Oh, the Places You’ll Go !

Do you dare to stay out

Do you to go in?
How much can you lose?
How much can you win?
And if you go in,
Should you turn left or right?
Or right and three-quarters?
Or maybe not quite?
You can get so confused that you will start to race;
Down-long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace,
And grind on for miles across weirdish wild space;
Headed I fear towards a most useless place;

The waiting place.

For people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go,
Or for a bus to come,
Or a plane to go,
Or the mail to come,
Or the rain to go,
Or the phone to ring,
Or the snow to snow,
Or a string of pearls,
Or a pair of pants,
Or a wig of curls,

Everyone is just waiting


Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break


Or waiting around; for a yes or a no,
or Another Chance.


Everyone is just waiting.


Oh, the Places You’ll Go!



(From the motion picture: Fracture)

Peepli Live at Talwandi Sabo, Punjab

By Abhishek Joshi :

My work specially the existing one has taken me places however much has changed since "actually" I begun to travel. Clutched firm diary bags with hovering innocuous and disinterested expressions giving way to swanky machines on now slightly shrugged shoulders but with bearing sensitivity of places and people, a “thinking and observing” journey replacing the boring travel in itself.

Every Wednesday whilst journeying to my work site we witness an amazing specter at Talwandi Sabo. Hundreds of tractors spread across multiple acreage of farm with neatly stacked up red chairs waiting to be occupied. The first day on our way we checked with our driver on the reason & he simply replied as “Mandi”. By evening whilst turning back the chairs were stewed across both neatly and abused and few being occupied by people in groups next to the tractors engaged in animated discussions. Checking again with the driver on “Mandi” with no agriculture produce in sight, he non chalantly replied “Tractor Mandi”. Questions followed the entire duration of our journey to Bhatinda and what we collected was lore of debt ridden, cash starved and depressing answers which made us a weekly participatory witness of an absolute distress agrarian issue from the perceived rich cotton growing Malwa belt region of Punjab.

Owing to my personal limitations despite the best of my desires could not afford any more contribution to figure out the reasons with ample churning until a report was forwarded to me today by a close friend through one of his groups.

This report appeared in Frontline (Hindu Publication) volume 27 – issue 15 :: July 17 -30, 2010 done by Ajay Ashirwad Mahaprashasta. Reproduced below:

Report :

Tractors for sale

in Bhatinda & JIND

Farmers and farm labourers are in distress even in Punjab and Haryana, ‘success stories' of the Green Revolution.

TRACTORS of all makes, old and new, are lined up as far as the eye can see on the fields at Talwandi Sabo, an important tehsil in Bhatinda district of Punjab. On the highway cutting through the fields there are more of them, and drivers have a hard time trying to find parking space. In all, there are nearly 5,000 tractors. Stationed among the heavy farming vehicles are commission agents in different groups. To an outsider, it is the perfect image of the Green Revolution that brought glory to Punjab in the 1960s and 1970s. It could easily pass off as a farm fair or a promotional programme on mechanised farming by the government. But the reality is biting.

Every Wednesday, Talwandi Sabo hosts the largest second-hand tractor market in the State. Most of the sellers are small and marginal farmers who are in huge debt, thanks to the oppressive inflation and unsupportive government policies in agriculture. The tractor mandi, as it is locally called, is a case study of the dying farming culture of Punjab.

Gurvinder Singh, a small farmer who once owned four acres (one acre is 0.4 hectare) of land, bought a tractor two years ago. He could not afford the rising cost of diesel over the years and has now brought it for distress sale. “Successive governments in Punjab have done hardly anything to provide us adequate electricity. We have to use diesel for almost everything – tractors, submersible motors, and harvesting equipment. In the last two years, prices of all supplies have increased so much that I had to sell an acre of land. Now I cultivate only an acre and have given the other two acres on contract to a big farmer. I desperately wish that my tractor is sold today,” he says.

Intriguingly, Tejwinder Singh is at the mandi to sell his one-day-old tractor! He finds it hard to give his family two square meals a day with the two acres of land he owns. He bought the tractor on an agricultural loan. His logic is strange: “I have no money to marry off my daughter. I am in huge debt to private financiers. So I decided to buy a tractor on loan and then come to the mandi the next day to sell it and get some cash.”

While he has to pay the bank in instalments, he will get a lump sum at the mandi to marry off his daughter and even to survive for a few months. What, however, he does not realise is that he is falling into a spiral of debt. The new tractor cost him Rs.5 lakh plus 9 per cent interest. He plans to sell it off at Rs.3.5 lakh, the mandi rate. For Tejwinder, that is the only alternative.

The tractor mandi, which began in 1989, picked up business only in the mid-1990s, says Gurcharan Singh, the pradhan, or president, of the mandi. “In the last two years, the number of tractors coming here has increased. Earlier it was not more than 1,000; these days it is nothing fewer than 5,000 a day,” he says. The agents who help the farmers sell the tractors too are one-time farmers who left their unprofitable vocation.

Gurcharan says the number of buyers, too, has fallen. “There are some farmers who come here to sell their high-capacity tractors and buy smaller ones. This suggests that a small farmer's capacity is decreasing. The only ones who can afford the rising cost of agriculture are big farmers with more than 50 acres of land because they saved a lot of money in the heyday of the Green Revolution. In addition, these farmers have other businesses that help them afford better lifestyles,” he says.

The big farmers, however, are a minuscule minority in Punjab, which has a poor record of land reforms. Sukhpal Singh, a senior economist at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, noted that out of 10 lakh farmer families in the State, only 9,000 had more than 50 acres of land. As many as 11,000 families owned between 25 and 50 acres, while the rest had less than 12.5 acres. The bulk of them owned less than four acres.

Marginal farmers

The situation is no different in the Malwa region, which comprises most of southern and central Punjab and is the heart of the Green Revolution. In Tamkot village, all farmers except one or two have less than five acres each of land. Of them, 80 per cent have abandoned farming.

Nirmal Singh and his wife, Sukhwinder Kaur, once owned 2.5 acres of land. But the rising input costs put the couple in deep debt, and all they have now is 0.6 acre.

Nirmal has already sold his tractor. Modan Singh, Nirmal's neighbour, is left with 0.25 acre of the six acres he had. Both the families are in debt. Between them, they owe at least Rs.20,000 to the local grocers. To cut costs, both have stopped using spices in their food. To top it all, both have surreptitiously started going to the morning labour markets in nearby Mansa town in search of work. That is the worst that can happen to a farmer in Punjab. But even this does not help: work is not available for more than 10 days in a month.

Haryana's woes

The case of Haryana, another great beneficiary of the Green Revolution, is similar. Most of the small farmers are Ahirs or poor Jats. They have been suffering because of the rising production cost in agriculture. What differentiates Haryana, Punjab and western Uttar Pradesh from the rest of the country's agrarian belts is their dependence on mechanised farming, thanks to the Green Revolution. Elsewhere in the country it is subsistence farming.

PROSPECTIVE BUYERS INSPECTING second-hand tractors displayed at the tractor mandi at Talwandi Sabo in Bhatinda district in Punjab. No fewer than 5,000 tractors are brought for sale to the mandi.

With economic liberalisation, the government gradually started withdrawing the benefits that it once gave these farmers. The same mechanised high-productivity farming, the use of pesticides and fertilizers, and modern irrigation rather than rain-fed agriculture now became a burden to them. The farmers were left high and dry as the markets opened up and the prices of crops did not rise as expected. Since April 1, the Union government has decontrolled the prices of all fertilizers except urea. At a grain market in Jind, Haryana, trader Suresh Kumar showed Frontline a price list. In 2007, a 50-kg packet of urea cost less than Rs.150; it now sells for Rs.265. The prices of DAP, or diammonium phosphate (which also comes in 50-kg packets), and zinc (10-kg packets) have gone up by almost 200 per cent in the last five years. Seed prices have increased by more than 120 per cent.

In order to cultivate one acre of land, a farmer needs at least 10 packets of different fertilizers, says Suresh Kumar. Diesel prices have gone up from Rs.22 to Rs.38 in the last two years. All this means that a farmer has to spend double the amount of what he had to spend three years ago for an acre of land.

Mostly, paddy, wheat and cotton are cultivated in these areas. Last year, cotton prices plummeted to an all-time low. “Small farmers also lease out land from big farmers. Five years ago, the lease was Rs.5,000 to Rs.6,000 an acre, but these days the rates have shot up to Rs.40,000,” Suresh Kumar says. Last year's drought brought more misery to the farmers.

