Internet has become our virtual world and social networking sites like Orkut, Facebook, MySpace among many others are acting as tools that bind people together. But if you think that these sites are just another way to reach out to friends and colleagues then think again! Social networking sites on the Internet not only serve as a meeting ground for like-minded people, but also defy the geographical boundaries between them. They enable you to interact with people who share similar tastes and interests.
Online Networking has moved on from being just another fad to a social phenomenon and an influential one at that. Let’s just look at some bare facts- Google’s highly popular social networking platform Orkut was launched in January 2004. By the end of July 2004 it had crossed the 1 million member mark and the latest figures suggest that Orkut has more that 67,000,000 members (Wikipedia rocks!!). Similarly MySpace has about 70 million users spread all across the globe. The numbers definitely are mind boggling.
Any networking site is similar to each other in a way as during the initial sign up process members are asked to provide their basic information. This includes small bits of general information like favourite music, cinema genre, books, TV shows to some more personal details like contact number, address to even sexual orientation. Although all information supplied is optional for the user, according to rapidly evolving but basically amorphous ‘cyber ethics’ it’s uncool to appear coy in the virtual world. Instant gratification is the biggest incentive through virtual friends and concocted affections are one of the biggest USP of online camaraderie and by being prude the individual creates a barrier around him/her.
Till this point everything is good but the moment any over-enthusiastic user makes sensitive information like personal contact details (like mobile number/e-mail id) or sexual proclivities public the situation gets a bit problematic. Caution is something we practice in our daily lives as any of natural tendency. Strangely the moment we ‘log-in’ to our online profile we let our guard down. People easily part with their telephone numbers and share pictures with a perfect stranger about whose identity/background we can never be sure of. The knowledge that the incognito of anonymity will aid their misdeeds has endeared the web to mischief makers but is that a fault of the medium?
The recent spurt of cyber crimes (‘Orkut Crimes’ as the Indian media calls it) has resulted in calls from certain section of society that these sites be either regulated or shut-down. Now we don’t shoot the messenger who delivers a bad news! Similarly we need to understand that the web and the networking sites are just a medium and not the reason of the crimes. Orkut, which happens to be the most popular networking site in India, has recently been involved in various controversies. According to statistics available with the Delhi Police, a total of 17 cases related to hacking, obscenity, e-commerce fraud and Internet-related crimes were registered in 2006 from Delhi NCR region. Now this is a substantial number in a country where there are only 2 personal computers per 100 people! These figures don’t mean that the spurt in the popularity levels of social networking sites are the bane of the web world, especially in India. What they mean is that our Cyber laws are ambiguous and inadequate to curb modern day cyber crimes. What we really need is to be more aware and get a hang of these new technological forms. It is very easy to blame technology for everything but while doing so what we forget is that is just a reflection of what’s going on in the real world.
Innumerable political and civil strife have ensured that at any given time there are millions of refugees spread across the length and breadth of the globe. This pain is shared only by those who have suffered it or witnessed it first hand. In such circumstances internet becomes a really powerful and effective medium for these people to share their experience and sometimes to form a kind of public opinion for their cause. The example of Tibetan people living in India explains this phenomenon effectively.
A sizeable numbers of Tibetans call India home for past two-three generations now but still their status here is that of refugees and also they are very particular about maintaining a separate identity for all these decades. The current net savvy generation is now taking the protest against Chinese occupation to their homeland inside the World Wide Web. Their community on Orkut and Hi5 is growing at an exponential rate and the depth of discussion that is being held on these communities is simply amazing.
No doubt it is a two edged weapon as this very platform is also used for carrying hate campaigns and spreading communalism. On October 10, 2006 Mumbai High Court's Aurangabad bench served a notice on Google for allowing a hate campaign against India, refering to a community on Orkut called 'We Hate India'. Similarly politicians like Arjun Singh and Mayawati have been targeted by individuals for various reasons and despite legal notices nothing substantial have come out of it.
The unfortunate death of the Mumbai lad Adnan Patrawala could very well have been avoided had he taken some other friend or family member to meet his Orkut friends. Social networking sites encourage people to make ‘virtual friends’ and allows them to do so in an uninhibited manner i.e. without the fear of them being judged on the basis of their appearance etc. But everyone has to draw a line when it comes to sharing personal information with a stranger, how so ever friendly he may seem. Finally to conclude on a bright note, a study commissioned in US by the National School Boards Association surveyed students between nine and 17 years as well as parents and teachers to find out the number of people who have faced a cyber stalker or has been victimised through any of the social networking sites. The report said over 96 per cent of students with online access used one of these social networking services but only 0.08% actually met a person they got acquainted with online. So the bottom-line of the whole issue is a guideline for parents (ya even the overbearing ones!)-give your children space to grow but don’t leave them alone!
March 31, 2012
Letter to the edidor " OUTLOOK" on GHOST STORY
A GHOST STORY- LETTER
This is my observation on Capitalism as covered by Arundhati Roy in the cover story: “A Ghost Story” dt March 26th, 2012.
We must head for a balance approach. Capitalism is an evil, and you cannot regulate evil. You have to eliminate it and replace it with something that is good for all people.
Capitalism is responsible for nearly everything that makes human existence easy and comfortable. The automobile, the supermarket, the personal computer, the washing machine, the hammer-drill, the iPhone, the airplane, the TV set, the chewing gum, electricity and countless other good things have all been birthed and mass produced by capitalism.
There is only one way in which this process can be reversed – through right education. People must be exposed to facts and information about the beneficial nature of capitalism and the deleterious effects of government intervention. Although changing the prevailing mindset is never easy, we have at our fingertips an immense amount of material to make the case. The fact that most people have never been properly exposed to it shows what a monumental fraud our education establishment is. It is our task to ensure that people get this information, so that they can see through the lies they have been taught and told. Only when enough people see the truth will we be able to restore this country's capitalist foundation. America's survival depends on it.
A commendable effort. The article might have been triggered by her visit to Antilla the 27-story home of India's richest Indian - Mukesh Ambani. (Antilla is also the most expensive residence of any living person in the world.) I have not seen it yet, but I suspect I will faint whenever, if ever I set my eyes on it. Because only a kilometre from it are the cages of Kamatipura, probably the world's worst centre of human trafficking. If I am invited into Antilla's hallowed portals, I guess I will have a heart attack. Come on, do invite me, come on!
Rumour has it that the first couple and family doesn't stay in this huge pad of their's because of bad Vastu (traditional architectural concepts) and ghosts. In my own meagre house I get a queasy feeling when wifey and Ronnie are away. So our fears become ghosts lurking in the shadows behind expensive curtains, in deserted guest rooms. Why even car parks are spooky these days.
As she says trickle-down capitalism has failed. How are India's 10 per cent holding all the wealth while people are dying of hunger in the interiors? Well, that's a question nobody is asking because we all are beneficiaries of the capitalist make-believe. We all profit from it one way or the other, even Arundhati does. However, must admit her guts in exposing the very system she may even be part of. Let's remember the hungry millions when we gorge on those expensive tarts and chocolate fudges.
Here's to Arundhati Roy's versatile pen and its vitriolic ink!
SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA,
LAWYER,
NEAR PROFESSORS’ COLONY,
BUDHARAJA,
SAMBALPUR,
ODISHA,
PIN – 768004.
This is my observation on Capitalism as covered by Arundhati Roy in the cover story: “A Ghost Story” dt March 26th, 2012.
We must head for a balance approach. Capitalism is an evil, and you cannot regulate evil. You have to eliminate it and replace it with something that is good for all people.
Capitalism is responsible for nearly everything that makes human existence easy and comfortable. The automobile, the supermarket, the personal computer, the washing machine, the hammer-drill, the iPhone, the airplane, the TV set, the chewing gum, electricity and countless other good things have all been birthed and mass produced by capitalism.
There is only one way in which this process can be reversed – through right education. People must be exposed to facts and information about the beneficial nature of capitalism and the deleterious effects of government intervention. Although changing the prevailing mindset is never easy, we have at our fingertips an immense amount of material to make the case. The fact that most people have never been properly exposed to it shows what a monumental fraud our education establishment is. It is our task to ensure that people get this information, so that they can see through the lies they have been taught and told. Only when enough people see the truth will we be able to restore this country's capitalist foundation. America's survival depends on it.
A commendable effort. The article might have been triggered by her visit to Antilla the 27-story home of India's richest Indian - Mukesh Ambani. (Antilla is also the most expensive residence of any living person in the world.) I have not seen it yet, but I suspect I will faint whenever, if ever I set my eyes on it. Because only a kilometre from it are the cages of Kamatipura, probably the world's worst centre of human trafficking. If I am invited into Antilla's hallowed portals, I guess I will have a heart attack. Come on, do invite me, come on!
Rumour has it that the first couple and family doesn't stay in this huge pad of their's because of bad Vastu (traditional architectural concepts) and ghosts. In my own meagre house I get a queasy feeling when wifey and Ronnie are away. So our fears become ghosts lurking in the shadows behind expensive curtains, in deserted guest rooms. Why even car parks are spooky these days.
As she says trickle-down capitalism has failed. How are India's 10 per cent holding all the wealth while people are dying of hunger in the interiors? Well, that's a question nobody is asking because we all are beneficiaries of the capitalist make-believe. We all profit from it one way or the other, even Arundhati does. However, must admit her guts in exposing the very system she may even be part of. Let's remember the hungry millions when we gorge on those expensive tarts and chocolate fudges.
Here's to Arundhati Roy's versatile pen and its vitriolic ink!
SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA,
LAWYER,
NEAR PROFESSORS’ COLONY,
BUDHARAJA,
SAMBALPUR,
ODISHA,
PIN – 768004.
Revoke suspension order of Dhinkia sarpanch Anti Posco activists demanded
Revoke suspension order of Dhinkia sarpanch Anti Posco activists demanded 31/03/2012
SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA, BUREAU CHIEF, THESE DAYS,ODISHA
ODISHA NEWS/BHUBANESWAR:
The anti-Posco villagers have cheered after hearing the verdict of National Green Tribunal for suspension of environmental clearance to Posco steel project by demanding immediate scarping of Posco project and urged the lifting of suspension to the sarpanch of Dhinkia panchyat.
The National Green Tribunal has been suspended the green clearance to Posco's mega steel project in January 2011 on today. Conditional green clearance to Posco project by MOEF despite difference report by Meena Gupta and Saexena Committee and suspension of this green clearance by Green Tribunal after expediting land acquisition process from 2011, has been met with bouquets and brickbats.
The decision of MOEF shocked activists and environmental experts — including those who were part of the Ministry's own inquiry committee — leaving them outraged by the “farcical” nature of the order, which they say, supports violations of the law while the then Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh had granted a final forest clearance to Posco’s Rs. 54,000 crore integrated steel project in Paradip, He also urged action against the sarpanch of Dhinkia Mr. Sisir Mohapatra for giving false report on palli sbaha.
The activists of Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti have been vowed that it would not accept the Ministry's verdict. They threatened not to give up our lands, our forests and our homes to this company. Their stir has been continued so that government has not yet acquired one inch land from Dhinkia area.
It may be recalled that this project, India's single largest foreign direct investment, is the result of a memorandum of understanding signed between the Orissa government and Korean steel giant Posco in June 2005 which has been expired since two years. It had received environmental approvals in 2007 and a forest clearance in 2009, but after numerous protests from local people and environmental experts, the Environment Ministry set up a four-member inquiry committee and ordered the State government to stop land transfer to Posco.
After getting green clearance for MOEF in 2011, land acquisition process has been continued in Gadkujanga and Nuagaon panchyats ingoing Dhinkia panchyat due to people’s resistance.
‘Welcoming this verdict, PPSS activists have strongly criticized the then union Minister Mr. Ramesh and Odisha Chief Minister Mr. Naveen Patnaik for selling the livelihoods of 4,000 people, and the laws of the land, to the highest bidder. The real truth has come out by the intervention of Green Tribunal so PPSS activists have urged to scarp this project- said assistant secretary, PPSS cum ex- panchyat samiti member Mr Prakash Jena.
As per the direction Union Minister Mr. Ramesh, Sarpanch of Dhinkia gram panchayat and secretary of PPSS Mr Mahapatra was suspended by district Collector for allegedly misleading the MOEF with regard to the Palli Sabha resolutions against acquisition of forest land for the proposed steel mill. The district administration had issued a show cause notice to Mr. Mohapatra on May 24 and on May 26 issued an order of suspension against him for violating Orissa Gram Panchayat (OGP) Act-1964 and resorting to the fraudulent act of preparing and furnishing a fake palli sabha resolution.
Mr. Jena clarified ‘the resolution which was submitted by the then sarpanch Mr. Mohapatra was not fake and genuine which has been proved on today’s verdict so that his suspension order should be lifted by the state government ‘.he added.
On the other hand, Mr. Mohapatra has also welcomed the verdict of Green Tribunal so we have demanded to scarp this Posco project. I have not wanted the post of sarpanch but I have determined to intensify stir against Posco project as a member of PPSS.
Leaders of United Action Committee, a pro Posco outfit Mr. Nirvay Samantray and Tamil Pradhan remarked about the uncertainty of mega Posco project for frequent suspension of forest clearance so it has been happened due to lack of coordination between both state and union governments .
SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA, BUREAU CHIEF, THESE DAYS,ODISHA
ODISHA NEWS/BHUBANESWAR:
The anti-Posco villagers have cheered after hearing the verdict of National Green Tribunal for suspension of environmental clearance to Posco steel project by demanding immediate scarping of Posco project and urged the lifting of suspension to the sarpanch of Dhinkia panchyat.
The National Green Tribunal has been suspended the green clearance to Posco's mega steel project in January 2011 on today. Conditional green clearance to Posco project by MOEF despite difference report by Meena Gupta and Saexena Committee and suspension of this green clearance by Green Tribunal after expediting land acquisition process from 2011, has been met with bouquets and brickbats.
The decision of MOEF shocked activists and environmental experts — including those who were part of the Ministry's own inquiry committee — leaving them outraged by the “farcical” nature of the order, which they say, supports violations of the law while the then Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh had granted a final forest clearance to Posco’s Rs. 54,000 crore integrated steel project in Paradip, He also urged action against the sarpanch of Dhinkia Mr. Sisir Mohapatra for giving false report on palli sbaha.
The activists of Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti have been vowed that it would not accept the Ministry's verdict. They threatened not to give up our lands, our forests and our homes to this company. Their stir has been continued so that government has not yet acquired one inch land from Dhinkia area.
It may be recalled that this project, India's single largest foreign direct investment, is the result of a memorandum of understanding signed between the Orissa government and Korean steel giant Posco in June 2005 which has been expired since two years. It had received environmental approvals in 2007 and a forest clearance in 2009, but after numerous protests from local people and environmental experts, the Environment Ministry set up a four-member inquiry committee and ordered the State government to stop land transfer to Posco.
After getting green clearance for MOEF in 2011, land acquisition process has been continued in Gadkujanga and Nuagaon panchyats ingoing Dhinkia panchyat due to people’s resistance.
‘Welcoming this verdict, PPSS activists have strongly criticized the then union Minister Mr. Ramesh and Odisha Chief Minister Mr. Naveen Patnaik for selling the livelihoods of 4,000 people, and the laws of the land, to the highest bidder. The real truth has come out by the intervention of Green Tribunal so PPSS activists have urged to scarp this project- said assistant secretary, PPSS cum ex- panchyat samiti member Mr Prakash Jena.
As per the direction Union Minister Mr. Ramesh, Sarpanch of Dhinkia gram panchayat and secretary of PPSS Mr Mahapatra was suspended by district Collector for allegedly misleading the MOEF with regard to the Palli Sabha resolutions against acquisition of forest land for the proposed steel mill. The district administration had issued a show cause notice to Mr. Mohapatra on May 24 and on May 26 issued an order of suspension against him for violating Orissa Gram Panchayat (OGP) Act-1964 and resorting to the fraudulent act of preparing and furnishing a fake palli sabha resolution.
Mr. Jena clarified ‘the resolution which was submitted by the then sarpanch Mr. Mohapatra was not fake and genuine which has been proved on today’s verdict so that his suspension order should be lifted by the state government ‘.he added.
On the other hand, Mr. Mohapatra has also welcomed the verdict of Green Tribunal so we have demanded to scarp this Posco project. I have not wanted the post of sarpanch but I have determined to intensify stir against Posco project as a member of PPSS.
Leaders of United Action Committee, a pro Posco outfit Mr. Nirvay Samantray and Tamil Pradhan remarked about the uncertainty of mega Posco project for frequent suspension of forest clearance so it has been happened due to lack of coordination between both state and union governments .
