifies with the perpetrator,

the violent act is regarded in a moresympathetic, if not positive (or, at theworst, an ambivalent) light; and it isnot terrorism”.

Global media

Given this vagueness, many globalmedia outlets are reluctant to use theterm “terrorist”, preferring morebanal -– and unambiguous – wordssuch as “gunman”, “bomber” or“militant”. “There is no agreedconsensus on what constitutes aterrorist or terrorist act,” the BBClays out in a guide for its reports.“The use of the word will frequentlyinvolve a value judgement.” It goeson to add:

The word “terrorist” itself can bea barrier rather than an aid tounderstanding. We should convey toour audience the full consequencesof the act by describing whathappened. We should use wordswhich specifically describe theperpetrator such as “bomber”,“attacker”, “gunman”, “kidnapper”,“insurgent”, and “militant”. Weshould not adopt other people’slanguage as our own; ourresponsibility is to remain objectiveand report in ways that enable ouraudiences to make their ownassessments about who is doingwhat to whom.

Many other organisations agreewith the BCC. Reuters calls theword “terrorism” and “terrorism”“emotive words” and advisesreporters to not use them unlessquoting someone in direct speech.

Indian media’s use of the term

The Indian media, though, seemsto have no fixed guidelines on theissue and the word “terrorism” isused without any consistency. Most

definitions of the act involve attackson civilian targets but sections of theIndian media consistently use theterm “terrorism”/”terrorists” to alsodescribe cases of military targetsbeing attacked.

In Kashmir, for example, sectionsof the Indian media have consistentlydescribed attacks on militaryinstallations as “terrorism”. For aNovember, 2015 attack on an IndianArmy base in Kashmir,while NDTV, Times Now andthe Times of India described theattackers as “terrorists”, Reutersand The Telegraph in contrast, stuckto “gunmen” and “militants”.

Yet, even with respect to attackson Indian security forces, thereseems to be no consistency. InManipur, for example, attacks onIndian forces have been reportedby NDTV, Times Now and the Timesof India using the word “militant”.The value-laden term “terrorist”, itseems, is easier to abjure when thelocation isn’t Kashmir.

Meaningless words

In his sparkling 1946 essayPolitics and the English Language,British writer George Orwellcriticises the use of what he calls“meaningless words”:

The word Fascism has now nomeaning except in so far as itsignifies ‘something not desirable’.The words democracy, socialism,freedom, patriotic, realistic,justice have each of them severaldifferent meanings which cannot bereconciled with one another. In thecase of a word like democracy, notonly is there no agreed definition, butthe attempt to make one is resistedfrom all sides. It is almost universallyfelt that when we call a country


democratic we are praising it:consequently the defenders of everykind of regime claim that it is ademocracy, and fear that they mighthave to stop using that word if it weretied down to any one meaning.Words of this kind are often used ina consciously dishonest way. Thatis, the person who uses them has hisown private definition, but allows hishearer to think he means somethingquite different.

“Terrorism” is, of course, exactlythe sort of “meaningless word” thatOrwell railed against, used not forits lexical meaning but to servevarious political agendas.

In most cases, the Indian mediauses it either to suit the purposes ofthe state or various nationalistnarratives. The sharp differencebetween the way it is used whenMuslims/Kashmir are involvedversus other instances such as theNorth-East also points to a subtleanti-Muslim bias.

The nationalist pressure on theIndian media is, of course, apparentand, in the case of Burhan Wani’sdeath, has even been written aboutby journalist Rajdeep Sardesai. AsSardesai explains, even in Britainduring the 1983 UK-ArgentinaFalklands War, the BBC cameunder intense pressure to appearmore patriotic. However, at thetime, the organisation resisted, withdirector general John Birtreaffirming that the BBC was notan “extension of the politicalauthority”. Its first journalisticcommitment was to the truth, not tothe nation state – a principle that theIndian media has unfortunately notstuck to when using the terms“terrorism” and “terrorist”.

–Scroll.in

Bhumi Adhikar AndolanThree-day long national

convention of the Bhumi AdhikarAndolan was held at GujaratVidyapeeth, Ahmedabad on July 16-18, 2016 in the wake of theincreased attack of the global capitalunleashed by brazen corporatisationand unbridled FDI in key sectorsresulting into high price rise,inflation, and naked loot of thenatural resources by corporates, allfacilitated by the policies of theUnion government and certain stategovernments. The convention wasattended by more than 500 activistsof 15 states who dwelled on theon-going struggles in their regions;ground situation of the alliancebuilding processes; centre and stategovernments attempt at subvertingdemocratic processes by changinglaws and issuing notifications andobsession of the political elite withthe current GDP based growthmodel. It discussed the unfoldingsituation at various levels where theprecariousness of the natureresource based communities wasincreasing and life of toiling workersand masses was becoming hardereveryday, as the impact of 25 yearsof the reforms becomes visibleeverywhere and inequality in thesociety reachess its zenith.

The Convention also took note ofthe massive unrest in the societycaused by the economic hardshipsfaced by the society and in particulardalits, adivasis and marginalcommunities. It also discussed thegrowing attack on the minorities andsense of insecurity; massive politicalunrest in certain parts of the countrydemanding reservation for certaincaste groups; and rights violations ofthe people in conflict areas due toheavy militarisation and failure of the

State to find political solution,promote democratic processes andundertake peace initiatives in wakeof provocations by the non-stateactors.

The convention agreed that it wasafter a long drawn struggle andsacrifice that the Land AcquisitionAct 1894 was repealed and newLand Acquisition Act was legislatedin 2013 by the Parliament. Althoughthere were inadequacies in it, it hadsome progressive elements like theprinciple of prior informed consent,Social Impact Assessment,safeguards for food security,enhanced compensation etc thatgave some protection to land losersand dependents on land. However,after the Narendra Modi-led BJPgovernment came to power itbrought a draconian LandAcquisition Amendment Ordinancethat tried to do away with the needto seek consent, have SIA orsafeguard food security and allowedfor unbridled forcible landacquisition.

The united issue-based oppositionbuilt against the BJP Government’smove to impose the draconianOrdinance (promulgated thrice) hadforced the Government to withdrawthe move at least temporarily.Bhoomi Adhikar Andolan played asignificant role in building up amomentum and public opinionagainst the Ordinances. TheGovernment had to concede its firstdefeat by not issuing the Ordinancefor the fourth time. The withdrawalof the Bill from the Parliament isstill pending and we must remainvigilant about it.

Building on this political victory,


the convention deliberated uponplethora of issues facing the countryand made these observations,assertions, and put forth demandsupon the government and also for itsown constituency:

1. No forced acquisition anddisplacement: Keeping in view thenation-wide build-up against itsattempts to dilute the 2013 Act andwithdraw whatever little progressivecontent and safeguards the Actoffered, the BJP Government haschanged its strategy. It has come upwith a move to try and sidestep suchunited opposition by calling uponStates to come up with landacquisition legislations facilitatingeasy land grab. Already Gujarat havelegislated laws like SIR Act and otherto dilute the Land Reformslegislations and facilitate land grab.In Odisha, Maharashtra, Rajasthan,Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and otherStates also such moves are afoot.Odisha also is now planning to allowpurchase of Tribal land. On the otherhand it is declaring traditional forestcultivators and tribals as landgrabbers.

The interim period fromDecember 2014 to August 2015 whenthe Land Acquisition Ordinance wasin place Andhra Pradesh governmentmanaged to acquire thousands ofacres of land in the name of the StateCapital and several other Projectsthrough land pooling. Rights ofpeasantry and dependents on landhave been disregarded across thecountry. In all these legislations therights of Dalits and Adivasis arebeing undermined. The rights of theNarmada Dam oustees as well ashundreds of other Projects are beingdenied and there have not been anyeffective rehabilitation andresettlement.

Large tracts of land are beingforcibly acquired in the name ofindustrial corridors, economiccorridors, smart cities, NationalInvestment and ManufacturingZones, (NIMZ), SEZs, industries andinfrastructure development. Lakhsof acres are under the potential threatof acquisition under the DMIC,BMIC Economic Corridor,Bangalore-Chennai EconomicCorridor, Vishakapatam–ChennaiCoastal Corridor and such Projects.Loot of land, mineral and forestresources as well as commonproperty resources have beenrampant as the corporates and landmafia have been given a free hand.

We envisage protecting land fromacquisition without people’s priorinformed consent and democraticSocial Impact Assessment. Plunderof forest and mineral resources willbe resisted. We also envisageoccupation of lands remainingunutilised and demand re-distributionto landless with the slogan of‘Zameen Wapsi’.

2. Empower local selfgovernment institutions andtheir role in DevelopmentPlanning, implement ForestRights Act, PESA and ensureprotection of constitutional rightsas per the Fifth and SixthSchedules: We believe effectiveimplementation of the provisions forthe FRA and PESA would empowerthe Gram Sabhas and Panchayats toplay their constitutionally mandatedrole, as per 73rd and 74th amendment,in the development planning andcommunities would get control overnatural resources and secure theirlivelihoods. Any attempt at thesubversion of these acts will onlyundermine the democratic processesand people’s movements will resist

them by all means. 15th December,2016 will mark tenth anniversary ofthe FRA and Bhumi AdhikarAndolan will organise massive rallyat Jantar Mantar with clear demandof effective implementation of theAct and challenge any attempts atamending the Act.

3. Bring a national LandUse Policy to protect farm landfrom large scale diversion to non-agricultural purpose likeindustry and infrastructure,prioritise housing rights for poorin the urban land-use and notpromote evictions anddisplacement in name of SmartCities: A comprehensive Land Usepolicy should be made whichprotects farm land from large scaleconversion for non-agriculturalpurpose, with clear regulation andpublic participation. Priority shouldbe given to food security andlivelihood security, focusing not onlyon irrigated multiple-crop land butalso single-crop land in rainfed areaswhich form 60% of cultivated area.Gram Sabha and Panchayat shouldhave control over the utilization ofpublic lands which serve commonpurpose such as grazing, with clearprovisions to ensure access and useby the most needy communities suchas Dalits and tribals. In some cities,agricultural and livestock rearing hasbeen banned, facilitating easyconversion of land use, this needs tobe changed.

No common land includingwasteland be diverted for industrialpurposes without the consent of theGram and Basti Sabha. Most oftenthese are being encroached upon bythe powerful caste and capitalinterests and State has turned blindeye to them, often acting only againstthe poor, dalits and adivasis.


Clear provisions should be madefor reclamation of wasteland intoagricultural land, protection of greencover to prevent soil erosion,degradation and groundwaterdepletion, and improving agriculturalland to make it more suitable foreffective production. Coastal landand fragile areas such as WesternGhats should be protected applyingthe environmental laws andregulations.

Urban land-use should beplanned with priority to housing,amenities and livelihood for the poorwith in-situ housing projects for poorlocalities. There should be no cut-off date for Right to Shelter,whereas appropriate cut-off datescan be designated for governmentallotted subsidized housing includingmiddle class. Urban Land CeilingActs should be revived. Land-useplanning should be participatory withpublic hearings in communitiesabove 3000 families.

In the name of Smart Cities, poorand working class is being evictedfrom the cities and that needs to bestopped. The whole concept of smartcities like its predecessor JNURMis anti-poor and pro-corporate. Anyplanning has to be done keeping inmind the needs of the mostmarginalised and working classes inthe cities.

4. Changes to EnvironmentLaws not acceptable: Based on therecommendations of the T S RSubramanian Committee,environment laws are also beingchanged to suit the demands ofcorporate sector and take away therights of the people and local self-government institutions. Slums arebeing forcibly cleared and evencoastal land is being encroachedupon for ports, big infra projects,

PCPIR and so on trampling upon therights of the traditional fishworkers.All this would lead to massivedisplacement and permanent denialof land rights of the landless. Lakhsof acres of land acquired in the nameof industrialisation, SEZs etc isremaining unutilised.

5. Ban illegal mining,ensure inter generational parityin resource utilisation, andimplement SC guidelines in GoaFoundation case: The scourge ofillegal mining is haunting thehinterland as well as the river bedsand sea coasts, polluting watersources, running streams, andcausing massive damage to ecologyand economy both. The rampantmining and extractives basedeconomic growth model is leading todestruction of the nature and motherearth and contributing to the largescale climate change. Hence, theneed for no mining in ‘No-Go’ areas(and build upon this criteria), denseforests and climate sensitive forestsareas.

6. Address agrarian crisis,implement SC judgement ontackling draught, ensure incomesecurity for every agriculturalhousehold, and establish apermanent Farmers’ IncomeCommission: Over 3.2 lakhfarmers have committed suicidesince 1995 at the rate of one farmercommitting suicide every half anhour according to conservativeestimates put forward by theNational Crime Records Bureau. Inreality the human tragedy is of amagnitude unheard of in the entirehistory of humanity. TheGovernment is cutting down publicinvestment for agriculture and ruraldevelopment, rural credit isincreasingly inaccessible to poor andmarginal farmers, indebtedness and

landlessness is rising, allocation forMGNREGA is being drastically cut,farmers are not gettingremunerative prices for theirproducts despite ever increasingcosts of production. sugarcanefarmers are to get thousands ofcrores of arrears from thecorporate sugar lobby. Tradeliberalisation and indiscriminate entryinto Free Trade Agreements isleading to dumping of cheapagricultural products including dairyproducts thereby pushing ourfarmers into distress. Procurementfacilities are being curtailed,extension services systematicallydismantled and farmers are gettingprices far below the actual cost ofproduction.

7. MSPs should be declaredat 50% above cost of cultivation.Ensure that farmers get MSP inall 25 crops throughprocurement, marketintervention and priceguarantee: The BJP Governmenthas gone back on its election promiseof providing Minimum SupportPrices according to SwaminathanCommission Recommendation ofC2+50% i.e at least 50 percentabove Cost of Production and hadfiled an affidavit to that effect inSupreme Court. It has also bannedprocurement from States whichprovide bonus over and above theMSP. The Government is kowtowingto diktats of the USA, EU and othercountries in the WTO and cuttingdown food and agricultural subsidies.The entire agricultural policy is to aidprofiteering by seed monopolies andagribusinesses at the expense of thepeople. The Bhoomi AdhikarAndolan stands opposed to all suchpolicies and will strive for alternativepolicies that will ensure food andlivelihood security to all as well asdecent standard of living including


housing, health and education.Bhoomi Adhikar Andolan standsresolutely against unequal FreeTrade Agreements, WTO diktats,trade liberalisation and against anysuch monopolistic deals with othercountries.

8. Implement LandReforms–Give land to landlessagricultural workers notcorporates: There should berenewed focus on land reforms togive ownership of land to deprivedsections, especially Dalits, adivasis,women, project-displaced families,and so on. Ceiling limits should beproperly enforced stopping theexemptions and loopholes allowingthousands of acres to be taken overby a few individuals and corporates,and making surplus land available fordistribution.

Ensure Food Sovereignty andFood Security and sort out themassive corruption within theFood Distribution System: Foodsecurity doesn’t mean givingsubsidised food alone butempowering communities to producetheir own food and securing landrights which will make them self-reliant. In that regard it is alsoimportant that farmers havecomplete control over the seeds andthe systems of production and notbe made slaves to the bigmultinationals claiming their IPRs.No company should be allowedexclusive intellectual property rightsover seed in any crop.

However, there is also the needfor effective implementation of theNational Food Security Act, givenmany state governments have failedto do so. In the name of rooting outcorruption linking of ration deliverywith the Aadhar and other electronicidentification programmes is resulting

in leaving out a big chunk ofpopulation, which is often due tosystems inefficiency and denies alarge number of poor and vulnerablepopulation access to theirentitlements.

9. Rights of Tenantfarmers, Sharecroppers andWomen farmers should beupheld. The real cultivatorsshould get full recognition andbenefit of all support systems:Tenant farmers, sharecroppers andwomen farmers are the worst-affected in the agrarian distress inmany parts of the country, becausethey get left out of all governmentsupport systems including low-interest bank loans, disastercompensation, crop insurance,subsidies, etc. They are the realcultivators not only working hard butalso taking the risks of production– tenant farmers and sharecropperscultivate more than 30% of the area,and women perform 70% of tasksin agriculture. Their rights should beupheld. There should be acomprehensive system of recordingand recognizing the real cultivatorsincluding tenant farmers,sharecroppers and women farmers,so that they get the benefit of allgovernment support systems andeligibility for all provisions in case ofland acquisition. The ModelTenancy Act by Niti Ayog must bewithdrawn.

10. Rights of the AgrarianWorkers, unorganised sectorworkers to be protected andminimum wages and socialsecurity measures implemented:Today 93% of the labour force is inthe unorganised sector and a majorityof them is dependent on agricultureand other related activities. Thissection is under tremendous attackdue to farm crisis and decreasing

support from the government. Wedemand that the allocation to theMGNREGA be increased to ensure300 days work and 300 Rs wagesdaily. In addition, to deal with thefarm labour crisis due to highmigration recognise agriculture, asa work should be brought within theMGNREGA, that way the workersand farmers both would benefit. Inaddition, a number of suggestions andguidelines have been issued by theSupreme Court of India toeffectively deal with the draughtsituation in the country.Unfortunately, the implementation bythis by the Union and Stategovernments has been extremelypoor and tardy.

With the growing precariousnessand distress time has come that theMinimum Wages Act be mandatorilyapplicable to the agriculturallabourers as well. In addition, on linesof the Social Security Act for theconstruction workers should also beimplemented for the agrarianworkers.

11. Comprehensive supportfor shift from high-input chemicalagriculture to low-external-inputecologically sustainableagriculture: One of the biggestcauses of the crisis is the model ofhigh-input chemical agriculturepromoted in the past few decades –leading to indebtedness, damage tosoil fertility, declining productivity,depletion of water, and poisoning offood and water system. Whileaccepting the importance ofincreasing production andproductivity, the emphasis should beon sustainable productivity. Thepolicies and support systems shouldbe fully reoriented to ensure a time-bound shift to low-input ecologicallysustainable agriculture, using manyviable models demonstrated and


established across India in the pasttwo decades.

12. Reverse the injusticedone to rainfed agriculture :Though 60% of Indian agriculture israinfed, it is highly neglectedcompared to irrigated agriculture;consequently much of the distressand farmer suicides is in rainfedareas. We demand a comprehensivemission to revive rainfed agricultureby promoting dryland crops, animalhusbandry and fodder, revival ofminor irrigation, and targetedsupport. Providing protectiveirrigation to the first crop in rainfedareas should be the first priorityrather than irrigation for second andthird crops.

13. No privatization of waterresources and services; Priorityto drinking, domestic use andagriculture: Water should berespected as a natural resourceessential to human life and foodproduction, and attempts to privatizewater bodies and services, and givecontrol to corporates should becompletely stopped. Water fordrinking, domestic use andagriculture should receive priorityover other uses, with furtherprioritization for food crops and one-crop protection in dry regions.Landless families should also begiven rights over water to ensuremore equitable use and to redressthe inequity in land ownership.

14. Resist attempts to dilutelabour laws and expresssolidarity and active support toworkers’ strike of 2nd September2016: Workers’ rights are beingcurtailed and the Narendra Modi-ledBJP Government has beentampering with labour laws in thename of “ease of doing business”.Against such attacks an

unprecedented strike was witnessedon 2nd September, 2015 in which theBhoomi Adhikar Andolan extendedsolidarity. The Central Trade Unionsalso took up some of our demandsand spoke against the LandAcquisition Ordinance. We extendsolidarity to the united working classstrike called on 2nd September, 2016and will work actively to make it asuccess.

15. Resistance to divisiveand fascist politics: Faced withgrowing protests andunprecedented unity of peopleagainst the policies of the BJPGovernment at the Centre andStates the BJP-RSS and theiraffiliates are resorting to divisivepolitics and deliberatecommunalisation. Rationalists andcultural personalities are beingphysically attacked and killed,dissent is brutally beingsuppressed. In the name ofprotection of the cow, systematicattacks are being launched onminorities and Dalits. Deliberatecommunal and casteist violence isbeing resorted to in different partsof the country. A spontaneousresponse against such efforts isdeveloping. Bhoomi AdhikarAndolan will resist such divisiveefforts and work for buildingcommunal harmony and strengthenthe unity of toiling masses.

16. Curb attack on theautonomous functioning of theuniversities, corporatisation ofeducation, and suppressing ofdissent within the universitiesand enact Rohith Act: Universitycampuses across the country are inturmoil and there has been a growingattack on the students and attemptsare being made to suppress anydissent, free thinking and free flowof exchange of ideas. The corporate

agenda of the education and theirpandering to the market needs issolely driving the education policytoday leading to complete erosion ofthe values and democratic principlesnecessary for functioning of a vibrantdemocracy.

Access to education by allremains a cause of concern. Thedemand for a common schoolsystem has been there for long andis responsible for the continuedinequality and the perpetuation ofthe discrimination within theuniversities. SC/ST communitiesface discrimination at every levelin the education system fromadmission, recruitments,promotions or opportunities forgrowth. The fact that a brilliantstudent like Rohith Vemula had tocommit suicide due to continuedharassment and caste baseddiscrimination indicates towardssystemic crisis within the educationsystem today. The demand forRohith Act by the studentcommunity needs support from allthe organisations and BhumiAdhikar Andolan express itssolidarity with the movement anddemand.

17. End Caste basedDiscrimination and EnsureEffective Implementation of theSC/ST Act: The resource struggleis also inherently a caste and classstruggle and Dalits and Adivasishave been at the receiving end. Thecaste based violence and systematicelimination of the rights and dignityof the community is being done incollaboration with the political andcaste elite leading to their furtherimpoverishment anddisempowerment. The inability ofthe system to ensure justice to victimsof the caste-based violence on everycount has ensured its continuation


without fear of any impunity. This iscondemnable and unacceptable.Supreme Court and Higher Courtmust take suo-moto cognizance ofthese offences and ensure fasttracking of the cases on line of theviolence against women cases. Thiswill not only ensure justice but alsoprevent future attacks on thecommunity.

Bhumi Adhikar Andolan reassertsand reaffirms its faith in thereservations provided for the SC/STcommunities by the IndianConstitution as a way to address thehistorical injustice. The ongoingattempts to subvert that by somepolitical forces and caste groups inthe name of economic justice is notacceptable and any heed to that bythe governments and political partiesis primarily based on vote bankcalculations.

18. Withdraw all fabricatedcases from the social and culturalactivists, tribals, dalits, farmersand students: a number of activistshave been framed on numerous falsecharges and incarcerated. In thecurrent political climate, the targetingof activists has increased manifoldand thus their victimisation as well.As Bhumi Adhikaar Andolan, weextend support and solidarity to theactivists and movements facing policeoppression and support the effort toestablish a people’s commission todefend the rights of the activists.

19. Repeal AFSPA and Stopincreased militarisation inconflict regions: Recent judgementof the Supreme Court has validatedthe long term demand of themovements for withdrawal of theAFSPA from J&K, and many of theNorth East states. Under AFSPA,many heinous crimes have beencommitted without any prosecution

often feeding in to the vicious circleof continuing violence. Thecontinued unrest is also due to heavymilitarisation within these areas,which often leads to hardships forthe citizens of those areas.

20. Assert democraticrights of association, freedomof expression and raise voiceagainst any incursion: A climateof fear and intimidation is beingpromoted specifically targeted at

muzzling dissent, restrictingfreedom of association, assemblyof citizens to criticise anti peoplepolicies of the government andcontrol or close down anydemocratic spaces available forfree speech and gathering. Theseattempts by the State and vigilantegroups are not acceptable in thelargest democracy of the world,and are completely violates theideas and principles enshrined inthe Indian constitution.


License to Post without prepayment WPP License No. MH/Tech/WPP-210/West/2016Published on Sunday, July 24, 2016 & Posted on Wedenesday July 27, 2016 at Mumbai Patrika Channel, Mumbai GPO-1


REGD. OFFICE :

New Excelsior Building, (3rd Floor),A. K. Nayak Marg, Fort, Mumbai 400 001.Tel.: 022 2205 1231 Fax : 022-2205 1232



Price : Rupees Five

Vol. 71 No. 27July 31, 2016




Mumbai - 400 007.


The solution toKashmir problem

Sandeep Pandey

Growing inequalityin Kerala societyVarughese George

An Explosive Report by JusticeMootham of Allahabad in 1955

Chandra Bhal Tripathi

Recent crimes linked to mediaBharat Dogra

Nepal urf Lattha Par ki Diary Madan Lal Hind

Pellet Guns in KashmirRavi Nair

As India prepares tocommemorate 68 years of freedomfrom British imperial rule, it may beworth remembering a dusty town inUttar Pradesh that suffered theconsequences of declaring itself anindependent country for a few daysin 1942.

The sovereign Republic of Ballia,headed by Chittu Pandey, managedto survive for some seven daysbefore British-led military and policeforces managed to regain control and unleashed a series of atrocitiesthat are still remembered by thedescendants of those who wereraped, beaten and killed by shooting,firing and burning.

At the orders of an English policeofficer called Fletcher, an estimated130 leaders of the local independencemovement were hanged. Those whowere not hanged were forced to climbtrees where they were bayoneted.Those who managed to avoid the treepunishments were taken to local jailswhere they were suspended by theirlegs and starved. Those who avoidedthe leg suspension torture were forcedto sit together on the floors of the jailswhere they were fed chapattis thatgave them dysentery.

A page from Quit India Movement

Kuldip Nayar

Ballia offers a small insight intothe realities of colonial rule where‘lesser breeds’ like the Indianssuffered unimaginable miseries atthe hands of their white rulers.Some of those tortures resulting indeath, whether it involvedbayoneting or being forced to lieon blocks of ice for hours on end,were not all that different fromwhat the Jews endured at the handsof the Nazis.

The difference is that whathappened in places like Auschwitzin Germany has been welldocumented and some of thoseresponsible for what happened in theconcentration camps have beenbrought to justice, if not by the alliedpowers and post Nazi Germany atthe international court of justice inthe Hague, then certainly by themodern state of Israel.

Atrocities committed in places likeBallia that joined in the Quit Indiamovement of 1942 are still not fullydocumented. As for the likes ofCommissioner Fletcher, no one tothis day knows what happened to himand whether he was ever held toaccount for the murders of so manyinnocent civilians.


In recent years it has becomefashionable among some historiansto suggest that 200 years of colonialrule were not all that bad and thatIndia gained more than it lost frominteracting first with the East IndiaCompany, a gang of thugs dressedup as so-called gentleman traders,and then face-to-face with theBritish government.

In practice there was not thatmuch difference between thebrutality and exploitation practicedby the company and the government.One small example should suffice.It was British governmentrepresentatives who forced baptismon Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s son andheir, Duleep Singh. And it was Britishgovernment officials, including LordDalhousie who, after presiding overthe looting of the Lahore treasury,‘persuaded’ young Duleep Singh tohand over the fabled Kohinoordiamond in person to QueenVictoria. Today that same Kohinoorforms the centre piece of the Britishmonarch’s crown.

Back to the benefits of ‘gora’rule. It was the British after all, sothe argument goes, who introducedIndians to the English language andhelped to develop the country’sinfrastructure, whether by bringingin piped water, electricity andsewerage facilities to urban areas,or laying the foundations both of therailways and the posts and telegraphservices. And it was the British againwho introduced key religious andsocial reforms such as the abolitionof Sati and child marriage in 1829and the Widows Remarriage Act of1856.

Yet the Indians were quite capableof behaving like gentlemen. When

The solution to Kashmir problem

Sandeep Pandey

On 8th July, 2016, the SupremeCourt said that Armed ForcesSpecial Powers Act, 1958, in forcein parts of Northeast and J&K,cannot be an excuse for extrajudicialkilling - whenever such allegationssurface they have to be investigatedregardless of whether the person isdreaded criminal, terrorist orinsurgent. On the same day a youngmilitant Burhan Wani was killed inan encounter by the security forces.We don’t know whether it was acase of extrajudicial killing. PrashantBhushan says it was a fakeencounter. Extrajudicial killings havebeen going on quite freely. The casein which above judgment has beendelivered has a list of 1528 deaths incounter insurgency operations inManipur from which the Court hassought details on 62 which aresuspected extrajudicial killings. AndManipur is a small state comparedto J&K.

Moreover, the turnout at BurhanWani funeral indicates two things -either the killing was perceived to beextrajudicial or he is viewed byKashmiri youth more than just amilitant. He represents the aspirationsof Kashmiri youth because of whichthey like to associate themselves withhim even taking the risk of facing firefrom Indian security forces.Experience of Burhan Wani at thehands of Indian security forces whenthey beat him up and humiliated himis the same that every Kashmiri youthfaces at some point or the other andeven repeatedly. Most simply pocketthe insult. Some like Burhan Wanirevolt against it and in the processbecome a militant. There are a number

of organisations from across theborder which are ever willing to trainsuch youth in use of arms andexplosives and guerilla warfare, eventhough Burhan is not believed to havereceived training in Pakistan. He wasthe commander of Hizbul Mujahideenat the young age of 22 years.

Basic question is who or what isresponsible for the birth of militants:Pakistani terror organisations orpolicy of Indian state which alienatesthe youth of valley? Why is thedemand of Omar Abdullah as thethen Chief Minister of J&K and forwhich Irom Sharmila has beenfasting in Imphal for the last 15 years- removal of AFSPA - not being met?Only a reduced presence of securityforces can lead towards a situationof normalcy. But the security forcesscuttle this idea.

A political problem cannot betreated like a law and order problem.Indian state must accept that thereis disaffection in Kashmir and thepolitical views of national politicalparties and the people of Kashmirprobably differ greatly. The only wayout is dialogue with not just politicalparties but all sections of separatistsand insurgents in Kashmir which thecurrent BJP government at centreseems to be disinclined towards. Itis not that government doesn’t talkto such groups. In Nagaland theyhave had an agreement withseparatist groups. Moreover, if thegovernment is not talking toseparatists in Kashmir then it is asure recipe to push them towardsPakistan, for which then thegovernment should not blame them.(Continued on Page 3)


In the time of grief and crisis arefreshing approach has beenoffered by the former HomeMinister P. Chidambaram. He hasdifferentiated between the land ofKashmir and the people of Kashmir.He argues that successivegovernments of India have worriedabout the territory of Kashmir intheir zeal to maintain Kashmir asintegral part of India but have failedto take the people along. The peoplehave become more and morealienated because of government’spolicies.

Considering that P. Chidamabramwas Home Minister, it iscommendable that he has expressedhis opinion so candidly and take aposition very radically different fromthe traditional official position ofgovernment.

Chidambaran advocateshonouring the promises made byIndia to J&K at the time of itsaccession to India. He argues formore autonomy to J&K allowingthem to frame their own laws asmuch as possible as long as theydon’t conflict with the Constitutionof India. He calls for Indians torespect the identity, history, cultureand religion of people there.

Chidambaram has made asurprising revelation that he was infavour of withdrawal of armedforces from civilian areas and forthem to be posted only in borderareas but the defence establishmentdid not agree to it. In any case hethinned the security forces by10,000. He also wanted the stategovernment to be responsible for dayto day law and order situation butagain the security forces were notagreeable to this proposition.

the East India company establishedcontrol in the name of trade in18th century India, its officers dulywent about trebling the taxes that thelocal peasants were obliged to pay.These taxes remained in places evenduring times of dire famine. Howdifferent it was when local rulerswere in charge and dispensed withtaxes during times of calamity.

In Ballia 200 years later it isinstructive to recall just how theBritish administration was treated bythe leaders of the independencemovement. British officials and theirlocal toadies were gathered togetherand peacefully ushered across therailway line that divided the civil andmilitary lines of the town. Nonewere harmed in any way.

Even more instructive was theunity that prevailed in those daysbetween Hindus and Muslims.Inevitably, when they returned theBritish committed all kinds ofatrocities. They did not want thenational flag to be hoisted in Balliaand they shot and killed any whodared to do so. Emerging from theshadows of the town was a youngMuslim who was killed when he triedto raise a flag that was not the UnionJack. It is still a matter of local pridein Ballia that before the flag fell tothe ground, another volunteer took itupon himself to grab and support thatsymbol of national pride. Some 11men were killed one after anotherby soldiers of the crown.

Significantly, this gesture ofdefiance by the citizens of Ballia wasnever reported in the British media.This was during the Second WorldWar when Winston Churchill wasPrime Minister. As the war wascoming to a close he is recorded as

saying that Britain would never giveup its Indian Empire.

His recoded comments include, “Ihate Indians. They are a beastlypeople with a beastly religion.” Justas shocking were his earliercomments about Mahatma Gandhi.“It is alarming and nauseating to seeMr Gandhi, a seditious MiddleTemple lawyer, now posing as a fakirof a type well known in the east,striding half naked up the steps ofthe vice regal palace, while he is stillorganizing and conducting acampaign of civil disobedience, toparlay on equal terms with therepresentative of the Emperor-King.”

Churchill did not and could notanticipate that Ballia would ignite thefire which five years later wouldengulf and destroy colonial rule bothin India and beyond. Ironically, thestatues of both Gandhi and Churchilltoday stand close to each other in aprestigious location opposite theBritish parliament in London. EOM

Janata Subscription

Annual Rs. : 260/-

Three Years : 750/-

Demand Draft / Cheque

on

Mumbai Bank

in favour of






We have been talking about the 7per cent growth rate in Keralaeconomy, above the national average,but the question is does this reflectreality? Is this growth meaningful inthe life of the poor, the dalits, andadivasis and fish workers, the OutlierSociety as John Kurien calls it.

Prof. Amartya Sen is talkingabout two types of opportunities; theeconomic opportunity and socialopportunity. Either you give them theland, the economic opportunity, oreducation and health, the socialopportunity. The census of India2001 shows that of all scheduledcasts in Kerala cultivators accountfor 1.7 percent only. Every thirdscheduled cast worker in Kerala isan agricultural labourer. Theyaccount for 33.7 percent ofscheduled castes.

On 21st July 2009 the Hon.Supreme Court instructed KeralaGovernment to allot land to adivasiswithin 6 months. But the stategovernments since then have madeno effort to implement the order.Land has since been appropriated forstadiums, national highways, etc., butwhen it comes to the question ofadivasis the approach is different.The fisher folk also have no land.

The partial resolution of thisproblem could be made through asecond land reform. The land reformact brought at the time of the firstEMS government was arevolutionary one. For the first timeceiling was brought for theproprietorship of land. All land afterthe ceiling limit of 15 acres was tophysically taken over by the

Growing inequality in Kerala society

Varughese George

government. Then it has to beredistributed among the landless.Prof. M A Oommen wrote that atthat time there were 7.82 lakhhectors of surpus land. Butsubsequent governments since thenmade no earnest effort to physicallytake over this surplus land andredistribute it among the landless. Tillnow, only 40343 hectors wereredistributed. Surplus cultivable landthus, was wasted and transferred tobenami hands.

Secondly in pre-land reformKerala, landless tillers were of twobroad categories, as Radhakrishnanwrites, those without any leased-inland who worked as hired agriculturallaborers and those who had smallparcels of leased-in land. Themajority of those who havebenefitted by the land transfersthrough the land reform actconferring ownership rights belongto the category of cultivating tenants.The real cultivators of land, theagricultural laborers did not get land.

Thirdly, the plantation wasexcluded from the ceiling limit. Thatmight have been logical at that timesince rubber plantation seemed to bethe most organized industry at thattime. The trade unions also stoodagainst partition of plantation, lest itmight disintegrate the plantationlabor. But as early as 1980s P.Radhakrishnan, in his landmarkstudy ‘Peasant struggles, landreforms and social change, 1836-1982’ wrote that “the exclusion ofvast areas of plantations fromsuccessive land reforms enactmentshas to be seen as a major limitingfactor of Kerala land reforms,

making the effects of even the mostthorough-going, act only partiallyfelt.”(P-172).

Now times have changed. Thedalits, adivasis and fish workers havestarted asking for a piece of land.Two major private plantationcompanies have in their possessionmore than two lakh hectors ofgovernment land in lease. There arealso other private plantations with1000-2000 acres each withgovernment land in their hands aslease. The lease period to most ofthese estates are over. The govern-ment should take over such land.

Secondly regarding privateowned plantations, a ceiling has tobe fixed, whether it is 100 or 200acres. The surplus land above theceiling has to be physically takenover. Even PCK has given 1000acres of land to Adivasis in Kannurand in Kannur we are left with only140 ha. If the public sector can partwith its land for re-distribution amongthe landless, why not the privatesector? The Constitution clearlystipulates that as per Article 39(B),the state shall, in particular, direct thepolicy towards securing that theownership and control of the materialresources of the community are sodistributed to subserve the commongood. Article 39(c) stipulates that theoperation of the economic systemdoes not result in concentration ofwealth and means of production tothe common detriment.

We are not giving land, economicopportunity to the poor. At least, givethem social opportunity: educationand health. If you look into the national


health profile of 2013, we can findthat the highest incidents of chickengunya fever in 2009 was in Keralanumbering 13349 and dengue in 2013numbreing 7911 including 25 deaths.Chicken gunya fever was wide spreadin Pathanamthitta district and socialprofile show that SCs, STs and OBCswere the most affected. The mid-term appraisal of XIth plan preparedfor Planning Commission for CDSstates that between 1999-2006 thestate could not make any significantprogress with regard to malnutritionin children and women. One out ofevery 4 children aged below 5 yearsare stunted or too short for their age.Caste wise differentials are verysevere, with 34 perecent amongscheduled castes being stunted,followed by other backward castes -26 percent.

This study also states that morethan one fifth of the children below5 years in Kerala are underweight.Between NFHS 2(1998-99) andNFHS-3(2005-2006) surveys thepercentage of children with anemiaincrease from 44 percent to 56 percent.

Among women also, malnutritionis a major problem. Among womenaged 15-49 years nearly one over ofevery 5 women is too thin. Anaemiacontinues to be a major healthproblem among women in Kerala.One third of women aged 15-49years are anaemic.

With regard to education we areliving and moving in a knowledgesociety. Knowledge society is asociety that has universal access tosharing of knowledge. But in Keralathere is a knowledge divide. Thecensus of 2001 shows that amongscheduled castes graduates andabove are just 2.1 percent while non-technical and technical diploma

holders constitute 1.5 percent. TheSC/ ST department states that thedrop out of SC children in 9 and 10classes in the year 2010-11 were2828 and in college 25338 the sameyear.

The slum population is increasing.As per the report of the committeeon slums in Kerala in 2014 it was541314, in 2015 it will be 543671 andin 2016, 545906. In the aftermath ofTsunami that struck on 26.12.2004the centre, state and voluntaryagencies built homes, 46 tsunamicolonies in Kollam, 12 Tsunamicolonies in Alappuzha and 3 Tsunamicolonies in Ernakulam District. Inthese colonies 2000 families areliving and the houses are dilapidatedand unlivable. There is water scarcityin these colonies.

Regarding the status of tribals, AsAjmal Khan points out, Kerala hascomparatively less population oftribals, the scheduled tribal populationis 364189. They form just 1.2 per centof the total population. But accordingto an undisclosed survey preparedby the ST Development Report andbrought out by Indian Express on 19May 2014 through its correspondentM.S.Vidyanandan said that a total of13.09 of the tribal families wereaffected by malnutrition and theirnumber was maximum in WayanadDistrict followed by Palakad and IdikiDistricts. A total of the 18 percent ofthe families had members who weredifferently abled or mentallychallenged. The drop out rate was 62percent in general. Thus Keralasociety hailed as just andparticipatory has become divisive andinequality is growing.

(Paper presented in theSeminar, Kerala Economy:Challenges and Way Forward, atK.N. Raj Centre, Kottayam)


If Chidambaram and OmarAbdullah were allowed to work ontheir ideas situation would have beencompletely different today. Peoplewould have been spared thepresence of security forces amongthem which can be oppressive andhumiliating. If people had felt moreinvolved in running their owngovernment they would have alsofelt the responsibility to maintainpeace. It is possible that still someextremists would have continued tooperate. But then it must have beenleft to the Kashmiris to deal withtheir fellow citizens to try to convincethem to leave the path of violence.

Right now presence of Indiansecurity forces for such a prolongedperiod makes it look like anoccupying force. P. Chidambaramsays we cannot preach to Sri Lankato respect the democratic rights ofits Tamil minority when we’re notable to do it with Kashmiris.

If human rights violations takeplace because of the presence ofsecurity forces we cannot expect theKashmiris to trust the government.The ultra-nationalist view of thepresent government in power in NewDelhi makes things worse. Theyknow only one way to deal with theiropponents - that is to remain tough.It is beyond their imagination to talkto people whom they consider anti-nationals. They just can’t perceivethat whom they consider anti-nationals may not be so in the eyesof people of Kashmir. They couldeven be their heroes. Unless thegovernment starts seeing things fromthe Kashmiri perspective there is noheadway towards resolution of theKashmir conflict.

[email protected]


PUCL expresses its deepestconcerns about the manner in whichthe Indian security establishment hashandled the protests that eruptedacross the Kashmir valley as aconsequence of the killing of BurhanWani in a suspected fake encounterlast Friday, 8th July, 2016. By manyaccounts, Wani was shot at fromclose quarters of about 4 feet in acold blooded murder and not in anencounter. Two other personsaccompanying Wani were also killedby a special team of the securityforces. Such cold blooded killingscamouflaged as “encounter” in analleged gun-fight is unacceptable ina democracy. PUCL condemns boththe Central Government and thePDP-led J &K government forlaunching an operation to liquidatesuspected or real terrorists in fakeencounters instead of respecting therule of law and prosecuting them.

During the last few months, manyterrorists have been killed in Kashmirwithout noticeable protest, butfollowing Burhan Wani’s killing thevalley is on fire. The widespreadprotests in the valley has led to thefiring in which as many as 34unarmed Kashmiris have been killedand over 92 people injured includingthose hit in the eye by the so-called‘non-lethal’ weapons firing pellets,instead of bullets.

It is important for the rest of Indiato ask why there is so widespreadand determined protest now whenthere was no protest at such a scaleevery time alleged terrorists werekilled? The obvious reason is thatthough the protesters accept thatthose who fight with arms mustexpect to be countered with arms asis the rule of war as well as peace,but to them, the killing of Wani wasnot in a real encounter but in a fake

Why is Kashmir boiling?

encounter after luring him to theplace where he was killed with histwo friends. Most lamentably, thecircumstances and manner of Wani’skilling are being concealed from thepeople, but the people of Kashmirknow it and are seething with anger.

Some newspapers have reportedthe circumstances and manner ofWani’s killing but placed it at someobscure place. For example, TheDainik Bhaskar, Muzaffarpur edition(11.7.2016 on page 17) has publishedan account of the encounter basedon an interview of Upmita Bajpayeewith an officer involved in theoperation. According to the officer, ahoney trap was set with a girl knownto be close to Wani. She lured him tovisit her at her house at the villageBadmura. The security forces weretipped and were also informed thatthe terrorists were not heavily armed.The house was surrounded and wasset on fire to force him out, as theIslamists do not want to die in a fireas it is like ‘Dokhaj’ (Hell). As thefire raged, Wani reportedly came outsupported by two of his friends. Thesecurity forces shot him from adistance of 4 feet. They also killedboth of his friends though they initiallywanted to capture them alive butkilled them, too. The heading of newsitem is KHUD JAAL ME FANSATHA WANI, SENA NE GHERATAB NASE ME THA, 4 FEETDOOR SE MARA GOLI (Waniwalked into the trap himself, whenthe armed forces surrounded him, hewas inebriated, was shot from adistance of four feet ).

Kashmir would not have been onthe boil if Wani were not killed incold blood in a fake encounter aftersetting a honey trap. Most likely hisdeath would have been protested likeother cases of killing of terrorists in

a real encounter but without the scaleof current uprising.

It is important to point out that thealleged terrorists are being treatedas worse than Nathuram Godse, whomurdered Mahatma Gandhi andAjmal Kasab, the Pakistani terrorist,involved in Mumbai terror attack of2008. None of them was shot deadlike Wani. They were tried giving themthe opportunity to defend themselvesand finally punished according to thelaw. That is what the adherence tothe constitution and the rule of lawmandates and is the basis of our claimto be a civilized nation.

It is a shame that the rest of Indiais not protesting against the coldblooded murder of Wani and hisfriends. Their being a terrorist wasnot a greater crime than Gandhiji’smurderer or Ajmal Kasab’s role inMumbai terror attack. Our law asreiterated by the apex court from timeto time does not permit killing ofterrorists in fake encounters and treatsit as plain murder. The generalindifference or support for the killingof Wani in the rest of India smacks ofa double standard and angers andfurther alienates the people ofKashmir.

The PUCL demands thatregardless of the difficulties, theState must fight terrorism within theframe-work of the constitution andthe law of the land to win the trustof the people in the fairness of theIndian State and arrest furtheralienation of the Kashmiris. Thelawless ways of the State are boundto add to the legitimate anger andalienation of the Kashmiris.

Dr. Prabhakar Sinha V. SureshPresident, General Secretary

Peoples Union for Civil Liberties


I refer to an explosive, not yetpublished, secret report by the lateJustice Mootham of the High Courtof Allahabad in 1955 who inquiredinto the ugly incident of theconvocation of Allahabad University.The communist/socialist studentleaders of that university held a blackflag demonstration against K MMunshi, the autocratic Governor ofU.P. and Chancellor of AllahabadUniversity, and were brutallyassaulted by lathis by the RSSactivists. Eight student leaders wereexpelled and the Universityremained closed for at least sixmonths. As the President of the UPBranch of the National Union ofStudents of India (established in 1950at Bombay as the Federation of theUniversity and College Unions ofIndia— now defunct due to theconspiracy of the Congress Party) Iwent with my good friend RobinMitra to Allahabad to explore thepossibility of a solution to theimbroglio. We somehow got accessto Justice Mootham’s secret reportfor 4-5 hours one night. It was anexplosive report containing theevidence of the witnesses. A highlyplaced teacher and administrator ofthe University in his deposition hadaccused Governor Munshi beingcloseted in his saloon at AllahabadJn. station for 15 minutes with theRSS student leaders and two seniorprofessors having paid money tothem buy lathis from a shop inKatra for being used to assault theleftist student leaders opposed toGovernor Munshi. I remember thenames of all the dramatis personae.One of the RSS student leadersbecame the HRD Minister at the

An Explosive Report by Justice Mootham of Allahabad in 1955


Centre and another became the DGof Police in UP and later a BJP MP.

I prepared a 24-page manuscripttitled The Truth aboutAllahabad after my return toLucknow. I had come from a far-off place where I was doinganthropological field work and so Istayed in the room of the firebrandsocialist Raj Narain in Darul-Shafa,the residence of MLAs. I wasshocked to find that before I could

get this explosive booklet published,it was stolen from my suitcase.Obviously someone staying in thatroom in the garb of a confidante ofRaj Narain ji was an agent of theUP Police- Special Branch. Thissecret document is of historicalimportance. I would urge upon theGovernment of UP to retrieve it aswell as my manuscript and makethese public to expose allthe dramatis personae and the thencommunal and conspiratorial forces.

Black day for Indian children

Lok Sabha has passed 26 July 2016Child Labour (Prohibition andRegulation) Amendment Bill, 2012 toallow child labour below the age of14 years in family enterprises is aregressive move.

RTE Forum, a coalition of tenthousand grass-root organizations,people’s movement, educationistsand teachers organizations, has saidthat “Today is black day for themillions of Indian children; they willnow be deprived from all their rightswhich they have achieved after thedecades long struggles, like, right toeducation, equal opportunity forquality learning, play, protection andenjoyment of their childhood.”

The Labour Ministry and theGovernment have completelynegated the voice of Child RightsActivists of this country and also therecommendations of the ParliamentaryStanding Committee on Labour.

There are 1,01,28,663 childlabourers in the country between the

age group of 5 to 14 years as per2011 census. The amended Billmight give a first impression that theGovernment is taking a stringentmeasure to end child labour upto 14years. But a closer look at thisreveals that it is hardly the case. Ofcourse there are some relevantmeasures in the new bill such as ajail term of up to 2 years for thoseemploying children below the age of14 for labour activities. Activists whohave been fighting for rights ofchildren have been critical of the bill.

The Government has made anexemption that the child can help hisfamily or family enterprise after hisschool hours or during vacations.The government has made theamendments on the hypothesis thateducation and work for children cango hand in hand but this defeats thevery purpose of protecting thechildren from exploitation and alsothe Right of Children to Free andCompulsory Education Act.

RTE Forum has expressed deep


concerns about the insensitiveapproach of ruling party towardschildren of this country and said thatthis is a clear violation of existingFundamental right to Education(Article 21A). RTE Act, which isguaranteeing right to education up to14 years, is now planning to moveas a legal entitlement towardssecondary education. Thisamendment will affect the retentionrate of children in schools andincrease drop outs of marginalizedespecially girl children. Goal 4 ofSustainable Development Goals(SDGs) declared by United Nationsis also pushing for theuniversalization of education till thesecondary level.

The employers and contractorswill be benefited by this amendmentand children are now forced to beexploited through this amendment.

‘Family’ has been defined aschild’s mother, father, brother, sisterand father’s sister and brother andmother’s sister and brother; ‘Familyenterprise’ has been defined as anywork, profession, manufacture orbusiness which is performed by themembers of the family with theengagement of other persons. Thismeans a child can work in anymanufacturing or business unit if itis owned by his/her relative.

Several Parliamentarians havealso criticized the bill saying “weshould not do to other children whatwe do not do to our own”. Some ofthe members in the opposition havesaid strongly that none of them wouldlike their children to do labour, familybusiness or not, apart from studies.

–Ambarish Rai,National Convener Right to

Education Forum

Recent crimes linked to media

Bharat Dogra

Two major crimes were bustedin Delhi on July 9 and highlighted innext day’s crime stories innewspapers. Both these storieswere reported to have somelinkages to media.

A gang of chain snatchers wasbusted in Model Town leading tothe arrest of five men who,according to the police, wereinvolved in 65 cases of chainsnatching . These gangstersgenerally used motorcycles andscooters to speed past people onroads and snatch their gold chainsand mobile phones.

The police said that thesegangsters were inspired by a popularHindi film Dhoom. A leadingheadline in the Hindu made theconnection amply clear—‘ Dhoomgang busted’. The Times of Indiaadded to the media connection byinforming that one of the gangstersearlier used to act in a TV serial.The Rashtriya Sahara reportedfurther that the crimes werecommitted on the pattern of whatwas seen in the film. A headline inthe Hindustan said, “ They learntcrime methods from watching TVshow.”

In another case reported on thesame day, a Delhi businessman wasabducted by hostile persons knownto him and beaten till he becameunconscious. He was then taken ina car and buried alive in thesugarcane fields of one of theattackers.

A senior investigator of this

murder told the Hindu , “ Thekillers were inspired by a crimeshow on television. They thoughtthat no trace would be left if a manwas buried in an unknownagricultural field.” The headline inthis newspaper said, “Killersinspired by crime show.”The storyalso started with the words—”Inspired by a crime show ontelevision —.”

The Rashtriya Saharaconfirmed this by reporting that thecriminals had informed the policein the process of interrogation thatthey learnt about this method ofdisposing a body from a crimeserial.The Times of India addedanother dimension to this mediaconnection by reporting that themurderers had also looked forguidance on how to dump a bodyon YouTube (All quotes fromnewspapers dated July 10 ) .

Several such incidents havebeen reported in the past whenlinkages between crimes and mediaprogrammes were reported. In factthe film Dhoom had been involvedearlier also in such reports. In adiamond robbery case in Hyderabadthe gang leader admitted to beinspired by this film, as was thecase earlier in at least one bankrobbery. A teenager in Delhi whofaked his own kidnapping was statedto have learnt some tricks from aHindi film Khiladi. In a shockingcase reported from Amravati, twoboys stated to be influenced by aHindi film Divyashakti kidnappedand disrobed a girl, then drew vulgarpictures on her body.


Perhaps the most serious linkagebetween crime and media wasdrawn in the context of a terroristattack in Ahmedabad which wassaid to be influenced by the plot ofa Hindi film Contract. In this filmthe villain plans low intensityexplosions followed by a biggerexplosion when people rush tohospital. A somewhat similarsequence was also seen in theactual attack.

While all this is certainly causefor concern, the linkage should notbe exaggerated to the extent ofsaying that in all such cases thecrime would not have taken placeat all if the exposure to some filmor TV scenes had not taken place.A number of factors taken togetherare responsible for any increase incrimes, and increase in certain typesof media exposure is only oneimportant factor among otheseveral important factors.

Certainly there is need forgreater caution in the way crimeis depicted. Romanticiseddepiction of crime should beavoided. In other countries therehave been reports of the film‘Bonnie and Clyde’ leading tocrimes based on romanticized actsshown in the film. Such allegationshave appeared in India in thecontext of a more recent hit filmin Hindi Bunty and Bublee.

Another suggestion for cautionis that crime films and TV showsshould concentrate more on‘whodunnit’ tracing the criminalthan on detailing methods ofcommitting crimes. In this contextobjections were raised in India tosome episodes of the TV detectiveserial Vyomkesh Bakshi which

Nepal urf Lattha Par ki Diary

Madan Lal Hind

“Nepal urf Lattha Par kiDiary”, written in Hindi by RavinderBharati, is a historic book on theunderground movement to fight theautocratic Rana rule and to establisha democratic set-up in Nepal.Bharati is a well-known poet, writerand socialist political activist of Patna,Bihar. He has been a product of theJP Movement.

The contribution of B. P. Koirala,Ganesh Man Singh and whole lot ofothers to the fight for the democraticfuture of Nepal has been widelyacknowledged and documented. Butfew books have talked of smallworkers who gave their lives forNepal. The Diary, for a change, talksabout the sacrifices of the unknown,unsung heroes of this battle.

In this sense, Bharati has donefull justice to the dramatis personaeof the theatre of the war for the soulof Nepal. The book gives a graphicaccount of the struggle waged byRam Harakh, Kusheshwar Jha,Sivadhari Sahu, Chander, Divya Deviand many other soldiers. All of theseMadhesies died fighting fordemocracy in their country.

Socialist leaders Dr RammanoharLohia and Jayaparaksh Narayanwere the source of inspiration for theleaders like Bisheshwar PrasadKoirala and Krishna PrasadBhattarai. The Diary delineates therole JP and Lohia played behind thescene for Nepal.

This reviewer, for instance, did notknow that the socialist governmentin Burma (now Myanmar) sent, atthe instance of Dr Lohia, planeloads

of arms for the volunteers of theNepali Congress. Similarly, at therequest of Jayaprakash Narayan,Subedarji, a veteran of the Azad HindFauj, had been helping the NepalCongress foot soldiers for years.

They developed the “MuktagamiRadio” (Liberation Radio of Nepal).This Radio worked overtime to givethe latest news of the struggle. Itplayed a major role in forming publicopinion against the oppressive Ranarule. Government’s Nepal Radiocould not match the MuktagamiRadio in its reach, efficiency anddispassionate coverage.

“Nepal urf Lattha Par kiDiary” graphically describes howthe transmitter of the MuktagamiRadio was literally carried on theback of renowned Hindi writerPhanishwar Nath Renu. Renu wasa passionate socialist in India and aclose associate of B. P. Koirala inNepal.

The Muktagami Radio began itsday with a liberation song. Then itcontinued to give the news day andnight with the slogan “Jai Nepal”(Victory to Nepal). “Bhairhava hasbeen captured. Birgunj has gone intothe hands of Muktagami soldiers.” “After the fall of the RanaGovernment, an interim governmenthas been formed in Birgunj andButwal.” So on and so forth.

Veteran socialist commander DrKuldip Jha has been martytred.“What? It is impossible. Dr. Jhacannot die”, says the driver of thebus going from Purnea to

(Continued on Page 12) (Continued on Page 12)


The government of India and thestate government of Kashmir mustimmediately order their policeforces to immediately stop usingpellet guns and the lethal cartridgesthat they use. Any further usage ofsuch weapons, which have causedextensive, arbitrary deaths andgrievous wounds, would be not justcallous, but a criminal act.

Since July 9, 2016, in theaftermath of the killing of HizbulMujahideen leader Burhan Wani,large scale protests and funeralgatherings have been taking placeacross the Kashmir Valley. Theapparently indiscriminate use ofallegedly “non-lethal”weapons like pellet guns to controlcrowds has resulted in 43 civilianshaving lost their lives so far.Hundreds have been blinded and afew thousand injured.

A curfew remains in effect inseveral parts across the KashmirValley. Additionally, mobiletelephone networks and internetservices remain dismantled,reportedly to prevent furtheragitation. Newspapers failed topublish for five consecutive daysdue to raids on their offices andprinting presses, till they startedagain on July 21.

Protests in Kashmir haveprimarily involved stone throwingfrom demonstrators, with police andsecurity force personnel respondingwith gunfire from firearms or pelletguns. The indiscriminate andexcessive force used by state forcesin Kashmir has no parallel

Pellet Guns in Kashmir

Ravi Nair

anywhere in India.

Stone throwing does not givepolice the right to shoot at protestorsindiscriminately. Deadly forceshould only be used when it isunavoidable and proportionate to thecrowd’s actions. Proportionality,necessity and calibration are keyprinciples governing the use of forcewithin national and international law.

Pellet guns were first introducedin Kashmir in 2010 for crowdcontrol as a “non-lethal” alternativeto other deadlier weapons.Nevertheless, in 2010, 14-year-oldIrshad Ahmad Parray and 20-year-old Mudasir Nazir lost their livesto pellet gun injuries. These boysare two of ten victims who havebeen killed by pellet guns since2010, yet these guns are consideredthe better option, a “non-lethal”choice to control crowds. It isreported that at least 92 peoplehave lost their eyesight and at least1,500 people have sustained seriousinjuries from pellet guns since 2010.

Domestic procedures on crowdcontrol should reflect internationalexpectations of proportionality andnecessity. In an unnamed officialdocument, provided by aconfidential source, it is dictatedthat crowd control tactics mustaim to minimise collateral damageand avoid the loss of human life,and that during training, anemphasis should be placed onrespecting human rights. Onpaper, these procedures shouldprotect Kashmiris, but in realitythey are not followed.

During a crowd control operation,only two to five officers should havenon-lethal weapons and bannersshould be used to warn the unlawfulassembly prior to the deploymentof any force. Additionally, thedocument states that when firingbecomes necessary, which is onlyafter efforts are made to dispersea crowd without force, everyattempt should be made to firebelow the waist. With the numberof eye injuries Kashmiri citizens arefacing, it is hard to believe that anyattempt was made to fire below thewaist.

Moreover, if shooting is resortedto, firing must be in single shot mode.Yet pellet guns fire hundreds of tinyshots with each cartridge. This goeshand in hand with the requirementthat fire only be directed towardsthe most violent sections of a stone-pelting mob, not the mob in itsentirety. Pellet guns do not offereffective aim to target the crowdaccordingly and many peacefulprotestors and bystanders havebeen injured during their use.

Furthermore, this documentorders that women and childrendemonstrators only be dealt with byfemale officers and that watercannons, tear gas smoke, and ifnecessary stun grenades be usedto disperse these demonstrators.The number of young victimsaffected by the current crowdcontrol measures in Kashmir,particularly young boys, and the useof pellet guns on women andchildren refutes that this objectivehas been upheld.


Regrettably, the current state oflaw in India grants governmentofficers impunity for even the mostserious human rights violations,including the current pellet attacksand breakdowns in crowd controlprocedure. The Indian CriminalProcedure Code (CrPC) producesde facto immunity for policeofficers, members of the armedforces and other governmentofficials. Section 197 of the CrPCsays that no court has jurisdictionover an alleged criminal offencecommitted by a government official“while acting or purporting to actwithin the discharge of his officialduty”, without first obtainingauthorisation from the requisitecentral or state government.

In contrast, the case of Shaimaa’El-Sabbagh, in undemocratic Egypt,illustrates accountability not seenwithin India’s legal system. El-Sabbagh was a 31-year-old activistwho died during a public assemblyas a result of birdshot injuries. Thiscase resulted in the sentencing of apolice officer to 15 years for herdeath.

Moreover, following theKoothuparamba incident in 1994, inKerala, police officers werecharged with murder and had tofight the case on appeal forexoneration. The officers wereexonerated as a result of theimpunity available to them.

Although both of these were rarecases of prosecution, Kashmiris areunable to even fathom charges ofthis nature being levied against apolice officer.

Ironically, the same day thatBurhan Wani was killed, theSupreme Court of India made adecision in Extra Judicial

Execution Victim FamiliesAssociation v. Union ofIndia discussing fake encounters inManipur and “the illegality of theuse of excessive and retaliatoryforce by the army, security forcesand police”. The Supreme Courtnoted that the rule of law applied“even when dealing with theenemy”. This commitment,however, is breached everyday inKashmir. The court went on to holdthat an unending state of unrestcould not “be a fig leaf forprolonged, permanent or indefinitedeployment of the armed forces asit would mock at our democraticprocess.”

