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'India could revert to pre-1947 state'

India's Dams Largest Methane Emitters Among The World's Dams

Latest scientific estimates show that Large dams in India are responsible for about a fifth of the countries' total global warming impact. The estimates also reveal that Indian dams are the largest global warming contributors compared to all other nations. This estimate by Ivan Lima and colleagues from Brazil 's National Institute for Space Research (INPE) was recently published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Methane emission from Indian Large Dams This study estimates that total methane emissions from India's large dams could be 33.5 million tonnes (MT) per annum, including emissions from reservoirs (1.1 MT), spillways (13.2 MT) and turbines of hydropower dams (19.2 MT). Total generation of methane from India's reservoirs could be 45.8 MT. The difference between the figures of methane generation and emission is due to the oxidation of methane as it rises from the bottom of a reservoir to its surface.

The study estimates that emission of methane from all the reservoirs of the world could be 120 MT per annum. This means that of the total global emissions of methane due to all human activities, contribution from large dams alone could be 24%. The study does not include the emission of nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide from large dams. If all these are included, the global warming impact of large reservoirs would go up further.

The methane emission from India 's dams is estimated at 27.86 % of the methane emission from all the large dams of the world, which is more than the share of any other country of the world. Brazil comes second with the emission of methane from Brazil 's reservoirs being 21.8 MT per annum, which is 18.13% of the global figure.

"It is unfortunate that Lima 's study has come too late to be included in the recent reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)," says Patrick McCully, Director of the International Rivers Network. "Climate policy-makers have largely overlooked the importance of dam-generated methane. The IPCC urgently needs to address this issue."

These latest round of studies should further help shatter the myth that power from large hydropower projects is clean. Indian hydropower projects are already known for their serious social and environmental impacts on the communities and environment. The fact that these projects also emit global warming gases in such significant proportion should further destroy the myth.

Looking at the available figures for dams in India , total emission of methane from Indian dams may be somewhat over estimated, but it is still likely to be around 17 MT per annum. Even this more conservative figure means that India's dams emit about 425 CO2 equivalent MT (considering that global warming potential over 100 years of a T of methane is equivalent to GWP of 25 T of CO2, as per the latest estimates of IPCC). This, when compared to India's official emission of 1849 CO2e MT in year 2000 (which does not include emission from large dams), the contribution of methane emission from large dams is 18.7% of the total CO2 emission from India.

What needs to be done Indian government has been blind to this issue so far, even though it has been known for more than a decade now that reservoirs in tropical climate are significant source of global warming gases. Neither Central Water Commission, nor Central Electricity Authority, both premier institutes of Govt of India, have assessed the global warming impact of India's large dams and implications there of. The minimum the government can do is:

· To urgently institute a credible independent scientific study of global warming impact of dams in India, in light of findings elsewhere. The study should include actual measurement of methane and other GHG emission from a sample of reservoirs.

· While making this assessment, it should also be assess as to what extent methane emitted from reservoirs and hydropower projects can be recovered for beneficial use, in the process also reducing the global warming impact of the reservoirs.

· While assessing power and water resources development options, the Green house gas emission potential of dams should be assessed, as part of the cost benefit analysis and as part of environment impact assessment.

· The IPCC should initiate an independent study to assess the GHG potential of reservoirs in different parts of the world, including India. Emission of CO2 from reservoirs is already part of the mandatory reporting formats of IPCC. Reporting of methane emissions is suggested, but not mandated. The IPCC should make reporting of emission of methane from large dams mandatory.

Himanshu Thakkar ( ht.sandrp@gmail.com, South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers & People, New Delhi ( www.sandrp.in )

http://www.countercurrents.org/thakkar200507.htm
 
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Indian HC's advice to BD to be secular sounds ironical as Muslims killed in Hyderabad mosque blast, police firing communal disturbance in India are a regular feature

Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka on May 18 issued an unsolicited advice to Bangladesh to be 'secular" like India while, ironically a grisly carnage of Indian Muslims in a Hyderabad Mosque took place on the same day. According to a UNB report: Indian High Commissioner Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty on Friday said democracy would be stronger in Bangladesh if it could become a 'real secular country like India'.

"Bangladesh is a secular country but there is no real practice of secularism... as there is a religious ministry here," he said while addressing a function on the occasion of foundation laying of Chandranath Temple in Sitakunda.

The high commissioner said democracy is very strong in India as there is no division or discrepancy among the people of different faiths and values and real secularism is practised there. He suggested Bangladesh follow his country for practising real secularism, which would help it establish a strong democratic country removing all discrepancies among the people of different beliefs and values.

Meanwhile, according to a report, the death toll from the bomb attack on a mosque in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad on Friday and subsequent police firing on the protesting Muslims has risen to 42. FP reports: An improvised explosive device blew up near an area where 1,000 worshippers were reciting Friday prayers, said officials in Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh state.

Minutes after the blast at the 17th-century Makkah Masjid, worshippers, angered by what they said was a lack of police protection, began chanting "God is great!" Some hurled stones at police, who dispersed them with baton charges and tear gas. According to observers, such a statement from the Indian High Commissioner seems a bit out of place and irrelevant on the subject of communal harmony.

In this regard, all are naturally reminded of demolition of the historic 14th century Babri Mosque during the then 'secular' Congress government in 1992 and subsequent massacre of 3000 Muslims across India. Later during the Janata government rule, the barbaric massacre of Muslims was committed in Gujrat.

Besides, incidents of communal disturbance in India are a regular feature. On the other hand, there has been no communal disharmony and no major communal disturbance ever took place in Bangladesh where the majority Muslims are always in amity with the people of other communities and respectful to their religious beliefs.

Against this backdrop, it does not appear pertinent for a country like India with a terrible record of communial riots since its independence, to pontificate on secularism.

http://www.thebangladeshtoday.com/leading news.htm#lead news-02
 
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akzaman said:
Meanwhile, according to a report, the death toll from the bomb attack on a mosque in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad on Friday and subsequent police firing on the protesting Muslims has risen to 42.

In this regard, all are naturally reminded of demolition of the historic 14th century Babri Mosque during the then 'secular' Congress government in 1992 and subsequent massacre of 3000 Muslims across India. Later during the Janata government rule, the barbaric massacre of Muslims was committed in Gujrat.
Click to expand...

As usual it speaks only about Muslim deaths and not about the other 'low lives' that were lost.
 
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COMMUNALISM

M.F. Husain, who has been the target of communal groups and now spends most of his time in London and Dubai.

JUST before the incident in Vadodara, India's best-known artist, M.F. Husain, was subjected to a round of moral policing. Husain has been targeted repeatedly by communal groups for his supposed irreverence to the Hindu religion. The 92-year-old-painter now rarely stays in Mumbai; he spends most of his time in Dubai and London.

In early May, a court in Haridwar issued orders to the Mumbai Police to attach his property in South Mumbai as he failed to respond to summons to appear before it. The petitioner alleged that a Husain painting, which an exhibitor titled "Bharat Mata", hurt his religious sentiments and was a slur on nationalism. The work was part of series that showed India as a woman, which Husain painted in the 1970s. The painting particularly objected to shows India as a nude woman with the States written across her body, and a wheel in the background.

Since the early 1990s, Husain has been targeted for painting Hindu deities. In 1996, an exhibition of his in Ahmedabad was vandalised by VHP activists. In 1998, Bajrang Dal members arrived at his apartment to protest against a painting, which showed a nude Sita perched on a naked Hanuman's tail. The timely arrival of the police prevented any violent incident.