ODISHA CM WANTS CMAS TO TAKE AND TIME SHOULD BE GIVEN TO HIM FOR SATISFY THE MAOISTS
ODISHA CM WANTS CMAS TO TAKE AND TIME SHOULD BE GIVEN TO HIM FOR SATISFY THE MAOISTS 31/03/2012
SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA , BUREAU CHIEF, THESE DAYS, ODISHA
ODISHA NEWS/BHUBANESWAR:
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday invited the Maoist-backed organisation, Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangha (CMAS) for dialogue to free MLA Jhina Hikaka.
“As the demands of the rebels were similar to that of the CMAS, the State Government is open to dialogue with the Sangh members. Therefore, we invite the Sangh to nominate their representatives for talks,” Patnaik informed the State Assembly in the evening.
Meanwhile, talks to release of the Italian national Paolo Bosusco is hanging for the last two days. Patnaik on Friday said that his Government needs more time to examine the demands of the Maoists.
Patnaik informed that the Government has received the recent demands of the rebels through their two negotiators for the release of Italian Bosusco Paolo (54), who continues to be in the captivity of the rebels since March 14.
“Since these demands involve further examination, little more time is required by our State Government,” Patnaik told the Assembly.
Referring to Naveen’s statement, the maoist-nominated interlocutors B D Sharma and Dandapani Mohanty seemed to be worried over the attitude of the Government in delaying the talks.
It is noteworthy to mention that Mohanty had virtually threatened the Government to withdraw from the ongoing negotiation if the Government did not concede the short-listed demands out of the 13 points in response to the good will gesture shown in releasing Colangelo, who was freed on March 25. He had also warned that the Government would be held responsible for the consequences in the event of breaking up of the negotiations.
Mohanty on Thursday said the rebels may release the second Italian if the government fulfils at least three of the demands. The demands are release of about 20-25 people already declared innocent by courts but later booked on several false charges, implementation of court order to prosecute policemen responsible for custodial deaths and release tribals booked on false charges.
In the meanwhile, the State Government has not made any progress on getting the release of ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) legislator Jhina Hikaka who has been held hostage by another group of leftwing extremists in a hilly area of Koraput district since March 24.
The group which has claimed responsibility for the abduction of the legislator has made more or less the same 13 demands. They have refused to appoint any negotiator on their behalf.
SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA , BUREAU CHIEF, THESE DAYS, ODISHA
ODISHA NEWS/BHUBANESWAR:
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday invited the Maoist-backed organisation, Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangha (CMAS) for dialogue to free MLA Jhina Hikaka.
“As the demands of the rebels were similar to that of the CMAS, the State Government is open to dialogue with the Sangh members. Therefore, we invite the Sangh to nominate their representatives for talks,” Patnaik informed the State Assembly in the evening.
Meanwhile, talks to release of the Italian national Paolo Bosusco is hanging for the last two days. Patnaik on Friday said that his Government needs more time to examine the demands of the Maoists.
Patnaik informed that the Government has received the recent demands of the rebels through their two negotiators for the release of Italian Bosusco Paolo (54), who continues to be in the captivity of the rebels since March 14.
“Since these demands involve further examination, little more time is required by our State Government,” Patnaik told the Assembly.
Referring to Naveen’s statement, the maoist-nominated interlocutors B D Sharma and Dandapani Mohanty seemed to be worried over the attitude of the Government in delaying the talks.
It is noteworthy to mention that Mohanty had virtually threatened the Government to withdraw from the ongoing negotiation if the Government did not concede the short-listed demands out of the 13 points in response to the good will gesture shown in releasing Colangelo, who was freed on March 25. He had also warned that the Government would be held responsible for the consequences in the event of breaking up of the negotiations.
Mohanty on Thursday said the rebels may release the second Italian if the government fulfils at least three of the demands. The demands are release of about 20-25 people already declared innocent by courts but later booked on several false charges, implementation of court order to prosecute policemen responsible for custodial deaths and release tribals booked on false charges.
In the meanwhile, the State Government has not made any progress on getting the release of ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) legislator Jhina Hikaka who has been held hostage by another group of leftwing extremists in a hilly area of Koraput district since March 24.
The group which has claimed responsibility for the abduction of the legislator has made more or less the same 13 demands. They have refused to appoint any negotiator on their behalf.
March 30, 2012
The public needs both gavel and pen
The public needs both gavel and pen
SIDARTH VARDRAJAN IN THE HINDU
The Supreme Court's proposal to impose guidelines on how to report cases will be harmful to press freedom and democracy, the bedrock of which is an informed public.
The Judiciary is the third branch of government. As with the Executive and Legislature, the public has a right to see and know and understand the functioning of this branch. That is why India, like every other democracy, has embraced the concept of open court proceedings and trials, except in those situations where, for security or other compelling reasons, in camera hearings are required.
In the Mirajkar case (Naresh Shridhar Mirajkar And Ors vs State Of Maharashtra And Anron 3 March, 1966) a nine-judge Bench of the Supreme Court under its legendary Chief Justice, P.B. Gajendragadkar, held that “save in exceptional cases, the proceedings of aCourt of justice should be open to the public”.
“A Court of justice is a public forum”, the 1966 judgment declares. “It is through publicity that the citizens are convinced that the Court renders evenhanded justice, and it is, therefore, necessary that the trial should be open to the public and there should be no restraint on the publication of the report of the Court proceedings. The publicity generates public confidence in the administration of justice. In rare and exceptional cases only, the Court may hold the trial behind closed doors, or may forbid the publication of the report of its proceedings during the pendency of the litigation.” (emphasis added)
Unrestricted openness
Once the objective of a public trial in open court is accepted, it is obvious that this openness cannot be restricted to those members of the public who have the facility and inclination to be present in a given court at a given time; rather, the reference is to the wider public, to the citizenry as a whole. The only way court proceedings, and the wider functioning of the judicial system, can be subject to public scrutiny is if the media — who are the people's eyes and ears — have the freedom to both be present in open court and to give an account of what transpires in open court.
It is thanks to contemporary newspaper reports of the day-to-day hearings in landmark cases like Kesavanada Bharati (1973) (certainly in The Hindu, and perhaps elsewhere too) that the public then — and legal scholars now — have an accurate picture of all the intricacies involved, including the oral arguments made and questions raised by the Bench. Many more such examples can be cited.
To be sure, covering the courts requires skill, competence and some domain knowledge of the law, in much the same way that coverage of foreign policy, defence, business and finance, and even politics requires reporters knowledgeable about those subjects. The Supreme Court has seen fit to specify that accredited correspondents must possess a law degree; it has also quantified the amount of reporting experience, at different levels of the judiciary, that these correspondents must have. No other branch of government or public or private institution — not the armed forces or Defence Ministry, not the Ministry of External Affairs, the Police, the Ministry of Agriculture or Health — has insisted on a degree or professional qualification as a condition for accreditation. Nor to my knowledge is a law degree a requirement to get accreditation as a correspondent to the Supreme Courts of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, South Africa, etc. I raise this point here not to challenge the Supreme Court of India's system of media accreditation, but merely to note that having raised the bar for entry, imposing further restrictions in the form of guidelines on these correspondents — all of whom have been allowed in precisely because of their knowledge of, and sensitivity towards, the functioning of the Court — seems especially superfluous.
No doubt the most experienced and knowledgeable reporter can make a mistake on a particular matter. These mistakes can be harmless, hurting only the reputation of the concerned journalist or media house. But there can be mistakes which have consequences for the reputations of the parties to a case and their counsel, or to the Bench and Court. If an error by a reporter has adverse consequences for the reputation or standing of the Court or plaintiffs, remedies exist under existing statute and court procedures and it is up to the Bench or the affected parties to invoke those remedies. If a factual mistake has been made, or wrong information conveyed, no media house can claim immunity, on the basis of press freedom, from the ordinary process of law. If the error is innocent, and the Court is convinced this is so, the matter might rest with a simple apology; if, on the other hand, mala fide is suspected, the Court is empowered to take punitive action.
Given these remedies, none of which are necessarily inconsistent with constitutionally guaranteed press freedoms, it would seem unnecessary to impose a regime of “prior restraint” or even “temporary postponement” via guidelines on what aspects of court proceedings may be reported. Indeed, such a regime would have a chilling effect on media coverage of the Supreme Court and, eventually, the entire judiciary, at great cost to the general interest of society.
It is true that the Law Commission has recommended ‘postponement' of reportage citing jurisdictions such as Australia and Canada, where jury trials are sought to be insulated from public opinion. But in India, there is no trial by jury; and surely the judicial independence of judges — and their vulnerability to what appears in the media — cannot be the same as that of the average citizen-juror.
Of course, it is a matter of concern that sections of the print and visual media sometimes report police accounts of crimes without the necessary qualifiers demonstrating that the truth of the matter is not known. Worse still, these accounts are often attributed not to named officers but to ‘anonymous' police sources. An individual may thus stand “convicted” in the eyes of the public without any recourse to corrective measures. The bald reporting of a petitioner's claims or accusations can also mislead the public if presented as fact. These are real problems that require remedying. However, a true reading of Article 19 of the Constitution requires that the press regulate itself in this regard and strive, as a collective, for the highest ethical standards. Given the public's growing disenchantment with the media in the wake of various scandals, it is also in the media's interest to heal itself. This is a subject journalists are pursuing at multiple levels within the print media and there is also the oversight of the Press Council of India, which, under the chairmanship of Justice Markandey Katju, has re-energised itself. Imposing further judicial restrictions on democratic access to information concerning Supreme Court proceedings would amount to overkill.
Undermines people's right
My apprehension is that if the Supreme Court, which sits at the apex of the third branch of government, were to insist that reporters covering it abide by guidelines that the Court itself lays down, this would open the door to the other branches of government — that too, at all levels — making similar demands on the media as a precondition to gaining access to Parliament and Legislatures, Ministries, public institutions, hospitals, universities, etc. The natural instinct of most politicians and bureaucrats is to hide or suppress information on one pretext or another. The adoption of media guidelines by the Supreme Court would embolden them, further undermining the public's right to be informed. Recently, for example, a Karnataka Assembly committee tasked with investigating the scandal involving Ministers caught on camera watching pornographic material sought to blame the media for recording what the Ministers were doing. Shouldn't you be focusing just on the official Assembly proceedings, journalists were asked.
Courts in open societies elsewhere, particularly in North America, may have had occasion to be upset with media coverage of cases but they have not sought to frame guidelines of the sort being envisaged by the Supreme Court of India. The only etiquette rules courts in the United States seem to focus on are the circumstances under which journalists may use recording devices and cameras. Today, the debate on this issue in the United States is focused on whether journalists should be allowed to carry mobile devices into the Supreme Court so that they can “tweet” live from inside without having to come outside the courtroom. The court forbids this. At issue, however, is not the right of the journalist to provide near-live coverage of a hearing, should she so desire but only whether she can use the communication technology on court premises.
Of course, journalists and editors should be honest in accepting that the reason the Supreme Court — and the government — want to step in is because the media act as if they are not accountable to anyone. Aggrieved citizens have no forum they can approach for an effective and swift remedy in the event of being injured by misreporting. Unless newspapers and television stations get serious about self-regulation, the pressure of external regulation will always remain.
SOURCE: THE HINDU
SIDARTH VARDRAJAN IN THE HINDU
The Supreme Court's proposal to impose guidelines on how to report cases will be harmful to press freedom and democracy, the bedrock of which is an informed public.
The Judiciary is the third branch of government. As with the Executive and Legislature, the public has a right to see and know and understand the functioning of this branch. That is why India, like every other democracy, has embraced the concept of open court proceedings and trials, except in those situations where, for security or other compelling reasons, in camera hearings are required.
In the Mirajkar case (Naresh Shridhar Mirajkar And Ors vs State Of Maharashtra And Anron 3 March, 1966) a nine-judge Bench of the Supreme Court under its legendary Chief Justice, P.B. Gajendragadkar, held that “save in exceptional cases, the proceedings of aCourt of justice should be open to the public”.
“A Court of justice is a public forum”, the 1966 judgment declares. “It is through publicity that the citizens are convinced that the Court renders evenhanded justice, and it is, therefore, necessary that the trial should be open to the public and there should be no restraint on the publication of the report of the Court proceedings. The publicity generates public confidence in the administration of justice. In rare and exceptional cases only, the Court may hold the trial behind closed doors, or may forbid the publication of the report of its proceedings during the pendency of the litigation.” (emphasis added)
Unrestricted openness
Once the objective of a public trial in open court is accepted, it is obvious that this openness cannot be restricted to those members of the public who have the facility and inclination to be present in a given court at a given time; rather, the reference is to the wider public, to the citizenry as a whole. The only way court proceedings, and the wider functioning of the judicial system, can be subject to public scrutiny is if the media — who are the people's eyes and ears — have the freedom to both be present in open court and to give an account of what transpires in open court.
It is thanks to contemporary newspaper reports of the day-to-day hearings in landmark cases like Kesavanada Bharati (1973) (certainly in The Hindu, and perhaps elsewhere too) that the public then — and legal scholars now — have an accurate picture of all the intricacies involved, including the oral arguments made and questions raised by the Bench. Many more such examples can be cited.
To be sure, covering the courts requires skill, competence and some domain knowledge of the law, in much the same way that coverage of foreign policy, defence, business and finance, and even politics requires reporters knowledgeable about those subjects. The Supreme Court has seen fit to specify that accredited correspondents must possess a law degree; it has also quantified the amount of reporting experience, at different levels of the judiciary, that these correspondents must have. No other branch of government or public or private institution — not the armed forces or Defence Ministry, not the Ministry of External Affairs, the Police, the Ministry of Agriculture or Health — has insisted on a degree or professional qualification as a condition for accreditation. Nor to my knowledge is a law degree a requirement to get accreditation as a correspondent to the Supreme Courts of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, South Africa, etc. I raise this point here not to challenge the Supreme Court of India's system of media accreditation, but merely to note that having raised the bar for entry, imposing further restrictions in the form of guidelines on these correspondents — all of whom have been allowed in precisely because of their knowledge of, and sensitivity towards, the functioning of the Court — seems especially superfluous.
No doubt the most experienced and knowledgeable reporter can make a mistake on a particular matter. These mistakes can be harmless, hurting only the reputation of the concerned journalist or media house. But there can be mistakes which have consequences for the reputations of the parties to a case and their counsel, or to the Bench and Court. If an error by a reporter has adverse consequences for the reputation or standing of the Court or plaintiffs, remedies exist under existing statute and court procedures and it is up to the Bench or the affected parties to invoke those remedies. If a factual mistake has been made, or wrong information conveyed, no media house can claim immunity, on the basis of press freedom, from the ordinary process of law. If the error is innocent, and the Court is convinced this is so, the matter might rest with a simple apology; if, on the other hand, mala fide is suspected, the Court is empowered to take punitive action.
Given these remedies, none of which are necessarily inconsistent with constitutionally guaranteed press freedoms, it would seem unnecessary to impose a regime of “prior restraint” or even “temporary postponement” via guidelines on what aspects of court proceedings may be reported. Indeed, such a regime would have a chilling effect on media coverage of the Supreme Court and, eventually, the entire judiciary, at great cost to the general interest of society.
It is true that the Law Commission has recommended ‘postponement' of reportage citing jurisdictions such as Australia and Canada, where jury trials are sought to be insulated from public opinion. But in India, there is no trial by jury; and surely the judicial independence of judges — and their vulnerability to what appears in the media — cannot be the same as that of the average citizen-juror.
Of course, it is a matter of concern that sections of the print and visual media sometimes report police accounts of crimes without the necessary qualifiers demonstrating that the truth of the matter is not known. Worse still, these accounts are often attributed not to named officers but to ‘anonymous' police sources. An individual may thus stand “convicted” in the eyes of the public without any recourse to corrective measures. The bald reporting of a petitioner's claims or accusations can also mislead the public if presented as fact. These are real problems that require remedying. However, a true reading of Article 19 of the Constitution requires that the press regulate itself in this regard and strive, as a collective, for the highest ethical standards. Given the public's growing disenchantment with the media in the wake of various scandals, it is also in the media's interest to heal itself. This is a subject journalists are pursuing at multiple levels within the print media and there is also the oversight of the Press Council of India, which, under the chairmanship of Justice Markandey Katju, has re-energised itself. Imposing further judicial restrictions on democratic access to information concerning Supreme Court proceedings would amount to overkill.
