[sacw] sacw dispatch (23 sept 99)

Thu, 23 Sep 1999 01:36:58 +0200

<fontfamily><param>Times</param>South Asia Citizens Web Dispatch

23 September 1999

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#1. Jang Parivar plans rath yatra to protest Pope's visit to India

#2. Open Schooling Offers Hope To Those Excluded From Indian Education

#3. French [Arms merchants] offer latest Mirage 2000s to India

#4. Remembering Rajani Thiranagama: Assassinated 10 years ago in
Jaffna, Sri Lanka

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#1.

Indian Express 

Thursday, September 23, 1999

SANGH PARIVAR PLANS RATH YATRA TO PROTEST POPE'S VISIT TO INDIA 

by Shiv Kumar 

PANAJI, SEPT 22: With opinion and exit polls predicting a comfortable 

victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party, its parent the Rashtriya 

Swayamsevak Sangh and allied organisations like the Vishwa Hindu 

Parishad are baring their fangs against the Christian community.

On the agenda is a Catholic Atyachar Virodhi Rath Yatra and a sustained

campaign in tribal communities shortly after the new government takes 

over. The programme against the Christian community is to coincide with

the visit of Pope John Paul II to India in November. RSS and Vishwa 

Hindu Parishad representatives from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya
Pradesh 

and Rajasthan are meeting in Goa on Thursday to finalise preparations 

for the yatra which will be kicked off from here, Subash Velingkar, 

general secretary, RSS told The Indian Express.

The yatra will wind through these states before culminating in New
Delhi 

on November 4 when the Pope arrives to attend the Asian Catholic
Bishops 

Conference.

Velingkar, however, pointed out that the protest programme was the 

brainchild of the VHP alone and the RSS leaders were only invited to
the 

meeting. Madhukar Dixit, VHP's committee member for Maharashtra and Goa

who is chairing the meeting refused to divulge the agenda.

Velingkar said that the sangh parivar would insist on an apology from 

the Pope for the Inquisition conducted by the Catholic Church through 

the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, a touchy subject in Goa. As a 

colony of then Catholic Portugal, the Office of the Inquisition as the

institution was known, was well established in Goa. The organisation 

which operated from Old Goa in the vicinity of the Basilica of Bom
Jesus 

continues to agitate the saffron brigade in the state.

The Sangh Parivar is also a known opponent of the glorification of
Saint 

Francis Xavier, the earliest proponent of conversions, whose relics
rest 

even today at the Basilica.

According to Gomantak, a Marathi newspaper published by the family of 

VHP general secretary Ashok Chowgule, the rath yatra will include a 

mobile exhibition on the Inquisition with graphic details of the 

destruction of ancient Hindu temples in Goa by the Portuguese.

_________________________

#2.

</fontfamily>OPEN SCHOOLING OFFERS HOPE TO THOSE PUSHED OUT OF INDIAN
EDUCATION

In India, a country where an educational system far removed from local
life

makes millions into drop-outs, the National Open School offers a

second-chance education. 

By Frederick Noronha

Taman is 17 years old, mentally handicapped and partially blind. Yet
she

has been able to complete her secondary-level education and is now in
her

senior secondary. She already knows how to operate computers for

word-processing.

She got a chance to enter school and pass exams thanks to the National
Open

School (NOS), an institution in India which wants to make educational

opportunities flexible so that they reach those who are otherwise
deprived

of them.

NOS, an autonomous institution started by the Indian government nine
years

ago, aims at providing opportunities in distance education and open

learning. Open schooling is an alternative (or is complementary) to
formal

education. Besides the NOS, India also has the Indira Gandhi National
Open

University which offers education at the university level through a
similar

format.

NOS is currently searching for new partners to spread its programmes
of

continuing education, distance education and also technical education.
It

is also keen to get more centres to run its vocational programmes,
which

offer practical-education in a large number of subjects.

We have about 400,000 students on our rolls and 130,000 annual
enrolments.

