SACW | 8 Nov. 2003

[Harsh Kapoor]

SOUTH ASIA CITIZENS WIRE   |  8 November,  2003

Notice:
South Asia Citizens Web web site is now definitively located at:  www.sacw.net

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[1] India : Freedom of Press under attack in Tamil Nadu
Hindu editors sentenced to jail and are being harassed (reports)
[2] Book Review: Human Rights in Bangladesh 2002 by ASK (reviewed Dr. 
Sumaiya Khair)
[3] India: In defence of Malika Sarabhai a prominent danseuse and 
outspoken defender of secular space
[4] Promise of India campaign Interview with Raju Rajagopal
[5] India: Naxalites: Time for Introspection (Sumanta Banerjee)
[6] India: Andhra leader abducted, released
[7] India: Zubaan Diary 2004
[8] Senior Scholar Fellowships- Short-term Study (American Institute 
of Indian Studies)
[9] Levitating Secularism: Vedic city, TM education and secularism in the US

--------------

[1]

[Freedom of Press under attack in Tamil Nadu in India ]

material already posted on FOIL]
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[2]
BOOK REVIEW

Human Rights in Bangladesh 2002
By Ain o Shalish Kendra (ASK)
(Dhaka, 2003), Text pp.318, Price Tk.290

Reviewed by

Dr. Sumaiya Khair,
Associate Professor
  Dept. of Law, Dhaka University

Human Rights in Bangladesh 2002 published by ASK primarily examines 
the infringement of human rights and Constitutional guarantees from 
different perspectives. It attempts to underscore the forces that 
essentially impede citizens' rights and privileges under law. Spread 
across seventeen chapters the book expresses collective concern over 
the increasing divide between the state and the citizens resulting 
from derogation of civil and political rights with impunity. The tone 
of the book is set in the introductory section, which describes the 
modes whereby citizens are precluded from accessing equal 
opportunities due to lapses in governance, law enforcement and 
justice delivery. It is stressed that the dynamics of power operate 
to protect self-serving interests of those who have the requisite 
financial and political clout. Consequently, ordinary citizens are 
marginalised and unable to sustain in a system that is rife with 
endemic corruption and disparate treatment.

Chapter 1 presents salient events in areas of politics, 
administration, national economy, environment and external relations 
in an attempt to discern whether the Government has been able to 
achieve any improvements in relevant fields following the national 
elections of 2001. It underlines how politics and public 
administration are characterised by reprisal and violence and 
describes the consequent effects on ordinary citizens.  The chapter 
focuses on the role of the Government in tackling these challenges 
and examines at the same time, the impact of confrontational 
strategies adopted by the Opposition. It emphasises that the future 
of democracy is at stake due to continued antagonism and absence of 
dialogue between the Ruling Party and the Opposition.

Chapter 2 examines the nexus between good governance, corruption and 
human rights. Drawing upon Constitutional provisions in this context, 
the chapter illustrates the failures in governance and their impact 
on development and human rights. It stresses that in order to 
establish an accountable and transparent system there must be checks 
and balances between the different organs of the state, i.e., the 
Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary. Highlighting instances 
of corruption this section explores the insidious effects of 
dishonesty on development processes. It states unequivocally that 
when malpractices are tolerated and sustained the state is confronted 
with challenges  inter alia in areas of investment and productivity, 
resource mobilisation and policy decisions.

Chapter 3 deals with the somewhat complex issue of right to 
development and the status of human development in Bangladesh. It 
stresses on the need for a rights based approach to development for 
effectively addressing human deprivation and initiating attitudinal 
change towards the disadvantaged segment of the population. It 
recognises that while fiscal measures are crucial for human 
development, they are insufficient, on their own, for dealing with 
other important aspects of people's lives like personal security, 
natural environment, community resources, social relations and so on. 
In this context, the chapter isolates five distinct freedoms, i.e., 
political freedoms, economic facilities, social opportunities, 
guarantees of transparency and protective security as essentials for 
empowering the poor and the disadvantaged. The chapter is hard 
hitting and comprehensive and effectively brings to light different 
dimensions of human deprivation and its current status in Bangladesh.

An overview of the quality of education in Bangladesh is presented in 
Chapter 4. It is observed that although gender parity has been 
achieved and the number of schools and the rate of enrolment have 
risen, there is, nevertheless, no room for complacency as the 
education system still has a long way to go in terms of quality, 
management and cost effectiveness. The urban-rural divide persists, 
as access to educational opportunities and net enrolment and 
achievement rates remain higher in urban areas as opposed to the 
rural. The chapter argues that the culture of private coaching, 
inefficient and dishonest management structure and a centralised 
system of governance hinder the poor, the disabled and other 
marginalised groups from enforcing their rights to basic education. 

Chapter 5 focusses on environmental activism and describes the 
proactive role of citizens in convincing the higher judiciary of the 
need to intervene on environmental issues. Apart from exploring 
current strategies and commitments adopted in both international and 
national contexts for reversing degradation of the global 
environment, the chapter examines legislative amendments and 
executive action in the area. It also highlights judicial decisions 
that direct both state and non-state actors to take necessary 
measures for promoting a safe and sustainable environment. 

The role of the Judiciary is scrutinised again in Chapter 6. Drawing 
upon landmark decisions of the High Court and Appellate Divisions of 
the Supreme Court, this chapter highlights class actions in defense 
of human rights. While some of the decisions paved the way for good 
governance, a few others seemingly curtailed the rights of citizens. 
Cases that form the crux of the chapter are premised inter alia on 
right to information, illegal detention, reservations about uniform 
personal laws and freedom of religion. This section observes that 
corruption, mismanagement and executive leverage over the courts 
imperil the credibility and independence of the Judiciary in more 
ways than one.

