SACW #1 | 23 Dec 2004

[sacw]

South Asia Citizens Wire - Dispatch #1  | 23 Dec.,  2004
via:  www.sacw.net

[1] India-Pakistan Peace Precious, Not Easy (Praful Bidwai)
[2] Pakistan: Holier than thou (Razi Azmi)
[3] India: A Bill of her own? Proposed amendments 
to the Hindu Succession Act aren't enough (Bina 
Agarwal)
[4] UK / India: In support of Gurpreet Kaur: When 
individuals become threat to the 
community                 
(V.B.Rawat)
[5] Upcoming events :
(i) IHEU 16th World Congress on Separation of 
Religion and State (Paris, 5th July -7th July 
2005)
(ii)  International Seminar on 'Situating History 
of Environment: The Territory of Historians of 
Environment' (Calcutta, March 3-5, 2005)


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

[1]

Inter Press Service
December 22, 2004

CHALLENGES 2004-2005:
India-Pakistan Peace Precious, Not Easy

By Praful Bidwai

NEW DELHI, Dec 22 (IPS) - A year after India and 
Pakistan launched their first serious attempt at 
a bilateral dialogue after their 1998 nuclear 
blasts and two major military crises, the 
prospect of success looks tantalisingly close and 
yet uphill in the last stretch.
Both Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and 
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf will have to 
struggle hard to overcome long-standing obstacles 
and achieve tangible results in 2005.
Unlike in February 1999, when former prime 
minister Atal Behari Vajpayee rode the bus to 
Lahore, or in 2001 when he met Musharraf in Agra 
at an unsuccessful summit, the bilateral 
discussions this time around have been more 
structured, systematic and better prepared.
The past aside, public opinion in both countries 
also favours reconciliation -overwhelmingly. The 
top leaders of the two neighbouring countries 
have also got to know each other reasonably 
closely. And the Pakistani establishment has shed 
much of its initial prejudice against Manmohan 
Singh, whose sober style seemed a contrast to 
Vajpayee's.
And yet, going by the multiple rounds of talks 
held at various levels so far, the going will not 
be easy. All that India and Pakistan have managed 
to achieve over the past year is to restore 
communication links, including air, bus and train 
services ruptured after a December 2001 terrorist 
attack on India's Parliament.
Although they agreed in June to reopen their 
consulates in Karachi and Mumbai, little progress 
has been made on this.
Also, there seems to be some stagnation over 
trade and economic cooperation - in particular 
proposed energy links through an overland gas 
pipeline from Iran to India via Pakistan.
It is only in respect of liberal visa regimes, 
and greater freedom for people to travel (by no 
means without restrictions or limits on the 
number of cities to be visited) that there has 
been substantial progress. But even this is 
reversible.
On the two thorny issues - Kashmir and nuclear 
weapons - there has been no forward movement. But 
the two states have at least agreed to discuss 
Kashmir - for the first time ever.
Yet India and Pakistan still remain stuck without 
any agreement on what seems to be an important 
confidence-building measure (CBM) - namely the 
launching of a bus service between Srinagar in 
Indian Kashmir and Muzafarabad in the 
Pakistani-controlled part.
Various mutual suspicious and divergent 
perceptions have been responsible for the slow 
progress. Pakistan believes India is using CBMs, 
of which it has proposed over 70, as a substitute 
for a purposive and earnest discussion of Kashmir.
India believes that Pakistan is dragging its feet 
on the bus route and on economic cooperation 
because it wants New Delhi to acknowledge the 
''centrality'' of the Kashmir issue and address 
it first. India accuses Pakistan of a 
single-minded obsession with Kashmir.
Policy-makers in both countries continue to 
suspect each other's sincerity even as regards 
Siachen, a high-altitude glacier in disputed 
Kashmir, where India and Pakistan have waged a 
costly and counterproductive war for two decades.
