SACW | Sept. 22-27, 2006 | Pakistan: Women's bill; Bangladesh Islamists; India: Hawks at work
Harsh Kapoor
sacw at sacw.net
Tue Sep 26 20:31:57 CDT 2006
South Asia Citizens Wire | September 22-27, 2006 | Dispatch No. 2293
[1] Pakistan: Women's Protection Bill a
farce (Human Rights Commission of Pakistan)
[2] Bangladesh: Allow militants to speak with
media to disclose godfathers' names
[3] Kashmir - India: Hawks are howling - Men in
high places join to subvert peace process (Edit,
Kashmir Times)
[4] India: Hindutva's vital organs - The media's
role in communalising Karnataka (Gauri Lankesh)
[5] India: Citizen Tipu and Saffronazis (Subhash Gatade)
[6] India: Campus Dress Code Highlights Indian Age Gap (Henry Chu)
[7] India: Centre's move places education at risk (Anil Sadgopal)
[8] India: Historians protest remarks against Tipu
[9] India: Appeal for help for the medical rehabilitation of Bant Singh
[10] Upcoming Event:
Book Release and Public Discussion on 'Selected
writings of Eqbal Ahmed' (Harvard, September 28,
2006)
___
[1]
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
Press Release
Lahore, 12 September 2006
WOMEN'S PROTECTION BILL A FARCE
LAHORE: The latest compromise made by the
government with respect to amendments in the
Hudood laws is nothing more than a joke.
HRCP expresses its acute disappointment that the
rights of women have been dealt with in so
cavalier a fashion.
The so-called Women's Protection Bill is a
farcical attempt at making Hudood Ordinances
palatable. In the first place, the implications
of the ordinances go far beyond discrimination
and persecution of women on the plea of morality.
For instance, the law prescribes punishments
which are inhuman and allows for evidence of male
Muslim witnesses for application of Hadd
punishments. However, women accused under Tazir
punishment of Zina (adultery) are its main
victims. There are ample examples of victims of
rape being imprisoned under accusations of zina.
The Women's Protection Bill has addressed none of
these concerns. In addition the government has
agreed to replace Section 3 of the draft by
subjecting the interpretation of the Ordinance
according to the injunctions of Islam. Such
open-ended jurisdiction granted to an already
cowed down judiciary will result in
authentication of the most conservative form of
religious interpretation. It will also be
detrimental to the rights of non-Muslim citizens,
who may not subscribe to Islamic principles. The
addition of Section 3, could also undo the
meaningful amendment made in the law in 1996 (The
Abolition of the Punishment of whipping Act,
1996), which abolished mandatory public whippings
for the crimes of Zina and Zina-bil-jabr (rape).
HRCP has also noted that the two amendments
introduced earlier by the clerics within the
ruling party had stiffened conditions for
complaint of Qazf. By keeping hadd punishment of
zina-bil-jabr in the Ordinance, while moving the
Tazir punishment to the PPC, the authors of the
draft have created a confusion in deciding
jurisdiction of the appellate court. This will
only benefit those accused of zina-bil-jabr.
HRCP reiterates its demand that the Hudood laws
be repealed, and that the government refrains
from using the issue of women's rights to further
its own interests, rather than making any real
effort to better the plight of the women in
country.
Asma Jahangir
Iqbal Haider
Chairperson
Secretary-General
_____
[2]
Daily Star
September 27, 2006
ALLOW MILITANTS TO SPEAK WITH MEDIA TO DISCLOSE GODFATHERS' NAMES
S ASIAN PEOPLE'S UNION AGAINST FUNDAMENTALISM URGES GOVT
Staff Correspondent
Speakers at a press conference yesterday called
on the government to allow seven condemned
militants of Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh
(JMB) to speak with the media before their
executions so that they can disclose the names of
their godfathers.
They alleged that the government is trying to
execute the death sentences of the seven top
militants hurriedly within its tenure only to
save their patrons.
The South Asian People's Union against
Fundamentalism & Communalism and Forum for
Secular Bangladesh organised the press conference
at the National Press Club in the city.
The BNP-Jamaat alliance government is afraid that
if it does not execute the militants, they would
reveal the names of their patrons who are in the
government, said said Union General Secretary
Shahriar Kabir.
It is not possible for only a few illiterate and
half-educated people to build such a huge network
without the patronisation of the government and
the administration, he added.
He also reiterated the demand that the government
make public the sources of financial and arms
supplies to the militants.
If the government really wants to curb militancy,
it should allow the militants to speak with the
media to reveal who are patronising them as they
committed crimes against the state, Kabir said in
a written statement.
He also demanded that the information the
militant leaders gave to the intelligence
agencies is made public through the media.
"We don't think that secular and democracy-loving
people will be safe and militancy will be rooted
out if only seven condemned militants are
executed. We want their executions, but let them
speak with the media," he said.
Referring to the militants' statements, Kabir
said they admitted their involvement in the
attacks on poet Shamsur Rahman, British High
Commissioner Anwar Choudhury, Udichi, Chhayanaut,
CPB rally at Paltan, Awami League rally on August
21 and in Baniarchar Church and Kotalipara.
