SACW | 14 Apr 2006 | Mullah Muscle in Pakistan ; Nepalis for democracy; Police brutality in Bangladesh; India: Further Militarising Kashmir; Trigger happy in Aligarh, Ayurveda Mumbo-jumbo, big money - big dams
Harsh Kapoor
aiindex at mnet.fr
Thu Apr 13 20:02:34 CDT 2006
South Asia Citizens Wire | 14 April, 2006 | Dispatch No. 2236
[1] Pakistan:
- MMA and telefilm on jihad (Editorial, The Daily Times)
- Officially sanctioned rallies promoting sectarianism (Press Release, HRCP)
[2] Nepal: the underbelly of the beast (Maryann Bird, Kanak Mani Dixit)
[3] Bangladesh: Tell us why Kansat people being killed? (Mahfuz Anam)
[4] India - Kashmir: Killing of innocents -
arming and militarizing civilian population
(Editorial, Kashmir Times)
[5] India: Aligarh police shot to kill (Seema Mustafa)
[6] India: The State of Ayurveda: Examining the Evidence (Meera Nanda)
[7] India: The Struggle for rehabilitation of
people displaced by the Sardar Sarovar Project
(i) Big Money, Big Dams (Himanshu Upadhyaya)
(ii) National Campaign for Peoples Right to
Information supports the Narmada Bachao Andolan
___
[1] PAKISTAN
The Daily Times
April 13, 2006
Editorial
MMA AND TELEFILM ON JIHAD
The clerical MNAs of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal
(MMA) have raised a hue and cry in parliament
over a 100-minute tele-film shown by PTV on March
23. They claim that it "ridiculed the concept of
jihad at the behest of the Musharraf government
and the United States". One look at the content
of the film, Mujahid, written by Shahid Nadeem
and directed by Madeeha Gauhar, will tell us why
the clerics are so riled. It is the story of
travails of an urban lower middle class family
whose son disappears, only to be found later
fighting for a militia in the Afghan civil war.
They trace him to a clandestine jihadi training
camp, but he refuses to return. The boy finally
returns after the 2001 fall of the Taliban; but
now he can't reintegrate into his own society.
His old friends look at him as an alien creature
and the militant group that had recruited him
refuses to let go of him. After the boy is
reclaimed by the affection of his family the
terrorists threaten him. This time he refuses and
dies trying to prevent the terrorist bombing of a
hospital.
Needless to say, before the motion in parliament,
Shahid Nadeem and Madeeha Gauhar have been
threatened; so has PTV. But, instead of standing
up to this blackmail, the government is, as
usual, shying away from doing its duty. Actually,
"culture" is the last thing the government is
bothered about. What the film has shown is part
of Pakistan's dark reality. Such 'jihadi' stories
have taken place in all communities, but the
media is not supposed to talk about them. If the
MMA is bothered about "taste" why doesn't it
object to some culturally poisonous "soaps"
excreted by the private TV channels these days?
The fact is that Pakistan's true popular and
moderate culture is threatened by another imposed
"culture of violence", the jihadi one. And it is
jihadi culture the MMA wants to defend.
The government should afford due protection to
all artists, especially creative people involved
in public and civil society causes like Mr Nadeem
and Ms Gauhar, and stand up to the immoderate and
unenlightened clerics who threaten them and all
of Pakistan. *
o o o
Press Release
Lahore, 10 April 2006
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
OFFICIALLY SANCTIONED RALLIES PROMOTING SECTARIANISM
LAHORE: There can be little doubt of official
connivance for the spread of sectarianism and
hatred in society, after the rally organized by
the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) in Islamabad
recently, apparently with full administrative
support.
HRCP has long stated that the authorities have
played a direct role in the spread of intolerance
and militancy. The latest SSP meeting comes as
proof of this.
At the rally, which took place last Friday,
literature preaching jihad and hatred against
Shias was openly distributed. Gory video compact
discs of American soldiers being beheaded in Iraq
were sold. As hundreds of riot police looked on,
participants raised slogans against Shias.
Organizers thanked the Islamabad administration
for allowing the rally, which was held under
floodlights, at a bus depot.
