SACW | 22 Nov - 17 Dec2004
sacw
aiindex at mnet.fr
Thu Dec 16 20:32:33 CST 2004
South Asia Citizens Wire | 22 November - 17 Dec., 2004
via: www.sacw.net
[1] Sri Lanka: Need of the Hour for Peace in Sri
Lanka: A Human Rights Accord, Not ISGA (Sri
Lanka Democracy Forum)
[2] India: Press Release (Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace)
[3] Nepal: Not A Hindu Nation (Kanak Mani Dixit)
[4] India: Babri Mosque - The Liberhans report
is nearly ready (Chander Suta Dogra)
[5] India: An appeal from Karnataka Forum for Communal Harmony
[6] India: Orissa - Where Life Is Cheaper Than Aluminium (Angana Chatterji)
[7] Pakistan, India spend too much on defence: Doctors say
[8] Publications announcements:
- Zubaan announces 'Dawn: A Novel by Arupa Kalita Patangia'
- Three Essays announces 'The Other Indians:
Essays on Pastoralists and Prehistoric Tribal
People
by Shereen Ratnagar'
--------------
[1]
10 December 2004
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Need of the Hour for Peace in Sri Lanka: A Human Rights Accord, Not ISGA
The Sri Lanka Democracy Forum (SLDF) is gravely concerned about the
increasing number of violent incidents in Northern and Eastern Sri Lanka
and urges all parties to show restraint and respect the terms of the
Ceasefire Agreement (CFA). Many of these incidents are occurring in
government-controlled areas in the North and East where the LTTE has been
permitted to carry out their ‘political work’ under the CFA. Whatever the
deficiencies of the CFA, one positive aspect of it is that it has provided
a period of respite from the horrors of war to not only the people of the
war-torn North and East, but also to the people in the rest of the
country. However, we believe that many of the recent incidents reflect a
deliberate effort on the part of the LTTE to provoke the Sri Lankan
security forces into a retaliatory violent response. We call upon the LTTE
to stop this practice and call upon the security forces to show maximum
restraint. The international community and especially Norway, given its
role in facilitating the terms of the CFA and monitoring compliance, has a
special responsibility to demand an end to the violence.
For any peace process to be credible, it should be more inclusive of all
sections of the population in order to be able to address their concerns,
interests and aspirations. Indeed there is popular support for such a
peace process. It is right that the Ceasefire should have been between
the two warring parties – the government forces and the LTTE. But it
should be realized that the causes that led to the war and the
consequences of it affected and concerned all the people, and therefore
any peace process to have credibility and be capable of producing a
lasting political solution must of necessity include and involve the
widest possible representation of all sections of the country. SLDF
therefore, repudiates and calls upon the LTTE to abandon its reprehensible
stand of obstructing the presence and participation of representatives of
the Muslim community in the peace talks.
The LTTE is engaged in these recent violent incidents for at least three
reasons: firstly to discourage popular support for a more inclusive peace
process that addresses the rights of all ethnic groups. Secondly, to
silence growing criticism of the LTTE’s demand for an Interim
Self-Governing Authority (ISGA) totally under its control. Thirdly, to
bring pressure upon the Government to recommence peace talks only on the
basis of the LTTE’s ISGA proposal.
The North and East of Sri Lanka, witness to politically motivated killings
and abductions since the cease-fire began, now leading to a daily count,
has been further paralyzed by a series of LTTE-instigated hartals. These
general shutdowns, which close schools, government offices, and business
establishments and which impose an informal curfew on the civilian
population, have been organized by LTTE front organizations in
Trincomalee, Vavuniya, and Mannar in the run up to the LTTE’s Heroes’ week
and thereafter. LTTE supporters have blocked roads, burned tires,
threatened travelers and taunted and grievously attacked security
personnel with at least one fatality. Billed as spontaneous protests
against alleged violence by the security forces, these hartals are in fact
engineered attempts to provoke the security forces and hasten the North
and East’s degeneration into a state of anarchy and war. Every ceasefire
violation is dangerous, as incidents can easily spiral out of control. A
rash of recent grenade attacks including on the Batticaloa office of the
Tamil newspaper Thinakkural, on an office of PLOTE in Jaffna, and on a
privately owned television station, also in Jaffna, speak to the rising
lawlessness on all sides. But we note with special concern that
historically the LTTE has used attacks on the military, police and
Sinhalese civilians to usher in major outbreaks of hostilities. SLDF
calls upon the LTTE to desist from engaging in incidents that will plunge
the country into another terrible war, the primary victims of which will
be the people of the North and East. The Government of Sri Lanka must
also ensure that the security forces show restraint in their response to
such provocations and not retaliate against the innocent civilian
population.