Undermines people's right
My apprehension is that if the Supreme Court, which sits at the apex of the third branch of government, were to insist that reporters covering it abide by guidelines that the Court itself lays down, this would open the door to the other branches of government — that too, at all levels — making similar demands on the media as a precondition to gaining access to Parliament and Legislatures, Ministries, public institutions, hospitals, universities, etc. The natural instinct of most politicians and bureaucrats is to hide or suppress information on one pretext or another. The adoption of media guidelines by the Supreme Court would embolden them, further undermining the public's right to be informed. Recently, for example, a Karnataka Assembly committee tasked with investigating the scandal involving Ministers caught on camera watching pornographic material sought to blame the media for recording what the Ministers were doing. Shouldn't you be focusing just on the official Assembly proceedings, journalists were asked.
Courts in open societies elsewhere, particularly in North America, may have had occasion to be upset with media coverage of cases but they have not sought to frame guidelines of the sort being envisaged by the Supreme Court of India. The only etiquette rules courts in the United States seem to focus on are the circumstances under which journalists may use recording devices and cameras. Today, the debate on this issue in the United States is focused on whether journalists should be allowed to carry mobile devices into the Supreme Court so that they can “tweet” live from inside without having to come outside the courtroom. The court forbids this. At issue, however, is not the right of the journalist to provide near-live coverage of a hearing, should she so desire but only whether she can use the communication technology on court premises.
Of course, journalists and editors should be honest in accepting that the reason the Supreme Court — and the government — want to step in is because the media act as if they are not accountable to anyone. Aggrieved citizens have no forum they can approach for an effective and swift remedy in the event of being injured by misreporting. Unless newspapers and television stations get serious about self-regulation, the pressure of external regulation will always remain.
SOURCE: THE HINDU
Cannot ban news as it is perishable, Supreme Court told
Cannot ban news as it is perishable, Supreme Court told
As Supreme Court Wednesday explored the option of postponing the publication of court proceedings in sensitive matters, including criminal cases, it was told that news was a perishable commodity which lost its value, if banned.
“We are not banning but are invoking the doctrine of postponement. It is a question of the timing” of the reporting of court proceedings, Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia told counsel Anup Bhambhani who appeared for News Broadcasters Association ( NBA).
While evaluating the option of postponing the publication of the court proceedings, the court indicated that it may frame guidelines as had been done in some specific cases. The postponement of the publication of the ongoing court proceedings in a case would amount to ban for a certain period thereby rendering it useless, Bhambhani told theapex court‘s constitutional bench of Chief Justice Kapadia, Justice D.K. Jain, Justice S.S. Nijjar, Justice R.P. Desai and Justice J.S. Khehar.
“News is a perishable commodity. If its publication is banned then it would lose its news value,” Bhambhani told the court adding that the “practical effect of what the court is contemplating would be something it had not even thought of”.
The court asked “can media analyse the evidence even before the court had done and prejudice the case of the accused facing trial”. The judges said this on an application by the Sahara India Real Estate Corp agitating its grievance over a news channel reporting its proposal made to the Securities and Exchange Board of India on securing the money it had mopped up from the market.
On an application by Sahara, the court said it would frame guidelines for reporting of sub-judice matters. Bhambhani said an accused facing trial in the 2G case could in future approach the court saying the media should be restrained from reporting the court proceedings in his case as it was affecting his business interest. “It (postponement) will open a Pandora’s box.”
He favoured putting in place guidelines as the broadcasters had already done for themselves under the stewardship of former chief justice J.S. Verma. Senior counsel Fali Nariman, appearing for Sahara, told the court that underArticle 19 of the constitution people had a right to know and the right to be informed.
He said that live telecast of parliament proceedings were the satisfaction of the right to know and the right to be informed. Every citizen has a right to know what their elected representatives were doing in parliament even if they were staging a walkout, Nariman told the court, suggesting that the court proceedings could not be shielded from the people.
Addressing the court’s option of postponement of publication of court proceedings, Nariman said that there could not be any preventive relief.
He said that courts were not empowered to make such guidelines nor was there any statutory empowerment for then to do so. The court asked Nariman if he could suggest how to balance the freedom of press with the right of an accused facing trial. The court said that in Canada they do have some law and Ireland has guidelines that restrain one-sided reporting that causes prejudice to the accused.
As Supreme Court Wednesday explored the option of postponing the publication of court proceedings in sensitive matters, including criminal cases, it was told that news was a perishable commodity which lost its value, if banned.
“We are not banning but are invoking the doctrine of postponement. It is a question of the timing” of the reporting of court proceedings, Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia told counsel Anup Bhambhani who appeared for News Broadcasters Association ( NBA).
While evaluating the option of postponing the publication of the court proceedings, the court indicated that it may frame guidelines as had been done in some specific cases. The postponement of the publication of the ongoing court proceedings in a case would amount to ban for a certain period thereby rendering it useless, Bhambhani told theapex court‘s constitutional bench of Chief Justice Kapadia, Justice D.K. Jain, Justice S.S. Nijjar, Justice R.P. Desai and Justice J.S. Khehar.
“News is a perishable commodity. If its publication is banned then it would lose its news value,” Bhambhani told the court adding that the “practical effect of what the court is contemplating would be something it had not even thought of”.
The court asked “can media analyse the evidence even before the court had done and prejudice the case of the accused facing trial”. The judges said this on an application by the Sahara India Real Estate Corp agitating its grievance over a news channel reporting its proposal made to the Securities and Exchange Board of India on securing the money it had mopped up from the market.
On an application by Sahara, the court said it would frame guidelines for reporting of sub-judice matters. Bhambhani said an accused facing trial in the 2G case could in future approach the court saying the media should be restrained from reporting the court proceedings in his case as it was affecting his business interest. “It (postponement) will open a Pandora’s box.”
He favoured putting in place guidelines as the broadcasters had already done for themselves under the stewardship of former chief justice J.S. Verma. Senior counsel Fali Nariman, appearing for Sahara, told the court that underArticle 19 of the constitution people had a right to know and the right to be informed.
He said that live telecast of parliament proceedings were the satisfaction of the right to know and the right to be informed. Every citizen has a right to know what their elected representatives were doing in parliament even if they were staging a walkout, Nariman told the court, suggesting that the court proceedings could not be shielded from the people.
Addressing the court’s option of postponement of publication of court proceedings, Nariman said that there could not be any preventive relief.
He said that courts were not empowered to make such guidelines nor was there any statutory empowerment for then to do so. The court asked Nariman if he could suggest how to balance the freedom of press with the right of an accused facing trial. The court said that in Canada they do have some law and Ireland has guidelines that restrain one-sided reporting that causes prejudice to the accused.
Not paying any heed to the hostage crisis seriously blames the Maoist’s mediators by the Naveen Government
Not paying any heed to the hostage crisis seriously blames the Maoist’s mediators by the Naveen Government 30/03/2012
ODISHA NEWS/BHUBANESWAR:-
SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA, BUREAU CHIEF, THESE DAYS, ODISHA
Maoist’s mediators allege Odisha Government not taking hostage crisis seriously. Charging the Government with not taking the issue seriously, Mohanty said, “The demands are the same. What we have sent to the Chief Minister on Tuesday were our views on the demands in writing, expecting a reply from the Government side also in writing so that there will be no space for the Government to backtrack at a later stage as it happened in the case of R Vineel Krishna’s release.”
Mohanty said now without going through the ‘views’ seriously, the Government has started interpreting it as additional demands.
He also was critical of the official negotiators coming to the negotiation table late. “The situation does not lead you anywhere,” he said, adding, “If the Government feels, it may table the demands in the House and get them analyzed there.”
Mohanty also alleged that the Government appears more concerned about release of the abducted BJD MLA than the Italian national.
Full text of Maoists negotiators proposals submitted to Odisha Government:
1. Tourism
1(a) Excise Policy: - The elected people’s representatives from Koraput in a memorandum dated 13.3.2012 submitted to Shri Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister, highlighted the catastrophic impact of liquor on the community. The vicious impact of tourism in so pervasive that CPI (Maoist) placed this issue at the top of agenda dated 16.3.2012. It is surprising that no one even remembers that excise Policy was placed at the top of the agenda for elimination of exploitation by the State in the tribal areas.“A comprehensive excise policy was adopted by the GoI in 1974.
The policy envisaged (i) banning commercial vending of intoxicants in the tribal areas;/ (ii) allowing preparation of traditional brews for personal consumption, but not for sale ;/(iii)allowing sale of intoxicants in non tribal enclaves exclusively through government outlets; and/(iv) conceding community’s control on all excise matters”.
The policy was implemented by all States. The GoI did not concede any assistance for the loss of revenue to the States on the ground that there can be no compensation for cessation of exploitation. The States, however, did not transfer legal control in excise matter to the community as envisaged in the policy. This omission resulted in continued interference by excise officials and unconcern in the community. Drinking has become rampant as never before with disastrous consequences for the tribal people.
The situation did not improve even after the enactment of PESA which specifically envisages full control of Gram Sabha in all matters concerning preparation, storage and consumption of intoxicants. Madhya Pradesh has even amended its Excise Act. But the message about the community in the form of Gram Sabha having command over all excise matters has not percolated to the people. The liquor shops are tracts with no concern for the law and the excise policy. Nobody even remembers the very existence of such a policy.
This policy was adopted by concerned States including Odisha with Nandini Satapathi as CM. The plea of some states for compensating the lossaw of revenue was not accepted on the ground that then could be no compensation for exploitation.
While this policy was adopted at the national level, most of the states did not empower the Gram Sabhas to operational ise the policy. This omission was made good in Section 4m (i) of PESA. Nevertheless it is sad to note that the excise policy remained a dead letter and even forgotten by all concerned in the State and the central government. Excise policy must be implemented forthwith without wasting a single day, cancelling all licenses of liquor trade in the scheduled Areas.
2. I). Green Hunt: - the term ’Green Hunt’ has come into currency in respect of the areas where tribal territories are being captured by the State with use of forces. The hunting expedition in the era of ‘Gold rush’ in the United states were notorious for liquidating (Red) Indians under the banner that The only good Indian is a dead Indian. Theodore Roosevelt, the celebrated US President, in his speech of Hunting Trips of a Ranchman in January 1886 were unabashedly observed: “I suppose I should be ashamed to say that I take the Western view of the Indian. I don’t go so far as to think that the only good Indians are dead Indians, but I believe nine out of every ten are, and I shouldn’t like to inquire too closely into the case of the tenth. The most vicious cowboy has more moral principle than the average Indian.” Roosevelt made it clear in the Winning of the West that any excuse would suffice, as regards land: (i) if the Indians were nomadic, they didn’t own the land; (ii) if they were settled, they didn’t deserve the land; and (iii) if they signed treaties giving them legal ownership, the US had the right to abrogate the treaties whenever circumstances changed”.
Green Hunt in this frame cannot but be for capturing the resources in the extensive tribal areas under the shadow of ‘eminent domain’ of the State ignoring the ‘eminent domain’ of the tribal communities, that most of them enjoyed before the adoption of the Constitution in the excluded/partially excluded areas. These communities got disinheritated on November 26, 1949 when the laws of the land got automatically extended to the Scheduled Areas without the tribal people realizing the change. Even the President didn’t amend the relevant laws under article-372 of the Constitution. No Governor has so far used the powers under para5 the Fifth Schedule to remove this anomaly. The Union Govt. also kept quite in this regard.
It may be noted here that the rights of the tribal people in this sixth Schedule area are protected. Para4 (o) of the Fifth Schedule envisages that ‘the State Legislature shall endeavour to maintain the pattern of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution while designing the administrative arrangements in the Panchayats at district level in the Scheduled areas. No action has been taken by any state in this regard with the result that the tribal people are being disinheritated by the state from the extensive habitats, they had enjoyed until the adaption of the Constitution/ it is this anomaly that is responsible for use of force for capturing the tribal habitats by the States and the tribal people defending their territories. It was in this context that a demand was made for covering areas like Bastar under the Sixth Scheduled in 1992. It is distressing to note that the genuine demands of the tribal people have been ignored even after they have been conceded in law (PESA). The result is avoidable confrontation. The command of the tribal communities over their traditional habitats must be duly recognized. That alone will end the avoidable confrontation.
II) In the context of above situation the State must Stop all operation in name of Green Hunt forthwith.
3. Mass Organizations banned by Odisha Government should be lifted.
4-7-11. The list of persons claimed to be involved in a variety of criminal cases in Odisha
A. Cases against jailed persons given below to be withdrawn and freed.
1. Arati Majhi
2. Susil Sai
3. Asutosh Soren
4. Ranjit Sana
5. Rabi Dula
6. Gananath Patro
7. Suka Nachika and two tribal boys (in Berhampur jail)
8. Sudarshan Mondal
9. Arap Majhi
10. Adam Majhi
11. Patra Majhi
12. Ramesh Naik
13. Jonesh Pradhan
14. Manmohan Pradhan
15. Somanath Pradhan
16. Barsu Mallick
Fabricated Cases against the following persons should be withdrawn.
17. Pradeep Mallick
18. Pratap chinnara and others
B. Cases against rearrested and jailed persons to be withdrawn and freed.
1. Udaya
2. Somanath dandasen
3. Kamalkanta Sethi
4. Sujatha
5. Jacob Majhi
6. Subhasree Das
7. Arat Bhoi
8. Satya Narayan Bhoi
9. Kusha Bhoi
10. Garish
11. Nalani Biswal
12. B.C.Pradhan
13. Bimaleswar Bhoi
14. Debari Kondri
C. Cases against the tribal people of Kandhmal, Gajapati, Rayagada, Keonjhar, Sambalpur, Deogarh and Sundargarh Districts, jailed in the name of Maoist to be disposed speedly.
D. High Court had given the judgment in the case of Lalit Dehuri, Prdip Majhi, Junesh Badaraita, Katru Huika custodial death and fake encounter. Take immediate action against concerned officer who are involved in these crimes.
10. No Police Repression in Scheduled Areas: ‘PESA’ Gram Sabha is the heighest authority of governance according to para 4(d) thereof. All disputes must be resolved in the Gram Sabha according to the customs and traditions of the community. Even the police must be answerable to the Gram Sabha. Indiscriminate action by the police is, therefore, not in consonance with the spirit of PESA. Suitable rules must be made for creating a harmonious relation between Gram Sabha and the police. Any action by the police in general, except relating to heinous crime must be reported to gram sabha whose decision in terms of section 4(d) of PESA should be final. No indiscriminate action by the police is, therefore, permissible in the new frame.
13(3) Protection of tribal law while State Government has expressed its anxiety to protect tribal land, no concrete programme has come to the fore so far. There are two examples that can be emulated:-
1. Andhra Pradesh: A.P. took a bold lead to meet this challenge with the adoption of a radical regulation (popularly known as 1/70) for protection of tribal land. The Regulation prohibited any transfer of tribal land to a non-tribal. Moreover, the regulation made it obligatory for a non tribal, intending to sell his land, to sell the same to no one else but the member of a scheduled Tribe. This Regulation became a symbol of tribal identity and their mobilization in Andhra Pradesh.
2. Madhya Pradesh:
M.P (& Chhattisgarh) Land Revenue Code, 1959, has a special
provision 170-B for return of land….transferred by fraud. Accordingly
“If a Gram Sabha in the Scheduled Area referred to in clause (1) of Article 244 of the Constitution finds that any person, other than a member of an aboriginal tribe, is in possession of any land of a Bhumiswami belonging to an aboriginal tribe, without any lawful authority, it shall restore the possession of such land to that person to whom it originally belonged and if that person is dead to his legal heirs:
Provided that if the Gram sabha fails to restore the possession of such land, it shall refer the matter to the Sub Divisional Officer, who shall restore the possession of such land within three months from the date of receipt of the reference?”
13 (7-8) Cancellation of M.O.Us: -Item 7 & 8 of the agenda discussed with Maoist Interlocutors on 20.2.2011 demanded that all the MOUs signed with various MNCs should be cancelled. The Government nominees have not acted accordingly. They have referred to various laws of the state, adequate compensation and rehabilitation. Thus the issue of’ Cancellation of MOUs’ raised was in reality not considered. The real issue here is that of eminent domain of the community and not of the State. This point was discussed in detail by Bhuria Committee (1995) in respect of Part IX A of the Constitution. The Committee categorically recommended,
i. Setting up of industries in Scheduled Areas at random and without assessing their impact on tribal economy must stop forth with;
ii. The Government should identify potential industrial areas in advance, after the due process in which the people and the institutions should be able to participate meaningfully ensures that the community’s decision prevails and is final;
iii. No agricultural land or land used for common purposes should be allowed to be transferred or purchased in any way for setting up of an industry; and
iv. In all industrial enterprises set up in the Scheduled Areas, other than small ventures referred to earlier, the community should be deemed to be the owner with 50 percent share in its favor by virtue of it allowing the industry to use the local resources and getting established. The share holding of company/persons making financial investment should be limited to 26 percent.