The Indian government isviolating international standards withits current response to protests inKashmir. Specifically, thegovernment is violating the UNBasic Principles on the Use ofForce and Firearms by LawEnforcement Officials and the UNCode of Conduct for LawEnforcement Officials. The basicprinciples state that, “Lawenforcement officials…(must) applynon-violent means before resortingto the use of force”. Additionally,provision five states, “whenever thelawful use of force and firearms isunavoidable, law enforcementofficials shall: (a) exercise restraintin such use and act in proportion tothe seriousness of the offence…(b) minimize damage and injury…(c) ensure that assistance andmedical aid are rendered to anyinjured or affected person at theearliest moment…”

In Kashmir, restraint is not beingexercised, injury is not beingminimised and medical assistanceis not ensured. Pellet guns are nota proportional response to thecurrent protests. Far too much

harm has been inflicted, particularlyinvolving people’s eyesight, far toomany bystanders, including children,have been injured and medicalassistance comes only at the riskof being arrested and prosecuted.

When the police are involved incrowd control efforts, they mustdistinguish between violentprotestors, peaceful protestors andbystanders. The pellet guncartridges in Kashmir fire a largenumber of small pellets over a widerange, they are not targeted. Eventhe inspector general of the Jammuand Kashmir police acknowledgedthat pellets do not have apredictable trajectory.

Basic principles 13 and 14 discussprotests, stating, “in the dispersalof assemblies that are…non-violent,law enforcement officials shall avoidthe use of force” and “in thedispersal of violent assemblies, lawenforcement officials may usefirearms only when less dangerousmeans are not practicable”. Further,firearms can only be used in theconditions stipulated under principle9 – “self-defense or defense ofothers, against the imminent threatof death or serious injury, to preventserious crime involving grave threatto life…”

All of the conditions stipulatedpose a much greater risk than stonethrowing. The magnitude of thecircumstances is hardly comparable,yet pellet guns are being used onthe people of Kashmir and havebeen since 2010.

Moreover, the basic principlesrequire that, “in cases of death andserious injury or other graveconsequences, a detailed report shallbe sent promptly to competentauthorities.” Hence, authorities


should be reporting and investigatingevery instance of serious injuryresulting from the use of pellet guns.However, instead of investigatingthese injuries, police personnel areattacking ambulances and searchinghospitals to make arrests.

Under article 3 of the UN Codeof Conduct for Law EnforcementOfficials, “law enforcement officialsmay use force only when strictlynecessary”. The code continues, “ingeneral, firearms should not be usedexcept when a suspected offenderoffers armed resistance orotherwise jeopardizes the lives ofothers”. Furthermore, theintroduction to the code states,“every law enforcement agencyshould be representative of andresponsive and accountable to thecommunity as a whole”. However,the current state of conflict inKashmir illustrates a clear dividealong religious and cultural lines.

In 2013, the Jammu and KashmirState Human Rights Commission(SHRC) stated that, “the use ofpellet guns by government forceswas a serious threat to life”. TheSHRC declared that the petitionssubmitted regarding ten people whoreceived serious bodily injury frompellet guns made out a primafacie case of a human rightsviolation. The commission alsoreminded law enforcement agenciesthat they must follow standardoperating procedure and useminimum force.

That same year, the Jammu andKashmir high court rejected apetition filed seeking a ban on theuse of pepper gas and pellet gunsfor crowd control.

The use of pellet guns as acrowd control tactic must be

banned. Since 2010, these “non-lethal” weapons have causedserious injury and severe harm tothousands of Kashmiris. The useof pellet guns in Kashmir in reactionto the current protests is a clearviolation of human rights and

humanitarian law. These weaponshave neither been usedproportionally nor in compliancewith international standards on theuse of force or domestic standardson crowd control.

[email protected]

detailed how some objects ofeveryday use could be used asweapons of murder.

Moreover the question is not justof the impact of a particular film orTV show but also of the overallimpact of excessive depiction ofcrime and violence in media. Forexample the well known study ofProf. Centerwell of the Universityof Washington has concluded thatthe overall impact of the introductionof TV in the USA and Canada hasresulted in a substantial increase in


the number of murders, rapes andassaults over a period of severaldecades.

So while allegations of medialinkage in the context of somespecific cases can be debated, thereis no doubt that certainly there isneed for caution and restraint asthe reach and impact of media areincreasing and on the wholeexcessive depiction of violence andcrime in unrestrained ways cancertainly lead to several kinds ofproblems.

Kathmandu. “Dr Jha had promisedme that he would come back forsure after unfurling the flag ofdemocracy in Kathmandu”, wails thedriver, tears rolling down his face.Bihar socialist leader KarpooriThakur, who is also in the bus, patsthe back of the inconsolable driver.

The Diary also records thecontribution of the socialistjournal Hindi “Weekly Janata”published from Patna to themovement for democracy. It wasthen published under the editorshipof great socialist Hindi writerRambriksha Benipuri. The bookhighlights how Dulari Master andGanouri Mahto took Janata to everynook and corner of Nepal at the riskof their lives and limbs. NepaliCongress leaders used to call thesetwo workers “Do Bailon ki Jodi”

(the couple of bullocks) of MunshiPremchand.

Ravinder Bharati seems to begreatly influenced by the world-famous tome “Ten Days thatShook the World” of John Reedabout the Russian BolshevikRevolution. The style is the same.Love for minutest details is thesame. And the urge for accuracyis the same. Bharati’s prose tendsto be sheer poetry at times. Proof-reading mistakes here and thereare rather jarring, though.

On balance, “Nepal urf LatthaPar ki Diary” is an eminentlyreadable book, particularly forthose who are interested in thehistory of the democratictransformation of Nepal from thedespotic Rana reign.



Respected Akbar ji,Greetings,

Eid Mubarak. That you havebecome the Minister of State forExternal Affairs is no less a specialoccasion than Eid. We journalistsshould be very happy that you firstbecame a spokesperson for theBharatiya Janata Party and then aparliamentarian and now a minister.You fought an election on a Congressticket. Then you came back tobecome an editor. Then you againwent from an editor to aspokesperson and then a minister.Perhaps I will never know what youthought about journalists becomingnetas and the work ethics that comeinto play with that.

Did you ever pass through a crisisof conscience? Even though thereare no Gods in journalism, duringthese times, did you ever fear God?

Akbar ji, I am writing this letterto you with a certain degree ofbitterness as well. But you are notthe reason for that. You may helpme out of it. For the last three yearsI have been called a pimp on socialmedia. The political change thatveteran journalists like you call greatfor India has also forged the cultureof shouts of “pimp” and “hustler”trailing news stories and newsbringers. It has come so far that evenmy mother has been called a whore- a woman who could never go toschool, who does not even knowwhat an anchor is, or what is primetime. She has never seen the studiosof NDTV. All she asks is if I amkeeping well. But she does read thenewspaper very closely. When shefound out that I am abused like this,she could not sleep well for days.

Open letter to M. J. Akbar

Akbar ji, when you came fromjournalism into politics, did people callyou a pimp too, abuse you, vilify you-like they do me (especially after theepisode with the black screenaired?) Then when you came backfrom the Congress into journalism,did people - especially the thenopposition whose member you aretoday - see you as a pimp for 10Janpath (the headquarters of theCongress) or any other party? Whatexplanations did you give yourselfthen to carry on? Can you sharethose explanations with me? I needyour help.

In journalism, I have done manya bad report. Some have beenexceptionally terrible. But untilthree years ago, no one used to callme a pimp. Neither did they dragin my sister or mother into it.Akbar sir, I am not a pimp. But dotell me what should I do to becomeAkbar. When Murli Manohar Joshiused to be a minister in theVajpayee government, I used todebate the saffronisation ofeducation a lot. Back then, no onein your party office spoke to mewith hostility. Dr Joshi even had teaserved to me after interviews andasked for sweets to be brought in.He never said you are asking thesequestions because you are a pimpof the Congress. Due to his age,he often got angry but never didhe decline an interview or hint thegovernment was annoyed at me.

But now everything haschanged. There is a new cultureof political control. There is now ahorde of people who try to findpolitical leaning and meaningbehind every news story. Thishorde is flagrantly abusive. They

often use the photo of our PrimeMinister on their profiles and usesymbols of the RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sangh. Many ofthem follow ministers and many arefollowed by ministers. Theyidentify some as against the BJPand heap praises on the rest.

Definitely there has been adecline in journalism. It wasn’tthere at all when you fought anelection, won, lost and came backto become an editor. That musthave been the golden age ofjournalism. It can be called theAkbar age if those who abuse usdon’t take offence. All this meansthat today some journalists havebecome an unannounced extensionof the spokesperson. Those whoabuse me don’t call these peoplepimps. The section that does is thesame that trolls Smriti Irani.

As a colleague, in your ForeignMinistry, you will find General VKSingh who coined the word‘presstitute’ for journalists. InHindi, the crowds that agree andsupport him call us ‘preshya’ - acombination of press and vaishya(prostitute). Because I work forNDTV, they replace N with an Rand call it Randi TV.

Do you think when journalistsask difficult questions, they arepimping another party? Whichquestion can make one a pimp?If editors like you can tell me, Ican learn a thing or two. I cante l l young repor ters don’ tbecome Ravish Kumar, if youmust become somebody becomeAkbar because maybe evenRavish Kumar wil l one daybecome an Akbar.


I am a bit of an emotionalperson. I’ve definitely been shakenby these attacks. That’s why afterseeing you, I thought you could helpme. For the last three years, beforeevery report, I have been struckby the thought that those peoplewho are celebrating India’s culturalascent may call me a pimp and mymother a whore, but my mother isthe only real Mother India. I ambringing up my mother again andagain because people of your partyunderstand ‘Ek Ma ki bhavna’ thebest. When you take the name ofyour mother, it’s the end of anargument.

Akbar ji, I am writing this letterwith a lot of hope. Your response willbe an example for future journalistswho these days pay Rs. 10 to 15lakhs to study journalism. In my eyes,a generation that pays so much tostudy journalism is not worth much,but your response can boost theirconfidence.

When you returned to journalismfrom politics, did you worry aboutthe party and its ideology whenwriting about them? Were you ableto hold your ground? How firmly?When you returned to politics fromjournalism, did you start doubtingwhat you wrote? Did you ever feelthat you wrote what you didexpecting a reward? I believe thatwe journalists write in the pressureof our times and context.Switching between journalism andpolitics, can one be free from thesemoral dilemmas? Did you manageto do it?

To avoid being like Twitter trolls,I don’t want to bring up what youwrote about the riots in the countryincluding Gujarat. I am just askingthis on a personal level. Even beforeyou, people from a number of media

organisations have gone to the RajyaSabha. With the Congress, youfought for the Lok Sabha, and withfor the BJP, you fought for the RajyaSabha. I am happy that PrimeMinister Narendra Modi has keptthis tradition of the Congressgovernment alive of puttingjournalists in Parliament. Peoplesinging the praises of Indian cultureperhaps did not notice that popularAtal ji was himself a journalist andafter becoming Prime Minister, hecould not abandon his love for hispaper Veer Arjun. You can find quitea few other examples.

I haven’t jumped into politics justyet. If I do, you will be of great help.That is why you should tell me whatjournalists should do. Should theyfight elections, become ministers, andthen become journalists again? Willthey be able to report then? Whenone becomes a reporter in the nameof national interest, should theyalways be on the lookout of politicalopportunities?

I hope that in the name ofprinciples, those who hurl abuses arewelcoming you. They should alsoshower flowers on you. Yourcompetence is without doubt. Youare a hero for all of us. Those of uswho consider journalism to be areligion could not see how you haveupheld its rituals. Because anchorsthese days show their importancebased on their TRPs, I would say Iam a zero-TRP anchor. The TRPmeter tells me no one watches me.On these grounds, you can overlookmy letter. But being a minister, youare principally answerable to eachand every citizen of this country. Sobased on this, you can respond. Theone with the top TRPs won’t ask youhow a minister can respond tosomeone with zero TRPs. And thattoo a Minister of State for External

Affairs. Once again, Eid Mubarak.From the heart.

Your minion,

Ravish Kumar

Senior Executive Editor,NDTV India

Translated byDivyanshu Dutta Roy

Supreme Court and RSS

No judicial court advises anysuspect or accused to tenderapology so as to escapedefamation prosecution. There arecases where even after theaccused had tendered an apologyin a defamation case, the court,after trial, convicted him andawarded punishment. Throwingall norms to the winds, ourSupreme Court advised, or ratherthreatened the Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi that hewill have to face trial if he doesnot tender apology to the RSS forleveling charge against it regardingcomplicity in Mahatma Gandhi’ smurder. Let the whole worldknow, once again, know the truefacts about such a grave matter.Is not RSS capable to defenditself? It is very shocking to finda high pillar of our Republicrunning to help an organizationwhich is engaged in poison-spreading campaign against theminorities. The Supreme Courtwould do well not to transgressboundaries of its role andfunctioning.

–Pannalal Surana,

Chairman, Central ParliamentaryBoard, Socialist Party (India).


License to Post without prepayment WPP License No. MH/Tech/WPP-210/West/2016Published on Sunday, July 31, 2016 & Posted on Wedenesday August 3, 2016 at Mumbai Patrika Channel, Mumbai GPO-1


REGD. OFFICE :

New Excelsior Building, (3rd Floor),

A. K. Nayak Marg, Fort, Mumbai 400 001.

Tel.: 022 2205 1231 Fax : 022-2205 1232



Price : Rupees Five

Vol. 71 No. 28August 7, 2016




Mumbai - 400 007.


Brief note on NEPRamesh Patnaik

British Raj in india


Rammanohar Lohia

Political parties andour ConstitutionJawaharlal Jasthi

Mahatma Gandhi's Speech

Yet another Dalit family washacked to death because it wassuspected to have eaten beef. Thelaboratory tests of the “beef”showed that it was some other cattle.Some time ago, the Kerala House inDelhi was attacked by gaurakshks because beef was servedthere. But the most shameful aspectis that there was no repentanceamong the upper caste and even theleaders of the RSS, who aresupposed to work for the socialupliftment, did not utter a word ofeither condemnation or sorrow.

All religions indulge in social,economic or political discriminationbut it is not the part of the religionitself as it is among the Hindus. Andfor centuries, it is going on withoutmuch challenge. There are stillcertain parts of India where the Dalitcannot use the road or well whichare frequented by the upper castes.The worst part is that the funeralground which the upper caste use isexclusive for them.

Islam which teaches equality hasalso been affected and the burialplaces of those placed high in lifecannot be used by ordinary Muslims.In fact, a different kind of caste

Segregation in democracy

Kuldip Nayar

system prevails in Islam. Forexample, Sayyds are considered theBrahmins of the community and theypractise the same kind ofdiscrimination as the Hindus do whenit comes to marriage or death. Theyrefuse to consign the bodies at thecommon burial ground.

In fact, an ordinary Muslimsuffers from both sides—onebecause he is poor and, two, becausehe is considered not at par with thewell-placed Muslims. Here, theeconomic factor has come into play.And then it has got mixed withpreferences and prejudices, makingthe poor Muslims’ plight still morepitiful. True, the Indian constitutiondoes not allow discrimination on thebasis of religion. But it is practisedall over and even the police forcehas come to be contaminated and itconnives at the violation of the uppercaste without a demur.

The practice has become moreglaring and persistent since theadvent of Prime Minister NarendraModi’s regime. That the upper castepeople have been appointed to keypositions in universities and otherinstitutions at the behest of thegovernment make some of the best

2 JANATA, August 7, 2016

brains rot. The RSS makes it surethat the people appointed are fromthe “right” background to ensure thatthe Hindutva philosophy is taken asthe guideline.

Not long ago, the Pune filminstitute went on strike for monthstogether when its head was replacedby a television artiste who had theblessings of the RSS. Thegovernment did not change itsdecision even in the midst ofwidespread discontentment.Ultimately, the students had to givein because their career was at peril.

Time has come for introspection.The upper castes have not acceptedthe presence of Dalit or evenmembers of other backward classesin their midst. The numerousagitations in Gujarat, Uttar Pradeshor, for that matter, in other parts ofthe country have not jolted theconscience of the upper castes.These are the results of thegovernment pursuing withreservations despite the 10-yeartime-limit set by the ConstituentAssembly way back in 1950.

I recall that during the debates ofthe Constituent Assembly when DrB.R. Ambedkar, a revered Dalitleader, declared that they did notwant any reservation. He waspersuaded by the assurance that theperiod will not be more than 10 years.Now the situation is such that as soonas the period is over, parliamentunanimously extends it to another 10years. No political party, including thecommunists, has stood up to resistand say enough was enough.

Now that elections in UttarPradesh, the largest state in thecountry, are scheduled to take placein 2017, Dalit leader Mayawati is

Brief note on NEP

Ramesh Patnaik

The Ministry of Human ResourcesDevelopment preferred not to putT.S.R. Subramanian CommitteeReport (30 April, 2016) on Draft NewEducation Policy (NEP 2016) inpublic domain. Keeping the nation indark about a report of a publiccommittee is most undemocratic andhighly condemnable particularly whenit is related to education, afundamental right of the people. Now,it has issued a document of its ownwith a title ’Some Inputs for DraftNational Education Policy 2016'and is seeking response from thepeople before 31st July which we maycall as Proto-NPE because, thegovernment will not change it inessence unless there is a strongpeoples’ movement against thenefarious designs built into it. Thedocument plans for a great deal ofcommercialization and communa-lization of education as expected.

This is a most ill conceiveddocument on education from thecentral government ever. Though theMHRD played safe by stating thatit is only an input from thegovernment in making the policy, itspeaks clearly the mindset of thegovernment. The government doesnot propose abolition ofcommercialisation of education.That is the first acid test in decidingthe nature of any policy documentin education. Government is rathergoing to facilitate the growth ofcommercialisation of educationfurther. Again, it is now clear thatthe government will pursue morevigorously the pet policy of the rulingclasses - Public Private Partnershipto siphon public funds to private

agencies. So, naturally governmentdoesn’t speak about ‘CommonSchool System’ and least aboutCommon Education System. Multistandard institutions, in terms ofinfrastructure and teaching faculty,would continue both in public andprivate sectors. The government isgoing to proceed with globalisationof trade in education services bypreparing ground by tribunalisationof justice and multi-nationalisation ofaccreditation along with bringinglegislation for allowing foreignuniversities. The document givesassurance in weak terms forallocation of 6 per cent GDP foreducation. But, its stress oncommercialisation would only provethe things otherwise. On the otherhand, it does not even hint atcumulative gap mounted over 30years from the time of NPE 1986due to far lower allotments over theperiod made to education against theassured 6 per cent of GDP in thepolicy.

On the other hand thegovernment proceeds with its projectof reestablishing Manu Dharma notonly by denying education to theSCs, STs, and all disadvantagedsections and minorities – religiousand linquistic but also confining thesections to skill training which allprobability would reproduce castesystem. Drop outs will beencouraged by rigorous screeningakin to Brahminical practices and thechildren so dropped out, mostly fromdisadvantaged sections, will bediverted for ‘skilling’. Child labor isnot going to be abolished and ratherwill be institutionalized by providing(Continued on Page 8)

JANATA, August 7, 2016 3

‘alternate schools’. Open schools,open colleges and open educationalfacilities on one hand and skilling onthe other hand will be the mainthrusts of the government and alldisadvantaged will be pushedtowards these thrust areas.Increasing majority of thedisadvantaged sections on all counts,caste, religion, region, gender andlinguistic-cultural group will be deniedformal, liberal and really professionaleducation. Majority of them will bedenied even upper primary educationas the diversion would start as earlyas at class V for them.

Though government in thedocument talks of social justice,nowhere it talks about need ofreservations, applying reservations toall institutions and at all levels andapplying rule of reservation inprivately run schools and colleges.There is no even mention of need ofhostels and other affirmativemeasures to bring the poor andsocially disadvantaged to the schools,colleges and universities. Languagesof the people will be looked down.Mother tongue as a medium ofeducation will be confined only upto class V. Again, the stategovernments are given free hand tointroduce English medium even atprimary level. The government isclearly against mother tongue as amedium of education only to producecheap labor for corporate servicesectors and consumers for theirproducts. Sanskrit will be introducedin all states at school level and collegelevels and the glory of a particularreligion, a particular culture, aparticular language, a particularcaste and a particular gender againstthe rest will be sung through it in thename of glorious past. Themedieval period of Indian history(which RSS consider as MuslimPeriod) is not even referred to in the

document and it makes a clearindication of the governmentapproach to mitigate the contributionsof the period in development of thecivilization of this land. Thecommunal approach which thisgovernment pursues leads to neglector playing down of contributions ofall religious and linguistic minorities,tribes and suppressed casts andmarginalized sections. Coming to thecampus democracy, there will beselective ban on student and teacheractivists to curb opposition to theprojects of neo-liberalism andcommunalism in the campuses. Highlevel of bureaucratization ofadministration and centralisation ofcurricula is sought on one hand toregiment thought and on the otherhand to subordinate educationsystem to global market in contentand form. The document nowheregives a clear historical understandingof what education stands for.Further it does not give recognitionto the fact that education was deniedto vast majority of this country in thename of caste and gender. Neitherthe document notes the historicaldevelopment of the presenteducation system, the contributionsof reformers nor does it think for ascientific secular democraticeducation system for future. It doesnot look like a policy document orlike a document in preparation of apolicy framework. It is a techno-managerial document than a socio-political one. It only tried to reorientthe education system to sub-servethe interest of the corporate capital- domestic and foreign on one handand to communalize education onthe other hand by interfering withthe system in a post-modernistmethod.

The government wants throughthis policy to further commercialiseand communalize education system.

The thrust will not be knowledgeand enlightenment of individual anddevelopment of the people and thecountry but skilling individual andbenefiting corporate market.Further, it seeks the increase ofcaste discrimination, religious,cultural and linguistic discriminations,gender and normal bodydiscriminations. The policy is notinterested in reservations, hostelsand stipends to support poor anddisadvantaged sections rather itstands for screening and excludingthe poor and disadvantaged anddivert them for vocational trainingand open learning. It is opposed tomother tongues of the people. Now,the rights and entitlements of thepoor and disadvantaged are atstake. It seeks to centralizecurricula, bureaucratizeadministration and globalizeaccreditation and tribunalise justiceto facilitate multi-lateral andplurilateral possible agreements in‘trade in education service’ eitherunder World Trade Organisation oroutside of it. Government is highlyallergic to the rights of the studentsand teachers, autonomy of theuniversities and is out to weed outany opposition to its project ofcommercialisation andcommunalisation of education. Itseems out of place to expectsomething like transformativeeducation from this government andinclusion of subjects like civilliberties, human rights, subjects tosensitize the students about socialdiscriminations and culturaldiversities, alternative models ofdevelopment and subjects like publicpolicy for sustenance of smallholding peasant economy and so onand so forth. The government policyperspective seems is meant to servethe ruling classes and the neo-



Brothers and Sisters,

Yesterday I wanted to mentionone point but since I had to talk aboutmany other things, it was left out.

I have received many telegramsfrom Kathiawar. I have already toldyou about what I heard and whatsubsequently appeared in thePakistani newspapers. Those papersare read by thousands of peoplethere. May be some ten thousand orso. I do not know how many peoplemust be reading them. But nothingwould be achieved if I startedthinking whether those things hadreally happened. Hence it was goodthat I placed before you what I hadread in those newspapers. I do notknow if all those things are true. Ifthey are true, they are a matter ofgreat shame for Kathiawar. And if

Thus spoke Mahatma Gandhi

It is a well known fact that on the night of December 22-23, 1949, idols were put under the central domeof the Babri mosque, at Ayodhya by some miscreants and an FIR was lodged by the police constables postedthere at that time. The 1949 violation was a result of premeditated collusion between bigoted sections of thethen ruling Congress party and the local Faizabad bureaucracy led by a deputy commissioner whose blatantpartisanship was proved by his subsequent admission to the Bharatiya Jan Sangh.

Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru expressed his distress at the 1949 incident in a series of letters, toDeputy Prime Minister Vallabhbhai Patel, to Governor-General C. Rajagopalachari, to Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Govind Ballabh Pant and to a close friend K.G. Mashruwala (The Babri Masjid, edited by A.G.Noorani). In a December 26, 1949, telegram to Pant, he presciently described the installation as a “dangerousexample” that will have “bad consequences.” To Mashruwala (letter dated March 5, 1950), Nehru confessedthat the district officer in Faizabad “misbehaved,” further that while UP CM Pant “condemned the act onseveral occasions” he refrained from “taking definite action.” In a letter dated April 17, 1950, to the U.P.Chief Minister, the Prime Minister Nehru poured out his anguish: “… U.P is becoming an almost foreign landto me … I find that communalism has invaded the minds and hearts of those who were the pillars of theCongress in the past. It is a creeping paralysis and the patient does not even realize it ... It seems to me thatfor some reason or other, or perhaps mere political expediency, we have been far too lenient with this disease…”These exchanges conclusively nail the lie that the 1949 installation of idols was an act of faith on the partof the Hindu masses.

In this context here is an important speech delivered by Mahatma Gandhi in Delhi at prayer meeting on27-28th November 1947, well before the Ayodhya controversy erupted.

–Qurban Ali

they are not true, it is a matter ofshame for the newspapers. Thus itis a matter of shame for either side.I have also told you what the Sardarhas to comment on the matter. Hecame today also and told me thatwhatever reports came from therewere not worth mentioning. Theywere highly exaggerated. But thetelegram I have received fromRajkot is worth noting. It is a fairlylong telegram and I would like tomention it to you in brief. After all, Iknow the Muslims of Kathiawar. Ido not know them individually, but Iknow the Khojas, Meenas, Vaghersand some Kumbis among thepeasants, and Mahers. After all, Iwas born there and lived there foralmost 17 years. In fact I lived therefor full 17 years, because I did notgo out to study anywhere. My fathernever sent me anywhere. I

completed my studies there andattended college for a few months,and that too at Bhavnagar. Even forthe examination I could not gobeyond Ahmedabad. That was mycondition. I saw everything thathappened there and, later too, keptcontact with the people by visitingthem. So, the sender of that telegramsays that I am greatly worried ontheir account, and, in turn, my worryhas become their worry. He says itis true that some Hindus inKathiawar had lost their balance, butis there any place where this has nothappened. They resorted to violenceand even harmed some Muslims.They destroyed their houses andeven burnt them down.

But, he says, the Congressmen didnot let the situation go far. They wereunder the leadership of Dhebarbhai.


I know him very well. He wentforward to protect the Muslims andsucceeded to a great extent. Not allHindus were involved in those actsof loot and arson. Had that been thecase, all Muslim houses in Rajkotwould have been set ablaze, therewould have been large-scaleviolence and some people wouldhave been killed. But things did notreach that point. The Congressmenand others took every precaution.Dhebarbhai was abused andmanhandled. Even though he is a bigman and also a lawyer, when themob gets excited all considerationsof big and small are forgotten. Theyharassed him because he was tryingto protect the Muslims. Some peoplewho accompanied Dhebarbhai write,that, though some injury was caused,Dhebarbhai was saved by otherpeople. The telegram also mentionshelp from the Thakore Saheb and thepolice. In that case, who are left tobe suspected of creating the trouble?They say “the Hindu Mahasabhaand the Rashtriya SwayamsevakSangh— these organizations havecertainly done some mischief—theiraim was to drive out the Muslims atleast from Rajkot. However theycould not do so. But now we havenothing more to worry and there isno danger to the Muslims. So youalso should not worry. We arewatching the situation elsewhere tooand we would send you anothertelegram.” I have received atelegram from a Muslim gentlemanfrom the same place. He expresseshis extreme gratitude to theCongressmen and others who triedtheir best to save the life andproperty of the Muslims. But thereis yet another telegram from Bombayalso sent by a Muslim gentleman. Hestates that what I had said earlierabout Kathiawar was correct butwhat I have been told later about itis not correct. That lots of things

have happened there and are stillhappening. I do not know whether Ishould believe the telegram fromBombay or the one from the otherMuslim gentleman. But I doubt thetruth about the telegram fromBombay because it has been sentfrom Bombay, while the other onehas been sent by those who are rightin Kathiawar. Moreover, the peopleof Kathiawar cannot deceive me.Where would they escape afterdeceiving me? Hence I feel that thetelegram from Bombay gives anexaggerated version. The actualsituation would be known to me indue course. For the present, let meat least put all this before you.

There is also a telegram fromBhavnagar. It is from the Maharajaof Bhavnagar. I know him too,because I have lived there for threeor four months. So he felt concernedabout me and wondered why I wasso much worried. He has said in thetelegram that I need not worry. Hesays that they are all vigilant. TheHindus also are vigilant. They wouldnot let any harm come to the Muslimsand I should have no doubt at allabout it But there is a telegram fromJunagadh sent by some Muslims.They say that I am being deceived,and I should set up a commission andinquire whether the Muslims arebeing harassed or not. Similartelegrams have also been sent toJawaharlal, the Sardar and others. Iwould like to say that it is not possibleto appoint a commission for anythingand everything. Setting up acommission is no joke. Where is theneed for having a commission eventhough some harm might have beendone? As for Kathiawar, I am like acommission myself. If anythingcomes to my notice, I can check it. Ican handle the Princes as well asthe people of Kathiawar. I do notclaim to succeed in everything I

undertake or that they abide byeverything I say. But is notKathiawar the same as Bihar? Ifsomeone wants me to set up acommission in Bihar, do you think Iwould oblige? I am at their disposalmyself. People there love me andlisten to me. And so, it would not beproper to set up any commissionthere. I have also received severalletters from the Muslims in Rajkot.Many of them are friendly with theHindus and also happy with theCongress. Then, who belongs to theHindu Mahasabhaand theRashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh? Ican have no enmity towards them.They think theirs is the only way ofsaving Hinduism. But I believe thatHinduism will not be saved in thatmanner. They believe in violentopposition to those who commit anevil act. But I would ask how fightingan evil by another evil will help. Wehave got our own Government. Takeit to task and demand an explanationas to why such things are happening.Moreover, our Government is vigilantand it is trying its best. And so I wouldlike to tell the Hindu Mahasabhaand also the RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sangh—bo th a reHindu organizations and manyinfluential and educated people areassociated with them as in otherorganizations—that they cannot saveHinduism in this manner. Is it truethat they have harassed theMuslims? If not, who has? TheCongress has not harassed them, norhas either of the Governments doneit. Who then are the other Hinduswho did it?

Today all the Hindus and Sikhs areto be blamed for this just as inPakistan all the Muslims are to beblamed, and rightly so. That is why Iwould suggest that those who areinnocent and yet are accused shouldclear their names. The Muslims in


Junagadh can get justice if theywant. Why then should we set up acommission? Having talked about thesituation there let me also talk aboutthe situation here. The Sardar hasmade some arrangements and he isgoing to protect all the mosques wehave here. You must have read thenotice sent by him in the newspapersthat the occupied premises of themosques should be vacated in aweek’s time otherwise they will bevacated with the help of the police.But I ask you what will he gain bysending the police? If some Hindushave installed an idol in somemosque—the idol may be of gold orsilver or brass or earth or stone—but it is said, and I also believe, thatso long as it has not been sanctifiedand not worshipped by pure hands,in my view it is not an idol but a merepiece of stone or gold.

Such idols have been installed inthe mosque at the corner ofConnaught Place (in New Delhi). Inmy view, there is no Hanuman inthose idols. To me it is a mere pieceof stone which has been shaped likeHanuman and to which somesindoor has also been applied. In myview it is not worthy of worship. Itcan be worshipped only if it islegitimately installed and sanctified.But all this was not done. Hence itis the duty of those who haveinstalled the idols to remove themfrom there at daybreak and thenkeep them wherever they choose.By thus installing idols in themosques they are desecrating themosques and also insulting the idols.As followers of Hinduism we areidol-worshippers, but worshippingany idol in this manner is not religionbut the opposite of it. So, why shouldthe Sardar send the police there?Those who are Hindus among youshould become watchmen andremove the idols so installed. We

should offer to repair the mosqueswhich have been damaged. But theSardar says that the Governmentwould bear the expenses of therepairs of those mosques. Whyshould the Government do it? Is itnot because we are not doing itourselves? The Government has toprotect everybody. But it would bea matter of shame for us all—Sikhsand Hindus today.

Of course I have not heard aboutany Sikh having installed the idols,for the Sikhs have only one idol or,say, the holy treatise, that is, theGranthsaheb. I have not known ofany Sikh having kept theGranthsaheb in any mosque. Evenif any of them has done so he hasinsulted the Granthsaheb. TheGranthsaheb can be kept only in aGurudwara. Only the holy Sikhskeep it on a high pedestal afternicely decorating it. Somebody likeme would wrap it in a nice khadicloth. But today, even though peopledo not think in terms of swadeshi orforeign things we do manufacturebeautiful woolens and silks by hand.If we spread such silk cloth andkeep the Granthsaheb on it, it wouldbe worthy of worship. And if anySikh goes and keeps it in a mosque,he insults the Granthsaheb and thenit cannot be worthy of worship. AMuslim gentleman came to see metoday. I could not make out what hewanted to say. But he was holding acopy of the Koran which was halfburnt. Even that was sacred for himand so he had wrapped it in a veryclean cloth. He opened the cloth andshowed the burnt Koran to me. Hedid not say anything but looked atme with tearful eyes and then wentaway. He talked a few things withBrajkishan, since I was busy with mywork. Similarly, if any Muslim comeshere and installs the Koran here andbeats you and me up, I would say

Janata Subscription

Annual Rs. : 260/-

Three Years : 750/-


on

Mumbai Bank

in favour of



that he is insulting the Koran. TheKoran does not ordain that peopleshould be compelled to accept it.That is why I very respectfully wishto tell the Hindu Mahasabhaandthe Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sanghand others who wish to listen to meand also the Sikhs that the Sikhs aregreat and if they turn good andbecome true followers of GuruNanak, the Hindus would thenautomatically become good. I havegreat respect for the Sikhs in myheart but today, everybody, whetherHindu or Sikh is going astray andIndia is being destroyed. Are wegoing to drag India into dust afterraising her high? Are we going todestroy our religion, ourachievements and our country? MayGod save us from all this.

[From Hindi] Vide “Speech atPrayer Meeting”, 27-11-1947 and“Speech at Prayer Meeting”, 28-11-1947. Prarthana Pravachan—II, pp. 144-50.(Abridged)

The Collected Works ofMahatma Gandhi

Vol. 97: 27 September, 1947 - 5December, 1947


An article by Dinyar Patel thatappeared on BBC News-India onJune 11, 2016 is heartrending. In thefamine in Orissa in 1866 one millionpeople perished. All due to thepolicies of the British colonial rulers.What a shame that we all haveforgotten this tragedy. We salute thegreat Dadabhai Naoroji, President,Indian National Congress and thefirst Indian Member of the BritishHouse of Commons, to haveseriously investigated into the issuesof Indian poverty. We also salute thegreat nationalist and historianRamesh Chandra Datt, alsoPresident of the INC who thoroughlyexposed the British misrule. In thisarticle he has been quoted as follows:

“By 1901, Romesh Chunder Dutt,another leading nationalist,enumerated 10 mass famines sincethe 1860s, setting the total death tollat a whopping 15 million. Indians werenow so poor - and the government soindifferent in its response - that, hestated, “every year of drought was ayear of famine.”

Forgotten history of misrule of British Raj in india


It is a pity that afterIndependence the Government ofIndia decided to remain in the BritishCommonwealth by dropping theword ‘British’ and even todaycontinues to acknowledge the Britishmonarch as the Head ofCommonwealth. It was a BritishLabour Party MP, Fenner Brockway,who strongly urged India to leave theCommonwealth. I read his brilliantarticle in the Congress Socialist Partyweekly Janata in 1948. We continueto pay homage to the British monarchand yet claim to be a free country.Burma severed all links with Britainin 1948 under the leadership of Gen.Aung Sain, father of Nobel laureateSuu Kyi Aung Sain.

The cruelties of the Britishcolonial rulers are galore.Jallianwala Bagh is a permanentblot on the British rule. I rememberthe man-created Bengal famine of1943 when my revered mother, aselfless social worker, organisedcommendable relief work for Bengalfamine victims in our small eastern

“In modern-day Orissa state, theworst hit region, one out of everythree people perished, a mortalityrate far more staggering than thatcaused by the Irish Potato Famine.

“Famine, while no stranger to thesubcontinent, increased in frequencyand deadliness with the advent ofBritish colonial rule.

The East India Company helpedkill off India’s once-robust textileindustries, pushing more and more

UP town Basti. The shamelessBritish Government neverapologised to the Indian people fortheir cruel deeds. What prevents usfrom giving up this vestige of thecolonial rule? Cannot we do it evennow? But we perhaps cannot expectany such self-respecting step frompeople like Narasimha Rao,Manmohan Singh, Narendra Modiwho feel happy inbeing chamchas of their newmasters, the United States ofAmerica. Even in recent years morethan 3,00,000 kisans have committedsuicide due to highly discriminatorypolicies of World Bank andInternational Monetary Fund whichare nothing but appendages of theUS Govt. For serious droughtsituation in parts of Maharashtraand some other States and perennialscarcity areas of Orissa our Centraland State Governments aresquarely responsible thoughindirectly to an extent theexploitative US Government, WBand IMF cannot absolve themselvesof their complicity.

people into agriculture. This, in turn,made the Indian economy much moredependent on the whims of seasonalmonsoons.

“It can, we fear, no longer beconcealed that we are on the eve ofa period of general scarcity,”announced the Englishman, aCalcutta newspaper, in late 1865.

“The Indian and British presscarried reports of rising prices,dwindling grain reserves, and the

desperation of peasants no longerable to afford rice.

“All of this did little to stir thecolonial administration into action. Inthe mid-19th Century, it was commoneconomic wisdom that governmentintervention in famines wasunnecessary and even harmful. Themarket would restore a properbalance. Any excess deaths,according to Malthusian principles,were nature’s way of responding tooverpopulation.

The following are some more excerpts from the BBC News article:


“On a flying visit to Orissa inFebruary 1866, Cecil Beadon, thecolonial governor of Bengal (whichthen included Orissa), staked out asimilar position. “Such visitations ofprovidence as these no governmentcan do much either to prevent oralleviate,” he pronounced.

“Regulating the skyrocketing grainprices would risk tampering with thenatural laws of economics. “If Iwere to attempt to do this,” thegovernor said, “I should considermyself no better than a dacoit orthief.” With that, Mr Beadondeserted his emaciated subjects inOrissa and returned to Kolkata(Calcutta) and busied himself withquashing privately funded reliefefforts.

“In May 1866, it was no longereasy to ignore the mountingcatastrophe in Orissa. Britishadministrators in Cuttack foundtheir troops and police officersstarving. The remaining inhabitantsof Puri were carving out trenchesin which to pile the dead. “Formiles round you heard their yellfor food,” commented oneobserver.

“As more chilling accountstrickled into Calcutta and London,Mr Beadon made a belated attemptto import rice into Orissa. It was,with cruel irony, hindered by anoverabundant monsoon andflooding. Relief was too little, toolate, too rotten. Orissans paid withtheir lives for bureaucratic foot-dragging.

“For years, a rising generation ofwestern-educated Indians hadalleged that British rule was grosslyimpoverishing India. The Orissafamine served as eye-popping proofof this thesis. It prompted one early

nationalist, Dadabhai Naoroji, tobegin his lifelong investigations intoIndian poverty.

ndated picture of Indian faminevictims

“As the famine abated in early1867, Mr Naoroji sketched out theearliest version of his “draintheory”—the idea that Britain wasenriching itself by literally suckingthe lifeblood out of India.

“Security of life and property wehave better in these times, no doubt,”he conceded. “But the destruction

of a million and a half lives in onefamine is a strange illustration of theworth of the life and property thussecured.”

“His point was simple. India hadenough food supplies to feed thestarving - why had the governmentinstead let them die? While Orissansperished in droves in 1866, MrNaoroji noted that India had actuallyexported over 200m pounds of riceto Britain. He discovered a similarpattern of mass exportation duringother famine years. “Good God,” MrNaoroji declared, “when will thisend?”

being wooed by all political parties.She has said that her party would goit alone and there is every possibilitythat she might return with a majority.Her advantage is that the Dalit voterobediently follows her instruction.She is the only one who can get theDalit votes transferred to some othercommunity. Even though theCongress has traditionally fought forsocial justice, Mahatma Gandhi wasthe only leader who believed in givingequal status to the Dalits. True, theydid not like the title “Harijan” (sonsof God) given by him because theythought it was too patronizing.

Dr Rajendra Prasad after finishinghis task as the president of theconstituent assembly was appointedas the food minister. He went toGandhiji to seek his advice on hisaccommodation. The Mahatma, whowas living then ina bhangi (sweeper) colony told himto live in the cottage next to the onehe was residing. Dr Rajendra Prasadwas so horrified over the idea thathe went to the then Prime Minister,Jawaharlal Nehru and complained onGandhiji’s suggestion.

No legislation is going to help, ashas been India’s experience.Ultimately, it depends on the uppercastes to change their attitude. Theybelieve in democracy but not inequality which is the integral part ofthe system. People in the world feelhard to believe that the countrywhich has sent rocket to the Mars,something which the advancedcountries envy, practisediscrimination against human beings.

Their horror is glaring when theysee that a democratic country wherepeople queue before the ballot boxto choose their leader cannot getover the prejudice which they haveinherited from the time even beforethe British who divided the societycaste-wise and religion-wise to maketheir rule easy.

Whatever parliament does toeliminate this malady will not helpuntil the upper castes realize thatwhat they are doing is against thedemocratic polity which they cherish.The sooner this realization takesplace, the better it would be for thecountry and its polity.



Dear Prof. Laski,

“As the newspapers of mycountry have not yet learnt to cutthe question hour in yourParliament, I have to trouble youover something you would knownothing about. The Under-Secretary for State, India, Mr.Arthur Henderson, has said that Ihave made unfounded allegations inrespect of my detention in theLahore Fort. “I doubt if the Under-Secretary knows what myaccusation is. The amazing thing isthe repose with which the BritishGovernment has asked my countryto dismiss my accusation when, inpractice, it has made some veryawkward though successfulattempts at suppressing itspublication. Aside from odd bits, mycountry does not to this day knowof what I have accused theGovernment. While still a prisonerin the Lahore Fort, but after I wasallowed to write to the High Court,I made a Habeas Corpus applicationin December 1944, andsupplemented it with somewhatfuller details in January 1945. Whenthe hearing was held, the Judgeordered it to be secret. TheGovernment had earlier taken anadded precaution and banned, underone Ordinance or another, allreference in the newspapers to thisHabeas Corpus case. At thehearing, the Judge declared hisintention to go into the merits of myapplication and I was examined onoath, and they were on the way toenquiring into my accusation, whenhe accepted the IndianGovernment’s plea that I was under

Letter to H. J. Laski Central Jail, Agra (No date)

orders of transfer to anotherprovince and the proceedings werescotched. In the order dismissingmy applications, the Judge also feltthat the ‘sole motive’ of the IndiaGovernment in detaining me was notto torture me. I regret I am unableto give you the exact wording ofthis strange order. I may add that Iwas arrested in Bombay in May1944, and kept there for a month.If it was the Government’s intentionto secure the King’s peace, thatcould have been very well achievedby continuing to hold me in theBombay jail or taking me to anotheras now, in my home province, theUnited Provinces. In respect ofprisoners ill-treated in the LahoreFort, the Punjab Government hasoften amused the country bypassing the responsibility on to theGovernment of India. The BritishUnder-Secretary has now almostpassed it back to the PunjabGovernment.

So far as it concerns me, theGovernment of India is the culprit,for I have been its prisoner in law asin fact and recurrent orders for myill-treatment emanated from it, andthe Punjab Government is anassociate in crime. No Governmentin your country could so interferewith Justice or shirk a criminalcharge against it. On my transfer tothis jail, I made an application to theFederal Court, but the Chief Justiceof India felt that he had no jurisdictionof any sort. After several months’delay, I have succeeded in contactingmy lawyer Mr. Madanlal Pittie, butI do not know how much longer itwould be before he is supplied with

copies of my applications to theLahore High Court. These wereseized from me on my transfer fromLahore to Agra.

I do not intend to detail to you myrather long experience in the LahoreFort. Should your ParliamentaryParty or any of its members begenuinely interested, they couldeasily obtain the two applications tothe Lahore High Court and the thirdto the Federal Court as courtdocuments. I must add that theseapplications are a definiteunderstatement of what I had to gothrough. In the first place, I haveavoided mention of vulgarities and,in the second, the short scope of acourt application and inadequatetalents would have made me sounddramatic, if I had tried tocommunicate the dull but ugly crueltyas I felt it. I had hoped that thehearing in the court would bring itout more fully. I would here indicatethat I was ill-treated in one way oranother for over four months, that Iwas kept awake day after day, nightafter night, the longest single stretchrunning into ten days; and that, whenI resisted the police in their effortsto make me stand, they wheeled meround on my manacled hands on thematted floor. It took me some timeto learn as a physical feat, and alesson I should like never to forget,that no pain is actually unbearable;it has either been unbearable in thepast, but then the man is insensibleor dead, or it appears to beunbearable as an imagined state ofthe next moment. “It is true that Iwas not beaten nor were needlessdriven under toe-nails. I do not wish


to make comparisons. A European,more than another, with his bettersensibility to the human body and ifhe is not dulled with horrors, mayrealise what I underwent. But,beating and bastinadoing to death ornear about it and forcing the humanmouth to considerable atrocities—these and worse have also takenplace. I will give you one or twoinstances, as readily come to mymind.

One man swallowed poison in apolice outpost of the BombayProvince, another threw himselfdown a well in a United Provincesjail; and of those who died throughbeating or illtreatment after theirarrest, there is no checking upexcept that in one Orissa jail out ofover 300 in the country, the numberof deaths among political prisonersrose to around 29 or 39—I cannotexactly recollect. My country hasgone through a great deal in thepast three and a half years. Menhave been shot dead by thethousand, some out of movingvehicles as a test of marksmanshipor to instil terror, women have beenstrung up on trees and lacerated orraped on the public road, and housesrazed in the Lidice or Becassifashion, though not as intensive ina single area but in the total vasterby the score. This is not surprising.Once it is understood that thecountry was reconquered in terrorand vengefulness, the fact thatnothing more massive than theAugust Rebellion is known tomodern history explains itself. Threeto four million died in the createdfamine. Already there was beatingof an another kind fifteen years ago.My father, who died in a bus twoweeks back, was beatenunconscious in the wholly peacefulraid of the Dharsana Salt Depot.

Aside from my regret that we hadnot enough time together, it is aswell that he is freed fromsuccessive imprisonments andworse in his own country, and fromthe oppressive sense of a nation’ssuffering that goes with these.

I have given you the nationalpicture to fit into it my ownexperience as very small bit. TheBritish Labour Movement, as anyother socialist movement, has beenerring, because it views foreign ruleon the ground of democracy orfascism or other political forms athome. If pre-conceived notions arecast away, it is just possible thatthe British system of ruling mycountry may be found to be slightlyworse than any other, or it may beslightly better. That would dependon one’s understanding of facts. Noone would deny that British rule inHindustan has, as a young brute,been heinously atrocious. It is againbecoming so, now that it is declininginto an aging ogre. The middleperiod of secured andcomparatively orderly rule is gonebeyond recall. I do not know if it isat all possible to prevent or even tomitigate the ugly doings of this ogre.But this I know that the BritishLabour Movement will not evenhave made an attempt, if ittheorises foreign rule on any otherview than that of bloody youth andcrueller decline, with the middleperiod, at any rate in my country,dead and gone. In face of all this,the Under-Secretary has had thebrass to call me a liar.

All Governments, as known toeverybody, tell lies on the plane ofhigh policy, but when a Governmentdoes so at the level of persons andminor things, it must be whollymucked. Isn’t there one man in the

Parliamentary Labour Party who canbring this out? Should it be said thatthe doers of these atrocities are inlarge numbers my own countrymenin British employ? I do not deny thatthere is a great deal of rottenness inmy country and that is what makesit so galling, but the Englishmanthinks he would not be here unlesshe made use of it.

Miss Usha Mehta’s case

Not wanting to release me, theUnder-Secretary has also said thatthe Government is considering thequestion of my prosecution. I amnow under detention for over a yearand a half, apart from myimprisonment of two years early inthe war, and if the Government hasnot yet completed considering thisquestion, it may as well go on doingso indefinitely. There is a youngwoman in a Bombay jail, Miss UshaMehta, perhaps the only womanpolitical in the jails of that province,who is doing a term of four yearsfor running a freedom radio. I amnot quarrelling with her sentence,although, had this young woman ofrare attainment and rare couragebeen Spanish or Russian, yourcountrymen would have glamorisedher into a heroine. She was heldunder detention for a year and forseveral months more as an under-trial, so that, if this judicial lapse hadnot taken place, she might have wellcompleted her term and be out now.I might add that her trial and that ofher colleagues was banned from thenewspapers.

Of the eight to ten thousandpolitical prisoners, a large number ofwhom are classified as ordinarycriminals, almost the entire lot areheld in prison, aside from the inherentinequity of their sentence or


detention owing to one lapse oranother even under the existing law.A few days back, ten persons servinglife terms were released, because theAllahabad High Court found theyhad been convicted on the evidenceof an ‘unmitigated liar’.

Jayaprakash Narayan

Mr. Jayaprakash Narayan,General Secretary of the SocialistParty, is now under detention for overtwo years, apart from his earlierconviction and detention of nearlythree years, and the IndiaGovernment, on its own declaration,has been considering the question ofhis prosecution ever since his arrest.It will presumably go on consideringthe question, meanwhile holding himin prison.

I do not know what kind of ananswer Mr. Leopold Amery wouldhave returned, had he been askedabout my detention and presumingthat he had still wanted to hold mein prison. I like to think that hewould have taken his stand on theusurper’s unhedged power andwould have just said that I wasdetained under the laws of the land,whatever they might be. That wouldhave been better than a LabourUnder- Secretary’s screening of abad deed.

The Government is afraid ofplacing us on trial and it will continueto be so a freighted. Our trial mayend up in its own trial. Except forthe Indo-Russians, no one canpossibly think that we have workedfor Axis victory in intention or evenin the unintended results of ourdeeds. In fact, Mr. JayaprakashNarayan had wanted that an appealbe sent from the Freedom Press ofthis country to the British Socialist

Movement, but I felt that therewas not at that time a worthyenough head of the movementnor any actively favourable elementto whom such an appeal could besent.

Then the charge is levelled againstus that we have tried to achieve ouraim through violence. It is a vaguecharge and as such has no validityin law nor a place in any coherentpolitical discussion. The drawing ofthe line between violence andnonviolence as a method of politicalendeavour is an essentially Indianbeginning and is wholly distinct fromthe accepted opposition betweenconstitutional and unconstitutionalmeans. It must, therefore, awaitrecognition, until, if at all, the IndianNational Congress is able to createa State with its politics. Such anevent will also radically alter theconcept of Government and itsobligations. Meanwhile, it does notlie in the mouth of the BritishGovernment or of any other, to throwabout this charge, for the right toviolence is, in the dominated world,linked up with some of the finestefforts of man. If I were to followthe British Prime Minister, Mr.Clement Attlee, or the Archbishopof Canterbury, I would have to callit the sacred right to violence. Forthe rest, the Indian Penal Code isdrastic enough, more drastic than anynow prevalent. There is ghastlyprovision in it against the politicalkind of killing, or the very vaguestassociation with it, or sedition, or themere owning of arms. I have notbeen put up for trial on any of thesecounts, nor the many hundreds, whohave been detained almostthroughout the war and are still inprison several months after the lastfascist was let out in your owncountry.

In lending the smallestcountenance to Government’s pleathat everybody still in prison is aSocialist and advocate of violence,the British Socialist is deliberatelyenabling the British Fascist in thiscountry to work out his lawless ireagainst the Indian Socialist.

If Mr. Stephen Davies, a memberof your Parliamentary Party, thoughtit worthwhile to question the Under-Secretary about me he should alsohave acquired necessary informationto bring out through supplementarieshow inept and unworthy the answerwas. Questions asked in a hurry andin pursuit of an unpleasing duty or tocreate illusion are worse than noquestions at all. For the present, atany rate, I have little desire forrelease and there is no urgency ofany sort whatever. The BritishGovernment is welcome to hold mein prison as long as it lasts in thiscountry. But the fact remains thatthere was not one man in yourParliamentary Party who could tellthe Secretary with facts that he waslying, that he has not so far, nor shall,put me up for trial, that he did hishabitual screening to make mydetention more palatable to thestupid.

All writing from a slave countryto the ruler’s land is largelyineffectual, and wearies, but I hopeyou have not asked yourself why Ihave not addressed this letter to yourParliamentary Party.

Please accept my warmgreetings.

Yours sincerely,

Rammanohar Lohia.

(From The Price of Liberty,Edited by Yusuf Meharally)


Every one born is deemed tobelong to a religion and a caste.Similarly every individual is supposedto belong to some political party orother. We cannot, or not willing to,think of politics without parties.Strangely, there is no mention ofpolitical parties in our constitution asdrafted originally and also in theconstitution of the USA. It is not thatthe framers of the constitution werenot aware of the existence of politicalparties at that time. There werepolitical parties even before theconstitution was written and while itwas being written. But the partiesdid not find a place in the constitutionas it was originally finalized andadopted on 26th January, 1950. Itmust have been a deliberateomission.

We, at present, are not able tothink of politics without parties.When they are so fundamental forpolitical practice, why did theconstituent assembly refused to givethem a place in the constitution? Itis felt necessary to raise thisquestion because the parties areintroduced into the constitution witheffect from 1 March 1985 by the 51st

amendment. The need for it and itsjustification is to be verified in thelight of the latest judicial decisionsof the highest court of the country.

In the course of judicial review,the validity of any law passed by thelegislature and anything done by theexecutive is tested against theconstitution. But when theconstitution itself is amended, thereis no reference frame to verify thevalidity of it. The doctrine of basic

Political parties and our Constitution

Jawaharlal Jasthi

structure is invented for the purpose.The judicial review of laws by thecourts is considered one of the basicstructures of the constitution. But thevery first amendment restricted thatright by opening the Ninth Schedule.At that time the doctrine was notinvented and in spite of objectionsfrom some of the judges, it wasdeclared valid by the court. Thecourts accepted it and continue tohonor it even after the doctrine isapplied later. That first amendmenthas changed the basic structure ofthe constitution radically. The changeitself is now the part of basicstructure.

Giving constitutional recognition tothe political parties also is such achange that has shattered the basicstructure of the constitution. It hasalso made real democracyimpossible by replacingrepresentatives of people withrepresentatives of the politicalparties. Even the Representation ofPeople Act, one of the earliest Actspassed, did not contain anyreference to political parties. PartIVA was added to the Act after theNinth Schedule was added to theconstitution. It replaced people withpolitical parties. This is clearly againstthe intentions of those 300intellectuals, who framed theconstitution after deliberating fornearly three years. If they wereconvinced of the need for politicalparties, they would have mentionedso at the time of constituting theCouncil of Ministers. Art.75(1) of theconstitution states that “The PrimeMinister shall be appointed by thePresident and the other Ministers

shall be appointed by the Presidenton the advice of the Prime Minister.”What is the criterion for thePresident to appoint the PrimeMinister? Can it be an arbitrarychoice? Why is it not stated directlythat the person enjoying the supportof majority of elected members shallbe appointed as Prime Minister?Art.75(3) states that “The Councilof Ministers shall be collectivelyresponsible to the House of thePeople.” Nowhere is it mentioned asa party in majority or a party inopposition. Political party ismentioned in Art.75(1B) which isintroduced after the Tenth Schedulewas added to the constitution.Similar provision is made underArt.164 in regard to the constitutionof the Council of Ministers for thestates.

Party affiliation is considered tobe an essential requirement for amember of legislature which isnegation of his character as arepresentative of the people.Art.102(2) states that “A personshall be disqualified for being amember of either House ofParliament if he is so disqualifiedunder the Tenth Schedule.” Similarprovision is made under Art.191(2)in regard to members of statelegislatures. What is this TenthSchedule that has become soeffective that it can override themain provisions of the constitution?In the normal drafting process, aschedule is supposed to serve as anadjunct to the main provision in theAct. Usually it may contain somedetails of procedures orexplanations. But here the main part


of the legislation is incorporated inthe Tenth Schedule and the mainprovisions are sought to be changedto fall in line with it. How strange!The tail is wagging the dog.

A need was felt to regulate thebehavior of members elected to thelegislature and it is shown as ajustification for the provisions madein the Tenth Schedule. The needitself arose because of someerroneous presumptions that wereallowed to rule the body politic ofthe country against the will of theframers of the constitution. Theconstitution did not say that the PrimeMinister shall be selected based onhis support in the House. He, alongwith his Council of Ministers, shallbe responsible to the House. It isimplied that he shall have the supportof the majority of members in theHouse. It was never the intention thatthe majority must belong to a party.It was not the intention that aparticular group of members hold theHouse under their control. It is notdemocracy. The government has todeal with so many problems andsolutions are to be proposed. Thosewho support the government on oneissue may not support in all otherissues. That is their prerogative. Onother issues, some other memberswill support the government. It mayinclude some of the originalmembers and some new memberswho opposed the government on theearlier issue. What is wrong in it? Itdepends on the nature of the problemand its effect on the people whomthey represent. Just because theproposal of the government was notapproved by the legislature, thegovernment need not fall. If thegovernment is persistently doingthings not acceptable to the membersin general, they can bring a ‘noconfidence motion’ and get a newgovernment. But such a situation is

not allowed in our system all thesedays. A change in the stand of amember is taken as a defiance ofthe party to which he is supposed tobelong. This gave rise to the slogan:“Aya Ram, Gaya Ram”. It led tohorse trading and a change in thegovernment and started instability.That is because the members are notallowed to express their preferenceson the various issues freely. Andwhat is wrong if there is frequentchange in government? At one stage,there were changes of governmentwithin three months in Italy. But thatcondition did not last long. Peoplelearnt the lesson and the system gotstabilized. The real merit andjustification for democracy is that thepeople get the government theydeserve. They learn only if they areallowed to learn.

The elected members aresupposed to be members of apolitical party and are expected totow the line of the party. How is itdemocracy? A strange logic isadopted to sanctify the subordinationto the party. The members contestthe election as representatives of theparty and so they must act accordingto the dictates of the party. By thatthe members became representativesof the party and ceased to representthe people who elected them. In fact,the people are supposed to haveelected the party and not thecandidate. That concept was givenhold even if there is no base for it inthe constitution in the name ofpracticability.

Here the nature of a political partyhas to be studied. The party issupposed to consist of members whohave a common program on thevarious issues that face the countryand the program is the basis for thepeople to vote to the candidates ofthat party. The various political

parties are supposed to havedifferent programs. That itself is amyth. There is less differencebetween the programs of the parties,nothing to choose from. Moreover,they never try to fulfill the promisesmade in the programs, manifestos.They promise the heaven knowingfully well that it is an impossibility.People know it as well and they votebased on other considerations. Thepurpose in forming a party is to cometo power. The basic conviction is thatthey cannot do anything unless thereis power in the hands. Many morethings can be done if there is powerin hands. To get the power it isnecessary to form a group of peoplewho are willing to contribute to theirphilosophy. There is no party inwhich the members have ahomogeneous outlook. The maincriterion is the possibility of comingto power. If the party has nopossibility to come to power, themember discards it and joins theparty which is in power or which hasmore possibility to come to power.That is why the floor crossinghappens. The reason is that there isnothing like a commitment to anyparticular theory or program ofaction.

In fact the comprehensiveprogram of a party, if any, put beforethe electorate, confuses the voter.An ordinary voter is not concernedwith many of the areas covered inthe manifesto. The common man inthe village is not concerned with theforeign policy or with nuclearagreements. He is concerned morewith the local issues, which affecthim closely. In fact, he may find someaspects that are not to his liking andsome to his liking. In such a situationwhat is he expected to do? When hevotes for a candidate in election, heis not voting for all the points in themanifesto. But he votes as there is


no alternative. Similar is the casewith the elected member. He findsthat what the government isproposing is quite reasonable andcould be supported, but his party isagainst it for no other reason exceptthat they are not in the government.The party has its own plans and itsown way of dealing with thegovernment. The main aim is tocome to power and to create thesituation favorable for that. Themember knows that it is wrong. Buthe is not allowed to express hisopinion. That is the result of givingrecognition to political parties. Thatis now constitutionally valid. It strikesat the very root of democracy. It hasshattered the basic structure of theconstitution itself.

It is usually argued that partiesmake it possible to devise a basis forgovernment and seek the approvalof the people for it. Even if they arenot in power they form an alternativeand make the party in power behave.That is the fundamental mistake inunderstanding democracy. Theproblems will not remain the same,the same solutions will not hold goodin all circumstances. New problemsarise. New solutions have to bedevised. The situation is dynamic.The party refuses to take note of itwhile the elected member is capableof it. He must be allowed to reflecthis opinion, the intention of the peoplewho elected him. It is not the partythat the voter chooses. It is thecandidate that is visible andanswerable to him.

