SACW | 23 June 2005

[sacw]

South Asia Citizens Wire  | 23 June,  2005

[1]  Pakistan:  Enigma of the defence budget (Sherry Rehman)
[2]  Of Gods And Demons: Jinns and Sanghs/ Jinnah and The Sangh (Rakesh Shukla)
[3]  Bunty aur Babli: The latest RSS-BJP tango (Farzana Versey)
[4]  India: Action Alert against the eviction of 
'adivasis' from the Sardar Sarovar Dam site
[5]  India: The Striking Students at Jadavpur 
University and the State (Rila Mukherjee)
[6]  The Scholar of Peace Fellowships (WISCOMP)
[7]  Public Discussion:  on 'The Communal 
Violence (Supression) Bill, 2005' (Baroda, 26 
June 2005)

______

[1]


DAWN
June 16, 2005

ENIGMA OF THE DEFENCE BUDGET

By Sherry Rehman

ONE of the issues that surfaces every year for budget-makers in
Pakistan is the search for fiscal space. This year the trillion-plus
budget continues to be squeezed on both sides by two large, seemingly
fixed liabilities: debt servicing and defence spending. Despite
defence absorbing more than a quarter of the national wealth, the
subject, unlike debt servicing, has become inured from public debate
and exempt from any parliamentary accountability.

A milestone, in fact, was crossed this year in the National Assembly
as the young finance minister of state chose to ignore the
inexplicable escalation in the defence budget and shied away from even
mentioning the actual figure. Given the constant talk of transparency
and good governance emanating from the government, it is not just
surprising but shocking that the defence budget in Pakistan remains
above public scrutiny as well as the law.

If lawmakers in Pakistan cannot discuss, let alone question the
allocations and management of this chunk of the country's wealth, then
it is clear that once again, almost 30 per cent of the budgeted amount
will remain out of parliament's purview. This in turn means that the
army's business interests will also remain outside the public
accountability mechanism.

Without explanation, the formal defence allocation account appears as
a two-line statement divided into defence administration and defence
services in the federal consolidated fund in the demands for grants
and appropriations every year. As it stands, this year's official
defence budget itself posts a price hike of Rs 30 billion at Rs. 223
billion over last year's allocation for Rs 193 billion in absolute
terms. No doubt, as in previous years, this amount too will be subject
to a revised estimate. Last year, for instance, official defence
expenditure showed a difference of Rs 23 billion between initial and
revised estimates for 2004-5.

The first glaring problem that arises with this defence budget is that
it does more to conceal the allocation made than to enable its
disclosure. To start with, the actual amount presented does not cover
many expenses that accrue to defence. This is an accounting trend that
has emerged over the last few years, when the international donor
community has insisted that the military budget be reduced.

When parliamentarians or donors read the allocation for defence over
the next fiscal year, it will not include the military pensions, which
now run into 35.6 billion rupees. Nor will the defence outlay include
Rs 1.4 billion demanded separately for the combatant accounts of the
defence division which include the Maritime Security Forces and others
with dotted line or direct reports to the military, Rs 40, 723 million
in salaries for defence production, Rs 7.2 billion spent on the civil
armed forces, Rs 3.7 billion for the Pakistan Rangers, Rs 1.5 billion
for the Frontier Constabulary, Rs 359 million for the Pakistan Coast
Guards, nor the one billion rupees set aside for military schools,
cantonments and other residuals.

The Atomic Energy Commission too, which falls under the control of the
Strategic Plans Division, has been allotted separate funds, yet the
two billion rupees demanded this year is charged to civilian expenses
under the cabinet division. But while the arguments for
guns-versus-butter continue to rage in many places, this year's Rs 272
billion development budget gets squeezed into carrying a load for the
defence division as development expenditure worth Rs 642 million.

So essentially, even if the amount for military pensions is restored
to the overall defence account and all the expenses mentioned above
are added up, a revised figure of Rs 277 billion emerges, which
demonstrates a clear rise of 43 per cent over last year's official
figure and a 14 per cent hike on the 'hidden' budget for last year.
For 2004-5, this hidden budget amounts to Rs 242 billion instead of
the Rs 193 billion figure that conceals military expenditures in
civilian accounts. After specific claims that that there would be no
rise in the defence budget, no credible explanation was even offered
about the compulsions that propel this jump of 14 per cent.

The second question being asked is why Pakistan now needs a huge
defence budget that is close to four per cent of its GDP, when India
is spending 2.8 per cent? When the entire justification for
maintaining a high defence budget is negated by the welcome downturn
in hostilities with India, the rationale for Pakistan remaining
hostage to its Cold War garrison-state identity should also naturally
be under review. For a country that has fallen behind all of South
Asia in its human development index, including Nepal and Bhutan, an
urgent redefinition of outdated concepts of national security is
surely expected.