They have more than one lakh workers whose
targets are some leading political leaders and
intellectuals, he added.
Kabir, also acting president of the Forum for
Secular Bangladesh, said the country saw an
alarming rise in militancy after the BNP-Jamaat
alliance government assumed the office. More than
100 militant organisations are now active in the
country, he noted.
Asked about the law minister's remarks that the
executions cannot be carried out during Ramadan,
Prof Kabir Chowdhury said such remarks are aimed
at creating confusion among people.
"There is no law that death sentences cannot be
executed during Ramadan," he said.
On the armed attacks on Prof Dr Aftab Chowdhury,
Prof Kabir Chowdhury said the way he was attacked
is alarming for the intellectuals of the country.
"We must protest it."
Prof Muntasir Mamun, Ajoy Roy and poet Syed
Shamsul Haque were also present at the press
conference.
_____
[3]
Kashmir Times
26 September 2006
Editorial
HAWKS ARE HOWLING
MEN IN HIGH PLACES JOIN TO SUBVERT PEACE PROCESS
If the one-on-one meeting between Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh and President Pervez Musharraf at
Havana leading to a joint statement for pursuing
the process of composite dialogue and to set up a
joint "anti-terror institutionalised mechanism"
came as a new hope for the people in the
sub-continent for the peace process moving
forward it also unnerved the hawks both in the
establishments and outside in the two countries
to raise their antenna, sow seeds of suspicion
and launch an orchestrated campaign to derail the
process. The political vested interests,
bureaucrats, intelligence agencies, former
diplomats and a section of the print and
electronic media joined hands to pooh-pooh the
joint statement and agreement reached between the
two heads of governments and create doubts about
the success of the peace price. In India the BJP,
which had earlier voiced its opposition to the
Prime Minister meeting his Pakistani
counter-part, opposing any dialogue process, came
out strongly against any move for joint
"anti-terror institutionalised mechanism" and
revival of the dialogue process calling it
"capitulation". The former IB chief Ajit Doval
and former affitional secretary in the cabinet
secretariat B. Raman described the agreement as a
"strategic victory for Pakistan". A former
diplomat, who has been India's High Commissioner
in Pakistan, G. Parthasarthy, who was voicing his
skepticism about the Manmohan-Musharraf meeting
described it as blunder. There are many others in
high places who have been raising their voice
against the agreement and expressing doubt about
Pakistan's sincerity in tackling terrorism. In a
clear somersault, the BJP which while in power
had initiated the peace process, resuming the
dialogue even after the failure of Agra summit
and Kargil war, now talks of the futility of any
dialogue process with Pakistan in view of the
Mumbai blasts and other acts of terrorism in
India. Intriguingly enough the BJP spokesman Arun
Jaitley while opposing the agreement quoted the
Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Ghulam Nabi
Azad, who in an interview to a newspaper
published on the very day the Prime Minister was
to meet Musharraf, had blamed Pakistan for
terrorist activities in India impliedly raising
doubts about the sincerity of that country in
pursuing the dialogue process. It is a different
matter that Azad, as New Delhi loyalist, later
changed his tone by hailing the
Manmohan-Musharraf agreement.
Unfortunately, there has been orchestrated
campaign with people in high places, former
diplomats, intelligence chiefs, politicians and
other vested interests including a section of the
media raising anti-dialogue and anti-Pakistan
voices. Even the State Governor, Lt Gen Sinha,
who is acting more as a hawkish and partisan
politician instead of performing his duties as a
constitutional head, has been day in and day out
attacking Pakistan and those favouring peace and
dialogue process. His frequent utterances on
threats from across the borders and opposing
suggestions for demilitarisation, self-rule or
autonomy leave no one in doubt about his hawkish
attitude. Such voices orchestrated by the hawks
only perpetuate a climate of mutual suspicion and
mistrust and can create hurdles in the peace
process moving forward. It is for New Delhi to
restrain at least those in establishment who
instead of supporting the Prime Minister efforts
to push forward the dialogue process are
wittingly or unwittingly trying to the derail the
process. The hawks are on howling spree and
hunting to subvert the peace process both in
Pakistan and India as also in Jammu and Kashmir.
Both New Delhi and Islamabad must ignore such
voices of despair and demonstrate their
determination and sincerity in carrying forward
the peace process to its logical end.
_____
[4]
Communalism Combat
September 2006
HINDUTVA'S VITAL ORGANS
THE MEDIA'S ROLE IN COMMUNALISING KARNATAKA
by Gauri Lankesh
Marshall McLuhan's theory that 'the medium is the
message' certainly holds true when it comes to
the role of the media in the increasing
communalisation of Karnataka. The tragedy is that
some leading Kannada language newspapers have
made it a habit to publish false stories,
baseless theories and imagined facts as scoop
stories. For example, Vijaya Karnataka, the
largest selling Kannada daily, recently carried a
four-column article about 'coastal Karnataka's
links with the underworld' in its coastal edition
of September 8, 2006.