By recognizing the parties,opportunity is given to make politicsa career. It legitimized the collectionof money, black and green, andaccumulate funds in the name ofparty. Money is the cement for theedifice of the party. Families like“political families” have come into

existence. If politics is allowed as acareer, naturally a tendencydevelops to get himself perpetuatedin the career line. The son of a doctortends to become a doctor, becausethe facilities are made readilyavailable. The son of an advocatetends to become an advocate for thesame reason. So also the son of apolitician. Politics is family business.It is a career, not a service. Theentire picture of politics is changed.It is an area of struggle for existenceand efficiency in perpetuatingthemselves in the field. No othervalues stand in the way.

You cannot forbid the formationof political parties. It is part offundamental right to formassociations. It is true. It is notnecessary to forbid the formation ofparties. Let them have any numberof parties and any sort of regulations.But they shall not be allowed to rulethe legislature. What the TenthSchedule did is exactly that. TheSchedule recognizes the right ofparties to issue “whips” and themembers are supposed to follow thedictates of the party. Instead of theelected members, the parties areinvolved in the legislation processwith constitutional support. Bydefying the whip of the party, themember is losing not only themembership of the party but also themembership of the legislature whichis unwarranted and beyondcomprehension by any logic. It helpsthe government to be partisan andretain its power even after losing thesupport of majority of members.Because, all the members of theparty that is supporting thegovernment are not happy with it, butare not allowed to express theirreservations. The democratic natureof the legislature is destroyed. It isagainst the fundamental feature ofthe constitution. It is agreed that

democracy is the most fundamentalpart of the basic structure of theconstitution and the same is nowallowed to be destroyed.

In this respect, the systemfollowed by the Americans appearsto be pragmatic. The candidates areallowed to contest elections in thename of parties. But the electedmembers are free to vote on thevarious issues according to theirown preference. Parties do notinterfere. In fact many of the billsintroduced by private members aresponsored by two members eachbelonging to one of the two parties.It frequently happens that the billproposed by the government isopposed by some of the membersof the same party and supported bysome of the other party. It getspassed and becomes an Act. Thereare many Acts that are passed likethat. The merit is that parties are notallowed to dictate the members onhow to vote on the various issues.They remain the representatives ofthe people of their constituencies. Atworst, they may play for their owninterests at times, but that does notamount to much.

This right given to partiesbecomes more sinister as the lawdoes not exercise any right toregulate or control the parties. Evenwhen the parties were asked toreveal information about the fundsreceived and spent by them, theyclaimed exemption from theprovisions of the Right ToInformation Act (RTI) and thegovernment stood helpless. That isbecause the government itselfbelongs to a party and depends onthe support of parties and not ofmembers themselves. If the whip isnot recognized on the floor of thelegislature, by defying the whip themember may lose the party


membership at the most, but not themembership of the legislature whichis his constitutional right. Even whenall the conditions prescribed in theTenth Schedule for disqualifying amember are fulfilled, the Speakermay refuse to announce thedisqualification. Nobody can doanything as he has the support of themajority party in the House and the

proceedings of the legislature cannotbe questioned in any court. That iswhat is happening in most of thelegislatures now. The recognition topolitical parties by virtue of the TenthSchedule has undermined theindependence of the electedmembers and made themsubordinates to the respectiveparties. The democratic nature of the

elected body is undermined. It ismore regrettable that the judiciarythat has invented and adopted thedoctrine of basic structure sozealously, did not care to raise anyobjection to the Ninth Schedule orto the Tenth Schedule which haveundermined the very basicdemocratic structure of theconstitution.


middle class that emerged in thecourse of enforcement of neo-liberal economic, political andcultural model. The neo-liberal andthe fascist agenda of the party inpower are through in this policydocument of the government andthere is an all out attack on theconstitutional values andprescriptions.

People of this country cannot takethese attacks unprotected. ‘We thepeople of India’ should defeat it andproceed further to achieve abolitionof commercialisation of education

and establishment of commoneducation system fully funded bystate and administered indecentralized and participativedemocratic mode. We should fightfor a common education system thatstands against all inequalities basedon economic capacity, caste, religion,belief, language, culture, gender andnormal body and consider diversityas the potentiality of the country. Weshall fight for free, equal and qualityeducation for all from KG to PG andResearch. We shall fight againstage-old bigotry and stand forscientific temperament. India has got

diversified and rich cultures andlanguages and education systemshould stand for all that. Educationsystem should work for lessening allinequalities and democratizing alldiversities and shall stand as a socialprocess for radical reconstruction ofsociety on the basis of equality andsocial justice. We shall work forbuilding a democratic, secular,egalitarian, scientific and enlightenededucation system rooted in socio-cultural, religious and linguisticplurality of India, in consonance withthe values enshrined in the preambleof the constitution.

R.N.I. NO. 1855/1957 16 JANATA, August 7, 2016Postal Registration No. MCW/275/2015-2017.

License to Post without prepayment WPP License No. MH/Tech/WPP-210/West/2016Published on Sunday, August 7, 2016 & Posted on Wedenesday August 10, 2016 at Mumbai Patrika Channel, Mumbai GPO-1


REGD. OFFICE :



Tel.: 022 2205 1231 Fax : 022-2205 1232



Price : Rupees Five

Vol. 71 No. 29August 14, 2016




Mumbai - 400 007.


Brief note on NEPRamesh Patnaik

British Raj in india


Rammanohar Lohia

Political parties andour ConstitutionJawaharlal Jasthi

Mahatma Gandhi's Speech

“The All India CongressCommittee has given the mostcareful consideration to thereference made to it by the WorkingCommittee in their resolution datedJuly 14, 1942, and to subsequentevents, including the development ofthe war situation, the utterances ofresponsible spokesman of the BritishGovernment, and the comments andcriticisms made in India and abroad.The Committee approves of andendorses that resolution and is of theopinion that events subsequent to ithave given it further justification, andhave made it clear that theimmediate ending of British rule inIndia is an urgent necessity, both forthe sake of India and for the successof the cause of the United Nations.The continuation of that rule isdegrading and enfeebling India andmaking her progressively lesscapable of defending herself and ofcontributing to the cause of worldfreedom.

“The committee has viewed withdismay the deterioration of thesituation on the Russian and

The voice of history

Quit India

The following is the text of the resolution passed by the All – India CongressCommittee on the evening of August 8, 1942 :

Chinese fronts and conveys to theRussian and Chinese people its highappreciation of their heroism indefence of their freedom. Thisincreasing peril makes it incumbenton all those who strive for freedomand who sympathise with thevictims of aggression, to examinethe foundations of the policy so farpursued by the Allied Nations,which have led to repeated anddisastrous failure. It is not byadhering to such arms and policiesand methods that failure can beconverted into success, for pastexperience has shown that failure isinherent in them. These policieshave been based not on freedom somuch as on the domination ofsubject and colonial countries, andthe continuation of the imperialisttradition and method. Thepossession of empire, instead ofadding to the strength of the rulingPower, has become a burden and acurse. India, the classic land ofmodern imperialism, has become thecrux of the question, for by thefreedom of India will Britain and theUnited Nations be judged, and the


peoples of Asia and Africa be filled with hope andenthusiasm.

“The ending of British rule in this country is thus avital and immediate issue on which depend the future ofthe war and the success of freedom and democracy. Afree India will assure this success by throwing all hergreat resources in the struggle for freedom and againstthe aggression of Nazism, Fascism and Imperialism. Thiswill not only affect materially the fortunes of the war,but will bring all subject and oppressed humanity on theside of the United Nations, and give these Nations, whoseally India would be the moral and spiritual leadership ofthe world. India in bondage will continue to be the symbolof British imperialism and the taint of that imperialismwill affect the fortunes of all the United Nations.

“The peril of today, therefore, necessitates theindependence of India and the ending of Britishdomination. No future promises or guarantees can affectthe present situation or meet that peril. They cannotproduce the needed psychological effect on the mind ofthe masses. Only the glow of freedom now can releasethat energy and enthusiasm of millions of people whichwill immediately transform the nature of the war.

“The A.I.C.C. therefore repeats with all emphasis thedemand for the withdrawal of the British Power fromIndia. On the declaration of India’s Independence aProvisional Government will be formed and Free Indiawill become an ally of the United Nations, sharing withthem in the trials and tribulations of the joint enterpriseof the struggle for freedom. The Provisional Governmentcan only be formed by the co-operation of the principalparties and groups in the country. It will thus be acomposite government, representative of all importantsections of the people of India. Its primary functions mustbe to defend India and resist aggression with all the armedas well as the non-violent forces at its command, togetherwith its Allied powers, to promote the well-being andprogress of the workers in the fields and factories andelsewhere, to whom essentially all power and authoritymust belong. The Provisional Government will evolve ascheme for a Constituent Assembly which will preparea constitution for the Government of India acceptable toall sections of the people. This constitution according tothe Congress view, should be a federal one, with thelargest measure of autonomy for the federating units,and with the residuary powers vesting in these units.The future relations between India and the Allied Nationswill be adjusted by representatives of all these free

countries conferring together for their mutual advantageand for their co-operation in the common task of resistingaggression. Freedom will enable India to resist aggressioneffectively with the people’s united will and strengthbehind it.

“The freedom of India must be the symbol of andprelude to the freedom of all other Asiatic nations underforeign dominations. Burma, Malaya, Indo-China, theDutch Indies, Iran and Iraq must also attain theircomplete freedom. It must be clearly understood thatsuch of these countries as are under Japanese controlnow must not subsequently be placed under the rule orcontrol of any other Colonial Power.

“While the A.I.C.C. must primarily be concerned withthe independence and defence of India in this hour ofdanger, the Committee is of opinion that the future peace,security and ordered progress of the world demand aWorld Federation of free nations, and on no other basiscan the problems of the modern world be solved. Such aWorld Federation would ensure the freedom of itsconstituent nations, the prevention of aggression andexploitation by one nation over another, the protection ofnational minorities, the advancement of all backwardareas and peoples, and the pooling of the world’sresources for the common good of all. On theestablishment of such a World Federation, disarmamentwould be practicable in all countries, national armies,navies and air forces would no longer be necessary, anda World Federal Defence Force would keep the worldpeace and prevent aggression.

“An independent India would gladly join such a WorldFederation and co-operate on an equal basis with othernations in the solution of international problems. “ Sucha Federation should be open to all nations who agreewith its fundamental principles. In view of the war,however, the Federation must inevitably, to begin with,be confined to the United Nations. Such a step takennow will have a most powerful effect on the war, on thepeoples of the Axis countries, and on the peace to come.

“The Committee regretfully realises, however, thatdespite the tragic and overwhelming lessons of the warand the perils that overhang the world, the governmentsof few countries are yet prepared to take this inevitablestep towards World Federation. The reactions of the BritishGovernment and the misguided criticism of the foreignpress also make it clear that even the obvious demand forIndia’s independence is resisted, though this has been


made essentially to meet the present peril and to enableIndia to defend herself and help China and Russia in theirhour of need. The Committee is anxious not to embarrassin any way the defence of China or Russia, whose freedomis precious and must be preserved, or to jeopardise thedefensive capacity of the United Nations. But the perilgrows both to India and these nations, and inaction andsubmission to a foreign administration at this stage is notonly degrading India and reducing her capacity to defendherself and resist aggression, but is no answer to thatgrowing peril and is no service to the peoples of the UnitedNations. The earnest appeal of the Working Committeeto Great Britain and the United Nations has so far metwith no response, and the criticisms made in many foreignquarters have shown an ignorance of India’s and theworld’s need, and sometimes even hostility to India’sfreedom, which is significant of a mentality of dominationand racial superiority which cannot be tolerated by aproud people conscious of their strength and of the justiceof their cause.

“The A.I.C.C. would yet again, at this last moment, inthe interest of world freedom, renew this appeal to Britainand the United Nations. But the Committee feels that itis no longer justified in holding the nation back fromendeavouring to assert its will against an imperialist andauthoritarian government which dominates over it andprevents it from functioning in its own interest and in theinterest of humanity. The Committee resolves, therefore,to sanction for the vindication of India’s inalienable rightto freedom and independence, the starting of a mass

struggle on non-violent lines on the widest possible scale,so that the country might utilise all the non-violent strengthit has gathered during the last twenty-two years ofpeaceful struggle. Such a struggle must inevitably be underthe leadership of Gandhiji and the Committee requestshim to take the lead and guide the nation in the steps tobe taken.

“The Committee appeals to the people of India to facethe dangers and hardships that will fall to their lot withcourage and endurance, and to hold together under theleadership of Gandhiji, and carry out his instructions asdisciplined soldiers of Indian freedom. They mustremember that non-violence is the basis of this movement.A time may come when it may not be possible to issueinstructions or for instructions to reach our people, andwhen no Congress Committees can function. When thishappens, every man and woman, who is participating inthis movement must function for himself or herself withinthe four corners of the general instructions issued. EveryIndian who desires freedom and strives for it must behis own guide urging him on along the hard road wherethere is no resting place and which leads along ultimatelyto the independence and deliverance of India.

“Lastly, whilst the A.I.C.C. has stated its own view ofthe future governance under free India, the A.I.C.C.wishes to make it quite clear to all concerned that byembarking on mass struggle it has no intention of gainingpower for the Congress. The power when it comes, willbelong to the whole people of India.”


If politics is about people and their welfare, the politicalleadership of the state should follow a vision, based on asound ideology.

The pivotal position of ideology in the development ofa vision was once explained to us by Dr. Bruno Kreisky,former Socialist Chancellor of Austria, at a meeting heldin New Delhi. Dr Kreisky was in Delhi in 1985 to receivethe Jawaharlal Nehru Award. At that time, Rajiv Gandhiwas the Prime Minister. During a conversation, Dr Kreiskyasked the young Indian prime minister a pointed questionwhether he had studied any ideology. Rajiv Gandhi replied‘No’. After this meeting with Rajiv Gandhi, Dr Kreiskycame to our meeting – a meeting of the Indian Centre forDemocratic Socialism, organised by my friend PradipBose, a nephew of Subhas Chandra Bose. After narratinghis conversation with Rajiv Gandhi, Dr Kreisky observed:“I wonder, how, without studying any ideology, and avision based on it, this young man is going to lead this vastcountry.” Kreisky proved right. Rajiv led India with theskill of a manager. As a result, during that period, theIndian polity suffered drift and degeneration. People’swelfare counted for less and less. The point is that, everyleader in politics, and every political party in the countryshould have an ideology and a vision based on it to guidethe state policies and programmes.

As a student of political science, economics andinternational relations, I had opportunities to study variousideologies and to visit countries which followed differentshades of ideologies. And, among them, I found thedemocratic socialist/social democratic ideology mostbeneficial, because of its endeavour to organise the livingconditions of ordinary people on the basis of equalityand equal justice.

Ideologically, some of the core principles of democraticsocialism/social democracy, like Freedom, Equality andSolidarity, are drawn from the watchwords of the FrenchRevolution, like Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. Withthem, the socialists have added two more principles -Democracy and Justice.

In the socialist movement these terms carry wider

LokaSwara Lecture. 2016

Social democracy, Welfare state system and India

B. Vivekanandan

connotations. For example, in the social democraticparlance, the term freedom implies opposition to all kindsof dictatorship. It also implies freedom from fear andwant, freedom from ignorance and exploitation, people’senjoyment of political and civil rights, guaranteed by anindependent judiciary, and so on. From the perspectiveof socialists, all these freedoms are essential for a personto lead the life of a worthy citizen.

Similar is the term equality. It implies equal value ofall human beings. It means that all men and women shouldhave equal rights, equal responsibilities and equalopportunities to develop in freedom and equality. Equalityis also a pre-condition for the full development of apersonality.

Similarly wide is the meaning of justice. Justiceincludes distributive justice, which means that jointlyachieved social product should be evenly distributed tobring about a social equilibrium among various groups insociety. Justice also implies the establishment of a welfarestate system for building caring societies.

Similar is the term democracy. It means, democraticfunctioning at all levels of organisation in society. Universaladult franchise is an essential part of it. Democracy shouldnot be limited to periodic elections. It should take theform of a participatory system.

And finally the term solidarity. For socialists, the termsolidarity means collective responsibility of individuals forone another and for the community. Indeed, solidarity isthe fulcrum of social democracy. Conceptually, solidarityis togetherness, supported by a mentality of sharing a partof one’s own earnings and services, for the benefit offellow humans. It also implies joint effort to collectivewellbeing. Indeed, in a solidarity based society mutualassistance among people will be a permanent feature,which would engender a new form of relationship, basedon cooperation, mutual concern and mutual sharing. Asis in the case of concern and support among familymembers, solidarity can be fruitfully promoted amongpeople, whether in a state, region or in the world, forattaining the highest level of wellbeing for the people.


While I have explained the wider meaning of the coreprinciples of socialism or social democracy, I mustunderline that all these principles are of equal importance.A joint realisation of them, through a string of appropriateprogrammes, will result in the establishment of a socialdemocratic society.

The best way to measure the worth of an ideology, ora system based on it, is to test its social relevance byusing the yardstick of how much is its potential to enhancethe quality of life of ordinary people and help the elevationof the whole population.

It is in this context that I would like to present beforeyou the validity of the welfare state system, and the visionit provides for future. The welfare state system is theapplied form of the principles of social democracy.Therefore, basically, the welfare state system is a socialistor social democratic construct.

What does a welfare state system connote? Itconnotes that a benign democratic state would assumethe main responsibility of the welfare of the wholepopulation of the state, through appropriate, publicfunded institu-tionalised mechanisms. It means that thegovernment would assume direct responsibility for theprovision of social security, health care, medical care,education, social services, pensions, family allowances,child allowances, etc., for everyone in the state. Andall these provisions would be funded substantially fromthe state revenues. A welfare state system accepts therole of the state both as a regulator and, also as aprovider. It accepts that a judicious and benignintervention of the state, in the economy and social life,is necessary, since the system involves a huge transferof state funds to the local authorities, for providing thewelfare state benefits to the people. Adoption of awelfare state system is also a recognition of the socialrights of every person in the state, to enjoy a fair shareof the fruits of growth in society. It also provides theincentive for the promotion of a mentality, among thepeople, to share a part of the fruits of their labour withfellow humans, in a spirit of solidarity. Indeed, theestablishment of a welfare state system is a civiliseddemocratic solution to the prevalent inequality andinjustice in the world.

As to how such a welfare state system can be builtup for the benefit of the whole population, I would like toillustrate by focusing on the way Sweden, and otherScandinavian countries like Denmark, Norway and

Finland, have developed such a system in during the last80 years. If I take Sweden as a case study, the turningpoint was the Great Depression, a severe economic crisis,of late 1920s and early 1930s, which caused untoldsuffering to ordinary people in the country. In order tomeet the challenges of Depression, and the consequenthigh unemployment and people’s miseries in the country,the Swedish socialists came out with a programme basedon full employment and the construction of a welfaresystem in the country. The main focus of this programmewas the common man and his needs and aspirations tolead a meaningful life, based on equality, justice andsolidarity. In the parliamentary elections held in Swedenin 1932, the Swedish Social Democratic Party was votedto power. And they remained in power for the next 44years continuously, either alone or in coalition. It wasduring this period that they have built up the welfarestate system, which we find in Sweden today. It is theresult of a systematic, long-term planning with a vision,and with people’s informed support.

The bedrock of the Swedish welfare state system waslaid on a full-employment policy, with a resolve to putevery able bodied person in the country to productivework. It has ensured growth and prosperity, and promotedequality in society.

The Swedish socialists have conceived the welfarestate system to promote equality and distributive justicein Sweden, and to increase the State’s responsibility forpeople’s well-being. The Swedes call their system, ascradle-to-the-grave welfare state system. They call it sobecause the welfare state benefits begin to reach a personas soon as the person is born. The sequence of it is likethis: As soon as a child is born, the mother receives a giftpacket from the Government, with the official seal on it,containing baby clothes and other baby care items neededfor the new born. After the child’s birth, the parents beginto receive a child allowance, every month, for ensuringhealthy growth of the child. They receive this allowancetill the child reaches 17 years of age. The child’s educationis free; the study material is free; daily school lunch isfree; and the public transport for school going children isfree. After the completion of education, it is theresponsibility of the government to find him/her a gainfuljob, failing which, till such time a job is provided, thegovernment is duty bound to pay a maintenance allowanceto him/her. When a person becomes a wage-earner, he/she becomes a tax-payer and thereby becomes a financierof the welfare state system. On retirement, a person getsabout 65 per cent of salary as pension, which means that


the person can maintain almost the same standard ofliving after retirement as well. Healthcare of all seniorcitizens is free. Social services provided to them are alsofree. When a person dies, the funeral/burial expenses arealso met by the state. That is how the cradle-to-the-gravewelfare state system operates in Sweden.

Social security system in Sweden encompasses theright to work, right to education, a decent place to liveand so on. Under the system, the entire population isinsured against illness. Everyone gets equal opportunityfor education. The system protects all employees fromwork-related accidents and sickness. All employees areentitled to compensation for industrial injury. Housewivesare entitled to annual holidaying anywhere in the countryat the governmental expenditure. All mothers receivematernity grants. Under a family law, either father ormother is entitled to 7 months’ leave with full pay, afterthe birth of a child.

There is a highly developed pension scheme inSweden. Under the old-age pension scheme, all old peopleare entitled to a pension. Similarly, all disabled people,after the age of 16, are entitled to a pension. If a personis fully disabled, he would get a full disability pension,which is equal to the old-age pension. Similarly, parentsare entitled to childcare allowance, if they themselvesnurse their disabled children.

In Sweden, medical care is free, except a nominalprescription fee.

A notable feature of the Swedish welfare State systemis that it is attuned to promote egalitarianism in society.The steeply progressive income-tax system, and thesolidarity wage-structuring, has substantially reduced theincome disparity between the take-home pays of the low-paid and high-paid employees.

I went to Sweden in 1985 to study the changes whichthe welfare state system has brought about in thatcountry. At that time, the Swedish Prime Minister OlofPalme’s Economic Adviser, Dr Klaus Eklund, showedme some charts which he prepared for the PrimeMinister. First, he showed me a chart, pertaining to thegross salaries of wage-earners in Sweden, which showeda big difference between the salaries of the lowest-paidand the highest-paid employees in the country. Then, heshowed me another chart, which showed the take-homepays of all wage-earners, after applying the steeplyprogressive income-tax. In that chart, the income ratio

between the lowest-paid and the highest-paid employeescame down to 1:4. Then he showed me another chart,showing the comparative position of incomes betweenthe lowest and the highest income-receiving families. Theincome difference between families was astonishinglylow - the ratio between the low-income and high-incomefamilies was only 1:2. Now, due to globalisation, and dueto the activities of the multi-national companies there,there are some changes in these ratios in recent years,but not big changes. However, no other country orsystem in the world has achieved such a high level ofincome equality. This has been achieved democratically,through the parliamentary reform process. It blurred theclass distinctions in Sweden.

Similarly, the government has paid special attention topeople’s housing need. This was done through theestablishment of the state-owned Housing Banks, andalso through the promotion of cooperative house-buildingschemes. In this matter, the Government followed a motto,that: “No one should make a profit of somebody’s housingneed.” Do we follow any such motto? Look at theflourishing real estate business in our country.

This is how the Swedish welfare state systemfunctions. More or less the same is the state of thewelfare state systems in other Scandinavian countrieslike Denmark, Norway and Finland.

The key to the successful construction of the welfarestate system in Sweden, and other Scandinaviancountries, is its universal application, which has madeeverybody a partner in the programme, both as acontributor and as beneficiary. The welfare state benefitsare universal and non-discriminatory. All people areentitled to social benefits as a matter of social right. Thewealth of the community and the State’s resources areused for the benefit of the whole population, and not of asection, nor of a few sections, of it.

What is the impact of the welfare state system on thesociety and social behavior? The welfare state system inSweden and Scandi-navia has shown that it is goodeconomics, good politics and good sociology. It is a splendidexample of how public spending on welfare creates generalconditions for economic growth and how preventivepolicies reduce potential social problems and engendersthe development of a healthy, stress-free society. It hasvirtually freed the people of the region from worryingabout their own security or about the future security oftheir children and grand-children, as they are sure that the


welfare state system will take care of all of them, whentime comes. Therefore, people in this region are generallyfree from stress-based diseases, which are increasinglya phenomenon in all non-welfare state societies.

At another level, the impact is more profound. Thewelfare state system has brought about a remarkablechange in the psyche and ethos of all Scandinaviancountries. In this context, we must recall that historically,Scandinavia is known as the homeland of the legendaryVikings, who were nightmares of the then mighty powerslike Russia, Prussia, France, England, etc., through theirforays for plundering those countries, between 8th and11th centuries. But, today, under the impact of socialdemocracy and the welfare state system, these peoplepresent the picture of the most honest, courteous, civilisedand peaceful humans in the world. They now hesitateeven to use an offensive language against theiradversaries. That is my experience, during the last 3decade of my active interactions with them. As there isnot much disparity in income and standard of livingbetween the people in the state, their general behaviorand interaction with each other, are marked by mutualrespect. They are totally free from corruption. Indeed,people in these countries have no incentive, nor anycompulsion, to become corrupt.

I have explained the welfare state system in Swedenand Scandinavia, and its impact, in detail to underlinehow important, and how practical is the construction ofa welfare state as the most civilised system in the world.Equally laudable is the fact that the welfare state systemhas taken all these Scandinavian countries, among thetop ten in the human development index in the world.

There is no doubt that from all angles, and from amongall the systems the world has tried, the welfare statesystem is the best one. This is because it takes care ofeverybody equally, irrespective of their socio-economicbackground, and age and gender differences, with equalfacilities and equal entitlements, based on distributivejustice and human solidarity. This has been demonstratedin all societies where the welfare state system has beenestablished.

Therefore, the pertinent question is: When a sectionof the world population enjoys the fruits of a superior,universal welfare state system, is it fair to deny suchbenefits to the rest of the population in the world, by notadopting similar system in their countries? The answeris ‘No’. Therefore, I urge the political class across the

world to take the initiative and move on to establishwelfare state systems in their countries.

I have no doubt that the welfare state system, basedon equality, justice and solidarity, provides a great visionfor future reconstruction of the world, on egalitarian lines.It is, indeed, the most civilised, and the most civilising,system in the world.

Pertinently, I am happy that a wind of change in favourof democratic socialism and welfare state system isblowing even in the United States, the citadel ofinequality-breeding capitalist system in the world. WithSenator Bernie Sanders as the torch-bearer, millions ofyoung Americans today are demanding reform of UnitedStates into a welfare state, based on equality anddistributive justice. The surge of enthusiasm with whichthey have supported Bernie Sanders’ demand forproviding all Americans with free health care, freeeducation, stable gainful jobs, etc., is a clear sign ofimpending change that is beckoning the United States inthe coming years. Eight decades after the New DealReforms of 1930s in US by President Roosevelt, underthe decisive influence of the American socialist leaderNorman Thomas, the American youth, under theleadership of Bernie Sanders, is marching forward toput the hitherto stalled New Deal reform process backon rails, to lead the United States also to become amodern welfare state. That way, Bernie Sanders’ contestfor Democratic Party nomination for US Presidentialelections in November 2016, signals a turning-point forthe future of welfare state system in the world.

Where does India stand in this spectrum? What are theprospects of transforming India into a welfare statesystem? No doubt, India has every potential to become awelfare state. It is immensely rich in resources, includingin human resources. In fact, India should have movedup considerably in the scale of building up a welfare statesystem in the country, if there were nurtured a nationalvision in that direction, and a political will to realise it.

The Indian Constitution contains a number of provisionsin the ‘Preamble’, and in its Chapters on FundamentalRights and Directive Principles of State Policy, forbuilding up a welfare state system in India. ThePreamble, for example, has envisaged social economicand political justice for all people, and wanted the stateto work for the wellbeing of all people. It has envisagedthat India should become a society based on equalityand justice. In pursuit of that objective, many provisions


have been made in Chapters on Fundamental Rights andDirective Principles of State Policy of the Constitution.Equality of opportunity, right to freedom, right againstexploitation, etc. are all parts of it.

More distinctly, the Directive Principles of State Policyis pointing the way for the development of India into awelfare state. Article 38 of the Constitution says that“The state shall strive to promote the welfare of the peopleby securing and protecting ... a social order in whichjustice, social, economic and political shall inform all theinstitutions of national life.” Similarly, Article 39 speaksabout the rights of all people for adequate means oflivelihood, equal pay for equal work, healthy workenvironment, protection of children against exploi-tationand material abandonment. Under this Article, it isincumbent on the state to ensure that “the ownershipand control of the material resources of the communityare so distributed as best to subserve the common good.”Article 41 makes the state responsible to makeeffective provisions “for securing the right to work, toeducation, and to public assistance in case ofunemployment, old age, sickness and disablement, andin other cases of undeserved want.” Similarly, Article 42and 43 make the state responsible for provision ofmaternity relief, and for securing all workers jobs, “aliving wage, conditions of work ensuring a decentstandard of life and full enjoyment of leisure and socialand cultural opportunities.” Article 45 provides forcompulsory education for all children up to 14 years.Similarly, there are also provisions which stipulate thatchildren should be provided with opportunities andfacilities to grow and develop in a healthy manner, and inconditions of freedom and dignity.

These provisions in the Constitution make clear thatthe architects of our Consti-tution wanted India to movetowards a welfare state system, and made suitableprovisions in it to build it.

Despite the presence of these provisions in theConstitution, the progress of India made in this directionhas been negligible. The main reason is that those whooccupied the seat of power here did not display enoughpolitical will to do it. It is axiomatic that a fruitfulimplementation of a programme is best done by thosehave a deep commitment to that programme. Though in1950s, during Jawaharlal Nehru’s prime ministership, thecountry saw the infusion of the rudiments of a welfarestate system, through a limited expansion of free publiceducation, free public healthcare services, labour-intensive

state industrial policy, etc., they remained more or lesshalf-hearted measures. The ruling Congress partyfollowed a lukewarm approach towards it mainly because,unlike the Indian socialist parties, the Congress party wasnot ideologically equipped or committed to pursue thewelfare state agenda in the country. Perhaps, it could notcomprehend the dynamism of the welfare state system.Therefore, it was found pursuing rather a narrow path ofremaining in power with rich man’s money and poor man’svote. It seldom pursued a vision beyond that. Tokenismand expediency characterised its basic approach. Unlikewhat the Swedish Social Democratic Party and itsGovernment did in Sweden during its long years in power,the Congress party and its governments in India made noserious attempt to make the establishment of a welfarestate system in the country a national vision, and to makethe people to share that vision. In that sense, India haswasted about 70 years of its independence. During thelast 25 years, even that limited, rudiment, welfare statemeasures, have been undermined to promote market forcesand private enterprises. Under Dr Manmohan Singh’sstewardship, steps were taken, since 1991, to increasinglyroll back the state from the sphere of public welfareservices. In pursuit of that, government hospitals havebeen starved of funds, staff and medicines, to promoteextortionist private hospitals. Funding of children’seducation has been systematically transferred from publicfunds to the shoulders of parents, or of children themselves,who are forced to take education loans from banks. Inaddition, a new category of self-financing colleges havebeen mushroomed all over the country, which take bigbribes, in the name of capitation fee and donation, foradmissions, have been promoted. I have no doubt thatsuch education shops can only corrupt our system beyondrepair, like the poisoning of the sub-soil water.

However, today, childcare, care of the old, infirm andthe handicapped, etc., are of marginal responsibility ofthe Indian state. The budget allocation for public welfarein India has been kept around a meagre 4 per cent ofthe national budget, compared to 37 per cent in thenational budget of a welfare state like Sweden. However,cumulatively, the welfare state content in India has beensteadily slashed down during the last 25 years. Publichealthcare services have been weakened to such anextent that even poor people are forced to approach thenew extortionist private hospitals for simple ailments. Thissituation must change.

1 have no doubt that if market forces and privateservice providers establish a firm grip on the public


welfare sector, the democratic state, as a political entity,will lose its centrality for organising a welfare state systemfor the benefit of the whole population. That will bedetrimental to the poorer sections of our society.Therefore, the centrality of the state to provide such poorpeople with free high quality services, through publicinstitutions, must be preserved and promoted at all costs.We must realise that richer the welfare state, better willbe the conditions of the poor in the country, and viceversa. Therefore, it is imperative that the Indian stateshould be kept strong, resourceful and sovereign.

As Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam said, India should have anational vision about its future. In my view, that nationalvision should be to transform India into a caring welfarestate. The objective should be to build a new societybased on equality and distributive justice. It should followthe principle of universalism, so that everybody participatesin it both as a contributor and as a beneficiary. It shouldbe pursued under the framework of human solidarity inthe country, which will spectacularly change the face ofIndia during the next 30 or 40 years.

In the pursuit of building a welfare state system, Indiashould adopt a full employment policy. It entails that allsocio-economic and technology policies in India wouldremain employment friendly all the time. It is my convictionthat a full-employment policy and a drive for achievingfull-employment hold the key to India’s prosperity,greatness, and social peace in the 21st Century.

Similarly, India should affirm its faith in the public sectorin areas of public utilities, and position the public sectoras a strong pillar of India’s welfare state system.

India has all the potential to become a successfulwelfare state. But, for its realisation, we should developa national vision of it through large-scale open debate onthe virtues which the welfare state system promises forthe present and future generations in India. Politically,to realise that vision in letter and spirit, it is imperative tobuild up an All-India political party, like a Socialist/SocialDemocratic Party, for example, which has an abidingfaith in the establishment of a welfare state system inIndia.

IV

In conclusion, I would say that at present the welfarestate system is conceived and established at nationallevels, taking the nation state as a unit of its planning and

development. In my view, this national approach, thoughvalid to start with, is an inadequate framework for future.We all know that our planet Earth is endowed withbountiful natural resources and products, much more thanwhat is needed for everybody to lead a happy andcontented life. Various continents hold rich divergentnatural resources. But, they are complementary. Poolingof these natural resources would show the richness ofthe bounty, with which the nature has blessed thehumanity. Yet, in the absence of a co-ordinated globalwelfare state system, the vast majority of people in theworld are deprived of their due share of the benefits ofthese resources, including knowledge resources liketechnology. Therefore, inter-continental produces do notget evenly distributed among countries and continents,and their peoples. The vested interests in the world haveerected many walls, including patenting laws, to preventpeople from unfettered enjoyment of their collectivewealth, and fruits of inventions and discoveries in theworld. They are also instrumental in preserving inequalityin the world. But, we have to recognise the fact that theworld is shrinking fast due to communication revolution.As a result, physical barriers are bound to give way tothe urge of humanity for equality and distributive justice.

Keeping that also in view, we have to find acomprehensive solution to the prevalent inequality andmal-distribution of resources and produces in the world.The application of equity, justice and solida-rityinternationally and inter-continentally is the solution. Wehave to ensure that whether a person is born in Asia,Africa, America, Australia or Latin America, he/she shouldhave equal rights and equal facilities to lead a comparable,meaningful, life in the world, based on equality, justice andsolidarity. We have to seek ways and means of how toexpand the welfare state system universally across theworld. Pooling of destinies and resources of people acrossthe world by invoking principles of equality, equal justice,and inter-continental solidarity, is the right way to re-organise people’s lives in the world. The ‘One World’concept, which Wendell Willkie envisaged in 1943, willhave to be elevated to a qualitatively higher level of a‘Global Welfare State System’, anchored in inter-Conti-nental solidarity. In short, for the future wellbeingof the humanity, it is imperative to plan and establish aglobal welfare state system. My next book is going to beprecisely on this theme.

Thank you.

Bhubaneswar

9 July 2016


An institution may be viewed as a cluster of interrelatedroles resulting from the institutionalization of sociallydesirable and legitimized values, norms, rules andprocedures. But institutions are not eternally stable andinstitutional legitimacy is continually questioned. Thus,the response to institutionalization may manifest itself indifferent forms: conformity, differential interpretation,acceptance of values but rejection of the institutional role-incumbents and opposition, among others. This meansinstitutionalization can occasion both bureaucratizationand mobilization, that is, the process of institutionalizationmay and often does provide the moment for movementsto emerge.

Movements are conscious collective actions informedof ideology, aided by an organizational weapon andinitiated by a core person/group to bring about change inany direction (past/future) using any means (violent/non-violent). In other words, movements are deliberatelyinitiated and guided collective mobilizations to bring aboutrelatively rapid social transformation. But to consolidateand stabilize the gains of a movement one needs theinstrumentality of the institution. Often the organizationalcore of the movement provides the nucleus of theinstitution. We may say that a movement contains withinit the embryo of an institution. In the process ofinstitutionalization of a movement, the characteristicactivity of the movement, namely, mobilization may berelegated to the background and becomes less salient.

While it is useful and necessary to make an analyticaldistinction between a movement and an institution itshould not render us impervious to the empirical realityon the ground. It is equally important to avoid theconfusion between a movement and the numerous

Movements and Institutions: Their Interlinkages.

T. K. Oommen

events which constitute it. Thus the Quit India‘movement’ is but one event of mobilization in thenumerous events in anti-colonial movement; there wereother events such as Salt Satyagraha or ChamparanSatyagraha. It is equally pertinent to keep in mind thatthe vitality of movements vary across time; sometimesthey are calm and on other occasions they are turbulent.No movement can sustain its high vitality for a longtime.

Analysts from and of liberal democracies counterposethe state with the party, the party with the movement,movements with institutions, and obstinately insist thatthis should be so not only for these societies but for othersocieties as well. But this is simply not true. Let me recalla well-known example.

The primacy of the political party in socialist systemsattests to its importance as a structure/institution. Theparty is projected as the most important agent for initiating,guiding and leading collective actions. That is, aninstitution is viewed as an instrument of collectivemobilization. This is reflected in the formation andfunctioning of front organizations for the youth, peasantry,women, students or workers of political parties even innon-socialist polities.

It is instructive to recall here that the conventionalparty-movement dichotomy was obliterated in some casesin the West recently as exemplified in the relationshipbetween the Green Movement and the Green Party.While the conceptual distinction between the two ismaintained by the supporters, they seem to recognizethe organic linkage between the Green Movement andthe Green Party.

II

I

In contemporary mainstream social science collectiveactions and movements are viewed as being disengagedfrom institutions and structures. This vein of thinking andmode of conceptualization cannot adequately accountfor several aspects of the emerging social movements.

For example, the establishment of socialist and welfarestates often necessitates that the state itself sponsormobilizations, movements, and even ‘revolutions’.

In the ‘new states’ of Asia and Africa, movements


are often piloted by organizations or associations ofprimordial collectivities. While these associationsordinarily operate as institutions, the mobilizational aspectis often encapsulated in them. Thus, one scarcely comesacross the sharp disengagement believed to exist betweenmovements and institutions.

There are several reasons for conceptualizinginstitutions and movements as disengaged entities.First, the inadequate accounting of the time elementin the analysis. The transformation of movements intoinstitutions, and vice versa, is generally gradual andseldom sudden. There is a social state between thetwo phases - movements and institutions - and socialscientists have scarcely paid attention to this dimensionof social reality. It is crucial to recognize the interimstate between ‘solid state’ (institutions) and ‘fluid state’(movements).

Second, movements are usually defined and perceivedas large-scale or mass efforts. Be that as it may, mostmovements, however large they might become eventually,would usually have small beginnings in the form of asmall group, association or sect. That is, the formationof an institution or structure could be the starting point ofa movement. Alternatively, a movement may trigger offfrom a sudden event. But soon an organization becomesa necessary accompaniment for the survival of themovement. That is, there exists a processual linkagebetween institutions and movements. Thus, one canconceive of empirical situations wherein the intertwiningbetween movements and institutions is perenniallypresent.

If institutions do not ‘produce’ movements, that is, ifthey do not respond to the challenges posed to themperiodically, they will become structurally and culturallyobsolete; they will perish. Therefore, institutions requiremovements for their very survival through periodicreplenishment. Movements provide institutions with thepossibility of re-legitimation, if and when the latterexperience an erosion of their legitimacy. On the otherhand, unless movements crystallize into institutions, unlessthe visions of movements are translated into realitythrough institutional mechanisms, they will embody mereaspirations. That is, institutions are the instrumentsmovements employ to translate ideology into programme,theory into praxis, without which they remain shellswithout substance. In fact, every movement is in searchof a structure – party, institution – capable of translatingits vision into reality.

Movements emerge not only to correct the deficits ofpraxis in the prevailing institutions, but to identify thegaps in theory as well. That is, movements not onlyproduce collective actors but also provide them with newvalues. These values are to be rendered ‘collective’ tobegin with, for which the involvement of people is aprerequisite. But if the resultant mobilization is leftunchartered it will not lead to the pursued goal, theinstitutionalization of a new set of values. Mobilizationand institutionalization are counterposed in contemporarysocial science theory, often forgetting that they fall intoa continuum. The prevalent tendency is to viewmovements and mobilizations as degenerating intoinstitutions and institutionalization. In contrast, it shouldbe noted that institutionalization of values pursued bymovements is possible only through building appropriateinstitutions.

It is a truism that movements surface when institutionsfail and the emerging collective conscience is articulatedthrough movements. Yet, if a movement does not createinstitutions embodying the new values it upholds andarticulates, it serves no purpose; it vanishes without anyimpact. Sometimes movements tend to retain their ‘glory’by dissolving themselves after achieving their goal. Butwhat really happens is that even as a movement isdisbanded formally, it actually takes on a new incarnationeither in the form of a political party or as a newmovement with a new goal. It should be emphasizedhere that if a movement wants to translate its ideologyinto reality it needs an institutional vehicle, for example,a party. This in turn leads to institutionalization of powerand authority in a few hands which is an unavoidableprerequisite. But the tendency in social science writingshas been to decry this development as pathological andundesirable.

Institutions and movements are reciprocally linked inthree significant ways. First, institutions and structuresare cleansed by movements. What are often labelled‘fundamentalist’ or ‘revivalist’ movements are essentiallyattempts to rescue institutions from their current‘degeneration’ and render them back to their original stateof pristine purity as defined by the visionaries of thesemovements. Movements which challenge the basis ofauthority in the existing institutions succeed only incleansing the old structure. Conversely, institutions tendto correct movements from their ‘adventurism’. It is wellknown how the rebels in institutions are contained orliquidated depending upon the nature and intensity ofthreats posed by them to institutions.


Second, movements deliberately create institutionswhich are new vehicles to fulfil the present visions andaspirations. Similarly, institutions may float movementsto sustain their legitimacy. Third, movements tend toredefine old institutions, the effort being not simply topurify and inject institutions with new verve and vitality,nor to abandon them completely and create new ones,but to recreate them. The break from the past is evidentbut the link is not simply tenuous. On the other hand,institutions tend to revitalize movements in such a waythat the balance between stability and change ismaintained.

It is important to remind ourselves here that thecleansed, created, and recreated institutions co-exist:accretion rather than displacement takes place. Further,movements require institutions to concretize their visions;institutions need movements to sustain their legitimacy.It is helpful to recall here some empirical evidence fromIndian politics.

The Indian National Congress (INC) was theorganizational weapon of the Indian national liberationmovement. But this over-arching movement encapsulatedwithin it three types of solidarity, each of which createda series of movements. While civic and occupationalcollectivities, such as the peasantry, the students orworkers, and socio-biological collectivities, such as youthor women, did not pose any threat to the original visionof the INC, primordial collectivities did pose such threats.As a consequence communalism (that is, the claim ofreligious collectivities that they are political communities),crystallized as a countervailing solidarity to nationalism.The Indian polity could encompass within it the communalinterests of all religious groups except those of theMuslims. And Muslim communalism was legitimized asnationalism when a new structure representing it, thestate of Pakistan, emerged. But the process did not stophere, and with the crystallization of a new solidarity basedon language, a new movement emerged, which in turngave birth to a new structure – the state of Bangladesh.Similarly, in India a multiplicity of solidarities which layfrozen were animated, several of which created newstructures representing their ideas and interests – politicalparties, trade unions, women’s organizations. Thus, theinterpenetration between movements and institutions isobvious.

After independence, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi,the chief architect of the anti-colonial struggle, advisedthe freedom fighters to dissolve the INC and constitute

themselves into a body of voluntary workers for the socialreconstruction of India. A minority of his followers diddissociate themselves from the INC and launched a newmovement to pursue the second major Gandhian objective,namely, sarvodaya (upliftment of all), as the first, namely,swaraj (political freedom) had already been achieved.However, the majority of the freedom fighters eithercontinued with the INC, converting it into a party, orestablished new parties. Almost all political parties in freeIndia emerged out of the INC. Thus, the CongressSocialist Party, the precursor of the Communist Party ofIndia (CPI) functioned as a ‘group’ within the Congressparty in the beginning. The CPI later split into two leadingto the creation of the CPI(M) which also splitsubsequently and the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) was born. The Indian National Congress toosplit several times, giving birth to several region-basedcaste-oriented and person-centred parties. But what isimportant to note here is that in each of these cases thenew party and the old one were linked through amovement and/or common mobilization. While the newsegments of parties claimed to be the genuine onesupholding the original vision, the old segments of partiesinvariably tried to discredit them. Mobilizations andcounter-mobilizations were inevitably involved in thisprocess.

That is, with the emergence of new parties, movementsdid not disappear. Many of them only redefined theirgoals and re-invented their enemies. In fact, most of whatare labelled as ‘movements’ in India are collective actionsinitiated and guided by these parties through their frontorganizations. Alternatively, a large number of new‘movements’ are the result of splits and factionalizationof political parties. But this does not mean that once theymove from the fluid state to the solid state they remainin that state forever. These parties often function asmovements even as they develop elaborate partybureaucracies.

The attempts to differentiate between parties andmovements in principle but combine in practice, havecreated enormous problems for the smooth functioningof governments in India. Hence, the formal distinctionin membership sought to be made between theRashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (a militant Hinduvoluntary organization) and the Jana Sangh (a politicalparty sponsored by it) by some of the constituents ofthe Janata Party (which was a coalition of severalpolitical parties) led to the fall of the Janata government(1977-79).


The situation in different regions and states of Indiais no different. The relationship between the Dravidianmovement and Dravidian parties of Tamil Nadu, insouth India, the Akali movement and the Akali partyin Punjab in north India, the Assam movement andthe ruling party in east India demonstrate the intricate

and visible linkage between parties/ institutions andmovements in contemporary India. And yet theprevalent tendency is to counterpose them as if theybelong to different social species, which imparts asense of estrangement between conceptualization andempirical reality.

III

The prevalent tendency to view movements andinstitutions as mutually antagonistic is essentially in linewith the natural history or life-cycle approach to theanalysis of social movements, by now conventional insocial science. The argument runs roughly as follows:The development of an organization, howeverrudimentary, is inevitable for the realization of movementgoals. But the emergence of such an organizationinevitably sets in motion influences which defeat the verypurpose which occasioned it. A paradoxical situationarises: that which is needed as an instrument – that is,an organization – for the translation of movementideology into specific programmes often tends to becomeinstrumental in frustrating the very purpose for which ithad emerged. Thus, the emergence of movementorganizations lead to routinization of charisma,development of bureaucratic structures, persistencebeyond the purpose for which it emerged, all of whichinvariably lead to the institutionalization of socialmovements. In this strand of thinking, institutions areviewed as degenerate entities emerging out ofmovements.

In contrast, it is necessary to define and perceiveinstitutions as indicators of goal fulfilment of movements.As and when institutions become rigid and non-responsive to the purpose for which they emerged, itbecomes imperative to challenge and de-legitimize them.That is, the relationship between movements andinstitutions is dialectical and multipolar. Second, there isno inherent tendency towards institutionalization of amovement and even when it occurs, it does notnecessarily stop or even decelerate the process ofmobilization which is so fundamental and primary to thevery survival of a movement. In fact, mobilization andinstitutionalization co-exist and, furthermore, the processof institutionalization provides new possibilities formobilization.

The institutionalization of a movement is believed tooccur when the goals it pursues are achieved, or anelaborate machinery for the implementation of movementgoals emerges, or associational proliferation of movementgoals crystallizes, or associational proliferation takesplace leading to the substitution of the movement by theseassociations.

The basic thrust of my argument is that the processof mobilization and institutionalization are to be viewedessentially as two different dimensions of a movementrather than mutually inimical processes. However, theemphasis on different movement aspects would vary atdifferent phases of a given movement.

As a movement moves from the mobilizational phaseto the institutionalization phase, several aspectsundergo changes. Yet it seems safe to conclude that:(a) at the initial stages of a movement, mobilizationalactivities are likely to continue unabated. In fact, theprocess of institutionalization may provide newoccasions for the continuance of mobilazationalactivities, in so far as the lag between the induction ofa set of norms and their actual acceptance by thecritical collectivity is universal; and (b) the pace ofmobilization may continue and persist, if the degreeof institutionalization is kept within certain limits, thatis, if bureaucratization of social relations are notpursued beyond a point. In the final analysis,mobilization is not displaced by institutionalization butboth go hand in hand to a large extent and often thelatter process may accentuate the former. Admittedly,movements and institutions are to be viewed asprocessually linked. Institutions often trigger offmovements; movements encapsulate within themseeds of institutions. Therefore, to characterize themin mutually exclusive terms is to create a wedgebetween concept and reality.


Coincidences almost always surprise. More so, if theyare in completely unrelated fields separated by thousandsof miles, even continents. That is what Radio and theCongress have in common.

In the closing years of the nineteenth century twomega developments were making modest beginnings.Across the Atlantic, and in Europe, experiments werebeing conducted in Wireless Telegraph Technology. Ithad taken just a few toddlers’ steps but the realisation ofits potential as the medium of communication for thefuture was not uncertain. Wireless communication wasalready being discussed and planned as the next big thingon the horizon.

Around the same time in India, a group of people hadseveral meetings discussing the British Rule and theaspirations of the common people. Theosophical Societyunder the leadership of A. O. Hume was working on theidea of matching the two. It was decided in Madras tohave a formal pressure group to be called The Congress.In 1885, a telegraph company headed by Thomas AlvaEdison applied for patent in Wireless Transmission andthe same year, at a meeting in Bombay, Indian NationalCongress was formed with seventy odd people inattendance. In the next ten years, Radio became a realityand a force to reckon with and so did t0he Congress. Ithad become a force that could not be ignored.

The two grew in their respective areas unconnectedand it was not until the next fifty-odd years after theirbirth that Congress and Radio converged in Bombayduring the freedom struggle. It was amidst rumours thatthough the Congress was entirely an indigenous people’smovement, Radio had a Japanese connection. For theBritish, in the backdrop of the raging world War, thisbecame more worrisome than the activities of theCongress.

Rumours are probably one of the worst sources onecan rely on while dealing with history. Yet, it cannot bedenied that, at times, they play a major role in shaping upevents that change the course of nations. Rumours ofthe fall of ‘John Company’ were rife in 1857 and it addedto the passion of many segments of the society. The

The Clandestine Congress Radio: An untold story

Madhuker Upadhyay

East India Company rule seemed to be on the run, thirdays looked numbered. ‘Sitara Gir Padega’ was thecommon refrain of the people. Historians may argue anddescribe the 1857 revolt as ‘failed’; the truth, however,is that it ended the hundred year old Company rule inIndia.

During World War II, yet another rumour was thatthe ‘Japanese are coming’ to India. Historian IndivarKamtekar quotes a document saying ‘British arepreparing to run away from the country.’ Rumours wereone common thread amongst many that links the twoIndian wars of independence separated by good eightyfive years. Rammanohar Lohia called the Quit Indiamovement ‘the history of the unarmed common man’and wrote ‘our unarmed and leaderless people rose in amagnificent revolt.’ In a letter to Linlithgow he said,‘passion is an elusive substance. Hounds cannot track it,nor bullets kill it...Happen what may, this passion willhaunt you until you break.’

For a variety of reasons, Indian struggle forindependence was perhaps one of the most complex andcolourful freedom movements in the world. It was a queermix of common people and great personalities, so diversein their approach that they became too much for theBritish to handle simultaneously. A Vice-regal report inthe late forties summed up the unparalleled mosaic sayingit had an ‘Enigmatic’ M. K. Gandhi, ‘Charismatic’Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘Down to earth’ Sardar Patel and a‘Cold’ M. A. Jinnah. Apart from these strongpersonalities, it had movements within movements. Manysmaller, yet significant battles were being fought on social,cultural and economic fronts.

Matured as a political outfit that had support of thecountless masses, The Congress was leading themovement when the Second World War broke out. Theleadership was of the opinion that freedom from theBritish was well within its grasp which ‘just got delayed’because of the War. The general upsurge of the massesand the positivity among the political big-wigs had startedreflecting in many ways. In 1930, the Congress passedthe Lahore resolution demanding ‘Poorna Swaraj’ andMahatma Gandhi headed for Dandi to break the Salt


Act. This generated tremendous response shaking thefoundation of the all-powerful empire.

Early next decade, with the demand for completeindependence gaining momentum and the people gettingrestless forced the Congress leadership to take the nextbig step. In the Bombay Gowalia Tank convention, theMahatma gave the ‘Quit India’ and ‘Do or Die’ callelectrifying the already charged atmosphere.

Barely a few hours after the Congress resolution waspassed, the police and administration came down heavilyon the leadership arresting hundreds of thousands ofpeople across the country. Also, the administration putgag orders on newspapers. Despite this, the news ofarrest of leaders and police atrocities travelled far andwide. Situation became even more difficult to handle asrumour mills started working over time.

A couple of days before the convention, it was a fairlycommon assumption that all major Congress leaders maybe arrested soon. A party worker, Vitthaldas MadhavjiKhakar, popularly known to his friends as Babubhai, hadgathered a few young sympathisers to discuss the possiblescenario and other ideas about reaching out to the people.Bringing out yet another newspaper, to them, was a futileidea. They were aware of the poor rate of literacy amongthe masses.

But they had seen the impact of the spoken word.Mahatma Gandhi was not a great orator but his choiceof words and the transparent conviction behind them,turned him into a communicator par excellence. Nehruand Patel had mastered the art of speaking. JayaprakashNarayan too was known for his convincing oratory skills.Some of the younger leaders, particularly AchyutPatwardhan and Rammanohar Lohia, the two whoevaded arrest and became underground, were able toestablish direct contact with the masses through theiridiomatic language. Not to mention Subhas Chandra Bosewhose thunderous voice mesmerised the people. Thebig question was how to reach the people with the wordsof wisdom and use the power of motivation of thesehugely popular leaders? Most were behind the bar, unlikelyto be released any time soon.

Khakar’s group of young sparks, barely in theirtwenties, put all heads together thinking about a solutionto this communication conundrum. One in the group,slightly older who was trained in radio technology andhad assembled a transmitter earlier, was asked by

Babubhai Khakar about setting up a transmission machineand the time it will take to do so. The idea about theclandestine Congress Radio started to take shape. Otherthan Khakar, Vitthaldas Jhaveri, Nariman Printer andUsha Mehta were part of the team. They also had theprivilege of support from Usha Mehta’s uncle, Ajit Desaiwho was a radio technician and freedom fighter knownto many in the Congress.

Despite more than fifty years of existence, radio inthose days was still high-end technology not available tomany. Within four years of the first radio news broadcaston Empire Radio (Later BBC), radio stations were setup in Bombay and Calcutta as private ventures. Madrashad a station under licence before that. It was only inthe thirties that the government took over the radiooperations. Getting licences for radio broadcast, in thosedays, was not difficult and any trained person could getthe same. But all those licences were either impoundedor cancelled as the Second World War broke out. Printerwas trained in London and had one such radio license tobe used for training but, like everyone else, he was todismantle and deposit the transmitter with policeauthorities. Khakar was aware that Printer dismantledthe transmitter but did not surrender it in police station.

On August 9, 1942, the group decided to fast trackthe preparations for their radio station. The station wasnamed ‘The Voice of Freedom’ and since the locationhad to be kept secret, the tagline was ‘Speaking fromsomewhere in India.’ Arranging finances certainly wasan issue but they moved thinking it was not materiallyimportant. More pressing concern was getting materialneeded for getting a transmitter up and running.

Once convinced, Printer moved swiftly. Assisted byBabubhai Khakar, in charge of the Congress Radiooperations, he could assemble the transmitter ready forbroadcast within a week. On August 13, 1942, they went‘On Air’ with the words ‘This is Congress Radio speakingfrom somewhere in India on 42.34 meter bands.’ Thevoice was not that of Usha Mehta. Official and courtrecords state it was a ‘Parsee lady who did not wish tobe identified.’ Printer himself did some broadcasts in theinitial days. A quick learner, Mehta understood the basicsof broadcasting in a short time and became the voice ofCongress Radio till the day police swooped on them andall were arrested.

Some senior Congress leaders saw potential in thisinitiative and contacted them. In a meeting with Radio


in-charge Khakar and others, underground leaderRammanohar Lohia assured them to ‘support theendeavour financially.’ Others also stepped in assuringregular supply of news material and speeches of leadersrecorded elsewhere. According to Madhu Limye, asleader of the radio group Khakar was ‘answerabledirectly to Rammanohar Lohia.’ Lohia was so hands-ondealing with Congress Radio he once sorted out an egoclash within the group. Vitthaldas Jhaveri was trying toset up a separate transmitter and broadcast independently.A technical hand of the Chicago Radio Company washelping him when the matter was brought to the noticeof Lohia. In order to avoid duplication of work, Lohiaseparated broadcasting from recording. Vitthaldas wasentrusted with recordings while Babubhai and otherswere assigned broadcasting.

The Congress Radio experiment was short-lived andlasted less than three months. Police raided and seizedthe transmitter. The pressure was such that even in thatsmall period of time everybody along with the transmittermoved to six different locations to avoid detection andarrest. They started from Sea View Building inChowpatty, moved to Ratan Mahal on Walkeshwar Roadand then to Ajit Villa on Laburnum Road. The broadcastcontinued for ten days from Parekh Wadi at GirgaumBack Road and finally shifted to Paradise Bungalow nearMahalaxmi Temple. It was from this bungalow they werepicked up by the police on Novembaer 12, 1942.

In fact, in a raid at an earlier location Printer wasarrested and under serious questioning turned informant.Usha Mehta ranted ‘that traitor’ on seeing him with thepolice during the Paradise Bungalow raid.

The British government was not unduly worried aboutthe Congress Radio but suspected that the agents of theenemy ‘Fifth Columnists’ may be behind it. They werealso surprised at the speed of making the transmitterand going On Air. A team was, however, constitutedmonitoring the broadcasts to see if Japan had any role inthis daring adventure. Studying the broadcasts, seniorofficial H. V. R. Iyengar said the Radio had ‘No enemy

links.’ In his opinion the personality and antecedents ofthe people connected with the Congress station and thenature of its broadcast suggested it was the work of‘Congress and Congress Socialist people and that itderived its inspiration from Congress and CongressSocialist leaders and not from the enemy.’

Madhu Limaye’s reading of Congress Radioexperiment was that the ‘transmissions generally wereunclear. It may not have caused great harm to thegovernment but it was a challenge nonetheless forthe power and prestige of the rulers. This certainlywas a symbol of resistance and morale booster forthe people.’

After the arrest of the protagonists, police prepared acharge sheet largely based on Printer’s submissions andother investigations. Case number 7 of 1943 came upfor hearing in the court of special judge, N. S. Lokur andit listed ‘Emperor Vs Others.’ There were five names inall for trial and on top of the list, not surprisingly, wasBabubhai Madhavji Khakar. Vitthaldas Jhaveri, UshaMehta, Chandrakant Jhaveri and Nanak Motwane werealso made accused in that order.

Before delivering the judgement, Justice Lokurlamented the fact that ‘men like Printer, Mirza and R. A.Mehta, who played a very prominent part in theconspiracy and actively carried out its objects in variousways, had to be examined as witnesses instead of beingplaced in the dock to be tried along with the accused.’He also noted that many of the witnesses seemed tohave a ‘soft corner’ for the accused.

Justice Lokur convicted the brain behind the CongressRadio, Babubhai Khakar to undergo rigorousimprisonment for five years, Usha Mehta for four yearsand Chandrakant Jhaveri for a period of one year.Accused No. 2, Vitthaldas Jhaveri, a partner in the wellknown Bombay firm of jewellers and accused No. 5,Director of the Chicago Radio and Telephone Company,Nanak Motwane were acquitted of all charges anddischarged.


Price : Rupees Five

Vol. 71 No. 30August 21, 2016




Mumbai - 400 007.