The absurdity of the Siachen conflict, the 
world's highest-altitude war, is that retaining 
or extending the territory has no strategic value 
or implications for either India or Pakistan.
Both governments seem hell-bent on blowing up 
hundreds of millions of dollars a year and losing 
scores of soldiers, largely to frostbite, rather 
than reaching a rational settlement or a 
minimally agreed mutual withdrawal.
''Siachen and other boundary disputes can be 
successfully and quickly addressed,'' says Kamal 
Mitra Chenoy, a professor at the School of 
International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru 
University in New Delhi. ''But for that, Pakistan 
must feel reassured that India will put Kashmir 
on the negotiating table.''
The Manmohan Singh government has indeed agreed 
to discuss the Kashmir ''issue'' - it refuses to 
call it ''dispute'' - as part of a package of 
talks on eight subjects. But it is not clear how 
far it is prepared to go and what its bottom-line 
is.
In a considered statement, Singh recently ruled 
out any re-drawing of borders and also the 
further partition of India-Pakistan along 
religious lines. India would probably be prepared 
to go to exceptional lengths in granting autonomy 
to its part of Kashmir and allowing a "soft 
border" with a similarly autonomous part of 
Pakistani Kashmir.
On the other hand, Musharraf has urged that 
various ''options'' be considered, including 
treating the old state of Jammu and Kashmir as 
comprising seven distinct regions and then 
''demilitarising'' each.
So far, there has been no meeting ground on these 
ideas, but once formal, and especially 
back-channel, discussions get going, there could 
be some progress.
The critical intermediate issue is whether each 
of the two governments shows the imagination 
needed to trigger progress in the short run. One 
test of this will lie on the issue of the 
Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus route, and of the 
identity documents to be carried on it.
Talks on this have not progressed because India 
would like passengers to have an ordinary 
national passport, although the visa/residence 
permit may not be stamped on it. Pakistan, by 
contrast, would like entirely different identity 
papers, which are Kashmir- specific.
But if the bus gets going, many proposals for 
cross-border trade, family meetings, a postal 
service and others can come up for discussion. If 
the bus proposal, made in October 2003, fails, 
despair and disappointment will follow, affecting 
the prospect for reconciliation.
Nonetheless, whatever happens on the Kashmir 
''issue'', one thing remains clear -- India and 
Pakistan cannot achieve a sustainable, durable 
peace unless they grapple with the issue of 
nuclear weapons.
''So long as the nuclear shadow looms over the 
subcontinent, it will remain a potential site for 
serious militaryconflict and a nuclear 
confrontation,'' says Karamat Ali of the Pakistan 
Peace Coalition.
''Kashmir is the most obvious flashpoint for a 
nuclear catastrophe, but there could be others 
too - a land war where Indian troops enter the 
Pakistani Punjab. Besides, a nuclear attack could 
happen out of accident or without 
authorisation,'' he told IPS.
India and Pakistan have so far refused to address 
the nuclear weapons issue seriously by 
negotiating risk-reduction or restraint measures.
Both the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and 
Peace (India), and Pakistan Peace Coalition have 
urged the two governments to enter into an 
important agreement not to deploy nuclear weapons 
and to keep warheads separated from 
nuclear-capable missiles. Both peace groups also 
want New Delhi and Islamabad to negotiate a 
moratorium on missile test-flights, to last 
between one to three years.
Sadly, both countries have made little momentum 
in that direction. But simply wishing away the 
nuclear problem will not do. If India and 
Pakistan want real peace, not cosmetic cessation 
of hostilities, they will have to grapple with 
thorny issues. (END/2004)