It is especially shocking that such a rally was
permitted in an environment within which peaceful
attempts to assemble by political activists
linked to mainstream parties, journalists and
other citizens have repeatedly been thwarted by
police thugs bearing batons. Yet in this case, no
arrests were reported nor any apparent attempt
made to stop the gathering, despite the open
violation of laws against the preaching of hatred
or the incitement of violence.
It is obvious that there can be no end to
extremism and hatred in society while official
policies promote its spread. In the past too,
religious zealots have been able to spread terror
and mayhem in major cities, while the State
machinery has looked on.
The pledges to usher in an era of tolerance or
'enlightened moderation' are as such obviously
nothing more than a façade intended for foreign
audiences. In the meanwhile citizens continue to
confront the terrible violence inflicted by
sectarian groups which is today growing more
widespread across the country and adversely
affecting the lives of millions.
Iqbal Haider
Secretary-General
____
[2]
opendemocracy.net
13 April 2006
NEPAL: THE UNDERBELLY OF THE BEAST
by Maryann Bird, Kanak Mani Dixit
"I love my country, but I hate the government."
Kanak Mani Dixit reports from a Nepali prison.
First, Maryann Bird puts the Nepali struggle for
democracy in context.
Ending a nearly two-month holiday, Nepal's
embattled ruler, King Gyanendra, returned to
Kathmandu late on 12 April amid speculation that
he might take the first step toward defusing days
of violent clashes between security forces and
pro-democracy demonstrators. The protests have
been the most intense since Gyanendra seized
power from the government of prime minister Sher
Bahadur Deuba in February 2005, accusing it of
failing to restore peace in Nepal, which has seen
a decade of Maoist insurgency and thousands of
deaths.
The king is due to deliver his traditional Nepali
new-year message on Friday 14 April, prompting
hope that he will use it to reach out to his
opponents. "If the king is getting his
information correctly, and if he is watching the
situation correctly", a Kathmandu-based diplomat
told Reuters news service; "the common
denominator in all the opposition against him is
that it is he who needs to take the initiative to
end this crisis."
Gyanendra, however, has routinely taken a hard
line against protesters - as the security forces
have done over the past eight days. Curfews have
been imposed, and many demonstrators have been
held for violating them. Near the country's
supreme-court building on 13 April, troops
baton-charged and tear-gassed a group of hundreds
of protesting lawyers. They, like the seven-party
alliance against the king, want to see a return
to multi-party democracy, with executive powers
vested in an all-party government.
Meanwhile, local authorities in Kathmandu have
issued letters of detention to fifteen
human-rights activists and civil-society leaders,
following their refusal to pay fines stemming
from their participation in the protests.
Condemning the detentions, a "ceasefire
monitoring civic group" demanded the immediate
release of the fifteen, as well as the lifting of
restrictions on peaceful assembly and an end to
the curfews and arrests.
Those held include former supreme-court justice
Laxman Prasad Aryal, former speaker of the house
of representatives Daman Nath Dhungana, and
several rights activists, doctors and journalists.
One of those journalists, Kanak Mani Dixit, the
distinguished editor of the Kathmandu-based south
Asian magazine Himal, wrote the following report
for the Nepali Times from inside the Duwakot
armed police barracks.
Maryann Bird
* * *
Taken in by Kathmandu's royal regime with two
dozen other protestors last week for wilfully
(and with prior announcement) breaking the curfew
order, this writer had an opportunity to see how
a "militarising", autocratic state machine can
ride roughshod over some of the weakest members
of Nepalese society. It was an opportunity to
take a look at the underbelly of the monster that
government can be. What we have seen during our
incarceration is something that the privileged,
with their contacts in high places or money to
buy safe passage, rarely care to see or
understand.
There are three types of inmates in this
makeshift detention centre at the Duwakot armed
police barracks outside Kathmandu, Nepal's
capital. The human-rights activists, who are
relatively well known, have little fear of
violence once they are taken in. Then there are
political activists, both senior and junior, who
receive some protection from party affiliations
and linkages.