But this is only a drop in the ocean. We are searching for partners
and

need to do much more if India is to achieve something, said NOS
chairman

Prof Mohan B Menon. To reach out to more youngsters in the country,
NOS

wants good, formal schools to come forward and start NOS students.
This

offers a good opportunity for schools to reach out and give a chance
to

youngsters who would otherwise be deprived of learning. Its a

second-chance education. But were trying our best not to make this a

second-rate education, added Prof Menon.

The NOS form of education has openness in many respects claims Prof.

Menon. Firstly, there is no maximum age limit for students the oldest
NOS

student was 89 years old! In one case, a father and his son both sat
for

the same exams together. Besides, the NOS offers flexibility in the
choice

of subjects a student can opt for. Students who dont like mathematics,
for

example, dont necessarily have to take it. Those who do not find
languages

to their liking, can choose something else.

There is openness in other senses too in terms of the duration of
study

(students can spread their studies over several years if they are busy

working or lack time). NOS students also do not have to appear for all

their papers at one sitting. They can do so in installments, as their
time

permits.

NOS exams are held twice each year, in May and November. Students are

allowed to appear in one, two or all subjects. Credits are accumulated
till

the certification criteria are fulfilled. Each candidate can avail of
as

many as nine chances to appear in public exams.

NOS also offers an interesting system of transferring credits. If a

student from a certain recognised local open school has passed in at
least

one subject, he or she can get the credits of a maximum of two
subjects

transferred, provided these subjects are offered in the NOS programme.
He

or she can then pass the other subjects through the NOS.

We recognise the role of the NOS in taking basic education to groups
that

would not have otherwise had access to it, said Dr Gajaraj Dhanarajan,

president of the Commonwealth of Learning, an organisation based in

Vancouver-Canada, which aims at promoting learning in the former
British

colonies which are part of the grouping today called the Commonwealth.

Dr Dhanarajan, a Malaysian of Indian origin, pointed out that 35
million

children in this country simply lack access to basic education.

Classrooms are an unknown concept to them. Theres very little chance
of

changing things (within the present system). We have to take the
classroom

to the child, he told this writer.

Prof Menon said here that even fifty years after Independence, India is
yet

to notch up creditable achievements in various fields of education 

literacy, universal enrolment, lowering the drop-out rate, improving

quality and making the system more relevant. Fifty per cent of
students

(in the Indian educational system) fail at the secondary level. They
often

dont continue with their studies. Only 6% of the youth in the 18-23
year

bracket go in for higher education in India, pointed out Prof Menon.

Eight states in India have already opened up their own open schools.
These

are Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil
Nadu,

West Bengal and Karnataka. NOS also has 390 study centres all over
India,

most of them based in mainstream educational institutions.

NOS recently launched a programme called SAIED, or Special Accredited

Institutions for Education of the Disadvantaged. It is meant to take

education to people with handicaps orthopedic, hearing or visual

impairment, multiple handicaps, learning disabilities and even mental

retardation. Such centres will also focus on taking education to
street

children, drug addicts, working children and rural women.

NOS is also focussing on groups that especially need educational
facilities

in India. These include girls and women, scheduled castes and tribes,
rural

people and the urban poor, the unemployed, part-employed and those
seeking

better jobs, and those in the older than the younger (15-35) age
bracket.

Catering to the needs of such diverse groups are equally varied
courses

such as the bridge course, (which helps drop-outs get back into

mainstream education); the secondary and senior secondary courses (for

regular students); the Basic Education Course (for beginners) and Life

Enrichment Course (for non-job-seekers who simply want to enjoy the

pleasure of learning).

Vocational courses are offered in a range of subjects. Six month
courses

teach youngsters about house-wiring, radio, tape-recorder and TV
repairing,

tailoring, dress making, plumbing and beauty culture. There are also

package courses of one-years duration for office employees, and

stand-alone courses in fields as diverse as solar energy technology,

bio-gas energy technology and plant protection. Third World Network
Features.

-ends-

About the author: Frederick Noronha is a Goa-based journalist who
writes

frequently on developmental issues.

When reproducing this feature, please credit Third World Network 

Features and give the byline. Please send us cuttings.

Reproduction rights are offered to subscribers of TWN 

Features. If you are not a subscriber and would like to reproduce 

this feature, you can get permission or subscription details from 

our India office via email twnfeatures@v...