______



[2]


The Daily Times
December 23, 2004 
Thinking Aloud

HOLIER THAN THOU
By Razi Azmi
By claiming that cases of sexual abuse of minors 
by religious teachers need not be made public, 
our religious affairs minister effectively gave 
the maulvis a collective certificate of past and 
future good conduct. Moreover, it guaranteed any 
transgressors immunity from public scrutiny. All 
this in a country where such incidents of abuse 
are rather widespread

Sexual abuse of children is a detestable social 
crime. When committed by men of religion, whether 
priests, monks or maulvis, it is particularly 
revolting, for they claim - and by virtue of 
their vocation, are expected - to occupy a much 
higher moral plane than the rest of society.
Sexual crimes against children are rarely 
reported in our country; when reported, rarely 
discussed and when discussed, never adequately. 
It was, therefore, quite refreshing to hear a 
Pakistani minister of religious affairs, albeit a 
junior one, inform the Senate on December 10 that 
the "police are investigating 500 cases of 
alleged child abuse implicating maulvis". Not 
surprisingly, the MMA senators attacked the 
minister for a statement of fact and demanded an 
apology. To his credit, the minister refused to 
apologise.
But if one was hoping that the government now 
intended to be open about sexual abuse of 
children, it didn't take long to be disappointed. 
Within a few days, the Minister of Religious 
Affairs, the venerable Ijazul Haq, categorically 
reaffirmed the continuation of the time-honoured 
policy of "see no evil, hear no evil and speak no 
evil" insofar as the maulvis are concerned. 
"Talking to a congregation of ulema and mashaikh, 
Mr Haq regretted that such a controversy had been 
initiated and declared that clerics are not given 
to exploiting children, sexually or otherwise. 
However, he is also reported to have said that if 
someone does do some such thing, there is no need 
to make it public."
The minister, then, has given the maulvis a 
collective certificate of past and future good 
conduct, when there is nothing to suggest that 
their moral standards are any better (or worse) 
than the rest of society, and also guaranteed any 
transgressors immunity from public scrutiny. 
Indeed, there is sufficient anecdotal and 
published evidence to suggest that sexual abuse 
of children by religious teachers is rather 
widespread.
The issue of sexual abuse of children in mosques 
and madrassas should merit particular attention, 
because of the large number of children in the 
country who attend these institutions for 
religious instruction. It is a matter of great 
concern for two reasons: firstly, the maulvis 
have access to boys and girls in very large 
numbers from a very early age; and secondly, 
because religious teachers are held in such awe 
and respect by the parents that children are more 
likely to surrender to their sexual demands and 
refrain from reporting abuse for fear of not 
being believed.
Earlier this year, a lay board set up by Catholic 
bishops in the US to help restore trust in the 
church reported that over the past five decades 4 
percent of priests, or about 4,400, were accused 
of abusing 10,667 minors. Americans have been 
shocked by the scale of child abuse by Catholic 
priests exposed over the past two years as well 
as by a pattern of secrecy and cover-up. It has 
forced the church to institute a policy of "zero 
tolerance" and forced other religious groups also 
to strengthen their procedures, but a recent poll 
shows 75 percent of American Catholics still 
believe leaders are doing "a bad job".
In an article published in Canada in 1999, Kathy 
Blair wrote: "Not so long ago, it seems that 
clergy sex offenders could abuse their victims 
with near impunity. Clergy were respected pillars 
of their community and their young charges could 
hardly imagine naming them as sexual offenders. 
... Times have changed. Canadian churches, 
including the Anglican Church, have all had to 
face up to the painful reality that sexual 
misconduct has been, if not rampant within the 
church, certainly far from unheard of."
Last year, Australia's governor general, Peter 
Hollingworth, resigned in ignominy because of 
"claims that he had failed to deal properly with 
child sexual assault allegations [against a 
priest] during his period as Anglican Archbishop 
of Brisbane". Commenting on the resignation, Bob 
Carr, the premier of New South Wales, Australia's 
most populous state, said: "It has affirmed the 
community resolve ... not to coddle the 
perpetrators [of child sexual abuse] no matter 
what their circumstances."
Western Christianity has taken drastic steps to 
reform, including heavy pay-outs to past victims, 
sacking and prosecution of offending priests, 
introducing strict guidelines to prevent future 
abuse, and taking collective responsibility. 
Despite rigidly adhering to the principles of 
individual liberty and respect for personal 
privacy, most Western countries keep convicted 
paedophiles under long-term monitoring and many, 
including the US, UK, Australia and Canada, are 
close to creating national sex offender 
registries. Teachers and other officials who are 
likely to come into contact with children in 
course of their duties are carefully screened to 
ensure that they do not pose a risk to these 
children.
In some Pakistani madrassas, 'wayward' children 
are known to be kept in chains, sometimes with 
parental consent. In the rare event of a case of 
child sexual abuse being reported, it is standard 
practice to mount pressure on the aggrieved 
parents, who usually hail from the poorer 
segments of society, to withdraw the charges. 
Recently, some teachers of a Peshawar government 
school were merely transferred to other schools 
after it was revealed that they had long been 
involved in sexual abuse of students. At about 
the same time, the family of a five-year old boy 
who had been sexually assaulted by the maulvi of 
a mosque in Lahore was pressurised to withdraw 
the case even though the investigation and DNA 
tests had conclusively identified the culprit.
A story in the Telegraph of February 8, describes 
in painful detail the case of 16-year-old Abid 
Tanoli who is recovering from an acid attack 
which all but destroyed both his eyes and left 
his face horribly disfigured. He was punished for 
refusing, about two year ago, to have sex with 
his teacher at a religious school in a lower 
middle-class neighbourhood in Karachi. Despite 
tremendous pressure, his father is pressing 
charges. The maulvi and his two accomplices have 
been arrested.
According to concerned lawyers and social 
workers, the sexual abuse of children is not 
uncommon in Pakistan, especially in the 
segregated surroundings of the country's 
estimated 20,000 religious schools, but cases 
involving maulvis are rarely - if ever - exposed. 
Zia Ahmed Awan, the president of Madadgaar, a 
joint project of LHRLA (Lawyers for Human Rights 
and Legal Aid) and the UNICEF, is quoted as 
saying that "they are either hushed up and sorted 
out within the confines of school, or parents are 
pressured not to report the incident to the media 
as it would give religion a bad name".
This is in keeping with our pervasive avoidance 
of washing dirty linen in public, thereby helping 
to perpetuate social evils. It also conforms to 
the tradition of sanctifying religion to the 
extent that we are not even prepared to take the 
first indispensable step - namely, openness - to 
protect our children from abuse by people who use 
their religious authority for their nefarious 
deeds.