Rajvinder Singh Rana, State secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist Liberation), makes specific observations about the change the price rise has caused in Haryana and Punjab. Once farmers had a good number of domesticated animals, but now many are being sold off. In the past few years farmers have begun to sell all their milk. In short, the food basket of Punjab is diminishing.

He also points to the vicious cycle of debt that the farmers are in. The lack of adequate institutional financing drives many small farmers to grain commission agents who lend money to them at more than 25 per cent interest, he says. “There is also a reverse pattern in leasing out land,” he says. “Earlier big farmers used to rent out their land at very high rates. But these days, lack of capital and huge debts are forcing small farmers to rent out whatever little land they have to big farmers at half or less than half the market price. The rich farmers are thus getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.”

According to Rana, the growing inequalities have also led to a higher crime rate than earlier in the States. In Punjab, many people are getting addicted to cheap narcotic drugs because of distress, he says.

Rana says the commission agents dictate terms to the farmers now. “Marginal farmers get money from these agents, but their profits are so low that they are unable to pay the agents back. In order to survive, the farmers pay back the agents in instalments at higher rates of interest and get into an unofficial contract where the agents ask the farmers to buy ration, groceries and clothes from shops where they have fixed commissions. The price here is higher than the market price. This is a vicious circle of debt which the farmers cannot escape. Such forms of bondage can be seen across Punjab and Haryana,” says Rana.

Pushed to the wall, many of them are ready to work as causal labourers. In one of his studies, Sukhpal Singh of PAU writes about farmers joining the unskilled labour force: “The process of de-peasantisation in Punjab began since the early 1990s and gathered momentum since 2000. More than two lakh small/marginal farmers have left farming due to economic distress. An extensive field survey showed that 22 per cent joined the labour market, 23 per cent joined the low-paid private/government jobs and 27 per cent started some low-skill self-employed venture…. There are no strategies to assist them. Those who sold land in distress to repay old debts were not better off. Ten per cent were living on meagre land rent as ‘distress-rentiers' and are more prone to drug addiction. Those who left since long have again become worse off.”

Agricultural labourers

If that is the worst that can happen to a farmer, the condition of agricultural labourers is beyond words. Traditionally, Jat Sikhs in Punjab and Jats in Haryana have owned the bulk of the cultivable land, and Dalits have worked in their fields. But the mounting pressure on farmers to cut costs has resulted in the exploitation of agricultural workers. Most of these workers stay in separate colonies in a village (mostly on the western underdeveloped side of the village) in temporary shacks with bare minimum essentials to survive. The landlords often pay them a pittance.

Frontline visited two such villages in the Malwa region in Punjab – Khiala and Tamkot in Mansa district – and one in Haryana, Utla in Jind district. In the past five years, both States have seen a huge influx of agricultural workers from Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh, where survival has been even more difficult. This has led to a bitter conflict between local agricultural labourers and the migrant workers. Migrant workers who are ready to work 24 hours, guard the fields and work for low wages out of sheer necessity have become the favourites of landlords.

Last year, at Khiala village, local agricultural workers led a movement demanding minimum wages from the landlords and proper housing from the government (“Promised land”, Frontline, July 17, 2009). They were arrested and the Jat Sikh landlords boycotted them for several days. Darshan Singh, an agricultural worker at Tamkot, stays in a 10 x12 feet house, which has no electricity. “I can offer you tea but without sugar or milk,” he says, adding that he has stopped buying these items. He lost his arm in an accident while working in the field six years ago. His wife, Sarjeet Kaur, is now the breadwinner of the family with two children. But work is not there for more than 10 days in a month.

WAITING FOR WORK at the labour mandi in Mansa town in Punjab. With agriculture becoming unviable, many farmers have joined the labour force.

Sarjeet Kaur says they have stopped eating dal. Instead, they eat only rotis and achar (pickle). “Some farmers have given me their goats and buffaloes to take care of. They have promised to give me half the amount when they sell them,” she says.

In the run-up to the last parliamentary elections, the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) government in Punjab fixed an electricity meter at Darshan's house to lure him to vote for the party. (The party is run mostly by Jat Sikhs.) Three months later, the family got an electricity bill for Rs.25,000, for running one bulb and a fan. When Darshan could not pay, the electricity connection was cut.

This is the story of many agricultural workers in Khiala and Tamkot and many other villages of Punjab and Haryana.

It is 24x7 work for almost eight months of the farming season for Md. Azeem and 15 of his friends who migrated to Utla village in Jind district from Purnea in Bihar. He says he earns up to Rs.12,000, but his cost of living has increased so much that he can send only slightly more than Rs.5,000 to feed five mouths back home. He has no other choice as floods in the Kosi river have destroyed his fields in his native place.

“The only respite for the local agricultural workers is the MGNREGS [Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme] which gets them work, but even that is not for more than 50 days a year,” says Bhagwant Samaon of the Mazdoor Mukti Morcha.

“The rest of the days, the workers have to find work at labour markets, but there, too, the days of work do not cross 10 days a month. The workers walk or cycle 25 km to reach the nearest town to find work in these markets but return empty-handed. When they get work, they return with a maximum of Rs.150 a day, which should feed them until they find more work. I have never seen such insecurity among agricultural workers in years.”

Fall in labour

Sukhpal Singh of PAU says after cultivators, agricultural labour is the largest rural worker category: they account for 30.5 per cent of total workers, slightly lower than that for India as a whole (31.8 per cent). “The demand for human labour in the farm sector in Punjab has decreased significantly since the late 1980s [after the introduction of technology in farming]. On the basis of per hectare labour use in the crop sector, the demand for human labour is estimated to have fallen from 479.3 million mandays in 1983-84 to 421.93 million mandays in 2000-01.”

Consequently, farmers and agricultural workers are driven to suicide. A census conducted in the two districts of Bhatinda and Sangrur shows that from 2000 to 2008, there were 2,890 suicides by farmers and agricultural labourers. Of this, 1,133 (39.2 per cent) were agricultural labourers. Debt forced 1,288 farmers to take their own lives; 469 committed suicide for other reasons. While 671 farm labourers committed suicide owing to indebtedness, the remaining 462 did it for other reasons. Today, both farmers and agricultural workers fear that big farmers and agro-companies will buy off their lands and eventually they will have to work in their own fields as labourers. Their fears are not out of place. Suneet Chopra of the All India Agricultural Workers Union makes a detailed analysis of how the government is pushing farmers to the brink so that the multinational companies can take over.

“The diesel price was hiked at a time when farmers were getting ready to sow the fields and required diesel. It is even worse when the supply of electricity is low for the farmers. Grains are rotting in the godowns instead of being distributed to the poor through the public distribution system. Fertilizer prices have increased,” he says.

He says the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers in the first United Progressive Alliance government closed down seven public sector fertilizer plants, saying that the production costs were $120 a tonne when the country could import it for $84. “But when a market like India becomes a consumer, the prices are bound to go up. Today, we are buying fertilizer for $250 a tonne. There is a complete lack of institutional finances, leading to huge debts among farmers. One must also realise the systematic neglect of agriculture and farmers. While the industrial sector gets loans at 4 per cent interest, the farmers are charged 9 per cent. This shows that the government is engineering the inflation,” Chopra says.

He says the government is spending less on rural development than before. The Budget expenditure on rural development and agriculture was 15 per cent of the total Budget outlay in the early 1980s. It was 6 per cent in 2009-10, he says.

“It is not a surprise then that the farmer in Punjab or Haryana has to spend around Rs.2 lakh to get a submersible motor to drain out water from the ground. The government's argument that groundwater levels are decreasing is absurd. It is its duty to provide them irrigation facilities. Because of such cruel government policies, the percentage contribution of agriculture to the GDP has come down to 15.74 per cent from nearly 30 per cent in the 1980s. However, the percentage of people working in the agrarian sector is more or less the same [around 52 per cent of the total workforce],” Chopra says.

He says allowing futures trading in commodities and opening up the market to multinationals are an incentive for hoarding and contribute to inflation. “During the National Democratic Alliance's regime, the Australian Wheat Board bought most of the wheat in Punjab at around Rs.850 a tonne. A food crisis in India followed, after which the government purchased the same wheat at around Rs.1,250 a tonne. In such situations, the government takes care to lure big landlords by supporting khaps and Jat Sikhs and talks about social problems as isolated ones, separate from production issues, so that real economic issues could be kept at bay,” Chopra says.

Vidrabha Jan Andolan Samiti Demands Ban on ‘Peepli Live’...

By Abhishek Joshi :

Nagpur -Saturday, 14 August, 2010,

Some restrain and sensitivity to issues should be manifested in articulating art forms – Peepli Live, is one example. Satire loses its edge to causes of farmer suicides….if people are left laughing and amused with distorted facts, than left thinking for reasons and plagued miseries of giving up on life !