The issue of right to information is explored in detail in Chapter 7. 
This section deals at length with various statutory provisions and 
legal obstacles that are customarily utilised for restricting the 
free flow of information. It is alleged that these provisions are 
misinterpreted by Government agencies in a bid to legitimise their 
actions in denying the public access to information. The chapter 
exhorts on the need for wider dissemination of information in order 
to engender accountability in governance and ensure people's 
participation in policy decisions. This section is supplemented by 
Chapter 8, which underscores the challenges encountered by 
journalists in their professional lives. It gives accounts of 
journalists being harassed, threatened and even detained and dragged 
to court on criminal charges of sedition and other anti-state 
activities without lawful justification. Poor governance, 
criminalisation of politics and the application of repressive laws 
severely constrain the freedom of press media and obstruct the 
journalists in the discharge of their professional responsibilities.

Chapter 9 documents instances of torture, ill treatment, arbitrary 
arrest and detention. It depicts patterns of custodial aggression, 
political hostility, campus violence and acts of terrorism that 
persistently threaten the law and order situation of the country. It 
also examines the impact of new legislations that have apparently 
been enacted for curbing violence, but which, in effect, limit the 
rights of individuals. The newly enacted Law and Order Disruption 
Crimes (Speedy Trial) Act, 2002 and the Speedy Trial Tribunal 
Ordinance, 2002 are reminiscent of the severely critiqued, now 
repealed, Public Safety (Special Provision) Act, 2000. It is claimed 
that selective application of these laws succeeds in harassing 
innocent civilians instead of bringing real criminals to justice. The 
deployment of the Army during Operation Clean Heart has had similar 
effects when people were taken into custody indiscriminately and 
tortured. Many died in custody allegedly from heart attacks. 
Following from the previous section Chapter 10 looks at how the right 
to freedom of assembly and movement of citizens is curtailed by law 
enforcement authorities in flagrant violation of Constitutional 
guarantees and other legal measures.

Chapter 11 describes prison conditions and the debilitating effects 
on the inmates. Overcrowding in prisons is a perennial problem that 
is compounded by absence of adequate staff, necessary facilities and 
satisfactory budgetary allocations. Diseases are rampant, as ailing 
Inmates are not provided with necessary and timely medical care. The 
treatment of inmates by prison staff is determined by the largesse 
offered in return for basic amenities. In the circumstances, it is 
the more affluent inmates who manage to buy services to the detriment 
of the poor. This chapter peruses prison reforms initiatives proposed 
by the Cabinet Committee on Jail Reforms that include inter alia 
action against corruption, legal assistance to prisoners, law 
reforms, and correction and rehabilitation measures.

Recalling international commitments to women's rights Chapter 12 
analyses the status of women and the challenges women face constantly 
under national laws.  Centering on selected areas of concerns, for 
example, maternal rights, land rights, citizenship rights, this 
chapter examines women's engagement with law in their everyday lives. 
It underlines the implications of gendered violence on women's 
physical safety and security. In this regard, women's insecurities 
are analysed in the context of state violence, domestic violence, 
human trafficking, and women in sex work. The chapter explicitly 
states that efforts to mainstream women in areas of economy, health, 
education and policy making are frustrated by bureaucratic lethargy, 
lack of political commitment and counterproductive pressure from the 
Legislature. The chapter calls for sustained attempts to deal with 
gender based inequality and discrimination.
Chapter 13 looks at the situation of minority communities in 
Bangladesh. It argues that differentiation on the basis of religion 
and ethnicity erodes the concept of nationhood and creates discord 
amongst populations. As it is, minority communities are marginalised 
in terms of rights, privileges, entitlements and equal opportunities. 
The situation is made more complex when they are subjected to 
torture, abduction, extortion, and attacks on life and property 
simply because they belong to a different social group. Although the 
Government is committed to protecting the rights of minorities the 
tendency to play down rising incidents of violence and intolerance 
against them is indicative of double standards adopted by the state.

A review of children's rights with particular emphasis on child 
labour and commercial sexual exploitation of children and associated 
realities form the core of Chapter 14. Drawing upon ILO Convention 
182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour and the Second World Congress 
against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children the chapter 
demonstrates the linkages between child labour, trafficking and 
sexual abuse and exploitation of children. This section delineates 
state obligations and revisits relevant policies and laws. It also 
explores the compulsions that sustain the phenomena and assesses the 
extent of violence children are subjected to. The chapter recommends 
coordinated efforts at the national and regional levels for 
addressing the needs of vulnerable children and taking necessary 
measures for their protection.

Chapter 15 evaluates the consequences of distracted urban development 
on the poor and the destitute. While increasing landlessness, 
unemployment and natural calamities compel the poor to move to cities 
in search of a livelihood, there is no perceivable initiative either 
on the part of the Government or the private sector to provide them 
with housing and shelter. Consequently, the poor resort to living in 
sordid urban slums, where they live in constant anxiety of being 
evicted either by the landowner or the Government. It is common for 
slum dwellers to be subjected to arrest, intimidation and physical 
torture during eviction drives. This chapter peruses legal and policy 
framework in both international and domestic contexts on people's 
right to shelter and highlights public interest writs that have been 
instituted in this regard on various occasions. It examines 
resettlement schemes undertaken so far and suggests an outline for 
providing the poor with sustainable housing.