______


[3]

Indian Express
December 23, 2004
	 	 
A BILL OF HER OWN?
PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO THE HINDU SUCCESSION ACT AREN'T RADICAL ENOUGH
By Bina Agarwal		 		 

The government's intent of amending the Hindu 
Succession Act, 1956 (HSA) towards gender 
equality is heartening. But the proposed 
amendments are inadequate. The Hindu Succession 
(Amendment) Bill 2004, introduced in Rajya Sabha 
on December 20, if enacted, will leave untouched 
a major source of inequality: rights in 
agricultural land. While enhancing a daughter's 
share in a man's joint family property it will 
reduce the shares of other Class I heirs such as 
his widow and mother. It will also leave intact 
the man's right to will away his share and 
disinherit female heirs. It will thus be a lost 
opportunity for comprehensive amendment. For 
gender equality, we need to bring agricultural 
land on par with other property, abolish joint 
family property and partially restrict testation.

The unamended HSA 1956 contains two explicit 
sources of gender inequality and one implicit 
one. One, the Act, Section 4(2), exempts 
significant interests in agricultural land: it 
leaves untouched provisions of tenurial laws 
concerning the fixation of ceilings, 
fragmentation of agricultural holdings or 
devolution of tenancy rights in such holdings. 
Hence, interests in tenancy land devolve 
according to the order of devolution specified in 
the tenurial laws, which vary by state. In the 
southern and most of the central and eastern 
states, these laws are silent on devolution, so 
inheritance can be assumed to follow the HSA. In 
a few states, the tenurial laws specify that the 
HSA or the ''personal law'' will apply. But, in 
the northwestern states of Haryana, Punjab, HP, 
Delhi, UP and J&K, the tenurial laws do specify 
the order of devolution and these are highly 
gender unequal. Here primacy is given (as under 
the ancient Mitakshara system) to male lineal 
descendants in the male line of descent and women 
come very low in the order of heirs. Also, a 
woman gets only a limited estate and loses the 
land if she remarries (as widow) or fails to 
cultivate it for a year or two. Moreover, in UP 
and Delhi, a ''tenant'' is defined so broadly 
that this unequal order of devolution covers all 
agricultural land.

Two, females have rights to smaller property 
shares than males. Under the HSA (excepting Hindu 
matrilineal communities), the separate property 
of a Hindu male dying intestate devolves, in the 
first instance, equally on his sons, daughters, 
widow and mother (plus specified heirs of 
predeceased sons or daughters). If previously 
governed under the Dayabhaga system, this rule 
applies also to ancestral property. But, if 
previously governed by Mitakshara, the concept of 
joint family property is retained. In the 
deceased man's ''notional'' share in the 
Mitakshara coparcenary, sons, daughters, widow 
and mother (and other Class I heirs) are entitled 
to equal shares. But sons, as coparceners, also 
have a direct right by birth to an independent 
share in the joint family property, in addition 
to their shares in their father's portion; while 
female heirs (daughter, widow, mother) have a 
right only in the deceased man's ''notional'' 
portion. Also, sons can demand partition of the 
Mitakshara coparcenary while the women cannot. 
Hence even to get their part of the ''notional'' 
share, women have to await partition by males. 
Moreover, a man can convert any part of his 
separate property into coparcenary property, 
which can further reduce women's inheritance. 
Three, the Act gives a person unrestricted 
testamentary rights over his/her property. In 
practice, the provision can be used to disinherit 
female heirs. Since the HSA 1956 was passed, five 
states have amended it. Maharashtra, Karnataka, 
TN and AP have included daughters as coparceners 
in joint family property, while Kerala has 
abolished joint family property altogether. No 
state has amended the provisos on agricultural 
land.

The 2004 Bill follows the route of the 
Maharashtra et al amendments. It does not address 
the HSA's gender inequalities comprehensively. 
First it will not redress inequality in 
agricultural land - the most important form of 
rural property. As I have argued in my book, A 
Field of One's Own, gender equality in 
agricultural land can reduce not just a woman's 
but her whole family's risk of poverty, increase 
her livelihood options, enhance prospects of 
child survival, education and health, reduce 
domestic violence and empower women. It is 
therefore critical that in amending the HSA, all 
agricultural holdings be brought within the Act's 
purview. (Also, at the state level, amending 
tenurial laws to remove gender discriminatory 
devolution rules is imperative.) Second, the 2004 
Bill favours some women over others. On the 
positive side, the amendments will increase the 
shares of daughters who are unmarried when the 
amendments come into effect and in the long run 
increase the shares of all daughters. It will 
also give daughters direct rights in some 
property which the father cannot will away. But 
the amendments will decrease the shares of other 
Class I female heirs, such as the man's widow and 
mother, since the coparcenary share of the 
deceased male from whom they inherit will 
decline. In other words, while the amendments 
will reduce inequality between sons and daughters 
on some counts, they will increase inequality 
between daughters and other women on the same 
counts. In this sense, the proposed amendments 
are flawed. A more egalitarian step would be to 
abolish joint family property, as in Kerala.