According to the Judgment of the Supreme Court’ Samatha the Constitution intends that the land shall always remain with the tribals. Even the government land should increasingly get allotted to them individually and collectively through registered cooperative societies. Composed solely of tribals and would be managed by them along with the facilities provided to them by the Union of India, ‘spent through the appropriate State government as its instrumentalities of local body in a planned development so as to make them fit for self-government’.
The words ’peace and good government’ used in the Fifth Schedule require widest possible interpretations recognized and applied by this Court…
To conclude, Odisha has ignored the inherent right of the tribal over the resources in their habitat. The MOUs that are been entered are open violation of tribal people’s natural right over the reasoures.
We the undersigned trust that the Government of Odisha will consider all these proposals submitted by us favourably that will enable the tribal people to lead life with dignity and honour in their respective habitats with no transgression by any authority in any manner, what so ever. We are happy to note one of the Italian tourist Sri Claudio Colange has moved out with dignity, we trust that Sri Bosusco Paolo the other tourist will also move out with dignity.
Your sincerely,
Dr. B.D.Sharma
Dandapani Mohanty
State Guest House,Bhubaneswar
Dear Chief Minister, Dated: 27.03.2012
We the undersigned accepted the proposed meditation with regard to resolve the hostage management crises proposed by CPI (Maoist), Odisha State Organizing Committee and agreed to by the Government of Odisha. We have considered the demands of CPI (Maoist) in their letter dated 16th March 2012. We had three sittings for examining the various issues raised by them. However we had to stop the work in view of the developments in Koraput and Malkangiri on 24th March 2012. In the changed circumstances we suggested that negotiations be kept under suspension. We appealed to the Maoist to adopt benevolent humanitarian path and release three hostages. The examination of the issues was also taken up with effect from 26th March 2012. In the mean time one of the hostages Sri Claudio Colange was released and moved out with dignity.
The resumed discussion could not continue on the following days because of some other important matters. In this situation we looked into those areas in depth, where there were possible differences of opinion.
We are happy to place before you important issues for your consideration and appropriate action with regard to the complex situation. Those issues which were agreed to our discussion are not presented in this note.
Shri Naveen Patnaik jee With Best Regards,
Chief Minister, Odisha
Dr B.D.Sharma / Dandapani Mohanty
CC To;
Shri Sunil (CPI-Maoist)
With personal regards and requested to allow Sri Bosusco Paolo to move out with dignity.
Dr B.D.Sharma / Dandapani Mohanty
CC To;
Shri U.N.Behera
(Principal Seceratary,Home Department)
Shri P.K.Jena
(Principal Secretary,Panchayati Raj Department)
Shri S.K.Sarangi (Principal secretary,SC/ST)
Dr B.D.Sharma / Dandapani Mohanty
( INPUTS: SANGRAM KESARI PANDA, SENIOR CORRESPONDENT)
ODISHA NEWS/BHUBANESWAR:-
SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA, BUREAU CHIEF, THESE DAYS, ODISHA
Maoist’s mediators allege Odisha Government not taking hostage crisis seriously. Charging the Government with not taking the issue seriously, Mohanty said, “The demands are the same. What we have sent to the Chief Minister on Tuesday were our views on the demands in writing, expecting a reply from the Government side also in writing so that there will be no space for the Government to backtrack at a later stage as it happened in the case of R Vineel Krishna’s release.”
Mohanty said now without going through the ‘views’ seriously, the Government has started interpreting it as additional demands.
He also was critical of the official negotiators coming to the negotiation table late. “The situation does not lead you anywhere,” he said, adding, “If the Government feels, it may table the demands in the House and get them analyzed there.”
Mohanty also alleged that the Government appears more concerned about release of the abducted BJD MLA than the Italian national.
Full text of Maoists negotiators proposals submitted to Odisha Government:
1. Tourism
1(a) Excise Policy: - The elected people’s representatives from Koraput in a memorandum dated 13.3.2012 submitted to Shri Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister, highlighted the catastrophic impact of liquor on the community. The vicious impact of tourism in so pervasive that CPI (Maoist) placed this issue at the top of agenda dated 16.3.2012. It is surprising that no one even remembers that excise Policy was placed at the top of the agenda for elimination of exploitation by the State in the tribal areas.“A comprehensive excise policy was adopted by the GoI in 1974.
The policy envisaged (i) banning commercial vending of intoxicants in the tribal areas;/ (ii) allowing preparation of traditional brews for personal consumption, but not for sale ;/(iii)allowing sale of intoxicants in non tribal enclaves exclusively through government outlets; and/(iv) conceding community’s control on all excise matters”.
The policy was implemented by all States. The GoI did not concede any assistance for the loss of revenue to the States on the ground that there can be no compensation for cessation of exploitation. The States, however, did not transfer legal control in excise matter to the community as envisaged in the policy. This omission resulted in continued interference by excise officials and unconcern in the community. Drinking has become rampant as never before with disastrous consequences for the tribal people.
The situation did not improve even after the enactment of PESA which specifically envisages full control of Gram Sabha in all matters concerning preparation, storage and consumption of intoxicants. Madhya Pradesh has even amended its Excise Act. But the message about the community in the form of Gram Sabha having command over all excise matters has not percolated to the people. The liquor shops are tracts with no concern for the law and the excise policy. Nobody even remembers the very existence of such a policy.
This policy was adopted by concerned States including Odisha with Nandini Satapathi as CM. The plea of some states for compensating the lossaw of revenue was not accepted on the ground that then could be no compensation for exploitation.
While this policy was adopted at the national level, most of the states did not empower the Gram Sabhas to operational ise the policy. This omission was made good in Section 4m (i) of PESA. Nevertheless it is sad to note that the excise policy remained a dead letter and even forgotten by all concerned in the State and the central government. Excise policy must be implemented forthwith without wasting a single day, cancelling all licenses of liquor trade in the scheduled Areas.
2. I). Green Hunt: - the term ’Green Hunt’ has come into currency in respect of the areas where tribal territories are being captured by the State with use of forces. The hunting expedition in the era of ‘Gold rush’ in the United states were notorious for liquidating (Red) Indians under the banner that The only good Indian is a dead Indian. Theodore Roosevelt, the celebrated US President, in his speech of Hunting Trips of a Ranchman in January 1886 were unabashedly observed: “I suppose I should be ashamed to say that I take the Western view of the Indian. I don’t go so far as to think that the only good Indians are dead Indians, but I believe nine out of every ten are, and I shouldn’t like to inquire too closely into the case of the tenth. The most vicious cowboy has more moral principle than the average Indian.” Roosevelt made it clear in the Winning of the West that any excuse would suffice, as regards land: (i) if the Indians were nomadic, they didn’t own the land; (ii) if they were settled, they didn’t deserve the land; and (iii) if they signed treaties giving them legal ownership, the US had the right to abrogate the treaties whenever circumstances changed”.
Green Hunt in this frame cannot but be for capturing the resources in the extensive tribal areas under the shadow of ‘eminent domain’ of the State ignoring the ‘eminent domain’ of the tribal communities, that most of them enjoyed before the adoption of the Constitution in the excluded/partially excluded areas. These communities got disinheritated on November 26, 1949 when the laws of the land got automatically extended to the Scheduled Areas without the tribal people realizing the change. Even the President didn’t amend the relevant laws under article-372 of the Constitution. No Governor has so far used the powers under para5 the Fifth Schedule to remove this anomaly. The Union Govt. also kept quite in this regard.
It may be noted here that the rights of the tribal people in this sixth Schedule area are protected. Para4 (o) of the Fifth Schedule envisages that ‘the State Legislature shall endeavour to maintain the pattern of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution while designing the administrative arrangements in the Panchayats at district level in the Scheduled areas. No action has been taken by any state in this regard with the result that the tribal people are being disinheritated by the state from the extensive habitats, they had enjoyed until the adaption of the Constitution/ it is this anomaly that is responsible for use of force for capturing the tribal habitats by the States and the tribal people defending their territories. It was in this context that a demand was made for covering areas like Bastar under the Sixth Scheduled in 1992. It is distressing to note that the genuine demands of the tribal people have been ignored even after they have been conceded in law (PESA). The result is avoidable confrontation. The command of the tribal communities over their traditional habitats must be duly recognized. That alone will end the avoidable confrontation.
II) In the context of above situation the State must Stop all operation in name of Green Hunt forthwith.
3. Mass Organizations banned by Odisha Government should be lifted.
4-7-11. The list of persons claimed to be involved in a variety of criminal cases in Odisha
A. Cases against jailed persons given below to be withdrawn and freed.
1. Arati Majhi
2. Susil Sai
3. Asutosh Soren
4. Ranjit Sana
5. Rabi Dula
6. Gananath Patro
7. Suka Nachika and two tribal boys (in Berhampur jail)
8. Sudarshan Mondal
9. Arap Majhi
10. Adam Majhi
11. Patra Majhi
12. Ramesh Naik
13. Jonesh Pradhan
14. Manmohan Pradhan
15. Somanath Pradhan
16. Barsu Mallick
Fabricated Cases against the following persons should be withdrawn.
17. Pradeep Mallick
18. Pratap chinnara and others
B. Cases against rearrested and jailed persons to be withdrawn and freed.
1. Udaya
2. Somanath dandasen
3. Kamalkanta Sethi
4. Sujatha
5. Jacob Majhi
6. Subhasree Das
7. Arat Bhoi
8. Satya Narayan Bhoi
9. Kusha Bhoi
10. Garish
11. Nalani Biswal
12. B.C.Pradhan
13. Bimaleswar Bhoi
14. Debari Kondri
C. Cases against the tribal people of Kandhmal, Gajapati, Rayagada, Keonjhar, Sambalpur, Deogarh and Sundargarh Districts, jailed in the name of Maoist to be disposed speedly.
D. High Court had given the judgment in the case of Lalit Dehuri, Prdip Majhi, Junesh Badaraita, Katru Huika custodial death and fake encounter. Take immediate action against concerned officer who are involved in these crimes.
10. No Police Repression in Scheduled Areas: ‘PESA’ Gram Sabha is the heighest authority of governance according to para 4(d) thereof. All disputes must be resolved in the Gram Sabha according to the customs and traditions of the community. Even the police must be answerable to the Gram Sabha. Indiscriminate action by the police is, therefore, not in consonance with the spirit of PESA. Suitable rules must be made for creating a harmonious relation between Gram Sabha and the police. Any action by the police in general, except relating to heinous crime must be reported to gram sabha whose decision in terms of section 4(d) of PESA should be final. No indiscriminate action by the police is, therefore, permissible in the new frame.
13(3) Protection of tribal law while State Government has expressed its anxiety to protect tribal land, no concrete programme has come to the fore so far. There are two examples that can be emulated:-
1. Andhra Pradesh: A.P. took a bold lead to meet this challenge with the adoption of a radical regulation (popularly known as 1/70) for protection of tribal land. The Regulation prohibited any transfer of tribal land to a non-tribal. Moreover, the regulation made it obligatory for a non tribal, intending to sell his land, to sell the same to no one else but the member of a scheduled Tribe. This Regulation became a symbol of tribal identity and their mobilization in Andhra Pradesh.
2. Madhya Pradesh:
M.P (& Chhattisgarh) Land Revenue Code, 1959, has a special
provision 170-B for return of land….transferred by fraud. Accordingly
“If a Gram Sabha in the Scheduled Area referred to in clause (1) of Article 244 of the Constitution finds that any person, other than a member of an aboriginal tribe, is in possession of any land of a Bhumiswami belonging to an aboriginal tribe, without any lawful authority, it shall restore the possession of such land to that person to whom it originally belonged and if that person is dead to his legal heirs:
Provided that if the Gram sabha fails to restore the possession of such land, it shall refer the matter to the Sub Divisional Officer, who shall restore the possession of such land within three months from the date of receipt of the reference?”
13 (7-8) Cancellation of M.O.Us: -Item 7 & 8 of the agenda discussed with Maoist Interlocutors on 20.2.2011 demanded that all the MOUs signed with various MNCs should be cancelled. The Government nominees have not acted accordingly. They have referred to various laws of the state, adequate compensation and rehabilitation. Thus the issue of’ Cancellation of MOUs’ raised was in reality not considered. The real issue here is that of eminent domain of the community and not of the State. This point was discussed in detail by Bhuria Committee (1995) in respect of Part IX A of the Constitution. The Committee categorically recommended,
i. Setting up of industries in Scheduled Areas at random and without assessing their impact on tribal economy must stop forth with;
ii. The Government should identify potential industrial areas in advance, after the due process in which the people and the institutions should be able to participate meaningfully ensures that the community’s decision prevails and is final;
iii. No agricultural land or land used for common purposes should be allowed to be transferred or purchased in any way for setting up of an industry; and
iv. In all industrial enterprises set up in the Scheduled Areas, other than small ventures referred to earlier, the community should be deemed to be the owner with 50 percent share in its favor by virtue of it allowing the industry to use the local resources and getting established. The share holding of company/persons making financial investment should be limited to 26 percent.
According to the Judgment of the Supreme Court’ Samatha the Constitution intends that the land shall always remain with the tribals. Even the government land should increasingly get allotted to them individually and collectively through registered cooperative societies. Composed solely of tribals and would be managed by them along with the facilities provided to them by the Union of India, ‘spent through the appropriate State government as its instrumentalities of local body in a planned development so as to make them fit for self-government’.
The words ’peace and good government’ used in the Fifth Schedule require widest possible interpretations recognized and applied by this Court…
To conclude, Odisha has ignored the inherent right of the tribal over the resources in their habitat. The MOUs that are been entered are open violation of tribal people’s natural right over the reasoures.
We the undersigned trust that the Government of Odisha will consider all these proposals submitted by us favourably that will enable the tribal people to lead life with dignity and honour in their respective habitats with no transgression by any authority in any manner, what so ever. We are happy to note one of the Italian tourist Sri Claudio Colange has moved out with dignity, we trust that Sri Bosusco Paolo the other tourist will also move out with dignity.
Your sincerely,
Dr. B.D.Sharma
Dandapani Mohanty
State Guest House,Bhubaneswar
Dear Chief Minister, Dated: 27.03.2012
We the undersigned accepted the proposed meditation with regard to resolve the hostage management crises proposed by CPI (Maoist), Odisha State Organizing Committee and agreed to by the Government of Odisha. We have considered the demands of CPI (Maoist) in their letter dated 16th March 2012. We had three sittings for examining the various issues raised by them. However we had to stop the work in view of the developments in Koraput and Malkangiri on 24th March 2012. In the changed circumstances we suggested that negotiations be kept under suspension. We appealed to the Maoist to adopt benevolent humanitarian path and release three hostages. The examination of the issues was also taken up with effect from 26th March 2012. In the mean time one of the hostages Sri Claudio Colange was released and moved out with dignity.
The resumed discussion could not continue on the following days because of some other important matters. In this situation we looked into those areas in depth, where there were possible differences of opinion.
We are happy to place before you important issues for your consideration and appropriate action with regard to the complex situation. Those issues which were agreed to our discussion are not presented in this note.
Shri Naveen Patnaik jee With Best Regards,
Chief Minister, Odisha
Dr B.D.Sharma / Dandapani Mohanty
CC To;
Shri Sunil (CPI-Maoist)
With personal regards and requested to allow Sri Bosusco Paolo to move out with dignity.
Dr B.D.Sharma / Dandapani Mohanty
CC To;
Shri U.N.Behera
(Principal Seceratary,Home Department)
Shri P.K.Jena
(Principal Secretary,Panchayati Raj Department)
Shri S.K.Sarangi (Principal secretary,SC/ST)
Dr B.D.Sharma / Dandapani Mohanty
( INPUTS: SANGRAM KESARI PANDA, SENIOR CORRESPONDENT)
HANGED SELF A STUDENT IN BHUBANESWAR
HANGED SELF A STUDENT IN BHUBANESWAR 30/03/2012
ODISHA NEWS: BHUBANESWAR
SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA, BUREAU CHIEF, THESE DAYS,ODISHA
An 18-year-old college student was found dead in his hotel room at Madhusudan Nagar within Kharavel Nagar police limits here on Thursday. The deceased, Malay Kumar Padhiary of Bhadrak district, was preparing for IIT.
Though the exact cause of his death was not ascertained, police, basing on prima facie evidence said he committed suicide by hanging himself from the ceiling. "We are trying to find whether it was fallout of study pressure or unrequited love story," a police officer said.
Police seized Malay's mobile phone, five SIM cards and a letter. But police denied it was suicide note. Nor did police divulge contents of the letter. "We are asking his classmates and roommates to get some lead," the police officer said.
"He was a bright student. The coaching classes were suspended 15 days ago. But instead of leaving for home, he was staying with friends in the private hostel," said an employee of the coaching centre, where Malay took admission recently.