Any commitment to the welfare of Tamil civilians living in the North and
East, who have disproportionately suffered from the last two decades of
civil war, precludes the option of war. As such, it is imperative that
the CFA be rigidly enforced and adhered to and that peace talks resume on
an equitable basis.
The possibility of war was given explicit articulation in Pirapaharan’s
Heroes Day speech on November 27th. In his worldwide broadcast, the LTTE
leader declared that the ISGA would be the only acceptable basis for peace
negotiations, threatening that "if the government rejects our urgent
appeal, and adopts delaying tactics perpetuating the suffering of our
people, we have no alternative other than to advance the freedom struggle
of our nation.” SLDF finds this an unacceptable basis for the resumption
of peace talks: the LTTE’s threats of war do not indicate a genuine
commitment to peace and a viable peace process. And the ISGA, which fails
to adhere to fundamental principles of democracy and human rights, will
not, in any way, serve to advance the rights and aspirations of Tamils in
Sri Lanka.
Rather than base negotiations on the ISGA, the peace talks should
re-commence from the point at which they were broken off by the LTTE in
April 2003. Particularly in the context of gross and persistent violations
of human rights, including political killings, abductions and forced
recruitment of child soldiers, SLDF believes the primary concern to be
addressed in any resumed peace talks should be that the parties subscribe
to a human rights accord, and a mechanism to monitor such an accord that
includes independent international human rights monitors. In other
conflict situations, such accords were often not only the first step
towards a lasting peace process, but also ensured the conditions needed
for an inclusive and sustainable peace based on justice and democracy. As
the threat of war looms over Sri Lanka there is a pressing need for such a
human rights accord.
--
Sri Lanka Democracy Forum
www.lankademocracy.org
______
[2]
16 December 2004
PRESS RELEASE
The Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace
(CNDP), India, is greatly disappointed at the
failure of the recent official talks between
India and Pakistan to come up with meaningful
nuclear confidence-building measures (CBMs).
Although these are no substitute for nuclear
disarmament they can, when intelligently
conceived and sensibly applied, make matters less
unsafe. However, such CBMs are not likely to
emerge when both governments continue buying and
producing more conventional armaments thereby
raising bilateral tensions and mistrust. Nor are
matters helped through false reassurances about
Kashmir no longer being a "nuclear flashpoint"
when serious steps towards resolving the issue
are absent.
New Delhi and Islamabad seem to lack the vision
and commitment to bring about such desired
nuclear CBMs. The CNDP calls on both governments
to rapidly move towards:
1) Separating warheads from all delivery systems
and making such procedures transparent and
verifiable.
2) Establishing on both sides of the border a
zone of non-deployment of nuclear capable
delivery systems.
3) A permanent bilateral test ban pact.
4) Establishing joint teams of Indian and
Pakistani scientific personnel to periodically
visit nuclear-related facilities in both
countries.
J. Sri Raman
Kamal Chenoy
______
[3]
The News International
December 17, 2004
NOT A HINDU NATION
The religio-political miscreants in India do the
people of Nepal an injustice when they describe
their country as a 'Hindu' state. Ironically,
this provides strength to Nepal's ambitious
monarchy
Kanak Mani Dixit
Not since Bengal satrap Shamsuddin Ilyas came up
from the plains four centuries ago to loot and
descerate had Kathmandu Valley seen bigoted
passion fueling wanton destruction. It was
finally on this year, on Wednesday, 1 September
2004, that those who nurture religious hate
gained the opportunity to get back at history.
They went on rampage, taking advantage of a
political stalemate between the parties, the
royal palace and insurgents that had left the
country rudderless.
Amidst a more generalized violence that sought
different targets in 'response' to the 12 Nepali
job-seekers massacred by extremists in Iraq,
there were attacks on masjids, madrasas, Muslim
homes and shops. For a country that had lost its
peaceful halo due to the ongoing brutal
insurgency and harsh state reaction, this descent
into communal violence marked yet another
national calamity.