Third, the 2004 Bill retains unrestricted rights 
to testation. Restricting testamentary rights to, 
say, half or two-thirds of the property, as found 
in some other jural systems in India and Europe, 
would be a step in the right direction. The 2004 
Bill is based on the recommendations of the Law 
Commission's 174th Report 2000, and reproduces 
its shortcomings. In 1999, the Law Commission had 
fielded a questionnaire to NGOs and experts, 
soliciting responses to alternative proposals for 
amendments, such as whether or not to bring all 
agricultural land under the HSA, and whether to 
abolish joint family property altogether or make 
daughters coparceners on the same basis as sons - 
81 per cent of the responses favoured bringing 
gender equality in the inheritance of 
agricultural land and a substantial percentage 
supported the abolition of joint family property. 
But on both counts the Commission took the 
conservative route. It did not touch agricultural 
land and only recommended making daughters 
coparceners. These weaknesses went unnoticed by 
women's groups.

However, if the 2004 Bill is debated in 
Parliament (and I hope it will be) it provides a 
window of opportunity for women's groups to 
mobilise and ask for a more comprehensive 
amendment than the Bill proposes, one that brings 
all property, including agricultural land, on 
par, abolishes joint family property, and 
partially restricts testation.


The writer is professor of economics, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi


______


[4]

[In support of Gurpreet Kaur]

SACW  23 Dec 2004

WHEN INDIVIDUALS BECOME THREAT TO THE COMMUNITY                 
By V.B.Rawat

Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti's play 'Behzti'  has become 
the latest act of vandalism by the Sikh community 
in London, where she face threat by the community 
leaders for bringing 'disrepute' to the 
community. Over-hyped and over patriotic non 
residents must be feeling as if it is a 
conspiracy against the 'great' 'Indian' culture 
but the fact is it reduces them to jokers and not 
more than that.

Why Sikhs feel offended on a play. They can also 
make their own play and glorify their acts, which 
rightfully they have been doing. But who gave 
some of them the authority to decide what people 
should watch and what not. It is not necessary 
for all of us to agree to what Gurpreet say 
through her play but it is equally important to 
give her freedom to express her creativity. After 
all, she come from the community and might have 
seen some of the acts by certain individuals who 
she later on converted into her play.

Sikkhism is a dynamic religion founded by Guru 
Nanak. Most of the time, I ask this question to 
my Sikh friends as why Sikkhism was formed. And 
not all of them reply in the same way what the 
Hindutva's philosophers have been claiming during 
the past few years 'that Sikkhism was created to 
defend Hinduism'. It is a notorious answer to the

things which they don't want to unfold. Guru 
Nanak was one of the most revolutionary 
philosophers of his time who had known like the 
Buddha the dangers of a 'brahmanical' system and 
therefore asked people to believe in equality and 
get rid of superstitions and rituals, which were 
hallmark of the system that time.

Sikh community worked hard and was a network 
itself. Punjab became one of the prosperous 
states of the country and its people started 
migrating to west. Some through legal means and 
other through 'sam-dam-dand-bheda'. Many travel 
agents had bumpy crops in cities like Jullandhur 
and Ludhiana to advise people about visa, 
passport and travel. The community prospered 
around the religion, which was hijacked by the 
religious leadership in the name of politics with 
'spiritualism'. Most of these religio-political 
leaders had vast empire of business under their 
name and if they are caught then it become threat 
to the community.

It is not unusual for them to have money and 
empire for in this age of globalisation, 
religiousity is being marketed fantastically 
through the TV channels and newspapers and any 
one who challenges this becomes a villain. We 
have a Shankaracharya who is still behind the bar 
chairing over an empire for over 5000 crore 
rupees. We have many Imams running their 
religious institutions for crores of rupees. And 
there is the same dominance of the religious 
leaders of other community. Point here not to say 
that they all are detrimental to our health but 
simply because they chant Granth Sahib or 
Ramcharit Manasa or Quran does not make them 
'honorable'.

