SACW | Dec 10-12, 2008 / Bangladesh: Citizens, not enemies / Sri Lanka: cross-fire / India: War drums ; Hurriyat’s crisis; NREGA accountability

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire | December 10-12, 2008 | Dispatch No. 2590 -  
Year 11 running
From: www.sacw.net

[1] Bangladesh: Citizens, not enemies (Naeem Mohaiemen)
[2] Sri Lanka: Muslims caught in the cross-fire (Shanie)
[3] India: Aftermath of terror attack in Bombay - Reflections
(i) ’Amchi Mumbai’ - Many questions, some lessons (Lalita Ramdas)
(ii) Death Of A Salesman And Other Elite Ironies (Tarun J Tejpal)
(iii) Shock And Awe (Ananya Mukherjee Reed)
[4] India administered Kashmir: The Hurriyat’s crisis ( A.G. Noorani)
[5] India: NREGA - From accounts to accountability (Jean Drèze and  
Reetika Khera)
[6] Language Rights in Sri Lanka (Law & Society Trust)
[7]  Announcements:
(i) Citizens “Human Chain”(Bombay, 12 December 2008)
(ii) Events : For the right to dissent & to demand release of Binayak  
sen (Delhi, 11 - 12 December 2008)
(iii) Film Festival - by Girni Kaamgar Sangharsh Samiti (Bombay, 12  
-13 December 2008)
(iv) Mumbai and Attacks elsewhere in South Asia - Peace And  
Solidarity Vigil (New York, 13 December 2008)

_____


[1] Bangladesh:

Daily Star,
December 12, 2008

CITIZENS, NOT ENEMIES
by Naeem Mohaiemen


DEBATES around religious minorities, in election season and  
otherwise, focus on anecdotes and analogies -- positive and negative.  
What is largely missing in this discussion is quantitative analysis  
of the religious minorities status in Bangladesh.

The one variation is Professor Abul Barkat, of the Dhaka University  
Department of Economics. Since the 1990s, Barkat along with his large  
team of researchers have been applying the methods of economic,  
statistics and survey research to compile a comprehensive picture of  
Hindu community status since independence of Bangladesh, especially  
as it has been impacted by the black law known as Enemy (Vested)  
Property Act.

The missing Hindus

In order to quantify the total loss of Hindu population through  
migration, voluntary and involuntary, the study looks at official  
population statistics as well as Tahsil office records. Hindu  
population, as share of total population, has dropped from 18% in  
1961 to 12% in 1981 and finally to 9% in 2001. The rate of decline  
was most pronounced in six districts: Chandpur, Feni, Jamalpur,  
Kishoreganj, Kushtia, Pabna, and Narayanganj, In the districts which  
historically had high Hindu population, the average decline over  
forty years was 12%

Looking at the absolute number of Hindu population over forty years  
is not sufficient to calculate how many of them have left the  
country. It is also necessary to factor in birth rates. Looking at  
historic data of lower birth rates among Hindus, Barkat's research  
assumed 13% lower fertility rate for Hindus compared to Muslims.  
Factoring this in, the Hindu population should have been 11.4 million  
in 1971, but it was reported as 9.6 million. By 2001 it should have  
been 19.5 million, but it was 11.4 million. Looking at the entire  
time period and doing the same calculation, Barkat estimates the  
total missing Hindu population from 1964-2001 as 8.1 million, i.e.,  
218,819 missing Hindus each year.

While there are many factors that may have contributed to this  
ongoing depletion of the Hindu population, the research team argues  
that the Vested Property Act is the single largest factor that leads  
to minority departure from the country.

Metamorphosis of Vested Property Act

The Vested Property Act started life as Requisition of Property Act  
(Act XIII of 1948), after 2 million Hindus left East Bengal in  
1947-48. Giving the power for takeover of abandoned property "needful  
for the purposes of the state," this act has evolved into something  
abused by citizen and state from Partition to today's Bangladesh.

This law metamorphosed into East Bengal Evacuees Act (1951), East  
Pakistan Disturbed Persons Rehabilitation Ordinance (1964), Enemy  
Property Order (1965), Bangladesh Vesting of Property and Assets  
Order (1972), and finally Vested and Non-Resident Property Act (1974).

As a result of publication of Barkat's first two studies, and major  
campaigning around this issue, the 22nd session of National  
Parliament under the Awami League government passed Vested Property  
Return Act 2001. While this was a first milestone, there were several  
major flaws: the act covered only land vested up to February 1969;  
the original owner or heir is required to have "continuously" resided  
in Bangladesh; and the owner had to submit claims within 90 days of  
publication of list of returnable properties.

In November 2002, the BNP-Jamaat alliance government passed an  
amendment to the 2001 act, which removed all enforcing power from  
this law. Especially harmful was the clause that gave the government  
"unlimited time" to publish the list and enforce return of property.  
Since the passage of this amendment, not a single list has been  
published, nor any return process initiated in the last six years.

Quantification of impact

As part of the multi-year study that led to Professor Barkat and his  
team's new book, the following data collection instruments were used:  
primary data via panel studies of 16 districts, follow-up study on  
households surveyed in 1997 study, Population Census, Land Survey,  
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics logs, Tahsil and Thana land revenue  
records, etc.

Below we present the key findings from the study:

1. 43% of all Hindu households (1.2 million) have been affected by  
EPA/VPA. 57% of households that lost land lost an average of 100  
decimals. Survey data shows 33% of affluent Hindu families lost land  
due to EPA/VPA. 50% of affluent households had at least one close  
relative who lost land

2. Total area of land lost is 2.01 million acres, which is 5.5% of  
Bangladesh's total land mass but 45% of land owned by the Hindu  
community. The survey data shows 22% more land loss than is shown in  
the official records. According to survey data, the total land lost  
is 2.6 million.

3. The type of land lost is typically agricultural (80% of total lost  
land), followed by homestead (11%), pond area (1.2%), orchard (1.7%),  
and fallow land (0.7%).

4. Assuming average market price of land as seen in the year 2007,  
total value of land lost is BDT 2,416,273 million.

5. 53% of incidents of dispossession and 74% of total lost land  
occurred between 1965-1971. After lower rates from 1972-1975,  
dispossession rates accelerated again from 1975. Even after the  
"Repeal Act" was passed in 2001, 8% of dispossession incidents  
occurred between 2001-2006.

6. The most typical methods of land grabbing are influential parties  
grabbing land in connivance with Tahsil and Thana Revenue Office,  
death and/or out-migration of members of the Hindu family used as  
excuse to enlist the whole property, grabbing the land by force,  
occupying land using forged documents, etc.

Professor Barkat is an academic who has put hard statistics around a  
complex crisis for the nation's minority community. In this election  
season, are there politicians out there who have the courage to make  
complete removal of this black law, and return of all land to  
dispossessed Hindu families, one of their election manifestos? We're  
waiting for a politician with the courage to take that principled  
position. Rather than losing votes, it will gain many votes. Above  
all, from the nation's millions of secular Muslims who look for a  
principled position regarding equal treatment for all citizens.