The cognocenti in Kathmandu had long taken
comfort that the Sangh Parivar's political
Hindutva had failed to cross the open border into
Nepal. Inter-community relationships had remained
placid even in the aftermath of the demolition of
the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya, fast by the Tarai
border in Uttar Pradesh.
But radical Hindutva had been working away to
build a base in the kingdom, and when government
disappeared for a day on 1 September, it ignited.
Two of the major mosques in Kathmandu, just down
the boulevard from the royal palace, were
vandalized and partially torched. The sleep of
two sufi saints from four centuries ago was
disturbed in their dargahs, as was that of Begum
Hazrat Mahal of Avadh, who sought refuge from the
British in the Kathmandu court.
"We are Nepalis, but they are trying to make us
Muslims," said one elder. The dreadful
counterpoint of one craven ringleader was, "How
dare they forget that this is a Hindu rashtra? We
cannot have a masjid standing before the palace
of our monarch!"
The fact is that civics education does not exist
in Nepal, where history is as yet all royal
hagiography. The young hooligans would not know
that Nepal is not the 'Hindu rashtra' promoted
lately by Hindutva propaganda, nor the 'asli
Hindustan' as claimed by Prithvi Narayan, the
unifier of Nepal and the twelfth ancestor of
present King Gyanendra.
To be a 'Hindu nation', Nepal would have to be
populated entirely by Hindus but that is far from
the case. The very definition of who is a 'Hindu'
among the many ethnic groupings is open to
question, residing as they do in an accommodating
penumbra that straddles animism, nature worship,
diverse Hindu streams, and Himalayan Buddhism.
In such an amorphous coming together of
identities, those who do not regard themselves as
'Hindu' - as defined by those who demand
definition - would make up perhaps thirty percent
of the population. Meanwhile, those who regard
themselves as Hindus tend to follow a typically
syncretistic faith that does not have the ritual
rigidities identified with political Hindutva.
And yet, it is true, the 1990 Constitution
promulgated after the collapse of the autocratic
Panchayat regime, declared Nepal a Hindu state.
Simply put, this was a mistake made through
conservative compromise, when an attempt to
identify the only the king as 'Hindu' was
derailed. The reference in the document has to be
erased through interpretation or revision.
The odd shankaracharya and religio-political
miscreants in India do the people of Nepal an
injustice when they insist on describing their
country as a primal nativist 'Hindu' state.
Ironically, this provides strength to Nepal's
increasingly ambitious monarchy that basks in the
adulation and seeks to take mileage.
Nepal's national mosaic is created by the
participation of more than sixty ethnic and caste
groups of mountain, midhill and Tarai. Each
community holds a small percentage of the total,
and none commands a majority. Making up over four
percent of the population, the Muslims of Nepal
are a significant national presence.
Nepali Muslims comprise three distinct groups:
the Churaute who live as one with the 'parbate'
hill population, the 'Kashmiri' who arrived over
four centuries ago and have evolved within
Kathmandu Valley's Newar culture, and the Tarai
Muslim who are culturally one with their
co-religionists in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
While the many ethnic groups as well as dalits
have since 1990 discovered their voice to protest
historical discrimination, the Muslims kept
silent because of their relative poverty and
social station. And yet it is they who had to
face the attackers on 1 September.
The mainstream reaction against the perpetrators
of Black Wednesday was so strong that, hopefully,
this one-time aberration will never again to be
repeated. For this to happen, the attackers on
Muslim shrines and property must be pursued and
prosecuted, providing an exception to the rule in
a country where impunity has been the historical
norm.
The sudden spotlight on Nepali Muslims is an
occasion to inform the world, as well as
indulgent Hindutva agitators everywhere, that
Nepal is not a 'Hindu rashtra' after all. Such an
expose will provide the authentic picture of the
country and its people, and burst the
obscurantist balloon within and without.