"No one has contributed to Indian art, and therefore to the country, as much as Husain. It is a shame that he cannot live in safety in his own country," said Kekoo Gandhi, who owns Gallery Chemould in Mumbai and is a core member of the Progressive Arts Group, which includes artists such as Husain, F.N. Souza and S.H Raza.

http://www.frontlineonnet.com/stories/20070601003603200.htm
 
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Rural India's Seeds of Despair

It might have been borrowing another $100 just to keep his family going that finally convinced Pravin Bakkamwar to end his life. Or maybe it was knowing that he needed to find a husband for his 18-year-old sister Suwarana, and then pay her dowry and arrange a suitable wedding—responsibilities that would push him further into debt. What his family knows is this: on a sunny morning in central India in late November last year, Pravin, 27, rode his motorbike to a nearby town, bought a few meters of red and yellow nylon cord, returned to his gently sloping cotton farm and hanged himself from a concrete power pole. Neighbors found him within minutes, blood trickling from his mouth.

The story of India today is one of great expectations, as soaring economic growth lifts tens of millions of people out of poverty and swells the ranks of the middle class. But India's progress has also brought sorrow to many farmers and rural workers, who still make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. The income disparity in the new India is massive: there are now 36 billionaires in India—and some 800 million people living on less than $2 a day. In the most desperate pockets of rural India, a confluence of factors, from poor rainfall to the new availability of consumer goods, has driven some farmers into crushing debt. The financial hardships are so extreme that thousands, including Pravin, commit suicide every year. Far from benefiting from the country's new prosperity, whole villages of India's rural poor are being left adrift, eager to join in the boom but unable to afford it.

The crisis is worst in Vidarbha, an orange- and cotton-growing region in central India famed for its black soil and the fact that Mahatma Gandhi built an ashram and lived there for a time in the 1930s. Now Indians know it as their nation's rural suicide capital. According to Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, or Vidarbha People's Protest Forum, an activist group that keeps track of farmer suicides in the area and lobbies the government for help, more than 1,250 farmers committed suicide in Vidarbha's six central districts alone in 2006, up from 248 in 2004.

What's causing so many rural Indians to take their lives? According to a study by the government of Maharashtra, the state in which Vidarbha sits, almost six in 10 of those who kill themselves have debts of between $110 and $550. Many farmers complain that banks don't offer them credit, forcing them to turn to rapacious moneylenders, who typically charge up to 20% interest on a four-month loan. As collateral, explains one lender in the bustling town of Pandharkawada, farmers often sign away title to their land. "If they pay back the loan, we give them back their deed," says the lender, who called himself "Ratanbhai" but refused to give his full name because of a recent government crackdown on unlicensed lenders. "If they don't, we get to take their land."

Predatory lenders are only part of the problem. Health-care and education costs have risen dramatically in the past few years, while the global price of cotton has become depressed, largely because of the billions of dollars in subsidies Washington hands out to U.S. farmers. "Expenses have increased, eating habits have increased. Health, education, all increased," says Gajanan Madhavrao Akkalawar, 70, who has farmed cotton for more than half a century. "It's difficult to run the family show." And then there's the growing obsession with the luxury goods that now consume much of Indian families' incomes. Television has given even the poorest a glimpse at the world outside. India is adding more than 6 million cell-phone subscribers every month, many of them in small villages and towns; its road network is quickly expanding, bringing increased commerce, trade and ideas. "If I say to people that materialism is upsetting the equilibrium of society, they stand up and say, 'Why should we be deprived of all these things? Why should only the people in the cities get these things?'" says Kishor Tiwari, the head of Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti. "The natural tendency is to adopt all these new things, whether the pocket permits it or not."

That's how it went with Pravin, who wanted the best for his family even if he couldn't afford it. Pravin's family lives near Pandharkawada town, in Sunna, a village of dirt streets and pale blue and whitewashed brick houses. The air hangs heavy with the smell of goats, cattle and chickens, and farmers use wooden bullock carts to carry their cotton and animal feed. Doors are strung with mango leaves to bring good luck, and women stretch their washing over twig fences. Pravin took over the family farm from his father four years ago when the old man tired of the task. The son proved a natural farmer, increasing yields and, initially at least, bringing in more money. His wife Smita, a distant cousin, was studying literature at university, but says she was happy to stop once it was time for them to marry. "Pravin was in the village and I had been to the city, but he didn't let me down in any way," says Smita. "He was very much a hard worker. No one in the village will deny he was the best young man."

Pravin put enormous pressure on himself to be a success. Smita came from a middle-class family far wealthier than his own. Her father had been an operator at India's National Thermal Power Corp., a job that paid well and enabled him to give all his four daughters a good education. Pravin wanted to keep Smita the way her father had. His motorbike, a black-and-gold 97-cc Hero Honda Splendor Plus, cost him just over $1,000, a fortune considering he made just a few hundred dollars a year. "I told him it was not affordable, not needed," says his father Vijay. "He said he needed it to get to the fields. The young these days—they want more luxuries with less tension." Pravin had taken a loan from a local banking cooperative for the motorbike, and further loans from moneylenders to buy seeds, fertilizer and pesticide. But like most rural Indian men, conservative and proud, he had not discussed his worries with his wife. "He was smiling all the time," says Smita. Yet Pravin owed at least $2,800 when he hanged himself.

The government says it is taking steps to assist Vidarbha's farmers. Mindful that a backlash in the countryside led to the last national government's ouster from office, the Maharashtra state administration and the Congress Party-led coalition in New Delhi have promised to pump almost a billion dollars into Vidarbha's rural sector. Authorities have arrested dozens of unlicensed moneylenders and pushed banks to offer more farmers credit at reasonable rates. The government is also trying to encourage farmers to diversify into other crops and into dairy and poultry production. A little more than half the money in the rescue packages will go to irrigation projects that could transform the region in the long term but offer little relief in the near future—a bone of contention for many farmers who say they need government help now.

No amount of help will be enough for widows like Smita, who tried to kill herself when she learned of her husband's suicide (the villagers stopped her). "Just like impossible," says Smita's sister Durga when asked if Smita, who is 23, might ever marry again. "She wants to be independent and get her own job, but in this place it's difficult." Her grieving father-in-law says that Smita was pregnant when Pravin killed himself but lost the baby after her own suicide attempt. When asked what she and Pravin had wanted for the future, Smita's eyes well up: "We wanted what every husband and wife wants. Nothing more."

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1622180,00.html
 
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Letter to Atal Bihari Vajpayee written by Yasin Malik, Chairman, Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front

Fmr. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)

Dear Atalji,

In public life, from time to time, it becomes necessary to communicate one's perceptions, concerns and apprehensions to others in public life on the pressing issues of our time in an open and frank manner. It is in this long tradition of public communication between individuals and in a spirit of honesty and frankness, that I address your good self through this open letter.

Of recent, I have observed with much distress that your good self along with your colleagues, through your public comments, might have started adopting a changed approach towards the ongoing peace process on Kashmir. In this regards, I refer here to the letters that you and Shri Advani have recently written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh raising public doubts and expressing disapproval. Then again, we have all observed Mr. Jaswant Singh's vitriolic disruption in the Rajya Sabha yesterday calling in to question Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's moves on the peace process and raising alarms about its direction.

No doubt, there is room for critique and discourse on the Peace Process. In fact, it is necessary and mandated. I too have very sobering and unaddressed concerns, which I would like to address herein - as a freedom-loving Kashmiri whose people have sacrificed and suffered and whose fate is directly to be determined by the direction and outcome that the peace process eventually will take. Kashmiris are still yet to be included in the peace process.

But my worry regarding the approach that you and your colleagues seem to be taking is that, at a time when visionary and courageous steps to further the peace process are already lacking from the present government in Delhi and are badly needed at this time, your behaviour as a leading opposition party of India may further curtail or decrease the possibility of such a necessary move to ensure that the peace process leads to a just resolution of the Kashmir Issue. As a seasoned and experienced statesman, you are well aware of how difficult it is to exercise political will and take visionary steps and, most importantly, how challenging the follow-through is to ensure. As the leading opposition party of India, the choices that you and your colleagues make have a direct bearing on the agility of the present government in Delhi to move forward in bold ways. You have an important role and great responsibility as opposition to build political will for the weighty decisions yet to be made on the peace process.