The article made interesting reading, for it was
written with conviction. The gist of the article
was how people in the state's coastal areas have
for long had ties with the Mumbai underworld, how
these ties have led to the seizure of explosives,
AK-47s, seditious literature, etc. in some of the
coastal towns, how these seizures have averted
major terrorist attacks and so on. Although it
did not mention any particular community by name,
any layperson reading the article would
automatically make the connection between the
Muslim community in the coastal areas and the
underworld because it made specific mention of
Haji Mastan (former Mumbai don) a few times.
But the reality is that the article did not
mention any facts nor any instances or any
events... no nothing. It would not be wrong to
say that the entire article was pure speculation
clearly aimed at tarnishing the image of the
Muslim community in Karnataka's coastal areas.
This is one of many such instances where the
Kannada media have overtly pushed the Hindutva
agenda. And they have taken this to such lengths
that while they give substantial coverage to
Hindutva forces they deliberately ignore or ban
facts provided by secular forces in each and
every case.
To cite another example: the Hindutva brigade
issued a 'fatwa' four years ago that henceforth
all publications should use the term 'Dattatreya
Peeta' instead of the now disputed shrine's
actual name, Bababudangiri. To our amazement we
found that most publications followed this
diktat. As a fallout of this, in the public mind
the name Bababudangiri is gradually being erased
and replaced by 'Dattatreya Peeta'. So much so
that when I was to address a student's programme
at a college in Mandya recently, the compère who
was introducing me to the audience said, without
batting an eyelid, "Gauri Lankesh has been part
of the struggle to retain the syncretic culture
of Dattatreya Peeta."
Vijaya Karnataka and Udayavani are the two main
publications that have been indulging in such
saffronisation of the reader's mind. Both these
publications have not only made it a habit to
publish baseless stories as fact, they have also
taken to editorialising in their news coverage.
In the same September 8 edition I referred to
earlier, Vijaya Karnataka carried a news report
regarding the recitation of Vande Mataram as its
main story of the day. A line in the report read:
"Arjun Singh, who is at the forefront of
appeasing the Muslim community, was present at
the function to sing Vande Mataram." To pass off
opinions like "appeasement of Muslims" as news
is, by any yardstick, a new "standard" being set
by such publications.
Ever since Vijaya Karnataka was launched in 1999,
the state has witnessed a media war, fought in
terms of both price and content. Unfortunately,
the idea that the more 'Hindutva' the publication
the more readers it will gain has spread its
tentacles long and deep within the media. Add to
this the fact that often the proprietors and the
editorial staff are in fact from the Hindutva
camp and the combination becomes even more rabid.
Vijaya Karnataka was launched by none other than
Vijay Sankeshwar who, when he began the paper,
was already a sitting BJP MP. So it was no wonder
that after a few trials and errors he picked
Vishweshwar Bhat to be his editor. Bhat was a
member of the RSS and maintains close ties with
the sangh parivar's many outfits, including the
BJP, even today. Once Bhat took over, he brought
in various other "writers" from the saffron
brigade. One of these is Pratap Simha who usually
rants and raves in his weekly column against
"pseudo secularists" or anyone opposed to the
sangh parivar. It is not surprising that most of
Vijaya Karnataka's reporters and subeditors are
pro-right wing. With the editorial team of Vijaya
Karnataka appearing to clone a sangh parivar
'baithak', is it any wonder that the contents of
the newspaper, sometimes overtly, often covertly,
push the Hindutva agenda?
Anxious not to be left behind, Udayavani often
competes with Vijaya Karnataka, even publishing
baseless rumours as news. In one instance of this
some years ago, a news report published in
Udayavani's coastal editions said that Muslim
traders were pricking Hindu girls with syringes
carrying the AIDS virus. Obviously, this had
Hindus up in arms against Muslims and they took
their revenge by destroying Muslim houses in
about half a dozen villages.
What was particularly galling about this report
is that neither the reporter nor the editor or
anyone from Udayavani had bothered to check their
facts. In fact, the actual incident was
relatively minor. At a village fair in a coastal
town a Muslim trader had used a common needle to
prick a few people who had tried to steal some of
his wares. This had caused a commotion at the
fair and the police had picked up the Muslim
vendor. Yet this was enough to start off the
rumour that Muslims were injecting Hindu girls
with the AIDS virus. And this rumour appeared as
front page news in Udayavani. Even after
fact-finding teams investigated the matter and
revealed the truth, Udayavani insisted on
carrying this baseless AIDS story as if it were a
terrorist attack on Hindus in the coastal areas.
In Adi Udupi last year two Muslim men, Hajabba
and Hasanabba, were stripped, beaten up and
paraded naked by members of the sangh parivar,
causing an uproar in the state. With the state
government doing little to arrest the main
accused in this incident, Karnataka's secular
forces organised a massive protest rally at Udupi
in which, naturally, a large number of Muslims
participated.
But the local media, including Udayavani and
Vijaya Karnataka's local editions, not only
overlooked the utter viciousness of the sangh
parivar behind the Adi Udupi incident, but their
reports on the rally gave it an entirely
different twist by claiming that some of the
Muslim youth who had participated in the event
carried 'Pakistani flags'. They even published
huge photographs of some youth carrying green
flags with the caption "Pakistani flags at the
rally" while the accompanying news reports
claimed that some of the youth had even shouted
pro-Pakistan slogans.
