> >C'da, I agree that there are lots of problems in India - specially >when we consider the plight of poor people. Would some other system >(other than a democracy) work, so that the poor can be brought into >the mainstream?
*** How about a REAL democracy? That is what *MY* dream for Assam envisions. And it would be NOTHING like the debased, dysfunctional desi-demokrasy. At 1:23 PM -0600 12/31/05, Ram Sarangapani wrote: >C'da, > >Tehelka does brings up issues we normally gloss over and these are >poignant issues. The numbers are mind-boggling -- '320 million going >hungry'.... even for a population of 1.2 billion. It is saddening. > >But, we have to recognize that India has come a long way - since the >great Bihar famine of '67-'68. Today, the problem with foodgrains is >more of a question of mal-distribution and corruption than anything >else. > >Rates of growth may not tell the whole picture, but it is a strong >indicator of how things are faring. How else would you quantify >progress? By counting how many died of hunger? These numbers thrown in >by Tehelka really do not give sources ( except to say from experts). > >The bottomline though is even with these numbers, some states are >better able to cope with such problems than others. > >>For the hard working, honest, poor people who run the unorganised >sector of >India's neo-liberalised cities, and serve elite households >as domestic and skilled >workers, it was yet another signal that this >democracy does not belong to them. > >OK, then are we to assume that this is the basis for the separatist >movement in Assam? >Are the separatists fighting for the poor and downtroden of Assam (as >opposed to the middle and upper classes of Assam). > >C'da, I agree that there are lots of problems in India - specially >when we consider the plight of poor people. Would some other system >(other than a democracy) work, so that the poor can be brought into >the mainstream? > >What is the alternate form of Govt? > >And can those who propose some other form of governance guarantee that >there will be no one dying of hunger, that the poor, hardworking will >be cared for, and that the rich and powerful DO NOT get all the >benefits at the expense of the poor? > >One would like to get answers for these - be it in the case of India >or an independent Assam. > >--Ram > > > > > > > >On 12/30/05, Chan Mahanta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> Try this for growth Ram. >> >> >> >> >> >> >> 5 ISSUES THAT REMAINED BURIED ( Tehelka) >> >> 1 } RIGHT TO FOOD >> >> The republic of hunger >> >> A country that has 70 percent of the population depending upon >> agriculture for its livelihood and where rats eat a major portion of >> the foodgrain in its overflowing godowns (60 million tonnes last >> year), has 320 million people going to bed without food and 10,000 >> dying of hunger-related pangs every day, as experts point out. >> Ninety-nine percent of adivasi families in Jharkhand and Rajasthan >> are facing chronic hunger this year. Also, 2005 hasn't been good for >> the farmer, ironically, under the upa regime that claims to stand for >> the aam aadmi. At least 250 farmers committed suicide in Yavatmal in >> Vidarbha, Maharashtra this year alone. In the past five years the >> region has seen 850 suicides by farmers. Ninety-three percent of the >> suicides reported were due to overriding debts. Since 1997, 25,000 >> farmers have committed suicides across India - 4,500 in Andhra >> Pradesh alone, while thousands of children have died in >> Melghat/Nandurbar in Maharashtra due to malnutrition and absence of >> administrative support. The right to food remains elusive for >> millions of Indians but the establishment remains as cold-blooded as >> ever. >> >> >> 2 } UNORGANISED WORKERS >> >> One Gurgaon too many >> >> They constitute 90 percent of the labour force in India, but they >> have no unions, no rights, no social safety nets, no provident fund, >> no pension, no job security, no schools or health centres for their >> children, no future or hope. Instead, they are the eternal victims of > > the latest profit-making ventures of the Indian and mnc fat cats: >> retrenchment, contract labour, ad hoc and low wages, mass sacking. >> And if they protest, they are brutally assaulted, as the cops did >> with the workers in Gurgaon: globalisation's latest glam doll. >> >> >> 3 } STREET KIDS >> >> Death of a newspaper boy >> >> They have black eyes and smiles which spread like sunshine: but their >> hands have shrivelled, and so have their bodies, and they are out >> there in the cold, homeless, imagined communities of an imagined >> homeland. Street kids: they work at the traffic crossings, as child >> labourers, ragpickers, hounded by the police, brutalised, packed in >> ugly, perverse juvenile homes, even adult prisons, left to die in a >> democracy where President Kalam says that the children are the future >> of the nation. Which children? Of which country? >> >> >> 4 } FEMALE FOETICIDE >> >> One by one they went away >> >> The longing for the male child and scorn for the girl in India has >> drastically increased in the last decade, more so in prosperous parts >> of the country. Rich states like Punjab, Haryana and Gujarat, among >> others, witnessed a drastic decline in the child sex ratio from 900 >> girls for every 1000 boys in 1991 to less than 8oo girls in 2001. >> Fatehgarh Sahib, a district in Punjab, has the lowest child sex ratio >> with 754 girls for every 1,000 boys. In Haryana's Kurukshetra >> district, the child sex ratio has fallen from 860 girls to just 770. >> In Rajkot, the decline was from 914 in 1991 to 844 in 2001. Posh >> southwest Delhi shows an abysmal child sex ratio of less than 845 >> girls. >> >> In the last 10 years, 70 districts in 16 states and union >> territories have recorded a 50-point plus decline in the sex ratio. >> The ratio has gone down to 800 girls for every 1,000 boys. >> Amniocentesis, originally intended as a prenatal test, is now widely >> used, illegally, to determine the sex of the foetus and abort it if >> it happens to be female. But the medical and political apparatus >> doesn't care. >> >> >> 5 } RIGHT TO SHELTER >> >> It's a rich man's world >> >> When the Congress-ncp government in Maharashtra tied its laces for >> the ridiculously ambitious plan of turning Mumbai into Shanghai, >> slums were the first casualty: 90,000 people marooned and their homes >> bulldozed. The poor found shelter under the open sky in graveyards >> and garbage dumps. When they protested, led by Medha Patkar, they >> were brutally crushed. Whenever the question of encroachment on >> public land was raised, the poor were targeted, as also in Delhi and >> other metros. Hundreds of homes razed overnight, thousands rendered >> homeless in a flash. For the hard working, honest, poor people who >> run the unorganised sector of India's neo-liberalised cities, and >> serve elite households as domestic and skilled workers, it was yet >> another signal that this democracy does not belong to them. Compare >> their tragedy with the massive media and political attention for the >> 18,000 swanky, illegal structures being demolished in Delhi! >> _______________________________________________ assam mailing list [email protected] http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