ODISHA NEWS: BHUBANESWAR
SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA, BUREAU CHIEF, THESE DAYS,ODISHA
An 18-year-old college student was found dead in his hotel room at Madhusudan Nagar within Kharavel Nagar police limits here on Thursday. The deceased, Malay Kumar Padhiary of Bhadrak district, was preparing for IIT.
Though the exact cause of his death was not ascertained, police, basing on prima facie evidence said he committed suicide by hanging himself from the ceiling. "We are trying to find whether it was fallout of study pressure or unrequited love story," a police officer said.
Police seized Malay's mobile phone, five SIM cards and a letter. But police denied it was suicide note. Nor did police divulge contents of the letter. "We are asking his classmates and roommates to get some lead," the police officer said.
"He was a bright student. The coaching classes were suspended 15 days ago. But instead of leaving for home, he was staying with friends in the private hostel," said an employee of the coaching centre, where Malay took admission recently.
March 29, 2012
RETIRED EXECUTIVE ENGINEER OF HIRAKUD MAIN DAM PROJECT ABDUCTED
RETIRED EXECUTIVE ENGINEER OF HIRAKUD MAIN DAM PROJECT ABDUCTED 29/03/2012
ODISHA NEWS / SAMBALPUR:
SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA, BUREAU CHIEF, THESE DAYS, ODISHA
(COVERED ALONG WITH SENIOR CORRESPONDENT :-SANGRAM KESARI PANDA)
Mr. Bhikari Charan Mishra has been abducted since last four days. The police is clueless about the abductors.
He belongs to Dash Batali which is now in Bargarh district. After his retirement he purshaced a land in Srirampur of Golgunda which comes under RI Circle A, Katapali, under the jurisdiction of Burla Police Station. After constructing his house , he was living alone. On the 4th noon of 25th march his whereabouts is not known.
His son Mr. Asutosh Mishra who is living outside state came and lodged an FIR at Burla PS. The police started the case against the abductors u/s 365 I.P.C., BEARING Burla PS/Case No – 62, dated 23rd March 2012. Inspector D.R.Gadtiya , who is in charge of Sambalpur University outpost has been appointed as the Investing Officer of the case.
The police has started raiding different places of Burla, Sambalpur and nearby areas, in spite of several efforts of the police, the police is helpless ad clueless.
Mr. Mishra’s daughter who is at present residing at Kolkatta tried many a times giving calls and sms to her father’s mobile , but no answer from her father side. As the handset is switched off no further sms could be sent. His entire family in tense and shocked now.
Under the above circumstances it has posed a big challenge to the police now. The Police has arranged a team for the inspection in which Mr. Mihir Kumar Panda of Burla PS, IIC., along with Sanjeeb Satpathy, Kethrajpur., IIC, Mr. Ranjan Mahapatra ( Law Inspector) and Mr R.K.Mallick., IIC Hirakud , P.S. are playing a major role.
Neglected parents? Whose fault is it? The parents? The children’s? The change in our society? The extended family breaking up and becoming nuclear? The high cost of living forcing young people to go overseas looking for work? Sharing the parental home with the resultant overcrowding and lack of privacy? Perhaps all of the above are the causative factors.
These senior citizens felt very bitter about their situation. Several elders blamed their children for neglecting them.
How big is this problem? I feel we are seeing only the tip of the iceberg! The problem is swept under the carpet and not discussed as it is a loss of face, an unacceptable situation for an Indian family.
In our Indian culture, we expect our children to have understanding and respectful, to be obedient, caring, reliable, and honest. If and when they fall short of our high ideals, we feel cheated, depressed and understandably angry. The pensions are small or nonexistent and the income from fixed deposits combined with the escalating cost of living, make parents live in poverty and dependent on financial support from the children. This may not be possible as their income is also low and the high cost of living affects them as well! It is a matter of concern and grim reality.
This situation is particularly having a sleepless night to the police.
DURING DEMONSTRATION 30 PARA TEACHERS AND 7 POLICEMEN SUSTAINED INJURIES
DURING DEMONSTRATION 30 PARA TEACHERS AND 7 POLICEMEN SUSTAINED INJURIES 28/03/2012
ODISHA NEWS:/BHUBANESWAR
SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA,BUREAU CHIEF, THESE DAYS,ODISHA
Thirty Para Teachers were today injured during demonstration at Lower PMG Square when police resorted to lathi-charge to disperse the agitating teachers. Seven policemen were also injured in the incident.
Demanding regularization of their job, the Para teachers who are on dharna since March 22, came in a procession from their dharna site to the police cordon like other days, flaunting placards and chanting slogans in support of their demands. But after a few minutes, the demonstrators tried to break the police cordon. The police tried to stop the demonstrators but failed and used water canons to disperse the strikers.
The police first used water canons to disperse the striking teachers demanding regularization of service. However, the police resorted to lathi-charge when the situation went beyond control. It was alleged that the teachers also attacked the security personnel on duty. The incident left thirty Para-teachers and seven policemen injured. The injured Para teachers were rushed to the Capital Hospital here.
State BJP unit chief Jual Oram faults Police action against Para Teachers. In a press statement Oram said that, “I strongly condemned the Lathicharge on the GANA SIKHYAK who were agitating peaceful to fulfill their demand near Lower PMG Bhubaneswar. The police resorted to Lathicharge on the peaceful demonstrator without any provocation from the agitator. The GANA SIKHYAK are still on the road in this late hour of the night. The state govt should fulfill their demand immediately."
ODISHA NEWS:/BHUBANESWAR
SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA,BUREAU CHIEF, THESE DAYS,ODISHA
Thirty Para Teachers were today injured during demonstration at Lower PMG Square when police resorted to lathi-charge to disperse the agitating teachers. Seven policemen were also injured in the incident.
Demanding regularization of their job, the Para teachers who are on dharna since March 22, came in a procession from their dharna site to the police cordon like other days, flaunting placards and chanting slogans in support of their demands. But after a few minutes, the demonstrators tried to break the police cordon. The police tried to stop the demonstrators but failed and used water canons to disperse the strikers.
The police first used water canons to disperse the striking teachers demanding regularization of service. However, the police resorted to lathi-charge when the situation went beyond control. It was alleged that the teachers also attacked the security personnel on duty. The incident left thirty Para-teachers and seven policemen injured. The injured Para teachers were rushed to the Capital Hospital here.
State BJP unit chief Jual Oram faults Police action against Para Teachers. In a press statement Oram said that, “I strongly condemned the Lathicharge on the GANA SIKHYAK who were agitating peaceful to fulfill their demand near Lower PMG Bhubaneswar. The police resorted to Lathicharge on the peaceful demonstrator without any provocation from the agitator. The GANA SIKHYAK are still on the road in this late hour of the night. The state govt should fulfill their demand immediately."
UPROAR INTENSIFIED FOR SECURE RELEASE OF SECOND ITALIAN TOURIST AND BJD LEGISLATURE
UPROAR INTENSIFIED FOR SECURE RELEASE OF SECOND ITALIAN TOURIST AND BJD LEGISLATURE 28/03/2012
ODISHA NEWS/BHUBANEWAR
SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA,BUREAU CHIEF,THESE DAYS,ODISHA
Intensifying efforts to secure the release of the second Italian and a legislator held captive by Maoists, officials representing the Odisha government held talks with two rebel-named mediators for several hours here Monday.
The government said the abducted Italian and the lawmaker are safe and in good health.
“The talks started on positive notes. We were discussing on all 13 Maoists demands,” a senior state official who was part of the negotiation process told.
The guerrillas abducted Italians Bosusco Paolo, 54, and Claudio Colangelo, 61, from a forested area on the border of the state’s Ganjam and Kandhamal districts March 14.
The rebels also kidnapped ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) legislator and a popular tribal leader Jhina Hikaka, 37, in Koraput district Saturday.
The talks were halted on Saturday after the Maoist-backed mediators withdrew blaming both the state government and Maoists for the disruption in negotiations.
The talks were resumed Monday after the guerrillas released Colangelo to a group of journalists Sunday in a ‘goodwill gesture’ but kept hostage Bosusco Paolo.
The rebels have set several demands for the release of the two hostages, including a ban on the visit of tourists to the tribal areas, halt to anti-Maoist operations, and release of several prisoners.
ODISHA NEWS/BHUBANEWAR
SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA,BUREAU CHIEF,THESE DAYS,ODISHA
Intensifying efforts to secure the release of the second Italian and a legislator held captive by Maoists, officials representing the Odisha government held talks with two rebel-named mediators for several hours here Monday.
The government said the abducted Italian and the lawmaker are safe and in good health.
“The talks started on positive notes. We were discussing on all 13 Maoists demands,” a senior state official who was part of the negotiation process told.
The guerrillas abducted Italians Bosusco Paolo, 54, and Claudio Colangelo, 61, from a forested area on the border of the state’s Ganjam and Kandhamal districts March 14.
The rebels also kidnapped ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) legislator and a popular tribal leader Jhina Hikaka, 37, in Koraput district Saturday.
The talks were halted on Saturday after the Maoist-backed mediators withdrew blaming both the state government and Maoists for the disruption in negotiations.
The talks were resumed Monday after the guerrillas released Colangelo to a group of journalists Sunday in a ‘goodwill gesture’ but kept hostage Bosusco Paolo.
The rebels have set several demands for the release of the two hostages, including a ban on the visit of tourists to the tribal areas, halt to anti-Maoist operations, and release of several prisoners.
March 27, 2012
LETTER TO THE EDITOR " ELECTION SHOCKS"/SHOCK TO THE SYSTEM
ELECTION SHOCK
With reference to your Cover Story “Election Shock” in frontline April 6th, 2012 truly hammered at the head of the Pitaji/Mataji/Behenji/Betaji scenario going on, on today’s context.
Long back ago Ex Defence Minister Geoge Fernandes had rightly foresighted that the Congress or the present UPA cannot do anything, because it is not a political party. It is a power machine which relies on money, on the dynastic principle and on the state power to keep it going.
To these age old outlandish, obnoxious, routine and recognized specializations are added the equally recognized distinctions of speech and dress and there you have the irredeemable situation of India, where 60 lakhs are alive in a selfish, elegant but barren way while 50 crores are just helpless loam and putty.
No matter how much the Young Prince Rahul baba may say he wants to change the system inside the party to a more democratic rather than dynastic mode, it cannot be possible if he spends his holidays at fancy spots. Eating in a slum with a lady was an eye wash. Now, let us see whether publicly chastises such ridiculous behavior and punishes the people who arranged such programmers or he is just pretending as if knowing everything.
Posing as a Gandhian but doing or proposing contrary to the actions of Gandhi seems to have been a major cause why people have started to distance themselves from his agenda, well-intioned as it may be. While Gandhi had proposed to offer another cheek, if somebody slapped you once on the cheek, Hazare goes miles ahead and proposes to slap if your tolerance runs out. In a perfect case of getting fed up with his utterances, black-mailing and the programmes, only a few thousand people turned up at his protest demonstration in Mumbai last year in the last week of December. He was even forced to call off the protest before schedule. The Jan Lokpal Bill that he along with his team has demanded all through is still to be passed by the Parliament.
All the brouhaha created for months in the public platforms, TV channels and newspapers about the bill and the anti-corruption movement seems to have washed down the drain. This has only been reduced to a part of the memory now.......................... Corruption is no more like cleaning Gangotri................
SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA,
SAMBALPUR,ODISHA
With reference to your Cover Story “Election Shock” in frontline April 6th, 2012 truly hammered at the head of the Pitaji/Mataji/Behenji/Betaji scenario going on, on today’s context.
Long back ago Ex Defence Minister Geoge Fernandes had rightly foresighted that the Congress or the present UPA cannot do anything, because it is not a political party. It is a power machine which relies on money, on the dynastic principle and on the state power to keep it going.
To these age old outlandish, obnoxious, routine and recognized specializations are added the equally recognized distinctions of speech and dress and there you have the irredeemable situation of India, where 60 lakhs are alive in a selfish, elegant but barren way while 50 crores are just helpless loam and putty.
No matter how much the Young Prince Rahul baba may say he wants to change the system inside the party to a more democratic rather than dynastic mode, it cannot be possible if he spends his holidays at fancy spots. Eating in a slum with a lady was an eye wash. Now, let us see whether publicly chastises such ridiculous behavior and punishes the people who arranged such programmers or he is just pretending as if knowing everything.
Posing as a Gandhian but doing or proposing contrary to the actions of Gandhi seems to have been a major cause why people have started to distance themselves from his agenda, well-intioned as it may be. While Gandhi had proposed to offer another cheek, if somebody slapped you once on the cheek, Hazare goes miles ahead and proposes to slap if your tolerance runs out. In a perfect case of getting fed up with his utterances, black-mailing and the programmes, only a few thousand people turned up at his protest demonstration in Mumbai last year in the last week of December. He was even forced to call off the protest before schedule. The Jan Lokpal Bill that he along with his team has demanded all through is still to be passed by the Parliament.
All the brouhaha created for months in the public platforms, TV channels and newspapers about the bill and the anti-corruption movement seems to have washed down the drain. This has only been reduced to a part of the memory now.......................... Corruption is no more like cleaning Gangotri................
SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA,
SAMBALPUR,ODISHA
THE SHRINKING UNIVERSE
If a woman's primary identity is derived from her motherhood, it can be difficult to let go when the children get married.
The Indian mother does have a hard time of it. She's extolled by one and all as the bedrock of the Indian family, but social scientists tell us that the Indian family seems to be becoming progressively more rickety. And in some strange way, without anything actually being said, she seems to be looked askance at. She begins to feel that she's somehow not quite doing what, over several centuries, her foremothers are believed to have pulled off. And if she's chosen to be a ‘full-time mom', she feels even worse, for, she feels she's failed in her primary task. No wonder then that hordes of contemporary women balk at the idea of being ‘stay-at-home moms', for, every time they look at their own stay-at-home-mothers' lives they realise how much mothers have been scapegoated for a lot of things that have gone wrong in their families and how, for many of them, platitudinous lip-service has been their only tangible reward. So, when she has an opportunity to, it is no surprise that Mummy Strikes Back.
She usually does this when the children have grown up and don't ‘need' her any more. This is when her sense of self takes a pounding, for, her primary identity is that of a mother. The typical Indian mother has usually derived her identity from having been somebody's daughter, somebody's wife and eventually somebody's mother. As a daughter and as a wife, she's had a subordinate role to play but as a mother she comes into her own, and understandably, this is the role she is most attached to. And when it is threatened, she's not going to go down without a fight.
Ownership issues
Which is why we have the much-written-about and ad-nauseam-lamented-about conflict between mothers-in-law and their daughters-in-law. Often the son-husband becomes incidental in this conflict as the underlying dynamics are not about who loves him more but who has more ownership rights over him. Also, over the last few decades, we have also seen what I refer to as the ‘other-in-law' wherein the son-in-law is also at the receiving end of much interference from his parents-in-law. But, you all know this and I don't want to bore you with more of the same.
However, you might be interested in knowing about the “Mother-is-law” phenomenon, the incidence of which seems to be sharply on the rise over the last decade or so, although it's been around for quite a while earlier, but in the background. I refer to the dynamics of the relationship between mothers and married daughters which has come a full circle. From being considered the in-laws' property, married daughters have now become a bone of contention between mother and mother-in-law and mother and son-in-law.
Typically, two scenarios seem to be the most common. In the first of these, the husband, who is expected to cut his umbilical cord from his mother, finds the closeness between his wife and mother-in-law uncomfortable. He finds his wife sharing everything that happens in the marriage with her mother, conducting the marriage as per her mother's advice and spending endless hours in a day either visiting her mother or talking to her on the phone, regardless of the rift that's developing between husband and wife. In the other common scenario, the mother, who cannot bear the idea of her daughter's budding closeness to her mother-in-law, does everything to let her displeasure be known, thereby putting the daughter in a dilemma and sometimes effectively scuttling what could have become a good relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.
The other side
One way of understanding this phenomenon is to see it as a manifestation of gender-equitation, whereby what used to happen to the mother-son relationship post the latter's marriage is happening to the mother-daughter relationship as well. There's some truth to this, but there is one important difference. The ‘possessiveness' expressed by the mother of the son has been, over centuries, accepted as part of the ‘motherhood experience' if you will, and is often seen as the mother's right. Whereas the same response to the daughter is seen as neurotic, unnatural and therefore unacceptable. Evidently, we've not yet gone all the way when it comes to gender-equity in the mother-child relationship.