______________________

#3.

<fontfamily><param>Times</param>Indian express

Thursday, September 23, 1999 

FRANCE OFFERS LATEST MIRAGE 2000S TO INDIA 

UNITED NEWS OF INDIA 

NEW DELHI, SEPT 22: France has offered to sell the latest Mirage 2000-5

fighter aircraft to India. The French firm Aerospatiale is also pushing

to sell the Advanced Jet Trainer (AJT) Alpha jets to the Indian Air 

Force.

These offers are understood to have been made to the Chief of Air
Staff, 

Air Chief Marshal Anil Yashwant Tipnis, who is currently on an official

visit to France, reports Asia Defence News International (ADNI).

Though the IAF is keen to acquire about two to three squadrons of
Mirage 

2000-5 but some sections of the IAF have reservations about the Alpha 

jet whose production was stopped in 1991 and is considered as a second

hand aircraft.

The Ministry of Defence had earlier shortlisted the British Hawk and
the 

Alpha jet. Meanwhile, the Russians offered the MiG-AT to fill the 

requirement of IAF and the Navy for an AJT. Already 10 MiG-AT aircraft

have entered squadron service with the Russian Air Force.

Since the assembly lines for Alpha jet have been scrapped, the French 

would like to sell about 140 such aircraft which are with French and 

German air forces. In this case the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)

which was planning to produce AJT would have no work. Earlier plans
were 

to initially buy a few AJTs outright and produce about 120 at half
under 

licence.

Air Chief Tipnis had wide-ranging discussions with his French 

counterpart and French defence ministry officials about expanding 

Indo-French cooperation in military aviation field. He is also visiting

some French air force establishments. The Air chief who left for Paris

on September 18, is expected to return on September 30.

Aviation experts feel that if India decides to go in for more Mirages 

and buy outright another 50 SU-30 fighters from Russia, the ambitious 

Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) project might be affected.

Besides with outright purchases of these aircraft, the HAL would have
no 

work in future, unless major infrastructural modifications are carried

out in the HAL to suit other requirement.

_____________________________________

#4.

Daily News

22nd September 1999

Ensuring the right to life and expanding the democratic environment: 

Remembering Rajani Thiranagama: Assassinated 10 years ago on the 21st
of 

September 1989, in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. 

Why Rajani? 

This question will arise in everybody's minds. So many others have died

too. 

When we remember Rajani, lecturer, the Head of Department of Anatomy, 

University of Jaffna, we are also remembering others who were killed in

similar ways and for similar reasons. Remembering too all those 

children, women and men who were innocent victims of the militarisation

and brutalisation of our societies. 

Rajani identified herself in the deepest sense with her people: a
people 

that she loved and served. The following excerpt from her writing 

illustrates this: 

A state of resignation envelopes the community. The long shadow of the

gun has not only been the source of power and glory, but also of fear 

and terror as well. The paralysing depression is not due to the
violence 

and authority imposed from outside, but rather to the destructive 

violence emanating from within the womb of our society. 

Rajani bravely stood up against the insane adherence to the gun. It 

speaks of how much she cared for the welfare of the people. She feared

that they may be submerged without resistance into "the slime of terror

and violence". She wanted to awaken the consciousness of her people to

understand and act. She fervently believed that people should organise

themselves, in order to shake off the fear that paralyses them and to 

create the much needed democratic space. 

In her deeds, speech and writings she continually strove to do this. 

This proved too much of a challenge to those who wanted only the
passive 

and placid inertia of the people. So what is special about Rajani is 

that she consciously braved all the dangers which follow from open and

outspoken resistance in a society where its custodian regard such 

dissent as subversive and treacherous. 

She paid the price for nurturing courage: 

I want to prove that ordinary women like me also have enormous courage

and power to fight alone and hold our inner selves together. 

Rajani's story is more relevant than ever, in the present context of
Sri 

Lanka. There is a need for children, women and men to come together to

reconstruct life. To reject assassination, murder and militaristic 

campaigns (killing and displacing thousands) as political tools to 

subjugate and terrorise. 