Report:

Vidarbha Janandolan Samiti (VJAS) , farmers advocacy group in vidarbha ,the epicenter of Indian ‘Agrarian crisis’ which has claimed 2,00,000 farmers suicides in last decade and Maharashtra western region which is termed as dying field of cotton farmers where more than 40,000 farmers committed suicides has objected the basic theme and script of film Peepli Live produced by a mainstream filmmaker Aamir Khan and Directed by Anusha Rizvi that the ‘farmer is committing suicide for compensation’ , released yesterday and urged Maharashtra Govt. to ban it’s screening immediately as it is hurting sentiments of 8 millions of distressed and debt trapped farmers of Maharashtra who are being forced to commit suicide due to wrong policies of Indian Government .

Vidarbha Janandolan Samiti (VJAS) president Kishor Tiwari has written letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan urging him to ban the screening of movie and appoint agrarian experts to look in to objections of the farm activist as the massage of the film is taking farm suicide in to very damaging turn and diverting from the basic issues and reasons of agrarian crisis and further filming of the movie will create law and order problem in state ,tiwari added in the letter.

‘Initially TV serial ‘Bairi Piya’ has shown that debt trapped vidrabha farmers are selling daughters for clearing the debt now Peepli Live movie has shown Natha, a poor farmer from Peepli village in the heart of rural India is about to lose his plot of land due to an unpaid government loan has got a quick fix to the problem is the very same government’s program that aids the families of indebted farmers who have committed suicide and as a means of survival Farmer Natha can choose to die and futher shown that His brother is happy to push him towards this unique ‘honour’ of suicide but Natha is reluctant ,this is totally untrue too much twisted from the ground reality and insult of poor millions of dying farmers of vidarbha who are the victims of globalization and wrong policies of the state hence we are disturbed .

VJAS respect social commitment of Amir Khan and other part of movie exposing the reality behind media houses, politicians, bureaucrats and their apathetic approach towards problems and shocking truth that India promotes itself as one of the fastest growing economies in the world, but the film shows the miserable condition of farmers who continue to end their lives after living in extreme poverty but he should have consulted rural crisis expert before finalizing script that our objection ’Tiwari said

‘Peepli Live has made big question mark to 1,60,000 farm widows who are demanding compensation after their bread earner farmer committee suicide due to debt and crop failure as this movie shows that vidarbha cotton farmers are committing suicides for getting aid where as Govt. of Maharashtra has rejected more than 90% cases of farm suicides without even visiting house of dying family members of debt trapped farmer more Peepli Live will give strong support to politicians, bureaucrats and their apathetic approach towards problems that farmers are not forced to kill themselves where as they themselves killing for compensation hence we demand the ban of the film and cancellation censorship certificate to the film’ Tiwari urged.

हमारे सैकड़ों भोपाल

By Shri. Dr. Ved Pratap Vaidik :

भोपाल का हादसा हमारे हिंदुस्तान का सच्चा आइना है भोपाल ने बता दिया है कि हम लोग कैसे हैं, हमारे नेता कैसे हैं, हमारी सरकारें और अदालतें कैसी हैं कुछ भी नहीं बदला है ढाई सौ साल पहले हम जैसे थे, आज भी वैसे ही हैं गुलाम, ढुलमुल और लापरवाह ! अब से 264 साल पहले पांडिचेरी के फ्रांसीसी गवर्नर के चंद सिपाहियों ने कर्नाटक-नवाब की 10 हजार जवानों की फौज को रौंद डाला यूरोप के मुकाबले भारत की प्रथम पराजय का यह दौर अब भी जारी है यूनियन कार्बाइड हो या डाऊ केमिकल्स हो या परमाणु हर्जाना हो, हर मौके पर हमारे नेता गोरी चमड़ी के आगे घुटने टेक देते हैं

आखिर इसका कारण क्या है ? हमारी केंद्र और राज्य की सरकारों ने वारेन एंडरसन को भगाने में मदद क्यों की ? कीटनाशक कारखाने को मनुष्यनाशक क्यों बनने दिया ? 20 हजार मृतकों और एक लाख आहतों के लिए सिर्फ 15 हजार और पांच हजार रू. प्रति व्यक्ति मुआवजा स्वीकार क्यों किया गया ? उस कारखाने के नए मालिक डाऊ केमिकल्स को शेष जहरीले कचरे को साफ करने के लिए मजबूर क्यों नहीं किया गया ? इन सब सवालों का जवाब एक ही है कि भारत अब भी अपनी दिमागी गुलामी से मुक्त नहीं हुआ है

सबसे पहला सवाल तो यही है कि यूनियन कार्बाइड जैसे कारखाने भारत में लगते ही कैसे हैं ? कोई भी तकनीक, कोई भी दवा, कोई भी जीवन-शैली पश्चिम में चल पड़ी तो हमें उसे आंख मींचकर अपना लेते हैं हम यह क्यों नहीं सोचते कि यह नई चीज़ हमारे कितनी अनुकूल है जिस कारखाने की गैस इतनी जहरीली है कि जिससे हजारों-लाखों लोग मर जाएं, उससे बने कीटनाशक यदि हमारी फसलों पर छिड़के जाएंगे तो कीड़े-मकोड़े तो तुरंत मरेंगे लेकिन क्या उससे मनुष्यों के मरने का भी अदृश्य और धीमा इंतजाम नहीं होगा ? इसी प्रकार हमारी सरकारें आजकल परमाणु-ऊर्जा के पीछे हाथ धोकर पड़ी हुई हैं वे किसी भी क़ीमत पर उसे भारत लाकर उससे बिजली पैदा करना चाहती हैं

बिजली पैदा करने के बाकी सभी तरीके अब बेकार लगने लगे हैं यह बेहद खर्चीली और खतरनाक तकनीक यदि किसी दिन कुपित हो गई तो एक ही रात में सैकड़ों भोपाल हो जाएंगे रूस के चेर्नोबिल और न्यूयार्क के थ्रीमाइललाँग आइलेंड में हुए परमाणु रिसाव तो किसी बड़ी भयावह फिल्म का एक छोटा-सा ट्रेलर भर हैं यदि हमारी परमाणु भटि्रठयों में कभी रिसाव हो गया तो पता नहीं कितने शहर और गांव या प्रांत के प्रांत साफ हो जाएंगे

इतनी भयावह तकनीकों को भारत लाने के पहले क्या हमारी तैयारी ठीक-ठाक होती है ? बिल्कुल नहीं परमाणु-बिजली और जहरीले कीटनाशकों की बात जाने दें, हमारे देश में जितनी मौतें रेल और कारों से होती हैं, दुनिया में कहीं नहीं होतीं अकेले मुंबई शहर में पिछले पांच साल में रेल-दुर्घटनाओं में 20706 लोग मारे गए भोपाल में तो उस रात सिर्फ 3800 लोग मारे गए थे और 20 हजार का आंकड़ा तो कई वर्षों का है

यदि पूरे देश पर नज़र दौड़ाएँ तो लगेगा कि भारत में हर साल एक न एक भोपाल होता ही रहता है इस भोपाल का कारण कोई आसमानी-सुलतानी नहीं है, बल्कि इंसानी है इंसानी लापरवाही है इसे रोकने का तगड़ा इंतजाम भारत में कहीं नहीं है यूनियन कार्बाइड के टैंक 610 और 611 को फूटना ही है, उनमें से गैस रिसेगी ही यह पहले से पता था, फिर भी कोई सावधानी नहीं बरती गई इस लापरवाही के लिए सिर्फ यूनियन कार्बाइड ही जिम्मेदार नहीं है, हमारी सरकारें भी पूरी तरह जिम्मेदार हैं यूनियन कार्बाइड का कारखाना किसी देश का दूतावास नहीं है कि उसे भारत के क्षेत्रधिकार से बाहर मान लिया जाए भोपाल की मौतों के लिए जितनी जिम्मेदार यूनियन कार्बाइड है, उतनी ही भारत सरकार भी है जैसे रेल और कार-दुर्घटनाओं के कारण इस देश में कोई फांसी पर नहीं लटकता, वैसे ही वारेन एंडरसन भी निकल भागता है