But that is not all. The question of maintaining the eighth largest
standing army in the world, when huge undisclosed amounts on the
nuclear option are disbursed, becomes critical, for the simple reason
that the nuclear deterrent capability was meant to substantially
reduce the need for such a large conventional force. As it stands, one
of the many reasons for continued high defence spending remains a
large percentage of wasted resources which has arisen out of lack of
oversight from non-military sources. While purchases of bullet proof
limousines by the cabinet division can be questioned because they fall
under civilian oversight, no such queries can be directed at the
luxury cars and goods purchased by the military, its appointment of
surplus employees, nor the expenditure accruing from duplication of
activities or wrongdoing. From 1977 onwards, when Ziaul Haq began the
practice of maintaining funds by the corps commanders who were at
liberty to use them at their discretion, many scandals over money
being siphoned for political activities have surfaced.

The inter-services intelligence agencies remain above the law and
unaccountable, even though they reportedly absorb seven to 11 per cent
of the military's budget and use secret funds and ghost bank accounts
to destabilize civilian political parties and their governments. The
Mehran Bank scandal is an example of such financial corruption, when
bribes worth Rs 14 million were unearthed as paid out by the ISI to
manipulate the 1990 elections, a fact which was admitted in court by
General Aslam Beg, the former COAS.

The third problem with this budget is that despite public clamour
about the military's vast real estate holdings, no equation is
factored in to provide for the creeping militarization of the
mainstream economy. The issue which is now constantly questioned
without any satisfactory response is the size and quantum of the
military's holdings in what are traditionally commercial sectors.

The military's four major welfare foundations are increasingly the
subject of growing public disquiet because they pay no direct taxes on
their corporate activities, operate as virtual monopolies, and elbow
out civilian private enterprise in their subsidized operations. They
function as military welfare trusts but provide a haven for retired
and serving military officers who run a multitude of corporate
ventures ranging from sugar, cereal, fertilizer production to running
airlines, real estate, education, advertizing and others.

The four military foundations - the Army Welfare Trust, the Fauji
Foundation, Bahria Foundation and Shaheen Foundation - for instance,
now run a parallel commercial empire, but end up leaving scant traces
of the net financial burden they impose on the public sector, because
large allocations are made from the opaque defence budget.

Despite the fact that most of the foundations were raised with initial
funding from the public sector and the sale of evacuee properties
after 1971, their profits remain sky high because they remain above
scrutiny even in their tendering for contracts and other market
activities. The Fauji Foundation's recent and controversial sale of
Khoshki Sugar Mill at a low bid of Rs 300 million against the highest
bid of Rs 387 million damages the institutional reputation of the
military. The fact that government service rules prohibit public
servants from running private enterprises is often ignored, while the
military control of Pakistan's public sector continues unabated as
retired generals and brigadiers pick up lucrative posts and double
pensions to run everything from public utilities, universities and
accountability and national reconstruction boards.

The military as a class does itself a disservice when it allows rumour
to replace public disclosure. Perhaps many of its legitimate
procurement and modernization demands will then not be eclipsed by the
paper-trail of undocumented purchases and irregularities unearthed by
the auditor-general for Defence if it develops an institutionalized
mechanism of requisitioning public money for its needs.

Unsurprisingly, it becomes difficult to forego development funds, even
if they are poorly managed and often under-utilized, for an
institution that fiercely protects its privileges and political role
in the country by demanding immunity for itself while advocating
accountability for others.

We the people, as they say, are not opposed to the military's spending
money in principle. We don't even mind occasionally upgrading the
proverbial barracks, but only if we know where the money is going.

The writer is a member of the National Assembly.


______


[2]

[22 June 2005]


OF GODS AND DEMONS: JINNS AND SANGHS/ JINNAH AND THE SANGH
by
Rakesh Shukla

Like well executed ballet moves, the Sangh parivar and its members have been
adept at the task of taking forward their core Hindutva philosophy. Vajpayee
the moderate - Advani the hawk; Advani the moderate- Modi the hawk; Modi the
moderate - Togadia the hawk and so on in an endless charade. And of course
leading a rath yatra sparking off communal tensions and blood baths along
the route culminating in the demolition of Babri Masjid and then discovering
that it is the "saddest day" in ones' life is am sure a humbling experience
and good for the soul. Ditto the tear or two in Vajpayee's eyes, depending
on the audience, re the post-Godhra massacres. All these have effectively
served the purpose of lending a wider acceptability to a fringe Nazi-party
like ideology with its' nominated Sarsanghachalaks and "virile but celibate"
sons of Bharatmata embodied in the Pracharaks.

This time around the Jinnah controversy has set things awry. 'Traitor',
'Exhortations to go back to Pakistan', 'Resolutions asking Advani to take
Sanyas from politics' are no part of some well orchestrated choreography.
The virulent response provoked in the 'parivar' merits closer examination.
Crucial to the agenda of fascist and communal ideologies is the successful
demonising and 'othering' of a section, a community, a people.