Workers' rights are discussed in Chapter 16, which essentially 
examines the status of workers' in the garment factories and the 
conditions in which they work. This chapter provides an overview of 
the laws, Conventions and Codes of Conduct for the protection of 
workers' rights. It maintains that although many of the rights 
envisaged in international and domestic legal standards have been 
incorporated in Codes of Conduct of Transnational Companies (TNCs), 
their enforcement is minimal. Consequently, workers are deprived of 
their basic rights and this deprivation is often accompanied by a 
distinct gender bias. This chapter defines the role of various 
actors, i.e., the Government, TNCs, ILO, BGMEA and NGOs in ensuring 
workers' rights and minimum labour standards.

Chapter 17 investigates the impact of unplanned shrimp cultivation on 
agricultural lands, peoples' livelihoods and natural environment. In 
the absence of adequate legal measures, shrimp culture is carried out 
on an ad hoc basis under Government orders. Despite the fact that 
this sector provides people, specially women and children, with 
employment opportunities, it has far reaching implications on their 
health, shelter and food security. Peasants are deprived from 
subsistence agriculture and fishing as salt water from shrimp 
enclosures destroys agricultural lands. Working conditions are far 
from ideal as wages are low and the hard work adversely affects 
workers' health and well-being. The sector is also plagued by 
incidents of violence, land grabbing, kidnapping and assault and 
hazardous practices that pose threats to the environment. 

Drawing upon the expertise of authors who are well known in their 
respective disciplines, Human Rights in Bangladesh 2002 not only 
presents vivid accounts of human rights abuses but also describes 
citizens' initiatives in preventing human rights violations and 
advocating for change. It identifies institutional weaknesses and 
executive excesses that in effect circumscribe the rule of law and 
democratic practices. However, while the book provides useful 
information on various forms of human rights violation, many of the 
articles lack critical legal analysis of the issues at hand. Only a 
few of the articles offer adequate description of the substance of 
human rights from a purely legal perspective. As such, the standard 
of the articles lack coherence. However, the diversity of information 
in the book offers policy makers with a concrete reference point for 
initiating reforms in relevant areas of law, governance and justice.


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[3]

[ In Defence of Malika Sarabhai: Documents, news reports and letters

* In the past issues of SACW a series of news items, letters and 
online petitions have been circulated on in defence of Malika 
Sarabhai. Two documents, fact sheet and FAQs, put together by 
Shrikumar Poddar (one of the prime movers in gathering support for 
Dr.Sarabhai world wide) after verification by Malika Sarabhai's 
colleagues and lawyers provide full background on this move to target 
Malika Sarabhai, are downloadable from the SACW web site | The ULS 
are:
http://www,sacw.net/Alerts/MalikaSarabhai/FAQ2%2004.10.2003.doc
http://www.sacw.net/Alerts/MalikaSarabhai/Fact%20Sheet%20Mallika%20Sarabhai.doc

These word formatted documents can be made available via e-mail to 
anyone interested. Should you require a copy drop a note to 
<aiindex at mnet.fr> ]


o o o

The Times of India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?msid=272006
NRI panels allege Gujarat govt 'harassing' Sarabhai
PTI[ FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 07, 2003 03:28:42 PM ]
NEW YORK: Two US-based NRI organisations have condemned the attempts 
by, what they alleged were, "elements" within the Gujarat government 
to "harass and humiliate" the eminent scholar and a human rights 
activist Mallika Sarabhai for "political reasons."

Federation of Indian American Christian Organisations of North 
America and Non-Resident Indians for Secular and Harmonious India 
claimed that Sarabhai is a world renowned classical dancer who ran 
one of the prestigious classical dance schools, the Darpana Academy, 
in Gujarat India.

"Some people working with religious extremist political parties in 
Gujarat are trying to bring false charges to tarnish Dr Sarabhai's 
name because she has been vocal in the past, in denouncing religious 
extremist parties and their tactics," they alleged.

Sarabhai, they claimed, has been an outspoken critic of the Gujarat 
state government for its "active support of genocide against 
Non-Hindus."

Jayachand Pallekonda, President of FIACONA, claimed, "the government 
of Gujarat is revealing its pettiness in provoking the police and the 
public prosecutor to harass this distinguished artiste and prominent 
human rights activist. These actions only add to the negative 
national and international perception of the present government of 
Gujarat."

"The charges brought against Dr Sarabhai of being involved in an 
illegal immigration racket are absurd," Shrikumar Poddar of NRI-SAHI 
claimed.

o o o

Malika Innocent say her forrmer students
--The Hindustan Times, November 7, 2003
[ A digital image of this news report is downloadable at:
http://www.sacw.net/Alerts/MalikaSarabhai/Mlk.gif     ]


o o o

November 5, 2003

By Fax to 011-91-11-2419-0017
By Email to <mailto:newdelhi at pd.state.gov>newdelhi at pd.state.gov

The Honorable Robert D. Blackwill
American Ambassador to India
United States Embassy
Shanti Path, Chanakyapuri
New Delhi  110021
India

Dear Mr. Ambassador:

We are writing in support of Mallika Sarabhai, a uniquely 
distinguished dancer, choreographer, actor, and teacher in Ahmedabad, 
India.  Ms. Sarabhai is a well known artist and educator whose 
contributions to Indian art, culture, and society are legendary, both 
within the country and around the world.  In addition, she is a 
passionate and dedicated advocate for social justice and human rights.

At her home base in Ahmedabad, Mallika Sarabhai is co-director of the 
Darpana Academy for Performing Arts, a prominent institution founded 
in 1949 by her mother, the esteemed Mrinalini Sarabhai.  Darpana has 
trained approximately 25,000 students in dance, drama, music, and 
puppetry arts, and performance ensembles from Darpana have presented 
thousands of programs in 94 countries.  Darpana is indeed one of the 
foremost research, training, and performance institutions in Asia, 
with a remarkable history that also includes work with the 
underprivileged, free training for needy students, and numerous arts 
programs in schools.  The educational and performance activities of 
Darpana have always been conducted with the utmost professionalism 
under the leadership of Mrinalini Sarabhai, Mallika Sarabhai, and 
their staff.