एंडरसन के पलायन पर जैसी शर्मनाक तू-तू-मैं-मैं हमारे यहां हो रही है, वैसी क्या किसी लोकतंत्र् में होती है ? अगर भारत की जगह जापान होता तो कई कलंकित नेता या उन मृत नेताओं के रिश्तेदार आत्महत्या कर लेते हमारे यहां बेशर्मी का बोलबाला है हमारे नेताओं को दिसंबर के उस पहले सप्ताह में तय करना था कि किसका कष्ट ज्यादा बड़ा है, एंडरसन का या लाखों भोपालियों का ? उन्होंने अपने पत्ते एंडरसन के पक्ष में डाल दिए ? आखिर क्यों ? क्या इसलिए नहीं कि भोपाल में मरनेवालों के जीवन की क़ीमत कीड़े-मकोड़े से ज्यादा नहीं थी और एंडरसन गौरांग शक्ति और श्रेष्ठता का प्रतीक था हमारे भद्रलोक के तार अब भी पश्चिम से जुड़े हैं दिमागी गुलामी ज्यों की त्यों बरकरार है यदि एंडरसन गिरफ्तार हुआ रहता तो उसे फांसी पर चढ़ाया जाता या नहीं, लेकिन यह जरूर होता कि यूनियन कार्बाइड को 15 हजार रू. प्रति व्यक्ति नहीं, कम से कम 15 लाख रू. प्रति व्यक्ति मुआवज़ा देने के लिए मजबूर होना पड़ता यह मुआवज़ा भी मामूली ही होता, क्योंकि अभी मेक्सिकों की खाड़ी में जो तेल रिसाव चल रहा है, उसके कारण मरनेवाले दर्जन भर लोगों को करोड़ों रू. प्रति व्यक्ति के हिसाब से मुआवज़ा मिलनेवाला है

असली बात यह है कि औसत हिंदुस्तानी की जान बहुत सस्ती है यही हादसा भोपाल में अगर श्यामला हिल्स और दिल्ली में रायसीना हिल्स के पास हो जाता तो नक्शा ही कुछ दूसरा होता ये नेताओं के मोहल्ले हैं भोपाल में वह गरीब-गुरबों का मोहल्ला था ये लोग बेजुबान और बेअसर हैं जिंदगी में तो वे जानवरों की तरह गुजर करते हैं, मौत में भी हमने उन्हें जानवर बना दिया है यही हमारा लोकतंत्र् है हमारी अदालतें काफी ठीक-ठाक हैं लेकिन जब गरीब और बेजुबान का मामला हो तो उनकी निर्ममता देखने लायक होती है

सामूहिक हत्या को कार-दुर्घटना-जैसा रूप देनेवाली हमारी सबसे बड़ी अदालत को क्या कहा जाए ? क्या ये अदालतें हमारे प्रधानमंत्र्ियों के हत्यारों के प्रति भी वैसी ही लापरवाही दिखा सकती थीं, जैसी कि उन्होंने 20 हजार भोपालियों की हत्या के प्रति दिखाई है ? पता नहीं, हमारी सरकारों और अदालतों पर डॉलर का चाबुक कितना चला लेकिन यह तर्क बिल्कुल बोदा है कि अमेरिकी पंूजी भारत से पलायन न कर जाए, इस डर के मारे ही हमारी सरकारों ने एंडरसन को अपना दामाद बना लिया

पता नहीं, हम क्या करेंगे, इस विदेशी पूंजी का ? जो विदेशी पंूजी हमारे नागरिकों को कीड़ा-मकोड़ा बनाती हो, उसे हम दूर से ही नमस्कार क्यों नहीं करते ? यह ठीक है कि जो मर गए, वे लौटनेवाले नहीं और यह भी साफ है कि जो भुगत रहे हैं, उन्हें कोई राहत मिलनेवाली नहीं है लेकिन चिंता यही है कि हमारी सरकारें और अदालतें अब भी भावी भोपालों और भावी चेर्नोबिलों से सचेत हुई हैं या नहीं ? यदि सचेत हुई होतीं तो परमाणु हर्जाने के सवाल पर हमारा ऊँट जीरा क्यों चबा रहा होता ?

(Dr. Ved Pratap Vaidik is well known scholar, political analyst, orator and a columnist on national and international affairs)

Their Final Letters - Vidarbha Farmer Suicides

By Shri P. Sainath :

Seeking authenticity for his letter to the Prime Minister and the President, Ramachandra Raut composed it with care on Rs.100 non-judicial stamp paper. Then he added a few more addressees, including his village sarpanch and the police, in the hope that it got home someplace. Then he killed himself. A mere digit in the nearly 250 farm suicides that hit Vidarbha in four months; but a villager desperate to be heard on the reasons for his action: “The two successive years of crop failure is the reason.” Yet, “bank employees came twice to my home to recover my loans”. (Despite a government order to go slow on recovery in a region hit by crisis, crop failure and more recently, drought).

Raut's suicide being the third in a month in Dhotragoan in Washim district, the village wants to see it spreads no further. “We try and meet every evening for an hour, all of us, anyone who will come,” says Nandkishore Shankar Raut from Dhotragaon. “The idea is to keep people's morale up.” So Dhotragaon counsels itself. Ramachandra Raut's letter was also an appeal not to be misunderstood. “Don't trouble anyone in my home,” it tells the police. “I am fully responsible for my action.” The stamp paper suicide note carries the seal of the deputy treasury officer of Mangrulpir tehsil dated March 29, and that of the stamp vendor who issued it to Raut on April 7. Raut filled it in and took his life the same day.

The family owes the banks Rs.1.5 lakh ($3,285). His village pooled money to observe his 13th day ritual, sparing Raut's indebted family further expense.

Unique :

Vidarbha's farm suicides have been unique in one respect. Some of those taking their lives have addressed suicide notes to the Prime Minister, the Chief Minister or the Finance Minister. In August 2006 Rameshwar Lonkar of Wardha complained, in his note, to Dr. Manmohan Singh, just a month after the Prime Minister went to his region. “After the Prime Minister's visit and reports of a fresh crop loan, I thought I could live again,” Lonkar wrote. But he found himself rebuffed at every stage while seeking that loan. Sahebrao Adhao's last testament in Amravati the same year painted a picture of usury, debt and land grab.

In November 2006, cotton grower Rameshwar Kuchankar addressed the then Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh in his note. He scribbled it down moments before taking his life in Yavatmal. “We are fed up with the delay in procurement and crashing prices ... Mr. Chief Minister, give us the price.” He also warned State Home Minister R.R. Patil that if the price did not improve at once, suicides would soar. They did.

“These notes are the last cry of despair of people trying to tell their government the reasons for agrarian distress,” says Kishor Tiwari. Mr. Tiwari heads the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, a body fighting for farmers' rights. “We set up expert committees to tell us why farmers commit suicide when they are themselves telling us the reasons with such clarity in their suicide notes.” The notes often speak of debt, soaring cultivation costs, high cost of living and volatile prices. Some of them trash regressive policies and a credit crunch that have destroyed thousands of farmers here in the past decade. Crop failure and drought coming atop these, ruin fragile lives.

Two years of crop failure in a single crop district can mean 34 months with no income. Vidarbha gained little from the 2008 Farm Loan Waiver which addressed only bank debt. The waiver excluded those farmers holding more than five acres, and made no distinction between dry and irrigated holdings. In Western Vidarbha, farmers take more loans from moneylenders than from banks. And, the average land holding is around seven acres in this mostly unirrigated region.

Of the five states that account for two-thirds of all of India's farm suicides, Maharashtra is by far the worst. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) the State logged 41,404 farm suicides between 1997 and 2008. That is, more than a fifth of the national total of nearly 200,000 in that same period. Of those 12 years, NCRB data show, the years 2006-08 have been the very worst. Within the State, Vidarbha has been the focal point of the tragedy.

Back to square one :

However, the situation here seems like a throwback to that of 2005-06, before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit. Hit by a spate of suicides at the time, the State government spoke in many voices. In mid-2005, it gave out a figure of just 141 distress suicides across the whole State since 2001. Challenged in court, it revised this to 524. When the National Commission of Farmers team led by Dr. M.S. Swaminathan visited later the same year, it conceded there had been over 300 in the single district of Yavatmal. The final figure for the whole State that year, put out by the NCRB, was actually 3,926 suicides.

“For a while,” says Mr. Tiwari of the VJAS, “the State revealed real numbers on the website of the Vasantrao Naik Farmers' Self-Reliance Mission. That was because of Dr. Singh's visit and a lashing from the courts.” In fact, those figures were far higher than anything even the VJAS had recorded. This year, however, the website's columns for 2010 are so far blank. The Agriculture Ministry's reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, based on State claims, says just 23 farm suicides occurred between January and April 8.

This, even as other arms of government (and the Leader of the Opposition) put out figures ten times as high. The Vasantrao Naik Mission has itself given out signed data confirming there were 62 such deaths in January alone. (Though it has not put this up on its website.)