To counter such false reportage, the Karnataka
Communal Harmony Forum had to approach the local
superintendent of police, convince him that the
triangular green flags with the crescent and star
were not Pakistani flags (which are rectangular
and have a vertical white stripe on the left) and
that no one had shouted pro-Pakistan slogans.
Even after these facts were presented to the
newspapers, they refused to carry clarifications
the next day. Finally we had to persuade the
superintendent of police to organise a press
conference where he clarified that neither were
Pakistani flags carried nor pro-Pakistan slogans
shouted. The papers did carry details of this
press conference but not on the front page - the
report was carried as a small item on their
inside pages!
One could go on and on about the media's role in
pushing the Hindutva agenda by printing
falsehoods, biases, rumours and pure imagination
as fact, but I shall end with just one more
example. A few of months ago, Vijaya Karnataka
carried an article glorifying Hindutva ideologue
Veer Savarkar as a great freedom fighter, patriot
and so on, the usual jargon pedalled by the sangh
parivar. I was incensed enough to call the
publisher, Vijay Sankeshwar (who has since sold
his publication to Bennett, Coleman & Co., Ltd.
of The Times of India) to say, "May I write a
piece containing the actual facts about Savarkar
for your publication? I am asking you since I am
aware that your editor will definitely throw it
into the dustbin." To which Sankeshwar replied:
"Why all this controversy? Veer Savarkar was a
great patriot who fought for the freedom of our
country."
I rest my case.
(Gauri Lankesh is editor of the Kannada weekly
magazine, Lankesh, and a member of the Karnataka
Communal Harmony Forum.)
_____
[5]
23 September 2006
CITIZEN TIPU AND SAFFRONAZIS
BY SUBHASH GATADE
Ghatam Bhindyat, Patam Chhindyat, Kuryat Rasbharohanam
Yenken Prakaren, Prasidho Purusho Bhavet
( Break Earthen Pots, Tear Clothes, Ride on a Donkey
Men try to achieve popularity by any means)
- Sanskrit couplet
Who is D. H. Shankarmurthy ?
It is a fact that till the other day the rest of
the country hardly knew the name of this man. But
today everybody is talking about this minister
for Higher Education in the JD(S) and BJP
coalition government in Karnataka.
It remains to be seen whether his aim to achieve
popularity by any means has been inspired by the
above mentioned Sanskrit Sholka(couplet). But
looking at the fact that he has been a member of
the Sangh Parivar for quite sometime, where years
of attending Shakhas and listening to endless
Baudhikas on the repeated theme of the 'other',
severly impacts one's critical faculties, it does
not seem to be the case.
Definitely if it would have concerned some minor
affair in the history of Karnataka then the news
would have hardly reached outside. But that is
not the case.Rather it would be more opportune to
say that Murthy's attempt to recast the Karnataka
history books in the Sangh Parivar's mould and
especially his move to obliterate the great Tipu
Sultan's name from the pages of Kannada history
that has angered a broad cross-section of people
cutting across party lines.
Under the false pretext that Tipu did not give
due importance to the Kannada language and rather
promoted Persian language Shankaramurthy has
asserted that Tipu Sultan should not be
glorified. 'Most of the history text books in the
country depict Tipu Sultan, Akbar, Aurangazeb
Alexander and others as patriots but the real
ones are never brought to light,' observed
Murthy.For him the alleged neglect of Kannada
language by Tipu Sultan is reason enough that the
great warrior of all times who even sacrificed
his children to end colonial rule be obliterated
from Karnataka's history.
For him it hardly matters that Tipu Sultan was a
ruler who was much ahead of his times, who was
apostle of Hindu-Muslim unity, who was fond of
new inventions, who is called innovator of the
world's first war rocket, who felt inspired by
the French Revolution and despite being a ruler
called himself Citizen. and even planted the tree
of 'Liberty' in his palace.
For Murthy it is a minor matter that Tipu sensed
the designs of the British and tried to forge
broader unity with the domestic rulers and even
tried to connect with French and the Turks and
the Afghans to give a fitting reply to the
hegemonic designs of the British. Perhaps the
Sangh Swayamsevak which is lurking inside the
minister for higher education does not want the
future generations to even know that Tipu
defeated the British army twice with his superior
planning and better techniques and who died in
the battlefield itself fighting the Britishers
again with his sword in his hand.
Ofcourse the move to obliterate the name of the
warrior whose martyrdom fighting the Britishers
preceded the historic revolt of the 1857 by
around 50 years does not appear surprising as far
as the whole trajectory of the RSS is concerned.
The eighty plus year old history of the 'cultural
organisation' is replete with facts which show
how they have discovered cowardice as a virtue.
Thousands of pages have been written about the
way they kept themselves aloof from the historic
anti-colonial struggle of the Indian people under
the excuse that they want to unify the Hindus.
Enough has been written on the way they tried to
break the wider anti-colonial unity by pitting
Hindus against Muslims. Perhaps it is high time
to emphasise the fact the ideologues of the
Hindutva brigade were 'pioneers' as far as
claiming that Hindus and Muslims were two nations.