______
[4]
Outlook Magazine | Dec 20, 2004
EXCLUSIVE BABRI MASJID
The Echo Of A Day
The Liberhans report is nearly ready-and it will
take a hard look at Advani's role
Chander Suta Dogra
http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20041220&fname=Babri+Masjid+%28F%29&sid=1
http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20041220&fname=Babri+Masjid+%28F%29&sid=1&pn=2ec
______
[5] [AN APPEAL FROM KARNATAKA FORUM FOR COMMUNAL HARMONY]
Dear friend,
Attached below is an appeal from the anti-communal
platform in Karnataka (Karnataka Komu Souharda
Vedike) which has been leading the fight against
the Sangh Parivar's attempt to communalise the
state in their attempt to "liberate" a Sufi
shrine at Bababudangiri Hills in the Western
Ghats. As the stage is set for another showdown
among the state administration , the Sangh
Parivar and the anti-communal forum, the forum is
sending this
appeal to explain the genesis of the dispute, the
forum's campaign/programmes over the last couple of
years and this year's programme on December 25th &
26th. KIndly circulate this message among progressive
circles and strengthen the forum's pro-active fight
against the Hindutva forces.
KARNATAKA KOMUSOUHARDA VEDIKE
Cultural Festival for Communal Harmony
Saturday, December 25, 2004.
Chikkamagaluru
Karnataka state is known for its rich cultural
and religious plurality as well as for
maintaining peace even amidst communal strife
that has plagued our country in recent times. It
is home for many syncretic religious centres
which stand as living testimony to her unique
tradition of tolerance and communal harmony. The
Baba-Datta cave shrine on Bababudangiri near
Chikkamagaluru is an example of one such great
tradition where people of different faiths seek
their God in a common shrine. Obviously this
unique and glorious symbol of secularism and
tolerance is indigestible to the communal
forces. For the last few years the sangh parivar
has been targetting the cave shrine on
Bababudangiri with the sole intention of
destroying this tradition in the name of
'liberating' the shrine from Muslims. In order to
achieve their narrow sectarian goal, they have
been creating unwanted disputes, putting up
historically untenable and legally unsubstantial
arguments. To prove their point that the shrine
once belonged only to Hindus, they have started
floating new rituals and introducing
non-existence religious practices like
Datta-Male, Shobha Yatre and Datta jayanthi
every year in the months of November and
December. It is obvious that their main purpose
is neither religion nor faith , but to target
Muslim community as 'outsiders' bent on
destroying the 'Hindu' tradition and culture.
The irony is that being neither totally Hindu
nor Muslim, the Baba-Datta shrine is already a
liberated place. In the name of liberating the
shrine, the sangh parivar is only trying to tie
it back to a narrow and sectarian religious
institution. Both Baba and Datta represent the
common peoples' tradition that rebelled against
narrow religious boundaries. Here Hindus worship
the place as Datta and the Muslims revere it as
the holy abode of Bababudan, a fakir much
respected by such historical figures like Tippu
and the Wodeyars of Mysore alike. The
communalization of this place is against
peoples' long held belief, against history and
above all against the law of the land.
--------------------------------------
Karnataka Forum for Communal Harmony, a
federation of more than two hundred secular and
progressive organizations in the state, has been
resisting this move of the sangh parivar to
destroy the secular tradition of this place. The
Forum upholds the long pluralist, tradition that
is practiced in this place and demands its
continuation without any changes as maintained
by law. It has been trying to draw the attention
of the Government and the public the Brahmanical
character of the BJP and the sangh parivar.
In order to celebrate this plural, heterogeneous
character of our culture, the Forum is organising
a day-long cultural festival in Chikmagalur on
December 25. The festival aims to highlight
peoples' culture as against the sangh parivar's
singular, upper caste culture. It will begin
with an 'Inter- religious Dialogue' by religious
leaders, followed by cultural programmes ranging
from singing and poetry reading to painting and
staging of plays. Mumbai's famous 'Vidhrohi
Samskutik Manch' led by Sri Sambaji Bhagat will
present their performance. Well-known
writer-activist Arundati Roy and actress Shabana
Azmi are being invited to attend the festival as
chief guests. Editor of 'Communalism Combat'
Teesta Settlewad has agreed to be with us on 25
December.
Bababudangiri today is not just a local issue.
It represents our true tradition which is of
national importance. Communalising it leads to
destroying the secular character of the people of
this country.
Come, let us strengthen this tradition by
opposing the destructive tendencies of the sangh
parivar.