1. See, e.g. Deprivation of Hindu Minority in Bangladesh," A Barakat  
et al. (Pathak Shamabesh, 2008).



_____


[2] Sri Lanka:

The Island
6 December 2008

MUSLIMS CAUGHT IN THE CROSS-FIRE
by Shanie

http://www.island.lk/2008/12/06/features3.html

_____

[3]

(i)
South Asia Citizens Web - 11 December 2008
http://www.sacw.net/article401.html

’AMCHI MUMBAI’ - MANY QUESTIONS, SOME LESSONS

by Lalita Ramdas

"Beware of the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the  
citizenry into patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double- 
edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the  
mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the  
blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have  
no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry, [who] infused with  
fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights  
unto the leader and gladly so. How will I know? For this I have done.  
And I am Julius Caesar." —William Shakespere

My mother tells me that at the age of three my favourite past time  
was to be taken for a walk to the Gateway of India from Dhanraj Mahal  
where we lived during the war years. Occasionally she would take me  
into the Taj for a pastry and to talk to some of the Navy Uncles in  
their white uniforms because I was missing Papa who was out at sea..  
Some sixty five years later - settled in this village of Bhaimala in  
Alibag Taluka - the magic of approaching the familiar skyline of the  
Gateway and the Taj hotel by boat from Mandwa is still very special - 
no matter how many times we have made that crossing. I wondered if  
those boys who landed on the night of the 26th, had ever seen the  
magic of Mumbai from seaward during the day - and if they had a  
moment of doubt at what they had set out to demolish.

Ah Bombay, we had seen the best of times, and today we are seeing the  
worst of times - not just for Mumbai, India and Indians, but for our  
neighbours, especially for the people of Pakistan - who,like us, are  
victims of the legacy of colonization and a bitter partition which  
gave us our independence. Bombay has been the port city which has  
been home to the Indian Navy for the longest time, and as daughter  
and wife of two navy persons [both of whom rose to head the service  
as the first and the eleventh Navy Chiefs,] , Mumbai was my city too.  
I wept tears of disbelief, anguish and anger as I watched the images  
of the wanton attack on so many symbols of our growing up years in  
South Bombay. I too shared the pride and relief of many as the  
commandos and police finally ended the siege; and I too mourned the  
tragic loss of innocent lives from all walks of life. Such a waste  
and for little apparent gain.

Today we are seeing a new group of Mumbaikers on the streets - coming  
from the class that has typically kept aloof from activism and any  
political involvement. This is a good thing in many ways, it is  
important that people feel strongly enough to get out and make their  
voices heard. as they cry out ’Enough is Enough’. It is important  
also to understand what has changed this time and what it is that  
they are saying enough to.

Yes we the people DO need to raise our voices to protest - but let us  
be clear about what we are protesting for and against. Yes we the  
people have a right to demand that the state be responsible for our  
security and that politicians be held accountable. And yes, let us  
never forget that this right of demanding accountability and  
protesting its absence is one that is fundamental to every citizen in  
this democracy - regardless of our religion, language, caste or  
community, our social or economic status or our political  
affiliations. This has been guaranteed to us by the Constitution of  
India.

In the last few days I have read with mixed feelings a wide range of  
emails and news items from across the country as also watched the  
invariably dramatized images and analyses in the electronic media..  
It is impossible not to be affected one way or other. I have also  
received several phone calls from friends - several of them Muslim - 
worried about what is happening, feeling the pressure to stand up and  
be counted among the ’patriotic’ Indians; a pressure that we non- 
Muslims do not have to face.

One of the most disturbing mails in my inbox today was entitled ’We  
Need Leaders like this’ - an account extolling recent actions by John  
Howard the Australian PM as he lashed out at Muslims in Australia in  
an effort to pre-empt ’Islamic terror’ in his country. And at the end  
of the harangue he tells them that they either accept the laws and  
customs of the land or avail of the Right to Leave. We are asked to  
circulate this widely - with the message that this is what needs to  
be done in India too. The implications are chilling and it took time  
to sink in . In a sense it was not surprising - the slow  
communalization of Indian society has been taking place insidiously  
over decades. Only now is it being stated so explicitly. While the  
right wing have consciously pushed this agenda, the others who flaunt  
their secular credentials have also virtually allowed this sub-text  
to go unchallenged.. It seems that the People of India will need to  
ask ourselves what kind of society we really want and the answers  
might be very different depending on who we are, where we live, how  
we live, and if we feel we belong.

The Extract below, from a piece by Suddhabrata Sengupta in a Punjabi  
website called WICHAAR, sums up the problem succinctly.

"While the agents of the attack in Bombay may have been genuinely  
motivated by their own twisted understanding of Islam, they have  
demonstrated that they have no hesitation in putting millions of  
Indian Muslims in harms way by exposing them to the risk of a long  
drawn out of spiral of retaliation. We need to underscore that they  
killed 40 innocent, unarmed Muslims (roughly 20 % of the current  
total casualty figures of 179) while they unleashed their brutal  
force on Bombay. The terrorists who authored their deaths cannot by  
any stretch of imagination be seen as partisans or friends of Islam.  
They are the enemy of us all, and especially of those amongst us who  
happen to be Muslims, for they jeopardize the safety and security of  
all Muslims in India by unleashing yet another wave of suspicion and  
prejudice against ordinary Muslims."

In the course of a long and thought provoking piece which he calls  
the DEBRIS OF TERROR, Sengupta also speaks of the ironies and also  
the utter senselessness of this attack:

""No redemptive, just, honourable or worthwhile politically  
transformatory objectives can be met, or even invoked, by attacking a  
mass transit railway station, a restaurant, a hotel or a hospital.  
The holding of hostages in a centre of worship and comfort for  
travellers cannot and does not challenge any form of the state  
oppression anywhere.

By helping to unleash calls for war, by eliminating (unwittingly  
perhaps) those that have been investigating the links between fringe  
far right groups and home grown terror, by provoking once again the  
demand for stronger and more lethal legislation for preventive  
detention (in the form of a revived or resuscitated POTA), these  
terrorists have done statist and authoritarian politics in India its  
biggest favour."

And it is for these reasons that it is so critical in the present  
context that we as responsible citizens of India, exercise both  
reason and restraint, before we impetuously demand carpet bombing of  
Pakistan; self righteously refuse to pay taxes, contemptuously  
dismiss those who advocate people to people contact with our  
neighbours, and in the same breath, accuse Indian Muslims of being in  
some way the fifth columnists in our midst who have to demonstrate  
their patriotism and loyalty at every moment.

Over the years, through the course of my own work with human rights,  
peace, justice and environment, it is increasingly clear that the  
issue of loyalty or disloyalty , patriotism or lack of it, comes in  
many forms and is to be found at many levels. Patriotism is certainly  
not the exclusive preserve of one class or one community. We would do  
well to scrutinise the actions and allegiances of many who call  
themselves nationalists, who demand and have control over wealth and  
privilege; but who do not hesitate to plunder our forests, take over  
our fields and homes for private profit, displace millions from their  
homes, and then scream for financial help when the markets drop!