The numbers are routinely lowered by tagging hundreds of suicides as “non-genuine”. That is, “ineligible for compensation”. Aimed at curbing the amounts the State has to fork out to bereaved families, this move has caused much damage. “We are deluding ourselves,” says a senior official. “No wonder Ramachandra Raut felt the need to address his letter on stamp paper to the Prime Minister and President as well. He knew nothing would be taken seriously here in Maharashtra.”

Shri P. Sainath is the rural affairs editor of The Hindu, where this piece appears, and is the author of Everybody Loves a Good Drought: Stories From India's Poorest Districts.

(Shri P Sainath Ji is also amongst the many inspirations behind starting of this social reporting blog "antyoday")

नाकारा राज्य संस्था ही नक्सल आंदोलन के बढ़ाव के लिए जिम्मेदारः गोविंदाचार्य

राष्ट्रवादी मोर्चा के संरक्षक  श्री के.एन. गोविंदाचार्य ने कहा, ‘नक्सलवाद स्वंय में कारण नहीं बल्कि संवेदनहीन नाकारा सरकारों की प्रतिक्रिया भर है। यह कोई आतंकवाद नहीं है। हमें यह समझना होगा कि नक्सलवाद को प्राथमिक स्तर पर स्थानीय समर्थन प्राप्त है। ऊपर से विदेशी मदद उन्हें और भी घातक बना रहा है। यह कोई विदेशी हमला नहीं है, बल्कि घरेलू राष्ट्रीय समस्या है।’

राष्ट्रीय राजधानी में एक पत्रकार वार्ता में गोविंदाचार्य ने कहा, ‘दंतेवाड़ा की घटना के लिए छत्तीसगढ़ के मुख्यमंत्री समेत देश के गृहमंत्री, प्रधानमंत्री और राष्ट्रीय सुरक्षा परिषद ही कसूरवार है। इस घटना के कुछेक दिनों बाद कांग्रेस पार्टी के महासचिव और मध्य प्रदेश के पूर्व मुख्यमंत्री श्री दिग्विजय सिंह के गृहमंत्री श्री पी चिदंबरम के बारे में व्यक्त अभिमत से मैं सहमत हंू। वह यह कि श्री चिदंबरम का अड़ियल सर्वज्ञ स्वभाव भी नक्सली समस्या के समाधान में बहुत बड़ी बाधा है। पार्टी अनुशासन से बंधे दिग्विजय सिंह इतने भर से बहुत कुछ बयान कर गए हैं। यह जरूरी है कि उनके बयान को दलगत राजनीति से परे होकर नक्सली समस्या के संदर्भ में देखा जाए।’

उन्होंने कहा, ‘जहां एक तरफ दंतेवाड़ा जैसी घटना को अंजाम देने वाले नक्सलवादियों को यह समझ लेना चाहिए कि भारत जैसे देश में वे अपने उद्देश्यों को हिंसा की राह पर चलकर कभी प्राप्त नहीं कर सकेंगे। वहीं दूसरी तरफ भारत सरकार व अन्य राज्य सरकारों को यह गांठ बांधने की जरूरत है कि वे नक्सलवाद को महज कानून व्यवस्था की समस्या मानकर सरकारी हिंसा के बल पर उन्हें काबू में नहीं कर सकेंगे।’

उन्होंने नक्सलवाद के विस्तार के लिए राजनीतिक व्यवस्था को जिम्मेदार ठहराते हुए कहा, ‘देश के पिछड़े इलाकों में नक्सलवाद का फैलाव इस बात का प्रमाण है कि राजसत्ता अपने उद्देश्य में विफल रही है। राजसत्ता का यह परम कर्तव्य है कि वह समाज के उन वर्गों का बचाव करे जो स्वयं अपना बचाव नहीं कर सकते हैं। देश की संवैधानिक व्यवस्था सामान्य आदमी के काम नहीं आ रही है। इस सामाजिक-आर्थिक यथार्थ से नक्सलवाद को ताकत मिल रही है।’

गोविंदाचार्य ने कहा, ‘सैकड़ों वर्षों से प्राकृतिक संसाधनों पर निर्भर रहने वाले वंचित गरीब आदिवासी अपनी ही जमीन व जंगल से खदेड़े जा रहे हैं। सेठों, बिचौलियों, खदान मालिकों और देशी-विदेशी उद्योग घरानों के पक्ष में केंद्र सरकार व प्रदेशों की सरकारें कार्य कर रही हैं। संवैधानिक रास्तों से भी गरीब वंचित लोगों की सुनवाई नहीं हो रही है। भारतपरस्त और गरीबपरस्त राजनैतिक ताकत के उभार के अभाव में वर्तमान सामाजिक, आर्थिक स्थितियों का लाभ अराजक तत्व ही उठा रहे हैं। आम आदमी दुत्कार भर झेल रहा है। इससे नक्सलवाद लगातार मजबूत हो रहा है।’

उन्होंने कहा, ‘विगत 40 वर्षों में नक्सलवादियों ने राजसत्ता के चरित्र और दलीय राजनीति की विसंगतियों का अपने फैलाव के लिए भरपूर इस्तेमाल किया है। यह महज संयोग नहीं है कि आंध्र प्रदेश में नक्सली कमांडरों के पकड़े जाने की स्थिति में तत्कालीन मुख्यमंत्री ने सुरक्षित निकासी की व्यवस्था की थी। नक्सल प्रभावित क्षेत्रों में सत्तारुढ़ दलों के उम्मीदवारों की चुनावी जीत राजनैतिक दलों की नक्सलवादियों से सांठगांठ का नतीजा है।’

इस समस्या की समाधान की राह बताते हुए उन्होंने कहा, ‘जमीन अधिग्रहण, खाद्य सुरक्षा कानून गरीबोन्मुखी बने। बेदखली, विस्थापन, पलायन को मुख्य समस्या मानकर समाधान की नीतियां तैयार हों। जीडीपी की दर पर जोर न देकर अंत्योदय, जन सहभागिता, सत्ता के विकेंद्रीकरण पर जोर दिया जाए। भूख और बेरोजगारी को नीतियों की धूरी बनाई जाए। खदान, उद्योग, सेज आदि की अनुमति देते समय जन मिल्कियत को आधारभूत तत्व बनाया जाए। शासन-प्रशासन जनता के मन में विश्वसनीयता अर्जित कर पाए, इस बाबत अनुभवी लोगों से परामर्श कर योजना बनाई जाए। 

 

राष्ट्रवादी मोर्चा संवेदनशील परिणामकारी शासन एवं प्रशासन हेतु पहल करेगा साथ ही देश में वातावरण भी बनाएगा।’

 

Nanaji Deshmukh passes away

Sangh Parivar veteran and the former Rajya Sabha member, Nanaji Deshmukh, passed away here on Saturday at the age of 94.He breathed his last at the premises of India’s first rural university that he established in this temple town bordering Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, his close associate Sharda Prasad Dwivedi said.


Mr. Deshmukh was unwell for some time due to age-related ailments and had refused to be taken to Delhi for treatment. The Padma Vibhushan awardee had donated his body for medical research.

Born in Kadoli in Maharashtra’s Parbhani district on October 11, 1916, Mr. Deshmukh founded the Deendayal Research Institute here and was credited with exemplary work in education, health and rural self-reliance.He was also instrumental in carrying out a social restructuring programme in over 500 villages in both the States.

Mr. Deshmukh established the Chitrakoot Gramodya Vishwavidyalaya here — the country’s first rural university — and was its chancellor.

Senior BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee said Nanaji was an expert at handling challenges and was a dedicated social worker, lifelong pracharak of the RSS, senior politician and a visionary.

“He was an expert in handling challenges. There was a magnetic attraction in his personality and whoever came in touch with him remained with him throughout,” Mr. Vajpayee said, adding: “By voluntarily disassociating himself from politics, he became a role model…his death is a loss to society and me personally.”

BJP president Nitin Gadkari also condoled Mr. Deshmukh’s death. “Nanaji was one of the modern rishis of India. One of the early architects of the Jan Sangh, Nanaji firmly stood for true value-based politics. He could rightly be described as idealism personified,” Mr. Gadkari said. He said Mr. Deshmukh’s courage of conviction was so strong that he left active politics when he was almost at the pinnacle.

Senior leader L.K. Advani said he would not celebrate Holi or any other festivities related to it as a mark of respect to the deceased leader.

Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, in his condolence message, said: “In the death of Nanaji, India has lost an elder statesman, a patriot, and a role model.”

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the RSS also condoled his death. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat condoled Mr. Deshmukh’s death on behalf of the Sangh.