But also here in Duwakot is an entire category of
true innocents. Most of these young adults, some
of them mere boys, are migrants who have left
their families on faraway hills and plains to
work at menial jobs. They represent the rural
poor of all ethnicities and castes, but are
united in their lack of influence anywhere in the
state structure. This lack of agency is only
matched by their absolute poverty. The trauma
that these boys of Duwakot have faced, and are
facing, exists at several levels.
It starts with the police chase on the streets,
the attacks with batons and staffs, the abuse,
and the bundling into the back of trucks. Once in
the holding center, toilet facilities are
non-existent. Then the young men are transported
from one detention center to another, and
provided with no information whatsoever. They are
given nothing to eat for more than a day, and
when they finally are fed, the food is of the
lowest grade imaginable. There is palpable fear
that authorities in need of proving Maoist
"infiltration" of the democratic movement can,
with the flick of a pen, declare you an insurgent
and do away with your life and prospects.
Who will tell your family, who will inform your
employer, where is the lawyer or activist to
speak for you? Who is to defend you, to charge
the regime with wrongful imprisonment, to seek a
writ of habeas corpus, to demand release and
reparation?
Dambar Nepali is 14, and from Udayapur, in the
hills of eastern Nepal. He works as a
construction labourer and was taken in by the
police and beaten while coming home from work.
Ramesh Basnet, 23, from Dhading, just west of
Kathmandu, was returning home from the printing
press where he works. Ram Kumar Tamang drives a
microbus, license plate 4266, and was crossing
the road during a curfew when he was detained.
Biraj Sharma, 18, was loitering outside a
roadside shop in an area outside curfew limits.
"The policemen were like demons", he recalls.
"They kicked my head as if it was a football."
Others were resting inside a bus at the bus stop
where they work as cleaners when they were
dragged out: Dhruba Timilsina, 17, of Hetuada;
Buddha Lama, 16, of Sindhupalchok; Ramesh Thapa
Magar, 17, and Ram Lama, 20, of Chapagaon. From
Duwakot, they have all been moved elsewhere.
Individuals who are in the lowest-class bracket
in detention must use the toilet that is furthest
away, and get the rice that is the worst. It will
be important for the International Committee of
the Red Cross to determine their fate and
whereabouts.
Some policemen can be fine, sensitive
individuals. But they take orders from an
insensitive state run by a ruler who has sought
again and again to prove his contempt for the
people of Nepal. When autocracy and
militarisation is combined with contempt, those
without legal recourse suffer unseen and unheard.
This is one more reason for a quick return to
democracy, pluralism and peace.
Ramesh Basnet told me the other day, before he
was taken away: "This turns out to be the kind of
country I was born into. I love my country, but I
hate the government. I have not picked up a
stone; I have not burned a tyre in protest. Why
am I here, and where will they take me?"
____
[3]
The Daily Star
April 14, 2006
Commentary
TELL US WHY KANSAT PEOPLE BEING KILLED?
by Mahfuz Anam
We have seen a lot of brutality by the police and
other law enforcers in this country. But nothing
can compare to the mindless killing that has been
going on at Kansat during the last four months.
The happenings at Kansat boggle the mind. Seldom,
if ever, have we seen such police brutality upon
our usually meek and peace-loving villagers. They
have been shot at, mercilessly beaten, violently
attacked and indiscriminately arrested. In the
last few days, they have had their houses raided
and personal belongings looted. Now most of the
men are away from their homes and women are
coming out to agitate. Why? What necessitated
this ferocious behaviour by our police and that
also under a democratic dispensation and by an
elected government?
Here are some facts about the killings in Kansat
that may help to wake us up to the immorality and
shocking nature of the situation. First, two
people were killed on January 4 followed by
killing of seven on the 23rd of the same month.
Then four were killed on April 6 and another was
injured, who later died on April 12. Finally, six
were killed the day before yesterday. A total of
20 innocent lives lost for the 'crime' of
agitating for adequate electricity supply so that
they could carry on their farming properly. All
these deaths occurred due to police firing that
can only be termed unprovoked, for there is
absolutely no evidence of the villagers resorting
to any sort of violent action that could have
called for such brutality and response of 'final
resort'.