It is a real shameKuldip Nayar

Freedom from AFSPAin J&K and Manipur

Pushkar Raj

Commercialisationand communalisation

of education

Ten Lessons fromChernobyl and Fukushima

David Krieger

Premchand and Pay CommissionUma Shankari

Prime Minister Narendra Modi hasraised the issue of Balochistan, Gilgit,Baltistan and Pakistani occupiedKashmir in his Independence Dayspeech on 15th August, 2016 inresponse to Pakistan dedicating itsIndependence Day, celebrated a dayearlier, to ‘Freedom of Kashmir.’ Thisis the first time India has officiallyexpressed support for the cause ofBalochistan. People in these areasare unhappy with the Pakistanigovernment. While there is a fullfledged movement in Balochistangoing on to demand autonomy fromPakistan, people in Gilgit-Baltistanwant basic civic rights and democracy.

Pakistan has said that this is aproof of India’s involvement inBalochistan. While it may be not awell known fact in India, people inPakistan widely believe that just likePakistan aids secessionist movementin J&K, India is helping the separatistsin Balochistan. It is also a commonbelief that India through theAfghanistan border provides militaryand other assistance to the freedomfighters there through its intelligenceagency Research and Analysis Wing.Pakistani government has blamed

Implications of raisingBalochistan and Gilgit issues

Sandeep Pandey

India for a recent suicide attack inQuetta killing 80 people, believed tohave been perpetrated by Taliban.Such allegations are as common asin the Indian media, fed bygovernment agencies, Pakistan isblamed for any violence in Kashmiror terrorism incident in India.

Modi has obviously responded toobnoxious Pakistani statements onKashmir offering aid after theviolence in the aftermath of BurhanWani’s killing. For long India-Pakistani relations have been markedby tit-for-tat policy. So there is nothingnew about it but what is new aboutthe Balochistan statement is that fromnow on India will have to support thecause of people fighting inBalochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan andPakistan occupied Kashmir on theissue of human rights violations inthese areas, unless it was animpulsive reaction to the pre-Independence day Pakistaniadventure. If India is taking a moralhigh position then it’ll have to standby the people of Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan and PoK like it has donewith Tibetans taking on the Chinesewrath.


The question which then will beraised is if India is so concerned aboutthe human rights violations by thePakistani Army and actually supportsthe cause of freedoms in Balochistan,Gilgit-Baltistan and PoK then whydoes it carry out human rightsviolations in its own Kashmir? Indiaas a soverign country has a right todeny entry to UN Human RightsCommission in Kashmir only if itresponsibly dealt with its people.Using pellet guns on its own peopleincluding women and children is nosign of a mature governmentsensitive to human rights concerns.

The right wing nationalists arecomplimenting Modi for giving abefitting reply to Pakistan but in thelong run such belligerent attitude willnot help. If we accept the fact thatdialogue and not war will solve theIndia-Pakistan problem, then Modihas just taken us away several stepsfrom the process for establishingpeace and friendship. Of course, thePakistani side is equally to be blamedfor provoking India.

In a way Modi has done a repeatof Vajpayee. Before India tested thenuclear weapons in Pokaran, Indiaenjoyed a traditional militarysuperiority over Pakistan. However,chest thumping declaration of havingmade a nuclear weapon gave achance to Pakistan to carry out itstests too, thereby starting a nuclearweapons arms race which has actedas a leveler in terms of destructivepower of two neighbours now. So faras India concerned itself with onlyKashmir, Pakistan was seen as anintruder and India receivedinternational sympathetic support onthis issue. Now India’s public positionof Kashmir being an integral part ofIndia will be weakened as from now

It is a real shame

Kuldip Nayar

There were great hopes from thelargest ever Indian contingent butwhen it came to the performance itfell well short of expectations.Hockey, which we taught to the West,is nowhere in the subcontinent. Withchange of rules, in the name of makingthe sport more attractive, the Westhas come to monopolize hockey. Butit would be unfair to blame it on therule changes alone. The bane of theproblem with our players is lack ofstamina and scientific approach.

Women seem to do better than menbut that is in spite of the hard workdemanded. In the next few years,our dismal performance will be insharp contrast to even smaller nationsthat are mere dots on the world map.Counting by population, India ranksthe last in Olympic medal number.There are more reasons for this.

We, in India, have a budget ofroughly Rs 250 crore per state apartfrom the central budget of Rs 1500-odd crore for sports. There is sportsinfrastructure in a few states but theylack maintenance and regular use.The states and the centre have noholistic approach to sports. The resultis that sports are just an item in thebudget but nothing from the point ofview of excellence in any particulardiscipline.

Cricket has come up because thepublic is crazy about it just as it wasabout hockey some years ago. Thisonly underlines the fact that there isno proper planning or scientificapproach to sports. Hockey was theiconic sport for India until theMoscow Games in 1980 when the

country won their last gold medal, forthe eighth time. Subsequent to thatthere was a great decline in the sportas India never reached even thesemifinals in any Olympics to thisdate.

In contrast, India won the firstWorld Cup in 1983 in cricket and sincethen the sport has started looking up.Today, cricket has thrown up severalopportunities and icons which makethe game even more lucrative. Thatexplains why cricket is only next toreligion in India in terms of frenzy.With the Board of Control for Cricketin India (BCCI) making a lot of money,there was never any need forgovernment support.

But, at the same, too much politicshas seeped into sport, includingcricket. Leaders of different politicalparties are holding one post or anotherin every national federation andcricket is no exception. This has hadan adverse effect on the sports assuch because of politicians using themfor their name and fame.

Unfortunately, the situationprevailing is that some ministers ortop bureaucrats’ association is soughtby every sport federation in thecountry for bringing in money to them.In return, these politicians also attainstature and importance by clinging tothe posts offered by federations. Inother words, it is a win-win situationfor both.

The recent Supreme Court rulingin the aftermath of Justice Lodhapanel report on BCCI and itsfunctioning is an eye-opener. The(Continued on Page 3)


recommendations of the panel, to beimplemented, put restrictions onpoliticians and bureaucrats occupyingany top positions in BCCI or, for thatmatter, in federations. It is an opensecret that people like Sharad Pawar,Arun Jaitley, Farooq Abdullah, RajivShukla and many others have beenan integral part of whatever the setuphas been. They are primarily therebecause they have been able to getfunds from official and other sources.

Once they vacate, whatmachinery will federations have togenerate funds in the face of verylittle financial assistance provided bythe state? Corporate funding is toolittle and too meager, cricket beingthe only exception. But the biggestdrawback is the absence of sportsdevelopment in rural India. This isthe place where the raw talent isgalore but there is no proper way totap it.

Unfortunately again, India doesnot have any sports culture. Thegovernment has only added to thewoes of federations as it haswithdrawn whatever little fundingthey provided for hostinginternational events in juniorsections. How does the governmentexpect excellence without propersupport to nurture young talent?Just by allocating Rs. 300 odd crorefor the Olympians that qualified forthe Games under TOPS will not helpand that too three months prior toRio.

Only a sustained effort andconsistent funding, spread over years,will help get us medals. Take the caseof China. It picks up talent at a veryyoung age and nurtures to the pointof seeing the boys and girls winningmedals at Olympics. The momentthey are inducted in national centresthey become the state subject and

they have to worry about nothing, noteven education. But in India, westress on academics at the expenseof sports.

In a country starved of medals—we won six medals at London—thereare some silver lining performanceslike that of Dipa Karmakar, the firstever Indian gymnast to make it to theOlympics and also the final of thevault event. Her fourth position is noless than winning a medal becauseshe had been training with littlefacilities back home in Tripura.

Looking at the future, India shouldthink of ways and means to achieving

glory on the Olympic arena bychoosing young talent in fewerdisciplines and concentrating fullyrather than frittering away preciouslittle funds on all 28 Olympicdisciplines. Additionally, thegovernment can make a sportpolicy—not the one they are insistingon now—that will guarantee a careeroption to sportspersons. Just givingaway piecemeal incentives will notfetch medals. And we should waituntil six months prior to the nextOlympics to realize that thepreparation we started is again late,like it has been the case so far. Let’sforget Rio, think about Tokyo and startpreparing from today.

on both countries will accuse eachother of interfering in their internalmatters. With Modi’s posturing Indiais going to lose certain credibility onKashmir issue. Whether we like it ornot Pakistan has been able to makeinroads in the Kashmiri psychewhereas India does not have anyemotional relationship with Balochis.At best it can offer a long distancemoral support.

India will also have to face theuncomfortable question from bothdominant parties in Tamil Nadu andinternationally on why did it not standup for the rights of Tamilians whenthey were being massacred bySinhalese dominated Sri Lankangovernment? Tamilians in Sri Lankaare ethnically closer to people of TamilNadu than people from Balochistanare to people anywhere in India.Balochis are fighting for anindependent country with Balochisfrom Iran and Afghanistan.

As a matter of principle India mustsupport the people of Balochistan,Gilgit, Baltistan and PoK just as it issupporting Tibetans. At the same time

it must also support Tamilians in SriLanka. But instead of admitting ourfailure in having won the hearts ofpeople of Kashmir if we continue toblame Pakistan for all the wrongs inKashmir, we are not going to be ableto solve this problem. As we keptalienating Kashmiris, Pakistan’sinterference increased. Just asPakistan’s failure to keep people inBalochistan, Gilgit, Baltistan and PoKhappy is giving India a chance to raisethe issue now.

Leaders of both Pakistan andIndia must realise that we are notengaged in some competition wherewe can score points over each otherwith our display of nationalismfervour of the jingoistic kind. Thereare real people in Indian J&K, PoK,Gilgit, Baltistan, Balochistan and SriLanka. The two governments mustrespect the sentiments of the peopleand cooperatively solve the issuesso that local people’s aspirations aretaken care of. A right wingdominated thinking which treats itas a prestige issue is doing this onlyat the cost of people’s lives andsensitivities.



As India celebrates its anniversaryof independence from the British rule,it is worthwhile to ask when the peopleof Jammu and Kashmir and Manipurwill get freedom from the ArmedForces (Special Power) Act 1958(AFSPA) which is no less than beingliving under the colonial rule.

The law that the British conceivedin the wake of Quit India movementof 1942, was first promulgated in 1958to counter a parallel governmentestablished by the militant groups inthe Naga Hills. In a war like situationthe security forces were empoweredto assert the sovereignty of the stateagainst an armed ‘internal enemy’.But presently in J&K and Manipurthere are elected governments. Insuch a situation, AFSPA’s use in thecivilian areas does not stand scrutinyat first sight.

It needs no repetition that theAFSPA is a draconian piece oflegislation and when in operation, acitizen is under a constant shadow offear that he may be turned intoa victim by the security forces at anytime while going about his normal dailychores such as travelling to the officeor visiting friends. As the region isdeclared a ‘disturbed area’, thesecurity personnel can randomlyquestion people and can be rude tothe extent of causing bodily injury,rape and death while at the same timegoing unpunished, for under the lawthey enjoy impunity.

Sixteen years back in November2000, what is now known as ‘MalomMassacre’ ten innocent people,including an eighteen year old nationalbravery award winner waiting at a

Freedom from AFSPA in J&K and Manipur

Pushkar Raj

bus stop, were killed. Evidently, it wasa retaliatory use of force against theinnocent people who were unarmedand going on their daily errands. Itwas ghastly act of terrorizing andpunishing innocent citizens under theshield of AFSPA. No one ever gotpunished!

For the last twenty six years,AFSPA is in operation in Kashmir.Thousands have got maimed, killedand disappeared. There are officiallyacknowledged unmarked graves andvisible disfigured faces. Pellet gunwounds have left thousands of youngmen scarred in body and soul. It isjustified to ask whether governmentis using AFSPA as a substitute for apolicy on Kashmir. If so thengovernment has been executing ablunder.

As a policy AFPSA can neversucceed because the repressive lawshave a tendency to alienate generalpublic of a region, thereby expandingthe support base of discontent ofwhich militancy could be one of theoff shoots that may also have somecovert community support.

Secondly, under the protection oflaws like AFPSA the acts of omissionand commission by the securityforces allegedly result in mass killings,rapes, disappearances and torture.In the process the state loseslegitimacy and moral authority to rule.This is what has happened in Kashmirpresently. The elected Chief Ministerof the state is unable to face her ownpeople.

Interestingly, the AFPSA has comeunder scrutiny and fire of the judiciary

many a times. Jeevan Reddycommittee (2004) and Santosh Hegdecommittee (2013) questioned itscontent and operation. Irom Sharmilahas undertook, perhaps world’slongest fast, against the law. TheSupreme Court too recently held inits judgment that there cannot be anabsolute immunity from trial by acriminal court (The Hindu, 9 July2016). Then why is that the Indiangovernment is not listening andtreating its own citizens as enemy?

It seems that the laws like AFSPAsuit the establishment. The contentiongets credence from the statementof Irom Sharmila, who in aninterview said that the governmentand the army are colluding to defraudpeople implying that the both arebeneficiaries of the ‘disturbed areas’grants from the centre withoutfinancial and administrativeaccountability (The Hindu, 5 March2013).

In Kashmir too, militancy hasbecome an industry that serves anelite while common masses continueto be fodder for fire. Thecontinuation of AFPSA seems toserve and benefit a powerful sectionof the establishment of the stateincluding the Army, politicalleadership, police and civiladministration as well as the‘separatists’. No wonder J&Kcontinues to be India’s one of the topcorrupt states. It also serves to brandvictimized population as ‘anti-national’ therefore deservingpunishment without invoking moraloutrage in rest of India against thekillings.



Commercialisation and communalisation of education

Continuing with the nefariousdesign of commercialising andcommunalising education in line withbrahminical-hindutva agenda of theRSS, the BJP-led NDA governmenthas released a document titled ‘SomeInputs for Draft National EducationPolicy 2016’ purportedly seekingresponse from the general public onor before 16th August. The fact thatthis document is released only inEnglish and not in any otherlanguages spoken by the people ofour country shows the true anti-democratic mindset of thegovernment. This also exposes thefact that all high talk of ‘participatory’policy making is nothing but a shamas the government only intends toimpose the agenda dictated bycorporate capital on one hand andRSS on the other.

It should be noted that the MHRDdid not officially release the T.S.R.Subramanian Committee Report onDraft New Education Policy (NEP2016). Rather it brought out its owndocument ‘Some Inputs for DraftNational Education Policy 2016’.The government document ifbecomes a policy will demolish notonly every semblance of equality,social justice, scientific temperament,diversity and federalism in oureducation system that people of thiscountry have struggled for, built andprotected since the days ofreformation movements but also thevery possibility of realising thedreams of the founders of theconstitution to establish a nation onthe basis of the values. If thisdocument is not exposed and thegovernment designs are notthwarted, they could create a fertileground for entrenchment of all outfascism.

· The document replicates thetechno-corporate spirit ofAmbani-Birla Report releasedduring the NDA-I regimeadvocating rampant privatisationand commercialisation throughPublic-Private Partnership(PPP).

· Multi-standard institutions, interms of infrastructure andteaching faculty, would continueboth in public and privatesectors.

· It seeks to centralize curricula,bureaucratize administrationthrough the proposal to set upan Indian Educational Service(IES) cadre directly under theMHRD, corporatizeaccreditation and tribunalisejustice to facilitate possiblemulti-lateral and ‘plurilateral’agreements in education eitherunder World Trade Organizationor outside it thus intensifyingneo-liberal globalization ineducation.

· It seeks to promote PPP byinstituting 10 lakh EWS and 10lakh ‘open’ scholarships forreimbursement of costs ofprivate institutions.

· The document speaks in weakterms about allocating 6% GDPfor education. However, it doesnot even hint at the cumulativegap of financial resourcesaccumulated over the lastdecades. This huge gap can bebridged only by allocating atleast 15% of GDP for education.Instead of this, the governmentonly indicates of further cuttingpublic resources by promoting

commercialization.

· The democratic rights ofstudents especially in highereducation institutions have beenattacked in favour ofcorporatized model ofmanagement to curb any voiceof protest in universitycampuses. It also opens door forintense privatisation, FDI andfee hike in public institutions.

· Though the governmentdocument talks of social justice,nowhere it talks about need ofreservations, applyingreservations to all institutionsand at all levels and applying ruleof reservation in privateeducational institutions.

· There is no mention of hostelsand other affirmative measuresto bring the poor and sociallydisadvantaged to the schools,colleges and universities.

· The heavy dropout of thechildren before they completeclass X (All 47.4, SC 50.1 andST 62.4) though is noted but notaddressed. The Gross EnrolmentRatio in Higher Educationremains very low at 23.6percent in 2014-15 for allsections while the GER for SCsis 18.5% and STs is 13.3% againis simply noted without measuresto address the problem.

· The government proceeds withits project of re-establishingManu Dharma not only bydenying education to the SCs,STs, and all disadvantagedsections and minorities –religious and linguistic but also


confining the sections to skilltraining which would reproducecaste system. Dropouts will beencouraged by rigorousscreening akin to brahminicalpractices and the children,mostly from disadvantagedsections, will be diverted for‘skilling’.

· Tests at upper primary andabove with professionalcounsellors to direct students tovocational/ skilling courses willfurther ensure thatdisadvantaged will simply beunable to reach secondary andhigher secondary therefore theclaim that universalizing at thisstage will mean only‘completion’ by ‘enrolledstudents’.

· Open schools, open colleges andopen educational facilities on onehand and skilling on the otherhand will be the main thrusts ofthe government and alldisadvantaged will be pushedtowards these thrust areas.

· Increasing majority of thedisadvantaged sections on allcounts, caste, religion, region,gender and linguistic-culturalgroup will be denied formal,liberal and professionaleducation and will be diverted to‘skill education’ from class Vitself permanently shutting doorsof formal education for the vastmajority. This is indicated clearlyby intention to retain the ‘no-detention policy’ of RTE Act onlytill Class V after which childrenfrom targeted sections and areaswill be sent for skilldevelopment.

· Already the government haslegitimized child labour by

changing the law that will pushchildren into caste-based, familybased occupations at age 10 yrs- i.e. into a childhood of labourand ‘alternate schools’

· In fact, the document seeks tocompletely subvert ‘education’in favour of ‘skill’ which is inconsonance with the agenda ofmaking India a hub of cheap andskilled labour which is afavourite ‘vision’ of the currentPM.

· The very Preamble of thedocument ignores the pluralphilosophical traditions of thecountry and presents a falseSanskritized brahminical historydeliberately ignoring the richdiversity and history of languagesof the people. Marginalisation ofthe non-brahminical cultures,languages, regions andknowledge systems is the‘hallmark’ of the Preamble of thegovernment document.

· The medieval period of Indianhistory (which RSS consider asMuslim period) is not evenreferred to in the document andit makes a clear indication of thegovernment approach tomitigate the contributions of theperiod in development of thecivilization of this land. Thecommunal approach which thisgovernment pursues leads toneglect or playing down ofcontributions of all religious andlinguistic minorities, tribes andsuppressed casts andmarginalized sections.

· Similarly there is no referenceto the diverse struggles ofnational liberation leading toIndia’s freedom and the ideas ofrepublican citizenship,

democracy, secularism,socialism and social justice thatthe struggle inspired.

· Every child’s right to be taughtin mother-tongue is finished.States will decide whether‘regional’ language, English, or‘multi-lingual’ (only for tribalchildren) schooling will beprovided up to class V. Thereafter the child has no option formother tongue or regionallanguage

Now, it is high time to expose thegovernment document and intensifystruggle for democratic, secular,egalitarian, scientific and enlightenededucation system rooted in socio-cultural, religious and linguisticplurality of India, in consonance withthe values enshrined in the Preambleof the Constitution, and affirmed inthe Fundamental Rights andFundamental Duties and especiallyfor developing scientific temper,humanism and spirit of enquiry andreform to build a democratic andprogressive society.

–All India Forum forRight to Education

Recognizing that the unrest inKashmir and Manipur is for justice,democracy, , rule of law and right tobe heard; and it is the only way tobreak the present jinx as Rajiv Gandhishowed in regard to Nagaland andAtal Bihari Vajpaee in the pastattempted in relation to Kashmirwith accolades. It is about respectingthe values enshrined in the preambleof our constitution and extending themto our own people who are also partof an ‘independent’ India. Unless wedo so, Independence Day will havelittle meaning for the people ofKashmir and Manipur.



Nuclear power is a highly complex,expensive and dangerous way to boilwater. Nuclear power does nothingmore than provide a high-tech andextremely dangerous way to boilwater to create steam to turn turbines.

1. Accidents happen and the worst-case scenario often turns out to beworse than imagined or plannedfor. Although the nuclear industrycontinues to assure the public thatnuclear power plants are safe, theplants continue to have accidents,some of which exceed worst-caseprojections.

2. The nuclear industry and its expertscannot plan for every contingencyor prevent every disaster.Although it was known thatFukushima is subject toearthquakes and tsunamis, thenuclear industry and its experts didnot plan for the combination of a9.0 earthquake and the larger-than-expected tsunami thatfollowed.

3. Governments do not effectivelyregulate the nuclear industry toassure the safety of the public.Government regulators of nuclearindustry often come from thenuclear industry and tend to be tooclose to the industry to regulate iteffectively.

4. Hubris, complacency and high-level radiation are a deadly mix.

Ten Lessons from Chernobyl and Fukushima

David Krieger

George Santayana famously said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” The same may be said of those who fail to understand the past or to learn from it. If we failed to learn thelessons from the nuclear power plant accident at Chernobyl more than three decades ago or to understandits meaning for our future, perhaps the more recent accident at Fukushima will serve to underline thoselessons. Here are ten lessons drawn from the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters.

Hubris on the part of the nuclearindustry and its governmentregulators, along withcomplacency on the part of thepublic, have led to the creationof vast amounts of high-levelradiation that must be guardedfrom release to the environmentfor tens of thousands of years,far longer than civilization hasexisted.

5. Nuclear power plants cancatastrophically fail, causing vasthuman and environmental damage.The corporations that run thepower plants, however, areprotected from catastrophiceconomic failure by governmentlimits on liability, which shift theeconomic burden to the public. Ifthe corporations that own nuclearpower plants had to bear theburden of potential financial lossesin the event of a catastrophicaccident, they would not build theplants because they know the risksare unacceptable. It is governmentliability limits, such as the Price-Anderson Act in the US, that makenuclear power plants possible,leaving the taxpayers responsiblefor the overwhelming monetarycosts of nuclear industry failures.No other private industry is givensuch liability protection.

6. Radiation releases from nuclearaccidents cannot be contained inspace and will not stop at national

borders. The wind will carry long-lived radioactive materials aroundthe world and affect the peopleand environment of many countriesand regions. The radiation will alsoaffect the oceans of the world,which are the common heritage ofhumankind.

7. Radiation releases from nuclearaccidents cannot be contained intime and will adversely affectcountless future generations. Theradioactive materials from nuclearpower plant accidents, as well asfrom radioactive wastes, are alegacy we are bequeathing tofuture generations of humans andother forms of life on the planet.

8. Nuclear energy, as well as nuclearweapons, and human beingscannot co-exist without the risk offuture catastrophes. The survivorsof the atomic bombings ofHiroshima and Nagasaki have longknown that nuclear weapons andhuman beings cannot co-exist. TheFukushima accident, like that atChernobyl before it, makes clearthat human beings and nuclearpower plants also cannot co-existwithout courting future disasters.

9. The accidents at Fukushima andChernobyl are a wake-up call tophase out nuclear energy andreplace it with energyconservation and more human-and environmentally-friendly forms


of renewable energy. For decadesit has been clear that various formsof renewable energy are neededto replace both nuclear and fossilfuel energy sources. Now it isclearer than ever. The choice isnot between nuclear and fossilfuels. The solution is to disavowboth of these forms of energy andto move as rapidly as possible to aglobal energy plan based uponvarious forms of renewableenergy: solar cells, wind,

geothermal, ocean thermal,currents, tides, etc.

The nuclear power plant accidentat Chernobyl was repeated, albeitwith a different set of circumstances,at Fukushima. Have our societies yetlearned any lessons from Chernobyland Fukushima that will prevent thepeople of the future from experiencingsuch devastation? As poet MayaAngelou points out, “History, despiteits wrenching pain, cannot be unlived,

but if faced with courage doesn’t needto be lived again.” We need thecourage to phase out nuclear powerglobally and replace it with energyconservation and renewable energysources. In doing so, we will not onlybe acting responsibly with regard tonuclear power, but will also reducethe risks of nuclear weaponsproliferation and strengthen the globalfoundations for the abolition of theseweapons.

-TRANSCEND Media Service

Premchand and Pay Commission

Uma Shankari

Sometimes writers are betterconscience keepers of the nationsthan others. Take the plight offarmers. Many writers wrote aboutthem in their novels, short stories andplays : Munshi Premchand, Shivaramkaranth, Rabindranath Tagore. Inevery language one can find suchwriters. They wrote about farmers:about the poverty and the hardships,the cheating by middlemen, themiseries of the women, theexploitation by money lenders, thegullible peasant, the casteviolence,etc. … many films too havebeen done on the miserable plight offarmers: Do bigha zamin will everbe a classic. We continue to live inPremchand’s country. But we seemto have lost our conscience. Howotherwise can one explain the silenceabout the 7th Pay Commission?

The government servants, thebeneficiaries of the 7th payCommission have almost 24%increase in their pay and allowances;the minimum pay would be Rs.18000per month instead of Rs.7000; morethan double. The maximum paywould be Rs.2,50,000 per monthinstead of rs.90,000; again more

than double. At one shot theirincomes are doubled. But some ofthem are still cribbing; they are seeinginjustice in the calculations.

Come on, can’t you see theinjustice in the larger society?

Farmers and citizen groups (whosympathise with farmers) in thiscountry are asking in what way arethey less than the governmentservants or sportsmen or actors/actresses that they should live onmiserable incomes? They are saying:we are not beggars, begging forfood; in fact we are the ones whogrow food for the people of thiscountry; and some for people ofother countries as well. People doeat food, isn’t it, three times a day?How can this society let us live likebeggars? Doesn’t this society havea conscience?

Farmers are demanding aguaranteed income at par with thegovernment servants. Their sloganhas been: “Announce FarmersIncome Commission before 7th PayCommission”. They want an Act, alegislation, which will guarantee a

minimum level of income on par withthe Government servants.

In making such a demand thefarmers are not being greedy or lazy.They don’t want unholy doles. Theyare saying, let there be an Act and astatutory Commission (like the PayCommission), a Farmers IncomeCommission, which, after conductingdue surveys and studies, after takinginto account the subsidies, theinsurance, the credit, etc. etc.available to the farmer, willobjectively recommend aguaranteed income at par with theminimum pay of governmentservants; and let the government ofthe day implement and enforcethem. They are not asking aminimum guaranteed income for allfamilies. Not for families whoseincomes exceed the minimum levelof income of government servants.Therefore income tax payingfarmers are already out. Farmerfamilies who earn an income in theorganised sector- teachers, doctors,etc. are already out. Only for thosefamilies whose incomes fall belowthe minimum declared income maybe protected by the Act.


Why are they making such ademand today?

“The National Sample SurveyOrganisation, in its situationassessment survey of farmers(SAS), conducted once every 10years, assesses the major sources ofincome of an average Indian farmer.The latest required information isavailable for agri-year 2012-13. TheSAS 2002-03 results are alsoavailable, which we use forcomparison purposes. The income offarming households is shown underfour heads: Cultivation of crops,farming animals, rural non-farmactivities (RNF) and wages/salaries(WS).

The SAS 2012-13 counts 9 croreagricultural households in India, witheach earning on an average Rs77,112 per annum. This was morethan three times of what it earned in2002-03, that is Rs 25,380. In realterms (using the consumer priceindex of agri-labourer or the CPI-AL as the deflator with base 2004-05), however, the average agri-household’s income increased fromRs 26,901 pa in 2002-03 to Rs 38,096pa in 2012-13. The 10 yearcompounded annual growth rate(CAGR) of the respective incomeswas 11.8 per cent in nominal termsand 3.5 per cent in real terms. Thismeans that it took about six yearsfor nominal incomes to double and itwould take about 20 years for realincomes to double!” (Source: AshokGulati, Shweta Saini, June 20 2016)

That is, in real terms, even afterten years, the average monthlyincome of agricultural household hasincreased from around Rs. 2500 in2003 to Rs. 3100 in 2013. What ashame! It is even less than thestatutory minimum wage, which isRs. 160 per day. That is a daily wage

earner earns more than the farmer!The present day government hasannounced that it will double farmersincome in the coming 5 years. Evenif it happens it will still be around Rs.6000! And for it to happen thereshould be a 11% growth in the farmsector! The present rate of growthin the farm sector ranges from zeroto 4%. It is but natural that farmersare seething with anger andfrustration.

Large numbers of farmers areleaving agriculture. They are ofcourse free to leave farming forbetter paying jobs. But are these jobsavailable? The employment growthin the organised sector has beenpathetic. “Since 1990, in spite ofmassive investment in the privateorganised sector, its directemployment increased from 7.5million then to 9.5 million now whilethe workforce has increased from250 million to 450 million. It hasalmost led to a jobless growth.”(Source: Arun Kumar, Tribune)

It is not that the people who leaveagriculture are sitting idle; they endup as underpaid, undernourishedpart-time workers, joining theunorganised urban labor market andproviding cheap labour for thecorporate industry and commerce.Neither the government nor theemployers take any responsibility fortheir survival or their welfare. Theyare left to their own devices in thisdevil-may-care economy. And thegovernment has no qualms or evenpretensions about it. After all, justthe other day it was ready to removethe word “socialism” from the veryConstitution of the country, quietlyand clandestinely.

Across the world, governmentshave adopted different systems ofincome security for farmers to

ensure parity between agriculturesector and other sectors, and toensure food production and self-sufficiency. Even countries poorerthan ours take care of their farmers.But government after government inIndia are still doling out piecemealmeasures, a loan waiver here, a half-hearted crop insurance there. Everyyear the both state and centralgovernments keep saying they haveincreased the budget for agriculture,but the farmers’ incomes remainpathetic. What should they do?Whom should they complain to?

If India doesn’t ensure incomesecurity now and forces its smallfarmers to quit agriculture, we willend up giving huge subsidies to bigcorporates later – as it is happeningin the U.S. and European Union.Perhaps that is what thegovernments in India are wishing todo; let down its farmers, party withthe corporates.

Janata Subscription

Annual Rs. : 260/-

Three Years : 750/-


on

Mumbai Bank

in favour of




PM Narendra Modi spoke for acouple of hours from the rampart ofRed Fort on the 69th anniversary ofour Independence Day. He is aforceful speaker but not inspiring asJawaharlal Nehru, Lal BahadurShastri, Indira Gandhi and Atal BihariVajpeyi were. The rest like MorarjiDesai, Charan Singh, Rajiv Gandhi,VP Singh, PV Narasimha Rao, HDDevagowda and IK Gujral wereordinary and the most insipid wasMunmun Singh (Manmohan Singh).Gulzari Lal Nanda (Acting PM) andChandra Shekhar did not get anopportunity to address the nation onIndependece Day from Red Fort.

Narendra Modi just narrated andexaggerated his government’sdevelopmental achievements butcleverly avoided current burningissues like

(i) China’s continuing incursions intoIndian territory and atrocities onTibetans and violation of humanrights;

PM Modi’s address from the Red Fort

(ii) Pakistan’s continued terrorism inJ&K and elsewhere in Indiathrough terror modules;

(iii) Indiscriminate killing and rape ofKashmiris by our army and theCentral police forces; blinding orsemi-blinding of at least 100Kashmiris by pellet gunsincluding a girl studying in herfirst floor room;

(iv) Killing of Muslims in many Stateson suspicion of cow slaughter andeating of beef (80 per cent ofbeef export companies areowned by Hindus and Jains andthey include some BJP leaderstoo);

(v) Killing, rape and other atrocitieson Dalits - the Una incident inGujarat may prove to be thegraveyard of the BJP govermentand party in Gujarat;

(vi) Atrocious treatment of theCentral Universities, IITs, IIMs

and autonomous institutionsunder HRD by the ex-MinisterSmriti Irani, a second grade TVactress who is not even agraduate.

At Lucknow in October 2015 Ihad predicted that the BJP would bedefeated and Laloo-Nitish combinewould come to power. The miracleof Delhi is likely to be repeated byAAP in Punjab where it had hardlyany presence, resignation of NavjotSingh Siddhu from the BJP isominous. I predict that if the Congress,the Laloo-Nitish Combine, Mayawati,Mamata Banerji, Biju Patnaik and theDMK form an alliance the BJP willbe routed in the next General Electionin 2019. They lack a charismaticleader like NT Rama Rao. Even theCongress will fare better if Priyankawere to be made the leader in placeof her dull brother. But the ‘palacepolitics’ has its own limitations andfaults. I am not in active politics since1956 but understand it.

–C. B. Tripathi

Let’s await court’s ruling.I refer to the above article by

renowned thinker and Jounalist,Kuldip Nayar (Janata July 24, 2016).

His comments are, as usual, basedon firsthand knowledge, but agewithers the memory which is oftenbased on perceptions. I too was asmall time participant in the freedommovement as an active and prominentmember of Bombay National Guards,volunteer organization comprising ofyoung and enthusiastic freedomfighters, but unattached to anypolitical party. Therefore, I too havesome recollections about Gandhiji’sassassination on 30-01-1948.

I was, like others, working withmy employers when the tickerflashed Gandhiji’s assassination. I,and other volunteers, rushed to theoffice of our captain, late Shri Vagalto seek guidance on further actionthough we were aware that nonecould do anything. I, thereafter,closely followed the progress of thecase till Nathuram Godse’s hanging.The sequence of events was asunder:

1. Nathuram Godse, Badge, andanother person whose name I donot remember now resigned fromRSS and thereafter conspired to

kill Gandhiji. They were angeredby the proposed fast threatenedby Gandhiji to pressurize theGovernment of India to pay theamount due to Pakistan.

2. Godse was the leader and he firsttouched Gandhiji’s feet and thenshot him.

3. Badge turned approver and thetrial was held ‘in camera’ right upto hanging.

Any cognizable offence is anoffence against the State and,



I have been watching you ontelevision channels in the last fewdays, defending Islam as a religionof peace, calling the so-calledIslamic State “un-Islamic”,expressing sentiments and opinionsthat I entirely agree with. But thishas made me wonder why do youand your fellow ulema keepcompletely silent when self-styledKhalifa al-Baghdadi and hisfollowers say repeatedly that “Islamhas never been a religion of peace,not even for a day,” and that “it hasalways been a religion of war andconflict.”

I didn’t see you or any other ulemaquestioning your Nadwi colleaguefrom Lucknow, the influentialSalman Nadwi when he became thefirst Indian Muslim alim (Islamicscholar, singular of ulema) in July2014 to convey his allegiance to thesame Khalifa, addressing him asAmeer-ul Momineen, leader of theglobal Muslim community. Nowonder, his name now figures in thelist of ulema who have influencedIndian Muslim youth who have joinedand some even migrated to the so-called Islamic State.

I didn’t see you questioning thenotorious tele-evangelist Dr. ZakirNaik when he said: “all Muslimsshould be terrorists” or when he said:“Quran allows Muslims to have sexwith female slaves.” Indeed, you allkept quiet when Naik made hatefulremarks like the following: “Peoplein the west eat pork and hencebehave like pigs. Pigs are the onlyanimals in the world that invite theirfriends to have sex with their

Open Letter Why do moderate Ulema stay silent...

Janab Maulana Khalid Rashid Firangimahali Saheb,All-India Muslim Personal Law Board general secretary

partners. Westerners also do thesame.” Naik has made insultingother religions in the guise ofcomparative study or interfaithdialogue his speciality. But I findalmost the entire fraternity of Muslimulema coming out in his defencewhen it was discovered that hisdiscourse inevitably inspired severalpeople around the world who tookto the path of terrorism.

Worst of all, you and all otherulema kept quiet when MaulanaAbdul Aleem Islahi of Hyderabadasked Muslims to pray for theIslamic State. In a press releaseavailable online he said:“Condemnation of their (IslamicState’s) action may not be calledsagacity and will be consideredagainst the spirit of Islam. … theyhave tried to fulfil the dream of alarge section of Muslims and theirdetermination has infused a new lifeinto the concept of Caliphate. Theirannouncement (of caliphate) hassurpassed Maulana Abul KalamAzad and Maulana Abul AlaMaududi’s powerful writings andspeeches about Caliphate and hasrealized the concept practically. …This has sparked a new life in thedormant political life of Islam andthis might have certainly heartenedreligious Muslims as more or lessafter one hundred years Caliphatehas come to existent (sic). In otherwords, Islamic Caliphate is no longera concept but seems to have becomea reality.”

Most disturbing of all is your andother ulema’s complete silence overa seemingly very well-reasoned,

coherent fatwa, citing verses fromQuran and narrations of Hadith, ofthe Hyderabadi Maulana, seeking toprove that Islam asks beleagueredMuslims to fight and not sit helplesslywhen they perceive being underattack by non-Muslims whom hecalls “infidels” and “idol-worshippers” or kafirs and mushriksrespectively.

In a booklet entitled “Use ofForce in the light of Quran,” writtenin response to Dr. Nejatullah Siddiqi’sessay renouncing offensive violencein the name of Islam, Maulana Islahi,says:

The summary of whatever DrSaheb (Dr Nejatullah Siddiqi) haswritten is that … no matter what theflag bearers of Hindutva may do,taking any step against them orconfronting them with the use offorce will be wrong from the pointof view of Shariah and harmful forthe Muslims.

On Page 10/11, in a chapterentitled “Jihad is not violence,” hesays, “In the light of the Quran andhadith, calling punishment for crimeviolence is very wrong. It is an un-Islamic idea. In fact, the punishmentthat is given for preventing thecriminal from committing crimes isnot violence and atrocity but abenevolent act and a blessing.However, whatever meaning theword ‘violence’ may convey, callingviolence permissible only in twosituations by Dr (Nejatullah Siddiqi)Saheb is also extremely erroneousand is akin to striking a hard blow atthe purpose of the prophethood of the


holy Prophet. Please see SurahTauba, Chapter 9 of the Quran, verseNo. 29:

”And fight against those who donot have faith in God and in the Dayof Judgment and declare haram whatGod and his prophet have declaredhalal, and among those people of theBook do not accept the true faithuntil they pay the Jizyah with theirown hand and are subdued.” (Quran9: 29)

“In this verse, fight has beenordained against those under threeconditions until they pay jizyah: a)they do not profess faith in God andDay of Judgment; b) do not acceptas haram what God and his prophethave declared haram; c) do notaccept Islam as their religion.”

One of the cornerstones ofmoderate Islam is the often-quotedverse “La ikraha fiddin,” (Let therebe no compulsion in religion.): Quran2: 256. But the way Maulana Islahiturns it around is worth noting. Hesays: “This does not mean that ahl-e-Kufr, (infidels) should be left totallyfree on earth with their un-belief andshould not be made accountable. Ifthis were true, what do we meanwhen we say that the religion of Godhas been revealed to dominate theworld?

“It is He Who has sent HisMessenger (Muhammad sallallahualaihi wa-sallam) with guidance andthe religion of truth (Islam) to makeit superior over all religions eventhough the Mushrikoon (polytheists,idolaters, etc.) hate it.” (Quran. 9: 33)

“What will this verse mean thenand what relevance will the obligationof jihad have?

“It is the duty (of Muslims) to

struggle for the domination of Islamover false religions and subdue andsubjugate ahl-e-kufr-o-shirk (infidelsand polytheists) in the same way asit is the duty of the Muslims toproselytise and invite people toIslam. The responsibility to testify tothe Truth and pronounce the Deen(religion) God as entrusted with theMuslims cannot be fulfilled merelyby preaching and proselytising. If itwere so there would be no need forthe battles that were fought.

“And fight them until there is nofitnah (mischief) and [until] thereligion, all of it, is for Allah. And ifthey cease - then indeed, Allah isSeeing of what they do.” (Quran.8:39)

“Jihad has been made obligatoryto make the Deen (religion)dominate and to stop the centresof evil. Keeping in view theimportance of this task, thesignificance of Jihad in the nameof God has been stressed in theQuran and Hadith. That’s whyclear ordainments have beenrevealed to Muslims about fightingall the Kuffar (infidels).

“United, fight the polytheists asthey fight against you.” (Quran. 9:36)

On Page 17, Maulana Islahi says:“Let it be known that, according toIslamic jurisprudence, fighting theinfidels (kuffar) in their countries isa duty (farz-e-Kifayah), accordingto the consensus of ulema.”

Maulana’s entire essay is a callfor the Indian Muslims to fight theforces of Hindutva. But none of youulema, Maulana FirangimahaliSaheb, have refuted Maulana AbdulAleem Islahi, as you have notdenounced Dr. Zakir Naik orMaulana Salman Nadvi. Not even

when it became known that MaulanaIslahi had inspired the IndianMujahedin group. Perhaps yourproblem is that you cannot, as youyourself cannot but believe in whatMaulana Islahi says. What MaulanaIslahi or Zakir Naik are saying isprimarily based on the currenttheology, the theology that you allhave studied and teach in yourmadrasas and universities. How youcan condemn that.

The most authoritative book ofIslamic jurisprudence to date, Al-Mausu’ah al-fiq-hiyah al-Kuwaitiyyah (KuwaitiEncyclopaedia of IslamicJurisprudence), prepared in Kuwaitby a consensus of ulema from allschools of thought, after nearly half-a-century’s effort, and whose Urduversion was released on 23 October2009 by Vice President HamidAnsari in Delhi, defines Jihad thus:“Terminologically, Jihad means tofight against a non-Zimmi unbeliever(a kafir who is not paying jizya to anIslamic State), after he rejects thecall towards Islam, in order toestablish or raise high the words ofAllah.”

Clearly, the consensus MaulanaIslahi claims for his Islamsupremacism, exclusivism andxenophobia is not wrong. MakingIslam dominant over all otherreligions is indeed the goal of allulema, past and present. All theintolerance and xenophobia ofpolitical Islam flows from there. It’sonly when one studies thesetheological tomes one can see that itis not possible for you ulema to refuteyour Jihadi ideologues in anymeaningful way. Making dishonest,false statements of peace andpluralism to the non-Muslim mediais also allowed under the Doctrineof Taqaiyya mainly derived from the


Quranic verse: 3:28: “Let not thebelievers take the disbelievers asauliya (supporters, helpers, etc.)instead of the believers, andwhoever does that will never behelped by Allah in any way, unlesshe does it out of fear or taqaiyah(pious dissimulation). And Allahwarns you against Himself (HisPunishment) and to Allah is the finalreturn.” This doctrine used to bemainly part of Shia jurisprudence, butit seems Sunnis have also adopted itunder the onslaught of global mediathat is now asking informedquestions.

Nothing is thus going to change,unless all you ulema are prepared tomove forward from your presentposition, renounce the theology ofviolence and exclusivism, intoleranceand supremacism, that exists todayin the form of Islamic theologicalliterature and help us ordinary folkevolve a new theology of peace andpluralism. Islam is undoubtedly areligion of peace and pluralism, lovefor all and spiritualism. It does indeedteach harmonious co-existence. ButIslamic theology of today, as taughtin madrasas and universities,doesn’t. The theology that you ulemahave studied and teach to ourhapless children is a theology ofsupremacism. Islam is in crisis today.It has become practicallysynonymous with terrorism.

Wake up, Maulana FirangimahaliSaheb, and start taking remedialaction at least now. If you can’t dothat, at least stop deceiving the worldthrough your peacefulpronouncements. We are now livingin a world of internet. Scholarship isavailable on fingertips. Everyone isa scholar. You can’t hide anything.

The Islamic State is makingefforts to recruit Indian youths to

carry out terror attacks in Iraq,Syria and even within India

To tell you the truth, you are notdeceiving any one, not the least ourchildren who are running away to theso-called Islamic State, even whenyou call it the “un-Islamic State.”Intelligent, educated, they all knowthe truth. You recite peacefulMeccan verses of pluralism, co-existence, good-neighbourliness,exhortations of patience in times ofadversity, etc., in your appearanceson television or when forced to issuea fatwa against terrorism. But youteach in your madrasas, tafasir(interpretations) of Quran like, say,the Tafsir Jalalain, considered oneof the most authentic. It explains theDoctrine of Abrogation, widelyaccepted by ulema, wherebypeaceful Meccan verses are said tohave been abrogated by the laterMedinan verses of war. By andlarge the doctrine is based on thefollowing verse of the Quran: 1: 106,in which God says: “None of Ourrevelations do We abrogate or causeto be forgotten, but We substitutesomething better or similar: Knowestthou not that Allah Hath power overall things?”

The so-called sword verse alone,according to Jalalain, abrogates noless than 19 Meccan versesexhorting peace and patience in theface of persecution. This Verse(Quran 9:5) says: “When the sacredmonths are over, slay the idolaterswherever you find them. Arrestthem, besiege them, and lie inambush everywhere for them. Ifthey repent and take to prayer andrender the alms levy, allow them togo their way. God is forgiving andmerciful.”

One of the Jalals, Jalal al-Din‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr al-

Suyuti (1445-1505) interprets 9:73 (OProphet, fight against the disbelieversand the hypocrites and be harsh uponthem. And their refuge is Hell, andwretched is the destination) as a caseof postponing the fight until Muslimsbecome strong. His argument is that“when Muslims were weak, Godcommanded them to be patient.”Another revered Quran exegete,taught in all madrasas anddepartments of Islamic studies inuniversities, is Ibn-e-Kathir (1301-1372). He says that the sword verse(Quran 9: 5) “abrogated everyagreement of peace between theProphet and any idolater, everytreaty, and every term...” Similarly,Ibn Juzayy (d. 1340), anotherrespected Qur’an exegete says: TheVerse of the Sword’s purpose is“abrogating every peace treaty in theQur’an.””

Then there are ahadith (plural ofhadith, so-called sayings of theProphet pbuh) that terror ideologuesuse to justify terror and you MaulanaFirangimahali and your fellow ulemaconsider akin to revelation.

Take, for instance, the most widelyquoted hadith in this context: “I havebeen commanded to fight allmankind till they testify that there isnone worthy of worship but Allah,and that Muhammad is themessenger of Allah, and theyestablish prayer perfectly and payzakat. If they do this, they haveprotected their lives and their wealthfrom me except for Islamic laws andtheir reckoning will be with Allah theAlmighty.”

— Sahih Bukhari (Vol.1. Book2, Number 24, page 402) as wellas (Sahih Muslim, 31:5917), thetwo books of Hadith considered themost reliable and authentic by allulema.


My problem with this SatanicHadith is: Can the prophet (pbuh) door say something against the expressexhortations of the Holy Quran, ashe seems to be doing in this case,violating the universal declaration ofQuran, quoted above, Quran 2: 256;“La ikraha fiddin,” (Let there be nocompulsion in religion) and manyother similar Meccan verses ofpeace, pluralism and co-existence,teaching Muslims to be patient whilefacing persecution? I would say,NO, the Prophet can never do or sayanything that violates universaldeclarations of the Quran, which isthe word of God revealed to him.

But you Maulana Firangimahaliand your fellow ulema would say thefollowing: “this hadith (“saying” ofthe prophet) is as good as a revelationand since it came, like similar war-time verses, later than the previousuniversal declarations of freedom ofreligion, pluralism and co-existence,it has abrogated not only the abovebut many other peaceful versesrevealed earlier at Mecca when thefoundation of the religion of Islamwas being laid.” You all will say thisbecause all the universally reveredexegetes of Quran say the samething, except Mu’tazilah (rationalist)scholars like Abu Muslim Al-Asfahani. You read these secondaryIslamic literature, the exegeses andinterpretations by Ibn Jarir al-Tabari,(Jamie Al-Bayan: 7/646), Ibn-e-Kathir (1/207 and 2/774), Jalalain (51mention of abrogation in numerousplaces in Tafsir al-Jalalain), Al-Qurtubi (Al-Jamie Li Ahkam Al-Quran 10/157), etc., believe in theseanalyses and exegesesunquestioningly, and teach this inyour madrasas. Tafseer IbnKatheer:

Do you know how many childrenin India have started calling their

parents kafir? And for good reason.You teach the children Jihad in thesense of Qital against all infidels andpolytheists (kuffar and Mushrikeen)and ask them to practice peace andpluralism, and co-exist with the samekuffar and Mushrikeen. Please behonest, call for war against the so-called infidels and idol-worshippers,as Maulana Abdul Aleem Islahi,

Khalifa Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi andother Jihadi ideologues do, orrenounce your theology of violenceand supremacism and let us commonMuslims evolve a new and coherenttheology of peace and pluralism, co-existence and acceptance of allreligions as valid paths to eternalsalvation.

Yours Sincerely,A concerned Muslim

Sultan Shahin, Founding Editor, New Age Islam


therefore, against the people ofIndia. The people have a right toknow, understand and form theirown opinion on the proceedings. Ihave still not understood the logicand intention of Nehru Governmentto black out the entire trial. Leadingmourner was Nehru. It is adifferent matter that the Sardarwas pushed to the background buthe, as Dy. Prime Minister andHome Minister wasted no time inbanning the RSS outfit.

The Court set aside the ban.Thereafter also several attempts

were made to ban RSS, but theCourt came in the way. Finally, theGovernments gave up.

My memory too might havebeen influenced by perceptions butI must make it clear that I belongto OBC and never was a supporterof anti-Dalit or other anti-minoritiesattitudes or actions and never amember of RSS. I, therefore, lookforward reactions which mayenable me to stand corrected at thisfag end of my life.

–B. M. Rao

Footprints of A Crusader(The Life Story of Mrunal Gore)

byRohini Gawankar

Published byKamalakar Subhedar,

Secretary, Samata Shikshan Sanstha,Pareira Wadi, Mohili Village, Sakinaka, Ghatkopar(W), Mumbai 400072.

Mobile: 9820092255Contribution: Rs.300+




REGD. OFFICE :



Tel.: 022 2205 1231 Fax : 022-2205 1232



Price : Rupees Five

Vol. 71 No. 31August 28, 2016




Mumbai - 400 007.


ComplicatingKashmir issueSandeep Pandey

Congress must set itshouse in order

Kuldip Nayar

A night in IstanbulMegh Apte

Human nature:an evolutionary paradox

John Scales Avery

A Dalit Asmita Yatra was takenout in Guajrat by the Una DalitAtyachar Ladat Samiti fromAhmedabad to Una, where theobnoxious incident took place on July8, when some Dalits were beatenfor skinning dead cows, betweenJuly 31 and August 15, 2016.Symbolically, on the IndependenceDay the Dalits demanded that theymust be freed from the task ofdisposal of cattle carcasses andinstead they should be given land sothat they may survive by doingagriculture, in any case a morerespectable vocation than what theyhave been traditionally doing. Anylandless Dalit is in any case entitledto receive land from the panchayat.Essentially the demand is toimplement the provision in law forDalit. Even in cases from around thecountry where Dalits have beengiven land titles by Panchayats theyare not able to take control of theirland sometimes. Encroachment overDalit land is a fairly commonproblem. The police andadministration tend to favour thepowerful upper caste people whoencroach upon the land of Dalits, justlike they did in the Una incident.

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar was fornationalization of land. As land

Dalits' emancipationfrom humiliating vocations

reforms have not taken place in spiteof the implementation of land ceilinglaw and the people fear that anysurplus land will be given to privatecorporations rather than landlesslabourers, it may not be a bad ideato revive the call for nationalizationof land, following Dr. Ambedkar.There should be a way of moreequitable use of land. This will giveDalits the opportunity to give upvocations which are inhuman.

The young convenor of the LadatSamiti, Jignesh Mevani says that hedoesn’t want it to just remain a Dalitmovement. He would like to inviteother progressive forces to join thismovement for emancipation ofDalits. He invokes Shaheed BhagatSingh also in his speeches. There isappeal for promoting inter-caste andinterfaith marriages and also tostrengthen Dalit-Muslim unity asMuslims too have been at thereceiving end of the cow protectioncampaign. In fact, so long as it wasonly Muslims getting killed orattacked by cow vigilante groups thePrime Minister kept quiet. It was onlywhen the Una incident received badpublicity and threatened the electoralprospects of BJP in forthcomingelections in Punjab and UP, thatNarendra Modi in quite an


unexpected about turn came downheavily upon these groups.

However, the PM’s outburstdoesn’t seem to have had any effecton the cow vigilante groups. HinduJagarana Vedike has killed PraveenPoojary, interestingly a BJP worker,who was accused of carrying cattlein a vehicle for slaughter house. So,it appears that PM’s apparent angerwas more for public consumption thanactually intended to stop suchincidents. In any case Vishwa HinduParishad and other Hindutva groupshave condemned PM’s accusationthat 80 per cent of cow vigilantes areanti-social elements by the night. Itcertainly cannot be denied that theytake law into their own hands. Thefaith seems to be given moreimportance than our Constitution.

The Dalit Asmita Yatra receivedgood response in Gujarat and hasgiven a platform to Dalits for assertionof their rights. The method of protestthey have chosen, of abandoning thecattle carcasses, reflects the agonyof their profession. Earlier Dalits areknown to have given up this task in19 villages of Mehsana district ofGujarat. Unless they give up thesemenial jobs their children will not beable to go to schools and generationafter generation they will remain inthe same tradition.

Now it is up to the class which isthe consumer of leather items toworry about how they would removethe skin of dead cattle so that it maybe used by leather industry. The cowvigilante groups have also protestedagainst the use of cow leather formaking various items. With the Dalitsin Gujarat having resolved on a bigscale not to skin dead animals, it hasalready become a problem for thegovernment there. It is thinking ofemploying machines to perform thetask and dispose of the dead body.The leather industry may be underserious threat because of themisplaced enthusiasm of the cowvigilantes and a right winggovernment not too keen to suppressthe ‘Hindu’ sentiment.

In any case, a number ofhumiliating tasks which areperformed by Dalits including gettingdown into sewer lines to clean themshould have been mechanised longback. Just as this Yatra was to endin Una news came in of four peopledying in Madhapur in Hyderabadbecause of suffocation when theyhad entered a manhole to clean it. Itis really shameful that in the era ofmodernisation when most inhumantasks involving drudgery are beingmechanised, we still make livehuman beings enter the hell which issewer line. This is another task that

the Dalits must be freed from.

It is only when the Dalits are freedfrom the inhuman tasks that it willgive a chance to Dalit children to thinkabout a more respectable future forthemselves by adopting alternativecareers after getting educated.Wherever Dalit families have got achance they have left such humiliatingprofessions. But the problem is thatmost Dalits engaged in menial taskslive in conditions of poverty whichdon’t allow them to unshackle fromtheir situation. Even a Free andCompulsory Right to Education Act,which got implemented in the countryin 2009, is not able to pull all theirchildren out and get them admitted toschools. When 23 Valmiki communitywhich is traditionally involved insanitation work, children were to beadmitted along with another 8 Muslimchildren to the prestigious CityMontessori School in Lucknow lastyear under the RTE, the schoolopposed their entry tooth and nail.Only by a Court order 13 Valmikichildren got admitted to the school in2015. The school again wanted themout in the current academic year. TheSupreme Court has reprimanded itfor this. The elite class has made thelife of children of sanitation workersmiserable, humiliating them at everystep.

Even after lot of criticism, thegovernment continues to use pelletguns in J&K against protestors.Recent victims include a 8 yearsold Junaid whose lung has beenruptured and Adil who has beenblinded. 30 patients, victims ofpellet guns, in a day clearly showsthat government is in no mood torelent.

This reflects the tenor of

Complicating the Kashmir issuestatement by Arun Jaitley made inSamba of Jammu region where hesaid that militancy and stone peltingneed to be dealt with firmly and nolaxity should be shown in dealingwith such situation. AlthoughNarendra Modi, in a meeting withopposition leaders the next day inDelhi, said that he shared the painof Kashmiris. He said it is a matterof distress whether the lives lostare of our youth, security personnel

or police. But the PM is now knownto initiate damage control whensituation worsens and startsaffecting his political prospects.Rajnath Singh, earlier said thatinstead of stones, bricks andfirearms in the hands of Kashmirishe would like to see pen, computersand jobs. Both Rajanth and Jaitleyhave blamed Pakistan forfomenting the current trouble inKashmir.


It is unbelievable that BJP leadershold such simplistic ideas aboutKashmir. Their approach is onlygoing to worsen the situation.

When Rajnath or Modi say theywould like to see development inJ&K, do they really think economicprosperity is the answer to unrest inKashmir? If economic well beingwould have guaranteed happinessthen youth of Punjab would not havetaken to drugs. Mental happiness isno less important than physical wellbeing for peace to return to thevalley. That can happen only whena political solution which is agreeableto Kashmiris is arrived at. Mostcommentators say it will have to besome kind of autonomy.

Jaitley must be asked why didwomen and children pick up stones?Stone pelting was people’s answerto use of force against them by theIndian government. Jaitley mustthank people of Kashmir as most ofthem have shown restraint and notpicked up guns. Only a smallminority indulges in the kind ofviolence which can kill securityforces. It is a pity that while securityforces can easily save themselvesfrom stones, or at least will notsuffer fatal injuries, they have noqualms about using pellet gunsagainst people with seriousconsequences. No securitypersonnel are getting killed, exceptfor the two who died initially, in thepresent round of everyday violence.Only the number of civilians gettingkilled is going up. Kashmiris areright is doubting whether they areconsidered equal citizens of India,when pellet guns are used onlyagainst their agitation and notelsewhere in the country. Nosensitive government would usesuch inhuman methods against theirown citizens. Israelis use it against

Palestinians but then Israel doesn’thave the kind of relationship withPalestine which India claims to havewith Kashmir.

BJP seems to know only oneway to deal with the problem - toremain tough. The curfew, alreadythe longest in the history since J&Kbecame part of India, has beenthere for more than a month andhalf now. Police have given up.People are directly facing the bruntof military and paramilitary. Securityforces which are trained to faceenemy at the border, start treatingpeople like enemies. It doesn’t looklikely that security forces beingpresent there in such large numberswill help create an atmospherewhich can pave the way fornormalcy to return. BSF has beencalled out after 13 years which isnot a good sign.

Modi has appealed for peace toreturn to valley so that dialogue couldbegin. Jaitley thinks that the stonethrowing protestors are theaggressors but in reality the securityforces are the bigger aggressorsgiven their power of ammunition. So,it is in the hands of government tobring peace to valley. Thegovernment only cuts a sorry figureby blaming Pakistan for even thestone pelting implying that Pakistanis able to influence proceedings inKashmir while it has completelyfailed to have an impact.

Defence Minister ManoharParikkar has also referred toPakistan as ‘hell,’ to which southIndian actress and former CongressMP has given a very rational reply.There are protests against her andan advocate has sought seditioncase to be filed against her. This hasnow become a trademark strategyof the Hindutva brigade. First a

controversy is created. Then ifquestions are raised about this, theHindutva brigade will take to streetsand create a scene. Nobody willquestion the original action. Only thereaction will be attacked. Forexample, there is noise aboutregistering case against Akhlaq’sfamily in Dadri but nothing is saidabout the people who killed him inthe first place.

But commendably Ramya hasstood her ground. The irrationalbehaviour of Sangh Parivar affiliateswill have to be pointed out andquestioned whatever the costrequired to be paid. They aremasquerading Hindu nationalism asthe only form of nationalism, whichis quite in variance from the idea ofnationalism which our freedomfighters believed in. Actually, sincethe BJP has come to power there issheer display of hooliganism in thename of nationalism and it must notbe tolerated. Communal harmonywas integral part of our nationalismlegacy which is now sought to bedismissed in the name of minorityappeasement.

Ramya is right. People in Pakistanare just like us. People don’t hateeach other. It is the governmentswhich have created an atmosphereof enmity. Why should the people bedragged into it?

In Pakistan 48 per cent peopleenjoy the benefit of improvedsanitation whereas the figure forIndia is merely 34 per cent.Proportion of underweight childrenin India is 43 per cent whereas inPakistan it is merely 31 per cent.Hence for certain poor sections ofpopulation Pakistan may not be somuch of a ‘hell’.

–Sandeep Pandey


Can the Congress Party beretrieved? This was the questionposed to me. Another one is whetheror not the party is relevant. Answeringthe last question first, I said that a150-year-old organization which hasloyal members even in the remotestrural areas cannot be irrelevant. TheCongress led the independencemovement and has ruled the countryfor more than five decades.

For my generation, JawaharlalNehru and Sardar Patel who werethe top two leaders of the Congressare icons and I cannot forget thesacrifices the people made undertheir leadership. Their wordscounted and people would gather attheir call whenever or wherever theymade. Then, the Congress was Indiaand India was the Congress.

The situation began to changeafter the death of Lal BahadurShastri, who succeeded Nehru. I hadthe privilege of working as the pressofficer with Shastri. He had doubtsabout Nehru’s succession plans andwould often say that unke dimaagme to un ki putri hai (he has hisdaughter in mind). But, Shastri would,add that it would not be easy.

This turned out to be true becauseafter the death of Nehru, MorarjiDesai was the first one to throw hishat in the ring. Congress presidentK. Kamaraj did not want Morarjiwho he considered intractable andnot accommodative for a countrywhere it was essential to beconciliatory to take the people of

Between the Lines

Congress must set its house in order

Kuldip Nayar

different religions, castes and regionstogether.