However, whether dealing with son or daughter, the major difficulty experienced by the Indian mother is that she's overly attached to her identity as a mother, and often-times has not developed any other facet of her identity during the course of her life. This makes her extremely vulnerable, for, when the possibility of actively ‘mothering' her children is no longer available to her, she's quite lost. Her husband, whose primary identity is not derived from his role as a father, can ‘let go' of the married children, if and when he learns to delegate the ‘head of the family' role, but she finds it hard to follow suit, particularly if she has nothing else to fall back on. And this is where you have to feel for her.
However, if she puts in more energy and dynamism in developing other facets of her identity, not only will she become a more nurturing and less stifling parent, but she'll be a happier and better-adjusted person. And she need no longer feel compelled to lay down the law.
AUTHOR : VIJAY NAGASWAMI
Email the writer: vijay.nagaswami@gmail.com
The Indian mother does have a hard time of it. She's extolled by one and all as the bedrock of the Indian family, but social scientists tell us that the Indian family seems to be becoming progressively more rickety. And in some strange way, without anything actually being said, she seems to be looked askance at. She begins to feel that she's somehow not quite doing what, over several centuries, her foremothers are believed to have pulled off. And if she's chosen to be a ‘full-time mom', she feels even worse, for, she feels she's failed in her primary task. No wonder then that hordes of contemporary women balk at the idea of being ‘stay-at-home moms', for, every time they look at their own stay-at-home-mothers' lives they realise how much mothers have been scapegoated for a lot of things that have gone wrong in their families and how, for many of them, platitudinous lip-service has been their only tangible reward. So, when she has an opportunity to, it is no surprise that Mummy Strikes Back.
She usually does this when the children have grown up and don't ‘need' her any more. This is when her sense of self takes a pounding, for, her primary identity is that of a mother. The typical Indian mother has usually derived her identity from having been somebody's daughter, somebody's wife and eventually somebody's mother. As a daughter and as a wife, she's had a subordinate role to play but as a mother she comes into her own, and understandably, this is the role she is most attached to. And when it is threatened, she's not going to go down without a fight.
Ownership issues
Which is why we have the much-written-about and ad-nauseam-lamented-about conflict between mothers-in-law and their daughters-in-law. Often the son-husband becomes incidental in this conflict as the underlying dynamics are not about who loves him more but who has more ownership rights over him. Also, over the last few decades, we have also seen what I refer to as the ‘other-in-law' wherein the son-in-law is also at the receiving end of much interference from his parents-in-law. But, you all know this and I don't want to bore you with more of the same.
However, you might be interested in knowing about the “Mother-is-law” phenomenon, the incidence of which seems to be sharply on the rise over the last decade or so, although it's been around for quite a while earlier, but in the background. I refer to the dynamics of the relationship between mothers and married daughters which has come a full circle. From being considered the in-laws' property, married daughters have now become a bone of contention between mother and mother-in-law and mother and son-in-law.
Typically, two scenarios seem to be the most common. In the first of these, the husband, who is expected to cut his umbilical cord from his mother, finds the closeness between his wife and mother-in-law uncomfortable. He finds his wife sharing everything that happens in the marriage with her mother, conducting the marriage as per her mother's advice and spending endless hours in a day either visiting her mother or talking to her on the phone, regardless of the rift that's developing between husband and wife. In the other common scenario, the mother, who cannot bear the idea of her daughter's budding closeness to her mother-in-law, does everything to let her displeasure be known, thereby putting the daughter in a dilemma and sometimes effectively scuttling what could have become a good relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.
The other side
One way of understanding this phenomenon is to see it as a manifestation of gender-equitation, whereby what used to happen to the mother-son relationship post the latter's marriage is happening to the mother-daughter relationship as well. There's some truth to this, but there is one important difference. The ‘possessiveness' expressed by the mother of the son has been, over centuries, accepted as part of the ‘motherhood experience' if you will, and is often seen as the mother's right. Whereas the same response to the daughter is seen as neurotic, unnatural and therefore unacceptable. Evidently, we've not yet gone all the way when it comes to gender-equity in the mother-child relationship.
However, whether dealing with son or daughter, the major difficulty experienced by the Indian mother is that she's overly attached to her identity as a mother, and often-times has not developed any other facet of her identity during the course of her life. This makes her extremely vulnerable, for, when the possibility of actively ‘mothering' her children is no longer available to her, she's quite lost. Her husband, whose primary identity is not derived from his role as a father, can ‘let go' of the married children, if and when he learns to delegate the ‘head of the family' role, but she finds it hard to follow suit, particularly if she has nothing else to fall back on. And this is where you have to feel for her.
However, if she puts in more energy and dynamism in developing other facets of her identity, not only will she become a more nurturing and less stifling parent, but she'll be a happier and better-adjusted person. And she need no longer feel compelled to lay down the law.
AUTHOR : VIJAY NAGASWAMI
Email the writer: vijay.nagaswami@gmail.com
LAW FIRMS
Managing any professional services organization is notoriously difficult; abroad, partners often liken managing a law firm to herding cats.
With each partner being a firm’s main revenue source, brand and business vertical, the highest performers often come with commensurate ego and ambition. Nurturing and controlling such inclinations in big rainmakers is the main challenge.
“What you’ve got to do, however you do it, is channel the sort of drive that is probably larger than all of us and can turn to selfish behaviour when not properly channelled,” says ex-Slaughter and May partner George Goulding, who is now on Amarchand’s management committee as an external consultant.
Internationally, almost all law firms are run as pure democracies. Every equity and sometimes non-equity partner has one vote and management can be ousted if it is not seen to be performing or it does not play the political game well enough.
That model sounds attractive to many young Indian lawyers, an increasing number of whom earned their wings and worked up a hunger abroad.
“When it comes to law firms, especially in India, there is a huge spectrum in terms of managerial capability and how much have they been able to move away from personalities into really a firm,” says Boston Consulting Group partner Vikram Bhalla, who led the Amarchand 3.0 exercise. “I would argue very few firms have been able to do that.”
That creates its own set of challenges, he admits. “Why would top lawyers join a firm that is a personality-driven firm?”
The Shroffs’ unabashed vision of the family’s eternal role in the firm can, therefore, rub some non-family partners the wrong way and create the perception of glass ceilings. It also places huge expectation and burden on the next generation of Shroffs, who are all lawyers but still too young to for anyone to be able to tell whether they will be able to take up their parents’ heavy mantles one day.
Variations on the same problem exist at many other Indian law firms. Some are making the right noises or exhibit intentions to transform from promoter-driven law firms to institutions with more egalitarian partnerships. Luthra and Luthra Law Offices, for example, announced a wider equity-sharing model almost three years ago, but has still not implemented it.
Figuring out exactly what to do, as well as founder partners’ inertia and sense of entitlement as the original entrepreneurs can often act as roadblocks here.
Even the five founding partners of Trilegal, which has the best friend relationship with international magic circle law firm (an informal term to describe the top four UK-headquartered firms) Allen and Overy Llp, searched their souls long and hard before finally converting into a lockstep equity model in 2007. (Under a lockstep model, every new equity partner in a law firm joins at the bottom rung and works his or her way up to increasing profit shares, year by year, until they hit a plateau where they usually remain until they retire). Less than a year later, Trilegal nevertheless lost three partners who were slotted in at the bottom despite having almost been with the firm since its founding.
The reservations are not just theoretical and there is indisputable appeal in running a law firm, or any organization, as a dictator, benign or otherwise.
Less time is wasted on partnership politics, which often turn nasty abroad, partner attrition is near impossible to eliminate under any model, and decision-making is fast when promoters are happy to shoulder the risks and upsides of failures and successes.
“What the promoter brings to the table is entrepreneurship,” argues Amarchand’s Cyril Shroff. “Why have certain firms collapsed? It is nobody’s baby.”
The Mumbai landscape, in particular, is littered with law firms that were once great, but are now at risk of becoming late, with senior partners who harbour few common ambitions or strategies for future survival. Some of the few old-school Mumbai firms that have adapted are Kanga and Co. or Wadia Ghandy and Co., for example, where younger partners have been permitted to drive the firm forward.
But for those firms that have benefited from a strong first generation promoter, succession planning is a perennial issue. Mumbai technology specialist firm Thakker and Thakker closed shop entirely on 50 lawyers when the founding partner decided to retire and pursue philanthropic projects in late 2010.
Similarly, Nishith Desai Associates is built around the identity of its sole equity partner and founder, despite being one of the most smoothly run and professional law firms in India.
Even firms that have already set up a professional, democratic and institutional model will face upheaval when the first-generation founders leave. J. Sagar Associates’ (JSA’s) founding partner Jyoti Sagar is due to retire in April 2013, closely followed by senior partner Berjis Desai. The hope at JSA is that the institution and systems in place will be able to adapt to the new realities when the founder is less visible.
But all those problems are not uniquely Indian. The only real difference to the US or the UK is that at international firms, all that is normally left of their founders are names that would otherwise have been long forgotten.
SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA,
SAMBALPUR,ODISHA
With each partner being a firm’s main revenue source, brand and business vertical, the highest performers often come with commensurate ego and ambition. Nurturing and controlling such inclinations in big rainmakers is the main challenge.
“What you’ve got to do, however you do it, is channel the sort of drive that is probably larger than all of us and can turn to selfish behaviour when not properly channelled,” says ex-Slaughter and May partner George Goulding, who is now on Amarchand’s management committee as an external consultant.
Internationally, almost all law firms are run as pure democracies. Every equity and sometimes non-equity partner has one vote and management can be ousted if it is not seen to be performing or it does not play the political game well enough.
That model sounds attractive to many young Indian lawyers, an increasing number of whom earned their wings and worked up a hunger abroad.
“When it comes to law firms, especially in India, there is a huge spectrum in terms of managerial capability and how much have they been able to move away from personalities into really a firm,” says Boston Consulting Group partner Vikram Bhalla, who led the Amarchand 3.0 exercise. “I would argue very few firms have been able to do that.”
That creates its own set of challenges, he admits. “Why would top lawyers join a firm that is a personality-driven firm?”
The Shroffs’ unabashed vision of the family’s eternal role in the firm can, therefore, rub some non-family partners the wrong way and create the perception of glass ceilings. It also places huge expectation and burden on the next generation of Shroffs, who are all lawyers but still too young to for anyone to be able to tell whether they will be able to take up their parents’ heavy mantles one day.
Variations on the same problem exist at many other Indian law firms. Some are making the right noises or exhibit intentions to transform from promoter-driven law firms to institutions with more egalitarian partnerships. Luthra and Luthra Law Offices, for example, announced a wider equity-sharing model almost three years ago, but has still not implemented it.
Figuring out exactly what to do, as well as founder partners’ inertia and sense of entitlement as the original entrepreneurs can often act as roadblocks here.
Even the five founding partners of Trilegal, which has the best friend relationship with international magic circle law firm (an informal term to describe the top four UK-headquartered firms) Allen and Overy Llp, searched their souls long and hard before finally converting into a lockstep equity model in 2007. (Under a lockstep model, every new equity partner in a law firm joins at the bottom rung and works his or her way up to increasing profit shares, year by year, until they hit a plateau where they usually remain until they retire). Less than a year later, Trilegal nevertheless lost three partners who were slotted in at the bottom despite having almost been with the firm since its founding.
The reservations are not just theoretical and there is indisputable appeal in running a law firm, or any organization, as a dictator, benign or otherwise.
Less time is wasted on partnership politics, which often turn nasty abroad, partner attrition is near impossible to eliminate under any model, and decision-making is fast when promoters are happy to shoulder the risks and upsides of failures and successes.
“What the promoter brings to the table is entrepreneurship,” argues Amarchand’s Cyril Shroff. “Why have certain firms collapsed? It is nobody’s baby.”
The Mumbai landscape, in particular, is littered with law firms that were once great, but are now at risk of becoming late, with senior partners who harbour few common ambitions or strategies for future survival. Some of the few old-school Mumbai firms that have adapted are Kanga and Co. or Wadia Ghandy and Co., for example, where younger partners have been permitted to drive the firm forward.
But for those firms that have benefited from a strong first generation promoter, succession planning is a perennial issue. Mumbai technology specialist firm Thakker and Thakker closed shop entirely on 50 lawyers when the founding partner decided to retire and pursue philanthropic projects in late 2010.
Similarly, Nishith Desai Associates is built around the identity of its sole equity partner and founder, despite being one of the most smoothly run and professional law firms in India.
Even firms that have already set up a professional, democratic and institutional model will face upheaval when the first-generation founders leave. J. Sagar Associates’ (JSA’s) founding partner Jyoti Sagar is due to retire in April 2013, closely followed by senior partner Berjis Desai. The hope at JSA is that the institution and systems in place will be able to adapt to the new realities when the founder is less visible.
But all those problems are not uniquely Indian. The only real difference to the US or the UK is that at international firms, all that is normally left of their founders are names that would otherwise have been long forgotten.
SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA,
SAMBALPUR,ODISHA
Ministry of Defence to set up Sainik School in Sambalpur proposed by Odisha
Ministry of Defence to set up Sainik School in Sambalpur proposed by Odisha 27/03/2012/ SAMBALPUR
ODISHA NEWS:
SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA, BUREAU CHIEF, THESE DAYS,ODISHA
Odisha Government proposes Ministry of Defence to set up Sainik School in Sambalpur. Along with Odisha other states like Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh for setting up new Sainik Schools in Sagar and Chittoor districts respectively. After site inspection by officers of the Ministry, 'in principle' approval has been accorded for setting up new Sainik Schools in these States. The State Governments have been requested to transfer the land, build up basic infrastructure and sign the Memorandums of Agreement.
This information was given by Minister of Defence Shri A.K. Antony in written reply to Shri Gopal Singh Shekhawat in Lok Sabha today. It should be noted that at present, there are twenty four Sainik Schools under the Ministry of Defence in the country.
Sainik Schools are established on receipt of a request from a State Government agreeing to provide land alongwith funds for the creation and maintenance of basic infrastructure, equipment and facilities besides scholarships for the cadets of the states. A Memorandum of Agreement is also required to be signed by the State Government to this effect.
INPUTS – SANGRAM KESARI PANDA (SENIOR CORESPONDENT)
ODISHA NEWS:
SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA, BUREAU CHIEF, THESE DAYS,ODISHA
Odisha Government proposes Ministry of Defence to set up Sainik School in Sambalpur. Along with Odisha other states like Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh for setting up new Sainik Schools in Sagar and Chittoor districts respectively. After site inspection by officers of the Ministry, 'in principle' approval has been accorded for setting up new Sainik Schools in these States. The State Governments have been requested to transfer the land, build up basic infrastructure and sign the Memorandums of Agreement.
This information was given by Minister of Defence Shri A.K. Antony in written reply to Shri Gopal Singh Shekhawat in Lok Sabha today. It should be noted that at present, there are twenty four Sainik Schools under the Ministry of Defence in the country.
Sainik Schools are established on receipt of a request from a State Government agreeing to provide land alongwith funds for the creation and maintenance of basic infrastructure, equipment and facilities besides scholarships for the cadets of the states. A Memorandum of Agreement is also required to be signed by the State Government to this effect.
INPUTS – SANGRAM KESARI PANDA (SENIOR CORESPONDENT)
ODISHA CM PREFERS ON RESUMING TALKS WITH THE MAOISTS AND THE ABDUCTED MLA SENDS LETTER TO THE CM FROM MAOISTS HIDEOUT
ODISHA CM PREFERS ON RESUMING TALKS WITH THE MAOISTS AND THE ABDUCTED MLA SENDS LETTER TO THE CM FROM MAOISTS HIDEOUT 27/03/2012
ODISHA NEWS:
SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA,BUREAU CHIEF,THESE DAYS,ODISHA
The Italian still held captive by Maoists in Odisha is in good health, but the government should fulfil their demands – including banning tourist visits to tribal areas – to secure his release, the rebels said Monday, a day after freeing one of the Italian.
In an interview to local television channel OTV aired Monday, Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda who claimed responsibility for the March 14 abduction of both tourists said Italian Bosusco Paolo would be released only after the rebels feel the government is serious about their demands.
Saying Paolo was in good health, Panda assured he would not come to any harm.
Panda, who also calls himself ‘Sunil’, said his cadres Sunday released Italian Claudio Colangelo on humanitarian ground and as a goodwill gesture following an appeal from a cross-section of society.
He said the rebels wanted to send a positive message by releasing one of the hostages and all the demands made by the rebels were genuine.
Panda said he wants a ban on tourist visits to tribal areas.
“Foreigners or Indians, nobody should be allowed to visit tribal areas. we should not treat tribals like wildlife…a monkey or a chimpanzee in zoo,” Panda said. “We have exposed the government’s policy which brings in tourists who treat tribals as commodities for tourism,” he added.
Panda also said the Maoists are not indulging in violence on their own. “We are not doing violence of our own. The government is forcing us to do that. The government wants us to stay us in the forests because we are fighting for the poor,” he said.