We have been victim of this fundamentalist 
secularism in India where the religious heads 
have got immunity from the state. If some 
religious gurus are appeased, it is considered 
that the entire community's problems are 
resolved. And interestingly most of these 
religious gurus are not interested in any of 
reforms with in the community. Those who talk of 
reforms are under the threat in most of the 
communities. It was so difficult for us to fight 
against the big elite Sikh class which has 
brutally oppressed the Dalits in Shaheed Udham 
Singh Nagar. We know it well that the Uttaranchal 
state has been under the Congress regime and no 
body would like to be seen as anti Sikh while the 
issue there was no anti Sikh. Issue was to 
restore the land rights to the landless Dalits 
whose land was acquired illegally.

Punjab despite all its good ness has many 
negative things. I am sure no body would mind it 
saying that the cases of 'koodimar' ( killing 
girls in womb) are on the rise. Despite all talks 
of equality and prosperity, why has Punjab fallen 
far behind rest of the country in the sex ratio? 
Punjab's political leaders as well as social 
activists would not answer these socially 
important issues. In fact, in a recent trip to 
Amritsar, I came across such issues speaking to a 
large segments of the people. Yet, most of the 
people living in the villages were asking for 
more education for girls and boys, they were 
equally unhappy with the presentation of Sikh 
culture through the soft porn music videos. " Is 
it our culture', said most of them, we used to 
respect women and they are presenting her just as 
a show peace.

I am not sure how many of us remember that a few 
years back one of the topmost leader of the 
Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee was charged for 
the alleged murder of her daughter because it was 
said that the daughter was in love with a boy of 
her choice and the mother did not like it and it 
is alleged that she got her killed. Punjab is a 
'Balle-Balle' land but at the same point of time 
violence against women are on the rise in the 
state. The Sikh as a community looks versatile 
and have progressed but there is a need for them 
to take the issue of women's and Dalits rights 
seriously and don't dump it as an issue against 
them.

About two years back, Talhan village in 
Jullandhar district saw dangerous caste rights. A 
large number of Mazhabis, who have migrated to 
Europe and US became a challenge to upper caste 
Jat Sikhs. They now had equal amount of money and 
wanted to be part of the Sikh mainstream. Their 
effort to get elected at the local Gurudwara 
Prabhandhak Committee was met with violent 
protest. For many days Talhan became a caste 
identity for the upper caste Sikhs who hammered 
the Dalits. Ironically both the Congress and 
Akalis represent the hardcore interest groups the 
upper caste Sikhs. Is it not tragic that Sikkhism 
which was founded on the basis of anti caste 
feeling has become victim of the same 
higherarchical system which the bramins inflicted 
on India?

This year was the four hundredth year of Sikhism. 
Punjab and rest of the country celebrated this 
with great fan fare. The government of India had 
already allotted huge sum of money for the 
celebrations. Right from president Kalam to Chief 
Minister Amrinder Singh to Atal Bihari Vajpayee 
and Lal Krishna Adwani, every one was present in 
the ceremony. Nobody ever raised a question as 
what was the fault of Sonia Gandhi for not being 
invited there but it is here lies the bias 
against women. Sonia did not raise the issue nor 
did the local Congress because ultimately they 
don't want to challenge the religious authority 
of the religious leadership of the Sikhs which 
did not feel bad of not inviting one of the 
important political leaders of the country whose 
party is in power not at the center but at the 
state also.

One Dalit civil servant was very unhappy at this 
event in Chandigarh when he asked me why this 
kind of hoopla there? Have we asked where is the 
money being used and for whose sake? Can these 
leaders give us account of what has happened with 
this money? Why should the state patronize them 
with its fund meant for the poor? Do poor not 
live in Punjab? Did we ask what was their 
condition?  Hopefully, we will realize that 
behind Punjab's prosperity, a lot is the hardwork 
of  Dalits and backward communities from Bihar 
and Uttar-Pradesh.. Has anything been done for 
their welfare.

Two years back when the Delhi government made it 
mandatory for wearing helmet by the pillion 
riders in the two wheelers, the Sikh religious 
leaders protested that it hurt their religious 
sentiments. Therefore to save itself from the 
criticism from other quarters, the government 
allowed the women pillion riders to be without 
helmet while Sikh men don't wear it. Why? I am 
sure if helmet was that blasphemous, Navjot Singh 
Siddhu and Maninder Singh should not have worn it 
facing Imran Khan or Malcom Marshal at the 
cricket field.