Nazi propaganda portraying Jews as seducers and rapists of Aryan girls
sounds remarkably similar to stories, that Muslims took "our" women and have
"violated" at least 100 women in the village, which were used to mobilize
mobs of 25-30000 for attacks on the minority community in the Gujarat
violence. In Gujarat, long before any killings began, women's bodies were
used to successfully polarize the two communities.

The existence of Babri Masjid built by Babar the Cruel, himself, as a
phallic symbol which colonises Mother India and emasculates the virile sons
who failed to protect her was forcefully played upon to spread hate and
venom during the Ranjanmabhoomi rath yatra. Starting the Yatra from Somnath
invoking the plunder of  the temple, which looting and destruction had
nothing to do with Indian Muslims and ending it at Babri Masjid was a
masterful exercise in invoking past-trauma as if it happened now leading to
intensifying of emotions and justifiable anger against "them". The
culmination in the demolition of the Masjid restored Hindu male virility and
symbolic Hindu feminine purity.

Goebbels a master of this genre successfully demonised Jews as the cause of
all ills from unemployment to polluting racial purity, debauching, sapping
the energy, breaking the strength and humiliating mother Germany. In a
similar vein white supremacist racist discourse constructs the black male as
essentially beast-like and therefore easy to kill without compunction which
one may feel in the case of a fellow human being.

The conflation of Muslim rulers like Taimur, Changez Khan, Babar from the
past invading 'Mother India' and violating 'pure' Hindu girls and women in
the past with contemporary stories of Muslim men abducting, raping and
mutilating our 'mothers and sisters' leads to the successful demonising of
Muslims into the 'Other'and instigation of violence against them. Infact,
Gujarati dailies on 28th February 2002 carried  headlines like "Helpless
women struggling to escape the grip of Saitans (Devils)".  Rapes and sexual
violence against Muslim girls and women seems to get transformed into an act
to save the 'honour' of your own mothers and sisters, simultaneously
emasculating the rapacious Muslim males and 'dishonouring' the entire
community.

The successful implanting of beliefs which have little basis in facts like
'Hindus are being persecuted in their own country', 'Hindus will soon be in
a minority in their own country', 'Muslims have 4 wives and 64 children'
require a high degree of demonisation.

of the community. Just as it is necessary for the Sangh to have heroes and
honour "the victory over the 800 year old oppressive rule of the Muslims
under the virile leadership of Shivaji", it is imperative to have a pantheon
of demons. Just as Hindu motherhood is to be glorified, Muslim women are to
be projected as baby-producing factories out to make the 'population bomb'
or as 'luring' Hindu men into the community through conversions. Integral to
demonisation is the denial of any virtue in the persona.

Unlike Ravana, who could be permitted certain virtues like that of being
learned, the process of demonisation requires  a total 'othering' and
transformation into a beast-like creature with no human attributes or
positive qualities. The connivance of the administration, the chief
minister, the prime minister in the 2002 Gujarat massacres and the victory
of the BJP in the subsequent assembly elections makes it clear that the
fears of a minority of not getting equal treatment and being overrun by the
majority community, which played a crucial role in partition and in shaping
Jinnah's attitudes, cannot be said to be entirely unfounded.

Advanis's reference to Jinnah as a 'great man' and as having visualised
Pakistan as a secular state hits at and undercuts at the core of the process
of the 'othering' of a community whose patriotism is to be always held to be
suspect and which at best can enjoy a second-class status in a Hindu nation.
Demons like Babar, Changez Khan, Aurangzeb, Behram Khan, Jinnah are crucial
to the spewing of venom and prejudice against the 'Enemy Other'.


______


[3]

www.chowk.com
June 20, 2005

BUNTY AUR BABLI: THE LATEST RSS-BJP TANGO
Farzana Versey


Wake up. You have spent the past couple of weeks
imagining L. K. Advani as a white dove against a dark
sky, L. K. Advani as a seraphic Vajpayee, L. K. Advani
as Jinnah-lover, L. K. Advani as born-again
secularist, and L. K. Advani as the saffron brigade's
latest whipping boy.

What most people have not realised is that the
sado-masochism is consensual. They are doing it in
tandem. This con-game has been going on for over a
decade now and I am surprised at the naiveté of the
so-called analysts.

Advani's Pakistan visit, his comments on Jinnah and
the responses to it would constitute important media
reportage. But to have reams of opinion by people not
directly involved in party politics, and that too in
such a knee-jerk fashion at the initial stages, is
blind-folded opportunism. The papers went haywire with
indepth articles on Jinnah's house, his wife, his
wardrobe, his eating habits, his legal fees. This was
irrelevant to the context.

Where was the Advani trivia?