Given the nature of the police action, one is
almost compelled to ask as to whether there is an
insurgency going on at Kansat. Has that area been
taken over by our 'enemies'? Are those being
killed so recklessly citizens of Bangladesh? Or
are they some aliens occupying our land that we
can kill as we please. Otherwise how could police
repeatedly resort to firing when all the usual
tactics of crowd management were not applied?
First, what sorts of 'weapons' did the villagers
carry that police needed to open fire? Second,
what threat could stick-wielding villagers pose
that police had to shoot to kill? Third, what
measures of crowd control were taken to contain
the agitators?
In the beginning they just demonstrated. When
police attacked them brutally they started
throwing brickbats and carrying sticks. Later
they cut down trees to block roads and in some
cases even dug up road sections. In no instance
were they carrying any firearms or known to have
used explosives or cocktails. To date, the police
themselves did not make such a claim. So where
was the danger that necessitated opening fire?
Not once, twice, or thrice, but on four separate
occasions interspersed by several weeks at a
time. Do the actions of the agitators of Kansat
justify the reaction by the police? No, not if we
believe in democracy and in the inalienable right
of the people to dissent and express that
dissension in a peaceful manner. The question is
whether the present government believes the same.
If we are to go by their actions in Kansat, we
are forced to seriously doubt that.
There is absolutely no adequate explanation for
treating our villagers in this manner except of
an arrogant mindset that treats every dissenting
voice as that of an 'enemy'. The present
government has become so used to applying brute
force to contain opposition rallies and
demonstrations that for them every agitation is
inevitably the product of opposition 'conspiracy'
and as such must be dealt with the maximum force.
Till today, to the best of our knowledge, the
government or the ruling party has not bothered
to sit for a moment to think what is going on at
Kansat. Why has this area, which had hitherto
been unknown to most people of the country and
never had any reputation of being a hotbed of
agitation, should suddenly become so rebellious?
Between January 4 and today a good four months
and 10 days have elapsed, but no initiative of
any sort has been taken to talk to the villagers
or to engage them in some sort of a
problem-solving dialogue. No minister or ruling
party leader of any consequence visited the area
to find out for oneself what is happening there.
Are these the characteristics of a representative
government? Even the local MP, who is from the
ruling party, did not sit with his own electorate
(those who voted him to the office) to find a
solution. In fact he has already dubbed them
'terrorists'. (See the story on Page 12).
In democratic systems elsewhere, governments have
been known to fall for far less. A few
unnecessary and unjustifiable deaths in the hands
of government agencies wrought havoc on elected
governments that truly believe in being peoples'
representatives. But ours of course is a
democracy with a difference. Here we do not seem
to elect leaders who want to serve the people but
to rule over them, and if the 'stupid' people
have the insolence to misbehave (like agitating)
then they need to be punished and even killed.
Here 20 people have already been killed by law
enforcers and yet there is no inquiry, no talk of
any minister's resignation, no explanation by the
government and no sign from anybody in power that
something unusual is happening in a small rural
area 27km off the nearest town, Chapainawabganj.
A few deaths don't seem to matter in our
democracy, especially if those are of poor people
of remote villages. Our leaders are far too high
and mighty for small things like peoples' lives
to bother them.
____
[4]
Kashmir Times
April 11, 2006
Editorial
KILLING OF INNOCENTS
METHOD OF ARMING AND MILITARIZING CIVILIAN POPULATION PROVING DETERIMENTAL
The continuum of militancy related violence and
brutal killings of civilians in militancy
infested areas of Jammu and Kashmir are a cause
for concern and not only invite condemnation from
peace loving citizens and those at the helm of
affairs but also some re-introspection about the
direction of the ongoing peace process.