The guerrillas had abducted Paolo, 54, and Claudio Colangelo, 61 from a forested area on the border of Ganjam and Kandhamal districts March 14. On Saturday, the rebels also kidnapped ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) legislator and a popular tribal leader Jhina Hikaka, 37, in a hilly area of Koraput district.
While the rebels Sunday released Colangelo, the other Italian and the BJD legislature are still in their captivity.
However, Panda who claims to be the organising committee secretary of the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist), said he is not responsible for the abduction of the legislature as it has not been done by his group.
Maoists faction which abducted Laxmipur legislature Jhina Hikaka rejects direct negotiation with Government. They offer direct talk through media. On this regard the ultra releases one letter and press release to media.
First letter was written by abducted ruling BJD MLA Jhina Hikaka to Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik from Maoists camp.
Through this letter the MLA Jhina Hikaka has requested the chief minister to stop combing operations against the ultras and also stop padyatras and rallies. In the letter the MLA said that the government should fulfill all the demands put forth by the naxalites and release Maoists and activists of the Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh incarcerated in different jails in Koraput and Malkangiri districts. Jhina mentioned that the Maoists would release him unharmed once the government conceded the demands.
With this the matter of hostage crisis of Laxmipur legislature Jhina Hikaka taken a new turn. After 72 hours of the incident the Maoists have published their demand through media. The demand note in Telugu language consists of five pages. In the letter signed jointly by one Jagabandhu, member of the Andhra-Odisha-Border Special Zonal Committee and Daya, member of the Koraput-Srikakulam Divisional Committee. It was released by the Andhra-Odisha-Border Special Zonal Committee and Koraput-Srikakulam Divisional Committee of the CPI(Maoist) have jointly claimed responsibility for the abduction of Jhina Hikaka and the killing of Khairiput police sub-inspector Krushna Chandra Rath, The Maoists have put forth certain demands for the release of the kidnapped MLA Jhina Hikaka. The Maoists have demanded that the government should soon stop 'Operation Green Hunt' against the rebels and should immediately fulfill all the conditions agreed to at the time of release of former Malkangiri collector R Vineel Krishna. The other prominent demands raised by the Maoists related to release of political prisoners and activists of the Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh incarcerated in several jails in Koraput and Malkangiri districts.
The Maoists have said that they would announce the date of the release of the abducted MLA once the government discloses the details about the release of the political prisoners to the media. However, the Maoists have warned that they would be compelled to take extreme steps if the government launches any operation against the ultras.
Abducted ruling BJD MLA Jhina Hikaka sends letter to Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik from Maoists camp. I am well and safe writes abducted MLA Jhina Hikaka to CM from Maoist hideout.
Through this letter Andhra-Odisha Border Zone Committee of CPI-Maoist claim abducting Jhina Hikaka. Through this letter Maoists urge CM to fulfill all the demands of Maoists. Through this letter Maoists appeal urge CM to stop all the combing operations against Maoists.
Through this letter Maoists appeal urge to free all arrested political prisoners and leaders of Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh. In this letter Maoists urged the CM to release the political prisoners and convey all this development to through media. Maoists also said after that they will announce the date for release of BJD MLA.
It should be noted that Hikaka was abducted by unknown ultras while returning from Koraput to his home at Laxmipur at about 1 am of March 24.
Centre Grants highest funds to Odisha for Hostels under BJRCY Scheme
Centre Grants highest funds to Odisha for Hostels under BJRCY Scheme 27/03/2012
ODISHA NEWS:
SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA, BUREAU CHIEF, THESE DAYS/ODISHA
Centre has Grants highest funds to Odisha for Hostels under Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatrawas Yojna(BJRCY) of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. Under this scheme centre grants Rs. 2670.80 lakh to Odisha during the last three years. This was said by the Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Shri D. Napoleon in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha.
Under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatrawas Yojna(BJRCY) of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, 39 proposals were received from 17 States, including Odisha during 2011-12.
Statewise number of proposals approved and assistance provided under BJRCY during the last three years is as under
ODISHA NEWS:
SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA, BUREAU CHIEF, THESE DAYS/ODISHA
Centre has Grants highest funds to Odisha for Hostels under Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatrawas Yojna(BJRCY) of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. Under this scheme centre grants Rs. 2670.80 lakh to Odisha during the last three years. This was said by the Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Shri D. Napoleon in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha.
Under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatrawas Yojna(BJRCY) of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, 39 proposals were received from 17 States, including Odisha during 2011-12.
Statewise number of proposals approved and assistance provided under BJRCY during the last three years is as under
March 26, 2012
ODISHA CM PREFERS ON RESUMING TALKS WITH THE MAOISTS AND THE ABDUCTED MLA SENDS LETTER TO THE CM FROM MAOISTS HIDEOUT
ODISHA CM PREFERS ON RESUMING TALKS WITH THE MAOISTS AND THE ABDUCTED MLA SENDS LETTER TO THE CM FROM MAOISTS HIDEOUT 27/03/2012
ODISHA NEWS:
SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA,BUREAU CHIEF,THESE DAYS,ODISHA
The Italian still held captive by Maoists in Odisha is in good health, but the government should fulfil their demands – including banning tourist visits to tribal areas – to secure his release, the rebels said Monday, a day after freeing one of the Italian.
In an interview to local television channel OTV aired Monday, Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda who claimed responsibility for the March 14 abduction of both tourists said Italian Bosusco Paolo would be released only after the rebels feel the government is serious about their demands.
Saying Paolo was in good health, Panda assured he would not come to any harm.
Panda, who also calls himself ‘Sunil’, said his cadres Sunday released Italian Claudio Colangelo on humanitarian ground and as a goodwill gesture following an appeal from a cross-section of society.
He said the rebels wanted to send a positive message by releasing one of the hostages and all the demands made by the rebels were genuine.
Panda said he wants a ban on tourist visits to tribal areas.
“Foreigners or Indians, nobody should be allowed to visit tribal areas. we should not treat tribals like wildlife…a monkey or a chimpanzee in zoo,” Panda said. “We have exposed the government’s policy which brings in tourists who treat tribals as commodities for tourism,” he added.
Panda also said the Maoists are not indulging in violence on their own. “We are not doing violence of our own. The government is forcing us to do that. The government wants us to stay us in the forests because we are fighting for the poor,” he said.
The guerrillas had abducted Paolo, 54, and Claudio Colangelo, 61 from a forested area on the border of Ganjam and Kandhamal districts March 14. On Saturday, the rebels also kidnapped ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) legislator and a popular tribal leader Jhina Hikaka, 37, in a hilly area of Koraput district.
While the rebels Sunday released Colangelo, the other Italian and the BJD legislature are still in their captivity.
However, Panda who claims to be the organising committee secretary of the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist), said he is not responsible for the abduction of the legislature as it has not been done by his group.
Maoists faction which abducted Laxmipur legislature Jhina Hikaka rejects direct negotiation with Government. They offer direct talk through media. On this regard the ultra releases one letter and press release to media.
First letter was written by abducted ruling BJD MLA Jhina Hikaka to Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik from Maoists camp.
Through this letter the MLA Jhina Hikaka has requested the chief minister to stop combing operations against the ultras and also stop padyatras and rallies. In the letter the MLA said that the government should fulfill all the demands put forth by the naxalites and release Maoists and activists of the Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh incarcerated in different jails in Koraput and Malkangiri districts. Jhina mentioned that the Maoists would release him unharmed once the government conceded the demands.
With this the matter of hostage crisis of Laxmipur legislature Jhina Hikaka taken a new turn. After 72 hours of the incident the Maoists have published their demand through media. The demand note in Telugu language consists of five pages. In the letter signed jointly by one Jagabandhu, member of the Andhra-Odisha-Border Special Zonal Committee and Daya, member of the Koraput-Srikakulam Divisional Committee. It was released by the Andhra-Odisha-Border Special Zonal Committee and Koraput-Srikakulam Divisional Committee of the CPI(Maoist) have jointly claimed responsibility for the abduction of Jhina Hikaka and the killing of Khairiput police sub-inspector Krushna Chandra Rath, The Maoists have put forth certain demands for the release of the kidnapped MLA Jhina Hikaka. The Maoists have demanded that the government should soon stop 'Operation Green Hunt' against the rebels and should immediately fulfill all the conditions agreed to at the time of release of former Malkangiri collector R Vineel Krishna. The other prominent demands raised by the Maoists related to release of political prisoners and activists of the Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh incarcerated in several jails in Koraput and Malkangiri districts.
The Maoists have said that they would announce the date of the release of the abducted MLA once the government discloses the details about the release of the political prisoners to the media. However, the Maoists have warned that they would be compelled to take extreme steps if the government launches any operation against the ultras.
Abducted ruling BJD MLA Jhina Hikaka sends letter to Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik from Maoists camp. I am well and safe writes abducted MLA Jhina Hikaka to CM from Maoist hideout.
Through this letter Andhra-Odisha Border Zone Committee of CPI-Maoist claim abducting Jhina Hikaka. Through this letter Maoists urge CM to fulfill all the demands of Maoists. Through this letter Maoists appeal urge CM to stop all the combing operations against Maoists.
Through this letter Maoists appeal urge to free all arrested political prisoners and leaders of Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh. In this letter Maoists urged the CM to release the political prisoners and convey all this development to through media. Maoists also said after that they will announce the date for release of BJD MLA.
It should be noted that Hikaka was abducted by unknown ultras while returning from Koraput to his home at Laxmipur at about 1 am of March 24.
Anna and the Messiah
Anna and the King
(Disclaimer: The article involves a lot of stereotyping. For someone marking me out as a Congress puppy, here is a small background.I have never been a huge fan of democracy, and I spent my early childhood dreaming of the day when I will become dictator of the country and set this country alright. As a young boy, I was convinced that democracy is a failed notion, and the sad state of the country can be attributed by a great deal to the electoral pleasing politics played by leaders. I was probably agitated by the Rajiv Goswami incident, despite being only seven years old, and seeing pictures of protests all over the country over the Mandal recommendations. My fertile imaginative mind worked in full swing back then - I wanted to take seize power from the useless leaders, who had sent the country to dogs, and create a new India, which would be corrupt-free and meritorious. There would be no place for reservations or minority appeasment. I would rule the country with an iron-hand, giving full chance to the deserving and rooting out the non-meritorious. Anyone disputing my calls would be severely punished. In short, I would wield absolute power, and use that power to make India what it historically was - the bird of Gold (sone ki chidiya). To put it otherwise, I was a right winger. However then I grew up and was able to argue things on my own, and come to the conclusion that democracy, while being the far-from-perfect model, is probably the best one given India’s position as a socially, culturally and religiously diversified society.)
The movie was fabulous. Or I have heard it was. The spoof, being currently played out in the aptly named Ramlila Grounds, is anything but. A 74 year old apparently senile man who plays the major part in the new spoof, playing both the title parts. On the one hand, he is a tender voice against the corruption and the evil government (Anna), and on the other, he is the king who is holding the government, and the people of India to ransom through what can at the very modest, be termed blackmail.
A lot of people not supporting Anna Hazare's movement have been doing so because they take exceptions to the method that he is taking. A lot has been written about it, and I will therefore bypass that point and discuss something else, which is probably much more far reaching with effect to India as a country and a heterogeneous society.
I have basically two objections to the Anna Hazare demand for corruption - other than the one about the method. Both of them are fairly controversial and I am ready for a debate on both: One has to do with the need for corruption, and how people are being entirely hypocritical while ganging up with Anna, while the second objection, which I am going to discuss first, is the impact of the agitation.
Issue 1 : Context: India is a truly remarkable country. Growing up,our books described India as "unity among diversity." I was not very sure about what the expression meant, and while the unity part might still be up for discussion, there is no doubting the diversity of the country. It is perhaps amazing that India is one country. There is no other country with the kind of diversity that India has, and at such different levels. Most of the states are separated on linguistic lines, and often have their own culture. No other country has the kind of linguistic and cultural diversity that India has. Spain is the only other country that comes to mind, but it has had its history of civil wars, and the peace existing in the country is very fragile, as the occasional brawls between Barcelona and Real Madrid in football often proves. The Catalans hate Madridistas, and the less said about the autonomous Basque county, the better. And in Spain, there is no divide across religious and racial lines, unlike in India. Belgium is on the verge of breaking up only because of the linguistic issue. India, moreover, also has a number of significant minority religions in different states, and within Hinduism, there is further subdivision across castes and sub-castes. All in all, the heterogeneous structure of India is a very thin fabric, and the fact that the fabric is holding up fine so far is a testimony to the strength of the country.
In every political system, there are two extremes across the political spectrum : the far right and the far left. The right wing is generally more conservative, more business-friendly, less individual freedom and more nationalistic, while the left wing is more radical, more socialist, and more individual freedom. The right wing is also more polar, and tends to create economic and social classes, while the left wing seeks to abolish them. While there are many differentiating factors that separate the two extreme positions, they can be summed up thus: The far right believe only what they do is right, while the far left is of the view that what everyone else does is wrong. Arundhiti Roy and her paranoia about everything is an example of far-left activism, while those of the temple and cocksureness about the location of the Ram Mandir is far-right. As a consequence, an extreme right government will probably do or seek to do a lot of work in its own way, but at the cost of freedom and probably subversion of certain elements, while a far left government will probably regress, unless the far left itself takes the far right position, for the two positions are not as different as they seem. Animal Farm or the USSR government would probably be good examples.
In the Indian context, far right would probably mean pushing reforms and promoting Indian nationalism and Hinduism, probably at the cost of the minority religions and/or the "lower" castes. The Gujarat government, which has ensured a Vibrant Gujarat, but is also charged with abetting the Gujarat riots and failing to ensure inclusive growth, is an example of far-right, while the erstwhile West Bengal government, which changed the face of Kolkata from that of Hema Malini to that of Jyoti Basu, is an example of far-left. The West Bengal growth, or the stagnation, has been pretty much inclusive. Everyone has come to the same level of poverty. In between, you have the different left-of-centre to right-of-centre combinations and different governments in India can possibly be mapped on the axis. In the Indian context, BJP is the right wing party, Congress is the centre party, while the Left Parties are well, left parties.
Similarly, most voters fall on either side of the centre: the far-right to far-left depending on your political ideals, and your moral and religious values. The right winged voters, who had been identifying themselves with the BJP for so long, are suddenly lost, for the BJP has regressed remarkably as a party since its 2004 loss. The loss was totally unexpected, but even its most adherent critics would not have predicted the rudderless ship it now resembles. The name of the party has been planned to be officially changed to Bhartiya Joker Party, if reports are to be believed. But I digress.
Issue 1: Impact: The failure of BJP as a party, has alienated the right wing electorate of the country. The right wing electorate generally belong to the Hindu, upper and middle classes and the non-Schedule Castes. They are generally well educated, and are active on social media. They are generally against reservations and pro-meritocracy. A large number of these right wing electorate who feel let down by the BJP do not really care about the temple, but about ensuring a transparent society, where everything works well. Most of them also support Narendra Modi, despite him being implicated in the riots, for the reason that their only concern is development, and they feel that no price is enough to achieve it. They are pro-reforms, and believe that corruption is the biggest threat to India. They do not want to understand the viewpoint of the other side, and are adamant that their demands, and wants are entirely justified. However, despite being sizable in number, the right wing voters are particularly known to skip election day as the size and heat of May sun gets to them, which probably explains why BJP lost the two elections in May.
On the other hand, the Congress government at the centre has made no overtures to them. In fact, the government has taken a decisive left-turn, and Congress has changed from a centralist party to a left-of-centre party. The Congress public motto of inclusive growth does not hold much weight with the right wing voters. Moreover, the reservation issue is another key thorn. This, and other policies of the government, has led this electorate to believe that Congress is not for them, which is probably true.
And so we come to the issue of corruption. The right wing needs an outlet to the rage at the inability of BJP to launch a proper attack on the Congress. Baba Ramdev tried to capture that space, but his pro-religious antics were never going to cut much meat with the mainly secular right wing, middle class electorate. Enter Anna Hazare, and the right wing electorate has finally found a messiah to deliver them from evil. They finally feel they have an option to partake in the decision making process, which had been taken away from them by the left and centralist leaning Congress governments. And the issue of corruption has managed to unite every right-wing voter into one under Anna Hazare, and makes them feel empowered. So this right wing electorate, in true right wing style, has made a draft believing only they can do a great job of it, and are trying to impose it on the government. Why is their version better than the government? Who says seven years imprisonment is not enough punishment? Why should ministers suffer more punishment as compared to the common man? Why shouldnot bribing be made legal? There can be many questions that can be asked from them. However, being the burning issue of corruption, which most people believe to be an illness, the movement has also found support with some of the traditional central and left-wing supporters. That it is basically a right wing movement can be made out by the fact that masses of Scheduled Castes, Muslims and many other societies have stayed away, fearing backlash.