A TIME TO ASK THE DIFFICULT QUESTIONS....................

Yes - it is highly likely that today’s military establishment in  
Pakistan has encouraged and trained terrorists , but will going to  
war solve the core issues between us? Three wars down the road we are  
no closer to solving many of the intractable issues between us,  
including Kashmir.- so what should the road ahead look like?

Is the phenomenon of terrorism peculiar to Islam alone? Should we be  
going back in time and history to look at guerilla movements and the  
use of force by the State? Struggles for self-determination? What  
have been the common factors that have led people to take up armed  
struggle? What about those millions of decent god fearing Muslims who  
have no truck with terror, terrorism or Jihad - except in its real  
interpretation of a struggle within each individual..

Perhaps the phrase ’enough is enough’ should be applied more  
rigorously to our own track record of violence - often genocidal -  
across the sub-continent - starting with partition.

The birth of Bangladesh was rooted in a basic ethnic and linguistic  
division among Muslims of East and West Pakistan......The Tamils and  
Sinhalas are locked in ethnic battles in a predominantly Buddhist  
country; Nepal has struggled long with violence and poverty but has  
also replaced Monarchy with a Maoist government in a predominantly  
Hindu country.

For many of us personally the carnage and bloodshed of 1984 following  
the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, when thousands of  
innocent Sikhs were slaughtered by their ’Hindu’ neighbours as the  
state stood by and watched, was a kind of wake up call. But 1984 also  
brought out the best in a whole generation of young and old citizens  
of the capital who dropped their work and their studies and came  
together in a spontaneous movement called Nagrik Ekta Manch where  
hundreds of us worked days and nights to record the gruesome  
catalogue of barbarity which we never thought we would see in our  
lifetime. We testified in commissions, we filed petitions - but the  
guilty were never brought to book. Never again we vowed would we  
permit state complicity in the killing of thousands of innocents .

And then came the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992 -  
perpetrated by one set of politicians while the others who ran the  
state stood by and watched. To do nothing is to acquiesce? The Mumbai  
blasts and killings in 1992 - 93 were almost predictable. Who can sit  
in judgement or foretell the consequences of the anger that could  
have taken roots in - 1984 and 1992 - especially when the Guilty were  
never punished?

And then it happened again to the Muslims in Gujarat in 2002; And we  
still did not take to the streets to protest and the architects of  
that genocide are today’s rulers and favoured corporate destination..

Beyond community and religion there is more to remember in this vast  
and ancient land where there are few records and no one cares to  
recount the atrocities and injustice that have been visited upon the  
dalits and the tribals over time immemorial by the genteel, cultured  
upper castes in this Incredible India of ours; This continues in the  
India Shining of the 21st Century.

How can we continue to accept the sheer ferocity and violence and  
torture indulged in by various formations of para military on the  
people of the North East, and Kashmir to this day. Can they really be  
expected to love us?

And have any of us at any time ever questioned what is being  
perpetrated on our own people by the state in the name of Salwa Judum  
to fight the Maoists or Naxals - who are also protesting injustice,  
oppression and years of neglect and corruption ?

So when we now come out to raise our voices - let us remember to  
protest first of all the many things we need to put right in our own  
politics, our social evils, our corruption, our inability [or  
unwillingness?] to provide the basic needs for nearly 50% of our  
people. These are the real factors that underlie violence.

I ask myself over and over again as I see the pictures of the lone  
terrorist to be caught alive, what drives them to such acts - is this  
the ultimate indictment of our failure as a people and a state, to  
create meaningful work and opportunities for youth across the region?

So before we spread more suspicion and prejudice, let us stop and  
think - what really needs to be done. Perhaps we need to raise our  
voices in favour of continuing to dialogue with Pakistan and its  
admittedly weak and fledgling elected civilian government? Thanks to  
the tireless efforts of Track II and Track III efforts over a couple  
of decades, today we have a constituency within Pakistan that wants  
friendship with India and vice versa. Certainly this helped in  
creating a basis and demand for democracy across the border. Any  
senseless action at this time can be catastrophic - especially since  
we are both nuclear states. So can we bear in mind that we are not  
against Pakistan but against the elements there who instigate and  
promote terrorists - and yes the pressure on them should be tough and  
relentless.

Today it is imperative that we work together to say NO to War  
Mongering - on the basis that this action against an innocent Indian  
state gives us the right to attack Pakistan.

It is also imperative that we fight our instinct for Islamophobia - a  
readiness to say we understand everything about the motives and  
drives of the terrorists by pointing to their ’Muslim’ identity - and  
the other myth that the Quran sanctions violence against non- 
believers -and that is how we explain the roots of the attacks in  
Mumbai..

SEEKING SOLUTIONS

If we are serious about addressing terror then the only way is for us  
in both India and Pakistan - and the rest of the region - to reach  
out, work with each other - to confront, to challenge, and to  
mobilize the power of people to defeat the forces of violence and  
terror be they state or non-state actors.

For a start, in India - let us demand an immediate review and  
implementation of the various Commissions of Enquiry on the Police  
Force and their Status and Role. If this can be spearheaded from  
across the country - it will be difficult for the politician to  
postpone it any more.The issue of auditing political party funds and  
the present electoral process is another key area which has led to  
many vitiations of all norms.

Perhaps it is also a moment when we need to be looking in very  
different directions to find ways of working together with our  
neighbours - be it Pak India problems, or with Bangla desh or Sri  
Lanka. In this era where the concerns of Climate Change and Global  
warming are upper most among the potential threats to peoples and  
geographic regions around the world - maybe we can look at creative  
ways to engage with each other on ecology, on our shared maritime and  
marine reserves, on coastal questions, and water. There are so many  
pressing problems for which collective solutions need to be found - 
and there is nothing like working together on mutual problems to  
develop a better understanding of each others strengths and  
weaknesses. Finally, with India being the Big Brother in this region - 
there is a bigger onus of responsibility on us to take the  
constructive initiatives.

It will soon be Id - a time for celebration and introspection - may  
it also be a time to work for Peace. In closing I want to share with  
you the comments of Bharathi, who has worked in our village home for  
over 15 years . After watching the endless TV channels and their  
often sensational projection and coverage of the agony of Mumbai -  
she turned to me and said simply and with no doubt in her voice "Bai  
- Athank tho Athank hai na? Wo kaisa Hindu ya Mussalman ho saktha? ’  
Surely Terror is terror ? - how can it be Hindu terror or Muslim  
terror?"

In her simple view of the world - there is a deep and profound sense  
of both tolerance and respect for humanity. Over the years she who  
never knew of a world outside her own village reality, has grown to  
love and welcome into our home our Pakistani son-in-law and members  
of his family; our Sri Lankan nephew in law; my two Muslim sisters - 
married to my brother and cousin respectively; my niece and her  
English husband; and most recently our African-American son-in-law.  
She has interacted and understands the issues affecting the tribal  
and dalit activists with whom yet another son-law works. And she  
treats them all with the same smiling warmth and dignity. To me she  
embodies all that is valuable and enduring in this sub-continent and  
for which I am eternally grateful because at the end of the day, this  
is what sustains and nurtures our weary spirits and will, Inshallah,  
take us into a different tomorrow..