Obviously, the initial phases of the peace
process, which is still in its infancy is not
expected to silence the guns. But the gruesome
killings of innocents, especially in rural remote
hilly areas, where families are slain as part of
political vendetta, is not a healthy sign for the
peace process. While onus of many killings lies
on the militant organizations; and their
brutality in massacres, in slitting throats and
beheading or mutilating bodies needs to be looked
at with contempt, it needs to be remembered that
much of the responsibility also falls on the
government, which has only encouraged such
killings due to its ill-conceived and
non-pragmatic policies vis--vis the Kashmir
problem, which is essentially a political
problem, militancy simply being an off-shoot of
it. It is evident that most of the killings stem
from the bizarre policy of militarizing more and
more civilians in the militancy infested areas,
which not only encourages a regime of tit-for-tat
and bullet for bullet policy but also makes the
lives of civilians more and more vulnerable.
Whether it is the incident of beheading a man
alleged to be a security forces' informer in
Pulwama or the Arnas killings on Sunday, it turns
out that poor innocents, who become more and more
pliable in the hands of both state and non-state
agencies, become targets of a policy of
vindictiveness. The militarization of civilians
has been more a cause of provocation than an
element to induce prevention in most cases. The
entire plan of arming surrendered militants,
forming village defence committees, increasing
use of civilians in counter insurgency operations
by co-option as informers, couriers and sources
is both ludicrous and sinister since it exposes
innocent civilians, who are unarmed or not
adequately protected to greater risk of being
killed. This has also encouraged a practice of
civilians forced to play the role of double
agents, thus not only questioning the very
effectiveness of the policy but also making
civilians more and more vulnerable to harassment
from both sides. Before the government
functionaries begin to put the entire onus of the
violence on militant organizations and ask them
to shun the gun in the name of peace, it is
imperative that the administration along with its
security apparatus also engage itself in the task
of self scrutiny. It is important to bear in mind
that it takes two to clap. The hit and trial
method of arming and militarizing a civilian
population has certainly proved detrimental to
the interests of counter-insurgency, least of all
peace. There may be some short-term benefits here
and there but in the longer run, the interests of
both the security agencies and the civilians have
been harmed.
____
[5]
Asian Age
12 April 2006
ALIGARH POLICE SHOT TO KILL
by Seema Mustafa
New Delhi, April 12: Seven Muslims were shot dead
and 18 others of the same community were injured
in the police firing in Aligarh on clashing mobs.
All the dead were shot above the waist in a case
of excessive police action, with a fact-finding
mission by the Minorities Commission confirming
this in a report which will soon be presented to
the government with a list of recommendations.
In a damaging revelation for the district police
and administration, the inspector-general, Kanpur
range, who had been sent by the state government
to inquire into the incident, has said that the
police firing was not necessary and there was no
justification for it. He has said that he had
sufficient evidence to prove that the situation
could have been brought under control without the
police resorting to firing if the administration
had acted with a little intelligence and
responsibility. The Mulayam Singh Yadav
government in Uttar Pradesh, worried about the
political fallout of the firing, has acted
quickly to transfer the district magistrate, the
senior superintendent of police as well as the
SP, City, and the additional district magistrate.
This, informed sources said, was in itself prima
facie evidence that the state government was
aware of the situation and had accepted the
findings of the official inquiry committee that
innocent persons had lost their lives because of
a "clear case of high-handedness" and totally
avoidable action by the police.
The Minorities Commission fact-finding mission
has confirmed that all the shots were fired above
the waist, hitting the victims directly on the
upper parts of the body in what is then described
as an intent to kill. The police at that time had
justified the action to visiting reporters,
insisting that there was no option left but to
open fire. Of course, the fact that the victims
had died because the police had not kept to the
well-specified regulations is being kept a
closely-guarded secret, with no government-level
confirmation, although the news had spread like
wildfire at the time through the streets of
Aligarh.
At the time of the incident the crowds were
merely pelting stones at police vehicles, with
the top-level inquiry now maintaining that the
situation could have been brought under control
without the excessive action. The sources said
that all the dead and injured belonged to one
community, suggesting a communal angle in the
Aligarh administration's action.
The tension in Aligarh has now acquired a
Muslim-versus-police hue, with the Mulayam Singh
Yadav government hoping to defuse it with the
action taken against senior officials at both the
city and district levels. The latest instructions
call for the police to use rubber bullets to
control mobs, as these will incapacitate victims
for a while but not kill or maim them. Police
sources said, however, that rubber bullets are
always in short supply and are almost never
available for use.