Mr. Deshmukh’s body was flown to Delhi from Chitrakoot on Sunday for his followers to pay their respects, before it was donated to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

His body was brought to Delhi around 2.30 p.m. and was kept at Keshavkunj, the RSS’ office, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. for his followers and admirers to pay their last respects.

As per Mr. Deshmukh’s wish, his body was donated to AIIMS for medical research.



Source : PTI

Crisis in our backyard - Secularism, the way it was, the way it is...

By Abhishek Joshi :

Secularity as practice and Secular being in approach has ancient linkages to our glorious past where the concept of “Sarv Dharam Sambhav” has been enshrined in the sociological fabric of our nation. The term “secular” was incorporated in our Constitution to effectively weave this fabric closer and achieve plurality in our new system which would form the foundation of our governance, with boundaries only set in from geographical perspective. Self engineering of this concept however now sadly reflects just a symbolic expression in the Constitution. The warmth of this spirit of secularity in Bhartiye background is missing. It doesn’t lead our nation of multiple diversity to achieve its place in the new millennia. The society and polity is shattered with a dichotomy of principles suiting individual interest and definition of secularism has been distorted. The important issues which succumb immediately at the altar are religion, policies emanating from religious practices, professing faith. It has also divided politics on the basis of majority & minority. The function of the state to maintain its neutrality is compromised when the governance policies midwife the decisions to breach the sanctity of constitutional norms, and its Secular credentials.

Such a distortion in the field of politics influences the policy formation process. This process does not take into account the fact that Bhartiye nation and society a great civilizational past which is embedded in “Sarv Dharm Sambhavah”. The holier than thou attitude of the policy makers looks down upon the matters of faith, religious convictions. The policies tend to push the people to a corner as if, practicing their own believes is anti-secular and it tends to tilt the balance of democracy on the count of majority, minority differences. The tenants of coexistence are solidarity, reciprocity and respect towards and between religious communities however when the sole intention of democratic might rests in achieving the capture of policy formation, the power to rule and effect, it ruptures this togetherness of the system. Resultantly the grave aspect of divisive polices is carried under the umbrella of secularity and in being seen and called as Secular. This being the issue, maters of faith is compromised in favour of one section of the society and derives a dubious connotation with regard to fearness of the policies. This is when “special temporary status” accorded to Jammu & Kashmir, based on ethnicity, linguistics and demography as a result of political brow beating by a section of society is atrocious when it is justified in the name of secularism and is unheard not traded back by more than 250 year in the past history.

The charade of the symbolism of “secular” identity as a cap has been worn so many times by various political parties that it now has lost its shape happened with regard to egalitarian concept of Socialism. And it has been carried as a fruitless appendage all these years of our nation’s existence. The socialism propounded by Nehru and according temporary status to the State of Jammu & Kashmir, under Article 370 has had its own momentum. Even until last week we had the far outcry of providing “autonomy” to the State. Left to bleed, an entire population separated on religious basis though dubbed as majority in the country, the Hindu Kashmiri’s trying to find their own place under the sovereignty of the constitution have been forced to demand the homeland for themselves within their own country.

This philosophy carried by the largest tenure rule of the Congress led government has inflicted wounds on the basis of discrimination, appeasement, and policies favouring one over the other. Irony is that such discriminatory politics has the sanction of secular stamping though this smacks of sharply divisive methodology. The governments led by other political parties with an eye on minority votes have followed suit. This has generated a psychology of statelessness in the majority community.

Anything which supposedly hurts the sentiments of the minority community has been pushed aside, looked away and ignored, even if the constitutional obligation is being compromised. The state is willing to accept back the bravery medals awarded to the security personnel who defended the terrorist attack on the parliament shamelessly, yet is not willing to hang Afzal Guru who has been strictured by the Hon. Supreme Court under a death sentence. The ruling coalition thinks that by moving ahead with Afzal’s execution, they might lose the minority votes. In the other monumental case of Mumbai 26/11 some 35 Crores of tax payers largesse has been spent to in name of “protecting” single evidence of Pakistan’s role in this terrorist attack and is well kept after, whereas Sadhvi Pragya Thakur had to conduct a fast unto death to allow her to practice her religion and maintain her dignity. She was offered ‘omlette’ for breakfast and was refused food sance onions and garlics. This type of Secularity has come to bred contempt on the basic fundamental laws of the constitution and just tends to over ride on shallow assumptions.

So much so that drawn solely on aspect of singularity, a Uniform Civil Code is not acceptable; neither is the law applicable to every citizen, since they tend to interfere in the religious practice and is superseded by the supreme law, with its own independent interpretation and boundaries. Hon Supreme Court had to intervene and advise the coalition government bringing its attention to parallel Sharia Courts which are running in states of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The government under the pressure of All India Muslim Personal Law Board has not even responded to these observations buckling again as was the case when the Hon Supreme Court had passed judgement in the noted Shah Bano Case.

Religious tolerance is only implied if you could share your aspect of religious chauvinism and surrender or abjure your belief for the good of the other but reciprocity of that, or even demanding the similar response in return is being dubbed as communal.

On such a sensitive issue like Shri Ram Janm Bhoomi / Babri structure truth has been sacrificed at the altar of distorted secularism. Even the Union Governments, Archaeological surveys have proved that there was indeed a temple beneath over which Babri structure was built. But despite such concrete evidences this issue is being used to exploit the secular / communal sensitivities. If the archaeological evidences were the basic requirement for solving Shri Ram Janm Bhoomi or more such issues then in Kashi (Varanasi) anybody can see the evidence on the walls of Gyanvapi Masjid today which speaks volumes of destruction of Kashi Vishwanath Mandir in the Mughal period. The Nandi of Kashi Vishwanath Mandir is facing Grabh Griha of Gyanvapi Masjid. Had the intention of the political class being honest on the issue of “Sarv Dharam Sambhavah / Secularism, Kashi Vishwanath issue could have been solved just after independence like Somnath.

Even on Shri Ram Setu, the government shamelessly had to beat a hasty embarrassing retreat in front of Hon. Supreme Court by having filed a affidavit mentioning Shri Ram’s existence as a simple mythological character. This same government came to the rescue of Muslim sentiments when the Danish Cartoon fiasco erupted in the country. This is a follow on scores of such instances stored in the recent past including Taslima Nasrin, banning of book by Salman Rushdie and preferential treatment to M.F.Hussain in the defence of Secularism.

The fact that there are more than 2 Crores of Bangladeshi infiltrators enjoying the rights of Citizenship in Bharat and ever continuing change in demographic profile of the border States has been addressed by the political class which reminds of Ostrich like stance ignoring the impending danger to sovernieghty of the country. Governments have feigned ignorance about huge amount of money being spent in proselytisation. Skewed arrangement of subsides for pilgrimage has been favoured by other minority communities as well. The demands of special status and powers to be accorded, self rule demands are constantly changing the paradigm of the country. The secular constitution was supposed to essentially protect the rights of the citizen and their equality and respect without any discrimination based either on religious, linguistic, regional or caste-creed basis.

The nation and its citizens have come closer to being concerned about the nefarious game played to suit perverted interest of this formation. Nations Youth especially today believes in finding its own ground and temperament which resonate with the ecology, temperament of the Nation and its Nationalism. It today implies to have its moorings in the glorious past of our cultural social diversity yet keeping itself high with blend of true “secularity” of absorbing, other faiths and practices and to be called as its own. This to mean, ethos’s which do not suite the tenants of our governance, policies or socio-political themes would necessary need to be changed or found alternatives. It has come to fore that all the political parties do not have the will to effect these socio-economical-cultural change. A New breed of volunteers need to come forward. Realizing the true aspect of our nationalism, with spring of enthusiasm to ensure no one is discriminated against any basis of caste, creed or religion. But to realize the vision with Nationalism at its core with an objective to stitch this shattered fabric of “secularity” in its truest sense and Bhartiye form.

The problem of national integration, social cohesiveness has been universal problem and flash points of tensions in many parts of the world. The democratic set up of America has its own share of problems, so France as well, Germany is no exception where infiltrators of Turkey are playing havoc with social harmony of Germans Society. At one time melting part theory was promoted as a way out for social integration of African-American and Hispanic, Asian communities along with Anglo-Saxon majority. This theory did not pay results, American establishment has now formulated a salad bowl theory for social integration. In this theory the different section are expected to have their separate identities intact but will share a common vision of America which would be essentially Anglo-Saxon.