I was in Delhi when the tamasha began. Late one
evening, in a roomful of primarily starchy pedagogues,
I found uncharacteristically animated faces as the
words flew fast and furious. There was no question
about my seeming to rudely eavesdrop. They wanted to
be overheard. My right ear was ringing with the
baritone, "Yeh secularism kuchch zyaada hi ho raha
hai." The left ear evidenced the dryness of a "Laloo
Prasad ne sahee kahaa - aakhir uska janmabhoomi ke
saath rishta to hoga na -." I returned to the right ear
perking up with amusement when it registered the
remark, "They say Jinnah is a Kutchi. Kutchis are
handsome; Jinnah was not."

These were the intellectuals of the Capital –
bureaucrats, academics, senior media persons. They
were quoted, called on TV panels, wrote ponderous
pieces in the papers about Jinnah's past, Advani's
future (they clearly had no idea about the present).
They did not use the language they used in the room
that day.

One of them felt it incumbent to demonstrate
politeness and asked me my opinion about the
resignation. I knew only too well he was least
interested in it and would interrupt me with some more
googled gems to display his research skills. I merely
smiled enigmatically and shrugged, "I have nothing to
say right now." I was certain the resignation would be
withdrawn. Fortunately, I happened to meet someone who
knows his politics, having spent a few decades in it.
"Why are people jumping the gun? Should they not wait
a fortnight before making sweeping comments?" I asked
him.

That's precisely what I did. Waited. Now we can talk.

The few points that have been raised need to be seen
from the con-game perspective.

The leopard's spots

Was Advani reinventing his image?

All this talk of his trying to be another Vajpayee is
nonsense, for Advani is far more ambitious and
Vajpayee is not a good role model for Atalji himself
forget about anyone else. The only thing the two of
them have in common is the easy ability to talk with a
forked tongue. It must be noted that when Vajpayee
held centre-stage, Advani stood in the wings
ostensibly as kingmaker but also to give cues when
Atalji forgot the rehearsed lies. This time round,
Vajpayee was the only senior BJP leader who stood by
Advani. Why?

They have learned the ropes of fake moderation from
the same school - the RSS. Advani messed up Agra;
Vajpayee looked pained at his efforts failing. This
was predetermined. To use the RSS' newfound love for
filmi patois, the nayak would talk peace; the
khalnayak would botch up the plans. The hero would do
nothing and the nayika would take a midnight flight
back home.

They would remove their respective black and white
masks and return to the sallow grey arms of their
parent. Months later, Vajpayee would be instrumental
in initiating the peace process with Pakistan. He
would not remember Jinnah. Because the mai-baap told
him to leave something for the brother to say and do.

So, why was all the fuss created? What did people
expect him to write in the visitor's book at the
mausoleum? That their Quaid broke up the country?

Typically, the BJP has been referring to the episode
as evidence of it being a democratic party "where both
ideology and grassroots workers matter!" Where is the
ideology and, more importantly, where are the
grassroots workers?

The resignation was a drama, as is now well-known. He
carried it in his pocket on the flight itself. It was
probably drafted by the Sangh Parivar for him. When a
delegation went to ask him to rethink, he told them,
"Kya bachchon jaisi baat karte ho, main istifa waapas
nahin lene waala hoon (You are speaking in a childish
manner. I am not withdrawing my resignation)." But he
did. I suppose he is vulnerable to the pleas of
children.

I feel a little sorry for all those who started
applauding him a bit too soon. This includes the
Pakistani press.

Daily Times: "It was a masterstroke on part of Advani.
By resigning he has signalled that he is prepared to
rise above the narrow agenda of the Parivar and the
latter can either fall in line or lump it."

They don't have to do either; Mr. Advani is the line
of actual control.

Jang: "Advani's about turn after seventy years in
politics proves he is a wise person who is reading the
writing on the wall - Advani's courage would be
remembered in subcontinent politics and it may change
the shape of things to come."

Wisdom after 70 years? What writing and on whose wall?
What will it change?

Dawn: "He has managed to bring into focus the dilemma
of religio-political parties in today's rapidly
globalising, and inevitably secularising, world. It
was Advani who led the notorious 'rath yatra' that
culminated in the cruel destruction of the Babri
Mosque in 1992 -.if a person like him believes that is
time to re-evaluate the role of revivalist parties, it
is as much political realism as an intelligent
realisation of the irresistible forces that now
confront many traditional political notions and
practices."

Did anyone hear him discuss the role of revivalist
parties? Has he said he has changed? These are his
words, "What I am today is what I am tomorrow. I have
not changed. I am a misunderstood person in Pakistan - I
don't hate Pakistan."

As an Indian I don't care what he thinks of Pakistan.
But he is playing a dangerous game. There have always
been innuendoes that if you create a good impression
of yourself in Pakistan, then the Indian Muslims will
be pleased. We are not amused. It is an insult to IM
intelligence and patriotism.

Unfortunately, this well-orchestrated affair has not
left senior commentators unmoved. M. J. Akbar wrote,
"One can sense the depth of shock within the BJP. They
had barely managed to digest the liberalism of Atal
Behari Vajpayee, and now they were being confronted
with a recast Advani."