The sources said that the officer in charge is
directly responsible for the order to fire, and
pointed out that even today the police manual
does not limit the firing to below the waist as
has been recommended by several committees
appointed to look into police excesses in the
past. In fact, the phrase still used is to "fire
to effect", although the new instructions have
directed the use of rubber bullets for
controlling unarmed mobs.
____
[6]
www.sacw.net - April 11, 2006
THE STATE OF AYURVEDA: EXAMINING THE EVIDENCE
by Meera Nanda
Charaka Samhita, the ancient textbook of Ayurveda
(third or second centuries BCE), doesn't mince
words when it comes to the subject of quacks.
Charaka, the legendary healer from India's
antiquity and the editor of the Samhita
(compendium) that bears his name, calls them
"imposters who wear the garb of physicians [who]
walk the earth like messengers of death." These
fake doctors are "unlearned in scriptures,
experience and knowledge of curative operations.
but like to boast of their skills before the
uneducated" Wise patients, Charaka advises,
"should always avoid those foolish men with a
show of learning they are like snakes
subsisting on air."
These words, written more than two thousand years
ago, bring to mind those who like to play doctor
on Indian TV these days. The most famous of all,
Swami Ramdev, doles out medical advice to
millions of Indians who tune into his TV show,
attend his yoga camps and buy his Ayurvedic
drugs. He offers "complete cure," "in weeks, if
not in days," of "diseases from A to Z," from
"common cold to cancers," including cholera,
diabetes, glaucoma, heart disease, kidney
disease, leprosy, liver disease.so on and so
forth. There is practically nothing that his
method of Divya Yoga, alone, or in combination
with his Ayurvedic formulations, does not promise
to cure. And all his "miraculous" cures are not
merely "confirmed by science," but are, indeed,
"science in its purest form." (All quotations are
from the official website of Swami Ramdev.). The
swami is not alone in making such fantastic
claims. Yoga and Ayurveda are being mass-marketed
to India's growing middle classes as never
before. Putting on a "show of learning" by
"wearing the garb" of healers and scientists
seems to improve the sales-pitch.
The recent exposé of false labeling of drugs and
exploitation of workers at the Swami's
Haridwar-based pharmacy created a huge uproar,
laying bare the limitations of all parties
involved. But all the noise and sloganeering is
drowning out the real questions that must be
asked not just of Ramdev, but of all traditional
or alternative medicines: How effective are these
medicines in curing the diseases they claim to
cure? Can their medical claims pass the muster of
rigorously conducted clinical tests? Even if the
label on the bottle scrupulously identified each
and every ingredient, the question still remains
if the drugs are effective and safe, when
measured by the standards that apply to
conventional, "allopathic" medicines.
THE FACTS OF the controversy regarding Swami
Ramdev are well-known. In April 2005, Swami
Ramdev's Divya Yoga Mandir Trust fired 115
workers who had been protesting against poor
wages and deplorable working conditions. These
workers complained of having to collect and
manually grind human skulls and bones, otter
(udbialo) testicles and antelope horns - work
that Brahmins amongst them found polluting.
Acting on these complaints, Brinda Karat,
Communist Party leader, Member of Parliament and
feminist, sent samples of two formulations meant
to treat epilepsy and sexual weakness to relevant
government authorities for testing. In January
2006 the results came out positive: the samples
were found to contain human and animal DNA. The
Swami's "herbal medicines" had been delivering
something not very herbal to countless consumers,
many of whom happen to be fastidious vegetarians.
[ . . . ] .
FULL TEXT AT:
http://www.sacw.net/free/meernaandaApril2006.html
____
[7]
Tehelka.com
April 15 , 2006
BIG MONEY, BIG DAMS
Why is it that pro-dam governments and
corporations have repeatedly defaulted on
rehabilitation, while they have been keen not to
default on debts they owe financial investors,
asks Himanshu Upadhyaya
For the last fortnight hundreds of victims from
the Narmada Valley have been peacefully camping
on the streets of Delhi. They've been routinely
beaten, dragged and arrested by the police.