Shastri did succeed Nehru but diedearly because of heart attack atTashkent where he had gone to signa peace agreement with GeneralAyub Khan, martial law administratorof Pakistan. My feeling is that had helived, relations between India andPakistan would have normalized. Irecall that after hearing the suddendeath of Shastri, Ayub came to dachawhere the Russians had put up theIndian Prime Minister up.

General Ayub said in my presencethat “had he (Shastri) lived Pakistanand India would have become long-lasting friends.” Ayub also becamethe pallbearer of the coffin thatcarried Shastri’s body to the aircraftwhich flew it to Delhi. I think Ayubdid echo the feelings of Pakistanbecause when I visited the countrysubsequently people recollectedShastri’s friendship.

Zulfikhar Ali Bhutto, thenPakistan’s foreign minister, was thespoiler. He did not want to sign atreaty which would shun violence insettling issues between India andPakistan. And he flew straight fromTashkent to Islamabad andpropagated that Ayub had sold thecountry to India. What Ayub hadconceded was that the differencesbetween India and Pakistan wouldbe settled peacefully.

Shastri had made Ayub to writeon the peace draft he had brought

along “without resorting to arms.”The hand-written words in the textare retained by the NationalArchives of India. Although manypeople in Pakistan doubt this butthe fact remains that General Ayubdid sign the peace treaty becausehe, as the army chief, knew whatthe devastation the wars caused.

With such long and big heritage,the Congress Party cannot be writtenoff. In fact, the very history ofindependent India begins with themovement which helped the countryroll back the British Raj. It is truethat the Congress has come downfrom the pedestal it had onceoccupied but it does not mean that ithas become irrelevant.

Can the party be retrieved is adifficult question to answer. It hadtwo major segments of followers:Dalits and Muslims. Mayawati, thedalit leader, has cornered the peoplewhom the Hindu religion itself hadcategorized as sudras(untouchables). In fact, there is noreligion in the world which makesdiscrimination against its own peopleas part of its traditions.

In fact, if the Hindus were toanalyse they would find that theMuslims are converts from Hinduismbecause it did not treat them asequals, something which the Islamdid. Today when the RSS raises thebanner of ghar wapsi, it shouldrealize that such a thing cannothappen until the Hindus give upuntouchability which is rampant in


rural India. People of differentcastes may have begun sitting on thesame bed, yet they still have separatewells and separate cremationgrounds.

The Muslims, after theestablishment of Pakistan, havesought a party which is secular. TheCongress, however, was not as firmin its ideology as it was during thedays of Nehru and Patel. Still theMuslims had no choice because theonly alternative available to themafter the Congress was theCommunist Party. But this did notfit into their scheme of things andwas too totalitarian anddisciplinarian.

For a religion which has a holybook to follow, there was very littleleeway. Islam attracted convertsbecause it gave a sense ofequality. Hadeesh (the spokenwords) did give room for personalinterpretations. But the loyal say thatthere could be no deviation from thebook of roughly 1400 years oldbecause these were the world ofAllah.

Yet the Islam over the years haschanged. If it could severe fromthe rigid path, Hinduism shouldhave no problems of in overhaulingitself in the face of modernchallenges. However,discrimination against dalits is sodeep that I do not expect manystrides in this field. This is achallenge before the Hindus.

The experience so far has beenfar from happy. At the time ofelections, some appeals are madeand even top Hindu leaders from theCongress eat at the houses of dalits.But all this wears off once the pollsare over and people are back to theirold moorings of discrimination.

If the Congress wants to retrieveits lost influence, it would have tocleanse its own house. Secularismhas become just a word and manyCongress leaders are as rabid as theBJP fanatics. Secularism is acommitment, an aptitude of mind.

We have included secularism in thepreamble of the constitution, but weare far from practising it. And,sometimes, I feel that India is tryingto follow Pakistan where peoplewear religion on their sleeves toprove that they are firm Muslims.

PUCL condemns the actions ofthe Bengaluru Police in foisting acase of sedition, creating enmity andother charges against AmnestyInternational India and unnamed stafffor holding a meeting on 13th August,2016 in Bengaluru on human rightsabuses in Kashmir in which familiesof victims participated. From thestatement of Amnesty it is evidentthat the police had been informedabout the meeting, were present atthe venue and had observed firsthandthe event and therefore hadknowledge that the allegations of theVHP about the meeting werepolitically motivated and false. Thatthe Karnataka police chose toregister a FIR despite all this onlyhighlights the dangers of arming thestate with such draconian laws likethe anti-sedition laws.

The 13th August, 2016 event itselfwas in the backdrop of the 2015Amnesty International report ”Denied: Failures in accountability forhuman rights violations by securityforce personnel in Jammu andKashmir”. The Report focused onthe travails of families of personswho lost their loved ones due toexcesses by security forces. Thisreport is in the public domain.Families of victims of State violencewere present to narrate in firstperson, the situation in Kashmir andthe difficulties in claiming justice andaccountability in cases whereinnocent people are killed in

Drop FIR against Amnesty

encounters or enforceddisappearances. The meeting itselfincluded showing video films oftestimonies of other victim families, apanel discussion, musicalperformance and skit.

PUCL sees the recentregistration of an FIR for seditionagainst Amnesty International, Indiaand the witch hunt into the finances/funding of the organisation as yetanother instance in the long stringof events where the State has usedright wing majoritarian groups tostifle dissent, prevent discussion andcontrol debate. There is a visiblepattern across the country – fromthe incidents in JNU, HyderabadCentral University, AllahabadUniversity, or the witch hunt against Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anandand their organisation CJP, IndiraJaisingh and Anand Grover ofLawyers Collective, Green Peaceand now Amnesty International –where, in every meeting discussinghuman rights violations suffered byminorities and dalits, or excessesof security forces whether inKashmir, North East or in Maoistregions, a small fringe groupcreates a commotion, which isused to first disrupt the meetingand thereafter to harass theorganisers by slamming casesagainst them. Seldom is anyaction initiated against the individualswho disrupt meetings in the firstplace.


For instance, in the presentincident, the local police wereinformed and were present at themeeting. Why were the disruptorsnot removed by the police present inthe venue or why was no FIRregistered against the persons whoappeared to have come prepared todisrupt and actually disrupted themeeting?

It also needs to be highlightedthat the repeated invocation of theanti-sedition offence (sec. 124 AIPC) over any other section of IPCis mainly to create a public opinionthat those who demandaccountability of the state and itsagencies, including the police,paramilitary and security forces,are essentially “anti-national”. Thiscreates a negative image aboutthem amongst common people; the`anti-national’ tag, in turn, ensuresthat the state can further persecutethem without much adverse publicopinion.

It is in this context that we needto also notice that irrespective ofpolitical party in power, mostgovernments tend to abuse theextremely coercive, anti-democratic,anti-sedition provision, sec. 124AIPC to silence dissent and crushcriticism. There is little differencebetween a BJP government invokingsedition provisions against Dr.Binayak Sen in Chhattisgarh or theAIADMK government invokingsedition laws against peaceful, anti-nuclear protestors in Koodankulamin Tamil Nadu or cartoonist AseemTrivedi being arrested inMaharashtra or the case launchedby the TMC government in WestBengal against academics; morerecently in the last one year itself, isthe sedition case against JNUStudents Union leader, KanhaiyaKumar in Delhi, the Tamil folk singer

Kovan in TN for criticising thegovernment’s liquor policy andagainst Hardik Patel for rallying theanti-reservation struggle involvingPatels or Patidars in Gujarat; thelatest to join this long list of infamoussedition cases is the present caseagainst Amnesty International Indialaunched by the Congressgovernment in Karnataka. In allthese cases, what weighed werepolitical considerations of the rulingparties and governments dealing adeath blow to the rule of law andfunctioning of the criminal justicesystem.

It has been a long held position ofPUCL that the anti-sedition law (sec.124A IPC) should be repealedimmediately. It is ironical that inBritain itself the sedition clause has

been repealed while India continuesto retain it.

PUCL appeals to all concernedcitizens, democratically mindedgroups and human rights movementto once again give a call forrepealing sec. 124 A IPC and tolaunch a mass citizen’s campaignto make ordinary citizens aware ofthe dangerous, anti-democraticnature of this archaic, colonial eraprovision of law.

PUCL also demands that theGovernment of Karnataka and theKarnataka Police immediatelywithdraw the FIR lodged againstAmnesty International, India for themeeting organised by it on13th August, 2016 in the UnitedTheological College in Bengaluru.

–Prabhakar Sinha V. Suresh

People’s Union For Civil Liberties

Muslims for SecularDemocracy (MSD) stronglyprotests the decision of the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation tomake Surya Namaskar compulsoryin the over 1,200 schools run bythe civic body.

The BJP claims Surya Namaskaris beneficial in leading a healthy life,improves concentration and hasnothing to do with any religion. Whilethe combination of yogasanapostures involved may well bebeneficial for good health, SuryaNamaskar does mean “salutations toLord Surya (The Sun), the giver ofenergy to the world” and is widelyregarded as “a wonderful regularroutine of exercise, prayer andworship given in the scriptures”.

Saffron agenda

It is for this reason that very manyMuslims find Surya Namaskarobjectionable since Islam forbidsbowing before or worship of anyoneexcept God.

MSD believes thatnotwithstanding its posturing, theBJP’s decision to impose SuryaNamaskar on all studentsirrespective of religion is an integralpart of its saffronisation agenda.

It therefore supports the demandfor a rollback of this unconstitutionaldecision of the BJP and its ally, theShiv Sena.

–Hasan Kamaal, Javed Siddiqi,Noorjehan Safia Niaz, JavedAnand, Feroze Mithiborwala.


A night in Istanbul

Megh Apte

History is laden with incidenceswherein the ruling classes due to theirdecisions caused discontent amongsttheir subjects. There are have beennumerous tales where kings havebeen assassinated because theywielded excessive power, and therehave been incidences when thepeople as a collective unit have rana revolution due to the abuse ofpower by the establishment. TheFrench and the Russian Revolutionscoupled with the Arab Spring areexamples of just how powerful aweapon the people can be. But,there are incidences when theguardians of the frontier turn rogueand decide to run the countrythemselves, for this is what happenedon the night of 15th July 2016 inTurkey.

Turkey is a medium sized countrywhich falls under both Europe andAsia, though for trade, politics andalignment, it comes under thejurisdiction of the European Union,the historic city of erstwhileConstantinople, known today asIstanbul, has an unique feature ofbeing the only city in the world to bea part of two continents. Thebeautiful and the magnificent riverwhich is called as the Bosphorus bythose living in Istanbul separates theAsiatic and European area ofIstanbul.

Turkey has a 99.8 % Muslimpopulation, of which 80% are the onebelonging to the Sunni sect and theremaining 20% belong to the Shiasect. However, these two sects havelived in harmony as compared to thebloody history these two sects shareamongst themselves in the Middle

Eastern countries of Saudi Arabia,Iran , Iraq and Syria. The secularistsand the Kurds (who have beendemanding for the creation of anindependent Kurdistan withinTurkey) comprise the minority withinTurkey.

The President of Turkey, RecepTayyip Erdogan who was elected in2014 as Head of State has ratherturned the destiny of Turkey towardsauthoritarianism as opposed to thedemocratic ideals it was based upon,Mr Erdogan is the first leader sinceKemal Ataturk to wield suchtremendous power. The saying,‘power corrupts and absolute powercorrupts absolutely’ would need asmall modification, as RamJethmalani, a very senior lawyer inIndia, rightly said in the SupremeCourt, that modification being: Allpower corrupts – and the fear oflosing power corrupts absolutely!This fear has made Mr Erdoganparanoid about every independentinstitution in place whose job is tomaintain a system of checks andbalances and to ensure the presenceof rule of law. In addition to it, hehas suppressed the media to such anextent that the tiniest criticism is seenas a security threat. His party,Justice and Development Party hasbeen heavily under the scrutiny ofits political opponents, Mr Erdogan’spolicies have been an extremelynutritious fodder for the oppositionfor their election campaign.

Fast forward to 15th July 2016, anda small faction of mid-level militaryofficers tried to stage a coup d’etat,which is a French word whichtranslates as seizure of power. This

was not some rudimentary attempt;after all, Turkey has endured the testof time wherein the generals haveruled the country; this was asophisticated and a well plannedconspiracy. I say well plannedbecause, the moment the coup wastaking place, Mr Erdogan was on avacation on a seaside resortoverlooking the Aegean Sea . Therebel factions had F-16 fighter jets,tanks and a well stocked supply ofammunition with them, which wasindeed alarming. These fighter jetscarried out an air strike on theTurksat broadcasting station so as tocreate an Iron Curtain, however, thestrike could not permanently damagethe station as a result of which theprivate broadcasting networks wereable to air the news that a coup wasbeing staged. The moment the newsstarted trickling through, MrErdogan resorted to Apple’sFacetime and urged his countrymento stand up to this threat againstdemocracy, which is all the moreironic, given Mr Erdogan’s distastefor the social media and internetactivism. The Turkish people gavean overwhelming response to thismessage and the coup was failed,but Mr Erdogan should not deludehimself, this response was given inorder to save Turkey from a militaryregime and not to save Mr Erdogan.

The aftermath

The next morning, retribution waseasily visible on the streets ofAnkara and Istanbul after the rebelshad been overcome. Mr Erdogan ina public address declared ‘Thisuprising is a gift from God to usbecause this will be a reason to


cleanse our army’. Mr Erdogancertainly did not mince his wordswhen he made this statement for6000 servicemen had been arrested,amongst them 100 were generalsand admirals, he has not stoppedthere, 8000 policemen have beensacked, 3000 Judges andprosecutors have been suspended ordetained. University professors,teachers and civil servants (about350 from the Prime Minister’s office)have been pushed out of service.These incidences beg the question,what if the coup was somethingplanned by Erdogan himself? So asto make the incident as a blankcheque to oust democracy andestablish an authoritarian regime, thelatter form of government is on itsway since a three month (with effectfrom 20th July 2016 ) state ofEmergency has been imposed in thecountry.

The blame of having incepted thecoup has been put on Fetullah Gulen, who is a Muslim cleric having goneinto self-exile in the United Statessince 1998. Mr Gulen and MrErdogan were partners in crimewhen the going was good, however,on attaining power, Erdogan realizedthat Gulen was becoming a powercentre himself and Gulen wasaccused of running a ‘parallel state’within the established government.Gulen is a person who has openlyprofessed an idea of an IslamicCaliphate in the past which givesErdogan all the more reason tosuspect him.

Turkey’s relationshipwith NATO, EU and USA

Historically, Turkey played acrucial role in the Cold War, it wasthe place closest to the erstwhileSoviet Union where the UnitedStates could establish a military base.

Even today, in its fight against theIslamic State (IS), the US viewsTurkey as a valuable ally. After all,the base at Incirlik in southern Turkeyis used to carry out air strikes on IS.Turkey has however been not a partof the North Atlantic TreatyOrganization (NATO). If Turkeywere to apply to the NATO today,they would not succeed, the reasonbeing, NATO lays down a set ofcriteria known as the ‘membersaction plan’, the criteria laid down init need to be strictly followed by anaspiring applicant .

The criteria are as follows

Ø A stable democratic system

Ø Pursue the peaceful settlement ofterritorial and ethnic disputes

Ø Have good relations withneighbouring countries

Ø Show commitment to the rule oflaw and human rights

Ø Establish a democratic and acivilian control of their forces

Ø Have a market economy

Of all these criteria which havebeen laid down, Turkey fulfills onlythe last criteria. Over the past fewmonths Erdogan has been overtlysuspicious of America since the UShas an alliance with the SyrianKurdish militia known as the People’sProtection Units, it is recognized byAmerica as the most effective groundforce against IS in Syria. However,there is a slight problem since thismilitia is also demanding anindependent Kurdistan. Suchalliances are viewed by Turkey asacts of having ‘double standards’since America is directly supportingseparatist views in Turkey.

To make matters worse, Turkeyhas been facing a strainedrelationship with the EuropeanUnion as well, who is its largesttrading partner. Turkey has made adeal with the European Union whichincluded, Turkish effort to reduce theinflow of refugees to Greece inexchange for accelerating theabolition of short term visas forTurkish tourists and businessmenand fund Turkish efforts to supportrefugees. The criticism the dealfaced was that the EU haddesignated Turkey as a ‘safecountry’ for refugees, this failedcoup has put a dent to that reputationas well.

Economic analysis

There is one thing any sort ofcoup holds in common, they arealways unexpected by theirnature, whose objective is to catchthe government unawares. Thepast three years have seensuccessful coups in Egypt and inThailand and several failed onesin other countries. JonathanPowell and Clayton Thyne of theUniversity of Kentucky havecollected immense data on thissubject and have reached to theconclusion that between the years1950 and 2010 there have been457 coup attempts in total, out ofwhich 227( 49.7%) weresuccessful and 230( 50.3%) wereunsuccessful, however post-2003,plotters of a coup have attaineda decent hit rate of 70%, whichindicates a certain amount ofsophistication the plotters haveattained over the years which isindeed an alarming sign.

Coups have been not so regularover the years. Their heyday wasthe mid-1960s, when nearly 15 tookplace every year, this can be easily


equated with the Cold War, sincethe 1960s was the time when US–Soviet relations were most strainedand both countries tried to createunrest in the countries whichbelonged to the Eastern and theWestern bloc. However, thecurrent trend is that the occurrenceof coups is declining, the mainreason, the world has got richer.Looking at a sample size of 121countries, John Londregan andKeith Poole, of Carnegie MellonUniversity, concluded in 1990 thatcoups were 21 times more likelyto take place in poor countries ascompared to rich ones. Usinganother group of countries, PaulCollier and Anke Hoeffler ofOxford University found in 2007that the risk of coups fell about by27% as the level of income perperson doubled. By the same tokengrowth rates matter. Raising it byone percentage point reduces therisk of a coup by 4.4%. Thecorollary is, of course, that slowergrowth rate raises the risk of acoup. There is no automaticthreshold, North Korea is a perfectexample where the soldiers havenot rebelled against their leaderdespite having a disastrous growthrate.

Lessons

1. Turkey has a long march aheadof itself now, this failed coup maybe the making or breaking of acountry. Erdogan has the chanceto instill a spirit of democracy andconstitutionalis. Constitutionalismessentially means having a systemof checks and balances in placein order to prevent abuse of powerby one wing of the governmentviz. Legislature, Executive, andthe Judiciary. Mr Erdogan canstart unmuzzling the press whichhas been suppressed for so long.

2. The jihadist elements which willnow be more active due to thisfailed coup need to be carefullysurveilled.

3. The power of the army needs tobe curtailed by way of legislationso that such an incident does nothappen again.

4. If the majoritarian attitude ofErdogan does not cease, Turkeyis destined for doom since nothingever comes out of ethnic discordand hatred for the minority. For, acountry is judged by how it nottreats its majority, but how it treatsits minority.

5. The NATO needs to relax someof its criteria for membershipsince they are slightly hypocriticalin nature. Many of the otherNATO members have violatedthose criteria on numerousoccasions.

6. A military government so close tothe European Union would haveset a very dangerous precedentsince the gateways of terror wouldbe wide open and the threat ofwar would be more imminent. Imake this statement because,however despotic, spinelessNawaz Sharif might be as thePrime Minister of Pakistan, hestill is a ‘democratically’ electedleader, he is accountable to thepeople to a very limited scale, butstill he is. Opposed to that, agovernment headed by the InterServices Intelligence and thePakistani Army would be a majorheadache for the Indiansubcontinent since both thecountries have got nuclearweapons.

7. The refugee crisis needs to behandled more maturely by the

European Union, otherwise it willcause growing discontent amongstthe people as alreadydemonstrated by the people ofGreat Britain.

8. Mr Erdogan needs to balance hisown political ambitions with theambitions of his subjects, if thevested interests overwhelm publicinterest and if there is a damageto the economy of Turkey, MrErdogan can see himself being thenext Hosni Mubarak, the Turkishpeople will have the final say inthe second round and there willbe no army to save Mr Erdoganthis time.

Reference

1. Fali Nariman’sautobiography :Before Memory Fades

2. The Economist

Janata Subscription

Annual Rs. : 260/-

Three Years : 750/-


on

Mumbai Bank

in favour of




Today, human greed and folly aredestroying the global environment.As if this were not enough, there isa great threat to civilization and thebiosphere from an all-destroyingthermonuclear war. Both of thesesevere existential threats are due tofaults in our inherited emotionalnature.

From the standpoint ofevolutionary theory, this is a paradox.As a species, we are well on the roadto committing collective suicide,driven by the flaws in human nature.But isn’t natural selection supposedto produce traits that lead tosurvival? Today, our emotions are notleading us towards survival, butinstead driving us towards extinction.What is the reason for this paradox?

Some stories from the Bible

The Old Testament is thecommon heritage of the threeAbrahamic religions, Christianity,Judaism and Islam. Some of thestories which it contains can be seenas attempts to explain the paradoxesof human emotional nature: Why arewe born with emotions that drive usto commit the seven deadly sins?Why are pride, envy, wrath, gluttony,lust, sloth and greed so much a partof human nature? The story of Adamand Eve and the Garden of Edenattempts to answer this question, asdo stories about the role of Satam inthe world.

According to the biblical account,Adam and Eve ate apples from theTree of Knowledge and weretherefore expelled from the Garden

Human nature: an evolutionary paradox

John Scales Avery

of Eden. This story can be seen ascontaining elements of historicaltruth.

Humans were originally hunter-gatherers. Populations were sosparse that gathering roots, berriesand fruits from their environmentgave them enough to eat.Occasionally they obtainedadditional protein from the meat ofanimals that they were able to kill.Then agriculture was invented.Populations rapidly became sodense that humans were no longerable to live simply by gatheringfruit from the Garden of Eden.Expelled from the garden, theywere henceforth forced to sweatfor their daily bread.

What about “original sin” and therole of the Devil in the world? Inthe Bible, the Devil, or Satan, appearsas a fallen angel who tempts humansto commit sins, i.e to break the rulesof their societies. The existence ofSatan is the biblical explanation ofthe presence of evil in the world. Analternative explanation is given by thedoctrine of “original sin”, whichmaintains that humans are born witha sinful nature.

Like the story of the Garden ofEden, these biblical concepts mayalso chronicle true historical eventsin human evolution. A sinful humanis sometimes described as “behavinglike an animal”. In fact, what isregarded a sin in humans can be anecessary survival trait in an animal.It would be ridiculous to say “Thoushalt not steal” to a mouse or “Thoushalt not kill” to a tiger.

Our emotions have an extremelylong evolutionary history. Both lustand rage are emotions that we sharewith many animals. However, withthe rapid advance of human culturalevolution, our ancestors began to livetogether in progressively largergroups, and in these new societies,our inherited emotional nature wasoften inappropriate. What once wasa survival trait became a sin whichneeded to be suppressed by moralityand law.

Today we live in a world that isentirely different from the one intowhich our species was born. Weface the problems of the 21stcentury: exploding populations,vanishing resources, and the twinthreats of catastrophic climatechange and thermonuclear war. Weface these severe problems with ourpoor cave-man’s brain, with anemotional nature that has notchanged much since our ancestorslived in small tribes, competing forterritory on the grasslands of Africa.

The expression of emotionsin man and animals

In the long run, because of theterrible weapons that have alreadybeen produced through the misuseof science, and because of the evenmore terrible weapons that are likelyto be invented in the future, the onlyway in which we can ensure thesurvival of civilization is to abolishthe institution of war.

But is this possible? Or are theemotions that make war possible somuch a part of human nature that we


cannot stop humans from fighting anymore than we can stop cats and dogsfrom fighting? Can biological sciencethrow any light on the problem of whyour supposedly rational species seemsintent on choosing war, pain and deathinstead of peace, happiness and life?To answer this question, we need toturn to the science of ethology: thestudy of inherited emotionaltendencies and behavior patterns inanimals and humans.

In The Origin of Species, CharlesDarwin devoted a chapter to theevolution of instincts, and he laterpublished a separate book, TheExpression of the Emotions in Manand Animals”. Because of thesepioneering studies, Darwin isconsidered to be the founder ofethology, the study of inheritedbehavior patterns.

Behind Darwin’s work in this fieldis the observation that instinctivebehavior patterns are just as reliablyinherited as morphologicalcharacteristics. Darwin was alsoimpressed by the fact that within agiven species, behavior patternshave some degree of uniformity, andthe fact that the different specieswithin a family are related bysimilarities of instinctive behavior,just as they are related by similaritiesof bodily form. For example, certainelements of cat-like behavior can befound among all members of the catfamily; and certain elements of dog-like or wolf-like behavior can befound among all members of the dogfamily. On the other hand, there aresmall variations in instinct among themembers of a given species. Forexample, not all domestic dogsbehave in the same way.

“Let us look at the familiar case ofbreeds of dogs”, Darwin wrote in TheOrigin of Species, “It cannot be

doubted that young pointers willsometimes point and even back otherdogs the very first time they are takenout; retrieving is certainly in somedegree inherited by retrievers; and atendency to run round, instead of at,a flock of sheep by shepherd dogs. Icannot see that these actions,performed without experience by theyoung, and in very nearly the samemanner, without the end being known(for the young pointer can no moreknow that he points to aid his masterthan the white butterfly knows whyshe lays her eggs on the leaf of thecabbage). I cannot see that theseactions differ essentially from trueinstincts…”

“How strongly these domesticinstincts habits and dispositions areinherited, and how curiously theybecome mingled, is well shownwhen different breeds of dogs arecrossed. Thus it is known that across with a bulldog has affectedfor many generations the courageand obstinacy of greyhounds; anda cross with a greyhound has givento a whole family of shepherd dogsa tendency to hunt hares.”

Darwin believed that in nature,desirable variations of instinct arepropagated by natural selection, justas in the domestication of animals,favourable variations of instinct areselected and propagated bykennelmen and stock breeders. Inthis way, according to Darwin,complex and highly developedinstincts, such as the comb-makinginstinct of honey-bees, have evolvedby natural selection from simplerinstincts, such as the instinct bywhich bumble bees use their oldcocoons to hold honey andsometimes add a short wax tube.

In the introduction to TheExpression of the Emotions in Man

and Animals, Darwin says “Ithought it very important toascertain whether the sameexpressions and gestures prevail,as has often been asserted withoutmuch evidence, with all the racesof mankind, especially with thosewho have associated but little withEuropeans. Whenever the samemovements of the features or bodyexpress the same emotions inseveral distinct races of man, wemay infer with much probability,that such expressions are trueones, – that is, are innate orinstinctive.”

To gather evidence on this point,Darwin sent a printed questionnaireon the expression of humanemotions and sent it to missionariesand colonial administrators in manyparts of the world. Darwin received36 replies to his questionnaire, manycoming from people who were incontact with extremely distinct andisolated groups of humans.

The results convinced him thatour emotions and the means bywhich they are expressed are to avery large extent innate, ratherthan culturally determined, sincethe answers to his questionnairewere so uniform and soindependent of both culture andrace. In preparation for his book,he also closely observed theemotions and their expression invery young babies and children,hoping to see inheritedcharacteristics in subjects tooyoung to have been greatlyinfluenced by culture.

Darwin’s observations convincedhim that in humans, just as in othermammals, the emotions and theirexpression are to a very large extentinherited universal characteristics ofthe species.


Ethology

The study of inherited behaviorpatterns in animals (and humans)was continued in the 20th centuryby such researchers as Karl vonFrisch (1886-1982), NikolaasTinbergen (1907-1988), and KonradLorenz (1903-1989), three scientistswho shared the Nobel Prize inMedicine and Physiology in 1973.

Karl von Frisch, the first of thethree ethologists, is famous for hisstudies of the waggle-dance ofhoneybees. Bees guide each otherto sources of food by a geneticallyprogrammed signalling method, thefamous waggle dance, deciphered in1945 by von Frisch.

Among the achievements forwhich Tinbergen is famous are hisclassic studies of instinct in herringgulls. He noticed that the newly-hatched chick of a herring gull pecksat the beak of its parent, and thissignal causes the parent gull toregurgitate food into the gaping beakof the chick.

Tinbergen wondered what signalcauses the chick to initiate thisresponse by pecking at the beak ofthe parent gull. Therefore heconstructed a series of models of theparent in which certain features ofthe adult gull were realisticallyrepresented while other featureswere crudely represented or left outentirely. He found by trial and errorthat the essential signal to which thechick responds is the red spot on thetip of its parent’s beak. Models whichlacked the red spot produced almostno response from the young chick,although in other respects they wererealistic models; and the red spot onan otherwise crude model wouldmake the chick peck with greatregularity.

In other experiments, Tinbergenexplored the response of newly-hatched chicks of the commondomestic hen to models representinga hawk. Since the chicks were ableto recognize a hawk immediatelyafter hatching, he knew that theresponse must be geneticallyprogrammed. Just as he had done inhis experiments with herring gulls,Tinbergen experimented withvarious models, trying to determinethe crucial characteristic that wasrecognized by the chicks, causingthem to run for cover. He discoveredthat a crude model in the shape ofthe letter T invariably caused theresponse if pulled across the sky withthe wings first and tail last. (Pulledbackwards, the T shape caused noresponse.)

In the case of a newly-hatchedherring gull chick pecking at the redspoon the beak of its parent, theprogram in the chick’s brain must beentirely genetically determined,without any environmentalcomponent at all. Learning cannotplay a part in this behavioral pattern,since the pattern is present in theyoung chick from the very momentwhen it breaks out of the egg. Onthe other hand (Tinbergen pointedout) many behavioral patterns inanimals and in man have both ahereditary component and anenvironmental component. Learningis often very important, but learningseems to be built on a foundation ofgenetic predisposition.

To illustrate this point, Tinbergencalled attention to the case ofsheepdogs, whose remote ancestorswere wolves. These dogs, Tinbergenwrote, can easily be trained to drivea flock of sheep towards theshepherd. However, it is difficult totrain them to drive the sheep awayfrom their master. Tinbergen

explained this by saying that thesheep-dogs regard the shepherd astheir “pack leader”; and since drivingthe prey towards the pack leader ispart of the hunting instinct of wolves,it is easy to teach the dogs thismaneuver.

Driving the prey away from thepack leader would not make sensefor wolves hunting in a pack; it isnot part of the instinctive makeup ofwolves, nor is it a natural pattern ofbehavior for their remotedescendants, the sheep-dogs.

As a further example of the factthat learning is usually built on afoundation of genetic predisposition,Tinbergen mentions the ease withwhich human babies learn languages.The language learned is determinedby the baby’s environment; but theastonishing ease with which a humanbaby learns to speak and understandimplies a large degree of geneticpredisposition.

On aggression

The third of the 1973prizewinners, Konrad Lorenz, ismore controversial, but at the sametime very interesting in the contextof studies of the causes of war anddiscussions of how war may beavoided. As a young boy, he wasvery fond of animals, and his tolerantparents allowed him to build up alarge menagerie in their house inAltenberg, Austria.

Even as a child, Lorenz becamean expert on waterfowl behavior,and he discovered the phenomenonof imprinting. He was given a oneday old duckling, and found, to hisintense joy, that it transferred itsfollowing response to his person. AsLorenz discovered, young waterfowlhave a short period immediately


after being hatched, when theyidentify as their “mother” whomeverthey see first. In later life, Lorenzcontinued his studies of imprinting,and there exists a touchingphotograph of him, with his whitebeard, standing waist-deep in a pond,surrounded by an adoring group ofgoslings who believe him to be theirmother. Lorenz also studied pairbonding rituals in waterfowl.

It is, however, for his controversialbook On Aggression that KonradLorenz is best known. In this book,Lorenz makes a distinction betweenintergroup aggression and intragroupaggression. Among animals, hepoints out, rank-determining fightsare seldom fatal. Thus, for example,the fights that determine leadershipwithin a wolf pack end when theloser makes a gesture of submission.By contrast, fights between groupsof animals are often fights to thedeath, examples being wars betweenant colonies, or of bees againstintruders, or the defense of a rat packagainst strange rats.

Many animals, humans included,seem willing to kill or be killed indefense of the communities to whichthey belong. Lorenz calls thisbehavioural tendency a “communaldefense response”. He points outthat the “holy shiver”, the tingling ofthe spine that humans experiencewhen performing a heroic act indefense of their communities, isrelated to the prehuman reflex forraising the hair on the back of ananimal as it confronts an enemy, areflex that makes the animal seemlarger than it really is.

Konrad Lorenz and his followershave been criticized for introducinga cathartic model of instincts.According to Lorenz, if an instinct isnot used, a pressure for its use builds

up over a period of time. In the caseof human aggression, according toLorenz, the nervous energy has tobe dissipated in some way, eitherharmlessly through some substitutefor aggression, or else through actualfighting. Thus, for example, Lorenzbelieved that violent team sports helpto reduce the actual level of violencein a society.

Although the cathartic model ofaggression is now widely believed tobe incorrect, it seems probable thatthe communal defense responsediscussed by Lorenz will prove to bea correct and useful concept. Thecommunal defense mechanism canbe thought of as the aspect of humanemotions which makes it natural forsoldiers to kill or be killed in defenseof their countries. In the era beforenuclear weapons made warprohibitively dangerous, suchbehavior was considered to be thegreatest of virtues.

Generations of schoolboys havelearned the Latin motto: “Dulce etdecorum est pro patria mori” – it isboth sweet and proper to die forone’s country. Even in today’s world,death in battle in defense of countryand religion is still praised bynationalists. However, because ofthe development of weapons of massdestruction, both nationalism andnarrow patriotism have becomedangerous anachronisms.

In thinking of violence and war,we must be extremely careful not toconfuse the behavioral patterns thatlead to wife-beating or bar-roombrawls with those that lead toepisodes like the trench warfare ofthe First World War, or to the nuclearbombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.The first type of aggression is similarto the rank-determining fights ofanimals, while the second is more akin

to the team-spirit exhibited by afootball side. Heroic behavior indefense of one’s community hasbeen praised throughout the ages, butthe tendency to such behavior hasnow become a threat to the survivalof civilization, since tribalism makeswar possible, and war withthermonuclear weapons threatenscivilization with catastrophe.

In an essay entitled The Urgeto Self-Destruction, ArthurKoestler says: “Even a cursoryglance at history should convinceone that individual crimes,committed for selfish motives, playa quite insignificant role in thehuman tragedy compared with thenumbers massacred in unselfishlove of one’s tribe, nation, dynasty,church or ideology… Wars are notfought for personal gain, but out ofloyalty and devotion to king,country or cause…”

“We have seen on the screen theradiant love of the Führer of theHitler Youth… They are transfixedwith love, like monks in ecstasy onreligious paintings. The sound of thenation’s anthem, the sight of its proudflag, makes you feel part of awonderfully loving community. Thefanatic is prepared to lay down hislife for the object of his worship, asthe lover is prepared to die for hisidol. He is, alas, also prepared to killanybody who represents a supposedthreat to the idol.”

The emotion described here byKoestler is the same as thecommunal defense mechanism(“militant enthusiasm”) describedin biological terms by Lorenz. InOn Aggression, Konrad Lorenzgives the following description ofthe emotions of a hero preparingto risk his life for the sake of thegroup:


“In reality, militant enthusiasm isa specialized form of communalaggression, clearly distinct from andyet functionally related to the moreprimitive forms of individualaggression. Every man of normallystrong emotions knows, from hisown experience, the subjectivephenomena that go hand in handwith the response of militantenthusiasm. A shiver runs down theback and, as more exact observationshows, along the outside of botharms. One soars elated, above all theties of everyday life, one is ready toabandon all for the call of what, inthe moment of this specific emotion,seems to be a sacred duty.

“All obstacles in its path becomeunimportant; the instinctiveinhibitions against hurting or killingone’s fellows lose, unfortunately,much of their power. Rationalconsiderations, criticisms, and allreasonable arguments against thebehavior dictated by militantenthusiasm are silenced by anamazing reversal of all values,making them appear not onlyuntenable, but base and dishonorable.Men may enjoy the feeling ofabsolute righteousness even whilethey commit atrocities.

“Conceptual thought and moralresponsibility are at their lowest ebb.As the Ukrainian proverb says:‘When the banner is unfurled, allreason is in the trumpet’.

“The subjective experiences justdescribed are correlated with thefollowing objectively demonstrablephenomena. The tone of the striatedmusculature is raised, the carriageis stiffened, the arms are raised fromthe sides and slightly rotated inward,so that the elbows point outward.The head is proudly raised, the chinstuck out, and the facial muscles

mime the ‘hero face’ familiar fromthe films. On the back and along theouter surface of the arms, the hairstands on end. This is the objectivelyobserved aspect of the shiver!

“Anybody who has ever seenthe corresponding behavior of themale chimpanzee defending hisband or family with self-sacrificingcourage will doubt the purelyspiritual character of humanenthusiasm. The chimp, too, sticksout his chin, stiffens his body, andraises his elbows; his hair standson end, producing a terrifyingmagnification of his body contoursas seen from the front. The inwardrotation of the arms obviously hasthe purpose of turning the longest-haired side outward to enhance theeffect. The whole combination ofbody attitude and hair-raisingconstitutes a bluff.

‘This is also seen when a cathumps its back, and is calculated tomake the animal appear bigger andmore dangerous than it really is. Ourshiver, which in German poetry iscalled a ‘heiliger Schauer’, a ‘holy’shiver, turns out to be the vestige ofa prehuman vegetative response formaking a fur bristle which we nolonger have. To the humble seekerfor biological truth, there cannot bethe slightest doubt that human militantenthusiasm evolved out of acommunal defense response of ourprehuman ancestor.”

Lorenz goes on to say, “Animpartial visitor from another planet,looking at man as he is today: in hishand the atom bomb, the product ofhis intelligence, in his heart theaggression drive, inherited from hisanthropoid ancestors, which thesame intelligence cannot control,such a visitor would not give mankindmuch chance of survival.”

There are some semanticdifficulties connected withdiscussions of the parts of humannature that make war possible. Inone of the passages quoted above,Konrad Lorenz speaks of “militantenthusiasm”, which he says is botha form of communal aggression andalso a communal defense response.In their inspiring recent book War NoMore, Professor Robert Hinde andSir Joseph Rotblat use the word“duty” in discussing the same humanemotional tendencies. I will insteaduse the word “tribalism”.

I prefer the word “tribalism”because from an evolutionary pointof view the human emotionsinvolved in war grew out of theterritorial competition between smalltribes during the formative periodwhen our ancestors were hunter-gatherers on the grasslands ofAfrica. Members of tribe-like groupsare bound together by strong bondsof altruism and loyalty. Echoes ofthese bonds can be seen in present-day family groups, in team sports, inthe fellowship of religiouscongregations, and in the bonds thatlink soldiers to their army comradesand to their nation.

Warfare involves not only a highdegree of aggression, but also anextremely high degree of altruism.Soldiers kill, but they also sacrificetheir own lives. Thus patriotism andduty are as essential to war as thewillingness to kill. As Arthur Koestlerpoints out, “Wars are not fought forpersonal gain, but out of loyalty anddevotion to king, country or cause…”

Tribalism involves passionateattachment to one’s own group, self-sacrifice for the sake of the group,willingness both to die and to kill ifnecessary to defend the group fromits enemies, and belief that in case


of a conflict, one’s own group isalways in the right.

Tribalism

If we examine altruism andaggression in humans, we notice thatmembers of our species exhibit greataltruism towards their own children.Kindness towards close relatives isalso characteristic of humanbehaviour, and the closer thebiological relationship is between twohumans, the greater is the altruismthey tend to show towards eachother. This profile of altruism is easyto explain on the basis of Darwiniannatural selection since two closelyrelated individuals share many genesand, if they cooperate, the genes willbe more effectively propagated.

To explain from an evolutionarypoint of view the communal defensemechanism discussed by Lorenz, thewillingness of humans to kill and bekilled in defense of theircommunities, we have only toimagine that our ancestors lived insmall tribes and that marriage waslikely to take place within a triberather than across tribal boundaries.Under these circumstances, eachtribe would tend to consist ofgenetically similar individuals. Thetribe itself, rather than the individual,would be the unit on which theevolutionary forces of naturalselection would act.

The idea of group selection inevolution was proposed in the 1930’sby J.B.S. Haldane and R.A. Fisher,and more recently it has beendiscussed by W.D. Hamilton, E.O.Wilson and R. Dawkins. Accordingto the group selection model, a tribewhose members showed altruismtowards each other would be morelikely to survive than a tribe whosemembers cooperated less

effectively. Since several tribes mightbe in competition for the sameterritory, intertribal aggression might,under some circumstances, increasethe chances for survival of one’s owntribe. Thus, on the basis of the groupselection model, one would expecthumans to be kind and cooperativetowards members of their owngroup, but at the same time tosometimes exhibit aggressiontowards members of other groups,especially in conflicts over territory.

One would also expect intergroupconflicts to be most severe in caseswhere the boundaries betweengroups are sharpest where marriageis forbidden across the boundaries.

Tribal markings, ethnicityand pseudospeciation

In biology, a species is defined tobe a group of mutually fertileorganisms. Thus all humans form asingle species, since mixedmarriages between all known raceswill produce children, andsubsequent generations in mixedmarriages are also fertile. However,although there is never a biologicalbarrier to marriages across ethnicand racial boundaries, there are oftenvery severe cultural barriers.

Irenäus Eibl-Ebesfeldt, a studentof Konrad Lorenz, introduced theword “pseudospeciation” to denotecases in which cultural barriersbetween two groups of humans areso strongly marked that marriagesacross the boundaries are difficultand infrequent.

In his book The Biology of Warand Peace, Eibl-Eibesfeldt discussesthe “tribal markings” used by groupsof humans to underline their ownidentity and to clearly mark theboundary between themselves and

other groups. One of the illustrationsshows the marks left by ritualscarification on the faces of themembers of certain African tribes.These scars would be hard tocounterfeit, and they help to establishand strengthen tribal identity.

Seeing a photograph of the marksleft by ritual scarification on thefaces of African tribesmen, it isimpossible not to be reminded of thedueling scars that Prussian armyofficers once used to distinguish theircaste from outsiders.

(to be Concluded)


Footprints ofA Crusader

(The Life Story ofMrunal Gore)

byRohini Gawankar


Secretary,

Samata Shikshan Sanstha,

Pareira Wadi,

Mohili Village,

Sakinaka, Ghatkopar(W),

Mumbai 400072.

Mobile: 9820092255

Contribution: Rs.300+




REGD. OFFICE :



Tel.: 022 2205 1231 Fax : 022-2205 1232




Vol. 71 No. 32September 4, 2016




Mumbai - 400 007.


Home Minister Rajnath Singh hasmet around 300 people at Srinagar.Pakistan, too, has offered to havetalks on Kashmir. Both steps,however laudable, are late by twoto three years. The Kashmiris thenwanted a settlement through adialogue. Leaders like Yasin Malikand Shabbir Shah did take part in theconclaves held at Srinagar and NewDelhi.

The topic at that time was to makeNew Delhi realize that the state hadacceded to the Union of India onlythree subjects: Defence, ForeignAffairs and Communications. Butoverzealous Jagmohan andgovernors like N. N. Vohra and hispredecessors spread themselves allover. They did not keep in mind thataccession was limited to only threesubjects. The Kashmiri leaders wereunhappy but felt helpless.

Today, the young generation hasgone beyond what their elders hadpromised. The youth now wantindependence, with freedom to chalkout their foreign policy. In fact, theirconcept of sovereignty is like the

freedom which any country in theworld enjoys. Their representativesinvited me to Srinagar last month. Ifound them really agitated but quiteclear about what they want.

To call them fundamentalists oranti-India will not be fair. True, theywant Srinagar to be like Washingtonor London and they do no links withIslamabad. They argue that theirforeign policy will be decided by theelected members of the Stateassembly and not dictated by NewDelhi or, for that matter, Islamabad.

I told them that I believed theirdemand was understandable but howcould India create another Islamiccountry on its border when it alreadyhas a bad experience of having oneIslamic state, Pakistan. Theyshrugged their shoulders when Iargued with them that the LokSabha, with a majority behind PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, would notconcede their demand. This wasyour problem they said.

The quantum of autonomy can bea matter of debate but certainly not

Kashmir first, Pakistan later

Kuldip Nayar

Let not Article 370 of IndianConstitution be weakened

Rajindar Sachar

Who should be blamedfor alienating Kashmiris?

Prabhakar Sinha

Review of literature on studentorganizations and politics

B. G. Kulkarni

Human nature:an evolutionary paradox - II

John Scales Avery

Dalit Uprising and AfterSubhash Gatade

2 JANATA, September 4, 2016

the accession. By going back to thevery raison d’être of Pakistan, wewould start another kind of a debateand might disturb the equanimitywhich Hindus and Muslims haveachieved despite an unequalsituation.

Those who pelted stones inSrinagar may be the misguidedyouth in one way. But they representthe aspirations for independence inthe other way. They have gone farahead of Yasin Malik and ShabbirShah, who are in jail. The youthresent the very accession to India.But they are equally indignantagainst Pakistan, although someextremists are trying to cloud.

I think that till a couple of yearsago, the matter could have beensettled between the governments atNew Delhi and Srinagar but todaythe Kashmiris would have to be partof any dialogue on the future of thestate. The UN resolution for aplebiscite in Kashmir or the ShimlaAgreement between Indira Gandhiand Pakistan’s Zulfikar Ali Bhuttohas lost relevance. The situationtoday is different.

It is regrettable that neither Indianor Pakistan realizes this or, at least,gives that impression. It is now atriangular and all the three pointswill have to be touched for anamicable settlement. Anotherdelegation to Srinagar may be afutile exercise because theKashmiris feel that promises madeearlier have not been made good.

Former chief minister OmarFarooq Abdullah, who now leads theNational Conference, is quite rightwhen he says that he finds no utilityin delegations visiting Srinagar when

The Supreme Court of India,notwithstanding some controversialdecisions in the matter ofconstitutional interpretation has byfar and large contributed to theupholding the rights and privilegesof the States and individuals.

But with a decision Ajay KumarPandey Vs. State of J & K & Anr.decided by Constitution Bench onJuly 19th, 2016 there has arisen theapprehension of interfering with theautonomy of J & K, guaranteedunder Article 370 of the Constitutionof India.

The Constitution Bench hasdecided that the Supreme Court hasthe power to transfer a civil orcriminal case pending in any Courtin the State of Jammu and Kashmirto a Court outside that State and viceversa. It was common case that theprovisions of Section 25 of the Codeof Civil Procedure and Section 406of the Code of Criminal Procedure,which empower the Supreme Courtto direct transfer of civil and criminalcases respectively from one State tothe other, do not extend to the Stateof Jammu and Kashmir and cannot,therefore, be invoked to direct anysuch transfer. It was also commonground that Jammu and KashmirCode of Civil Procedure, 1977 andthe Jammu and Kashmir Code ofCriminal Procedure, 1989 do notcontain any provision empoweringthe Supreme Court to direct transferof any case from that State to a Courtoutside the State or vice versa.

It was common ground that the

Let not Article 370 of IndianConstitution be weakened

Rajindar Sachar

provisions of Article 139-A of theConstitution which empowersSupreme Court to transfer a casepending before one High Court toitself or to another High Court alsohas no application to the cases at handas the Constitution 42nd AmendmentAct, 1977 which inserted the saidprovision itself has no application tothe State of Jammu and Kashmir.

Thus while accepting that alitigant has no right to seek transferof a civil or a criminal case pendingin the State of Jammu and Kashmirto a Court outside the State or viceversa., still the Court not withstanding these formulations went onto answer the question whetherindependent of all these provisionscontained in the Codes of Civil andCriminal Procedure there is therestill a source of power which theSupreme Court can invoke fordirecting transfer of a case from theState of Jammu and Kashmir or viceversa. The Court has held that it hassuch a power invoking the principleof “access to justice” beingfundamental right and secondly thepowers given under Article 142 ofthe Constitution. The court relied onprinciple of our law that everycitizen has a right of unimpededaccess to a court and referred toRaymond v. Honey 1983 AC 1(1982 [1] All ER 756) where LordWilberforce described it as a ‘basicright’. But with respect, the attentionof the Supreme Court was notbrought to the specific observationsof Lord Wilberforce and itsaffirmation in this very case;emphasizing the exception that; “a(Continued on Page 5)

JANATA, September 4, 2016 3

citizen’s right to unimpeded accesscan only be taken away by expressenactment… and we accept that suchrights can as a matter of legalprinciple be taken away bynecessary implication.” Here in thepresent case the provisionsmentioned above specificallynegative the right of a litigant to havea case transferred out of J & K, butstill the court has held otherwise.

The Supreme Court then dealtwith the question namely whetherArticle 142 of our Constitutionempowers the Supreme Court todirect transfer in a situation whereneither the Central Code of CivilProcedure nor the Central Code ofCriminal Procedure empowers suchtransfer to/from the State of Jammuand Kashmir. The Court thereafterconcluded that the powers underArticle 142 are wide enough toempower the Supreme Court todirect such a transfer in appropriatesituations, no matter whether CentralCode of Civil and CriminalProcedures do not extend to the Statenor do the J & K State Codes of Civiland Criminal Procedure contain anyprovision that empowers this courtto transfer cases. It is unfortunatethat the attention of the court wasnot drawn to a seven judge’s benchcase A.R. Antulay V. R.S. Nayak1998 (2) SCC 602 where court held;“Thirdly, however wide and plenarythe language of the article, thedirections given by the court shouldnot be inconsistent with, repugnantto or in violation of the specificprovisions of any statute. If theprovisions of the1952 Act read withArticle 139-A and Section 406-407of the CrPC do not permit thetransfer of the case from a SpecialJudge to the High Court, that effectcannot be achieved indirectly.”

It is also unfortunate that theattention of Supreme Court was also

not drawn to an earlier five judges’judgment of Supreme Court (1998)wherein the court said, “Article 142,even with the width of its amplitude,cannot be used to build a new edificewhere none existed earlier, byignoring express statutoryprovisions dealing with a subject andthereby to achieve somethingindirectly which cannot be achieveddirectly,.……….that the Court willtake note of the express provisionsof any substantive statutory law andregulate the exercise of its power anddiscretion accordingly. It must beremembered that wider theamplitude of its power under Article142, the greater is the need of carefor this Court to see that the poweris used with restraint withoutpushing back the limits of theConstitution so as to function within

the bounds of its own jurisdiction.”

More serious than the concernmentioned above, this judgment hasin an indirect manner nullified themandatory provision of Article 370of the Constitution. J & K.Legislature has specifically providedthat court will have no such powerto transfer cases from J & K Courtsoutside the State. In such a situationto invoke the powers of Article 142to pass orders contrary to J & Klegislation is a serious breach ofArticle 370 having graveconsequences. I hope the Union ofIndia and State of J & K will seekreview of this judgment to avoidserious constitutional and politicalconsequences, so as to ensure peopleof J&K that there will be noweakening of their autonomy.

Who should be blamedfor alienating Kashmiris?

Prabhakar Sinha

It is a self deception tounderestimate the alienation of alarge number of Kashmiris fromIndia and a crime to blame them forit. Despite an urge for Azadi amonga sizeable section from thebeginning, the Kashmiris remainedpeaceful and created no problem forIndia from 1947 to 1989. Duringthese 42 years, India fought twowars with Pakistan (in 1965 and1971) without the Kashmiriscreating any problem for India orshowing a preference for Pakistan.Khalistanis took to terrorism in1980s, but Kashmir did not take toarms before 1989. Who is to blamefor the present crisis in Kashmir?

The blame lies with the rulers ofIndia - past and present. We Indians

were ready to accept that misrule inEast Pakistan led to its alienationfrom Pakistan and went to war withPakistan to liberate it, but refused tolearn from Pakistan’s experience.The lesson to be learnt was clear.Don’t take the people for granted. IfMuslims of Bengal, who were in theforefront of the battle for a MuslimPakistan, could rise in revolt againstthe country they had shed their bloodto create, the Muslims of Kashmir,too, could do it if ill treated. Theycontinued to be taken for granted anddenied even the right to elect agovernment of their choice. It is nosecret that the elections in the statewith few exceptions were rigged.The rigging of the election of 1987was a turning point. When FarooqAbdullah joined hands with the


Congress, he ceased to enjoy thetrust of the Kashmiris, who were forKashmiriat and had reposed theirfaith in the Abdullah family. He wasnow looked upon as a stooge ofDelhi.

Muslim United Front (MUF) wasformed to oppose the NationalConference and Congress alliance tohave a government representing theforces of Kashmiriat i.e. of theKashmiris, who resented losing theiridentity and wanted to retain it. Thefront had a massive public support,but lost the election thanks tomassive rigging. As if that was notenough the MUF leader MuhammadYousuf Shah was arrested andpersecuted (he is currently known asSyed Salahuddin, the Chief ofHizbul Muzaheeddin and isdirecting the operation fromPakistan). It was natural for a peopleto be convinced that they could notshape their life and future throughfair elections and have to exploreother means. The other means theyadopted was insurgency. Thepertinent question is whether theychose it or were driven to it by Delhiand whether it is they or the Indianrulers who are responsible forinsurgency and terrorism inKashmir.

The anti-Muslim tirade of theSangh Parivar and the hate speechof Modi’s Ministers, M.Ps. and theleaders of the BJP have beenfrightening and alienating even theminorities of the country dealing agrievous blow to the cause of national integration. The Sangh andthe BJP have kept the cauldron ofanti-Muslim feelings boiling. Theban on eating beef, killing of Aqlakhin UP, asking any Muslim to go toPakistan at the drop of a hat,portraying a slight rise in the

National Alliance Of People’sMovements welcomes the SupremeCourt’s land mark decision quashingthe forcible land acquisition of 1000acres by the West Bengalgovernment in 2006 for the Tata carfactory. The decision by Justices V.Gopala Gowda and Arun Mishra thatthe land be returned to the originalland owners of Singur, marksanother chapter in the long historyof resistances by the people’smovements against forcible landacquisition in name of publicpurpose for private corporations.Singur marked a turning point in2006 when the resistance against theSpecial Economic Zones were justgathering steam and it emboldenedour collective struggles all around.

We congratulate farmers ofSingur who fought the ten years longlegal battle and kept the pressure forreturn of the land with the help ofthe Trinamool Congress led WestBengal government. We alsowelcome the fact that the farmersdon’t have to return the money andthe Jutsice Gowda’s observation thatthe land acquisition for a privatecompany to build a car plant doesn’tconstitute ’public purpose’. This isin line with what we have beensaying for long and only vindicatesour position.

Since, the enactment of the newland law in 2013, the governmentshave been bypassing the law toacquire land for private corporationsand not adhering to the consentclause and need for conductingsocial impact assessment andlimiting it only to cashcompensation. The NDAgovernment even thrice broughtOrdinances to amend the law tofacilitate easy acquisition of the land

Landmark decision

for private corporations and forprofiteering in the name of the publicpurpose. Supreme Court’sjudgement today is again avindication and reaffirmation of thepositions we have taken, whereanything and everything has beenjustified in the name of publicpurpose. Any forcible landacquisition for corporate profit in thename of public purpose anddevelopment of nation is notacceptable and is completely anti-farmer and anti-people andunconstitutional, as reiterated bySupreme Court judgement today.

A number of people’s movementstoday have joined hands with themass organisations of the Leftparties on the need for protectingland rights and oppose forcible landacquisition across the country. Thisunity has led to defeat of the NDAgovernment’s design to amend the2013 land law and extend supportand solidarity to communityorganisations opposing forcible landacquisition. With the West Bengalgovernment backing Singur farmers,and Left parties also standing withpeople’s movements, we do hopethat a collective consensus willemerge from West Bengal on apeople-centric development agendaand industrialisation, where interestsof the workers, peasants and farmerswill be at the centre of it and notprofit and corporate greed.

We once again congratulate thefarmers of the Singur for theirvaliant struggle!

–Medha Patkar, Samar Bagchi,Prafulla Samantara, Dr Sunilam,Amitava Mitra, GautamBandopadhyay, Bhupender SinghRawat, Madhuresh Kumar(Continued on Page 10)


the reports prepared by the earlierones are accumulating dust in theHome Ministry corridors. New Delhiwill have to prove its bona fides firstbefore the thread can be picked upfrom where it was left off earlier.

After all, what was the demandof Sheikh Abdullah who had tospend some 12 years at Kodaikanalin the south? He wanted New Delhito recognise that the state had joinedthe Union by conceding of onlythree subjects. It was not for theUnion to usurp more powers withoutconsulting the unit that had accededto it.

Maybe, much water has floweddown the Jehlum since. But thesituation can be retrieved by rollingback all laws which go beyond thescope of the three subjects. Theyouth in Kashmir may not feelhappy but this is one possibility,although a remote one, to bring backthe state on its tracks.

During my talks with the studentsat Srinagar, I told them that it wasnot possible to meet the demand offull independence. India is alreadysuffering from the pinpricks ofPakistan. By granting fullindependence to Kashmir, NewDelhi will only be increasingly itsproblems. I also argued with thestudents that the land-locked valleywould have to depend either on Indiaor Pakistan for business.

In reply, they said that they wouldbe like Switzerland, a tourist resortand would earn money from visitorsof different lands. They would nothave a standing army, the upkeep ofwhich costs a huge amount. Theywould still have the problem offinding a market for their men and

material but they are oblivious to thisfact at present.

New Delhi is quite right indemanding a discussion on terrorismbefore discussing Kashmir. Thedialogue which Pakistan has offeredcan start with terrorism and alsoembrace Kashmir because they arethe two sides of the same coin. Thearmy which calls the shot in Pakistanmay have its own agenda but cannotbe opposed to a dialogue for

(Continued from Page 2) normalizing the border bristling witharmies of the two countries.

India should sort out the problemin Kashmir first before sitting withPakistan. This can be done byaccepting what Sheikh Abdullah,friend of Jawaharlal Nehru,demanded. The Sheikh said thatIndia should withdraw all laws thatwent beyond the scope of the threesubjects originally acceded to theUnion of India

Footprints of a Crusader(The Life Story of Mrunal Gore)

by

Rohini Gawankar

The life story of Mrunal Gore, one of the leading socialist activists,is an inspiration to men and women alike, but it is especially a modelfor activists, social workers and politicians. Coming from a middleclass family with no political connections, Mrunal Gore blazed aunique path, beginning as a grassroots organizer of women insuburban Mumbai, a people’s representative at the lowest level ofself-government and moving ever higher, till she rose to the ranksof a Member of Parliament. Throughout the course of this amazingjourney, she stayed true to values and principles, never using herpower for personal or narrow gains, but always striving to do themaximum good for the majority of the people. The suffering anddeprivations of the common man became the sparks that inspirednumerous agitations and fights which Mrunal undertook againstinjustice and inequity. Told through the eyes of a personal friend,the story recounts all the important events and achievements of herlife, while also highlighting the sterling qualities that made MrunalGore a role model for the generations that followed in her footsteps.

Published byKamalakar Subhedar

Secretary, Samata Shikshan Sanstha

Pareira Wadi, Mohili Village,Sakinaka, Ghatkopar (W), Mumbai 400072.

Mobile: 9820092255

Charity contribution: Rs.300+


Review of literature is animportant aspect of research. Itthrows light on previous researchesthat have taken place in theconcerned field. It provides strongfoundation to the theoretical framework for the present investigation.Every researcher reviewed therelated literature from differentresources that includes books,articles, dissertations, abstracts andthesis and most important in themodern times the internet access. Itis in this context that an attempt hasbeen made to present a detailedaccount of review of literaturepertaining to student organizationsand politics.

Haridwar Singh (1983) stated thatstudents don’t inherit democraticvalues by birth but they learn itthrough the process of politicalsocialization. As a result of politicalsocialization process the majority ofstudents in India has developed asense of perceiving the politicalsystem in right direction and hasregarded democracy as the best formof the government. Besides it, theyhave also developed a strong senseof political efficacy, it may beassumed, would lead the studentstowards effective participation in thepolitical decision making process ofthe country.

Binodanand Jha (1998)mentioned that student politics inIndia is not an independentphenomenon. It is closely allied toand even guided by an outsideagency whose interests are notlimited to those of the students, butare just part of its broader politicalprogramme. Excepting sudden,

Review of literature on student organizations and politics

B. G. Kulkarni

sporadic and spontaneous outbursts,all planned student political activistsare an extension of partisan interests.The main focus of this study is:student organizations are morepolitical than student oriented. Suchorganizations may, however serve auseful purpose if they have trulyideologically committed cadre andthe ideology perused by them is notinconsistent with the value of theIndian political system.

Ningthoukhongjam Urmila(2007) argued that like other statesof India, Manipur students havebeen engaging in their own politicalaction. But, unlike many others, thestudent politics in Manipur did notoriginate from the nationalist orindependence struggle. It was onlyin post-independence period thatsome political parties like theManipur Pradesh Congress andSocialist Party tried to rally thestudents in their party activities. Butduring the mid-60s with theformation of all Manipur Students’Union, the state witnessed a new turnin student politics. The history of theall Manipur Students’ Union reflectsnot only the different activities ofyouth and students in the state, butalso the changing political ideaswhich have penetrated the collectivemind, the psyche of the studentcommunity.