We were shocked and deeply distressed to learn that Mallika Sarabhai 
has been accused of improprieties in the administration of touring 
programs from Darpana to the United States.  We are familiar with the 
details of these touring programs through our long collaboration with 
both Darpana and with the American organizer of the tours.  Mallika 
Sarabhai is a person of impeccable integrity and dignity.  In 
addition to being false, there are credible indications that these 
baseless charges have been leveled against Ms. Sarabhai for political 
purposes, to persecute and silence her in response to her courageous 
leadership on human rights issues in Gujarat.

The ACC is a foundation established by John D. Rockefeller 3rd that 
supports cultural exchange in the arts between the United States and 
the countries of Asia.  Mallika Sarabhai is one of our most 
distinguished fellows, who has inspired countless audiences 
worldwide-from heads of state to ordinary people-with her 
extraordinary talent, her brilliant intellect, and her devoted 
concern for the well-being of men, women, and children everywhere. 
It is our understanding that she has appropriately answered all 
inquiries put before her and has cooperated fully with the 
authorities in Gujarat.  Any assistance which you can offer to clear 
her name, including a public statement of support, will be most 
appreciated.

This brings gratitude in advance for your kind and urgent attention.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth J. McCormack
Chairman


Richard S. Lanier
President

Ralph Samuelson
Director


o o o


This below letter has been addressed to :
New York Times
India Times
Indian Ambassador in
Washington DC

Dear Editor,

Dr. Mallika Sarabhai, dancer/ actress/ teacher/ scholar/ humanitarian 
is one of India's greatest cultural and intellectual living 
treasures.  She is also one of the foremost ambassadors of Indian 
culture worldwide.  Her historic performing arts school, Darpana, is 
a world famous facility for the promotion of both traditional and 
innovative dance, and she and her mother Mrinalini have trained 
generations of performers.  Mallika's and Darpana's performances and 
lectures have promoted India and translated directly into both 
tourism and greater visibility and understanding of Indians living 
abroad. Yet Mallika Sarabhai, this treasure of India, is currently 
the victim of an outrageous persecution that threatens her with jail.

Those of us who have worked with Mallika know her to be of impeccable 
reputation as an educator, performer, and human being.  We also 
believe that she is not being given due protection under the law. We 
are infinitely distressed that the world's largest democracy could 
permit such harassment, especially against a great artist who has 
done so much for her country at home and abroad.  We urge readers who 
values India's culture, art, and freedom to speak out for Mallika 
Sarabhai.


Sincerely,

Dr. Vishakha Desai
Senior Vice President
and Gallery Director
The Asia Society, New York

Dr. Shridhar Andhare
Former Director
Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Museum
Ahmedabad

Dr. Catherine B. Asher
Professor, Department of Art History
University of Minnesota.

Dr. Aditya Behl
Associate Professor and
Undergraduate Chair
Department of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania

Dr. Alvin O. Bellak
Philadelphia

Dr. Darielle Mason
The Stella Kramrisch Curator
of Indian and Himalayan Art
Philadelphia Museum of Art

John and Berthe Ford
Baltimore, MD

Dr. Santosh Gupta
President GRAM, Inc.

Dr. Katherine Hacker
Department of Art History,
Visual Art and Theory
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, Canada

Laura Henrich
Producer, Evening Programs
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Jonathan Hollander
Artistic Director & Fulbright Lecturer
Battery Dance Company, New York

Dr. Glen Johnson
Acting President and
Professor Emeritus of Political Science
Vassar College

Lavanya Joshi
New York

Judi Kilachand
New York

Dr. Janice Leoshko
Associate Professor
Department of Art and Art History
The University of Texas at Austin

Dr. Christian Luczanits
Research Associate
Institute for Tibetan and Buddhist Studies
University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

Dr. Lillian Mason
Founding Director 
International House of Rhode Island

Dr. Michael W. Meister
W. Norman Brown Professor and
Chair, Department of South Asian Studies
University of Pennsylvania

Katherine Anne Paul
Assistant Curator of Indian and Himalayan Art
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Sukanya Rahman
Writer/ Artist//Dancer
New York

Safia K. Rizvi
Executive Director
ELIT---empowerment through
Learning Information technology
Philadelphia

Shahzia Sikander
Visual Artist
New York

Aroon Shivdasani
New York

Dr. Ajay J. Sinha
Associate Professor, Art Department and Chair, Film Studies Program
Mount Holyoke College

Preeti Vasudevan
New York


_____


[4]

The Times of India, NOVEMBER 07, 2003
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com:80/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?msid=270589

INTERVIEW
Long Distance Call

Recently, some 80 NRI organisations came together to form an umbrella 
body called 'Promise of India' (POI), with a view to voicing their 
collective concerns on communal harmony and development issues. Raju 
Rajagopal , an erstwhile San Francisco Bay Area business 
entrepreneur, chairs the steering committee of POI and devotes all 
his time on voluntary initiatives. In the past, he has worked 
extensively in Gujarat, both after the earthquake and the communal 
carnage. He spoke to Aruna Srinivasan about the need to consolidate 
the various NRI voluntary efforts working for the welfare of India:

The role of NRIs has increasingly come under a shadow in India, 
thanks to the involvement of many of them in overt political causes. 
Where do you place your initiative?