Frustrated by the insensitive government, Medha
Patkar, Jamsing Nargave from village Amlali in
Badwani (MP) and Bhagwatibai Jatpuria from
village Nissarpur in Dhar (MP) went on a
fast-unto-death since March 29, 2006. Hence, It's
crucial to look at the claims made in support of
the big dam, especially by the Centre and the
Gujarat government led by Hindutva Hriday Samrat
Narendra Modi.
Financial insolvency has plagued the multi-crore
Sardar Sarovar Project since its inception. The
Narmada Control Authority (NCA) gave permission
to raise the height of the dam upto 121.92m (from
its present height of 110.64m) and the
construction work, continues despite the chairman
of the review committee of NCA, Union Water
Resources Minister, Saif-ud-din Soz, calling the
decision 'premature'. So it's the need of the
hour to examine the unanswered financial
questions, lest the Gujarat economy face an
unprecedented crisis. Besides, if the dam height
is increased, 35,000 families will be uprooted
from their land and homes - is this not a
violation of the rehabilitation guidelines issued
by the Supreme Court?
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) stated
in a report for the year ending on March 31, 2001
that Gujarat's fiscal position is seriously
deteriorating. It indicted Sardar Sarovar Narmada
Nigam Limited (SSNNL) for spending a huge amount
towards interest charges and servicing debt
liabilities. The CAG report clearly indicts SSNNL
for its indulgence in imprudent ways of resource
mobilisation that made it to spend Rs 2,413.98
crore on interest payments and debt servicing.
The total expenditure incurred on the project as
on March 31, 2001 was Rs 10,978.63 crore. Thus,
almost 22 percent of the total expenditure was
spent merely on servicing debt liabilities and
paying interest charges.
Concluding the scathing audit review, the CAG
states, "The SSP was approved without outlining
the sources of raising the funds and cost
elements towards borrowing. The SSNNL borrowed in
an ad hoc manner and cash flow was not worked out
accurately SSNNL incurred avoidable interest
charged as a result of higher rate of interest
and retaining huge amount of borrowed funds in
short term deposits."
The blame for cost escalation is often put on the
Narmada Bachao Andolan, arguing that had they not
stopped the dam construction, for six years
during 1994-2000, the costs wouldn't have risen.
However, on close examination, this turns out to
be a clever propaganda trick employed by dam
builders that protects their profligacy. What is
disturbing is the crusade unleashed by political
parties in Gujarat that are rallying behind the
surreptitious way the establishment has managed
to get the clearance to raise the dam height, be
it the communal bjp or 'secular' Congress. This
blind faith on the project will not only betray
the citizens of Saurashtra and Kutch, but also
violate the most basic principles of economics.
For 1993-94, the budgetary support from Gujarat
to the SSP was Rs 749 crore, while in the year
1996-97, it was Rs 567 crore (whereas the
irrigation budget was Rs 700 crore). In 1998-99,
it went up to Rs 955 crore, while in 2000-01, it
was a whopping Rs 3,730 crore. Shall we say that
the budgetary allocation of the Gujarat
government had influenced the Supreme Court
judgement in 2000 that allowed the dam
construction to go ahead in stages, putting the
riders of 'resettlement and rehabilitation' six
months prior to likely submergence?
Even in 1995, it was evident that SSP was not
financially viable. A confidential study
conducted by the Gujarat government found that
the SSP would be delayed beyond 2010, primarily
because of the non-availability of requisite
funds on time. What the study had found is
revealing: "The trend clearly indicates SSNNL's
ability to raise funds through this source (bond
issues guaranteed by tripartite agreement) on a
sustained basis is doubtful. It is unlikely that
the irrigation water would be priced in a manner
that would reflect its true cost. The power
component is relatively small, and would be used
mainly for peak load requirements." The study
predicted, "Once the principal repayment
commence, a large portion would be eaten up by
the debt servicing requirements." However, these
cautious words fall on deaf ears, unable to
accept the justified criticism of the project.