* Lalita Ramdas from Bhaimala Village, Alibag - across the harbour  
from Mumbai, today Sunday Dec 7 2008



o o o

(ii)

Tehelka Magazine, Vol 5, Issue 49, Dated Dec 13, 2008

DEATH OF A SALESMAN AND OTHER ELITE IRONIES

by Tarun J Tejpal

Rohinton Maloo was shot doing two things he enjoyed immensely. Eating  
good food and tossing new ideas. He was among the 13 diners at the  
Kandahar, Trident-Oberoi, who were marched out onto the service  
staircase, ostensibly as hostages. But the killers had nothing to  
bargain for. The answers to the big questions — Babri Masjid,  
Gujarat, Muslim persecution — were beyond the power of anyone to  
deliver neatly to the hotel lobby. The small ones — of money and  
materialism — their crazed indoctrination had already taken them well  
beyond. With the final banality of all fanaticism, flaunting the  
paradox of modern technology and medieval fervour — AK-47 in one  
hand; mobile phone in the other — the killers asked their minders,  
“Udan dein?” The minder, probably a maintainer of cold statistics,  
said, “Uda do.”


Rohinton caught seven bullets, and by the time his body was  
recovered, it could only be identified by the ring on his finger.  
Rohinton was just 48, with two teenage children, and a hundred plans.  
A few of these had to do with TEHELKA, where he was a strategic  
advisor for the last two years. As Indians, we seldom have a good  
word to say about the living, but in the dead we discover virtues  
that strain the imagination. Perhaps it has to do with a strange mix  
of driving envy and blinding piety. Let me just say Rohinton was  
charismatic, ambitious, and a man of his time, and place. The time  
was always now, and in his outstanding career in media marketing, he  
was ever at the cutting edge of the new — in the creation of Star  
Networks, and a score of ventures on the web. The place was always  
Mumbai, the city he grew up in and lived in, and he exemplified its  
attitudes: the hedonism, the get-go, the easy pluralism.

For me there is a deep irony in his death. He was killed by what he  
set very little store by. In his every meeting with us, he was  
bemused and baffled by TEHELKA’s obsessive engagement with politics.  
He was quite sure no one of his class — our class — was interested in  
the subject. Politics happened elsewhere, a regrettable business  
carried out by unsavoury characters. Mostly, it had nothing to do  
with our lives. Eventually, sitting through our political ranting, he  
came to grudgingly accept we may have some kind of a case. But he  
remained unconvinced of its commercial viability. Our kind of readers  
were interested in other things, which were germane to their lives —  
food, films, cricket, fashion, gizmos, television, health and the  
strategies of seduction. Politics, at best, was something they endured.

In the end, politics killed Rohinton, and a few hundred other  
innocents. In the final count, politics, every single day, is  
killing, impoverishing, starving, denigrating, millions of Indians  
all across the country. If the backdrop were not so heartbreaking,  
the spectacle of the nation’s elite — the keepers of most of our  
wealth and privilege — frothing on television screens and screaming  
through mobile phones would be amusing. They have been outraged  
because the enduring tragedy of India has suddenly arrived in their  
marbled precincts. The Taj, the Oberoi. We dine here. We sleep here.  
Is nothing sacrosanct in this country any more?
Cover Story - Mumbai Terror Attack 2008

Photo: REUTERS

What the Indian elite is discovering today on the debris of fancy  
eateries is an acidic truth large numbers of ordinary Indians are  
forced to swallow every day. Children who die of malnutrition,  
farmers who commit suicide, dalits who are raped and massacred,  
tribals who are turfed out of centuryold habitats, peasants whose  
lands are taken over for car factories, minorities who are bludgeoned  
into paranoia — these, and many others, know that something is  
grossly wrong. The system does not work, the system is cruel, the  
system is unjust, the system exists to only serve those who run it.  
Crucially, what we, the elite, need to understand is that most of us  
are complicit in the system. In fact, chances are the more we have —  
of privilege and money — the more invested we are in the shoring up  
of an unfair state.

IT IS time each one of us understood that at the heart of every  
society is its politics. If the politics is third-rate, the condition  
of the society will be no better. For too many decades now, the elite  
of India has washed its hands off the country’s politics. Entire  
generations have grown up viewing it as a distasteful activity. In an  
astonishing perversion, the finest imaginative act of the last  
thousand years on the subcontinent, the creation and flowering of the  
idea of modern India through mass politics, has for the last 40 years  
been rendered infra dig, déclassé, uncool. Let us blame our parents,  
and let our children blame us, for not bequeathing onwards the sheer  
beauty of a collective vision, collective will, and collective  
action. In a word, politics: which, at its best, created the wonder  
of a liberal and democratic idea, and at its worst threatens to tear  
it down.

We stand faulted then in two ways. For turning our back on the  
collective endeavour; and for our passive embrace of the status quo.  
This is in equal parts due to selfish instinct and to shallow  
thinking. Since shining India is basically only about us getting an  
even greater share of the pie, we have been happy to buy its half- 
truths, and look away from the rest of the sordid story. Like all  
elites, historically, that have presided over the decline of their  
societies, we focus too much of our energy on acquiring and  
consuming, and too little on thinking and decoding. Egged on by a  
helium media, we exhaust ourselves through paroxysms over vacant  
celebrities and trivia, quite happy not to see what might cause us  
discomfort.

For years, it has been evident that we are a society being  
systematically hollowed out by inequality, corruption, bigotry and  
lack of justice. The planks of public discourse have increasingly  
been divisive, widening the faultlines of caste, language, religion,  
class, community and region. As the elite of the most complex society  
in the world, we have failed to see that we are ratcheted into an  
intricate framework, full of causal links, where one wrong word  
begets another, one horrific event leads to another. Where one man’s  
misery will eventually trigger another’s.

Let’s track one causal chain. The Congress creates Jarnail Singh  
Bhindranwale to neutralise the Akalis; Bhindranwale creates  
terrorism; Indira Gandhi moves against terrorism; terrorism  
assassinates Indira Gandhi; blameless Sikhs are slaughtered in Delhi;  
in the course of a decade, numberless innocents, militants, and  
securitymen die. Let’s track another. The BJP takes out an  
inflammatory rath yatra; inflamed kar sewaks pull down the Babri  
Masjid; riots ensue; vengeful Muslims trigger Mumbai blasts; 10 years  
later a bogey of kar sewaks is burnt in Gujarat; in the next week  
2,000 Muslims are slaughtered; six years later retaliatory violence  
continues. Let’s track one more. In the early 1940s, in the midst of  
the freedom movement, patrician Muslims demand a separate homeland;  
Mahatma Gandhi opposes it; the British support it; Partition ensues;  
a million people are slaughtered; four wars follow; two countries  
drain each other through rhetoric and poison; nuclear arsenals are  
built; hotels in Mumbai are attacked.