I don't want to give our initiative any political name. POI does not 
take any political positions nor has it any political leanings. Our 
prime concern is to uphold the true Indian spirit. We are only 
concerned about reiterating India's true potential and ethos, and 
emphasise its harmony in plurality. We have great faith in the 
Constitution, which was designed to protect every citizen's rights. 
We want to capture the spi-rit of that positive India. We want to 
make a concerted effort to prevent any further bloodshed in the name 
of religion or caste and support development issues.

Why the name, 'Promise of India'?

It was a group decision by the steering committee of 12 members. The 
word 'promise' has two meanings. One, the promise made to every 
citizen of India in our Constitution by our founding fathers. We want 
to reaffirm the nation's faith in the Constitution and the rule of 
law. And, second, the promise that the nation holds. We feel that 
India has begun to discover its true potential in recent years. But 
in terms of economic and social development, there is much work 
ahead. We believe that India can set a good example in tackling 
poverty. We are making great strides in bringing rural areas and 
marginalised communities into the mainstream. More significantly, we 
can demonstrate to the world that multiple faiths can co-exist amidst 
diverse cultures and ethnicities.

What explains the appeal of rightwing nationalism for a lot of NRIs?

I really don't know. But I guess, since many NRIs are politically 
active in the US, they perhaps think that they have to take a 
political position and support a political ideology in India. And 
with increasing terrorism around the world, including 9/11, and its 
alleged association with Islam, many perhaps feel that a right wing 
party may be able to tackle terrorism better. Whatever the reasons, 
their political leanings are not necessarily based on religious 
ideology.

How do you plan to achieve your goals?

Since we may not be very familiar with lot of things happening in 
India, we try to collaborate with the NGOs already working here. We 
identify areas where we can provide resources or expertise. Also, 
given the current environment, we can be more proactive in insisting 
that NGOs sensitise their own staff as well as their target community 
to the issue of communal harmony. As Persons of Indian Origin (PIO), 
we want to express our concerns and contribute our resources not only 
in business but also in social causes. We want to bring back peace 
and social harmony.

There are so many NRI groups working for one cause or another. How 
different will POI be?

Many NRI organisations are already working in the field. But they 
remain confined in their own little areas. We wanted to bring them 
together in one umbrella body for a more consolidated effort. 
Individually, each organisation will continue to do its own work. The 
POI coalition will give expression to our collective beliefs. Right 
now our focus is on mobilising support. We already have the support 
of 43 prominent members like M S Swaminathan, N Ram, Shabana Azmi and 
Desh Deshpande. When we have the support of major religious leaders 
from various faiths, we would consider that a major achievement. That 
will be a great moral support to our secular initiatives. What 
distur-bed me during the Gujarat violence was that many prominent 
spiritual leaders remained silent. And so did many other Indians who 
believe in peace. We want this silent majority to speak out. When 
there is violence, we are told to be silent, because speaking about 
violence may make matters worse. When there is relative peace, we are 
told that speaking up for harmony could spark violence. Those who 
support POI believe that silence is not an option anymore.

What explains the cultural conservatism of NRIs? Is it a kind of insecurity?

No, I don't think so. It is a natural phenomenon associated with an 
immigrant community. I have heard people explain this as insecurity. 
But, compared to some of the earlier immigrant communities which 
arrived in the US, and were anxious to blend quickly into the 
American 'melting pot', the Indian diaspora is one community that has 
never faced any identity crisis or insecurity in the US. However, 
when the second generation of Indian immigrants sees other immigrants 
having their own cultural groups in the universities, they also want 
a sense of belonging. They are eager to trace their roots and know 
more about their culture. But some vested interest groups take 
advantage of this and try to enrol them into their ideologies.


_____



[5]

Economic and Political Weekly
November 1, 2003
Commentary

Naxalites: Time for Introspection

During the last decade which saw the emergence and rise of the Sangh 
parivar, the various Naxalite outfits - ranging from the armed to the 
parliamentary groups - were found to be totally inert. None of these 
outfits came out on the streets to actively resist Advani's 
rath-yatra or deployed their armed squads to oppose the marauding 
gangs of the RSS-Bajrang Dal.

Sumanta Banerjee

With the state government panicstricken by the attempt on the life of 
Chandrababu Naidu and the PWG peeved by the failure of its attempt, 
both sides are hardening their vengeful attitudes and Andhra Pradesh 
is likely to go through another cycle of vicious killings. The 
victims will be fall guys. The police will target poor villagers and 
human rights activists as 'suspected Naxalites' (as they have done by 
raiding the house of the veteran civil liberties movement leader K G 
Kannabiran) and arrest or kill them in false encounters. The PWG, in 
its turn, will take it out on some village 'pradhan' or subordinate 
government employee, branding them as 'informers', and let off steam 
by setting fire to a few railway stations or bus depots.

Since it is mostly the common people and the poor who continue to 
suffer from such acts, both the contending parties - the state and 
the PWG - should engage in some introspection, if not for any other 
reason, from pure enlightened self-interest. Although both have 
different agendas, it is about time that both realise that after all 
these years their methods to implement their respective agendas have 
led to a cul-de-sac, a no-win situation, where both are increasingly 
alienating and antagonising the public by their intransigent 
positions which invariably lead to a spiral of violence and 
counter-violence. According to the Hyderabad-based Committee of 
Concerned Citizens (which had been trying for the last six years to 
bring the two to the negotiating table in search of a democratic 
solution to the conflict), between the years 2000 and 2001, "as many 
as 350 lives were lost in the encounters by police and more than 310 
persons died as a result of violence by Naxalite parties. Most of the 
victims were from the weaker sections, women, youth and even 
children".