Really? So, what was Vajpayee's Goa speech all about?
What is the continuing support for Narendra Modi all
about? Was it done under RSS pressure or with their
connivance? If the demolition of the Babri Masjid was
indeed "the saddest day" in Mr. Advani's life, then
why did it take 14 years and six months to be raked up
again? Why had he allowed even more sadness to
permeate the country when his party was in power?

Pakistan as willing pawn

Why was he invited in the first place? If Pakistan
wanted to show it was secular it could have got one of
its senior Hindu leaders or religious heads or an
Indian mahant to do the honours. At one time they used
to talk about how Hindutva parties had demoralised
their brothers across the border. This was the man
behind it. And there they were in rapt attention as he
cavalierly spoke about sending a message to Pakistan
about minorities. As Sharad Pawar put it so
effectively, now that Advani has discussed secularism
in Pakistan he should perhaps practise it in his own
country.

Where was Pakistani self-respect? Why were they
jumping around only because he was stating the
obvious? Jinnah being called a secularist by a bigot
should have been deemed an insult. To add further
injury, Advani has been talking about how he was
telling our neighbour about their founder's original
plan. They listened. They feted him. They let him sway
to the tune of a Sindhi pop singer and get away with
his spiel.

Only a fool would believe that praising Jinnah was a
paean to secularism. On the surface the cop-out reason
was the above-mentioned one that was touted. Advani
who has always toed the RSS line would never go
against it. There has been a tacit understanding: Use
Jinnah who they say fractured the country along
communal lines to justify and legitimise your own
communalism.

The Jamaat-e-Islami termed Advani's resignation as an
"eye-opener" for Pakistani rulers. "Those who talk
about soft borders with India should now review their
thinking that Hindu hardliners are not ready to accept
Pakistan."

Advani has followed his brief well: Create confusion.
He has fulfilled the mission of the Hindu hardliners.

The Hindu card

After the Karachi whitewash job, we now get to hear
from the likes of Sudheendra Kulkarni that there is no
such thing as "the Hindu vote". Smart. In India, the
deciding factor is the Hindu vote, therefore stating
it would anyway be a non sequiter.

We have this interesting yoyo going back and forth.
The VHP starts worrying about the BJP becoming the
"Bharatiya Jinnah party". It asks Advani to take
sanyas for hurting the feelings of 85 crore Hindus.

This is ironical – it ought to really mean that they
are not the thinking like Hindus if they are missing
all those Muslims who left because of Jinnah.

Venkaiah Naidu jumps in to say, "Advaniji's
contribution to Hinduism and nationalism is
unparalleled
.He is the man who set an agenda for a
debate across the country on the true meaning of
secularism, tearing apart the pseudo-secular politics
practised by other parties."

Please note that there does not seem to be the
necessity for political correctness here – it is Hindu
first, nationalist next. For the record, "tearing
apart of pseudo-secular politics" is an old RSS hobby.
And why have we not heard about secularism in India as
practised by Indian Muslims?

Because that would be so much appeasement. As one RSS
leader said, Jinnah "subsequently became a communalist
and an anti-Hindu leader who espoused the two-nation
theory. How can Advani call such a person secular?"
Are only anti-Hindus communalists?

And how many people have heard about the Katasraj
temple revered by all Hindus in the subcontinent as
the resting place of the Pandavas? Do you imagine
Advani went on the invitation of the Pakistan
government to inaugurate the restored portion without
the knowledge of the RSS? The BJP has said this was a
"turning point in removing long-held misgivings
between the people of the two countries". Are the
people of the two countries such idiots? Do the Indian
Hindus care about any temple in Pakistan?

That is not even the issue. Advaniji is in beatific
mode now, "Consciously or unconsciously (Bhagwat Gita)
had an impact on me during the phase I underwent
recently. I decided to stand by my conviction and face
the situation rather than engage in escapism."

Of course. The situation as it stands today is the RSS
is now praising Vajpayee for his stand against the UPA
government, the same Vajpayee who has stood behind
Advani. Got it? And the RSS is now declaring that it
is not anti-Muslim. What do you make of this?
Elementary politics. Advani was the RSS' loyal foot
soldier who did everything he could in Pakistan to lay
the foundation for the return of Hindutva and to
prepare for the early 2007 elections in Uttar Pradesh
where they plan to raise the Ram temple issue once
again.

Shri Lal Krishna Advani is known to be stupendously
good with temples.

Game, set, match

What Advani did by rattling Jinnah's skeleton was to
in fact draw attention to the two-nation theory. The
RSS may have called him old and wanted him to retire,
but what they have in mind for him is something larger
than party leadership. They want him to 'create'
history, much in the manner he talked about Jinnah.
("He created Pakistan single-handedly.") By suggesting
he 'capitulate', they are ensuring that he becomes a
hero-martyr. Do not forget for a moment that L. K.
Advani IS the RSS.