IN EACH of these rough causal chains, there is one thing in common.  
Their origin in the decisions of the elite. Interlaced with  
numberless lines of potential divisiveness, the India framework is  
highly delicate and complicated. It is critical for the elite to  
understand the framework, and its role in it. The elite has its hands  
on the levers of capital, influence and privilege. It can fix the  
framework. It has much to give, and it must give generously. The  
mass, with nothing in its hands, nothing to give, can out of  
frustration and anger, only pull it all down. And when the volcano  
blows, rich and poor burn alike.

And so what should we be doing? Well, screaming at politicians is  
certainly not political engagement. And airy socialites demanding the  
carpet-bombing of Pakistan and the boycott of taxes are plain absurd,  
just another neon sign advertising shallow thought. It’s the kind of  
dumb public theatre the media ought to deftly side-step rather than  
showcase. The world is already over-shrill with animus: we need to  
tone it down, not add to it. Pakistan is itself badly damaged by the  
flawed politics at its heart. It needs help, not bombing. Just  
remember, when hardboiled bureaucrats clench their teeth, little  
children die.

Most of the shouting of the last few days is little more than  
personal catharsis through public venting. The fact is the politician  
has been doing what we have been doing, and as an über Indian he has  
been doing it much better. Watching out for himself, cornering  
maximum resource, and turning away from the challenge of the greater  
good.

The first thing we need to do is to square up to the truth. Acknow  
ledge the fact that we have made a fair shambles of the project of  
nation-building. Fifty million Indians doing well does not for a  
great India make, given that 500 million are grovelling to survive.  
Sixty years after independence, it can safely be said that India’s  
political leadership — and the nation’s elite — have badly let down  
the country’s dispossessed and wretched. If you care to look, India  
today is heartbreak hotel, where infants die like flies, and equal  
opportunity is a cruel mirage.

Let’s be clear we are not in a crisis because the Taj hotel was  
gutted. We are in a crisis because six years after 2,000 Muslims were  
slaughtered in Gujarat there is still no sign of justice. This is the  
second thing the elite need to understand — after the obscenity of  
gross inequality. The plinth of every society — since the beginning  
of Man — has been set on the notion of justice. You cannot light  
candles for just those of your class and creed. You have to strike a  
blow for every wronged citizen.

And let no one tell us we need more laws. We need men to implement  
those that we have. Today all our institutions and processes are  
failing us. We have compromised each of them on their values, their  
robustness, their vision and their sense of fairplay. Now, at every  
crucial juncture we depend on random acts of individual excellence  
and courage to save the day. Great systems, triumphant societies, are  
veined with ladders of inspiration. Electrified by those above them,  
men strive to do their very best. Look around. How many constables,  
head constables, sub-inspectors would risk their lives for the  
dishonest, weak men they serve, who in turn serve even more  
compromised masters?

I wish Rohinton had survived the lottery of death in Mumbai last  
week. In an instant, he would have understood what we always went on  
about. India’s crying need is not economic tinkering or social  
engineering. It is a political overhaul, a political cleansing. As it  
once did to create a free nation, India’s elite should start getting  
its hands dirty so they can get a clean country.


o o o

(iii)
	
outlook, 11 December 2008

SHOCK AND AWE

There seems to be lack of direction and an absence of a deeper  
analytical understanding of what the media's role should be in this  
rather grave situation. Its choreography of catharsis has taken a  
dangerous turn. .........

by Ananya Mukherjee Reed

Like everyone else, I continue to sit transfixed in front of my  
computer and television screen since the 26th of November. Also, like  
everyone else, I have much admiration for Indian media. Something,  
however, is slipping. There seems to be lack of direction and an  
absence of a deeper analytical understanding of what the media’s role  
should be in this rather grave situation. Its choreography of  
catharsis has taken a dangerous turn.

First, just some basic questions, prompted by sheer personal  
insecurity. I remain unconvinced by Barkha Dutt’s passionate defence  
of NDTV’s coverage of the attacks. I am worried about the way details  
of airport security are being divulged constantly. While we depend on  
the media to expose its gaps, perhaps some details should be reported  
directly to the authorities and not through public outlets? If there  
are potential attacks being planned, should there be such open  
knowledge about what security arrangements are in place? Very  
legitimate doubts have been raised about the way operations at the  
Taj were being telecast. There needs to be oversight of the media’s  
actions, and I would feel safer if such oversight was in place. By  
the way, should the confessions of Mohammad Ajmal Amir be narrated by  
the media as they emerge? Is receiving this word-by-word account  
really in our interest? And can we have some consensus on his name?

Second, it is commendable that the media has taken on the role of  
being the conduit of public anger towards our system of governance.  
However, the system of governance does not consist only of the  
politicians or the bureaucracy. Our celebrities, corporate leaders  
and the elite more generally are intrinsic elements of this system of  
governance. They are also the greatest beneficiaries of the system  
which they now blithely condemn. At the very least, should the media  
not raise questions about their complicity -- at the very least the  
issues of tax avoidance, tax evasion, land grab, etc. all of which  
are gains made directly from this system of governance? To the  
contrary, all we see are pretty young journalists enamoured by the  
rants of the great men and women they interview. As they ask coyly of  
their interviwees, "So what would you do to make a change?", the same  
generalities follow. This, quite simply, insults the many Indians who  
are already active in social change. The smugness and presumptuous  
demeanour of these suddenly engaged celebrities is impossible to  
stomach.

The talk shows are worse and their effect even more serious.  
Suggestions of war and carpet bombing and gun ownership are aired  
regularly and with impunity. Enough is enough chant the divas. Enough  
of what exactly is enough? This is a country where the wealth of 40  
people equals 30 percent of our $1 trillion national income and 77  
percent live under Rs.20 a day. Enough is enough, surely. But it was  
not so, until very recently.

In shock (and awe) I watched the other day a rather shrill (and ill- 
informed) host ask her guests why the Pakistani civil society is not  
standing by us in this hour of need. Oh really? Do we stand behind  
them when unmanned US drones kill innocent civilians everyday? Did we  
stand behind the children who had their limbs blown off on their way  
to school? Did we stand behind the people of Bajaur who became  
refugees in their own country?

This brings me to the final point: there is almost no analysis in the  
media about how the deep imbroglio in South Asia is a direct  
consequence of US involvement in the region, in particular its  
actions since 9/11. Remember George Bush’s famous (and ominous) line:  
"if we don’t fight them there, they will fight us here"? This line is  
repeated time and again in these terribly choreographed debates on  
television.


We hear how there have been no attacks on US soil since 9/11. True,  
very true. But how? Only by displacing them on to other soils, such  
as ours. Indeed, this is just another grotesque moment in the bloody  
history of empire. Remember, how another imperialist at another time,  
told us how it had saved us by partitioning us? Of course, the blame  
must lie, as always, with us: for not seeing through these  
manipulations and for allowing our leaders to use them for their own  
advantage - in our name. Ironically, this is also precisely what a  
large section of the American public has finally come to regret: that  
they had allowed the manipulation of fear for political and economic  
gains of some. The two wars, fought on the backs of the American  
underclass, have wreaked havoc both inside and beyond America’s borders.