It is a fact, the present government in Delhi is yet to take the bold and decisive initiative to seize the present moment and move it towards a good faith public peace process that is institutionalized and includes all stakeholders in India, Pakistan, and the people of Kashmir – who are the primary party concerned. As leader of the leading opposition party in India you have a great opportunity to shape the course of events. I fear that domestic politics and a return to short-sided parochialism within India may once again be entering into the dynamic surrounding the Kashmir Issue. If so, it will be at a great cost to the people of South Asia who deserve a just and lasting peace for their future. From all sides, within India, Pakistan and Kashmir, we must not allow the present opportunity to be lost to the dynamics of domestic politics and the trivial diktats of playing to the gallery.

For this reason and with deep humility, I would like to encourage you to articulate, urge and support the type of visionary and bold move that is needed today from the present government in Delhi to ensure that the ongoing peace process moves forward, becomes institutionalized and inclusive and gains in seriousness. I have no reason to believe that such high expectations of statesmanship and of a constructive engagement are misplaced. I say this, with full awareness of your contribution and investment of time, thinking and exercise of political will towards the achievement of a resolution of the Kashmir Issue. Being deeply involved in the events surrounding Kashmir, I have myself experienced it first-hand and I am a witness to it.

Today, the people of South Asia are in need of precisely the type of visionary steps you have heralded in the past. While events often took unpredictable turns, throughout your tenure as Prime Minister you have consistently tried to create openings and take bold steps. Despite many upsets, you still persisted. From my side, I welcomed every instance where there was a serious initiative from India or Pakistan and I worked to achieve its success.

I recall your path-breaking bus journey to Lahore in February 1999 and the address you made to the people of Pakistan at the base of Minar-e-Pakistan in which you declared: "It is my dream and wish to resolve the Kashmir Issue." A year later, you made another attempt to directly engage Hizbul Muajhideen in a cease-fire and talks process in the Summer of 2000.

While that collapsed, a few months, later you declared a unilateral cease-fire in the Holy Month of Ramadhan and then publicly offered talks "under the constitution of Insaniyat". I immediately welcomed this move and addressed a press conference in Delhi in which I urged you to follow the visionary example set by Yitzhak Rabin in starting the Middle East peace process. At that time, I evoked Rabin's words to urge you forward: "Maybe my people will misunderstand me today, but future generations will judge and know what I have done for them to give them a peaceful and prosperous future." For 6 months, you directly engaged the then united APHC, under the Chairmanship of Syed Ali Shah Geelani, through your team including R. K. Mishra and Brajesh Mishra. At the start, R.K. Mishra conveyed the seriousness of your government to me and he quoted you, saying: "Before going from this world, I wish to resolve the Kashmir Issue." During this period, we in APHC had detailed discussions and we gave Geelani our full mandate to carry the dialogue forward. During this process I met high-ups in the Congress Party, now Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and then Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha Najma Haftullah (now your party colleague). We discussed your initiative to open serious dialogue and the overall Kashmir Issue in threadbare details for three hours. At the end of the meeting, now Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asked me: "What do you expect from us?" I replied simply: "As opposition, support Vajpayee fully." Just after 24 hours, a Congress Party delegation including Manmohan Singh, Natwar Singh and Arjun Singh met you and the Congress Party openly endorsed your initiative to start a serious peace process. You may recall that you conveyed your message of thanks for my efforts through R. K. Mishra.

Atalji, I would like to recall your reflections during this period that you shared with the world from Kumarakom on January 2, 2001 in which you firmly committed yourself to finding a durable solution to the Kashmir Issue. Your comments that day openly declared the type of visionary statesmanship and courage that a solution will require. "We shall not traverse solely on the beaten track of the past. Rather, we shall be bold and innovative designers of a future architecture of peace and prosperity for the entire South Asian region". The people of South Asia, and especially the people of Kashmir, still await this type of exercise of political will and courage.

You persisted in your attempts to open a peace process on Kashmir and despite Kargil you invited President Musharaf for the Agra Summit in July 2001. It took two years more, but you were finally able to open a sustained peace process on Kashmir which started when you extended a historical handshake of friendship to Pakistan and Kashmiris on the soil of Kashmir, recalling the words of Kashmiri national poet Mehjoor: "Walo a Baghbano, Nau Baharuk Shan Paeda Kar." (Arise, O Gardener! And usher in the glory of a new spring.) This move that you took in April 2003 was the start of the current peace process.

I, on behalf of the people of Kashmir, responded positively in June 2003 launching a door-to-door signature campaign to support the peace process and involve the people of Kashmir in the decision-making that would entail. We evoked the couplet of the same poem of Mehjoor: "Who will free you, O 'bulbul', While you bewail in the cage? With your hands, work out your own salvation." Under the inspiration of these words, 1.5 million Kashmiris with their own hands penned down their endorsement for the peace process and demanded their rightful role in it. We put forward our efforts to build the momentum for the type of inclusive and public peace process that can only lead to a solution. We believed then as we believe now that only with direct participation of the Kashmiri people can the glory of new era for South Asia be ushered in.

On January 1, 2001 I addressed your goodself along with President Musharaf in an open New Years Letter urging you to seize the opportunity presented by the then SAARC summit in Islamabad and appealed you to move forward with the peace process. I would like to remind you of my appeal that day: "It is a matter of hope to me that I find in your respective public commitments a certain kindred urge for peace and a shared appreciation that a peace process on Kashmir will require statesmen-like resolve and new creativity. While there are extremist on all sides that may oppose such a bold move on your parts, I urge both of you to seize this opportunity to now translate your visionary words into visionary deeds. Given our firm stand that the people of Kashmir can only decide the future of Kashmir we have always opposed - and will always oppose - any attempts by India and Pakistan to decide Kashmir without the people of Kashmir. However, we have decided not to protest at this time with an eye towards giving peace a chance and in hopes of encouraging an opening between India and Pakistan for a broader peace process. I would like to convey a message of earnest support and convey my earnest request that you meet and resolve to undertake a peace process that will also effectively and meaningfully involve the people of Kashmir in finding an agreeable solution to all parties."

It was an act of good faith and expression of high expectations of your and President Musharaf's capacity for statesmanship that we, on behalf of all Kashmiris, tried to create a conducive atmosphere for a breakthrough. Five days later, you undertook an agreement and started the composite dialogue that is the basis of the current peace process between India and Pakistan. A few month's later, when you left power and entered as leader of the opposition, you entrusted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as custodian of all your efforts and legacy to achieve a beginning of a sustained peace process on Kashmir.

When Prime Manmohan Singh and President Musharaf took certain steps as Confidence Building Measures, I was afforded an opportunity to travel across the LOC, that divided our homeland, and also to visit Pakistan. When I met President Musharaf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in separate meetings, I put forward certain serious recommendations for an inclusive and public peace process. I urged that: 1) India and Pakistan must institutionalize the peace, 2) the opposition parties in both countries must be formally taken onboard, and 3) with utmost effort, I urged self-representation and inclusion of the people of Jammu & Kashmir in a good faith negotiation process. I also urged that your good self on behalf of the BJP opposition along with members of the Communist Party of India, A. B. Bardan and Prakash Karat should be invited to Pakistan before Prime Minister next visits Pakistan.

In February 2006, I conveyed exactly and precisely the same message during my meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. When I re-emphasized the recommendation of Kashmiri self-representation and inclusion in the process, I was pleased with the response from the Prime Minister: "We can not even think to exclude Kashmiris from the peace process."

You are directly responsible for the current peace process and the credit goes to you for the present opportunities that are yet waiting to be seized by the governments of India and Pakistan are its result. In 2007, the people of South Asia are still waiting for the type of exercise of political will, creativity and courage that you once urged. Kashmiris are still hoping and waiting for those bold and off the beaten track steps from the two governments.

