To put the record straight, the Bill was long back tabled in the Parliament. But subsequently went for redrafting following strong objections by the civil society activists. Quote The legislation introduced by the government in the RajyaSabha on December 5, 2005, the Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill 2005, unfortunately betrayed that promise. The 2005 C.V. Bill, which took the path of `declaration’of a `communally disturbed area’, and gave extraordinary powers to the Executive, was expressly rejected by all. The Bill was sent to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs that in its report tabled in Parliament in December 2006, did little to redeem the Bill. In early 2009, the UPA government introduced 59 amendments into the Communal Violence Bill 2005, which made no change at all to the architecture of the Bill and which Bill remained deeply flawed and entirely unacceptable. Unquote [Source: < http://muslimmirror.com/eng/memorandum-to-pm-to-fulfill-promise-on-communal-violence-bill/ >.] After having been redrafted, it attracted strong objections from political parties - BJP in the forefront, but also by the CPI(M) and a few other regional parties. Now the draft appears to have again changed/diluted to appease the political opponents. In the meanwhile, the Congress has performed rather miserably in the recent assembly elections. That has admittedly made things admittedly even trickier.
Sukla On 10 December 2013 16:36, subhashini ali <[email protected]> wrote: > the main problem is the shilly-shallying and opportunism of the UPA. This > Bill was drafted at the time of UPA1. It was discussed in innumerable > seminars etc. But the UPA never finalised the draft in the Cabinet at that > time or at the beginnning of UPA2. Now when the Govt. is looking very > lame-duck, it does not seem likely that the Bill will be brought before > Parliament. That is tragic but typical of the way in which the Congress > Party functions, unfortunately. And all of us will have to pay the price, > Subhashini Ali > > > On 10 December 2013 01:59, Mohammad Abdulbari <[email protected]> wrote: > >> WHAT IS THE STATUS OF AAM AADMI PARTY ON THIS BILL !! >> >> >> On Friday, December 6, 2013 1:59 PM, Sukla Sen <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> In fact, it was Harsh Mander along with Sara Naqvi who led the >> drafting team. >> >> So evidently the way out suggested by him now (only) is a response to the >> situation on hand. >> This was not the original position of his or that of the drafting team. >> >> The draft is yet to be approved by the Cabinet, and it is reported that >> significant changes have already been done by the concerned ministry, MHA. >> Ref.: < >> http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/no-distinction-between-majority-minority-community-in-new-draft-government/articleshow/26925998.cms >> >. >> >> Sukla >> >> >> >> On 5 December 2013 22:18, Dr Mookhi Amir Ali <[email protected]>wrote: >> >> Why could not the brains in the UPA anticipate the objections raised by >> the opposition? Why could not the brains in the UPA think of the remedies >> which Harsh Mander could think of? >> >> Sabko Sanmati >> >> Date: Fri, 6 Dec 2013 00:16:59 +0800 >> From: [email protected] >> Subject: Re: [The Moderates] No room for hatred, as winter session is >> UPA's last chance >> To: [email protected] >> >> >> In the name of states rights, Jaya and Mamta will help the BJP kill >> this Bill. >> J.S.Bandukwala >> >> *From:* Sukla Sen <[email protected]> >> *To:* foil-l <[email protected]>; Moderates Google's Group.210811 joined >> on invitation.. <[email protected]> >> *Sent:* Thursday, 5 December 2013 5:35 PM >> *Subject:* [The Moderates] No room for hatred, as winter session is >> UPA's last chance >> >> [I contest both these claims, but these are not essential to the >> architecture of the law and can be given up to build consensus. The law can >> be made to apply to all, both minority and majority, and instead of a >> national authority, powers of oversight and advice to states can be given >> to the National Human Rights Commission, which already defends human rights >> without invading state autonomy.] >> >> >> http://www.hindustantimes.com/comment/columns/no-room-for-hatred-as-winter-session-is-upa-s-last-chance/article1-1154272.aspx >> >> No room for hatred, as winter session is UPA's last chance >> *Harsh Mander >> <http://www.hindustantimes.com/Search/search.aspx?q=Harsh%20Mander&op=auth>* >> November 21, 2013 >> >> >> The continued human suffering and cynical engineering of social ruptures >> in Muzaffarnagar is another reminder of the imperative for a law to prevent >> further communal violence. This statute was promised by the UPA government >> when it assumed power in 2004. But so far it has been unable to muster >> the political courage to steer it through Parliament. >> >> This winter session will be its last chance to redeem its pledge to its >> people for defending India’s secular democratic fabric. >> >> This same winter, 20,000 people will be forced to subsist in makeshift >> camps in Muzaffarnagar: refugees from hate, exiled from their homelands for >> the crime of their religious identity. Electoral politics divide people and >> social fractures harden through hate, fear, violent intimidation and >> organised boycott. >> Muslim residents emptied out of more than a hundred villages in the >> aftermath of September’s violent attacks spurred by angry claims — later >> proved false — that a Muslim boy was stalking a Jat girl. But when people >> tried to return to their villages, they faced blockades to employment in >> the Jat landlords’ fields, and some were attacked and killed. >> >> Apart from farm labour, the main livelihood of impoverished Muslims of >> the region is ‘pheri’ — selling clothes from house to house — but as they >> try to recommence this, again they hit both boycott and threats. Their >> despair is compounded because hardly any arrests have been made despite >> more than 400 police complaints of murder, armed robbery and arson. Women >> speak in hushed voices about gang rapes. The few times the police enter a >> village for arrests, women block their paths and the police return >> empty-handed. >> >> In many riots I have seen in the past, the surge of hate violence was >> almost always followed shortly after by elders and women of both >> communities reaching out to each other, by which some social healing and >> reconciliation would set in. Gujarat, Assam and now Muzaffarnagar represent >> a new dangerous phase in communal relations in India, in which hatred is >> actively fostered not just in the heat of the actual violence but equally >> in its aftermath. >> >> Survivors are actively blocked from rebuilding their livelihoods through >> systematically organised social and economic boycott, and are discouraged >> from returning to their homes. >> >> Through such social hate strategies, in Gujarat today many villages have >> been ‘cleansed’ of their erstwhile Muslim populations. Muslim ghettoes like >> Juhapara have grown from one and a half to four lakh, swollen with refugees >> from violence. People in Gujarat speak of ‘borders’ between Hindu and >> Muslim settlements, each almost fully segregated from the other. This >> threatens to be the new reality in Lower Assam, and now Muzaffarnagar. >> >> There were no riots in the Muzaffarnagar countryside during Partition or >> the Babri demolition, but today it is being divided on communal lines, >> perhaps permanently. If communal organisations succeed in preventing mixed >> settlements of Hindus and Muslims, new generations will grow up knowing >> little about each other, with no bonds of understanding and friendship. >> This will be the beginning of the end of the idea of pluralist and tolerant >> India. >> >> To effectively prevent identity-based targeted hate violence in India, >> the central pillar of the communal violence Bill must be passed to make >> state administrations legally accountable to prevent communal violence, and >> to control it effectively and in the shortest possible time. >> >> Current laws fully empower governments to prevent and control hate >> violence: prosecuting those indulging in hate propaganda, the use of force >> and calling in the army. If state administrations wish to control even the >> largest outbreak of communal violence, they can do so in a matter of hours, >> not even days. >> >> The problem is their deliberate failures to use the law to prevent such >> violence, and the permanent scars that such bloodshed leaves on communities >> that otherwise live together peacefully. The law must, therefore, create a >> new crime — ‘dereliction of duty by public officials’, which makes it a >> crime if they act — or deliberately do not act — in ways which allows or >> fosters communal violence. >> >> ‘Command responsibility’ makes not just the officer on the spot but the >> level from which commands emerged to not control hate violence criminally >> liable. If such a law was in place we would not have witnessed the criminal >> abdication of duty by officers to prevent communal carnages such as in 1984 >> in Delhi, 1992-93 in Bombay, 2002 in Gujarat and 2013 in Muzaffarnagar. >> >> Other critical pillars of the proposed law are protecting victims’ rights >> to justice, and mandatory standards of relief and rehabilitation in the >> aftermath of communal violence. The importance of these is highlighted when >> we observe even an administration such as that currently in power in Uttar >> Pradesh which claims to be secular, failing to establish and run relief >> camps, provide effective support to rebuild destroyed livelihoods and >> homes, or to facilitate legal justice to the survivors. >> >> The version of the Bill prepared by the National Advisory Council, with >> which I was closely associated, contains all these essential features. It >> has been attacked on two main grounds. The first is that it is the claim >> that it offers protection only to minorities, and second, that it >> compromises with the federal structure by creating a national authority >> with powers over states. >> >> I contest both these claims, but these are not essential to the >> architecture of the law and can be given up to build consensus. The law can >> be made to apply to all, both minority and majority, and instead of a >> national authority, powers of oversight and advice to states can be given >> to the National Human Rights Commission, which already defends human rights >> without invading state autonomy. >> >> There is just a small window before the general elections, in which >> everyone from the right to the Left of the political spectrum needs to come >> together, to rapidly build consensus on a law that makes state >> administrations legally accountable to prevent and control communal >> violence, and ensure survivors’ rights to reparation and justice. >> >> India cannot afford the recurrence of the hate, suffering and social >> fractures of Muzaffarnagar yet again. >> >> *Harsh Mander is Director, Centre for Equity Studies* >> *The views expressed by the author are personal* >> >> -- >> Peace Is Doable >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "The Moderates" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to >> mailto:the-moderates%[email protected]<the-moderates%[email protected]> >> . >> To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. >> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/the-moderates. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. >> >> >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "The Moderates" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to >> mailto:the-moderates%[email protected]<the-moderates%[email protected]> >> . >> To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. >> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/the-moderates. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "The Moderates" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to >> mailto:the-moderates%[email protected]<the-moderates%[email protected]> >> . >> To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. >> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/the-moderates. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. >> >> >> >> >> -- >> Peace Is Doable >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "The Moderates" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. >> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/the-moderates. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. >> >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "The Moderates" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. >> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/the-moderates. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. >> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "The Moderates" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/the-moderates. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. 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