The Indian public, now very understandably traumatized and overcome  
with a feeling of helplessness, needs to be given this wider context.  
It needs to be reminded of the long history of US intervention in  
Afghanistan and Pakistan, its role in fomenting instability and its  
destructive oil-hungry militarism since 9/11. Its long history of  
direct support to military dictatorships and armed militancy in  
Pakistan must immediately be brought into this discourse. It may be  
difficult at this point in time, as the US has positioned itself as  
India’s primary ally in pressuring Pakistan. But it is an alliance  
they must know they owe us, for having stoked the fires of conflict  
(which, of course, we ourselves have so perversely ignited and kept  
alive). Similarly, they owe much to the ordinary citizens of Pakistan  
who suffer from the scourge of militarism that the American  
government and the Pakistani establishment have unleashed on them.  
Not only should we not call for a new war, but we should call for an  
end to all ongoing wars, including on our own soil. It would be an  
unforgivable irony of history if we allow this tragedy to turn us  
into a local agent of American imperialism in South Asia.

I hope our powerful media is up to the task.

Ananya Mukherjee Reed is Associate Professor, Political Science at  
York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

_____


[4]

Dawn
December 6, 2008

THE HURRIYAT’S CRISIS

by A.G. Noorani

NOT till Dec 28 when the votes are counted will we know whether the  
plans by some in New Delhi to install Farooq Abdullah and later his  
son, Omar, in power in Kashmir have succeeded.

But the first three of the seven phases of the elections have sent  
two clear messages which neither the Unionists nor the separatists  
will like. One is that the voters sought change in governance while  
retaining their commitment to azadi. No one contests this. The other  
is that the electorate has snubbed the leaders of the All Parties  
Hurriyat Conference (APHC). On Sept 12 Mirwaiz Umar Farooq warned the  
Unionists “to fear the wrath of the people”. Their wrath might be  
visited on the APHC unless it puts its own house in order soon enough.

It has consistently overplayed its hand by making tall claims. The  
APHC cannot deliver peace because it does not control the militants.  
It was piqued and felt left out when the Hizbul Mujahideen declared a  
ceasefire on July 24, 2000 and began parleys with the Government of  
India. The fragile unity between the leaders came apart in 2003.

The present surge in its fortunes is due entirely to popular  
resentment at the state government’s order of May 26, 2008 on the  
transfer of land to the Amarnath Shrine Board. It is the people who  
led the APHC always, not the other way around. To the Mirwaiz goes  
the credit for reaching out to the faction headed by Syed Ali Shah  
Geelani and inviting him “to lead this resistance” to the order.

On June 16 a coordination committee of six members was set up “to  
evolve a joint mechanism for attaining the right to self- 
determination through plebiscite or, alternatively, through  
tripartite talks”. It would review “the 1993 Constitution of the APHC  
and implement it with amendments, if necessary”. Geelani agreed, “We  
have reached the conclusion that we will unite”. The United Jihad  
Council, headed by the Hizb leader Syed Salahuddin, welcomed the  
move. He has been pleading with them to unite. Nearly six months  
later this coordination committee continues still to coordinate.  
Unity is not in sight.

Popular upsurge in the Valley was compared to that in 1990. On July 3  
Geelani declared “Our struggle would be peaceful. We neither need the  
gun of the mujahideen now, nor the support of Pakistan or its media.”

Meanwhile, Jammu erupted in protests organised by the RSS. The  
economic blockade it imposed on the Valley revived the demand for the  
reopening of the road to Rawalpindi. On Aug 11 nearly 100,000 persons  
began to march from Sopore towards the LoC. It was supported by  
Kashmir’s Chamber of Commerce, Fruit Growers and Traders’ Federation  
and the PDP led by Mehbooba Mufti. The People’s League’s leader  
Shaikh Abdul Aziz fell to a bullet. The next day mobs secured release  
from house arrest of the Mirwaiz and Geelani.

The agitation was at its peak. Tens of thousands assembled in Pampore  
on Aug 16 to pay their respects to the slain leader. A rally in  
Srinagar on Aug 22 drew a mammoth crowd. Syed Salahuddin made an  
important announcement on Aug 23 — the UJC had “decided that in view  
of the present unarmed people’s movement, no militant action will be  
conducted”. It would “silence the guns”.

But if on Oct 9 the Mirwaiz stipulated terms for talks with New  
Delhi, the next day the coordination committee insisted on  
“tripartite talks only”. The only thing that united them was boycott  
of the polls. Geelani’s letter to the Unionists parties on Nov 11 was  
not a muezzin’s call to the faithful to assemble in joint prayer. It  
was a taunt to the heretics to return to the fold.

Geelani Sahib inspires respect but his refusal to reckon with the  
realities is the despair of friends and a relief to foes. He does not  
compromise with colleagues and fails to provide leadership. Little  
does he or the APHC realise that their accord on peaceful agitation  
poses an unanswerable challenge to their adversaries and opens  
avenues for settlement; provided that they accept that India and  
Pakistan will not jettison the broad consensus already achieved in  
the back channel and will implement any accord within the limits set  
by their respective constitutions. Only the ignorant perceive those  
limits as being restrictive. They allow self-rule that will be the  
envy of the rest of South Asia.

On July 11 Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi made a  
statesmanlike offer: “We have to look out of the box. We have to look  
at innovative ways of resolution (of the Kashmir issue).”

The APHC betrays the people by imprisoning itself in the old battered  
box of 1993. Consider this suggestion out of the box: “An autonomous  
region with the other side being a party to it could address the  
issue in such a way that India can sort of live with that, Pakistan  
can also live with that too, and Kashmiris can also get something  
they have been aspiring for. So we should be ready to discuss all the  
options and, as I have said earlier, autonomous identity for Kashmir  
could be the solution.” It was said by the Mirwaiz in a press  
interview published on Oct 10, 2002. This is azadi, real and achievable.

The APHC must unite, eschewing ego clashes, adopt a strategy of  
peaceful popular mobilisation without the hartals, and meet the  
people’s needs. It has to establish its credentials as a responsible  
and credible interlocutor in the peace process. The time for slogans  
and chants about the UN resolutions is over. The time has come for a  
constructive detailed elaboration of the consensus on the famous four  
points and the draft of a constitutional framework that would give it  
legal effect. The alternative is stark — irrelevance and rejection by  
the young. Their cry for azadi deserves a sound response.

The writer is a lawyer and an author.

_____


[5]


The Hindu,
December 6, 2008

FROM ACCOUNTS TO ACCOUNTABILITY

by Jean Drèze and Reetika Khera

Bank payments alone are not an adequate protection against corruption  
in NREGA.