At this time, the type of statements and signals you and your colleagues have been giving are not at all conducive and will not help. This peace process is your baby and you can not call it an illegitimate child. I still hope that you, along with your colleagues, will rise above the pulls and pressures of domestic politics in India and play the role of the elder statesman of South Asia. If Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has declared the current peace process "irreversible", then bold steps are inevitably needed – sooner rather than later. Knowing your persistence for peace and your desire for a solution to the Kashmir Issue, it is not unrealistic for me to expect that you will build political will in India and publicly urge Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to seize this opportunity and move forward creatively and boldly with the current peace process.

Yours Sincerely,

Yasin Malik
Chairman, Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front
Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir

http://www.hinduonnet.com/nic/yasinmalik.htm
 
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165m low-caste Indians face ‘lifetime of abuse’

Over 165 million people on the bottom rung of India’s caste ladder are condemned to a ‘lifetime of abuse’ because of a government failure to protect them, two US-based rights group charged Tuesday.

‘India has systematically failed to uphold its international legal obligations to ensure the fundamental human rights of dalits,’ said the Centre for Human Rights and Global Justice and Human Rights Watch in a joint report.

Dalits, once known as ‘untouchables,’ is the term used for those on the lowest rung of India’s rigid Hindu caste hierarchy. Shunned by higher castes, they perform the lowliest occupations and are the poorest in terms of income, literacy and land.

‘More than 165 million dalits in India are condemned to a lifetime of abuse simply because of their caste,’ said the report, ‘Hidden Apartheid: Caste Discrimination against India’s ‘Untouchables’.’

‘Entrenched discrimination violates dalits’ rights to education, health, housing, property, freedom of religion, free choice of employment, and equal treatment before the law,’ the 113-page report said.

The report was produced ahead of a meeting in late February of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination which monitors implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

The committee is slated to review India’s compliance with the convention in Geneva in late February, the New York-based groups said in a statement received in New Delhi.
The report quoted India’s prime minister Manmohan Singh as saying last year that ‘even after 60 years of constitutional and legal protection and state support, there is still social discrimination against dalits in many parts of our country’ and calling ‘untouchability’ a ‘blot on humanity.’

India’s prime minister ‘should now turn his words into action to protect the rights of Dalits,’ said Smita Narula, director of the Centre for Human Rights and Global Justice and co-author of the report.

‘The Indian government can no longer deny its collusion in maintaining a system of entrenched social and economic segregation,’ she said in a statement.

http://www.newagebd.com/front.html#15
 
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Muslim Deprivation: Some Thoughts In The Context Of The Sachar Committee Report

By Yoginder Sikand

[Paper presented at a conference on the Sachar Committee Report, 19 May, 2007, Trivandrum, organised by the Forum for Social Action]

This presentation is not a rigorously-argued academic paper. Instead, it seeks to offer stray thoughts on the very complex issue of the sociology of Indian Muslim deprivation in the light of the Sachar Committee Report. Rather than focusing on the deep-rooted historical causes as well as dimensions of Muslim deprivation, about which much has already been written, I would rather reflect on certain other aspects related to this question, in addition to making a critique of some aspects of the Sachar Committee Report and also offering some suggestions for Muslim organizations to consider.

The first issue that I would like to deal with relates to the literature and knowledge-base that we have on the subject of Muslim deprivation. In this regard, reference to an interview I recently conducted with a senior Muslim leader is pertinent. I asked him what he felt about the Sachar Committee Report. His reply was that the overall findings and conclusions of the report were hardly novel. The same basic findings—that Muslims, by and large, are a deprived community and suffer from various levels of discrimination and neglect—have been repeatedly highlighted by Muslims themselves, in addition to various committees and commissions appointed by the Central and state governments in the past. After the Sachar Committee Report was sent to the Government of India, he said, it had done almost nothing at all, failing to act on the recommendations of the report. He was not optimistic that the Government would do much in any case. It had not tabled the Report in Parlimant, a sign that it was probably not interested in doing anything about it. 'We'll just have to wait and see', he replied, clearly not expecting much to come of the report. He rightly made the point that it was quite possible that, as in the case of numerous such committee reports in the past, this report, too, would be left ignored by the Government and that it would simply be used as a means to garner Muslim votes, at best to justify a few cosmetic sops to some Muslims in order to preserve or expand the vote-bank of a certain political party. I think that sums up the feeling that large sections of the Muslims who are aware of the report have about it.

This Muslim leader I interviewed made some other interesting points with reference to the Sachar Committee Report. Although the fact of Muslim deprivation and anti-Muslim discrimination was something that Muslim organizations and leaders have been constantly repeating, he said, now it was the Government itself that was acknowledging this fact, through the committee that it had appointed. Hence, the complaints of Muslim leaders and organizations could no longer be taken as exaggerated or false, he said. Nor could remedial measures to address the issue of Muslim deprivation be dismissed as unwarranted 'minority appeasement', as the Hindutva right-wing argues. Hence, he said, even if the Government failed to act on the recommendations of the Sachar Committee Report, at least now Muslims would have with them an official document issued by the Government which they could use to argue their case of being a deprived community and, therefore, deserving of positive discrimination.

Turning the question in a somewhat different direction, I asked this leader why it was that we have had to wait all these years for a Government-appointed committee to tell or convince us of the obvious fact of Muslim deprivation. Why is it, I asked, that Muslim organizations have not done any sort of serious academic research and analysis on the subject in order to highlight the fact of Muslim deprivation and to press the case for greater involvement of civil society groups as well as the state in addressing the issue. His answer simply was to say that if any Muslim organization had produced a document of this sort it would not have been treated as 'reliable' or 'authentic' by the state or by many non-Muslims simply because it had been authored or commissioned by a Muslim individual or organisation, even if it had been entirely accurate—a sign of the deep-rooted prejudices in our society that are so difficult to challenge.

This point relates to the broader issue of scholarship on Indian Muslims, including on the crucial aspect of their overall deprivation. Obviously, understanding the roots and the various facets and dimensions of Muslim deprivation and then doing something practical about it requires serious scholarship, which is seriously lacking today. There exist relatively few well-researched, empirically based studies of contemporary Indian Muslim society. Much that has been written about the Indian Muslims is simply historical. It is as if Indian Muslim history stops at 1947, at the Partition. And even here the focus is on the history of Muslim elites, be they various Muslim ruling dynasties or Muslim princes or ulema who fought the British in 1857 or the leaders of the Muslim League and Muslims in the Congress Party. 'Ordinary' Muslims, that is to say, the vast majority of the Indian Muslims, have received find very little attention in the existing corpus of writings.

Coming to the post-1947 period, here, too, there is a great paucity of serious scholarship on the empirical realities and conditions of the Indian Muslims. Much that has been written on the subject has been in a journalistic mode, lacking sufficient empirical depth, and often tending to make overly broad and untenable generalizations, thereby reinforcing negative stereotypes. Further, the limited corpus of writings on the subject is dominated by the question of secularism versus communalism, as if this were a unique Muslim concern or as if Muslims have only this as their concern and that their other crucial concerns, such as poverty, poor education, unemployment and so on, were of no importance to them.

Two more themes have received considerable attention in both academic as well as journalistic writings on the post-1947 Indian Muslims—the question of the status of Muslim women and the issue of the madrasa system of education. But even here the focus has tended to be on certain sensational stories, which were sought to be linked to the secularism versus communal debate in some way or the other. Consequently, relatively very little has been written on a range of other crucial social, educational and economic challenges facing Muslims in India today, apart from some very broad surveys that using quantitative data. Detailed, empirical, qualitative studies on these issues are hard to come by. Few scholars have cared to take the trouble of doing actual ground-level fieldwork that is essential for this sort of research.