Even though condemning this indiscriminate violence perpetrated on 
the common people by both, we cannot equate the two contending 
forces, since they are not operating on a level playing field. One is 
a dominating force and the other is a repressed force. To start with, 
it is generally accepted today by most observers that it is the 
violent suppression of peasant protest by the feudal classes and the 
minions of the Indian state in rural areas of Andhra Pradesh and 
Bihar and the exploited tribal belt of Chhattisgarh-Jharkhand that 
has led to the violent resistance put up by the peasants and tribal 
population in these areas under Naxalite leaders who have taken up 
their cause. Naxalite violence therefore can be perceived as a 
response to state violence - the violence carried out by 
government-appointed forest guards against tribal people to prevent 
them from gaining access to their traditional domain of forest 
produce; the violence of the police when they raid villages in Andhra 
Pradesh in the name of nabbing Naxalites and rape women; the violence 
of the state-backed private armies of upper caste landlords against 
dalit labourers in rural Bihar. But it is an unequal contest between 
the two forces, since militarily the state enjoys superiority over 
Naxalite guerrilla groups like the PWG. The number of victims of PWG 
operations (mostly soft targets like police constables, village 
sarpanchs or passengers in a train which was set on fire some years 
ago) pale into insignificance when compared with the massive 
casualties inflicted by the Andhra Pradesh police on the PWG and its 
followers during the last few decades (in the course of which they 
succeeded in targeting important leaders of the PWG whom they have 
either eliminated or put behind bars).

But despite these setbacks, the PWG has managed to survive and make 
its presence felt by its acts of retaliation. The fact that it 
continues to find new recruits from the poor peasants to fill up the 
gaps caused by the surrender of old recruits indicates that it is the 
writ of the PWG rather than the state administration that still runs 
in the interior villages of Telengana. After all the promotional 
ballyhoo of Chandrababu Naidu's development projects in the rural 
areas, they had come a cropper as evident from the utter failure of 
the administration to redress the grievances of drought-hit peasants 
and prevent suicides among those tottering under the burden of loans. 
The middle class of Hyderabad may boast of the proliferation of 
cyber-cafes and call-centres and claim them as progressive reforms 
brought about by their dynamic chief minister. But as long as the 
vast masses of the rural hinterland continue to be deprived of 
reforms that could improve their economic and social status, Andhra 
Pradesh would remain a tinderbox.

Predictably enough, the politically callow Chandrababu Naidu is 
following a course that would invite further disaster. He is reported 
to have sought help from some Israeli security agency to train his 
policemen. Can anything be funnier? The Israeli army cannot protect 
its own people from attacks by Palestinian suicide-bombers who take a 
heavy toll almost every day. And here is this chief minister of an 
Indian state seeking help from Israel to protect himself. His friends 
in the TDP and the bureaucracy are now advising him to call for early 
elections, so that he can win on the wave of the reputation he might 
have gained as a half-martyr - thanks to the abortive Naxalite 
attempt.

The PWG leaders should also ask themselves what they have gained from 
this? By their impetuous acts, they have acquired the reputation of 
choosing the wrong targets - and missing the real ones. In the 
present situation in India, who should be their main targets? 
Regional satraps like Chandrababu Naidu, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya of 
West Bengal and Baburam Marandi, ex-chief minister of Jharkhand (all 
the three have been named by the PWG as targets in the hit-list it 
has announced through its web site on October 4)? Or the more 
dangerous and high-profile national leaders of the Sangh parivar who 
are allowed by an indulgent central government to run free in their 
predatory expeditions that rip apart the Indian poor along communal 
lines? When will the leaders of the PWG, MCC and other similar groups 
realise that it is these elements who pose the real threat to them, 
since they are steadily hollowing out the potential mass base of 
these very Naxalite groups? They have already sneaked their way into 
the tribal base of the Naxalites in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and 
Jharkhand. An on-the-spot report based on interviews with Ram-bhakts 
who assembled in Ayodhya under the VHP's latest campaign for the Ram 
temple construction there, revealed that "for the first time, 
hundreds of tribals from Mizoram, Manipur, Assam, Jharkhand, Bihar, 
Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra stormed the temple 
town...[announcing] 'Ram is our ideal and temple a cause'" (The Times 
of India, October 19, 2003).

Are the PWG and MCC leaders listening? Or will they, in their 
traditional arrogant manner, dismiss the report as 'bourgeois 
propaganda'? Do they peep out from their cloistered underground 
shelters to watch what is happening in other parts of India? In 
Maharashtra the PWG claims to wield power in the tribal-dominated 
Gadchiroli and Gondia areas bordering Chhattisgarh. But has it been 
able to muster sufficient strength to prevent the Shiv Sena from 
intimidating and terrorising another vast section of the Indian poor 
in the capital of Maharashtra - the Muslim labourers of Mumbai? Have 
they built up cadres in Gujarat who are strong enough to resist the 
Hindu communal groups and protect the minorities? Can they mobilise 
their followers to resist the BJP-RSS-VHP rallies on the Ram 
Janambhoomi issue that create communal riots which eventually hit 
most the poorer classes - whose cause the Naxalite leaders claim to 
uphold? Curiously enough, during the last decade which saw the 
emergence and rise of the Sangh parivar in its most demoniacal form 
under which some of the worst cases of genocide of Muslims were 
carried out, the various Naxalite outfits - ranging from the armed to 
the parliamentary groups - were found to be totally inert. Beyond 
issuing fiery statements (and these also few and far between) 
condemning the Sangh parivar, none of these outfits came out on the 
streets to actively resist Advani's rath-yatra, or deploy their armed 
squads to oppose the marauding gangs of the RSS-Bajrang Dal. I have 
not yet found any report of such acts of protest in any of their 
various publications and reports. Are they scared? Or is it because 
communal riots are considered lowest in the list of their priorities 
of intervention? Or - let me hazard a dangerous guess - is it because 
all these various Naxalite groups are still dominated by Hindu upper 
and middle castes and the Hinduised tribal poor (for whom the plight 
of the minority Muslims remains an invisible issue)?