The ghost of corruption has haunted many public interventions in  
India, and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) is no  
exception. Bank payments of NREGA wages were recently introduced on a  
mass scale, and projected as a foolproof remedy against corruption.  
Recent evidence, however, suggests that the banking system itself is  
not above corruption — corrective steps are urgently needed.
Rush to bank payments

The main technique of embezzlement in public employment programmes,  
including NREGA, is to fudge the “muster rolls” (attendance sheets):  
fake names or inflated attendance figures are entered in the muster  
rolls, and middlemen pocket the difference. This used to be possible,  
indeed very simple, because of the cloud of secrecy that surrounded  
the muster rolls. The NREGA sought to change that based on a range of  
safeguards, starting with the transparency of muster rolls. For  
instance, NREGA muster rolls are supposed to be available at the  
worksite and filled there every day in the presence of the workers,  
giving them an opportunity to check the details at any time.  
Similarly, payment details from the muster rolls are supposed to be  
entered in the workers’ “job cards”, enabling them to monitor these  
payments.

Another factor that facilitated corrupt practices in the past was  
that the same person or agency was in charge of maintaining muster  
rolls and paying the wages. Since both functions were in the same  
hands, fudging muster rolls was both easy and profitable. The  
separation of these two functions is a powerful safeguard against  
embezzlement. Even before NREGA, this was the norm on drought relief  
programmes in Rajasthan. There, muster rolls were prepared by Gram  
Panchayat functionaries with the help of the “mate” (worksite  
supervisor), whereas wages were paid by the patwari (a Panchayat  
level employee of the revenue department). This makes it harder to  
siphon off funds by fudging muster rolls, unless the different actors  
collude with each other.

The need to separate payment agencies from implementation agencies  
was an important argument for the recent introduction of bank (or  
post office) payments of NREGA wages. There are other good reasons  
for introducing bank payments. For instance, paying wages directly  
into the workers’ accounts reduces the risk of harassment by payments  
officials. Further, it encourages saving habits and the use of bank  
facilities.

However, there are also significant drawbacks with bank payments. The  
coverage of banks and post offices in rural India is still patchy,  
which means that labourers have to travel some distance to collect  
their wages (as opposed to getting cash in hand in their own  
village). In some states at least, bank payments have been associated  
with delays in the disbursement of wages, as the relevant  
transactions work their way through the system. There is also a  
danger of women being excluded, if bank accounts are opened in the  
names of men only, as has happened in some districts.

 From a long-term perspective, the payment of wages through banks is  
probably a move in the right direction. However, the transition to  
bank payments has been made in a very rushed and haphazard manner.  
And the results have often been sobering.
The Deoghar social audit

A social audit of 17 NREGA works in five Gram Panchayats of Karon  
Block in Deoghar District (Jhardhan), conducted on 12-16 October  
2008, unearthed some alarming facts related to bank payments.  
Briefly, the loot is far from over: funds are siphoned off through  
manipulated bank accounts of NREGA workers, in collusion with bank  
staff. In Deogarh, banks are rapidly being integrated in the system  
of corruption.

Consider the case of the construction of two NREGA wells in Ranidih  
Panchayat: one on Koka Baori’s land and the other on Paane  
Hembrahm’s. Both were approached by the Panchayat Sevak, who offered  
to get a well constructed on their land. Once the well was  
sanctioned, a contractor took charge (an infraction under the Act).  
When cheques arrived in the name of the beneficiaries, they were  
asked to collect it from the bank and hand it over to the contractor  
to pay for material costs.

As far as wage payments were concerned, it was a simple matter for  
the contractor. Two years earlier, he had kindly opened bank accounts  
for many NREGA labourers (often without their knowledge), with a  
little help from the rather cooperative staff of the Deoghar-Jamtara  
Central Cooperative Bank. The contractor and Panchayat Sevak  
manufactured muster rolls with wages adding up to the labour  
component sanctioned for the wells. Whenever money is transferred to  
the labourers’ accounts, the trio of bank officials, contractor and  
Panchayat Sevak step in: they coolly pocket the excess money after  
giving their due to the labourers who actually worked. Most of the  
labourers we spoke to said that they had never been to the bank, and  
that they were paid in cash at the worksite by the contractor.

While other banks in the area did not have the audacity to indulge in  
such open loot, their practices were not entirely above board either.  
In some cases, we heard that labourers had been made to sign  
withdrawal slips in bulk at the time of opening their bank accounts,  
to facilitate proxy withdrawals later on. In the case of Allahabad  
Bank and Vananchal Bank, bank officials said that labourers came in  
person to withdraw their wages, but usually accompanied by men who  
“do not look like labourers”. These men, believed to be the  
contractors’ cronies, stand outside the bank and force the labourers  
to hand over the excess money that has been claimed in their name.  
For us, this story was a nightmare come true: one year earlier, a  
master (or rather mistress) contractor in Orissa had told us that if  
bank payments of NREGA wage were introduced, “the contractors will  
become dacoits.”
Magic bullet or shot in the foot?

How typical Deogarh’s experience is we do not know. But this  
experience certainly shows that bank payments alone are not an  
adequate protection against corruption. In fact, in Jharkhand’s  
anarchic environment (not unique to Deogarh), they have even  
facilitated embezzlement in several ways. First, while all NREGA- 
related documents (e.g. muster rolls, job cards, measurement books)  
are supposed to be in the public domain, it is not clear whether  
banks are going to accept this principle for their own records,  
including the details of NREGA accounts. Meanwhile, the rush to bank  
payments has led to reduced transparency by withdrawing key documents  
from public scrutiny.

Second, payments through banks and post offices introduce new players  
into the corruption game — the staff of these institutions. It is not  
clear how these officials (who are often employees of the Central  
government, rather than of the State governments or Panchayati Raj  
Institutions) are to be held accountable for NREGA-related matters.  
They tend to be more difficult to “catch” than other functionaries  
such as the Panchayat Sevak or Gram Rozgar Sevak.

Third, embezzlement of wages paid though bank accounts typically  
requires the involvement or cooperation of the labourers themselves,  
in one way or another. Labourers generally have a stake in blowing  
the whistle against corruption, but when they become part of the  
nexus of corruption, this voice is effectively silenced.

Last but not least, bank payments have led to an alarming neglect of  
other transparency safeguards. For instance, muster rolls are no  
longer signed by workers at the time of wage payment, since wages are  
paid directly through banks. In fact, in Deogarh we found that muster  
rolls had been reduced to a naked attendance sheet, without any  
payment details. The only person who signs is the person who fills  
the muster roll in the first place, and his or her “supervisor”,  
often acting in collusion. Apparently, a similar setback is happening  
in Rajasthan. This is unfortunate since Rajasthan had largely stamped  
out the embezzlement of NREGA wages based on more “conventional”  
safeguards such as the transparency of muster rolls.

This is not to say that the transition to bank payments should be  
reversed. But this transition certainly requires great caution  
(including strict monitoring of banks and post offices), and must be  
combined with strict enforcement of all the transparency norms. The  
Central government seems to regard bank payments as a “magic bullet”  
against corruption, but the bullet is in danger of ending up in its  
own foot.

(The authors are associated with the G.B. Pant Social Science  
Institute, Allahabad University.)