There are various reasons for this lack of serious social science literature on these crucial aspects of contemporary Indian Muslim society, which, as I mentioned above, is essential for us to have a clearer understanding of the multiple causes of overall Muslim deprivation and of the means to address the issue. There are relatively few Indian Muslim social scientists of note who have done such work. Sociology is probably not considered by many as a means for a well-paid career that can attract serious students. Scholarship on the subject by non-Muslim scholars is also, for a variety of reasons, very limited. Indeed, extremely few non-Muslim Indian social scientists have devoted their scholarly attention to Muslims in contemporary India, other than dealing with such issues as women, personal law, communal riots, and the secularism versus communalism debate.

While Indian Muslim organizations run numerous research centres and institutes to do with Islam, there are only a negligible number of such institutes for research and publication on Indian Muslim social, as distinct from religious, issues. The only such institution of note with somewhat of a national profile, presence and reach I can think of is the New Delhi-based Institute of Objective Studies. This is probably the only institution in the country that regularly publishes social science-related works on the Indian Muslims, although even here there is considerable room for improvement in the quality of its research output. Considering the fact that the Indian Muslims number more than 150 million, the fact that we have just one such institution doing this sort of work is indeed very unfortunate.

The same pattern is reflected in the Muslim publishing industry, at least in north India, which I am more familiar with. Few such publishing houses deal in this sort of social scientific, research-based literature on and about the Indian Muslims. Instead, the issues they focus on are largely religious, historical or literary. And so it is virtually impossible to find literature other than on these issues in any Muslim bookshop.

One of the results of the serious lack of scholarship on and about contemporary Indian Muslim social reality is that talk about the issue is often framed in very general terms, with broad generalizations being made that are, at the empirical level, not really valid. This, for instance, is the case about the very issue of 'Muslim deprivation', which this paper purports to discuss. The extreme paucity of research on the subject feeds the tendency to present the Indian Muslims as a monolith. This suits the interests of certain Muslim elites who claim to speak for all Muslims, the state, which relates to these elites as 'spokesemen' of the community, and, curiously enough, Hindutva zealots, who, likewise, seek to tar all Muslims with the same brush. Ignoring the internal diversities of caste, class, region and gender within the broader pan-Indian Muslim community leads to certain demands and arguments that claim to reflect the views and interests of all the Indian Muslims, but, which, in fact, might benefit only a very small elite of self-appointed 'leaders' of the community. This, for instance, is the case for the demand, made by some Muslim leaders, for reservations for all Muslims, based on the fallacious argument that all Muslims are 'backward'. Obviously, this demand would benefit only a small section of Muslim elites. In the absence of adequate social science research on the subject of Muslim 'backwardness', such demands are easily allowed to pass by uncontested.

Another illustration of the disastrous effects of the lack of sociological research on the Indian Muslims is the fact that, in the absence of such studies, the claims by the Central and various state governments of providing various benefits and schemes for Muslims are left unproven and so the state is able to get away scot-free, without being challenged for reneging on its promises. Thus, in recent years, the Government of India has set up numerous bodies and commissions, such as the Ministry of Minority Affairs, the National Minorities Education Commission, the National Commission for Linguistic Minorities, the National Minorities Finance and Development Corporation, the Maulana Azad Foundation and so on. One has no idea of precisely what these organizations have actually done for Muslim welfare. Presumably they have done but little. Take the case of a body that has been in existence for years—the National Minorities Commission. That the annual reports of this Commission have not been tabled in Parliament for years now speaks volumes of the Government's supposed commitment to minority rights and welfare. Had we rigorous documentation and research on these organizations and the work they claim to have done, we could have been able to argue against the claims of the state of having done a lot for Muslim welfare. But because we have no such research, we cannot do this effectively and so our case for greater affirmative action is considerably weakened.

Of course, the state has a major role to play with regard to Muslim empowerment precisely because it has played a critical role in sustaining structures of disempowerment and marginalization. But in addition to the agencies of the state, civil society organizations need also to play a far more socially engaged role both in terms of practical work as well as advocacy and lobbying with the government. This is something that Muslim organizations, particularly in the north, have not effectively explored.

The situation in the south may be different, but in the north and the north-east, where the bulk of the Indian Muslims reside, there appear to be relatively few Muslim NGOs doing effective work in seeking to address the issue of Muslim deprivation in concrete terms. Recently, a friend of mine published a directory of Muslim NGOs. Glancing through it, I discovered that the vast majority of these NGOs were engaged in providing religious education and instruction. While this is, of course, very essential, there appears to be a distinct lack of Muslim NGOs in the north doing practical work to address the issues of Muslim poverty, illiteracy, unemployment and so on. A study conducted by the eminent social scientist Imtiaz Ahmad found that well over 80% of zakat funds provided by members of the community is given to madrasas. While madrasa education is, of course, important, one wonders if community leaders should not also seek to channelise zakat funds to other sorts of organizations and institutions as well. Serious measures need to be considered to promote voluntary organizations in the community for purposes in addition to religious education, to appraise such organizations of various government schemes and to promote co-ordination among these organizations and also with non-Muslim or secular organizations.

Another issue that needs to be urgently addressed in the context of the question of Muslim deprivation is that of media policy or the lack thereof. We need to ask if Muslim organizations, including the Muslim-owned media, are indeed being able to counter anti-Muslim or Islamophobic discourses that are now so deeply engrained in large parts of the Indian (in addition to the Western) media. Of course they are not. What are the reasons for this? What measures need to be taken in this regard? Insofar as large sections of the non-Muslim media do refer to Islam or Muslims, it is generally in the context of some or the other sensational or dramatic news, whether real or imaginary or exaggerated, often with the intention of further reinforcing negative stereotypes. So, the media will highlight cases related to Muslim women, or madrasas or violence committed on or by Muslims, but rarely, if ever, does it have any positive stories on Muslims. Rarely, if ever, does it talk about the issue and magnitude of Muslim marginalization. In this regard, Muslim organizations need to be much more professional than they are in reaching out to the non-Muslim media to have their voices heard. They need to have a proper media and lobbying policy. They need to establish contact and dialogue with elements in the media that are concerned about Muslim rights and issues. They are several such people in the media and they only need to be properly reached out to.

The Muslim media also has a crucial to play in the context of efforts to address Muslim deprivation. I don't know what the situation is in the south, but in large parts of the north, the Urdu media plays devotes little attention to the manifold social, economic and educational problems besetting the Muslim masses. Few Muslim magazines, journals newspapers carry in-depth stories and reports on the plight of the poor among the Muslims or about efforts by various individuals and social action groups engaged in trying to practically address these issues. In this regard, it may be pertinent to mention that there are just two English-language Muslim periodicals of note in the country—the Bangalore-based Islamic Voice and the New Delhi-based Milli Gazette. The former is more concerned with religious issues, while it does devote some attention to community news. The latter is more oriented to community issues, but, like the former, does not have the network and resources needed for regular reporting on social, economic and educational issues across the country. They are both urban-centric, and only rarely do they carry stories about the conditions of Muslims living in rural areas—that is to say, the considerable majority of the Indian Muslim population. Sometime ago I did a random survey of Indian Muslim online groups and I found the same pattern being repeated—the discussions were mainly about religion and elite level politics, with few, if any, references to the complex social, economic and educational problems of the Muslim masses. This, of course, is a very important issue that the Muslim media needs to take up with the seriousness that it deserves. And in this way, the Muslim media can work towards getting precisely these issues to be included in the agenda of various political parties. One possible creative initiative in this regard would be to start a features agencies specializing in Muslim social issues. Feature stories could be translated into various languages and sent out to different newspapers, Muslim as well as others, so that the concerns of Muslims are made more public. As things stand today, the Muslim-owned media is largely a Muslim ghetto, with few non-Muslims reading Muslim-owned papers or watching Muslim television channels.