Such kind of spineless act of the state has been 
enormous in our country where they stop short of 
acting under the garb of 'hurting' religious 
sentiments and hence state become virtually 
victim of the religious heads. Hence Salman 
Rushdie's book is banned in India despite the 
fact that not many of them have heard about it. 
If you ban Salman Rushdie book and let Ambedkar 
publish the Riddles of Hinduism, then people like 
Arun Shourie are up in arm against what they term 
as appeasement. Hence this is a nexus in India. 
We carefully exchange such things to help each 
other without coming strongly. Is rule of law 
just for those who follow it? Will it take on 
those who don't believe in the democratic 
constitution and their only constitution is 'Gods 
word' whether it is Gita, Ramayana, Quarana, 
Bible or Granth Saheb. I am sure we will have to 
find answer to this whether we as a society can 
respect each other if we continue to be in the 
confine of those religious texts which don't matc 
h the modern civilization and which continue to 
justify irrationality. Can these text be changed 
according to time and need of human being or will 
they agree that all human being are equal 
irrespective of their caste, gender and religion.

Now, these question may be intolerable for many 
of the friends but the fact is rather then 
sending hate mails and making protest, they 
better do some soul searching as why as a society 
we continue to feel threatened by a few 
individuals who dare to bare. Whether it is 
Taslima Nasreen or Salman Rushdie or Gurpreet 
Kaur or any other great souls like Burtrend 
Russell, Ambedkar and Periyar who exposed the 
anti people religious texts. But then one has to 
admit that a religious society cannot be expected 
to be rational as they move more on emotions. 
Only thing is that they should also make emotions 
about women and girl child. A Gurpreet Kaur 
cannot be dangerous to Sikh society, in fact 
allowing her to perform her play will make the 
Sikh community ponder over the problem it face 
today as well as prove that the community respect 
personal freedom of an artist. One certain play 
normally is based on individuals and cannot be 
termed as a blasphemous to the community while 
the act of a fe w 'champions' of community wisdom 
and freedom may definitely be termed as 
blasphemous if that hurt the author physically. 
It violates the basic human right of an 
individual to express her anger against certain 
event, which has touched her heart. One hope that 
the government of Britain will act fast on this 
matter and will not buckle under pressure from 
such people who make a mockery of international. 
Religious leaders in the garb of politicians 
should not be allowed to take every one for 
granted. Let the government provide full security 
to Gurpreet Kaur and reject those who want to fan 
religious fanaticism in the name of 'hurt' 
religious sentiments.

______


[5]



ANNOUNCEMENTS:

(i)

IHEU 16th World Congress
Tuesday 5th July to Thursday 7th July 2005, Paris

SEPARATION OF RELIGION AND STATE

  2005 marks the centenary of the 1905 French Law of Separation of
Church and State. IHEU member organisation the Libre Pensée Française
played a crucial role in achieving this landmark legislation.

  IHEU, the worldwide umbrella organisation for Humanism, and its
French Member Organisation the Libre Pensée Française invite you to
the World Humanist Congress, and to learn through interactive and
plenary sessions about the world-wide Humanist movement, the
challenges we face, and our success stories.

  Attend special sessions on Science and Secularism, on the European
Union and on Women’s issues; learn about the IHEU’s IHEU-Appignani
Humanist Center for Bioethics, about IHEU ‘s support to the
development of Humanism world-wide, and much more! Compare notes,
interact and exchange ideas with Humanist and Human Rights activists
and leaders and opinion makers from around the world.

  The prestigious venues for the Congress include UNESCO headquarters,
the Conseil Economique et Social, and the University of Sorbonne.
Simultaneous interpretation in French and English for all plenary and
other selected sessions.

  For full details and to register, visit www.iheu.org {www.iheu.org}
or write to:

  La Libre Pensée Française
  10–12 rue des Fossés Saint-Jacques, 75005 Paris, France
  Tel + 33 1 46 34 21 50 • Fax + 33 1 46 34 21 84
Email libre.pensee at wanadoo.fr

  Or

  IHEU, 1 Gower Street, London WC1E 6HD, United Kingdom
Tel + 44 207 6313170 • Fax + 44 207 6313171 • generaloffice at iheu.org
The Congress is supported by the French National Commission for
UNESCO and organised by the Libre Pensée Française.

  -------------------------------------------------------------
IHEU World Congress and associated events in Paris, July 2005

Monday July 4th -- World Congress of Freethinkers
Tuesday July 5th -- Plenary sessions of IHEU Congress
Wednesday July 6th -- Parallel sessions and Workshops
Thursday July 7th (morning) -- Plenary session of IHEU Congress
Thursday July 7th (afternoon) & Friday July 8th -- IHEU General
Assembly
Friday July 8th – Thursday 14 July -- IHEYO Conf. on
‘Multiculturalism’ (See www.iheyo.org {www.iheyo.org})

  -------------------------------------------------------------
  For programme details and registration procedure, please visit
www.iheu.org {www.iheu.org} or email libre.pensee at wanadoo.fr

______


(ii)

  International Seminar on 'Situating History of 
Environment: The Territory of Historians of 
Environment', DRS Programme (Phase I), Department 
of History, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India, 
March 3-5, 2005