Part of the strategy is that one section will prop up
Modi as "a unique combination of Loh Purush and Vikas
Purush." Would this create fissures? No. Advani uska
baap hai and he knows it. This is part of the RSS
game-plan.

Advani's comeback line is, "I keep saying that the
ugly image of the Indian politician should change,
especially of those involved in governance." Did he
tell Modi that in 2002? Did he ever tell himself that?
Does he even know what an ugly image is when they use
gods as a cover-up for their dirty deeds?

I am surprised that no comment has been made about
Advani's meeting with Maulana Samiul Haq, who is known
for his support to the jihad in Afghanistan and
Kashmir. A report in 'The Week' states, "Haq runs a
seminary in Akora Khattak, the North West Frontier
Province, which reportedly has trained many Kashmiri
militants. Advani and Haq shook hands at a dinner and
said that the leadership of both sides should join
hands for a peaceful future."

This, to my mind, is more significant than the scrawl
in the visitor's book at the Quaid's mausoleum. Why
has the Hindutva lobby been silent on this? Because
both these gentlemen are cut from the same cloth. When
they talk about peace it must be understood that the
underlying message is that it can come about only with
a religious grounding. And if they can have a jihad
and talk about amity, then we too can have a saffron
holy war and do the same.

The RSS and L. K. Advani have just given us a lesson
in perfect event management. Never mind that it
appears less of a tango and more like dirty dancing.

______



[4]

Date: Tue, 21 Jun 2005 11:45:44 +0100 (BST)

Narmada Bachao Andolan
c/o B-13 Shivam Flats, Ellora Park, Baroda 390023,
Gujarat.
Ph: (0265) 2282232

ACTION ALERT-URGENT

If you Desire to Support Gujarat's own Adivasis 
from being ruthlessly evicted from the Sardar 
Sarovar Dam site and colony, ACT HERE AND NOW!!

Many have known the struggle of Adivasis in the 
Narmada Valley. All of them from Maharashtra, M.P 
and Gujarat, fighting for last 20 years, 
compelled the government and the judiciary to 
take a position- No dam and displacement without 
rehabilitation. While the Adivasis are 
continuously in struggle, against all odds, 
amidst heavy police force, repressive environs, 
they could present being ousted from their houses 
and landholdings which are in their possession 
still. Now, the tourism plans around the dam site 
are being pushed to throw them out, without 
rehabilitation and with blatant injustice.

These about 1000 families in six villages, the 
now well known Kevadia, Kothi,  Wapgadia, Gora, 
Limdi and Navapam, are those whose lands were 
acquired but at a throwaway price of 80 to 200 Rs 
per acre. That payment was in 1961 and  they were 
told, was only for the standing crop. They were 
Promised Land for land, rehabilitation site with 
all the amenities and certainly not hell for the 
heaven. But nothing came their way but loss of 
livelihood, daily wage labour at the project and 
employment for the few.

Since 1987, these Adivasis organized with NBA, 
fought the government contractors and police 
force with women in the forefront to save their 
pieces of lands. They had to struggle to allow 
their house to remain, full and fair 
rehabilitation, as per the policy for the project 
affected families. The Morse Commission Report 
(1993) acknowledged the demands and recommended 
the World Bank to ensure justice. In fact
the world bank had reported the deal with six 
villages as injustice in its appraisal report, 
1985, the Narmada Central Authority recommended 
rehabilitation in 1990 but they were not even 
recognized as the project affected.
The only offer was Rs.36000/-  for land holder 
with title, which can not fetch them even one 
acre of land. Hence is not acceptable to people. 
They always demanded and amended their right to 
five acres per family, similar to reservoir 
affected oustees. Thus they stayed, faced 
repression but did not move out. Now, they are 
threatened of being thrown out. They are asked to 
either accept Rs.36000/- for the lifetime or get 
lost.

These original inhabitants, the residents of the 
Narmada Valley planned to be so exploited and 
expelled not for the dam and project related 
works but for the tourism project planned. The 
commercial
enterprise is a plan with Rs. 171 crores. 
Invested which is to come from a Maritime company 
in water sports, an Indian company experienced in 
water parks, Surya (five stars) hotel owners in 
Vadodara and Indian Tourism Development 
Corporation. All of this is known only through a 
newspaper and not
through any notice to the to- be- affected Adivasis.

The game seems to be to oust them, as people 
without any right, no right to livelihood, no 
right to life. The Gujarat govt., no doubt is 
capable of this. It can butcher people, destroy 
communities.

When Sardar Sarovar remains stalled while 40000 
families in the reservoir area are yet to be 
rehabilitated and there is no adequate land for 
the same, when the policy, law and the Supreme 
Court’s judgment strongly directs rehabilitation 
of all project affected families before loss of 
resources to submergence, there is no doubt that 
the six village communities are been subjected to 
severe injustice.