To come back to the Sachar Committee Report—while its numerous recommendations are indeed welcome, it is possible, as earlier mentioned, that the Government might do little, if at all, to act on them. In welcoming the report, we must not lose sight of its limitations. Thus, for instance, while talking of the need for empowering the Muslim community, the Report speaks precious little about the insecurity that Muslims suffer in large parts of the country, often as a result of connivance of the state with Hindutva forces. The link between this and Muslim economic deprivation is obvious, but this is something that the report does not deal with in the manner it should have. The report does not talk of deep-rooted anti-Muslim biases in school textbooks and the Hinduistic ethos of the state school system in several states in the country as a possible reason for Muslim educational 'backwardness'. The report does not mention the particular needs of Muslim women and the necessity of specific provision for them. Nor does it talk about the policies of rampant exploitation in the garb of globalization and liberalism that are playing havoc with Muslim artisans and small manufacturers, driving them out of the market and into the abyss of penury. Likewise, it leaves out the whole question of land ownership, which is extremely crucial, given the fact that, as a whole, Muslims suffer from a considerably higher degree of landlessness than most other communities.

There is much more that one can say with regard to the complex issue of Muslim deprivation, but I think I would stop here. Briefly, what I have tried to argue here is for Muslim organizations to take a far more active role in commissioning research on the subject, lobby with the state and political parties based on these issues and findings, dialogue with the non-Muslim-owned media and encourage the Muslim media to take the issue of Muslim marginalization much more seriously and to encourage the setting up of voluntary agencies, not as a substitute for, but, rather, as complimenting state initiatives to address the manifold problems facing the community.

The author is associated with Centre for Jawaharlal Nehru Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi

http://www.countercurrents.org/sikand280507.htm
 
.
Christians: A Faith Under Assault In Secular India

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Christians from all over India are gathering to protest against the Hindutva
assault on their faiths in different parts of the country. On May 29 th,
2007, when they all assemble at Jantar Mantar seeking government's
intervention to protect their institutions and people, it would remind all
of us that in plural society, every one need to appreciate the contribution
of linguistic and religious minorities in its development. The gathering of
the Christians therefore should not be seen in isolation and must have
support from all of us who believe that best bet for India's survival is
cohesiveness of different ethnic, religious, secular groups. In the past few
months, the goons of the Hindutva have targeted the community and their
faith leaders in various north Indian states particularly Rajasthan,
Himachal Pradesh, Orissa, Chhatisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Gujarat.
States like Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh where Christian population is
abysmally low are bringing out special laws to prohibit conversion. Orissa,
Madhya Pradesh, Chhatishgarh, Jharkhand have already enacted laws
prohibiting conversion. It is these states where extra constitutional groups
of the Hindutva have taken it on themselves to do not only moral policing
over people's behavior but also convert the tribal and dalits back to
brahmanical fold. With Hindutva devotees at the seats of power, the goons
are having free day to kill any one at their will. The assaults on Christian
institutions have wider implications. The freedom of the gangs of Hindutva
has become agony for all peace loving people including the minorities. We
must also understand that minorities suffer from certain dilemmas and such
assault isolate them further and strengthen the theocratic leadership in the
community. Moreover, the assault on Muslims and Christians is deliberate to
suppress the internal contradictions with in the Varna system. With UP gone
out of their hand, the Sangh Parivar would re-launch its assault on the
Muslims and Christians so that the assertion of Dalits, adivasis and
backward classes is diverted against the 'enemies' and Brahmins and
brahmindom have an unchallenged supremacy in the broader Hindu Samaj.

In many of these states the Bharatiya Janata Party, the political wing of
the Hindutva's discriminating and destructive ideology, is in power. Much
before they slaughtered Muslims in Gujarat in 2002, it was the Christians,
their churches and their educational institutions, which were targeted by
the Hindutva's lumpen organizations. This unaccountability of the Hindutva
and its various offshoots emerge from the open encouragement and support
from the ruling parties in these states. It is not only outrageous but also
unconstitutional that the state governments run by the Bharatiya Janata
Party behave conspicuously and in double speak justifying these assaults in
the name of intrusion of foreign culture and threat to India's unity.

Look, what happened in Gujarat today where the Kolis are up in the street
seeking justice. Narendra Modi never loses sight of targeting the Muslims
and Christians, whom he fears, are proselytizing the tribal by throwing
money at them. Absolutely farcical Mr. Modi, Gujarati Banias and Brahmins
have enough money to buy equally great product as the evangelical groups, so
please suggest them to go in the villages, sit with the Dalits and tribals,
share their agonies and pains. But we know it well, that is impossible in
brahmanical Gujarat who used the multiculturalism of the west for their
benefits but became Hindu chauvinists when the issue of multiculturalism
cropped up in their own state. In other way, Gujarat's psyche has become
totally brahmanised and a mere change of Narendra Modi would not work. An
assertion of Dalits, Adivasis and backward communities (Gujarat's backward
are Hinduised), for their political rights in coalition with Muslims and
Christians, would pave the way for throwing a challenge against the current
Hindutva culture prevailing in the state.

One of the issues that John Dayal has raised in his book is the issue of
right to profess the faith of your choice. The Hindutva groups obviously are
not comfortable with it as they feel it as a threat. But conversion is a
political tool and apolitical conversion has cost Dalits a lot. The first
conversion that jolted the brahmanical structure was not in 1951 when Baba
Saheb Ambedkar embraced Buddhism in 1951 but the 1982 conversion of hundreds
of Dalits to Islam in Meenakhsipuram, in Tamilnadu. For Hindutva every body
who is dissatisfied with their faith has been paid handsome amount of money
to convert. Unfortunately, that is where the problem lies, as most of the
converts are still much below the poverty line. If conversion had fetched
good money and good life in monitory terms, I am sure the Brahmins, Banias
and other upper caste Hindus would have been the first to grab the
opportunity.

We also tend to ignore the fact that the government has itself divided
various Dalit communities. It has knowingly done the biggest conversion in
the history of India for including Dalits, tribal, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains
and all those who are not a Muslim or Christian, into a Hindu category. That
has been the biggest blunder and conversion in the history of India and must
be opposed with as all these communities have their distinct cultural
identities. Opposition to Dalit converts come from that fact Dalits are
considered as Hindus. So the government, the Hindu reformist want them to
first face the untouchability and social oppression again to get the benefit
of the reservation?

Despite my deep antipathy for Justice Rang Nath Mishra for the horrible and
politically motivated report that he presented for the 1984 victims, the
latest efforts by the Mishra
Commission need our support, because it strengthen defend the right of an
individual to profess any faith at the personal level without loosing his
fundamental right. Asha Das's objections must be rejected before it takes
dangerous turn. Nevertheless, it is also essential for the Church and
Christian leaders to introspect about their Dalit agenda. It is easier for
them to ask from the government for the rights of the Dalit Christians but
at the same point of time, let them come out categorically as what efforts
have they made to empower Dalits with in their community. A Community which
has in its possession India's best known colleges, medical colleges,
Engineering colleges, media institutions, academic institutions etc. What
percentage of reservation has been given to Dalits and tribals in these
institutions? If Christians were really willing to mobilize the Dalits on
their side, empty slogans would not work. They have to be seen to be working
for the Dalits. They cannot expect Dalits to follow their upper caste
leadership.

Christians are not hated in power structure even when the Hindutva thugs
target their priests. One of the reason for that is that the growing feeling
that Christian own large educational institutions which actually strengthen
the Hindutva. The bitterest critique of Christendom comes from those who
were educated at these prestigious institutions. They will not targets
prestigious institutions in Delhi, Mumbai or elsewhere because most of their
family members come out from these colleges. We must understand the
philosophy behind this as my friend Ram Puniyani often suggest. That the RSS
and its Parivar have most of their ideologues coming from these institutions
but when the church and its educational institutions goes in the villages
and teach English and modern education to Adivasis and Dalits, that raises
eyebrows. Education would open the mind of these people and will instigate
them to challenge the racist philosophy of Hindutva. Tomorrow they will
challenge the concept of merit of the upper castes? Unfortunately, this is
not the case. Barring a few exceptions, things have not worked. Education is
for profiteering and not much has been done at the village level. There have
been compromises from the Christian leadership on this issue and their stand
on the emancipation of Dalits and reservation.