Our Demands
============
(*) The District Commissioner of Chikmagalur
has announced that the administration would
follow the Court Order and not allow any
practices that were not in vogue prior to June 1975.
But he has also said that the Government would
allow 'Datta Jayanti'. But this is a
contradiction. The Government is not coming out
with the fact that
no such ritual existed before June 1975. We
demand that the Government should uphold the
Court
ruling in this regard.
(*) No communal activity by the sangh parivar should
be permitted either on the hill or in the town of
Chikmagalur.
(*) There should be free access to the hill shrine
for all communities.
We request you to
=================='
(a) Send telegrams to CM karnataka urging him -
(1) to take stern action against sangh parivar if it
tries to violate court orders which allow only
pre-1975 traditions to be practised at the shrine
(2) not to bow down to pressures from the Sangh
parivar
(3) allow souharda vedike to hold 'souharda
samskruthika jathre' on 25th December in
Chikkamagalore.
(b) Write letters to various newspapers highlighting
the above three points
(c) If you wish to contribute to the Komu
Souhardavedike funds, please send in your
contributions in the form of deman draft or cheque
in the name of 'Bababudangiri Souharda Vedike'
account payable at Shimoga, Karnataka. The
contributions can be sent to the following address -
K.L.Ashok, Organising Secretary. Durga Nilaya, II
Cross, Bapuji Nagar,
Shimoga.
Contact address & phone numbers -
K.L.Ashok, Organising Secretary. Durga Nilaya,
II Cross, Bapuji Nagar,Shimoga. 9448256216.
Smt. Banu Mushtak,: 94482 20339;
Sri Sanathkumar Belagali: 98802-82705;
Sri Puttaswamy: 94480-00026
-------------------------------------------------
The origins of the Baba-Datta Cult & the Saffron
attack on the shrine
-------------------------------------------------
The Datta pantha is a primarily non-vedic,
rebellious cult characterized by its rejection of
Brahmanical practices of worship. Bababudan was
a sufi saint. It is this commonality that drew
these two belief systems towards each other.
Here there are no moulvis or priests to mediate
between people and God. Nor is there any
high-caste, vedic rituals that are usually seen
in Hindu temples. It is significant and natural
that the followers of both these sects are
common, poor and exploited sections of society.
But the Sangh Parivar has targeted this place to
create communal tension by weaving a web of
lies. Every year, they add a new lie to push
their point. It includes false claims that this
shrine has always been a Hindu place of worship
but 'usurped' by the Muslim invaders to spoil
its Indian character. Its leaders have claimed
that they would make Chikmagalur another Ayodhya
and Karnataka another Gujarat. The local
administration, aided by successive Governments,
has yielded to these demands by gradually
allowing in this place new, but hitherto
non-existent, Vedic religious practices like
homas, abhishekas and havanas to please the
Hindu sentiments.
This is in clear violation of the Court
directions that only those practices that
existed prior to June 1975 should be performed
in this cave shrine. The Court directive makes
no mention of any of the practices now
propagated by the Sangh Parivar. In fact, as our
study team found out, there is no mention of
Datta Jayanthi till 1987 in any of the
documents, including the sangh parivar's
petitions to the Court. There is no documentary
or historical evidence to suggest that Datta
Jayanthi was performed at this place. That the
Government has yielded to the Sangh Parivar's
demands for fear of alienating the Hindu votes
for a few years now does not in any justify the
continuation of Datta Jayanthi which is a clear
violation of not only the Court Order but is
also against the Parliamentary Act of 1991 which
prohibits any changes in the nature of
religious practices after 1947 in places of
worship.
Thus the people's tradition of Baba-Datta is now
under threat of losing its secular tradition,
much against the law of the land, thanks to the
soft hindutva of the Congress that allowed
illegal practices on the shrine. It is
important to note here that there are several
such syncretic traditional centres in India and
particularly in Karnataka. It is also crucial
to note that such rebel traditions have been
brutally suppressed or cleverly appropriated by
the mainstream Hindutva forces in the past also.