The pretext of anti-Kannada bias in Tipu Sultan
runs hollow when one knows that the
Archeaological Department of Mysore State is in
possession of over thirty letters by Tipu to the
Shankaracharya of Shringeri Math. These letters
are written in the Kannada characters.
It is now history how the colonials distorted our
history to suit their imperial interests. One
very well knows they called our uprisings as
mutinies, our heroes as villains, and our freedom
fighters as usurpers and terrorists. The move to
obliterate Tipu's name from the pages of Kannada
history is another vindication that Sangh Parivar
has taken it upon themselves the task left
unfinished by the colonialists.
_____
[6]
Los Angeles Times
September 25, 2006
CAMPUS DRESS CODE HIGHLIGHTS INDIAN AGE GAP
A top university's rules on what to wear have
stirred debate on 'moral policing' and sexism.
They have also exposed a generational chasm.
by Henry Chu, Times Staff Writer
CHENNAI, India. Arjun, a college senior with a
wispy beard and forthright manner, breaks the
rules just about every time he walks onto campus.
He doesn't have to say a thing, or act out in
class, or pick a fight. He only has to do what
comes naturally to him every morning: Pull on a
pair of jeans.
That's enough to make him a habitual scofflaw
here at Anna University, whose administrators
have ordered students to toss out the T-shirts
and jettison the jeans, at least on campus.
It's button-front shirts and slacks for the men,
traditional Indian dress for the women — and an
unwanted spot of controversy for one of India's
elite scientific institutions of higher learning,
which quickly found its ban on informal and
"provocative" attire under fire.
Women's groups labeled the dress code unfair and
chauvinist, because female students were blamed
for "distracting" men with their attire and had
to wrap themselves up in traditional Indian
style, while their male peers could continue
wearing Western-type clothing.
Progressives branded the new rules as
reactionary. Many students were indignant over
what they felt was an insult to their
intelligence and right to free expression.
"I'm 20 years old," said Arjun, who asked to be
identified only by his first name, for fear of
punishment by campus officials. "I can go vote
for my leaders, but I can't decide what to wear?"
The imbroglio over Anna University's sartorial
restrictions, which were instituted late last
year, triggered nationwide debate over "moral
policing" in what remains a rather deeply
conservative society.
But beyond that, it laid bare a widening fault
line in a country rapidly on the rise: the gap
between India's older generation and its huge
youth population, whose increasingly globalized
outlook and consumerist ways have pushed them in
directions their parents could once scarcely have
imagined.
More than half of India's 1.1 billion people are
younger than 25. As the nation liberalizes its
economy, its youth are growing up with far more
opportunities, far more trappings of affluence
and far more signs of exposure to the outside
world, particularly the West, than previous
generations did.
That has translated into a greater confidence and
a palpable sense of excitement over an expanded
universe of possibilities.
But it has meant greater tension as well, between
the tugs of tradition and the enticements of
modern life. Attitudes are shifting fast — on
personal freedom, relationships between the
sexes, what to do with disposable income and
other hot-button issues. Conservative Indians,
often religious Hindus and Muslims, fear that
morals are being corrupted.
Anna University's vice chancellor, D.
Viswanathan, came down firmly on the side of
conservatism last fall when he decreed that
female students were forbidden to wear T-shirts,
jeans or tight clothing on campus. Only the
traditional shalwar kameez, a long tunic over
loose pants, would be acceptable.
"College campus is not a fashion parade. It's a
place where [young people] get more knowledge,
where they get educated and where they get good
employment," Viswanathan said. "Students must
come in decent dress so that they will not
distract other students."
The restrictions immediately sparked protests, at
first because they targeted only women, whose
outfits were supposedly distracting male students.
A few months before, the dean of a university in
New Delhi caused a stir when he blamed "revealing
dresses" for the gang rape of a student off
campus. Other school officials in India also came
out in favor of prohibiting girls from wearing
miniskirts, tight shirts and shorts on campus,
arguing that such measures would reduce sexual
harassment, known in India by the euphemism
"Eve-teasing."
Women's rights groups throughout India were
disturbed by what they saw as a similar
implication of Anna University's new dress code:
that female students were somehow responsible for
the bad behavior of their male counterparts.
"Women in India are always treated in a
double-standard way," said N.A. Arasi, a doctoral
student at Bharathidasan University in Trichy,
another city here in the southern state of Tamil
Nadu. "Their bodies are treated as an object to
be consumed by men."
Anna University officials hastily modified their
ban on informal attire to include male students
as well. But the protests did not stop.
"In the modern world, even some presidents wear
T-shirts and jeans," said G. Selva, secretary of
the Students Federation of India in Tamil Nadu,
which opposes the wardrobe regulations. "Dress
does not reflect a student's educational
capacity."
Selva and others said that casual clothing was a
much more practical option for young people,
given India's sweltering climate, the endless
demands of washing and ironing formalwear, and
the rigors of fieldwork, lab work and other
hands-on study.
And aren't one's college days, another student
said, the perfect time to exercise a little
individual expression and experimentation, a
period sandwiched between years spent as a
uniformed schoolchild and the future sartorial
monotony of professional life.