  The Department of History, Jadavpur University, 
is organizing an International Seminar on 
'Situating History of Environment: The Territory 
of Historians of Environment' in early March 
2005. The study of environmental history has now 
become important as a natural and inevitable 
result of a perceived 'environmental crisis' in 
today's world. This perception has resulted in 
the development of a broad area called 
Environmental Studies. However, in view of the 
important role of the scientists in the emergence 
of Environmental Studies-and the subsequent 
contribution of scholars from diverse 
disciplinary backgrounds to this field-it has 
remained an open-ended subject. Within the field, 
'environmental history' remains universally 
acknowledged as a critically important area of 
inquiry, but without well-defined disciplinary 
canons and methodological guidelines. It is 
strongly felt that only professional historians 
with the requisite methodological training will 
be able to (1) develop and  define the agenda and 
disciplinary canons of this field of inquiry, and 
(2) historicise the present-day concerns and 
anxieties in the broad area of Environmental 
Studies. Unfortunately, no Department of History 
in India has come forward to undertake this task 
in a concerted and coordinated manner. This is 
the lacuna that the proposed International 
Seminar under the DRS project of the Department 
of History, Jadavpur University, seeks to fill 
in. This three-day international seminar on the 
state of art in the environmental History aims to 
bring together approximately 30 leading scholars 
sharing a common interest in the environmental 
history of South Asia and various parts of the 
world to deliberate on the subject.

  Sessions will include (this is subject to change)

  1) Inaugural Session, the Keynote Address
2) Defining the Territory of Historians of Environment
3) Historiography
4) Methodology
4a) Development of Disciplines and Institutions with environmental concerns :

  Botany, Zoology, Geology, Marine Biology, 
Oceanography Geological Survey of India, Forest 
Research Institute, Zoological Survey of India, 
Botanical Survey of India, Horticultural Society 
of India, Meteorological Survey of India

  5) Management of nature: evolving role of state 
and society through different periods of history
a) Forestry, conservation, land-use and water resources
b) Disease, sanitation and ecology
  c) Environment-oriented social 
movements-case-studies of tribal and other 
movements
d) Environment and development in modern India
e) The history of natural calamities and environmental disasters

  6) History of environmental ideas in India
a) The representations of nature and environment in literature and the arts
b) Indigenous and colonial knowledge
c) The historical evolution of environmental ethics
d) Women and environment
e) Human Rights and environment

7) Environmentalist Concerns in Plural Societies: 
A Comparative Study of India and the Wider World
8) Globalization and Environment
9) Rag Bag

  Provisional List of Speakers

Mahesh Rangarajan (USA)
Ramchandra Guha (Bangalore)
Madhav Gadgil (Delhi)
Richard Grove (USA)
  Vandana Shiva (USA)
Arun Bandapadhyay (Calcutta)
Deepak Kumar (Delhi)
M.S. S. Pandyan
Vinita Damodaran (Sussex)
Subho Basu (USA)
Suchibrata Sen (Santiniketan)
Daniel Rycroft (Sussex)
Karl Jacoby (USA)
Rita Pumberton (West Indies)
Lawrence Gundersen (USA)
S. Sangwan
Prabhu Mahapatra (Delhi)
Kapil Kumar (Delhi)
Y.Vaikuntham (Hyderabad)
Adapa Satyanarayanan ( Hyderabad)
Jorge Flores (Portugal)
Kaushik Roy (Delhi)
Sumit Guha (USA)
Ravi Rajan (USA)
Chetan Singh (Delhi)
Aloke Ghosh (Kalyani)
Amal Das (Kalyani)
Arabinda Samanta (Burdwan)
Dhirendra Dhangwal (Delhi)
C.Rajendran (Calicut)
David Hardiman (U.K.)
Chhanda Chattapadhyay(Santiniketan)
Ajay Singh Rawat (Nainital)

  The title and summary of the paper may kindly be 
sent to the following email address positively by 
February 5, 2005.

  ranchakju at yahoo.co.in

  ranjanju at fulbrightweb.org

  The full paper including standard end notes 
should be submitted at the Conference. This is 
the first circular of this International 
Conference on 'Situating History of Environment: 
The Territory of Historians of Environment'.

  The participants, whose papers will be accepted 
for presentation in the Conference will be 
offered local hospitality and transportation. 
However, international travel expenses have to be 
borne by the scholars themselves. For further 
information and registration please contact :

  Professor Ranjan Chakrabarti
  Department of History
Jadavpur University
Kolkata 700032 (India)
Telefax 91-33-24146962 (O)
Email ranchakju at yahoo.co.in
ranjanju at fulbrightweb.org




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

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