If the leaders of the Naxalite groups ponder over these questions, 
they will realise soon that they have been reduced to an 
insignificant force in the current Indian political scenario and lack 
any decisive power to change the balance of forces in favour of any 
revolutionary transformation of our society. They are paying the 
price for having been obsessed all these years with underground 
activities and neglecting the task of politicising the wider public 
sphere of civil society which had been usurped by the Hindu communal 
forces by whipping up a religious frenzy. The class solidarity of the 
Indian poor, which the Left is fond of valorising, had always a 
fragile base - all too ready to split whenever political leaders with 
the help of religious charlatans appealed to their atavistic divisive 
(as opposed to their synergic) instincts - as evident from the 
behaviour of the Indian masses in 1946-47 as well as today, in 
Gujarat for instance.

In the absence of a sustained programme to educate our people in the 
values and norms of a democratic social order to help them to get rid 
of their religious superstitions and prejudices (a reformation of 
sorts that India missed), the Indian Left had always been at a 
disadvantage in mobilising the poor against religious disorders like 
the outbreak of communal riots. While successful in rallying the 
peasantry and the working class on their common economic demands, the 
Left had generally failed in uniting them in overcoming their 
religious differences, which had always been assiduously cultivated 
by opportunist politicians to breach their class solidarity.

Following that Leftist tradition, the Naxalite groups also neglected 
this major task of fighting religious divisions, preoccupied as they 
were in combating class differences. During the last decade of the 
rise of Hindu communal forces, when these Naxalite groups failed to 
actively resist the Hindu communal death squads, many among the 
Muslim victims increasingly gravitated towards Islamic religious 
terrorist groups. They found that these groups were providing them 
with the only avenue for protesting - and retaliating. Yet should not 
the Naxalite groups have been their natural allies? Instead of being 
allowed to drift into religious terrorism, these Muslim protesters 
could have been drawn into a secular militant movement led by the 
PWG, MCC and other Naxalite groups against the Sangh parivar, as well 
as their Islamic counterparts, in various parts of India.

This failure to expand their mass base through such actions has 
condemned the various Naxalite groups to remain confined for the last 
four decades to isolated pockets in Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, 
Chhattisgarh and Bihar. The BJP, on the other hand, which used to be 
a party with a 'bania' base confined only to the cow-belt, has been 
able during the same period to spread its tentacles to the south, in 
traditionally non-communal states like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, 
Karnataka and Kerala, to the interior villages of a Left-Front ruled 
West Bengal (from where the VHP recruits 'Ram-bhakts' for its Ayodhya 
campaign) and even to the tribal areas of the north-east. The 
expansion of the Sangh parivar in these areas should not be measured 
only by its newly acquired vote bank (which ranges from urban middle 
class professionals and intellectuals to rural dalit and tribal 
people), but by its more organised network of schools, health 
centres, clubs and similar social institutions which provide avenues 
for it to combine charitable work with the spreading of its vicious 
ideological propaganda. Compared to this strategy of the Sangh 
parivar's, the programme followed hitherto by the Naxalites had 
remained ineffective in influencing wider sections of the Indian 
people. Instead of indulging in peevish acts of revenge on a few 
ministers and politicians, it is about time that the leaders of the 
various Naxalite factions put their heads together to work out a 
far-reaching plan of action that would mobilise their followers and 
rally the people to wage war against the fanatical Hindu 
fundamentalist forces. It is these elements who are their 'class 
enemies' and who today pose the main threat, not only to their 
politics, but also to the liberal and democratic values nursed by 
sections of the Indian bourgeoisie, among whom they can find allies 
who can be brought together in a united front.



_____


[6]

The Hindustan Times
November 8, 2003  
Andhra leader abducted, released
A top civil rights leader in Andhra Pradesh, allegedly sympathetic to 
the Naxal cause, was abducted on Thursday night and released on 
Friday.

Dr G. Laxman, professor at the Osmania University and president of 
the AP Civil Liberties Committee (APCLC), was kidnapped at Tarnka 
sometime between 9.30 and 10.30 p.m.

The abductors were alleged to be Greyhounds (anti-Naxalite force of 
the state government). Laxman was released Friday afternoon but 
refused to talk to the media. The abductors had demanded the release 
of Naxalite-turned-police informer, Siraj, who was in PWG custody. 
Siraj's bullet-riddled body was found near Guntur on Friday.

HTC/PTI Hyderabad,


_____


[7]


ZUBAAN DIARY 2004

Mark your year with a celebration of women's creativity. This 
beautiful, handy-sized, spiral-bound diary features the needlework of 
diverse craftswomen from across the country - from Lambani and Rabari 
tribals, gypsies from Karnataka and Kutch, Brahmins from Bihar. The 
women had worked intensively with Delhi-based NGO Dastkar to produce 
sumptuously embroidered panels, reproduced here in full colour. For 
these women, their work is not only a means to earn a living, but 
also "a powerful expression of identity and being".

Limited print run - so order your copy now!  Its Rs. 200/- per copy + 
postage charges, if any.