Nevertheless, a recent stroll through Anna
University's tranquil, leafy campus in the heart
of Chennai (formerly Madras), India's
fourth-largest city, showed that most students
appeared to be adhering to the dress rules. Just
a few wardrobe malfunctions — jeans — were in
evidence, and only on men.
"They are giving some restrictions, so we have to
accept," said Anandhi Govindarajan, 22, an
engineering student dressed in a colorful shalwar
kameez. "Our focus is only on our studies."
Govindarajan normally wears a shalwar kameez
anyway and finds it comfortable, she said. "We
can wear jeans when we go out for entertainment,"
she added.
The latest Western fashions are increasingly
common in India, popularized by Hollywood, MTV
culture, the Internet and marketing campaigns by
brands such as Tommy Hilfiger and Nike.
Traditionalists worry that the proliferation of
Western products and their lifestyle cues will
dilute indigenous culture and values — another
reason behind Anna University's emphasis on
traditional Indian garb, critics say.
But as Arjun, the college senior, noted, that
emphasis on indigenous dress seems sexist, too,
because it applies only to women. Male students
are required to wear collared shirts and slacks,
which have little to do with Indian culture. They
don't wear the dhoti, a fold of cloth draped
around the waist and often hiked up above the
knee, revealing hairy legs.
"Men in traditional Indian dress would be even
more provocative than women," Arjun said.
Viswanathan, the university's vice chancellor,
has been known to favor Western trousers and a
high-collared Nehru jacket, named after former
Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
Viswanathan insisted that a conservative dress
code was necessary to promote a serious
atmosphere on his campus, which is famous for its
science, technology and engineering programs.
Since the regulations went into effect, he said,
academic performance has improved. But he didn't
specify how that improvement was measured — only
that students now "concentrated on studies," he
said, "without distractions."
_____
[7]
The Hindu
Sep 26, 2006
CENTRE'S MOVE PLACES EDUCATION AT RISK
by Anil Sadgopal
Allocation for education as a percentage of the
GDP has been steadily declining since the
promulgation of the New Economic Policy.
PARLIAMENT'S LAST session saw three mass protests
against the Centre's decision to wash its hands
off the Right to Education Bill. This Bill had
become the Centre's obligation under Article
21(A) four years ago with the 86th Constitutional
Amendment. Two of these protests were held on the
opening day of the monsoon session itself - one
at Delhi's Jantar Mantar, under the banner of the
People's Campaign for Common School System, and
the other at Bangalore, under the leadership of
U.R. Ananthamurthy, the renowned Kannada
litterateur. The people demanded that the Centre
bring a pro-people Bill in the Parliament rather
than pass this off to the State governments, as
it did in June by sending them a much-diluted
Model Bill. The Centre's attempt to abdicate its
obligation was seen as being unconstitutional in
the light of the concurrent status of education.
The Delhi and Bangalore declarations alike asked
the Centre to include in the Right to Education
Bill the agenda of reconstructing the present
multi-layered school system into a Common School
System. Without this, a majority of India's
children would continue to be denied their right
to elementary education of equitable quality. The
claim of India Inc. to turn India into the third
largest knowledge economy and a "superpower" by
2020 would be a shambles, the government was
warned. The Karnataka citizens contended that
"only then India will be able to expand its
knowledge base and harness the potential talent
and merit of more than two-thirds of our people."
The third protest during the Parliament session
by the All India Secondary Teachers Federation
resolved to build a nationwide movement on the
twin issues of Right to Education and Common
School System.
The long-standing people's aspiration, "Nirdhan
Ho Ya Dhanwan, Sab Ko Shiksha Ek Saman" (Poor or
rich, all have a right to equitable education),
acquired a new meaning with the 1986 policy
resolve to take "effective measures ... in the
direction of the Common School System." This
alone can enable all children, irrespective of
their social or economic status, to study
together under a common roof in Neighbourhood
Schools. The relationship between the Right to
Education and the Kothari Commission's concept of
a Common School System is a recent construction
in public discourse.
The Central Advisory Board of Education
constituted the Kapil Sibal Committee two years
ago to draft the required legislation. Apart from
suffering from several lacunae, the Committee's
draft Bill attempted to promote the falsehood
that provision of 25 per cent free seats in
private unaided schools to poor children from the
neighbourhood was equivalent to moving towards a
Common School System. This was paraded by some of
its members as a great progressive measure. This
deliberate confusion helped divert the debate
away from the issue of Fundamental Rights to that
of the discomfort (and loss of profit) the "25
per cent idea" would cause to the powerful
private school lobby and the global market forces.
What is worse is the Centre's cynical use of the
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) to twist arms. It
says the States that adopt the Model Bill in toto
"should continue to be provided funding under SSA
on a 75:25 basis." But the States that decide to
take a different path will "be entitled to funds
under SSA on a 50:50 basis only." What would be
the Centre's stance if a State government decides
to dismantle the Model Bill's pro-privatisation,
pro-laissez faire, and anti-poor fabric? It is
not such an unlikely scenario. The Bihar
government has already taken a decisive step in
this direction by constituting a Common School
System Commission that would require the private
unaided schools to be its integral part and to
fulfil their constitutional obligation flowing
out of Article 21(A). Would this make Bihar
ineligible for SSA funding on a 75:25 basis?