They are to be pushed out, in the day light, from 
the belly of the Narmada Valley, from the world 
famous dam site and from amidst the luxurious 
colony, accommodating guest houses, circuit 
houses,
all Sardar Sarovar project offices, houses for 
the project officials and employees, shops and 
markets, schools and hospitals, television 
stations and also a museum for preserving the 
cultural artifacts if not bones and bloods.

This can happen any moment as per the threats 
none less by the collector, Narmada district 
since last two years and Mr. P. K. Lahiri, 
himself now.
The people are threatened against allowing any 
activists and organization in. They were warned 
by ousting two families with shops serving 
laborers to project employees, standing on the 
land forcibly acquired years ago.

IT IS THEREFORE MOST IMPORTANT THAT YOU WRITE TO THE
CHIEF MINISTER, GUJRAT, questioning this- A massacre of 900 to 1000
families?

You appeal to the Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi 
to intervene, you also write to Justice Majumdar 
and Justice Kapadia, the Chairman and member of 
Grievance Readressal Authority to intervene.

Mr.Narendra Modi, Chief Minister's of Gujarat.

E-mail: cm at gujaratindia.com

Tel: +91-79-23232611 to 18 (O), Fax:+91-79-23222101

Mr. Man Mohan Singh, Prime Minister of India,
Email: manmohan at sansad.nic.in
Write to the PM: http://pmindia.nic.in/write.htm
Tel: 011-23016857, 23019545 (PM Office),
23019334 (PM residence)23016996, 23018939


Smt. Sonia Gandhi, President National Advisory
Committee,
Tel: 011-23014481/23012656, Fax: 011-23018651
Email: 10janpath at vsnl.net, soniagandhi at sansad.nic.in


All this is urgent. Please spend valuable time for this and save Adivasis.

This will go long way in supporting all 400000 
and more families yet not rehabilitated, who may 
face the same brutality if the dam work commences 
again, without rehabilitation. The fate of the
beautiful Valley, the indigenous people and 
farmers, laborers, agriculture-the standing 
fields, the archeological monuments, the thickly 
populated communities with homes and hearths--not 
one but many HARSUDS, the rich natural resources 
is in our hands. We cannot be mere spectators.

Sukumar & Medha Patkar


______


[5]

June 22, 2005

THE STRIKING STUDENTS AT JADAVPUR UNIVERSITY AND THE STATE
Rila Mukherjee

In the past week, since I wrote in last, various 
media personalities have visited the agitating JU 
students. Support has been pledged, some have 
offered to act on independently appointed 
commisiions by the state govt. [!!] ( for example 
Medha Patkar this afternoon); other visiting 
celebrities have asked the students to settle the 
matter since this is a matter between 'parents 
and children'. Whether parents have the right to 
set the police on recalcitrant children (as the 
striking JU students seem to be !) remains to be 
debated!!! The print media has continued to cover 
the agitation; it seems the movement is loding 
support. The public has been outraged enough. 
They have moved onto newer and better things-the 
results of the recent Kolkata and Salt Lake 
Municipal elections.

And the ruling party in our state too is honest 
and sincere in all its intentions and 
applications. This was proved by the TV coverage 
of the recent municipal elections held in Kolkata 
and Salt Lake on June 19th. CPI M supporters too 
were beaten up; they claimed police atrocities 
against their party workers on the same media 
that they affected to despise (see my despatch of 
June 17). Never mind that a senior leader was 
tactless enough to muse 'how could the police do 
this in our state, against our workers?'

Why this charade? Because the students had 
widened the strike call beyond the campus; they 
attempted last week to challenge the state to at 
least answer their queries as to the lathi 
charge. This has failed. The new reconciliation 
commission has made no headway to date. There has 
been no acknowledgement of responsibility of the 
police action by the authorities  to date.

As a student of history I cannot help drawing 
comparisons with the Fronde in France in the 
seventeenth century or May 68, again in France. 
Both brought the French state to a halt. Some 
have drawn parallels between the events in Paris 
in May 68 and Jadavpur in 2005. Has the JU 
students' movement-one that has now been swelled 
by others across the country and caused across 
the country similar hopes of a democratic set 
up-similar in extent and scope? No.

As a child I had the (mis) fortune to visit 
France in June 1968, just after May 68 and more 
importantly after the aborted Prague Spring when 
tanks ruled across the former Czechoslovakia the 
same year. Paris was eerily still, we stayed in a 
hotel on the rue de Rivoli (one of the busiest 
roads in the city ) and I still remember the 
roads completely free of traffic that busy month 
in June. The government was about to dismantle; 
there was a feeling of hope in the air, or dismay 
depending which side you were speaking to.

Let us put the events since September 2003 in perspective:
Limited Demands:

1 The JU students had asked for a review of the 
semester system and the right to clear backlogs 
the same semester. This was refused, perhaps 
because the demand came too soon after it was 
introduced also in the Arts Faculty to make JU a 
fast track university with 5 star status.