Manoj Phukan (2005) made anattempt to examine as to under whatcircumstances the All Tai AhomStudents’ Union began to getinvolved in politics of the statedespite being a non-politicalorganization and how far they havebeen successful in their declared

mission. It analyses thetransformation of ATSU from a non-political body of Tai Ahom studentsto a highly politicized organizationactively concerned with all politicalissues affecting Assam as a wholefor uplifting not only the Taicommunity but for the Assamesesociety.

Rashid Ali Syed’s (1997) studyis perhaps the first full-fledged studyof student leadership in India. Itchiefly aims to explore the personal,social-economic, academic, extra-curricular, agitational and politicalbackgrounds of student leadersunder study. It also seeks to knowthe mind of these leaders both onstudent situation and on some widerissues facing the country. Attempthas also been made to strike acomparative note on thecharacteristics of both studentleadership and student protest inIndia. The author brings out thedynamic aspects of student politics,both at the micro level and macrolevel.

D. K. Mohanty’s (1999) study isbased on student activists in Orissawith special reference to the city ofRourkela. The primary focus of thestudy is on the student activists whoare politically oriented andpolitically articulate. The presentwork makes an attempt to analyzeand evaluate student politics andleadership.

S. K. Pattnaik’s (1982) studyhighlights on the political profile ofthe student such as ideologicalorientation, levels of politicalefficacy, levels and forms of political


participation and opinion about theplace of politics in the campus.Various factors contributing to theprocess of politicization such asproximity to the corridors of power,existence of student wings ofnational political parties andinherent linkages of the political andeducational systems etc, have beenstudied to explain the politicizationof a student body.

Philip G. Altbach (2012) statedthat the age of the student movementin India seems to have ended, andideological politics play a very smallpart among the students. Almost allof the national student organizationsare bureaucratic structures ratherthan functioning movements. Noone, the governments, politiciansand educators included, have beenable to arouse the students. Inessence, the Indian studentcommunity is without direction andwithout ideology. Life remainsdifficult on the subcontinent, andstudents are much involved in theday-to-today struggle for existenceand future employment.

G. Palanithurai and M. A.Thirunavakkarasu (2010) in theirstudy observed that sincere peopleare not coming forward for publicspace and as a result, bad ones cometo the public space and people haveno choice but tolerate them. Againstthis background, they made anattempt to document the leadershiprole of the youth at the grassroots.How does new leadership emergefrom below, how do they developnew democratic culture, how do theybuild a new vision for developmentand how do they shapeorganizational culture? These are themajor aspects covered in thisdocument. It also discussed at lengthas to how they struggled to achievesuccess in their war againstcorruption, gender inequality and

social injustice. The main analysisof the researchers is on the Gandhianmodel of development, crisismanagement and the role of youthsin strengthening the panchayats.

Rukchana Rahman (2008) in herpaper critically examined how youthactivism as a social phenomenoninfluences the democraticgovernance in Assam, particularly inthe matter of popular participation.She also examined how youthactivists motivate people toparticipate in democratic politics.

Prayag Mehta (1977) in his articleanalyzed that student activism hasoften been made use of by politiciansto further their own interests. Thealienated and angry youthsometimes gets stimulated to agitateon small issues and even on non-issues. However, student activismbecame meaningful and sociallypurposeful because of its contactwith meaningful political-civicactivities. Participation in suchactivities like election campaign,tend to enhance the sense of politicalefficacy, political involvement andawareness and consciousness. Suchdemocratization may raise the levelof student activism from prettyissues to a meaningful level.

Amanda Snellinger (2005) in hisarticle briefly detailed the history ofstudent political activity and thenascent relationship between thestudent organizations and theirmother organizations, the politicalparties in order to demonstrate thelimitations and the ideals attributedto students role in politics by thestudents, the politicians and thepublic. All of these actors draw onstudent politics historicity to eitherapply substance to their role ordismiss it as contrived politicaltactics. But within this articulationit is clear that the youth are perceivedto have political capital and that has

been co-opted by the parties in turncurbing its potential to effect change.

Anil Rajimwale (2001) discussedquestions related with origins,development and contributions ofstudent movement in India. Very fewpeople know that studentmovements have been precursors ofsome of the great movements andorganizations in various parts of thiscountry. Organizations existed in theremotest and most unexpectedplaces and times. Assam, Bihar,Bombay, Orissa and severalsupposedly backward areas, whichwere not exactly as they are today,contributed number of fruitfulyouth/ student organizations wayback in the late 19th early 20th

centuries. There was tremendousamount of spontaneous grassrootslevel work inspired by endeavors toreform and improve the society, bystruggling to achieve a free India.But it would be misplaced feelingto see only the political motivationfor student movement. In factstudent activism had much to dowith debates, discussions, sports,culture, social reform, besides, ofcourse student activism.

Padhy K. S. and Choudhary S.(1981) in their article discussed theprocess of political socialization ofthe students of Berhmpur town ofGanjam district in Orissa. It isdefined in this article that politicalsocialization is a process by whichan individual becomes acquaintedwith the political system and itdetermines his perceptions ofpolitics and his reasoning to politicalphenomena. The study also revealsthat the knowledge, attitude andvalues, which are inducted in theminds of the young students,contribute to the system’s stabilityand persistence.

Philip G. Altabach (2012) in hisarticle ‘Student Politics and Higher


Education in India’ stated that theemphasis of student movement hasshifted from societal concerns tocampus ones. Even organizationsthat have a basic ideologicalcommitment such as the All IndiaStudent Federation have appealed tostudents on the basis of single issues,usually directly related to campusconditions. Further he argued thatstudent political involvementcontinues in India, stimulated inlarge part by several stresses evidentin Indian social and economic life,and student activism will continueas long as India suffers from social,economic and educational tensionsand inadequacies.

Conclusion

Theis review of literature on‘student organizations and politics’indicates that,

1. The student politics in Indiaoriginated from the nationalist orindependence struggle.

2. The student politics in India is notan independent phenomenon. It isclosely allied or associated withoutside agency.

3. The Indian student activists haveto acquire a wide socialperspective.

4. Students learn democratic valuesthrough the process of politicalsocialization.

5. Student organizations arebureaucratic structures rather thanfunctioning movement.

6. Student politics is delinked withideological politics.

7. Student activism will continue aslong as India suffers from social,economic and educationaltensions and inadequacies.

8. Student organizations have muchto do with social reform, culture,

sports besides student activism.

9. The emphasis of the studentmovement has shifted fromsocietal concerns to campus ones.

10. The Indian student communityis without direction and withoutideology.

References

Haridwar Singh (1983)“Democratic Orientation of Studentsin India”, Concept PublishingCompany, New Delhi. Pp -133

Binodanand Jha, (1998) “StudentOrganisations and politics”, Inter-India publications, New Delhi. Pp-180

Ningthoukhongjam Urmila, (2007)“ The Student movement inManipur”, Akansha PublishingHouse, New Delhi. Pp-11-12

Manuj Phukan, (2005) “StudentPolitics in assam”, AnshahPublishing House, Delhi. Pp -17

Rashid Ali Syed, (1997) “Cultureof Student Politics”, Inter-IndiaPublications, New Delhi. Pp -17

D. K. Monhanty, (1999) “HigherEducation and student Politics inIndia”, Anmol Publications Pvt.Ltd,New Delhi. Pp -220

S. K. Pattnaik, (1982) “Studentpolitics and Voting Behaviour”,Concept Publishing Company, NewDelhi. Pp – 11

Philip G. Altabach, (2012) “TheTransformation of the Indian StudentMovement” in Pawan Aggrawal (ed)“ A Half Century of Indian HigherEducation Essays by Philip G.Altabach”, Sage Publications, NewDelhi. Pp – 405

G. Palanithurai and M.A.Thirunavakkarasu, (2010) “Youth asCatalysts and Change Makers”

Concept Publishing Company (P)Ltd, New Delhi-. Pp – 20

Rukchana Rahman, (2008) ‘YouthActivism and Challenges ofDemocratic Governance in Assam,India’ paper presented inInternational Conference onChallenges of Governance in SouthAsia in Kathamandu Nepal -2008. Pp-01

Prayaga Mehta, (1997) ‘Dynamicsof Student Activism’ Vikalpa, Vol.2No.4, October 1977, pp -296

Amanda Snellinger, (2005) ‘ACrisis in Nepali Student Politics?Analyzing the Gap betweenPolitically Active and Non- ActiveStudents’ Peace and Democracy inSouth Asia, Volume 1, Issue 2, 2005.Pp – 35

Anil Rajimwale, (2001) “Historyof Student Movement in India”,Manak Publication Pvt. Ltd, NewDelhi. Pp -6-7

Padhy K. S. & ChowdhuryS,(1981) “Political Socialization ofthe High School Students of an OrissaTown, An Empirical Study, PunjabJournal of Politics, July-December1981” quoted by Neena Sharma,“Political Socialization and itsimpact on Attitudinal ChangeTowards Social and PoliticalSystem”, Inter-India PublicationsNew Delhi. Pp - 17

Philip G. Altabach, (2012)“Student Politics and HigherEducation in India” in PawanAggrawal (ed) “A Half Century ofIndian Higher Education Essays byPhilip G. Altabach”, SagePublications, New Delhi. Pp – 428

S. D. Kolekar & G. Haresh,‘Review of Literature on India’s Tradewith SAARC Countries’, SouthernEconomist, Vol-52, No-21, March 1,2014

[email protected]


Surveying the human scene, onecan find endless examples of signsthat mark the bearer as a member ofa particular group, signs that can bethought of as “tribal markings”:tattoos; piercing; bones through thenose or ears; elongated necks or ears;filed teeth; Chinese binding of feet;circumcision, both male and female;unique hair styles; decorations of thetongue, nose, or naval; peculiaritiesof dress, kilts, tartans, school ties,veils, chadors, and headdresses;caste markings in India; use ornonuse of perfumes; codes of honourand value systems; traditions ofhospitality and manners;peculiarities of diet (certain foodsforbidden, others preferred); givingtraditional names to children;knowledge of dances and songs;knowledge of recipes; knowledge ofcommon stories, literature, myths,poetry or common history; festivals,ceremonies, and rituals; burialcustoms, treatment of the dead andancestor worship; methods ofbuilding and decorating homes;games and sports peculiar to aculture; relationship to animals,knowledge of horses and ability toride; nonrational systems of belief.Even a baseball hat worn backwardsor the professed ability to enjoyatonal music can mark a person as amember of a special “tribe”.Undoubtedly there be many peoplein New York who would never thinkof marrying someone who could notappreciate the paintings of JasperJohns, and many in London whowould consider anyone had not readall the books of Virginia Wolfe tobe entirely outside the bounds ofcivilization.

By far the most important mark

Human nature: an evolutionary paradox - II

John Scales Avery

of ethnic identity is language, andwithin a particular language, dialectand accent. If the only purpose oflanguage were communication, itwould be logical for the people of asmall country like Denmark to stopspeaking Danish and go over to amore universally-understoodinternational language such asEnglish. However, language hasanother function in addition tocommunication: It is also a mark ofidentity. It establishes the boundaryof the group.

Within a particular language,dialects and accents mark theboundaries of subgroups. Forexample, in England, great socialsignificance is attached to accentsand diction, a tendency that GeorgeBernard Shaw satirized in his play,Pygmalion, which later gainedgreater fame as the musical comedy,My Fair Lady. This being the case,we can ask why all citizens ofEngland do not follow the exampleof Eliza Dolittle in Shaw’s play, andimprove their social positions byacquiring Oxford accents. However,to do so would be to run the risk ofbeing laughed at by one’s peers andregarded as a traitor to one’s ownlocal community and friends. Schoolchildren everywhere can be verycruel to any child who does not fitinto the local pattern. At Eton, anOxford accent is compulsory; but ina Yorkshire school, a child with anOxford accent would suffer for it.

Next after language, the mostimportant “tribal marking” isreligion. As mentioned above, itseems probable that in the earlyhistory of our hunter-gathererancestors, religion evolved as a

mechanism for perpetuating tribaltraditions and culture. Likelanguage, and like the innate facialexpressions studied by Darwin,religion is a universal characteristicof all human societies. All knownraces and cultures practice some sortof religion. Thus a tendency to bereligious seems to be built intohuman nature. Otherwise, religionwould not be as universal as it is.

Religion is often stronglyassociated with ethnicity andnationalism, that is to say, it isassociated with the demarcation ofa particular group of people by itsculture or race. For example, theJewish religion is associated withZionism and with Jewishnationalism. Similarly Islam isstrongly associated with Arabnationalism. Christianity too hasplayed an important role in manyaggressive wars, for example theCrusades, the European conquest ofthe New World, European colonialconquests in Africa and Asia, and thewars between Catholics andProtestants within Europe (notablythe Thirty Years War).

Many of the atrocities with whichthe history of humankind is stainedwere committed in conflictsinvolving groups between whichsharply marked have involved whatIren us Eibl-Eibesfeldt called“pseudospeciation”, that culturalbarriers have made intermarriagedifficult and infrequent. Examplesinclude the present conflict betweenIsraelis and Palestinians; “racialcleansing” in Kosovo; thedevastating wars between Catholicsand Protestants in Europe; theLebanese civil war; genocide


committed against Jews and Gypsiesduring World War II; recentgenocide in Rwanda; intertribalmassacres in the Ituri Provence ofCongo; use of poison gas againstKurdish civilians by SaddamHussein’s regime in Iraq; themassacre of Armenians by Turks;massacres of Hindus by Muslimsand of Muslims by Hindus in post-independence India; massacres ofNative Americans by whiteconquerors and settlers in all partsof the New World; and massacrescommitted during the Crusades. Thelist seems endless.

Religion often contributes toconflicts by sharpening theboundaries between ethnic groupsand by making marriage across thoseboundaries difficult and infrequent.However, this negative role isbalanced by a positive one,whenever religion is the source ofethical principles, especially theprinciple of universal humanbrotherhood.

Many of the great ethical teachersof history lived at a time whencultural evolution was changinghumans from hunter-gatherers andpastoral peoples to farmers and citydwellers. To live and cooperate inlarger groups, humans needed tooverwrite their instinctive behaviorpatterns with culturally determinedbehavior involving a wider range ofcooperation than previously.

This period of change is markedby the lives and ideas of a numberof great ethical teachers – Moses,Buddha, Lao Tse, Confucius,Socrates, Aristotle, Jesus, and SaintPaul. Mohammed lived at a slightlylater period, but it was still a periodof transition for the Arab peoples, aperiod during which their range ofcooperation needed to be enlarged.

Most of the widely practicedreligions of today contain theprinciple of universal humanbrotherhood. This is contained, forexample, in Christianity, in theSermon on the Mount and in theParable of the Good Samaritan. TheSermon on the Mount tells us thatwe must love our neighbor as muchas we love ourselves.

When asked “But who is myneighbor?”, Jesus replied with theParable of the Good Samaritan,which says that our neighbor maybelong to a different ethnic groupthan ourselves, or may be separatedfrom us by geographical distance.Nevertheless, he is still our neighborand he still deserves our love andassistance. To this, Christianity addsthat we must love and forgive ourenemy, and do good to those whopersecute us, a principle that wouldmake war impossible if it were onlyfollowed. Not only in Christianity,but also in Hinduism, Buddhism,and Islam, the principles ofcompassion and universal humanbrotherhood hold a high place.

The religious leaders of today’sworld have the opportunity tocontribute importantly to thesolution of the problem of war. Theyhave the opportunity to powerfullysupport the concept of universalhuman brotherhood, to build bridgesbetween religious groups, to makeintermarriage across ethnicboundaries easier, and to soften thedistinctions between communities. Ifthey fail to do this, they will havefailed humankind at a time of crisis.

Human nature undoubtedlycontains emotions of tribalism,which nationalist and fascist leadersfind it very easy to exploit. Buteducation, ethics and law canoverwrite primitive andanachronistic emotional tendencies.

Our astonishing scientific andcultural advances have beenachieved through the cooperativeefforts of all of humanity. In additionto the darker traits in human nature,our species also has a genius forcooperation; and it is this genius forcooperation that is the key to a happyfuture.


population of Muslims as a threat,exhorting Hindu women to produceat least four children to compete withthe Muslims and announcing a dateby which there would be no non-Hindu in India may be an effectivemeans to polarise the people oncommunal lines to win elections butis bound to frighten and alienate theminorities. These attacks by theSangh Parivar and BJP Ministersand other functionaries accompaniedby P.M Modi’s deafening silence arebound to strike terror in the heartsof many members of the Muslimscommunity. The strategy is a blatantattack on the national integration. Isit a wonder if some of the youngMuslims turn to terrorism or areattracted by IS?

Is it natural for the KashmiriMuslims to be attracted to an anti-Muslim India? The Kashmiris havenot been enamoured of Pakistandespite its being an Islamic State, butif they have to choose between anIndia ruled by an anti-Muslim partydetermined to change India into a‘Hindu Rashtra’ and a MuslimPakistan, their choice is bound to bea ‘Muslim Rashtra’ rather than a‘Hindu Rashtra’. And if anyKashmiri feels repelled by India andis thinking of other options, theblame lies with Indian rulers ratherthan the Kashmiris.



Dalit Uprising and AfterWhy Hindutva Would Not Be The Same Again

Subhash Gatade

When I was born I was not a childI was a dream, a dream of revolt

that my mother, oppressed for thousands of years ,dreamt.

Still it is untouched in my eyesCovered with wrinkles of thousand years, her face

her eyes, two lakes overflowing with tearshave watered my body.....

–Sahil Parmar*

Well known Gujarati poet Sahil Parmar’s poem ‘When I Was Born’ perhaps reverberates these days in Gujaratwhen we are witnessing a Dalit Upsurge- a first of its kind at least in that region’s history. It will be a talk of folklorefor times to come how flogging of dalits in a village in Saurashtra by Hindutva fanatics suddenly erupted into amass movement of dalits which could catch imagination of the people cutting across different sections of society. Anattempt is being made here to understand the dynamics of the movement and its likely impact on the future trajectoryof Hindutva.

I

Love Cows, Hate Human Beings ?

There are moments in thetrajectory of any authoritarian/fascist/rightwing project where oneof its closely guarded secretssuddenly tumbles out in the open andthen it becomes difficult for it to fixit. The Hindutva brigade today findsitself in a similar situation - thanksto the dalit upsurge in Gujarat whichis still unfolding before our eyes.

The historic march to Una townof Saurashtra region - under thebanner of Una Atyachar LadatSamiti - might be over; thousandsand thousands of dalits who hadgathered there from different partsof the state and outside might havereturned home but their resolve notto undertake the despicable castepractice of manual scavenging anddisposing of cattle carcasses still

reverberates all over the state. Andtheir demand before the stategovernment that within next onemonth - by 15th of September - itstarts distributing five acres of landto each rural dalit family forrehabilitation is reaching far andwide and gathering fresh support.

None from the Hindutvafraternity had ever imagined that intheir so called ‘model state’ itself,they would be faced with such achallenge which would put theircarefully crafted pan Hindu socialcoalition to test. It was beyond theircomprehension that dalits - the mostdowntrodden section inthe Varna hierarchy - who had beenslowly roped in down the years inthe Hindutva politics and a sectionamongst them had also become a

party to the anti-minority violencein 2002, would one fine morningturn their backs on them and wouldreadily join hands with the ‘other’demanding a life of human dignityand putting in jeopardy thevery raison detre of the project.

And as can be expected in such asituation, they literally flounderedwhen they were asked to react tothis uprising. The multiple voiceswhich emerged from the broader‘Parivar’ were an indication of theirconfusion.

No doubt talking in multipletongues has always been part of theiroverall strategy but this time it alsodemonstrated disorientation in theirown ranks. The moot questionbecame whether to uphold the


perpetrators - who were followingthe script - or support the victims.And thus one found the PrimeMinister exposing majority of thecow vigilantes as being anti-socialelements and asking the homedepartment to prepare a dossierabout them and another significantleader of the same ‘family’denouncing such characterisation asbeing ‘anti-Hindu’. The confusionwas understandable. In fact, it wasfor the first time in recent times thatHindutva Supremacists arediscovering that the more they push

one of their key agenda centeringaround cow politics - which hasserved them well till date - the morethere is possibility that their dreamof Hindu Unity would see furtherfissures. ( Vidya Subrahmaniamdescribes it as ‘A reverse RamMandir Moment’ in her article onpresent situation in UP.http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/its-mayawati-versus-modi-in-up/a r t i c l e 9 0 2 2 5 1 1 . e c e ?ref=topnavwidget&utm_source=topnavdd&utm_medium=topnavdropdow n w i d g e t & u t m _ c a m p a i g n =

topnavdropdown) Apart from Dalits,who have come under increasingattack at the hands of overzealous‘cow protectors’ and are slowlyturning against the ‘Parivar’ itself ,large section of peasant populationis peeved over the fact that politicsaround cow has made their lifemiserable as they are not able to doaway with cattles who have becomeold or have stopped producing milk.One of the couplets by Saint Tulsidascaptures Hindutva’s plightbeautifully ‘Bhayal Gati SaapChachunder Jaisi..’.

II

“Rashtravadi toh hamare saath hain, humein Dalit aur pichchde ko saath lana hai.”

Everybody knows that there wasnothing ‘unusual’ - as far asdepradations unleashed by Hindutvafanatics under the name of cowprotection were concerned - aboutwhat happened to dalits from MotaSamadhiyala village when they wereskinning a dead cow.

One can recollect that suchattacks were common even in thosedays when BJP did not have majorityof its own at the centre. A classicexample has been killing of fivedalits in Dulina (Jhajjar ) - hardlyfifty kilometres away from thenational capital - who were similarlyskinning dead cows, by a cowvigilante mob (2003) before Dulinapolice station itself with leadingofficers of the police andadministration remaining mutewitnesses. A leading Hindutva leader(dead sometime back) even‘justified’ the killings by citingreference to ancient Hindu scripturesclaiming that ‘in Puranas cows weremore valued than human beings’.The killings definitely led to anoutrage, there were few symbolic

arrests as well but the commotiondied down soon and in fact theperpetrators of this massacre weredecorated as ‘cow protectors’.

In fact, most such earlier attacksin recent times had been rather morebrutal. To name a few, lynching oftwo young men near Latehar aftertheir brutal torture near Latehar,Jharkhand by cow vigilantes; killingan adolescent near Udhampur whowas sleeping in truck by throwingpetrol bomb under the suspicion thatthe truck was carrying beef; near riotlike situation which emerged inPalwal, Haryana because of cowvigilantes’ attack on a truck carryingmeat or the way two transporterswere fed cow dung laced with urinewhen they were found transportingcattle for sale near Gurgaon. Scanthe internet to watch the ‘valour’ ofthese fanatics and you will findscores of such criminal attacks oninnocents. Videos after videos areavailable which show how these selfproclaimed cow protectorsbrutalised people for carrying cowsfrom one place to other or because

of suspicion that they were carryingbeef and how there has been noaction against them from the law andorder people.

But thrashing of Dalits from MotaSamadhiyala village by cowvigilantes, uploading the video oftheir ‘valour’ on social media hasproved to be a turning point.

Anybody can see that the DalitUprising which the Una incident hastriggered has inadvertently or sounearthed the ‘well guarded secret’behind this exclusivist project -where it is clear even to a laypersonnow that for Hindutva, dalits or othermarginalised are lesser humanbeings or the ‘other’, whatevermight be its claims about thegreat samrasta it upholds. There isa growing realisation that the formalposturing of Hindutva politics,where it is presented/understood inthe form of religious imaginarieswhere ‘minorities - may be Muslimor Christian - are portrayed as the‘other’ is one thing but essentiallythe whole idea of Hindu Rashtra is


an attempt to further legitimise theBrahminical project ofhegemonising and homogenising ofIndian society where secondaryposition of Dalits has receivedreligious sanction also. An inklingof how they view Dalits and thebackwards - when they are talkingamong themselves - can be had fromthe recent comments by PM Modiwhen he spoke at length at a meetingwhich was attended by 400 topleaders of the BJP, at the end of the15day patriotism drive. Newspaperreports tell us that he called on hisparty to continue playingnationalism card which is ‘central tothe BJP’s ideology.’ Perhaps themost telling comment made by himwas the following : “Rashtravadi tohhamare saath hain, humein Dalit aurpichchde ko saath lana hai.” The

nationalists are with us, we need tobring Dalits and backward groups.”(http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/nationalists-are-with-us-lets-reach-out-to-dalits-backwards-pm-modi-to-party-2993281/)

Was it just slip of tongue or anadmission of the truth that forHindutva non-backwards, non-dalitsi.e. upper castes have sole claim overnation and dalits as well asbackwards to be outside its purviewwho need to be brought closer.(http://scroll.in/article/814769/the-daily-fix-what-did-modi-mean-when-he-said-there-is-a-chasm-between-dalits-and-nationalists)

Perhaps a marker of theircontinuing indifference or disdain

towards the plight of the dalits(forget those bollywood typedialogues where it was declared that‘Shoot Me but Do Not Shoot MyDalit Brothers’) could also begauged from the fact that when theDalit Upsurge was at its peak in thestate, the provocative statement byone of their own MLAs fromTelangana who ‘justified’ thebeatings and uploaded a video onfacebook did not prompt them totake any action. His words were “JoDalit gaye ke maas ko le ja raha tha,jo uski pitai hui hai, woh bohut hiachhi hui hai [Those Dalits whowere taking the cow, the cow meat,those who were beaten, it was a verygood thing to happen],”(http://scroll.in/latest/812903/anyone-who-kills-cows-deserves-to-be-beaten-says-bjp-mla-raja-singh).

III.

Unpacking the Gujarat Model !

Recently Jignesh Mewani,convener of the ‘Una Dalit AtyacharLadat Samiti’ which is spearheadingthis upsurge was in the capital tocommunicate the message of themovement to a broader audience andalso garner support for the Rail Rokoprogramme organised by the frontfrom 15th Septemember. Heunderlined the resolve of the dalitsthat they are firm in their decisionnot to clean up other people’s dirt,nor to lift carcasses of dead cattle.He told the audience how twentythousand dalits had gathered in theirrally in Ahmedabad and have takenthe oath not to undertake any suchprofession which they have beencondemned to do becauseof Varna hierarchy and are furtherstigmatised because of that. In atongue in cheek comment he added

“We (Dalits) are not going toclean up people’s dirt any more.Modiji, now you are welcome toexperience the spirituality that issupposed to be there in scavenging.”

(http://www.telegraphindia.com/1 1 6 0 8 2 1 / j s p / f r o n t p a g e /story_103638.jsp#.V74anPl97IU)

Jignesh - who is an advocate andan activist - was referring toKarmayog, a collection of Modi’sspeeches to trainee IAS officers,brought out by a Gujarat PSU, inwhich he had said that scavengingwas an “experience in spirituality”for the Valmikis (a sub-caste ofDalits). (See : https://kafila.org/2014/02/12/modi-and-the-art-of-disappearing-of-untouchability/)

Explaining the genesis of themovement and why the floggingincident of Dalits by self proclaimedcow vigilantes affiliated to aHindutva organisation triggered theuprising he shared details of the livesof deprivation and discriminationand atrocities faced by Dalits underthe much talked about GujaratModel. According to him

- there are thousands of cases ofatrocities against Dalits everyyear

- atrocities continued to riseduring Mr Modi’s chiefministership which lasted for13 years

- there are more than 55,000dalits who are still engaged in


the work of scavenging

- 1 lakh sanitation workers whoare still not getting minimumwages

- dalits in 119 villages in Gujaratare living under policeprotection

- rate of conviction in cases ofDalit atrocities is merely threeper cent.

According to him glaringexample of denial of justice to Dalitshas been the killing of three Dalitsby the police with ‘AK 47 rifles asif they were terrorists’ in Thangarhin Gujarat in the year 2012 anddespite the fact that more than a lakhDalits demonstrated against thesekillings there was no action by thegovernment against the accusedpolice personnel.( As we go to thepress one hears that Gujaratgovernment has announced an SITto look into the killings and has alsoraised compensation for affectedfamilies).

When someone in the audienceposed a question about availabilityof land in the state, Jignesh sharedfigures about availability of landunder various schemes and howdominant castes/classes have been inactual possession of such land meantfor the exploited and themarginalised. According to himthousands of acres of land with thestate which it got during Bhudanaandolan has also not beendistributed. He also shared lesserknown provision about SC-ST subplan which talks about ‘purchase ofland for its distribution to thelandless’ in case of its unavailability.His simple poser which struck a deepchord with the audience was that ‘if

under the name of Development thestate can allocate thousands of acresof land at throwaway prices to theAmbanis, Adanis and the Tatas whydalits should be denied their rightfuldue.’ He also explained how therecent changes undertaken by thestate government under the landacquisition act have many‘draconian’ provisions inherent in itwhere the ‘consent’ clause has beendeleted - means if the governmentwishes to hand over land to thecorporates for ‘development’ work,then it can simply take over thepeasant’s land supposedly for‘public goods’, offer some symboliccompensation and need not seek her/his consent.

To the poser that if Dalits leavetheir ‘traditional profession’ whichgrants them some sort of ‘economicsecurity’ he quoted Ambedkar whohad asked his followers during thehistoric Mahad Satyagrah (1927)that they should get ready to ‘die ofhunger’ to live a life of dignity butshould never undertake suchstigmatised professions.

Fresh facts have come to lightsuggesting that, in Gujarat,there has been extremelyquestionable progress in theallocation of surplus land to thelandless, acquired from biglandlords under the GujaratAgricultural Land Ceiling Act,1960. Based on RTIapplications, the districtregistrar of land records,Junagadh, has admitted thatout of 11 of 16 villages forwhich information was sought,“no survey of surplus land hastaken place” for the last 24years, hence there was noallocation.

In another instance, in Navsaridistrict, Gujarat governmentdeclared that between 2006and 2008, while Modi ruled thestate, it had “allocated” land to7,542 landless beneficiaries,but a year later, it admitted theland titles were yet to be givento 3,616 beneficiaries.“However, now, on the basisof an RTI reply, we know thatthings have not changed evenin 2015.

In an article published in “DalitAdhikar”, a Gujaratiperiodical, Jignesh Mewanisays, “Information with ussuggests that the Gujaratgovernment, in all, acquired163,808 acres land under theGujarat Agricultural LandCeiling Act, 1960, and we feelmost of it has been allocatedto the landless only on paper.The landless, mainly Dalits,tribals and belonging to theother backward classes(OBCs), haven’t yet got actualpossession of land.”

Mewani says, “Chiefbeneficiaries of the land-to-the-tiller policy have beenupper caste Patels. About55,000 Patels were allocated12 lakh acres of land declared,mainly in Saurashtra andKutch regions of Gujarat. Butas for Dalit landlessagriculturists, they havereceived not even 12 inches ofland. Only a very smallsection, which is very close tothe powers-that-be, hasgained.”

According to Mewani, “Let usgive a sample of the Gujaratgovernment’s good


governance: We made in all 65RTI applications between 2011and 2015 to find out factsabout allocation of just 6,500acres of land in differentvillages. Yet, officials arerefusing to give copies of landtitles which may show thatland has been actually handedto the beneficiaries.”

Associated with Jan SangharshManch, a Gujarat-basedhuman rights organisation,Mewani says, “Of the 163,808acres of surplus land, 70,000acres of land is under disputewith the revenue tribunal,Gujarat High Court and theSupreme Court. While thisland may not be allocated,there is a need to answer as towhy the rest of the land, too,remains unallocated.”

In fact, says Mewani, there are15,519 acres of surplus land,on which there is “no dispute”at all, yet the Gujaratgovernment is “refusing toact,” ..

(http://www.milligazette.com/news/13251-gujarat-model-dalit-tribal-obc-landless-denied-surplus-land-patels-received-12-lakh-acres)

Jignesh’s claims about continuousdenial of justice to Dalits or the greathiatus which exists between claimsby the government and the actualsituation on the ground is a factwhich even earlier reports by NHRChave admitted. A cursory glance atits 2009 report had declared thatGujarat accounted for 3,813complaints of human rights violationof the total of 94,559 cases fromacross the country, which was less

than only Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.(Indian Express, 20th March 2009).

A 23-page confidential reportsubmitted by the state Social JusticeDepartment to the State ChiefSecretary and legal departmentsprovides glaring examples of‘mishandling of cases registeredunder Prevention of Atrocities Actagainst SC/ST. (Express, September15, 2006). The rate of conviction ofcases under the Prevention ofAtrocity Act against SC/ST inGujarat is mere 2.5 per cent whilerate of acquittal is 97.5 per cent.

The report provides details ofhow cases are not investigatedproperly by the police and the hostilerole played by public prosecutorsduring time of trials.

– Act clearly stipulates thatoffence which are registeredunder this act cannot beinvestigated by an officer belowthe rank of Dy SP but more than4,000 such cases have beeninvestigated by Police Inspectoror Police Sub Inspector.

– Acquittal of the perpetratorbecause victim not identified asmember of SC or ST community.Reason, not attaching castecertificate of the victim with thecase papers

– Public prosecutors’ false claimsbefore the courts that act has beenmodified by the state governmentalthough it is known that it is acentral act

– Granting of anticipatory bailsalthough there is no suchprovision in the act. Interestinglythe Parliamentary Committee onSC and ST affairs had also

expressed concern over suchanticipatory bails granted ‘inatrocity cases in the state ofGujarat’.

In fact a detailed and systematicstudy of 400 judgements done byVajibhai Patel, Secretary of Councilfor Social Justice (March 2005, Year11, No.106, http://www.sabrang.com) had compelled the governmentto work on this 23-page report. Ittells us that utterly negligent policeinvestigation at both the higher andlower levels coupled with adistinctly hostile role played by thepublic prosecutors is the main reasonfor the collapse of cases filed underthe atrocities act. It is worth notingthat he has meticulouslydocumented these judgementsdelivered under this act since April1, 1995 in the Special AtrocityCourts set up in 16 districts of thestate. The study also blasts thecommon perception that theinefficacy of this law is due to falsecomplaints being lodged orcompromises between the parties, inactuality it is a complicit State thathas rendered the Act toothless.

(To Be Concluded)






R.N.I. NO. 1855/1957 16 JANATA, September 4, 2016Postal Registration No. MCW/275/2015-2017

License to Post without prepayment WPP License No. MR/Tech/WPP-210/West/2016Published on Sunday, September 4, 2016 & Posted on Wednesday September 7, 2016 at Mumbai Patrika Channel, Mumbai GPO-1



REGD. OFFICE :




Price : Rupees Five





Mumbai - 400 007.


It’s Kashmir againKuldip Nayar

Sharad Rao (1940-2016)Qurban Ali

Dalit Uprising and After - IISubhash Gatade

Neoliberal assaulton knowledge:Madhu Prasad

Nuclear weapons in South Asia

When on August 1 the SupremeCourt ordered eviction of officialbungalows allotted to six former chiefministers of Uttar Pradesh within twomonths, the UP government insteadof complying with the order brazenlydecided to amend the Uttar PradeshMinisters (Salaries, Allowances andMiscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1981.The 2016 amendment says that agovernment residence shall beallotted to a former chief minister ofstate, at his/her request, for lifetime,on payment of such rent as may bedetermined from time to time by theEstate Department. Securityrequirement of former CMs has beengiven as a justification for this action.

Now security threat perceptionchanges over time. As a former CMa threat to his/her life is likely toreduce. For example, among the sixpast CMs who would have beenaffected by the SC order if theamendment was not introduced,Narayan Dutt Tiwari probablydoesn’t face the kind of threat whichrequires any special arrangement forhim. Hence giving a privilege forlifetime just based on one- timesecurity assessment is not justifiedand is frittering away publicresources.

Shameless act by UP Government

Sandeep Pandey

Moreover, when anunderprivileged person applies forhousing under any urban or rural poorgovernment housing scheme he/shehas to submit an affidavit that he/shedoesn’t own any other houseanywhere. Shouldn’t there be asimilar clause for former CMs if theywere being provided with governmenthousing lifetime? If they have theirown house then at some point in timebased on security threat assessmentthey should be asked to move intotheir own house. Even a former PrimeMinister is only allowed to retain his/her official residence up to ten yearsafter retirement.

It doesn’t make sense to award ahouse for lifetime to a former CM orfor that matter to anybody includinga former President or a Vice President,who enjoy such a privilege at present.It is quite likely that after his/her deaththe relatives and followers would askthe house to be converted into amuseum and then it will be occupiedforever.

Another Bill was introduced tokeep certain influential sections ofsociety happy and more importantlyso that it would not appear as if thegovernment was worried only about

2 JANATA, Septrember 11, 2016

privileged former chief ministers. Noneed to say that the present CM alsostands to benefit from this. TheAllotment of Houses Under Controlof the Estate Department Bill, 2016was introduced and passed to providehouses to journalists, political parties,Speaker and Deputy Speaker ofLegislative Assembly, gazettedofficials, officers of judicial servicesand trusts. Among these except fortrusts, who’ll be charged market rent,rest all will have to pay ‘such a rateas may be prescribed.’ This is blatantmisuse of power as EstateDepartment can prescribe arbitrarilylow rents depending on how wellconnected the occupant is.

The government has also used theopportunity to introduce anotheramendment in the Uttar PradeshMinisters (Salaries, Allowances andMiscellaneous Provisions) Act toincrease the salaries and otherbenefits for CM and ministers. Thebasic salary of the CM has gone upfrom Rs. 12,000 per month to Rs.40,000. With a 40% increase in grosssalary the CM will now take homeRs. 1.4 lakhs. This is in addition to theRs. 75,000 salary which he gets as alegislator. It is not clear when therewas already an increase in the salariesof legislators in 2015, what was theneed to increase the salary of CM’spost? In a state where the daily wagesin Mahatma Gandhi National RuralEmployment Guarantee Scheme aremerely Rs. 161 per day, that too up toa maximum of 100 days a year, andSamajwadi pension scheme grantsRs. 500 per month to a needy family,it is splurging public money at thecost of poor.

Dr. Rammanohar Lohia, whom thegovernment members revere like alegend, has famously said thatdifference between the income of

Between The Lines

A few years ago when Ipersuaded Yasin Malik, the firstmilitant in the valley of Kashmir, togive up his fast unto death, hisdemand was that the InternationalAmnesty should visit the valley toverify the violation of human rights.He broke the fast when I gave anundertaking that I would myself heada team to Srinagar to prepare a reporton the violations of human rights.

Today that kind of confidence hasgone. The Hurriyat has refused tomeet the delegation because theHurriyat is not sure whether thedelegation can deliver. There is yetanother reason. The Hurriyat wantsto rehabilitate itself in the eyes ofKashmiris, who have gone beyondthe stage of talks. They want aseparate, sovereign country. Andthey feel that the Hurriyat failedthem in the past because it soughtsolution within the Indian union.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh ofthe ruling Bhartiya Janata Party(BJP) headed the delegation. TheHome Minister was justified insaying that the Hurriyat, refusal wentagainst the spirit of Kashmiriyat,which disseminated message of loveand harmony. The Hurriyat does notseem to recognise that. It gives littleimportance to the fact that the rulingparty came to power through freeballot box, the democratic way ofmeasuring support in the country.The BJP has secured a majority inthe 543-member Lok Sabha on itsown, with no alliance before or afterthe polls. On the other hand, the

It’s Kashmir again

Kuldip Nayar

Hurriyat is only a combination ofthree factions. One is led by YusafRaza Gillani, who still wantsaccession to the Islamic state ofPakistan, the other by Yasin Malikand the third by Shabir Shah.

Gillani is their leader because herepresents anti-India feelings on theone hand and the Islamic content onthe other.

My feeling is that at least two ofthem have become irrelevant in thepresent situation in the valley. Theystill prefer a settlement through adialogue. The youth have, however,gone back to gun because they donot find either Yasin Malik or ShabirShah delivering what they want, thatis Azadi. The gun is no solutioneither.

Over the years the oil producingIslamic nations’organization has lostits importance in India. Even theMuslim population, some 25 millioncares little about what it says.Therefore, it was not surprising thatthe Indian media did not even reportthat the OIC had asked forreferendum in Kashmir. The Muslimcountries are themselves to blamefor this because they blatantlysupport Pakistan, just because it is aMuslim country.

Unlike Pakistan, where the lastword is with the army chief, India isruled by parliament. The Hurriyat hasinsulted it. To insult it is to insult theIndian people. It was the suggestionby the CPI(M) that the delegation(Continued on Page 3)


went. Yaechuri, the party’ssecretary, was insistent that the talksshould begin with the Gillani group.Raising the anti-India slogans whenthe delegation reached Gillani’sresidence may be helpful in placatingthe hardcore. But it does not addressthe core of the problem. Raj NathSingh has made it clear that Kashmirwas an integral part of India and willremain so. This has put an end tothe dialogue on Kashmir thatPakistan has been relentlesslydemanding. Where do we go fromhere? There is no option to talks.Even a limited war can become thenuclear one.

What New Delhi has to appreciateis that the Kashmiris’ desire todistance themselves from India maynot be considered in any meaningfultransfer of power from New Delhito Srinagar. Yet the impression thatthe Kashmiris rule themselves hasto be sustained. The NationalConference waged a long war to getrid of Maharaja Hari Singh and hadan icon like Sheikh Abdullah toprovide a secular and democraticrule to the state. But the partysuffered defeat in the assembly pollsbecause it was seen too close toNew Delhi.

The People’s Democratic Party(PDP) won because its founder,Mufti Mohammad Sayyed, keptdistance from New Delhi, withoutalienating it. The Kashmiris voted forhim because he gave them a feelingof defiance. Omar Farooq Abdullahhad to pay the price of NationalConference’s image of being pro-Delhi. Kashmir’s link with India istoo close to challenge it beyond apoint. Still the opposition, howeversmall, gives the Kashmiris a vicarioussatisfaction of defying New Delhi.

Kashmir feels strongly about New

Delhi’s step-motherly treatmentmeted out to the language. And it isgenerally believed that it islanguishing in neglect because Urduis considered the language ofMuslims. If New Delhi were to ownand encourage Urdu, the Kashmiriswould have at least one reason lessto feel aggrieved.

People are generally poor like therest of India and they want jobswhich they realize will come throughonly development, including tourism.But they are not themselves pickingup the gun or any other weapon todrive militants out. One, they areafraid of them and, two, there is afeeling that what the militants aretrying to do is to give them an identity.Therefore, the criticism that there isno resistance to the militants fromwithin the valley should beunderstandable because it is part ofalienation.

I still believe that the 1953agreement which gave India thecontrol of defence, foreign affairsand communications can improvepart of the situation in the state.The Kashmiri youth who are angryover the state’s status as well thesituation can be won over by theassurance that the entire Indianmarket is available to them forbusiness or service.

But this alone may not do. NewDelhi will have to withdraw all theacts relating to the fields other thandefence, foreign affairs andcommunications. The Armed Forces(Special Powers) Act which waspromulgated some 25 years ago tomeet the extraordinary situation inthe state is still in operation. Werethe government to withdraw the act,it would placate the Kashmirs on theone hand and make the securityforces more responsible on the other.

poor and rich should not be more thanten times. Akhilesh Yadav is nowearning 40 times more than a dailywage (MNREGA) worker, whosefunding source has presently driedup, and 400 times more than aSamajwadi pensioner.

Mayawati was criticised for havingbuilt her own statue. Now AkhileshYadav has got his portrait installed inthe Assembly in the series of formerCMs. Is he already preparing forretirement?

Akhilesh Yadav should take lessonfrom his party’s MLA from Balha inDistrict Bahraich, Bansidhar Bouddh.The dalit MLA still lives very simply.He has a mud house which collapsedin recent floods. He and his wifeLajjawati farm their agricultural fieldsand tend their cattle themselveswithout any help. Bansidhar used tohave only a second hand motorcycletill recently. Now he is a Minister butstill there is no change in his lifestyleexcept that he has a governmentvehicle.

In a democracy Bansidhar is anideal people’s representatives and notAkhilesh Yadav, who has promotedlavish and feudal culture for ministersin addition to being a symbol ofdynastic politics. Bansidharrepresents politics as a service.Akhilesh Yadav represents politics asaggrandisement. People are going toprefer representatives like Bansidharover Akhilesh Yadav. As soon as thathappens politics will fulfill its real roleand the idea of democracy will berealised. As public funds would beproperly utilised the benefits ofdevelopment will reach the poor.Right now it the politics representedby Akhilesh Yadav which sustains thedisparity and inequity.



Veteran trade unionist andsocialist leader Sharad Rao died inMumbai on September 1, 2016, aftera two-year fight with chronicpancreatic cancer. He was 76.Theaggressive union leader breathed hislast at Nanavati Hospital in VileParle. He is survived by his wifeShanta Rao, son Shashank anddaughter Shilpa. Mr. Rao creditedfor uniting over a dozen labourunions under his leadershipcontrolled a large chunk of theMumbai public transport and civicservices system through the BESTWorkers Union, Municipal MazdoorUnion and Mumbai Autorickshawmen’s Union and severalothers which were part of the HindMazdoor Kisan Panchayat.

Son of a bus conductor, SharadRao was born on February 9, 1940,in a family hailing from Talapady-Kannur in Dakshina Kannada and was relocated to Mumbai afterIndependence. As a youth, heworked closely with socialist leaderGeorge Fernandes, and took chargeof the unions after Mr. Fernandesgraduated to national politics inDelhi but the two parted ways whenFernandes joined the NDA led byBharatiya Janata Party. He wasalso a close associate of manyother prominent trade union leadersof left and socialist parties.

While the working Mumbaikarsmay only remember him for hisfrequent calls to strikes by the autorickshaw drivers, Mr. Rao’scontribution to improving the living

Sharad Rao (1940-2016)

Qurban Ali

standards of the workers has beeninvaluable. He brought together thelabour class from the BrihanmumbaiMunicipal Corporation,Brihanmumbai Electricity Supplyand Transport Undertaking,Chatrapati Shivaji InternationalAirport, Thane MunicipalCorporation, Maharashtra StateElectricity Board, and the HindMazdoor Sabha, while heading theauto rickshaw, hawkers’ andgumasta unions.

Over the last four decades, hefought hard for an increase inwages of the sanitation workers inthe BMC, ensuring permanent jobsfor thousands of contract workersat Mumbai airport. He pushed forthe auto rickshaw drivers to receiveconstant fare hike, stepped up thepressure on the BMC to issuelicenses to more hawkers, andpushed for an effectiveimplementation of the nationalpolicy on urban street vendors.

In 2000, Rao led BMC workersin a major strike over festivalbonuses, disrupting essential civicservices, including hospitals andpublic transport. After his unionmembers dared to shut water supplyto the city for two days, the highcourt stepped in and threatened tohave the army take over the cityadministration.

In September 2012, the Rao-ledrickshaw union had threatened togo on strike for a fare revision.Though there was no strike,

Mumbaikars had to accept the autofare increase. However, in 2013,he refused to join a trade unionstrike claiming the issues ofautorickshaw, taxi drivers werebeing addressed by the governmentand that of the civic workers bythe BMC administration.

While the upper-classMumbaikars were worried for thecommotion hawkers caused in poshneighbourhoods, Mr. Rao’s agitationin April 2013, ensured that theBMC did not evict hawkersovernight even though the Centrehad passed the Street Vendors Bill,2013, for their protection. Under hisleadership, wages of the sanitationworkers reached Rs. 25,000 permonth from the initial Rs. 80 overtwo decades ago.

“He was the last of thegeneration of leaders who intenselyfought for the cause of the workersand the labourers. There will notbe another leader like him,” saidPrashant Kakade, his long-timefriend and president of Federationof Aviation Workers.

Union leaders said Mr. Rao’s lossis irreparable. “We will never beable to find a replacement forsomeone who ensured workers’living conditions improved and theirfamilies remained intact. He foughthard to ensure that the auto driverswork in a third shift and run sharetrips in Mumbai,” said GovindKamtekar, who had been a closeassociate since 1987. Labour union


leaders fear Mr. Rao’s loss willleave a gaping hole as BharatiyaJanata Party-ruled States push foraggressive labour reforms. Thelabour movement suffered a setbackfollowing the death of Sharad Rao.

“At a time when there is so muchtwisting and tweaking with labourrules and laws, and stress is just onbringing in business, his presencewill be felt more,” said PradeepMenon, union leader and a friendsince Mr. Rao’s early days aslabour leader at Hindustan UnileverLimited.

Chief Minister DevendraFadnavis expressed grief at thedemise of Rao and recalled hislifelong struggles for the rights ofthe common workers through hisdifferent unions. “In Mr. Rao wehave lost an aggressive leader forthe organised and the unorganisedworkers. Starting his struggles withthe Bombay Labour Union, Mr. Raohad a great influence on workers.This is a big loss to the labourmovement. He had a huge impacton the working class. He stood upfor all when they needed him tillhis last breath. He will beremembered by all.” Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis said.RailwayMinister Suresh Prabhu alsocondoled the demise of Sharad Raowhom he described as a great unionleader and a longtime friend.

Bihar Chief Minister NitishKumar also condoled death ofSharad Rao in Mumbai. In hiscondolence message, Kumardescribed the deceased as veteransocialist and leader of the workerswho was heading a number ofeffective labourers’ unions. Raogave leadership to ‘Greater Mumbai

Electric Supply and TransportUnion’, ‘Mumbai Auto RikshawUnion’ and Labourers of MumbaiMunicipal Corporation. Thedeparted leader always used to thinkfor welfare of labourers he said.

Sharad Rao was leadingHindustan Lever Limited union from1957 to 1967, later Trade unionmovement, Bombay Clerk’s unionin 1970 and Save Octroi movement.

He was the working committeemember and City worker in BMCin 1978. He was active in severalorganizations including Bombay porttrust. Rao who was staying inGoregaon had contested in VidhanaSabha elections in 2005 and 2009as Nationalist Congress partycandidate from Goregaon westconstituency. Sharad Rao waspopular as labour leader for the lastfive decades.


What is the status of the nucleararsenals of India and Pakistan?What dangers come from thepostures and plans they haveadopted? What influences do Chinaand the United States wield in theregion?

These and other topics were thesubject of Dr. M. V. Ramana’s talkon ‘Nuclear Weapons in South Asia:Programmes, Plans and Dangers’that was organised by Dr. AsgharAli Engineer Memorial AdvisoryCommittee and Coalition for NuclearDisarmament and Peace (CNDP) on27th August 2016 at MumbaiMarathi Patrakar Sangh. The talkwas dedicated to the memory ofPraful Bidwai, illustrious journalist,activist and social scienceresearcher, who, among variousother issues, worked tirelessly fornuclear disarmament and peace.

Dr. Ramana began by talkingabout how the early history ofnuclear power in India, starting withthe bill enabling the creation of anorganization aimed at working onatomic energy introduced in theConstituent Assembly in 1948,barely a few months afterindependence, shows the importancegiven to nuclear power by theleaders of the country right from itsinception as an independent nation.Although the purpose of thedevelopment of atomic energy wassaid to be for ‘peaceful purposes’,it was revealing that PanditJawarharlal Nehru, soon to beIndia’s first Prime Minister, had toconcede that he did ‘not know howto distinguish the two (peaceful

Nuclear weapons in South Asia:programmes, plans and dangers

and defense purposes)’. Thedevelopment of nuclearinfrastructure by the Atomic Energyestablishment took into account thepossibility that the facilitiesconstructed and expertise gainedcould be used for military purposes.In particular, the CIRUS reactorthat started operating in 1960 andthe Trombay reprocessing plant thatwas completed by 1964 allowedIndia to produce plutonium thatcould be used to make nuclearweapons.

Ramana then described the publicdebate about developing nuclearweapons that took place after thedeath of Nehru and the first Chinesenuclear weapon test in 1964. Thedebate revolved around questions ofsecurity, cost, morality, and prestige.Although it did not result in a decisionto produce nuclear weapons, a seriesof developments eventually led tonuclear weapon test in 1974 inPokharan, which was described asa peaceful nuclear explosion. Thedecision to conduct that test wasreportedly taken soon after 1971war with Pakistan and the creationof Bangladesh. Ramana pointed outthat the decision to test was not takenin a moment of insecurity but in amoment of success (in breaking upPakistan, India’s chief regional rival,into two countries). The timing of thetest also undermines the argumentof some who see China’s nucleartest as a cause for India’s weapons.

Although India did not follow thepath taken by other nuclear weaponstates and weaponise its nucleardesign, the weapons program wasn’t

inactive after the 1974 test. Instead,the nuclear establishment refinednuclear weapon designs and lobbiedfor more weapons tests. A missileprogramme was also set up thatresulted in the design and productionof the Prithvi and Agni missiles thatcould deliver nuclear weapons.

During the 1990s, increasedactivity by the bomb lobby, a groupof people who advocated Indiadeveloping nuclear weapons,succeeded in getting India to voteagainst the Comprehensive Test BanTreaty. In parallel, the rise of Hindunationalists and the Bharatiya JanataParty, with their militarist worldview,coming to power also created theconditions for the May 1998 nucleartests. That involved five explosionson May 11 and 13, including that ofa boosted/thermonuclear weapon(hydrogen bomb); there has been arecurring debate over whether thatparticular design was successfullytested.

Ramana also briefly described thetrajectory of Pakistan’s nuclearprogramme, starting with thestrategic relationship the countryestablished with the United States,shortly after independence, in thecontext of the Cold War. Pakistaniscientists were first trained by theUnited States as part of its Atomsfor Peace programme. After the1965 India-Pakistan war, where theUnited States did not aid Pakistan(whereas China did), somePakistanis, in particular the US-educated Foreign Minister Z.A.Bhutto, called for a bomb. This callwas to intensify after 1971 war that


resulted in division of Pakistan andBhutto launched nuclear weaponprogram in 1972, one month aftertaking office as President. After the1974 Indian nuclear test, the UShalted nuclear cooperation and A.Q.Khan, a metallurgist based inHolland, offered his services to helpwith the Pakistani nuclearprogramme, going on to set up theuranium enrichment programme.Revelation about this secretprogramme led the United States toimpose sanctions on Pakistan, whichwas then reversed after the Sovietsinvaded Afghanistan in 1979 and theUnited States started using Pakistanas a staging ground to engage withthe Soviets indirectly. The sanctionswere re-imposed in 1989 only afterthe Soviets left Afghanistan. In themeanwhile, Pakistan had producedhighly enriched uranium anddeveloped bomb designs that weretested in May 1998. There were fiveexplosions on May 28 and one onMay 30, 1998. These were all offission weapons and Pakistan did notconduct a thermonuclear weapontest.

In the aftermath of the 1998nuclear tests, both India and Pakistanhave been involved in the creationof doctrines and commandstructures to plan for the potentialuse of nuclear weapons. In India, themilitary has gained greater controlof nuclear weapons. Peace talksbetween the countries have primarilybeen attempts at proving that Indiaand Pakistan are responsible statesand no substantial measure has beenagreed upon.

As of 2014, the estimate ofweapon-grade plutonium in India isaround 600 kilograms. About 5 kg issufficient for one nuclear weapon.The estimated stockpile of HighlyEnriched Uranium (HEU) as of the

end of 2014 in India is 3.2 ± 1.1 tonswith a U-235 content of 1.0 ± 0.3tons. This is said to be primarily forthe nuclear (Arihant) submarineprogramme. However, because theestimated stockpile vastly exceedswhat might be needed for allenvisioned nuclear submarines, it ispossible that the HEU might be usedin nuclear weapons. About 25 kg issufficient to produce one nuclearweapon. For Pakistan, the stockpilesare estimated to be 3.1 ± 0.4 tons ofHEU and 190 kg of plutonium as ofthe end of 2014.

Both countries have testednumerous missiles and other deliveryvehicles. India is in the process ofdeveloping two technologies that areprofoundly destabilizing: BallisticMissile Defense and Early warningsystems. Ramana talked at somelength about early warning, whichinvolves setting up radars andsatellites to detect the launch andflight of missiles. Although India hasa ‘no first use’ policy, it is not clearhow this commitment of no first usetranslates into actual deployment andaction. In principle, this policy meanswaiting for an incoming missile toexplode before retaliating. Butsetting up early warning systemssuggests that the leadership does notenvision waiting for such an explosionand might launch missiles as soon asthere is warning of an impendingattack; in other words, it would nolonger be a strict no first usecommitment.

Early warning technology hasgreat potential for errors andaccidental launches. Ramanaprovided examples from the ColdWar era where U.S. leaders receivedfalse warnings that indicated Sovietnuclear missiles were approachingthe United States when there wasactually no such attack underway.

One saving factor was that becausethey were so far apart, the UnitedStates and the Soviet Union had alonger time period to confirm missilelaunches; the travel time for a Sovietmissile to reach the United States orvice versa is approximately 30minutes due to the geographicaldistance between the two. But thatis not the case in South Asia. Indiaand Pakistan share boundaries andthe time taken by a missile from onecountry to hit the capital city of theother would be only 6-13 minutesdepending on where it was launched.Once you take away the time it takesto detect the launch and confirm thatthe missile is indeed directed towardsthe other country, there would bebarely a couple of minutes for theIndian or Pakistani leadership tomake a decision to respond. Becauseany technology is capable of errorsand accidents, deploying an earlywarning system will increase the riskof inadvertent or accidental nuclearwar.

Turning to a different aspect ofnuclear weapons in south Asia,Ramana pointed out that theargument that nuclear weapons deterwar failed within a year of thenuclear tests, when India andPakistan had a military conflict overKargil in Kashmir. The Kargil warwas the first large scale militaryengagement between any twonuclear weapon states in the world.It involved a dozen or more nuclearthreats by high-level officials in bothcountries, and there were reports thatnuclear weapons were prepared foruse on both sides.

The greater danger is in thelonger-term, and this has to do withthe lessons learnt by the Indian andPakistani military establishments inthe aftermath of Kargil. For Pakistan,the main lesson was that its nuclear


arsenal prevented India fromlaunching a massive attack, whichIndia’s conventional militaryadvantage could have allowed it topersecute. The strategy adopted inKargil had earlier been presented toBenazir Bhutto in 1996, but she hadrejected it then. For Indian militaryplanners, the problem was that Indiawould have to find ways of waginglimited wars despite presence ofPakistani nuclear weapons. Similarlessons were also inferred by thetwo countries after the 2001-02military crises that followed theattack on the Indian parliament.

There are news reportssuggesting that in 2004, the Indianmilitary adopted a strategy calledCold Start that would involve a “shiftfrom defensive to offensiveoperations at the very outset of aconflict… not giving Pakistan anytime to bring diplomatic leveragesinto play vis-à-vis India”. Pakistan’sresponse to this development hasbeen to lower the threshold for useof nuclear weapons, with talk aboutdeveloping ‘Battlefield NuclearWeapons’ for use against incomingtanks. This game of lowering thethreshold for the use of suchcatastrophic weapons is profoundlydangerous and destabilizing.

Lastly, Ramana mentioned therole of United States and the dangersof a four-way race that hasintensified in recent years. U.S.relations with India changed radicallyduring the Bush administration(2000-08). The Bushadministration’s foreign policy wasguided by neo-conservatives thatsaw the world in highly polarizedterms. China was perceived as thechief barrier to U.S. supremacy anddominance in the international worldorder. Members of the BushAdministration, therefore, wanted to

prop up India as a counterweight toChina. As Condoleeza Rice, whowent on to becoming Secretary ofState, wrote in 2000: “India is anelement in China’s calculation, andit should be in America’s, too. Indiais not a great power yet, but it hasthe potential to emerge as one.”

Under the 2004 Next Steps inStrategic Partnership, the UnitedStates agreed to help India withcivilian nuclear activities, civilianspace programs, dual-use high-technology trade and missiledefense. In other words, India’snuclear weapons ceased to be seenas something to be concerned about,and instead became seen as anecessity to keep China off balance.This policy has continued even in theObama administration, which signeda Joint Strategic Vision for the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean Region.An important clause in the visionwas the joint affirmation of “theimportance of safeguarding maritimesecurity and ensuring freedom ofnavigation and over flight throughoutthe region, especially in the SouthChina Sea”. U.S. support for India’sNSG (Nuclear Suppliers Group)membership should be seen in thislight.

There are two questions relevantto the NSG discussion. What doesIndia gain by becoming a NSGmember? According to Ramana,India has nothing to gain in materialterms since it already had access tonuclear reactors and uranium. Theonly possible benefit is purelysymbolic – being able to sit at thehigh table with the big boys.But what does India have to loseor pay to join NSG? According toRamana, the stakes are quite clear– it is part of the United States’ ployto get India on to their side againstChina in multiple spheres –

diplomacy, NSG and even possiblythe Security Council. The questionthat Ramana says we need to askourselves is – is this the role Indiashould be playing? Is thiscompetition with China desirable?