Vedic tradition is only one among several
traditions, but Brahmanical supremacy has been
intolerant of these other traditions. The
Brahmanical supremacy has been questioned and
rejected by rebel religious movements beginning
with the Budhdha and later by the Vachana and
Bhakti movements. In recent times, we have the
examples of Phule, Ambedkar, Periyar and
Narayana Guru raising questions against the
Brahmanical hegemony. The threat to the secular
character of Baba-Datta shrine should be seen in
this historical perspective. The struggle to
uphold the secular, peoples' tradition in the
Bababudangiri should also be seen as a
continuation of this historical struggle from
Budhdha to Ambedkar. The Sangh Parivar's
invented tradition is to be understood as a
tactical move to erase the cultural memories as
lived out mainly the non-Brahmanical community.
Thus the communalism of the Sangh Parivar
clearly seen is not only against Muslims and
Christians, but also, to a large extent, against
the Shudras, Dalits and other minorities. Its
objective is to destroy a multi-cultural
tradition and in its place establish a
mono-culture of Brahmanical Hindutva.
Bababudangiri is just a pretext for them to
carry out this hidden agenda. Hundreds of Hindu
farmers have committed suicide; the attack on
dalits and other minorities in increasing.
Perhaps they are not Hindu enough for the sangh
parivar and it has no plans to fight for their
cause.
______
[6]
Op-ed, Asian Age, December 11, 2004
WHERE LIFE IS CHEAPER THAN ALUMINIUM
By Angana Chatterji
On December 1, 2004, the Orissa police attacked
and critically injured 16 adivasis (tribals) in
Rayagada district. Many, disproportionately
women, were arrested. More than 300 adivasis and
dalits (erstwhile "untouchable" castes) were
targeted for protesting the creation of a police
station and barrack for armed police at Karol
village, in proximity to the proposed aluminium
plant site of Utkal Alumina International Limited
(a joint enterprise of Aditya Birla Group, and
ALCAN, a Canadian company) at Doraguda. The
people were demanding that the state construct
healthcare and education facilities instead.
Those injured were sequestered in Rayagada jail,
denied hospital care, and some were reportedly
missing. Armed police, the Central Reserve Police
Force and the Indian Reserve Battalion patrol the
area as thousands gather, demanding justice.
The government of Orissa has violated its legal
and ethical mandate by suppressing public dissent
through police brutality. Why are state police
prioritising the interests of corporations over
those of citizens? Why are rights of those
imprisoned being violated? History tells us that
when irresponsible corporate globalisation and a
callous and authoritarian state collaborate to
undermine the interest of local communities, it
exacerbates social suffering, betrays the
disenfranchised, and furthers gendered violence.
Exercising citizenship to encourage responsible
government action, dalit and adivasi groups have
been protesting the establishment of the
aluminium plant. The project is expected to cost
Rs 4,500 crores, displace and dispossess 20,000
people, and impact rights to life and livelihood
across 82 villages. The plant might provide
employment to about 1,000 people over 20 years,
exhausting bauxite resources in the process.
Kashipur witnessed state repression of adivasi
communities in December 2000 as well, when state
police fired on non-violent dissenters in
Rayagada protesting the mining of their lands, in
the process killing Abhilas Jhodia, Raghu Jhodia
and Damodar Jhodia. Kashipur remains a tragic
affidavit of the intersections of irresponsible
globalisation, state complicity in defiling human
rights, and police participation in fostering
social violence. For 12 years, local communities
have been protesting bauxite mining by a
consortium of industries, condemning the breach
of constitutional provisions barring sale or
lease of tribal lands without local consent.
In July 2003, the Orissa government permitted the
unconstitutional transfer of lands in Schedule V
areas for industrial use. Orissa's decision
contradicts the 1997 Samata versus Andhra Pradesh
judgment, where the apex court had ruled against
the government's lease of tribal lands in
Scheduled Areas to non-tribals for industrial
operations. In January 2004, adivasi villages,
Borobhota, Kinari, Kothduar, Sindhabahili, in
southeast Kalahandi, were razed by Sterlite, a
multinational corporation building an aluminium
refinery adjacent to Kashipur.
The Orissa government is invested in generating
an affirmative climate for brisk
industrialisation, without regard for the massive
social and ecological destitution that has become
the tragic bi-product of modernisation in India.