2 The university authorities allege that on 
refusal the students roughed up some university 
authorities and gheraoed some teachers (Head of 
Departments in September 2003). The students 
claim that they were doing a 'sit in'.  Students 
also allege that they were beaten up by the 
Karamchari sansad and party cadres unleashed by a 
member of the faulty. Whom do we believe?

3 The extremely controversial one man Amit Sen 
committee in the university supposedly 
investigated the matter and expelled 5 
students.(also why?)

4 Students of FETSU (Faculty of Tech, JU) went on 
a peaceful hunger strike to protest this.

5 Early June 10 the university authorities 
dispersed the students with lathi charge (reports 
by Aajkal, a Bengali daily says the cops came in 
with turbines among other instruments of 
intimidation and violence; I do not have to 
expand on this since the TV reports have been 
beamed around the world) and took them to a state 
owned hospital on 'humane' grounds. There they 
were beaten up (the state says force fed) to save 
their lives !!! How ironic! And truly absurd! 
Kafka would have had a ball with this!

It might be instructive to look into history 
here. The West Bengal authorities seem curiously 
ignorant as to the historical experience of 
universities. While we know nothing of how the 
universities of the ancient world 
functioned-Nalanda, Alexandria or Fez in 
Morocco-the celebrated historian Jacques le Goff 
tells us (in Les Intellectuels au Moyen Age) that 
walled mini-cities (as university campuses are 
usually even today) were frowned upon by town 
authorities in 12th century Europe. Bologna, 
Paris-the early medieval universities-had 
frequently to fight the civic authorities. To 
success. In the course of 900 years the idea of a 
certain intellectual freedom was born in Europe. 

This is the legacy that universities around the 
world cherish, and academically minded VCs 
worldwide uphold.

What the JU students' mahamichhil did on June 
16th was more than just bring traffic to a 
standstill ; they threw a challenge down to the 
university authorities and ---the state! Will 
they succeed? After the municipal election 
results of yesterday, June 21st
When our ruling party has emerged victorious? 
After it has 'captured' Kolkata ? Even from 
Jadavpur; where the striking students seemingly 
did not make a dent in public perception !

To go back. Sure the students should apologise! 
Not for asking for a review. But the way they 
phrased their demands. But has not the 
university's actions in bringing in the police 
taken things at a flood which leads, not to 
fortune but to reverberations that will be heard 
long after this movement is over?



______


[6]

The Scholar of Peace Fellowships

Summer 2005-06

Women in Security, Conflict Management and Peace 
(WISCOMP) invites applications from South Asian 
professionals and scholars under the age of 45 
for its Scholar of Peace Fellowships awarded for 
academic research, media and special projects.

WISCOMP seeks to promote an inclusive, gender 
sensitive discourse on issues related to peace 
and security in South Asia. This year the 
fellowship programme will focus on the 
intersection of gender with issues such as human 
security, multi-track peace initiatives, regional 
cooperation, human rights et al, within the 
terrain of peacebuilding and conflict 
transformation.

The fellowships cover a period ranging from three 
months to one year. The last date for receipt of 
applications is August 12, 2005. Please download 
the application form from our website 
<>www.furhhdl.org by clicking on the WISCOMP link 
or write to:

WISCOMP
Foundation for Universal Responsibility of His Holiness The Dalai Lama
Core 4A, Upper Ground Floor, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road
New Delhi - 110 003, India
Ph.: 91-11-24648450 (Ext. 112) Fax: 91-11-24648451
Email: <>wiscomp at vsnl.com


_______



[7]

--Peoples's Union for Civil Liberties, Vadadara Shanti Abhiyaan and
Movement for Secular Democracy
C/o, Bhumiputra, Huzratpaga,
Vadodara-1 13, Pratapgunj Society, Karelibaug,        Vadodara - 18. [India]

DISCUSSION
The Communal Violence (Supression) Bill, 2005.

Friends,
	The Central Government has placed a bill 
in Parliament to control Communal violence. A 
discussion is being organized about this bill on 
June 26, 2005 (Sunday) (Emergency day) at Sardar
Bhavan, Jubilee Baug from 10 a.m. to 12 noon. All 
the interested persons are invited to attend this 
discussion. The discussion will be initiated by 
Legal Expert and Member of Law Commission Prof. 
H.C. Dholakia.

Place: Sardar Bhavan, Jubilee Baug. [Baroda]
Time : 10.00 a.m. to 12.00 noon
Day : 26th June, 2005 (Sunday).

                    
Yours,
Jagdish Shah		  Kirit Bhatt
Vadodara Shanti Abhiyan	P.U.C.L.
and M.S.D.

N.B. You can avail the copy of this bill at the above
address by a payment of Rs. 10/-.



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

Buzz on the perils of fundamentalist politics, on 
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