Amid all this, one person who has unequivocally and uncompromisingly spoke
against Hindutva and its fundamentalist ideology is, Dr John Dayal. For the
past few years, he has been very active putting the political agenda of the
community and taking a strong action line against the communal outfits
though it is also a known fact that for his strong secular approach and
convictions he is not the best person of the religious leadership.

'A Matter of Equity: Freedom of Faith in Secular India', is an outstanding
work of John Dayal. Though a large number of articles have been compiled and
updated for what were published in the Indian Currents yet bringing them all
together with other important documents, this book serve a great purpose for
all those who are interested to know about the Christian community and its
work in India as well as the vitriolic campaign of the Sangh Parivar against
the Christian Educational Institutions

John Dayal has not only been a critique of the Sangh Parivar and its goons
but he has asked the Church also to look for its role. He had documented
major violence against Christians in the last 10 years. May he get the
strength to document and assist other secular groups also, those who may not
like the evangelical groups very much like their disliking for the Muslim
and Hindu radical groups. Yes, John Dayal is Christian community's secular
face who has stood against all kind of oppression, for the freedom of
expression, which he has so wonderfully documented in his book with Ajoy
Bose as well as his campaign against the fascist government of Narendra Modi
in Gujarat. Therefore, it is not surprising that while many of the Church
friends were not happy with this uncompromising man who has no interest of
'protecting' his prime location institutions. Hence those uncompromising men
actually help the community more than those who pretend to help them in the
name of 'protecting' their community identity. And these points reflect
sharply in his analysis when he says that National Minorities Commission
does not really care about the rights of the Christians.

Some of the chapters in the book are great essays and shows John Dayal's
grasp over the problem and his efforts to link the Christian community with
the varied secular groups. 'A Christian perspective to National Integration'
is one such excellent essay in the book where Dayal ask to create for
awareness for Human Rights and developing civil society, which according to
him 'call for sacrifice'.

The article ' Ignorance, Bigotry and bloodshed: Perspective of
confrontation, coexistence and Peace in India and South Asia ,' is simply
superb and need to be read by all those who wish to know the birth of
various ethnic-religious identities in India and South Asia. It also helps
understand the culture of appreciation towards those who are not 'like' us
and differ with one another on not only in outlook and perception but also
language and religion.

Another important message was the 'liberation theology' of the Church which
liberated the Shanar women in Travancore and Tirunalveli district of
erstwhile Travancore state, where the Dalit women were prohibited from
covering their breasts. The missionaries helped them a life of dignity and
self-respect. An known story of Sophie James Joseph, who was a nurse in St.
Stephen's hospital and saved life of a Sikh family when they were butchered
by the upper caste thugs of the Congress party in the aftermath of the
assassination of Indira Gandhi.

The Christian community needs to heed his advice to introspect its own work
among the Dalits. He writes: ' How have we responded to the demands of
Dalits. Not low cost schools for low caste people but high quality English
schools which will allow the Dalit Children to find their place under the
sun in modern age. The answer has to be given soon.' This call was made by
Dayal in September 2001 but seven years onwards he need to ask the church
again and the catholic groups again whether their call for right to convert
and rights of the Christian Dalit is confined to number games only? What
substantial work has the church institutions done during the past 7 years to
uplift the Dalits. The Christian Institutions have enormous powers and
strength to help the Dalits. Two months back. Ambrose Pinto, principal of St
Joseph's College Banglore revealed to me how his college has reserved seats
for Dalits, OBCs and minorities and that it still remain one of the best
colleges of Banglore. And there is no dent to its meritocracy, perhaps a
right answer for the principal of St Stephan's College, which constructed
the brahmanical think tank of India and officially went against the policy
of reservation of the Dalits and OBCs in the Supreme Court, under the
pretext of being a minority institution. The Church institutions must
respond as how many seats are being reserved for the Dalits and tribal in
its elite institutions and how much help is being offered for that.

Another superb piece from John Dayal comes in the form of 'Hindutva's Dollar
Trail', which exposes the funding mechanism of the hate campaigners of the
Sangh Parivar. That India Development and Relief Fund ( IDRF) has been
supplying the funds to Vikas Bharati and 9 other offshoots of the Sangh
parivar is a shocking revelation. Between 1994-2000 it contributed
3.2million USD to these hate mongers in India. The government of India
must
look into it and must find more details of such organizations which spread
communal hatred in communities in India. Such funds must be treated as per
the terrorist funding against which the US administration and UK are waging
a decisive battle. Unfortunate part is that the Christian world is deeply
divided today and still consider Islam as their enemy number one and hence
other hate mongers get benefit of these things. Even in Britain, the right
wing Hindu groups have got great protection from those in power.
Interestingly, for the Sangh Zealots, there is another interesting
revelation in the book. The 106 % growth of Indian population predominantly
upper caste Hindus between 1990-2000. Sangh Parivar is too much disturbed
with Christian growth rate while unable to understand that if conversion was
taking place that strongly the population of the community would not have
reduced during the past five years.

While the government is going strongly in providing data related to the
condition of Muslims in India. Muslims have been discriminated in
administration and political system with the 'sin' of creating Pakistan. It
would be grossly wrong not to find out the problems of the Christian
population in India, a majority of whom happens to be Dalits and tribal. The
recent NSSO data have revealed that the poverty in Christian community is
far below than that of the Muslims. While Muslim being the second majority
of the country must get their due share in power structure, we must also ask
the government to appoint a similar condition to study the condition of
Christians as they are the main victims of the Sangh Parivar's violence
against them

The Christian community must introspect why it is unable to counter Sangh
Parivar's propaganda and assault on its churches and machinery. It must
learn a lesson or two from its Muslim brethrens. Muslims are a politically
mobile community in India particularly in Uttar-Pradesh and Bihar. Their
political understanding is far superior to other communities. Muslims have
depended on their own work and never on any government dole out and
therefore can still live their life in greater dignity. Christians on the
other hand remained highly apolitical community. People like John Dayal are
in a minority in the community for they speak the truth without feeling
guilty or apprehensive of the Sangh Parivar and its goons. Ofcourse, the
price has been bigger in the form of target and attacks but they have
remained uncompromising. The Christians by and large remain part of power
structure particularly the upper caste elite of them and therefore do not
hesitate even in compromising the interest of the community. John Dayal
remain exception among its elite who we can find at every platform from
those speaking against communalism to fight against unsustainable
globalisation or assault on Dalits and tribal or special economic Zone.


It is therefore important for the religious groups to leave the space for
the political people to lead the movement for the human rights of its people
in India. A community under theocratic leadership cannot fight its battle of
survival, which is essentially political. And hence John Dayal's words need
to be heard with great care.

Name of the Book: A matter of Equity: Freedom of Faith in Secular India
Author : John Dayal
Anamika Publishers & Distributors
Year of Publication : 2007
Page: 487
Price : Rs 800 ( Hard Cover)*

http://www.countercurrents.org/rawat300507.htm
 
. .
India rebels turn to poppy for funds

By Amarnath Tewary Jharkhand

Rebels say the returns from poppy trade are handsome (Photos: Prashant Ravi)
Maoist rebels in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand have been growing opium poppies to fund their operations in the region, officials say. The rebels have a presence in 18 of the 22 districts in Jharkhand.

The Maoists say they are fighting for more rights for indigenous people in at least five states, including neighbouring Bihar, which has a reputation as India's most lawless state. What began as small scale poppy cultivation in the remote areas of Chatra and Katkamsandi in Hazaribagh district two years ago has now flourished into a booming activity spread over some 20,000 acres of land in over 300 villages.