In November 2004, the World Bank sanctioned a
US $125 million socio-economic development credit
or loan for Orissa. People's groups and Left
political parties estimate that Orissa has
received bids for investment amounting to Rs
250,000 crores over the next decade, committed to
large industries and related infrastructure. Such
investment will lead to employment opportunities
for only 175,000, analysts say, while two million
are unemployed and another two million are
underemployed. The Orissa government estimates
that 20 proposed mining projects and five large
dams will displace 250,000 people, radically
impacting mineral resources and the ground water
base. Such development will decimate what holds
value and is sacred to myriad communities,
accelerating cultural genocide.
Orissa's development strategy focuses on an
invasive expansion of power, mining and heavy
industry, tourism and agriculture, related
infrastructure, and the privatisation of public
resources. Corporate activity and dominant
development in Orissa remain divorced from
people's participation in decision-making.
Maldevelopment imperils environmental health,
endangering people who depend on natural
resources for subsistence. The state often
charges poor rural communities with the primary
responsibility for ecological degradation, while
plans for allaying rural poverty emphasise
capital-intensive strategies that alienate the
poor by privileging "free" market activity
through endorsing the unchecked involvement of
the private sector in development processes.
Dominant development has failed to halt the rise
in the absolute and relative number of people
below the poverty line in rural Orissa. While
schemes and programmes focused on poverty
alleviation have been continued in the Tenth Plan
(2002-2007), their impact on rural poverty
remains dubious. These agendas are ill-planned
and mismanaged, surfeit with corruption,
inattentive to the needs of 47.15 per cent of
Orissa's population who live in poverty, making
suspect the government's commitment to human
rights and social security. Lack of access to
common property resources, including water and
forests, heightens impoverishment, and the
wreckage wrought by the cyclone of 1999, the
floods of 2001, the droughts of 2000 and 2003
pose formidable challenges for environmental,
political and social sustainability for the 36.7
million residents of the state.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-Biju Janata Dal
government, allied Hindu nationalist
organisations, and other major political parties
manoeuvre dalits, adivasis, and minority
religious groups for sectarian interests, with
abject disregard for the well-being and
self-determination of these groups. Resolute
voices of dissent, in solidarity with the
affected people of Rayagada, unequivocally
condemn the actions of Navin Patnaik's
government. The Orissa government must take
immediate action to stop police brutalisation and
mining operations, and set up an independent
commission to inquire into the social and
environmental damage resultant from past action.
Investigation into human rights violations and
plans for reparations must be central to the
mandate of such a commission. Failure to do so
will only further evidence the despairing
breakdown of governance in the state.
Angana Chatterji is associate professor of social
and cultural anthropology at the California
Institute of Integral Studies.
______
[7]
PAKISTAN, INDIA SPEND TOO MUCH ON DEFENCE: DOCTORS SAY...
[World News]: Karachi, Dec. 13 : More than 70 doctors from India and
Pakistan called upon their respective governments to destroy their nuclear
weapons and to cut their defence budgets , so that more money could be
diverted to the health, education and other social sectors.
According to Dawn, the doctors also called for relaxation in travel and
trade restrictions imposed by both governments. They were of the opinion
that the two countries could only benefit if they kept moving towards
peaceful resolution of their disputes.
Speaking at a symposium organized jointly by the Pakistan Doctors for Peace
and Development (PDPD) and Indian Doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD),
in collaboration with the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), on Sunday, the
doctors said the subcontinent remained one of the most backward regions of
the world so far as health, education and other human development indicators
were concerned, mainly due to the ongoing arms race between India and
Pakistan.
Dr Livtar Singh Chawla of the IDPD, in his presentation, which was received
well by the audience, pointed out that the total amount that was spent on
eradicating small pox was equivalent to what the world spent on weapon
development and purchases in just four hours. He said the world spent some 1
trillion dollars on arms and armaments every year, about half of which was
spent by the US alone.
The IDPD president said about a quarter of all deaths in the developing
world, including India and Pakistan, were caused by communicable diseases,
which were preventable. If the money that was spent world wide on arms in
just four days was spent on immunization instead, the communicable diseases
could be dealt with.
Dr Chawla criticized the Indian and Pakistani authorities for spending only
about three and one per cent of their GDPs, respectively, on health of their
people. He demanded of both governments to get rid of their nuclear weapons
and the missiles capable of causing death and destruction on the two
peoples.
Speaking on the occasion, the PDPD president, Prof Tipu Sultan, said the
border that today divided the two peoples, with some effort, could become a
meeting point for them. He welcomed the 30 Indian doctors and medical
students, who were currently visiting Karachi, saying that such ventures
could bring the two peoples closer.
