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