Indeed, the Model Bill's attempt to equate the
lofty notion of Fundamental Rights with a
questionable scheme such as the SSA amounts to
reductionism of the worst kind.
The Centre's stand is exposed by its own
formulation in the Model Bill. Clause No. 5 (1)
requires of the State government that "the first
charge on its revenues, next only to law and
order, shall be that of the matters related to
free and compulsory elementary education."
Applying this logic in reverse, for the Central
government revenue too, elementary education must
be the first charge next only to defence and
internal security.
A delegation from the Delhi dharna was told by
the PMO's mandarin in charge of education that
the recent reservation debate had shifted the
entire focus to provision of increased seats in
professional institutions. This, according to the
PMO, would lead to a two-fold increase in
allocations for higher education. Where would
these additional resources come from? Implicitly,
by diverting them from elementary education and
diluting or shelving the Right to Education.
Would the "Youth for Equality," leading the
anti-reservation stir, now take out a candlelight
march to India Gate to halt this diversion of
resources from India's poor?
The Central government's Tapas Majumdar Committee
Report (November 2005) recommended that the
allocation for education needed to be raised to 6
per cent of the GDP by the beginning of the 11th
Plan and then continually raised to cross the
level of 10 per cent of the GDP by 2014-15. Going
beyond 6 per cent becomes necessary in order to
fill up the cumulative gap that had been building
up as a consequence of under-investment year
after year since Independence.
Of the 6 per cent of the GDP allocated to
education, 3 per cent should go to elementary
education (i.e. for implementing the Right to
Education Bill), 1.5 per cent to secondary
education, 1 per cent to higher education, and
0.5 per cent to technical education. If this was
done, the proposed increase in seats of
professional institutions could be effected
without diverting resources away from elementary
education. Juxtaposing elementary education
against secondary or higher education, as is the
emerging policy perception, is detrimental to
national interest since India needs a balanced
development of all sectors of education.
Where are the resources? The Tapas Majumdar
Committee provided at least a partial answer. It
stated that the "government's resource base can
be increased by improving the system of taxation
... Presently, the tax/GDP ratio is around 15 per
cent (2003-04), almost same as in 1990-91 ... In
many developed countries, the corresponding ratio
... is much higher: 24 per cent in Australia, 27
per cent in UK."
Also, the Centre cannot continue to feign as if
the 86th Amendment has never taken place. With
elevation of elementary education as a
Fundamental Right, no expenditure can be incurred
by the State, by superseding elementary
education, on a cause that is not a Fundamental
Right. The same government that claims lack of
resources for the Right to Education has no
qualms in liberally providing resources for
staging the Commonwealth games in 2010 - the cost
is estimated to cross Rs.80,000 crore. Further,
according to the Non-Performing Assets Report of
the Reserve Bank of India, the Centre wrote off
bank loans worth tens of thousands of crores owed
by corporate houses. Neither the Commonwealth
Games nor writing off loans given to corporate
houses constitutes a Fundamental Right of India
Inc.
The real issue is not one of lack of public
resources but of the relative priorities of the
national economy. Yet, the allocation for
education as a percentage of the GDP has been
steadily declining since the promulgation of the
New Economic Policy. This investment has
continued to decline during the United
Progressive Alliance rule as well in spite of the
levy of the 2 per cent Education Cess and a
substantial portion of the SSA funds coming from
international agencies. The present level of
investment is as low as the level achieved 20
years ago - 3.5 per cent of the GDP. The
political will to mobilise adequate public
resources for education has reached a low ebb
and, with the push towards privatisation of
everything under the sun, is likely to decline
further. The Model Bill is designed to legitimise
this decline, deny the Right to Education, and
promote privatisation. All this flows from the
market dogma of viewing education as a commodity,
rather than as a Fundamental Right. The Eleventh
Plan's Approach Paper extends this dogma by
proposing a voucher system as a method of
demolition of the government school system and
the backdoor funding of private schools.
Yet, there are those who pretend that there is
nothing like a "ruling elite," which dominates
policy making. Denial of the conflict of class
interests in education must be seen as a design
to depoliticise the issue. This definitely places
education and, therefore, the entire nation at
great risk.
(The writer is Senior Fellow, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi.)
_____
[8]
The Hindu
Sep 26, 2006
HISTORIANS PROTEST REMARKS AGAINST TIPU
Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI: Several historians on Monday protested
the remarks by Karnataka's Minister for Higher
Education D.H. Shankaramurthy that Tipu Sultan
was "anti-Kannada" as he made Persian the
language of administration.
Under the banner of the Safdar Hashmi Memorial
Trust, the historians said in a statement: "The
integrity of history books needs to be protected
against all such ignorant and partisan
onslaughts."
The statement was issued in response to Mr.
Shankaramurthy's comment that Tipu Sultan should
be spurned by all patriotic people of Karnataka
as he replaced Kannada with Persian in
administration. Citing Tipu Sultan's letters and
the orders passed by him, the statement said
there were numerous references to officials and
clerks appointed for keeping records in Kannada
and Marathi in the treasury and other government
offices.