For more information, please contact:

Anita Roy / Jaya Bhattacharji

ZUBAAN

K-92, First Floor,

Hauz Khas Enclave,
New Delhi - 110016

Tel: +91-11-26521008 / 26864497

Email: <mailto:zubaanwbooks at vsnl.net>zubaanwbooks at vsnl.net

_____


[8]

Senior Scholar Fellowships- Short-term Study

The American Institute of Indian Studies invites applications from
university faculty members for its restricted winter fellowship competition
for senior scholars (those holding the Ph.D. degree) who wish to conduct
research in India for four months or less. This competition is restricted to
faculty at AIIS member institutions. The application postmark deadline for
this competition is December 31, 2003. Those scholars who wish to apply for
a long-term fellowship (up to nine months) should wait for the next general
fellowship competition which will have an application deadline of July 1,
2004.

Applications are available at the AIIS office, Foster 412, 1130 E. 59th
Street, Chicago, IL 60637. Phone: 773-702-8638. Email: 
<mailto:aiis at uchicago.edu>aiis at uchicago.edu.

American Institute of Indian Studies
1130 E. 59th Street
Chicago,IL 60637
773-702-8638
<http://www.indiastudies.org>http://www.indiastudies.org


____


11.

The Fairfield Ledger
November 03, 2003

Vedic City officials meet with supervisors

By Erik Gable, Ledger assistant news editor

Issues discussed include separation of church and state, tax's impact 
on other communities in the area.
       Officials from Vedic City, Fairfield and Jefferson County 
discussed concerns about the use of Vedic City's local option sales 
tax at the Jefferson County Board of Supervisors' meeting this 
morning, focusing primarily on First Amendment concerns and whether 
the tax would adversely impact other communities.
       Vedic City officials were questioned about whether using tax 
money to support 500 Vedic pundits, or young men practicing the 
Transcendental Meditation program, would violate the constitutional 
separation of church and state.
       In response, they said the TM program is not religious in 
nature and uses "scientifically researched and verified methods" to 
create peace.
       According to the ballot measure passed by Vedic City voters in 
September, Vedic Citys share of the local option sales tax money 
collected in Jefferson County will go "to support peace creating 
experts and facilities for those experts."
       Jefferson County resident John Stanley said he was concerned 
about the possibility of taxpayer money being used for a non-secular, 
or religious, purpose.
       "I'm uncomfortable when non-secular and government revenue 
start getting a little too mixed together," he said. "The pundit 
project and all that, to me, clearly seems non-secular in nature and 
I feel a little uncomfortable having tax revenues go to that purpose."
       Maureen Wynne, city attorney for Vedic City, said research has 
been done linking TM, which practitioners say creates coherence and 
heightened consciousness, to various benefits for communities.
       "Having a coherence-creating group is an effective way to 
reduce crime, reduce sickness and create positive economic trends," 
she said. "As the city where some of the top researchers who have 
done some of this research live, it would be funny if we didn't try 
it out ourselves."
       Wynne said she does not see TM as religious in nature.
       "On campus and in the meditating community, you can probably 
find almost every religion there is in the world," she said. "We 
certainly, in our own experience, don't feel that practicing TM is a 
religion."
       Wynne added the project to bring the pundits to Jefferson 
County from India is being undertaken by Maharishi University of 
Management.
       "Cities ... are allowed to help both private and public 
universities," she said.
       Fairfield city attorney John Morrissey asked what the 
difference would be between Vedic City helping M.U.M. with the pundit 
project and the city of Dubuque using tax money to bring 500 more 
Catholic monks to the New Melleray monastery there.
       "I've heard various characterizations of the pundits, from them 
being students to them being instructors to them being holy people," 
Morrissey said. "If they show up and they're 500 Hindu monks, will 
they not be doing what the New Melleray monks are doing?"
       "The Catholic monk thing is where somebody is committed to a 
religious life," she said. "[TM] is not part of our religion."
       Wynne said the pundits "are basically professional 
peace-creators. This is what they do."
       Assistant county attorney Pat McAvan said his opinion, and that 
of the Des Moines law firm supervisors hired to investigate the 
issue, is that the taxs use -- "to support peace creating experts and 
facilities for those experts for the purpose of creating peace, 
prevention of crime, and freedom from problems and in favor of the 
life of the people of the City and of all the people on earth" -- is 
stated in a secular manner.
       "All the parties who have reviewed it feel that the language is 
such that the money will go for a secular purpose," he said.
       In a letter to the board of supervisors dated Oct. 9, Ivan 
Webber of the law firm Ahlers & Cooney wrote, "the question is stated 
in a secular fashion and in my view establishes a (minimal) public 
purpose."
       However, Webber also wrote, "if indeed public money is 
subsequently used from the sales tax to support institutions of 
religion, a constitutional claim would then be ripe." He added a 
claim of violating the First Amendment could be brought by anyone who 
pays the tax -- in this case, any taxpayer in Jefferson County.
       In 1979, the United States Court of Appeals in Philadelphia 
ruled TM was religious in nature. The appeals court's ruling upheld a 
lower court's 1977 injunction against teaching TM in public schools 
on the grounds that it violated the separation of church and state 
required by the First Amendment.


_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

Buzz on the perils of fundamentalist politics, on matters of peace 
and democratisation in South Asia. SACW is an independent & 
non-profit citizens wire service run since 1998 by South Asia 
Citizens Web http://www.sacw.net/.
The complete SACW archive is available at: 
http://bridget.jatol.com/pipermail/sacw_insaf.net/
[The earlier URL for SACW web site <www.mnet.fr/aiindex>, is now 
longer operational, you can search google cache for materials on the 
old location]
South Asia Counter Information Project a sister initiative provides a 
partial back -up and archive for SACW. http://perso.wanadoo.fr/sacw/

DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not
necessarily reflect the views of SACW compilers.

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