Officials reckon that opium worth millions of rupees is traded during the five-month poppy growing season which begins in the region in October. The police say that the Maoists are not only growing poppy, but also extorting "taxes" from farmers and opium traders.

'Flourishing'
"Maoists here are into poppy cultivation. This year, they have done poppy farming in my district on an experimental basis. But the situation is getting serious every year elsewhere," the police chief of Hazaribagh district, Pravin Singh, told the BBC.

In Chatra, one of the worst affected districts, officials say opium trading run and aided by the rebels is flourishing. "Poppy cultivation has become a new raging trend among the farmers in the rebel affected areas of Jharkhand. It's become a booming business for the rebels," state intelligence officer Gariban Paswan said.

Mr Paswan has recently submitted a report on rampant poppy growing and the role of the Maoists in the trade in Chatra to the state government. Vast swathes of Jharkhand are under poppy cultivation I met Nirpendu Mahto, a rebel, in the village of Patthalgadda who said he had been growing poppy with fellow cadres for the past two years.

"We grow poppy as it brings us good returns and we need ready money to run our organisation. We do not force villagers to grow poppy, but we do motivate them and protect them from the police and greedy traders," he said. "The police dare not visit these areas. It is the safest zone for poppy cultivation."

'High returns'
One rebel I spoke to said the returns from poppy cultivation were handsome. Dipendra Dangi of Patthalgadda said a kilogram of poppy fetches anything between 20,000 ($476) and 25,000 ($595) in the market on an outlay of between 300 ($7) and 400 ($9) rupees on poppy seeds.

Such high returns have expectedly brought prosperity to the poppy growing areas, with concrete houses springing up in many villages, and many buying cars and motorcycles. One poppy growing area, Patthalgadda, alone had eight cars and 150 motorcycles, according to a resident, Duryodhan Mahato.

In January, the police raided some villages in the area to arrest poppy growers but could not make any headway in the face of fierce resistance by the residents. The police is unable to make much headway into the poppy growing areas "The situation is quite alarming," superintendent of police A Natarajan said. He said he had submitted a report to the government pointing out that the Maoists were not only growing poppy themselves, but also forcing other farmers to grow the plant.

The police in Hazaribagh have arrested about 20 people this year for growing poppies, but it is unclear whether they include any rebels. Now they have sought the assistance of the federal Narcotics Control Bureau to tackle the problem.

Maoists operate in 182 districts in India, mainly in the states of Jharkhand, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6697559.stm
 
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Misdirected Hyderabad Bomb Blast Investigations

By Adv. Irfan Engineer

First in Malegaon and now in Hyderabad, the blame for the recent bomb blasts is being laid on the doorstep of "Islamic terrorists" like Jaish-E-Mohammed. One ends up asking the question, what could be the aim of the "Islamic terrorists" in carrying out bomb blasts in mosques. Would terrorists supposedly inspired by Islam plant bombs in Mosques which is house of Allah? Do they deserve the label of "Islamic Terrorists" even if they bomb mosques, even if the persons involved in the reprehensible act are Muslims? For, media does not use the word "Hindu terrorists" for LTTE combatants and ULFA and naxalite cadres carrying out similar acts, just because their religion happens to be Hinduism.

It is being suggested by the authorities that are looking into the bombings that the real purpose of "Islamic Terrorists" is to provoke communal riots. If after planting bombs in mosques in Malegaon and Hyderabad, the "Islamic Terrorists" could not provoke communal riots, they must be either naïve or running out of options to tread the same path again and again to see yet another failure in achieving their objective of communal riots. The "Islamic Terrorists" risk demoralizing their cadres by their consistent failure in creating riots. If provoking communal riots is the objective of "Islamic Terrorists" then they could do better by studying Reports of Enquiry Commissions appointed by various governments like, Raghubar Dayal Commission (Ranchi-Hatia, 1967), Jagmohan Reddy Commission (Ahmdabad 1969), Madan Commission (Bhiwandi, Jalgaon and Madad, 1970), Krishna Rao Commission (Hyderabad, 1984), Ramanand Prasad Commission, (Bhagalpur, 1989) Srikrishna Commission (Mumbai 1992-93), and scores of other reports which have brought to the fore that those riots were not accidents but well planned and executed and it required days, if not months of continuous and sustained provocative and divisive speeches and publication of communal propaganda and collection of arms and ammunitions. Then a spark like throwing stone on a religious procession, hitting a cow, teasing a lady from other community or a secret marriage between a Muslim boy and a Hindu girl or some such triggering event can be used. Then rumour mongering like "the milk in the city is poisoned" or "drinking water has been poisoned" or "a huge mob of the "rival" community is approaching to attack" or that "women have been raped and murdered by the "rival" community". These rumours enhance the threat perception of an ordinary citizen and mobilizes him / her and even leads them to attack "rivals". With India having "experience" of scores of communal riots in which thousands have been killed, the "Islamic Terrorists" might be fools not to learn how to spark a communal riots or to try a different path which is proving futile.

Reality is that the politicians who blame the blasts in mosques on "Islamic Terrorists" sound less convincing. If use of RDX or improvised explosive devices are available to Jaish-e-Mohammed or organizations of their ilk, why should it not be available to anybody else having sufficient purchasing power? No weapon is monopoly of only one terrorist organization. The politicians even before visiting the site of the bomb blast have their statement of allegation on this or that organization ready. They may be advertently or inadvertently narrowing down options for the investigation agencies and may be allowing the real culprit to not only escape but also feel emboldened.

A fact finding team of reputed and credible organizations in Hyderabad visited the site of the blast two days after the blast and talked to scores of victims and their relatives in the hospitals. The team members included Bojja Tharakam (State President, Republican Party Of India), Lateef Mohd Khan G. Secreatery, Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee, Varvara Rao, Revolutionary Writer's Association, D. Suresh Kumar Secretary, APCLC, and others. According to the team, the medical officer of Asra Hospital who treated the injured found some nails, door hinges, and briefcase handle from the bodies of the injured. This establishes that the bomb used in the blast was a crude one that does not require much expertise. The injuries received during the blast and the foreign objects recovered from the bodies of the injured do not establish any connection with either RDX or TNT. The naming of the two Islamic organizations as responsible for the blast without much evidence reveals the mind of the investigating agency either to mislead the public by identifying the probable accused and the organizations without sufficient evidence shows the attempt of the police to close all other areas of suspicion. The fact finding team was of the opinion that the bomb blast at Mecca Masjid while the Friday prayers were going on were aimed at terrorizing Muslims. According to the Team, five, not eleven died in the bomb blast.

In the police firing that followed one hour after the blast on the people who had come to find out about their loved ones, nine people died. Firing to kill people who have come to find out about their loved one is shocking brutality by police. More people died in the police firing than in the bomb blasts!! If the objective of the blast was to terrorize Muslims, that seems to have been achieved better by police firing!! The Team concludes that the firing was unprovoked and on people who were helping the victims. There was no warning or use of rubber bullets. Why the Muslims needed to be terrorized? Was it to silence them over the co-operation extended by the Andhra Police to the Gujarat Police in apprehending Sohrabuddin who was later killed by Vanzara and his team claiming him to be Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist? Is calling Sohrabuddin a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist before killing him and laying the responsibility of the bomb blast on the same Jaish-e-Mohammed a mere coincidence? These questions will be answered in times to come. But for the truth to be unraveled, there needs to be a thorough and impartial CBI Inquiry which examines all possible theories and marshals thorough evidence to prove the guilt of the accused. For we must know the truth to be able to stop bomb blasts.

http://www.countercurrents.org/engineer310507.htm
 
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Mods, i request this guy be banned or whatever, for he continuously posts articles without any rhyme or reason. This should not be allowed, either he gives some personal views ,etc. This is plain wastage of bandwidth.
 
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