On the Minister's desire that Tipu Sultan's name
be expunged from all textbooks, the historians
said: "Such a desire suits only those who have
scant respect for the memory of India's long
fight against foreign invaders or colonial rule.
It is inconceivable that the people of Karnataka,
and of India, can consign to oblivion a man like
Tipu Sultan, a true martyr, whom they have held
up as a hero, while the British regard him as
their most redoubtable opponent."
The signatories to the statement include R.S.
Sharma, A.R. Kulkarni, D.N. Jha, Sabyasachi
Bhattacharya, Shireen Moosvi, M.G.S. Narayanan,
Kesavan Valuthath, K.M. Shrimali, Irfan Habib,
Arjun Dev, Biswamoy Pati, Suvira Jaiswal, R.C.
Thakaran and Amar Farooqui
_____
[9]
Dear Friends,
Below is an urgent appeal for help for the
medical rehabilitation of Bant Singh whose
treatment is now underway in Delhi. If you are
based in Britain you can continue to send
contributions for Bant Singh by cheque made out
to South Asia Solidarity Group. The postal
address for cheques is SASG c/o LONDEC 293- 299
Kentish Town Road, London NW5 2TJ.
Dear Friends,
Early this year, we had sent you information
about the barbaric, gruesome attack on Bant
Singh, a dalit singer and leader of AIALA, the
organization of agrarian labour, in Punjab.
Many of you had also signed the petition and
expressed solidarity.
As you may know Bant Singh has shown exemplary
courage in the face of extreme adversity. He
refused to surrender to the demands of the caste
panchayat when they asked him to drop the case
against the rapists of his minor daughter. He
relentlessly pursued legal justice by declaring
that the struggle that he pursued for his
daughter was also the struggle for the dignity of
similarly oppressed dalit women. He continued
to organize agricultural workers for their rights
and wages brushing aside dangers to his person.
And when his arms and legs were smashed to a pulp
(and subsequently amputated) by politically
powerful landlords he comforted his friends and
said, "They have taken my limbs but I've got my
voice - I can still sing!"
Medical Rehabilitation of Bant Singh
While Bant Singh continues to defy the fetters
imposed by disability following the barbaric
assault, he is currently facing several
difficulties. He is unable to move on his own, a
surgery is pending in the leg that was left
intact but dysfunctional. He has 8 very young
children to look after; he is suffering from
multiple medical complications; and his
piggery-the work that had freed him from the
feudal bonds of being tied to the landlords'
fields-has collapsed.
What needs to be done
Bant Singh's courage will be a source of
inspiration to all but we need not be mere
spectators to the tragedy unleashed on him. We
can express our solidarity by helping him access
the best possible medical rehabilitation. Doctors
have pointed out that with the current
developments in medical technology, it would not
be impossible to fix artificial limbs, both arms
and legs, for him. Given the nature of amputation
and the extent of prosthetic aids required, it is
an expensive procedure but this is also necessary
to prevent his organs from getting atrophied.
The St. Stephen's Hospital, Delhi, is attempting
to medically rehabilitate Bant Singh. While this
procedure has started, there is an urgent need
for funds so that the best possible prosthetic
aids can be acquired for him. We urgently seek
your financial support for this purpose.
Bant Singh's rehabilitation would give all
struggling people immense courage and hope. We
owe it to Bant Singh to enable him to walk again.
You can draw your cheque/ DD in favour of AIALA,
and send it to U-90, Shakarpur, Delhi 110 092.
For further details and queries on nature of contribution, you could contact:
Forum for Democratic Initiatives
fdidelhi at gmail.com , fdi_delhi at yahoo.co.in
Radhika Menon, Manisha Sethi, Ravindra Garia, Tanveer Afaque, Satya Sivaraman
[. . .]
For details on the incident, petition and
protests, newspaper reports following it, please
see
www.punjabdalitsolidarity.blogspot.com
_____
[10] Upcoming Events
Eqbal Ahmad Book Forum [by Massachusetts Bar Association]
Selected writings of Eqbal Ahmed
Edited by Carollee Bengelsdorf, Margaret Cerullo, and Yogesh Chandrani
Foreword by Noam Chomsky
Columbia University Press
August, 2006
664 pages
cloth ISBN: 0-231-12710-3
paper ISBN: 0-231-12711-1
"Eqbal Ahmad was perhaps the shrewdest and most
original anti-imperialist analyst of the postwar
world." - Edward Said
September 28, 2006
7:30 PM
Ames Courtroom, Austin Hall
HARVARD LAW SCHOOL
Speakers:
Noam Chomsky
+
Panel with Pakistani Filmmaker Beena Sarwar
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
Buzz on the perils of fundamentalist politics, on
matters of peace and democratisation in South
Asia. SACW is an independent & non-profit
citizens wire service run since 1998 by South
Asia Citizens Web: www.sacw.net/
SACW archive is available at: bridget.jatol.com/pipermail/sacw_insaf.net/
DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not
necessarily reflect the views of SACW compilers.
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