_____


[6]

LANGUAGE RIGHTS IN SRI LANKA

Enforcing Tamil as an Official Language

by Law & Society Trust (LST)
(2008, 188pp Price SLR 350/ US$ 7)
  ISBN: 978-955-1302-14-6

Contents
  Part I: Tamil as an Official Language

    1. Opening Remarks
        Hon. D. E. W. Gunasekera, M. P.
    2. Reality Check and Recommendations on Language Rights
        Mr. N. Selvakkumaran
    3. Bilingualisation of the Public Service
        Mr. Raja Collure
    4. Civil Society’s Role in Enforcing Language Rights
        Dr. Kumar Rupesinghe
    5. Opening the Door to Tamil/s? Linguistic Minority Policy and  
Rights
        Mr. B. Skanthakumar
        Part II: Annexes
    6. Ceylon (Constitution) Order-in-Council of 1946, Section 29
    7. Official Language Act, No. 33 of 1956
    8. Bandaranaike – Chelvanayakam Pact of 1957
    9. Tamil Language (Special Provisions) Act, No. 28 of 1958
   10. Senanayake – Chelvanayakam Pact of 1965
   11. Tamil Language (Special Provisions) Regulations of 1966
   12. Constitution of Sri Lanka (Ceylon) of 1972, Chapter III
   13. Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka  
of 1978, Chapters III (extracts) and IV
   14. Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the Democratic  
Socialist -Republic of Sri Lanka of 1987, Article 2
   15. Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the Democratic  
Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka of 1988, Articles 2 - 5
   16. Official Languages Commission Act, No. 18 of 1991
   17. Public Administration Circular No. 03/2007
   18. Public Administration Circular No. 07/2007
   19. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966,  
Articles 2, 14, 26 and 27
   20. Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or  
Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities of 1992
   21. European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of 1992
        Part III:Complaints
   22. Contact Information


This publication is available at the Law & Society Trust,
  No. 3 Kynsey Terrace,
  Colombo 8.
  For further details please contact us at
  lst at eureka.lk or 2691228/2684845


______


[7] Announcements:

(i) India: Citizens Human Chain (Bombay December 12, 2008)
http://www.sacw.net/article373.html


HOLD HANDS IN UNITY!

Join “Human Chain” in Mumbai,
12 noon to 12.15 pm
Friday, December 12th, 2008

(ii) Delhi Events on 11 - 12 December 2008 For the right to dissent &  
to demand release of Binayak sen

“In Defence of Right to Democratic Dissent and Demanding the Release  
of Dr. Binayak Sen” 11th Programme:-

    1. 10.00 am Vivekanand Statue; Delhi University  rally to create  
public awareness amongst students about Binayak Incarceration and  
mobilise for 16th rally and future programmes in Delhi university.  
( coordinator- Harish Dhawan and Budhaditya.
    2. 9 pm JNU Tapti Hostel, Showing the Film Anjaam; and  
discussions. ( Sunaiyana and Neha)

12th Programme:-
Meeting to strategise for the RELEASE OF DR. BINAYAK SEN at 5 pm on  
the 12 December at the Gandhi Peace Foundation, DeenDayal Upadhyay  
Marg, Delhi
This will be a meeting to strategise on how to build the broadest  
possible alliance inorder to put maximum public pressure and to  
prepare ourselves for a dogged fight to release Dr.Sen.
The situation is getting grimmer and grimmer. The week from the 2nd  
to the 8th December saw the Bilaspur High Court deny bail to Dr. Sen  
and Piyush Guha; On the 5th December, the 2nd Charge sheet with 47  
new witnesses got filed against Dr Sen and on the 8th December we saw  
the return of the Raman Singh Government.
The media and BJP is now shouting from roof tops that the BJP led by  
Raman Singh won in south bastar because of its tough stand against  
the Naxals and the policy of Salwa Judum which won appreciation.
It is clear that as part of the design of moving people into camps  
was also that their vote be controlled. All of you must have learnt  
that the camps voted for the BJP in toto. ( Even defeating the chief  
architect of the Salwa Judum Mahendra Karma).
Coming back to the meeting on the 12th, please all of you come. Ilina  
is especially going to be there. I ofcourse move between Delhi and  
Jaipur as if they are two ends of the city. SO I too will be there.  
Now please pass this message to as many people and come.
16th Programme : RALLY will begin between 1-2 pm from the  
Constitution Club and move on to the Jantar Mantar / Parliament  
Street Police Station where there would be Public Meeting including a  
cultural programme till 5 pm at Jantar Mantar/Parliament Street  
Police Station

(iii)

Girni Kaamgaar Sangharsh Samiti
presents
The first annual FILM FESTIVAL

commemorating the birth centenary of freedom fighter

Hutatma Babu Genu

at
Bharatmaata Theatre, Lalbaug
12 December 2008, 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm
13 December 2008,10:00 am to 2:00 pm

Organisers:
Milin Khaade, Reena Gije, Manisha Jadhav, Sarita Ramamoorthy, Datta
Iswalkar, Meena Menon, Adv. Gayatri Singh, Pravin Ghaag, Pravin
Yerunkar, Rajan Dalvi, Vitthal Sawant, Neera Adarkar, Adv. Vinod
Shetty, Vaishali Girkar

with
Special Assistance from:

Paromita Vohra & Kapil Bhopatkar

Friday, 12 December 2008, 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm

Inaugural function: Renuka Shahane, Leena Bhagwat

Films:
Runanubandh
Girni
Annapurna
Shaanu Taxi
Limbu Timbu
Vaapsi
Occupation Mill Worker
Ladies Special

Saturday, 13 December 2008, 10:00 am to 2:00 pm
Chief Guests: Vijay Kadam, Mangesh Kadam, Anil Gawas

Films:
Yugant, A Dead Chimney
Seven Islands and a Metro
Eat to Live
Kaato Magar Pyaar Se
Dhol Baaja Party
On the Rocks
SEZ, Arajkachi Nandi

*Entry donation: Rs.10/-

- - -


(iv)

ACTION FOR A PROGRESSIVE PAKISTAN
invites you to a

PEACE AND SOLIDARITY VIGIL
IN UNION SQUARE

Please join us for a silent candle-light vigil to commemorate the  
victims of the recent attacks in Mumbai and elsewhere in South Asia.   
As victims of terror ourselves, we stand in solidarity with the  
innocent people of Mumbai and India in calling for peace and  
stability in our countries and in the region.  We call on the  
governments of India and Pakistan to work together to eliminate this  
violence, and to restore normalcy to the lives of ordinary Indians  
and Pakistanis, who are the real victims of these continuing attacks.

The people of India and Pakistan – indeed, South Asia as a whole –  
wish to live together in peace.  Please join us in putting forth this  
message of people's unity and solidarity.

When: Saturday, December 13th, 4:00 pm

Where: Union Square NORTH (16th Street) – across the street from  
Barnes and Noble

Please bring a candle.


Cosponsored by Coney Island Avenue Project and Concerned Academics of  
Pakistan
CONTACT: Madiha at 917.922.9836 - progpak at gmail.com


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Buzz for secularism, on the dangers of fundamentalism(s), 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: http://sacw.net/pipermail/sacw_insaf.net/

DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not
necessarily reflect the views of SACW compilers.