Ramana concluded by pointing outthat there’s essentially a four-wayrace happening between India-Pakistan-China-United States.Pakistan seeks military andeconomic help from China and UnitedStates to balance India. India seekssupport from United States tofurther its great power ambitions.China is trying to establish itself asan emerging global power able to re-order the international system. TheUnited States is trying to limit itsdecline as the dominant world powerby constraining and balancing the riseof Chinese power and influence. Thedangers of this military and nuclearrace and the build-up of nuclearweapons are extremely worrisome.Also of concern is the fact that allof this is happening out of sight andis therefore out of the minds of thegeneral public.

The session was chaired by AnandPatwardhan and Darryl D’Monterepresented the Dr. Asghar AliEngineer Memorial AdvisoryCommittee on the dais. Theaudience consisted of students fromvarious institutes, people who areengaged in struggles in Jaitapur andnuclear issues, professors andresearchers. The question andanswer session that followed the talkwas wide-ranging, involvingdiscussions about topics as varied asthe relationship between deterrenceand terrorism, and the ethicalquandaries associated with theproduction of radioactive waste thatis hazardous for centuries.

–Pratiksha Nair


Dalit Uprising and After - IIWhy Hindutva Would Not Be The Same Again

Subhash Gatade

‘Keep Cow’s Tail With You, And Give Us Our Land’

..on March 20, 1927, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar led the Mahadsatyagraha – for drinking water from the Chavdar tank at Mahad. This was the “foundational struggle” of the dalit movement, amovement for water – and for caste annihilation.

In his statement at the time, Dr. Ambedkar put the movement in thebroadest possible context. Why do we fight, he asked. It is notsimply for drinking water; drinking the water will not give us verymuch. It is not even a matter of only of our human rights, thoughwe fight to establish the right to drink water. But our goal is noless than that of the French Revolution. ..

And so dalits went to drink the water at Mahad. They were metwith ferocious repression: an attack by caste Hindus followed. The dalits retreated, came back several months later on December25 for a renewed struggle, and since the collector had given aninjunction against any further attempt, Ambedkar decided to honorthis and instead burned the Manusmriti. A fitting climax to the firstbattle of dalit liberation!(https://seekingbegumpura.wordpress.com/2013/03/22/the-mahad-satyagraha/)

Dalit Uprising in Gujarat and themanner in which it has rattled thestate government and has severelyimpacted the BJP’s well laid out plansto consolidate its support base amongDalits has been a whiff of fresh airfor every peace and justice lovingperson in this part of Asia.

What has caught imagination ofthe people is the key slogan of themovement which says ‘Keep Cow’sTail With You, And Give Us OurLand’. It is a single slogan whichencapsulates question of castediscrimination as well as

communalism and puts forward apositive demand to fight materialdeprivation - which has been anintegral part of the sanctifiedhierarchy of caste.

The emphasis of the movementthat Dalits leave the ‘stigmatisedprofessions’ - which has condemnedthem to be the lowest positionon Varna/Caste hierarchy - andwholehearted participation ofthousands and thousands of Dalitsin it, the militancy it has added to theDalit movement has broken a newground in the dalit movement.

No doubt that there was lot ofspontaneity in the movement but theway it moved ahead and has addednew edge to dalit assertion could nothave been imagined without theyoung leadership which took charge.Their inclusive approach also helpedthem rope in activists of otherorganisations or attract many suchpeople who are opposed to oruncomfortable with Hindutva politicson a common agenda. Inclusivenessof the movement was also evidentin the fact that Muslims - who havebeen put in very miserable conditionpost 2002 carnage - also joined


the Azaadi Kooch to Una.Many welcomed it on the way inlarge numbers and also travelled toUna in their hundreds for the 15thAugust independence day rally heldthere.

A less discussed aspect of thisupsurge is the fact that dalits aremerely seven per cent of the state’spopulation and have not had a longhistory of militant movement butdespite these limitations the impactof the movement has beenphenomenal. Not only it compelledthe BJP to change its Chief Ministerfor mishandling the movement but italso disturbed its dalits outreach planselsewhere.

Remember barring the historicstruggle led by Dadasaheb Gaikwad- a close comrade of Dr Ambedkar- in late 1950s in Maharashtra whereissue of land was highlighted, rarehave been the occasions in post-independence times that issue ofmaterial deprivation of dalits wascreately integrated with socio-cultural discrimination and politicalmarginaliation. Una has changed thepicture. It has also raised manyunheard of slogans in the dalitmovement. ‘Dalits of the WorldUnite’, ‘Workers of the World Unite’or ‘Jai Bhim’, ‘Lal Salam’ and JaiSavitribai’. (https://w w w . y o u t u b e . c o m /watch?v=9jqgA75o5PE)

Analysts have rightly put it thatdalit movement in recent times haslargely remained limited/focussed onwhat can be called issue of ‘Identity/Asmita’ but Una marks a newbeginning where issue of ‘existence/astitva’ has also come to the fore.Possibly gone are the days when‘victimhood’ was highlighted orrhetoric of ‘Brahminism down-down’was repeated ad nauseam and a

careful silence was maintained abouteconomic issues. As a revolutionaryactivist shared in his email ‘[a]nimportant thing to note is that the UnaStruggle can also be seen as part ofa continuum where socialmovements connects itself with anti-systemic struggles.’

Definitely the Una struggle whichhas sent shivers down the spine ofthe Hindutva Supremacists cannotbe seen in isolation. It is rather acontinuation of growing dalitassertion against Hindutvadepradations especially after theascendance of Modi led regime atthe centre. The realisation hasslowly sunk in that not only it wantsto attack affirmative actionprogrammes but its economicpolicies - coupled with its regressivesociocultural agenda - are bringingruin to the dalits and othermarginalised sections of society. Itis becoming more and more clear tothem that the people in power wanta docile/pliable dalit polity which candance to their tunes. They wantAmbedkar but not the real one buthis sanitised version. How muchthey are scared about realAmbedkar and his ideas can belearnt from a decision of the AnandiPatel led government. It literallydumped four lakh copies ofAmbedkar’s biography which it hadprinted for massive distribution asthe author of the book had alsoincluded 22 vows which Ambedkarrecited with his followers at the timeof conversion to Buddhism.

And this realisation has given riseto a tremendous reaction. Rangingfrom the successful campaignagainst derecognition of AmbekdarPeriyar Study Circle active inChennai IIT by the management(https://kafila.org/2015/06/05/no-to-ambedkar-periyar-in-modern-day-

agraharam/), or countrywidemovement - where students andyouth were in the forefront - afterthe ‘institutional murder of RohithVemula’ (https://kafila.org/2016/01/22/long-live-the-legacy-of-comrade-vemula-rohi th-chakravar thy-s t a t emen t -by-new-soc ia l i s t -initiative-nsi/), or the massive massmobilisation against demolition ofAmbedkar Bhavan in Mumbai by theBJP led government or the ‘ZameenPrapti Movement’ in Punjab led byrevolutionary left where Dalits havecome together to form collectives,etc, one can easily see that suchassertion is increasing in its intensityand militancy.

..In Punjab, the share of the Dalitsin the 1,58,000 acres of Panchayatland is 52,667 acres. There are alsolegal entitlements for them in theNazool Lands. However, the actualpossession of these lands hasremained with the landlords and richpeasants. As per the agriculturalcensus 2010-11, the SCs in Punjab,who are a third of its population,owned just 6.02% of the landholdings and 3.2%of the land areaof the state. Of these operationalholdings also a large proportion(nearly 85%) are said to be unviabledue to the small size of less than 5hectares.

Since 2014, the Dalit peasantryorganized under the banner of ZPSC(Zameen Prapti Sangharsh Samiti)and holding its red flag with theblazing sun firmly aloft, has begunto assert their claim over what isrightfully theirs. These lands used tobe auctioned to dummy candidatesof landlords; a gaushala in Sangrurdistrict has been given land for 30years at the rate of Rs 7000 an acreby the Akali-BJP Govt. of the statewhereas the price for Dalits is overRs 20,000 an acre. This spreading


struggle in districts of South Punjabhas been met with police andlandlord repression, false FIRsagainst ‘unknowns’ but the strugglerages on like a spreading blaze.

(https://nbsdelhi.wordpress.com/2016/08/24/hail-the-assertion-by-landless-dalits-of-punjab-and-gujarat-of-their-right-to-land-land-to-the-tiller-key-to-annihilating-caste/)

If the unexpected shift of a

section of Dalit masses - for variousreasons - towards BJP was animportant factor in its ascent topower in the year 2014, this growingassertion of dalits is a proof that theycannot be hoodwinked anymore.With the real agenda of theseHindutva Supremacists out in theopen - which is witnessed not onlyin its attacks on right to life and rightto livelihood of every exploited andmarginalised section but also in itshurry to co-opt Ambedkar but

bulldoze every element of dalitassertion - the battle lines have beenfinally drawn.

And the unfolding Dalit Uprisinghas added new lustre to it.

( *translated from originalGujarati by G K Vankar, http://roundtableindia.co.in/lit-blogs/?tag=sahil-parmar)

Peoples Media Advocacy &Resource Centre

Western Railway Employees UnionGrant Road Station Building (E), MUMBAI – 400 007.

WREU, the oldest trade unions in the country, earlier known as BB&CI Railway Employees’

Union, is in the services of Railway men since 1920. WREU, a free, independent and

democratic trade union, is a founder member of AIRF and HMS.

WREU fought for upliftment of railway men and their family in particular and labour class

in general for the last 94 yea.rs. WREU/AIRF is instrumental in creation of PNM, grievance

solving machinery in 1951, payment of PLB to Railway men since 1979, implementation

of series of Cadre Restructuring in Group ‘C’ and ‘D’ categories in Indian Railways,

implementation of recommendations of the 4th, 5th and 6th CPCs with modifications and

RELHS Scheme for Railway men.

WREU was led by prominent trade union leaders, viz. late Miss. Maniben

Kara, Late Com. Jagdish Ajmera, Late Com. Umraomal Purohit, Late Com. Chandrashekar

Menon, etc. In memory of late Maniben Kara, WREU established a charitable trust namely

“Maniben Kara Foundation” with the objective of lighting against the evils of the society.

Apart from trade union activities, various non-bargaining activities such as organizing Health

Check-up Camps, Blood Donation Camps, Family Planning Camps, Anti-Dowry campaigns,

HIV-AIDS Awareness Campaigns, Safety Seminars, Trade Union Education Class,’ Adult

Education, Guidance Camp, etc. are conducted for the benefits of the railway men and the

general public.


The formal adoption of theneoliberal reforms programme by theGovernment of India (GOI) in 1991had a far more pervasive impact onthe education system and policy thanis usually recognized. Thecommercialization and marketizationof education put it outside the graspof the majority of India’s population,78 per cent of whom were living onless than twenty rupees per day(Arjun Sengupta Committee report),and altered the concepts ofknowledge, education and itscurricular content.

The democratic deficit was themost obvious feature of the NationalPolicy of Education (NPE 86-92). Itintroduced non-formal education

Neoliberal assault on knowledge:education reduced to acquisition of ‘skills’.

Madhu Prasad

(NFE), as a low-cost alternative tobe treated as ‘equivalent toschooling’ for the working poor, themarginalized and children in “difficultcircumstances”. When the SupremeCourt in its 1993 judgement(Unnikrishnan vs the State ofAndhra Pradesh) stated that theconstitutional Directive Principle 45should be read in conjunction withArticle 21, it established that the rightto education flowed from thefundamental right to life therebyconverting “the obligation created bythe article (45) into an enforceableright”. This required the 86th

Constitutional amendment in 2002,which was tailor-made to coincidewith neoliberal dictates to reducepublic spending on education. Two

significant limitations to the“enforceable right” restricted it tochildren between 6 to 14 years ofage and provided for education only“as the State may, by law,determine”. The limitations alloweda retreat from the originalconstitutional responsibility anddenied millions of children access toquality education. The RTE Act 2009legalized the inequity.

A genuine right to education lawwould have encompassedcompletely free and compulsoryEarly Childhood Care and Education(ECCE) and, following the adoptionof the 10+2 system, extended up toClass XII thus covering all childrenfrom 0 to 18 years.

1

It must be emphasized that this isno left-wing revolutionary demand.From the mid-nineteenth centuryonwards, in industrializing nations theresponsibility for providing educationhad been taken up by modern statesthat arose with the rise andconsolidation of capitalism to fulfillthe productive and ‘democratic’needs of Capital for a bettereducated and ‘free’ labour force.Engels had upheld the rationale ofthe demand during a speechdelivered at Elberfeld in February1845: The “general education of allchildren without exception at theexpense of the state – an educationwhich is equal for all and continuesuntil the individual is capable ofemerging as an independent memberof society. . . would be only an actof justice. . . . for clearly, every man

has the right to the fullestdevelopment of his abilities andsociety wrongs individuals twiceover when it makes ignorance anecessary consequence of poverty.”(Marx–Engels Collected Works Vol.4. P 253).

Emphasizing that no country hadsuccessfully ended child labourwithout first making educationcompulsory, American politicaltheorist Myron Weiner also notedthat Asian States which madeeducation compulsory - Japan in1872, the two Koreas, Taiwan andChina after WWII - were all poorwhen they undertook the task. Theirdevelopment was founded onsuccessfully taking up “the legalobligation of the state to provide anadequate number of schools,

appropriately situated and to ensurethat no child fails to attend school.”Modern states regard education asa legal duty, not merely as a right:“parents are required to send theirchildren to school, children arerequired to attend school and the stateis required to enforce compulsoryeducation.” The state is bound toprotect children from thecompulsions on impoverishedparents and from would-beexploiters. (“India’s Case AgainstCompulsory Education”, Seminar,413 (January). P 83-86)

Independent India’s firstEducation Commission (1964-66),the D.S. Kothari Commission,examined the failure to achieve theConstitutional goal of education forall up to the age of 14 years by 1960.


It recommended far-reachingstructural changes for setting up anational system of free andcompulsory education throughschools of comparable quality. Thiscould not be left to private institutionslike the elite schools “transplantedin India by British administrators andwe have clung to it so long becauseit happened to be in tune with thetraditional hierarchical structure ofour society. Whatever its place inpast history may be, such a systemhas no valid place in the newdemocratic and socialistic society wedesire to create.” (1.38)

The report strongly advocated theestablishment of state-fundedcommon neighbourhood schools witha socially, culturally andeconomically diverse student bodyas the authentic institution of apedagogically sound and egalitariannational system of education whichwould “provide `good’ education toall children because sharing life withthe common people is, in ouropinion, an essential ingredient ofgood education.” (10.19). Echoingits logic, The Report of theCommittee of Members ofParliament on Education (1967)asserted that “the unhealthy socialsegregation that now takes placebetween the schools for the richand those for the poor should beended; and the primary schoolsshould be the common schools ofthe nation by making it obligatory onall children, irrespective of caste,creed, community, religion,economic conditions or social status,to attend the primary school in theirneighbourhood. This sharing of lifeamong the children of all socialstrata will strengthen the sense ofbeing one nation which is anessential ingredient of goodeducation.”(Government of India1967: p 2). This principle has

recently been reiterated in alandmark judgement of theAllahabad High Court (August 18,2015).

Achieving universal access toeducation was recognized as not justa question of reaching a numericaltarget. It could not be divorced fromits democratic content and purpose.However, Indian capital had alignedwith sections of the feudallandowning elite and accommodatedwith Brahmanical ideology whichsanctioned harshly exploitative castedivisions among the toiling masses.This allowed both classes to gaineconomically and politically but itwas at the expense of the ruin ofthe majority of peasants, artisans,tribals and working people. Havingfailed to break out of the viciouscycle of inequality the goal ofuniversalizing school education couldnever be achieved. The educationsystem inevitably sank into deepcrisis which was aggravated eachtime a policy decision furthernarrowed access with multi-trackdiscriminatory arrangements(alternate schools, multi-gradeteaching, education guaranteecentres, use of contractual and para-teachers, the RTE Act 2009).

The present regime’s proposedNational Policy of Education 2016(NEP 2016) promises to acceleratethis process. Amendments to thealready flawed RTE 2009 will allowfor ‘alternate’ schools which do not‘require’ the basic infrastructural andpedagogical norms laid down in theAct, limit the no-detention policy tolower primary (class V) andvocationalize the elementarycurriculum in targeted areas. Dove-tailed into the Skill Developmentprogram and the amended childlabour law which now permits under14-year-olds to work in ‘family

enterprises’, this ‘education’ policywill reinforce caste distinctions andensure that the majority of India’schildren from oppressed andmarginalized sections will becondemned to a childhood of labour.

This outcome is not accidental. Itfollows from the neoliberal policiesof marketization of education as a‘private good’, and of knowledge asa tradable ̀ commodity’ or ̀ service’,that have been pursued bysuccessive governments for morethan two decades. Since the 1970’s`neoliberalism’ has emerged as the`solution’ favoured by internationalfinance capital to recover from theseverity of its recurring economiccrises. Public funds are divertedthrough Public Private Partnerships(PPP) to allow “opening up” of theentire range of human activities topenetration by private capital. Thisimposes a heavy burden on the mostvulnerable sections of society andhas a very negative impact oneducation, health, employment andjob security, food security, housingand provision of public utilities.Production and consumption by themasses are kept under tight controlthrough “austerity measures” andthe modern ̀ welfare’ state of the 20th

Century is transformed. People’scontrol over their own lives shrinksas corporations take over decision-making in the name of “efficiency”and “professional management”.

However, unlike knowledge,commodities are produced primarilyfor exchange for profit rather thanfor any intrinsic value. In highlydeveloped systems of commodityproduction like capitalism all marketexchanges are affected byscarcities, monopolies, manipulatedtastes and more or less accidentalvariations in supply and demand.Thus the ‘commodification of


knowledge’ would appear to be acontradiction in terms unlessknowledge is degraded to the‘acquisition of skills’ required for‘services’ that are available in themarket.

The entire terminology of the NEP2016 is devised within the

The World Trade Organization(WTO) and the General Agreementon Trade in Services (GATS) madetheir entry into the arena of highereducation. Prof. Nigvekar, thenUGC Chairperson, articulated GOI’sposition that education had become“a tradeable product and knowledgehas become commodified”. Incountries like India, GATSregulations will negatively impacteducational access, impose onemodel of private, commercial andimport-oriented education, weakennational systems due to foreigncompetition and effect domesticregulation and authority. Yet, despitegrowing opposition, an offer madein 2005 to put higher education onthe WTO-GATS table as a tradableservice was not withdrawn at therecent Tenth Ministerial Conferenceheld in December 2015 at Nairobi.

Commercialization of educationprovides autonomy to capital byopening up a market for investmentas knowledge is now a keycomponent in economic developmentbut its impact on the academiccommunity is decidedly anti-democratic and has graveconsequences for the veryconception of education as a publicgood. The privately-borne high costof education shrinks the range andinfluence of subjects and coursesthat are not directly linked to thedemands of national and international

capital markets which generate themaximum jobs and the biggestsalaries. Neoliberalism has alteredthe focus of syllabi from values ofcritical-thinking to “skills” such as“teamwork,” “communication” and“leadership.” The language and ethicof the corporate world sends out thewrong message that education mustequip individuals with marketableskills, and that the ultimate goal is“productivity”. Unfortunately,influenced by policy makers and themedia, even students, parents, andsociety at large have begun toaccept education as a “private good”so that both `providers’ and`consumers’ adopt a marketperspective by viewing education asa means to recoup investments madeeither in providing or in acquiring it.

All over the world disciplines andareas of research that arefoundational to innovative systems ofknowledge depend significantly onstate funding and philanthropicsupport. Replacing this with profit-oriented enterprise means that thesedisciplines suffer deterioration andthe critical and transformationalpurpose of educational institutionsdeclines. As they become morefinancially autonomous but lesssocially accountable ‘producers ofgraduates and research outputs’, themost important objective of these‘entrepreneurial institutions’ is togenerate profits.

framework of skill acquisition.“Competencies” and “outcomes” areunits to be monitored, measured,graded and readied for the market.The purpose of education is thegrooming of ‘human resource’ tocreate a work-force that will enterthe market-place as and when supplyand demand movements are

favourable. When they areunfavourable, during periods ofrecession and slow growth as theyare now, this work-force will becomeCapital’s essential buffer, the“reserve army of labour” that keepswages low, jobs contractual, andworkers afraid to unionize and fightfor their legitimate democratic rights.

2

The failure to universalizeelementary and secondary educationwas used to propagate the idea ofhigher education as an ‘elite’privilege and a ‘non-merit good’undeserving of public subsidies.From 1998 institutions of HigherEducation (IHE) were advised to“raise their own resources by raisingthe fee levels, encouraging privatedonations and by generatingrevenues through consultancy andother activities.”The millennium year2000 was a water-shed year for thehigher education sector in India. TheAmbani-Birla Report, entitled APolicy Framework for Reforms inEducation, was authored byprominent industrialists and producedby then Prime Minister Vajpayee’sCouncil on Trade and Industry! Itexplicitly stated that privatization andcommercialization were the chiefinstruments for reform in highereducation and that the ‘user-pays’principle would ensure profits forinvestors. With its companion ModelAct (2003) prepared by UGC, itdemanded restructuring of highereducation on the model of market-oriented enterprises promotingcorporate values. Shelved becauseof strong opposition fromacademicians and teachers andstudents unions, its basic featurescontinue to provide the frameworkwithin which higher educationpolicies are conceived and sought tobe legislated today.


Education serves a broad publicpurpose as it critically conceptualizesvalues and goals for nationaldevelopment and for strengtheningcivil society. Both are necessarycomponents of Indian society’sunfinished agenda of democratictransformation. The impact ofneoliberal policy on educationalinstitutions in general, but particularlyon IHE’s, threatens their veryexistence as environments fosteringthe process of “educating oneself”.

The `excellence’ of education ismeasured by exorbitant feesbecause market logic dictates thatthose who pay more, get more; thosewho pay less, should expect less andthose who lack resources shouldsimply be brushed aside.

“To limit knowledge to what willactually be put into practice. . .isthe deliberate reduction of one’sbeing to the condition of a cog inthe techno-economic machine.”

(MichelHenry,Barbarism.2012.P121).Market orientation encouragescertain qualities in individuals butmay be indifferent, or even opposedto the general development andarticulation of critical faculties. Withtoday’s `common-sense’ reflectingthe neoliberal redefinition of theindividual, no longer a productivesocial being or citizen but aneconomically autonomous fiction, the`consumer’, this obvious truth canbecome blurred.

3

On campuses across the country,protests against privatization, curbingdemocratic rights of students andfaculty, and in support of social justicehave been called “anti-national” bythe present regime. But here we areconfronted with opposing conceptsof nation and nationhood. The first,generated through collectivestruggle, finds expression in the civilliberties and equal rights protectedby the Constitution. These libertiesand rights are enabling conditions foran on-going politics of democraticallynegotiated nationalism.

The opposing Hindutva concept isa communal-patriarchal construct, anideological imposition that seeks todiscipline the ‘other’ bycommunalization, marginalization,dispossession. Symbolized as BharatMata, the nation is identified as awoman in need of defense. Her Hindu

‘sons’ have the ‘duty’ to defend her.Within this Hindu majoritarianconception, ‘others’ are second classcitizens restricted by the will of a self-appointed governing class, the‘Hindus’. But ‘Hindus’ themselvesare defined as those who exemplifythe ideology of the Sangh Parivar!The ‘nationalism’ of the SanghParivar is fundamentally anti-democratic and anti-constitutional.

On July 27, 2016 HRD MinisterJavadekar held a closed-door six-hourlong meeting with the RSS and itsaffiliates including ABVP to discusshow NEP 2016 could “instillnationalism, pride and ancient Indianvalues in modern education.”Conformism and a slavish mentalitybred by indoctrination in a particularideology is sought to be cultivatedthrough the curriculum with no spacefor critical reasoning and rigorous

examination to arrive at truths orsearch for alternate avenues ofknowledge. This is exactly theconception of knowledge promotedby votaries of the instrumentalist viewof commercialized education. Thedegree holder has to be packaged ina way that conforms to therequirements of the market. Thetraining which is `valued’ makesworkers fiercely competitive inrelation to fellow workers, but docilein dealings with superiors.

The communalization of education,like the commercialization andcommoditization of educationgenerates an anti-democratic socio-political environment in whichneoliberal capitalism flourishes.Strong fascistic tendencies surfacein governments that aggressivelyadvocate neoliberal economicpolicies.

Footprints of A Crusader(The Life Story of Mrunal Gore)

byRohini Gawankar


Secretary, Samata Shikshan Sanstha, Pareira Wadi, Mohili Village, Sakinaka, Ghatkopar(W), Mumbai 400072.Mobile: 9820092255 / Contribution: Rs.300+

R.N.I. NO. 1855/1957 16 JANATA, September 11, 2016Postal Registration No. MCW/275/2015-2017.

License to Post without prepayment WPP License No. MH/Tech/WPP-210/West/2016Published on Sunday, September 11, 2016 & Posted on Wedenesday September 14, 2016 at Mumbai Patrika Channel, Mumbai GPO-

1


REGD. OFFICE :



Tel.: 022 2205 1231 Fax : 022-2205 1232



Price : Rupees Five





Mumbai - 400 007.


Scene of linguistic chauvinismKuldip Nayar

Behind the Debateon GM Mustard

Bharat Dogra

JNU ElectionsKuldeep Kumar

Amnesty Report on Kashmir :Neha Dabhade


When pushed to the corner aftersome dalits were flogged in Una,Gujarat for skinning dead cowswhich resulted in a political stormthat cost the chief ministership ofAnandi Ben Patel, a Narendra Modinominee, the Prime Minister cameup with a startling statement that 70-80 per cent cow vigilantes were anti-social elements and that they had setup shops in the name of cowprotection. Modi added that cowvigilantes made him angry.

Modi made this statement afterkeeping mum on such incidentswhich have been going on almost fora year beginning with the killing ofMohammed Akhlaq in September,2015, in which people have eitherbeen killed or beaten on the suspicionof eating beef or taking cows forslaughter houses. Sangh Parivarknows that Modi’s statement is forpublic consumption. He is probablyangry because these incidents havenow become an irritant for him asthey hurt his political cause.

Modi invoked Gandhi and VinobaBhave to say that people should nottake law into their hands to disturbharmony. It is strange that Gandhi,who is otherwise not tolerated by

Parivar of anti-social elemrnts

Sandeep Pandey

Sangh Parivar, has been repeatedlyused by Modi to serve his politicalpurpose.

In Varanasi the late Socialistleader Jayaprakash Narayanestablished a Gandhian Institute ofStudies in 1962. JP ran it for 16 yearsfrom funds personally raised by him.When Janata Party came to power,the Central and the UP governmentsjointly took responsibility for runningthe institution. However, with MuraliManohar Joshi as the HRD minister,the funds were stopped and a ladyProfessor Kusumlata Kedia,associated with RSS, slowlyencroached upon the property. Thejudicial process was influenced to geta governing council, consisting ofmembers who had nothing to do withGandhian thought, established afterthe registration of the societyresponsible for running the institutewas cancelled. Gandhian Institute ofStudies ceased functioning and RSStook over. Sanskrit Bharti, a SanghParivar organisation, started runningSanskrit classes.

Muniza Rafique Khan, Registrarof the GIS, has been involved in thelong drawn struggle to save theinstitute. She has received a threat


on 3rd September from one Jagdish,a teacher of the Sanskrit classes heldon campus, on behalf of SanskritBharti on its letter head, saying thatshe may have to pay with interestinside her home for the mediacampaign she is running againstSanskrit Bharti, an internationalorganisation, accusing it of illegallyoccupying the Gandhian Institute.

It appears that Sanskrit Bharti, inaddition to teaching Sanskrit, is alsoin the business of issuing threats andtaking law into their own hands. Theanti-social nature of the person whowrote this threat is obvious.

This is the modus operandi ofmost of Sangh Parivar outfits.Probably what Narendra Modiinadvertently said about GauRakshaks applies to the whole ofSangh Parivar. They don’t believein democracy or dialogue. Theybelieve in using violence to subduetheir opponent. They don’t careabout the law and order, the judiciaryor the Constitution of this country.

In another incident at BanarasHindu University on 6th August, 2016Professor J.P. Rai of the LawDepartment rained lathis overprotesting students along with thesecurity personnel indicating the reignof terror that the administration hasunleashed on campus. Thesestudents were protesting the filing offake case against nine students undersection 307 of IPC without anyevidence. The nine students wereamong those who sat on fast earlierto demand reverting to the previousarrangement of opening the cyberlibrary 24 hours and were suspendedby the university administration. TheVice Chancellor G.C. Tripathi isagainst the all night opening of cyberlibrary as he believes that students

Horrors of partition came to mymind when I saw television beamingpictures of rioting and killing inBengaluru. It was the same way Ifelt when partition took place and we,the people living in the newly-constituted state of Pakistan, had toleave our home and hearth to migrateto India.

I never imagined that acosmopolitan city like Bengalurucould be the scene of linguisticchauvinism, which would go to theextent of killing ofTamils byKannadas. Leading IT firmspreferred to open their offices therebecause they considered the cityliberal and peaceful. If someone hadasked me at that time that such scenecould be repeated at a place likeBengaluru, I would have said: Noand never.

Yet this has happened because thepeople known to be liberal wereswept off their feet over appeals inthe name of parochialism. Fortunately,Tamil Nadu chief minister J.Jayalalithaa’s determination not toallow similar incidents happening inthe state prevented any reprisals. Sherightly deserves the kudos forhandling the problem before it couldassume a proportion leading toindiscriminate violence.

There is a long-standing disputebetween Karnataka and Tamil Naduon sharing of the Cauvery water.This is not the first time thatKarnataka has refused to abide bythe Supreme Court verdict on theamount of water to be released toTamil Nadu. Earlier, whenever sucha situation had arisen, the people of

both states had been at each other’sthroat. So, what is happening inBengaluru today is a mere repetition.

But what is the way out?Nobody can challenge theSupreme Court’s decision, but theproblem can be solved by sittingacross the table and arriving at asolution, particularly whenpeople’s emotions are involved.Since the river water disputebetween Karnataka and TamilNadu is a sensitive issue, I recallformer Prime Minister Atal BihariVajpayee’s idea of evolving aconsensus to handle the issue.

Knowledgeable circles have beenwarning the nation against thedangerous consequences of lettingthe river water dispute linger on.Karnataka’s unilateral decision toabrogate all the inter-state riverwater agreements has created asituation, the like of which the nationhas not experienced. And to cap itall, all chief ministers of the stateshave been indulging in a slangingmatch, which does not go well withthe idea of a federal structure whichthe Indian constitution demands.

Needless to say, it is difficult tofind a consensus on the sharing ofriver waters than on any othersubject. The protracted war ofnerves between the two states onthe sharing of Cauveri waters is acase in point. Consensus can beevolved only when political partiesrise above their parochial intereststo use their vision to make water intoa factor that unites our country. Theyneed to have the necessary will toachieve this noble goal. It is not(Continued on Page 4)

Scene of linguistic chauvinism

Kuldip Nayar


impossible to find a formulaprotecting the interests of bothKarnataka and Tamil Nadu.

I had always thought our realproblem was population. I didmention this to an American NobelPrize winner who contradicted meand said: “Your problem is going tobe water.” We were discussing theordeals that India would face in theyears to come. Our views did nottally even after a long discussion.What happened at Latur inMaharashtra some time ago hasrenewed the American’s warning tome. He had also given me anoptimistic side: There is an ocean ofwater under Yamuna-Gangetic planwaiting to be tapped. I wonder if thisis true. Had it been so, thegovernment would have done ascientific study by this time toestimate the collected water. I havenot heard of any such plan so far.

India has seven major rivers—the Ganges, Brahmaputra, Indus,Narmada, Krishna, Godavari andCauveri—and numerous tributaries.New Delhi has set up the CentralWater and Power Commission tohave a systematic plan to harnessnot only water but also generatepower. This has worked to a largeextent but in certain parts of Indiathe fallout has been a series ofdisputes which even after decadesremain unsolved. Nearer home,Haryana, then part of Punjab, hasrefused to release water toRajasthan and Delhi. This goescontrary to the stand New Delhi hadtaken when the Indus Water Treatywas signed. At that time we arguedthat we wanted more waterbecause we had to irrigateRajasthan, which has a large part ofdesert.

Behind the Debate on GM Mustard

Bharat Dogra

There has been a fiercelycontested debate on the possibilityrelating to the introduction of agenetically modified (GM) variety ofmustard which is called thetransgenic mustard hybrid DMH-11.Very powerful interests are at workjust now to ensure that this varietygets approval in the near future tobecome the first GM food cropvariety of India.

Although this particular variety issupposed to have been developed byuniversity scientists, lobbyists ofworld’s biggest multinationalcompanies who had earlier tried theirbest to get approval for Bt brinjal arenow no less active to somehow ensurethat GM mustard is approved. Thereason is well-known and the gameis well understood by these powerfuland well-connected lobbyists whohave penetrated deep into decisionmaking and influencing circles.

It is well understood by all of themthat it is only a matter of first gettingthe door opened somehow for GMfood crops and then it is only themultinational companies who will getthe main benefits as the entire GMtechnology is heavily concentratedin the hands of a few multinationalcompanies at the world level.

Eminent scientists who haveexamined the technology ofgenetically engineered (GE) orgenetically modified (GM) cropshave come to a clear conclusion thatit is a highly hazardous and riskytechnology. For example eminentscientists from several countries whocomprise the Independent Science

Panel (ISP) have drawn thisconclusion after studying variousaspects of GM crops, “GM cropshave failed to deliver the promisedbenefits and are posing escalatingproblems on the farm. ....GM cropsshould be firmly rejected now.”

In his widely acclaimed book‘Genetic Roulette’ Jeffrey M. Smithhas summarised the results of a lot ofresearch on the health hazards of GMcrops/food, “Lab animals tested withGM foods had stunted growth,impaired immune systems, bleedingstomachs, abnormal and potentiallyprecancerous cell growth in theintestines, impaired blood celldevelopment, misshapen cellstructures in the liver, pancreas, andtesticles, altered gene expression andcell metabolism, liver and kidneylesions, partially astrophied livers,inflamed kidneys, less developedbrains and testicles, enlarged livers,pancreases, and intestines, reduceddigestive enzymes, higher blood sugar,inflamed lung tissue, increased deathrates, and higher offspring mortality.”

In a review of recent trends titled‘Food Without Choice’ Prof. PushpaM. Bhargava (who was nominatedby the Supreme Court of India in theGenetic Engineering ApprovalCommittee to protect safetyconcerns), internationally acclaimedauthority on this subject, drewpointed attention to the “ attempt bya small but powerful minority topropagate genetically modified (GM)crops to serve their interests andthose of multinational corporations(MNCs) (read the US), thebureaucracy, the political setup and(Continued on Page 5)


a few unprincipled and unethicalscientists and technologists who canbe used as tools.” Further he haswarned, “The ultimate goal of thisattempt in India of which the leaderis Monsanto, is to obtain control overIndian agriculture and thus foodproduction. With 60 per cent of ourpopulation engaged in agriculture andliving in villages, this wouldessentially mean not only a controlover our food security but also overour farmer security, agriculturalsecurity and security of the ruralsector.”

These wider aspects of the debateon GM crops should also be kept inmind to understand the widerimplications of the possible approvalof GM Mustard for which such highpressure lobbying is being done atpresent.

It is heartening to know thatseveral scientists as well asorganizations of farmers,environmentalists as well as socialactivists have come forward towarn about the dangers of GMmustard. They have pointed out

alarming facts relating to theproblems in the testing process andthe serious lapses in the regulatoryprocess and organisation wherespecific examples of conflict ofinterest have been pointed out. Itappears that those who are a partof the GM lobby have themselvesbeen given a decision making role!In such conditions the role ofindependent and aware citizens’groups becomes even moreimportant in protecting publicinterests relating to health,environment and livelihoods.


watch pornography in late night andearly morning hours. It just goes toshow how far removed the VC mayhave been from any kind of academicactivity during his career. Such moralpolicing in an institution of higherlearning is ridiculous. The universityauthorities have dragged the namesof protesting students, in an incidentof brawl among another set ofstudents and medical doctors oncampus, to intimidate them. One ofthem Vishnu Yadav was participatingin a NCC tournament at Amroha onthe date of incident. Similarly, theother eight were also not present onthe site of brawl. Clearly, theuniversity is being vindictive towardsdissenting students.

A university professor taking tolathi over students protesting for theirdemocratic rights is an unusual thing.Not if you’re at BHU. The RashtriyaSwayamsewak Sangh associatedVC has given preference to RSSaffiliated persons in hiring and otherthings. Sanskrit Bharti is runningSanskrit classes on campus and RSSshakhas are common. Since lathiwielding is part of RSS tradition, itshould not come as a surprise that aprofessor displayed his latent talentin this field publicly.

The day may not be far whenattending RSS shakhas may be madecompulsory for students and lathiwielding skill may be considered apre-requisite for faculty recruitment.With a RSS VC at the helm of affairssuch things are not completelyinconceivable.

The RSS has either completelyshut down progressive institutionslike the Gandhian Institute of Studiesor is interfering in subtle ways likeat BHU. Overall, it has destroyedthe academic culture of ourinstitutions and is imposing itsideology through people, legally orillegally, thrust upon theseinstitutions. The atmosphere ofserious teaching and research isgetting affected as the academiccommunity is expected to toe theRSS agenda. The RSS doesn’t wantthinking individuals, it wants obedientcitizens.

Some daily wagers are sitting onthe BHU main gate in support oftheir demand to make them regularaccording to a resolution adopted inan Executive Council meeting of theuniversity in 1997. It has been over70 days and a few workers havealso started an indefinite fast. But

the university authorities are obliviousto the ongoing struggle. RSS is alsoknown to be insensitive to humansuffering unless it can get thempolitical advantage.

The anti-social nature of theProfessor G.C. Tripathi, BHU VC,is also obvious.

e-mail: [email protected]

Janata Subscription

Annual Rs. : 260/-

Three Years : 750/-


on

Mumbai Bank

in favour of




Yash Bharti is the highest state-level award conferred by theGovernment of Uttar Pradesh forexcellence in literature, fine arts,classical music, folk music andsports. In addition to Prize Moneyof 11 lakhs, the Government of UttarPradesh provides Rs 50,000 monthlypension to the recipients of YashBharti.

In March 2014, the Governmentof Uttar Pradesh announced thename of Dr. JagdishGandhi, Founder-Manager of CityMontessori School, as a recipient ofthe Yash Bharti Award stating thathe has contributed remarkably to thefield of education.

However, Dr. Jagdish Gandhi isnot an educationist in the real sense.In 2015, Dr. Jagdish Gandhi’s CityMontessori School (CMS, Lucknow)had refused to admit 31 studentsbelonging to socially andeconomically deprived sections of

Withdraw the Yash Bharti Award to Dr. Gandhi

Praveen Srivastava

society in Class 1 and Nursery asper the provisions of the Right ofChildren to Free and CompulsoryEducation (RTE) Act, 2009.

CMS authorities misbehaved with31 parents when they approachedthe school on April 16, 2015 after thedeadline for admission completionpassed. Aggrieved and devastated,parents staged a peaceful protestoutside the school, led by MagsaysayAwardee, Dr. Sandeep Pandey.

When ordered by Basic ShikshaAdhikari of Lucknow to admit thesestudents, the school through itsFounder Manager challenged thesame before the Lucknow Bench ofAllahabad High Court.

Vide order dated 6.8.2015, theCourt ordered CMS to admit 13students in the respective classes forthe academic session 2015-16adhering to the provisions of the RTEAct, 2009 and the UP RTE Rules

2011. Despite the order of the Court,CMS did not admit these studentsimmediately. In July, 2016, theSupreme Court of India rebukedCMS when it had filed a petitionbefore the Court to transfer these13 students to some other school.

This year also, CMS has refusedto admit 58 students belonging tosocially and economicallydisadvantaged groups under S. 12 ofRTE Act, 2009.

The real face of Dr. JagdishGandhi has got exposed as he isviolating the fundamental right ofeducation as enshrined under Article21A of the Indian Constitution.

Therefore, in light of these facts,it is necessary that the Governmentof Uttar Pradesh should withdrawthe Yash Bharti Award given to Dr.Jagdish Gandhi. Continuance of theAward to Dr. Jagdish Gandhi is aninsult to the country and its people.

Unfortunately, severalincongruities are responsible for inter-state water disputes. Even after 70years of independence, the disputesare far from settled. When theCongress ruled both at the Centreand in the states, the problems neverassumed an ugly shape. The BhartiyaJanata Party (BJP), which then onlycommanded a few Lok Sabhamembers, did not count much. It is adifferent scenario today. Now that ithas a majority in parliament, the partysees to it that the states run by it getthe maximum benefit, rules or norules.

However, the situation isdifferent in the south. BothKarnataka and Tamil Nadu are ruledby parties other than the BJP. NewDelhi should have stepped in longago. Prime Minister Narendra Modiwho claims to have united differentparts of the country into one unitlooks distant from the problem thatKarnataka and Tamil Nadu face.His statements have been general.What is needed is tackling of thecountry’s problem arising out oflanguage, border or water.

Hindus and Muslims who were

living together for hundreds of yearsbecame strangers soon after partitionand had no compunction even inraping women. They were facing ona large scale the situation whichKarnataka and Tamil Nadu areencountering on a small scale today.Sometimes I shudder that the disputesamong the states may take the shapeof some kind of partition. Whenfriends and neighbours couldsuddenly become strangers becausethey pursued a different religion, whatthe Kannadas did on the streets ofBengaluru could well be a page fromthe history of partition.



The central message of theJawaharlal Nehru UniversityStudents’ Union (JNUSU) electionsis that the ‘Stand With JNU’campaign has decisively defeatedthe ‘Shut Down JNU’ campaign. Thelatter, which was launched bysaffron pseudo-nationalists and theirfellow travellers, wanted to destroyone of the finest universities in thecountry merely because it offendedtheir sensibilities – JNU’s emphasison the freedom of thought, theacademic excellence that resultsfrom such freedom, the institution’sdemocratic culture of discussion anddebate and the ideological hegemonyof the Left were all too much forthe ‘Shut Down JNU’ wallahs.

The RSS, through its publications,has been attacking JNU and its liberalintellectual culture for a long time,making the same allegations thatwere levelled against the universityafter the events of February 9, whensome people allegedly shouted anti-India slogans at a public event. OnNovember 3, 2015 Firstpost quotedan article published in the latest issueof RSS’ Hindi weeklypublication Panchajanya, thatdescribed JNU as an institute “wherenationalism is considered anoffence”, Indian culture waspresented in a “distorted way” and“removal of Army from Kashmir issupported” besides various other“anti-national activities” taking placethere.

As I have previously written,Jawaharlal Nehru has always beena hate figure for the RSS. Littlewonder then that Panchajanya

Why the left shouldn’t get too comfortable after its JNU victory

Kuldeep Kumar

wrote, “Jawahar Lal Nehrupromoted higher educational andresearch institutions as factories ofsocialist ideology which could providethe intellectual input for his and laterIndira Gandhi’s social and economicagenda.”

The article was written bysomebody who claimed that he hadstudied at JNU and had “often heardJNU professors discuss means andmeasures to undermine national unityand culture at events organised byanti-national organisations”. Hisexperiences made him realise that“JNU is home to a large chunk ofanti-national groupings which havethe singular aim of disintegratingIndia.”

The arrests and sedition chargesfailed to dampen the fighting spiritof JNU’s students and teachers andthey began stagingprotests, aligning with Dalit studentsfrom Hyderabad University afterRohit Vemula’s suicide came to light.Very soon JNU’s critics launcheda ‘Shut Down JNU’ campaignthrough social and mainstreammedia. Surprisingly, the movementeven received support from someBJP members who should haveknown better given their educationalbackgrounds. For instance, BJPRajya Sabha member ChandanMitra, owner and chief editor of ThePioneer group of publications,started his career teaching historyat Delhi University (DU) and has aPh.D from Oxford University, butstill lent his support to this campaign.Attacking JNU, he opined that “theself-destructive agitation at JNU has

given the government the bestopportunity to shut it down for ever,cut its financial losses, and get rid ofa factory that produces only spongersand malcontents.” He mocked theagitating students by describing themas “subsidy-deprived.”

It was very clear that JNU wasfacing a very well-strategised attackfrom all sides – JNUSU officerbearers were arrested along withsome other students, BJP lawyersphysically attacked JNU students,teachers and media persons insidePatiala House, home ministerRajnath Singh commented on theneed for tough action against ‘anti-national’ elements, and Smriti Irani,who was human resourcesdevelopment minister at thetime, and vice-chancellor JagadeshKumar’s attitude towards theseevents had the university surroundedby criticism.

The JNUSU elections took placeagainst this background. For manyon campus, it was clear that ABVPand its Hindutva-based brand ofnationalism posed the greatestdanger to the university’s culture offree debates, discussions,disagreements and intellectualindependence. The way the mediacreated a nationalist frenzy andportrayed JNU as a centre of seditionmade it even more imperative tosafeguard JNU’s distinctivecharacter by forging unity among itsdemocratic and secular forces.However, Left as well as non-Leftorganisations were not able to lookbeyond their organisational interestsand focus on the single issue of


saving JNU as an institution. Thisresulted in AISA – the student wingof the Communist Party of India(Marxist-Leninist) – and SFI, whichis linked to the CPI(M), entering intoan alliance without AISF, KanhaiyaKumar’s parent organisation, whichis the student wing of the CommunistParty of India. Thus it was obviousthat all was not well in the Left camp.Similarly, Democratic Students’Federation (DSF), a splinter groupof the SFI, too abstained fromjoining the alliance. This made itclear that the Left vote would split.

The unity that was forged betweenthe Left and the Ambedkarites duringthe many months of struggle alsoamounted to little as the BirsaAmbedkar Phule Students’Association (BAPSA) decided toconfront the ‘savarnvad‘ (uppercasteism) of the Left by contestingon its own. BAPSA obviouslywanted to take advantage of thedisarray in the Left camp. If theABVP played up the identity politicsof Hindutva, BAPSA tried toarticulate its Dalit identity, assertingthat only Dalits could understandtheir own problems and get themresolved. Convinced that it wasgoing to win the elections, the two-year-old organisation went to theextent of equating red with saffronand bracketing the Left organisationswith ABVP for representing peoplefrom the upper castes.

Despite the grave challengesfaced by JNU, Anand Kumar andYogendra Yadav too put upcandidates from their SwarajAbhiyan. In 1973, it was Kumar whobrought all the anti-Left elementstogether under one umbrellaorganisation called Free Thinkers.This time too, he failed to appreciatethat JNU was fighting for its survivaland all freedom-loving students

should be united in this fight againstfascist tendencies.

If one looks at the JNUSUelection results, it seems that theABVP has suffered a definitivedefeat. In their youthful enthusiasm,students even took out a funeralprocession for an ABVP effigy.However, a closer look reveals thatthe situation is not all that simple. TheABVP candidates for the officebearers’ posts have polled more than1,000 votes, that is between 20 to25% of the total votes polled. HadAISA and SFI not come together,ABVP could have easily won theelection. It is obvious that theirsupport base remains intact – evenif it has not expanded after thenationwide frenzy that was createdby RSS and its affiliates and wasenthusiastically supported bydominant sections of the media.

An unusually high number ofstudents have exercised their rightto not vote for any candidate and tickNOTA on the ballot paper. In thecase of the vice-presidential position,the number went up to 415. It showsthat either these students areapolitical or are so disappointed withthe existing political formations oncampus that they do not wish tochoose any of them. In a universitywhere the average politicalconsciousness of students issupposedly much higher than otherplaces, such indifference is highlysurprising. This should force studentactivists of all hues to think about itscauses. Left organisation should bemore worried than others about thisphenomenon.

The recently concluded JNUSUelections do not give any reason tothe victorious Left organisations togloat over their success. In fact theseresults should serve as a wake-up

call to them. The message is veryclear to the victors as well as to otherorganisations like the DSF, AISF,BAPSA and SFS (Students forSwaraj). If they continue to fightamong themselves and fail to forgethe broadest possible group againstthe ABVP, they will not be able torepeat this feat in the future. Thereis a message for the ABVP too. Inkeeping with its ideology, it shouldfeel free to attack the Left and otherpolitical adversaries, but refrain fromattacking the very institution whereits members are studying. It bringsto mind the famous episode fromKalidasa’s life where he was cuttingthe branch of the very tree he wasperched on. Is it a coincidence thatthe ABVP won the sole councillor’sseat from the Centre for SanskritStudies?

–The Wire


An FIR was recently registeredagainst Amnesty International India(AII) on charges of sedition andother IPC sections. AmnestyInternational India had organized apanel discussion which includedKashmiri Pandits and others. Thisdiscussion was a part of thecampaign supported by AII topromote justice for victims of humanrights violation in Jammu andKashmir. The Kashmiri Panditspresent at the discussion chantedslogans hailing the Indian Army,which was met with pro-freedomsloganeering by some of the youthin the audience. Though AII clarifiedthat it doesn’t take any positions onself determination with regards toKashmir, the government insistedthat the event is ‘anti-national’, likethe ABVP (Indian Express, 2016).In the midst of the chaos and dinraised by the ABVP, the Report thatAmnesty has published to uncoverthe plight of Kashmiris in Jammu andKashmir got sidelined if notcompletely invisibilised. Kashmirtoday is like a war zone where onone hand there is violenceperpetrated by the militants and onthe other hand, a strong presence ofthe Indian Army and internal securityforces fighting against thesemilitants. There have been risingconcerns on the excesses committedby the Army and internal securityforces against the citizens leading toworst forms of human rightsviolations. The Report, published in2015, is called “Denied” Failures inAccountability in Jammu andKashmir. It outlines the obstaclesfaced by the victims and their

Amnesty Report on Kashmir :an attempt to uncover a narrative of denied justice

Neha Dabhade

relatives in Kashmir when there arehuman rights violations and the roleplayed by the security forces in this.The salient points of the Report arementioned below.

The Amnesty Report begins withdefining the scale of human rightsviolations in Kashmir that have beenperpetrated by security forcespersonnel with glaring impunity. TheReport states that from 1990 to 2011,the Jammu and Kashmir stategovernment reportedly recorded atotal of over 43,000 people killed. Ofthose killed, 21,323 were said to be‘militants’ 10 13,226 ‘civilians’ (thosenot directly involved in the hostilities)killed by armed groups, 5,369 securityforce personnel killed by armedgroups, and 3,642 “civilians” killedby security forces.

This impunity is greatly accordedto the security forces by laws likeArmed Forces Special Powers Act,1990 (AFSPA) which gives themsweeping powers that lead toextrajudicial executions and otherhuman rights violations. Section 7 ofthe AFSPA makes it mandatory toseek the prior sanction of Central andState authorities in order toprosecute any security forcepersonnel in civilian courts. Underthe pretext of protecting nationalsecurity, the excesses of the securityforces go unchallenged. 96% of allcomplaints brought against the armyin Jammu & Kashmir have beendismissed as “false and baseless” or“with other ulterior motives ofmaligning the image of ArmedForces”.

To elaborate the consequences ofsuch a system, the Report narratesthe story of 17 year old JavaidAhmad Magray who disappeared on30th April, 2003. His parentssearched high and low for him afterseeing bloodstains on the pavementand security personnel outside thegate. The authorities at the armycamp gave evasive answers as tothe whereabouts of Javaid stating thathe was taken by them forquestioning until finally admitting thathe was declared dead at the SouraMedical Institute. The parents foundout that Javaid was wounded in anencounter with the army whoclaimed that Javaid was a militant.When an inquiry was carried out bythe District Magistrate, it wasconcluded that Javaid was not amilitant and the army’s version of thekilling was false. His parents wroteto the Ministry of Defence forsanction to prosecute the guiltyofficers under Section 7 of theJammu and Kashmir Armed ForcesSpecial Powers Act, 1990. After along and painful wait, in 2012 theygot a reply from the Ministry denyingpermission to prosecute stating,“…the individual killed was a militantfrom whom arms and ammunitionwere recovered. No reliable andtangible evidence has been referredto in the investigation report.”

Unfortunately this is not a stand-alone case where sanction toprosecute was denied. The practiceof the Ministry of Defence and theMinistry of Home Affairs, whichsanctions prosecutions of the armyand internal forces personnel


respectively, has been to either denysanction or remain silent on suchapplications without citing anyreason. The family members are notrequired to be informed about thestatus of the sanction, whether it isgranted or denied. They oftenassume that the sanction is denied.This frustrating wait compels therelatives to give up the pursuit ofjustice which closes all avenues ofappeal. Most of the times, thefamilies are not even aware of theprocedures to apply for permissionto prosecute.

AFSPA by nature seems colonial,where similar laws were used by theBritish to preempt any legalchallenge to their violence in India.AFSPA is considered draconian inthe light of opinions andrecommendations against it asexpressed by committees constitutedby the State and also by UNrapporteurs on violence againstwomen; and on extrajudicial,summary or arbitrary executions.They have repeatedly pointed outthat AFSPA had bred a culture ofviolence, especially against women,and eroded the principle oftransparency and accountability ofthe state. The recommendationsrange from review of the law to itsrepealment.

Another important issuehighlighted by the Amnesty Reportis that since all cases are tried inmilitary courts, civilians have limitedoptions to appeal against judgmentsof these courts. The SupremeCourt’s extraordinary appellatejurisdiction, the Special LeavePetition, is barred from reviewingdecisions made by military courtsunder the Constitution of India. Thisproblematizes the jurisdiction to trycases of human rights violations thatis vested with the military courts.

Principle 29 of the Updated Set ofprinciples for the protection andpromotion of human rights throughaction to combat impunity also states:“The jurisdiction of military tribunalsmust be restricted solely tospecifically military offencescommitted by military personnel, tothe exclusion of human rightsviolations, which shall come underthe jurisdiction of the ordinarydomestic courts…”

Similarly, with respect toinvestigations, an inquiry that isconducted by the same authorityaccused of the crime raises seriousquestions about the independenceand impartiality of those proceedings.International law requires that crimesunder international law beinvestigated by an independentauthority, namely, an authority notinvolved in the alleged violations. TheIndian Army’s Human Rights Cellreported that as of 2011, it hasdismissed over 96 percent of theallegations of human rights violationsbrought against its personnel since1993. The army had received 1,532allegations of human rights violations(995 from Jammu and Kashmir, 485from North-Eastern states, and 52complaints from other states) out ofwhich 1,508 were investigated, and24 investigations remained pendingas of 2011. Out of a total of 995complaints of human rights violationsagainst the army in Jammu andKashmir, 986 have been investigatedby the army to date, while 9investigations currently remainpending. The army says it found that961 of these allegations were “false,baseless” through internal enquiries.In the 25 cases found to be “true,” itsays 129 army personnel werepunished.

The Report points out inherentdefects within the military justice

system in which there are four typesof court martials: general court-martial (GCM); district court-martial(DCM); summary general court-martial (SGCM); and summary courtmartial (SCM). In each type,members of the court martial are apart of the executive chain ofcommand, meaning that there is anotable lack of independence.Court-martial proceedings aresubject to judicial review underArticle 32 of the Constitution of India(before the Supreme Court) andArticle 226 (before the High Court).Thus, it is theoretically possible tochallenge the verdict of a court-martial by filing a writ petition undereither Article 32 or 226. However,there are no known instances ofpersons not subject to military lawin Jammu and Kashmir challengingcourt-martial decisions through writpetitions.

Furthermore, the members haveno qualifications or legal training ofcourts, thereby jeopardizing theprospects of justice.

In order to understand theimplications of lack of independenceof military courts, the Reportnarrates the story ofMushtaq. Mushtaq Ahmad Hajamwas returning home after his prayersat a local mosque in Nowhatta,Srinagar on the 17th of August 1990,where he was shot at by a CRPFconstable, leaving him fatallywounded. An FIR was filed by thefamily members of Mushtaq. TheCRPF report, however, stated thatthe constable fired in “self-defence”,though the police investigationwanted to convict the constableunder Section 7 of the Armed Forces(Jammu and Kashmir) SpecialPowers Act in 1996. The CRPF courtof inquiry and the Centralgovernment have however been


reiterating time and again that nocriminal cases can be pressed on theaccused, and also that the casecannot be tried in civilian courts.Mushtaq’s family still awaits justice.

According to the Report, the firstobstacle is the reluctance of thepolice itself in filing of the complaints.Furthermore, the police does not takeaction until compelled to by the courtand subsequently there are longdrawn out cases. Sheila’s storyelaborates this aspect. Sheila wasallegedly subjected to torture andsexual violence at the hands of theDeputy Superintendent of Policewho was investigating the death ofher neighbor. However, sheexperienced a lot of resistance fromthe police when she went to registerher complaint. Subsequently, theInspector General of police visitedher family and offered an amount of200,000 rupees, and jobs for both ofher brothers. She refused to acceptthese, fearing future harassment.The State Human RightsCommission whom she approachedin 2004 passed a judgement in 2008stating that compensation beprovided to Sheila’s family and apolice complaint be registered.Neither of these recommendationswere implemented, however.

The next obstacle comes in theform of lack of cooperation of thearmy and security forces withinvestigations by the police. Thisranges from not being present forquestioning, to not responding torequests for the rosters of personnelinvolved in operations, records ofweapons and ammunition used, etc.This has led to justice being deniedto many. When Irfan Ganai and hiscousin Reyaz stepped out of houseto investigate a gunshot, fearingstolen cattle, a subsequently firedgunshot hit killed him. His family

members guarded the body for morethan 15 hours to ensure that the armydoesn’t take his picture and label hima militant in front of the authorities.What followed was a gruesomedenial of justice, as the army refusedto cooperate with the Sub-DivisionalPolice Officer who had sent lettersto the Commanding Officer of the13 Rashtriya Rifles regarding thedetails of the army personnelinvolved in the operation on the30th of June, 2013, repeatedly. Thisuncooperative demeanour extendedin case of the army officers andpersonnel too, who, despite beingsummoned for testifying, remainedabsent from all scenarios ofinvestigation, eventually leading tothe police abandoning theinvestigation unfruitfully.

What is perhaps the most heartrending experience of the Kashmirconflict is the plight of the relativesand the families of those whodisappear or become victims ofextrajudicial executions. Their questfor justice becomes painful when noinformation is given to relatives aboutthe investigations. The police stationrefuses to divulge information torelatives and most of the timesofficers don’t even meet them.Ghulam Mohammad’s son AbdulHamid Dar was arrested on the29th of December, 1995 by the army,and they later confirmed he wasbeing held at the Sheeri camp inBaramulla. When he was allowed tomeet Abdul at Boniyar camp on the8th of January, they were allowed tosee him from a distance, and hisbody seemed to be propped up on abench, unmoving. Ghulam believesthat his son was killed by the armyand it disposed off his son’s bodywhen the police station refused toaccept it. Ghulam tried filing an FIRat Sheeri police station, but it wasnot filed until six months later.

Subsequently, Ghulam filed a habeascorpus writ in the High Court, andthe court ordered a judicial enquiry.Ghulam and his family never got toknow the contents of the report.Neither were they informed aboutthe outcome of the judicialproceedings. They were offeredcompensation to settle, but they didnot. The investigation was then takenup by the State Home Department,which seeked the Centre’spermission to execute two armypersonnel, which was denied inDecember 2011. All through this,Ghulam’s family was kept out of theloop, and they eventually decided togive up on the case.

After facing harassment andtrauma during the investigations asseen above, the lack of adequatefinancial compensation to familiesadds insult to their injuries. Most ofthe times, the victims are the solebreadwinners in the families. In spiteof this fact, procedures for accessto compensation remain weak. Forinstance, families are oftenintimidated by the concernedauthority to withdraw cases byoffering them compensation. Manydon’t take compensation viewing itas a tacit bargain to withdraw theircases. In addition, conditions areplaced on eligibility for financial relieflike, not being involved in militancywhich in the first place is theallegation to be proved. Anothercondition is that the death certificateof the victim has to be furnished. Thisis impossible in cases of enforceddisappearances since the victims aredeclared dead only after 7 years ofthe disappearance.

Recommendations:

· The provisions of prior sanctionfor prosecution from the State




The Bhumi Adhikar AndolanConvention extends its solidarity tothe ongoing struggles within theGujarat and resolved to work withthem and work towards building amore equitable and just society andpeople centre development.

Three day long nationalconvention of the Bhumi AdhikarAndolan was held at Ahmedabsadin the wake of the increased attackof the global capital unleashed bybrazen corporatisation and unbridledFDI in key sectors resulting into highprice rise, inflation, and naked lootof the natural resources bycorporates, all facilitated by thepolicies of the Union government andcertain state governments. Theconvention was attended by morethan 500 activists of 15 states whodwelled on the on-going struggles intheir regions; ground situation of thealliance building processes; centreand state governments attempt atsubverting democratic processes bychanging laws and issuingnotifications and obsession of thepolitical elite with the current GDPbased growth model. It discussedthe unfolding situation at variouslevels where the precariousness ofthe nature resource basedcommunities was increasing and lifeof toiling workers and masses wasbecoming harder everyday, as theimpact of 25 years of the reformsbecomes visible everywhere andinequality in the society reachess itszenith.