Yes, she always stood for the rights of the oppressed people, and 

wherever she was whether in the university as a student, or in London 

during her post graduate work or back in Sri Lanka, she emotionally 

involved and identified with the oppressed. 

She lived in a generation when many youths felt a need to protest 

against a corrupt political establishment and supported many forms of 

militant revolutionary activity. 

Being a sensitive member of her generation she too was caught up in
this 

wider movement but then saw from within even more insidious forms of 

corruption and cruelty. When she began to comprehend the dominant 

ideological milieu of the Tamil struggle, which was both narrow and 

totalitarian, she grasped the dangers ahead. She felt an added sense of

urgency in informing and protecting people against such dangers. It was

this that impelled her to return to Jaffna in the face of danger. It 

owed to her sense of responsibility and not mistaken idealism. 

Today on the one hand, people have grown comfortable with corruption, 

elitism and political violence. But among the people who are powerless,

there is much potential for political causes which mobilise their anger

and hatred in a self destructive manner, that would leave the people in

a far worse situation. This is what both the LTTE and JVP have done. So

there is a constant need for the kind of responsible activism by which

we should preserve whatever is edifying in the present so as to create
a 

new order entering around the people. This is what Rajani had stood
for. 

She realised from her experience that the struggle for right of 

self-determination cannot have any meaning when it negates and 

suppresses every aspect of humanity and demean the community. How can
we 

tap the higher instincts of the people with a greater vision which 

respects freedom of thought, the freedom to live without fear, freedom

to live in dignity, and the freedom to make one's voice heard? When 

people lose their self and become subservient to a leader or a movement

in an environment where right to protest is debarred then the whole 

notion of right of self determination becomes meaningless for them. 

Yes, she understood the reason why many young ones are blindly taking a

self-destructive path. 

However, she could not justify such cynical use of children of the poor

as many others do and at the same time take different options for their

own selves and their kith and kin. Such hypocrisy is the order of the 

day in all quarters in this country today. Those who are espousing war

and the continuation of the armed conflict feed the poor and 

marginalised into the machinery of war while talking eloquently about 

patriotism and nationhood. 

'There are also those among the Sinhalese and among Tamils who go on 

explaining and justifying every heinous act of the LTTE with the simple

notion of reactive violence. They indirectly condemn the Tamil people
as 

a whole as an innately a dehumanised community and that there is
nothing 

healthy left in it that could be appealed to. But Rajani has shown how

absurd this notion is in her activities in the University by 

rejuvenating the university after a total paralysis for some years. 

During the IPKF presence she with others were able to open the 

university and try to make it a vibrant institution again with the 

participation of all sectors of the university. They were actively 

involved in maintaining it as an independent institution as far as 

possible against all terror from within and without in the community. 

Creating a democratic space as she called it began to take root and 

students and staff were beginning to regain their self esteem. Of
course 

for the sections who had compromised and connived with the powers that

be felt threatened by her activities. But it did not stop her from 

documenting the suffering of the people, especially the women and 

getting involved in a variety of activities which were geared towards 

strengthening them. Does it not show that the Tamil people are capable

of looking for alternatives and that when they are given options they 

will choose a saner course rather than destroy themselves. But that 

right of the people was snuffed away again by killing Rajani. She was 

murdered by the same forces who had arrogated to themselves the right
to 

determine the future of the whole community. 

Hence the people again got trapped in a political environment which is

self destructive and totalitarian. Any one who wants to work for peace

needs to tap that potential which is simmering underneath in both 

communities and which strives towards more a humane and healthier form

of existence. That means valuing life and condemning the ideologies 

which make people narrow, insecure and paranoid. By legitimising forces

of destruction we cannot achieve peace. If we value Rajani's work which

grasped the role of people as self articulating, creative and looking 

for healthier alternatives, then it is time we do justice to her 

sacrifice by bringing back the role of ordinary people of all 

communities to the front stage by defending their right to speak freely

and fearlessly. 

(Mothers and Daughters of Lanka & Other Organisations)

_______________________________________________

South Asia Citizens Web Dispatch is an informal, 

independent & non-profit citizens wire service run by 

South Asia Citizens Web 

http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex

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