Issue 1: Why is it bad?: Historically, whenever the right wing has emerged enmasse, it has often resulted in historical tragedies. The frenzy that is generated by such movements often prevail everything else, and creates absolute power. Moreover, right wing also means giving more power to the majority, and hence can totally alienate minority. A left wing uprising, while theoretically equally potentially damaging, has atleast equality as its basic tenet. A right wing uprising on the other hand, increases the diversity.In a country like India, this can lead to dangerous consequences. The Gujarat riots united the Hindus to vote for Modi, just like German nationalism united Germans under Hitler, and we all know how that went. I am not saying that Hazare is comparable to either of the two, but going forward, if the present movement is a success, the rejuvenated right wing can plan further uprisings, to impose their will on the government - through democratic or undemocratic means - and we never know how that will impact India. Why should a few people who are up there, and have conjured up a draft of the bill, be allowed to hold the government hostage? Who gives them the right? It is not a matter of them thinking what they are thinking is right, it has to come from the people. And the people choose the Parliament. If people like Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal really want to do anything, they should take the right path and fight elections. However, they know they will lose if they stand in elections, and hence have taken unconstitutional ways to hijack the government into accepting their demands. It does not matter if their demands are right or wrong? The thing is, who are they to decide that their demands are right? This right wing tendency of always being right needs to be stopped as soon as possible, else it can have grave consequences. As mentioned earlier, India is a great country because the social fabric is holding up. With a rejuvenated right wing, if the revolution now starts, I see the fabric stopping. Hence the revolution must fail.
Issue 2: I am not against corruption. I get my Gas connection illegally, I used to drive a car when I did not have a driving licence and I drove when drunk. I save as much tax as I can, some of it unethically. I give bribe to the ticket checker when travelling on a WL ticket in train so that I can reach home earlier. I dont like standing in lines for filling up government forms and hence bribe the government official to allow me my permits. I love corruption as it makes my life easier. I am not sure we Indians are ready for a honest government as this will mean making ourselves honest. So Mr. Hazare enjoy the limelight while people forget about lying on their CVs and putting kids through schools via bribes. In short, the Indian right winger is a hypocrite, who is always ready to blame the system for his vows. And it is exactly these people who should not be at the forefront, for it will make India another Animal Farm. Hence the revolution must fail.
Gandhian Anna says if nothing works, slap, whereas Gandhi proposed to offer his other cheek when confronted with violence. The statement came after he watched a Bollywood movie, and has justified people accusing the overt-Gandhian of being an extremist.
People who had always maintained that Bollywood Masala movies have been radicalising the minds, here is something that will justify them. After watching the screening of a Bollywood movie on corruption, ‘Gali gali choir hai’, pseudo-Gandhian and anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare expressed his heart out. According to newspaper reports, Hazare told the reporters that slapping a person when your power of tolerance of corruption runs out is justified. "When a man's power of tolerance runs out, then whoever is in front of you, if a slap is given, then the brain is put back in place. That is the only road open now,” reported The Times of India.
This is for the second time that Hazare has revealed his faith in physical rather than Gandhian ways of dealing with issues. Earlier he had approved of the slapping of Union Minister Sharad Pawar by a Delhi man though he had later condemned the attack but not before asking ‘only one-slap’. The former army driver psyche has always been doubted and it is generally believed that inside him is an extremist who dons the Gandhian cap to pull crowds. A special screening of the move was held in Hazare’s hometown Ralegan Siddhi in the presence of the whole film crew.
The anti-corruption movement that started with an 11-day fast by little known activist Anna Hazare in August last year, drew thousands of people with Hazare becoming a household name across the country. But five months down the line, people have started to get annoyed at even the mention of the Hazare movement and his team. Middle-class people had recognised with the movement the most, as they are worst hit by graft issues but have now lost hope that corruption would be tackled in the country.
Posing as a Gandhian but doing or proposing contrary to the actions of Gandhi seems to have been a major cause why people have started to distance themselves from his agenda, well-intioned as it may be. While Gandhi had proposed to offer another cheek, if somebody slapped you once on the cheek, Hazare goes miles ahead and proposes to slap if your tolerance runs out. In a perfect case of getting fed up with his utterances, black-mailing and the programmes, only a few thousand people turned up at his protest demonstration in Mumbai last year in the last week of December. He was even forced to call off the protest before schedule. The Jan Lokpal Bill that he along with his team has demanded all through is still to be passed by the Parliament.
All the brouhaha created for months in the public platforms, TV channels and newspapers about the bill and the anti-corruption movement seems to have washed down the drain. This has only been reduced to a part of the memory now.
Long live the revolution!
SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA,SAMBALPUR ODISHA
PH- 9937965779
(Disclaimer: The article involves a lot of stereotyping. For someone marking me out as a Congress puppy, here is a small background.I have never been a huge fan of democracy, and I spent my early childhood dreaming of the day when I will become dictator of the country and set this country alright. As a young boy, I was convinced that democracy is a failed notion, and the sad state of the country can be attributed by a great deal to the electoral pleasing politics played by leaders. I was probably agitated by the Rajiv Goswami incident, despite being only seven years old, and seeing pictures of protests all over the country over the Mandal recommendations. My fertile imaginative mind worked in full swing back then - I wanted to take seize power from the useless leaders, who had sent the country to dogs, and create a new India, which would be corrupt-free and meritorious. There would be no place for reservations or minority appeasment. I would rule the country with an iron-hand, giving full chance to the deserving and rooting out the non-meritorious. Anyone disputing my calls would be severely punished. In short, I would wield absolute power, and use that power to make India what it historically was - the bird of Gold (sone ki chidiya). To put it otherwise, I was a right winger. However then I grew up and was able to argue things on my own, and come to the conclusion that democracy, while being the far-from-perfect model, is probably the best one given India’s position as a socially, culturally and religiously diversified society.)
The movie was fabulous. Or I have heard it was. The spoof, being currently played out in the aptly named Ramlila Grounds, is anything but. A 74 year old apparently senile man who plays the major part in the new spoof, playing both the title parts. On the one hand, he is a tender voice against the corruption and the evil government (Anna), and on the other, he is the king who is holding the government, and the people of India to ransom through what can at the very modest, be termed blackmail.
A lot of people not supporting Anna Hazare's movement have been doing so because they take exceptions to the method that he is taking. A lot has been written about it, and I will therefore bypass that point and discuss something else, which is probably much more far reaching with effect to India as a country and a heterogeneous society.
I have basically two objections to the Anna Hazare demand for corruption - other than the one about the method. Both of them are fairly controversial and I am ready for a debate on both: One has to do with the need for corruption, and how people are being entirely hypocritical while ganging up with Anna, while the second objection, which I am going to discuss first, is the impact of the agitation.
Issue 1 : Context: India is a truly remarkable country. Growing up,our books described India as "unity among diversity." I was not very sure about what the expression meant, and while the unity part might still be up for discussion, there is no doubting the diversity of the country. It is perhaps amazing that India is one country. There is no other country with the kind of diversity that India has, and at such different levels. Most of the states are separated on linguistic lines, and often have their own culture. No other country has the kind of linguistic and cultural diversity that India has. Spain is the only other country that comes to mind, but it has had its history of civil wars, and the peace existing in the country is very fragile, as the occasional brawls between Barcelona and Real Madrid in football often proves. The Catalans hate Madridistas, and the less said about the autonomous Basque county, the better. And in Spain, there is no divide across religious and racial lines, unlike in India. Belgium is on the verge of breaking up only because of the linguistic issue. India, moreover, also has a number of significant minority religions in different states, and within Hinduism, there is further subdivision across castes and sub-castes. All in all, the heterogeneous structure of India is a very thin fabric, and the fact that the fabric is holding up fine so far is a testimony to the strength of the country.
In every political system, there are two extremes across the political spectrum : the far right and the far left. The right wing is generally more conservative, more business-friendly, less individual freedom and more nationalistic, while the left wing is more radical, more socialist, and more individual freedom. The right wing is also more polar, and tends to create economic and social classes, while the left wing seeks to abolish them. While there are many differentiating factors that separate the two extreme positions, they can be summed up thus: The far right believe only what they do is right, while the far left is of the view that what everyone else does is wrong. Arundhiti Roy and her paranoia about everything is an example of far-left activism, while those of the temple and cocksureness about the location of the Ram Mandir is far-right. As a consequence, an extreme right government will probably do or seek to do a lot of work in its own way, but at the cost of freedom and probably subversion of certain elements, while a far left government will probably regress, unless the far left itself takes the far right position, for the two positions are not as different as they seem. Animal Farm or the USSR government would probably be good examples.
In the Indian context, far right would probably mean pushing reforms and promoting Indian nationalism and Hinduism, probably at the cost of the minority religions and/or the "lower" castes. The Gujarat government, which has ensured a Vibrant Gujarat, but is also charged with abetting the Gujarat riots and failing to ensure inclusive growth, is an example of far-right, while the erstwhile West Bengal government, which changed the face of Kolkata from that of Hema Malini to that of Jyoti Basu, is an example of far-left. The West Bengal growth, or the stagnation, has been pretty much inclusive. Everyone has come to the same level of poverty. In between, you have the different left-of-centre to right-of-centre combinations and different governments in India can possibly be mapped on the axis. In the Indian context, BJP is the right wing party, Congress is the centre party, while the Left Parties are well, left parties.
Similarly, most voters fall on either side of the centre: the far-right to far-left depending on your political ideals, and your moral and religious values. The right winged voters, who had been identifying themselves with the BJP for so long, are suddenly lost, for the BJP has regressed remarkably as a party since its 2004 loss. The loss was totally unexpected, but even its most adherent critics would not have predicted the rudderless ship it now resembles. The name of the party has been planned to be officially changed to Bhartiya Joker Party, if reports are to be believed. But I digress.
Issue 1: Impact: The failure of BJP as a party, has alienated the right wing electorate of the country. The right wing electorate generally belong to the Hindu, upper and middle classes and the non-Schedule Castes. They are generally well educated, and are active on social media. They are generally against reservations and pro-meritocracy. A large number of these right wing electorate who feel let down by the BJP do not really care about the temple, but about ensuring a transparent society, where everything works well. Most of them also support Narendra Modi, despite him being implicated in the riots, for the reason that their only concern is development, and they feel that no price is enough to achieve it. They are pro-reforms, and believe that corruption is the biggest threat to India. They do not want to understand the viewpoint of the other side, and are adamant that their demands, and wants are entirely justified. However, despite being sizable in number, the right wing voters are particularly known to skip election day as the size and heat of May sun gets to them, which probably explains why BJP lost the two elections in May.
On the other hand, the Congress government at the centre has made no overtures to them. In fact, the government has taken a decisive left-turn, and Congress has changed from a centralist party to a left-of-centre party. The Congress public motto of inclusive growth does not hold much weight with the right wing voters. Moreover, the reservation issue is another key thorn. This, and other policies of the government, has led this electorate to believe that Congress is not for them, which is probably true.
And so we come to the issue of corruption. The right wing needs an outlet to the rage at the inability of BJP to launch a proper attack on the Congress. Baba Ramdev tried to capture that space, but his pro-religious antics were never going to cut much meat with the mainly secular right wing, middle class electorate. Enter Anna Hazare, and the right wing electorate has finally found a messiah to deliver them from evil. They finally feel they have an option to partake in the decision making process, which had been taken away from them by the left and centralist leaning Congress governments. And the issue of corruption has managed to unite every right-wing voter into one under Anna Hazare, and makes them feel empowered. So this right wing electorate, in true right wing style, has made a draft believing only they can do a great job of it, and are trying to impose it on the government. Why is their version better than the government? Who says seven years imprisonment is not enough punishment? Why should ministers suffer more punishment as compared to the common man? Why shouldnot bribing be made legal? There can be many questions that can be asked from them. However, being the burning issue of corruption, which most people believe to be an illness, the movement has also found support with some of the traditional central and left-wing supporters. That it is basically a right wing movement can be made out by the fact that masses of Scheduled Castes, Muslims and many other societies have stayed away, fearing backlash.
Issue 1: Why is it bad?: Historically, whenever the right wing has emerged enmasse, it has often resulted in historical tragedies. The frenzy that is generated by such movements often prevail everything else, and creates absolute power. Moreover, right wing also means giving more power to the majority, and hence can totally alienate minority. A left wing uprising, while theoretically equally potentially damaging, has atleast equality as its basic tenet. A right wing uprising on the other hand, increases the diversity.In a country like India, this can lead to dangerous consequences. The Gujarat riots united the Hindus to vote for Modi, just like German nationalism united Germans under Hitler, and we all know how that went. I am not saying that Hazare is comparable to either of the two, but going forward, if the present movement is a success, the rejuvenated right wing can plan further uprisings, to impose their will on the government - through democratic or undemocratic means - and we never know how that will impact India. Why should a few people who are up there, and have conjured up a draft of the bill, be allowed to hold the government hostage? Who gives them the right? It is not a matter of them thinking what they are thinking is right, it has to come from the people. And the people choose the Parliament. If people like Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal really want to do anything, they should take the right path and fight elections. However, they know they will lose if they stand in elections, and hence have taken unconstitutional ways to hijack the government into accepting their demands. It does not matter if their demands are right or wrong? The thing is, who are they to decide that their demands are right? This right wing tendency of always being right needs to be stopped as soon as possible, else it can have grave consequences. As mentioned earlier, India is a great country because the social fabric is holding up. With a rejuvenated right wing, if the revolution now starts, I see the fabric stopping. Hence the revolution must fail.
Issue 2: I am not against corruption. I get my Gas connection illegally, I used to drive a car when I did not have a driving licence and I drove when drunk. I save as much tax as I can, some of it unethically. I give bribe to the ticket checker when travelling on a WL ticket in train so that I can reach home earlier. I dont like standing in lines for filling up government forms and hence bribe the government official to allow me my permits. I love corruption as it makes my life easier. I am not sure we Indians are ready for a honest government as this will mean making ourselves honest. So Mr. Hazare enjoy the limelight while people forget about lying on their CVs and putting kids through schools via bribes. In short, the Indian right winger is a hypocrite, who is always ready to blame the system for his vows. And it is exactly these people who should not be at the forefront, for it will make India another Animal Farm. Hence the revolution must fail.
Gandhian Anna says if nothing works, slap, whereas Gandhi proposed to offer his other cheek when confronted with violence. The statement came after he watched a Bollywood movie, and has justified people accusing the overt-Gandhian of being an extremist.
People who had always maintained that Bollywood Masala movies have been radicalising the minds, here is something that will justify them. After watching the screening of a Bollywood movie on corruption, ‘Gali gali choir hai’, pseudo-Gandhian and anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare expressed his heart out. According to newspaper reports, Hazare told the reporters that slapping a person when your power of tolerance of corruption runs out is justified. "When a man's power of tolerance runs out, then whoever is in front of you, if a slap is given, then the brain is put back in place. That is the only road open now,” reported The Times of India.
This is for the second time that Hazare has revealed his faith in physical rather than Gandhian ways of dealing with issues. Earlier he had approved of the slapping of Union Minister Sharad Pawar by a Delhi man though he had later condemned the attack but not before asking ‘only one-slap’. The former army driver psyche has always been doubted and it is generally believed that inside him is an extremist who dons the Gandhian cap to pull crowds. A special screening of the move was held in Hazare’s hometown Ralegan Siddhi in the presence of the whole film crew.
The anti-corruption movement that started with an 11-day fast by little known activist Anna Hazare in August last year, drew thousands of people with Hazare becoming a household name across the country. But five months down the line, people have started to get annoyed at even the mention of the Hazare movement and his team. Middle-class people had recognised with the movement the most, as they are worst hit by graft issues but have now lost hope that corruption would be tackled in the country.
Posing as a Gandhian but doing or proposing contrary to the actions of Gandhi seems to have been a major cause why people have started to distance themselves from his agenda, well-intioned as it may be. While Gandhi had proposed to offer another cheek, if somebody slapped you once on the cheek, Hazare goes miles ahead and proposes to slap if your tolerance runs out. In a perfect case of getting fed up with his utterances, black-mailing and the programmes, only a few thousand people turned up at his protest demonstration in Mumbai last year in the last week of December. He was even forced to call off the protest before schedule. The Jan Lokpal Bill that he along with his team has demanded all through is still to be passed by the Parliament.
All the brouhaha created for months in the public platforms, TV channels and newspapers about the bill and the anti-corruption movement seems to have washed down the drain. This has only been reduced to a part of the memory now.
Long live the revolution!
SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA,SAMBALPUR ODISHA
PH- 9937965779
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