The Convention also took note ofthe massive unrest in the societycaused by the economic hardshipsfaced by the society and in particulardalits, adivasis and marginalcommunities. It also discussed the

growing attack on the minorities andsense of insecurity; massive politicalunrest in certain parts of the countrydemanding reservation for certaincaste groups; and rights violations ofthe people in conflict areas due toheavy militarisation and failure of theState to find political solution, promotedemocratic processes and undertakepeace initiatives in wake ofprovocations by the non-state actors.

The convention agreed that it wasafter a long drawn struggle andsacrifice that the Land AcquisitionAct 1894 was repealed and newLand Acquisition Act was legislatedin 2013 by the Parliament. Althoughthere were inadequacies it had someprogressive elements like theprinciple of prior informed consent,Social Impact Assessment,safeguards for food security,enhanced compensation etc thatgave some protection to land losersand dependents on land. However,after the Narendra Modi led BJPgovernment came to power itbrought a draconian LandAcquisition Amendment Ordinancethat tried to do away with the needto seek consent, have SIA orsafeguard food security and allowedfor unbridled forcible landacquisition.

The united issue-based oppositionbuilt against the BJP Government’smove to impose the draconianOrdinance (promulgated thrice) hadforced the Government to withdrawthe move at least temporarily.Bhoomi Adhikar Andolan played asignificant role in building up amomentum and public opinionagainst the Ordinances. TheGovernment had to concede its firstdefeat by not issuing the Ordinance

for the fourth time. The withdrawalof the Bill from the Parliament is stillpending and we must remain vigilantabout it.

Building on this political victory,the convention deliberated uponplethora of issues facing the countryand made these observations,assertions, and put forth demandsupon the government and also for itsown constituency.

1. No forced acquisition anddisplacement : Keeping in view thenation-wide build-up against itsattempts to dilute the 2013 Act andwithdraw whatever little progressivecontent and safeguards the Actoffered, the BJP Government haschanged its strategy. It has come upwith a move to try and sidestep suchunited opposition by calling uponStates to come up with landacquisition legislations facilitatingeasy land grab. Already Gujarat havelegislated laws like SIR Act and otherto dilute the Land Reformslegislations and facilitate land grab.In Odisha, Maharashtra, Rajasthan,Tamilnadu, Karnataka and otherStates also such moves are afoot.Odisha also is now planning to allowpurchase of tribal land. On the otherhand it is declaring traditional forestcultivators and tribals as landgrabbers.

The interim period fromDecember 2014 to August 2015 whenthe Land Acquisition Ordinance wasin place Andhra Pradesh governmentmanaged to acquire thousands ofacres of land in the name of the Statecapital and several other projectsthrough land pooling. Rights ofpeasantry and dependents on landhave been disregarded across the


country. In all these legislations therights of Dalits and Adivasis arebeing undermined. The rights of theNarmada Dam oustees as well ashundreds of other projects are beingdenied and there have not been anyeffective rehabilitation andresettlement.

Large tracts of land are beingforcibly acquired in the name ofindustrial corridors, economiccorridors, smart cities, NationalInvestment and ManufacturingZones, (NIMZ), SEZs, industries andinfrastructure development. Lakhsof acres are under the potentialthreat of acquisition under theDMIC, BMIC Economic Corridor,Bangalore-Chennai EconomicCorridor, Vishakapatam – ChennaiCoastal Corridor and such Projects.Loot of land, mineral and forestresources as well as commonproperty resources have beenrampant as the corporates and landmafia have been given a free hand.

We envisage protecting land fromacquisition without people’s priorinformed consent and democraticSocial Impact Assessment. Plunderof forest and mineral resources willbe resisted. We also envisageoccupation of lands remainingunutilised and demand re-distributionto landless with the slogan of‘Zameen Wapsi’.

2. Empower local selfgovernment institutions and theirrole in Development Planning,implement Forest Rights Act, PESAand ensure protection ofconstitutional rights as per the Fifthand Sixth Schedules: We believeeffective implementation of theprovisions for the FRA and PESAwould empower the Gram Sabhasand Panchayats to play theirconstitutionally mandated role, as per

73rd and 74th amendment, in thedevelopment planning andcommunities would get control overnatural resources and secure theirlivelihoods. Any attempt at thesubversion of these acts will onlyundermine the democratic processesand people’s movements will resistthem by all means. 15th December,2016 will mark tenth anniversary ofthe FRA and Bhumi AdhikarAndolan will organise massive rallyat Jantar Mantar with clear demandof effective implementation of theAct and challenge any attempts atamending the Act.

3. Bring a national LandUse policy to protect farm land fromlarge scale diversion to non-agricultural purpose like industry andinfrastructure, prioritise housingrights for poor in the Urban land-useand not promote evictions anddisplacement in name of SmartCities: A comprehensive Land Usepolicy should be made whichprotects farm land from large scaleconversion for non-agriculturalpurpose, with clear regulation andpublic participation. Priority shouldbe given to food security andlivelihood security, focusing not onlyon irrigated multiple-crop land butalso single-crop land in rainfed areaswhich form 60% of cultivated area.Gram Sabha and Panchayat shouldhave control over the utilization ofpublic lands which serve commonpurpose such as grazing, with clearprovisions to ensure access and useby the most needy communities suchas Dalits and tribals. In some cities,agricultural and livestock rearing hasbeen banned, facilitating easyconversion of land use, this needs tobe changed.

No common land includingwasteland be diverted for industrialpurposes without the consent of the

Gram and Basti Sabha. Most oftenthese are being encroached upon bythe powerful caste and capitalinterests and State has turned blindeye to them, often acting only againstthe poor, dalits and adivasis.

Clear provisions should be madefor reclamation of wasteland intoagricultural land, protection of greencover to prevent soil erosion,degradation and groundwaterdepletion, and improving agriculturalland to make it more suitable foreffective production. Coastal landand fragile areas such as WesternGhats should be protected applyingthe environmental laws andregulations.

Urban land-use should be plannedwith priority to housing amenities andlivelihood for the poor with in-situhousing projects for poor localities.There should be no cut-off date forRight to Shelter, whereas appropriatecut-off dates can be designated forgovernment allotted subsidizedhousing including middle class.Urban Land Ceiling Acts should berevived. Land-use planning should beparticipatory with public hearings incommunities above 3000 families.

In the name of Smart Cities, poorand working class is being evictedfrom the cities and that needs to bestopped. The whole concept of smartcities like its predecessor JNURMis anti poor and pro-corporate. Anyplanning has to be done keeping inmind the needs of the mostmarginalised and working classes inthe cities.

4. Changes to EnvironmentLaws not acceptable : Based onthe recommendations of the T S RSubramanian Committee,environment laws are also beingchanged to suit the demands of


corporate sector and take away therights of the people and local selfgovernment institutions. Slums arebeing forcibly cleared and evencoastal land is being encroachedupon for ports, big infra projects,PCPIR and so on trampling upon therights of the traditional fishworkers.All this would lead to massivedisplacement and permanent denialof land rights of the landless. Lakhsof acres of land acquired in the nameof industrialisation, SEZs etc isremaining unutilised.

5. Ban illegal mining, ensureinter generational parity in resourceutilisation, and implement SCguidelines in Goa Foundation case:The scourge of illegal mining ishaunting the hinterland as well as theriver beds and sea coasts, pollutingwater sources, running streams, andcausing massive damage to ecologyand economy both. The rampantmining and extractives basedeconomic growth model is leading todestruction of the nature and motherearth and contributing to the largescale climate change. Hence, theneed for no mining in ‘No-Go’ areas(and build upon this criteria), denseforests and climate sensitive forestsareas.

6. Address agrarian crisis,implement SC judgement on tacklingdraught, ensure income security forevery agricultural household, andestablish a permanent Farmers’Income Commission: Over 3.2 lakhfarmers have committed suicidesince 1995 at the rate of one farmercommitting suicide every half anhour according to conservativeestimates put forward by theNational Crime Records Bureau. Inreality the human tragedy is of amagnitude unheard of in the entirehistory of humanity. TheGovernment is cutting down public

investment for agriculture and ruraldevelopment, rural credit isincreasingly inaccessible to poor andmarginal farmers, indebtedness andlandlessness is rising, allocation forMGNREGA is being drastically cut,farmers are not getting remunerativeprices for their products despite everincreasing costs of production.Sugarcane farmers are to getthousands of crores of arrears fromthe corporate Sugar lobby. Tradeliberalisation and indiscriminate entryinto Free Trade Agreements isleading to dumping of cheapagricultural products including dairyproducts thereby pushing our farmersinto distress. Procurement facilitiesare being curtailed, Extensionservices systematically dismantledand farmers are getting prices farbelow the actual cost of production.

7. MSPs should be declaredat 50% above cost of cultivation.Ensure that farmers get MSP in all25 crops through procurement,market intervention and priceguarantee: The BJP Government hasgone back on its election promise ofproviding Minimum Support pricesaccording to SwaminathanCommission Recommendation ofC2+50% i.e at least 50 percentabove Cost of Production and hadfiled an affidavit to that effect inSupreme Court. It has also bannedprocurement from States whichprovide bonus over and above theMSP. The Government is kowtowingto diktats of the USA, EU and othercountries in the WTO and cuttingdown food and agricultural subsidies.The entire agricultural policy is to aidprofiteering by seed monopolies andagribusinesses at the expense of thepeople. The Bhoomi AdhikarAndolan stands opposed to all suchpolicies and will strive for alternativepolicies that will ensure food andlivelihood security to all as well as

decent standard of living includinghousing, health and education.Bhoomi Adhikar Andolan standsresolutely against unequal FreeTrade Agreements, WTO diktats,trade liberalisation and against anysuch monopolistic deals with othercountries.

8. Implement LandReforms – Give land to landlessagricultural workers not corporates:There should be renewed focus onland reforms to give ownership ofland to deprived sections, especiallyDalits, adivasis, women, project-displaced families, and so on. Ceilinglimits should be properly enforcedstopping the exemptions andloopholes allowing thousands ofacres to be taken over by a fewindividuals and corporates, andmaking surplus land available fordistribution.

Ensure Food Sovereignty andfood security and sort out themassive corruption within the fooddistribution system: Food securitydoesn’t mean giving subsidised foodalone but empowering communitiesto produce their own food andsecuring land rights which will makethem self reliant. In that regard it isalso important that farmers havecomplete control over the seeds andthe systems of production and notbe made slaves to the bigmultinationals claiming their IPRs.No company should be allowedexclusive intellectual property rightsover seed in any crop.

However, there is also the needfor effective implementation of theNational Food Security Act, givenmany state governments have failedto do so. In the name of rooting outcorruption linking of ration deliverywith the Aadhar and other electronicidentification programmes is resulting


in leaving out a big chunk ofpopulation, which is often due tosystems inefficiency and denies alarge number of poor and vulnerablepopulation access to theirentitlements.

9. Rights of tenant farmers,sharecroppers and women farmersshould be upheld. The real cultivatorsshould get full recognition and benefitof all support systems: Tenantfarmers, sharecroppers and womenfarmers are the worst-affected in theagrarian distress in many parts of thecountry, because they get left out ofall government support systemsincluding low-interest bank loans,disaster compensation, cropinsurance, subsidies, etc. They arethe real cultivators not only workinghard but also taking the risks ofproduction – tenant farmers andsharecroppers cultivate more than30% of the area, and women perform70% of tasks in agriculture. Theirrights should be upheld. There shouldbe a comprehensive system ofrecording and recognizing the realcultivators including tenant farmers,sharecroppers and women farmers,so that they get the benefit of allgovernment support systems andeligibility for all provisions in case ofland acquisition. The Model TenancyAct by Niti Ayog must be withdrawn.

10. Rights of the agrarianworkers, unorganised sectorworkers to be protected andminimum wages and social securitymeasures implemented: Today 93%of the labour force is in theunorganised sector and a majority ofthem is dependent on agriculture andother related activities. This sectionis under tremendous attack due tofarm crisis and decreasing supportfrom the government. We demandthat the allocation to the MGNREGAbe increased to ensure 300 days

work and 300 Rs wages daily. Inaddition, to deal with the farm labourcrisis due to high migration recogniseagriculture, as a work should bebrought within the MGNREGA, thatway the workers and farmers bothwould benefit. In addition, a numberof suggestions and guidelines havebeen issued by the Supreme Courtof India to effectively deal with thedraught situation in the country.Unfortunately, the implementation bythis by the Union and Stategovernments has been extremelypoor and tardy.

With the growing precariousnessand distress time has come that theMinimum Wages Act be mandatorilyapplicable to the agriculturallabourers as well. In addition, on linesof the Social Security Act for theconstruction workers should also beimplemented for the agrarianworkers.

11. Comprehensive supportfor shift from high-input chemicalagriculture to low-external-inputecologically sustainable agriculture:One of the biggest causes of thecrisis is the model of high-inputchemical agriculture promoted in thepast few decades – leading toindebtedness, damage to soil fertility,declining productivity, depletion ofwater, and poisoning of food andwater system. While accepting theimportance of increasing productionand productivity, the emphasis shouldbe on sustainable productivity. Thepolicies and support systems shouldbe fully reoriented to ensure a time-bound shift to low-input ecologicallysustainable agriculture, using manyviable models demonstrated andestablished across India in the pasttwo decades.

12. Reverse the injusticedone to rainfed agriculture :

Though 60% of Indian agriculture israinfed, it is highly neglectedcompared to irrigated agriculture;consequently much of the distressand farmer suicides is in rainfedareas. We demand a comprehensivemission to revive rainfed agricultureby promoting dryland crops, animalhusbandry and fodder, revival ofminor irrigation, and targetedsupport. Providing protectiveirrigation to the first crop in rainfedareas should be the first priorityrather than irrigation for second andthird crops.

13. No privatization of waterresources and services; priority todrinking, domestic use andagriculture: Water should berespected as a natural resourceessential to human life and foodproduction, and attempts to privatizewater bodies and services, and givecontrol to corporates should becompletely stopped. Water fordrinking, domestic use andagriculture should receive priorityover other uses, with furtherprioritization for food crops and one-crop protection in dry regions.Landless families should also begiven rights over water to ensuremore equitable use and to redressthe inequity in land ownership.

14. Resist attempts to dilutelabour laws and expresssolidarity and active support toworkers’ strike of 2nd September2016: Workers rights are beingcurtailed and the Narendra Modi ledBJP Government has been tamperingwith labour laws in the name of “easeof Doing Business”. Against suchattacks an unprecedented Strike waswitnessed on 2nd September, 2015in which the Bhoomi AdhikarAndolan extended solidarity. TheCentral Trade Unions also took upsome of our demands and spoke


against the Land AcquisitionOrdinance. We extended solidarityto the united working class Strikecalled on 2nd September, 2016 andwill work actively to make it asuccess.

15. Resistance to divisiveand fascist politics: Faced withgrowing protests and unprecedentedunity of people against the policiesof the BJP Government at the Centreand States the BJP-RSS and theiraffiliates are resorting to divisivepolitics and deliberatecommunalisation. Rationalists andcultural personalities are beingphysically attacked and killed, dissentis brutally being suppressed. In thename of protection of the cow,systematic attacks are beinglaunched on Minorities and Dalits.Deliberate communal and casteistviolence is being resorted to indifferent parts of the country. Aspontaneous response against suchefforts is developing. BhoomiAdhikar Andolan will resist suchdivisive efforts and work for buildingcommunal harmony and strengthenthe unity of toiling masses.

16. Curb attack on theautonomous functioning of theuniversities, corporatisation ofeducation, and suppressing ofdissent within the universities andenact Rohith Act: Universitycampuses across the country are inturmoil and there has been agrowing attack on the students andattempts are being made to suppressany dissent, free thinking and freeflow of exchange of ideas. Thecorporate agenda of the educationand their pandering to the marketneeds is solely driving the educationpolicy today leading to completeerosion of the values anddemocratic principles necessary forfunctioning of a vibrant democracy.

and Central authorities must beremoved from AFSPA andcriminal procedure code toensure that trials are independentand fair in civilian courts. In themeanwhile, the families andapplicants seeking sanction toprosecute must be informedabout the status of theirapplication.

· Make information regarding theproceedings and verdictsconducted in court martialspublic by making it moreaccessible through RTI/ online.

· Repeal AFSPA in order toensure compliance with UNPrinciples for the Prevention ofExtra-legal, Arbitrary andSummary Executions and otherinstruments India is signatory to.

· Definitions of torture anddisappearance in Indian lawshould be consistent with theones mentioned in UNConvention against Torture andother Cruel, Inhuman orDegrading Treatment orPunishment and InternationalConvention on the Protection ofAll Persons from EnforcedDisappearance

· Become party to internationalinstruments/ conventions againsttorture and enforceddisappearances. Moreimportantly, national laws shouldbe framed accordingly andimplemented effectively.

· Right to truth will be upheld bykeeping families informed aboutthe procedures and status ofapplications even when theinquiry is led by the NationalHuman Rights Commission.

· Review the provisions ofcompensation ex gratia to thefamilies of victims where thereis no impossible conditionalityand threats or intimidation fromthe authorities. Compensationshould be adequate and ensuredespecially to survivors of sexualviolence.

On a concluding note, one canonly hope that the State will takenotice of this Report and implementits recommendations in the light ofthe recent unrest and protesthappening in Kashmir which reflectsthe disaffection of the peoplestemming from years of violations oftheir human rights.

–Secular Perspective


Access to education by allremains a cause of concern. Thedemand for a common school systemhas been there for long and isresponsible for the continuedinequality and the perpetuation of thediscrimination within the universities.SC/ST communities facediscrimination at every level in theeducation system from admission,recruitments, promotions oropportunities for growth. The fact

that a brilliant student like RohithVemula had to commit suicide dueto continued harassment and castebased discrimination indicatestowards systemic crisis within theeducation system today. The demandfor Rohith Act by the studentcommunity needs support from allthe organisations and Bhumi AdhikarAndolan express its solidarity withthe movement and demand.

(To be concluded)


License to Post without prepayment WPP License No. MH/Tech/WPP-210/West/2016Published on Sunday, September 18, 2016 & Posted on Wedenesday September 21, 2016 at Mumbai Patrika Channel, Mumbai GPO-

1


REGD. OFFICE :



Tel.: 022 2205 1231 Fax : 022-2205 1232



Price : Rupees Five





Mumbai - 400 007.


Uri is Only a SymptomKuldip Nayar

A Reality Check onJammu and Kashmir

Pushkar Raj

Religious Bigotryand Corruption inthe Contractor Raj

K. S. Chalam

March of the MarathasBhalchandra Mungekar

A Living Experimentin Communal Harmony

While the Indian security forceswere busy tackling the internalprotests in Jammu & Kashmir inwhich over 80 civilians have beenkilled since 9 July, 2016, the mostrecent victim being a 11 years oldNasir Shafiq Qazi who died ofpellet injuries, a surprise militantattack has taken place from acrossthe border killing 17 Indian soldiersin the biggest such incident so farin the history. Clearly, things aregoing out of the hands ofgovernment at the centre whoseproblem is that after the making ofnuclear weapons by both India andPakistan, it cannot engage in a full-fledged war with Pakistan,howsoever provocative thePakistani infringement might be.

India is also losing internationalsupport by recently denying accessto United Nations Human RightsCouncil in J&K. The question thatwill be asked is if the Indian claimabout Pakistan instigating violencein Kashmir is true then why doesn’tIndian government let the UNHRCunravel this truth by conducting anenquiry there? The world will notmiss the contradiction that ademocratic India is preventingUNHRC from visiting J&K

A Pre-Requisite for any Dialogue in Kashmir

Sandeep Pandey

whereas a not-so-democraticPakistan is letting it have access toPakistan Occupied Kashmir. Whatis India afraid of? Is the differencebetween Indian and PakistaniKashmirs the use of pellet guns byIndian forces against the recentround of protests by people? Indiawill probably face more flak forpreventing the visit of UN teamrather than the human rightsviolations that its security forces areresponsible for.

India’s problem is compoundedbecause of its inability toconclusively prove that the terroristattacks from the across the border,whether it was Mumbai in 2008,Pathankot in 2016 and now Uri areactually sponsored by Pakistanbecause Pakistan denies its role inany of these. On the contrary itchallenges India to provide evidenceof its involvement. On the otherhand the human rights violations inKashmir, especially because of theunrestrained powers the armyenjoys under Armed Forces SpecialPowers Act, are something thatcannot be hidden.

India has recently queered thepitch in its relationship with Pakistan


when Narendra Modi talked aboutinsurgency in Balochistan, Gilgit,Baltistan and PoK during hisIndependence Day speech. Eventhough Pakistan blames it for doingthis in order to divert attention fromhuman rights violations in IndianKashmir, the reality is that sufferingof people in J&K doesn’t reduceby India raising the stakes in sucha manner. During the regime ofprevious central governments atleast a semblance of democracywas observed in J&K but thepresent regime in its over-enthusiasm of dealing with theproblem in Kashmir with a toughhand, has completely overrun thestate government. It wants todirectly control things in Kashmir.It might as well impose Governor’srule there. But its approach isclearly failing. It is inviting moreviolence from inside the Kashmirisociety as well as from across theborder. Democracy is a directvictim of violence. People ofKashmir are the ultimate sufferersin this.

In response to the PakistaniPrime Minister having decided tosend 22 parliamentarians asrepresentatives to as many capitalsof the world to intimate the worldleaders about situation of Kashmirand seek their support in the UnitedNations, the Indian government hasdecided to send Rajnath Singh toUS and Russia in a counter move.

The India-Pakistan relations havebeen marked by tit-for-tat policy.Hence it doesn’t come as a surprisethat India is following the Pakistaniapproach to mobilize world opinion.

But if India is genuinelyconcerned about Kashmir and theKashmiris then it would have beenbetter for it to first win over the

Kashmiri people before trying toseek support from outside. If Indiawere confident that the Kashmiripeople were with it then it wouldnot have to go around the world toseek support.

The fact is that in spite of offeringall kinds of package to J&K andeven to potential immigrants fromPakistan occupied Kashmir and theHome Minister going to Srinagarfor dialogue the people of Kashmirare not happy with the Indiangovernment. They don’t feel thatthe Indian government is showingsensitivity towards them. Forexample, while continuing to urgepeople to give up violence, therewas no let down in violence, whatto talk of withdrawing of the bynow infamous pellet guns, by thesecurity forces before the HomeMinister went for dialogue. Doesthe government actually think thatit can continue to use pellet gunson one hand and expect people toshow up for dialogue on the other?Any dialogue is a war like situationis preceded by cease fire.

A lot of right wing people arealarmed at the possibility ofKashmir becoming independent ofIndia. For them it is a prestige issue.They ask, ‘Can we just let Kashmirgo like that?’ It is a matter whichcan be decided by Kashmiris alone.People from outside Kashmir,whether in India or Pakistan haveno territorial rights over Kashmir.This is a feudal mentality oftenmasqueraded as nationalism.

We must introspect. If thegovernment of India has to keepKashmir under military rule for solong, it is not a normal situation.Same is true about some areas ofNortheast where Iron Sharmila hasjust ended her decade and a half

long fast to demand repeal ofAFSPA. The government mustwithdraw AFSPA first and later theArmy itself if it is serious aboutnormalcy returning to Kashmir.Army’s role must be limited toborder areas. It is only then thatwe can think of any dialogue.

Only high flown statements like‘fully engaged in normalizing thesituation as soon as possible’ or that‘Indian democracy has all that itrequires to address legitimategrievances,’ will not suffice. Thiswithdrawal of AFSPA and armymust be discussed with people ofKashmir as a confidence buildingmeasure. It would be better if thegovernment were to invest time andenergy in this direction. No solutionto the problem of Kashmir isconceivable without first restoringconditions of democracy andrespect for human rights.

Janata Subscription

Annual Rs. : 260/-

Three Years : 750/-


on

Mumbai Bank

in favour of




Between the Lines

Baluchistan in Pakistan is like ourKashmir, an integral part but stillrebellious after almost 70 years ofMaharaja Hari Singh’s accession toIndia. However, in India’s case firstPrime Minister Jawaharlal Nehrugave an undertaking to hold aplebiscite as soon as things hadsettled in the valley. He could notfulfill the promise.

Nehru found out that things willbe reduced to a slogan, Gita versusKoran, and people would be sodriven by religious sentiments thatthey would not be exercising theirfranchise. When the acclaimedleader Sheikh Abdullah joined theUnion, he conceded the point thata popular verdict had beenobtained and it amounted to aplebiscite and, with it , theaccession was complete.

What happened in Uri is asymptom, not the disease. Thedisease is that the youth which is nowleading a movement want a countryof their own. In the same way,Baluchistan wants to secede fromPakistan and have an independentcountry. That, if granted, would beanother Islamic country on our border.

I told the Kashmiri students duringmy recent visit to Srinagar at theirinvitation that the Lok Sabha wouldbe in no mood to endorse anythinglike what they wished. They said itwas “your problem how you bringabout the change.” The demand bythe youth for an independentsovereign country is in contrast towhat leaders like Yasin Malik and

Uri is Only a Symptom

Kuldip Nayar

Shabbir Shah had wanted someyears ago. It is another matter thatYasin has now joined the chorus.

Pakistan has now becomerelevant for the people in the valleybecause they, too, have changed theirdemand from autonomy to an Islamicindependent country. The attack onthe Indian soldiers on the border isthe culmination of their anger.Pakistan, too, has found the climatesomewhat suited to it and hasincreased the number of infiltratorsinto the valley.

But this is not the first time thatPakistan has sent infiltrators intoIndia. Nor will it be the last occasion.There have been several suchinstances, including the attacks onIndian Parliament, Mumbai andPathankot. After every suchincident, a war-like cry was heardin the rest of the country to retaliate.So immense was the pressure thistime on the government that it hadto assure the public that “retaliationwould take place at a place and timeof our liking.”

But people want action on theground even at the expense of a war.I recall what happened soon after theattacks on Parliament, Mumbai orPathankot. Our reaction then was inthe shape of stationing troops on theborders for almost one year or beyond.This time, the anger is deeper andwider. Yet the government is showingrestraint, though Prime MinisterNarendra Modi has assured thatthe perpetrators would not gounpunished.

However, we also know the limitto which the elected rulers can go inthe two countries since both possessnuclear weapons. But what I fail tounderstand is why Islamabad hadbeen reluctant to take action againstterrorists who have been identifiedliving in Pakistan. Whatever it hasdone so far against the terrorists, itis not on India’s request but onWashington’s word.

In India, except for a fewwarmongers, there is a realizationthat there is no option to peace. Itis also time for the politicians ofthe two countries to introspect theirconduct. Even if they do not talkabout war, their speeches and thebody language is far from friendly.They appear to run with the hareand hunt with the hound. Why arethey stoking the fires of hatredwhen people on both sides aresurcharged?

France and Germany had foughtfor more than hundred years. Todaythey are the best of friends. Qaide-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah gaveme this example when I asked himbefore partition that Hindus andMuslims would jump at each other’sthroat once the British had left. Hesaid we would be the best of friends.I have no doubt that one day thiswould come about. Former PrimeMinisters Atal Behari Vajpayee andManmohan Singh have said many atime that the destiny has thrown Indiaand Pakistan together and theycannot but be good neighbours.



Jammu and Kashmir is again innews for violence and counterviolence. Again, several solutions areproposed. Any such exercise,however, need to be informed of areality check if peace is to return inthe state in a foreseeable future.

The present unrest began afterkilling of Burhan Wani, a localcommander of Hizbul Mujahidin, anorganization that vows to liberateKashmir by unleashing suicidebombers in Kashmir (Times of India,4 September 2016). The unrest isrestricted to the Kashmir valleycomprising 7.1 percent of land and54.9 percent of population of thestate numbering 6.8 million (Censusof India, 2011). In a fresh round ofbloodshed over seventy people havedied and thousands are injured.

To defuse the situation, one of thesolutions being offered is merger withPakistan and other ‘freedom’ fromIndia. The third solution - the statusquo, is supported by the majorpolitical parties, though with differingcaveats.

Merger with Pakistan

The merger with Pakistan isincongruous for a simple reason thatKashmiris will be an additionalminority group in Pakistan that hasa disturbing record towards its ethnicand sectarian minorities includingMohajir, Baloch, Pashtun, Ahmadisand Hazaras. Many of these peopleare forced to seek refuge in othercountries. According to the UnitedNations High Commissioner forrefugees’ latest figures, Pakistanisare the sixth largest group seeking

A Reality Check on Jammu and Kashmir

Pushkar Raj

asylum in Europe following Syrians,Afghans and Iraqis. Australianimmigration report 2013-2014 alsoreveals that largest number ofpeople who sought humanitarian visaon arrival came from Pakistan(Elibritt Karlsen: 2014, Parliament ofAustralia).

Pakistan’s human rights record onBaluchistan has also beendisconcerting. Since the last decadeabout 18,000 people have allegedlyinvoluntarily disappeared in theprovince. According to the Voice forBaloch Missing Persons, 157mutilated bodies were found and 463people disappeared in the state in2015. (Balochwarna News, 3January 2016). The prime suspectsin these incidents are the securityforces.

Pakistan-administered Kashmiris no better. Of $38 bn proposedinvestment in energy sector underChina-Pakistan Economic Corridor,Gilgit-Baltistan has not received anyallocation as against other provinces(The Dawn, 12 May 2016). On thecontrary, planning minister ofPakistan warned the protestingfarmers of the region that theterrorism act would be invokedagainst them if they obstructed theproject (Times of India, 18 August16).

Freedom

The option of freedom for J&Kis equally fraught with problems. Iffreedom is a demand for all the fiveregions of the state, then it seems anon-starter given the Indian andPakistan position on it; and if it relates

only to the Indian part then withouttaking into consideration the viewsof the people of Jammu and Ladakhregion it is unlikely to move anyfarther.

The demand of freedom for onlythe valley of Kashmir is fraught witha moral dilemma in the light of abouta half a million Kashmiri pundits’virtual exile from the region. Besides,freedom for Kashmir will have aripple effect in Muslim majoritydistricts of Poonch and Rajouri andKishtwar and Doda, separated byHindu majority districts of Jammuand Udhampur, which will furtheradd to the instability in the region.

Another difficulty to the freedomfor Kashmir is use of violence andterrorism as a method to achieve it.Contemporary history shows that aviolent movement does not producea sustainable democratic state as isseen in many African countrieswhich were inspired by variousviolence based ideologies.

And finally, there are reports thatmosques are used for mobilization ofpeople and ISIS flags are waved inrallies in Kashmir. (Indian Express,August 21, 2015). Successfulculmination of such a movement canonly lead to a theocratic state thatwould be against the spirit of‘kashmiriyat’, which has alreadysuffered considerable erosion in thevalley.

Way Forward

The central government owes it



For about three decades, we havebeen reading and listening tocatchwords like License-Permit raj,rent seeking public servants,inefficient public sector units andunworkable socialist policies wereoperating in India. Strangely, thereare no such debates or discoursesnow in the public realm, though thecountry is slipped into the same driftunder a corporate-contractor-bureaucrat raj. Is the situationdifferent from what some expertsenvisioned?

The socialist thinkers, both Marxistand no-Marxist groups, consideredreligion, faith, beliefs and theinstitutions built on them in traditionalsocieties, are largely grounded oneconomic base. The metaphor baseand super structure was eminentlyfitin to the first generation of uppercaste English educated leftists to feela sigh of relief not to be apologeticfor ignoring the Indian realitiesconverging only with the westernthought. (M N Roy and Lohia wereexceptions, but they succumbed tomainstream thinking and Ambedkarwas an untouchable). Some of themhave even ignored the traditionalIndian materialistic traditions ofLokayata and Buddhism in theiranxiety or scheme of findingsolutions to inequalities.The abovetheory or analytic is broadly basedon the experiences of the West,though Joti Rao Phuley acontemporary of Marx was deeplyinvolved in exposing the bigotry ofHinduism or Brahminical conspiracyagainst the illiterate farmers in Indiaduring the same period. The parallelbetween Marx and Phuley clearly

Religious Bigotry and Corruption in the Contractor Raj

K. S. Chalam

indicate that there are fundamentaldifferences between the experiencesof European nations which are byand large nation states and Indiawhich is a multicultural, multiethnic( settlers) complex society regulatedby a wily fulltime occupational groupfor ages. It seems that there is noother country or faith in the Worldwhere God’s marriage and nuptialsare ceremoniously celebrated andthe devotees are made to listen towith apt attention (without knowingthe meaning) the vulgar actnarrated in the devotional songs asif the devotees get instant mukti. Weare not sarcastic here as we respectthe sentiments of believers if theyare told or know the meaning of therecitations and crave for mukti in thereal sense of the term. (As Iexplained in one of my articlesearlier, other faiths in India are notimmune to this bigotry. All of themhave accumulated huge properties.)The devotees are not ordinarypeople, most of them are scientists,judges, Harvard returned scholarsclaiming to be capable to run theeconomy an solon. If we go throughthe writings of Phuley, Periyar,Ambedkar and others, we realisehow they perceived the drift. But,Marxists like Kosambi (taken just forexample) down to some of thepresent day radicals neverconsidered Hinduism and the Bhats,to beare precarious and cunning tosurvive attempts to reduce theirimportance, and could compromisewith forces that are publicly declaredas adversaries, like the beef eatingAmericans. This is really baffling forthose of us who are followers ofmaterialistic interpretation of history

and the mode of productionapproach in arriving at successivestages of socioeconomic formationsin India. How it is that capitalism andreligious fundamentalism are handsin glove? We may get some answersif we sincerely reflect on the writingsof Phuley, Sankalia, Bhandarkar andother Pune based intellectuals andnot necessarily Kosambi whoignored them (and others whosincerely followed him or made tofollow).

Ever since the NDA governmentor the so-called parivar or theextended family rule came to powerwith absolute numbers in 2014, tricksare played to show that they areabove corruption. The media housesmostly of the corporate bodies or theones that depend upon their ads keepon telling us that there is nocorruption in the Modi governmentand everything is transparent. Yes,it is transparent for the select fewbusiness houses and their nomineesin the bureaucracy who preparedocuments of policy for thegovernment on the basis of thedictates of the corporates to whomthey owe their allegiance. We havebeen listening to the kind ofskirmishes between chief minister ofDelhi Mr Kejriwal and the allegedAmbani nominee as Lt Governor ofDelhi Mr Jung. Interestingly there isabsolute agreement between theprevious government and the NDAin matters of economic policy andthe issues that follow. In fact theNDA is sincerely implementing whatthe UPA had been doing for decadeswith every important Congress mangot involved in some scam. The


difference is: Modi and his mastershave selected some contractors andcorporates only as their nominees tocarry the business, while theCongress used to talk aboutsecularism and go to Ayodhya up toHanuman feet. Happily the BJP /RSS direct its groups to indulge inall kinds of petty mafia activities oflynching dalits, Muslims and othersto divert the attention of the commonman about the economic plunder.The voices of Swadeshi JagaranManch are very feeble. One cannotice that there will be anorchestrated social tension createdby the cohorts of parivar whenevera serious contract of transferringhuge public resources is involved.The nexus is never analysed andunderstood by our publicintellectuals.

People in the South allege thatwhenever Modi or Naidu of AndhraPradesh go out on foreign tour, theytake an entourage of corporates andthe bureaucratic clique along withthem to get agreements signed notfor the country or people but for thechosen corporates. Once the papersare ready, a signal goes to theheadquarters to create issues ofdiversion in the form of social tensionor display huge festival or a yagna todivert the attention of the gulliblepeople and in the melee displayed bythe media, the agreements would besigned. Now, the budget is going tobe introduced along with the Railwaysin February hinting that thegovernment departments are readyfor transfer to private companies.They brought in, it seems, someBusiness economists who wereadvisers to corporate entities to dothe exercise of privatisation and keptthem in the Yojana Bhavan and calledit NITI Ayog. Their job, it is reportedby the workers’ unions, is to identifythe units, resources that can be given

to the corporates. It is alleged by theunions that around 20 public sectorunits are going to be handed over toprivate corporates. The NITI expertsdo the exercise with the help of theirpaid experts or intellectuals. Oneimportant example is that of one oftheir members has produced a studyreport as to how to privatise Railwaysand submitted it to PMO and now thetime has come to operationalize itthrough the budget?

It is under this background,several incidents are happening inthe name of agreements and policychanges involving not billions buttrillions of rupees worth of publicsector resources. Now Adani isconsidered to be the most efficientperson than hundreds of trainedexecutives in making Coal and Oilsectors productive. Therefore, it isreported (Times of India, 21September) that Indian OilCorporation and GAIL is going toinvest in Adani’s Dhrma project inOrissa worth Rs 5000 crores. IfAdani had any problem with capitaladequacy or incurring losses in hisventures, public sector units are thereto come to his rescue and byintelligently showing his prowess bothin financial and government loyaltyto him, he would expand his empire.In all the tours of Modi, it is alleged,the Gujarati Banias are following(whispers of opponents in thecorridors of power). Anotherimportant business deal initiated bythe Steel ministry is that of LaxmiMittal of UK who is in trouble willbe given the responsibility ofpromoting SAIL through may bemerger or joint ventures.

It is strange that no one is raisingthe issue of corruption that involveddirect cabinet Ministers in the caseof Orissa, Mr Pradhan of PetroleumMinistry and Mr Singh, Minister of

Steel in the above two issues. It iswithout shame that the parivarfunctionaries talk about corruption ofothers while their own members aredeeply involved in the aboveeconomic operations that involvetrillions of rupees. It would be knownlater that these mergers orinvestments had been under thedirect control of the corporatestransferring public properties andresources like BALCO, VSNL, 2G,and CIL under UPA. How is it thatit is not named as corruption even ifthe news is moderated by the media?

The kind of transfers andhandovers of government companiesand peoples resources to individualsis much deeper now than before.The corrupt labelled Congress issilent on the issues as it was theywho brought all this muck and maybe some of their business cohorts orcontractors are behind some ofthese operations with tacitunderstanding with NDA, if notshifted to the party yet. Oneneedsto expose this cheating in day lightby the NDA government. How it isthat one individual like Adani orAmbani is more intelligent than thewhole system of government? It issimple sham? Let the intellectualsexpose the nexus for a debate!

to the constitution of India to restorecivil liberties by withdrawing the lawslike AFSPA from civilian areas,ensure accountability for humanrights violations, secure transparentgovernance, launch de-radicalisationprograms and identify a genuineleadership in the valley for a dialogue.Nationally, toning down the saffronnationalism might greatly assist. It isthe only way forward for a humaneand democratic Kashmir.

[email protected] –Kashmir Times



The Devendra Fadnavisgovernment in Maharashtra has beentaken aback by lakhs of peoplebelonging to the Maratha communitytaking to the streets, unprecedentedin the socio-political history of thestate since it was formed in 1960.This has happened after the murderof a Maratha girl in Kopardi villageof Ahmadnagar district on July 13.More than 150 incidents of atrocitieswere committed against Dalits, somebrutal murders, in Ahmadnagardistrict in the last four-five years. Yet,not a word of protest was uttered byany section of society in the state, letalone the Maratha community, otherthan the Dalits. This once againunderlines that community sensitivityor conscience even in the crime ofrape is determined by one’s caste.This time, four Dalit youths have beenaccused of the crime.

I visited the village on July 26 andmet the girl’s parents, both poor brick-workers. With no words ofconsolation, I met some villagers. Itwas gratifying that despite being about2,000 in number, the Marathacommunity collectively decided on apolicy of restraint towards the Dalits,numbering about 150 to 200, as theywere not collectively responsible forthe crime. This is contrary to whatnormally happens in the northern partsof the country. It was equallygratifying that the entire Dalitcommunity demanded, I was told bythe chief of the Dispute-Free VillageCommunity, that the guilty must behanged.

Now, nearly a month after thegruesome incident, the Marathacommunity has started the protestmarches, mobilising lakhs of people,including doctors, engineers, lawyers,

March of the Marathas

Bhalchandra Mungekar

professors, teachers, university andcollege students and evenhousewives, the last beingunconventional so far as thecommunity is concerned. Second, theparticipants in the protest marchesbelong to all political parties —Congress, NCP, BJP and Shiv Sena— and include their MLAs, MLCsand MPs, to show solidarity with thecommunity and ensure that its politicalfortunes are not harmed. Third, theOBCs in the state are not allowed tojoin these protests, the reason beingthat they are the beneficiaries ofreservations.

Fourth, these protest marcheswere so far organised mainly inMarathwada and WesternMaharashtra, but are now spreadingto the Vidarbha and Konkan regions.It is understood that about 25 lakh ofthese protesters from across the statewill be marching to Mumbai inOctober.

The community has three maindemands: Punishing the guilty ofKopardi, scrapping the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities ) Act, 1989(POA), and getting reservations tothe community in education and publicemployment. Let me deal with eachof these demands.

First, it is not only the demand ofthe Maratha community, but of allsections in Maharashtra, including theDalits, that the guilty be punished.The state government must hastenthe process. Second, as regardsreservations, Article 340 of theConstitution empowers the presidentto constitute a commission to lookinto the difficulties of the “sociallyand educationally backward classes”(SEBCs) in the country, and on the

basis of the commission’srecommendations, the governmentmay suggest suitable measures fortheir advancement. This was the caseof the Mandal Commission that hasprovided 11 criteria, that is, four eachthat are social and economic in natureand three educational. If the Marathacommunity wants reservations as theSEBs, commonly known as theOBCs, they should be ready to beseen to be socially on par with theOBCs, who are lower in the socialhierarchy. Further, they need toqualify the majority of the criteria, asprescribed by the MandalCommission. If not, the governmentneeds to find some appropriatealternative method within theframework of the constitution,because this demand of the Marathacommunity has been pending for thelast 20 years or so. Again, the presentsystem vis à vis the SCs, STs andOBCs must remain unaffected. TheFadnavis government should take thecall at the earliest.

Third, the demand for scrappingthe POA is totally unjustifiable. ThePOA was passed by the Parliamentin 1989 and extends to the wholecountry, except Jammu & Kashmir.It is the prerogative of the Parliamentalone to amend it, if necessary. Thus,it was amended in 2015 to make itmore effective. But no state has beenimplementing it with a sense ofcommitment and honesty, mainly forpolitical considerations. Maharashtrais no exception — out of a total 7,345cases of atrocities brought for trial inthe state in 2014, only 59 persons wereconvicted, making the conviction rate0.8 per cent of the cases. Of 36districts in the state, only three havespecial courts, the least in the country.The bogey of misuse of the POA is


unfounded. Yet, in cases where thishappens, it is the state government’sresponsibility to punish the offendersinstead of making it an argumentagainst the law itself.

The true remedy is the creation ofan atrocity-free society where thePOA is rendered irrelevant. But allsaid and done, I would suggest, theDalits in Maharashtra must resistbeing provoked for many reasons. Inthe end, I must come to the realgenesis of the story that is forgingunity among the Maratha communityin the state.

The Kopardi incident is just theimmediate cause. Though theMaratha community has been rulingthe state since its inception in 1960,irrespective of the ruling party orparties and irrespective of who wasthe state’s chief minister, the ordinary,poor and resourceless of the samecommunity could not avail themselvesof any special benefits over theseyears. Their hardships were thesame as those of the other poor excepttheir so-called higher social status(next only to Brahmins). Theyremained away from the real powercentres comprising the cooperativesugar factories, thread mills, banks,trade and commerce, constructionindustry and private educationalinstitutions controlled by their elitefraternity. They, and particularly theeducated among them, are alsovictims of the growingunemployment, and have beensuffering from the unaffordable feescharged for professional courses,thanks to the uncontrolledprivatisation, nay, commercialisationof education. Hence the demand forreservation.

The demand has been pending fornearly 25 years. The stategovernment must act sooner ratherthan later in the interest of the socio-political stability in the state.

–The Indian Express

A Living Experiment in Communal Harmony

Tahmina LashkarSandeep Pandey

Living amidst hundred percentMuslim population is Dr. KushKumar Singh. Dr. Singh is avegetarian and a very religiousperson. Is it not an interestingcombine? In an age when peoplerefuse to rent out houses to someonefrom a different religious belief thantheir own this creates curiosity. Inour society many baseless rumors dorounds among Hindus and Muslimswhich affect the relations among alarger part of the population. In suchcircumstances Dr. Singh’s decisionto reside amidst Muslims gives riseto many questions and answers themas well. Dr. Singh stays in GaffarManzil with Faisal Khan in Delhi’sJamia Nagar area. Dr. Singh metFaisal Khan in Apollo Hospital. Hewas on his duty and Faisal Khan wason his social duty. Faisal hasredefined social work. It was not asurprising thing that a non-Muslimhas a negative image of Muslims ingeneral. Dr. Singh also had such amentality. Then he chatted withFaisal Khan and got to know abouthis organization, Khudai Khidmatgar.These conversations continued fora long time. Dr. Singh spoke on manyfailings of the Muslim communityopenly with Faisal Khan. Dr. Singhused to think that Muslims arefundamentalists in matters of religionand they do not listen to any otherpoint of view. He thought thecommunity never opens up to othercommunities. But as he spent moretime conversing with Faisal Khan hisoriginal thoughts started to getaltered. But this change of attitudewas only limited to Faisal Khan, hewas yet to have a favourable view

of the community. Faisal Khan toowas more interested to speak aboutsocial issues than religious ones. Dr.Singh then thought that if he were toprobe his thoughts and notions heneeded to live amongst thecommunity. Dr. Singh decided to livewith Faisal Khan in the KhudaiKhidmatgar office itself whichdoubles up as Faisal’s home. Giventhe present conditions, to decide tolive in a locality having dense Muslimpopulation was nothing short of arevolution. He took that chancehowever. He then started living withFaisal Khan. This was quitechallenging for him but still heconsidered it like a spiritual missionand went to Jamia Nagar for thissocial experiment. May be many hadthen questioned Dr. Singh on hisdecision, yet it did not deter him frommaking an effort in understandingreligion, dedication, love andsacrifice. As on today he already haslived for about three years here. Allkinds of preconceived notions thathe had have cleared in this period.His peaceful and dedicated presencealso helped Muslims to dispensesome of their doubts. A lot of Muslimfriends who came to Faisal Khanwould see and meet Dr. Singh, thishelped in the community realizing itsown shortfalls and removing theirdoubts about non-Muslims. Dr. Singhis an educated man who lived his lifein such an exemplary way that hebecame an ideal for many. We arespeaking of this precious friendshipbetween a Hindu and a Muslimbecause it would freshen up the staleair of communalism that is



Reminiscences of Frontier Gandhiand his Khudai Khidmatgars


The inspiring narrative by Dr. Sandeep Pandey and Tahmina Lashkar on a unique legacy of Khudai Khidmatgarsobserved in Jamia Nagar, New Delhi, has prompted me to record my reminiscences of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khanaka Frontier Gandhi and Badshah Khan and his Khudai Khitmatgars. Like millions of Indians I am an admirerof Frontier Gandhi who was a unique figure during the entire freedom struggle. I had the privilege of having hisdarshan at Allahabad Jn. station in 1946 when he was accompanying Bapu either to Bihar or Noakhali. MajorGen. Shah Nawaz of INA fame was also accompanying the two Gandhis. The second time I saw him was atthe Meerut Congress on 23 November 1946. The other members of the Congress Working Committee werestaying in well furnished tents near the venue of the session in Pyare Lal Sharma Nagar, but Badshah Khan stayedin a tent with his Khudai Khidmatgars three miles away where four groups of volunteers were lodged: CongressSewa Dal, INA, All India Students’ Congress leaders and workers and Khudai Khidmatgars. Badshah Khan usedto dine with his Khudai Khidmatgars - big sized rotis, dal and vegetables. Frontier Gandhi was an epitome of simpleliving and high thinking. He normally had only two pairs of Khadi long kurtas and salwars of ‘militia’ cloth. Heused to wash his clothes daily and wear them without ironing. His grandson (regretfully I forget his name), whowas the President of the NWFP Students’ Congress, was also putting up there and we became friends. ThePresident of the AISC, Ram Sumer Shukla, was staying elsewhere with Poornima Banerji (younger sister ofAruna Asaf Ali) but the members of the Working Committee of the AISC like Raj Narayan Singh, PrabhuNarayan Singh, Dr, Ram Chandra Shukla and other important student leaders like Jang Bahadur Singh (am notsure if Anandeshwar Prasad Singh was there or not) and less important workers like me were staying in thosecamps. I remember Major Gen. Shah Nawaz and Dr. Ram Chandra Shukla, C-in-C of the AISC Volunteer Corpsin their glittering uniforms taking salute at the national flag hoisting ceremony there. I was totally impressed bythe personality of Frontier Gandhi who performed the miracle of turning Pathans from dreaded armed men intotrue believers in non-violence preached by Mahatma Gandhi. This is an incredible event in world history ignoredby Western historians. Frontier Gandhi was among the three leaders who had opposed the partition plan at theAICC meeting in Bombay in 1946. He told his colleagues that they were throwing the people of the NWFP intothe mouths of wolves. When he visited many important places in India on the occasion of the celebration ofGandhiji’s birth anniversary in 1969 he expressed his anguish at the role of many top leaders of the Congress atthe time of the Partition. My former colleague, Sri V. Kalyanam, who was steno or secretary to Gandhiji inNoakhali and worked later as Asstt. Commissioner for SC &ST in early 1950s at Madras, met Frontier Gandhiat Madras, he often talked of his memories of Gandhiji and Frontier Gandhi and showed me hundreds of letters/notes written by Gandhiji on scraps of paper including the reverse of used envelopes. I don’t know what happenedto that priceless treasure. In December 1946 I also had the privilege of meeting the Presidents and GeneralSecretaries of all the PCCs called by the Congress President Acharya JB Kripalani at a special camp of the topnational leaders at Allahabad. They included, among others, Dr. Khan Sahib, Premier of the NWFP and brotherof Frontier Gandhi, Abdus Samad Khan, the Balochi Gandhi, Dr, Saifuddin Kitchlew, President of Punjab PCC(who had presided over the historic Jallianwala Bagh meeting in Amritsar), Jairamdas Daulatram and ChoithramGidwani from Sindh, Seth Damodar Swaroop from UP, Saadullah from Assam. etc. Those were intoxicating daysof the last days of the freedom struggle. Today we salute the memories of those noble souls who sacrificed theirlives in the service of the motherland.

suffocating us these days and it willhave an impact on our collectiveconscience as well. We spread evilsfast but don’t make efforts to spread

the good word. Dr. Singh himselfsays that people belonging to themajority should live amongst theminorities to understand their

problems, fears and concerns and toaccept them as their own. Then onlya beautiful India is possible. He alsoadvises the minorities to engage



themselves with the rest of thepopulation and avoid walking thepath alone. The minority should alsolearn to judge a person by his deedsrather than his/her religion. He goeson to add that more minorities shouldget educated and become openminded so that a beautiful India canbe envisioned and realised.

Dr. Kush Singh works in theMetropolis Lab in Mohan Estate. HisLab had a tradition of distributingsweets on Diwali. Realising that 18-20 staff members out of 60-65 wereMuslims he got sweets distributed onEid too this year. For his Muslimcolleagues as well as hisadministration this was a welcomesurprise. The Lab administration hasnow taken the resposibility upon itselfto distribute sweets on Eid every yearin addition to Diwali.

Dr. Singh is part of the nationalcore team of Khudai Khidmatgarnow. He is involved in day-to-dayactivities of Khudai Khidmatgar. Heis also been made a trustee theKhudai Khidmatgar Trust. Hebelieves other organisations likeKhudai Khidmatgar should goamong people and conductdialogues and meetings for culuturalexchanges between communitieswithout any delay so thatmisunderstandings between thecommunities can be removed. Hethinks extremism is rapidlyspreading among educated youth.He says, ‘I am a doctor and I knowthat when we are among our owncommunity how vicious and vile weget.’ Earlier when his friends usedto say things against othercommunities he used to beperplexed as to what extent peoplecan go to hate each other. He usedto answer his friend that even ifwe agree that people in our countryare bad it’s us only who can take

them towards goodness, it’s ourduty. He says, ‘Religion now a daysis in the hands of opportunisticpeople who use it to serve theirown agendas. Religion is meant tomake a person a better soul and toelevate humanity to higherpedestal.’ He appreciates the factthat Khudai Khidmatgar instead ofrejecting religion has presented thehuman face of religion. He addsthat Khudai Khidmatgar highlightsmessages of harmony on bothProphet Mohammed’s birthday aswell as Ram Navmi and this is whyit is winning hearts and making asecular space among communities.He thinks both Gandhi and FrontierGandhi also used this strategy forpeace and brotherhood during theirtimes. He says, ‘The time I spent

with Khudai Khidmatgar was apractical experiment which hasremoved many misconceptions thatI had earlier. We all should livetogether in harmony and give timeto understand each other with loveand sacrifice. Then only a stronger,beautiful and development orientedIndia would emerge which wasdreamt of by our forefathers. Mayour children play and rejoice in thisbeautiful and smiling India for whichwe are putting in our efforts.’ Henarrates that whenever he mentionsto his office colleagues that he livesin Jamia Nagar they stare at himfor a while in disbelief and thissurprise sometimes leads tomeaningful conversations. Dr. Singhis a mirror to the society, a ray ofhope, light of love.

I admired the courage andcommitment of people, howeversmall in number, lighting candles atKarachi or taking out a processionat Lahore some years ago inmemory of those who had died inthe Mumbai attack. This is the timewhen India needs understanding.This is also the occasion when faithin good relations between India andPakistan is tested.

But at the same time, Pakistanshould understand and appreciateIndia’s anger. Those who attackedMumbai or Pathankot might be theAl-Qaida and the Taliban who areplaying havoc in Pakistan as well.These are the organizations whichare helping, training and armingthem. Why have such extremistsremained beyond the pale of law?Even when some of them were“detained” after the attack on India’sParliament, they were practicallyfree to preach and spread poison.India suspects that

those arrested after the Mumbaicarnage would have the front doorof their house shut while the backdoor was open.

No world power, exceptGermany, has directly accused thePakistan government for the attackson Mumbai. Investigators believethat all attacks on India are linked tomembers of one terrorist group orthe other in Pakistan. Whateverevidence that had India provided inthe past Pakistan has failed to prodIslamabad.

The National Investi-gation Agency (NIA), which isprobing into the recent Uri incident,was set up with a fanfare in 2009 toassuage public anger over a similarseries of failure leading up to 26/11.They were entrusted with cases butthe result so far has been dismal.What the NIA will do in the presentcase is to be seen. The nation iswaiting for a retaliatory action.



End caste baseddiscrimination and ensure effectiveimplementation of the SC/ST Act:The resource struggle is alsoinherently a caste and class struggleand Dalits and Adivasis have beenat the receiving end. The castebased violence and systematicelimination of the rights and dignityof the community is being done incollaboration with the political andcaste elite leading to their furtherimpoverishment and disempower-ment. The inability of the system toensure justice to victims of the caste-based violence on every count hasensured its continuation without fearof any impunity. This is condemnableand unacceptable. Supreme Courtand Higher Courts must take suo-moto cognizance of these offencesand ensure fast tracking of the caseson line of the violence againstwomen cases. This will not onlyensure justice but also prevent futureattacks on the community.

Bhumi Adhikar Andolan reassertsand reaffirms its faith in thereservations provided for the SC/STcommunities by the IndianConstitution as a way to address thehistorical injustice. The ongoingattempts to subvert that by somepolitical forces and caste groups inthe name of economic justice is notacceptable and any heed to that bythe governments and political partiesis primarily based on vote bankcalculations.

Withdraw all fabricated casesfrom the social and cultural activists,tribals, dalits, farmers and students:a number of activists have beenframed on numerous false chargesand incarcerated. In the currentpolitical climate, the targeting of

Socialist Party (India)

activists has increased manifold andthus their victimisation as well. AsBhumi Adhikaar Andolan, we extendsupport and solidarity to the activistsand movements facing policeoppression and support the effort toestablish a people’s commission todefend the rights of the activists.

Repeal AFSPA and Stopincreased militarisation in conflictregions: Recent judgement of theSupreme Court has validated the longterm demand of the movements forwithdrawal of the AFSPA from J&K,and many of the North East states.Under AFSPA, many heinous crimeshave been committed without anyprosecution often feeding in to thevicious circle of continuing violence.The continued unrest is also due to

heavy militarisation within theseareas, which often leads to hardshipsfor the citizens of those areas.

Assert democratic rights ofassociation, freedom of expressionand raise voice against any incursion:A climate of fear and intimidation isbeing promoted specifically targetedat muzzling dissent, restrictingfreedom of association, assembly ofcitizens to criticise anti people policiesof the government and control orclose down any democratic spacesavailable for free speech andgathering. These attempts by theState and vigilante groups are notacceptable in the largest democracyof the world, and are completelyviolates the ideas and principlesenshrined in the Indian constitution.

Bhumi Adhikar Andolan-II

National Committee of theSocialiat Party met at Delhi on 15-9-2016. Girish Kumar Pandey,working president was in the chair.Prominent among those presentwere Pannalal Surana, SandipPandeyy, Satish Agrawal, FaisalKhan, Rajshekharan Nair, Shriniwas,Harminder Singh Mansahia,Sacchidanand Singh, Renu Gambhir,Neeraj Kumar, Shashank andJanakiprasad Goud. The committeetook the following decisions:

1. As Jayanti Panchal hadtendered resignation from the postof treasurer, Neeraj Kumar waselected as the treasurer.

2. Neeraj Kumar and Adv.Shashank were authorized to formnational committee of the SYS.

3. National Conference of the

Party will be held on 12 and 13November, 2016 at ChediramDharmashala, Lucknow. Threedelegates from every such district inwhich party members are enrolledso far will participate in the NationalConference. State Secretariesshould communicate their names andpostal addresses to JanakiprasadGoud, President, U.P. State before20 October, 2016.

4. Mobilise party organizationto contest Assembly elections inU.P. Punjab, Uttarakhand, and Goa.Membership enrolment drive to beconcluded by 31 December.2016.

5. Chairman of the CentralParliamentary Board will appointElection Committees for U.P. andPunjab very soon.

–Pannalal Surana


License to Post without prepayment WPP License No. MH/Tech/WPP-210/West/2016Published on Sunday, September 25, 2016 & Posted on Wedenesday September 28, 2016 at Mumbai Patrika Channel, Mumbai GPO-1

Appeal

Dear Friend

Hindi medium school for children of migrant labourers coming from Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh,Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Nepal: This school was started two years ago in order toprovide education to the children of labourers so that they do not work as child labourers. Children of this schoolare taught in Hindi language. Today this school is running from two different areas of Mundra taluka, namely,Mundra and Samagoga, catering to the educational needs of more than 700 children.The education is providedfree of charge to these children. Besides, they are provided with bus facility, uniform, books and mid-daymeals. The school has also got recognition from the Gujarat government for classes 1 to 8 of these schools.

We need your support in our effort to provide education to these children.We are requesting you to sponsoratleast one child, at a cost of Rs. 2000/- per child per annum. Our target is to raise sponsorship for 500 children.

The donations to the YMC are tax-exempt under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act, 1961.Your Cheque/Draftmay please be drawn in favour of “Yusuf Meherally Centre” and sent to the following address:

Hindi medium school for children of migrant labourers coming from Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh,Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Nepal: This school was started two years ago in order toprovide education to the children of labourers so that they do not work as child labourers. Children of this schoolare taught in Hindi language. Today this school is running from two different areas of Mundra taluka, namely,Mundra and Samagoga, catering to the educational needs of more than 700 children.The education is providedfree of charge to these children. Besides, they are provided with bus facility, uniform, books and mid-daymeals. The school has also got recognition from the Gujarat government for classes 1 to 8 of these schools.

We need your support in our effort to provide education to these children.We are requesting you to sponsoratleast one child, at a cost of Rs. 2000/- per child per annum. Our target is to raise sponsorship for 500 children.

The donations to the YMC are tax-exempt under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act, 1961.Your Cheque/Draftmay please be drawn in favour of “Yusuf Meherally Centre” and sent to the following address:

Dharmendra Kumar

The Project coordinatorYusuf Meherally Centre

At+post –Bhadreshwar,Tal-Mundra, Kutch,Ph-02838282375,[email protected]

The donations can be sent to us by way of bank transfer too. Our bank details are:Name of the Account: Yusuf Meherally CentreAccount No. 071510003139, Dena Bank, Branch: BHADRESHWARIFSC Code: BKDN0330715 (used for RTGS, IMPS and NEFT transactions)Branch Code : 330715, Mundra, Kutch, Gujarat, India

vol. 71 no. 23 avoidable distraction - wordpress.com · 2018-10-04 · for the achievement of...

Documents