In Bharat the responsibility of Youth is to forge the society in which thousands of years of historical past, pains and pleasures are shared by the entirety of the population. A common aspiration of strengthening Bhartiye brand of secularism is the challenge before the youth in which the history doesn’t stop in the past of 2000 years but pierces deep into the civilizational shared heritage of more than 10,000 years. The common bond of identity with the past transcending the mode of worship is the desired direction for stable cohesive, integrated Bhartiye society.

Crisis in our backyard - "Shantham prati Shanthayam"

By Abhishek Joshi:

Ideological upbringings have one favour to afford to the other. You could just stare at other’s logic without having to count your own since the difference itself is negated with an expression of the other being wrong. That becomes the doctrine, and deeds, actions are all counter to what has been taught and preached as a reflex. So whatever is being said, to prove a counter point simply pick up holes and present the opposite with counting your instances of your expressions, nay, ideology. This is what is being pushed hard as defensive and counter defensive and the feeble voice of justice, reason and existence is all need to pick their sides if need to be heard. If you do not have an ideology of your own, shut up.

Results - recently launched Para military offensive as Operation Green Hunt” in the Dandakarnaya region in addition to already existing ‘Purification hunt’ (Salwa Judam, in local gondi dialect) and associations for collective remonstration suppressed with their voices to even to come closer to the democratic right of participating against the state apparatus. There are no sides of oppression, exploitation, displacement and misery. The only side which is not seen is being lumped together with an ideology to suit pervert interests. Its easy to stake a claim from the central podium, specially when you have the right to get the “home” in order by asking not to support this perpetrated violence on the people but what bleeds contempt for any normal concerned citizen is even trying to get them to address the “collateral damage’’ this would expose the entire populace in effect to. The justice, equality, fraternity is to be meant in actions and not laid bare to a military offensive dubbed as war to be fought within with all might of one lop sided sinister methodology. In effect as reported by Hindustan Times, few weeks back by not less than the rank of a senior bureaucrat of this “Green Hunt” to be the biggest land grab of the world, if followed in toto by the script. Development at the cost of displacement.

No one is supporting violence. No one is a brown cheeked guy, sitting in the warm confines of the their living rooms and reading classics on class struggle and romanticizing the adventure of being donning the other side of the military uniform, so no one needs to be told as well to “support someone else war”. If there are stories of one side of violence, equally thick dossier is being carried by them as well to swell their ranks of battle gear and caught in the slugfest is the truth behind these circumstances.

"Shantham prati Shanthayam" or Tit for Tat policy would breed more violence. The wide gap in governance all these years has bred the black head of insurgency to rise to this level. You can not sow new seeds unless you have harvested your crop. We are harvesting what had been sown 63 years back; we would for sure reap what we choose to sow now.

Yet time to pick options.

Crisis in our backyard - The "simmering" dissent

By Abhishek Joshi :

“Spring thunder has begun” boomed Peking radio and with this announcement the nation begun to experience its “tryst with destiny” announced some two decades under the unfurling of the tri-colour. The above 1967, the violent uprising of peasants at Districts of Darjeeling, including Naxalbari from which it derived the ideological impression of “ism” – Naxalism & the latter off course known fully. Infact, even when this tryst of destiny was being frivolously sent across as a new beginning for national upheaval as an independent state by clock striking midnight, a year before than that “Tebhaga” lit. (Sharing by thirds) was concluded by an armed peasant community again in North Bengal, asking their rightful gain from the exploiters of their labour, the landlords. Ironically, when this “tryst” was being celebrated across the nation, some few thousand kilometres away the peasants and farmers were left unamused, revolting against the Nizam and feudal landlords. The Hyderabad state was yet to be part of The newly found nation, until 1948 and governance to have actually realized by its people, and thus the reason of this being carried out for another five years, only to be emphatically “acknowledged” by equal armed proposition in 1951. What followed it immediately as similar ideological upheaval of the peasants and marginalized farmers was Srikakulam in 1961.

Historically, perhaps we are done with counting instances of these upheavals as convoluted rebellions, skirmishes against misconceptions propagated by anti national elements and not having the full realization in democracy and its pillars of Legislature, Executive & Judiciary. This met with resistance socially as well, “why pick a fight with our own people, we are independent now, the feudal imperialism has mets its fate in its coffers, shrug this and look up, for our democratic nation, would now lead us to where we would not have to search for our sustenance, there would be sufficient opportunities for all of us, we would have the right of being called a citizen, a constitution which would protect our rights and collective plurastic antagonism to collective egalitarianism, we would be all equal now, you see”. This could have an intellectual giving perhaps his share of verbosity to his understanding compared and vetted out by his socialistic temperament and new found assimilation of others in that society as citizen of the country. I can today best assume this would have met up with a bewildered expression on this peasant’s face, mixing awe and respect, frustration of being socially chastised if he does not agree what is being told and pressing his understanding of this issue further to simply comprehend that now he could perhaps ask the feudal landlord for an extra kg of wheat for his son too after days work, for him not to go hungry every time or perhaps extra 50 anna’s for him to get the roof repaired for the family of six not to take turns in night to keep it holding it together to not to fall away. These were times of dream’s woven on the fabric of democratic institutions and were sold marvellously well to some 53% of the population then with sterling efforts aiding the expression for him to constantly look up. “He is still looking up,” you see, I wish, I could now have my turn to poke this intellectual in 2009.

Pasupati to Tirupati, everyone was supposed to continue to look up, not for divine intervention but with its search for the constitutional tenants of democracy simplistically for the peasants, daily wage earners, the forest dwellers – the proletariat, as a function of “state to protect those, who can not protect themselves. This covering the constitutionally ruled democratic states of borders of Nepal, Bihar,Bengal, Orissa, Chattisgarh, South Eastern Madhya Pradesh, Eastern Karnataka with spill over in Maharashtra and continue to grow in other parts of the country, including nearest to the throne of this democratic symbol, in neighbourhood Harayana. This is where we have the new found metaphor of rebellion or revolution, the present day Mao-Se Tung inspired ideology of Naxalism being present. The uprising, class annihilation ferment, insurrection or terrorism, what ever we might to call it depending on our intellect, understanding of these issues or vehement opposition and belief in our own pseudo comprehension of half baked –half known wisdom of countries ecological social political system of governance. The debate could be easily settled by differentiating the issue and dividing it into its own classism argument of subject and its context, perhaps better explained as “Vishye” aur “Sandarbh”. If we continue to prod ourselves on the subject, the “vishye” then we in our best’est of wisdom would abhor & denounce any sort of violence which could be perpetrated with impunity on anyone regardless of any class composition of Marxian ideology of “bourgeoisie, petit bourgeoisie or proletariat” and turn ourselves saying “NO”. That’s true for all of us. Violence begets violence and this armed insurrection, not matter how rebellious or revolutionary and faith in its ideology would shift away from the line which separates it from terrorism.

The approach of close ended questions of these sought are a simple “Yes or No, which actually takes us away from understanding these issues in its actual context, “sandarbh”. We are aware of the gross disparities our governance structures have got us in, we are aware of the social anomalies which are plagued by the factor of developmental benefits touching only few of our lives, we have perhaps even without being classified have found an avid inspiration of capitalism and its consumption factors, according our own manifestation of “standard of living” and we have an inherent empathy with these issues, despite being caught perhaps right in the middle of it. It would be difficult to comprehend or is not known to us, would be a thought anomaly in itself which most of the nation would not like to acknowledge.

The understanding of the context would lead us to awareness of the issues which have actually given birth to these gaps and leaving the space wide open for any ideology to come and fight for their own behalf, except them. The collective inspiration is seen that what could not be demanded of the rotten system could be at best extracted with might. The results of the former are all known, with implied patience, be it fundamental rights of sustenance, food, shelter, health and civic facilities to law and order, would come or the instant element of this being provided by just exercising a little pressure with arms in hand and the same system responds with such speed that one wonders, whether that could have sustained itself if not been factually a system. This leaves the proletariat to announce a class struggle, imbibing the ideology and its discipline as that left on the mercy for once to announce that what is ours would be snatched if not given. The root of this is not ideology. The reason is socio-politico-economic grievances of the people. The faith that was once to be livid has forced with pressure its departure from the very moorings. This related to Poverty, Land reforms, Unemployment, Corruption, Aboriginals right, Tribal rights, Forest dwellers right, Education, Civic and Health benefits and last Governance. The feeling of helplessness, alienation and powerlessness – the absence of individual assertiveness is diluted a collective assertiveness is implied with these convoluted ideologies.