Six years later, India's supreme audit
institution, CAG (2002: 57), has criticised the
mounting debt obligations, "SSNNL's average
annual debt liability works out to be Rs 944.77
crore. The state government had directed the
SSNNL (January 1996) to create a sinking fund out
of its own resources with ad hoc contribution of
Rs 50 crore annually. The SSNNL, however, never
created such a fund nor proposed any alternative
arrangement for liquidating the debt liability
arising out of issue of bonds. SSNNL, thus,
without any systematic plan for redemption of
bonds, went on borrowing for redemption of
earlier debts, which resulted in abnormal
increase in the expenditure on servicing the debt.
Last week, debating the Narmada dam in the
Gujarat Assembly and showering eloquent praise on
the Modi government, Congress chief whip,
Balwantsinh Rajput quoted figures on how much the
SSNNL has spent during the last three years on
interest payments and debt servicing. The figures
quoted are Rs 717 crore, Rs 944 crore and Rs 766
crore, respectively for 2002-03, 2003-04 and
2004-05. He put forth on the floor of the house
the cumulative figure of SSNNL having spent Rs
2,428 crore in three years and invented the
familiar stick to beat the critics of SSP with,
by shouting, "Honourable speaker sir, our state
is loosing Rs 2.22 crore on interest payments. We
must not allow the Union Water Resources Minister
to review the decision of raising the dam height
because delay on the dam construction adds to
huge erosion of the state exchequer due to
interest payments."
I want to ask him, what was the budgetary
allocation from Gujarat to SSP in the annual plan
of 2004-'05? It was Rs 900 crore. And how much of
this has gone to the bank accounts of a few
bondholders at the cost of the citizens of the
state? A whopping Rs 766 crore, as per his own
admission on the floor of the house. Shouldn't
the people - and most of whom can't afford to be
SSNNL bondholders - stop paying taxes when the
resources of the state exchequer are diverted to
the coffers of a few financial investors?
Moreover, it's inexplicable, why should the
opposition party sanctify such a huge erosion of
the state's funds?
Besides, how much has been spent on interest
payments and debt servicing as on March 31, 2005?
Taking into consideration figures from the
Assembly debate, as well as CAG's figures on the
debt liability of SSNNL, it turns out to be Rs
5,405 crore.
So shouldn't we ask Union Minister of Social
Justice and Empowerment Meira Kumar to please
stand up and answer that, while the state
governments and central government's building the
Sardar Sarovar Dam has spent 28 percent of the
total expenditure (Rs 18831.24 crore) on the
project as on March 31, 2005, how much has been
spent on resettlement and rehabilitation of the
project affected families from the submergence
villages? Why is it that governments have
repeatedly defaulted on the rehabilitation front,
while the dam building corporation and the
governments backing it have taken keen interest
on not to default the debts that it owes to the
financial investors?
We, the people, must ask: is it for progress or
profligacy that the establishment loves building
dams with such an infatuated and brutish
obsession?
o o o
National Campaign for Peoples Right to Information
C17-A Munirka, New Delhi 67, India
6 April 2006
STATEMENT IN SUPPORT OF THE NARMADA BACHAO ANDOLAN
The National Campaign for Peoples Right to
Information strongly protests the distortion of
facts and efforts at spreading misinformation
regarding the status of rehabilitation of people
displaced by the Sardar Sarovar Project. Though
the homes of thousands of families are threatened
with submersion, most of these families have yet
to be given alternate land and otherwise suitably
rehabilitated. And yet, government committees
continue to turn a blind eye and play around with
"official data" that is clearly inaccurate. The
consequent clearance for raising the height of
the dam from 110 metres to over 120 metres is not
only a violation of the orders of the Supreme
Court of India but a major crime on humanity.
The NCPRI expresses its solidarity with the
Narmada Bachao Andolan and demands that
independent credible observers be immediately
despatched to the Narmada Valley to observe first
hand and report back the true status of
rehabilitation. Till this has been established
and all the displaced people satisfactorily
rehabilitated, no further displacement should be
permitted.
Shekhar Singh
Convenor
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
Buzz on the perils of fundamentalist politics, on
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