In his keynote address, Prof Haroon Ahmed said fear, denial and the media
made the two countries step back each time they came close to embracing each
other in peace. He particularly slammed the authorities for trying to
control, block or ban each other's media.
Talking of the lessons that could be drawn from the ten-year-old peace
movement in the subcontinent, he pointed out that whenever a conflict broke
out between the two countries, the advances made by the peace movement were
reversed.
At the time of conflict, he added, the peace movement was overwhelmed by war
hysteria. Two medical students from India and Pakistan each also made
presentations on the occasion. (ANI)
______
[8] [PUBLICATIONS ANNOUNCEMENTS]
o o o
Zubaan announces the publication of Dawn: A Novel
by award winning Assamese writer, Arupa Kalita
Patangia.
Dawn
A Novel
Arupa Kalita Patangia
Translated by Ranjita Biswas
300pp Pb o Rs 295
o ISBN 81 86706 84 4 o All rights available
Set in the heady years preceding independence,
this is the story of young Binapani growing up in
a small Assamese town. Headstrong, stubborn and
high-spirited, this independent minded girl is
confronted with a host of questions as she
attempts to come to terms with the changing
reality around her: why are girls not allowed to
study? Why do some families have to live in
poverty while others are feted and fawned upon by
townspeople? Why does a nationalist hero have to
be hidden away, a Christian boy termed an
outcasete? Before she can even begin to find
answers to any of these questions - in which her
only support is her aging grandmother, Jashodha -
Binapani is married off to a much older man whom
she has always disliked. A lifetime of drudgery,
relieved by the birth of her children, her
occasional visits to her grandmother, follows and
then, just as life threatens to become empty of
joy, a chance encounter with an old friend brings
change. Binapani realizes that the world is still
a beautiful place and life can still have
meaning. This beautifully crafted tale describes
a moment of profound hisotrical change, against
which it weaves a fine web of changing
relationships, of people's joys and sorrows, as
seen through the eyes of a young girl and her
painful journey to adulthood.
Arupa Patangia Kalita is one of Assam's leading,
award-winning novelists. She has more than ten
novels and short story collections to her credit
including Mriganabhi (1987) and Millenniumar
Sapon (2002). A Ph.D in English Literature, she
teaches English at Tangla College, Assam.
Ranjita Biswas has translated a number of
well-known Bengali and Assamese novels into
English.
For any further enquiries or for ordering copies
of the book, please contact Jaya Bhattacharji or
Satish Sharma at:
Zubaan,
K-92, First Floor,
Hauz Khas Enclave,
New Delhi - 110016
INDIA
Tel: +91-11-26521008, 26864497 and 26514772
Email: zubaanwbooks at vsnl.net
o o o
The Other Indians:
Essays on Pastoralists and Prehistoric Tribal People
by Shereen Ratnagar
Demy, xii + 112 p.
Hardcover ISBN 81-88789-19-4 Rs350
Paperback ISBN 81-88789-18-6 Rs150
Contents:
1.Hunter-Gatherer and Early Agriculturist: Archaeological Evidence for
Contact
2. Our Tribal Past
3. A Chalcolithic Village in a Famine Belt
4. Pastoralism as an Issue in Historical Research
The essays in this volume are an attempt to tease out from the scant
archaeological (and to some extent historical) sources available, some
information on certain aspects of rural societies in the past: mobility,
subsistence from animal herding, symbiosis between crop production and
animal rearing, situating hunters and gatherers, and the importance of
forest as integral to rural life rather than the dichotomous 'other' of
the field or village. There is also an attempt to bring out the ways in
which tribal society, continuously misrepresented in academia today,
laid the foundations of many aspects of Indian civilization in the
remote past.
Shereen Ratnagar gave up her Professorship in Archaeology at the JNU
when it ceased to be fun and has since been researching and teaching in
various places. Her interests include the bronze age, trade, urbanism,
pastoralism, and, recently, the social dimensions of early technology.
She lives in Mumbai.
Three Essays Collective
P.O. Box 6, Palam Vihar
Gurgaon 122 017
Tel: 98683 44843, 98681 26587
Res.: 0124-236 9023
info at threeessays.com
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
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