This when the central planned allocation for anti-poverty programmes have seen a 15 fold increase in last 15 years from 7,500 Crs in 1993-94 to well over 120,000 Crs in 2008-09, these in addition to 70,000 Crs of farmer loan waivers, simply having no inter relation between outlay and outcomes. The situation gets accentuated more when we look at the sheer statistics of this greatest deprivation of rightful fundamentals that people in rural “habitations” the villages where people have seen there income rise from Rs. 8.99 per day to Rs.9.01 per day, the “plimsoll line” widening the gap of beneficiaries from BPL (Below the poverty line) to Non – BPL entity, after all these outlays in last upwards of dozen years. This interplay of deprivation as perhaps was waiting for even this partition to lay claim on the frugal benefit of governance. Situation likes these, where in states like Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh & Rural Orissa with significant tribal population, 99.8 percent of there families are not able to cover one basic meal in any given month of the year. Policies have been just formed to allow a glimpse of governance without taking heed of the bio-diversities, livelihood patterns, living habits and even philosophical understanding. This again, when the tribal areas are rich in mineral wealth & yet, tragically half than more tribal population is deprived of the means to approach towards sustainable right of living. This proves that they have if all just mildly responded to this system of governance and perhaps a approach needs to be brought to get them first to develop a response and then perhaps seek their assimilation in the main stream. No wonder that Naxalism, finds them taking succour and has seen spread itself where governance exist simply on papers with appalling poverty remaining endemic, to remote regions where again the tribals, rural proletariat has been systematically displaced from their natural habitat. Deprivation & Exploitation have left them to find mertis of their existence in this ideology shift and a detailed planning of years of exploitation matched with years of persistent efforts are needed to ensure that the first steps “spring” are sown in their hearts.

These are indeed are own people, they are not fighting for a separate land or a separate country, all perhaps they fight most genuinely and some perhaps in the grab of it is for justice to ensure they are collectively understood, assimilated and are not left behind in this momentum of growth at dawn of this millennium. If this correction is achieved and responds even with slightest of gesture, would soothe the wounds which have been inflicted over all these years. Mere announcing more troops and taking note of growing influence of Naxals in states and threat to Indian sovereignty, as early as two weeks back is all but a ploy of not knowing at instance what would have caused these situations and further not acknowledging that the situation ever exists.

Flagships programmes of assured 100 days of work are just but adding to the insult when these people had their own lands to till, their own culture, who are now being displaced and now on mercy of working on developmental plans of the government, on their land for 100 days. For sure more could be done and more needs to be done. Until then, I think both the state apparatus and naxals equally would continue to justify their own stand, as a 3rd class grader to the masses at large of “we never started it first”. These high internal conflicts would continue to be fought for the masses, on their own bodies, some 7500 already, both sides and no recourse could justify any of its existence, ideology of the state vs. ideology of the proletariat. It seems everyone has a role to play to justify their existence so long as it is left simmering. This dissent left with the people who value it most would have a larger effect on the national strife of our existence. We can shrug it off, so longer it does not effect but not for long, am convinced. Until then we continue to treat it as a menace and further contain ourselves to fight for the “subject” and they making it us believe for its “context”. You see..!

Crisis in our backyard - ecological disaster, Ganga Expressway

By Abhishek Joshi :

Development, high speed connectivity and expressway. These words are not borrowed from a IT tele co advertisements but were brought to fore by the Uttar Pradesh, Mayawati Government when the “Ganga Expressway” project was launched served enthusiastically by jubilant government machinery to the people of the state on the pseudo plank of development in 2007. The project ensures a construction of 1047 kms of 8 lane expressway on left bank of river Ganga connecting eastern and western boundaries of the state from Greater Noida to Ballia. The expressway shall also impregnate other developments initiative along side with development of new townships, industries and urban colonies, golf courses attracting dense urbanization of the project creating or equalling “world class” infrastructure. Yes, the only victim in the process the already exploited and abused “silent” river bed of river Ganga. Costs, just some 31,000 Crores.

The proponents of developmental lapped this announcement, crediting the government with being at least serious to prop up the once “bimaru” image of the state. Not every where.

Silently working to challenge this project announcement a group of voluntary organizations, Ganga Mahasabha and the like were busy preparing the arguments of the environmental catastrophe this would cause on the ecology of the river and habitants living next to the river bank. The right side, already urbanized with cities grappling with its own issues and the impact it has on the river and its flow was perhaps getting prepared to be squeezed both sides for it no longer be called a river an turning the “national river” to a stinking nala. Not to have seen this happening, they filed a PIL ( a public interest litigation) in Hon. Allahabad High Court.

Excerpts of the PIL as pleaded by the petitioners:

There is no river in the world which has influenced humanity or contributed to the growth of material civilization, or of special ethics to such an extent as the Holy River Ganga. The mighty river which has silently worked through ages in an unceasing process of regeneration of the soil, spreading life and sustenance of humanity, is today struggling to survive from uncontrolled and unabated pollution of its waters caused by sewage discharge from towns, cities including discharge of effluents from industries, tanneries and mills situated on its banks. Through these two writ petitions, entertained as Public Interest Litigation, the petitioners have come to challenge the project and grant of environmental clearance dated 23.08.2007 for construction of 8 lane expressway spread over an area of 12,000 hectares of fertile land.

The environmental side effect has been pleaded as the main reason for opposing the construction of Ganga expressway and cited references were Apex court judgment two decades ago title M.C Mehta vs the Union of India reported in (1987) 4 S.C.C 463. The petitioners state that construction of Ganga expressway shall cause immense ecological disturbance in the present Ganga eco-system. They also pleaded that 64,000 hectares of most fertile land in various districts would be acquired on which land farmers are growing good crop even without irrigation.
The cultural aspect to include, River Ganga treated as “Mother” divine and very large population uses the river water for drinking and people have great faith in its divinity by taking holy dip depleting this through river water pollution and further eroding the river flow by swelling of river water bed with construction aided pollution, converting the river to go dry in not so distant future.

Article 48-A of the Constitution has been inserted in the Constitution by Constitution (Forty second amendment) Act 1976 under part IV of the Constitution “Directive Principals of State Policy reading following effect:

48-A. Protection and improvement of environment and safeguarding of forest and wild life – The state shall endeavour to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the forests and wild life of the country

Article 48-A castes an obligation and duty on the state to protect and improve the ecology of the environment, to be read in conjunction with Article 51-A

The petitioners further pleaded the case to the Hon. High Court citing various earlier references and drawing attentions to the award of the contract by the incumbent state government on its nebulous speed of having given and accorded in principle approval of the project by citing declarations of having obtained necessary clearance for the project both state and central clearance authorities and hence rightfully to commence its construction. This when the incumbent Chief Minister is already under Apex Court strictures and federal inquiry for allowing construction of a “Upscale swanky shopping mall” on the river bed of Yamuna behind the “Taj Mahal” for commercial purpose with embezzlement of funds and seeking personal financial gratifications for awarding the contract.

The pleaders cited numerous violations for evaluation of this project and requested the Hon High Court to quash the project clearance until a full assessment of the environmental impact is studied and clearance obtained thereof ( which perhaps would never come through)

The court entertaining the arguments and listening to both Union of India, represented by the State Government, impact study until present, ecological consideration of the Ganga River reserved its judgement on 01.04.2009.

On 29.05.2009, the Hon High Court declaring the judgement concluded that the entire process of obtaining the environmental clearance has been flagrant violation of statutory provisions of Environmental Clearance Regulation 2006. The Environmental (Protection) Act, 1986, Rules and Regulations framed there under imposes statutory on UP Pollution Control Board, State level appraisal committee who in principle are watch dogs for protection and improvement of the environment have violated the provisions and have shown scant respect to law. They all acted ion arbitrary manner and undue haste to get the environmental clearance to the project (perhaps vindicates the personal financial gratification involved) without addressing the serios environmental issues involved in the case
In view, the Hon High Court “quashed” the entire process of obtaining necessary approvals and directed the respondents to not proceed with Ganga Expressway construction until prior environmental clearance is obtained in accordance with law and provisions of ECA, 1986.

This verdict reposing the faith on the rule of law, its judiciary by the pleaders and the judgement was much celebrated as a encouragement to countless various organizations who have taken the voluntary responsibility of vindicating themselves on these issues served ready on the plank of development. When would we realize that instant gratification of having development without eco sustainability, without maintaining the equilibrium of development with natural eco-system would not allow us a cohesive existence. It’s a paradox of having known that we can develop at the cost of nature, the people who inhabit that nature. The fragility to be shattered by just one wrong decision perhaps would wipe the entire effort of our generations of not having to know the blunders we would have committed by pushing our own agenda for development, urbanized world.

Ganga River one of them.

About time, we revisit our observations and decide not to exploit or abuse what we have or our future generations would regret our existence.


Ps: pls drop me comment if the full copy of the judgment be needed.